Chapter 20 – The Banner of Light
The training grounds at Whitehearth echoed with steel.
Jean stood beneath the half-raised banner of her house—a radiant sword on white cloth—while her allies gathered. Her forces were smaller than Sylas's, but what she lacked in numbers, she would make up in faith and power.
Sir Renald addressed her from the training circle. "You'll have barely four hundred swords by week's end. Sylas commands nearly triple that."
Jean nodded. "Then I'll fight with warriors who believe—not those bought with promises of gold."
Whitney paced at her side, occasionally snarling at spies hiding among the courtyards. "Even faith won't stop a spellblade from behind. Or a poisoned arrow."
Jean turned to Cassien, who'd shed his disguise. "You said there were emissaries hiding in the Iron Empire—some disillusioned with their gods. Can we find them?"
Cassien nodded. "One. Kael, Emissary of Gale, hiding in exile near the shattered cliffs. But he hasn't spoken to another emissary since the Windsong Massacre."
"Then he's our first call."
That night, Jean knelt in the Temple of Celeste.
Her divine mark glowed faintly on her back as she placed her hand to the altar. The air turned still. Her voice echoed in the hallowed chamber.
"Celeste, Lady of Light. I call upon the ancient right of summoning. Not for glory. Not for pride. But for justice."
The flame above the altar flared gold.
"You walk the path of radiance, my Emissary," the goddess's voice whispered. "Then carry the banner not of your clan—but of light itself."
The mark on Jean's back erupted in divine aura. Her aura evolved—Transcendent Master level now fully awakened. Her sword glowed not just with light, but Celestial Will.
From the temple steps, her knights looked up and saw her standing tall beneath the divine fire.
Sir Renald knelt.
Others followed.
One by one, warriors bent the knee—not to the Luther name, but to Jean herself.
To the Emissary of Light.
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