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The sky above the Jade Continent shimmered in a fractured light.
Thousands of drones floated like metallic fireflies, their camera lenses gleaming gold under the rising sun.
From the hovering airships above to the millions of screens flickering across every surviving city on Gaia, all eyes were locked on one place.
The Grand Celestia Arena.
Once a political battlezone, now rebuilt as the beating heart of a new world order. It's marble stands curved like the ribs of a giant, stretching miles wide, pulsing with energy. The symbol of the Ascension Games blazed in the air, a golden crown formed of seven wings and a serpent biting its tail.
And beneath that emblem, a single woman floated in the air.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of Gaia!" Her voice rippled through the air, soft yet commanding, the kind of voice that could bend silence to it's knees.
The woman decended and stood on a floating platform of glass, suspended in midair above the roaring crowd.
