Warmaisach
Hey Author, I hope you redact part about Mattheo dying. Make it so Gerald faked the death, somehow he saved him from the ambush and kept him hidden like Shang. Mattheo would have been a great peer for Shang, with him being both an excellent mage and warrior. After so many decades, if he's still only a Peak Commander / Peak True Mage even when having access to both star maps, then his true path map must have also been epic like Shang's. Why waste a character like that? Please keep him as an ace during they're revenge against the council and other dukes! Lastly, Mattheo is both Mage and Warrior! He could be the bridge between both factions! He'd be a great heir when Gerald eventually usurps Skythunder Kingdom, or creates his own kingdom. A figure that both factions can support, to reconcile both factions under a single banner.
I understand some readers being upset with a lot of deaths however I feel they are needed to help move shang and the reader into a more rebellious view of the kingdom after all just hearing ‘warriors are being target systematically’ isn’t really enough it’s better for us to see people we know and have fought along shang be murdered