Chapter 1252
Comment after comment, video after video, the virality continued to spread.
The momentum snowballed exponentially.
Back in Severia, the authorities were practically foaming at the mouth.
They had lost all face on the global stage.
This was especially true for The Organizing Committee.
Shortly after the opening ceremony concluded, the President of the Severian Organizing Committee dialed directly into the internal executive conference line. The second the call connected, a torrential wave of furious screaming erupted through the speakers.
“Do any of you have a single working brain cell in your heads p>
“Who gave you the audacity to execute such a blatant, targeted sabotage at a global event p>
“Are you completely oblivious to how rapidly Elyndor has developed and how powerful they are now p>
“If your petty little stunts trigger an international diplomatic crisis, or destroy the credibility of this entire tournament, which one of you is going to take the fall p>
The President was virtually roaring through the phone.
Desmond Prescott and the other high-ranking officials sat with ashen faces, none of them daring to breathe too loudly.
After all, the catastrophic fallout of the opening ceremony was already playing out right in front of them.
The whole world was watching.
The international backlash was already in full swing.
Trying to pretend nothing happened was no longer a viable option.
And worst of all, the President on the other end of the line was genuinely out for blood.
“Desmond Prescott p>
The President singled him out, his tone turning lethally cold. “Effective immediately, you are suspended from all duties related to this tournament p>
“Hand over all control regarding hospitality, logistics, equipment, and venue security p>
“You had better scrub this mess clean immediately. Kill the trending topics and minimize the fallout p>
“Otherwise, don’t blame the higher-ups for stepping in and doing it for you p>
The line went dead.
A grave-like silence settled over the conference room.
Desmond sat frozen in his chair, his face a sickly shade of gray, the veins pulsing angrily at his temples.
Stripped of his authority in front of his peers.
And right at the most critical juncture of the competition.
For him, this was the ultimate humiliation.
But what made it infinitely worse was that the moment the call ended, the other executives-men who bad. happily stood by his side just hours ago-instantly shifted their attitudes.
“Mr. Prescott, your family genuinely took things too far this time p>
“The Organizing Committee merely wanted to dampen Elyndor’s momentum, not orchestrate a global scandal p>
“Now that the truth is out and the international media is crucifying us, we can’t afford to take the fall alongside the Prescotts p>
“Exactly, we only went along with your family’s plans. Now that it’s blown up in our faces, no one can clean this up p>
Sentence after sentence. On the surface, their tone remained somewhat civilized, but reading between the lines, they were aggressively severing all ties.
Desmond’s chest heaved violently; he was so enraged he nearly flipped the massive conference table.
Yet he couldn’t afford a single outburst right now.
He knew perfectly well that the entire Severian administration was desperately scrambling to distance themselves from him.
No one wanted the radioactive label of ‘anti-Elyndor sabotage’ pinned to their lapel.
Desperate to salvage the situation, he was forced to bite the bullet and launch an emergency PR campaign.
He started by funneling money into redirecting the internet traffic, trying to frame the opening ceremony asza high-end fashion show. He pushed hashtags like
#Elyndorpening StageVisuals and #Elyndor CaptainSoloPerformance in an attempt to shift the narrative.
He was trying to dilute the scandal into a story about Elyndor aggressively marketing themselves, subtly attempting to drive a wedge, between the Elyndor competitors and their spotlight-stealing captain.
As long as he could shift the focus away from Severia’s targeted sabotage and onto
Elyndor’s alleged vanity, he could slowly suffocate the negative press.