History Awesome / ShadowsOverMeridian

** Jade takes a leaf out of her past enemies' book and gives a rather good villainous introduction to Vathek, Tynar and all the prisoners, shocking everyone when they recognize the Shadow Realm as the fabled Land of Eternal Shadows and the Shadowkhan as the Shadow People.

** Jade promises to release Phobos and help him back to power [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe for Raythor's sake]], but only if he agrees to her three conditions: he shall reward Raythor for his loyalty and apologize to him for casting him to the Abyss, let him have a final word in their future decisions[[note]]She's also sure to state that it'll continue like that until either Phobos is back on the throne or when Raythor decides to call it quits.[[/note]], and restore Miranda and Cedric to their true forms and relinquish them to her. Phobos, [[PragmaticVillainy sensing a great potential ally, accepts all her terms without complaint]].
** Phobos and his minions assume the Shadowkhan will take care of Elyon and the Rebellion for them as they witness the castle under attack, but Jade reveals it was only a distraction and calls it off [[BadassFingersnap with a snap of fingers]]. She then explains to everyone that [[DontCreateAMartyr they don't want to create a martyr out of Elyon]] and proposes they'll instead [[HeroWithBadPublicity make the heroes look like failures to the public]] and convince the commoners that for all of Phobos' faults, he's [[VillainWithGoodPublicity preferable as a ruler]] due to having actual experience in political games and [[EqualOpportunityEvil bringing all of Meridian's races under his banner]], while Elyon is in her ignorance letting the rebels trouble the commoners with FantasticRacism and manhunting any supposed Phobos loyalists. Phobos himself is so impressed by Jade's logic that he laughs out loud in mirth and agrees to do things her way.

* In a CallBack to what Jade did to him earlier, Metalbeak challenges [[DefiantCaptive Vera]] to a duel. And just like Jade in that earlier fight, he [[CurbStompBattle completely dominates it]], easily smacking her around until she can't even walk anymore.

* When the army Jade leads to the northern mountains reaches Snowpoint, they arrive in the nick of time to reinforce the fortress that's on the brink of falling to the rebels after weeks of siege. The rebels are completely taken off guard by the Mantis Khan and [[BeastOfBattle the shadow snakes Phobos' soldiers ride to battle]], and soon retreat.

* To stop Metalbeak from going off on a [[RevengeBeforeReason half-cocked rampage to find the Nest Butcher's descendant]], Jade challenges him to duel. She then [[CurbStompBattle easily beats him into submission]], before talking him down about the flaws in his thinking. Afterwards, he reluctantly admits that she's right, while Jade promises that she will help him get his revenge, in a smarter and safer way.

** While everyone (except Tyrian) is terrified of Jade's power and wrath, Metalbeak brings her to her senses by reminding her that she warned him about letting one's desire for revenge blind oneself. Realizing she's currently risking the Stone Nest (if not the entire Meridian) getting pulled to the Shadow Realm, she restrains herself.

** Jade surprises Nerissa who's in her Mage disguise, reveals she figured out the sorceress' ruse, and turns down the delusional crone's [[WeCanRuleTogether offer of willingly helping her conquer the universe]]. As she talks and points a flashlight at Nerissa, a Leech Khan sneaks up to the sorceress' shadow and devours it while Jade restraints Nerissa from doing anything about it. The former Guardian is then left comatose and unable to prevent Jade from exposing her machinations to everyone, making Yua's prediction from [[Fanfic/{{Kage}} the original story]] true that Jade ([[LaserGuidedKarma whom Nerissa painted as the enemy to the heroes to get her on her side]]) will ruin the masterplan that took the sorceress more than a decade to bring to fruition.

*** When Phobos is being transported out of his cell, Vathek stubbornly tries to break through his cell's electric bars that keep shocking him to the point of smoking until the charge sends him hurtling at the back wall. Jade admits that was mildly impressive.

** Jade promises to release Phobos and help him back to power [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe for Raythor's sake]], but only if he agrees to her three conditions: he shall reward Raythor for his loyalty and apologize to him for casting him to the Abyss, let him have a final word in their future decisions[[note]]She's also sure to state that it'll continue like that until either Phobos is back on the throne or when Raythor decides to call it quits.[[/note]], and restore Miranda and Cedric to their true forms and relinquish them into her service. Phobos, [[PragmaticVillainy sensing a great potential ally, accepts all her terms without complaint]].

* When Elyon and Will return from Kandrakar to find the rebels and the Guard [[AHouseDivided about to come to blows]] over the rebels' treatment of the Guard and Caleb's refusal to accept the truth about Jade and Nerissa, Elyon [[WhatTheHellHero puts her foot down]] and [[ReassignedToAntarctica orders Caleb and the rebels to patrol the surrounding area and leave the protection of the castle to the Guard]], both to prevent infighting and to punish Caleb for abandoning the Guard the night before. She afterwards remarks to Cornelia that she's finally acting like a true Queen.
** Before Elyon and Will arrived, Caleb declared his intention of executing Jade along with Phobos. Erec, a Guard under the late Granik, took that moment to tell Caleb that he if anyone deserves execution for abandoning them and delivered a well-earned PunctuatedPounding.

** After Vathek and Drake learn from Yoruichi that the Warden has ordered his men to kill all the prisoners to prevent Frost from freeing them, the three of them refuse to let the Rebellion sink so low and force back in line the extremists they can find. At one point, Vathek throws in a cell one of the extremists who's then finished off by a Razor Khan.
** With Frost's army having breached Cavigor and the Razor Khan cornering Vathek, he manages to deny Frost some of the latter's triumph by surrendering to Jade instead of the brute or Phobos in the hopes that his remaining soldiers will be treated more mercifully by the Shadowkhan Queen. When Frost claims he can do whatever he wants with them anyway, Vathek points out that the Razor Khan can tell about it to their Queen who wanted to give the rebels a chance to surrender. Realizing from the narrowed gazes of the Razor Khan that Vathek's right, Frost begrudgingly accepts Vathek's surrender to Jade (though he still gets the last laugh by [[ExactWords having Vathek clarify that the rebels on the upper levels are to be spared]] and then [[AssholeVictim killing Jax]] who's not in the upper levels).