"Which of you will be first?"
Dago's voice was quiet, like a drop of water falling onto a churning, clamorous lake, yet it unexpectedly stilled the entire surface.
Like a scalpel slicing through kraft paper, it cut cleanly through the din.
Amid the crowd's momentary silence, Lintis smiled at the tall figure standing where all the light between heaven and earth now converged, then slowly spoke:
"I do love that look in his eyes. I just wonder how long it will last."
With a sigh, Lintis gently rested his hand on the golden compass he held.
His fingertips shifted, and the runes interlocked.
As Lintis moved-
Boom!
The runic nexus deep underground gave a muffled roar, like the low rumble of a great beast about to awaken.
At the edge of the distant platform, two of the seven stone pillars abruptly turned blue. Drawn by a force, two figures stepped onto the platform in succession.
The briefly silent crowd immediately erupted into an intensely excited buzz as the two appeared.
The sound waves struck the ancient barrier as though they were solid.
The blood vessels in the spectators' eyes swelled and reddened, and the scent of adrenaline permeated the air.
Everyone throughout the Fairy Ancient City Ruins was fired up once more.
The legendary wizard Isidore, the unrivaled sun that had once hung high above the Upper Ring Continent!
That sun represented absolute truth, and the countless bones paving the road toward it.
Over his lifetime, he had fought countless battles, faced death time and again, and risen anew through Nirvana, creating miracles from impossibility and shining amid the ashes.
Those who wished to inherit his mantle first had to inherit his will.
The weak were eliminated, and the fit survived. This was the starkest law of the Wizarding World.