Kawaii princess's Arc

Chapter 63 of 74

The blade held the stars aloft, but the storm did not stop. Snow piled fast against the fogged glass booth at the edge of her stage, swallowing its metal frame inch by inch. Her followers stood in a tight ring around the podium, faces gone pale, boots already crusted to the ground. If they broke for shelter, the broadcast would show an empty stage. If they stayed, they would freeze where they stood. She pulled a glass orb from inside her sleeve. Blue light swirled in its core, warm against her palm. She pressed it to the podium and the heat spread outward in a slow ring, melting a thin path under each follower's feet. They could move again without leaving. But the warmth softened the snow piled against the booth, and the wet drift collapsed inward across her stage. The orb's glow dimmed against the cold. She lifted it high and the ring of followers lifted their hands toward it, holding the heat in place like a shared lantern. Their stride unfroze. The dark iron figures of them, snow-crusted and locked a moment before, stepped close around her in a living wall. The head scout raised the crown token. Her stage stayed full on air. The orb in her hand was already cooling, its blue fading to gray — but the broadcast cut to her, podium ringed by warm, breathing followers, while the storm beat uselessly at their backs.