Third Interlude: The Charge of Twenty

As Shotar leaned on naval dominance and occupied Kekon late in the Many Nations War, the One Mountain Society assaulted a fortified base near Lukang. Shotarian intelligence spoiled the surprise, and counterattacks encircled the rebels. Facing annihilation, Kaul Dushuron assembled twenty elite Green Bones and sixty less experienced followers.

The sixty surrendered their jade so the twenty could overjade, accepting lethal Itches as irrelevant. That night, the twenty pledged by blood and stormed the base with overwhelming jade force, breaching gates and cutting down nearly three hundred defenders before all twenty, including Kaul Dushuron, were killed and displayed.

Hearing the carnage, multiple Shotarian contingents rushed back at dawn and saw the One Mountain Society descending. Convinced every Green Bone matched the twenty’s terrifying prowess—and with many conscripts among them—the defenders panicked, fled, or surrendered in the first wave.

The Society broadcast the Charge of Twenty across Kekon via clandestine radio, print, and Lantern Men. Rebellion ignited nationwide, and within two weeks the overextended Shotarian military withdrew from the island, marking a decisive turn in the global war.

At Kaul Dushuron’s state funeral, his father remained silent while Ayt Yugontin eulogized him before the hero’s sons and pregnant widow, declaring the family favored by the gods and announcing a martial school in his name to train future Green Bones and uphold his legacy.