After the western region had finally settled and the fires of rebellion were put out, Kai did not linger around further.

  Instead, he let Viscountess Vaessa take over and govern the land. She knew the region better than anyone else, and he had already given her clear instructions on how to stabilize the cities, how to deal with former Thalric loyalists, and even how to integrate the Watchers into local leadership.

  Once that was handled, Kai turned his eyes towards his next destination. Eden City.

  It was one of the largest cities in the kingdom, ruled by House Kestrelain—a ducal house—and, according to every report he had received, Eldric himself was there. Kai intended to deal with him before turning his attention to Regina. His army had grown rapidly over the past few days, swelling with surrendered soldiers, Lombards, and volunteers. It was large enough that Kai was confident Eden City would fall within a single day.

  The Ashari tribes had also joined him.

  Ansel had returned with good news. The tribes were willing to lend their strength, eager to repay old debts and prevent further chaos in the region. Because of that, hundreds of Ashari warriors marched alongside Kai’s forces, promising a deadly presence and backing. Even Maari and Adil were among them, which only added to Kai’s confidence. With the Lombards, the Ashari, and his own forces combined, Kai felt ready to crush Eden City outright.

  But when they finally arrived, what greeted them was not resistance.

  The city was… empty.

  There were no glowing wards hanging over the walls. No Mages stood watch from the towers. No archers lined the battlements. The gates stood open, unmanned, swaying slightly in the wind.

  At first, Kai thought it was a trap.

  He slowed the army and moved ahead cautiously, his senses stretched wide. He let mana run through the land for anything weird, but there was nothing. There were no spells or artifacts.

  Without a pause, he let his men follow him.

  He entered the city, and found streets devoid of life. Shutters were closed. Doors were barred. The air felt stale, like a place abandoned in a hurry.

  It took time, but eventually his soldiers managed to coax a few people out of hiding—merchants, servants, frightened civilians who had been left behind. From them, the truth finally came out.

  Eldric was gone. So was Duke Kestrelain.

  They had abandoned Eden City entirely and fled toward the capital.

  According to the people who had nowhere to go, Eldric had decided to leave Eden City soon after hearing about Thalric’s death. He ordered the city to be abandoned without hesitation. Duke Renard Kestrelain had argued against it, but most of the soldiers stationed in Eden City were crown troops, not his own. They had followed Eldric’s command and left.

  In the end, Duke Renard was left with barely a few hundred soldiers. With no real force to defend the city, he chose to follow the new king to the capital along with his entire family, leaving the city behind.

  Many citizens tried to follow them, desperate not to be left alone. But Duke Renard made an announcement before leaving—only those who could wield a sword would be allowed into the capital. The rest were to stay behind.

  That single decision emptied the city.

  After hearing everything and seeing the pale, shaken face of the lanky man who explained it all, Kai felt disappointment settle deep in his chest. There was regret too—if he had arrived just a little earlier, he might have caught Eldric here.

  Eden City was the most direct path to the capital, often called its sister city. By now, Eldric and Duke Renard would already be inside the capital’s walls.

  Still, Kai reminded himself that it didn’t truly change his plans. The capital was always the final target. Eldric running there only meant the siege would come sooner rather than later.

  For a day, Kai stayed in Eden City.

  He spent time calming the remaining citizens, assuring them that they were safe and that he had no intention of harming them. Eldric and Duke Renard had abandoned the city, and Kai saw no reason to do the same.

  Eden City was his now.

  He sent a detailed message to Viscountess Vaessa, informing her of everything that had happened, then placed Leopold in charge of the city before preparing for what came next.

  The man complained openly, clearly wanting to march alongside Kai into the final battle.

  But Kai explained that Eden City needed someone steady to calm the people. Barbarians and tribals, no matter how disciplined, would only frighten civilians further. Leopold, on the other hand, was a high noble by birth. His presence alone would reassure the city.

  In the end, Leopold accepted the command, though reluctantly. Kai left him with enough soldiers to maintain order and defend the city, then departed without delay.

  A wide, well-maintained road led straight to it, and Kai made sure the army halted every few hours so the soldiers could rest. He knew that once they reached the capital, there would be no more pauses. The battle there would decide everything.

  Not just him, everyone else felt the same fear and anticipation for the upcoming battle. He could tell when his army got quieter than usual. But the confidence was there.

  They had won again and again. The Lombards, in particular, kept urging the march to move faster, their blood still hot from recent victories. If not for Chieftain Yafgar constantly reigning them in, they would have surged far ahead of the rest of the army.

  On the third day after leaving Eden City, the capital finally came into view.

  Kai slowed, his gaze lifting to the horizon.

  Hermil looked nothing like it once had.

  The wide roads that led to the capital stood mostly empty, and there were no noble carriages waiting at the gates—no visitors, no merchants, no illusion of normalcy. Even from here, Kai could feel the tension pressing down on the city, thick and restless, like the air before a storm.

  As they drew closer, the wards grew clearer, their layered structure revealing itself. Multiple barriers overlapped one another, each feeding into the next. And just beyond them, another sight came into view—

  A massive encampment already surrounded large sections of the capital. Tents stretched across the plains like a second city—orderly, disciplined, and unmistakably prepared for war. Duke Blackwood’s banners stood proudly near the western approach, his forces having carved a direct path from Fort Valemount straight to the capital.

  On the other side, Viscount Redmont’s army had also settled in, their banners flying high alongside his own. If the reports were correct, they had arrived two days earlier from Veyrin.

  There was no grand welcome when he finally reached the camp. He got the forces he arrived with to settle and wasted no time.

  A meeting was called immediately.

  The largest tent in the camp was cleared and reinforced, its interior lit by lamps that cast a steady glow over the long table at its center. One by one, the key figures of the war took their places—nobles who had proven their loyalty, Mages and Enforcers that had been at the forefront of each battle, and Princess Amara who had decided to join the siege.

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  Watchers stood near the edges, silent and observant.

  Kai stood at the head of the table. The moment everyone was seated, he spoke.

  “You all know why you’re here.”

  The murmurs died instantly.

  “We captured Aldrin. Thalric is dead,” Kai continued, raking his eyes over one after another. Everyone nodded proudly, agreeing. “But neither of them was ever the end goal. Our real enemies have always been Eldric and Regina.”

  “In the coming week,” Kai continued locking his eyes with Killian, “we will be breaking into the strongest ward in the kingdom. And when we do, we will take the crown.”

  At once, there were various reactions. Duke Blackwood and Killian simply stared at him. Princess Amara fidgeted in her seat despite her blank expression. Baroness Marren grinned, looking excited, probably because she hadn't gotten much to do in the war yet. Chieftain Yafgar, who was a few paces away nodded, then glared at the Lombards cheering enthusiastically behind his back.

  Several others leaned forward, already excited and whispered to each other. But not everyone shared their confidence.

  A number of faces remained nervous.

  Kai saw the tension in the tent and knew there was nothing he could say to ease it. So he didn’t try. He picked up one of the reports laid out on the table, the parchment crinkling slightly under his fingers as he spoke.

  “From what we know,” he said calmly, “the enemy has more Mages than any other prince. Most of the Archine Tower Mages aligned with Eldric have never left the capital since the war began. That means the first phase will be ranged warfare.”

  A few faces tightened at that.

  “But,” Kai continued, lifting his gaze, “none of them are anywhere near my strength.”

  Duke Blackwood nodded slowly. “Meaning once the ward breaks,” he said, “the capital falls.” His eyes shifted to Kai. “Or rather, you take it.”

  Before Kai could reply, Baroness Marren leaned forward, her fingers pressing into the table. “That’s assuming we can break the ward at all,” she said. “My Mages say it’s almost impenetrable. And the mana cannon trick won’t work this time. If Eldric has any sense, he’s already had every last one thrown out.”

  That earned several nods around the tent.

  The moment she finished, voices rose from all sides. Some spoke of siege breakers. Others talked about focused Mage rotations, attacking the ward day and night until it cracked. A few suggested spreading the assault across all sides to thin its strength. But no matter how the ideas were framed, they all came back to the same conclusion.

  Hit it long and hard enough.

  Someone finally voiced what many were thinking. “Or,” said a baron carefully, “Duke Arzan could tear it down himself.”

  The tent fell quieter and every pair of eyes turned to him.

  Kai didn’t dismiss the idea. He had considered it. He could do it, especially with his wand. He knew that. But he also knew Regina wouldn’t be sitting behind that ward with nothing prepared. She would be waiting for the moment he overextended himself.

  And if she had planned something meant to kill him… Then he needed to be ready when the ward finally fell.

  So he shook his head slowly. “No. Even if I can tear the wards down by myself, going all out would leave me drained,” he said. “That would give Regina exactly the opening she’s waiting for.”

  Baron Hadrian Vellmore frowned. “But she doesn’t have Veridia anymore. What could possibly harm you now?”

  “This civil war has dragged on for a long time. She’s had time to prepare something we don’t know about. Don’t forget—Aldrin caught us off guard with Vhailor and that Mage array. We can’t assume there won’t be another surprise.”

  Duke Blackwood nodded in agreement. “Arzan is right.” He turned to the nobles gathered around the table. “You’re all forgetting something. Our army isn’t just him. Yes, he carried us this far by using every resource he had, but this is the final battle. Everyone here needs to pull their weight.” He tapped the map spread across the table. “We have the time. The only thing standing between us and victory is the city’s ward.”

  With the ease of a veteran commander, Duke Blackwood steered the discussion back on course. He began laying out plans to assault Hermil from every direction, pointing out positions, routes, and timings. It was clear he had thought this through long before the meeting.

  Killian added his input where needed, refining troop placements and fallback points. One concern kept coming up again and again—taking the city without destroying it.

  “The walls can fall,” Killian said firmly, “but we can’t let the war consume the city itself. You can’t rule over ashes.”

  As he spoke, Kai understood the weight behind his words. Killian’s family was still inside Hermil.

  He agreed without hesitation, though the thought of King Sullivan crossed his mind for a brief moment. He hoped the old king was still alive. A faint regret followed—that he hadn’t pressed harder for Sullivan to leave with him—but it passed just as quickly. There was no room for lingering thoughts now.

  He leaned forward and added his own input, tapping the map where the wards were drawn. Layered wards looked unbreakable from afar, but Kai knew better. Every ward had flaws. When several were stacked together, those flaws multiplied. Strength was never spread evenly. Some sections were reinforced heavily, while others were only just strong enough to hold. He marked a few points along the sketch of the ward—places where mana flow would bottleneck, where stress would build faster under constant pressure.

  “We don’t need to tear the whole thing down,” he said calmly. “Just one opening. Even a small breach is enough. Once I’m inside, the rest of the wards will fall from within.”

  Everyone agreed to that.

  The discussion dragged on for hours after that. They went over Eldric’s and Regina’s forces again and again, compared Watcher reports, argued over troop placements, and planned for contingencies stacked on top of contingencies. After all, everyone had heard of Eldric’s forces suddenly getting newfound strength here, and they weren't taking the enemies lightly.

  Kai could have attacked the city the moment he arrived. He knew that. But patience had carried him through the civil war this far, and he wasn’t about to abandon it now. A rushed victory could still turn costly. A planned one would be clean.

  As the meeting slowly wound down, one thought refused to leave him. Regina. What she was hiding. What she was preparing for him. Whether it would be some twisted construct, a forbidden spell, or whether she herself had become something else entirely.

  Whatever it was, he would find out soon.

  The war had reached its final stretch, and Kai fully intended to end it on his terms.

  ***

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