The internal conflict they had ignited within the Vanguard was a slow-burning, venomous fire. Vex, consumed by paranoia and the need to reassert his dominance, became a tyrant in his own organization.
His purges were brutal and widespread, targeting anyone with even a tangential connection to Charon's faction.
Loyal agents, who had served the Vanguard for decades, were suddenly branded as traitors and eliminated without trial.
The web of trust that had held the organization together for centuries was beginning to unravel, thread by thread.
Charon's loyalists, believing their leader had been betrayed and eliminated by Vex, began to retaliate.
They were spymasters, not soldiers.
Their attacks were not overt, but subtle, surgical strikes against Vex's operations.
A critical shipment of rare earth minerals needed for the 'Phase Two' enhancements would be mysteriously rerouted to a rival corporation.
A key political asset on a municipal council would suddenly have a change of heart, voting against a zoning variance that would have given Vex control of a new territory.
Vex's empire was being dismantled not by an army, but by a thousand tiny, bureaucratic cuts.
From their deep-level safehouse, Kiera's team watched the chaos unfold, fanning the flames whenever they could.
With The Quartermaster's guidance, they became masters of misinformation.
They would intercept a communication from one of Vex's commanders and subtly alter its contents before sending it on, turning a simple order into a suspicious, contradictory command.
They used Ryu's ability to create 'ghost' energy signatures, making it appear as though Sunstone Jaguar patrols were operating in areas they weren't, driving Vex's forces into a state of constant, heightened alert and exhausting their resources chasing phantoms.
Their greatest coup came when they targeted Valerius, Kiera's disgraced rival, who had been taken back into Vex's fold after the destruction of The Forge.
They knew Vex would be watching him closely, his trust shattered. They fabricated a series of encrypted communications between Valerius and a known Onyx Serpent intelligence agent, making it look as though Valerius, disillusioned with Vex, was trying to sell Vanguard secrets to the highest bidder.
The fabrication was flawless, a perfect imitation of Vanguard cipher-logic. Vex, his mind already clouded by paranoia, took the bait completely.
He saw betrayal where there was none. He summoned Valerius to a private meeting.
There was no trial, no questioning. There was only a cold, brutal execution.
The news of the death of the son of a prominent Azure Dragon Elder, killed by his own supposed allies, sent shockwaves through the Core Sectors.
The story, leaked by Jin, was that Valerius had been eliminated by the Vanguard after a failed power play.
The truth was far more complex.
Kiera's team had successfully manipulated Vex into eliminating one of his own most powerful assets.
It was a chilling victory, a demonstration of their mastery of the Vanguard's own dark games.
They had become the enemy to fight the enemy. But as Kiera looked at the news report, at the face of the boy she had once dueled in an arena, she felt no triumph.
Only the cold, heavy weight of the moral compromises she was making. The line between them and the monsters they were fighting was becoming terrifyingly thin.