Nioh took another sip, then continued.
"Of course," he said smoothly, "we're still missing a few guests."
He tilted his head toward the vaulted ceiling, as if listening to something only he could hear.
"But not to worry..." he added, pausing mid-sentence, lips curling into a grin.
"They should be arriving—"
A heartbeat of silence.
"Right about now."
Whispers rippled through the ballroom.
"Who?"
"What guests?"
"What does he mean?"
Eyes turned toward the entrance.
Nothing.
Three seconds passed.
Then—
ROAR!!
The shriek of a dragon tore through the ballroom like thunder through crystal. Guests clutched their glasses. Magic barriers flared instinctively. Servants ducked.
The great doors buckled inward as space itself cracked. A triangular void-rift split open at the threshold, jagged like shattered glass. Along its burning edges, golden runes sparked into being, swirling with celestial precision—each one a sigil of a great house.
