War did not wait any longer.
It came fast.
Relentless.
Unforgiving.
The battlefield stretched across the borders of Varyon, darkened by movement, by steel, by the weight of everything that had been building toward this moment
Selene stood at the front.
Not hidden.
Not protected.
Present.
"They expect you to stay behind," a commander said.
Selene didn't look at him.
"They expect hesitation," she replied.
Her gaze remained fixed ahead—on the horizon, where enemy forces gathered like a storm ready to break.
"I won't give them that."
Kael stood beside her, armor catching the dim light.
"This isn't just a battle," he said
Selene nodded once.
"It's a message."
A pause.
"To him."
The army moved at her command.
And something shifted.
Because they weren't just following orders.
They were following her.
Steel clashed. Horses thundered. The air filled with the sound of impact, of resistance, of power meeting power without retreat.
Selene didn't fall back.
She moved forward.
Every step calculated.
Every decision precise.
She wasn't reacting.
She was controlling the flow of the fight.
"You're pushing them too hard," Kael said as he reached her side again.
Selene's voice remained steady.
"They're already breaking.
And she was right.
The enemy lines faltered—not because they lacked strength, but because they lacked certainty.
Selene didn't.
She never had.
"End this," Kael said quietly.
Selene's eyes darkened.
"I will."
And in that moment—
The battlefield stopped being a place of conflict.
It became a place of conclusion.