The banners of the House of Malveris fluttered beside the sigil of the Shattered Fang, Saelar's rebellion. Two thousand troops—rogues, turncoats, freed slaves, and loyalists—stood ready under the gray morning sky.
Their target: Fort Virelia, a massive outpost guarding the eastern roads into the Empire.
Princess Alicent Malveris, garbed in her war robes, led the mage division with her infamous grin.
> "Let's make them believe the gates of hell opened and forgot to close."
Kerrin coordinated the infiltration teams, vanishing into the walls with smoke bombs and quiet steel.
Myrcella D'Arvenelle, poised and calm, led the noble regiment of archers. Her emerald eyes swept the battlefield like a general born.
> "No arrow is loosed without precision. We are not bandits. We are the future."
Saelar, clad in black battle leather with the Void Howl: Fangs of Eclipse strapped to his hips, gave the signal.
> "Begin."
The battle unfolded like poetry wrapped in violence:
Alicent summoned networks of nullfire, cracking the fort's wards.
Myrcella's arrows darkened the skies with formation-perfect volleys.
Kerrin's sabotage team opened the northern gates from within.
Saelar advanced at the center—blades flashing with time-lagged echoes, weaving in and out of seconds. Every spell fired at him reversed, exploding back at terrified Imperial mages.
> "He walks like time can't catch him," a soldier whispered before being struck by his own lightning spell turned to ice.
Within an hour, Fort Virelia fell.
But Saelar stopped the slaughter.
> "Mercy wins loyalty. Burn only what refuses to kneel."