The chamber erupted into chaos the instant the duke's mask shattered.
Black stone walls groaned as crimson sigils flared to life, chaining the doors and windows in barriers of blood-light that pulsed like living veins. The grand chandelier swayed violently overhead, crystals tinkling like dying bells before several shattered in the sudden heat.
The fire in the massive hearth extinguished with a violent hiss, as if drowned in shadow, plunging the room into a stifling darkness broken only by the sickly, unnatural glow of the demon's emerging form.
The duke's body twisted in agony, bones cracking like dry wood under immense pressure as obsidian scales erupted across his once-elegant skin, gleaming wetly in the dim light.
