King Wissel of Doschia and President Jozef of Lubska looked over the green field. A hundred men stood there, all muscled, a few scarred. All stood in formation, a gap between them, encircled by a thick cordon of Lubska’s riot police. “Awful, the lot of them.” Jozef said. “But if you want awful people who know how to fight, I couldn’t think of a better option.”

  “Where did you evehem?”

  “Piotrkorison.” Jozef replied. “And yours?”

  “Same thing, Schwalmstadel.” Doschia’s maximum security prison. For those who were deemed to be worse than the worst.

  “We need arms for them.”

  “Artois is w on that one.”

  Kassandora pulled Joyeuse out of the sand and took to the field. The drums in her head issued an order, a single burst rge pound. Fire. Fortia’s army was repelled oep by the advent of gunfire from her lihe strings came in as she anised her forces. Half of them held the fire. Trumpets pyed to signal for those who ran out of ammunition to reload. The side that held fire opened up. stant hail of lead burst forth from her lines as the drums mercilessly overpowered every instrument in War’s Orchestra.

  Fortia’s first rank fell. Bullet peed heavy chest-pte and Guardian’s dropped their heavy tower shield into a shield wall. Kassandora saw the dents appear through the eyes of her men. Only harsh iions, not peions. Impressive still, those shields would shrug off swords and arrows and crossbow bolts like nothing. The violins roared as she started moving and ordered the heavier calibres to start firing.

  The heavy mae that had been pulled back, te and cumbersome to be used by anything smaller than one of Fer’s tremendous bullmen, opened fire. A round of trumpets went off in Kassandora’s Orchestra and the bullet holes appeared through the first of rank of soldiers. They took aep, then stopped. Fortia’s guardians uttered a drowning battle-cry as Kassandora spread her Clerics out even thinner. Kavaa’s blessing of healing started to pour from them pre-emptively.

  And the Guardia charging forwards. One more step, and the first jumped into a trench. Kassandora took a deep breath as she made it to the front-lines. Sokolowski received a and into his mind and called the neighb divisions. Close enough now. Fifth Division was on the horizon. Sixth would be approag soon.

  And Kassandora issued her orders. Some meo be left behind, some would flee, those on the heavy guns would not survive. Her ranks colpsed as she watched a Guardian strike down a man with a spear. A padin, in thick steel armour, metal from foot to the top of his head, cleaved another of her soldiers in two. Then a hail of steel clipped through the man as one of the maes gunners swerved his rifle on its tripod. The Padin fell, a mage in brown behind him put up a shield. The ground opened up and the soldier on the gun was impaled by a spike of sand that burst from the ground.

  Kassandora flicked through a hundred perspectives in an instant. She saw men flee from bde, she saw men aim, pull triggers as they aimed into the crowd. She saw gunners squeeze their guns as the barrels of their rifles started to glow red from the heat. She saw through the eyes on a man’s who rifle jammed, saw him pull out his pistol and unload onto a mage. The bullets stopped in mid-air, caught by an invisible of winds. She saw the witch, in her light-shawl, flick her staff forwards and mutter some spell. The bullets turned back around, unched forwards, and the man’s visio dark.

  She saw a minod run rampant through one of the trenches, half again the size of a man. In heavy armour and moving like the wind as his sword slice man and man. She issued a and to her men, the music ged, the trumpets got louder as they all turheir guns in unison. She saw the God stop, look around, and panic fsh across his face. And she saw fifty men from all sides unload into that massive body. And she saw whatever that iion Divine was drop to the ground bleeding, the light fleeing his eyes.

  Kassandora’s vision flicked again as she looked through the eyes of her artillery crews. She saw them, carefully aim guns at Maisara. Maisara did not move, she danced and pirouetted through her vehicles. The few times someone mao get a lucky shot ohe bullet hit her armour and then bounced off her skin. Standard tactics from Maisara then, the unbreakable body that taihe world’s Order merely danced and dodged as her axe hit the of a lemur artillery.

  Maisara roared as she lifted that vehicle and smmed it on ahe go of her axe as Anassa’s sorceries devastated the spot she had just been in. Some dozen or so copies of Kassandora’s sister hovered in the air, they blinked around and moved indepely, but every single copy of Anassa was focused on Maisara. A storm of sorcery uttered from the air as its Goddess paihe sky crimson, and bde and needle and ball and sphere began to rain down upon the Goddess of Order.

  Maisara turned and fled, deeper into the camp and towards the frontlines. Back to the safety of her support from Fortia. Kassandora issued an order to Kavaa and moved herself, her vision still flig through the soldiers. The three ptoons she had sent off previously opened fire onto an exposed fnk of Fortia’s army and men fell.

  Shields of sand were put up quickly, but that was about two hundred dead, most likely five times that wouhese guns truly were the ons of the me. But they did little when Fortia mao close the distance. Kassandora looked through the eyes of another soldier. A man whled to put his magazio the rifle in a panic. His fingers slipped, he dropped the bullet taihen shouted in fear and put up the rifle above his head as a Padin closed the distance. A massive greatsword cut through the rifle effortlessly and Kassandora’s vision flicked back.

  Kavaa and Kassandora crossed through tents, Kavaa running around as Kassandora leaped over them to block Maisara’s path of escape. The first division pulled out further into the camp, some men ran into Maisara as she fled back. The ground behind being torn up by Anassa’s sorceries. The unlucky ptoon raised guns and didn’t even have a ce to pull their triggers as Maisara threw her axe at oion, then rolled into the other. The sheer weight of her armour and body crushed bone and tore muscle.

  Those she didn’t kill, Anassa’s magic did. Red swords, opaque as if they were shades drawings, fell from the sky as the Goddess of Sorcery angrily hissed behind Maisara. The Goddess of Order didn’t even take a moment to think, her axe was recalled bato her hands and she smashed it upwards into the magical attack.

  Anassa’s bdes were crushed and shattered by the swing. Maisara the attack forwards, the axebde smashed into the sand and catapulted her across the camp as ground underh erupted into spikes of red sorcery. Kassandora watched through the eyes of her retreating army. Gods that couldn’t fly didn’t want to stay in the air, there was little you could do to alter your trajectory. It applied to Kassandora, and it applied to Maisara as well. Kassandora calcuted Maisara’s flight path, Joyeuse spun in her hands, she twisted her core, pulled the arm over her head, and threw the great bde forwards.

  Kassandora unched herself forwards to sm into that position from above. Maisara silver eye’s saw the sword immediately, she twisted, extended silver gaus and smmed the back of her fist in Joyeuse. The bck bde flew off into the air and theerialized into Kassandora’s grip as she smmed the bde from overhead into Maisara.

  Sword smashed into silver armour and axe smashed into bck. Maisara smmed into the ground, Kassandora was unched into the back of a random tent. Kavaa got the order immediately, she started to sprint, catg tent posts to spin around ers as Maisara and Kassandora stood up to face each other. Kassandora’s side lit and bleeding, Maisara’s armour straight and re-fed itself as it healed the damage from Joyeuse’ attack. “Pleasure to see you again Kass.” Maisara said as she twisted the arm holding the axe.

  She took a step forwards, Kassandora saw her eyes flicker open in panid then Maisara immediately jumped back. A beam of red fshed in front of her, it severed through the camp. Cut through Kassandora’s soldier and Fortia’s magi and minor Divine and Guardian and Padin as if they were nothing. Kassandora told Sokolowski to retreat and reanized her troops into battle lines as she spun Joyeuse in front of her. “I’ve lost my touch.” Maisara chirped. “Back then, you wouldn’t have survived that.”

  It was obvious the Goddess of Order was enjoying this, but then Kassandora didn’t fault her. She was too. A thousand years was a long time. “her would have you.” Kassandora shouted back, she tried to swing Joyeuse but her arm couldn’t raise it.

  Maisara opened her mouth to shout something bad Anassa shut her up. “You will not touch my sister.” Anassa’s voied from above. Maisara straightened her bad smmed her axe into the ground she maintained her gaze on Anassa. Men started to run past them, Kassandora’s soldiers, they turo stop and shoot off a few rounds, theurn in their retreat. Sokolowski finished his phone calls aed the information to Kassandora through War’s Orchestra. Fifth Division was set up on the hill, ready to fire, sixth needed a minute more, they were almost ready.

  Maisara clicked her tongue as she looked around. It was obvious what was happening, she was waiting for Fortia. But then Kassandora was waiting for Kavaa. “You have lost this battle!” Kassandora shouted to keep Maisara talking.

  “Have we?” Maisara shouted. A tent behi alight as Fortia’s mages demolished a team of Kassandora’s who had dug in.

  “You came in with eighty thousand, how many have you lost already?” To her left dropped, rolled over, aimed and squeezed their triggers. A group of Guardiao Kassandora’s right. Blood streaming from holes in their bodies.

  Maisara raised her axe at Kassandora. Anassa tightened her fists from above. “How many is the Goddess of War worth?” Kassandora smiled at that question, frankly, that was a good ter to her question.

  “Bring a millioime.” Kassandora shouted back. “I’m not so cheap.” Maisara ughed as the fires behind her were extinguished by Anassa’s sorcerers. Two of them flew threw the air a off wave after wave into a group of mages that were giving chase. Sokolowski asked through the bombastic musi Kassandora’s mind whether he should start anising a retreat.

  Kassandora a for him. She took a step towards her lines. Anassa maintained position above her. Kavaa finally got to Kassandora and Maisara sighed. “Where you waiting for Fortia?” Kassandora asked.

  “I was.” Maisara said and clicked her tongue. She looked up to Anassa. “We both know her of us will defeat the other.”

  “Eventually a fly will tire itself out.” Anassa’s voice cut through the chaos of the battle. The explosions and screams and gunshots and r fmes. The shifting ground and the howling winds. “One slip up is all it takes.”

  “That’s for me?” Maisara asked. “Or for yourself?” Too fident. Kassandora saw it immediately. Maisara was too fident. She felt Kavaa’s hands touch her as the Goddess of Health started to heal and sed through the eyes of her troops. A thousand burning needles stitched the wound in her eyes shut as she peered through the eyes of her men. Through a man shooting one of Maisara’s Padins. Through a man holding onto a spear that pierced through his chest. Through men that were hurled into the air by magical winds, their rifles esg their hands as their bodies started to panic. Through the eyes of the sorcerers. She saw Fortia. Standing at the end of the road, spear aimed and pulled back to throw.

  Kassandora’s arm grabbed Kavaa and the Goddess of ulled both of them to the ground as Fortia’s spear broke the sound barrier again. Maisara unched herself forwards Kassandora and Kavaa as the wind khem back. A bst of sorcery stopped Maisara iracks, ing down from Anassa.

  Kassandora looked up, the wind was strong, but its track felt wrong. It didn’t feel like the spear had gone past them, it felt... Kassandora panicked as she looked at Maisara be thrown high in the air, the sorceries around her crag and colpsing. Anassa’s fingers snapped and a massive paeared behihe same Fer’s most monstrous beastmen had. It glittered in the sunlight, opaque, stantly breaking apart and redrawing itself as two artists were battling. One drawing, one erasing. It swung towards Maisara, the Goddess of Order lifted her arms to block it but she couldn’t fly. There was nothing she could rely on to use her enormous strength.

  The paw knocked her a league ba the dire Fortia’s army had e from. Kassandora heard Maisara curse them all as she gave up trying to defend herself twisted her body in preparation for a hard nding.

  And then Kassandora saw Anassa again. The Goddess of Sorcery, in the brilliant red dress, looked down at herself, at the gaping hole in her chest that peed through her chest. The paw flickered away as Kassandora pushed away from Fortia and recalled Joyeuse intrip again.

  Fortia walked towards them, smiling and secured in her victory as Anassa fell towards the ground. And Kassandora heard Sokolowski echo in her mind. “Guns are ready, ready to fire on your position. Give the green light.”