章 368: <Spoiler>

— Confederacy - New York —

Buried beneath the bustling streets of New York City, veiled from inquisitive eyes, the clandestine laboratory of the Alchemont clan hummed with forbidden energy. The air, thick and oppressive, was a noxious cocktail of sulfurous fumes and the earthy fragrance of countless exotic herbs and poisonous blooms. Their potent essences mingled within bulging arcane vials nestled amongst gleaming alchemical tools. The metallic thrum of unseen machinery intertwined with the faint, lingering scent of alchemical reagents, painting the scene with an unsettling silence.

Walls lined with countless shelves housed a mesmerizing array of glass vials, each containing iridescent liquids that bubbled and simmered with an otherworldly luminescence. Strange symbols and sigils, etched into the very stone, emitted an ethereal glow, casting flickering phantoms that danced across the chamber floor in a macabre ballet.