When tidings of the disastrous battle reached Salm, he cast his eyes behind him toward a formidable sea-fortress whose high towers pierced the azure heavens. Recognizing that the tides of Fortune ebbed and flowed, Salm intended to make this impregnable citadel his final sanctuary. But Qaran, the keen-sighted commander of the Iranian vanguard, perceived the enemy's intent. He knew that if Salm secured himself within that sea-surrounded fortress—whose battlements brushed the clouds and housed vast royal treasures beneath the auspicious shadow of the Homa bird—no force could ever dislodge him.
Acting with swift resolve, Qaran conceived a masterstroke of strategy. Taking the signet ring stripped from the fallen Prince Tur, he revealed his stratagem only to the brave Garshasp and Shirwi. As black ebony night draped over the earth, war-drums were strapped onto the elephant saddles. Qaran committed the main army to Shirwi, instructing him to march secretly toward the sea and lie in wait. Qaran vowed to disguise himself as Tur's messenger, gain entry into the fortress using the signet ring, and raise the royal banner of King Manuchehr atop its towers as a signal for Shirwi's storming party.
Under cover of darkness, Qaran approached the formidable fortress. He called out to the castellan, presenting Tur's royal seal and claiming he had been dispatched by Tur himself to fortify the citadel against Manuchehr's approaching host. Fooled by the authentic signet ring and the warrior's artful deception, the unsuspecting castellan threw open the heavy iron gates.
At the break of dawn, Qaran unveiled his true purpose. He raised the majestic Iranian war standard high above the ramparts and sounded his battle cry. Seeing the imperial flag gleaming in the morning light, Shirwi and his fierce champions charged forth, storming the gates and putting the garrison to the sword. Fire was set to the battlements, consuming the stronghold in raging blazes until thick, pitch-black smoke soared into the clouds. By noon, where once stood a mighty sea-citadel, only ashes, ruined walls, and rivers of blood remained—the sea turned dark as pitch and the surrounding plains crimsoned with the slain.