-Chapter 223-

-Chapter 223-

-POV MC-

I gently tapped on my shield while observing the city of Myr in the distance, eager to fight, as this time I had decided to take part in the assault directly.

But something caught my attention almost instantly.

"Pass me the spyglass," I ordered Aegor, who was to my right.

He obeyed without hesitation and handed me the spyglass without asking any questions, allowing me to focus on assessing the situation, but most importantly, to... understand why the damn city gates were wide open and why, at the top of the city, many people were waving white flags.

I passed the spyglass to Aegor, and he frowned before saying:

"This is strange."

"Do you think it's a trap?" I asked.

Aegor shrugged and then said, without taking the question or the situation to heart:

"What difference does it make? Either way, whether they open the city gates for us or not, we still have two dragons in the sky capable of destroying them with their destructive breath."

Although I did not like the nonchalance of his response, I could not really blame him because he was right.

'As long as I stay on guard and have the city thoroughly inspected, we will quickly know whether it is a trap or not,' I thought. 

---

-POV Daenerys Targaryen- 

'This is a disaster,' I thought as I watched from atop Drogon a small group of people fleeing north, pursued by a small army ten times larger.

'They are hunting the inhabitants of the region to add them to their army,' I quickly understood.

The veil over the intentions of the demons from the North was finally lifted in my mind.

'It is easier to kill animals and humans than soldiers who carry weapons and armor made of dragonglass,' I thought before slapping Drogon's scales with the flat of my hand to urge him to dive straight down on them.

'I will not let them do this. I will not let these monsters kill my people with impunity,' I thought as the ground quickly approached.

"DRACARYS!" I shouted, clinging tightly to my saddle as Drogon spread his wings and pulled up to avoid crashing into the ground.

Drogon opened his jaws almost simultaneously and engulfed the front lines of the enemy in his destructive breath, reducing the first ranks of the undead to ashes.

I lowered my head, surprised to see an ice spear heading toward me, but it missed me by a good meter thanks to Drogon's maneuver.

He had already sensed the danger and was heading toward the leader of the undead, who was on a horse, trying to reform an ice spear to take us down.

"DRACARYS!" I shouted again as the undead leader, clearly different from the decayed blue-eyed corpses, some of which were nothing more than animated bags of bones through the Others' dark magic, raised his arm, preparing to launch his spear at us.

Unfortunately for him, Drogon was faster and reduced him to ashes before he could unleash his attack.

Almost instantly, the undead around us collapsed to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut.

'Killing the Others destroys the undead.'

"Your Majesty!" shouted the men and women who were still fleeing, some clapping, others crying with joy at their liberation and the brush with death they had just survived.

Even though Drogon had landed and roared to assert his dominance, I did not leave my saddle because I still had many places to go to save my people and contain the undead horde advancing from the North as much as possible.

'There weren't even 2,000 undead in this group,' I thought, roughly estimating, as Ser Jorah and Grey Worm had taught me to do.

"Go south and stop at the first castle you come across. The Emperor will return soon to fight and destroy the cold demons from the Great North!" I shouted with all my strength.

They cheered even louder, but without giving a real response.

So I tapped Drogon again, as I had no time to waste.

'Let’s hope they do as I told them,' I thought without looking back, as I could not be everywhere at once.

'I must prioritize defending the fortresses that are still holding and ensure Eastwatch-by-the-Sea is secured before the undead lay siege to it after wiping out every living being in the Gift,' I thought, as that was the next step. 

---

-POV MC-

"AEGON, AEGON, AEGON, AEGON, AEGON!"

The former slaves of Myr shouted, all holding various weapons, with spikes all around them bearing the heads of the former masters.

'But also their families,' I thought, noticing the heads of a little girl and a little boy side by side.

I frowned at the sight but did not stop, continuing to wave to the crowd from a white horse that the leader of this revolution had brought me while he rode slightly behind me and Aegor.

'Rhakario, Fang-Tooth,' I thought, recognizing the fighter's name.

He was a rather famous Dothraki warrior who had fought in all sorts of arenas, and the rulers of Myr had wanted to offer him to me as a gift to gain some favor.

'At the time, I had politely refused, stating that the Seven Kingdoms were against slavery, and it seems I did the right thing,' I thought, glad that I had not lost a soldier in a war that had already been decided since we had taken Pentos.

"So?" I asked, looking at Aegor, who arrived at a trot from the opposite side after being sent with several other cavalry troops.

"Nothing to report. Our men have inspected the city, and it seems that all the way to the First Magister’s palace, there is no trap," Aegor said.

"We cannot trap Azor Ahai," said the former slave, now the leader of this small revolution, inserting himself into our conversation.

I raised an eyebrow and then asked:

"What do you mean by that?"

"The High Priestess announced to us the arrival of the Prince That Was Promised. She said that the Lord of Light had finally sent us the warrior of legend, the one who will bring the dawn to the world, free all slaves, and create a thousand-year dynasty," said Rhakario, a light in his eyes that I had not seen in a long time but recognized well.

'The light of fanatics.'

---

"It was you" I said, observing the High Priestess Kinvara, still as beautiful but still as barely dressed, trying to control me with every means at her disposal.

'Unfortunately for her, I already have too many women,' I thought, without adding what bothered me the most deep down.

'She is as old as my great-great-great... I don’t even want to calculate it,' I thought, as I did not even know her real age.

"It was me," she said with a smile, but without any expression of pride, simply a calm and sincere joy at having served me and liberated the city of Myr from slavery.

'At having served her god,' I thought, as I had always struggled to feel legitimate as Azor Ahai, because I was not even Jon Snow.

'I am not what she believes,' I thought before sitting down across from her.

"I would like to know how you got the idea to—"

"Forgive my insolence, Your Grace, but the hour is grave," she said, her expression shifting from joyful to slightly worried.

I frowned, not knowing what she meant, and she continued:

"The Lord of Light has shown me in a dream what has happened to Westeros."

I frowned and said in a slightly worried tone, not knowing why but sensing that something had gone wrong:

"What has happened?"

"The Wall has fallen."

My eyes widened at this news, and I said as I stood up:

"Are you sure of what you are saying?"

She hesitated for a second before nodding and then said:

"I have learned to distinguish dreams of the near future from those of the past over the centuries, and I am certain that the Wall has fallen."

I clenched my fist and rubbed it hard against my forehead before looking up at the ceiling, for this was the worst possible news at this stage of the war.

‘I am winning with a considerable lead, and yet I am forced to go back despite everything, to fight the White Walkers, at the risk of losing everything I have gained,’ I thought, furious at this revelation.

‘I thought I still had a little time to dismantle the alliance of Volantis, Valysar, Selhorys, Volon Therys, as well as the one of Braavos, which includes Lorath, Qohor, and Norvos, and also the Qarth-Ghiscari alliance.’

‘One could say that this time, I was really wrong,’ I thought.

Deep down, even though I knew I had no other choice but to head north at full speed, I hesitated, because I knew that once the news spread, the Free Cities and the slaver cities would start fighting against us again, trying to stab us in the back.

‘I risk losing either all the positions I have gained or losing a huge number of soldiers,’ I thought, not wanting to choose in this dilemma composed only of bad choices.

"Only the Great War matters," said Kinvara, adding her religious beliefs to the burden weighing on my shoulders.

ROAR OF VISERION

I frowned and then said:

"We will resume this conversation later."

---

-POV Viserys Targaryen-

I had barely landed when I saw Aegon approaching me quickly with a hurried step.

I jumped off my saddle without bothering to dismount carefully, then bent my knees slightly to land smoothly before straightening up and also moving quickly toward him, as we had not a single moment to lose.

"Do you know about the Wall?" he asked me before I could say anything.

I nodded, and then he said:

"We need to discuss the next course of action."

I frowned, indignant, and said:

"There is nothing to discuss! Your wife is fighting them right now! If we—"

Aegon cut me off and asked angrily:

"What did you just say?"

"Dany left on Drogon’s back last night," I repeated, realizing that he was unaware of everything that had happened, only knowing about the fall of the Wall.

Aegon remained silent for a moment, then sighed and said in a low tone, hiding a boiling rage:

"We’re going."

‘She wasn’t supposed to put her pregnancy at risk. That was their agreement,’ I thought, perfectly understanding the reason for Aegon’s anger.

"Your Majesty, you cannot—"

Aegon turned around and gave a look that froze Aegor Velaryon in place.

Aegor wanted to apologize, but Aegon raised his hand and said:

"I name you Interim Governor of the Stepstones. If we survive this war, this title will be officially yours and will become a hereditary title for you and your children… You have only one mission: hold out until I free our world from the Long Night."