Clack! Clack! Clack!
Yue Xiaofei strode onto the podium with measured steps.
The gold general's star on his shoulder gleamed coldly.
His uniform was spotless, but the sharp-nosed veteran reporters below could almost smell the blood that had yet to fade from him.
His face was expressionless, as hard as raw iron.
Li Jiahao had left his mask off this time. Dressed in a black Ninth Bureau suit, he stood properly behind and to the side of the podium.
But his hands were still tucked into his trouser pockets out of habit, his head cocked as he surveyed the foreign reporters below like a man looking at country bumpkins.
Yue Xiaofei reached the microphone and stopped.
He did not leaf through the prepared remarks on the desk. He did not even glance at them.
Bang!
With a flick of his right hand, Yue Xiaofei slammed a fist-sized solid-gold hexagram badge onto the marble podium. It had been cut clean in two!
A thousand-eyed deep-sea totem was engraved on its surface: the mark of the red-robed deacon Augustine.
The clang echoed through the hall and carried clearly into livestreams around the world through the satellite microphones.
Camera flashes erupted below!
"I am Yue Xiaofei, Dragon Kingdom's supreme Swordbearer."
Yue Xiaofei planted both hands on the edge of the podium and leaned forward slightly, looking straight into the global broadcast camera.
Simultaneous interpretation carried his words across the world in dozens of languages.
"I didn't call this press conference to deliver diplomatic platitudes!"
"I'm here to put you on notice!"
Yue Xiaofei raised a hand and pressed a button on the console beside him.
Bzzzt!
The massive holographic screen behind him, more than ten meters tall, sprang to life!
No preamble. Just unedited, ultra-high-definition combat-camera footage!
It showed the Nine Cauldrons Branch