The silence following the Duchess's destruction lasted less than two seconds.
Then Arven Manor truly began to die.
The first rupture ca from the foundations. A deep rumble reverberated throughout the main hall, so violent that the entire floor tilted abruptly to the left. Columns cracked in half. Part of the upper balcony simply gave way behind Damon, plumting amidst burning beams, frozen marble, and ice-covered debris.
The cold still radiated uncontrollably from him.
The nearby walls continued to freeze under his presence, forming thick layers of crystal over cracked stone and agonizing organic structures hidden beneath the mansion. The heat of the fire and the supernatural ice collided violently around the hall, creating dense clouds of steam that made everything partially invisible.
"MOVE!" Cedric roared, his voice already failing from the blood that dripped from his armor.
The remaining veterans imdiately began retreating down the side corridors as entire sections of the ceiling collapsed behind them. Cherry practically dragged one of the surviving soldiers down the stairs while still keeping the crossbow pointed at any creature that might move again.
"IF ANY OF THOSE THINGS RISE AGAIN, I SWEAR BY THE GODS—"
"THEY'RE DEAD!" Elizabeth scread above the sound of destruction.
"I DON'T TRUST ANYTHING IN THIS HOUSE ANYMORE!"
Another rumble shook the mansion.
This ti from below.
The organic structures hidden beneath the marble began to collapse along with the ritual. Black veins pulsed uncontrollably through the walls before freezing and shattering under the cold released by Damon. The effect was grotesque. Parts of the house itself looked like rapidly necrotizing flesh while others exploded into ice crystals.
Morgana still held her father's body.
Duke Arven was breathing with extre difficulty, but the dark veins were already rapidly disappearing from his skin. His face remained absurdly pale. Exhausted. Consud. Yet human again.
Free.
"Morgana." His voice ca out too weak.
She imdiately brought her face close to his.
"I'm here."
For a mont, the entire war seed to disappear around them.
The duke slowly raised his hand—trembling—and touched his daughter's face as if still trying to confirm that she truly existed.
Then part of the ceiling collapsed near them.
The shock brought everyone back to the brutal reality.
"We have seconds, not minutes!" Elizabeth rushed through the rubble as she assessed the collapsing structure. "The arcane core of the mansion has completely ruptured!"
Cherry stared in horror at a nearby wall literally imploding inward.
"WHATEVER THAT ANS, IT LOOKS HORRIBLE!"
Cedric limped heavily to Morgana. Blood continued to flow from the monstrous wound on his chest, but even so, he helped to partially lift the Duke.
"We need to leave now."
Morgana nodded.
But Damon still didn't move.
He remained standing near the frozen fragnts of the destroyed Duchess while the cold continued to seep from him in increasingly dangerous waves. Ice had already covered half of the upper balcony. Entire columns cracked as they froze from the inside.
Elizabeth saw this imdiately.
And paled.
"Damon."
He didn't answer.
His breath was white.
Slow.
Deep.
His eyes remained fixed on the scattered remains of the creature.
As if part of him were still trapped there in that instant.
Then the ground cracked beneath his feet.
The balcony tilted violently.
Morgana turned around imdiately.
"DAMON!"
He finally seed to awaken.
But too late.
Part of the upper structure collapsed completely between them. Marble, beams, and ice exploded down the corridor as Damon disappeared into the frozen smoke.
"DAMON!" Cherry scread.
Morgana tried to lunge forward imdiately, but Cedric grabbed her arm.
"No!"
"LET GO!"
"The floor is giving way!"
As if to prove it, the entire balcony trembled again. A gigantic crack opened through the marble between them, completely separating the upper structure into two unstable sides.
On the other side of the rubble, Damon slowly erged from white smoke and ice.
Still alive.
But sothing was wrong.
Very wrong.
The cold around him was getting worse.
The very stones cracked as he passed. Flas instantly died out within a radius of several ters. Steam froze in the air.
Elizabeth watched in horror.
"He lost control of the release."
Cherry blinked rapidly.
"…On what level of badness exactly?"
Elizabeth didn't answer imdiately.
Because the hallway answered for her.
The floor beneath Damon froze completely.
Then it exploded.
Fragnts of marble and ice flew across the hall as a brutal wave of cold swept through the entire upper floor. One of the nearby veterans partially froze his arm just from being too close.
Cedric pulled the man back imdiately.
"Everyone back!"
Damon staggered.
For a mont he almost fell along with part of the destroyed structure.
Morgana felt her stomach sink.
Because now she understood.
He was too exhausted.
Whatever had awakened within him on that balcony… was no longer fully obeying.
Another part of the ceiling collapsed between them.
The fire was spreading too fast now. The main hall had transford into an impossible mixture of fire and supernatural winter. Parts of the mansion burned violently while others remained completely frozen.
And at the center of it all…
Arven was finally dying.
The duke coughed up blood.
That brought Morgana back to the mont imdiately.
"We need to get him out of here."
Cedric nodded.
"There's an exit through the east wing. The old tunnels should still be intact."
"Should they?" Cherry repeated, horrified.
"I'm trying to keep morale up."
"TERRIBLE STRATEGY!"
Another rumble echoed below them.
Now the main hall itself was beginning to sink.
Elizabeth turned imdiately to Damon again.
"Can you walk?"
He slowly raised his eyes.
There was ice spread partially across the side of his face now. Small crystals ford on his skin like frozen cracks.
But he nodded.
Slowly.
Then he began to wade through the rubble toward them.
Each step froze more of the structure. Morgana imdiately realized he was trying to contain it.
Trying to stop the cold from affecting the others.
And it was proving costly.
Too expensive.
The entire corridor trembled once more as an explosion from the west wing pierced part of the mansion's internal structures. A wave of fire swept through the lower halls as columns began to crumble in sequence.
"NOW!" Elizabeth shouted.
The group finally began to retreat through the destroyed upper corridors. Cedric and another veteran partially carried the Duke through the rubble while Ingrivid followed at the rear, watching for any residual movent of the dead creatures.
But the mansion was not yet finished dying.
The walls continued to pulse occasionally.
Final spasms of the destroyed ritual.
In so corridors, black structures erged partially from under the marble before freezing and shattering. Grotesque sounds echoed through the foundations below them as sothing gigantic agonized beneath the entire property.
Cherry watched everything with growing horror.
"I'll spend the rest of my life avoiding aristocrats."
"Sensible decision," Elizabeth murmured.
They quickly crossed a side gallery partially consud by fire. Portraits of the Arven family burned on the walls as rain poured through the shattered windows.
Lightning illuminated the interior of the mansion.
For a mont, Damon watched one of the paintings fall in flas to the frozen floor.
An entire family smiling at a future that had long since died.
Morgana noticed his gaze.
But said nothing.
Because there was nothing to say.
Another collapse shook the corridor.
This ti too close.
Part of the ceiling collapsed right behind the group, completely crushing the passageway they had co through seconds before.
Cherry looked back in horror.
"…That was absurdly close."
Cedric coughed up blood.
"Keep walking."
The veteran could barely stand anymore. The wound in his chest worsened by the minute, but he still continued helping to support the Duke.
Morgana approached imdiately.
"Cedric—"
"Don't waste your ti with ."
"You're dying."
"Perhaps." He gave a small, tired smile. "But today seems like a good day for it."
She didn't answer.
Because part of her knew he ant it.
The east wing appeared partially destroyed before them a few minutes later. The aristocratic corridor was now tilted due to the structural collapse of the foundations. Rainwater flooded everything through the outer cracks while fire and smoke spread through the lower floors.
But the old passage was still there.
Hidden behind a partially collapsed wall.
Cedric practically fell to his knees when he reached it.
"There."
Ingrivid and Damon quickly removed the debris while Elizabeth nervously examined the ceiling above them.
"The whole structure will co down in minutes."
"Then let's be quick," Cherry replied imdiately.
The underground passage finally opened with a deep tallic thud.
Cold air surged from the tunnel.
Safe.
Stable.
Human.
For the first ti that night, it seed impossible.
Morgana helped her father enter first.
The Duke was barely conscious now. But before disappearing into the passage, he slowly turned his eyes to the burning mansion behind them.
His ho.
His lineage.
Centuries of history.
All ending in a single night.
And yet…
There was relief in that tired look.
Because it was finally over.
Cherry entered right behind the surviving veterans while Ingrivid covered the rear.
Elizabeth stopped near the entrance.
Waiting for Damon.
He ca last.
Still enveloped in that aura of absurd cold.
But now worse.
Much worse.
Ice spread across the entire corridor behind him. The walls cracked as they froze. The very air felt heavy near him.
Elizabeth observed this carefully.
"You need to stop."
"I know."
His voice ca out low.
Weak.
"Then stop."
He slowly raised his eyes to her.
And for a mont Elizabeth perceived sothing rare.
Fear.
Not of the mansion.
Nor of death.
Of himself.
Then another collapse swept through the entire wing.
The argunt ended there.
"GET IN!" Morgana shouted from the tunnel.
Damon finally stepped into the passage.
The instant he crossed the entrance, part of the corridor behind them simply vanished. The ceiling collapsed completely amidst fire, smoke, and crystallized ice.
The underground passage trembled violently.
Dust fell from the ancient ceiling as the group hurried through the narrow corridors beneath the mansion.
Behind them…
Arven Manor was dying.
The sound of the collapse continued to echo through the stones above. Deep rumbles. Explosions. Entire sections of the property crumbling under their own weight.
And then ca the final sound.
A roar.
Deep.
Structural.
Like a gigantic creature finally falling dead.
Arven Manor collapsed completely upon itself.
The silence that followed seed impossible.
The group continued walking through the ancient tunnels in absolute silence.
Exhausted.
Wounded.
Covered in blood, soot, and ice.
No one spoke for several minutes.
Because everyone understood the sa thing.
They had survived.
But nothing would erge from that night intact again.
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