Chapter 2078 - Gilded Cage

The transition from the Ember Crucible to the Hall of Echoing Flames was a jarring shift of realities so profound it left a metaphysical aftertaste. One moment, Gracier was standing in the resonant silence of a vanquished hellscape, the scent of ozone and demonic ash clinging to her like a second skin. The next, she was stepping through a shimmering portal into a cacophony of opulent noise, the air thick with the cloying sweetness of crystallized nectar and the murmur of a hundred polished, political voices. The silence of absolute violence had been replaced by the din of delicate diplomacy.