Habsburg woke up on his throne, startled.

In his consciousness, he could hear a message from the perpetually calm River of Blood—it was a summon from the Azure King Reynold.

Ever since the Sacred River had gone quiet, the great dark monarchs and princes rarely used such an ancient method of transmission. That was because the river would often not respond, not even a ripple. Hence, they couldn’t communicate through it.

Habsburg found this matter strange, but he decided to set out immediately after replying to the call. There was one continent between him and the Azure King’s location, so he didn’t really have the time to ponder on the situation.

All of a sudden, his steps came to a halt and his figure vanished from the spot, reappearing in the corridor of the castle’s seventh basement floor.

The corridor still retained its ancient sandstone walls. It was...