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 shimmered 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.
