Edmonton saw Anassa’s beam, he ducked to the side. He rolled, another beam from the floor to hit him in the chest. “NO!” He shouted and bsted it with his own magic.

  Anassa raised an eyebrow. Edmonton’s beam cut into hers and he realised what he was doing. Sorcery should not be able to stop sorcery, especially not his against Anassa’s. Anassa’s beam disappeared and the Goddess stood up from her seat. “That was good. For a moment there, you went crazy.”

  Kassandora and Arascus returo the frontlines by pne. Cargo-pne, sihey wouldn’t fit in normal pnes and Kirinyaa possessed nothing rge enough to carry Divines, but pheless. Helenna stayed tanize ba Nanbasa but even then, it was only for a few days at the most. The two Divines only came back here because a guest had arrived.

  An important one, one of the few non-Divines Kassandora trusted enough to give him any sembnce of responsibility and autonomy: Iliyal Tremali. Probably the only mortal still alive to have that gift. If any of the elves from the Great War were still alive, they had lost that privilege of trust the moment they did not appear in Arika to stand at attentio became publiowledge Kassandora was back.

  Kassandora and Arascus made their way off the pne. Kassandora had finally ged into different clothes, the HAUPT uniform needed a wash frankly. She had simply gotten a pair of shorts and a green shirt, the same style that her men wore. A quice at her o, o the huge clerical base said they were. Men were digging trewo teams were returning from a march. Buildings had been put up, warehouses and small shacks were being built to house the men. This was an army through and through, the tavern had been the first structure to be fihe men even worked overtime to get it done.

  “Iliyal is there.” Arascus said as he poio a group of elves approag. Eae with a long suitcase for a backpack, as if they were a band carrying their instruments. Arascus had said Kassandora would have to see it to believe it.

  “I see him.” Iliyal was impossible to miss. Kassandora had blessed him a millennia ago with her own power of will, even now the man was a shining bea of her own magiatter how cklustre that magic was pared to her sisters. Still though, it was her magic, however sad it may be, it was hers. That was the hand fate had dealt her, that’s the hand she pyed with. Wishing for anything more ure immaturity. “I want him in charge here.” Kassandora said and Arasodded.

  “Ilwin hahe ma of the Karainan base then.” Kassandora let out a breath. After dealing with the argumentations of mortals, after needing to ask in roundabout ways for Kavaa’s troops, it was simply a pleasure to deal with someone who would say yes or no.

  “I’ll want Ilwin too eventually.”

  “Then you’ll o repce him with someone, Daganhoff won’t be able to handle operations by herself up there.” Arascus said and Kassandora nodded. If Ilwin would not do, Sokolowski had the makings of a general about him.

  “Why the elves?”

  “Like I said, you have to see it to believe it.” Iliyal’s quick steps devoured the red soil between them. He saluted, Kassandora retur and a new artillery barrage began in the distahe Binturongs were clearing more of the Jungle around them.

  “General Tremali stands at attention!” Iliyal said and turo Arascus. “The Emperor has called.”

  “I did.” Arascus said. “e, walk, we need somewhere without cameras.” A crowd was beginning to form. Kassandora’s own men were still w, they kly what it meant for them to stop exercises just because she arrived.

  With no humans to slow them down, elves moved quickly. In a mere half an hour, they circled around one of the rocks that the native Kirinyaans called mountains. Kassandora supposed it was, to aent, but she just sidered it an oversized rock that sprouted of the ground. The top had some vegetation, some thin tree and meandering bushes and when they circled around it, the orchestra of the camp died down: voices faded anes nding dulled, stru vehicles became faded, orders being shouted all became silent. Only the tremendous sound of the Binturongs became a light drum in the background. “Iliyal, show Kassandora.” The man nodded. He put the suitcase down on the ground and ope.

  There it was, the Automatic Ash Mark-One, Mikhail’s gun. Arascus did not even care that the man after his own surname, and if he allowed that, then it must be impressive. Kassandora looked at it as the elf squatted down, picked up the gun, and one of the magazines. “This is what we’ve been w on. The AAM1.” Mikhail said proudly. “Thirty round magazine, effective range up to three-hundred fifty metres, although we’ve had hits up to seven-hundred.” He said and poio the top of the gun. “These are the sights, but we’re w on a design that slide a scope in.”

  Kassandora nodded as the man expined. She had seen muskets in the past, they had proved as excellent ons, but ironically not exceptionally deadly. Archers had a higher rate of fire, crossbows were more accurate. The strength of the musket y in the fact that when two hundred men fired and disappeared into a cloud of white smoke, even the bravest soul would turn and flee. Maybe if the war sted another tury, they would have devised ways to improve the hand-ons, but the war ended, and the hand-ons had been resigo history.

  Still though, already its range was better than a bow. “This is the magazine.” Iliyal said. “It has thirty rounds.” Kassandora raised an eyebrow. Guguoans had something called the Chu-Ko-Nu, although even a mail stopped that. A musket though… “It fires six rounds a sed, the magazine is expended in five.” Iliyal stuck it in and pulled a slide on the side. “CLEAR!” He shouted and the other elves moved out of the way.

  Iliyal pulled the trigger and Kassandora’s eyes started to glow. Her mouth became a hungry she gun fired five bullets and Iliyal let go of the trigger. “We ge it to semi-automatic.” He flicked something on the side and pulled the trigger. One shot sounded in the Kirinyaan outback. The elf demonstrated with three more shots. “The magazine be removed, ged, or reloaded with a bullet still in the gun.” He took the magazi, showed it to Kassandora, and put it bato the gun. He pulled the trigger again and passed the gun to Kassandora. “My personal opinion on it is that it pletely ges warfare. There has never been anything like it.”

  Kassandora ied the gun herself. “ it pee armour?” It was small in her hands, but that would be obvious, she was a Divier all and this was a on for mortals to use. Her eyes would not get close enough to align to the sights. She gave up eventually, held it in one hand a out a gunshot. Amazing.

  “It . Not the Binturong pte, but it’s effectively made infantry armour redundant. We’d have to sti inch of steel onto a man at least.” Kassandora flicked the little swit the side. She pulled the trigger aied the magazine.

  “What do you think?” Arascus asked. Kassandave the gun baikhail in awe. She remembered the advent of the catapult, the trebuchet. The birth of air-cavalry. This though…

  This revolutionized warfare. A man trained for a day with that rifle could mow a whole team of nights who spent decades being mastering bat. A cavalry charge against twenty of these rifles would be suicide. The armies of the past…

  They were simply i. They paled in parison. She would want a thousand men with this gun than a million with sword and shield. And logistically, the iths, the lowered amount of mouths to feed… Kassandora sat down and looked up at the two men. “No one is prepared for this.” Kassandora said. It was simply the truth. With Pantheon Peace, all developments of military teology had been stopped entirely. With this though… “It’s that simple. This has ged everything.” She stood back up and brushed her rear off. “You were correct, you had to see it to believe it.”

  “That’s not all.” Arascus said and o Iliyal. One of the elves with the cases on their backs stepped forwards. He put the case gently on the ground and revealed the tents. A guhan the AAM1. Mikhail pulled a small telescope from it and ha to Kassandora.

  “This is the ADR Prototype. Anti-Divine Rifle.” He picked up a bullet. It was the length of his finger. “We don’t have a lot of this ammo with us, so excuse for the ck of presentation.” He said. “Range of fifteen-hundred metres, it pierce the Binturong.” Kassandora nodded as she looked through the device.

  It was like the telescopes of the past, but far stronger and far clear, with a dot in the middle and a series of lines, presumably for aiming the gun at different ranges. She ha back to Iliyal as the man tinued. “This is the team of snipers I’ve brought. They shoot…” He turned and she air in humour. “Well, they shoot like elves.” He said. A few of the men smiled in pride.

  “Kassandora.” Arascus said. “Whatever assistance I give, I will provide, but this is not my demesne.” He said slowly. “But if you o rus or anything, then I am here.”

  “What do you need done?”

  “We obviously see that with this, the armies of the past are out-dated and irrelevant.” Arascus gestured to the case that was ba Iliyal’s hand. “With the passing of Kirinyaa’s Army Implementation Bill, we have the men now. Now we need a structure for them. Based around this rifle.”

  “Every soldier outfitted with this?” Kassandora almost could not believe what she was asking. An army like that? Even mages would not stand up against that.

  “Guns be manufactured in mass. Obviously at the start we use swords, but a full transition to firearms?” Arascus shrugged. “Our Karainan site has to work i, and it make a thousand every three days. If we worked openly in Kirinyaa, then I give it no lohan a year for produ levels to rise enough to outfit the Clerics twice over in a month.”

  Kassandora nodded. So a ructure based around the gun the and radio, not around the sword and the fg. “How long does it train to a men to proficy with this?” Kassandora asked Iliyal.

  “A day?” Mikhail sounded as if he questioned himself. “A week? I give it no more than a month. I’ve been training men in Karaina, it depends what level you want them at. Aiming itself isn’t the difficulty. Endurand everything else is.” Kassandora nodded. She saw it immediately, without the workouts given by sword practice, men would grow weak. She stared at that case. Even a child could hold a rifle like that and be a killer.

  Her smile revealed her teeth as her eyes bzed red.

  “It’s not particurly advaeology when pared to what we have today. Ohis is revealed, I give it two months before the White Pantheon develops their own. Their aware of muskets too, and this design was ied by a man of today’s time.” Iliyal said. “A madman, but a man heless.”

  “I see.”

  “So our teological will be short-lived.”

  “It will be enough to secure fronts and allies.” Arascus said. “That’s my domain to work in.” Arascus poio the elves. “And there’s something else too.”

  “What?”

  Arascus poio the elves. “The reason I’ve brought this team of ADM snipers for you to work with.” Kassandora raised an eyebrow.

  “Why?”

  “So that when Essa es here, we send her back to Olympiada in a bag.”