What happened that night was not a simple explosion.
Beneath the entire royal estate granted to the Valentine Family for the event, a magic circle of absurd proportions had been prepared in advance.
It did not occupy a single room, a tower, or merely the foundations of the palace.
The matrix extended through the entire property, hidden among stones, gardens, underground corridors, and support structures, formed by thousands of connected runes that remained dormant until the exact moment of activation.
When they all lit up together, they produced something close to nuclear-class magic: a technique created not to strike one person, but to erase an entire region all at once.
Grace noticed first.
Her thermal sensitivity caught that microscopic change in temperature only an instant before full activation, and her scream crossed the hall.
"PROTECT YOURSELVES!"
Less than a second existed between the warning and the explosion.
For Victor, it was enough.
