The Void cracked like glass beneath the crushing pressure of colliding powers. Russ stood in the center, his left arm dripping with black ichor that hissed as it hit the fractured ground. Across from him, Mira was no longer fully herself—her eyes burned with the Void's sigil, her hair floating as though underwater.
"You're resisting," she said, her voice layered with an echo that didn't belong to her. "Why? You could embrace this… become what you were meant to be."
Russ gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on the blade made of condensed shadow. "Because I'm not your puppet. And if the Void thinks it can rewrite me—" He lunged, shadows exploding from his boots, "—it's about to learn otherwise!"
They clashed. Russ's blade carved arcs of darkness that split the air, while Mira's hands drew patterns of swirling Void energy, each strike detonating like a black sun. The ground shattered under their feet, creating a whirlpool of broken reality that sucked everything downward into the abyss.
Russ ducked a slash of condensed gravity, then countered with a wave of shadow spikes erupting from the ground. Mira twisted midair, her movements almost liquid, bending in impossible angles as the spikes grazed her cloak. Her retaliation was immediate—a burst of pure Void that struck Russ in the chest and hurled him into a jagged wall of reality's edge.
The impact stole his breath. He coughed, tasting iron and static, his vision doubling. "You're… stronger," he admitted, forcing himself to his feet.
"No," Mira said, her face momentarily flickering between her human self and something monstrous. "I'm just no longer holding back."
Russ's instincts screamed a warning. He leapt sideways just as a massive spear of crystallized Void slammed into the spot he'd been standing. The shockwave blasted him backward. He tumbled, righted himself midair, and thrust his free hand forward.
The shadows answered. A colossal hand of darkness erupted from the abyss beneath them, grabbing the spear and crushing it into nothing. Russ yanked the remaining fragments toward him, absorbing their power into his blade until it glowed like a dying star.
Mira's eyes narrowed. "So… you are learning."
They moved again—faster now, their motions blurring as strikes and counters layered in seconds. Each blow sent ripples across the Void, destabilizing the entire realm. In the distance, colossal cracks spread toward the horizon, releasing beams of raw creation and destruction that licked the edges of their battlefield.
Russ ducked low, sliding under Mira's next strike, and drove his blade upward in a diagonal slash. It connected—not with her flesh, but with the dark barrier she'd conjured. Sparks of anti-light cascaded outward, burning holes in the void-floor.
Her voice turned cold. "This ends now."
The temperature plummeted. Mira extended both hands, and the entire realm seemed to bow to her will. The cracks above them sealed, the abyss below roared, and from all sides came blades of hardened Void—hundreds of them—converging toward Russ.
He didn't run.
He planted his feet, raised his weapon, and poured every ounce of stolen Void energy into it. The shadows around him condensed, then exploded outward in a cyclone of black lightning. The incoming blades shattered against it, but the force sent Russ sprawling to one knee, panting.
When the storm cleared, Mira stood before him, her human expression breaking through for a heartbeat. "Russ… if you keep fighting me, the Void will devour us both."
He met her gaze, determination like steel. "Then I'll burn with it—before I let it take you."
The abyss trembled, and the next clash was inevitable.