Location: Fortress of Hochstein
The snow fell in dense, suffocating silence. Hochstein, once a ceremonial fortress nestled in the Alps, had become a tomb of defiance—the last bastion of the Karling Cabal. Inside, arcane barriers pulsed with dying energy, and the air trembled with the presence of a single man: Albrecht von Karling, the last General of the Old Guard.
Hans stood at the edge of the inner sanctum, flanked by Eliska, Engelhardt, and the elite Hunters—each cloaked in silver-gilded armor, each now wielding awakened power. The room was wide, circular, marble scorched with the scars of ancient spells. Von Karling sat on a throne of bone and steel, aged and calm.
"You've come far, boy," Karling rasped, voice dry like parchment. "But only one of us is willing to die for the Empire."
Hans unsheathed his blade, runes glowing white-hot.
"No. I've come to live for it. And bury your betrayal."
Ascension in Fire
The chamber exploded with force.
Von Karling rose, arms ablaze with crimson invocation. Around him, spectral banners of old commanders—dead traitors of the past—manifested, each drawing power from ancient blood-pacts.
The battle began.
Engelhardt surged forward, his blade igniting into a flame-storm of historical memory. He called upon the power of every soldier who had ever followed him, striking with phantom legions.
Eliska sang—her voice fracturing reality, her shields now producing harmonic distortions that tore through enemy wards. She summoned a shield-wall of kinetic echoes, reflecting Karling's own spells back tenfold.
The Hunters split into strike pairs. One rained lighting javelins, another conjured temporal folds to rewind injuries for a second chance at survival. One, cloaked in night, struck from shadows like a demon of vengeance.
But Karling… was no ordinary foe.
He cast Blood Judgement, a forbidden Officer-class echo skill, draining the life of every soldier in a one-kilometer radius—enemy and ally alike—to power his final form. His body twisted, now draped in armor made from the memories of the First Civil War.
He struck.
Hans was thrown back. Bones cracked. Blood filled his mouth. His soldiers fell behind him.
Then, the whisper came:
[Officer-Class Lineage Detected: Legacy Awakening Protocol Initiated] Unlocking: SUPREME COMMANDER Trait Gained: Dominion Over All Fields
Sub-Trait: All Officer-Class units within Command Field gain Ultra Synchronization
The room ignited.
Hans rose slowly, but no longer as a general. He was now the Supreme Commander.
Behind him, soldiers regained strength. Hunters stood taller. Even the walls pulsed with stabilizing magic.
Hans walked through flame, his new aura stretching across the field. His blade extended into a full banner-spear, symbol of command and rally.
"Your war ends today, Albrecht."
Their final duel was thunder.
Karling struck like a god—fists of ruin, blades of despair, false visions of the past. Hans countered with unity: every strike powered by shared belief, every defense a concert of his people's will.
The finishing blow was not grand. It was a simple thrust—clean, absolute—through the heart of a man who had long abandoned it.
Von Karling fell to his knees.
"We were... kings once."
Hans nodded, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"Now we are people."
The old man died.
Aftermath
The banners of the Old Guard were burned. War trials began in earnest. Officers who had resisted peacefully were granted exile or service; those who killed civilians were executed publicly.
Hans said to the crowd.
"May this be our last war."
The crowd chanted. Bells rang. Peace—fragile and stained—began to settle over the land.