The City Guard was engaged in fierce fighting at the Blackwater Rush, while Roman's embedded agents were actively hunting Lannister soldiers within King's Landing.
When Tywin sent Kevan to the capital, he arranged for elite Lannister personal guards to protect him. These soldiers were far more capable than the useless Gold Cloaks, so Roman's agents naturally couldn't let them live to organize a defense.
The moment Stannis besieged the city, Harrenhal's inside agents began attacking the Lannister camp.
Many of these soldiers were burned to death in their beds while they slept. The surviving soldiers found themselves fighting brutal street battles in the alleys against Vanguard accomplices, starving mobs, and local bandits.
Kevan arrived at the scene with his Guard and immediately saw the burning military camp and corpses scattered everywhere.
The smells of blood, sour sweat, and burnt flesh mingled together. A mob rushed toward Kevan the moment they saw his fancy clothes.
"Line up! Protect!"
The Lannister guards quickly formed a defensive circle to protect Kevan in the center, cutting down the rioters who charged forward.
Seeing that the Lannister Guards' formation remained unbroken while the bodies of their comrades piled up, the mob stopped charging. Instead, they took out ceramic kerosene cans and hurled them at Kevan's men.
Kevan immediately realized this group was not to be underestimated. He quickly ordered his men to retreat, but they were still splashed with kerosene, burning large holes into their clothes.
Just then, a group of men dressed in black suddenly jumped out from the surrounding high-rise buildings, firing wildly at Kevan with heavy armor-piercing crossbows.
Kevan screamed in pain as he was hit, and his remaining guards hurriedly carried him away.
One of the men in black tried to give chase, but was stopped by a superior.
"Our master instructed us only to open the city gates and not do anything unnecessary. Let Stannis in first."
On the City Wall
Varys the Spider was anxiously searching for King Joffrey and Lord Tyrion; he had something incredibly important to report.
He had discovered that the Antler Men in King's Landing were out of control!
The Antler Men were a group of wealthy merchants in King's Landing, named after the crowned stag of House Baratheon. They planned to open the city gates from the inside to welcome the stag once Stannis arrived.
Varys had been monitoring the group for a long time, but in recent months, he discovered that all of his "little birds" assigned to watch them had disappeared. When they were finally found, their bodies were highly decomposed in the sewers.
Varys realized that his little birds had been mass-hunted a year ago, clearly indicating that someone highly capable had planted spies in King's Landing entirely under his radar.
The Spider had previously tried to find concrete evidence of the Antler Men's treason, but to no avail. Now, in this critical moment, it was too late for precautions.
Upon arriving at the battlements, Varys discovered that Tyrion had been knocked unconscious and bore several deep, bone-revealing wounds. With no other choice, the Spider went to find Joffrey.
But when Varys found him, the king was hiding deep within the Red Keep with Cersei, trembling and showing no interest in getting involved in the defense. No matter how much Varys tried to persuade him, Joffrey remained nestled cowardly in Cersei's arms.
Just as the Spider was racking his brain for a solution, flames suddenly broke out at the distant city gates. Soon after, an attendant came running in, terrified.
"My lord! The two main city gates have been breached by the Antler Men and the mob! Stannis's army has stormed inside!"
Varys was shocked, his powdered face turning completely pale with fright.
At this point, Stannis had anticipated Tyrion's traps. Thanks to Roman's intelligence nullifying the wildfire attack, the Baratheon naval landing force was unharmed. They had already defeated the City Guard outside the Mud Gate, breached the city walls, and were now attacking the Red Keep.
Because Stannis had learned of the alliance between the Reach and the Lannisters, he launched his attack ahead of schedule. The Tyrell army was still on its way to King's Landing.
The realm was now in its most critical moment.
West of the Gods Eye
Roman descended from the night sky and joined the Ironmen Vanguard.
This time, he was launching a stealth surprise attack, so he didn't unleash his White Flame and thunder in a grand display. Instead, he flew back to the Riverlands from a high altitude under the cover of darkness.
"How are the preparations going?" Roman asked.
"Lord Fili deployed the equipment and supplies we need here half a month ago," an Ironman commander reported. "Now everything is ready. We are just waiting for your order to crush Tywin's army in one fell swoop!"
"Yes! Give the order, Lord Roman!" the troops echoed.
Roman raised his hand to quiet the crowd, glancing toward the Goldroad to estimate the time.
Finally, as a long dragon of torches appeared in the distance, Roman roared:
"Attack!"
Upon hearing the command, the heavily armored Ironmen charged toward the Lannister army on their warhorses, while the Light Cavalry flanked them, encircling the enemy.
Roman silently soared into the air, rushing over the Lannister army in the darkness. Blazing white Magic Missiles were launched instantly, slamming heavily into the supply wagons.
Because the Lannister soldiers were on a long march, all their supplies were packed onto wagons. A few Magic Missiles from Roman easily melted down their spare armor and incinerated their provisions.
The violent explosions engulfed the Lannister army, the burning White Flame illuminating the soldiers' terrified faces.
Even more terrifying were the Vanguard Ironmen charging from the dark. The Lannister soldiers found themselves without the equipment or time to defend themselves, while the deep, fast-flowing Blackwater Rush loomed right behind them.
The despairing reality instantly shattered the will of Tywin's veterans. They tried to flee, but the surrounding area had already been overrun by Harrenhal's forces. The Light Cavalry surrounded them, raining arrows down on anyone who got close.
Ahead were the armored cavalry, to the sides were the light cavalry, and behind them was the river. The Lannister soldiers had only one way to survive: cross the Blackwater Rush.
The camp was thrown into chaos. Soldiers trying to put on armor were trampled, commanders frantically grabbed horses to reorganize their ranks, and many more stripped off their heavy steel plates to swim across the river.
But these fleeing Lannister soldiers forgot one thing—Roman was still in the sky.
As the frantic soldiers struggled to swim across the dark river, Roman silently dropped down to hover just above the water's surface.
Then, lightning flashed. Blinding white electricity pierced the air, dancing across the water's surface like a thousand silver snakes. Roman quickly swept his magic across the river, allowing the electrical current to surge through the water.
The Lannister soldiers who had not yet entered the river watched helplessly as their comrades were violently electrocuted, dying instantly and drifting downstream with the current.
Their morale completely collapsed, and the survivors all dropped to their knees in the mud to unconditionally surrender.
From that moment on, Tywin Lannister completely lost the military capacity to support King's Landing. He could only retreat helplessly toward the westerlands to mount a desperate defense.
After cleaning up the battlefield, Roman rewarded his troops and arranged for the prisoners to be sent to Harrenhal's labor camps before flying home.
As soon as Roman landed, Fili happily ran over, wiping the soot from his armor as she reported:
"Lord Roman! Lord Stannis and the Reach's armies have entered King's Landing one after another, and they have set the city ablaze!"
"Yes, I understand," Roman replied calmly. "Let them fight. The fiercer they bleed each other in King's Landing, the smoother our consolidation of the Crownlands will be."
With the Lannisters and the Tyrells united by marriage, Stannis would ultimately be unable to seize the Iron Throne, but this devastating raid would greatly weaken the strength of the new Lion-Rose alliance.
Even if Stannis loses, he will still take a massive bite out of them.
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