Eight hundred soldiers raised their hands.
Weapons clattered against the canyon floor.
Some dropped shields and sank to their knees.
Others immediately rushed toward fallen comrades, scrambling to dig through rubble or drag wounded men from the battlefield.
The fighting was over.
But the canyon still looked like the end of the world.
Smoke drifted through shattered stone.
Bodies covered the ground.
Thousands of soldiers who had marched in confident formation hours earlier now lay silent.
Jax stood in the center of it all.
Behind him, Loki towered like a mountain.
Dante circled high above, his massive wings casting long shadows across the canyon walls.
The surviving soldiers watched Jax with quiet terror.
None of them spoke.
None of them moved unless they had permission.
Jax looked across the broken army.
Then he spoke.
"You have until daybreak to leave this canyon."
His voice carried clearly across the battlefield.
"Rescue who you can."
"Recover the bodies of your fallen."
He paused.
"By morning… whatever remains will belong to the beasts of this land."
No one argued.
No one protested.
They had seen what he was capable of.
Jax turned slightly.
His gaze shifted to the shadow army surrounding the soldiers.
The shadows moved instantly.
Loki began lifting massive boulders, clearing trapped soldiers from beneath collapsed rock.
Shadow knights moved across the battlefield, pressing hands against bleeding wounds to hold them closed.
Other shadows dragged debris aside to reach men still buried beneath the rubble.
The surviving Imperial soldiers watched in stunned confusion.
The same monsters that had slaughtered their army moments earlier were now digging through stone to save them.
Shortly after, more figures appeared at the canyon entrance.
Zee arrived first.
Behind her came medical teams from the Zephrial Healing Institute of Solmere, hauling supply crates and setting up temporary triage tents.
Shadow guards escorted every healer.
Before treatment began, restraints were placed on wounded soldiers.
Precaution.
Not cruelty.
Bunny and Nyxian arrived with the group.
They stopped cold when they saw the battlefield.
The devastation was beyond anything they had imagined.
Thousands dead.
Entire sections of the canyon collapsed.
And at the center of it all—
Jax.
For a moment they simply looked at him.
There was no celebration on his face.
No pride.
No triumph.
Only quiet resolve.
Yet inside, they couldn't deny the truth.
One man had taken on ten thousand soldiers.
And won.
To them, those soldiers were slavers.
The very force that had terrorized the beastkin for generations.
But Jax saw something different.
He saw soldiers.
Men sent to fight wars they had not started.
So even though the Vixens had little sympathy for them…
They followed his plan.
Completely.
Because if Jax wanted them alive—
There was a reason.
Across the battlefield, the strange alliance continued.
Loki lifted stones large enough to crush wagons.
Shadow knights carried wounded soldiers toward Zee's healing tents.
Healers worked tirelessly.
Magic sealed wounds.
Bones reset.
Bleeding stopped.
Not everyone survived.
But many did.
And the Imperial soldiers could see it.
The man who had destroyed their army was now saving their lives.
Not every soldier accepted mercy.
Several attempted desperate attacks against the healers.
Perhaps revenge.
Perhaps pride.
Perhaps fear.
The shadow guards killed them instantly.
After that, no one tried again.
Most soldiers simply wanted to live.
Many wanted their friends to live as well.
Nyxian watched the scene unfold with confusion written across her face.
She finally stepped beside Jax.
"Why are we helping the enemy?"
Her voice was quiet.
But the frustration was real.
"We should be finishing them."
Jax didn't even look away from the battlefield.
He answered calmly.
"Yesterday's enemies…"
He paused.
"…are tomorrow's allies."
Nyxian stared at him for a moment.
Then she simply nodded.
She still didn't fully agree.
But she trusted him.
By the time dawn broke over Crescent Moon Canyon, the battlefield had transformed.
More than 1,400 soldiers were able to march out alive.
Many were fully healed.
Others carried injuries that magic could not completely repair.
But they were alive.
Before they left, Jax addressed them one final time.
"You will return home."
"You will tell the Empire what happened here."
"You will tell them the United Kingdoms does not seek war."
His eyes hardened slightly.
"But we do not fear it either."
The soldiers were released without their weapons.
Most had been confiscated by the shadows.
Jax allowed a handful of broken or damaged weapons to remain with them.
Not valuable.
But enough to defend themselves from wild beasts during the long journey home.
The Empire was weeks away.
The march back would be long.
And quiet.
While the survivors departed, the shadows continued their work.
When soldiers died, their System inventories unlocked.
Gold.
Jewels.
Supplies.
Weapons.
Command tokens.
The shadow beasts collected everything.
Much of the wealth had belonged to officers and commanders.
Jax absorbed most of it.
But not all.
A large portion was distributed to the people of Crescent City.
After all—
They had used the canyon as a battlefield.
Repairing the damage would take time.
By mid-morning the last Imperial soldiers disappeared into the distance.
Behind them remained thousands of bodies.
Jax collected them.
Carefully.
Even enemies deserved burial.
The General's head and insignia were placed separately.
That message still needed to be delivered.
Later that day, Jax mounted Dante.
The dragon rose into the clouds, climbing higher and higher until the world below became a blur.
They crossed the border unnoticed.
No gates.
No checkpoints.
Just sky.
When they reached the Empire's capital, Jax descended briefly.
He dropped a heavy bag directly in front of the main castle gates. It spilled out for hundreds of yards.
It contained the remains of thousands of soldiers not claimed or body parts not accounted for.
The guards would find it soon enough.
Inside were the General's body. It was in a separate sack.
His insignia.
And his head.
The message was unmistakable.
Jax rose back into the clouds.
As Dante turned toward home, Jax allowed himself a small smile.
"I told him…"
He looked down at the distant city below.
"…I'd deliver the message myself."