The sky was an azure blue color, a sky from which no cloud dared to appear to disturb this tranquility. It was quite rare for the weather to be so mild above the town of Tiegenhoff, which is located on the border between the Empire on one side and the Russian Federation on the other.

Only certain plumes of smoke as well as violent howls came to disturb this tranquility. On the ground, this tranquility was only a utopia. Large clouds of dust crossed the plains as well as the urban crown of the city according to the goodwill of the wind. Gigantic smoking craters had formed over time, whether in the fields, on the surrounding hills, around or in the middle of the city, creating for some a temporary shelter against bullets, and for others, the place where they would rest for eternity.

The buildings were partially or completely destroyed. Only a few buildings have been able to resist the events by who knows what miracle. But the various battles that took place there would certainly leave many scars, whether on the infrastructure or also in people's minds.

The ground was littered with the dead bodies of Federation and Imperial soldiers. Everywhere as far as the eye could see, several corpses were there, sometimes creating mounds of bodies. We couldn't count them all, there were so many of them. So much so that it seemed possible to fill a dozen large buildings like the Reichstag to the ceiling. Sometimes you could even make out large pools of blood here and there. If this wasn't Hell, it must have looked very much like it.

On both sides of the outskirts of the city, fighting raged, it had been about fifty days that the situation persisted for the control of Tiegenhoff. This city was not known for its climate, nor even for its gastronomy, nor even for potential resources. The interest there was purely strategic. To hold Tiegenhoff was to hold one of the greatest railway centers in the east. Its control made it possible to manage all the logistics as well as the supply of food, ammunition, and soldiers. This is a neuralgic point that must be kept/taken back at any cost.

Tanya understood this very quickly, she and her squad had been mobilized from the start of the conflict to defend the site. The first few days were grueling and very deadly. The Federation attacks continued, company after company, battalion after battalion, soldier after soldier. The waves were relentless. The Empire was resisting as best it could, it did not have the same human resources as the Federation, however, it made up for this lack of men with an important technological advance and its few regiments of flying mages.

Tanya and her battalion were above the last bridge still standing giving access to the southern part of the city. The orders were clear, defend this bridge no matter what. It was not the main front, sometimes a few Federation tanks tried to force their way through, but they were quickly pushed back by the armor-piercing shots of the mages.

After the last shots, a great calm took over. The silence lasted only a while until a complaint coming from one of the subordinates reached her.

Grantz: "ARRR, Commander, nothing is happening, we should be in the North to help our allies but instead we are here playing guard on this bridge which threatens to collapse at any moment. Shouldn't we destroy it instead? That way the enemy could no longer pass..".

Tanya didn't even bother to turn to her subordinate. But by the tone of her voice, one could guess a certain annoyance.

Tanya: "Second Lieutenant Grantz, I don't remember consulting you regarding the strategy in place. Orders are orders! If at the top they believe that this bridge must remain standing, it means that they must already be thinking about the next step.

The military is an organization that can be compared to a huge complex clock with a huge cog system. All it takes is one defective element, and the whole machine stops.

So as a soldier, you listen and carry out the orders given to you. If one day you become Chief of Staff, then it will be different. But meanwhile…"

She let her sentence hang and turned to her battalion.

Tanya: "Take advantage of this chance that the command gives us to breathe a little. The past few weeks have been grueling."

The soldiers of the 203rd Mages Battalion looked at each other and all nodded.

It was true that they were all exhausted, washed out, looking more like the living dead than men, it was so difficult for them to stay fully awake. This was especially for Tanya who was the Empire's only Elenium 95 user.

A jewel of technology allowing feats that only mage has been able to achieve now.

A miracle? Certainly not! Tanya considered this item to be a cursed item given by her enemy Being X.

In addition to exhausting her much faster than the Elenium 97 in her entire battalion, the latter had an impact on Tanya's mental health, making her forget certain past events and forcing her to give thanks to this impostor who pretended to be God.

"I'm going to have to restrict the use of this Trojan…but recent events have caused me to overuse it. I don't know how many times I wanted to bite my tongue to stop myself from spouting this whole bunch of bullshit. Satan's other henchman must be rubbing his hands well now…"

She remembered the causes of the last events. A few days earlier, mages from an unknown nation had intervened during the fight. Making the course of battle much more complex.

The air supports the mages provided to the ground troops had been cut off when the ground troops desperately needed it. The jammers broadcast by the troop of enemy mages prevented all communication between platoon members and HQ, preventing the call of any available reinforcements, and making maneuvers much more complicated to set up without organization.

But the greatest threat was elsewhere… Among the enemy battalion deployed, was a young girl whom Tanya did not recognize. However, she had developed an unparalleled hatred towards Tanya.

The mana pool she could use was insane and the spells deployed were deadly and devastating. The city still bore the traces of their previous confrontation, ranging from the trench dug over 2 km to the church tower split in two.

The fight had ended in hand-to-hand combat in the heart of the church in front of a statue of presumably Being X. The physical advantage was clearly for Tanya's opponent. She might be a brilliant officer, an air combat ace, an outstanding leader… She is still just a little girl with the physical strength that comes with it. Although Tanya could strengthen her body with magic, it was not permanent and tended to tire the host's body if the use of this spell was continuous.

Tanya had waited for the right opportunity to fire 5 rounds of her trusty Luger directly into her body.

It was when she had approached her adversary dying in front of the statue of the so-called God whom she despised so much, that an enemy soldier, probably her superior, had come to save her at the very last moment from summary execution by passing through the stained glass window of the church and escaping through where he had entered.

(Tanya) I wonder if that crazy girl survived her injuries. I'm pretty sure I lodged a bullet in her heart. If she survives, I wonder how our...

Suddenly, Tanya was pulled from her thoughts by a warning from her assistant positioned behind her.

Visha: Attention strong magic energy detected, prepare for impa...

Visha had no time to finish her sentence that the impact was already confirmed on his battalion. The magic signature came from above them. It was the mage she had faced a few days before and who had nearly cost her life.

Tanya: "She's still alive?! Despite all the injuries she had received! Damn Being X, I hate you deeply.

Tanya did not take the time to look behind her to see the damage in her ranks so she began to activate her Elenium 95.

Tanya: My protective God, may I be surrounded by your wall of fire and your divine hedge of protection. I declare that no matter what the enemy does against me, it will fail. Amen."

Tanya threw herself on her enemy with great speed as soon as the prayer was over. The blade of her bayonet glowed a jade color. Tanya concentrated a massive amount of magic into her blade so she could try to neutralize it with one killer blow.

However, Mary Sue narrowly dodged the blade as it passed beneath Tanya.

Being behind her, Mary Sue took advantage of the micro-opening to cast several piercing spells to bring down what she considered to be the devil.

A more than predictable action, once Tanya had overtaken her opponent, she had already begun to perform various evasive maneuvers, in particular thanks to different lures as well as several zigzags through the frame of the bridge.

It worked, her opponent couldn't land a single blow on her. During her slaloms between the different iron bars, the steel cables… Tanya took care to prepare several lures hidden in the darkest corners of the bridge.

Tanya: "Being X may have given you the power of several nuclear power plants… You will never have the experience that I will have acquired during these last years!"

When Mary Sue arrived below deck again, she saw that the demon had multiplied.

Mary: "If you sincerely believe that this kind of deception is going to work with me you filthy demon then you are very seriously mistaken !"

However, to her amazement, she saw the lures begin to move to take aim at her and charge a large-scale explosion spell. She had never seen this in training, her trainers had never mentioned the use of lures in this way.

Mary: "Anyway it just lures, the illusion will break as soon as it comes into contact with my magic shield. I'm going to max out all the power in the direction of the decoys, to necessarily intercept the real shot in stride."

Once her strategy was worked out, she applied it directly to avoid additional injuries. Moreover, it would not be wise to reopen the wounds that her lord had taken care to heal as best as the limits of the human body allowed him.

But to her surprise, no impact was felt.

She no longer had it in sight, the decoys had already all disappeared. But the magic signature of the demon was still there... very close... Beneath her!

But too late, Mary had just enough time to step back about ten centimeters when Tanya, who was hidden under the water, threw herself on her, knife in hand. Mary's quick reaction staved off a fatal attack, however, she felt a sharp pain in her upper arm.

The blonde girl had managed to plant her knife directly in her arm, starting from the elbow, and arriving at her shoulder. A huge amount of blood spurted from her arm and splattered the uniform filled with dirt, dust and sweat.

The pain was such that she felt as though her arm was being burned with a hot iron for more than ten minutes. She retreated from the fray to get away from Tanya and try to cast different healing spells. Without success, Tanya continued to strafe her with the SIG MKMS that she had stolen from her family, her father…

Mary: "Lord, you have to make this demon pay, please give me strength, I can't do it alone…"

Mary said these words in tears because several memories of her father came back to her mind, while her magic shield was pierced through.

Some bullets managed to get lodged in his limbs, generating more and more pain…. It was the end…

Then suddenly, a warm light appeared in front of her eyes, and the voice of the lord rang in her head.

Being X: Go my child, I gave you enough energy for a grand finale, it's time for you to fulfill your destiny and save this world from this infernal brood.

Tanya continued to empty her magazine on this fanatic, she couldn't understand how a human being could lose all his rationality for belief in simple imposters. Finally, it no longer concerned her, the fight was coming to an end.

It was then that a huge spike of magic emerged from the body of her nemesis.

Tanya had never seen such an amount of magic in a human being, or even in the world.

Mary's eyes were completely golden, she wasn't even trying to protect herself from the bullets anymore. A real berserk. Then after a few seconds, Mary threw herself on Tanya and clung to her. The energy was increasing exponentially. She immediately understood Mary's intentions, she intended to blow herself up with her.

"LEAVE ME POOR DEGENERATE !" Tanya cried in despair as she stabbed the irrational madwoman.

Mary: "Dad, I avenged you…"

Tanya: NOOOOO!

After a few seconds, Mary's Compute Jewel cracked and melted. Tanya closed her eyes knowing she had lost. But nothing happened. Time had frozen all around Tanya, no more sound of shells, no more gunshots or cries of pain from wounded soldiers dying in the mud. The only thing that moved was Mary's body, which was falling apart.

"Checkmate," said Being X through Mary, you failed to honor your pledge to die a natural death. Once the resumption of events, you will be brought into nothingness or everyone will forget you. This is the tragic fate of those who have no faith in their creator.

"It's a set-up! A scam! A deception!" retorted Tanya, shouting, "you intervened several times during my passage through this world to put a spoke in my wheels because you have seen that human beings do not need a pseudo-God to direct their lives! You only confirmed my arguments by intervening as you did!

So what? answered Being X, you are going to be forgotten anyway… Nothing can go against my divine will

Tanya: "Go to hell!"

Being X: "Farewell"

"A moment" interrupted an almost coaxing female voice.

Tanya saw Being X freeze before answering "Supreme Goddess" what is your holy visit worth to me?

"Nothing can go against your will? "Emphasizing Being X's last words "Are you sure?" asked the new individual. The young girl began to look for the new speaker but without success. Only the sound of her voice betrayed her presence.

You are a special case Supreme Goddess taken over Being X, I could never pretend to be above you or disobey your holy rules.

Listening to the conversation, Tanya immediately understood the situation and let out a laugh bordering on demonic.

Tanya: "So like that, his lordship Being X is nothing more or less than a minion" still giggling.

Silence! scolded Being X, "it is time for you to find your true place". With these words, he snapped his fingers as if to set up his sentence, but nothing happened.

What's going on? wondered Being X.

It won't turn out that way, answered the Supreme Goddess who finally showed up, but not as Tanya would have imagined. A large halo of light suddenly appeared beside them. "You will be the one who will be condemned to nothingness!"

"Excuse me Supreme Goddess? you mean the demon?" wondered Being X

"No, you heard very well," she answered in a cold tone. "You will go into nothingness in her place. As you were able to so rightly point out earlier, I am above everything, and my rules are there for a good reason. I had absolutely forbidden anyone to intervene in the mortal world under penalty of heavy repercussions.

"But I did all this to make sure to punish this demon who categorically refuses to believe in divine power, in your power! It is this demon who..." He barely had time to finish his sentence when all traces in the body of Mary disappeared…

"Good riddance," Tanya breathed, glad that she could now live a peaceful life without that psychopathic stalker in the coattails.

Supreme Goddess: "Wait, JyaviI may have broken the rules, but he was right about one thing. We created you, gave you a conscience, a free will. The mere existence of individuals like you, denying our existence and our goodness, tends to horrify me. His struggle with you was fair to me even though I don't approve of the method. I cannot conceive that your species no longer have faith in divine power…"

Tanya: "I already explained to him the reasons why….''

"Silence !" ordered the Supreme Goddess.

The pressure that the latter exerted even without having any physical body in this world was significantly greater than that of Being X.

"We will resume this clash without any divine intervention this time. But don't expect it to be any easier than last time. The conditions will be the same as before, however, if you were to die again, your very existence would be erased, it would be as if you had never existed. Farewell !"

With these words, all traces of the Supreme Goddess disappeared.

Tanya had no time to protest as time in the mortal world resumed. And inevitably what had to happen happened. The human bomb that was still attached to her exploded taking away Tanya and Mary Sue.

Then, nothing, no more sound, no more the slightest smell… Complete darkness.

Tanya started to panic: I got scammed! How can you consider that fair? You are all the same! Tanya cursed.