Chapter 158 - The Silent Heir

The crimson sky continued to bleed overhead as Dante and Selena made their way across the increasingly unstable landscape of the Kingdom of Smoke. The eternal battle of thrones cast shifting shadows that moved independently of their celestial sources, creating pools of darkness that seemed to writhe with their own malevolent intelligence. The bone chains around Selena's torso had reached her shoulders now, their integration with her nervous system allowing her to perceive the realm's underlying architecture with a clarity that was both illuminating and deeply disturbing.