All across the hall, confused murmurs broke out.
Reporters leaned over their consoles and whispered urgently to each other. Even the broadcast drones, with their auto-tracking AI, seemed to subtly shift, lenses zooming in on the newcomer as if trying to better parse this sudden, unexpected threat.
"Who is he?"
"Did he just say Reapers raid team? Is he referring to the wasteland display event?"
"Is he a union official? A guild member? Someone from one of the main families?"
From the giant billboard airship hovering over Skybridge Plaza, the Union NewsNet feed showed Lana and Kael staring in shock at their monitors.
Lana's brows pinched. "Who… who is this? He just waltzed past all that security—past dragons—and acts like he owns the hall."
Kael squinted, leaning forward until his headset almost slipped. Then his eyes went wide.
"Wait… hold on." He pulled up a separate data window, his fingers flicking rapidly over the screen as old profile archives scrolled by.
