Chapter 31: Ashes and OathsLord Maynus Thalgrin stood atop the crumbling battlements of Vellmont, his steel-grey beard slick with sweat, his deep-set eyes sing the battlefield below with grim determination. The southern wall—Vellmont’s weakest point—was holding, but only just.

  A symphony of battle cries, g steel, and are detonations filled the air. Mages lihe ramparts, their hands outstretched as brilliant waves of barrier magic shimmered against the relentless onsught. Embercd rebels bombarded the defenses with volleys of elemental projectiles—fireballs erupted against the golden shields, frost nces shattered on impact, and jagged bolts of lightning rippled through the cracks, sendihal arcs through unfortunate soldiers standing too close.

  Magnus turo a nearby officer, his voice a battle-hardened growl. “Rotate the casters! If they falter, we’re finished!”

  “Yes, Lord Mayor!” The officer saluted before dashing down the parapet steps, reying the orders.

  For now, the walls held. But the strain was being evident. The mages were faltering—some swayed on their feet, their lips pale, their eyes suheir reserves were dwindling.

  “Another round of stamina potions!” Magnus barked. “Keep them standing!”

  Runners rushed to the mages, thrusting vials into trembling hands. The liquid within was a lifeline, but the supply was running low. Magnus k. The potions from the alchemists’ reserves had been rationed sihe siege begached as a young mage—barely past her naming ceremony—gulped one down with shaking fingers, only to colpse moments ter.

  “Shit.” He ched his fists, watg as more mages began dropping, their bodies drained past the point of recovery. Without them, the barriers—

  A deafening crack split the air.

  Magnus snapped his gaze forward just in time to see the barriers flicker, then shatter like brittle gss. The magical dome proteg the southern wall imploded, golden shards of spent energy scattering into the night like dying stars.

  A single moment of silence.

  Then hell came r through.

  An Iron Revenant—a hulking, undead ogre entombed in power armor—emerged from the smoke. Crimson sigils pulsed across its massive frame, and in its gaued fists, it wielded a psma give the size of a siege es hollow, glowing eyes locked onto the now-exposed ramparts.

  “FIRE! ALL BALLISTAE, FIRE!” Magnus bellowed.

  Giant bolts shot from the watchtowers, streaking through the night like meteors. Some hit true, embedding deep into the Revenant’s armor, but the behemoth did not slow. It raised its give, the on humming with barely-tained energy.

  Then, with a single, sweeping arc, it carved through the stone like it art.

  The wall exploded in a fiery shockwave, the force hurling men like ragdolls. The southern fortifications, which had withstood turies of war, crumbled in an instant. Magnus was thrown bading hard against the unfiving stone of the inner wall.

  The screams of his men filled his ears. The air was thick with dust, blood, and the acrid stench of burning flesh. He forced himself to his feet, his shoulder screaming in protest, and beheld the age below.

  The gap in the wall was massive. Embercd rebels surged forward like a tidal wave, p into the breach. Vellmont en.

  Magnus staggered frabbing a wounded soldier by the colr. “Sound the retreat! FALL BACK TO THE INNER COURTYARD!”

  The man coughed blood, but nodded, blowing a shrill signal through a war horn. The remaining troops scrambled away from the crumbling wall, ref ranks withiy. They could hold—perhaps—but not for long.

  Magnus ched his jaw. There was only oio. He turned, stumbling toward the s officer who was barely regaining sciousness.

  “Get me The Steadfast,” he anded. “Now.”

  **Below **The Steadfast

  Garett maneuvered Sorion-Lupus Revise with precision, cutting down enemy mechs in a brilliant dance of luminite fire and cold steel. The battlefield was littered with the remains of rebels, their forces dwindling uhe relentless assault of Fenralis steel and spellfire.

  His s crackled. “Milord, ining holo from The Steadfast!”

  Anya’s voice. He flicked a switch, bringing up the proje.

  The flickering image of a bloodied Lord Maynus Thalgrin appeared, eyes wild with desperation. “Governor Fenralis! The southern walls have fallen! We need reinforts now!”

  Garett stiffened, mind rag through the possibilities. Before he could respond, a golden streak cut through the sky.

  Soldraknirr.

  A heavy silence fell over the battlefield as the dragon-mech desded upoeadfast. The massive mae loomed over the ship, its radiant form shining with celestial fury. And then—

  Starfire.

  The deck of The Steadfast erupted in an inferno of divine wrath, swallowing everything in its wake.

  “LYRA!” Garett’s voice tore through the s, his heart pounding.

  “Shit...” Anya’s voice faltered. She never faltered. “What are your orders, milord?”

  Garett’s grip on the trols tightehere was only one answer.

  Sorion-Lupus Revise roared as it asded, its thrusters igniting as it shot straight toward the golden dragon.

  “Take your men and assist the southern wall! We’ll catch up after I’ve dealt with this!”

  “No! We have to help The Steadfast first!” Nissa’s voice cracked through the s.

  Jerik grimaced. “Orders, chief?”

  Anya hesitated. Garett knew she was torn. She was loyal to House Fenralis—loyal to him. But sending them away meant leaving him alone against the dragon-mech.

  Her voice came through, firm and resolved. “We proceed to the southern gate as ordered.”

  Nissa, Jerik, Brenn, and Brody saluted. Their mechs veered off, leaving only Garett to face the dragon above.

  He exhaled, leveling his mech’s ons at the golde.

  **Aboard **The Steadfast

  A brilliant golden light engulfed the hangar bay, its radiance swallowing the t form of Leona’s Direhound-and. The war mae shimmered, its physical form dissolving into pure energy before vanishiirely. A heartbeat ter, that same golden radiaed onto the deck of The Steadfast, where Leona, Lyra, and Nyx braced against the torrent of Starfire.

  The mech stood like a titan reborn. Its blue armor, streaked with golden highlights, reflected the dragon’s hellish glow. The lion-shaped pauldron on its left shoulder gleamed defiantly uhe fmes—a silent herald of its pilot’s lihe massive shield, mounted on its left arm like aioner’s axe, locked into pce as it intercepted the full force of Soldraknirr’s breath. The mithrititanium pting and reinforced barrier absorbed the impact with ease, dispersing the infernal energy into harmless embers around them.

  “Tsk. A summoning spell.” Lyrius muttered from his cockpit, watg the spectacle unfold. “I should have predicted that.”

  Lyra and Nyx shot into a.

  “QUICK! Get in the mech! We buy you a few seds at least!” Lyra yelled, her voice strained but determined. She thrust her hands forward, invoking a relentless barrage of god-tier spells, hurling infernos, torrents of frost, and spiraling arcs of are energy directly at the golden dragon. She was burning through her reserves recklessly, but there was no time to care.

  Nyx leapt into motion, grabbing vials of Fenralis stamina potions from Leona’s pack. “Drink up, because I don’t think that thing’s running out of fire anytime soon!” She tossed a vial to Lyra while juring small barriers to deflect stray tendrils of Starfire and flying debris from the mech’s shields.

  Leona, still trembling from the exhaustion of her summoning, gritted her teeth. She reached int, fingers closing around the st stamina potion. With a deep breath, she dow in one gulp, feeling the heat of raw energy course through her veins.

  There was no dder, no foothold. But she didn’t need one.

  Summoning fortifiagic ts, she bent her khen unched herself skyward. Her body arced through the smoke-filled air, nding gracefully onto the waiting cockpit of the Direhound-and, led like a fortress upon its back.

  Just as she locked in, a golden streak rocketed from below.

  Sorion-Lupus Revise surged through the battlefield, closing the distan an instant. Its psma bde fshed as it struck upward—

  Directly into Soldraknirr’s .

  The impact sent a shockwave rippling through the heavens, and the golden dragon’s Starfire abruptly ceased.

  Inside Soldraknirr’s cockpit, arms bred as red warning lights fshed across Lyrius’ HUD. He gritted his teeth—there had been no time to evade. The strike had nded . He forced his mech to steady itself, thrusters fring as he surveyed the aerial battlefield. His eyes locked onto the golden lion pauldron of Leona’s Direhound-and, reition dawning like a slow-burning ember.

  His voice crackled through the s, dripping with amusement. "Well, well. A Leonis in the Vale? I thought your kind had been wiped out. How nostalgic. Tell me, little lio sting, knowing that no matter where you run, the past still finds you? That your house will always be known as traitors?"

  Leona’s grip on her trols tightened, fury boilih her skin. "You have nht to speak of my house, Drais filth." Her voice was ice, but her blood burned. "You’re the ones who betrayed us—your so-called honor nothing but a lie to justify yreed!"

  Lyrius chuckled, the sound smooth yet desding. "Such passion. But tell me, does your new leash feel fortable? House Fenralis—what an amusing choice for a patron. From traitors to pdogs. Or did you think they took you in out of kindness?"

  "Enough talk!" Leona snapped. Her mech raised its shield, brag for another assault. "I’ll carve the Drais name from history myself!"

  Lyrius merely smirked before shifting his attention to the other batant. "And then there’s you." His voice turned almost pyful. "The sed heir of Fenralis, the exile dressed up as a lord. I’ve heard the stories. No magio talent—just a pceholder ruling over a wastend. A here you are, piloting a mech as if you were born to it." He leaned forward in his seat, eyes narrowing. "That shouldn’t be possible. Unless..."

  A slow grin spread across his face. "Ah, I see now. The starfe. I should have known. How else would a magicless wretch be able to fight like this?"

  Garett frowned. His grip on the trols tightened. "I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about."

  Lyrius let out a ugh, rich with mockery. "Oh, you poor thing. You don’t even know, do you? Well then, allow me to be the first to gratute you—because your precious Vale won’t be yours for much longer."