The instant Asher moved, the air about him shattered like delicate glass. The abyss itself awakened, attracted to the new power seething within him. Tendrils of unadulterated void energy wrapped around his arms, speaking forbidden knowledge he alone could understand. The being before him—a creature of the will of the void—faltered for the first time.
"Impossible," it croaked, its form-shifting nature recoiling. "You cannot control the abyss."
Asher curled his fingers, and the abyssal power coursed through his veins. He used to fear this darkness, but now he had it under control. It no longer wanted to devour him—it listened to him.
"Watch me," Asher growled.
The void beast howled and, in the span of an eyeblink, struck. Its body broke apart into a thousand shadows, striking at once from all sides. Asher was prepared, however. He dodged the attack like a ghost, his body breaking apart into dark mist before reforming elsewhere. He moved through the attack, each step flowing and purposeful. And then, with a snap of the wrist, he called jagged void swords forth from the very depths of the void and hurled them at the beast.
The monster let out a scream as the void-cutting blades sank into it, its shape distorting. Its wounds, once healed with the speed of thought, now seethed with corruption. Asher smiled. The void could consume all things, but it could be made to devour itself.
Ardyn, shaken by the last chaos of the fight, stood silent and aghast. "That power. Asher, are you still human?"
Asher was silent. He did not know himself.
The void beast, looking upon its own fate, altered course. It withdrew its broken body and started to evolve, compacting itself into a singularity of darkness. The room shook. The ground beneath them creaked as gravity itself distorted under the immense strength of the abyssal core materializing within the beast's core.
"It's attempting to fold reality itself!" Ardyn cried out. "We must act now!"
Asher tightened his fist. One opportunity was all he had.
He breathed, diving deeper into the nothing than ever before. He could feel its pull—its hunger—and still he did not fall. Instead, he molded it. Shaped it. Twisted it to his command.
A whirlpool of black burst around him as he flung his arms up. Then, naked and screaming, he released it all.
A titanic tear of abyssal strength ripped through the field, striking the void core. The shock rocked the shattered Cathedral, its force potentially unmaking all. Darkness clashed with darkness, the abyss destroying itself.
For an instant, it appeared the beast would remain standing. Then its shape dissolved. The singularity trembled, its brilliance flashing madly.
"No—!" the monster breathed, its shriek warping as its own being was unspooling.
With one final surge of willpower, Asher drove his resolve ahead. The abyss reacted accordingly. The void-beast let out one last shriek as it was torn to shreds, its body dissolving in on itself.
There was silence.
Asher stood among the wreckage, his chest heaving. The emptiness still spoke to him, its voice still reverberating through his veins, but he crushed it. He was the one who was dominant now.
Ardyn approached cautiously. "It's finished?"
Asher let out a breath and nodded. "For now."
But internally, within, he knew the battle was hardly finished. The emptiness had been defeated—but was never really conquered. And until it still did linger, then so too did the battle between him.