General Cassian Viremont had spent nearly three decades leading Imperial campaigns.
He had crushed border rebellions.
Broken noble uprisings.
Marched through cities that believed stone walls could stop the Empire.
Wars followed rules.
Numbers.
Supply lines.
Discipline.
One man...
No matter how gifted...
Could never stop an army.
That was the first lesson every officer learned.
Which was why the blond man standing alone outside Solmere's walls made no sense.
He wasn't frightened.
He wasn't negotiating.
He wasn't even preparing to flee.
He simply stood there with one hand resting upon the massive double-bladed sword embedded in the earth before him.
Black trench coat.
Dragon-scale armor.
Twin pistols resting in inverted holsters at his hips.
The famous Level One adventurer.
Jax Darquebane.
Viremont almost laughed.
Intelligence reports had painted him as an eccentric merchant.
A fortunate adventurer.
An unusually charismatic leader.
Dangerous?
Perhaps.
Enough to oppose an Imperial detachment?
Ridiculous.
He slowly raised his sword.
"Advance."
The command rippled through the ranks.
Shield infantry stepped forward in perfect formation.
Archers drew their bows.
Battle mages began weaving layered spell circles.
Engineers shoved the reinforced battering rams into motion.
Behind them, catapults rolled into firing position overlooking Solmere's walls.
Everything unfolded exactly as doctrine demanded.
Professional.
Disciplined.
Predictable.
The lone man never moved.
Perhaps...
He finally understood.
One man could not stop an army.
Then Jax spoke.
Two quiet words.
"Come forth."
Nothing happened.
For one heartbeat.
Then...
The shadows answered.
Dark pools spread silently across the battlefield.
Not violent.
Not explosive.
Elegant.
As though the ground itself had become liquid night.
One by one...
Figures stepped from the darkness.
Crystal Knights emerged with disciplined precision, shields already raised.
Crystal Wolves padded silently across the earth, spreading naturally toward both flanks.
Towering Frost Yetis rose from the shadows, each carrying weapons that glowed with frozen mana.
Frost Mages floated upward, staffs already humming with restrained power.
More.
Then more.
Then still more.
General Viremont's confident smile slowly disappeared.
"...How many..."
No one answered.
Because no one knew.
This wasn't a summoner.
This was an army.
An army that had been standing beneath their feet the entire time.
Then another shadow stirred.
A single knight stepped forward.
Unlike the others...
He carried himself differently.
Ancient black armor.
An immaculate cape.
A tower shield polished so perfectly it reflected the afternoon sun.
His sword never left its resting position.
He ignored the Imperial Army completely.
Instead...
He looked only toward Jax.
"My liege."
Jax never turned around.
"Protect Solmere."
The knight lowered his head respectfully.
"Yes... my liege."
General Viremont expected a charge.
Instead...
The knight slowly lifted his sword.
Then pointed toward the sky.
Viremont frowned.
What was he signaling?
Nothing happened.
One soldier laughed nervously.
"Has he gone mad?"
Then...
The heavens roared.
Every head turned upward.
A massive shadow descended through the clouds.
Its wings stretched wider than most buildings.
Its crimson eyes burned like molten embers.
General Viremont felt his stomach tighten.
"A dragon..."
Nearly fifty feet of living shadow swept over the battlefield.
Its wings blocked the sun.
The temperature itself seemed to rise.
The dragon inhaled once.
White-gold fire poured from its jaws.
Not flames.
Judgment.
The first battering ram simply vanished.
Iron glowed.
Softened.
Ran like water.
The second exploded before the engineers could abandon it.
Catapults melted where they stood.
Supply wagons ignited in violent succession.
Barrels burst.
Horses screamed.
The carefully constructed siege train became an inferno within seconds.
Viremont stood frozen.
No report...
No scout...
No intelligence officer...
Had mentioned a dragon.
"Return fire!"
His officers reacted instantly.
"Loose!"
Thousands of arrows darkened the sky.
Spell circles flashed brilliantly.
Catapults already loaded launched burning stones toward Solmere.
The knight moved again.
Once more...
He calmly pointed toward the heavens.
The battlefield obeyed.
Shadow Mages raised their staffs together.
Dark barriers unfolded above the city like overlapping panes of obsidian glass.
Crystal Archers released impossible volleys that shattered Imperial arrows before they reached their targets.
The Frost Mages redirected incoming fireballs into empty fields.
Even burning debris from the destroyed siege engines was intercepted before it could fall upon the city.
Not one projectile...
Not one...
Reached Solmere.
General Viremont finally understood what terrified him.
It wasn't the dragon.
It wasn't the army.
It wasn't even the impossible magic.
It was the coordination.
Every movement had purpose.
Every response had already been anticipated.
Every countermeasure had been prepared before the Empire acted.
This wasn't chaos.
This wasn't overwhelming power.
This was strategy.
His strategy.
Jax Darquebane still hadn't moved.
He simply watched.
As though this battle had already been decided.
For the first time in thirty years...
General Cassian Viremont wondered if victory was no longer possible.
Across the battlefield, Jax reached down and pulled Peacemaker free from the earth.
The blade rang softly.
Then he gave his first order since the battle began.
"Leave no one standing who raises a weapon."
The Shadow Army advanced.
And in that moment...
The Empire learned why the man before them had smiled when they chose to fight outside the walls.