A group of adventurers stand in her way; people she thought of as friends and allies, pleading with her to stop before she does something that brings even more dire consequences.
But she cannot. She's lost too many allies, said goodbye to too many friends, sacrificed far too much to give up now; if she stops, then all of the work that has been put into this, all of the lives that have been lost...it will all be for nothing. Their sacrifices will have been in vain.
She says 'no' to this. She wipes the tears that stream from her face, knowing that she will have to kill people that she's grown fond of...but it must be done. For those she has lost. For those that are yet to come. For the people back home who desire independence.
For Freedom. For Honor. For the glory of Bahamut!

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An important illustration of Alex right as the final battle to free her people starts. I love how it turned out; the original sketch had her leg hiked up in the air, but her fighting style requires both feet be planted on the ground.
I like the off-kilter camera angle and the shading that was done...the artist got the angle of the sun as it started to set really good; it's supposed to be late afternoon/early evening, so I think it matched pretty well.

This art was done by the ever lovely Shtolet. They're a Deviantart artist, but by god, are they absolutely amazing. Their artstyle has a kind of painting look to it that I thought was perfect for how dramatic the piece was supposed to be.

Alexandra Shadowscale© is owned by yours truly~