There was no sound in the hall.
Even the emerald torches looked like they had forgotten how to flicker.
Everyone was waiting.
Everyone was holding their breath.
Even the marble seemed tense under their feet.
Then the footsteps came.
One heavy step…
The walls of the hall shook with it.
A second step… like someone was dragging a mountain tied in chains.
The third step was slower, controlled, steady… human, but carrying something that could not be described.
The doors of the royal hall opened slowly, as if the hinges were trembling.
And the monster appeared first.
The giant abomination.
It entered like a moving shadow over the ground.
Its head was the head of a massive wolf, but a wolf born from a nightmare.
The jaws were long and twisted, like stone blades, and black teeth dripped burning acid that evaporated when it touched the marble.
In the center of its forehead was the vertical eye.
A huge shining eye, moving independently of the body.
It shrank…
Expanded…
Blinked as if laughing.
Its gaze alone was enough to silence an entire city.
On both sides of the head were dozens of human faces.
Eyes crying blood.
Twisted mouths, some opening and closing as if screaming.
Other faces were laughing, short broken laughs, like mockery from dead people who were never buried.
The torso was swollen, pulsing, like a sack filled with suffering.
Under the skin, hundreds of tiny arms moved, swimming, pushing, scratching their way out… like human worms searching for light.
On the sides, two giant arms like those of a broken gorilla,
And behind them…
Two new human arms had grown, each the size of a stone pillar.
The back was a forest of human arms tangled together, fighting, tearing, then growing back again.
The lower body was another disaster.
The legs of a giant black wolf…
And around them, four bloody spider legs striking the floor with a clicking sound that could turn hair white.
The monster entered… and stopped.
The air froze.
Breaths vanished.
The insane aura coming from it was like a cold poison wave hitting their souls.
Then Ashen entered.
His entrance wasn't loud or grand… it was so calm that even calmness itself felt dangerous.
A fifteen-year-old boy.
One meter and eighty-five tall.
Hair red like clotted blood.
Crimson eyes with no emotion at all.
His expression held nothing.
No fear.
No anger.
No curiosity.
Not even interest in anyone present.
And yet…
A wild aura was coming from each of his steps, an aura stronger than the monster's in a way the human mind could not understand.
When the two of them stood beside King Korval…
Every illusion of power in the hall disappeared.
One of the nobles couldn't endure it.
He tried to keep his pride, but his voice came out shaking:
"Y… Your Majesty… does this thing even have a mind?"
The words weren't directed at the monster, but it heard them immediately.
The massive vertical eye turned…
Focused on him directly.
Pierced him.
Drank his voice.
Pulled his soul for a brief moment.
Then a voice came out…
A voice like thousands of throats screaming, breaking, and speaking at the same time:
"Another insult… and I will make your memory a tear that rips itself apart."
The last word sounded like bones snapping inside a dream.
The noble fell to his knees without realizing it.
Fear cut through his blood.
No one dared look at the monster again.
Anyone who tried to look at Ashen…
Looked away immediately.
Their instincts screamed inside their souls: "Death."
Something in his presence was older than logic.
Older than fear itself.
Looking at him felt like staring into an abyss opening under your feet.
The entire hall sank into silence… a silence unlike normal silence.
It felt like the world stopped for a moment.
Only King Korval…
Was smiling coldly.
A thin, straight smile with one message:
"I am the one in control here."
Korval spoke in a calm, clear voice filled with confidence no one could rival:
"Now… since everyone is here… let's begin the plan."
Everyone froze.
What plan?
What step could follow after this terror?
But before anyone could speak…
A massive, savage aura exploded in the hall as if a gate of hell had opened.
Above the heads of the crowd…
A giant crimson eye formed from pure killing intent.
And at the bottom of the hall…
A second eye formed, larger and deeper, pulsing like a heart crushing light.
The scene felt like an announcement from something older than creation.
The monstrous eyes began examining the souls of everyone present…
Tearing their masks…
Reading their blood…
Searching their memories…
Judging all of them.
Everyone…
Except Ashen, the giant monster, and King Korval…
Collapsed.
Some dropped to the floor instantly.
Others convulsed as if their souls were being pulled out.
Others screamed with muffled voices.
The leader of one sect raised his head with terrifying difficulty, close to death from the pressure:
"Y… Your Majesty… what… is this…?"
But Korval did not answer.
He only gave a cold, devilish smile.
A quiet smile.
A smile that told them:
"What you just saw… is only the beginning."