The Crown of Golden Thorns suddenly lit up, a blinding emerald-green venomous light bursting from deep within its feathered crest.
Like a signal flare forcibly ignited, it drew a response from the entire Sanctuary Hall.
The pink, tongue-coated floor beneath Louis abruptly lost its shape. Its surface collapsed and melted, turning into highly viscous digestive fluid in an instant.
At the same time, the golden ribs on either side began closing inward at vicious angles, as though intent on pinning the intruder dead in the center.
Crimson Battle Aura erupted beneath Louis's feet, forcibly driving back the thick slime. It churned around him but could not touch even the soles of his boots.
He then kicked off the contracting wall of bone, using its tremendous inward pressure to accelerate in the opposite direction.
Boom-!
A crimson footprint blasted cracks across the golden ribs.
Louis shot like a cannonball straight toward the twisted golden tree at the center of the hall.
Yet the instant he became airborne, the hall switched to its next defensive phase.
A low, resonant hum sounded deep within the ceiling.
Countless translucent emerald thorns descended, piercing the napes and spines of the twenty-four shriveled corpses embedded in the fleshy walls on either side.
The corpses convulsed.
Spectral green flames ignited in their hollow eye sockets. The thorny threads pulled taut, turning them from exhibits into weapons.
Twelve corpses broke free of the fleshy walls first. Their bones pierced their shriveled skin as they landed, their movements stiff but still carrying the instincts of their former lives.
In life, they had been the mightiest commanders of the Templar Order, sword saints, adjudicators...
All had been among the Papal State's finest talents. Now they were merely combat puppets called into service again and again.
The other twelve remained embedded