Vexa simply smirked. She looked down. Then back up. Alot of dirt was on various parts of the suit and this girl was obviously winded. This was a woman running on an empty tank. She almost felt bad.

Almost.

Briana charged with unbridled rage, zipping towards Vexa. and as she stabbed into her, what should’ve been an easy victory, was flipped on its head.

"It seems i have to use it after all." A plant armor covered the part of Vexa briana stabbed. And when she stabbed it, a gas flew into her face.

Briana reeled back as the acrid gas burned her nostrils—her vision swam, the battlefield tilting violently. Through the haze, she saw Vexa’s smirk twist into something monstrous as tendrils of emerald energy erupted from her armor, writhing like serpents.

"Sleep," the dark elf whispered.

Briana felt her whole body slowly but surely get weaker. It became impossible to do anything but sleep. As his consciousness faded, she saw Amanda, partially awake. That damn smile. After just seeing it once, she promised herself to cut it off of her face.

After Briana collapsed, Vexa quickly calmed Amanda’s men down. Mana depleting cuffs were put on her wrists to ensure she didn’t go on a rampage once more. Afterwards she was sent to a dung beneath her own house.

After their two strongest members got defeated, most of the remaining Hawkthorne forces Were either captured, ran away in small squads or tactically retreated to the town area to use it as a stronghold.

Vexa was holding a mostly awake Amanda up.

As they looked upon the captured forces of hawkthorne, Vexa gave them two options.

"Kneel or die." She looked to her nearest bowmen,

Ready to shoot anyone trying to be brave in their final moments.

One man kneeled before any could.

The sound of his greaves hitting the mud was louder than any war cry—a wet, final thud that seemed to suck the air from the battlefield. More followed, first in hesitant clusters, then in waves. Steel clattered against the churned earth as swords were dropped, shields discarded. Vexa’s smirk widened. Amanda, still swaying on her feet, watched through half-lidded eyes as the last of Hawkthorne’s defiance crumbled.

Amanda shook her head. "Some are obviously lying." Vexa held her close. "Focus on the good while you can honey."

Briana woke up in a cell. She saw a blue crystal in between her handcuffs and began laughing. Mana suppressors. She had her entire light stripped from her and her town seized and her father killed all in one night.

And to top it all off, her powers dont work.

All she could do is laugh. It was probably the only thing keeping her sane at the moment.

It stopped when the cell door opened. "Yo."

That was a familiar voice. Turning around, it was marlo. He was a commoner boy who always wanted to become a member of her guard. They had grown up together and stayed close.

"How did you get here?"

"If you could believe the master class in acting i just did. I Vexa made everyone kneel and i was the first to do it. Then i went on this whole rant about hating everything about you. But, lets get you outta here."

Amanda shook here head, but her hope was revitalized. "No. They clearly have me here for a reason. If i were to disappear do you know how many innocent they would kill just to find me?"

"Well whats the plan?"

Briana gave him a glance that had nothing but fire in it. "Call for help. They only managed to pull this off because we couldn’t reach the outside. Once trade resumes, Put posters out for adventurers and mercenaries. Convince the guard to act as civilians and build a resistance group, wait till the time is right. Once we have enough people

You can come get me and we’ll crush them."

Marlo’s fingers lingered on the cold iron bars a heartbeat longer than necessary. The flickering torchlight caught the flush creeping up his neck as he backed away from Briana’s cell. "You got it, boss," he muttered, the words too thick in his throat. She didn’t notice—too busy staring at the mana-suppressing cuffs around her wrists, her jaw set like she could will the damn things to crack through sheer spite. That was Briana. Even in chains, she burned brighter than the torches lining the dungeon walls.

He turned sharply before she could catch him staring, his boots echoing too loudly against the damp stone. Four years of training under her father’s banner, two more as her personal guard-in-waiting, and still his pulse rabbited whenever she fixed those lightning-strike eyes on him. Pathetic. A commoner’s infatuation with something he could never hold. She was Hawkthorne’s heir, her veins humming with ancestral magic that made storms kneel. And he? A miller’s son who’d traded flour dust for sword calluses.

He shook his head. "I have so much to do."

First on the list was making sure most soldiers surrendered.

Outside of the palace, Amanda was being carried on a bed throughout the town. Her men were clearing the way through scared and confused civilians, and members of the town guard, unwilling to give up.

Vexa Was in a Chariot shortly behind her. The scene looked very contrasting to say the least. Such an elegant show of power wasted on people who saw her as an invader.

Getting into the palace, Vexa got a look at the nice purple interior. a vast staircase that split into three, leading upstairs to multiple different rooms. Behind the staircases stood the entrance to the dining hall.

"Oh we will get fancy indeed." She turned to Amanda with a cheeky smile to which a small one formed on her face as well.

A few servants came. "Hello? Miss Briana?"

The confusion on their faces was followed with slight worry. Theodore was quite strong and his daughter rode with him. Certainly they didn’t lose.

Vexa pointed to Amanda whose bed was still being held up by six men. "Swear your loyalty to the new head of hawkthorne, or die."

Amanda shook her head. "We don’t need more bloodshed at the moment. I want to rest."

Vexa nodded. "Can I throw a celebratory Party?"

"Knock yourself out."

——

After getting Amanda to a comfortable bed, Vexa was rubbing her forehead. Amanda grabbed her wrist. "It’ll heal."

"Of that I have no doubt. Just be more careful." Amanda was very obvious in her rapid approach and it gave Theodore a chance to mount a counter attack.

But that wasn’t the reason she was there.

"When you told me about your dream, was it something like this?" She turned and looked out of a glass door that opened into a balcony.

Amanda shook her head. "Not quite, But I’m glad we’re getting closer."