The stage lighting had been specially arranged.
It flickered with Lillian's dance steps, like invisible ropes tightly constricting the audience's heartbeats.
Her already compelling dance ignited the entire audience's frenzy amid the deliberately crafted atmosphere.
At last, the instant she fell into the center of the stage in a magnificent yet tragic pose, every light in the theater went out, plunging everything into darkness.
The audience held their breath, awaiting a dazzling spectacle the next instant.
Sure enough, a moment later, everything began to bloom-with explosions and fire!
BOOM!!!
Dazzling, incandescent white fireballs erupted from the walls on both sides! They instantly swelled into a raging tide of orange flames! Billowing smoke and shock waves that tore through the air followed close behind!
Not just the sides! The walls all around the theater, the boxes above the audience, even the stage itself! Countless tongues of flame erupted at once!
Lillian seemed utterly unaware of this inferno and kept spinning, her face filled with a martyr's fervor, dancing in the flames of destruction like a moth drawn to fire!
Flames licked the hem of her dress and ignited the tips of her hair, yet she danced without pause!
Her steps grew faster and faster, merging with the drumbeat of explosions! Finally, the flames engulfed every inch of her skin!
She stopped.
Crack.
A faint yet distinct cracking sound eerily stirred the air amid the deafening roar of explosions.
Even the surging flames seemed to freeze for a moment.
Her body split open, and a new her shed the old form, emerging from the fire!
Then she raised her slender neck and looked toward the top-floor box. In her eyes, around her, across the entire stage, flames flowed everywhere. The whole stage became a seething furnace!
The top-floor box had spewed the