The Grand Duke's Son Is A Heretic-Chapter 514

The room did not look the same.

The walls seemed farther away. The shadows in the corners were thicker. The air felt heavy, like water pressing on the skin.

Near the far side of the chamber stood a man in royal robes.

Rein.

His crown rested loosely on his head. His face still looked like him, but his eyes were filled with deathly chillness.

Thin black veins ran beneath his skin, and something shifted in his throat, like there was another heartbeat inside him.

Next to him, the air split open without a sound.

A tall abyssal creature or human with an obscure figure stepped through. Its body was too thin, and its limbs were too long. Its joints bent the wrong way. Its face had no eyes or mouth, only a narrow slit that slowly opened and closed.

Kael didn’t know if it can be called human or not.

Martina’s chest felt tight. "They were not in the tunnel at all..."

Kael exhaled through his nose. "The room itself is the trap."

The floor near the throne opening trembled. The dark surface that looked like steps rippled like water. Pale shapes pressed against it from the other side, as if something enormous was pushing against a thin wall.

Rein smiled. His lips moved a fraction later than the expression.

"You came all this way for me," he said lightly. "I should feel honored."

His gaze shifted to Martina, and his smile turned crooked.

"Long time no see, sister."

Martina did not look away. A faint smile touched her lips, but her eyes were cold.

"How could I not come?" she said. "My dear brother is doing such a good job playing king. As a caring sister, I should do my part."

Rein let out a short laugh. It sounded almost normal.

"Still like this," he said. "You never change."

The shadows along the walls thickened further. Martina tried to step sideways, but for a split second she saw herself still standing where she had been.

An afterimage.

A delay.

Kael spoke quickly. "Time here is off. Don’t trust what you see. Listen to me and move when I say."

The cloaked figure took a step, but its foot touched the ground before its body followed.

Reality felt slow and wrong.

Behind them, where the door had been, there was only a solid wall now.

The candles bent sideways as if gravity had tilted.

Rein raised one hand, casual, almost bored.

"You figured out the mouth," he said. "So let us skip the easy part."

A faint cracking sound ran through the air.

Then the entire room tilted slightly, as if the world itself had shifted out of place.

The tilt of the room did not stop. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The chamber felt like it had sunk under deep water. The walls seemed farther away, and the shadows in the corners stretched longer than they should. The air pressed on the skin, heavy and slow.

Martina kept her eyes on Rein, but she shifted her stance, testing the floor. It felt firm, yet something in her senses told her the ground was not where it looked.

Kael did not blink and attacked.

The dark opening behind the throne rippled again. Pale shapes still pressed against it, but now the movement slowed, as if whatever was behind it had also paused.

Rein lowered his hand slightly and glanced to his side.

The space beside him did not tear this time.

It deepened.

Like a patch of night growing thicker until it took shape the figure stepped out.

Not twisted like the lesser demons. Not stretched or broken.

He looked almost human.

Tall. Thin. Robes black as ink, yet they did not reflect light. Long dark hair fell down his back. His face was calm, almost gentle, and his skin was pale like someone who had never seen the sun.

But the air around him sank.

The candles dimmed.

The faint sound of breathing from the false staircase stopped, as if even that thing knew to be still.

Martina’s throat tightened. "That guy.."

Kael’s voice was quiet. "He is bad news."

The man’s eyes lifted.

They were not glowing. Not monstrous. Just deep and still. Like looking into water that had no bottom.

A faint pressure spread from him. It did not slam down. It simply existed. And because it existed, everything else felt smaller.

Rein’s tone lightened. "You came at the right time."

The man in black did not look at him.

His gaze stayed on Kael and Martina.

"So these are the ones," he said softly.

His voice was clear, but the sound seemed to reach their minds before their ears.

Martina felt her heartbeat grow loud.

Kael’s fingers tightened on his weapon, but he did not move.

Rein smiled faintly. "Let me introduce you properly. A Demi-God of the Abyssal Sect."

The words did not echo, yet they filled the room.

The man in black tilted his head slightly, studying them like a scholar might study a strange specimen.

"You did well to notice the distortion," he said. "Most would already be inside."

His gaze drifted to the false staircase, then back.

"But it changes nothing."

The air between them thickened.

It felt like invisible hands pressing from all sides.

Martina tried to take a step toward Kael, but her body felt heavier. As if the world had grown denser.

Kael spoke, low and firm. "Do not resist the pressure. Breathe with it."

Rein chuckled. "Still giving advice in someone else’s territory."

The Demi-God’s eyes shifted to Martina.

"You resemble him," he said, meaning Rein. "But your aura is different. Unstable."

Martina did not answer.

She simply raised her sword.

The blade trembled, not from fear, but because the air itself resisted being cut.

Kael felt it too.

This was not like fighting demons.

This was like standing before a mountain that had decided to look back at them.

The shadows at the edge of the room curled inward.

The candles went out one by one.

Only the faint, colorless light from the false opening behind the throne remained.

And in that dim glow, the Demi-God of the Abyssal Sect took a single step forward.

The sound of that step echoed like a stone dropped into a deep well.

"Dodge!"

SWish!

Kael jumped shoving Martina aside and next moment a loud bang emerged.