The Empire's collapse began with the news of Kalien's death in battle.
At first, the news circulated only in hushed voices among senior officers, all of whom found it hard to believe.
Soon, a second report followed. Duke Raymont had surrendered to the Jade Federation.
This time, order in the camps unraveled within a few breaths. The defensive lines, which had barely held together, seemed to have had their bones ripped out.
Kalien still had an heir, but holding out any longer seemed utterly pointless.
On the third night, the first intact unit abandoned its position without orders and went over to the Jade Federation.
It was like a signal. After that, the rout became a flood.
The knights no longer marched in formation. They scattered in twos and threes, fleeing along whatever roads they remembered, or simply turning southeast.
They no longer cared about the Empire's borders, only where they might survive.
The Empire became a land without a master. One after another, the cities once governed from the central administrative district stopped responding.
The Jade Federation did not waste the opportunity.
The board's instructions were simple: disregard costs and prioritize efficiency.
The Federation's siege columns advanced along the old Empire's official roads.
They did not march in military formations, but as task forces composed of alchemists, accounting officers, and knights.
Heavy alchemical wagons rolled slowly down the center of the roads, their carriages reinforced with riveted steel plates and marked on the sides with the emblems of various guilds.
When they reached the first town that refused to surrender, there was no siege and no appeal for submission.
The alchemists opened the sealed valves on the wagons and released their prepared alchemical poison gas from high ground, letting the wind carry it.
The poisonous mist spread slowly through