The square, once a cacophony of murmurs and shifting feet, fell into a suffocating silence as Regina's voice cut through the air.
"Hey you! Get down here!" Regina shouted, her chin tilted at an angle that spoke of inherited status and pride. Her eyes, sharp and condescending, remained locked on Mirabella.
The reaction was instantaneous. Thousands of heads snapped upward. The collective gasp of the crowd felt like a physical wave, followed by a surge of frantic whispers that grew into a roar of recognition.
"By the gods... that's Spectral!"
"Look at her... I thought the legends were exaggerated."
"It doesn't matter which Empire she chooses," a young warrior whispered, his voice trembling with fervor. "Where she goes, the balance of power shifts. I'm following her."
While the crowd erupted in a mix of worship and awe, a pocket of silence remained near the front. Ethan, Angela, Alice, and Miranda stood rigid. Their faces were masks of suppressed fury. For them, Mirabella wasn't a legend—she was a reminder of every shadow they had failed to step out of.
Mirabella didn't look at the crowd. She didn't even look at her four. Her gaze was a cold, piercing weight fixed entirely on Regina. She had spent days earning the title "Spectral," surviving trials that would have broken Regina's polished spirit. To be addressed like a common servant wasn't just an insult; it was a challenge to her very existence.
"Carl," Mirabella said, her voice like cracking ice. "About what I told you..."
Carl looked at her, his usual easy-going confidence faltering. "Huh?"
"Forget the 'senior brother' talk for a moment. It seems some people only understand respect when it's beaten into them." She adjusted the small weight of Cupcake on her shoulder. "Stay back."
Without a word of warning, Mirabella stepped off the ledge.
The building stood over twenty meters high—a lethal drop for any normal human. Cisco, the Sword Empire representative, felt his heart skip a beat.
'Is she suicidal?' He wondered, his hand instinctively twitching toward his hilt.
Dylan, usually the most composed of the trio, narrowed his eyes:
'Hayatobi doesn't pick fools.' he reasoned, though his pulse quickened.
'Show us, Show us why you're the exception.' Regina thought.
Then, the world seemed to slow.
Mirabella didn't fall so much as she descended. There was no flailing, no panic. She cut through the air with the predatory grace of a hawk. When her boots met the stone pavement, there was no crash, no cloud of dust.
TAP.
".....?!!!"
The sound was no louder than a finger hitting a table.
Regina's breath hitched. 'The Assassin Bloodline.' She realized, her arrogance flickering for a split second.
'Total spirit energy absorption. She didn't just survive the fall; she mastered it.'
"Step to the side," Regina commanded, though her voice lacked its earlier bite. She was trying to reclaim the room, trying to remind herself she was the Dragon Empire's Poison Queen.
"Ask me nicely," Mirabella countered. On her shoulder, Cupcake casually licked a paw, the creature's indifference mirroring its mistress's.
"What did you say?" Regina's face flushed a deep crimson. She pointed a trembling finger at Mirabella's chest.
"You are lucky Lord Hayatobi claimed you as an elite! If it weren't for his protection, I would have taught you exactly where you fit in the food chain!"
Mirabella's expression didn't change, but the air around her began to vibrate. "Teach me a lesson?"
Then, she let it go.
It wasn't a physical attack. It was Presence.
A tidal wave of pure, unadulterated killing intent exploded from Mirabella. It hit the square like a physical hammer. To the commoners, it felt like the sky had suddenly turned to lead. One by one, then by the hundreds, people dropped to their knees, their lungs seizing.
Even the Representatives—people who had seen a hundred battlefields—felt their knees buckle.
'What is this?!' Regina thought, her face pressed toward the dirt as she fought to keep her head up. 'This isn't just power. This is the aura of someone who has stood at the edge of the abyss and didn't blink. How many have she killed?'
Cisco and Dylan were paralyzed. Cisco's mind raced: 'If she joins the Sword Empire, we don't just win... we dominate.'
Ethan, buried in the crowd, slammed his fists into the cobblestones. 'How?!' he screamed internally.
'She was just a girl from a backwater family! What forbidden price did she pay for this?!'
Mirabella walked through the sea of kneeling bodies with terrifying calm. She squatted in front of Regina, looking the Poison Queen in the eye.
"Regina," Mirabella whispered, her voice carrying clearly in the unnatural silence. "You should be more careful with your arrogance. I respect Lord Hayatobi. I respect the Imperial Family. But you? You aren't even on my radar."
Suddenly, a warm, golden breeze swept through the square. It didn't fight Mirabella's pressure; it simply dissolved it, like sun melting frost. The suffocating weight vanished, replaced by a sense of profound authority.
"Mirabella... Calm down."
The voice didn't come from the square, but from the swirling vortex of the Dragon Empire's gateway.
Mirabella stood up slowly, a small, genuine smile touching her lips. "If Lord Hayatobi asks, I have no choice but to comply."
"Regina," the voice from the gateway boomed, now stern and cold:
"Mirabella Sunny and Grace Gabriel are my Elite students. They carry my seal. If you disrespect them again, you will not answer to them. You will answer to me."
"....?!!"
Regina turned pale, her bravado completely shattered. She bowed her head until it nearly touched the ground. "Understood, Lord Hayatobi. My deepest apologies."
"Well." Carl said, breaking the tension as he sauntered over, hands tucked casually in his pockets. He looked at the twenty-meter drop and then at Mirabella. "That ended without blood. Boring, but impressive."
"Who are you?" Regina asked with a frown.
He turned his grin toward Regina. "Who am I? Just the handsome junior brother. Don't mind me."
Regina looked at the two of them—the powerhouse and the joker—and felt a genuine chill. The hierarchy of Galaxy City had just been rewritten in a single afternoon.
Mirabella turned to the crowd, her voice shifting from cold killer to charismatic leader:
"I apologize for the display, everyone. Sometimes, the path to peace requires a little... clarification of terms. We are all here for the same reason, aren't we?"
The crowd, recovered from their shock, erupted. The fear had turned into a frenzied cheers.
Cisco wiped sweat from his brow, his eyes lingering on Mirabella with a newfound wariness. "Right. With that... 'clarification' out of the way, let the selection begin."
He gestured to the three shimmering gateways. "Choose your path. Choose the Empire that fits your soul. But remember—today you saw what true elite power looks like. Strive for it."