The magnificent mausoleum, with its ceiling over thirty meters high, had a surprisingly simple interior. Apart from the deep-black stone walls without a single opening, there was only a raised platform at the center, reached by a flight of steps. Atop the prominent platform stood an enormous iron chair, its intricate engravings extending upward to form the outline of a crown at the top.
The entire mausoleum was solemn and imposing, radiating an inviolable majesty, yet harboring an indescribable sense of distortion.
However, no one sat in the chair, and Nast, who had entered ahead of her, was nowhere to be seen. The whole mausoleum seemed to have been abandoned for years, utterly silent.
Strange. There's no trace of Roselle in this mausoleum either. Could he have fallen long ago... And where's Nast? What did he go to such lengths to find this place for...
In the silence, Angel's thoughts were particularly active.
Her gaze swept around, confirming once more that there was nothing inside the mausoleum apart from the platform and chair. Only then did she prepare to climb the steps and examine the enormous iron chair up close.
But the instant Angel took a step, an invisible force enveloped her entire body, binding her firmly in place like shackles.
Familiar with the supernatural powers of various Pathways, she immediately realized that this was the Black Emperor suppressing her. The power permeating the mausoleum demanded her complete "submission."
You're the one who should submit... Angel's lips curled into something like a sneer. The outline of an iron-black flagpole took shape in her palm, but Salinger's Blood Banner above it flickered in and out of existence, unable to fully materialize, as though something was obstructing it.
But as Angel's spirituality spread into the Mirror World within the mausoleum, a projection