Maxi took a moment to catch his breath. The air on the second floor of the main castle felt heavier, as though it clung to his lungs and made every inhale a small battle. He leaned slightly against the wall, heart still thumping from the encounter, and turned to Angelina.
"What was that all about?" he asked.
Angelina rose from her deep curtsy one she'd held the entire time Sunwu was visible. She dusted herself off and said casually, "I guess Master Sunwu doesn't like you."
Maxi raised an eyebrow. Master Sunwu?
He narrowed his eyes, the name turning in his thoughts. Maybe that reality check from Colen opened Angelina's eyes too wide. Wide enough that now she called everyone in the Bloodheart family master, even the ones she didn't know personally.
He knew she didn't know Sunwu. She'd bowed behind the door, not in front of him like the highest form of respect demanded. Instead of standing firm through the wind and bowing directly, she'd hidden, curtsying in safety. It was either fear… or cheek.
"Why'd you curtsy behind the door?" Maxi asked carefully, avoiding saying Sunwu's name aloud. Somehow, just saying it felt like it might summon him.
Angelina smirked. "Because he could see either way."
Maxi blinked. "How?"
"Because of his eyes," she said simply, eyes narrowing. "They gave off this… presence. Like a father or a king. I could feel him watching me. Even through the walls. It felt natural, instinctual like he was always watching, even before the door opened."
Maxi felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple. Did that mean… he saw me coming? Through the walls? The floors? The thought rooted itself in his spine like frost.
Maxi looked at the back at the door and seemingly invasioned the paint figure of Sunwu watching him even through the door as his eagle like golden eyes tracked his every movement
He stayed quiet for a moment before muttering, "Let's just go see Mōkō and Dallas… quickly, if you don't mind."
Angelina nodded and gestured. "Follow me."
They moved back downstairs, heading right past the castle's indoor garden until they reached a set of ornate stairs adorned with a golden carpet. When they reached the top, Angelina stopped and began tapping her foot twice on the second-to-last step, three times on the third-to-last, and once on the final one. Then, with a casual hop from the last step back to the first, the stairs shifted.
A hidden compartment opened as the entire staircase fell down, revealing and connecteding to a spiraling staircase descending into darkness.
Angelina curtsied once again. "Down we go."
Maxi stared in awe but followed her, each step echoing in the brimstone-lined tunnel. The walls shimmered with weaponry and armor, lit by floating orbs that pulsed softly, like breathing stars. Ahead stood a massive gate that was seemed to be made as the same black material used on Sunwu's door and beyond the gate was ancient sandstone, identical to the one where Techxin and Tengen had thier fight of conditions.
Two figures stood in the distance, near the middle of the training or fighting grounds mid-conversation.
Angelina snapped her fingers twice.
The gate shimmered and dissolved into a swirl of black and silver stars, fading like mist at dawn. She stepped forward but gestured for Maxi to take the lead a subtle gesture, but one with heavy implications. A servant never walked ahead of their master unless they were opening a door or under very specific exceptions.
And this wasn't one of those exceptions.
If Angelina walked ahead, it meant she was in charge or stronger. Both were arguably true one more then the other but ether way it was a sigh of disrespect not just to the master but to the person meeting with the master. Maxi nodded, acknowledging the silent test, and stepped forward past the threshold.
As they approached, the two figures came into focus Mōkō and Dallas.
Mōkō wore a black sleeveless jacket with the Bloodheart crest emblazoned in red across the back. His pants were wide-legged, ink-black, marked with pale white symbols like ancient seals etched in cloth.
Dallas turned, and Maxi saw his face clearly for the first time.
He looked young. Handsome in that regal, indifferent way as if he didn't care about the mysterious of anything none the less life. It seemed as if the only thing that mattered to him was his own life and no one else's. A cool prince with blood red eyes wrapped in a red kimono and hakama, his air both effortless and unreadable.
but Colen had another word for this outfit this worlds man for this outfit and Maxi knew it well since he asked all about it
so in other words Dallas was dressed in a his traditional Kamati clothing