"I'm perfectly aware of all your internal and external secrets. From every gene to every plug-in, I see it all. Yet, I can't find any of your thoughts or memories, as if someone has hidden them away.

  Clearly, your brain, soul, and neural system, heavily modified by nanomachines, are functioning normally. But they're empty: not even a trace of specific information can be found.

  Truly marvelous. This entity behind you, hmm, I'm not sure if I should call it Divine or something else, but the name isn't important. I just want to know how it achieves all this. And what is this so-called Divine Space like? I'm very curious. Can you tell me?"

  BOOM!

  Just as Suhan was paralyzed with terror by this unknown entity infiltrating his body and soul, an icy, bone-chilling sound rang out in his mind:

  [Reincarnator Suhan has violated regulations by disclosing Divine information. Deduction of Reincarnation points as punishment is now being processed.]

  "No, no! I didn't disclose anything! I didn't do anything! You can't take my points..." Suhan frantically screamed in his thoughts.

  [600 Reincarnation points have been deducted. Remaining Reincarnation points: 950. Note: If the remaining points are insufficient to cover the penalty, the punishment will escalate to obliteration. Reincarnator Suhan is advised to exercise extreme caution in speech and action within the mission scenario.]

  "Aaahhhhh!!"

  While Suhan was screaming in fury and frustration in his mind, the sinister voice echoed again:

  "Although I can't perceive your thought patterns or information, your previously rapid breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure have just surged again. Even your thyroid hormones, adrenaline, and dopamine are secreting in massive amounts, clear indicators of a stress response. So, you've entered a state of shock? Why? Let me guess... did some terrifying information enter your 'black box' of a mind? Who sent it? Was it Divine? Did it... take your points?"

  "Pant... pant... pant..."

  Suhan gasped for air, his head drenched in sweat, his pupils dilated to their limit with fear.

  The voice in his mind was like an invisible demon.

  Suhan’s 【Thought Protection】 was clearly functioning, yet he felt as if he had been stripped naked before this monster.

  He didn't dare to respond, not even with a single word. He was terrified that the entity would deduce some fatal information, leading to his demise.

  But then, the sinister voice echoed once again:

  "Are you planning to ignore me? That’s not very polite.

  Ah, you were talking incessantly within that small place earlier, something about Bone Chalice Church, Blood of Sorrow, Blood Steel Tunnel, and Corpse Amusement Park. Something about lore, Grandma Wolf, obsession entities, and Bourdieu... Are you playing some grand adventure game? Is this blood-soaked amusement park... your next level? Answer me."

  [Reincarnator Suhan has violated regulations by disclosing Divine information. Deduction of Reincarnation points as punishment is now being processed.]

  "No, no, no! Please, Divine, you can't do this!" Suhan screamed in terror.

  Beside him, Qunce and Dueng reacted quickly, stepping forward to grab his shoulders. "What's happening? Suhan, what's wrong with you?" they asked, frowning.

  [800 Reincarnation points have been deducted. Remaining Reincarnation points: 150. Exercise caution in speech and action.]

  "Pant... pant... pant..."

  Suhan’s breathing was rapid, his pupils trembling. He turned to his teammates, about to speak, when the sinister voice in his mind spoke again:

  "You've repeatedly mentioned the term lore collection. Generally, a lore collection refers to a compilation of behind-the-scenes information, worldbuilding, character drafts, and plot details, not explicitly shown to readers, players, or viewers of a work like a book, game, or movie.

  So... what is this Ansel world in your eyes? A book? A movie? Or a game? If it were a movie, what would its title be?

  You and those other three are here to complete a mission, so this world is a mission world for you.

  Hmm, let me guess the title of this work or mission world. The location is the outer islands of the Sea of Blood, and the timing coincides with the war between the Sea of Blood and the Glorious Kingdom. It feels too deliberate to be a coincidence.

  Given how massive this Ansel world is, there must be many 'stories' connected to it. A single movie wouldn't be enough to capture it all, so the title must be part of a series.

  And this world has a distinct magical style, a story of witches. So the title might include words like Legend, Epic, or Mythology, wouldn't it?

  Continuing this thought, the title of this movie, book, or game should be... the name of the world plus the location and timing.

  No, perhaps we should add the names of the two powers, Glorious Kingdom Holy Church Legion vs. various monsters of the Sea of Blood. So, the title of this work is... 《Ansel Myth + Number + War of Light and Darkness》?"

  "No, no, no! Stop! Please stop!" Suhan screamed hysterically.

  He had a powerful intuition that if this unknown entity actually guessed the title... he was dead!

  The sinister voice continued, "Did I guess wrong? Well, that title is indeed a bit clumsy. Let me try a different angle. Holy vs. Blood Sea, Sacred vs. Blood... is this work a game?"

  Suhan felt a sudden chill, and his heart skipped a beat.

  "Aha, you had such a big reaction? Looks like I guessed correctly. Haha, I was just talking nonsense earlier, didn't expect it to actually be a game.

  So which installment is it? One? Two? Three? Four? Five... Oh? You had quite the reaction to Four. Looks like Four is it. Is it the number 4 or... Roman numeral IV? Haha, your heart rate is soaring again."

  "Hoo-hoo-hoo!"

  Suhan suddenly turned to Dueng and shouted urgently, "Quick, quick, knock me out! Now!"

  Dueng's thick brows furrowed. Without asking questions, he made a split-second decision and swung his hand toward Suhan's head.

  His speed was great, but someone else was faster.

  In that very instant, the voice in Suhan's mind spoke at an incredible speed:

  "The name of your mission world this time is... 《The Legend of Ansel Ⅳ: Battle of Sacred Blood》."

  DING!

  [Reincarnator Suhan has violated regulations by disclosing Sovereign information. Deduction of Reincarnation points as punishment is now being processed.]

  DING!

  [Reincarnator Suhan's remaining points are 250, insufficient to cover the penalty. Obliteration punishment is now being processed.]

  BUZZ!

  Time seemed to freeze.

  An unfathomable, terrifying force surged from the fractures of time and space, enveloping Suhan. Before he could even let out a scream, his soul and mind were instantly dissolved, and his physical body completely vanished at the elementary particle level.

  The entire process occurred without any energy reaction.

  Simultaneously, the psychic touch Seraphine had planted within Suhan's mind vanished into nothingness, leaving no trace behind.

  Time resumed its flow.

  WHOOSH!

  Dueng's slap missed its mark.

  In a single heartbeat, Suhan had been erased before his eyes like a pencil mark under an eraser.

  This scene didn't just leave Dueng and Qunce in a state of shocked paralysis; even Loneng, who had been completely absorbed in his Marugami game, dropped his PSP and leaped to his feet.

  "Suhan has been obliterated..."

  Loneng's eyes widened as he stared blankly at his teammates. "What... what just happened?"

  "I don't know."

  A look of ferocity flashed across Dueng's face as he gritted his teeth and hissed, "But I know we have an enemy hiding in the shadows... Damn it!"

  SCHWING!

  He clenched his fist, and three mystical silver claws suddenly shot out from between his fingers as he slashed fiercely forward.

  BANG!!!

  In an instant, three pitch-black, crescent-shaped blade-qi streaks tore through the air and slashed toward the roller coaster of bone and intestines.

  Hiss-hiss-hiss!

  Accompanied by piercing, screeching sounds, the attack moved like a hot knife through butter. A large section of the track atop the fleshy roller coaster, along with part of the bone wall, was cleanly sliced open by the heavy black blade-qi, sliding to the ground in a spray of bone fragments.

  THUD THUD THUD!

  The giant bone shards crashed onto the sticky, damp earth, sending out a series of dull thumps.

  Then, Dueng unleashed all six claws, venting his fury by swinging out dozens more blade-qi streaks that plowed like lightning toward the spiral mountain of corpses on the left.

  BANG! BANG! BANG!

  In a flash, a dense curtain of black blade-qi erupted from him, sweeping outward in a destructive arc, completely carving, shredding, and destroying the blood-soaked structures of the spiral mountain.

  RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!

  Fragments, explosions, and the sounds of collapse filled the air.

  Gazing at the site of destruction hundreds of meters away where bloody dust filled the air, Dueng, his body seething with black aura, turned to his two teammates and said coldly: "The situation has changed. Find Grandma Wolf immediately. Split up and finish this quickly."

  "Yes!"

  "Fine!"

  Qunce and Loneng acknowledged the order and immediately took off in opposite directions.

  ...

  Outskirts of the Glorious Kingdom, amidst the thousands of miles of scorched earth.

  Seraphine’s pitch-black eyes gradually returned to their blood-red state.

  "Interesting, I actually ran into Divine Space."

  She slightly raised her hand, and the ground several thousand meters ahead rumbled and rose. Accompanied by continuous roars, it surged up to a height of a hundred meters before suddenly coming to a halt.

  Next, extremely sharp gusts of wind erupted under her will, howling as they struck the surface of this Hard Earth Height.

  CRACK CRACK CRACK!!

  With brilliant sparks and violent grinding sounds, the rock-hard earth and boulders were visibly carved away.

  WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

  Millions of tons of dust and stone fragments drifted with the wind, covering tens of thousands of meters.

  After just half a minute, this circular plateau, several kilometers in diameter, had been sculpted by the swirling storms into a rugged, majestic, grayish-black rock palace.

  Seeing the palace complete, Seraphine, shrouded in a dense black light, flew through the air and entered, seating herself firmly upon a massive stone throne in the center of the vast hall.

  "Divine Space..."

  She slowly leaned her head on her hand, lost in memory.

  In her past life, Seraphine had read many web novels. Her knowledge of the so-called Lord God Space, Main God Space, and Divine Space was limited to those initial concepts.

  Back then, the stories were exciting but fictional. She never imagined that within this vast, unknown Grand Universe, a so-called Divine Space actually existed. Was this a coincidence, or some form of fated inevitability?

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  However, it was certain that the entity behind it was no less powerful than Great Eyes, and might even transcend its existence.

  "Phoenix of Profound Darkness, the Bronze Arrow, Great Eyes, the God of the Creeping Sea... and the entity behind Divine Space."

  Seraphine looked up at the vast sky and spoke serenely to herself, "There truly are many powerful ones."

  After a moment of silence, she reached into her chest, into the Witchcraft space within her soul.

  CLACK!

  Three items: a videotape, a black Rubik's Cube, and a crude ice coffin were brought out and tossed carelessly onto the dim floor before the throne.

  "I need to create a few subordinates to work for me."

  Seraphine pointed toward the ice coffin.

  CRACK!

  SCREECH!

  The hard, freezing ice coffin shattered, and Mox, imprisoned within for countless years, fell heavily onto the floor.

  Clearly, the years of freezing had completely destroyed his physical structure. Bones shattered, muscles decayed: he had become a mere pile of trash.

  However, given enough time, any injury, even being blown to ash, could be recovered by Mox, who possessed a conceptual undying body.

  "Mox · Wohsi."

  Seraphine gazed coldly at the handsome man on the floor whose consciousness was slowly awakening, and whose eyes were gloomy.

  Under her gaze, Mox’s hazy, newly recovered consciousness instantly froze. The dull, stagnant Spirituality deep within his mind was suddenly enveloped by layers of brilliant, blazing light.

  As a result, Mox’s original cold and murderous gaze toward Seraphine immediately transformed into one of absolute loyalty and reverence.

  BUZZ!

  Suddenly, waves of energy erupted and surged violently into his tattered body.

  CRACK CRACK CRACK!

  Bones, muscles, internal organs, skin... all injuries were healed in a single breath.

  At the same time, a restless and boiling, murky power erupted from Mox’s heart, roaring within his chest.

  Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

  With each heartbeat, this murky power replaced the stagnant, lifeless blood within Mox's body, surging through his veins into his limbs and organs.

  CRACK CRACK CRACK!

  Under the influence of this power, Mox’s physical and spiritual strength surged tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold at an incredible speed. Simultaneously, a scalding, volcanic anger ignited and roared within his mind. Terrifyingly, this fire of rage brought Mox unimaginable heat and agonizing pain.

  "AAAAAHHH!!!"

  Tormented by this burning rage and extreme agony, Mox couldn't help but howl toward the sky. The roar was so violent that the old hockey mask covering his ugly face shattered into fragments and scattered on the floor. At the same time, his outstretched hands materialized two dark, heavy weapons.

  One was a long-handled woodcutter's axe covered in twisted, sharp barbs; the other was a long-bladed machete similar to an Ontario ON-18.

  From her throne, Seraphine spoke serenely: "When actions are obstructed, when wishes go unfulfilled, when slaughter cannot be completed, rage will permeate the entire body and become the infernal fire of hatred, consuming oneself and incineration the enemy."

  "Mox, you will be perpetually scorched by the fury erupting from your own heart, burning your body and soul. You can forge this rage into blades, into ropes, into anything you desire."

  "This fury will grant you infinite energy, endless endurance, and boundless vitality. Your various arts of killing will become even more powerful. From now on, you are the messenger of my wrath, carrying out my will and killing every existence I command you to kill."

  With those words, a stream of information flew into Mox’s mind, which was as scorching and turbulent as a volcano’s crater. It contained the geographic location of the Corpse Amusement Park, as well as the appearances and auras of Dueng's group.

  "ROAR!"

  Mox raised his head and let out a bellow. He turned, shattered the floor beneath him, and accelerated away, leaving a SONIC BOOM cloud in his wake as he charged toward the distance.

  Gazing at Mox’s "energetic" retreating figure as he brandished his blade and axe, Seraphine leaned her chin on her hand lazily. She serenely recalled the "story" Suhan had told about Flare Star’s childhood while traveling in the UFO.

  That somewhat gloomy yet vaguely familiar story suddenly reminded her of her experiences when she first entered the Sentience Realm because of Sorren, the various things she encountered within a bizarre dream.

  The grayish-black savannah, the countless white giant sheep scattered across the world, the vast snowy forests, the dilapidated wooden house, the werewolf wearing a girl's skin and an orange hooded cloak disguised as a young child, and that eerie nursery rhyme it sang.

  Seraphine immediately understood that the nursery rhyme was Flare Star Bourdieu's history.

  "Interesting. The information of his life’s experiences actually crossed vast space-time to 'leak' into the Projected Layer of the Sentience Realm corresponding to the Solar System as a physical dream, and I just happened to stumble upon it."

  "Tsk, what a string of coincidences. Everything is coming my way, both important and trivial matters, without exception."

  "Ah, it makes one wonder... is there someone hidden behind the scenes, deliberately arranging all of this to make it... more theatrical?"

  Seraphine slowly sat up, the blood-red light flickering in her eyes. She whispered coldly:

  "Bourdieu's life, in the eyes of Suhan and the others... is merely a background story for a character in a video game called 《The Legend of Ansel》, and the same goes for this entire Ansel world."

  "So... what about me?"

  "Will my long journey of life also be some kind of... story?"

  "Is there someone... who is 'watching' my experiences through some means?"

  The moment this thought appeared, she fell silent, sitting on the stone throne without a word, like a still, cold statue.

  No one knew what Seraphine was thinking.

  Perhaps her hyper-frequency mind was currently boiling with thoughts at a level commoners couldn't understand or even perceive.

  One moment, thousands of ideas exploded into existence. The next moment, they were all violently shattered and replaced by new ones.

  Three hundred and sixty moments per second.

  Every second, millions of conjectures, plans, and schemes surfaced within Seraphine's vast mind. But in the next second, all of it would be discarded, updated, covered, and replaced.

  Curiously, the new thoughts weren't necessarily superior to the previous ones. Many were simply scrambled repetitions or shattered fragments, and many appeared utterly absurd and chaotic.

  If one were to use specific and precise words to force a description of Seraphine's current trajectory of thought, one could say that even the term "non sequitur" would be vastly inadequate to describe it.

  It more closely resembled the legendary "Uncanny Valley of Words" effect. It was an "Extreme Distortion" of thought that, should an ordinary person "glance" at it, would cause their sanity to plummet, inducing a deep, instinctive revulsion that would force them to avert their gaze.

  Yet, perhaps it was an illusion, but within this distortion, there seemed to exist a faint, blurred order: an order that seemingly only Seraphine herself could decipher and organize.

  During this frantic, demonic contemplation, she would occasionally cast a gaze, profoundly cryptic and eerie to the extreme, toward every direction.

  She looked to the left, to the right, upward, or behind her, as if she were searching for something.

  Only after a long while did Seraphine completely halt her "Chaotic" thinking, smiling lightly as if nothing had happened: "This is a pseudo-problem that can neither be proven nor disproven, haha. There is no need to continue considering it."

  "Furthermore..."

  She tilted her head slightly, her seriousness instantly shifting into a deliberate confusion. "Generally, isn't it only the Secret Realms that can project information into the Sentience Realm? How could the story of Bourdieu, living within the world of Ansel, project to the outside? Could the vast world of Ansel... also be a Secret Realm?"

  After a mere moment of thought, unable to find an answer, Seraphine immediately dismissed the matter.

  "Forget it, it's not a matter of great importance. Like the previous issue, continuous rumination only serves to waste mental energy."

  With an inscrutable smile, she half-closed her eyes and casually pointed across the void toward the videotape lying silently on the floor over a hundred meters away.

  WHISH!

  The air near her vibrated, and then waves of hateful emotions manifested.

  These emotions slowly solidified, suddenly transforming into the assembly and accumulation of countless atoms and molecules invisible to the naked eye. In seconds, she "manifested" a video camera from the 1990s of the previous century.

  At the same moment, an old-fashioned, bulky cathode-ray tube TV appeared out of thin air, sitting perfectly and squarely atop the video camera.

  A second later, the pitch-black videotape rose into the air, arcing through the void with a WHISTLE as it was easily inserted into the video camera’s open loading bay.

  CLICK ~

  The tray slowly retracted into the machine.

  As if a switch had been flipped, the TV turned on automatically with an eager hum.

  SIZZLE SIZZLE SIZZLE

  The screen lit up instantly, flooded with static snow.

  At the same time, a gloomy, chilling atmosphere manifested around the television and rapidly spread through the room.

  CRACK CRACK CRACK.

  The temperature dropped, and black frost began to creep across the solid stone floor.

  Seconds later, amidst the dense, flickering static, a dark forest faintly appeared. The static grew thinner as the forest became sharper. In an instant, the noise vanished entirely. Beneath the gnarled trees of that forest, a gloomy ancient well emerged.

  At that very moment, a terrifyingly foul and evil ghostly aura erupted violently from the TV. Along with it, the black-haired, face-covered Sachiko, clad in white, scrambled from the well. she pounced toward the screen on all fours like a famished, ferocious beast.

  "NYAH!!!"

  With a shriek shrill enough to shatter the Vitality of an Evershield Body, the howling Sachiko reached out and crawled from the screen.

  But just as half her body had emerged, Seraphine, sitting on her stone throne a hundred meters away, slowly opened her scarlet eyes.

  The entire hall fell silent.

  Sachiko froze on the spot... motionless.

  At this moment, her infinite, nearly materialized resentment and hate instantly congealed under the gaze of Seraphine’s blood-red eyes.

  Her mind was miraculously forced from chaos into clarity. She looked into those scarlet eyes and felt as though she were seeing... a God!

  The God of Infinite Resentment and Hatred!

  "AH!"

  Sachiko raised her pale face and let out a weeping shriek. It was a cry filled with blood-red, fanatical reverence and longing, like a devout believer finally encountering their deity.

  Deep within her twisted dark spirit, the dull and shattered Spirituality, which had nearly faded away, erupted with a brilliant and blazing light.

  In an instant, Sachiko became Seraphine’s Familia.

  "Resentment is born from one’s own envy, anxiety, sorrow, grief, depression, and loneliness," Seraphine said.

  She rose from her throne and slowly walked toward the prostrate Sachiko, her voice faint.

  "Accumulated malice from others, whether directed or undirected, will also breed Resentment."

  She approached the submissive ghost, placed her hand on its head, and said coldly:

  "A physical form is unnecessary. You should 'live' within the hearts of all beings, to promote their Resentment and trigger their Hate."

  BUZZ

  Thousands of ancient Gendaya spells—icy, dark, and insidious—formed layers of intricate ritual arrays, enveloping Sachiko from head to toe.

  This was the ultimate Curse Seraphine had comprehended from the vast codices left by Vassago.

  The Malice Demonic Curse.

  She didn't intend to just place this curse within Sachiko’s spirit. Instead, she wanted to transform her from a vengeful ghost into a "living" curse with an evil will, much like a Memetic entity.

  Once born, it could absorb external Resentment and Hatred, multiplying, spreading, and mutating without limit. It would possess all beings and ignite the terrifying malice within their hearts.

  Those afflicted by this curse, even if they harbored only a sliver of Resentment, would see it swell over time. Depending on their strength, they would eventually be consumed by overwhelming malice, becoming a 【Curse Vessel】 for the Malice Demonic Curse. Their bodies and souls would mutate, leaving no path for return.

  Furthermore, every Curse Vessel would become one of Sachiko’s infinite clones, allowing her to possess them without limit.

  They would become her eyes, ears, hands, and feet.

  Sachiko would also be able to bestow her own innate abilities—such as Telekinesis, Teleportation, Paralysis, Illusion Creation, Space-Time Distortion, Gravity Control, Dream Control, and Mind Control—onto these Curse Vessels, transforming them into Vengeful Spirits with terrifying powers.

  Even a powerful Shining Sun or Resplendent Moon practitioner, if afflicted by this demonic curse, could only forcibly suppress their Resentment to prevent their thoughts and emotions from being disrupted. They would have to exert all their effort to avoid Sachiko’s possession, as truly dispelling the curse would be absolutely impossible.

  Only someone whose power reached the Sage domain, or whose research into Witchcraft, sorcery, and secret rituals attained a mythological level, could truly escape the curse's malicious influence and prevent Sachiko's possession.

  These Curse Vessels, while using Sachiko's various superpowers to retaliate and vent their malice without restraint, could spread the curse simply through sound, blood, physical touch, or even fragments of their bodies or souls.

  Even the energy emanating from a Curse Vessel’s body or soul would carry an extremely potent toxicity. Any ordinary person’s flesh or spirit, if even lightly touched, would gradually mutate. Their minds would irrevocably turn to darkness, and they would slowly become a new Curse Vessel.

  And this was only the beginning.

  As the number of Curse Vessels grew and the collective scale expanded, Sachiko, as the core of the curse, would also evolve new and more terrifying abilities. Seraphine herself was curious as to what those evolutions would be.

  More importantly, although Sachiko’s power would increase as the number of Curse Vessels grew, she wouldn't be limited by them. This meant that even if the number of Curse Vessels were drastically reduced in a short time, her strength would not be affected; it would only slow the rate at which she grew stronger.

  The moment an afflicted person was completely mutated into a Curse Vessel, their inner Spirituality was transmitted through an imperceptible line of karma, passing through Sachiko and reaching Seraphine. Meanwhile, the Curse Vessel’s soul essence would be devoured from a distance by Sachiko, the curse's core. All that remained in the body was a fragmented, aggressive remnant soul filled with Resentment.

  BUZZ

  The void trembled.

  Streams of intensely dark, evil power continuously swirled and interwove within and without Sachiko’s body.

  While her form became increasingly ethereal, her aura grew even more terrifying and uncanny.

  The process of transforming a vengeful ghost into Memetic information was incredibly complex.

  Only after several hours did Sachiko silently vanish from within the palace.

  The ritual was finally complete.

  Sachiko had completely lost her physical form.

  She was no longer a ghost, nor did she possess a soul.

  She had become a purely informational lifeform—a segment of Memetic information imbued with a terrifying toxicity.

  Seraphine withdrew her hand and spoke coldly into the invisible air:

  "Sachiko, from this day forward, you are the messenger of my Resentment."

  "Go, go to the outside world, spread the Malice Demonic Curse to infinite beings. Let this world... be soaked in boundless Resentment."

  A faint, gloomy and icy voice echoed:

  "...Yes... my God..."

  The palace remained silent and unchanged.

  But Seraphine knew that a terrifying demon had descended upon the trillions of beings in the Ansel world.

  Next, she slowly turned her gaze toward the black Rubik's Cube sitting silently on the floor—the Lament Box.

  In the original 《Hellring》 movies, there were more than two hundred such boxes.

  Each possessed the power to connect to the Hell of Pain.

  Seraphine was somewhat curious whether this so-called Hell of Pain was a world within the Realm of Phantasm or a space-time domain in the physical universe.

  At the same time, she wanted to see if the supreme deity of this Hell of Pain, Leviathan... could provide her with enough amusement.

  "Demons obsessed with the art of tormenting flesh and soul..."

  She smiled lightly, "Can they endure the pain of a Demon from the other side? This is an interesting question."

  As she spoke, the Rubik's Cube floated into the air, rotating with a clicking sound.

  As it turned, the vast, empty hall around Seraphine began to twist and blur, as if it were crossing a boundless space-time to connect to an unknown domain.

  At the same time, the outer islands of the distant Sea of Blood welcomed a new guest.

  A guest filled with a rage that sought the slaughter of thousands.