"Greetings Lady Evangeline, I am Jeremy Flamme Valcyrion, the director of Flamme Research and Development. May I have a short conversation with you?" said a man with auburn hair in a deep bow, appearing before Evangeline. It was already the twenty-seventh person who had stopped her midway as she tried to leave.
"We will converse another time," Evangeline said, finally rejecting the gesture as an ominous feeling surged through her.
"Lady Evangeline, just thirty—no, only fifteen seconds," Jeremy insisted, desperation clear in his voice. He had waited half an hour for his turn. He couldn’t miss this chance when he didn’t even know when or if he would meet her next.
"Since I am in a hurry, it will not be beneficial for either of us, as my mind will be diverted," Evangeline declared as she moved through the surrounding guests, reaching the stairs leading to the upper floor.
"Where did Ignis take the lord to?" she muttered, climbing the stairs with quick steps. "And why did the lord follow him when he doesn’t like their company?"
She should have been glad that Maximilian was finally interacting with the heirs of the other dragon clans, but for some reason she could not shake off this uneasy feeling creeping over her. Her heartbeat quickened with each step she took closer to the second floor.
"My Lord, please do not do anything irreversible," she murmured, reaching the wide hallway of the second floor. One side had multiple doors at regular intervals, while the other wall was plain, with only one door at its middle.
With her divine sense, she could see through all the rooms on her left, but her senses were blocked from prying beyond the only door on the right.
She reached the door and pulled the wooden handle. It didn’t even budge.
"A barrier?" Her eyebrows rose in suspicion.
She formed a series of hand signs, and a magical circle of blue lightning materialized on the door handle. She pressed her palm against the circle on the door.
The door moved inward only slightly before shifting back to its original position. Flickers of black lightning struck the magical circle, destroying it completely.
"That’s the lord’s lightning," Evangeline murmured. She understood that the barrier had been cast by Maximilian.
She formed another series of hand signs, this magical circle bearing patterns more complex than the previous one.
As the one who had taught Maximilian how to form arrays, she naturally knew how to decipher the barrier he had cast.
When she pressed her hand against the circle again, the door pushed inward, the black lightning flickering as it was seamlessly enveloped by the blue lightning of the cast circle, as if inviting it in.
Crack!
The door tore open. From inside emerged a terrifying pressure that shook the entire tower. Layers of thick, dark mana spread from the tower across the entire Flamme clan, freezing every citizen in place.
It was not the usual Soulforce pressure of a dragon of a higher realm that suppresses the body. It was far more ominous, suppressing the soul itself, threatening to tear it apart should anyone dare to move. Citizens felt as if a devil were whispering in their minds, eating away at their sanity.
"M-my Lord..." Evangeline gasped, her eyes widening, her hand rising to her mouth as she took in the catastrophe inside the hall.
The unconscious bodies of the elemental dragons of snow, water, earth, and flora were piled atop one another.
At the top of them stood Maximilian, crimson liquid covering his face and half of his black hair. In the grip of his hand, he held Ignis by the throat, whose limbs trembled as he struggled to breathe. Deafening thunder echoed, bolts of black lightning dancing around his body.
Evangeline’s gaze shifted to the hundreds of glass rooms around the hall, her eyebrows twitching at the sight within.
She immediately understood the reason for Maximilian’s rampage.
"I told you, Vivi," Maximilian said, his head slowly turning toward the entrance, his eyes glowing a golden hue. "If I came to the banquet, it might be the last day for these trash."
A cracking sound echoed as he clenched his hand, and the body of Ignis went limp. He fell to the stone floor with a thud. "Look what I have done now."
"L-lady Evangeline, take the lord and leave this place quickly," Arthur said, lying propped against the wall beside her, his face covered in bruises.
His words snapped Evangeline back to reality; she had been too stunned to say anything.
In the blink of an eye, she appeared before Maximilian, floating in the air.
"You have done nothing wrong, my lord," she said, holding him by the wrist. The dark lightning vanished instantly from his body before it could touch her.
She glanced at the terrified women imprisoned in the rooms as she continued,
"Once the sovereign learns the reason for your actions, he will surely take your si—"
Before she could finish her words, the ceiling above them began to shake, debris falling to the floor as cracks spread along the wall of the tower.
Crack!
The upper part of the tower broke open, revealing the sky outside. Six majestic dragons appeared, descending onto the nearby buildings around the broken tower, surrounding it on all sides.
The crimson dragon among them, molten lava flowing through the gaps of his scales, held the upper part of the tower in the grip of his massive claw, his sharp crimson eyes fixed on Ignis, who lay unconscious on the marble floor.
"Even if you are the prince, this tyranny is unforgivable!" the divine dragon of Fire and leader of the Flamme clan declared, his heavy voice echoing throughout the entire clan.
"What is this madness, Your Highness?" the divine dragon of Snow and leader of the Neige clan demanded, a snowstorm striking Maximilian at his very words, throwing him off the bodies of the young dragons.
"Do not cross the line, Lord Iskander," Evangeline said in a sharp tone, grabbing Maximilian by the arm before he could fall to the floor. "You are speaking to your future ruler."
"From what we can all see, it is His Highness who has clearly crossed the line here," said the divine dragon of Earth, his body formed of thick, irregular rock, auburn wings at his back lined with numerous pores.
"My poor son," the Divine Dragon of Flora murmured, vines and wood spreading across her emerald form. Her eyes remained fixed on Felix’s bleeding figure, buried beneath the bodies of young dragons.
Her eyes sharpened on Maximilian in intense fury while he stood fearless before the presence of six divine dragons. Her voice grew louder, exploding like a storm as she demanded, shaking the very fabric of reality with her words alone.
"I demand justice, Almighty Sovereign!"
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