The purple ocean was disappearing from the valley.
The herald stared blankly in that direction. After a long while, he turned back and said in an incredulous tone, "They... they're retreating from the first line of defense, Your Excellency, Legion Commander."
Veronica calmly watched the scene unfold.
In the valley, Faina pushed up her helmet, tossed back her golden hair, and stood drenched in steaming sweat. With a bang, she hurled the helmet far away, then raised her blunted knight's sword high and shouted hysterically toward the distance:
"We won!" Tears burst from her eyes.
Beside her, the knights were already roaring with cheers.
Everyone was cheering.
Magdal stood silently beside her grandfather. Brank, the White Wolf Sword Saint, rested one hand against a jagged rock and looked down upon the scene. A gentle breeze passed through Alqash Valley, like a tender hand brushing over the exposed rocks, between which were scattered torn flags, wreckage, and spreading blood.
It had been a brutal victory.
In the sky, aboard countless airships, the Hazel people and the Cruzian people watched the scene together. It was the first retreat of the crystal clusters in three months.
Its meaning was self-evident.
This was the beginning of the Year of the Swift. The upheavals people had endured over the past six months had been more violent than any moment in history. The civil war in the Cruz Empire, the fall of the Black Moon, the arrival of the Magic Tide, Twilight's resurrection, the White Mountain Calamity, the Eluin upheaval, and the beginning and end of the Wizard Wars—
Yet in the end, Vonder had emerged from that tangled series of events. With the Wizard Wars drawing to a close and the Buga people openly bowing their heads, Saint Osore and Madara had finally joined forces.