When the astounding conclusion of the Battle of Lake Chudskoye was carried by the defeated Lehlian remnants to the various Kislevite states and the Lehlian heartland, all of Kislev was shaken to its core.
For the Kislevite principalities, the Kingdom of Lehlia—the most powerful nation in all of Kislev—had been the last remaining barrier between them and Perturabo's iron hooves. Now, that barrier had been shattered with ease by Perturabo himself.
No one remained to save the princes who were destined to be sent to their ends one by one. Consequently, those who had survived the battle chose the only sensible path available: they surrendered to Perturabo. Casting aside their pride and dignity, they begged for the survival of their principalities and their families.
In the days following Lake Chudskoye, Perturabo received envoys almost daily from princes announcing their submission and fealty. These rulers offered their lives and souls, swearing allegiance to the newly risen Tsar and dictator.
Perturabo accepted their oaths readily. He was supremely confident that his iron fist could suppress these local powers. In his grand design, the survival of these princes within his new order would depend entirely on his whim.
As for Lehlia, Perturabo's decision to execute the captives decimated the nation's aristocratic class. More than half of the Lehlian nobility and their heirs perished at Lake Chudskoye, causing ancient families that had existed since the kingdom's founding a millennium ago to vanish instantly as their lineages were severed.
Ironically, had Wadisvav not died under that artillery shell, he would have found himself the most powerful King in Lehlian history upon his return to the capital.
But that stray shell changed everything. Wadisvav never returned. Alongside his nobles and his army, the King of Lehlia remained forever on the frozen shores of Lake Chudskoye.
In the absence of the King and the high nobility, Lehlia fell into chaos. The surviving minor nobles extended their greedy claws toward the estates of their fallen peers, attempting to profit from the national disaster. Within the royal family, ambitious pretenders began to fight one another, each vying for the throne left vacant by Wadisvav's death.
Lehlia, once the preeminent power, collapsed into prolonged internal strife, much like the ancient Kislev Empire it had once helped destroy. More gravely, in their desperation to defeat their rivals, these ambitious pretenders appealed to Perturabo—their greatest enemy—for aid, hoping he would eliminate their domestic opponents.
Naturally, Perturabo did not miss this opportunity. Having received these requests from fools intending to "drive away the tiger by inviting the wolf," he led his Streltsi—refreshed after their rest following the battle—to invade Lehlia once more. This time, he would not withdraw.
The overconfident pretenders soon realized something was wrong. Perturabo indeed helped them defeat their rivals, but he showed no intention of leaving. Instead, he began to act as the new King of Lehlia.
Only then did panic set in. The pretenders jointly demanded that Perturabo allow them to convene a parliament to elect a monarch, hoping to preserve Lehlia's independent existence.
Their hopes were met with despair. Perturabo no longer cared for Lehlia's status as a sovereign state. He began to govern it as a conquered province, much like the other Kislevite lands he had seized.
The Lehlian nobles who had invited this catastrophe attempted to gather their remaining military strength to expel Perturabo and his Streltsi. But with Lehlia's finest warriors and greatest leaders already dead on the ice, who was left to defeat him?
Predictably, the final embers of Lehlian resistance were crushed by Perturabo's cold and brutal methods. He systematically subdued every noble who opposed him. Under the Lord of Iron's command, these rebels were executed one by one to serve as a warning to others.
To suppress any further resistance, Perturabo ordered the Lehlian capital to be plundered and burned by the Kislevite army. The city's inhabitants were forcibly relocated to various Kislevite principalities under his rule to be assimilated.
This was a calculated move by the Lord of Iron to eradicate any memory of the Lehlian nation. He would not tolerate any nostalgic yearning for the old country within his new order; such revanchist resistance was something Perturabo would never accept.
Thus, following a single massive defeat and the subsequent folly of its ambitious leaders, Lehlia—a power with a thousand years of history that had once brought down the old Kislev Empire—was brutally and coldly destroyed by Perturabo.
Following the destruction of Lehlia, Perturabo's prestige reached its zenith. The reason was simple: the Kislevites had long harbored a deep resentment toward the nation that caused the fall of their first empire. Even the princes who had collaborated with Lehlia only viewed them as a convenient partner against Perturabo.
Now, this "Divine Envoy" had personally annihilated the Lehlian main force and erased the nation from history. In the eyes of the Kislevites, this was the ultimate vengeance, rendering the name "Lehlia" a memory that would soon be forgotten.
To the people of Kislev, Perturabo was now indistinguishable from the great figure who had founded the first Tsardom. Perhaps this man named Perturabo was the one destined to lead them in establishing a second unified Tsardom encompassing all of Kislev.
The time had come. Perturabo would be crowned High Tsar of all Kislev, and with it, he would usher in a brand-new era.