The silence amongst the congregated students had somehow become heavier, thickening the square into an almost palpable shock.
Every single student, including the Scions, was caught off guard.
Then, with wide eyes, they all turned to each other tentatively with whispers that drowned the square in their apprehension. Gradually, their whispers turned into murmurs, which slowly intensified into a din.
Cenric, too, jerked to Alexander and Elyas with thoughts of his own.
"Did he say execution?! Was this the ceremony all along?! Alexander?"
Alexander was in a pensive state. His semblance of propriety didn't falter, but his deep, thoughtful frown still said a lot.
"It appears so," he muttered, rubbing his chin. "But we're still ignorant of the circumstances surrounding the matter. You know how the Lords are, they love their theatrics.
Cenric huffed anxiously, and just as he was about to turn back to the front, he snapped to Elyas with a befuddled expression.
Alexander noticed too.
"Elyas?" Cenric broached. "Are you okay?"
Elyas had a gleaming smile on his face, staring up at the lord with excitement.
He turned back to Cenric with an ardent nod.
"Yes, sure I am. Why not?"
"It's because you're smiling," Cenric said cautiously. "Why are you smiling?"
Elyas scratched his neck with nostalgic eyes and exhaled.
"What can I say? It's just... I've never been on this side of one before. But I gotta say, I didn't expect to meet that bastard's father so soon."
Alexander tilted his head.
"One? You mean an execution?"
"Yeah. In fact, I was standing my ninteenth just two days ago. That's when good'ol' Pops broke the good news, you know?"
Cenric's whole face was twisted in a strange expression now, somewhere between disbelief and confusion.
"Wha... What?" He breathed.
Alexander cleared his throat and rubbed his forehead as if struggling to understand.
"Elyas, my goodman, you do know what an execution is, right?" He asked.
Elyas nodded.
"Of course! It's when they execute a fella for their crimes. Chop their head off. Hang them. Firing squad. Although that last one was the most difficult, as with the others, it's all about timing."
The two stared at him blankly, blinked a few times in silent disbelief, then, with a bit of hesitancy, Alexander put a hand on his shoulder and said with a faltering voice:
"We'd... We'd like to hear more about that later if that's okay with you."
Elyas shrugged.
"Sure. But I mean, there's not too much to tell." He turned back to the Lord and added, "I'm just curious how the poor fella is gonna get out of this one."
"I don't think..." Cenric started, but then trailed off, deciding better of it.
They didn't have much time to talk anyway; the professors were now taming the din once again.
The silence resettled, and Lord Amalgamate Ashwood continued:
"I understand your surprise. I understand your misconception about what this ceremony ought to be, but... Once you come to experience the Celestial Realm, you'll learn very fast how futile a rousing and uplifting speech is. The matter is grave. And the reality is, you're all unfortunate to bear this duty. You may see those who have retired lead lives of luxury and decadence, and it excites you, but I assure you..." He swept his gaze across the crowd once more with a hint of remorse, "Those were the few who survived."
He paused, stroked his beard, and paced about the Colonnade pensively.
"I would warn against arrogance," he spoke flatly. "I lost a son in the Celestial Realm."
He turned to them, eyes hardening with something cold.
"I would warn against glory! We lost heroes to that bloated notion!"
He pursed his lips now.
"I would warn against your humanity! Humanity died seventy years ago! So henceforth, know it in your hearts that today you are all fighting for your survival, for every human out there and nothing else."
He clenched his jaw, raised a fist and hammered the air.
"Tooth and nail! Tooth and nail, we will claim triumph with our sacrifice and our blood until we reign supreme! Not for honour! Not for wealth! But for our lives!"
He swept his arm dramatically to the door behind him and bellowed:
"Now I'll bring forth to you arrogance, glory, and humanity and show you the consequences!"
Three Guardians in their eerie attire and masked faces marched out, dragging a battered young man in a sorry state.
He was on his knees, dressed in ragged, bloodied, and bland clothing, with his head lolling despondently to the ground, swaying weakly as he was roughly brought forth to face the students.
His face itself was bruised and bloodied, with only a hint of what he once looked like peeking out of his eyes, but other than that, the man was a lost cause.
"This here is Harris Manorson, a squad captain of House Ashwood's third battalion - my own army."
"A few months back, a rumour of an abandoned castle with great treasures spread amongst the Terranian Cohorts and Armies. It was a lucrative rumour. One that proved to be true. However, the castle lay outside Terranian borders and thus was off limits. But are we executing Harris just for that? For merely disobeying orders and leaving Terranian jurisdiction? No."
He looked down at Harris empathetically and huffed.
"It was because the castle lay beyond our northern borders. It lay where the Djinn species crept. The earliest inhabitants of the Celestial Realm that we know of... and the most dangerous. But the Djinn, for now, are a passive species, unless they are provoked. So are we executing Harris because he merely provoked them? No. Then why? The Djinn are feared because they taint blood. We are executing him because they tainted his blood."
There was a reaction amongst the ensnared students. All were unsettled.
"Blood is the game, young ones. Blood is our key to triumph. Blood is everything."
The Lord gave them a look of pity and said in a wholly different and pitiful tone:
"Please don't give them your everything. That's how we lose."