The notes of the Music Box drifted through the empty Royal Hall like rootless duckweed.
There was no visible source, yet the melody was beautiful and lilting.
But in an instant.
An abnormal change came over her body. It was as though all the fresh blood she had just consumed had lost its effect. Her skin began to peel away, and the blood flowing from her cheeks turned into countless tiny red worms. They squealed amid the beautiful, lilting melody, then dissolved into smoke in swaths.
Her entire body began to tremble, half of it dissolving into blood worms. Her crimson eyes fixed on the floating eyeball as her expression changed drastically.
Her body seemed imprisoned on the Throne, unable to move as it rotted and dissolved.
Even making a sound.
Became almost impossible amid that sweet melody.
And throughout it all, the eyeball watched her transformation with an utterly emotionless gaze.
Finally.
Ten seconds after the Music Box's melody began.
The music stopped abruptly.
The blood-red figure seated on the Throne began gasping violently and uncontrollably, as though she had just crawled out of an icy pool. Only then did the tiny worms crawling over her body stop dissolving into mist. Her gaze upon the eyeball turned crazed and hateful.
Yet even so, she had not uttered a sound throughout the immense upheaval.
"...How could He possibly... have given you His authority..."
The eyeball did not answer her question.
"Leave immediately. I expect to see you and your followers in my world within ten hours. A warning: do not linger here. They have already noticed me."
Splaaash-
The eyeball quickly dissolved into a pool of viscous matter, breaking itself down.
Soon, only the blood-red figure on the Throne remained in the empty hall. Suppressed ferocity flickered in her eyes,