Immediately afterward, the Southern Legion's banners rose on the left flank. Another thousand-plus well-equipped Soul Masters stood in solemn formation, their Soul Power Fluctuations merging into one, like a darkly surging tide.
The Western Legion's banners appeared on the right flank... The Federation's major main-force legions emerged in sequence, like heavy chess pieces falling across a board, each securing a strategic point of the square and guarding the entire venue as tightly as an iron barrel.
And this was far from over!
Above, the low roar of engines swept through like a passing swarm of bees. Sleek Federation Soul Tool fighter jets flew in formation, trailing long Soul Power flames as they circled and swept through the low sky like hunting hawks. Their cold metal fuselages reflected the dim daylight behind the clouds.
On the ground, accompanied by even heavier screeches of metal grinding against metal, rows of advanced standard-issue Mechas, entirely black and sharply contoured, marched into the venue in synchronized steps. Like a silent forest of steel, their cold visual oppression surpassed even that of legions of flesh and blood.
In the front rows of the audience, those well-traveled grandmasters from the East Continent Soul Master world could not help but frown slightly.
It was only a speaker's address. No matter how grand the occasion, was there really any need for such a display, comparable to a prewar military parade, as though they faced a great enemy?
What hung in the air was far more than the passion of a celebration. There was also the scent of gunpowder, held tightly in check.
Yet more people had their eyes drawn to the majestic, imposing structure at the very front of the square.
It was a colossal altar, whose construction had begun half a month earlier, symbolizing the ancient heritage