Kreswick, "Rose Square."
When Little Crystal suddenly descended and unleashed the aura of a top-tier creature, the crowd erupted in gasps and screams, scattering in all directions as though swept away by a tide, their panic and terror nearly solidifying into something tangible.
"Monster!"
"A dragon—a giant dragon!"
"It's over, it's over..."
"So... so terrifying!"
In the blink of an eye, a vast empty space had formed around "the Curtain." Though they knew this was a scene playing out inside the Lantart Kingdom Grand Theater, their instinctive fear stemmed from primal reactions that simply couldn't be controlled. No "special effect" could ever surpass having a "real dragon" take the stage!
In cities of various sizes—Cookes, Salivar, Pephos, Samara—similar scenes unfolded. Some recoiled in terror, some stood frozen in shock, and some felt as though they were dreaming.
Ever since the heyday of the ancient magic empire, humans living in non-remote areas had rarely seen dragons. But as the eternal villains in generations of bards' tales, people's impression of dragons had never weakened with the passage of time or the cycle of life and death. After "Voice of Mystery" began broadcasting, the "Man and Nature" program had devoted several episodes to introducing these legendary creatures that captivated people the most, so it wasn't difficult for Banus, Ali, and the others to roughly identify this as a dragon.
Subconsciously holding their breath, legs trembling uncontrollably—even from that vast distance, Banus and Ali were filled with dread toward the dragon inside "the Curtain." If they hadn't been frozen solid with terror, they would have turned and fled long ago.
Suddenly, Ali snapped back to awareness. "She's in the Kingdom Grand Theater—near the dragon!"
What to do? What to do? Just as his panicked worry was about to drive him mad, the only opera performer still standing on stage—Princess Amantha—declared in a recitative tinged with operatic flair: "My most precious treasure is my courage and my knight's conviction, and no one can take it from me. Despicable wyrm—kill me, or be killed by me! There is no third choice!"
Huh?
The same bewilderment surged through everyone who still hadn't figured out what was happening. Lady, you're an opera singer, not a real knight! Dragon-slaying is a task of extreme difficulty—better leave it to the "professionals"!
Wait... could it be... could it really be? At last, Banus, Ali, and the others began to come to their senses.
As the princess sang, the "unaffected" orchestra continued to play alongside her. The tense, anxious, hurried, and solemn melody made every listener feel it viscerally in their bones!
The singer and opera actress playing the princess, heart pounding as she "stared down" the dragon before her, barely managed to keep her hands and voice from trembling—thanks to extensive rehearsals and Little Crystal deliberately suppressing her dragon fear so as not to affect her—and she pressed on with her lines.
Moreover, this state of instinctive terror triggered a hormonal surge that made her feel she was delivering the performance of a lifetime, and the simultaneous trembling of the nobles below confirmed her impression.
By the same token, the orchestra had not been affected by the dragon fear, which was why they could continue playing.
Listening to the princess's solemn, soaring aria—so stirring it made one's very bones tremble—Banus, Ali, and the others shuddered and fully recovered from the dragon's influence.
"They actually hired a real dragon to play the greedy villain?" Banus felt his own words might be a bit off, but the hormones flooding his system from extreme terror left him simultaneously excited and thrilled, unable to think clearly.
Ali set aside his inner worry and focused on studying Little Crystal. After all, the chance to see a real dragon up close was exceedingly rare. Last time, when the Queen married, "Lord Atomic Control" had descended riding a dragon—a scene that bards had described and retold endlessly, each claiming to have witnessed the spectacle firsthand, basking in the envious gazes of their audience and bolstering the credibility of their tales.
"Could it be an archmage's illusion?" he ventured, looking at Little Crystal's thick, long neck and translucent, crystal-like scales, raising the question out of reflex.
An audience member nearby exclaimed excitedly, "It probably isn't an illusion! In the royal box, Her Majesty the Queen, His Highness Prince Evans, and the archmages are all legendary powerhouses—godlike existences who couldn't possibly be fooled by an illusion. Otherwise, all they'd see would be 'a princess singing alone,' and that would be a grave insult to them. So it must be a real dragon..."
He too was caught up in the hormonal rush, unable to stop once he started talking.
"That makes sense—a real dragon..."
"The Kingdom and the Magic Parliament actually got a dragon to play an opera role!"
Amid exclamations of wonder, Little Crystal on stage responded to the princess's challenge. She reared back, raised her two front claws, and pounded her own chest repeatedly, letting out an "angry" roar:
"Awoo!"
Whoa! All audience members below the high-tier level took another step back, frightened anew by the dragon's emanating majesty and its "terrifying roar."
"Absolutely terrifying!" Banus exclaimed with clenched fists, though his voice held more excitement and thrill than fear.
"So terrifying, so terrifying..." Lady Jane patted her chest, looking thoroughly frightened—yet her eyes were fixed unwaveringly on the stage, gleaming with an unprecedented excitement laced with a faint undercurrent of fear.
Around all the "broadcast squares," most spectators wore similar expressions. This kind of opera was utterly unprecedented—too brilliant, too thrilling, too magnificent to witness!
Ali swallowed hard. "The princess is truly formidable—standing before a dragon without being intimidated. Look at all those around her..."
"The Valkyrie, of course..." Banus's eyes remained riveted on "the Curtain," having thoroughly grasped the meaning of "Valkyrie."
In the royal box, Natasha gazed at Lucian quizzically. "Why do Little Crystal's movements and roar seem a bit... odd? What exactly was your thinking when you designed—"
Fernando also shot Lucian a glare. How could he have Little Crystal make such movements and produce such a roar? She was a dragon, not some other creature... though the little one did actually suit it rather well.