DKIE CH102: Extra IV

After the proposal topic dominated the trending charts for a full month, the first variety talent show on the Saint-Demon Continent officially launched, finally giving the community another hot topic.

Nearly one hundred thousand contestants, after fierce auditions in various regions, the top one hundred entered the finals. On that day, the entire continent broadcasted it live. The brightly colored grand stage was filled with countless recording stones, and the audience seats below were completely full.

The judges’ table, sandwiched between the stage and the audience, was shrouded in shadow. Among them, the high elf didn’t even bother to act, directly asking coldly, “What kind of garbage did they even select?” Eight out of ten notes were off-key, and the other two were wavering.

The merman judge next to him said in a low voice, “The votes are fine, it’s just that there are a few exceptions in the regional voting.” For example, the geniuses who stood out through their topics and personas.

The high elf asked coldly, “Where’s the topic value in this one now?” Average looks, average singing and acting.

Before he could finish asking, he already had the answer. After the contestant finished singing, he was panting heavily, his eyes red. “…Today, it seems like I’m standing on stage alone, but actually, there are four of us.”

High elf: “What, is he a necromancer too?”

The other judges said nothing. That mouth was as if it had been dipped in poison.

“Grandpa, little sister, little brother, Kaka, did you see that?”

The high elf closed his eyes. After a long while, he asked speechlessly, “…Who is Kaka?”

“I heard it’s a classmate from the Magic Academy who gave him a gugu egg when he was at his most helpless.”

The Saint-Demon Continent doesn’t believe in tears, but this only applies to mages. The empathy of ordinary people was not bad. In this era where sob stories were not yet rampant, the effect was surprisingly good.

The merman transmitted his thoughts with a headache, “I heard he has a lot of supporters. If we give him a low score, will the audience rush to our community accounts to flame us? This might implicitly involve the current issue of equal rights.” He couldn’t help but glance at Cullen, the special guest commentator for this competition. Should he wait for the other to reveal his score before scoring himself? Anyway, he wasn’t going to be the one to stick his neck out.

However, as the biggest sponsor, Cullen was not in a hurry to reveal his score. He just calmly straightened the wrinkles on his cuffs, then stood up and said: “Today, there is also a special guest who will send their blessings from off-site. Everyone, please look at the big screen.”

The lights on the stage dimmed slightly, and all the audience’s attention subconsciously focused on the front. Before long, an unexpected face appeared on the screen.

“Hello everyone, I’m Luka.”

The whole audience was stunned at first. After rubbing their eyes hard to make sure they weren’t mistaken, they burst into loud cheers. Now appearing before them was the most successful living legend of the continent to date! Although it was a pre-recorded blessing video, everyone was still very excited.

“First, I wish the ‘Starlight’ program greater and greater success, providing a stage for more contestants with dreams.” Amidst the long-lasting applause, the music in the video suddenly turned sad. “…I know the value of dreams better than anyone. From a young age, my mother left me, and my father didn’t care… After I came of age, I was exiled to a realm full of ferocious beasts…”

It was a story that didn’t need much embellishment, focusing on the theme that no one in his family was a good person. After the three-minute memoir ended, the venue was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The lights became bright again, and Cullen looked at the contestant. The contestant was sweating profusely. In the face of the previous content, no amount of misery was enough! His sob story relied on a poor family background but having the love of relatives. The Demon King, however, took it to another level. His family was wealthy but full of melodrama, focusing on real-life slaughter within a large family.

Sure enough, the judges coldly and ruthlessly showed their scores all at once: a low score that perfectly matched his on-site performance. Just as some fans in the audience were about to argue, Luka’s words echoed in their minds, and they suddenly felt the contestant’s complaints were tasteless.

The television station had placed the controversial contestants in roughly the same time slot. After one was sent off, the next one was even more of a heavyweight. His singing was average, and his dancing was an absolute disaster. The contestant himself even smiled sweetly halfway through his dance. The judges, casting aside their prejudice, started to laugh. Unlike the traditional cold beauty, this contestant, when he smiled, revealed a kind of innocent charm. He looked at Cullen, the richest person present, and gave a winning smile.

Cullen: “At ease.”

“?”

“Attention.”

The contestant did as he was told, confused.

Cullen: “About-face.”

The big screen was still showing a casual pose of Luka. This overwhelming beauty was impactful no matter how many times you saw it. When an internet celebrity and a real star stand together, the difference is often huge. In the tragic comparison scene, the judges once again showed low scores one by one. With the previous examples, the following contestants focused more on their stage performance, and everything returned to normal.

Only then did Cullen slowly say to the other judges, “Before organizing the talent show, Luka was already prepared.” For every difficult problem, there was basically a template to refer to. The other judges looked at each other. No wonder he could so smoothly play the Holy Court and the former Demon King to death. This was predicting all predictions.

Epilogue: Wedding Bells

After the disastrous planning session where the group realized puppets couldn’t consummate a marriage, they were forced back to the drawing board. After rejecting three hundred and sixty-four other ideas, they finally settled on a new location for the wedding.

The wedding was set for June. The weather for the entire week was clear and bright. The grooms set off two days in advance.

As soon as Luka stepped out the door, his eyes went wide. Parked outside was a fleet of luxurious pumpkin carriages, stretching out like a spectacular rainbow bridge. The lead ferret-driven carriage displayed a magical message: All guests have been picked up. Ready to depart.

This time, it was Luka’s turn to have his jaw drop. A modern Rolls-Royce Phantom wedding convoy… but made of pumpkins? He subconsciously looked at Quill, who had appeared in front of him, bowing and extending a hand.

“?”

Quill said seriously, “Last time, you seemed to enjoy the pumpkin carriage, laughing like a jingle bell. I thought you must like it.”

Luka’s knees went slightly weak. A little joke he’d made for his own amusement had finally come back to him like a boomerang. To avoid hurting Quill’s feelings, he reluctantly boarded his personal fairy-tale royal carriage. Quill pulled a lever designed by the dwarves, and the carriage began to play the sound of mechanical silver bells, a one-to-one restoration of their previous ride.

Luka: “…”

The journey was long. After more than sixteen hours, the carriage finally began to slow down. The colored oval windows opened automatically, revealing a landscape far more desolate than imagined. Below were broken pillars and ruined walls, encircled by a silver river. The entire mountain peak had been flattened. A white altar stood at the very top, becoming a channel connecting heaven and earth under the heavy clouds. It had the desolate beauty of ancient ruins.

“Is this… the ruins of the Caster clan?” Luka asked, having a faint impression of the history. The Casters were a clan of sorcerers who were slaughtered by the former Demon King after they failed in their task to deal with Luka. He couldn’t imagine why they would choose this place for a wedding.

Cullen appeared to solve his confusion. “To exchange eternal vows before a mysterious ancient altar,” he announced proudly, as the rest of the planning committee beamed behind him. Luka was speechless.

Before he could recover, he was whisked away by a team of elf makeup artists. The wedding hall was beautifully decorated, with hundreds of tables, most of which were occupied by colorful dragons in their miniature forms. All the powerful figures Luka knew were there: the Lord of Boulder City, professors from the First Magic Academy, and even Maya, the kind lady from the guild hall.

Alex, or Quill, appeared, his usual dark aura softened by a tailored suit and the love in his eyes. The Elf King, sitting with the Saint, asked, “Where is Luka? Why aren’t they entering together?”

The Saint explained that since both grooms’ parents were long gone, the tradition of being given away was difficult. The Dragon Clan had been saddened by this. So, Luka had suggested a compromise: “In the world I stayed in, some brides are escorted by their immediate family. We can adapt this, and have the Dragon Clan bring me to the ceremony.”

The news had made the dragons so happy they’d practically exploded. They had held their own fierce audition to see who would get the honor. The result was a compromise.

As the music swelled, the grand elemental doors opened. Ten dragons in human form lined the aisle. Alice was the first, standing beside Luka. She walked him about thirty meters down the red velvet carpet before handing him to Isa. One by one, in a “dragon relay,” he was passed down the line of his ten “elders.” Finally, Rio delivered the last “baton,” and Luka stood before Quill.

Lilian, as the host, announced their arrival. Rio then took the microphone to give a speech on behalf of the elders. He read from a fancy gilt-edged paper, his booming voice filling the hall with a long, awkward speech about how pained all the guests must be that the wedding was not accepting monetary gifts. The silence was deafening. Luka wanted the ground to swallow him whole.

The Saint stepped in to move things along. As the officiant, he transformed the altar into a blank contract scroll. Luka and Quill, who had previously been forced to break their blood pact during the war, now renewed it with a dazzling display of intertwining magic, their spells forming a brilliant bouquet of light.

“May the rules of the starry sky forever shelter you, may you share glory and truth with each other, as eternal and splendid as magic,” the Saint declared, using the classic wedding blessing of the continent.

Then came the exchange of rings. Quill slowly removed his black glove. Luka took the ring and slipped it onto Quill’s right finger bone. “It is blended with fragments of my hand and rib bones,” Quill said, his voice low and dedicated only to Luka. “It will be with us forever and ever.”

Lilian, filming, shuddered. Luka, forcing a smile for the camera, quickly added, “See, it’s a green, pollution-free ring! Who says a wedding must have a gemstone ring?”

The guests truly felt that a gemstone ring would have been easier to acquire.

Then it was Quill’s turn. Luka felt as if they had not known each other for long, yet it felt like they had walked a very long road. In the midst of the fading phantoms and memories, he softly spoke his vow: “Whether you are the richest on the continent or I am the richest on the continent, whether we compare whose life is longer than countless eons.”

At the same time, Quill was also softly reciting the same content, their voices overlapping—

“I am willing to be by your side,”
“Until we become the rules under the starry sky.”

Support me on Ko-fi