Deep in the underground palace, the air was so thick it was almost heavy.
A blood pool, with a diameter of a hundred meters, stretched across the core of the underground, its surface shimmering with a sickly yet sacred dark golden hue.
Around the blood pool, five thousand imposing figures knelt on one knee.
They once belonged to the three most central and untouchable forces of the Empire—the First Legion of the Imperial Capital, the Dragon Blood Legion symbolizing the soul of the Empire, and the Emperor's personal Imperial Guard.
But now, they no longer retained the complete contours of humanity.
Their thick armor was no longer a defense; the exposed skin showed a rough, dark gray covered with bizarre scales, beneath which dark red veins faintly flowed, moving slowly like magma crawling beneath a cooling crust.
Unnatural bones protruded at their necks and spines, some breaking the skin to form half-unfolded bone wings.
