Bel took one breath, then another.
He stood still, holding the void sword at his side. Then he turned his focus inward.
Inside him, it was a library. Fire, lightning, ice, earth, poison... he had gathered many powers.
But he didn't need them now.
He dove deeper.
Past the power of Flame. Past the toxicity of poison. Past every fragment of stolen might. He reached the bottom. The place in himself he barely touched.
There it was.
The essence of the Demon Lord of Destruction: the Authority of Destruction.
He grasped it, and for a moment, there was only silence.
Inside that silence, something began to move.
A black void spread across his mind. Cold, endless. From within it, a surge started to rise.
Outside, nothing changed. Not at first.
Then a wisp of smoke curled from Bel's shoulders. Thin and purple, like steam from boiling ink.
