Jackal Among Snakes

Argrave had been wise in his instinct to be wary of this coming confrontation.

Argrave had joined Margrave Reinhardt’s force from on high. When he did, he could feel the distortion of time—the enemies all grew faster, while Argrave felt as though every movement was like trying to swim up the river. It had been easily remedied, fortunately. Any blood magic he cast would eat away at the divinity. He searched Erlebnis’ wiki to find a suitable spell, and found one created by a spellcasting sailor: [Tailwind]. The continuous yet relatively weak wind spell had been designed to push sails, but now Argrave infused it with blood magic and put it at the back of House Parbon’s army, breaking the fragile hold of the warped time over them all.

With that immediate concern addressed, he joined Margrave Reinhardt on the field.

Upon arriving above them all, Argrave grandly made countless divine servants perish with devastating volleys of blood magic. Droves of elites perished beneath his fire, and the margrave’s knights were granted reprieve from the relentless onslaught. Argrave thought he might’ve overestimated this force, until he saw familiar figures rise up, uninjured.

And worse yet… he received no return of essence for their deaths.

He was glad he’d learned this through relatively inexpensive magic. Without Elias’ report, he would’ve used [Godkiller] in an attempt to hunt down one of the leaders of the opposition. It would’ve worked—but the god of time would’ve resurrected the fallen deity, and the only result would’ve been a tremendous expenditure of power without any gain. Somehow, this new god had the power to hold together the fleeting spirits after a god’s death, and create them anew.

The obvious solution, then, was to kill their lynchpin. Facing three formidable forces—elite marksmen, expert assassins, and veteran berserkers—he wasn’t confident in simply bulldozing through the enemy. Still, if this god of time could so ably counter Argrave’s ability, why had he not been given a more prominent role? If he’d been able to provide the same treatment to that god of insects, Argrave couldn’t promise he’d have achieved victory at all.

There had to be a flaw in this formation. He intended to find it. With so many fronts strained, however, time was on the enemy’s side…

#####

Anneliese had assessed the situation objectively, compared it to her own abilities and the forces she had on hand, and came to the conclusion that she could defeat Almazora. Now that Argrave had trusted her capability and left her to the task, some amount of trepidation crept in. Her opponent was still the goddess of magic, and she was supported by the not-insignificant presence of the god of pain. The fact that Almazora had kept her godhood for several cycles of judgment meant she could at least defend the title against other gods. She couldn’t be underestimated as on opponent.

On top of her present enemy, the fact remained that Jaray had painted a target on her back.

This was a risk she didn’t like taking… but nevertheless, Anneliese felt she had to if they hoped to win. Mina had been indignant when Argrave left, but she had become mature enough to accept reality instead of raging against it. Now, Anneliese only hoped that she could demonstrate the same trust for the next order she was to give.

“Mina, I’m going to order Nikoletta’s force to stop retreating and counterattack.”

The small blonde woman said nothing, but Anneliese could see the emotions written on her face: horror, anger, betrayal. Mina’s whole world was falling down. She thought Anneliese was sending the only person she truly cared about to an early grave.

“If she continues to retreat, she’ll be caught in the valley between Jast and Dirracha,” Anneliese said, appealing to logic.

Mina only stared, terrified

said—simple, cutting words, drawing parallels to their two situations. “You need to trust Nikoletta to do the same. Love is trust itself, and I trust Argrave would not leave me here without believing in me. Nikoletta faces the god of pain—and she’s capable of shouldering more pain than you know. She could lose everything, and still keep walking.” Anneliese walked to the edge of the tower, conjuring the sheer white staff crafted out of Veid’s heart. “So, wipe that look off your face and help your Nicky kill her first god. Is she so fragile as to let a little pain

Almazora’s position. She didn’t spare another look back, trusting in her words to do the trick as she contacted Elenore. She gave the report to Elenore, and soon enough expected Nikoletta’s forces to

without sacrifices, but few enough were. At the

watched Anneliese’s descent with trembling eyes… but they slowed their tremors until they were still, and Mina let out a calming exhale. Then, she dedicated all of her attention to the

#####

reports from the two fights closest on her mind—Anneliese and Argrave’s fight. She had never intended to expose them to excessive risk. Anneliese, especially, needed to be protected. She was capable of fleeing competently should the situation devolve, yet jeopardizing

yet it was the apparent truth. They followed the

on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report

Reinhardt have worked out a plan,” one of her contacts reported. “It promises to be slow, but surefire. It’s

came another report. “She’s intending for Mina to prepare an

Castle, the seven liches moving ever closer to the already-beleaguered Dirracha, and the horde of centaurs beginning their march toward the trade city of Relize. Even Law,

deep, was slowly being filled with lava from countless breaches in its dome. The forces in the Great Chu fought an enemy that came without an end, and faced

her disposal. It felt like a complex knot, tied unto itself so many times that the only recourse was to laboriously untangle it… unless she were to simply cut the rope with a sharp knife, and let millions perish for an easy victory. In years past, Elenore would’ve. Now, Argrave had burdened

Argrave… faith was

#####

blue fireball cast upward, and the sign to begin her ambush. She raised her hand to the sky, using the whole of her magic to create one last grand illusion. High in the sky, an image that’d been seared into her head manifested—Tower Master Castro’s gray wyvern. Hause’s power birthed the construct into reality. It roared

And down below…

and far outclassed Anneliese in absorbing magic. The thing that had kept Anneliese alive was the connection to Argrave providing

all those factors, the battle sense was the reason

had seen Almazora fight. She fought as spellcasters do—from safety, maintaining the option to retreat at any moment. She was no strategist, no commander. She was meant to support a force by bombardment, not engage in active battle. By fighting Anneliese at all, her power was focused away from where it ought

come. Mina’s conjured wyvern tore into the forces of the god of pain. The second it did, Anneliese fell back, teleporting back to the walls of Jast. She drew the blade out of the staff forged

such a strong push, it was natural for the god of pain to try and fall back. Faced with an unexpected element, Almazora was also bound to falter.

deep breath, preparing for the chaos as

#####