Scarlet Crater

On the highest floor of Mursa's Golden Tower. 

Nazarene and the Chief Syndic simultaneously gazed in the same direction, roused by a sudden stir in the flow of Mana. Their eyes locked onto a faraway spot beyond the balcony's gilded window, where a reddish hue slowly rose akin to a blood-sculpted pillar. 

"High Thaumaturgy, huh?" The Augury muttered with half a smile. 

"The gory stench left on the Sea of Malice suggests a less-than-refined use of the Blood Sorceries. The fact that it comes from the site of your adorable little selection..." Her pulpous, violet-tinged lips curved ominously as she sized Gallicles' distraught expression. "It seems worrying about me left you open to the mingling of the Nobilitas. Are you certain you don't want to head over there, Chief Syndic?"

Gallicles snapped out of his daze with a grunt, focusing back his attention on the matter at hand.