The massive vault door groaned open, exhaling a dense wave of tainted abyssal Qi that coiled like smoke around the Dread Duchess's feet. Her veil fluttered, and her eyes glimmered with a predatory calm as she stepped into the eerie chamber.
The sight before her was not one of wealth or grand treasure, nor were there any secrets she was hoping for, but of ruin and horror, just like what Ace and Zaria had witnessed.
The chamber was vast, hollow, and silent save for the faint hum of runes still flickering weakly upon the walls. Chains hung like serpents from the ceiling, all converging upon a single point where a figure suspended in midair, mutilated, bound, and pulsing faintly with sealing sigils.
Her gaze sharpened the moment it landed on him, and unlike both Ace and Zaria, she was neither weak nor suppressed as her abyssal law sense pierced the layers of suppression and rotting Qi!
