The sound of spinning rotors thundered through the night sky.
High above the smoking ruins of Sector Three, the news choppers hovered like vultures, their floodlights sweeping across the ruined cityscape. Caras zood in, focusing on one figure at the heart of the destruction—a man with golden eyes, dragging a broken body through the rubble by the hair.
Alister.
"Zoom in! Zoom in—look at that nonchalant expression!" one reporter gasped through the broadcast, voice brimming with awe.
"That inmate never stood a chance! Did you see those dragon claws? The Dragon Lord never ceases to amaze us!"
"Gods, he’s dragging that man like a sack of garbage—look, look! He’s headed for the road—wait, isn’t that close to the old Union Detainnt Facility?!"
"What’s he doing now? He’s getting atop so rubble... it looks like he is about to... give a speech?!"
Down below, the lights from the choppers converged on Alister like stage spotlights. He stood tall amidst the rubble, his hair and collar flaring in the wind, golden mana still glowing faintly around his shoulders like a crown.
He raised his eyes to the sky, voice calm, crisp—and sohow theatrical.
"People of Sector Three..."
"It gladdens to know that none of you were hard tonight... because my dragons acted swiftly and without hesitation to ensure every single one of your lives was protected."
The reporters went silent for a beat.
Then:
"Did you feel that energy?"
"I feel like he’s about to say sothing truly monuntal!"
Alister slowly lifted the bruised, bloodied face of Aiku into the cara lights.
"Many of you may not know this man..."
"But he is the primary cause of all this destruction. He ruined your peaceful nights with your families. He sparked the ergency that shattered your hos."
The caras caught every flicker of emotion—Alister’s eyes narrowing, Aiku’s battered body slumped like a puppet.
"Now, all of you must live with the consequences of his actions... because he made a choice to sow chaos in your streets."
"Under normal circumstances..." Alister said, tilting his head ever so slightly,
"This man would be quietly returned to his cell. His sentence—whatever it was—would be extended. Maybe he’d get a few lashes, a stern lecture, maybe even a trial."
A pause. The cara zood in. His tone dropped an octave.
"But tonight... things will be different."
Alister’s golden gaze swept across the distant rooftops in the far-off buildings that were not touched by the destruction, knowing full well that behind every shattered window, thousands of eyes were glued to their screens—watching.
He let the silence simr. The tension in the air beca a second gravity, pressing down on the city like a storm about to break.
Then, slowly, deliberately, Alister dropped Aiku’s head, letting it hang limp once more.
He turned his back to the caras.
He took a breath.
"In these trying tis... as we combat the Mist, mourn the loss of loved ones, and struggle each day not knowing what tomorrow brings..."
His voice carried a quiet strength now—less theatrical, more human, but no less commanding.
"...the last thing we need are those who would sow chaos—who would bring unnecessary panic and destruction into our already fragile lives."
He stepped forward, placing a foot atop a broken slab of concrete, looking down at the ruined street below.
"We are already on edge. Our cities tremble. Our people grieve. And then soone like him—" he jerked his thumb toward Aiku without turning "—chooses to exploit that fear... for what? A thrill? A ssage? Madness?"
He turned back to the cara, the light sharpening the angles of his face.
"No, as the one who has enforced the safety of our city thus far, I won’t allow it."
The wind picked up, swirling dust and ash around him. In the background, a faint, thunderous rumble—one of his wyverns circling low, unseen.
"Order must an sothing. Justice must be visible. And peace must be protected, especially in these tis we find ourselves."
He raised one hand, golden mana forming tendrils between his fingers like burning silk.
"This is not vengeance. This is not anger."
He paused, eyes narrowing.
"This... is penance."
The word echoed like a bell tolling at the end of a sermon.
"...I will be the hand that ensures order. To punish those who bring chaos into the hearts of the innocent... no... into the lives of those I have chosen to protect."
For a mont, there was a pause, all eyes locked on him more intensely. Why rephrase his statent? All the people watching silently wondered... It was almost as if he was saying so innocent lives would be lost if they endangered the lives of ’those he had chosen to protect.’ Many instantly assud that fact.
But then, does that an there would be people he would choose not to protect? What would be the criteria for his protection...? Wasn’t this awfully like he was appointing himself as so sort of lord?
That was what it seed like at the mont, yet many, if not all, felt as though he had their best interests at heart. In fact, in all honesty, that is what he had done so far—protected each and every one of them. So, in a way, he was already a ruling figure standing above the Union.
Alister finally continued.
"For disrupting your peace. For tearing through your hos. For choosing violence when the world already teeters on the brink..."
He raised Aiku’s limp form by the collar, exposing his broken face to the hovering caras.
"...he will atone, here and now. Not behind closed doors. Not with a hidden sentence."
His eyes blazed.
"But in front of you all—the people who suffered for his choices."
A pulse of golden light erupted behind him as a dragon-shaped aura unfolded in the sky, jagged and furious, its wings stretching across the clouds like divine wrath made visible.
The reporters whispered:
"...he’s really going to do it."
"...this is a public execution..."
"...on broadcast..."
Alister looked up into the floodlights one last ti.
"For the safety of those I have decided to protect," he said.
"For the stability of Sector Three."
And with that—
He let go of Aiku’s collar.
And raised his glowing hand.
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