With all the Knights of Vengeance but Jade/"Kage" imprisoned in the Infinite City following their failure to return Phobos to power, the heroes are confident their biggest worries are over, unaware that Jade's preparing to use her newfound power as the Queen of the Shadowkhan to prove them wrong.
- All for Nothing: Before losing consciousness, Nerissa realizes to her fury that all her years of scheming and waiting have come to nought thanks to Jade.
- Ankle Drag: A Ninja Khan dispatches one of the guards in the Infinite City by pulling him into his own shadow from the ankles.
- Asshole Victim: Jade uses a Leech Khan to steal Nerissa's shadow, rendering her comatose. Considering everything Nerissa's done and was planning to do, no tears should be shed for her in this.
- Broken Pedestal: The Guards' view of the Rebellion has been consistently chipped away at due to the distrust and outright hostility they've been treated with by the rebels ever since Phobos was overthrown, despite having turned on him to help that victory.
- Call-Back:
- The rumors about the Guard being replaced by the "new Royal Guard", first mentioned in Kage, are brought up here as one of the reasons for the Guards' growing anxiety.
- While explaining to Nerissa how she figured out the sorceress posed as the Mage all along, Jade brings up how she noticed in their first meeting that the shadow of "the Mage" looked more like Nerissa.
- Ever since he and Vathek were the Knights' prisoners, Tynar has been having his doubts if Jade's as evil as everyone else believes.
- Cassandra Truth: Vathek refuses to question Nerissa's story of Jade being a monstrous creation of Phobos, even when Raythor and Phobos confirm Tynar's suspicion she never served the prince.
- Cliffhanger: The chapter ends with Vathek, Tynar and the other Infinite City's guards being surprise-attacked by the Ninja Khan.
- Closest Thing We Got: According to the background laid out in this chapter's beginning, the reason Jade gained all the nine Shadowkhan tribes under her command is because her merger with her Queen persona makes her the closest thing there's to a fully powered Oni around.
- Continuity Nod:
- Jade, unimpressed by Nerissa's excuses, mutters that Valmont never tried to use any "I was actually on your side all the time and was just playing my part" excuse when Shendu possessed him.
- In reference to Jade calling the Leech Khan cute when she first saw them in canon, she says she still thinks so.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Nerissa, the Big Bad of the canon Season 2 of W.I.T.C.H., is replaced by Jade in this chapter. (It was implied this would have eventually happened to Nerissa had Kage continued before becoming a Dead Fic.)
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Just like in the original story, Raythor is disgusted at the heroes for dragging Jade into their conflict under the wrongful assumption of her being Phobos' monster.
- Phobos, while amused by how the Rebellion mistook Jade for an enemy and overreacted in such a way as to end up actually making her one, is insulted when Vathek accuses him of lying about Kage not being his minion.
- Facepalm: Jade massages the bridge of her nose when Nerissa tries to dismiss the severity of framing her, and when Nerissa declares her to be the only Knight worthy of helping the sorceress' world domination plans, Jade facepalms.
- A Friend in Need: Jade breaks into the Infinite City with the intention of freeing some friends, one of whom obviously refers to Raythor who in turn is hoping she managed to find her way home and escape the war that was never hers to begin with.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Jade bluntly tells Nerissa that she's not interested if the sorceress has some tragic origin story to tell and dismisses her to be just like the number of magical baddies she faced in her own universe; an egomaniac who feels entitled to ruling everyone with unlimited power.
- Hand Gagging: A Ninja Khan does this to one of the Guards in the Infinite City before pulling him into shadows.
- It's Probably Nothing: When the Shadowkhan are infiltrating the Infinite City's dungeons, one guard catches the sound of another one screaming as he's dragged into his own shadow through an Ankle Drag. His fellows, tired and eager for the change of shift, tell him he's probably hearing things either out of tiredness or from the numerous prisoners. They all end up being stealthily snatched away by the Shadowkhan one by one.
- Kidnapped from Behind: When a group of four Guards is about to make their way to the Infinite City's entrance, a Shadowkhan tackles one of them into a shadowy corridor without the others noticing. Another one speaks to him and is about to notice him missing before he's also caught. The same fate befalls a third one as the last one talks about his plans for tomorrow and notices he's alone only when his question to the others gets no answer.
- Lack of Empathy: Nerissa doesn't feel any guilt over framing Jade as a monster, and upon seeing the girl's angry look, mockingly asks if she's still sore from said "little fib" before saying it was nothing personal and trying to appeal to the fact that she released her along with Miranda anyway. Needless to say, this doesn't make Jade one bit willing to go along with the sorceress' whims anymore.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After painting Jade as an enemy to the heroes in Kage, Nerissa finally gets her comeuppance when Jade takes her out of the game while letting her know none of her canon plans will bear any fruit.
- Lingering Social Tensions: Like in Kage, there is a growing amount of tension between the victorious rebels and Phobos' former Guards due to the latter's resentment of how the former are continuing to treat them with contempt despite proving their loyalty.
- Make Way for the New Villains: Jade's first order in business as a Fallen Hero is to eliminate Nerissa for having manipulated everyone and to prevent the sorceress from interfering with her own plans.
- "No. Just… No" Reaction: This is Jade's response to Nerissa's We Can Rule Together offer.
- Nostalgia Filter: The Guards feel so miserable from the rebels' mistreatment and being afraid that they'll be imprisoned for their past loyalties that they're wondering if turning against Phobos was really worth it. It's asked in the chapter's reviews how they could think that when Tynar said in the first season they were miserable under Phobos' rule, and the authors explain that while they might have been miserable before, they now have to sleep with one eye open while living under the threat of rumors that they'll be replaced and imprisoned, which makes them wonder if things were really so bad beforehand.
- Nothing Personal: Nerissa says this about framing Jade as Phobos' monster.
- Pet the Dog: Raythor's Intergenerational Friendship with Jade is proven to be as strong as ever when he's relieved to know she hasn't been captured and takes up the chance to clear up her name when Tynar questions him about her. And Phobos, despite having nothing to gain out of it, confirms Raythor's words of "Kage" not being his servant.
- Point of Divergence: This chapter takes place close to the ending of the episode "J is for Jewel", and the plot's been faithful to the W.I.T.C.H. cartoon despite Jade having been added to the second season storyline like in the original story. However, before Nerissa gets a chance to steal Elyon's power and imprison her in a jewel, Jade eliminates the sorceress to turn the rest of the second season storyline in a completely different direction.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Jade acknowledges that due to their taste for living creatures' shadows, the Leech Khan are the most dangerous type of Shadowkhan to be left to their own devices for extended periods of time, which is why she's decided to use them only if necessary.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Nerissa notes that Jade's eyes have turned completely crimson when only her irises were red in the original story (unless the Queen was in control of her body).
- Spiteful Spit:
- One of the Guards who nearly comes to blows with Aldarn spits on the ground before carrying on with his patrol.
- Raythor spits on his cell's floor before responding defiantly to Tynar's suggestion that he'd renounce his loyalty to Phobos. He does it again while telling Tynar that Jade is innocent of serving Phobos.
- Split-Personality Merge: The backstory for this fic tells that after Jade avoided being imprisoned with the Knights, she and her Enemy Within, the Queen of the Shadowkhan, had a violent talk that ended with them both accepting that they need each other to survive, so they merged together to form a new personality with aspects of both. The main side effect of this is Jade gaining total control over the Shadowkhan tribes.
- Spotting the Thread: Tynar has figured out on his own that Jade was never a minion of Phobos due to piecing together clues like the fact that despite being accused of being a shapeshifter, she never took any other form, and how she was far kinder than any of the Knights, never being rude or threatening to him and Vathek when they were the Knights’ prisoners (except when Vathek insulted her first).
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Aldarn never gave any indication in the original story that he shared his fellow rebels' mistrust of the Guard, but this chapter establishes that now he views them as cowards who turned on Phobos to save their own hides.
- Underestimating Badassery: Despite acknowledging Jade to be clever (even more clever than the other Knights and most of Meridian for figuring out the Mage disguise), useful and still a mystery, Nerissa doesn't believe she's a true threat to her. She's proven dead wrong when she's rendered comatose.
- We ARE Struggling Together: The Lingering Social Tensions between the rebels and Phobos' defected Guards haven't got any better since Kage. In fact, Aldarn insinuates that now that the Knights are no longer active, he'll ensure the Guards will be locked up too as remaining leftovers of Phobos' regiment.
- We Can Rule Together: Like in canon, Nerissa is content to let the Knights of Vengeance rot in jail since they've already served their purpose, but she believes Jade can still be of use to her. When the girl reveals she figured out the sorceress impersonated the Mage all along, the impressed Nerissa offers her a place by her side as her true plans unfold. After Jade refuses, Nerissa resigns to forcing her into submission before she's rendered comatose by a Leech Khan.
