After "War's" battle with Venpa concluded, the Vandal forces in orbit were enraged by their king's death. They started to rush towards the Imperial forces who were hopelessly outnumbered.
"Somebody grab "War"! We have to get out of here now! Prepare to execute our escape plan!" "Wind" said barking orders in "War's" absence. As the Imperials were planning on making a break through the Vandal encirclement, inexplicably the Vandal forces stopped their advance and surrendered.
Back at the site of "War's" battle with Venpa a man appeared in front of "War". The man's name was Genthor, he was Venpa's longest tenured servant and he served as the Chief of Military Affairs in the Vandal council. "War" barely had the ability to stay conscious, but he could tell that this man was strong, stronger even than any member of the Vandal Royal Guard.
"I overheard your conversation with Lord Venpa. I think he wouldn't want our forces needlessly tearing each other apart would he? This war is already over after all." Genthor said.
Shortly after the Vandal surrender, the two Great Generals arrived and parleyed with Genthor. As Genthor was discussing terms of surrender, Great General Majeli pointed down causing Genthor to crash into the ground.
"Your head needs to be lower when speaking to your betters." He said. His ability Movement Signs, allows him to force his targets to move the direction he points.
"War" was able to see the two Great Generals in person and he was in awe of their power, which dwarfed that of even Venpa. "So this is the strength of a Great General! I've got a long way to go." He thought.
"Way to go kid! You did a great job here!" Great General Clyne said while patting "War" on the back.
"THIS is the one who killed Venpa? I see the tales of Venpa's strength must have been greatly exaggerated, that or he had become incredibly weak in his old age." Majeli said.
"Hey lay off the kid, he is my subordinate you know!" Clyne said as he butted heads with Majeli. As their squabbling took place "War" finally lost consciousness.
When he finally regained consciousness he was in the infirmary in his ship, and Victoria was with him. "What the heck are you doing here? Eagerly waiting to see if I kick the bucket?" "War" asked.
She simply smiled and said, "I see that all that treatment didn't fix your attitude. You're still the worst. I'm here to give you this." She then pulled a cherry pie out of a box and handed it to "War".
"Whoa a cherry pie? That's my favorite! Awesome!" "War" said excitedly as he dug in. "Wait a minute. You're being awfully nice. Am I about to die or something?"
"Is it really so strange for a woman to be kind to her fiancé?" Victoria asked.
"No, but it's still a first for you." He replied.
"Well, I just thought I ought to do something nice considering your condition. Plus I have two pieces of news for you." She said.
"Oh really what is it?" "War" asked with a mouthful of food.
"The first is about Venpa's funeral it's later today and you've been asked to attend." She replied.
"They're having a funeral? I figured that High Command would want to parade his body around the capital or something like that." "War" said.
"Yes I'm sure they would have preferred something like that. However, they want to assimilate the coalition's remaining military forces into their own, Venpa was the coalition's leader many of the men held great respect for him. If they humiliated his corpse they'd never gain control of their new subjects or their new territories. I believe they're allowing his funeral as a sort of good will gesture." She explained.
"Alright, so what was the second thing?" "War" asked.
"You've been given another invitation, this one is to the Exceptional Service Ceremony. It will take place one week from today." Victoria said.
"Oh, nice!" "War" said pumping his fist in the air. "If I can talk to the Emperor there we can get our engagement cancelled. This is good news right?" "War" asked.
"Yes, I wanted to talk to you about that. I wasn't happy when my father told me that he had arranged a marriage for me, and even less so when he told me it was to the man who killed my sister's husband. Because of that I haven't been especially pleasant towards you these past few months we've been together." Victoria said.
"Eh, it's no big deal." "War" said dismissively.
"My father never took my feelings into account when he arranged this marriage, and to be honest I didn't either. I was still determined to do my duty as a princess of Sora no matter what. What I'm trying to say is I'm grateful for you thinking about my feelings, and getting our engagement nullified." She continued.
"Well to be honest, I did it for me just as much as you. So it's nothing worth thanking me over." He said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Even so I'm grateful. Now you need to get ready for the funeral." She said.
"Please wait a moment, may I have a moment to speak to you in private sir?" As Victoria had finished speaking, Toudou entered the room.
"Fine, but make it quick. I've got important stuff to do." "War" replied.
Toudou waited for Victoria to leave before he said, "Sir I'm sorry to say, but I've received some information from a contact that I have inside High Command. Apparently, they intend to use a female assassin under the guise of a marriage candidate in order to assassinate you my lord."
"So you think Victoria is the assassin that they sent?" "War" asked disinterested.
"Yes my lord." He replied.
"Well I'll say this, if she is an assassin she's doing a pretty bad job. She would have had plenty of opportunities while I was out." "War" said, as it looked like Toudou was about to respond "War" cut him off before he could speak. "Listen, I'm not interested in hearing about your theories, if a slim woman like Victoria could kill me then I deserve to die. I'm not worried about it either way. Now if you don't mind I have more important things to do."
"War" and Victoria attended Venpa's funeral, to which "War" brought his axe. As he entered the venue, "War" was introduced, as Venpa's grandson.
"When did I become that guy's grandson? Eh, I never knew my real grandpa, I'll just go along with it. Kinda makes me feel bad about helping kill him though." "War" thought.
At the end of the funeral they were about to light Venpa's funeral pyre and they asked "War" if he wanted to speak. "And now for King Venpa's grandson. Son would you like to say a few words?"
"We said everything we needed to say to each other on the battlefield." He replied, many of the veteran warriors in attendance grunted in approval. "War" then grabbed Venpa's axe and threw it into the fire.
"W-what do you think you're doing? Y-" a retainer was saying before another cut him off.
"Be quiet you fool. Can't you see that Lord Venpa's axe and his will both reside within that young man's heart now?"
As per Venpa's request "War" was named crown prince of Vanda, though he didn't immediately accept the crown.
In the aftermath of what would be known as the Third Great Coalition War, the Empire absorbed vast swathes of territory from the defeated nations of the coalition. In addition to that, they added their remaining military forces as auxiliaries. While Imperial High Command seemed to be lenient when it came to Venpa himself, they had tortured and executed thousands of the coalition's leaders in the most gruesome ways imaginable.
The Emperor would call for the many heroes of the war to his personal estate in the capital to recognize them for their exceptional service. The three warriors deemed have the most exceptional feats would even be granted an audience with the Emperor himself.