As Harald fled north in panic under the desperate protection of his Guards, the Sauron rear-guard troops left at the very back of the battlefield, already on the verge of collapse, saw their last shred of resistance gutter out completely like a dying candle in the wind.
With their lord gone from sight, their unified command lost, and their courage shattered by the Carnford Army banner that never fell and the Dragon Cavalry clinging to them like gangrene to the bone, they barely put up any proper resistance before Lyon's cavalry shattered them completely with another charge, sending them scattering in flight.
The road to Golden City lay completely open, paved with the flesh and blood of the routed soldiers.
Nalan Castle, the forward fortress upon which the Saurons had once pinned such high hopes and painstakingly reinforced, had seen the crushing defeat and rout of the main army, and the defenders' morale had long since plunged to the bottom.
Faced with the surging Carnford advance, bolstered by overwhelming victory, their token resistance quickly crumbled.
The fortress that had once blocked Roderick's advance was effortlessly captured by the Carnford Army on the very day Harald retreated in defeat. The Sauron banner that had once flown above it was torn down and replaced by the blue Fir Flag etched forever into Harald's memory.
The Dragon Cavalry led by Lyon did not linger long at Nalan Castle. Like a wolf pack that had scented blood, they pursued northward without mercy along the chaotic trail left by the routed Sauron troops.
Hooves thundered over abandoned supplies, scattered weapons, and corpses not yet cold, spreading the panic of defeat deep into the Sauron heartland like a plague. Yet the exhaustion from their long-range dash to the rescue was finally beginning to show. Their horses'