Chapter 100 – When the Stars Began to Fall
They marched under the banner of unity.
Jean Luther, newly named Matriarch, stood at the vanguard, Luxclade shining across the battlefield like a star fallen to earth. To her right, Silvia, the Guardian Blade. To her left, Valessia Drakon, the Iron Empress, clad in warplate etched with ancestral fire.
Behind them:
The full might of the Luther Clan, the Four Ducal Armies, and Envoy Knights armed with blades that shimmered in divine aura.
Before them:
The twisted spires of Mireholt, a fortress reclaimed by the Magistery—now a ritual nexus for dragon summoning.
Above them:
The sky tore open.
Comets of flame fell from the heavens—draconic meteorites. The first signs of Antares' awakening.
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The charge began.
Steel and magic clashed in a storm. The Magistery's Sage Corps unleashed arcanum that cracked mountains. Jean led the vanguard through waves of summoned beasts, cutting a path with each divine stroke.
Kaelis rode lightning through enemy lines. Silvia carved open defensive wards with spectral precision. Whitney tore through constructs and abominations alike, divine fangs glowing with light.
Then the sky screamed.
A dragon, far larger than the whelp in Draventh, descended—a crimson-scaled monarch of flame, awakened prematurely.
Jean leapt.
Luxclade met dragonfire in midair, a clash that lit the battlefield like dawn. Her aura flared beyond Transcendent, piercing the heavens.
> "Celeste, guide my strike."
And with a cry that echoed across the continent—
She cleaved the beast in two.
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The battle ended by dusk.
The fortress fell.
The Magistery was routed.
And Jean, bloodied but unbowed, stood upon its walls as soldiers below chanted her name.
But her eyes turned east—beyond Mireholt, where clouds swirled unnaturally.
Where, in the distance, a vast shadow rose over the mountains.
Antares was stirring.
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That night, Celeste spoke.
> "The first war has ended, my Emissary. But the Age of Dragons begins now."
> "Become more. Become what they need."
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And as Jean Luther looked toward the distant fire, her divine wolf beside her and the armies of mankind behind her…
She knew:
> Arc I was merely the beginning.
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End of Arc I: The Emissary of Light