The war was nearing its end. The kingdom's forces, battered and weary, had held the line against the empire's relentless assaults, but the battlefield was stained with the blood of both sides. The heroes had fought with all their might, pushing themselves beyond their limits in the face of insurmountable odds. Yet, just as the dawn of what should have been another day of bloodshed arrived, messengers arrived from the frontlines with news so unbelievable that even the most seasoned generals struggled to comprehend it.
The Empire of Ingrassia no longer existed.
At first, the news was met with disbelief. Then, horror.
Kael had annihilated it.
Not just the army. Not just the ruling class. The entire empire had been wiped off the map in a single night of carnage and destruction. Witnesses who managed to flee described an event so surreal it felt like the stuff of nightmares. Entire cities burned to the ground in hellish fire, their people reduced to ashes. The imperial palace had been sundered, split in two as if by the wrath of the heavens themselves. Soldiers and civilians alike had been crushed beneath Kael's merciless hand, their pleas for mercy ignored.
The reason? Boredom.
Kael had deemed the war no longer entertaining, and so, he had decided to end it on his own terms. The heroes sat in stunned silence as the gravity of this revelation weighed on them. It was no longer a question of morality, of whether Kael was still the friend they once knew. He had proven, beyond any doubt, that he was something else entirely. A force of nature, a calamity beyond reasoning. He had become a god of war, and now, the entire world was at his mercy.
As if the destruction alone wasn't enough, Kael had taken everything of value from the empire before razing it to the ground. The greatest artifacts, forbidden texts, and weapons of immense power—he had claimed them all for himself. With these tools in his possession, there was no limit to what he could do next. His actions sent an unspoken message to every ruler, every faction, every being that called this world home:
Kael does not care for alliances. Kael does not care for balance. Kael does not care for anything other than himself.
The world had feared war. Now, it feared Kael.