The chandelier of skulls cast blood-amber light, twisting live tadpoles in crystal goblets into grotesque shapes. Garret shoved an entire roasted night-owl into his maw, grease dripping onto Serena's velvet throne.
"Stop eating like a starved ghoul." The Queen kicked a wine barrel, spilling crimson onto Raine's discarded armor. "Finish this, I'll teach you prosthetic maintenance."
Ellen huddled in pillar shadows, her starlit scales bandaged. She ground herbs mindlessly, bitterness mixing with blood—Garret's "celebration brew" with wolf molars.
"Little Ellen~" Lieutenant Louis materialized, his monocle chain brushing her bandaged ear. "Change those wraps. I smell... holy rot."
The mortar shattered. Ellen's pupils slithered, starlight leaking through bandages. Raine's vambrace burned as he turned—just as the girl drew a sanctified dagger.
The tip hovered over his heart when Serena's wing snapped her wrist. Bone crunched, the blade clattering with incandescent scripture.
"Bravo." Louis applauded, silver glinting in his sleeve. "Best assassination attempt this century."
Garret seized the lieutenant's throat. "You knew?"
"Easy, mutt." Serena ripped Ellen's bandage off, revealing a glowing gear-shaped brand. "Mind-control sigil... Herman's personal work."
Raine tilted the Blade under Ellen's chin. "Explain."
The girl's starlit blood boiled into holy steam. Her eyes flickered mechanically: "Target exposed to Dragonheart... Request purge protocol..."
"Down!" Serena's shriek shattered glass.
A holy bolt from the brand torched ancestral portraits. Raine dodged the second strike, the Blade's eye pivoting toward Louis—
The lieutenant was smiling.
Garret's elbow crushed Louis' ribs, but he dissipated into smoke, his laughter lingering: "Check the moon at midnight."
Ellen collapsed, scales bleaching white. She clawed her brand, exposing gears beneath flesh: "Sister... Norton Abbey... Please..."
Serena drew a tracking circle with her blood. The runes revealed Herman at the cellar door, mind-controlled nobles kneeling around him.
"No wonder our raids failed." Garret crushed his goblet. "Rats in our damn pantry."
Raine's armor vibrated. "The Blade senses something below."
Serena lifted Ellen by the throat. "Abyssal resonance and holy compatibility..." Her fangs pierced the girl's shoulder. "Prime specimen."
"Stop!" Raine's Blade intervened.
The Queen licked blue-gold blood. "Intel secured." She flung Ellen into a candelabra. "Herman's built toys downstairs... with my blood and dragon marrow."
Steam pipes exploded underground. The castle tilted, chandelier smashing against Garret's wolf-spine. Louis' hologram reappeared, holding a black-haired girl—mirroring Ellen's tattoo.
"Deal?" The lieutenant's voice glitched. "The Blade for—"
Ellen's scream pierced louder than sanctified steel. Her scales sloughed off, revealing a Church-made metal spine. Serena hauled Raine through the roof as chains burst from the cellar—each tipped with dragonblood skulls.
"Choose." The Queen wrenched bronze shrapnel from her shoulder. "Save the brat's sister, or gut Herman?"
Raine's wings fully extended. "Third option."
The Blade's eye snapped open. Northern winds carried ancient horns harmonizing with its song. Deep below, something colossal stirred.