Glorious procession

Cela sneakily moved toward her single window and parted the curtains just enough to see what was outside through a thin slit. Her blood froze immediately as her trembling hands clutched the window frame. She could not believe what she was seeing. A towering man led a procession, a victory parade. He looked like a menacing warlord. His black saber rested casually against his shoulder, but what drew her gaze - and churned her stomach - was the grotesque trophy impaled upon it: a severed head, bloodied and contorted in its final, agonized expression.

Her heart stopped as her mind caught up with her eyes. That was Specter's head. The monstrously evil second-in-command, the real brains behind Blackjack's reign, had been slaughtered.

Cela clamped her hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp, but her shocking findings didn't end there. An iron chain dangled in the man's other hand. Her eyes followed its length until they reached the figure at the other end.