[h3]Aureia, of gold, commerce, wealth, [/h3][i]and the far less important, trivial aspects of travel and luck[/i]

The gods had been weakened, but mortals were still mortals, in spite of whatever new toys they armed themselves with. The judgment of a god was as damning as it had ever been, although these future mortals definitely made them work for it. The projectile weapons were very interesting, and Aureia would have liked to gets her hands on some of them, if only to see how they worked and to piece together how the societies of the mortals had developed over the eons.

That would have to wait for later, though.

Aureia had to admit, with all the bluster from the sun god, she was disappointed he hadn’t already cleaved the offending mortal commander in half. Instead, he lived for a little longer, to spew more trite commands. [b]“I don’t know who these Knights of Klois you speak of are,”[/b] she drawled, taking care to not get blood on herself as she speared her umbrella through the chest of a hapless soldier, [b]“but if they’re the enemies of mortals as stupid and arrogant as you, then they can’t be too bad in my books.”[/b]

By the time she had finished dealing with a third mortal, she noticed the bulk of the survivors had retreated into the semblance of some type of line formation and raised their tube weapons. It was nothing her umbrella-shield couldn’t handle… until the ground started exploding around her, forcing her to ungracefully dodge, the hems of her robes a bit blackened for her taste.

[b]“Wah! You dare call gods simple mages, but you attack with that sorcery!?”[/b] She charged straight at the line, angered by their apparent hypocrisy. As surprising as the attack had been, it meant that they had already shown their weakness. All she had to do was to close the distance, smash directly into their lines and wreak havok, together with Alasayana… and the god of water and other aquatic things. 

Well, she’d had stranger allies in the past.