This chapter is told from the perspective of Isabelle Vhagar.
The silence after the battle was the worst part.
The adrenaline faded, leaving only the dull ache in my muscles and the ringing in my ears.
We had established the foothold. A great victory for our Lord.
But the cost… the cost was a pile of broken bodies, both monster and human.
I watched as my Lord gave his orders, his voice a blade of calm in the midst of the post-battle chaos. He was a brilliant commander. A ruthless king. A magnificent, terrible, and beautiful monster.
And he was mine.
Or so I thought.
For twenty days, we prepared. For twenty days, we played our parts in his grand, ridiculous deception.
I led my Wrecking Crew in a series of beautifully choreographed, spectacularly incompetent "attacks" that were more slapstick comedy than warfare.
It was humiliating. It was absurd.
And it was working.
The humans of Suzu grew confident. Arrogant. They thought we were a joke.
