Maria stood before the widening gate, leaning against her scythe with a wide grin, a few drops of blood marred her striking face, painting it with faint crimson.
Ba-dump… Ba-dump… Ba-dump…
The gate's heartbeat resounded like a bell of destruction and despair, its colours darkening with each passing moment, nearing black.
The abandoned building, which housed the gate, began to shake violently as stone and dust fell from it before the sound of a glass crack echoed like the fall of heaven's judgment.
CRACK…
The crack was followed by heavy thuds produced from the bodies of the Initiate-ranked arcane knights that had gone unconscious from the presence of the being who was about to step into the realm of the living from the realm of dreams.
Thud… Thud… Thud…
A heavy, white tentacle slithered out of the dreamgate, followed by another and shot forward toward the strongest person present—Maria.