The ancestral beast roared, its voice shaking the night as purple ice flames erupted from its maw in a savage torrent, painting the dark sky with ghostly light. The fire rushed forward like a raging river of frozen death, its glow reflecting across Baldric's storm-wrapped figure and the shattered rooftops below. Frost and embers scattered through the air together, hissing against the violent currents surrounding the old emperor.
Max did not waste that opening.
His eyes locked onto Baldric's every movement as he leaped through the freezing night, his void blade burning with thick black mist. Darkness twisted around the weapon like a living thing, stretching and curling off the edge in ragged trails.
The mana around him churned wildly as he poured more and more power into the strike, enough to make the air tremble and warp. Even the moonlight seemed to dim around him, swallowed by the growing density of the void.
