The abyss was shifting.
Not changing.
Not moving.
But shifting.. as if something unseen, something imperceptible, had begun to stir within its formless void.
And within that abyss, a figure stood, breath measured, body taut with silent tension.
Agon.
His mist.. his ever-reliable mist, was fading.
No, not fading.
Dwindling.
Shrinking, like a flame caught in a vacuum, like a force being smothered by something far beyond his understanding.
And now..
Parasiting was gone.
The realization settled deep in his bones, cold and absolute. His abilities, one by one, were being stripped from him, caged within this domain that bent to the Darkness Angel’s will.
His time was running out.
And across from him.. hovering just out of reach, wreathed in the very essence of the abyss itself, it smiled.
The Darkness Angel.
Its tattered wings shuddered. Not from wind.. there was none here, but from something more primal, a quiet, creeping amusement that soaked through every inch of its being.
"What do you feel, Agon?"
The voice was smooth. Too smooth.
A whisper against the skin, a murmur that slithered through the mind, coated in something too rich, too eager, too hungry.
"Is it fear?"
The Darkness Angel’s fingers curled.
Not in threat.
In anticipation.
"Sadness?"
The ring above its head pulsed.
A heartbeat in the neverending void.
"Despair?"
The words clung to the air, lingering like the aftertaste of something sickly sweet.
"Tell me."
"I want to know how you feel."
Agon exhaled.
His fingers curled into fists.
He didn’t answer.
Didn’t even spare the thing a glance.
Because he already knew.. this wasn’t curiosity. This wasn’t an interrogation.
This was madness.
A mind so far gone it had long since stopped pretending to be human.
His detection screamed.
Agon moved.
A sidestep, weight shifting effortlessly as a darker-than-void arrow speared past him, its very presence leaving a trail of cold nothingness in its wake.
Another.
He ran, diagonally weaving between the arrows that rained down, each one slicing through the space where he had just been.. a heartbeat behind, a fraction too late.
His mind was racing.
He needed an answer.
A way forward.
He couldn’t keep running forever.
Couldn’t keep dodging, evading, prolonging the inevitable when every second drained him further.
Every solution led back to the same wall.. his powers being prohibited.
But.
No.
He only needed one thing.
Just one.
One chance.
One attack.
He had to know..
Could this thing be touched?
His course changed.
Instant.
A pivot.
He was no longer evading.
He was advancing.
And in that moment... The Darkness Angel smiled.
"Come on, then."
It welcomed him.
And the abyss answered.
A storm.
Blades.
Arrows.
A vortex of darker-than-void constructs, spiraling, twisting, converging all at once, their paths unpredictable, their edges carving through the fabric of reality itself.
Agon dodged.
Slid.
Stepped.
His movements were fluid, seamless, every motion calculated down to the finest degree.. he rode the chaos, not against it, but with it, shifting between blades, stepping on arrows, using their very force to propel himself higher.
His shoulder torn open, darkness seething through the wound.
His waist.. stabbed, a spear of absence burning through his flesh.
His vision blurred.
Not from the pain.
From the strain.
But he didn’t stop.
Couldn’t.
He was too close.
Slash!
His eye..
The pain was brief.
His eyelid slammed shut.
Not a choice. A reflex.. an instinct that kept him moving even as the blood streaked down his face.
He kept climbing.
Higher.
Closer.
Until he was there.
A breath away.
And the Darkness Angel met his gaze.
It grinned.
"Sorry, bud."
Its voice was light.
Casual.
"But your line ends here."
The abyss rippled.
And then..
A surge.
From within the Darkness Angel itself.
A thousand blades.
A thousand arrows.
Spewing outward, erupting in every direction, carving through Agon, cleaving into him, ripping flesh from bone, tearing through sinew, shredding him to pieces...
Blood.
A flood of it.
Dark and rich, spilling into the void, consumed before it could even fall.
Agon died.
But something wasn’t right..
The Darkness Angel’s eyes narrowed.
Wait.
It paused.
A flicker of something uncertain.
I forgot something.
It had the thought..
But too late.
BOOM.
A detonation of pure, spiraling blue vortex energy.
It exploded against him, the force tearing through the abyss, a stab driving deep...
A direct hit.
The Darkness Angel’s body collapsed downward.
A streak of black against black, spiraling toward the endless domain below..
And then.
Impact.
A shockwave of mist burst outward, fracturing the dark.
For the first time, the Hollow Domain cracked.
The Darkness Angel lay there.
Still.
The silence stretched.
Then a sound.
Soft.
A chuckle.
It moved..
Not struggling.
Not wounded.
Merely acknowledging.
It lifted its gaze.
And looked down.
At itself.
At the hole.
Gaping.
A void within the void.
A wound not of flesh.
But of mist.
And the Darkness Angel smiled as a laugh erupted from him.
A laugh. Deep, guttural, distorted. It rippled through the void like a tremor, sending unseen waves across the dark domain, making the very air feel heavier, more suffocating. The world quivered at its resonance.
"Hahahahaha!"
The voice carried a maddening glee, a twisted satisfaction that seeped into the surroundings like an infection. The darkness itself pulsed with each reverberation, as though it were laughing along with him.
Darkness Angel stood amidst the neverending void, his form shifting against the blackened backdrop, a figure neither fully present nor absent. Skin darker than burned ash, barely distinguishable from the void itself. A thin, round crown of darkness hovered above his head, an omen of his dominion. His tattered wings, black as an abyss without end, stretched slightly as his laughter died down, his glowing ashen eyes narrowing with amusement.
"Agon... you’ve done it again."
His words slithered through the void, curling into the space between silence and sound.
"Splendid. Truly splendid."
He raised a hand, black void-light draping over his fingers like living shadows. His grin widened, as though reveling in a private joke, his teeth barely visible beneath the abyssal hue of his face.
"To think..." His voice took on a delighted whisper. "That all this time, I have been playing with nothing but your mist clone."
The realization thrilled him.
In the distance, the mist gathered. The scattered particles, once indistinct in the air, coalesced. Slowly, deliberately, a shape began to form.. a body materializing from formless vapor.
Agon.
His deep yellow eyes held no expression. His pale gray hair settled against his face, strands drifting with the unnatural stillness of the domain. He didn’t move. He didn’t react to the laughter, to the voice, to the taunts. He only stood, calculating, absorbing every variable, every impossibility.
He was right.
Haran.. no, Darkness Angel, could not be killed in this place.
"Did you really think," Darkness Angel murmured, stepping forward, the void curling beneath his feet, "that you could kill me... in my world?"
Agon remained motionless. Then, at last, he spoke.
"It isn’t bad to try, is it?"
His voice was calm, unshaken.
Darkness Angel chuckled, tilting his head slightly.
"No, no, it isn’t." He nodded, his grin widening, as if humoring a child. "But now I remember something..."
His voice lowered.
"I had only been prohibiting your clone’s abilities. Not yours."
His wings rustled slightly, darkness flaking from their tattered edges. The void around him pulsed, reacting to his will.
"Then shall I start?"
He exhaled softly, and the next words left his mouth like a decree.
"Clones are prohibited here."
The domain answered.
Something clicked.. a silent, absolute shift in the laws of this world. The mist around Agon wavered. Something in the air changed, a sensation that could not be seen, only felt.
Final. Absolute.
Agon exhaled, the sound quiet, his breath dissipating into the void. A sigh. Not of frustration. Not of despair.
Just an acknowledgment.
So that’s how it is.
He had confirmed it now, Darkness Angel was untouchable in this domain. He can’t fight him... Not with his current power.
Another shift.
"All forms of mist manipulation are prohibited here."
And then... Nothing.
No response. No feeling. No connection.
Agon’s control over his mist vanished in an instant. Not weakened. Not disrupted.
Simply... gone.
The void around him remained still. No hint of vapor. Not even a whisper of residual mist.
For the first time, Agon felt it.
Emptiness.
A power that had always been with him.. now erased.
Darkness Angel watched him, his smile never fading. His eyes, glowing like smoldering embers beneath the abyss, studied Agon’s expression.
Then, he spoke again.
"...That isn’t all yet, Agon."
A pause.
And then.. something moved.
From the distance, beyond the endless void, a massive structure began to stir.
The colossal altar.
Blackened. Ancient. A monolith of the abyss itself, untouched by time, veiled in shadows darker than the void surrounding it. And at its center..
Wings.
Tattered. Bound to the stone like remnants of a forgotten creature.
Then, they moved.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
Each slow movement sent waves of oppressive energy through the domain, as if something buried within the darkness was forcing its way out.
Then, something formed.
Not instantly. Not suddenly.
The abyss first birthed a shadow.. shapeless, formless, writhing in pure blackness. But then, piece by piece, it took shape.
A beast.
A tiger.
No.
Something that only resembled a tiger.
Its body was covered in fur blacker than void itself, a shade beyond the absence of light. Its form seemed incomplete, flickering at the edges, as if it was not meant to exist in this reality.
Two colossal horns jutted from its skull, curved and jagged, each exuding a haze of crawling darkness. Its ashen gray eyes gleamed with an unnatural glow, hollow yet all-consuming.
And then, it roared.
A sound that was not merely noise.
A weight. A force.
The very foundation of the dark domain shuddered.
The void compressed, bending under the pressure of its presence.
Agon’s eyes narrowed. His pulse remained steady, but within, his mind ran through possibilities, ways, countermeasures.. each one closing faster than he could create them.
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The beast stood, its massive body distorting the space around it, tendrils of abyssal energy radiating from its skin like threads unraveling reality itself.
Darkness Angel raised his hand toward it, his smile stretching into something wider.
"Agon," he said, voice dripping with amusement, "I present to you... the eater of darkness."
His fingers curled, as if holding a leash.
"A narrative eater."
His grin widened, eyes flickering with anticipation.
"My pet."
A silent pulse filled the air.
Then..
[SYSTEM]
+
JOGAN HAS DESCENDED
+
Agon exhaled.
His fingers curled slightly. A subconscious movement.
As Inwardly, he thought just one thought.
Shit...