Storming the Palace

“There it is” you say, coming into sight of the Governors’ palace. It was a large construction, a compound with a tall, rectangular building atop a set of stone stairs serving as the entrance. Past it was the courtyard while around the sides, various buildings made up the compounds’ walls.

Your legionnaires formed up behind you in neat and ordered rows, while behind them the militia pikes stood in their loose formation, ready to charge forward.

“Bring out the Governor” you command to the cluster of troops standing at the top of the stairs. Unlike the Franks you had fought in the streets, these men were all uniformly armed in maille, and wielding what looked like painted over Roman shields.

“Make us!” one of the enemy soldiers shot back, immediately getting jostled by his comrades, alarmed as they realised he had just doomed them all.

“Crossbows!” you order, and two neat, ordered lines of crossbows appeared on either side of you, the first rank kneeling so the second rank can fire over their heads. “Loose” you command and you see the widening eyes of the soldiers on the stairs as a hundred sharp rattles echoes through the town square, bolts flying towards their targets. Grunts and cries of pain are heard as the bolts slammed into the enemy formation. While their oval shields protected many of them from being hit, several still found marks. “Pikes, Charge!” you order, your legionnaires neatly stepping out of the way as the pike militia let forth a battlecry and charged. They may not have been trained very well, but their long pikes and their newly acquired zeal would do the job.

You are about to order your soldiers to flank the enemy when you notice that the enemy had begun throwing down their weapons. It seems being heavily outnumbered and unable to move broke their resolve. With the first few enemies breaking, the rest were swept up in a sort of chain rout, throwing their weapons and shields to the ground and sticking their hands in the air.

“Have the militia detain them and form a guard around the entrance” you tell Strabo before marching forward “Then meet us in the courtyard” you call over your shoulder. The nodded before turning to bark orders at the militiamen who snapped to and gleefully began collecting weapons.

You and your legionnaires press on, entering the courtyard with no resistance.

“Fan out and search the buildings, go by unit” you order and your troops break up into their contubernium and charge off to search the buildings.

“You didn’t wait for me?” Artemis asked, suddenly appearing by your side.

“Knew you’d catch up” you replied. “Waiting for Strabo now, but I’m wondering if we should advance alone” you say and Artemis looks at you.

“You feel it too?” she asks and you nod in reply.

“The militia are holding their ground and keeping the prisoners detained” Strabo reported, jogging to catch up. “Something wrong?” he asked. Just as he asked that, a man walked out of what was probably the Governor’s office. A spear in one hand, a sword at his waist and clad in golden hoplite armour, with a Roman style corinthian helmet protecting his head. You pull your sword out even as Artemis gasps in surprise.

“Mars!” the girl called, making to run up to him. You catch the goddess by the cloak before she takes more than a step. “Let me go! That’s Mars! He’s on our side!” she called out, trying to free herself from your grasp.

Meanwhile, Mars continued to stalk towards you, muscles coiled and ready for a fight as he observed you. His gaze flicked over Artemis dismissively and then to Strabo before turning back to you, seemingly deciding you are the greatest threat.

“Something’s wrong Art” you say, letting go of Artemis and settling into a fighting stance, side stepping away from the silver goddess.

“Mars! It’s me! Artemis!” Art called out, her voice running a gauntlet of emotions before settling on fear.

“Heathens shall be purged” Mars rumbled, before a pair of brilliant white wings snapped open behind him.

“Well, shit” you say while Artemis uttered a mere squeak, shivering slightly. Mars flicked another look at Art before turning to face you fully and launching himself at you, spear point gleaming in the sunlight as he flew towards you. You parry the weapon out of the way and present your shoulder to the charging angel, taking his charge without budging and sweeping your sword across his stomach. Unlike with regular mortal armour, your impossibly sharp sword didn’t cut all the way through the man’s golden plate, but it was enough to **** him to leap backwards. Mars flipped his spear into an overhead grip and thrust it downwards towards you at speeds no man should be able to obtain. Upgrading your reaction time exponentially, you parry the blow, causing Mars to yank his spear back and thrust at you again and again at rapid speed. On the fifth thrust, you grab his spear, increasing your strength with your god power until the weapon shatters in your grasp.

Mars grunted as he stepped back, pulling his sword from its sheath and settling into a fighting stance of his own. Just then an arrow slammed into his shoulder and the man groaned, looking at the wound, and the golden ichor streaming from around the arrow now lodged in him. Both you and Mars looked over to Artemis, tears running down her cheeks as she knocked another arrow.

“This isn’t over heathen” Mars told you, before a mighty flap of his wings launched him into the sky.

“What, who, but he . . . huh” Artemis stammered, falling to her knees.

“He’s been brainwashed” you mutter.

“Damn, I was hoping he’d deal with you” Came an annoyingly familiar voice from behind you. You turn around and see Julian, with what looked like a couple hundred men clad in a hodgepodge of maille and padded armour, swords and spears at the ready.

“Now is not a good time for your betrayal Julian” you growl before turning back to Artemis.

“Ah ah aaah!” Julian noised, a spear landing between the two of you. You turn back to the man who now held a very smug and triumphant grin on his face, his sword pointing at you. “None of that now” he told you, unable to keep the jubilation off his face.

“Julian, hear me, stop this” Strabo grunted, sheathing his sword.

“I’d really rather you drop that weapon, not put it away” Julian replied, seemingly ignoring Strabo’s words.

“Stop this, this is truly a bad time” Strabo said again. You suck in a deep breath, hands trembling in anger.

“What’s he gonna do? Smite me?” Julian mocked before laughing at his own supposedly absurd comment. You started with his men first, beams of sunlight strike each man, vaporizing them in an anguished scream. Julian stopped mid laugh to look around at the piles of steaming innards and forgotten weapons that were once his band of men.

“Yes” you say and Julian’s eyes snapped to you before clenching shut again. You vapourized him too before turning back to Artemis. You walk up to her and drop to your knees beside her, wrapping an arm around her as she muttered.

“Him, angel but he . . .” she began “brainwashed” she said, you are about to agree with her when suddenly you are on your back, Artemis on her feet, a wild look in her eyes and her sword inches from your throat. “YOU!!!” she screamed “YOU TELL ME EVERYTHING AND YOU TELL ME NOW!!!!” you look at the girl, fresh tears trailing down her cheeks.

“Strabo, go check on the militia, and then see to our forces” you call out before turning back to Artemis. “Let’s have this conversation somewhere more comfortable” you say before flexing your god power and teleporting the both of you to a nice comfy lounge you just created. Artemis looked around, her sword falling to her side and allowing you to get up. “Take a seat and then ask” you say, putting yourself into a lounge chair you had spawned. Artemis slumped into a chair of her own, a tired look in her eyes.

“Who are you, what are you and what do you know about the enemy?” she asked, not looking at you.

“I like the name I introduced myself with” you say “I’m . . . a god I suppose” you continue “And I know he got his power from the same place I got mine” you finish. Artemis’ attention snapped to you, her eyes boring into you. “There’s an entity more powerful than you and me, God with a capital G” you explain. “The maker of all things, the master of all things” you add “He got bored and decided to give similar powers to random people, Jesus Christ was the first, I am the second” you tell the girl. Artemis took a deep breath before looking at you.

“So what? You’re all powerful?” she asked and you shake your head.

“Not quite, there are rules I need to follow” You tell her.

“That age limit thing?” she asked, her head cocking to the side.

“Among others” you reply.

“What happens if you don’t follow the rules?” She asked with a frown.

“The entire world gets deleted with me in it” you reply “But enough about that” you say.

“What did they do to Mars?” Artemis asked, stroking her sword.

“Brainwashed him looks like, angelified, bad way to go” you say, spawning a cup of coffee and sipping it. You suddenly realised that it would be rather simple to grow the bean somewhere in Africa and have it shipped to Tarentum. You resolve to talk with Cattleya about it later.

“You can fix it though right?” Artemis asked “You have the same power as the enemy! You can undo what he’s done!” she said enthusiastically.

“I don’t know if I can override his power” You say and Artemis deflated “I will certainly try next time we meet him but . . .” you say, trailing off.

“I’m sorry” Artemis whispered “I . . . it’s just” she tried, you sighed and walked over to her, wrapping her up in a hug. The goddess screwed her eyes shut against the impending tears and returned the hug.