Kylia and her forces had traveled across the Samasa Plain, Rabia Plain, through Lanayru Road West Gate and the Great Fairy Fountain before finally reaching the northeast entrance of Kakariko village.
"I will go in alone." Kylia called out to the Lieutenant Colonel Lavovy and the other Valors behind her." Position yourselves on the various tall cliffs surrounding the village. if you spot any hostilities, attack!"
"Yes, your majesty." The Lavovy officer saluted and began relaying orders down the line in clipped, low tones. Within minutes, seven hundred Lavovy Airmen had lifted off the snow-covered turf in staggered flights, banking wide around the village to settle along the cliffs and outcroppings that ringed Kakariko like the rim of a bowl. Below, from the village itself, no alarm bells rang, no horns sounded, oblivious to what was to come.
"Alone?" Rosa's brows flared with irritation. "Isn't that a bit arrogant, even for you?"
"If I go in with an army at my back, they'll fight because they think they have no choice," Kylia said. "If I go in alone, they might just talk instead."
"And if they don't?"
"Then you'll all be watching from the cliffs, won't you." Kylia unclipped Zirka's scabbard just enough to loosen the draw, then let it settle again. "After the battle in New Rosa these spineless assassins don't even have the strength to even touch me, let alone cause any harm. They dare they die!"
Zeleny crossed his arms, unconvinced but unwilling to argue further.
"Positions confirmed," the Lieutenant Colonel reported a few minutes later, voice carried down by a relay of hand signals and a single low whistle. "All flights in overwatch, Your Majesty. Nothing moves in that village without us seeing it."
Kylia nodded once, then turned toward the northeast gate, little more than a gap between two leaning wooden poles, hung with a faded banner bearing the Sheikah eye. Beyond the gate was an old, weathered Sheikah shrine and the edge of a cliff with a view of most of the village.
Walking over to the cliff edge Kylia gazed at the glowing lights emitted from any torches and candles lit from the village below.
"So rich…" Kylia muttered to herself. Kylia City thirty years prior during peace time was completely pitch black while Kakariko village during a war can still afford expensive consumables despite the agrarian economy.
Kylia took a couple more glances at the village before a specific building caught her eye. To her right surrounded by a moat and in front of a waterfall resided the Sheikah leader's building.
With a sharp glint in her eye Kylia blended into a black blur as she silently took off.
…
Seated on a red cushion the current clan leader of the Sheikah, Ishiro, was having a not so pleasant chat with his subordinates on training the new generation of Sheikah. The battle of New Rosa had wiped out nearly all the grassroots that were growing into silver tier combatants. Now the Sheikah would soon be faced with a generation talent gap before the next batch of combatants could replace those who would retire soon.
With all of this pressing down upon him dulling his senses, he and the other Sheikah nearby were startled when the center of the roof collapsed.
"BANG!" The floorboards underneath Kylia's feet snapped with her landing.
A storm of splintered cedar and fine dust erupted inward, showering the chamber in pale debris.
Ishiro threw his arm up instinctively, sleeves snapping against the slight gale-force pressure of the landing. Beside him, three Silver Tier Sheikah guards didn't hesitate; their hands went to their hips with blinding speed, three metallic clinks harmonizing into a single, deadly chord as kunai were thrown out.
"Cli-clang!"
Slowly, the dust settled.
Kylia stood amidst the wreckage of the vaulted ceiling; the three kunai had harmlessly bounced right off from her. She didn't even need to draw Zirka. She had withstood attacks far greater without taking any real damage.
Looking around Kylia's hands rested casually at her sides, her dark hair stirring slightly in the draft from above. Her once royal blue eyes, filled with mockery, bypassed the trembling guards entirely and locked onto the clan leader seated upon the red cushion.
"Have we met before?" Kylia asked with genuine curiosity. "I remember seeing you with the King during the battle of New Rosa."
Ishiro slowly lowered his arm, his breath hitched. He had fought in the shadows of Hyrule for decades; he had faced monsters, rebels, elite knights and even Valors. But the Valor standing before him was on a different level than Vladislav and Valeska, the two that he fought before
That being her strength was off the charts, and one wrong move could end him.
"Well, I was indeed there..." Ishiro's voice was rasped, strained with disbelief as he carefully rose from his cushion, keeping his hands open and visible at his sides. "You walk into the heart of Kakariko alone. Are you truly so confident, or simply suicidal?"
"Heh!" Kylia scoffed as she stepped over a beam of fallen timber, the wood cracking further under her boot. "Why would I care about the trifles of ants? I'm surprised you never stepped in when he needed you most, or did you?"
Ishiro stayed silent.
Kylia tilted her head, a cold smile touching her lips.
"The King did not really die from my attack, did he? My eyes did not fool me, he just disappeared the moment my attack came, not even leaving ash behind! You saved him with one of those tags, didn't you?"
"Also, if he really did die, Hyrule would have immediately surrendered soon afterwards. The fact that the Kingdom is still fighting a losing war, shows that someone in charge still holds grudges."
"Someone like King Atari…Right?"
"Well-No-I mean-It was!" Ishiro swallowed hard, the cold sweat tracing a slow path down his trembling spine. The blood rushed out of his face as half formed words fail to exit his stammering mouth.
Ignoring the clan leader Kylia continued. "Your little village is currently surrounded by seven hundred Lavovy Airmen perched on all of the local cliffsides. Every exit can be sealed at a moment's notice. Every building is under our crosshairs."
"So, we can do this the hard way, where my marksmen turn this valley into a smoking crater and I take your head as a souvenir, or unconditional surrender. Which shall it be, Clan Leader?"
The guards looked desperately toward Ishiro, their knuckles white around their kunai, waiting for a single command to throw their lives away.
Ishiro looked up toward the jagged hole in his roof and closed his eyes for a brief second.
Slowly, the Sheikah Leader lowered his head.
"Stand down," Ishiro commanded softly, his voice echoing in the tense room.
The Sheikah guards blinked in shock. "Lord Ishiro!"
"I said, stand down," Ishiro repeated, firmer this time, before turning his gaze back to the dark queen. He lowered himself to a dogeza bow. "This ant implores you to have mercy. Kakariko surrenders. State your terms, Your Majesty."
"I accept you surrender but we want benefits!" Kylia showed little mercy in draining this village dry. "First, every combat member of your clan will relinquish their weapons and gather in the central plaza within the hour. No hidden blades, no smoke bombs, no tricks."
"Second, the village will be occupied by my forces shortly and be converted into a military base. Regarding the rights of the villagers currently living here, that can be discussed later. However, free lodging is a must."
"Third, the Sheikah will pay war reparations as part of the Kingdom of Hyrule after the war, this will include Sheikah techniques!"
One of the guards behind Ishiro let out a low, indignant gasp, but a sharp sideways glance from the clan leader silenced him instantly.
"It shall be done," Ishiro said, his lips dry with sorrow.
"Good," Kylia said, turning toward the gaping hole in the ceiling. "Do not test my patience. My airmen are trigger-happy, and one mishap, well...HAHAHA!"
With a slight bend of her knees, Kylia launched herself upward. With a rush of air, she vanished back into the night sky, leaving the shattered chamber in a heavy, suffocating silence.
Outside, soaring upon the smooth, round cliffs overlooking the village, the Lieutenant Colonel watched the dark silhouette of his queen vault out of the clan leader's roof. He didn't need to shout; a single flick of his wrist signaled the relay team.
Down in the winding streets of Kakariko, the heavy wooden doors of the houses slowly began to open. Sheikah warriors, their faces pale and expressions hollow, stepped out into the torchlight one by one, laying their weapons in piles upon the snow. The battle for the hidden village was over before it had truly begun.
High above, standing on a snowy crunch of rock beside Rosa and Zeleny, Kylia rested a hand on Zirka's hilt, gazing down at the conquered valley.
Kakariko captured!