Some soldiers drop to their knees in surrender, mostly the wounded and those facing other Unbroken - every one of them recognizes the Dauntless when they feel it, and they never thought to feel it wielded against them. But many keep fighting.

Spears are raised, and two javelins are thrown at the human suspended in the iron monster. The two offensives are waves crashing inward, angling toward the inner keep, but the defenders are a breakwater - for now.

Her steel-over-wood shield panels move to intercept the javelins automatically, the sudden approach of magnetic metal triggering Sparky mechanisms.

She doesn't have a megaphone, but she'll shout as loud as she can anyway.

"By the power of LIGHTNING and IRON!" Normally it would be 'steam and steel' but one has to know one's audience. "Surrender and live! Surrender to rebuild Stalwart better!"

And then- She does have to actually attack- Heavy iron kicks and stomps will have to do, and might avoid actually killing too many outright?

According to historians, elephants aren't very dangerous in combat. When you know how to fight them, skirmishers with javelins can dodge around, isolate them, and send them panicky with wounds. But if you don't know how to fight them, they're just terrifying giants that stomp anything in their path.

As far as they're concerned, she's an elephant. Everyone backs away rapidly or outright runs if that doesn't get them clear. A couple don't manage it, and get knocked down or away with a crunch of bone on impact.

The friendlies fan out around her to take advantage of the chaos, and they're spilling plenty of blood even if she hasn't killed. Little mercy even from the Unbroken; it's too late for surrender now.

A crunch of bone is not necessarily a death. And Kohl condemns these Unbroken to be defeated in battle, knowing well this means mostly that they will die- So, they should die. Best of the worst options.

But somehow she did expect surrenders. For some veneer of civility over the whole thing. They're- They're down. They're not a threat anymore.

(She is no longer charging forward, merely being present and tall in the center of the chaos. Her shields continue swing around to intercept any projectiles- Unless they're entirely free of iron and copper, like slingstones or cheap fire-hardened arrows, or a large barrage comes at once.)

Sentinel Stand was well-stocked, they won't need to resort to pebbles or headless arrows any time this year.

The advance is steady, and reaches the stairs to the inner keep's gates. Arrows are coming down from above, but not in huge volume - the inner garrison wasn't large.

From her high perch, she'll see several downed soldiers getting finished off. Mostly by the Iron Walkers, the Unbroken are offering to take prisoners of anyone too wounded to fight, but a couple times one curses or spits at their captor and his throat gets slit.

Kohl, too, is at the stairs. "Scared a good few of them," Kohl says approvingly in a moment of calm, "And you can hold your own. Not long now; the one responsible isn't far."

She's not really sure she's hearing Kohl? He's making words, but those words don't seem to be instructions or orders.

She tries to take deep breaths and look dignified and not show how she's contributing to murder on her face.

He can tell something's wrong, but he doesn't guess what, beyond an intuition that he shouldn't press. (It will probably be obvious in retrospect, but he is fighting a battle right now. He's showing his Beast upbringing more than usual.)

He leads a wedge charging up the stairs, Barik and Killsy flanking him, holding a landing. Then maybe a half-minute later, repeats it. The arrows trail off as the archers withdraw. The ordinary soldiers flow upward in their wake, and soon there's a crowd of armor facing the main gates to the keep.

"The throne room is only a little further through here," says Captain Mattias, "Let's be done with this."

Oh, they're advancing. On the king, who ordered all this carnage.

She comes back to herself a little bit. She's going to have to throw up later. This is awful. Why did she agree to this? (Because there's a difference between being peaceful and harmless. Because society is created by the implicit or explicit threat of violence.)

...Though she's not actually sure Tallboy will fit. "Perhaps I should stay out here rather than dismount." She says to nobody in particular.

Kohl has been putting his 'Fatebinder face' back on, and gathering his thoughts to do this 'like an Archon'. So when he looks back to her...

Ah. Right. She's never shed blood before.

He'll step back and gesture for her to 'kneel' so they can talk quietly.

"I forgot this was your first time. Not holding up well?"

"I know it's necessary. Society does not work without a boot to come down. But not really."

He nods. "Killing good men is never pleasant. ...Catch your breath. But I think you should come in for the execution. When the Edict actually breaks. Should be a few minutes more of fighting first."

"...As you say."

Deep breaths. This shall pass, and she will have to accept that people die all the time, and then she can get back to work and save some of them. More than she's killed, at least.

He nods. "We'll call you in." And he gets ready to kick in the door.

Most of the Iron Walkers who escorted her are readying to go in, but one waves them off and comes back to her side.

"I remember the first time I killed a man. I'd fought off a wolf, before, gotten injured badly. I was stoic, calm. I thought I was ready to fight in the phalanx like my uncle and my sister."

"But when I faced a bandit and killed him, nasty brute that he was, my stomach still didn't settle for three days. You get used to it, eventually, but there's no shame in hating it."

"...I don't want to get used to it. I hope it always feels this awful and I get better at functioning through it. -Thank you. What's your name?"

"Well, war's not your profession. With luck, you won't have to. I'm Kleobis, 'the Dark' if Sis is deployed in the same area."

"...Kleobis the dark. Has a nice ring to it. Thanks for the advice."

...Okay, she can do this. If Kohl still wants her to. She looks around and tries to figure out what the plan is.

The door has just been kicked in, and Kohl is advancing flanked by Barik, Mattias, the Iron Walkers, and the Citizen Unbroken. The rest of his retinue is trailing behind - spellcasters first, the rest bringing up the rear.

The corridor in front of them has some more Regnal Unbroken defending it, but they're massively outnumbered and the hallway isn't narrow enough to alleviate the disparity. The doors to the throne room are hanging open, and the end is in sight.

She stomps forward, but certainly is not eager enough to throw herself into the fray. And still no ranged weapon, and even if she had one she'd be worried about hitting an ally. Just being imposing might be helping, at least.

Kleobis sticks by her for the moment - one fewer Iron Walker at the front won't be noticeable, and keeping the second-youngest Archon steady might be.

Up ahead, they're cutting down the defenders pretty quickly. These are the elite, and if they're shaky from the big iron monster currently stooping under their roof or having doubts about defending the Regent against the rest of their army and the elite of another one, they're not showing it. Neither are any offering surrender.

Pretty soon, Kohl is at the doors, Dauntless in his hand, and he points it straight at the Regent.

"First Regent Straydus Herodin. For your crimes against Kyros and the wrongs you have done to the people of Stalwart, I sentence you to death."

To their credit, the honor guard are barely rattled. Two javelins fly his way before he finishes speaking.

He blocks one on his shield and parries the other with the Dauntless.

"Keep Herodin alive to receive the sentence."

And a brief but bloody fight will ensue.