The orb pulsed.
A fragile, yet dense wall of air caving inward around it.
The Abyss reacted instantly. Tendrils convulsed in a frenzy, smashing the ground and sky alike in blind desperation. They weren't aiming anymore, only trying to kill, to stop whatever that bead of blood-red light was.
Asmodeus stayed still.
Every instinct screamed at him to move, to dodge, but he held his ground. The threads of Blood Reaver writhed and fused into his arm as the axe returned to his hand, its edge drinking from the forming sphere.
The first tendril reached him.
He cut it in half with one brutal swing.
The second wrapped around his torso, spikes punching through his side.
He let it pierce him, grunting as black ichor bled from his ribs, then twisted and sheared it away with a backhand slash. His blood sprayed but immediately burned to mist, devoured by the growing orb.
I can't lose focus!
This beam has to destroy that core!
