"Geo Archon Rex Lapis has manifested?!"
"Whoever did this, give us the sky back already! I still haven't brought in the cured pork and bamboo shoot soup I left out to dry!"
Sumeru, Akademiya.
The entire academic hall was in utter chaos.
Large numbers of scholars ran wildly through the corridors, stepping on their own robes and nearly toppling into a chain of dominoes. Sweaty researchers crowded around the astrolabes, dozens of eyes fixed on the rapidly spinning celestial models, their faces deathly pale.
"Did the World Tree's underlying logic crash?"
"Maybe check whether your own code crashed first!"
"Calm down! Don't press that button! I said don't touch that—"
With a loud bang, one of the astrolabes began spewing black smoke.
The streets of the Court of Fontaine presented an entirely different scene.
Countless people poured out through the gates of the Opikilai Opera House. Rather than panicking, they scrambled to claim the best viewing spots.
"Look, look! Which Great Magician did this?"
"These stage effects are insane! The whole sky is the backdrop!"
"How much are tickets? Is it too late for me to top up now?"
Fontainians' first reaction to a "miracle descending from the heavens" had always been to find the best seats for viewing. That had never changed.
Natlan's warriors, on the other hand, were the calmest.
After all, the actual sky screen had been set up above Natlan, and their God of Fire, Lady Mavuika, was currently standing inside that screen.
Deep within the distant, freezing Zapolyarny Palace.
The Fatui Harbingers, who normally stood above all others, all stopped what they were doing.
No one spoke.
Every face was grimmer than ever as they stared intently at the supernatural phenomenon in the sky, something that completely surpassed their understanding.
Accompanied by a faint crackle