Experiencing the Abyssal Plainsâ wide phenomena of the Evernight Sanctuaryâs entrance opening, Ace and Eva were both surprised and skeptical because they werenât expecting the council to flaunt their authority in this manner.
Furthermore, as the gate of the sanctuary was manifesting, Evaâs devilish eyes, disguised as gray, suddenly flickered a purplish hue before she felt something peculiar; a vague yet disdainful sensation rose from her bloodline.
Eva was astounded and quickly calmed her bloodline to surface, and couldnât help but narrow her eyes slightly as she looked at that mystical gate of the sanctuary.
"Do you sense something?"
Eva quickly inquired about it from Ace through their connection.
Ace was solemn as he watched the display of power. He felt this trip to the Sanctuary wasnât going to be a walk in the park, especially if he wanted to find the clues regarding their mission within the sanctuary, and they werenât even sure it was inside.
He was startled slightly when he heard Evaâs sudden question. Still, he didnât look at her.
He pretended to be in awe like everyone else while replying with uncertainty,
"Yeah, that gate seemed to be made with very special material, probably Grade-9, and there are laws and other mysterious runes engraved in it that seemed to be very beneficial to those who cultivate the laws of Abyss."
"Just that?"
Eva asked again with a faint smile.
Ace was confused as he couldnât help but ask
, "Do you discern something different?"
Eva didnât hide anything from Ace and told him, albeit ambiguously,
"Thereâs something in that place my void bloodline didnât like."
Ace was shocked and barely able to control himself from looking at Eva gravely because he knew what kind of bloodline Eva had, and if that bloodline was reacting in any way, it wasnât a small matter!
On the other hand, around the vault, unseen by others, dozens of the Dread Duchessâs loyal followers, including Mirage Shadow, and except the Vaultkeeper, who hadnât come back, hid within the shadowsâsilent, perfectly concealed, each ready to erase anything that dared approach their mistress.
Even a Marquis would be forced to think twice, yet the Dread Duchess did not spare them a glance, nor did she seem to sense the discussion between Eva and Ace.
Her eyes remained fixed on the bleeding sky, on the colossal gate whose runes were starting to shift, glow, and awaken.
She knew this moment was the one they had all been waiting for, and it had arrived here before the phenomenon fully manifested.
Furthermore, she knows more than anyone else because of the favor with the Evernight Devil King, and a faint smile curved beneath her veil, sharp, cold, beautiful, and dangerous.
At that moment, the gate pulsed, drawing Ace and Evaâs attention to it again, and the next moment...
âBOOM!â
The sound wasnât audible; it felt like a vibration in the bones and a tremor in the soul.
Thereafter, the Abyss itself shuddered, and a hush fell over the city, and even the winds seemed to have been frozen.
Ace and Eva felt the disturbance like the threads of profound intent tightening around their existence. Especially Eva, as she thought the disgust from her bloodline had suddenly become stronger, and it wanted to reveal itself and devour everything!
"Well, well, Iâll be damned!"
At that moment, Flaggyâs voice suddenly sounded with a hint of astonishment.
Eva, who was keeping her bloodline in check, was startled by Flaggyâs comment, and she coldly asked,
"What is it? Do you know something?"
"Hehehe, I have no idea what is going on with your bloodline, but what matters is that gate can help me recover some of my damage!"
Flaggy revealed, naked with greed and longing.
Evaâs eyes flashed with astonishment as she didnât care much about the disdain from her bloodline because it simply wanted her to destroy that gate. Still, Flaggy could actually recover the damage on its body with it, so she was determined to get it.
Because she was already searching for materials that could be used to restore Flaggy, and all those that could be easily found were found, and those that remained were extremely rare and precious. Still, she wasnât expecting that gate to have such an effect on Flaggy.
At that moment, she couldnât help but look at that gate and then glance at Ace while thinking, â
Well, dismantling seemed to be his specialty, right?â
Ace had no idea what kind of crazy schemes Eva was hatching around him as he gravely looked at that gate, still thinking about what Eva just told him.
As for the Dread Duchess, her eyes gleamed with a predatory light before a soft whisper escaped her lipsâtoo quiet for the trembling kingdom below, yet clear as a blade to those behind her.
"They are coming!"
At that moment, the Gate finished manifesting, and for one heartbeat, the Abyss held still.
The colossal obsidian slabs locked into their final alignment with an ancient clang that shook all layers of the Plains. The runes carved across its surface stopped writhing and froze into place. Yet in their stillness, they felt more alive, as if waiting for something to wake them.
At this moment, thereafter...
RRRRRâOOOOOMMMMMâ
The Gate opened, but not like a door, nor like stone moving, but it peeled apart like two slabs of darkness trying to remember how to separate, while reality stretched, law groaned, and the air itself was shredded into luminous dust.
A slit of infinite black widened and widened, and from within that abyssal gap, something vast pressed against the world.
A lightless fog rolled out first; thin, ethereal, yet so heavy that countless beings across the plains dropped to their knees as if their souls had suddenly grown too heavy to hold.
Through that fog... a continent-sized silhouette of a wall appeared, seemingly endless and ancient. Splintering the horizon with its impossible scale.
In the fleeting glimpse allowed by the Gateâs glow, countless seals, law-patterns, and abyssal glyphs crawled across the world-spanning wall like living machinery.
A barrier that divided space, a fortress that had never fallen, and a monument built to house currently the deadliest inheritance known in the Abyss...the Evernight Sanctuary!