Title: “Absorption Order”

Scene: Blackwood War Room — Chris's POV

The room pulsed with the low hum of digital maps. Live scans. Border heat signatures. Blinking red zones. The entire Delvaron perimeter was outlined in fractured defense grids—like a broken egg waiting to be devoured.

I stood over the main table, hands behind my back. Amara was beside me, arms folded, the Blackwood seal gleaming at her chest. She was fire and elegance—my queen in war armor, radiating command.

> "Delvaron is subdued," she said, scanning the digital reports. "All key resistance pockets neutralized. Their media? Replaced. Their currency? Digitized. All that's left is the ceremonial flag drop."

> "Ceremony's a luxury," I replied. "I don't want symbolism."

I looked her straight in the eyes.

> "I want absorption."

She tilted her head slightly. Curious. Calculating.

> "You mean military control?"

> "I mean erase the border."

She blinked once.

> "You're ordering a full merge?"

> "Yes. Break their border wall. Officially dissolve Delvaron. Integrate their systems into ours. From now on, they're not a neighbor. They're a district. Blackwood South."

She said nothing for a moment. Just watched me.

> "That's a declaration," she finally said. "To the world."

> "Good," I growled. "Let the world watch. Let them see what happens when you delay your allegiance."

> "We'll need transition overseers. Language unification. Even educational restructuring."

> "Pick from the Orvanu defectors. Let their surrender serve purpose."

> "And Kael Dran?"

I smirked.

> "Bring him to the ceremony. Let him raise the Blackwood banner himself. On live broadcast."

Amara nodded slowly, a grin pulling at her lips.

> "You want him to crown his own end."

> "Exactly," I said. "This isn't conquest anymore. This is conversion."

She turned, giving orders to her sub-commanders, her voice sharp and elegant like a blade dancing on command:

> "Ready the mechanized B.A.M. division. Alert the Broadcast Command. And prepare the demolition of the Southern Wall."

I watched her for a moment — how her presence moved people. Bent them. Inspired them. Feared them.

Then I said it softly, under my breath, so only she could hear:

> "You are my favorite war."

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