Joanne_Rusiana
JL Gaspar destroyed the throne that had imprisoned his family and returned to the life he chose beneath the stage lights.
But ancient kingdoms do not remain leaderless for long.
By day, JL performs beside AHOF, surrounded by cameras, music, and thousands of cheering fans. By night, he resumes his place as head of the Crimson Alliance-a hidden empire of vampires, witches, spirits, and creatures that have begun turning against one another in their king's absence.
Then someone claims the forbidden Ninth Seat.
Soon, a staff member disappears after leaving her face behind. A manager stops blinking. Security cameras record a tenth member rehearsing with AHOF, even though only nine boys entered the room.
And somewhere beneath Seoul, a congregation in red masks is learning their names.
At its center waits Vesper Vale-the Red Saint, an inquisitor JL condemned centuries ago. With a celestial feather stained in golden blood, Vesper has created servants immune to JL's command. They do not kill their victims.
They remove their faces, consume their memories, and continue living in their place.
When an unreleased AHOF song begins summoning the dead, the boundary between performance and ritual collapses. Every fanchant becomes an invitation. Every round of applause gives the masks another body. Every viewer watching from home becomes part of the ceremony.
To save his members, JL must enter a cathedral built from stolen identities and face an enemy who knows the one truth his kingdom never understood:
The immortal Bloodborn Calamity cannot be frightened for his own life.
So Vesper will make him watch everyone else lose theirs.