The great camp of the Pyra Empire was awake and silent.
Thousands of tents, rows of torches, the smell of ash and blood that never quite faded from the air. War breathed here even when the people were silent.
In the center of the camp, outside the main command tent, Captain Amon stood motionless.
The messenger had already left.
Amon turned to the guards.
"Call Arden Dalys, Lyra, and Rin. Immediately."
He said nothing more.
________________________________________
INSIDE THE COMMAND TENT
Taro was already there.
He stood by the map table, his armor still showing the marks of the last night of fighting. His face was tired, but his gaze was sharp—the gaze of someone who had been made a major too soon.
The canvas of the tent moved.
Rin entered first.
Quietly. Already scanning the area.
Then Lyra.
Calm, but sleepless nights were visible under her eyes.
Arden was the last to enter.
No mask.
The scar over the left eye is clearly visible.
The face was cold, as if it had been carved out of stone.
Ammon wastes no time.
"News has arrived from Solinaris."
Silence.Taro's gaze swept over the three of them.
"From the Emperor himself."
Rin leaned back against the pillar.
"And?"
Amon placed the sealed letter on the table. The seal of the Pyra Empire was intact.
"The order is clear."
He looked Arden squarely in the eye.
"You, Lyra, and Rin are withdrawing from the northern front."
Lyra flinched.
"We are withdrawing… now?"
Taro added, his voice lower:
"You are returning to the capital."
Rin laughed softly—but without humor.
"That is not a promotion."
Amon continued:
"You will be transferred to the southern front."
The silence deepened.
"The Kingdom of Thalassa," Lyra said.
Amon nodded.
"The situation is currently stable, but the Emperor wants you there. Personally."
Arden didn't react immediately.
When he spoke, his voice was flat.
"Why us?"
Taro looked at Arden, then looked down.
"Because you're too important to stay here."
Amon added:
"And because the North has become… too attached to your name."
Rin straightened up.
"In other words—they want to get Vex out of the lightning eyes."Arden's jaw tightens, but he says nothing.
Lyra asked quietly.
"When do we leave?"
Amon answered without hesitation:
"At dawn."
Pause.
"This is not a request."
Taro looked at each of them.
"The northern front remains under my command. Captain Amon returns to the west."
Arden turned toward the tent exit.
He paused for a moment.
"I understand."
Amon stopped him with one sentence, quieter than before:
"Arden…wherever you go — war goes with you."
Arden didn't answer. He just pulls back the canvas of the tent and goes out into the night.
The torches burned quietly.
But somewhere far away — the sea began to wake up.
THE ROAD OF ASHES
The column left before dawn.
A few horsemen, two carts with medical equipment and silence that hurt in the ears. The road to Solinaris wound through scorched fields and abandoned villages—the scars of seven years of war were everywhere.
Arden rode in front.
No mask.
A katana hung at his side.
The scar over his left eye was a dark line of the past he made no attempt to hide.
Lyra was beside him.
Rin was closing the column.No one spoke for a long time.
Finally, Lyra spoke quietly.
"The southern front… the sea… maybe it will be easier there."
Arden didn't look at her.
"He won't."
Rin gave a short laugh.
"War doesn't get any easier. It just changes its face."
A few moments later Rin slowed the horse.
"I don't like this."
Lyra froze.
"What?"
Rin looked at the forest to the left of the road.
"Too quiet."
Arden lowered his hand to the hilt of the katana.
"How much?" he asked.
Rin closed her eyes for a moment, listening.
"I don't know…but they're waiting."
And then—
the sky split open.
Lightning struck the ground in front of the column. The horses tripped. The ground explodes in a flash of blue light.
"AMBUSH!" Rin shouted.
Dominion Voltaris warriors burst out of the forest. Their armor is dark, their eyes full of hatred.
One of them shouts, his voice full of fear and anger:
"IT'S HIM!"
Another adds:
"VEX! HEARTLESS BLADE!"
Arden stopped.
Take it easy.He picked up the fox mask and put it on his face.
The world is shrinking.
The katana came out of its sheath with a low, deadly sound.
"Lyra—back," he says calmly.
Lightning flashed towards him.
Fire is born.
Not red.
Black.
Arden—now Vex—steps forward.
The katana cuts the lightning in half. Flames consume steel. One, two, five bodies fall before they realize they are dead.
"Don't go near him!" someone screams.
Too late.
Rin appeared behind enemy lines, knives flashing.
Lyra is already dragging the wounded back, her hands working mechanically, without panic.
One lightning warrior falls to his knees, looking at Vex in horror.
"You… you're not human…"
Vex looked at him through the mask.
"Not tonight."
Cut.
The last survivor tries to escape.
Rin knocks him down.
The warrior bleeds, trembling:
"We were sent… just for you…"
Vex came over.
"I know."The katana rose.
Silence returned.
The smoke is rising.
Vex stands motionless among the dead.
Lyra approached him slowly.
"Arden..."
He takes off his mask.
His eyes are cold.
But the hands — they tremble.
Rin looked around.
"If Voltaris is sending ambushes just for one man…"
He looked at Arden.
"Then you became a war."
Arden turned his gaze to the far horizon, towards Solinaris.
"No," he says quietly.
"The war came for me."
That night, Dominion Voltaris understood and ordered that if you see Heartless Blade run away because you cannot kill him