"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—!!"
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
"Urghh…" Latania clutched her abdomen in agony, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as if trying to hold her soul from tearing apart. Every nerve in her body screamed. Her muscles trembled. She fell forward slightly, gasping through clenched teeth.
Then, forcing her chin up with raw willpower, she raised her eyes toward the horizon—
toward the obliterated ruins of the Imperial Palace.
A ruined monument, once the heart of pride, terror, and unquestionable authority.
Now, it was nothing more than smoking rubble, shattered towers, broken marble, and flame-lit bones.
She stared at it without blinking.
And she listened.
She listened to a music made of screams.
A macabre symphony played by the voices of the dying and the damned.
Howls echoed from within the collapsing remains—screams of betrayal, disbelief, and pain.
The palace that had once dominated half the capital's skyline had been reduced to a dying grave.
