The crowd, who had just recovered from the confetti burst, jerked their heads to find the shocking source.
And that was when they saw it. Him.
Perched proudly on Ada Marn’s shoulder was sothing small.
A tortoise.
Sure. But not just any tortoise.
A creature who carried itself with the gravitas of a seasoned perforr taking the spotlight on the grandest stage of its career.
Its tiny red scarf—picked and customized especially for today—fluttered with just enough flair to suggest it had been waiting for this exact mont. Its neck stretched upward in a slow, majestic rise, as if acknowledging the heavens and granting them permission to admire it.
The children were the first to react.
They did not just gasp.
They screeched.
Screeched so loudly that several parents snapped their heads around, worried that soone had been injured, only to find their offspring shaking with delight, pointing wildly at the regal little diva basking in its newfound fa.
So of the kids even hopped in place with their hands over their mouths, as if witnessing a living legend.
Adults were no better. They blinked. Then squinted. Then blinked again, because surely they were hallucinating a turtle-shaped monarch radiating this much self-importance.
Several foreign delegates muttered urgently among themselves.
"Is that allowed?"
Nobody had answers.
Then again, if they had known where to look, they would have found the answer in the trembling knees of the soldiers from Zone Four.
__
DG’s parade segnt was everything and more. And yet, beneath the grandeur of this march, which people had never really witnessed before, a certain privileged group was just holding on to each other for emotional and moral support.
Nia, in particular, had been busy swallowing her curses because clearly, people didn’t know what kind of army had just walked in.
Of course, everything looked absolutely bonkers, and even she couldn’t take her eyes away from the display of lights, sounds, and power.
But if they had known what exactly they were looking at, none of them would be standing so improperly.
Then again, it wasn’t just her, for their group just couldn’t help being sensitive to anything DG did.
Maybe that was why they tuned into it faster than anyone else.
__
Tak tak tak.
Tak tak tak.
Tak tak tak.
Tak tak tak.
The rhythm of the chas above suddenly intensified, and the soldiers of Zone Four eyed each other knowingly.
After all, they knew better than to think of that as the full line-up.
Then Luca, followed by the cadets, took a step, and they ca.
From up in the sky, they descended like celestial bodies.
The sky shifted.
The air thinned, the temperature dipped, and a hush spread across the crowd as a pale shape slipped out of the cloudline.
The cha didn’t fall, nor did it crash. Instead, it shocked everyone by suddenly appearing with the quiet inevitability of moonrise.
Its armor shimred with a cold, crystalline glow, traced with delicate lines of icy blue that pulsed softly like frost forming on glass.
The people gaped. And sowhere, several masters forgot their nas as they witnessed wings unfurl then settle in elegant arcs, translucent and radiant, catching the light in a way that made them look almost sculpted from frozen starlight.
But even that carried power as a cold ripple spread from its point of impact, a light mist rising where spiritual energy brushed the air. Frosty blue light rippled gently across his fra, announcing his presence with a quiet authority that made even the more stoic spectators straighten instinctively.
It was breathtaking.
Yet that was not the end.
Because with a sudden rumble of tal, the sky brightened.
Then blazed.
A second figure tore through the cloudline with the confident explosion of soone who had waited on purpose.
Light refracted violently across the heavens as a brilliant white and gold entity descended with theatrical force.
But it was not simply a descent.
It was a declaration.
Back in the crowd of gaping master chanics, Master Allan had to blink twice to properly take in the view before him.
Just what could he be looking at?
How could chas even look like that?!
The armor glead like sun-polished marble struck through with gold.
Wings of blinding radiance burst open before everyone, showing intricate feather-like blades that seed to radiate with heat and flare as they lit from within like miniature suns.
The cha’s arrival cracked through the sky in a cascade of illumination so intense that several spectators whipped their heads away before looking back, unable to resist.
This was spectacle in its purest form.
This was a cha who refused anything less than awe.
Where the earlier cha was serenity, this one was magnificence.
His descent was a choreographed storm. Light roared off him. The air trembled. His grand arc downward was so dramatic that the master chanics who had barely recovered from earlier collapsed back against each other like dominoes.
The contrast was breathtaking.
The silent moon.
The blazing sun.
And when the pair touched down in the open path behind the guild mbers and began walking forward with them, their presence was so striking that the audience gasped collectively.
The rumbling rhythm continued, and now even the crowd clapped along, swept up in the cadence as the mbers of DG walked toward the end of the parade road with the encouragent of thousands.
__
Back in the livestream station, several personnel finally allowed themselves to breathe, thinking this was the finale.
But the Director of Photography did not relax.
"No. Keep focus. Hold the sponsorship ads," he barked, eyes never leaving the screen. "This is not done. I can feel it."
Skeptical staff exchanged glances.
Until they gasped.
Because Luca and the rest reached the end of the parade route, only for every custom cha to suddenly turn.
They faced forward, toward the Expo hall, the student guilds, the delegations, and the Imperial Family.
Then, in perfect synchronicity, they took out poles.
Then knelt.
The banners of DG unfurled in a sweeping motion, filling the air with the emblem of the guild at the exact mont Luca and the others stepped onto the final platform.
When the last mber crossed the threshold, every cha tapped the ground three tis as if announcing an arrival.
TAK.
TAK.
TAK.
The streets fell silent.
Not quiet.
Silent.
As if the entire venue forgot how to breathe.
Luca stood at the center of the landing, frad by the afterimage of firelight, the shadows of towering chas, and the echo of a hundred perfectly tid impacts.
Before anyone could recover, he lifted his hand.
The barrier he had set earlier shimred into view—an imnse, translucent veil stretching the entire length of the parade road. It pulsed once with the glow of condensed spiritual energy.
Then it dissolved.
Effortlessly. Soundlessly.
Like the world itself bowed and cleared his stage.
No one moved as it happened, save for Luca, who turned toward the delegations who had gone before them, all still frozen in place, mouths partly open, eyes wide, souls halfway out of their bodies.
Then, like a proper young man, he raised a hand in greeting.
And with all the sincerity in the world, he said:
"Hello."
A beat of silence.
A slow crushing beat that had everyone’s heart stopping.
And in that very mont, one trembling DP finally shouted, "And... CUT!"
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