The battlefield became strangely quiet.
Smoke drifted across the ruined field.
Broken siege engines still burned.
Molten iron hissed where dragonfire had reduced Imperial ambition into glowing rivers of steel.
General Cassian Viremont's body lay motionless upon the blood-soaked earth.
His head rested several yards away.
The battle...
Was over.
Jax slowly lowered Peacemaker.
Around him, the Shadow Army stood perfectly still.
Waiting.
One surviving Imperial lieutenant looked around in disbelief.
Their General was dead.
Their officers were dead.
The siege engines were gone.
The cavalry had been broken.
The battle...
Had never truly been a battle.
They had lost.
Jax looked across the field.
Then quietly activated the sound amplification array within his System.
VOICE AMPLIFICATIONACTIVATED:
Allows user to talk and have a conversations over great distances.
He did not raise his voice.
He had no need to.
When he spoke...
Every surviving soldier heard him as though he stood only a single step away.
"You have two choices."
The words rolled gently across the battlefield.
Calm.
Measured.
Certain.
No one moved.
"You may continue fighting..."
His eyes drifted toward the fallen.
"...and join your General."
Silence settled over the field.
"Or..."
He rested Peacemaker across one shoulder.
"You surrender your weapons."
"You surrender your horses."
"You surrender your siege equipment."
"You leave your military supplies."
"And you walk home."
Murmurs spread through the Imperial ranks.
Jax continued speaking with the same calm tone.
"I have no quarrel with men trying to provide for their families."
Several soldiers slowly lifted their heads.
"If today was simply your duty..."
He nodded once.
"Go home."
A pause.
"But hear me clearly."
His blue eyes swept across the battlefield.
"If you ever raise a weapon against Solmere again..."
"...I will remember your face."
No threats.
No shouting.
Only certainty.
The lieutenant slowly lowered his sword.
It slipped from his hand.
The sound of steel striking earth echoed across the field.
Another followed.
Then another.
Within moments...
Dozens of weapons lay scattered across the grass.
Shields followed.
Spears.
Bows.
Crossbows.
The surviving cavalry removed their saddles and bridles before leading their horses toward the Shadow Army.
Engineers stepped away from what little remained of the siege equipment.
Supply wagons were abandoned where they stood.
Finally...
An older veteran sat down quietly upon the grass.
He removed his boots.
Placed them neatly beside his sword.
Then stood again.
Without a word...
He began walking.
Another soldier watched him.
Then did the same.
Within minutes...
The Imperial survivors stood barefoot.
Defeated.
Alive.
One young soldier wiped tears from his eyes.
"...Thank you."
Jax answered only with a small nod.
"Go."
The soldiers turned.
No formation remained.
No marching cadence.
Only weary men beginning a long journey home.
One of them glanced back toward Solmere.
He had expected vengeance.
Instead...
He had been given mercy.
Hope quietly replaced fear.
Then—
Five figures suddenly broke away from the retreating column.
"For General Viremont!"
They charged.
Blades raised.
Faces twisted with grief and fury.
The surrendered soldiers froze.
"No!"
"Stop!"
"He's letting us live!"
The five ignored them.
Jax never turned around.
He simply watched the remaining soldiers disappear toward the distant horizon.
Two shadows moved.
One from the left.
One from the right.
Fang struck first.
The enormous serpent swallowed the leading soldier whole without slowing.
Gryph descended almost silently.
Talons flashed once.
The second soldier simply ceased to exist.
The remaining three stumbled.
One heartbeat...
They were charging.
The next...
They lay motionless upon the battlefield.
None had come within twenty feet of Jax.
The retreating soldiers stopped walking.
Every eye turned toward the shadow beasts.
Fang calmly swallowed.
Gryph folded his wings.
Neither looked particularly interested.
Neither had received an order.
Neither had needed one.
An older Imperial veteran slowly reached into his boot.
He withdrew a narrow dagger.
For several long moments...
He stared at it.
Then quietly tossed it into the grass.
Another soldier removed a sleeve knife.
Someone else discarded a hidden stiletto.
Soon...
Boot knives.
Sleeve blades.
Throwing spikes.
Everything followed.
No one wished to test the shadows.
Jax finally spoke.
Still without turning around.
"A wise decision."
The surviving soldiers lowered their heads.
Then continued walking.
Barefoot.
Unarmed.
Alive.
Behind him, Warden stepped silently to his side.
The black-armored knight surveyed the battlefield.
Then the retreating soldiers.
Finally...
He looked toward Solmere.
"My liege."
Jax rested Peacemaker across one shoulder.
"Let's go home."
Behind them...
The gates of Solmere slowly opened.
For the first time in generations...
An Imperial Army had marched upon the city in conquest.
And left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.