The Harpy King's forces had scattered. Thousands were dead, fleeing, or held prisoner. Many elementals, having exerted most of their energy in the battle, couldn't maintain their form in this world and vanished back to their plane. Just like that, the fires of his ambitious conquest fizzled out not with a bang, but a quiet smoulder. All that remained now were the felmetal totem poles which served as a monument to his defeat.

Hundreds of Sala'vir inhabitants taken prisoner by the Elusis army were freed. They had been forced to work for the Harpy King. Among them, Nona and Guel's parents, who were taken at the onset of the civil war and made to maintain equipment, repair wagons, and suffered abuse from harpies. Kanae promised to bring them back to Shivarn as soon as she could.

For the time being, the Commonwealth held the Harpy King prisoner. Leaving him in Avanessi hands might result in Sultana Rasheena moving forward with an execution. His fate was to be decided by all of Savir, not just one faction.

Kanae gave Archbishop Patrice a hand walking back to their camp. Shield Discarded, Sword Unsheathed ended with the Harpy King's defeat, so normally Delayn and Camilla returned to her side. However, she urged them to provide aid to the injured instead.

"Don't you want to heal those burns away? They look awfully painful." Kanae winced every time Patrice hissed just walking.

"They sting, yes." The archbishop nodded. "Unfortunately, magic cannot heal injuries left too long. The Harpy King ensured these brands would stay with me forever. But worry not, Amethyst! This pain is a reminder of today's historic battle! Scholars will write about me, and students shall learn of my bravery. Oh, what a tale to be taught!"

"Kanaaaeee!"

Both of them turned around to Arenade flying to catch up.

"Well, if it isn't the love of my life~" Kanae threw her arms out to embrace Arenade with a kiss, only to have her lips pinched.

"Save your horniness for later. I know what your hands are doing whenever you hug me. Anyway, there's a lot of injured. I'm going with Delayn and Petyr to the medical tents to heal as many as we can. That leaves just you to represent the Commonwealth in deciding what to do with the Harpy King," Arenade explained.

"Aww, alright." She sulked.

When Arenade let go, the high elf leaned forward and kissed Kanae. Briefly. She peeled back right away, blushing a little.

"Oh, and Archbishop, I got a bone to pick with Radevic over crystallized mana exports. We're having a talk later." Arenade slapped Patrice on the back with a hand glowing with healing magic before leaving.

The ripple of restorative energy spread like an ocean wave across the archbishop's body. All of the burn scars vanished, except a particularly bad one on her right cheek that extended down to her clavicle.

"How in the Supreme One's beard…" Archbishop Patrice stared at her hands in awe, then at Kanae with her jaw hanging open. "That should not have been possible. I'm not even capable of healing myself to that extent!"

Shit. The last thing Kanae needed was someone like Patrice finding out Arenade was actually the

Demigoddess Arenade.

"You probably just didn't have enough mana! I mean, you were tortured pretty badly. It probably messed with your head," Kanae tried to explain.

They hurried to the Commonwealth camp. Rasheena and Cerberus should already be there. Hundreds of prisoners were being shoved along to the cage wagons in the back. Hundreds more were escorted onto the edirashems because the Commonwealth couldn't contain them all.

A commotion robbed Kanae and Patrice's attention though. The two ran into a one-sided scuffle between Elusis prisoners of war and Avanesse soldiers escorting them to an edirashem. To their surprise, Kara was trying to get between the group. Armed soldiers poked and prodded shackled Elusis harpies inside a cage wagon.

"Stop, please! Let him out!" Kara cried.

"Get lost, girl. These bastards killed a few of ours, so it's the least they deserve. Sultan Cerberus told us to treat them nicely, but he never specified how nice," a lupine beastman said and drew laughter from his fellows.

"What's going on here?" Kanae interrupted them.

"Kanae!" She gasped and ran over to her. "Micas is in there. We met him in Elusis, remember? He was another Rookie adventurer. You have to tell them to let him go!"

Micas? Kanae remembered. He was among the young able-bodied that Elusis conscripted. She looked inside the wagon and found a frail, almost emaciated harpy boy, who lost some of his brown feathers to reveal bald spots. He couldn't meet her eyes. Dry tear stains marked his cheeks.

"We'll be taking custody of one of your prisoners," Kanae said.

"We have orders—"

"That was an order." She casted Charm on them, and they quickly let Micas out.

Kara kneeled down to check on him, but he was despondent. Archbishop Patrice shooed the Avanessi soldiers off, then kneeled down to provide Micas with healing magic.

"Micas, are you okay?" Kara tried shaking him to his senses.

"You should've just let them take me… I did so many bad things, I probably deserved what they were doing to me…" Micas' gaze was distant and full of guilt.

"But you didn't want to, child." Archbishop Patrice brushed the matted hair from his face. "Atonement begins when you take action to right those wrongs. Well? Will you stand to take action?"

Micas wiped his eyes. Kara offered a hand, and when he took it, she pulled him upright.

"Thank you!" Kara bowed to them. "Come on. I have two friends to introduce you to. They made mistakes, too, just like you."

The pair ran off into camp, feeling a lot better than a moment ago. But while Micas had been given a second chance to make amends, the same couldn't be said of another. Kanae and Archbishop Patrice entered a clearing in the camp framed by hundreds of soldiers from the Commonwealth, Radevic, and Avanesse.

Elusis' sultan, the defeated Harpy King, was seated on his knees and stripped of everything but a tattered robe. The Knight of Ivory, Silver, and Red stood to either side of him, their weapons drawn to guard Savir's biggest threat. Once the biggest threat, now just a meager bird clipped of his wings.

In attendance, Sultana Rasheena and Sultan Cerberus. What would normally have been a warm reunion between Kanae and Avanesse's rulers was made tense by the Harpy King's to-be-determined fate.

"Queen Kanae," Rasheena began with her fangs bared at the fallen king, "let me be clear on our stance: for the crimes perpetrated on Avanesse, we seek the Harpy King's execution."

When Kanae turned to Cerberus, he was of the same mind and nodded. But she already made a decision long before the battle had even begun.

"The Harpy King won't be executed," Kanae said.

"You helped Avanesse in her time of need, and I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you. But please don't presume I share your sense of mercy. Savir demands justice. I'm sure Bravost and Sultana Dudula feel the same." Rasheena glared.

"All of Savir probably feels the same way. But the Harpy King's fate isn't for us to decide. It's for the people who suffered the most," she explained.

Rasheena raised a brow, intrigued by what Kanae had to say next. But the desire to exact punishment was all over her face. If Dalu, Esta, and Sivvy weren't standing next to the Harpy King, her claws would be soaked with his blood right now.

"And who would they be?" Rasheena asked.

"The citizens of Elusis," Kanae answered and spared a pause to let her words sink in. "No one's suffered more than the ones under the Harpy King's rule. A religion abandoned for power. Loved ones thrown to the wayside. The scared who were forced to fight a war they never asked for. As we speak, even with the Harpy King on his knees, they are still suffering. Which brings me to why I really gathered you all here— to ask your help in saving Elusis when its king refused to."

Whispers erupted from everywhere at once, and the reason was obvious. They scoffed at the idea of giving aid to who was essentially an enemy not long ago.

"Queen Kanae, not that I don't sympathize with the plight of Elusis' people, we still have our own to look after. Avanesse and Bravost can hardly lend aid to another nation," Sultan Cerberus explained.

"Hmph. Has time under the cursed sun of Avanesse scrambled the egg in your head?" Archbishop Patrice interjected.

"Say that again!" Rasheena snapped.

Kanae continued for her, "What the archbishop means to say is, you're all Savirans. There was a time when Savir was under a single banner, and you called each other brothers and sisters. You've all forgotten what it was like to wander these vast deserts without fear of border disputes. It doesn't have to be this way. Right now, Elusis is facing a catastrophe thousands of years in the making. The frozen mountains south of Savir are melting, and the giant basin Elusis is in will be flooded. Please. It's not the people of Elusis who need your help. Your people need your help."

Sultan Cerberus squeezed his eyes shut and fell into thought. No one uttered a word in the meantime except the winds whistling across the quiet battlefield. Wordlessly, the hellhound walked to the palanquin he had arrived on.

"My love?" Rasheena followed him in and a large group of servants lifted the platform onto their shoulders.

"We're returning to the edirashems. Our wagons can evacuate and move thousands at once. A flood will displace countless people, and we have the means to help," Cerberus explained.

Kanae breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, alright." Rasheena shrugged her slackened shoulders. "You heard your Sultan. Return to your stations. We are moving out at once to regroup with Edirashok Misiah and assist Elusis!"

The Avanesse force moved at once, breaking off formation from the other armies to march back to the edirashems. Cerberus flashed a big smile at Kanae before the servants carried their palanquin away.

"It's pointless. Leave the under-city to their fate. If they have something to say about their lot in life, then better to pray their next life comes with a pair of wings." The Harpy King spat on the ground.

Sivvy smacked him on the side of the head.

"You may have given up on them, but Ujit never did. And Jahree is continuing in her place. Throw him into a cage and post extra guards," Kanae ordered.

The massive force geared up to depart from the Nose of Hekaton, leaving behind discarded weapons and armor, graves, and the totem poles. A long journey awaited them, and Kanae could only hope they were able to make it to Elusis in time. She had made Ujit a promise and intended to keep it.

"Ah! I'd nearly forgotten." Patrice perked up.

"What?" Kanae asked.

Without saying a thing, Patrice led Kanae to the prisoners. Specifically, to Toro Squa's cage. The elf sat upright when he saw them coming.

"I believe I am owed my freedom," Toro said.

Kanae folded her arms at the archbishop, who gave the long story short of why she had disappeared the night before the battle.

"You did that behind my back…" Kanae groaned into her hands.

"Technically, I am your superior as Archbishop. I made a call and simply acted. But his information did prove valuable. We would have faced a greater tragedy without it. If you wish, we can renege on the deal. I don't mind being called a liar. We've won the war," Patrice suggested coldly.

"Hey!" Toro lost composure and banged on the cage.

In the grand scheme of things, Toro Squa was the least malignant actor in Savir's civil war. Kanae sighed anyway. It didn't change the fact that he caused his fair share of suffering for aiding the Harpy King though.

"If I set you free, where are you even going to go? Everyone in Savir wants you dead," Kanae said.

"As I've mentioned before, I am not Savir-born. I will leave, as there is no one left for me to curry favor from here, and return to my homeland where I'm needed," Toro explained.

Kanae beckoned to the warden in charge of monitoring this section of prisoners. She had him unlock Toro's cage, and the tattooed elf stepped out and extended his wrists forward. The warden unlocked them, too. She took her cloak off and handed it to him, which he accepted graciously.

"That's all the mercy and help you're getting from us. Don't show your face here ever again. Savir will henceforth be a subject of the Commonwealth of Sin," Kanae said.

"Between you and the Harpy King, I wonder who was really the conqueror. Farewell, Demon Queen, Archbishop." Toro threw the cloak around himself and disappeared into the crowd of soldiers packing up.