The age of recovery had ended, and it was all because of a pointless grudge. A grudge held by the moronic and blindly faithful to their horribly flawed gods. This era of war was their fault, they brought it upon themselves, and everyone else. And for such a grand scheme, they suffered relatively little by comparison, at least, that was until now… Robel wasn't taking any of their shit laying down.
And so, a country full of warriors, a nation clad in the single identity of survival against all odds. One that had been forged by the hell they'd fought through day after day for a hundred years, had unleashed a force of their own. A powerful fleet of 50 naval vessels sailed along the shores of the Slane Theocracy, they bombarded everyone, and everything that moved. Villages demolished in a matter of minutes. Outposts obliterated with extreme prejudice. And powerful foes vanquished with the combined might of stacked buffs, blessings from their goddess.
On the ship, near a port city, a paladin wielding two blades, yet carrying four, held up his pose, and took a breath… "This is a holy war! You've done harm to our people, and to our goddess! We shall fight until you surrender, and buckle underneath our goddess' might!" He paused. "UNDER DIVINE FLAG!"
A terrified commander of the Slane Theocracy's outpost widened his eyes. He knew what would be said next, he was preparing for the inevitability. "Report this to the higher ups. We need one of the scriptures and now!"
The paladin grit his teeth. "It is you who worship the demon… And not just one, but five of them! Demon worshipers, repent your sins!"
"OH YEAH! SAYS THE DEMON WORSHIPER!" A random archer shouted, firing off an arrow. His anger turned to fear the moment his arrow was countered, and reflected back to him cutting his cheek. "OWWW!"
"As I said, talk is pointless now. You've chosen your fate, and instead of choosing her mercy, you choose death."
…
The Sunlit Scripture arrived on the scene to see nothing left of the city but rubble, corpses, and then the military force that had seemingly occupied it. Though before engaging in any combat, they realized something, something terrible. The dead were all worshipers of the 6 great gods, aside for one. And there were actually quite a large number of residents still alive.
"HOW DARE YOU KILL OUR PEOPLE-"
"SHUT YOUR YAPPING!!! Our people were killed because of your nation's direct interference. This is our, and our goddess' response." A low ranking commander on guard, bellowed, and prepared for battle. She was furious, livid. A blood feud, fueled rage erupted from within her. My sister died that day! Fuck these fascist pigs.
"Why you!" The Sunlit's captain grit his teeth. "You're not worthy of life! I shall take it from you, for it is the will of my gods!"
A fight ensued between the sunlit scripture, and Robel Holy Kingdom's naval forces. The sunlit scripture's captain was in a league all his own. He was strong, incredibly so. It took everything the Robel warrior had in her to barely keep herself from dying. While this went on, the other scripture members engaged in combat against the other guards.
The elite in the naval forces had used most of their abilities and were now resting, and reorganizing their forces to escort their goddess' faithful that had been trapped in enemy territory, to a safe place…
"Shit, if we bring them back to our kingdom, we'll run out of provisions before we arrive. And fish isn't exactly the best food either."
The Paladin captain in charge thought… Maybe we should leave them here? No! Stupid! A pain went through his body, mind and soul at the thought of abandoning his goddess' Faithful. "What should we do?"
The naval captain carefully analyzed the results of the journey thus far, the provisions they had, and considered numerous options, before landing squarely on a single one. "We sail for the elven country… It's a little bit closer than if we head back home right away."
"Plus, this land we've demolished, picking up her exalted self's people along the way, is likely never going to be in the Slane Theocracy's grasp again. Those Demi Humans will expand into it."
"I see, so that's what this is about? Giving them a taste of their own medicine."
"Indeed, let us continue along the coast, liberating any and all of our people living under oppression. If everything works out well, the elves may yet still have a way to contact our goddess. Perhaps, even if only a slim chance exists… We should try it, and while we're at it, let's solidify the alliance with them."
"Good idea… I had wondered why we bothered to bring our queen out to some place so dangerous."
"Speaking of, where is she exactly?"
"Oh, uh, she went to play soldier a little bit ago."
"Shit!"
The Paladin and a few others who'd received nods got up and moved immediately. Clearing the distance in a matter of a minute. They saw a woman fighting back against a rather powerful opponent, she was obviously losing, but even so, she still did everything she could to fight her opponent, and aid in tripping up the enemy for her allies.
"Damn, what a woman."
"Hey, that's our queen, watch it."
"All I'm saying is, his Majesty definitely got lucky."
The Paladin was far less calm. "If I remember correctly… How many days has it been… Shit…" He fired forward using a skill, and took the enemy from the queen. "HOW DARE YOU ATTACK OUR QUEEN! HOLY JUDGMENT!"
In what looked like a horrifying light for the sunlit scripture's captain, was little more than a dull blade to those from the Robel Holy Kingdom. The blade came down with a mighty slash, the wind whistling as it did.
Coughing up blood… "What, the… Ack, fuck was… Tha…" The sunlit scripture's captain fell dead.
"A move unique to us paladins. Feel honored- the little that a demon worshiper like you can- and know that, this power comes directly from our goddess. You were slain, not by my hand, but by the hand of our goddess. She's judged your actions to be evil, and thus you were slain for it." He said, sheathing his blade, and the rest of the scripture fell. "Majesty, please don't do something so dangerous again. His majesty would go ballistic if you didn't come home."
"I know, but it'd been so long since I got a good fight in. He was a little stronger than me, but not by the same amount as those demi-humans… This war feels like we're beating on the helpless."
"They still have their god kin. So we can't get complacent-"
"That's right, you certainly shouldn't." A calm yet terrifying voice came from the sky.