The massive vault door groaned open, exhaling a dense wave of tainted abyssal Qi that coiled like smoke around the Dread Duchessâs feet. Her veil fluttered, and her eyes glimmered with a predatory calm as she stepped into the eerie chamber.
The sight before her was not one of wealth or grand treasure, nor were there any secrets she was hoping for, but of ruin and horror, just like what Ace and Zaria had witnessed.
The chamber was vast, hollow, and silent save for the faint hum of runes still flickering weakly upon the walls. Chains hung like serpents from the ceiling, all converging upon a single point where a figure suspended in midair, mutilated, bound, and pulsing faintly with sealing sigils.
Her gaze sharpened the moment it landed on him, and unlike both Ace and Zaria, she was neither weak nor suppressed as her abyssal law sense pierced the layers of suppression and rotting Qi!
There it was, faint but undeniable. The same abyssal aura that once belonged to the true City Lord of Black Hermit.
"Khazar!"
There was no mistaking it, and a cold fury ignited in her chest. She had stood beside the imposter. She had spoken to him, ordered him, mightâve even relied upon him, all the while this mockery had been wearing Khazarâs face.
Thatâs also why she was able to sense the familiar aura from the chained figure, no matter how suppressed it was, and confirmed the chained figureâs identity.
Nonetheless, to be deceived so completely, right under her throne, within her domain, the humiliation burned hotter than her rage.
At that moment, her gloved fingers curled slightly as abyssal Qi stirred like the tempest restrained by will.
"So," She murmured, voice low and venomous, "It was him all along. The real Khazar... reduced to this."
As she stepped closer, she could sense the faint residue of that same nefarious aura that had erupted from the fake Khazarâs corpse moments before. It lingered like a disease upon the chains; it was twisted, hateful, and corrosive. Her expression darkened even further.
âThat same corruption...that same taint. They orchestrated this and dared to bury their schemes in my city. If not for that strange Qiâs eruption, Iâd still be blind to it all...â
The thought cut like a blade.
The realization that she, the Dread Duchess of Obsidian Myriad Kingdom, a Half-Abyssal King whose will could crush armies, had nearly been outplayed by some unseen hand gnawed at her pride.
If that imposterâs plan had succeeded, if this secret had remained buried, both she and her kingdom mightâve paid a catastrophic price.
Her eyes narrowed. "No ordinary infiltrator could have achieved this. The false Khazarâs control method, his mannerisms, even his aura, were all too perfect. Whoeverâs behind this... isnât just powerful, they are meticulous!"
She paused, frowning faintly as she thought,
âBut then... where did that Qi come from? That ripple of time law imbued with that intoxicating Qi... I still sense its residue, faint, foreign, but it didnât originate from him!â
Her gaze swept the chamber once more. The chains, the walls, and the distorted aura, none of them carried the trace of that Qi or time law.
This made her believe that the temporal Qi had originated from somewhere else or someone else, and considering the fake Khazarâs reaction, she was certain that a third party had intervened.
Her instincts sharpened, "This vault...itâs not just a prison. That fool or that mastermind behind him wonât be foolish enough to build something like this just to keep a weakling imprisoned!"
She began scanning the area, her law sense piercing through every inch of the stone. The deeper she probed, the more she realized this entire vault had been constructed with precision far beyond mere containment, as if it were a systemâa layered formation of concealment, suppression, and deception.
However, right at that moment, her eyes froze when something on the ground beneath the chained Khazar shimmered faintly.
It was a reflection of gem light beneath the dust. She descended slowly, the heels of her boots clicking softly against the runic floor.
There, right below the figureâs suspended shadow, words had been âcarvedâ, no, they were inlaid, into the obsidian stone itself using perfectly cut Abyss Gems.
Moreover, those Abyss Gems were tier-7, at the very least, which was a ridiculous waste of fortune to use them like that.
However, for the Dread Duchess, who was filthy rich, what froze her heart wasnât the extravagance, but it was the message itself, which read...
"I leave the rest to you now, and pay more attention to your backyard!
"Donât let someone else clean it up for you, for itâs not polite and unethical!
"Anyway, your incompetent self still owes me...
"From yours truly, Unlucky Boss!"
The Duchess stared, and for a moment, silence reigned.
Then her veil fluttered slightly as a single exhale slipped through her lips and a sound halfway between a hiss and a laugh rang...
"Which vermin dared?!"
Her expression shifted rapidly between anger, disbelief, irritation, and finally, reluctant amusement, all warring beneath her poised demeanor.
The dark lines creased her forehead as she muttered under her breath, "Unlucky Boss, is that what you called? What a ridiculous name..."
But even as she spoke, a faint realization dawned, and her amusement faded back into wary calculation.
Whoever this âUnlucky Bossâ person was, he was the source of that strange Qi, not Khazar, nor the imposter.
Nonetheless, she was now both curious and wary about this âUnlucky Bossâ because it was clear that this person had infiltrated so deeply into the Lord Castle and then used the time law to open the master lock, which even she couldnât do without using force.
Lastly, that intoxicating Qi which were something that even she hadnât sensed in her life.
What made this âUnlucky Bossâ even more interesting is that âheâ left behind not just chaos, but also a message, addressed to her.
Her gaze lifted toward the chained figure once more, and her eyes gleamed coldly beneath her veil,
âIncompetent fool!â
The next moment, her gaze again lingered on those Abyss Gems, and a faint smile, dangerous and regal, curved her lips, "Interesting, very well. Iâll repay this favor by not hanging your head at my doorstep but only this once!"
The air trembled slightly as her aura rippled outward, sealing the chamber once again.
However, the faint echo of the âUnlucky Bossâsâ taunting words seemed to linger, glinting faintly in those gem-carved letters, a mocking reminder that even the Dread Duchess had been outplayed!