Campione of the Raging Tides

by SeerKing

Campione rise and fall, but none are ever older than a thousand years old, because every thousand years, they are mysteriously wiped out. As the end of this current millennia draws to a close, watch through the eyes of the newly risen Eighth Campione as she rises into power and stands against those who seek to end her. Has a TV Tropes Page!

28. False Heretic God

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"Godō" - Regular Speech

'My Everyday life…!' - Thoughts

"God Slayer!" - Heretic God/Powered Up Campione speech

"Fire!" - Magic/Authority Use

Beta'd By BigCC

Chapter 28: False Heretic God

Two Minutes Previously

At the Site of the Battle between Jean And Freya

A sudden sensation of divine power, different and separate from either the Campione or the Heretic Goddess currently doing battle, suddenly filled the air and caused both combatants to freeze as they felt it start to approach.

"What strange power be this?" Freya asked slowly. "The feel of it brings my blood to boil and causes my very bones to shake, a feeling wholly different from the outrage that thine own presence calls forth from me."

"I don't know for sure, but I suspect that whatever puppet master first started this madness has finally grown tired of watching and has decided to show themselves. It never made any sense that a cabal of sorcerers that had been successfully hiding without issue for decades in another Campione's territory would suddenly rise up and start making a stink when another Campione suddenly shows up in their domain." Jean stated, her position atop her watery hippocampus remaining solid and unchanged even as she turned her attention slightly toward the approaching presence. "If this is truly what I first suspected, then the foul sorcerers of the Thuleorden were simply being used as disposable pawns to gain my attention and summon you and your fellow Gods from the Realm of Divinity to do battle with myself and my siblings. But to summon a new Heretic God from seemingly nothing, without activating my [Divine Sensing]…and one with such a strange feeling of divinity…there is only one means that could be accomplished; this is the work of the Divine Ancestor Guinevere wielding the power of the Holy Grail."

Jean had been thinking long and hard since the first sorcerer appeared (or at least after she had gotten over her initial outrage at one of the foul beings daring to try and order her about), and she hadn't been able to figure out just why, after successfully hiding and gathering whatever powers they had been seeking for nearly three-quarters of a century, the sorcerers of Thuleorden had chosen now of all times to show themselves in Ulaanbaatar. Why reveal themselves now, when she had arrived, when Luo Hao had likely passed through the same lands dozens of times over the past few decades without noticing them or them taking any action whatsoever against her?

"The Grail is supposed to have several powers, the most dangerous is that it can apparently construct false Heretic Gods that serve its master's ends. It is also said that the Holy Grail can drain away the powers of Earth Mother Goddesses like yourself, Freya, which might explain some of your trepidation at our newcomer's approach." the Scottish girl continued after a moment, recalling Rebecca's lecture on the subject, with the information being gladly provided to her by Princess Alice. "She likely has sent this one to slay us both while we are weary from battling one another and then intends to reap your power as an Earth Mother Goddess to further empower the Grail. She also likely seeks the Authority that I claimed from the Goddess Athena. Apparently, Athena had managed to steal something of great value belonging to Guinevere and now she seeks out Athena's Authorities in hopes of finding the key to retrieve it."

"Tch. A Divine Ancestor. A Fallen Goddess now trapped within the flesh of a mortal woman?" the Queen of the Vanir clicked her tongue in distaste. "Though I am loathe to admit this, I lack the strength to face a fresh opponent at this hour. You have proven to be a most vexing foe, Godslayer."

"I could say much the same to you, Freya." Jean retorted with a huff. "I am similarly drawn out and tired; just as our shared foe seems to have desired, I'm sure. Well, I have no wish to play into her games, so, for the moment, I propose a truce. We cease our conflict for the time being and deal with whatever Shadow of a Heretic God that our interloper has called forth, and then we finish our conflict without any further interference."

The Norse Seidhr Goddess, still standing completely naked, tilted her head to the side as she stared at the Campione for a moment, before nodding. "As you say, Usurper. This one likewise has no desire to dance at the whims of some coward who does not even dare to face me herself. Until our shared enemy lies dead at our feet, my blade shall not be raised against you."

"And mine shall not be raised against you." Jean stated and felt the slight tingle in the air as the words were hardened into a binding agreement. One could not break one's word when given to a Heretic God, it was impossible for even a Campione, but fortunately the reverse was just as true in this case. "Now would you kindly stop distracting me with your naked body, already?"

(Jean was actually not that distracted, despite the other woman being a literal goddess made flesh, she was merely laying the foundations for taking Freya off-guard once their fight resumed.)

"Hmm? Oh, you mean this? Very well then." the Vanir Goddess flexed her power and her previous clothing was restored in a small flare of light. She then raised up one hand and her sword flew through the air to land hilt-first in her palm with an audible thump.

"My blade may not carry the fame of the likes of Mjölnir or Gungnir, but it is a good and reliable weapon." she noted as she adjusted her grip. "Now, let us see who our shared foe has brought forth to assail us."

"Nothing that would be weak against either of our own Authorities." the Scottish Campione stated with confidence as she readied her own trident. "If she is being particularly bold, she might have summoned up some Christian Deity. One of that particular band would have resistance to most if not all of our own abilities."

"Humph. Yahweh's sanctimonious brood." Freya scoffed in annoyance, before she looked up sharply toward the mountains. "Stand at the ready, our enemy is upon us!"

Jean narrowed her eyes at being ordered about, but they quickly widened again when she caught sight of the streak of light that crested the mountain before hurtling down to slam into the ground just a short distance from them. The light faded, leaving a male figure standing before them. He had aquiline features and wore the robes and armour of the early Roman Empire, making which pantheon he had been called from obvious.

"Ah, so both my quarries stand together." the man spoke airily. He had a modestly large beard across his face, and a spear suddenly appeared to rest in his newly outstretched hand. "What a fortuitous hunt I find myself on."

"And who stands before us?" Jean responded warily. He didn't seem to be remotely worried about her water hippocampus.

"One name that you would know me by, Godslayer, is Quirinus." the Roman False Heretic God replied idly. "Though you might be more familiar with the name that helped truly start my Legend, Romulus."

"The early God of the Roman State, and one of the Founder-Heroes who were said to have founded Rome itself." the Scottish Campione responded with a frown. Roman deities were subtly different from their Greek counterparts in a number of ways, but Quirinus was one of the few gods of Ancient Rome that were entirely unique to the Romans. An early god, one that had been mostly forgotten by all save his own priests as the various deities of Greece were adopted and adapted to fit Rome's ideals, but still a legitimate god nonetheless. Whatever the case may be, he was both fresh and unwounded, while both she and Freya had both fought each other hard and expended many of their own Authorities.

"One and the same." Quirinus gave a quiet nod of acknowledgement as he spun his spear about lazily with one hand. "Well then, I suppose it is time my barbarian hunt truly begins!"

With Khulan

In all honesty, Khulan was just one more shock away from just throwing up her hands in resignation before running screaming into the night at this point. Having three Heretic Gods and three Campione threatening to destroy her birth city was one thing, but now for a fourth Heretic God to suddenly appear out of nowhere, only for the Eighth Campione and the Heretic Goddess Freya to seemingly put aside their own battle for a moment to dog-pile onto the interloper.

Yet the term that Jean had used to refer to this 'Quirinus' as was confusing enough to break her from her stupor.

"A…Shadow Heretic God?" the Shamaness muttered, utterly unable to comprehend what she had overhead the Campione of Scotland explain to the Heretic Vanir a moment ago. "Is…Is such a thing even possible?"

The mere thought that someone…anyone…could be able to conjure up Heretic Gods on a whim and direct them was, to be frank, an utterly terrifying one for any sane magic user. The fact that this 'Guinevere' person seemed to hold such a power and was using it so freely was not a welcome idea.

"With the so-called 'Holy Grail' then yes, it is indeed possible if you believe the legends regarding that artefact." Khan Khangal stated quietly, his eyes still locked on the battle that was unfolding before them. The False Heretic God was wielding his long spear with a truly astounding degree of skill, managing to bat away both Freya's ferocious swings of her blade and the water spears firing down upon him from Jean's hippocampus mount. "It is supposed to be one of the most powerful Divine Artefacts to have ever existed. As far as anyone can gather, it supposedly came into existence during 27 BC, using the dying breath of the Heretic Goddess Gwenhwyfar; though no one, not even the investigators of the Greenwich Witenagemot, have been able to divine just what purpose it was created for. It and its master, the Queen of Divine Ancestors and the reincarnation of the Heretic Goddess Gwenhwyfar, Guinevere, have been sighted more in recent times than in any other point in history. If she is truly behind this newly arrived Heretic God, at this precise juncture, then it is far too coincidental for my liking."

Khulan blinked as she worked out just what her uncle was implying. "Do…Do you think that this Divine Ancestor Guinevere is the one behind these sorcerers? For all this time?!"

"No, I'd wager her influence is only a recent change." the elderly Khan stated with a shake of his head. "Divine Ancestors despise practitioners of sorcery just as much as any other being of true magic. More likely she merely found their presence here by happenstance and decided to use them as a cat's paw. She has probably only been controlling their actions since shortly after Her Majesty Lady Campbell managed to defeat Athena. I would wager that she will put any that survive her current plot to the sword herself once all is said is done, if only to remove another loose end."

Khulan could only let an infuriated growl pass from her lips as she realized that everything that was currently threatening her home was all happening at the hands of a single Divine Ancestor. "This cannot be allowed to go unchallenged; this Guinevere simply cannot just get away with using our lands as her personal playground! Even if she did not bring the foul sorcerers to our land, she still unleashed them and pushed them to call forth three Heretic Gods down upon our people! Even Lady Campbell would not have been able to stop all three on her own before they reached the city! Were it not for Lord Salvatore and Her Eminence's timely arrival, then all of Ulaanbaatar could have been destroyed by their rampage!"

For all but the most powerful or deluded of mages, the very idea of challenging a Campione or Heretic God was an unthinkable thing, for both were absolute existences that utterly dwarfed their own. Divine Ancestors, however, were another story. They were powerful, yes, but not to an insurmountable degree and their abilities were often simply more powerful mirrors of the abilities their Hime Miko descendants carried. A powerful enough Paladin or even a skilled and disciplined enough unit of Great Knights could challenge one and have a chance of coming out the victor.

"We can focus our attentions on seeing that Guinevere pays for her attacks on our home later, Khulan." her Khan cautioned her evenly. "At the moment, we must focus our attention on the current threat, particularly this 'Shadow Heretic God' Quirinius. Roman Deities have rebelled against their myths before and clashed with Campione and even other Heretic Gods in their times, so some of their influences are fairly well-known. Most worryingly is that when faced with the Authority of a Greek Heretic God or any of the 'barbarian' pantheons related to the nations that the Roman Empire would end up conquering, the mere presence of a Roman Deity can suppress some measure of their power. This is due to the Romans, while not to the same extent as modern Christianity, supplanting the deities of the lands that they conquered. However, it looks as if the Authority that Lady Jean is using has been barely affected by Quirinius' presence, while Lady Freya is visibly fighting against it."

"Well, the Germanic Tribes were some of Freya's earliest worshippers, though they referred to her as 'Frouwa' in Old High Germanic, and the Germanic Tribes warred constantly with the Romans in the later days of their Empire. If my history is correct, while the Romans did manage to take much of the old Germanic lands, they never did succeed in conquering them in their entirety before Rome fell and the tribes swept Europe. That could explain how she is resisting his influence." the Shamaness postulated, wincing slightly as said Heretic Goddess was sent flying into the mountainside by a sweeping blow of the Roman Shadow's spear. "Albeit not completely. But Lady Jean is indeed a puzzling case…Poseidon was a Greek God, so the Authorities that she inherited from him should have been even more severely affected than Lady Freya."

"Ah…" Khangal suddenly let out a small chuckle. "I think I see it now. Neptune, Poseidon's Roman equivalent, was never a particularly popular deity of the Roman Pantheon, due to the Roman's many superstitions and widespread fear of sea travel. In time, he was supplanted by Portunus in the Roman Pantheon as the God of Sea Victories in the First Century BC, which further weakened his existence and resulting Legend. That in turn, allowed Poseidon to remain in prominence as the 'idea' of a Mediterranean Sea God. And since Poseidon remains unconquered and unsupplanted by his Roman counterpart, the normal ability of Roman Gods to overpower their Greek counterparts is voided against his Authorities."

"That…that is excellent news!" Khulan offered, perking up slightly. "It means that Lady Jean will not be so easily countered by this interloper!"

"Mm. Perhaps." the elderly Paladin agreed, though his wizened face was still impassive. "The fact remains that both Her Majesty and Lady Freya have already fought a most vicious battle against each other while Quirinius is fresh. Even with both either able to resist or ignore his ability to weaken their Authorities, and even if he does not possess the power to match a true Heretic God, this will still not be an easy fight for Her Majesty."

"Did you not once tell me that Campione tend to make their own odds?" Khulan responded pointedly.

"True enough, my child." her Great Uncle agreed with a chuckle. "Khulan, know that I am truly proud of who you have become. You have come so far from that little girl that would make the spirits run amok."

"It only happened once when I was six, uncle." the young woman groaned at the reminder of that youthful misadventure. It had been so embarrassing, and one of the reasons she had focused her studies on Animism rather than Shamanism. "And I've never let it happen again in all the years since!"

"I know, I know." Khangal chuckled again. "I am simply an old man reminiscing, Khulan. Pay me no mind."

"Uncle…?" something about the way her beloved Great Uncle was acting was making her feel a bit uneasy, making her stare at him uncertainly.

However, her mind and attention were quickly drawn back to the battle that was going on nearby. With a roar of fury and a snarl across her lips, Freya leapt free from the crater she'd carved into the ground and brought her blade scything through the air. Quirinius managed to catch the swinging blade with the haft of his spear, but it was clear that the he was struggling against the Goddess's renewed assault, Freya's fury allowing her to push through the Roman Deity's ability to weaken her.

Khulan briefly recalled what little she knew about Quirinius himself. Originally, he had been a War God worshipped by the Sabine Tribe, one of the groups that had lived near where Rome had been originally built. One of his name's meanings literally translated to 'Wielder of the Spear', which was quite obviously where his weapon of choice had originated from, as well as his adroit skill with it. His worship had, over the course of time, become synonymous with that of Romulus the First, the murderous sibling of the Founder Twins that had been raised by Lupa the Mother Wolf, and the first King of the City of Rome itself.

Romulus, aside from the abilities attributed to his bloodline as a son of Mars and his killing of his brother, had only one feat of supernatural acclaim to his name. His mysterious disappearance via a whirlwind one day while he was inspecting his troops. It was shortly after that event occurred that rumours and whispers of his link to Quirinius had started to emerge among the Romans.

As she watched Quirinius continue to clash with his spear against Freya and her sword, Khulan could fully believe that the synergy between the ancient War God and the Roman Demigod was quite powerful indeed.

It was at that moment that Jean chose to intervene again, charging into the pinned Roman Demigod atop her giant, flying hippocampus made of conjured seawater (a statement that still sounded preposterous in Khulan's mind, let alone if she ever spoke it aloud) and sending the well-dressed Fake Heretic God flying into the air even as Freya, who had a full view of her temporary ally's charge, leapt to the side at the last moment. The Scottish Campione did not give her foe a moment to rest or recover, raising her trident into the air as she continued her offensive.

"To the citizens of Athens, I bestow a blessing of the water of the sea that shall run unendingly. Bring my realm to me so I may flourish!" she incanted. Around her, several rippling portals opened throughout the surrounding air before sea water surged through them, splashing and flowing downwards towards the ground for a brief instant before her Authority seized upon the waters and shaped them into…

"…swordfish?" Khulan blinked at the enormous school of watery fish floating around the area. There had to be hundreds of them already, and more were being formed every minute from the seawater (that pungent smell of salt suddenly filling the air was unmistakable) that the Campione had summoned. She idly made a note that they'd need to have mages cast spells to remove the saltwater from the ground after this.

With a wave of her golden weapon, Jean Campbell sent the massive swarm of fish flying towards the still recovering Shadow Heretic God like a rain of bullets. Quirinius' spear flashed out in a blur as he slashed, stabbed, and spun his weapon in a dizzying display of skill that no mere mortal could ever hope to match, striking down each and every watery projectile as it reached him.

It was honestly a truly awe-inspiring display of ability and, were he not acting as an agent of the one responsible for unleashing this chaos onto her home, Khulan would have been truly awed by the display of ability.

"You shall have to do far better than this to topple me, Godslayer!" the Roman God of the State called, as he continued to swat away the swarm of onrushing swordfish. "I shall not fall to the power of a mere Grecian Authority!"

His smug aura, however, vanished a moment later as a pair of watery tentacles, each as thick around as Khulan's own waist, erupted from the ground directly behind him, grabbing onto his legs, pulling both of Quirinius' feet out from under him before whipping him up into the air. Khulan's head instantly snapped back toward Jean and saw, mostly hidden behind the hippocampus' bulk and the other portals was one she hadn't noticed at first, one that was pouring its waters directly into a hole in the ground.

'Those water fish were never meant to be more than a distraction so she could prepare and launch another attack from underground!' she realized in shock and admiration.

"Freya, now!" Jean roared out, even as Quirinus struggled to try and bring his spear around to cut himself free from the tentacles currently whipping him through the air.

"With pleasure!" the Vanir Goddess roared in exultation as she leapt towards the still airborne Roman even as the tentacles whipped him towards her. The struggling False Heretic God didn't have time to readjust his spear to block from where he was trying to cut away the grasping tentacles as Freya's sword came arching towards his neck.

"NAY!" Quirinius bellowed out in denial, before a massive whirlwind erupted around him, throwing away Freya, and dispersing the tentacles and the few remaining swordfish from the air.

"That's the part of his power attributed to the legends of Romulus!" Khulan exclaimed as she recognized the legend.

Seconds later, the violent funnel of winds dispersed itself, leaving not a trace of the Roman God in sight. However, neither Jean nor a recovering Freya allowed their guard to drop for an instant, both watching the surrounding battlefield with wary eyes.

"Well? Is this how the vaunted Founder King of the City of Rome faces his foes?!" the redhead demanded aloud. "Does he act as no more than a coward, lurking and skulking about in the shadows like some thief in the night!? Perhaps there was more truth than supposition in the claims that you provoked Remus into his foolish acts so you would be given the opportunity to slay him and steal the throne for yourself!"

"YOU DARE?!" the Roman God roared, appearing against in another explosion of wind, his face a mask of utter and complete fury. "You know NOTHING of what occurred between mine brother and I! You know nothing of our history and our trials! Do not DARE to try and insinuate otherwise!"

"Oh I agree, that was a rather low blow on my part." Jean agreed amiably, a sharp smirk on her lips. "But it still proved more than enough to draw you out of your hiding place, didn't it?"

"You…you perfidious little…!" Quirinius started to snarl, before gasping in pain as a sword pierced through his heart from behind and erupted from his chest. Gasping in shock at the sudden blow, he looked over his shoulder and met the icy blue gaze of Freya glaring back at him.

"Were you a wiser foe, you might have learned to never allow yourself to focus overmuch on a single enemy on the battlefield." the Queen of the Vanir snarled out. "Now, return to nothing, false one!"

With those snarled words, she twisted her blade around and ripped it through Quirinius' body in an explosion of golden ichor. She then leapt back and away as a massive hoof of water slammed down atop the False Heretic God, utterly squashing his body and leaving him as no more than particles of golden dust dancing in the air.

"And thus ends our interloper." Jean stated simply, spinning her trident in one hand before looking down at Freya once more, sea-green eyes practically aglow with power. "Now, where were we?"

Freya grinned ferally as she assumed a new ready stance with her blade. "At your fall, Godslayer!"

Their temporary alliance fulfilled and disbanded, the Campione and Heretic God resumed their previous battle with a renewed vigour.

With Guinevere

In the countless years that had come and gone since she had originally fallen as Goddess and been reborn as a Divine Ancestor, Guinevere had rarely ever been so irritated. She was the Queen of the Divine Ancestors, easily the most powerful of their number to have ever been born and by far the most dignified and radiant of them all. She had ever been devoted to her purpose, to restore the power of her Lord and Master, the King Who Manifests At World's End, and she had pursued that goal with a single-minded determination for ages with her resolution and focus never wavering.

With that being the case, the few times that some entity had managed to earn her ire had always been those who had somehow managed to stymie or stall her efforts to restore her Lord. In the fullness of time, many had attempted to do this, either deliberately or by accident, and few had ever succeeded enough to more than momentarily irk the Lady Guinevere.

Mere mortals had by far been the most numerous of annoyances, by sheer dint of their numbers if nothing else, but they were a problem that was easily and swiftly dealt with by a bit of magic.

Then there were the mages; magicians of various breeds and persuasions that had sought her out for one purpose or another or simply interfered in the fulfilment of her goal for whatever reason. The most annoying ones were those that sough to use her as some form of breeding mare to birth more Hime-Miko or more powerful male mages. Most were no match for her, but occasionally a Paladin or a surprisingly capable Great Knight would prove themselves to be an actual challenge. In those cases, her brave Sir Knight would then step in and 'convince' them to turn their attentions elsewhere.

That, or simply beat them down with a severity depending on how 'dishonourable' their words and actions towards Guinevere had been.

Finally, there were those few that were too powerful for even her Sir Knight to simply overwhelm with force majeure, those that had proven to be the largest and longest-lasting thorns in her side, those who managed to claw their way to a realm of power that she could not even attempt to reach again lest she be discovered. Those malignant annoyances that would seemingly appear out of nowhere, as if the fates themselves were trying to interfere with her goals, or that would seemingly rise up to hunt her from time to time.

The foolish Heretic Gods and the blasted Campione.

Again and again, the rise of the Children of Epimetheus had done naught but cause her delays and misfortune. Most recently, both Black Prince Alex and Kusanagi Godō had acted as major impediments to her goals. Now it was Jean Campbell who was rapidly proving herself to be the most irksome thorn to stab at her sides in centuries.

Why? Why did the world itself seem to move itself so furiously against her and her plans, why did fate itself seem to be determined to deny Guinevere her greatest desire!? Campbell should have been crushed between the forces of the three Heretic Gods that those foul little sorcerers had managed to call down. Even for one as annoyingly persistent as the Usurper of Poseidon, she should have been overwhelmed in short order by sheer weight of numbers alone. But at the exact wrong moment, both Luo Hao (whose arrival she had at least accounted for and was the reason that three Heretic Gods were the minimum she'd insisted to her puppets on being summoned), and Salvatore Doni (who had just appeared out of nowhere! He wasn't even supposed be anywhere NEAR Mongolia at this moment!) had arrived and had agreed to aid their adoptive sibling in battle.

Then there was Freya herself. Guinevere's manipulations had ensured that the leader of the cabal of sorcerers had made us of the strongest of the Norse Grimoires that they had had in their possession, which had originally numbered eight, in order to summon their respective Heretic Gods to deal with the 'threat' of the Campione. The trick that the old man had used to mix Freya's divine essence with that of the Grimoire of the One-Eyed King had not been something she had even considered (and she honestly found the idea a bit…disturbing…if she was being completely honest) but it would have ended up proving all the more fortuitous. Surely it should have been impossible for the Campione to overcome the power of a Goddess of Magic when she was empowered by the Domain of another God of Magic, correct? Especially when the Campione was so far removed from the waters that granted her the use of her most powerful Authorities.

But, evidently, even that was not enough to halt the girl who was quickly proving herself to be one of the most stubborn entities she had encountered in all of her lifetimes. Jean Campbell had displayed a level of skill with her usurped Authorities far beyond what her limited time as a Campione should have allowed her to obtain. Guinevere had been watching the entire battle through the eye of a clairvoyance spell, and the ease and familiarity that the youngest of the Campione showed when she was wielding her [Tríaina] Authority was all but impossible. It spoke of a level of skill and practice that should have taken decades for even one of Pandora's Children to cultivate! Even when Freya had called upon the [Lord of Galdr] Authority that had been held within the Grimoire of the One-Eyed King, it had not managed to tilt the battle into her favour; in fact, a single misused rune had allowed Jean Campbell the opportunity to call forth the full power of her [Master of the Oceans] Authority even while she stood hundreds of miles from the ocean!

And now this! Her False Heretic God, Quirinius, had seemed a perfect choice and a gift from the Grail itself. As a Roman Deity, Quirinius was not only a capable Warrior God, but his very nature should have acted as a counter to both Freya and the vast majority of the Campione's pilfered Authorities. Combined with the fact that his prey had already weakened themselves against each other, and it should have been but a trifle for her newly summoned Shadow to intervene and strike them both down in short order. Only for both to notice her False Heretic God's approach and agree to some form of temporary ceasefire!

That should not have been possible! Heretic Gods and Campione were natural enemies; their very natures should have compelled both of them to not cease their attacks until the other was dead, let alone cooperate for any measure of time!

And yet they had, and Quirinus had fallen without even managing to seriously harm either of his targets.

That was simply the end of Guinevere's patience. The absolute and final straw to fall upon her back.

"Sir Knight, it seems that mine False Heretic God hath fallen." she spoke aloud, attracting Lancelot's attention. "Take thyself to the battlefield with both speed and stealth and be ready to strike down whoever emerges the victor in this bout between Heretic God and Campione. This Guinevere has had enough dealing with such…such absurdity for one night."

"My lady, it would be unseemly in the extreme to strike down the Campione after she had already fought a battle so fiercely." Lancelot protested, even as Guinevere watched with narrowed eyes through her scrying spell as Freya valiantly attempted to slash through the currents of water that rushed at her as she charged closer and closer to the magical construct that served as the Campione's mount.

"Sir Knight, Guinevere understands your reluctance, but Guinevere must nevertheless insist upon this." the Queen of the Divine Ancestors stated firmly and coldly. "Guinevere has put far too much effort into acquiring the Authority of Athena this night, and Guinevere will not allow all that work to go to waste. Guinevere herself dares not trying to approach lest Guinevere risk being detected as well and having both combatants turn their eyes onto her like they did Quirinus, which means that Guinevere will not even be able to harvest the power of the [Earth Mother Goddess] from Freya to feed the Grail. Guinevere has even been forced to soil her hands by associating with foul sorcerers to attain her goal this night, and Guinevere will not retreat without making one last try to gain something from it!"

The frustrations from all of the setbacks and inconveniences that she had suffered this day might have been making her dig her heels in on the matter more stubbornly than she normally would, but Guinevere currently could not be bothered to care. In all of the two thousand odd years of her existence, there had never been such a large impediment to her goals as Jean Campbell was quickly shaping herself into.

"…as you say, Milady. Then this knight no choice but to perform the labour that you have demanded once more." her Knight Protector agreed with a sigh. "But know that if it appears that resistance is too stiff, I shall retreat. And once this day is over, milady, this knight shall require a discussion with thee on the limits of thine demands."

With that, Lancelot vanished from her sights, leaving the Queen of Divine Ancestors feeling more than a bit shaken. In the many, many years of their association, Lancelot had never before shown such outright dissatisfaction or rebellion against her orders before this day. Had she truly pushed the Knight of the Lake too far this day?

'It matters not for now. Guinevere can handle such a thing once the task at hand is done. For now, this Guinevere should at least begin ridding this world of the remnants of the foul sorcerers that dare besmirch it.' the Queen of Divine Ancestors mused as she distracted herself from the possible issues that would come in the future. 'They have done as need and fully fulfilled the role that Guinevere had envisaged for them. There is no point in allowing their existence to continue for any longer. That such living refuse should be burned away at the earliest available opportunity is one of the few things that Guinevere can agree with the mortal Mage Associations and their Campione benefactors about.'

Decision made, the slight girl turned and began to make her way toward the hideout where the she knew the remaining sorcerers were biding their time with confidence and determination guarding her steps. After all, there was no way that Lancelot could fail at this task…

…right?

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Next Chapter: The Burden of Authority

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