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The yellow sand receded.
The blazing desert sun of Iskandar's Reality Marble faded, and Romania's moonlit grassland came back — green and dark and quiet after everything that had just happened in it.
Dian Wei looked around at the sudden absence of tens of thousands of soldiers.
"People! Where did everyone go?! Is this the moon?" A laugh, genuine and unself-conscious. "Did they run out of power? Or just run away?"
"They ran away." William sat down beside him. "You drove off the Conqueror. Be proud of that."
"Hahahahaha~" Dian Wei's laugh carried across the empty plain. "Foreign soldiers aren't bad at all. I'll give them that." He turned toward where the ox cart had been, already gone. "Now scram. If I see you again, I'm taking your head."
Northern Star watched the empty sky where Iskandar had been.
"Let's go, kid." Iskandar's voice, calm and without embarrassment. "We can't take this city. We'll find another angle."
A king's bearing showed in defeat as much as in victory. Iskandar had lost two-thirds of King's Army in the last twenty minutes. Pressing further would wipe the Noble Phantasm entirely. Retreating now preserved enough to field perhaps half strength later. The math was the math.
He scratched his cheek with the air of a man acknowledging an outcome he hadn't planned for, then announced without ceremony that they were leaving.
Northern Star found it hard to accept.
She also couldn't argue with it.
The ox cart rose into the night sky, turned, and became a black point against the stars until the stars swallowed it.
William stepped forward and placed his hand on Dian Wei's armored shoulder. The armor was barely armor anymore — mostly damage and dried blood in the shape of armor. It held.
"Did they leave, Master?"
"They left."
"Good." A long exhale. "That Conqueror is genuinely formidable. An army like that, all of them real — impressive. Still not as good as the Prime Minister."
"Yes. Uncle Dian Wei—" William paused. "I'm glad you were here."
"If Dian Wei cannot protect his lord, what right does he have to exist?" The voice was quieter than before. "I apologize, Master. This is as far as I can go."
"No. It's more than enough. Thank you, Uncle."
The Spirit Core had shattered during the battle. That was the truth beneath all the revival mechanics — Dian Wei's Ancient Evil skill had kept him standing while William was in danger, but with the danger resolved, the underlying damage asserted itself. The condition had been met. The skill released its hold.
His body began to dissolve from the feet upward, golden particles rising into the dark sky. The arrows embedded in him scattered. The broken spears hit the grass. The chains lay in pieces across the field — evidence of a battle that had no business going as long as it had.
When only his head remained, Dian Wei turned to look at William one last time.
His face was destroyed. His smile was enormous.
"You will definitely become a King." His voice was completely certain. "I said so."
Then he was gone.
[Chat]:
[Silence]:
[Eventually]: rest in peace
[Someone_Breaking_Tension]: wait — is his username literally Andrew? Andrew died?
[Counter]: that's a different Andrew. different person entirely.
[Back_To_The_Moment]: I'm not ready to process Dian Wei being gone. give me a second.
[Tactical_Assessment]: this crippled King's Army for the rest of the match. even without it, Conqueror's base stats are solid — but it's still a net loss for Red side.
[Defense]: if anyone else from Black side had been defending Plains City, King's Army would have steamrolled them. taking two-thirds of it out with one Servant is an extraordinary result.
[Final_Word]: Dian Wei is amazing. the strategist is amazing. that's it.
[WAIT]: WAIT. MAX. CUT TO NORTHERN STAR. NORTHERN STAR WAS AMBUSHED.
[WHAT]: WHAT
[HOW]: everyone on Black side was defending their points. who's out on the open plain?
[RED_SIDE]: it's from Red side. it's Chloe.
[AH]:
Max switched feeds immediately.
Northern Star's stream was already black.
[Chat]:
[WHAT_HAPPENED]:
[EXPLAIN]:
The story of how this happened started with Chloe.
Once one of Platform B's top streamers. Now formally a disgraced artist, for reasons the internet had documented thoroughly and unkindly. The platform hadn't let her fade quietly — neither had the talent agency behind her. They'd secured her a spot in the FA Chapter.
She'd been placed on Red side, which kept the existing alliances intact and gave her a team to work with.
She'd spent the last hour walking the open plain between capture points, unaffiliated with any specific defense or assault, waiting.
When the Conqueror's ox cart came down from the sky — damaged, retreating, moving with the energy of something that had just been through something significant — she was standing in the plain below it.
She waved.
Iskandar saw her. Northern Star saw her. Social grace being what it was, ignoring someone who had waved at you from below felt rude.
They landed.
"It's really you, Northern Star. You're the only person running the Waver costume, I recognized you immediately."
"Ha, yeah. Chloe, you're out here on the plain too."
"Good thing I ran into you both — I've been walking forever." She glanced at the ox cart, at the state of the army that remained. "What happened to you two?"
Northern Star: "Don't ask. There's an immortal monster in Plains City. We took heavy losses and had to retreat."
"Oh. I see." Chloe's expression processed this. "You took heavy losses."
"Yeah."
"Die."
Northern Star: "Huh?"
"Watch out, kid!"
The guillotine came from above — enormous, pitch-black, dropping with no wind-up and no warning. Iskandar was off the cart before he'd consciously registered the threat, Cyprus sword out, catching the blade mid-drop with both hands and the full weight of his body.
The impact drove him down several centimeters into the earth.
He turned immediately and slashed at Chloe.
Blood. She showed pain. She also showed a smile — the specific kind of smile that appeared on a face that had already gotten what it needed.
At Iskandar's feet, a black lily bloomed.
The weakness hit immediately — not a gradual drain, a sudden withdrawal of something structural. He caught the guillotine again as it rose for a second drop, and his breathing was already labored.
The ox cart surged forward to support him.
His feet sank.
Black mud had spread under him without his noticing, and the moment he registered it, vines had already wrapped around his hands — not tight enough to stop movement, tight enough to redirect it, to slow the reaction time between intention and action by a fraction of a second.
In a fight at this level, a fraction of a second was the whole fight.
"Why?" Iskandar's voice was measured, not panicked. "We're on the same side."
Chloe tilted her head.
"You've already lost your army. You're damaged. What exactly are you bringing to the Red side at this point?" She watched him struggle against the mud and the vines with something that looked like genuine curiosity. "Let me use your power instead. All of it. For the win."
"For—"
[Chat]:
[WHAT_IS_HER_SERVANT]: what IS her Servant. guillotine, black lily, mud, vines, weakness drain — what class is this?
[Chloe_Character]: she's been walking the plain alone for an hour. waiting for exactly this. a damaged, retreating target.
[Iskandar_Situation]: weakened, mud-bound, vines on his hands, and the guillotine is still cycling
[Northern_Star]: Northern Star's feed went black before any of this landed. she was taken out first. silently.
[Max_Face]: Max's expression is doing something complicated
[What_Comes_Next]: Iskandar doesn't have King's Army anymore. his base stats are real but his feet are in black mud and his hands are caught and the weakness effect is compounding
[Conqueror_Fans]: no
[Watching]: ...
[End of Chapter 171]
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