The shockwave from Vemy's assault faded, leaving the abyss fragmented and trembling. Prismarine shards hovered, orbiting his body like a storm in stasis. But the challenger's stance remained unshaken, despite the wounds bleeding light across their form.
A hush fell over the void. Then, slowly, the challenger lifted their hand, and the shadows between fragments began to twist, darkening into tendrils of compressed void energy.
"This…" Vemy muttered, wings bristling, "is new."
The challenger's eyes gleamed beneath fractured halos. "You've broken my defenses. You've forced my hand. But there is a power even I have not fully wielded—a secret born from the core of the first rings themselves."
The tendrils expanded, coiling around the abyss like serpents, drawing the fragmented space into a tight, spiraling cage. Vemy's shards struck at them, but the void energy absorbed each strike, feeding its own momentum.
Vemy's jaw clenched. "A trap… and you're pulling me in."
"Yes," the challenger said, voice cold and precise. "And inside, your fire will either forge supremacy… or consume you entirely."
The prison of void compressed further. Vemy's Prismarine shards whipped in chaotic patterns, colliding against the dark energy. Sparks of light exploded where shards met tendrils, but the pressure increased, bending gravity, distorting space itself.
"Every force," the challenger continued, "has a counterforce. And I am that for you."
Vemy felt it—the subtle weight of his ring, struggling to maintain coherence under the compressing void. The Ring of Sovereignty pulsed violently, shards spinning faster, almost fracturing. But then, a thought flickered: this wasn't just an attack—it was a test.
"You're not just challenging me…" Vemy growled, "you're forcing me to evolve."
He closed his eyes, feeling the Prismarine pulse through every vein, every shard orbiting in perfect chaos. Then, slowly, intentionally, he let the shards absorb the pressure, bending their orbit, channeling the void's compression into his spear.
A single, precise thrust tore through the spiraling cage, shattering tendrils in a burst of radiant chaos. The challenger staggered, surprised by the sudden reversal, shadows retreating.
Vemy's shards reformed, now spinning faster, sharper, controlled—but more alive than ever before. His eyes glowed, wings of Prismarine fire stretching wider, a storm ready to engulf the abyss.
"You wanted to test me," Vemy said, voice low and fierce. "Now feel what happens when a fracture becomes the storm."
The challenger steadied, a faint smile curling beneath the broken halos. "Impressive… but this was only the first layer. My true secret is yet to awaken."
🔥 Cliffhanger: Vemy has turned the void's trap into an opportunity, but the challenger hints at a power deeper than the first rings themselves. The next clash could push him beyond his limits—or beyond survival.