Chapter 1267 (1/2)

A man and a woman walked slowly down the deserted road to the stadium. Cheers wafted outward from the heavy building in front of them, hinting at the reverie occurring only a short distance away. The woman carried a clipboard and her hand was constantly scribbling short phrases onto her thick pad of paper as they moved forward. The man was carrying a heavy crystal ball. It was faceted like a gem, all sleek edges and flat planes. There was a misty light in the core of the crystal that pulsed every few seconds

Because the flow of people already went into the interior of the stadium, the outside area was completely deserted. Flags waved lazily above the wide gates. There wasn’t another living soul in sight, although several thousand were only a few concrete walls away.

As the two individuals neared the entrance to the stadium, the woman glanced down at the clipboard. Then she looked at the man with an uncertain expression. “Straud is starting to activate his blood seals. If you really are going to do this, you need to get in there now. But… I hope you know we don’t have to do it this way. Because even if you succeed-”

“Both sides will do their best to kill me, I know.” The man’s smile stretched wide and he patted the crystal in his arms fondly. “This baby will protect me though. As long as I have a little time to get my bearings, I know I’ll be unbeatable.”

If anything, that seemed to only make the woman more anxious.

Leaving the woman behind, the man walked up to the ticketing gates. The one staff member still remaining at his post was surprised at the late arrival, but quickly scanned the man’s ticket and waved him through. After taking two steps forward, the man paused and glanced back through the gates to the woman. Her brow was furrowed in thought. “Hmmm? You still have something to say?”

“Why did you choose this path?” The woman’s voice was raw. Her eyes were red.

If anything, the man’s smile only grew crazier. He shrugged. Then he flicked his arm and produced an all-black motorcycle helmet from an interspatial ring. “This Path is what the world needs right now. All these Nemesai… aren’t they too polite? The people of this world just don’t understand the danger that is coming. Someone needs to show them what the wrong sort of person can accomplish with the System.”

“But Straud-” The woman interjected.

The man silenced her with a disapproving look. “Straud is an extremist. Sure, he is willing to pay any price for his fucked up utopia, but he is a zealot that ultimately believes that his cause is just. That he is saving us through his actions. How can that sort of man be a true villain? Feared, perhaps. But never hated.

“No… what the Earth needs now is someone… Dauntless.”

*****

During the entire half-time show, Nathan’s fingers were in a vice grip around the armrests of his seat; he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Mariah Jane for the entire performance. To the point that his eyes probably looked bloodshot. Although she was only a few short years older than Nathan, she seemed as though she had been born with the maturity and poise to take the stage. Every gestured glittered in Nathan’s eyes.

The concert started slow, with a moving power ballad about searching for someone lost due to the System. Obviously none of the crowd had heard the song before, but Mariah’s vocal talents and honed Skills quickly pulled people to lean in closer and listen. Nathan could practically see the spectators around him being planted with seeds of interest.

And the sense of loss in the song resonated with so many people. No one made it through the early days of the System without scars.

After the ballad ended, a line of fireworks blasted off from the equipment behind the stage and Mariah instantly launched into the catchy dance beat that had earned her the popularity she had in Franksburg and Donnyton. Despite the fact that she was wearing three-inch heels, Mariah twisted and shimmied her way across the stage to the cadence of the music while glittering explosives illuminated the field behind her. As she sang, she seemed to be squeezing every breath with all of her effort to create a perfect note; it was immediately obvious that this young girl was pouring her whole heart into every line. The stoic crowd gradually was pulled along with her passion.

She’s so brilliant… Nathan thought, thinking not about her creative chops but how she shined with all the constant and nurturing guidance of the North star. To him, she was infinitely close to a celestial body that he admired from afar.

Part of Nathan felt a vast inferiority to Mariah, seeing her up on the stage with thousands of people cheering her name. True, they had exchanged some words after the Donnyton challenge and she had seemed relatively interested in speaking with him after he had mentioned that he could help her change her Class…

But… Should someone like him really talk to someone who could transform a crowd into a mass of fans like this…?

Very quickly, Nathan shook his head. Even if she becomes more popular… that bright smile won’t change. She’s not the type to be swayed by fame. And we… I knew her before all this happened, so…

Besides, it’s not like I don’t have some stuff going for me too… I’m just… a bit more low-key.

For her third song, Mariah changed her style again to a pop anthem. And then she finished her performance with an extended version of one of the other songs that Nathan had heard of hers previously. For the last song, even Tykes and Dinesh were on their feet and bobbing their head along with the beat. It was only the dour fun-sucker Kiersty who managed to stay seated during the entire performance.

As a waving Mariah walked off the stage, Nathan ignored his purposefully disinterested sister and looked at Tykes and Dinesh. “I’m going to… to go back and try and find Mariah while the rest of the festivities goes on. Just to tell her how well the show went…”

The two men rolled their eyes but nodded and Nathan hurried away back up the stairs and into the concrete interior of the stadium. He immediately felt a stab of panic as he wavered at the prospect of sending Mariah a message right now, but they had already added each other as friends within the System so it should be fine. Since they knew each other, it wouldn’t be weird to just congratulate her on the performance, right?