A suffocating gale of crimson blood-qi erupted from the top of the Grand Amphitheater.
Up on the central floating platform, First Director Cain raised both clawed gauntlets high above his head. His six-hundred-year-old Half-Step Golden Core blood-foundation boiled like an erupting volcano, staining the alabaster ceiling with writhing shadows.
“Auction Master Black-Beard!” Cain roared, his voice echoing like grinding millstones across the fifty-kilometer sunken city. “Lock the central clearing vault! Do not release a single spirit stone from the escrow array!”
Down on the jade stage, Auction Master Black-Beard shrank back behind his podium, clutching his bone gavel in sheer terror.
“F-First Director Cain!” Black-Beard stammered, cold sweat pouring from beneath his shark-tooth eye-patch. “The Sovereign Clearing Pillar has already settled the transaction! The eight hundred million stones are locked in the ancient Pre-Flood escrow network, and the Seventh Relic has already fused with Chairman Lin’s compass! Even if I wanted to reverse it, the ancient laws of Atlantis—”
“Then to hell with the ancient laws of Atlantis!” Second Director Lilith shrieked from the second throne.
Her purple silk veil tore away completely as black succubus wings burst from the back of her gown. Her manicured claws dripped with dark purple venom as she glared down at Little Guo’er and Lin Mo.
