The Heartland Citadel, once a ruin whispered about only in old songs, now stood reborn.
The Sovereign Bastion.
Wounded, scarred — but unbroken.
Kaelen Drayce stood atop the main walls, Sovereignblade Astryn sheathed at his back, surveying the blood-stained plains below.
Where once thousands had gathered to break them, now only silence remained.
Ash drifted across the battlefield.
But it wasn't the ash of defeat.
It was the ash of rebirth.
[System Notification]
[First Sovereign War: Victory Achieved.]
[Sovereign Status: Confirmed.]
[New Sovereign Authority Unlocked: Decree of the Heartland.]
[Effects:
Heartland Citadel is officially recognized as an Independent Sovereign Territory.
Founding of new cities and territories permitted.
Sovereign Titles Available for Trusted Allies.]
Kaelen absorbed the messages quietly.
It was real now.
Not just a rebellion.
Not just a dream.
A nation.
His nation.
The Ceremony
In the great courtyard of the Heartland, the Pathbreakers and the first settlers gathered.
The cracked-crown banners rippled in the fierce wind.
Kaelen stood before them all, unadorned, no royal robes, no golden crown.
Just simple armor.
Simple conviction.
"We do not build a kingdom for rulers," Kaelen said, voice carrying across the stones.
"We do not raise walls for tyrants."
"We forge a home for all those the world forgot."
He drew Astryn and planted it in the ground before him.
The earth trembled.
The Nexus Core pulsed.
The Sovereign Path had been opened wider.
And across the Heartland, a whisper grew:
"Long live the Sovereign.
Long live the Pathbreakers.
Long live the Heartland."