A/N: This is my newest project. I will still be continuing Majinka, but I decided to work with this idea.
"Welcome! Would you like your fortune told?"
An old man walked up to her stand, his features knightly but tired. He looked like he spent most of his time running about instead of resting. The man sat in the seat across from the young mage and sighed. "I'm sorry to trouble you, young lady. I am Thomas Kneip, a fellow mage. I would like you to find something for me." He pulled out a jagged yet semi-circular piece of metal and set it on the table. It was about the size of both of her hands put together. "This is a piece of the object. The rest of it has been lost for a long time. Please use your abilities to find the object and its owner if you can. I've heard a lot about you over town and you are said to be the best at scrying magic."
Anya couldn't help but flush at the compliments before she nodded. "A-Alright, I'll do my best. Please hand me that metal shard."
The man did so.
"Fortis la tius Lilith lilioth…spirits, gather before me and use your light to reveal that which is hidden…" The young mage focused and a hazy image appeared in the crystal ball before her.
The water gave everything a bit of a haze. The blurriness didn't detract from the beauty of the metal shield that sat at the bottom of the sea. Anya couldn't help but be entranced by the shield, which shone like it was bathed in the light of a sunset.
A hand came down and grasped the shield. The hand was attached to a beautiful girl that looked to be about 14 years old. Her hair was a deep brown and her eyes sharp. There was a natural fierceness about her expression that was captivating. She was wearing jeans, a red long sleeved shirt and an open denim jacket. Beyond her appearance, she seemed to present an intimidating atmosphere. "Finally," She spoke under water as if she had no difficulty. "My Mars' shield has come into my possession…"
Anya felt the aura of intimidation increase before she forcibly looked away.
Anya's attention left her crystal ball and she gasped.
The man was looking at her attentively. "Young lady, what did you see?"
"This piece is part of the shield of Mars? Why is it in the Mediterranean Sea?"
"You are much more skilled than I gave you credit for, to have discerned that much just from one vision." Kneip sighed. "The wizards of my association have been searching for that shield in order to prevent a massive calamity."
Anya couldn't help but ask. "How could the shield cause a calamity?"
Kneip smiled sadly. "We have a prophecy that a war deity will seize it and use the power it holds to send the world spiraling into chaos."
"A war god?!"
"Yes. That being the case, could you tell me about the whereabouts of the shield? Everything you know?"
Anya nodded and let the information that she'd gained spill out of her. Her eyes became half-lidded in concentration. "The shield is associated with the war god Mars and therefore it has the aspects of divine protection of that war god. The shield rested in the Mediterranean Sea after the fall of Rome, but has just been removed and is in the possession of an intimidating woman. She simply swam down and retrieved it, calling it the shield of 'her Mars'. I don't know what she was, but she was more than human… Perhaps she is the deity that you spoke of."
Thomas Kneip stiffened. "This-This isn't good… I'll have to contact the organization immediately. Take this as payment for now please." He reached into his coat and pulled out a thick wad of pounds before setting it on the table and standing to leave. "I wish you all the best in your future endeavors."
With that, the man left.
Anya looked down at the shield fragment in her hand. The mage that had visited had forgotten to take it back with him in his haste to continue his business. She unfortunately had no way of contacting him, so the best that she could do was hope that he remembered that he'd lost it.
She then went to study magic, re-memorizing the spells in the texts that she'd brought with her from Wales.
Not counting the mysterious reading, this was an average day for Anya Kokolova.
It wasn't until a few weeks later that things took a turn for the worst.
When Anya woke that morning, she looked out of the window and felt an odd pressure in the atmosphere. She couldn't see anything in the sky, but she still felt a sense of approaching danger. She sighed and ignored the feeling. There was no reason to be so jumpy. Nothing had happened after all.
The feeling was finally explained when the sky turned red in the middle of the morning as the young mage continued her fortune-telling business. The scent of smoke filled the city. Looking to the horizon, Anya could see the smoke and cinders from a great fire rising. Was Big Ben on fire?
Suddenly, her stand was surrounded by a ring of fire. "I have found thee." The girl from the earlier vision appeared in the sky. She was carrying the shield in her hand. "Thou who hast a possession of mine, return it to me." She slowly dropped to the ground a few feet in front of Anya, within the ring of flames. She held out her hand.
"Don't listen to her!" The man from earlier, Thomas Kneip, was much more energetic as he rushed toward the pair. It would be more accurate to call it a fit of panic.
The teenage girl smiled and turned to him. "Ah, an interloper that hath no business in mine affairs."
Kneip froze and took a deep steadying breath. "I apologize for causing you any trouble, great goddess, but this girl doesn't know about your quest."
"Hm, and this interloper hath knowledge of me."
Anya spoke up. "Um, who are you?"
"I am she who defines conflict, the terror of war. I am Bellona, goddess of war."
"G-goddess?!"
The girl smiled proudly. "Of course. That set aside however, thou hast a fragment of my shield."
Anya looked behind the goddess at the other mage. He was discretely making hand gestures to someone that the young mage couldn't see.
Suddenly there was a spike of magic and Anya heard someone yell. "Hammer of the Ice God!" A giant mass of ice appeared above the goddess. It was a fairly powerful spell.
Bellona looked up at it, seeming slightly surprised. "I follow the divine law of just war and revel in it…In this sign I fight." In her hand appeared a short sword that appeared to be ancient bronze.
The magic mass of ice fell like the fist of an angry god.
Bellona split it in a single swipe. Ice shattered violently sending shards everywhere. "Behold! This is the power of the goddess of war!" She ran past Anya, making the girl turn in surprise.
There was a cloaked young man who seemed to be about 18 years of age. He turned and ran at the sight of the charging goddess. He couldn't outrun her, and she caught up in five steps. He spun and swung a staff at her head.
In two movements, the war deity cut the weapon in half and then split him apart easily. "This is thy punishment for obstructing me."
The young man gasped in pain, his organs leaking out of his body.
The fortune-teller stared in horror.
The goddess turned and walked back to Anya as if the event hadn't occurred. The sword vanished from her hand. "Now, wilt thou not return the last piece of the shield?"
"W-why would you just k-kill-"
"It is not the place of man to lay their hands upon the gods."
Anya clenched her teeth. She felt her knees trembling, but she wasn't sure if it was fear or anger. She reached into her pocket when Kneip suddenly rushed toward the goddess shouting, "Cantus Bellax!" and tore the shield from her grasp, twisting and nearly hitting her in the face with his elbow.
Without missing a beat, the goddess slipped out of the way of the strike and punched him in the face, sending him stumbling backward until he fell behind Anya. Wordlessly, he shoved the shield into her hands.
"Halt!" Bellona glared at them and Anya felt her entire body freeze.
"Hurry!" The older mage shouted, "Put the shield together!"
Anya's fingers felt heavy and clumsy as she desperately tore the shard from her pocket and slotted it onto the shield. There was a bright flash and a great echoing howl. It glowed even as the goddess stared at her balefully. Anya's body went numb but she oddly didn't fall. The inside of her head was full of howling wolves and pecking woodpeckers.
"Unhand my shield, mortal girl." The goddess seemed to almost be growling.
Anya shakily shook her head.
Bellona advanced like a maddened wolf.
"…"
Any heard Kneip murmur something. She looked down and saw him holding a small practice wand.
"Sagitta Magica: 71 Arrows of Lightning!" 71 glowing and sparking projectiles formed and shot at the war goddess. She drew her blade.
Bellona cut many of them apart as she flew backward before skidding on her heels, being hit by a few of the arrows. "How irritating…" She raised her blade. "Stand not in my way!"
Anya ran in front of the other mage and caught the short sword on the divine shield. The impact made her entire body tremble as the shield burned and vibrated against her skin. She desperately brought the shield back up to defend against the next swing of the divine sword.
Kneip stood behind her, seeming to have recovered from the goddess's strike. "Can you cover for me? I need a few moments to cast another spell."
Anya nodded shakily, blocking another blow, glad that her body was strengthened passively by her magic.
"Thou darest?!" The sword of the war goddess slammed into the shield like a wrecking ball, but the young mage wasn't forced off of her feet. Perhaps it was the shield's power?
"Ultima Ratio Regum!"
Anya was surprised to find herself growling right back at the enraged goddess as she stood her ground. The strikes slammed into the shield again and again, but she refused to lose to the cruel and violent opponent in front of her. The cacophony in her head grew louder.
"Come spirits of air and lightning!"
"Ngh!" The young girl mage took a step backward after a particularly heavy blow. The goddess advanced at the sight of weakness. "Ahhh!" Anya struck at the blade with the shield even as it crashed down again. The goddess took a step backward. There was much more strength behind the counterstrike than should be possible for a human. The mage advanced, seeing only her opponent. "Fortis a tius lilith lilioth…"
"With lightning flees the southern storm!"
"Thou darest to fight Bellona as an equal, stealing the power of Mars?!" Bellona continued to attack, consumed by her rage. "Thou shouldst know thy place, mortal!" The sound of bronze on bronze echoed loudly in the burning city.
The young mage that was fending off the goddess didn't reply, absorbed by both magic and combat. "Stoke the flames and raise the furnace's output!" She prepared her greatest weapon, the shield acting as a focus even though she didn't notice it. The spell that she was casting was one that she'd learned in Merdiana's forbidden spell section. She'd never been able to cast it, but that didn't matter to her in that moment.
Kneip ran up to the goddess, his magical enhancement still functioning. He pressed his hand and wand to the girl's chest."Jupiter's Lightning Storm!" The released blast was like a drill made of storm. It raged and flew into Bellona, making her stumble backward.
The goddess dug her heels into the ground and began walking forward into the attack.
Anya continued her chant single-mindedly. The noise in her head almost drowned everything else out. She would not let that murderous goddess win! "Flames of Vulcanus burn bright and become my sword!"
The storm petered out and Kneip panted harshly.
Bellona was even angrier. "To interrupt a duel of mine, even one between god and man…! Such arrogance, mage!" The title sounded like a curse as she let her sword disappear. "Know and fear me! I am bloodshed! I am destruction!"
The two mages couldn't help but stare at the raging deity. The magic coming off of her was enormous.
"I am the very flames of the conflict of man! Fear me who has conquered the world! Fear me who has razed nations and sewn salt to their earth! Fall before me! Be destroyed!" She raised a hand and a giant flame roared over it. The flame seemed to encompass the entire sky, making the world glow crimson. It twisted and was compressed into a spear that was as long as she was tall. Bellona grabbed the weapon which glowed white with heat and arced her back before throwing it at Thomas Kneip.
Anya felt the spell burning inside of her as she delayed it. "No!" She threw herself in front of the other mage and in an odd moment of prowess, caught the spear on the shield. The shield itself screamed and howled and bucked as it resisted the divine spear of destruction and conquest. The flames summoned by the goddess licked around the shield's edges as the young mage dug her heels into the ground. She gritted her teeth, almost screaming in pain at the heat of the goddess's rage. Finally, the force was too much, and the shield was torn from Anya's exhausted grasp. Almost impossibly, the spear was deflected, flying up into the air.
The goddess stared in mad astonishment as her attack was deflected. "No…Thou couldst not…"
Anya charged the stunned goddess with burning fists, her muscles burning and her mind empty except for the drive for victory and the spell she was delaying. Black clouded the edges of her vision.
The goddess caught and parried the blows reflexively, staring at her still rising spear. "To have made use of Mars' Shield with such competence…"
Anya knew that this was her best chance to win. That goddess wouldn't get away with killing people so uncaringly! She had no right! She pushed as much magic into the spell as she could, feeling light headed as she shouted. "Release! Sword of the Forging God!" Burning flames appeared in her hand as she swung it in front of the goddess's head, her eyes going out. The flames extended into a long sword and the mage collapsed, her body no longer functioning.
The young mage's arms were broken, as were the rest of her limbs. Blood ran from her nostrils and her eyes were bloodshot to the point that they seemed entirely red. A mixture of tears and blood dripped from her eyes. This was the price of stealing a god's power. A human body was unable to handle the strain of a god's ability.
The goddess screamed and flew backward from the force of the spell's blade. It was incredibly fortuitous for the mortals of London that the flame came through her neck, slicing her life away cleanly. The spear in the sky exploded, washing over the entirety of the city with hellish heat.
Thomas Kneip stared at the scene in shock. He knew what he'd just witnessed. If he hadn't been so worried about the appearance of the goddess in accordance with the prophecy, then the girl wouldn't have been involved. He rushed to the girl's side, but she was unresponsive, still breathing, but nothing else. Her eyes stared blankly, unseeing.
The mage put his best effort into casting healing spells on her desperately.
"Hello!~"
Anya couldn't feel her body, but saw a girl that looked like she'd just entered her teens. She was wearing a white dress. And had light hair tied into pigtails.
"I must commend thy will, mortal child." Bellona was there as well, but Anya had nothing left, she couldn't move anything but her face. The effort of fighting her and the strain of using a divine tool burned out her body. Still, the mage panicked.
"Rest, child. Unexpectedly, thou hast bested me."
The other woman, the one in the dress spoke up here. "Well, hello, Goddess of War."
"Pandora! You wish to use me as the sacrifice?" She looked at her hands. "…That is why my divine power is entering that child."
"Yes, that's right! Hmm… Such a young daughter…" The woman smiled fondly. "This will hurt a lot, but you're a brave girl, right?" She cooed and rested a soft hand on the girl's forehead.
Anya stared, but her throat couldn't make any sound.
Pandora spoke aloud, seeming to focus on some distant object. "Grant your blessing and hatred to this child, the eighth Campione. Bestow the sacred spell words upon this child, who carries the fate of a god slayer."
The goddess smiled predatorily. "Fine. I grant my blessing to thou who hast become a god slaying queen. Embody my ferocity and honor as war's terror. I shall return for a rematch with thee. May our next duel be uninterrupted! Next time, I will be at full strength."
Thomas Kneip's guilt over involving a child in a fight against a deity was greatly relieved when the girl started sleeping instead of remaining comatose. He also was filled with awe as his healing spells stopped working on her. The magical energy instead dissipated, returning to the air.
Anna Yurievna Kokolova slept easily, not knowing that her life had only become more complicated and dangerous.