The Imperial Palace had shed its veneer of clinical regality, transforming into a feverish tableau of disarray. Its corridors, once the silent witnesses to centuries of poise, now shuddered under a fury so palpable it seemed to thicken the very air. Amidst this storm stood the Emperor, a colossus of scorched nerves, looming over his guards like a predator over broken prey.
"Gone?" he hissed, the word cutting through the tension like a razor. His voice didn't merely carry; it vibrated with a lethal, serrated edge that promised ruin. "In a heartbeat? Have you all succumbed to collective madness? This is the sanctum of an empire, not a roadside bazaar! How does an Empress dissolve into nothingness from the marrow of this fortress while a thousand eyes remain blind?"
