Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 62 of 74

The cheer was still split between her stars and the rival's tower when the wind shifted. A gray wall of snow swept across the broadcast grounds, and the projected constellations on her platform began to smear into white haze. Kawaii Princess felt the cold hit her face. Her stars were dissolving in front of every city watching. She ran to the edge of her stage, where a low stone barrier of ice-reinforced blocks marked the boundary. The squall piled against it and curled upward, held back only at the line of metal anchors. Snow still poured over the top in thick sheets, falling straight onto her chart. She needed to push the haze up and away from the beam. She grabbed the crystal blade braced beside the podium and slashed upward through the falling snow, cutting a clean channel above her stage. Then she drove the blade into the platform and pointed its tip toward the tall faceted obelisk standing at the field's edge. The star chart's light struck the blade, jumped to the obelisk, and the obelisk threw the constellations high and sharp, above the squall, where the whole broadcast could see them again. The head scout raised the crown token toward her stage. The crowd's cheer pulled fully back to her side of the field. The squall kept beating against the wall, and the blade in her platform was already cracking from the cold strain — but her stars were lit, clean, and hers alone.