One Wish to Own the World

"But we do have a very fitting person for this kind of event," Ken eyed the only female member of the group.

"Eh, me?" Tiara groaned about the task that befell her out of nowhere. Seeing her teammates look at her, she just turned to George, "You said you would perform to impress me, show me how you do it."

"Yes, Fairy, I will show you a performance beyond your imagination!" He said excitedly, unaware that such a claim seemed ridiculous when said to an enchantress.

As the former performer left the stage, the host called for the next one to come. The next performer, a pretty girl with long black hair was about to jump onto the stage with a flashy pirouette when someone barged before her.

"Hello everyone, I, George Balkan, will perform!"

To the spectators, George seemed to fall from the sky, executing consecutive backflips and finishing with a three-point landing.

"Hmm, that's money well spent," Alaric commented, referring to the device George used to send himself flying to the sky to pull off this little trick.

Before he could even finish his sentence, four pillars of fire exploded around the performer, a result of a fire technique he executed as soon as he landed.

"OOOHHH!" The crowd called and shouted, cheering loudly for their young master.

George arose from his landing stance, his energy bursting forth with the flames that encircled him. The embers danced around him, mirroring the excitement in the crowd. He produced a staff out of his storage ring, the end of it touching the ground while the other end pointed to the sky, a concentrated look in his eyes.

"Behold, the dance of the blazing dragons!" he proclaimed.

As the music started with a rhythmic beat from the festival drums, George swung into motion. His steps were choreographed to the rhythm, and with every beat, his staff spun, igniting trails of fire in its wake. 

He leapt and twirled, the flames following his command, morphing into various forms of fiery dragons that soared and spiraled around him. The crowd was spellbound, their eyes glued to the fantastical scene unfolding before them.

"Wow, this guy knows how to put on a show!" Alaric remarked as he munched on some lotus seed pastries they had just bought from a nearby stall. The other three were impressed themselves but remained quiet about it.

George's staff moved with a life of its own, each strike and swing unleashing wave after wave of fiery formations. They weaved through the air, their forms painting the sky with shades of red, gold, and orange. 

His sideflips were punctuated with explosions of fire, each louder and more vibrant than the last. The crowd roared with each display of pyrotechnics, their excitement reaching a peak.

Tiara, usually nonchalant, had her eyes fixated on the swirling inferno, the play of fire reflecting in her eyes. Ken could only wonder if Henry was able to enjoy such shows with his eyes blindfolded.

At the culmination of his performance, George soared into the sky with a powerful thrust of his staff against the ground. Suspended in mid-air, he spun rapidly, his staff drawing circles of fire around him, creating a grandiose fiery phoenix that spread its wings across the sky, enveloping the night in a warm, golden glow. 

"WOOOAHH!" The crowd cheered and screamed in elation for the theatrical ending.

As George landed softly, the image of the fiery phoenix slowly faded, leaving behind a sky filled with twinkling stars. The crowd was left in a mixture of silence and awe for a brief moment before an uproar of cheers and applause broke the silence, shaking the very grounds of the avenue.

"Bravo!" shouted Alaric, clapping vigorously with the crowd, prompting a smile from his companions who saw the fanatic of their group get swept into the atmosphere. He was quite different from the other antisocial members of the team.

"Hmm, he is more impressive than I gave him credit for," Ken mentioned, he had to admit he enjoyed the show. The beat of the drums, the explosions of fire, the eye-catching movements of the staff, all of them were beautiful. Of course, they were useless in a battle, but that's not what George was aiming for.

George, amidst the endless applause, took a deep bow, his heart filled with satisfaction. He could not stop himself from searching for Tiara's face in the crowd, hoping to see some admiration. 

"It was a great performance," Tiara complimented him as soon as he returned to their side, making him grin. The four were slowly relaxing because of the festival's atmosphere and somewhat acted more freely and less restrained.

"Everyone! Did you enjoy watching the display of our city's young master? Of course you did, it was the best show our festival had so far!" The host screamed into a device that worked like a microphone, "How can I call for another performer now, wouldn't it make them cry?" He said, making the crowd laugh.

As if to challenge his claim, another figure barged onto the stage, a slender silhouette wearing jade-green hanfu. She seemed to be gliding on theair, executing endless pirouettes on her way. Ice shards flew around her in circles, forming all types of beautiful shapes.

"Look at that, someone dares come right after Young Master George, accept her with applause!" The host shouted, leaving the stage.

"Fairy Tiara is going to perform too?" George asked, surprised. Because he was of a lower stage, only at the peak of the fourth stage, he could not sense their stages while they hid them. Hence, he was sure they were a group of third-stage cultivators as they exposed.

"Indeed, she might even overshadow you," Alaric bragged about his teammate.

"Her beauty alone overshadows me," George said with a smile, thinking that Alaric was exaggerating. In the end, third-stage cultivators would not be able to pull off as many flamboyant moves as he did; their Qi was too little and they had no specialized Qi.

As the host's voice faded away, the crowd turned its focus onto the entrancing figure who now dominated the stage. The evening lights played upon Tiara's ethereal form, her jade-green hanfu flowing gently with her movements, accentuating her finesse. Her face, covered with a green veil, carried an enigmatic charm of delicate ice and flawless beauty.

With a swift move, Tiara unsheathed her dual sabers, the blades gleaming under the ethereal glow of the moon. She held a saber in each hand, their edges sharp, crisp like the winter breeze. As the music started, a soft, melancholy melody, Tiara moved. Her dance was a blend of delicate and fierce, the fluid motion of her body contrasted by the deadly sways of her sabers.

"Hmm, looks like she chose to use double sabers for the show,' Ken commented. She only used one saber in battles.

Amidst her dance, with a fluid sweep of her sabers, Tiara commanded the frost to coat the stage, turning it into a vast sheet of pristine ice. The shimmering surface mirrored the silvery glow of the moon, adding to the ethereal atmosphere. 

Her body swayed with the rhythm, each spin and leap she performed was flawlessly synchronized with the haunting tune that serenaded through the cold night. Each stroke of her saber conjured delicate frost flowers and icy birds that soared across the stage, their forms shimmering in the moonlight. 

The audience watched with bated breath as she pirouetted, each rotation creating ripples of frost in the air around her. The icy realm she had conjured seemed to pulse with her emotions, each glide and pivot on the ice resonated with a melancholy beauty that tugged at the heartstrings of everyone present. 

The crowd was held captive, breaths held tight as the surreal imagery unfolded before them. Her dance was a vision of winter's serene beauty, the sight leaving them yearning for more even amidst the biting cold that now enveloped the arena.

As Tiara danced, her body seemed to flow like water, her every move radiating a cool nobility that was beyond earthly. The sight of her twirling amidst the icy wonderland of ice and animal kingdom she had created, her hair floating like a halo of silk, left the audience utterly entranced.

"She's as competitive as Henry," Alaric laughed when he noticed the crowd turned completely silent, unable to even cheer.

Her eyes met the crowd, but they carried a distance, as if she was inviting yet unreachable, a beautiful illusion that vanished with a touch. The cold could not snuff out the fiery desires her grace stirred in the hearts of those watching. Every spin, every surge, every strike of her saber seemed to pull at the strings of their hearts, evoking emotions they hadn't known before.

As her dance reached its peak, she created many platforms of ice in the air across the stage with her new nascent soul, using them as stepstones to soar to the sky. Every tap of her feet was so gentle it almost seemed like she levitated.

Looking downward like a queen upon her subjects, she swung her sabers downward. Every animal and delicate flower she had created on the stage shattered into dust that flew into the air and glittered like a million stars before gently showering down onto the stage, covering it in a soft blanket of snow. When the ice finally stopped obscuring the sight of the crowd, the performer was gone.

They remained silent in their trance for a few moments, before a young teenager with striking red eyes started clapping, awakening the crowd. At that moment, applause louder than any of Alaric's techniques began, and everyone screamed and begged the woman to return and show herself.

Ken watched as Tiara approached them and bowed gently, a rare smile of admiration curving on his lips.

"Elegance is when the inside is as beautiful as the outside, but it was a great dance," Henry commented.

"It was indeed something everyone should aspire to see," Ken added.

"Haha, it was beautiful enough to win even if you hadn't used your special Qi like Henry, cheater," Alaric laughed, referring to all the charm techniques she executed, and only got a shrug in response.

George, his mouth still gaping since the beginning of the show, had tears streaming out of his eyes.

"Fairy Tiara, I feel like a clown now for daring to perform before you," he said in a downcast voice. He could assess Tiara's power as stronger than his from the tricks she had done on stage.

"Don't worry about it, you were useful as a guide for us. Tell me, how old are you?" She asked him.

"I'm 37 years old," George replied, making Tiara sigh at his low stage. Normally, she would never use such a weakling, but she was given an annoying task lately by her team leader.

"George, do you want to be useful to me?" She asked in an enticing tone, making the man almost drool in desire.

"Yes, please, I will do anything!" He practically begged for her attention.

"Then, how about you join our team for the Martial Arts Summit?" she offered.