The grand main hall of Valerian Hall was steeped in an eerie silence. The air was thick with the stench of death, and the dim, flickering light from the chandeliers cast grotesque shadows across the once opulent space.
Dozens of people sat scattered around the hall, their eyes wide open yet disturbingly vacant, as if they were trapped in a living nightmare. Their slack expressions and shallow breathing gave the impression of puppets with their strings cut, a grotesque illusion of life. It was as though their minds had been sealed away, leaving only empty husks behind.
At the center of it all, an abomination sat in terrifying tranquility.
The Phantom Lady.
Her nearly translucent skin shimred like fragile glass, her figure unnaturally still as she reclined atop a mound of lifeless bodies. Her crimson eyes, shockingly human in their intensity, were fixed on the massive creature lying beside her.
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The creature—Arkat, the beast Evangeline lovingly called "Abby"—resembled a monstrous panther, its sleek, black fur glistening in the dim light. Its eyes were closed, but its presence alone radiated nace, a primal force waiting to be unleashed.
The Phantom Lady's pale hand moved delicately, almost lovingly, as she caressed Arkat's massive head, her sharp, long fingers brushing across the beast's fur.
She didn't speak, but the slight curl of her lips was enough to suggest a sick enjoynt of the scene before her. The dead bodies beneath her throne were twisted and broken, their lifeless faces frozen in expressions of terror. The blood pooled around her, but her feet were unstained, as though even the blood had no will to touch her.
The horror of the scene was undeniable, yet it seed like just another mont in her long, twisted existence.
Suddenly, Abby's ears twitched.
The giant panther-like beast sniffed the air, its sharp instincts imdiately sensing a disturbance. Its muscles tensed, and its eyes shot open, gleaming yellow in the darkness.
The Phantom Lady's brows—if one could call the faint, almost non-existent ridges above her crimson eyes "brows"—raised slightly. Her lips parted into a smile, thin and haunting.
"Do you sll more insects, Abby?" she asked, her voice ethereal, echoing through the vast hall with an unnatural softness. She turned her gaze slowly towards the entrance, as if already expecting the intruders. Her pale fingers stilled their caress, her eyes narrowing with a faint glint of interest.
Abby let out a low, nacing growl, but then suddenly jerked its head to the opposite side of the hall. Its nose flared as it sniffed the air again, this ti with more urgency. The Arkat's hackles rose, a deep rumble building in its throat as its large claws flexed against the marble floor.
The Phantom Lady's smile didn't fade as she followed Abby's gaze.
"..."
"BOOOM!"
The wall on the far side of the hall suddenly exploded with a thunderous crack. Debris and dust filled the air as a large fissure split open in the once-immaculate wall, revealing a group of four figures stepping into the chaos.
Instructor Elara erged first, her gentle gaze surveying the carnage with disbelief and anger. Behind her, three students—Ella, Anthony, and Layla, all in their fourth year—followed closely, their expressions grim but growing resolute.
As the dust settled, the four took in the scene with a shared sense of disbelief. Their eyes flicked from the rows of the mindless, entranced people, to the several corpses beneath the Phantom Lady, and finally to the beast Abby, whose growl grew louder, more threatening.
Ella's lips twitched into a wry smile as she muttered, "Well... this is worse than I imagined."
Anthony's hand tightened around his sword hilt, his own smile humorless. "They always make it look easier in the lectures."
Instructor Elara's eyes remained fixed on the Phantom Lady, her brow furrowing slightly. "Stay focused," she warned, her voice sharp and steady. "This isn't going to be an easy fight."
Across the hall, the Phantom Lady stood up slowly, her movents graceful and unhurried, as though completely unfazed by the sudden intrusion. Her crimson eyes glead with amusent as she tilted her head, regarding the new arrivals with detached curiosity.
"You passed through those two?" she said, her voice dripping with cold mirth. "How quaint."
"Grrr..."
Abby growled louder, its form shifting as it readied to pounce, its gleaming eyes locked on the intruders.
The tension in the room reached a suffocating peak as the two sides stared each other down, the air thick with anticipation.
"Heh."
The Phantom Lady's lips curled into a twisted smirk as she rose to her feet, her long, spindly fingers brushing off nonexistent dust from her translucent dress. Her crimson eyes, gleaming with malicious intent, lingered on the four figures at the far side of the hall.
"Hmph, you all," she whispered, her voice barely audible, but the malice behind it was palpable. "Take them down."
As if they had been waiting for that very command, the rows of vacant-eyed people scattered throughout the hall began to stir. Their movents were jerky at first, unnatural, as though their muscles were struggling to obey commands they didn't fully understand. But in the next mont, their heads snapped towards the group of intruders—Instructor Elara, Ella, Anthony, and Layla.
Their eyes, once vacant and empty, now glowed a sinister red, locking onto the four like predators spotting prey.
Instructor Elara's eyes widened in horror. "No…" she whispered, recognizing the faces of so of the people now approaching them—rchants, underworld kings, nobles. People who had once been alive and full of life, now turned into mindless thralls.
Anthony let out a hiss, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword. "They're being controlled as we were told," he muttered. "What do we do? We can't fight them, they're—"
"—our people," Ella finished, her voice thick with dread. She drew her blade, though her hand shook ever so slightly as her eyes swept over the approaching horde.
Layla, her sharp gaze flicking from the red-eyed puppets to the Phantom Lady, clenched her weapon. "I don't care," she spat, her tone sharp. "I can kill them if all if you let ."
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