The clash at the palace gates still rumbled behind them, a relentless grind of steel on steel, punctuated by the roars of men and the guttural shrieks of devils. Yet here, beyond the thunder of that war of attrition, silence lay heavy—an oppressive quiet draped over the blackened walls of the Devil King's palace.
Mia moved first, her boots brushing against the charred stone as she led her squad away from the frontlines. Her silvered armor caught only faint glimmers of the crimson glow that bled from the palace itself, the towering walls rising like jagged cliffs of onyx. The air was colder here, touched by the constant ebb of dark energy that leaked from the cracks between the stones, a chill that gnawed its way under skin and armor alike.
