Ciel shifted his weight on the woven pandan mat, which was beginning to feel damp from the night dew. The rough texture of the dried leaves pricked softly through his denim trousers, sending a genuine tickle up the back of his thighs.

  Beside him, Denes was busy tearing open a bag of potato chips with a sharp crinkle of plastic, while Elsie rested her head on Ciel’s shoulder, radiating the sweet, soothing scent of rose shampoo.

  Tonight, the City of Gant seemed to have transformed into a colossal, breathing organism.

  Located a hundred miles from the grandeur of the Crownbelt, Gant was typically a quiet port city, but tonight it had become the center of the universe. Ciel closed his eyes for a moment, letting his ears catch the low roar of humanity surrounding him.

  There was a constant vibration in the air—a blend of thousands of murmuring mouths, the distant laughter of children, and the thin, shrill whistles of food and drink vendors. It was the sound of anticipation; a symphony of excitement from the sea of people filling every inch of the riverbank.

  Ciel’s nose caught the highly specific aroma of tonight’s festival: the sweet scent of roasted corn carried on the wind, mingling with the distinct smell of cold river water and the faint tang of sulfur from the fireworks preparations in the distance.

  Emotionally, there was a lightness that almost made Ciel feel as though he could float. The burden of semester exams had just fallen from his shoulders a few days ago. The school break wasn't merely a pause from textbooks; for Ciel, it was breathing room where he didn't have to be anything other than himself.

  Staring up at the vast, pitch-black night sky, he felt an odd flutter in his heart—a mix of overflowing relief and gratitude that he wasn't spending this night alone.

  "Try this, Ciel. Still hot," Denes offered a piece of roasted corn.

  Ciel took it. His fingers felt the stinging heat from the cob, making his fingertips throb slightly. As he bit into it, the sweet taste of burnt caramel and savory butter exploded on his tongue, delivering a warmth that instantly traveled down his throat.

  He turned to his friends, then to the swarming crowd behind them. Under the dim moonlight, the faces around him looked full of hope. There was something magical about being part of this crowd; a feeling that even though the world out there was vast, tonight he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

  Ciel took a deep breath, feeling the crisp night air fill his lungs. He was ready. He wanted to see the sky of Gant shattered by the richest, most colorful fireworks in the Kingdom of Carta, marking the beginning of their most precious youth.

  KABOOOOM!

  The sky above the River Lys seemed to tear apart. The explosion came without warning, a single detonation so massive it swallowed the roar of thousands of people in a fraction of a second.

  The sound wasn't just noise; it was a shockwave that slammed into Ciel’s chest, making his lungs vibrate and his eardrums ring long and hard.

  In synchronized reflex, Ciel, Denes, and Elsie leaped to their feet. Ciel’s heartbeat raced wildly, pumping adrenaline to every nerve ending. Around him, the sea of humanity rose in unison like a sudden tidal wave.

  Ciel saw the people around him freeze with hands clutching their chests, their breaths coming in short gasps, their necks craned stiffly toward a sky that had just lost its density.

  Up there, a giant spark bloomed perfectly, forming a dome of light that seemed to blanket the entire City of Gant. Its glare was blinding, a silver-white that shattered into millions of sparkling embers.

  Ciel stood transfixed watching the grains of light descend slowly like a rain of gold about to touch the earth. He could feel the faint warmth descending from the sky, mixing with the scent of sulfur and gunpowder smoke beginning to pierce his sense of smell—the distinct smell of victory and celebration.

  BOOOM... BOOOOM!

  BLAARRR!

  Before his breath could return to normal, the next barrage of explosions followed with a rhythm that shook the earth beneath Ciel’s denim-clad feet. The dark sky now became a mad canvas for sparks blooming in turn; ruby red, sapphire blue, and emerald green glowing before finally falling and fading.

  "WHOOAAAAAAAAA!"

  The scream broke from thousands of throats simultaneously, a collective roar that vibrated the night air. Ciel felt his throat burn as he joined in screaming at the top of his lungs, throwing all the remaining burden of school and youthful anxiety into the sky.

  His voice blended with the voices of Denes and Elsie, drowning in the majesty of the single voice of the Kingdom of Carta celebrating.

  Tears of emotion unconsciously pooled in the corners of Ciel’s eyes, reflecting the colorful sky currently burning fiercely. At this point, he felt very small yet very alive, squeezed between millions of humans and millions of sparks refusing to die out.

  BLAARRR!

  One giant detonation exploded from the South, lower but far more powerful than the rest. Ciel could feel its sound wave hit his solar plexus, deafening his ears until leaving a bitter, thin ringing.

  The Southern sky instantly turned into a blood-red canvas glowing golden, sweeping away the night's darkness with a light so intense Ciel could see dust particles dancing in the air.

  Ciel turned sideways, looking at Denes. His best friend seemed to have lost control of his own body. Denes jumped wildly on the trampled grass, hands clenched tight punching the air as if he were punching the sky.

  Every time a firework burst, Denes groaned in excitement; his feelings seemed explosive, burning along with the hundreds of gunpowder barrages shattering the sky. His face, flushed by the firework light, radiated a contagious aura of pure euphoria.

  Then, Ciel’s gaze shifted to Elsie.

  The girl stood calmer, yet her emotions were far deeper. Ciel saw Elsie’s blossoming smile—a smile full of sincere happiness. Elsie’s eyes were glassy, welling with tears of emotion nearly spilling over.

  Ciel was spellbound. In the clear surface of Elsie’s wet eyes, he could see the entire world tonight reflected perfectly. The neon colors, the blooming ruby red explosions, and the fading emerald sparks, all danced in those eyeballs. To Ciel, the view in Elsie’s eyes was far more beautiful than the sky itself.

  He could smell the sharp scent of gunpowder mixing with Elsie’s soft summer perfume, creating a strange yet intoxicating contrast.

  Beneath the ceaseless rumble, Ciel felt a warmth spreading from his stomach throughout his chest. He felt truly alive. The vibration of the ground beneath his feet every time a firework exploded seemed to become a new heartbeat for the three of them.

  Ciel stretched his cramped legs on the thin plastic mat they had laid out in the middle of Gant City Square.

  Their position was quite strategic, though paid for by being jostled. Around them, a sea of humans sat packed tight like sardines in a can. The smell of cheap perfume, sweat, and roasted corn mixed together in the air. The low hum from the main stage speakers sounded faint, drowned by the murmurs of thousands of humans sounding like a giant, restless bee.

  Ciel sipped his canned coffee, which had started to warm from the body heat of people around him.

  To his left, Elsie was busy adjusting the hem of her long skirt so it wouldn't be stepped on by passersby, while murmuring in awe about how festive the city lights were tonight.

  While to his right, Denes was already lying casually with his hands as a pillow, as if he were on a private beach and not in the middle of a crowd potentially stepping on his face.

  "Crazy, half the city's population spilled over here, huh?" Denes mumbled casually, mouth still chewing cireng snacks. "If there's a pickpocket, he's gonna have a grand harvest tonight."

  "Hush, Denes. Don't say bad things," Elsie reprimanded while lightly patting the youth's arm, then turned to Ciel smiling.

  Peaceful.

  For a moment, Ciel could pretend his life was only about hanging out on a mat with his girlfriend and best friend, forgetting Julian’s message and his father's oddity.

  However, that peace was short-lived.

  Without warning, a sharp, high-pitched whistling sound sliced the night air.

  Sreeeeetttt!

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Ciel hadn't had time to react, Denes hadn't had time to swallow his cireng, when the sky above Gant City Square was torn open.

  KABOOOOM!

  A single, devastating explosion hammered his ears.

  The ground beneath their mat shook violently. The canned coffee in Ciel’s hand nearly slipped from his grip because the vibration traveled directly from the earth to his ribs.

  BLAARRRRRRRRR!

  A second explosion followed. Bigger. More brutal. Right above the crowns of their heads.

  Around them, mass panic occurred in seconds. The previously calm sea of humans suddenly jerked backward collectively like a wave crashing against a reef. Ciel heard shocked screams everywhere—not cheers, but pure screams of fear.

  "BOMB?!" someone near them yelled.

  People ducked, hands reflexively covering heads. Denes instantly sat up with a pale face, eyes wild searching for the sound source. Ciel instinctively pulled Elsie’s shoulder closer, shielding her.

  However, the giant fireball in the sky did not burn them. It bloomed.

  The horror transformed in a fraction of a second. That terrifying orange fireball broke into thousands of petals of light. Drops of golden rain fell slowly, shimmering like pixie dust falling from heaven, leaving trails of white smoke glowing beautifully on the night canvas.

  "WAAAAHHHHHH..."

  Ciel heard a mass sigh of relief from thousands of throats around him. HOOOOOOHHHHHH... The sound rose to the sky like a warm wind.

  Then, thunderous applause. Screams of fear turned into hysterical laughter and euphoria.

  It had begun.

  BOOM! CRASH! BOOM! CRASH!

  The party went mad. Dozens of firework mortars shot up simultaneously, bombarding the night sky now bright as day. Cold sapphire blue exploded on the right, answered by blazing ruby red on the left. Mystical emerald green shattered in the middle, followed by majestic amethyst purple.

  That night, the sky of Gant City was no longer a dark empty space. The sky was a giant kaleidoscope spinning, exploding, dying, and reborn every second. Colorful smoke billowed thick, creating artificial clouds illuminated by the next explosions.

  Ciel, Elsie, and Denes’ faces were bathed in neon light changing every second—one moment Elsie’s face was pale blue, a second later blazing red.

  Around their mat, other visitors began to voice out, forgetting the fear that had visited earlier.

  "CRAZY! THAT WAS SO HUGE!" exclaimed a man on the next mat, hand still holding his chest. "I thought it was an air raid! My heart almost dropped!"

  "Damn, so freaking cool!" Denes finally spoke, pointing at the sky with a full mouth. "That one that broke into three colors then turned gold! Crazy, that must be so expensive! My tuition fee exploded in the sky!"

  "The government is being so generous this year! Free concert, now fireworks this insane?! Our tax money is actually being used!" someone else chimed in.

  They all stared at the sky with gaping mouths, totally hypnotized.

  To Ciel, now cloaked in high alert, those cheers sounded ironic. A symphony of distraction.

  BOOM! An emerald green chemical firework broke at an altitude of 300 meters.

  Ciel’s eyes, accustomed to observing movement details on the streets while being a paperboy, caught something odd.

  CRASH! A follow-up explosion.

  Ciel narrowed his eyes. He ignored the colors and focused on the explosion structure.

  These fireworks... were like two layers. There was a normal lower layer, and there were explosions above it again... maybe 300 meters above the first layer. Far higher than regular festival fireworks.

  He turned sideways for a moment.

  Elsie’s clear eyes were now perfectly round, wide open in pure fascination. The girl looked up, lips slightly parted unconsciously. Every BOOM! explosion reflected a flicker of light in her pupils. Denes beside her was the same, gaping stupidly while recording with his phone.

  Ciel was stunned for a moment. In Elsie’s eyes, he saw the reflection of a beautiful mini galaxy. He wanted to dissolve in there too. He wanted to be stupid and happy like Denes.

  But his eyes were too honest...

  When Ciel looked back up at the sky, right at a white explosion point in the stratosphere, his instinct screamed. His eyes refused to be totally deceived.

  He narrowed his eyes. His focus sharp, piercing that layer of optical illusion.

  True. When the green or blue fireworks exploded low, it looked normal. Just burning gunpowder.

  But when the silver-white fireworks exploded at extreme heights—whose detonations were the loudest and shook the ground—Ciel saw something else.

  A second layer of reality.

  He saw a strand of ethereal light threads. Very thin, nearly transparent, like a cosmic spider web woven from moonlight silk. The threads seemed to intertwine intricately in space, connecting one explosion point to another in impossible geometric patterns.

  Ciel saw the white firework explosion as if it crashed into this invisible web.

  And when the collision occurred, the web pulsed—vibrated—with silver light for a fraction of a second. As if absorbing the massive kinetic energy impact, holding it from collapsing, before disappearing completely.

  Those weren't fireworks. That was a... shield. Someone was shooting at the sky, and the sky was holding it back.

  Clap... clap...

  The sound of Elsie’s applause brought him back. The girl clapped softly as a large golden explosion bloomed like a giant chrysanthemum flower.

  "That's the best one so far!" Elsie exclaimed cheerfully, turning to Ciel. "So beautiful, right, El?"

  Ciel blinked. He was still staring at the remnant of the ghost web that had just pulsed dead in the dark sky above their heads.

  "Weird," Ciel mumbled softly, his brow furrowed deep, his voice barely audible amidst the crowd's roar.

  "What's weird?" Elsie asked, bringing her face closer. Her smile still blooming wide.

  Ciel flinched. He saw Elsie’s happy face, then Denes’ enthusiastic face.

  He shook his head fast, erasing the wrinkle on his forehead, and put on his best fake smile.

  "Ah... no. The fireworks. Weirdly... good. I mean very good," he said, smiling awkwardly. "So cool."

  Ciel looked up again, but this time his hands secretly clenched on the mat. He buried his suspicion deep, while praying internally that the "web" up there—whatever it was—was strong enough to hold back whatever was trying to get in.

  Ciel glanced at the watch on his wrist. The hour hand glowing green in the dark showed this show had been going on for exactly fifteen minutes.

  "On schedule," he murmured softly, more to himself. "Almost over."

  For the past quarter hour, those anesthetizing explosions and lights had bewitched the citizens of Gant City, making them forget the cold of the night, forget the strangeness that occurred all day. And sure enough, as if hearing Ciel’s inner voice...

  KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM....

  The final firework exploded. The Grand Finale.

  It wasn't just a normal chemical explosion. It was a man-made supernova.

  Its size was so massive, so colossal, that its light pierced and illuminated the entire cumulonimbus cloud layer above the Square. The explosion turned the dark night into blinding rainbow-colored day for three full seconds.

  Ciel squinted, blinded.

  He saw the shadows of the trees in the square and the buildings in the distance become sharp instantly. The pale faces of the spectators around him—including the upturned faces of Elsie and Denes—were bathed in divine light. Their expressions were clearly exposed: a mix of primal fear and absolute awe.

  Beneath that suddenly brilliant sky, the previously rowdy crowd suddenly fell silent. Mute. They were shocked by its beauty.

  Then, as the light began to dim, that silence broke.

  They exploded in hysteria of joy.

  "AWWOOOOOOOOO….!!!"

  The rowdy screams of the crowd and thunderous applause echoed from every corner of the square. The sound bounced off the walls of the shop buildings, creating a physical sound wave that vibrated window panes. People jumped from their mats, hugged strangers next to them, some even cried in emotion—an extraordinary emotional catharsis after the inexplicable tension gripping the city's atmosphere.

  Beside Ciel, Elsie gasped. Both her hands covered her wide-open mouth. Her round eyes reflected the remnant of that supernova light like mirrors.

  "So beautiful..." she hissed, then she clapped with the pure enthusiasm of a little child.

  Denes beside her also jumped up, whistling loudly. "Crazy! That was sick!"

  Ciel followed suit. He stood up from the mat, clapped, cheered with Elsie, pretending to dissolve in that moment.

  "Amazing!" Ciel exclaimed, his voice slightly forced to sound convincing to his girlfriend's ears.

  Even though his mouth smiled, his inner eye was still suspicious. His eyes refused to party.

  As that last blinding silver-white explosion slowly faded into smoke... Ciel saw it again.

  He swore on his life.

  Behind that white smoke, at an unnatural altitude, he saw the thin light webs in the sky pulse intensely. The ethereal web vibrated violently for the last time—as if having just withstood the impact of a giant meteor or caught thousands of invisible entities trying to break through—before finally blinking weakly and vanishing completely from sight, leaving a clean sky.

  That wasn't fireworks. That was a barrier. And that barrier had just taken a heavy hit.

  Amidst the post-climax euphoria, as audience cheers still echoed and fireworks smoke fog slowly descended blanketing the city like a thin blanket, Elsie turned to him.

  "Ciel, come on!" she said, her eyes sparkling full of residual adrenaline.

  Elsie pulled the sleeve of Ciel’s hoodie jacket closer. Without warning, the girl brought her cheek close to Ciel’s shoulder. The sweet scent of strawberry shampoo wafted faintly, piercing the thick sulfur smell in the air. Elsie’s phone was raised high at a perfect angle.

  "Denes, get in the frame!" Elsie called out.

  Denes immediately slid into the left side, grinning wide.

  Click!

  One moment immortalized. Ciel smiling awkwardly with watchful eyes, Denes grinning like a horse, and Elsie smiling wide with happy squinting eyes.

  Not waiting long, Elsie’s slender fingers danced fast on the screen. Uploading it to Twitter.

  "Fireworks tonight are totally amazing! Didn't expect it to be this good! #LoveOurKing ??" she said while typing.

  A moment later, Elsie thrust her phone into Ciel’s face excitedly.

  "Look! Nice photo right?"

  Ciel looked at their photo on the screen. He chuckled softly. His face in the photo looked a bit tense—maybe light effect, or maybe because he was the only person in the photo who realized they were in danger. Contrasting with Elsie’s free and beautiful smile.

  "Nice," Ciel said honestly. To him, whatever had Elsie in it must be nice.

  Elsie’s hand touched another button. She refreshed her Twitter feed.

  "Look at this! Everyone is going crazy!" she exclaimed. "Timeline flooded with praise!"

  Elsie’s phone screen now displayed a row of tweets coming in per second, full of praise, fire emojis, and overflowing joy from Carta citizens:

  @PartyGirl: "Craaaazy! Best #FireworksParade of my life! Swear I'm crying! #BurningSky ??????"

  @YoungNoble: "Proud to be a Carta citizen! King Lavin the 134th is truly visionary! Our taxes paid off! #LoveOurKing"

  @HouseMamma: "My kids screaming happy till hoarse! Thank you for the show, Your Majesty! Sleep well tonight. #CartaFestivity #NightInCrownbelt"

  Ciel’s eyes stopped on one tweet below it. A tweet drowning among thousands of praises, but catching his attention:

  @MadAnalyst: "Data detects massive unnatural explosions across Kingdom of Carta territory. Atmosphere also shows extreme barometric pressure anomalies during peak explosion. But whatever, THE FIREWORKS ARE FREAKING GOOD! #NightExplosion #FireworksParade ??"

  @CatLover: "My cat got scared and ran hiding under chair! Hahaha… But not me! Cause it's so cool! #BurningSky"

  Ciel could only shake his head slowly reading that @MadAnalyst's comment. That person... he saw the data. He knew something was wrong. But he chose to be deceived by the beauty of its outer shell, just like millions of others.

  Ciel’s smile was now mixed with a bitter sense of irony.

  Ciel looked up once more at the dark sky above Gant City.

  Up there, the final explosion had faded into a distant echo. Fireworks and cosmic fire alike had ceased.

  Ciel took a deep breath. The fragrant gunpowder smoke from the people's celebration mixed with a strange sharp ozone smell—the smell of burnt etheric combustion residue, the same smell as when an electrical wire shorts, but on an atmospheric scale.

  The Carta sky had just fought a war, and no one realized except him.