novelzi Chapter 468 – Everywhere, all at Once
Chapter 468 – Everywhere, all at Once
Anassa turned to the laughter coming from the darkness. Her eyes, as crimson as her silken dress, sharpened as she cast an arm forward. Another Anassa took a step back and reappeared by the brigade which had been slaughtered. Immediately, a half-dozen other Anassas appeared around her spread out. The Anassa which was watching the clean up pulled out her phone. A quick few touches with nimble fingers unlocked the black rectangle. Anassa stared at her phone. One of the Anassas inspecting the corpses, as the other incarnations of herself guarded her, lifted up her hand and mimed holding a phone. The device was always held by Anassa, and Anassa was one. It did not matter where Anassa held the phone, for if she held it then she held it. It was an inane statement, a chain of impossible logic that shattered reality.The Anassa by the clean-up crew stared down at her empty hand, the Anassa by the corpses stared down at the phone in her hand. But then Anassa had always held the phone. She took opened the camera and started snapping photos.
The Anassa by the junction split into several other copies as beads of sweat started to burst out over her face. The amount of Anassas by the destroyed brigade halved as Anassa searched for which versions of were redundant.
Anassa stared at the fleeing army of demonic Legionnaires in pitch-black armour as they raced towards her and away from her at the same time. She saw their blood-red skin through the slits in their helms, she saw the tails whip about from behind. She saw them like tiny ants from above. Anassa raised her hands. Twenty different palms pointed towards the demons that were engaging with dwarves. A few of Kassandora’s soldiers had also been caught in the melee. Some had pulled out knives, other were madly holding the triggers of their rifles as they sprayed point blank into the demons that had decided to take as many enemy soldiers with them before they perished. Ten pairs of crimson eyes stared upon the brawl from all directions. Ten breathes of air misted in these terribly cold temperatures of the Underkingdom. Ten pairs of hands flexed.
Game over.
As if for a moment, the air had turned into the solidified colour of crimson for a mere instant. As if for a moment, a heatless sun of devouring rose-like crimson flashed into existence in the underground highway. As if for a moment, reality became a painting upon with an artist spilled over a bucket of red paint. There was no buildup, there was no sound, there was no temperature, no incantation, no preparation, no warning. The tunnel flashed red.
Nothing remained.
Ten Anassas disappeared immediately.
And the Anassas by the junction immediately set about creating lighting for the area. One Anassa looked down to check whether she needed to issue commands or not but the men were already moving. They were soldiers trained by Kasandora’s regimen after all, if not by the Goddess of War herself. Engineers dropped crowbar and hammer and welding torch and started rushing backwards, or running to grab their rifles. The men in the grey fatigues designed to fade into the stone of the underground turned on the flashlights on their helmets. Each corner of the junction had a massive floodlight, all four were switched on by troops manning them, and all were turned to the tunnel from which the laughter had come. Down here, blinding light was more effective for cover than blocking smoke. The lack of cover did not matter if any attacker was simply blinded by torches meant for being placed in lighthouses.
From above, Anassa spread out to cover her own angles. She raised her hands. She cast forwards a light made of a red glow and then removed it. No need, the spotlights around eradicated any trace of the overwhelming darkness in these massive stone tunnels. They were powerful enough that the light extended until the next turn of the highway. Supposedly, that angle should be safe. It had been covered by an entire some five hundred men that had vehicle support and…
Another Anassa looked down at the men which had been slaughtered as the Anassas around her started to push further into the darkness. Hoofprints left melted in stone… There was obviously a trail. Something had come here, then the hoofprints stopped. What? But there hoofprints lay in the other direction too. Whoever it was had not been particularly worried at leaving a trail.
Anassa thought of the Tartarian creatures which left a trail like this. It couldn’t be Hellsteeds for the pattern was obviously from a biped. Her mind went to other creatures of Tartarus. It started at Tartarus’ Champion and then it worked down the chain from there, to various knights she had faced in the Great War and then to anything that could be a new demon. And then she shut off the train of thought. The simple fact of the matter was that she was not Kassandora, and this about of information simply paralyzed her.
Kassandora. Anassa remembered the phone in her hand and shook her head to bring herself awake. It had locked itself. Anassa stared down the corridor down which the spotlights were shining down. Was that movement? And the Anassa by the corpses started taking pictures and sending them to Kassandora. Anassa texted. She sent a dozen images. The phone disappeared from Anassa’s hand and appeared in Anassa’s hand. She took pictures of the hoofprints in carved into stone and sent them to Kassandora.
And then she stared at the stupid little notification that said the images weren’t sending. For a moment, Anassa wanted to crush the phone. Only for a moment though, her eyes flicked to the empty signal metre. And another Anassa appeared by the one in the junction. She took a step back. She appeared by a camp she knew had a receiver installed, the phone already in her hand. It suddenly started buzzing as image after image started to send. Anassa’s eyebrows narrowed as she looked up and down the tunnel. Again. Movement definitely. Right at the end. Something had just peaked the corner.
She raised her hands. She put up a barrier of crimson energy. She was blinded by her own sorcery. She took a breath. She needed to see. The risk had to be taken. It was a mistake. Kassandora wouldn’t take it. Arascus would tell her to be patient and wait for help. Fer would just tell her not to risk. Irinika would call her stupid. Neneria would say she was a child. Malam would just roll her eyes. Baalka would tut.
Anassa made the mistake.
For a mere instant, her sorcery disappeared. Her eyes took a second to refocus on the darkness as light streamed past her barrier. There was no laughter. There was only wind. Wind? Down here? In this windless underground? Where the air was still and freezing? Anassa closed the barrier without seeing anything.
Too late. Something flew by her. She felt her cheek be whipped by hairs. She felt something tear through her side. The barrier crashed as something exploded. There was a crash. There was tearing metal. Someone managed to fire off a gun. Anassa heard the wind again and Anassa disappeared. She could not stay there.
Anassa stared down at her chest. Too late. The Anassa in danger may have disappeared, but she had already been hurt. And if Anassa had been hurt, then Anassa was hurt. The impossible logic was inane and broke reality, but the logic worked because it was consistent. All the Anassa’s in the junction disappeared and an Anassa by a clerical squad appeared. She didn’t know where it was. She just knew that sheer confidence in her own abilities would bring her before these men.
Twelve men who carried Kavaa’s blessing and Kassandora’s military advancement. The trained muscle and leanness of men who were naturally at the peak of health, combined with ancient steel armour, sword, and then black modern rifle with wooden stock. They sat around before their green tents and talked between each other; the smell of cigarette smoke was thick here although that was the standard for men who were immune to disease and malady. Anassa fell to her knees before them. The Goddess managed to moan out a single syllable, blood spurted out of her mouth and she collapsed to the ground.
The Anassa with the phone closed her mouth and held onto the device for dear life. Just like the Anassa by the Clerics, this one collapsed too, her pale finger tapped out the message to Kassandora. Her mind worked like a strike of lightning as she felt the sensation of panic flood through her body, she knew that she should send this message to dad, yet she knew that consciousness was going to last for a moment or two more. Trying to find her father’s name in her phone, it was at the top, but trying to find him would… Whatever, no matter. Type out. Already. Just. Press... She barely managed to click the send button before her vision turned to black. She made sure that the final Anassa she looked through the eyes of was the one by the Clerics.
Every Anassa bar the one surrounded by twelve men who laid hands on the Goddess and prepared to imbue her with Kavaa’s Divine energy of life disappeared.