Mirochi, Kingdom of Valora
Royal Palace

The rebels had seized most of the country, although royalist militias were resisting behind the frontlines. To all onlookers, the war was close to ending. The rebels had paid their advance towards the capital with a deluge of blood. The royalist regime, together with their Ryccian allies, had turned the path to Mirochi into a fortress of carnage and suffering. But finally, they were here.

The capital.

The Royal Palace was secluded on a hill in the eastern outskirts of the capital. Regardless, fighting could be heard, far-off into the distance. The rebels were laying siege to the city, launching an assault from the west. As some royalist units had defected to the rebellion, the Grand Coalition had their own artillery, and their cannonade could be heard all across the city. 

The palace was heavily fortified, so it was one of the few safe areas of Mirochi. The elite royal guard was stationed there. Fanatical ultraroyalists, they will defend the crown to the death.

The King was having a panic attack. Everything seemed lost. Most nobles had fled, hoping to be admitted as refugees in Ryccia. Tens of thousands of ethnic Ryccians in Valora had fled as well, setting up refugee camps across the Ryccian side of the border, and the flood would only increase. The King's last remaining military and civil officials were begging him to surrender to spare the country more bloodshed. Even the Ryccian ambassador, who had taken refuge in the palace, was beginning to petition him for capitulation. The Ryccians were realizing that the royalists were doomed, and thus were now engaging in secret talks with the rebels to at least salvage something out of this collapse. However, he refused, even if he knew his days were numbered.

"Your Majesty, this humble servant urges you to surrender. Please, may His Majesty spare the people! The war is lost-"

"No! I refuse to surrender! General, you know all of our heads are on the chopping block the very instant we sign away our existence! Whether it is here or in Ryccia, the rebels shall slaughter us all!"

"The lives of our people are-"

"NO, ENOUGH! I SHALL GO DOWN FIGHTING!"

Who knew that the impossible would happen? Who knew miracles could happen?

---

Rebel-held territory, Valora

The fractures between the various factions of the rebellion had grown to an intolerable extent. The leftists, the nationalists, the liberals...they all hated each other more by the hour. These tensions had been exacerbated by the true mastermind of this war, the Crown Princess.

All was going to plan.

She ordered her puppets in the nationalist faction to execute leftists for "insubordination". Outraged, her puppets on the left were instructed to secede from the wider rebellion, forming the People's Republic of Valora.

Against all odds, and just when they were about to win, the rebellion broke.

Infighting between the nationalists, the leftists and the liberals broke out, with their respective units regrouping and fighting their former comrades. The advance towards the capital halted as the royalist remnants witnessed the unthinkable: the rebels turned on each other. Against all expectations, the royalists were now able to retake territory.

This war isn't over, not by a longshot.