🔥 Chapter 52 — Pushing the King Back
The forest was thick with smoke and the echoes of battle as Kael and Rhyne descended from the ridge, Ember threads coiling around Kael like living fire. The King's forces, disoriented and fractured, struggled to regroup, while the eastern terrain remained firmly under Kael and Rhyne's control.
Rhyne scanned the battlefield. "They're trying to rally, but the chokepoints and illusions have sown too much confusion. If we push now, we can force a retreat."
Kael's eyes glowed, flames licking around his arms. "Exactly. But we do it strategically. We isolate pockets of resistance and collapse them one by one. Total annihilation isn't necessary—just domination and control."
They advanced, moving through the forest with silent precision. Ember threads guided the troops toward traps and away from fully prepared ambushes, ensuring that panic would spread faster than coordinated defense.
A squad of mages attempted a counter-spell, but Kael's Ember redirected their energy harmlessly into the surrounding trees. Rhyne struck from the shadows, incapacitating officers and forcing the soldiers into the narrow ravines already set up for controlled collapse.
Rhyne smirked. "He thought numbers would win this. Instead, they're walking into chaos we control completely."
Kael's flames flared brighter. "The King can't see the battlefield clearly. Every move he makes plays into our strategy. If we maintain pressure, he'll be forced to retreat entirely from the eastern front."
The remaining units, leaderless and confused, began to break ranks, fleeing toward the central plains. Controlled illusions and misdirected energy arcs prevented an organized retreat, ensuring that morale remained shattered and coordination impossible.
Rhyne glanced at Kael, eyes gleaming. "We've done more than defend the hubs—we've taken control of the entire eastern region."
Kael's Ember pulsed like a heartbeat, a soft glow over the battlefield. "Yes. The King's strike has failed. His eastern network is crippled, and we dictate the pace of every engagement from here onward. The eastern front is ours—for now."
As the last of the scattered reinforcements fled, Kael and Rhyne stood atop the ridge, surveying the plains below. Victory had been seized not through brute force, but through strategy, precision, and mastery over the battlefield itself.