The chaos ended too suddenly.
That was what unsettled everyone most.
One moment—
the barrier surrounding Nacrifa trembled violently beneath the attacks of something ancient beyond the mountains.
The sky screamed.
The palace shook.
Darkness spread through the kingdom like living smoke.
And Sebastian—
Sebastian stood at the center of it all like the eye of a storm barely restraining itself from becoming catastrophe.
Then suddenly—
everything stopped.
No more impacts against the barrier.
No more monstrous roars tearing through the heavens.
No more violent trembling beneath the earth.
Silence swallowed the kingdom whole.
Not peaceful silence.
Not relief.
The kind of silence predators created before they struck again.
The kind that made instincts scream.
The crimson barrier still hovered faintly above Nacrifa's skies, flickering weakly like a wounded living thing.
But whatever had been attacking it—
had stopped.
That frightened everyone more.
