Chapter 318: After The Battle

Darion stood in the middle of the street. On the tall building, Seren by his side.

All around him, Vrethka had fallen silent.

The warriors who had once filled the settlement with shouts and battle cries were now kneeling. Weapons lay scattered across the ground. Swords. Spears. Axes. Shields. Everything that had once represented Vrethka’s strength now rested uselessly in the dirt.

Some warriors had their heads lowered. Others stared at Darion with fear. A few looked at him with complete disbelief, as though they were still trying to understand how everything had gone so horribly wrong.

And among them were warriors who clearly didn’t want to kneel. Some had their fists clenched. Others looked toward their fallen comrades. Some even tried to rise. But the moment they moved, one of Darion’s undead knights would step toward them (Darion initiated the command). A single look was enough. Those warriors quickly returned to their knees. Nobody wanted to be the next person to die.

Darion stared at the scene. His face remained completely serious. Cold. Calm. Unshaken. At least on the outside.

Inside...

"...Oh boy."

The adrenaline that had been driving him through the battle was finally disappearing. For the last several minutes, he had been running on instinct. Fight. Summon. Kill. Chase. Catch them. Stop them. Don’t let Dross escape. Don’t let Caef escape. Don’t let Vrethka reach the Kulidii. Every decision had felt immediate. There hadn’t been time to think. There hadn’t been time to hesitate.

He had simply acted.

But now? The battle was over. Dross was dead. Caef was dead. Hundreds of warriors had fallen. And an entire settlement was kneeling before him.

Darion looked around. His eyes moved over the destroyed streets. Blood stained the ground. Broken weapons were scattered everywhere. Bodies covered parts of the road. Buildings had been damaged during the fighting. Market stalls had been destroyed. Walls had been smashed apart. And standing among all of it was his undead army.

His undead knights. His undead animals. His creatures. His army.

Darion slowly exhaled. ’How did this even happen?’

He knew exactly how it had happened. But seeing the result was completely different from imagining it.

He hadn’t originally come to Vrethka to conquer it. He had come to investigate. That was it. Vrethka had been preparing to attack Percvale. Darion had wanted to know why. He had wanted information. He had wanted to understand their strength. He had wanted to determine whether they were actually a threat.

Then he had entered the settlement disguised as one of their warriors. He had discovered their plan. He had discovered Dross. He had discovered Caef. He had discovered the Kulidii. And then everything had gone to hell.

He had been discovered. He had escaped. He had almost left. Then he had realized that leaving would only give Vrethka time to obtain the magic capable of neutralizing his Necromancer abilities. So he had turned around. He had chosen to fight.

And now... Vrethka was his. Or at least, it was kneeling before him.

Darion looked toward the place where Dross’s body had fallen. Then his eyes moved toward Caef.

Caef had genuinely had a reason to hate him. Darion couldn’t deny that. Caef had lost his brother. He had watched his village destroyed. He had lost everything. From Caef’s perspective, Darion was a monster who had taken everything from him. And Caef had wanted revenge.

Darion understood that. If someone had destroyed everything he cared about, he wasn’t sure he’d simply forget about it either. But Caef had chosen the wrong path. He had joined Dross. He had helped prepare a war against Percvale. He had sent scouts. He had helped turn Vrethka into a weapon against Darion. And eventually, that decision had led Caef straight into Darion’s hands.

He had wanted revenge. Instead, he had lost his life.

Darion looked away. Things really didn’t go the way you Caef wanted.

Darion’s attention returned to the people kneeling before him. Vrethka. An entire settlement. All of them were now waiting for his decision.

The atmosphere was strange. There was no celebration. No cheering. No cries of victory. Only silence. A heavy, uncomfortable silence. The kind of silence that came after everyone had realized they were standing before someone they could not defeat.

Even the strongest warriors looked small now. Some stared at the undead knights. Others stared at the snakes crawling quietly through the streets. Some kept their eyes fixed on the undead wolves. Nobody wanted to make a sudden movement. Nobody wanted to test Darion. And above all... nobody wanted to find out what would happen if they did.

Darion looked across the crowd. Hundreds upon hundreds of warriors were kneeling. Some had blood covering their armor. Some were wounded. Some were exhausted. Some looked terrified. Some looked angry. Some looked defeated. But every single one remained on their knees. Even the reluctant ones had been forced down by the sight of the undead surrounding them.

Vrethka had fought. Vrethka had resisted. Vrethka had tried to kill him. And now Vrethka had lost.

Darion slowly looked toward Seren. She was standing beside him. Unlike everyone else, she wasn’t kneeling. She didn’t need to. She was his companion. His ally.

And right now... She looked almost like she was standing on top of the world. Her eyes were bright. A smile was slowly spreading across her face. She looked around at the kneeling warriors. Then at the undead. Then at Darion.

She could hardly believe what she had witnessed. Darion had actually done it. He had walked into Vrethka with her. He had been surrounded. He had been outnumbered. He had been inside enemy territory with no army at his back. And somehow... He had won. Not merely survived. Won.

Seren’s excitement was almost impossible to hide. Darion had just led a one-man army. And that army had crushed Vrethka.

She looked at the undead surrounding them. Then she looked at Darion again. She had seen him fight before. She had seen his power. But this was different. This wasn’t Darion fighting a few enemies. This wasn’t Darion using a handful of undead. This was Darion standing in the middle of an enemy settlement with hundreds of undead behind him. And the enemy had surrendered.

Seren couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of pride. She had been there. She had watched it happen. And somehow, she was standing beside the man who had just done something that sounded completely ridiculous if someone had told her about it beforehand.

Darion noticed her looking at him. Seren smiled. "You just conquered Vrethka."

Darion looked around. "Did I?"

Seren glanced at the kneeling warriors. "Yes."

Darion remained silent. Then he looked at his undead.

Thankfully, despite how brutal the battle had been, he hadn’t wiped out everyone. He had killed hundreds. A lot of them. But there were still hundreds of warriors alive. Hundreds who had surrendered. Hundreds who could potentially be useful.

Darion looked toward the surviving warriors. That thought immediately made him realize something. These people weren’t simply enemies anymore. They were now people under his control. Or at least... they could be.

The battle was over. But the consequences had only just begun.

A little farther away, the chief of Harrowhold and his son were standing among the other prisoners. Except they weren’t really prisoners anymore.

Their chains had been removed. Their captors were dead. Dross was dead. Caef was dead. The men who had tortured and humiliated them were either dead or kneeling before Darion.

The Harrowhold chief looked around slowly. His expression was difficult to describe. Relief. Disbelief. Exhaustion. Perhaps even gratitude.

His son stood beside him. Neither of them spoke. They simply watched Darion.

For the first time in a long time, they were free.

The battle was over. Vrethka had fallen. And Darion had won.

But as Darion stood there, another thought slowly entered his mind. A much bigger question.

What now?

He looked toward the settlement. Vrethka wasn’t small. It had walls. Buildings. Warriors. Resources. People. A military structure. And now... Its leader was dead.

Darion’s eyes narrowed. He had come here intending to stop Vrethka from attacking Percvale. He had accomplished that. But he had never planned what came after.

Did he leave? If he left Vrethka alone, who would take control? Would another leader rise? Would the warriors regroup? Would someone else decide to continue the war? Would they eventually become another threat to Percvale?

Darion looked at the kneeling warriors.

Or... Should he occupy Vrethka?

The thought lingered. If he took control of the settlement, he would gain another territory. Another source of warriors. Another stronghold. Another place from which he could expand. But ruling Vrethka would also bring problems. He would need someone to govern it. He would need to deal with the civilians. The prisoners. The surviving warriors. The resources. The defenses. Everything.

And there was another possibility. He could install someone else as their leader. Someone loyal to him. Someone who could manage Vrethka while Darion returned to Percvale.

Darion slowly looked across the settlement again. The battlefield had ended. But somehow, the most important decision had only just begun.

He had come to Vrethka to stop a war. Now he had an entire settlement kneeling before him.

Darion stared at them. His serious expression remained. But inside, one question kept repeating.

What the hell am I supposed to do with Vrethka now?

END OF VOLUME TWO