Chapter Summaries

Gawain prepared a broad information campaign to undermine the Holy Light Church while preserving the faith of sincere believers. He ordered Magic Net broadcasts and printed materials to spread across the Southern Territory, aiming to leave the people of Luan City to drive out the church themselves.

• Gepril questioned how Gawain’s campaign would affect commoners who sincerely believed in the Holy Light, and Gawain promised to introduce her to Light and the reformed faith.
• Rebecca arrived covered in soot after burning her attempt to make bone soup for Gawain, then reported on the Magic Net Broadcast System’s coverage and production limits.
• Gawain ordered Rebecca to conduct another broadcast test within three days so the system could soon be put into use.
• Gawain assigned the Luan City photographs to Godwin Orlando for conversion into newspapers and pamphlets to be distributed throughout the Duchy of Cecil.
• Gawain refused to attack Luan City, intending for the people to drive out the Holy Light Church rather than letting its priests create martyrs.

Leaflets and rumors deepened resistance to Luan City's clergy, while Cecil Weekly expanded its reach across the South. In Carrol City, newsboy Banny encountered a Cecil Weekly article exposing church fundraising abuses and watched it shake the faith of Old Tom and other readers.

• Rumors and covertly circulated leaflets spread through locked-down Luan City, increasing civilians' distrust of the cathedral.
• Bishop Franbelang blamed the Cecilians for the city's hardship, but public whippings of suspected critics further angered civilians.
• Cecil Weekly expanded to two issues a week and distributed newspapers throughout the South.
• Newsboy Banny received his papers in Carrol City and read a new article about the Northern Holy Light Church's methods of collecting wealth.
• Old Tom reacted with grief and anger to the article's claims about priests' promises concerning the Kingdom of God and deceased loved ones.
• Banny saw townspeople discussing the article and began loudly advertising the newspaper's account of the church.

Cecil launched a public campaign against the Holy Light Church through newspapers and a new Magic Net broadcast program. Gepril began hosting the first episode, which focused on events in Luan City, as Magic Net Terminals across the region successfully activated.

• Cecil's printing presses flooded the Southern Territory with articles by Godwin Orlando and Light exposing how the Holy Light Church operated.
• Gepril grew nervous before her first Magic Net broadcast, and Rebecca encouraged her with candy and reassurance.
• Gepril entered the studio with Light and Emily and began the first episode, improvising the program's name as "Witch Time."
• Gawain and Heti watched Gepril's broadcast and praised her performance, while Rebecca reported that Magic Net Terminals across the regions had activated successfully.

Gepril hosted the first public Magic Net broadcast, interviewing Light about the birth of the White Knights and the events in Luan City. Light revealed Emily’s spirit as a miracle of the Holy Light, while the broadcast spread new ideas about the church and the Holy Light among citizens across Cecil’s lands.

• Magic Net Terminals across Cecil’s lands aired Gepril’s first episode of Witch Time, drawing curious crowds who watched the unfamiliar Holographic Projections.
• Gepril introduced Light as the first White Knight, and he explained that Duke Gawain Cecil had named the new profession before recounting the war that led to its creation.
• Light described the hunger and cruelty he had witnessed, including the Pontiff Knights’ betrayal of their principles and Emily’s death, moving the plaza audiences.
• At Gepril’s prompting, Light summoned Emily’s spirit and presented her as a miracle of the Holy Light.
• Emily greeted the viewers before dissolving into Light’s halo, and the broadcast carried its revelations about the church and the Holy Light to tens of thousands of citizens.

Gawain reviewed the campaign to weaken the Holy Light Church’s influence and explained how Amber was fomenting distrust in Luan City. Amber’s operation had begun to turn clergy against the cathedral, and she prepared to move into its next stage.

• Heti reported strong public interest in White Knight, newspapers, and Magic Net programs as Gawain outlined a long-term campaign to replace the old church’s influence.
• Gawain told Rebecca and Heti that changing public belief would take years, while the clergy in Luan City could be driven out sooner by popular anger.
• Gawain showed Heti evidence that Amber’s team was spreading rumors, documenting the clergy’s abuses, and turning the cathedral’s crackdowns into further unrest.
• Amber learned that the cathedral had disciplined and imprisoned more low-ranking clergy after pamphlets circulated in the small chapel district.
• Amber explained that she had secretly planted pamphlets in the chapels to make clergy suspect one another, then told her team to prepare for the next stage of the operation.

As unrest spread through Luan City, Franbelang ordered a citywide heretic trial to crush dissent and expose infiltrators. Amber prepared her agents to withstand the judgment, while Byron arrived at the blockade with a shipment of flyers packed into artillery shells.

• Franbelang ordered the highest level of martial law and announced a heretic trial in which wavering civilians and clergy would be burned.
• A punished priest heard the announcement underground and warned Alcott that the city had no way out, but Alcott told him the cathedral would handle it.
• Amber distributed Holy Light Resonance Nodes to her agents, explaining that they could protect them from the Great Divine Word and had additional functions.
• Byron arrived at Philip's blockade position with reinforcements and revealed that he had brought one hundred thousand flyers stuffed inside artillery shells.

As Franbelang began Luan City’s heresy trial, Cecil’s broadcast of the cathedral’s abuses stirred outrage across the Southern Realm. The trial’s divine art unexpectedly surged across the plaza, and Franbelang realized the cathedral was in danger.

• Church forces raided Luan City’s outer districts, arresting citizens and silencing the streets as the cathedral prepared its heresy trial.
• Gepril broadcast footage of the cathedral’s violence to cities across the Southern Realm and raised the possibility of establishing a new order of Holy Light.
• Viewers reacted with anger and called for intervention to protect Luan City’s citizens.
• Franbelang led the condemned clergy and accused prisoners into the plaza, where the gathered crowd watched in unnerving silence.
• Franbelang unleashed the Great Divine Word, which marked the bound prisoners with cracked light and revealed bright signs of faith among some commoners.
• The divine art suddenly brightened and spread across the plaza with renewed force, leaving Franbelang convinced that the cathedral was doomed.

Franbelang's amplified heresy trial exposed nearly all of Luan City's commoners and clerics as heretics before Cecil's weapons scattered propaganda across the city instead of killing anyone. The church leaders fled to the cathedral district, while an unseen observer concluded that the Holy Light Church in the southern lands had fallen and that only one task remained.

• Franbelang watched the amplified Great Divine Word identify nearly all the commoners, clerics, knights, and soldiers in the square as heretics.
• Franbelang recognized holy-light magic among the commoners and realized the Cecilians had caused the spell's amplification, but they had already withdrawn, leaving strange Metal Plates that soon failed.
• Franbelang and the clerics welcomed the sound of Cecil's approaching weapons, expecting to die as martyrs.
• Cecil's weapons burst above the city and scattered printed pamphlets condemning heresy trials and urging people to join Cecil.
• The leader of the Discipline Monks blamed evil magic, and Franbelang declared the trial suspended before fleeing with the clerics into the cathedral district.
• An observer watched from a civilian home's window and concluded that the Holy Light Church in the southern lands had died, leaving only one thing to be done.

After three days of Cecilian leaflets and growing unrest, Amber met with Savantri, a priest who had escaped the sealed church district. She showed him evidence of the Church’s brutality and asked for his cooperation in establishing a new holy light order.

• The church district remained sealed as leaflets and rumors fueled public anger, while some church soldiers surrendered and joined the commoners.
• Amber’s agents reported the situation in Luan City, and she announced that guests had arrived at their safehouse.
• Savantri entered with Amal Krite and Colman Roni, and Amber explained that she had summoned him on Light’s recommendation.
• Amber showed Savantri a newspaper exposing the Church’s violence and told him the Cecilians intended to remove the Church, not holy light itself.
• Amber proposed creating a new holy light order and asked Savantri to cooperate.

Amber persuaded Savantri to side with Cecil by openly arguing that Cecil’s rule would prioritize improving people’s lives over claiming moral righteousness. Savantri agreed to help take the cathedral with Luan City’s common people, leaving Amber to make him a representative of reform-minded clergy.

• Savantri accused Cecil of replacing the Church’s authority with another authority and challenged Amber over its propaganda and motives.
• Amber agreed with Savantri’s criticism and explained that Cecil judged its rule by practical improvements, including food, heating, education, and access to the Holy Light.
• Amber offered Savantri and other reform-minded clergy the chance to remain in Luan City under Cecil’s laws and new doctrines.
• Savantri revealed that roughly a hundred clergy opposed Franbelang and that his allies controlled chapel districts on the outskirts.
• Savantri agreed to help, and Amber said they would take the cathedral with Luan City’s common people and make him a representative of the awakened clergy.

Amber gathered intelligence from Savantri about the church district, the weakening faith of its clergy, and the danger posed by Franbelang, then reported to Gawain as public anger against the Holy Light Church grew. Gawain prepared extra safeguards for the coming confrontation, determined that the people’s collective resistance must not fail.

• Savantri gave Amber the church district’s layout and defenses, and explained that the Holy Light power of at least one-third of its clergy had weakened since the church began collecting Atonement Gold and suppressing other faiths.
• Savantri warned Amber that Franbelang had sealed himself inside the cathedral, where an unsettling force seemed to be gathering; Amber promised to report the danger and encouraged the priests to train for a new path of the Holy Light.
• Amber contacted Gawain through a Magic Net Communicator and reported that the operation was proceeding according to plan, including Savantri’s warning about Franbelang.
• Gawain watched reports of church vaults filled with believers’ wealth and bones discovered at a former orphan care facility, as angry crowds rallied against the Holy Light Church.
• Gawain and Pittman discussed Franbelang’s unexplained behavior and the possibility of divine descent, then Gawain decided to arrange additional safeguards for the next stage of the operation.

As dawn approached, Light and a vast crowd of Holy Light faithful entered Luan City to confront the church, while Savantri tried to disable the inner city's Divine Art Array. The first bell rang as Savantri killed Alcott and shut down the array, and the church district gates collapsed.

• Bloom the tanner and other residents gathered in the streets, waiting for the first bell and preparing to rise against the church.
• A veteran ordered Luan City's gates opened, allowing Light's White Knights and a huge crowd from the surrounding region to enter.
• Amber met Light among the advancing force, and Light explained that he had come to stand alongside those risking their lives for reform.
• The crowd assembled before the church district, frightening the priests who had barricaded themselves inside.
• Savantri confronted Alcott at a Divine Art Array node, and Alcott urged him to stop the array before the angry crowd arrived.
• As the first bell rang, Savantri killed Alcott and shut down the node, while the church district gates collapsed.

Amber and Light led the White Knights and the people’s forces into Luan Grand Cathedral, breaking the church’s defenses and defeating its clergy. After Amber reported that Bishop Franbelang was missing, Light sensed dangerous energy gathering underground and went to investigate.

• The crowd, led by White Knights and armed mercenaries, overwhelmed the defenders and crossed the church district toward the cathedral.
• Amber spotted the small church district’s clergy guiding the crowd in civilian clothes marked with white arm bands.
• The White Knights smashed through the cathedral doors, defeated the defenders, and began searching the buildings while treating the wounded.
• Light learned from Amber that Franbelang was not among the priests and detected an abnormal energy fluctuation underground.
• A White Knight confirmed that dangerous energy was gathering below the cathedral, and Light went to investigate.

Light led the White Knights and Amber into the Underground Palace beneath Luan Grand Cathedral, where restless spirits and a dead Discipline Monk pointed to danger in a sealed prayer room. After the squad bombarded the room and stormed inside, Light recognized a mass of gathering flesh, crystal, and light as the bishop.

• Light explained that the cathedral’s normally harmless spiritual echoes were restless as he led the squad toward an underground prayer room.
• Light and the White Knights found a dead Discipline Monk whose peaceful expression suggested he had died from an unguarded mental attack.
• Light ordered the White Knights to set up Grenade Launchers and bombard the sealed prayer room, despite Amber’s protests.
• Light led the squad into the ruined room, where a mass of flesh, crystal, and light began gathering.
• Light spotted ceremonial robe cloth in the mass and recognized it as the bishop.

Amber and Light faced Franbelang’s horrifying, regenerating mass in the ruined prayer chamber, where its holy-light illusions tried to make them worship the God of Holy Light. Light destroyed it, and the White Knights collected a surviving crystal fragment before preparing to leave.

• Franbelang’s flesh-and-crystal mass regenerated as Amber, Light, and the White Knights prepared to attack it.
• The mass unleashed illusions and a forceful call to worship; Amber resisted when the Goddess of the Night reminded her of cooking, while the White Knights struggled against its influence.
• Light broke free through sheer willpower and smashed Franbelang’s partially regenerated body with his Mechanical Power Warhammer, causing it to vaporize.
• Light confirmed that Franbelang’s presence had vanished, and Amber described the visions and the Goddess of the Night’s help.
• Amber found a crystal fragment left behind by Franbelang, and Light collected it for examination and ordered the White Knights to search for more remains.

After Luan City's people overthrew the cathedral's authority, Godwin Orlando recorded the upheaval as a collapse of the old rules of faith. Meanwhile, the Holy Light Church held the eastern front in a stalemate, and Pope Saint Ivan III sent Veronica Moen south to investigate a disturbance dimming the Lord's radiance.

• Luan City's people celebrated their victory while White Knights guarded surviving clergy for a future public trial.
• Godwin Orlando explained to his apprentices that the uprising had destroyed an old social order and recorded the event as the collapse of the rules of faith.
• Bishops reported that the Holy Army had helped the Kingdom Army halt the Eastern Frontier Army at Giantwood Pass, while the eastern rebels retained the harvest lands.
• Saint Ivan III warned that the stalemate could undermine faith and ordered the Church to keep spreading its gospel and intercept fleeing heretics.
• Saint Ivan III sensed the Lord's radiance wavering over the south and ordered Veronica Moen to investigate and destroy any blasphemous power she found.

After the people of Luan City overthrew the Priestly Faction, Gawain met with Amber and Light to review the operation and examine the crystal left behind by Franbelang. Gawain suspected it was connected to the Gondor Empire’s godspawn experiments, while the city’s pacification and reconstruction remained unfinished.

• The White Knights organized the armed groups, distributed the cathedral’s stored food, and welcomed the Cecil Combat Corps into Luan City.
• Amber and Light showed the people Franbelang’s remains and reported that the White Knights had destroyed him.
• Amber and Light met Gawain at a guarded residence and gave him a pale golden crystal recovered from Franbelang.
• Gawain heard how Franbelang’s ambush had failed and speculated that the crystal might be linked to failed godspawn experiments.
• Gawain praised Amber and Light and noted that restoring order and bringing Luan City into the Cecil system still required extensive work.

Gawain oversaw a fair public trial of Luan City's priests while arranging for the city to become a center for the New Church of Holy Light. As the trial continued, the distant city of light experienced a subtle shift in its streams of power.

• A tribunal began the public trial of Luan City's priests, hearing testimony and examining evidence of their crimes under Cecil law.
• Gawain told Amber the priests would all be hanged after conviction and explained that a strict, fair trial would establish a new order distinct from the old church's heresy trials.
• Savantri met Gawain, accepted his plans for the city's administration, and agreed to manage its church affairs under the New Church of Holy Light.
• Gawain announced that the cathedral would become Holy Light Academy, separating the study of Holy Light from churches' community and religious duties.
• Gawain told Amber that justice meant everyone having enough food and clothing.
• In the city forged from light, several streams changed color and direction and flowed away from the central crystal.

Gawain, Camil, and Nicholas Egg analyzed the crystal left by Franbelang and confirmed it was an Abomination growth caused by unknown Divine Corruption. Their investigation suggested the God of Holy Light may have contacted Franbelang but acted according to strict rules that limited direct interference, leaving the source and nature of the corruption unresolved.

• Gawain gathered Camil and Nicholas Egg at Rebecca's laboratory to examine Franbelang's crystal, and Camil found its damaged structure resembled Abomination growths.
• Nicholas Egg absorbed a small piece of the crystal and confirmed its composition was identical to material from Abominations.
• Camil explained that stabilized descendants of Gondor should not develop Divine Corruption on their own, leading Gawain to suspect an unknown divine source had corrupted Franbelang.
• Camil proposed that gods possessed intelligence but followed strict rules that constrained their actions, drawing on his knowledge of Amun the Giant Deer.
• Gawain and Camil concluded that the God of Holy Light might have contacted Franbelang without intervening in the cathedral's fall, and Gawain decided to have Luan Cathedral searched for clues and signs of divine intent.

Gawain learned that the phrase “we Cecilians” was spreading after Luan City’s liberation, advancing his effort to build a shared identity in the southern region. He agreed to receive both Duchess Victoria Wilde and Saint Princess Veronica Moen, whose visits were expected in Mist Moon.

• Heti reported that news of Luan City’s liberation had stirred public pride and popularized “we Cecilians.”
• Heti told Gawain that Victoria Wilde wanted to visit Stone Fortress, and he agreed to receive her.
• Heti revealed that Veronica Moen had also requested a visit to the southern region, and Gawain agreed to receive her as well.
• Gawain and Heti explained that the Holy Light Church had joined the Kingdom Army against the eastern rebels, while Rebecca was surprised the civil war was still ongoing.
• Gawain said both visitors would likely arrive in Mist Moon, when Cecil City’s winter would make an impression on them.