The chamber air hit Rui like a physical force—thick with medicinal herbs and something else beneath, something wrong.
Corruption. Decay. The scent of mortality that should never cling to an immortal being.
Her father lay motionless on a massive stone slab in the center of the room.
Black veins spread across his exposed chest, pulsing with sickly crimson light. His normally imposing figure seemed diminished, hollowed out.
"Father?" Rui whispered, her voice small in the vast chamber.
Kee Kee clung tightly to her shoulder, uncharacteristically silent.
Rui approached with cautious steps, each one heavier than the last.
The Demon King's breathing came shallow and irregular, his crystal blue eyes—eyes she'd inherited—closed tight in pain even through unconsciousness.
She had never seen him this vulnerable before.
The Demon King had always been power incarnate, an immovable force of nature. The sight of him now, reduced to this weakened state, sent ice through her veins.
