The world snapped back into place.
The smell of hot steel.
Coal smoke.
Fresh-cut timber.
Brannic's forge.
Jax stood exactly where the Shadow Guardian had been only a heartbeat before.
His black trench coat settled around him.
Peacemaker rested easily in one hand.
Twin pistols hung inverted at his waist.
Silence swallowed the workshop.
The Imperial soldier who had been trying to kill Merriweather still held his sword extended.
Only now...
Its edge rested against Peacemaker.
He blinked.
"...What?"
Jax didn't answer.
His eyes moved past the soldier.
To Brannic.
Then to Merriweather.
The crimson handprint across her cheek.
Something inside him became perfectly still.
Not anger.
Not hatred.
Purpose.
He finally spoke.
Quietly.
"You hit her."
The soldier instinctively stepped backward.
The Shadow Guardian dissolved into darkness behind Jax.
Its duty fulfilled.
The Imperial captain recovered first.
"So."
His hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.
"The summoner arrives."
Jax ignored him.
He looked toward Merriweather.
"You alright?"
She nodded once.
"I'm tougher than I look."
Brannic snorted.
"Damn right she is."
Jax gave the faintest smile.
Then it disappeared.
He turned back toward the soldiers.
"Training wheels are off."
His voice remained calm.
"The next person who attacks..."
He slowly lifted Peacemaker from the soldier's blade.
"...dies."
No shouting.
No dramatic pose.
Just certainty.
The forge suddenly felt much smaller.
One nervous soldier swallowed.
"Captain..."
The captain studied Jax for several long seconds.
He had expected frightened craftsmen.
Not this.
Finally, he made his decision.
"Withdraw."
The soldiers hesitated.
"Captain?"
"Outside the walls."
"We regroup with the General."
The order was immediate.
Professional.
The soldiers obeyed.
They backed toward the door without ever turning their backs.
Jax calmly followed them.
Not chasing.
Not threatening.
Simply walking.
No one dared stop him.
Outside the forge, frightened townspeople watched from behind shuttered windows and cracked doors.
Parents pulled children inside.
Shopkeepers hurriedly barred their entrances.
The Imperial soldiers continued retreating until they passed through Solmere's southern gate.
Only then did they stop.
Beyond the city walls...
The true invasion force waited.
Nearly one hundred Imperial soldiers stood in disciplined formation across the open fields.
Heavy cavalry mounted on armored warhorses.
Shield walls six ranks deep.
Battle mages already preparing spell formations.
Supply wagons stretched into the distance.
Siege engineers stood beside massive battering rams reinforced with iron bands.
Bundles of scaling ladders rested on heavy carts.
Even two compact catapults waited farther back, already assembled.
This had never been a diplomatic visit.
This was an army prepared to occupy a city.
The retreating captain jogged toward a mounted officer wearing ornate crimson-and-black armor trimmed with sable fur.
General Cassian Viremont.
His sharp eyes settled immediately on Jax.
"So."
"You finally reveal yourself."
Jax walked past Solmere's gates.
Past the final guard tower.
Past the last stone marker bearing the city's name.
He stopped only after standing well outside the walls.
He looked back once.
The city.
His city.
Then turned toward the waiting army.
A small smile crossed his face.
"Good."
General Viremont frowned.
"Good?"
Jax rested Peacemaker across one shoulder.
"You're outside the walls."
The General didn't understand.
Not yet.
Behind him, soldiers laughed.
One pointed toward Jax.
"He came alone!"
Another barked a laugh.
"Brave."
"Or stupid."
General Viremont slowly drew his sword.
"You harbor creatures of shadow."
"You arm demi-humans."
"You manufacture weapons beyond Imperial authority."
"You have grown... ambitious."
He gestured toward the siege equipment.
"We came prepared."
Jax glanced briefly across the battering rams.
The siege wagons.
The engineers.
The cavalry.
The mages.
Every detail was cataloged in an instant.
His smile never faded.
Viremont mistook it for arrogance.
"You stand alone."
Jax spun Peacemaker once.
Twice.
The enormous double-bladed sword whistled effortlessly through the air.
Then—
THOOM.
He drove it into the earth.
The impact split the ground beneath his feet.
Cracks raced across the open field.
The nearest cavalry horses reared.
Several war beasts growled uneasily.
Even veteran soldiers instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons.
A faint pulse spread through the air.
The sound amplification array hidden within Jax's armor quietly activated.
His next words rolled across the battlefield.
Every soldier heard them.
Every citizen watching from Solmere's walls heard them.
General Viremont heard them.
"You looked at me..."
"...and saw one man."
He rested one hand lightly on Peacemaker's hilt.
His smile became just a little wider.
"There is one thing you've misunderstood."
A breeze stirred his black trench coat.
"I..."
"...am never alone."