Many before have already written about how a defence is needless, because a good offence will remove the o defend. That is true, if you force your oppos to defend, they will not attack you. This is a good philosophy to hold, yet it be extended into farce. The only person I know who does not o even give mind to defence is Olephia, and that is because there is no one in their right mind who would attack her.

  I do not sider there to be a differeween a “school of offence” and a “school of defence”, both are merely different aspects of war. In the same a student o have talent in literature and mathematics to graduate, I have sider both as my speciality.

  Excerpt from “The Philosophy of War”, written by Goddess Kassandora, of War

  Kassandora looked over the port of Nanbasa as she sighed. Uriamel would e from the o, that she khey had a massive produ capacity, as they did ba the Great War, that she khe people of that nd could breathe in both air and in water, that she knew. And that was all she khere was nothing else which she could say, everything else would be merely specution or jecture. Would they have ships? Or would they swim? Would animals carry them? There was another issue with fighting Uriamel. Back then, they had merely served as the manufacturing base for the White Pantheon. To ter what the Dwarves could produce. Kassandora had not actually seem them field an army, even though she khey were capable of one. Uriamel would e from the o, and that was all she knew.

  Kassandora sighed as she straightened her back. The wind carried her crimson hair like a cape, and she pulled her bck coat close around her. Iliyal was behind her, as were the generals Sokolowski, Zalewski and Ekkerson. The three humans, although all four were teically the same rank, Iliyal led them simply by virtue of his seniority. Such hierarchies were impossible to tain, so there was no point to even try and fight against their natural formations.

  So Kassandora looked out over the ports. They could be fortified. In fact, would on them would start today. That was a blessing the knew maery gave her. There was o build tall walls to stop the mass of men armed with melee, not when a single squad armed with mae guns could mow down as many as ammunition allowed for. If she put up walls now, then all they would do is serve as a shield for her oppos. “How long do you think we’ll have?” Kassandora asked. She khe answer already, she was simply killing time as her mind finished formulising the pn. If they survived here, then she could actually start w about Epa. Arascus had said that was his side of the war until she would be able to take over.

  “It could be today, it could be a year from now.” Iliyal said. “Anything else is purely specution.”

  “Whie would you bet on?” Kassandora asked, personally, she was expeg Uriamel forces to suddenly start crossing the horizon any moment now.

  “Today.” Iliyal replied ftly. “Uhe logic that Alsaria has been gone for so long, the most effit route for her to take would be Uriamel, then Pichqasuyu, then Anktyda, theurn to the Pantheon. I would say they’ve been preparing for the past eleven months.”

  “I see absolutely no reason to disagree with that.” Kassandora said idly as one of the giant tainer ships blew its massive horn. It started to slowly pull up its anchor, a massive of steel, each link as wide as Kassandora was tall. The es began to turn away, one of the bridges disected, men began calmly walking away as they worked and trucks and forklifts swarmed past them to the ship. That steel colossus was already waiting. “This is what we’ll do.” She took a deep breath, and prepared to list off all the ways to prepare. “Firstly, the Recmation War will be put on the backburner, we will tell the public that reparing for a naval invasion, but we’ll keep on burning the Jungle.”

  Helenna recalled the script-points Kassandora had givehey would tihe war, but it would slow down as they would also start preparing defences on the coast. That seemed easy enough.

  Kassandora tinued. “The further we mao push it, the more of a time buffer we have in Uriamel’s invasion. The Jungle ot be allowed to recim the new resource extra sights, nor cut them off logistically.” So actually, now that she thought, they should push the Lemurs further.

  Jeffrey wiped his brow as his team worked on this Lemur. He had been happy at first, when he heard that the Binturongs were being transferred off the front and towards coastal defence. And then he realised that the work schedule had only increased. They had a tenth less guns than the week before, and they were burning twice as much Jungle.

  He looked at that marvellous co of pipes and tanks that made up an engine. He grabbed a spanner, wedged it under a thick rubber tube, aly lifted it. He pined about these vehicles a lot, but during the night of celebration after the White Pantheon had beeed, Fer had led them to ihe various cars that the civilians had e in.

  The Lemur could break, the Lemur was not pretty, the Lemur was loud, the Lemur was slow but if there was ohing that Jeffrey appreciated in a was hoy, and the Lemur was ho. The oil tank needed repg and the tubes re-attag, that was it.

  Kassandora looked out over the deep blue o in the dista icturesque blue in the sunlight, with dozens of heavy tankers and tainer ships waiting to enter Nanbasa’s port. “We’re approag hard terrain in the Jungle, aren’t we?” She khe answer already. Sokolowski stepped in to reply.

  “WATCH OUT!” Sergeant Janek shouted as he jumped back. Something this happened with the ash. It would sprinkle and build up over riverbeds, or over holes, ravines were the worst. One moment, a man would be treading through the ash as he pathed out a way for the wheeled Lemurs, the , he would be gone. Swallowed by it. It was rough pushing, and the fact the terrain here got more mountainous only slowed it down further. Kassandora apparently wahese nds, they were ri iron.

  “We start flying daily sorties with KAF.” Kassandora said. “Mount cameras on the undersides, as powerful as you get, and fly high as to avoid the Jungle’s call. But record the terraiart on more bombings too.” The Goddess of War finished and Sokolowski saluted to show he would rey the order.

  Captain Dougs opened up a magazine in his cockpit and began to read. One hand on the trol stick between his legs, one hand flig the pages. He was fly high over that sea of green today, it was b work. But it was needed, and Erik on Diviransport Duty today, so Dougs was flying alone.

  Kassandora took a deep breath as she looked out over the port, then turo look iher dire. “Nanbasa will be held obviously, I will have a meeting with Arascus, to see what other cities will o be defended.”

  Arascus looked at the map of Kirinyaa as Kassandora sat o him. She had taken a bottle of whiskey and poured both of them a gss. Arascus simply liked the taste, he didn’t need ooday. This wasn’t a pleasant job, but it was one he had done may times already. Maybe men with weaker characters would flee from it. Kassandora herself had little to say about it, she simply wao know what she was w with. Arascus sighed as he pced a pin on Nanbasa. Obviously, the capital would o stand. He sighed and pulled out another pin. Maybe other men wouldn’t be able of doing it, but he had no issue telling Kassandora who should live, and who should die.

  “Iniri will start work on coastal walls.” Kassandora said as Sokolowski started writing down the order. Iliyal moved to fall in with the three men and anust of wind swept in to blow five bck coats.

  Iniri k down and touched the ground. A wall of oak burst from the ground before her, it twisted and grew, vines curled and tightened, utions sprouted under a opy of leaves. Branches expanded into ptforms, more became dders and stairs. More walls, enclosures for Kassandora’s artillery, then the walls formed firing locations for mae guns. Iniri stood up and rubbed her hands to together. She turo one of the soldiers Kassandora had given her as an assistant. He handed her a bottle and the Goddess greedily drank it, then another. One wall fiime for the .

  “What she will build, we will then reinforce with crete.” Kassandora said, anust of wind blew her hair as she stood her fenerals on that pier. “And steel, whatever you think off, tact Mikhail Ash if you need help.”

  General Ekkerson looked over Iniri’s huge walls. These were monstrous already, more than enough to stop whatever attacker he could imagine, but Kassandora had said to make them thicker, so make them thicker he did. Steel beams and girders were being slowly lowered and driven into the wood, then the whole structure was being reinforced with a yer of crete.

  Kassandora turned and looked back at the city. Uriamel would e from the o and that was all she knew, but that was all she o know. “Sokolowski, this is your job, you will move the industry further west.” It had been done in the past, so it shall be done now. The man looked at her in befuddlement for a moment and the Goddess of War sighed. Maybe she should expin this to him.

  General Damian Sokolowski looked at the two es as they slowly hoisted a massive furo the air. Two days ago, it was refining raw iron ore. Yesterday, it was being ed. Today, it was being moved. At first, he had thought this was going to be an impossibility. How could a factory just be moved? But the down and thought on it. At the end of the day, what did a factory even require to be called a factory? He was going to move important maery, and the structure could remain. Frankly, once Kassandora expihe fact he was not moving aire city district brick-by-brick, it really was a manageable job. The sorcerers were already w with ground crews twenty miles west of Nanbasa to pull up new buildings from the ground to house the maery, and the engineering corps were ying down roads for the workers.

  “Iliyal.” Kassandora started pointing to various districts in Nanbasa. “You are on city garrisons. Pull men from the Recmation War as you o, with Clerid sorcerers. However many you need, whoever you need. Just fill them in, multiple yers in each city. Use the civilian infrastructure as ake over homes, but make sure you don’t upset the popuuch.” She finished, Iliyal would know what she had in mind. Assigning Divines would then be her responsibility.

  Iliyal watched as a dozen Lemurs began to fill up a quarter of a mall’s parking space. They would stay here for now, and ter be separated once he found locations and pns for eadividual team to use, already he found locations to hide several. From the tops of multi-storey carparks to the entrances of tuo warehouses left behind by Sokolowski’s industrial retreat. It would be a lot of work, but there was Goddess Kassandora, there was him, and then there was everyone else. He’d rather it be a petent member of that hierarchy do the pnning.

  “And then…” Kassandora said as she turned back to look at the o. And what then? It was all she could do frankly, the war would be won based oher Epa would win its flict or not. They had no real way of harming Uriamel as things stht now. “And then we wait for the long haul.”