Emperor Wo, with dried blood on his forehead and tattered silk cloak, threw Kraden violently to the ground. The old scholar's glasses were shattered. His hair was completely disheveled and his arm badly bruised.

"Surrender or he dies," Wo repeated the threat. Louder this time. From a sheath at his hip, the tyrant produced a short sword with an ornate handle. Torchlight reflected off the rubies at its hilt, shimmering the Kraden with colourful hues and patterns.

Karis' green blade felt heavy in her hands. It never felt heavy. It was made of Zol for heaven's sake, the lightest metal in Weyard. So light in fact, that in its purest form it actually floated.

But any sword would have felt heavy after what Karis had been through. She had been fighting for her life, for the life of her friends for what felt like hours. More than that, she was actually fighting for the future of an entire empire. Red blood dripped from the tip of her sword. She didn't know whose it was. But she knew that her days of innocence were long gone. She'd killed now. She'd killed McCoy's Billish soldiers. She'd killed Ban-Jei's Sanan men on the fields of Ard Mezza. And now she'd killed Wo's royal guards. Something she'd have to live with for the rest of her life.

"Hold," Jenna's voice came gently from beside her. Karis looked to her right to see her companions. There was Jenna and Garet, looking a little less tired than the rest due to their late arrival. Beyond them was Tyrell and Eoleo, both with ripped clothes and bloody weapons. Then there was Amiti. The usual stoic look on his face was replaced with exhaustion and worry. After Amiti was Rief, whose glasses were broken. The boy looked to have a tear in his eye. He was worried for Kraden.

Then there were the others. The none-adepts. Most of them were injured in some way. Takeru, who Karis recently identified as Himi's older brother, held a katana wet with blood. Mei-Da the Blue Iris leader had a bloody gash on her thigh. Feizhi's face was lined with a thin cut. Her daughter Shuren wielded a katana from Yamata City. Young Hou Ju was there too, she held a sword that she didn't know how to use properly. Commander Mirra the beastman was nearly covered with scrapes and gashed. Her two beastman guards stood stoically with their weapons pointed at the enemy.

On the other side of the palace was Wo and the last of his soldiers. On his right and left were his loyal advisors Meisa and Kan-Shuku. Surrounding them was about thirty soldiers. Probably the last men and women in all of Sana to remain loyal. They were garbed in the finest royal armour and weapons, and writ on their faces was pride. They were ready to die for Wo. Why? Karis thought hopelessly. What about the man inspires such absolute loyalty.

She saw one of Wo's men spit at the floor, glowering at Mirra and her guards. Karis remembered the saga with the supposed assassination of Unan by the beastmen. These people still believed it. Their hatred of the other race had completely blinded them to Wo's tyranny. All they wanted now was blood. And blood is what they would have.

"Last chance," Wo announced, putting the edge of the sword to Kraden's throat. "Surrender or he dies."

Kraden looked up at his companions. For a second his gaze caught Karis'. There was a glint in the old man's eyes.

"I choose death!" the scholar shouted defiantly. He stood up quickly and kicked Wo hard in the shin. The tyrant cried out in anguish and hit Kraden wickedly in the head with the metal hilt of his bejeweled blade. The scholar's limp body hit the floor.

"Kraden!" Garet's voice filled the palace. He growled a war cry.

Wo quickly pointed the blade at Kraden's throat again. Kraden, now unconscious, didn't resist. "Stop savage! He's not dead yet but he could be!"

"Drop your weapons. Now!" Meisa said, her voice raspy and tired. This was not the smug and ruthless woman that Karis remembered from Kaocho. This was a scared animal.

From behind Wo's men, Karis heard a war cry. A small army was charging up the hill towards the palace. Leading them was a large man wielding two battle axes and an iron helmet.

"Hsu!" Feizhi shouted. "He's here!"

Wo and his soldiers turned to meet Hsu and the newcomers. Hsu and Wo's weapons locked in a fury of strikes and parries.

"Charge!" Garet shouted with fury. The adepts, the Blue Iris soldiers, and the three beastman threw themselves into the fray against Wo's men.

Karis' green blade found itself fastened in combat against two soldiers. With a bit of Jupiter psynergy she flew one into the wall, knocking him unconscious. The other aimed a strike at her head, but she ducked it. In the process she lost her footing and fell to the carpeted floor. The Sanan moved in for the kill. Karis reached wildly for her blade. She had dropped it. It was too far. The Sanan's sword swung at her.

The flat end of Tyrell's axe knocked the soldier out cold before his strike could meet Karis' throat. Karis grabbed the hilt of her blade. It felt light again. Tyrell helped her to her feet. An arrow whizzed by his head, narrowly missing his left ear.

"We have to get Kraden," Tyrell said amidst the clanging of swords and blasts of psynergy that had completely filled the palace.

Karis looked over to where the thick of the fight was happening. Amidst weapons and fallen soldiers and battling armies was Kraden's unconscious body. Karis looked over at Tyrell, whose face was covered in dirt and dried blood. Karis felt conscious of the own small wounds that covered her own body. No time for that now. The Mars adept nodded calmly.

"I'll carry him out, you cover me," Tyrell said confidently. Karis nodded.

The two adepts made their way to the centre of the battlefield quickly. Both of them focused on defense, simply parrying whatever attacks came their way and kicking their enemies out of the way. Even though it was impossible to see who was fighting where, it was apparent that no one was concerned with Kraden anymore. Wo had moved to a different part of the battlefield, maybe dead or still locked in combat with Hsu. No one was protecting Kraden.

Tyrell slung the scholar's limp body over his shoulder. Wo's men, noticing this, aimed their attacks at Karis. She struggled to use what psynergy she had left, along with her own blade to block the enemies projectiles and swords.

"Kraden!" Rief's voice came from across the battlefield. He ran to join Karis, and with brilliant flash of ice, formed two walls around Tyrell and Kraden, blocking a rain of arrows from killing Tyrell or Kraden. Now safe, Tryell ran Kraden outside of the battlefield. Somewhere safe, Karis hoped.

Turning back to the fight, Karis saw Rief, Amiti, and Eoleo fighting desperately against overwhelming odds. Joining them, the adepts pushed back the onslaught.

The fight went on in this way for some time, Karis couldn't say how long. But eventually, she was separated from most of the other adepts, and completely out of psynergy and djinn.

She traded blows with an anonymous Sanan soldier, at this point, barely able to keep up with just one non-adept enemy. She struggled to parry the soldiers' attacks, which grew quicker and quicker, more and more confident. Her blade was like a cloud of green swirling in front of her. She blinked as sweat began to blotch her vision.

Just as she felt ready to collapse, there it was. An opening. She aimed her sword for the Sanan's exposed left arm. Before it could land though, she felt a hot gash open on her back. For a second, all she could feel was hot blood beginning to drip down her back. She collapsed to her knees. Then the pain came. It was excruciating, but she was too exhausted to cry out. She simply turned behind her.

There he was. Wo. His ornamented sword dripped with Karis' blood. She grit her teeth.

"You won't win," she said angrily.

Wo frowned angrily. "Maybe. But you won't live to see me lose." He raised his sword for the kill. Karis closed her eyes.

The sound of two swords meeting jerked her eyes open. It was Garet. His blade locked with Wo's, his face covered in dirt, blood, and anger. He cried with rage.

Behind him, Karis saw Feizhi and her daughter Shuren. The older woman had an arrow protruding from her heart. A pool of blood was on the floor around them. Shuren cradled her mother trying to do what little she could to heal her.

"You killed her," Garet spat with utter fury.

"You did, savage. You killed her the moment you came here," Wo said with a wild look in his eyes.

Garet shouted, and the two men began to duel. Their swords moved slowly, in huge powerful arcs. Each strike aimed to take the others head off. Wo was beginning to get the better of the fight, but Jenna joined in quickly, her sword moving quicker and more precise than Garet's.

The pair fought in perfect unison, like a trained dance. One feinted and the other attacked, one parried and the other healed. It was almost beautiful. Karis tried to get to her feet to help them, but the pain shot through her body like hot coals, and she crashed down to her knees again.

But perhaps they didn't need her. Slowly but surely, Garet and Jenna began to get the better of Wo.

Karis saw Meisa and Kan-Shuku appear behind with crossbows drawn, pointed at Garet and Jenna.

"Garet! Jenna!" Karis tried to shout a warning but the sound of the battle drowned her out easily. No, no, no. She tried to shoot electric psynergy at Kan-Shuku and Meisa, but only weak sparks came from her palm. Karis did the only thing she could. She crawled towards the Sanan advisors.

It was no use. With two twangs, Meisa and Kan-Shuku unleashed bolts into Garet and Jenna's backs. Both adepts went down immediately. Their metal weapons made a dull thud as they hit the rug.

"No!" Karis shouted. Her back shot again with pain but this time she barely noticed it.

Jenna had fallen to her back, and Garet remained on his knees, desperately trying to find his sword to continue his duel with Wo. The Emperor smiled wickedly and kicked Garet hard in the chest. The Warrior of Vale fell to his side and winced in pain. Jenna, Garet. No!

"Where is she!" Wo cried now. One of the Sanan soldiers brought Hou Ju to him. The girl's clothes were tattered and her face bruised. Her arms were bound in chains. All around them, the battle still raged.

"Tyrell! Rief! Amiti! Eoleo! Anyone!" Karis cried uselessly. She had no idea where her friends were. The battle was too loud for anyone to hear.

The Sanan through Hou Ju to the ground at Wo's feet. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes. No fear there, Karis realized. Just defiance. Please, please. Someone save her.

"Are you ready to die little one?" Wo asked quietly.

"The Empress!" a voice roared above the chaos of the battle. Everyone heard it. The sounds of the battle stopped now. Every eye in the palace became fixed on Wo and Hou Ju.

It was Commander Mirra's voice. Commander Mirra, the beastman leader. She had lost her weapon, but she sprinted towards Wo with unorthodox speed. She bared her fangs and claws. Karis saw the fear of prey in Wo's eyes. He couldn't swing the sword to meet her in time. She tackled him hard to the ground, her claws ripped at his chest. Her fangs went for his throat.

Wildly, Kan-Suki drew a jagged sword from his sheath. She rammed it into Commander Mirra's leg. Wo hurled the injured beastman to the side, the jagged blade still inside her. He stood up bleeding profusely from his stomach and chest. The wounds Mirra had left were deep. He raised his bejeweled sword.

"Where is she? Where is the princess?" he murmured.

But it was too late for Wo. Every eye in the palace was fixed on him. The battle had completely stopped. Wo's soldiers were mostly dead. The others were beginning to throw down their weapons and surrender.

Finally, Karis saw her friends. Tyrell, Eoleo, Rief, Amiti. They were all okay. At another corner of the battlefield was Jakub and Penny. Penny was using her psynergy to heal Garet and Jenna. They were alive. Karis breathed a sigh of relief.

"Karis! You're hurt!" Rief and the others were beside her now.

"It's okay," Karis murmured.

Rief used a ply spell that sent shivers down her spine and made her feel warm inside. The pain dulled significantly.

"Will she be okay?" Tyrell asked, his voice a little shaky.

"Yes," Rief said quickly. "She'll be fine."

"Surrender!" their conversation was cut short by a Sanan voice. It was Mei-Da's. Her iron armor was askew but still mostly on. Her helmet had been knocked off and there was a bloody gash on her forehead. Beside her was Hou Ju, who looked shook up but unhurt. Mei-Da pointed her sword at Wo and his two advisors. Kan-Shuku and Meisa obliged by throwing their weapons down and putting their hands in the air. They slowly walked towards Mei-Da and the Blue Iris soldiers, who bound their arms and legs.

"Cowards!" Wo shouted, his raspy and tired voice filled the palace for one last time. Sword still in hand, he charged Mei-Da.

She parried his blow easily, and her own strike was far too fast to be blocked. Her attack landed a deep gash in Wo's chest. He fell to the floor, dead instantly.