The hivemind is conquering for me?

Nerissa did as she was commanded instantly. It was in her nature to do so. While Artemis was not her creator. She was the sister of her creator. That in itself demanded subservience.

Putting her helmet back on, she then spoke. "My lady Goddess. I would like to talk to you about reincarnation and the possibility that one of the gods souls could have possibly... Achieved it after the incident?"

Artemis rolled her eyes and spoke. While her words were not themselves loud. To Nerissa, they encompassed her entire being. "Oh, for... Why is everyone in this age scared to talk about that gravastar?" She muttered before frowning as she thought about the question.

"What makes you ask this Nerissa? Wait, Apollo? I’m sorry hun, but I don’t think he is one of us. He is strong for who he is, but I don’t feel the spark. But then again. I am not whole and I know there are pieces of me out there that are much weaker than him. Do you have a reason to speculate this about him? Answer, there will be no censure."

Nerissa chose her words carefully. She did not wish to break Apollo’s trust, but she wanted to be as truthful to Artemis as possible.

Sensing this, Artemis spoke. "I have trapped Skaja’s consciousness in her Mindspace. She will not hear anything you say and I will not do anything to come between your friendship with that... Man. You have my word."

Nerissa sighed and spoke hearing that. "There have been many signs, I have not just jumped to this conclusion. The first being Apollo has knowledge of things he shouldn’t... He lacks some common sense of how day to day things in Spartari work and well..."

Nerissa looked around nervously.

"He has made... comments that make me believe he knows of the existence of Albion."

Artemis’ eyes went wide as shock overcame her form. "Are you certain?"

Nerissa nodded and Artemis pondered for a moment. "Leave this with me to think. I cannot remain in control of her body for much longer without hurting her. I’ll also explain to Skaja about what you are. She is an open minded girl, you will be fine. Also, I’ve not been able to ask anyone, as I have lost trust with the empire as a whole, but if you find any of my fragments, send them to Vallaheimr. I have taken that planet under my domain and they are my people now. My strength belongs with them, not this empire it now resides in..."

Nerissa nodded at her. "It will be done, we have some collected at the royal palace, we shall return them to you, as they are yours by right."

"Mine by right?" Artemis chuckled. "They are me, you little loukoumades. Go on now, get gone and finish your prepping. I am looking forward to witnessing your war to come. It will be a delight to see how a garden Nymph has matured into a battle-hardened warrior once more. It is a sight I never tire of."

Nerissa nodded and walked out of the tent giddily. ’That was amazing!’ She thought, fangirling. She had been in Artemis’ presence hundreds of thousands of years ago when she came to visit her goddess Apollo, but she never got to speak to her. And now she had to show off and kill as many Drakoshi as possible now for the goddess.

Her excitement was so high, she could feel her heartbeat in her throat. She wasn’t sure how she was going to calm down before reaching her friend Apollo.

...

Artemis lingered for a moment as Nerissa left the tent, her face instantly frowned. Only two individuals knew about Albion, outside of the Nymphs, and it was her and her sister... If Apollo, the ugly man Apollo, knew of Albion? Then was it possible?

The thought lingered with her. The only reason she survived was by luck. Reincarnation, while possible, was not something easily achieved. The only god she could think of that could most likely do it no hassle was Athena with her wisdom.

’But if another survived... If my sister...’

She didn’t entertain the thought. Her hopes could not afford to be squashed in her current state of existence.

She felt her reaching the point where any longer and Skaja would pay the price. She wouldn’t have that. She adored the Bloodshields. They were her daughters now.

For now, she would allow Skaja to watch, to observe. To see if the spark somehow appears in this Apollo.

The thought did then occur to her that this Apollo could gain the spark naturally, but that hadn’t happened in eons. Even she was given her spark by her Father. She chuckled at the thought. It was utter poppycock. She wasn’t even sure why it came into her mind? After all...

’The only way for that to be possible, is if the man’s Origin was borderline Omnikinetic in power.’

...

After another hour of waiting, we finally rolled out. We took some armoured vehicles to the first location. The Knight army. From a distance, I could see dim lights of the encampment and could make out two large buildings they were camped around. As we approached, a couple of Knight mechs began to appear from nowhere.

Seeing my confusion at how they just appeared, Rhea spoke. "Cham-e-leon cloak. Takes a lot of energy to use them so the knight’s weapons are offline when cloaked. It then takes the weapons a few seconds to come online afterwards too, so they aren’t used in combat often. Good for acting as wards and perimeter guards though."

I nodded my head, that was cool.

Arriving at the camp we unloaded and were greeted by quite the sight and I was immediately hooked on this knight faction.

The knights were all lined up, waiting upon our arrival. There was a still discipline to them that I admired.

The pages were nothing to write home about, they were standard troops, like the Spartari Phalanx. They wore basic combat armour, but were all fitted with what looked like laser weaponry.

The Squires however... Did not look like what I expected squires to look like... They looked like knights. Old fashioned fantasy knights with modern Spartari tech.

They were wearing armour, clearly more resilient than Phalanx standard gear. The armour base was a brass colour with red accents and bulky around the chest, making it able to take more damage in the area. In the centre of the chest was a red star, their order symbol.

The squires also wore a cloak with a hood over their helmet that in the dark all you could see was their red glowing eyes, but thanks to my dark vision, I could see the painted red faceplate underneath the cloak.

Each and every piece of armour was incredibly decorated and engraved. They looked like museum pieces, not actual war gear, yet here they were.

There were in total a hundred and fifty pages and fifty squires. Then I saw a total of ten knights so far, so that left the question.

’Where are the castellans?’

After we finished unloading everything for the mission to come, a knight, about eight meters tall, wielding a gigantic sword and shield approached us and stopped before us. It then drove its sword into the ground and saluted by banging its massive metal fist against its chassis. Before speaking in a heavily modulated voice.

" A thousand victories upon you all, comrades in arms. My name is Knight captain Cassian the Bold. It is an honour to meet you all. Now, could you do me the honour and point me to the Sentinel Lambdason?"

I took a step forward and announced myself. "Right here."

The knight then turned its chassis and its eye lights descending upon my armour.

"Ah yes, such fine equipment, Sentinel. The brothers whose lives you saved spoke of your fascinating alien armour so perfectly, I would have recognised it instantly in the daylight. We are honoured to be your fallback point, Sentinel. Rest assured if the worse does happen and you need a hasty retreat. We will give our lives in repaying your valour."

Even through the mechanised voice module of the knight, there was a regal authority in his tone that put most nobles I have spoken to to shame.

I smiled at the knight and spoke loudly. "Well, let us hope it doesn’t come to that."

"Hahaha! Well spoken Apollo, if all goes well tonight, then you shall still see us on the field of battle tomorrow. Our pages are thirsty for accolades. Aren’t you all!"

"We shall create an ocean out of the Drakoshi’s blood in the name of the Order!" The pages shouted in unison while the squires remained silent.

Skaja then spoke up and asked the knight captain. "Captain. our communications suggested Castellans were to be present? Is that the case? Where are they?"

The captain then turned his mech to the side before picking up his sword and waving it above. "Ah forgive me for not welcoming you properly, they were preserving energy."

The moment he said this, the two buildings behind him, both nearing eighteen meters tall, and incredibly wide, began to move and light up. Seeing the sight of the massive buildings with massive guns for arms and shoulders made me think of one simple phrase.

’Fuck yeah!’