When the Stellar Star first learned that his daughter had found something that interested her outside of her obligations, he froze in shock for an entire eight seconds before bursting with tears of joy.
His daughter, who had closed her heart to life after the death of her sister, had allowed herself to enjoy something.
The ever imposing Stellar Star, a conqueror and a warlord and one of humanity’s five Crowns, shed tears he had not shed even when his beloved breathed her last.
He saw her interest in some common born streamer as an indicator that her barriers were finally thinning and minded, not the boy that apparently made things with his hands. Perhaps his daughter was interested in creating art herself? Whatever it was, The Stellar Star had missed seeing the signs of emotions on the face that once smiled so readily. He was content knowing that she was finally crawling out of the blanket of gloom she’d encased herself within. She even smiled at him last week. He was happy and hopeful.
Then he saw the evidence of her obsession. The shrines to his creations. The glorification of the artist's working form. The posted essays on her personal interpretations of his work and artistic philosophy.
She worshiped this man.
The Stellar Star began plans to painfully execute this charlatan - rusty nails - when his assistant gave him a brief rundown of things.
It seemed things had started innocently enough with her trusted subordinates merely looking for ways to get his workaholic daughter to rest. No one had predicted her instant fascination or her drastic reactions. It seemed the streamer in question had never even interacted with his daughter.
Okay. He could live.
For now.
Then he decided to actually sit down and watch one of the looping vids in Celestia's church to see if he could better understand the mystery that was his daughter's mind.
After eight hours, the assistant had to remind the Stellar Star that the little miss was scheduled to return to the tower shortly and if he wanted to avoid seeing her, they must depart at once.
The Stellar Star understood now. He was even a bit upset she had not shared something so interesting with him.
Those movements, although limited to the power of the first cleansing, could not conceal all of its glimmer. This masked man, bursting with unrestrained vitality, was a master. Perhaps someone that could even speak with him as equals, at least regarding technique.
He didn’t speak his thoughts aloud, but he believed this person was a powerful family’s hidden master. No one specific came to mind, but then his circle was as small as it was wide.
While considering the families with the resources to develop and hide such a monster, he learned the streamer was planning on revealing himself. He cleared his schedule and planned to watch the live stream himself. He was curious about the identity behind the mask.
—
The Stellar Star wasn't prepared for the shocks he felt that day.
The generosity of the presenter was not lost on him. As a lord over three Gate Cities with Luna Gate City as his center, he knew more than most of the unlimited potential that was being given and the wordless message that came with it.
Then the reveal of the practical demonstration of that technology.
Stunning.
An artificial garden sculpted and rune-smithed by human hands. A true marriage between beauty and function.
Wonderful.
And then the boy.
Seeing how young the focus of the event had been was utterly astonishing.
He barely looked twenty.
Had he been wrong in his estimations of hidden strength?
The atmosphere was obviously odd. It seemed something had happened. The crowds were both in wonder and in gossip. Drone cams circled the different carefully crafted details and picked up bits and pieces of murmurings through the pleasant jingles of the crystal rune flowers and trees.
The Stellar Star frowned. With his superior sensitivity, he could hear more. A child abandoned? A great betrayal?
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Although confused, the drone cam finally revealed the main piece.
She was very pretty and wonderfully crafted.
He only had a moment to appreciate the masterful craftsmanship before he saw a hand reach out to stroke its cheek where its entirety disintegrated into dust. A dust that was instantly purified by the crystal rune trees with a gesture.
Ha!
The Stellar Star and the assistant on the side both had their jaws drop and eyes widen in a most undignified manner.
This was the total control of strength that he’d termed the Shattering Realm. Only a few in the peak third cleansing could achieve the monstrously difficult level of body control to even attempt what was just done so casually.
Even the Stellar Star was unsure if he could have done it as gracefully. When he was in the peak third cleansing, he usually needed to meditate for an hour in a specific posture to guarantee success in applying a concentrated blow containing his entire strength with a mere vibration of the body.
In contrast, the revelation of the third tier spacial rune was now only mildly surprising.
But then when he began sculpting...
The Stellar Star was feeling ashamed of himself.
He couldn't understand what he was seeing.
A single tapping sound but a thousand forms.
A second single tapping sound, but a thousand more.
A third single taping sound but now all was a blur as an uncountable number of afterimages and partial visions of movement engulfed the giant piece of stone.
The sound continued to resound as if a single hammer tapped at its chisel in a slow and steady rhythm while visual blurs of thousands of powerful arms holding gleaming hammers came up and down, up and down, pounding at thousands of gripped chisels.
The Stellar Star could think of many movement techniques meant for battle that could produce similar feats, but there were great differences.
There was a powerful intent in the flow of power, but none of it held a speck of killing or destructive intent. This wasn't something designed for war.
Then the flames.
It started small as a speck on the hammer, but with so many visual images it was obvious as it appeared and grew as it engulfed whatever was inside.
Sometimes vibrant reds and warm yellows, then all shades of cool blues and purples, the colors of the flames that flowed not up but in all directions, including down and to the sides, harmonized into a single clear ethereal fire that engulfed the world. Then it was white.
He was awakening.
“Sir,” the assistant hesitated, “this must be a prompter generated vid. I'll have it investigated. If everything so far is also prompter generated, it would be - “
“No,” The Stellar Star said firmly, eyes locked on the white display.
The assistant spoke no more, having overstepped himself.
“This is a real awakening.” The Stellar Star spoke into the silence. “But it was much...grander than most.”
That was an understatement. Even the most formidable peak Hunters, with solid foundations and ample experiences of life and death, would at most engulf their own bodies in their awakened spirit fire. He’d never even heard of an awakening spirit fire of that scale, nor could he explain its behavior, which explained his assistant’s misconception of duplicity, but he knew it was true. It was just different.
It was then that the whiteness dissipated and a new sculpture sat in the place of the old.
The Stellar Star slammed his desk in his haste to stand, disintegrating it, but he only had attention to the figure he thought he'd never see again.
How was it possible?
Was it possible that she still lived?
What was their relationship?
He heard nothing else and didn't think about the absurdity of such a young and talented child awakening his spirit fire that dwarfed any other awakening he'd seen.
Even as the stream ended and the display cut off the shaken Stellar Star raised his hand and made a gesture that restored the projection back to the moment where the perfect recreation of the woman that once bewitched the world, stood in a dress that only vaguely resembled the dream it had once been.
But she looked happy.
Was she happy?
After all she had suffered?
After her father, that vile man, had cast her out to die?
The Stellar Star clenched his fists. Was it still possible to make up for the mistakes of the past?
He finally turned to his assistant, ready to give orders, when he saw the man scrutinizing something large in his hands. It was a beautiful bouquet of crystal rune flowers, not unlike what he had just seen. They shone and tinkled as they swayed with natural movements, like actual living plants and not one’s made of crystal.
“Where did you get that?”
The assistant, eyes wide and gleaming, looked up and reminded the Stellar Star of their invitation to watch through his account.
“So?”
“Well, he sent out gifts to everyone he invited.”
“Why did you get invited?”
The assistant didn't answer immediately, which surprised the Stellar Star.
“Cough. Everyone who’s been on his live streams as a loyal fan got an invitation to the unveiling.”
“Didn’t we only just return from Celestia’s ‘club room?’ When did you have time to become a ‘loyal fan?’”
“….Since I visited the little miss's tower for some paperwork regarding the construction of the ‘club room’, I have become the vice president of the Silent Sculptor Fan Club.”
There was a silence.
“And how much have you donated?”
“...My contributions rank second after the little miss.”
The silence was heavy.
Salvation came when the beautiful crystal rune flowers spontaneously combusted with a flash of bright light.
White ethereal flames engulfed the flowers once and vanished with no heat, the assistant having felt nothing but a warm sensation. In his trembling hands, the crystal sculpture remained unchanged in form, but everything was different.
Sculpted crystal petals made slightly soft and durable with minuscule rune engravings now had the impossible textures of a real flower petal, and the quality of the purified air it emitted had grown vastly. Each breath was like inhaling comfort.
The Stellar Star's eyes gleamed in wonder as he saw the flows of energies flow in a rune language that differed from the demon runes that were originally inscribed.
He recognized these runes.
It was the same rune language found in that wondrous place.
Seeing his assistant protectively embracing the flower from his covetous gaze brought him out of his daze.
Sigh.
He was too old for this.