The air itself trembled.
And then—the explosion.
A blinding detonation of rage, a shockwave of destruction that ripped through the grand hall with a force that defied nature itself.
The world shattered.
The remaining walls detonated outward, massive slabs of stone and brick hurtling through the air like cannon fire.The earth quaked beneath Salvatore’s fury as though the palace screamed in its final moments.
The lime plaster blew off the walls, revealing the raw, crumbling skeleton of the structure beneath.
The boiserie—the intricate, gilded wooden panels—shattered into a thousand deadly splinters, turning into a hurricane of wooden daggers, piercing flesh, marble, and glass alike.
What had once been a palace of decadence, power, and tyranny?—
Was now a war zone.
I clutched Elizabeth to my chest, shielding her broken body from the chaos unraveling around us.Blood coated my hands, but I didn’t let go.
The world tilted.The palace trembled—stone groaning under the weight of destruction.
And then?—
Lazarus.
He burst from the ruin like a phoenix from flame, dust, and debris parting around him.His eyes locked onto Salvatore’s with the force of a lightning strike—pure, unrelenting fury.
The air between them crackled, charged with ancient energy, something older and darker than the crumbling stone, and spilled blood around us.
Salvatore sneered, lips peeling back to reveal jagged, decayed teeth—a predator savoring the kill.With a flick of his hand, shadows slithered forth, curling around Mathias’ broken form.In a breath, the body vanished, swallowed whole by the darkness—erased from this place, claimed by Salvatore’s void.
And then—he moved.
With a sweeping gesture, his hands sliced through the air, fingers carving an intricate and monstrous pattern like a curse written in motion.
The world answered.
A sickening hiss, low and venomous, slithered through the chamber.The walls shuddered, and cracks spiderwebbed across the ceiling.
And then came the flood.
From shattered stone and blood-soaked earth, they rose?—
Serpents.
A writhing tide of scales and fangs spilled across the ruined floor like a living nightmare.They surged forward, over corpses, over the dying, over the barely breathing.
Screams pierced the air—the last survivors scrambling, desperate to escape.
But there was nowhere to run.
The vipers coiled around limbs, their fangs sinking into flesh.The scent of venom and blood thickened the air.
I tried to hold Elizabeth, tried to pull her closer?—
But my grip slipped.
My body—betraying me.The Noctyss poison that had invaded my veins was tearing me apart, sweltering like wildfire, hollowing me out with every breath.
