No mortal kill a God.

  Never happened. Never will.

  - A Saying Among Divines

  Fer watched as Atis strode to the tre of the room. Even the greatest minotaur and darkfur backed away from him. God of the Hunt, a natural antithesis to beastmen, a predator who made predators prey. He wore the diviher from the Great War, the boar spear in his hand was used to hunt dragons. His eyes scoured over the beastmen aook a sigh.

  “Today Fer, we finally end our chase!” The spear poio her. Fer wao run away. She wao flee and scamper, to crawl into a den and bury her head. She could not. She had a pack to protect. This was her family, she would sooner die thahem watch her flee. “Goddess of Beasthood! Like the olden days! A duel!”

  Fer stood up and took a step forwards. The dozen or so minutes of rest weren’t a total recovery, but they were enough. They had to be at this point anyway. The three children Anassa sent stepped behind the ranks of beastmen, their heartstones glittering.

  Fer took aep forwards, dropped to her fours, and howled. Her pack howled too and Atis burst out in ughter. “LIKE THE OLDEN DAYS!” Every muscle in her body twisted, every vein popped, her cws grew long, her teeth into fangs and she became a wolf poung for the kill.

  Tooth and cw tore through cloth and flesh. Bde and magic tore through fur and muscle. The beastmen were a ered rat, all grad sense of self preservation was washed away under a flood of savagery and pure bloodlust mentality. Fer felt the strings of sorcery that Anassa’s little students pyed with make their move.

  Explosions and fire and scythes of wind tore through the ranks of cultivators, but for every member they lost, another of her pack fell to the sound of a death howl. More explosi out from st time. Closer this time, rapid too. Even if they survived now, the castle would colpse on them. Fer took a deep breath as Atis knocked her away and adopted a fighting stance.

  Behind him, twenty men burned up in an explosion, the work of Anassa’s students. A beastman lit in two by a dang give, another frozen after being pierced by a magic sword. Fer grabbed Atis’ spear thrust, they both twisted, he was stronger. It slipped out of her hands and cut her palms.

  She pou him again. He dodged, spun, it was masterful footwork, the spear flicked up and aimed at her chest. Fer twisted in mid-air and narrowly avoided the blow, a si y on the back of Atis’ hand. He took a step back, shook the blood off and smiled at her. “Excellent, you are worthy of your title, Goddess of Beasthood.”

  Fer merely s the words. Her vision became red, her muscles teo almost rupturing, and she unched herself at Atis. The spear came up, she feiowards it, sidestepped and swiped at Atis’ chest. The God of the Hunt took a step bad the butt of the spear smacked Fer’s head as her cws swiped at his armour.

  A scratch for a cussion.

  Fer saw the battle. Anassa’s three were still there, the shirl was flig her fi ining bdes. They simply got crushed into balls and dropped to the floor. The other two were slinging spell after spell into the cultivators. Beast still tore into man, but numbers on both sides were dropping down. Not from the outside, those sharp explosions were ever closer to the throne room. Fer smiled, she hoped the Guguoans would bury Atis in here along with her.

  She unched herself at the God again. Divine against Divine, cw met spear, tooth met armour. She left a scrat his cheek. His spear finally got her. The long bde slice her calves. She jumped backwards a Atis’ boot in his chest. It sent her flying across the throne room, sliding across the floor leaving a trail off blood until her back finally smmed against the steps leading up to the King’s seat. She howled in pain as Atis flicked the blood of his spear. “That was a good showing, Goddess.” He took a step as Fer felt fear make her red eyes gre and begging. “Bu-“

  Atis voice was cut off by a roar. A beast of Fer, but not one belonging to her back had dived from the ceiling onto him. She khe man immediately, it was one of hers, a pureblood. Beast born of Sorcery, Anassa’s student, the st one. A werewolf. Fer smiled to herself as she tried to lift a hand.

  Fire spewed from the werewolf’s mouth as it bit into Atis’ shoulder. Its fur began to ighe God merely swatted it away in an instant. The werewolf was unched against the wall and slowly began to transform bato a human. “LYCA!” Eliza screamed.

  The fire on Atis’ armour would not go out. “Anassa’s sorcery.” Atis said to himself as he calmly took off his leather, patted the meagre fmes on his white shirt away and kicked the chest-piece away. He turo the child who had burned him. “Boy, do not py games. There are ways to heal your curse, it is not your fault if you’ve been tricked.” He looked to Anassa’s other students. “You too. Lower your ons, the Guguoans will not kill you and you be fiven, falling to Anassa’s temptations is not a crime.” They looked to themselves, then to Fer.

  The Goddess merely smiled at them. They weren’t important, it was the fact her sister was stilling looking out for her. “Go.” Fer said, her voice weak. “Do not e back. We are Gods.”

  “No mortal kill a God.” Atis said.

  “Never happened.” Fer added to the saying.

  “Never will.” Atis fi. He took a step towards Fer, she was ready to embrace Death. She had cheated it too many times already. Those explosions finally stopped. The Guguoans were ready t the whole fort down anyway. “It leasure, Goddess of the Hunt. I will wait for your -“

  “FIRE!” Explosi out. “FIRE!” More explosions. Atis’ face lost its fidence as he touched his chest. “FIRE AGAIN!” Blood stained his shirt. “FIRE AND KEEP FIRING! RELOAD AND FIRE! FIRE UNTIL YOU HAVE NOTHI!” Atis took aep and his leg gave out. More explosions, so rapidly it was if the caster had turned iis’ eyes went bnk as he turned his head. One more step and he fell onto his knees. “ONE MORE VOLLEY!” Another set of bsts and explosions. Fer reised the voice, she simply could not believe it. “AND ANOTHER! FOOD MEASURE!” Another set of explosions echoed throughout the room. “HOLD!”

  Fer used all her strength to push herself up and look passed Atis’ body. There he was. An elf iher boots, one hand on the sword on his hip. In a long fur coat, with bright green eyes and noble golden hair. A face so proud the man looked as if he did nret a single moment in his life, a smile that beamed simple joy. To each side of him, a line of fifteen men y on the ground. Then another kneeling. A set slightly lowered and another fifteen standing tall. All of them were holding something Fer had never seen before.

  The elf in the tre stepped forwards and Fer wao cry; Iliyal Tremali, General of Eighth Army a thousand years ago. “GENTLEMEN! BE HAPPY AND BE PROUD!” He stopped after a step, his smile ecstatid turned around to face the men.

  “WE HAVE JUST KILLED A GOD!”

  - - End of Arc 1: The Greatest Hunt - -