For a split second, everything went blank.
Then Null's vision drowned in red.
His heart slammed violently against his chest, each beat louder and heavier than the last, until every other sound in the chamber was drowned by a single, burning desire. The floor beneath his feet grew unbearably hot, heat crawling upward as his own body temperature surged out of control.
The chamber no longer felt real.
The stone walls blurred at the edges of his vision, their shapes bending and warping, as if reality itself was bending away from him in fear.
Then a word forced its way out of his mouth against his will.
"Kill."
The sound echoed unnaturally, stretching far beyond the limits of his voice.
Every person in the chamber felt it.
A sudden, icy chill tore through their bodies, freezing them in place. Breath caught in their throats terror rooted them to the stone floor.
Everyone except Prime.Prime merely furrowed his brow, eyes sharp with anticipation, as though he had been waiting for this very moment.
The word spoken by Null did not act as a threat to Nox.It was a command.Nox'Zerath felt it immediately.
The compulsion slammed into him, overwhelming and absolute, flooding his being with a bloodlust that did not belong to him. His hollow black eyes burned, the darkness within igniting into a violent crimson, as though filled with fresh blood.
Prime had brought the children of Abyssline as sacrifices for the Spirit of Chaos, but it was his own disciples who took their place.
Nox vanished.
In the next instant, he was behind one of the Star Genesis members. The man never even had time to scream. Nox's arm had already transformed, stretching into a dark jagged dark claw that punched straight through the man's chest. Blood exploded outward as the body went limp, collapsing lifelessly to the ground.
Screams erupted,but only briefly.
Nox moved again,And again,He flashed across the chamber at an unnatural speed, reappearing behind his targets faster than the eye could follow. One by one, his claw pierced through bodies, tearing through flesh and bone before anyone could react.
Valen was the first to react.He reacted a heartbeat faster than the others, panic sharpening his focus. With a desperate cry, he activated his magic, transforming the air around his body into dense, rubber-like resistance in a last attempt to stop the spirit's assault.
It didn't matter. The moment Nox made contact, Valen's magic shattered. The rubberized air snapped back to normal as if it had never existed, exactly like what happened when Null negated magic.
Valen's eyes widened in disbelief. He didn't even have time to scream or even process what happened.
Nox seized his head and tore it clean from his body. Blood burst violently from the severed neck, splashing across the floor as the lifeless body crumpled.
Nox's dark claw was now drenched in red crimson blood.And still, it craved more.His crimson eyes locked onto Kaelith.
He lunged.
The claw shot forward, aimed directly at Kaelith's head...Then it stopped.
Barely inches away.
Null had not moved throughout the slaughter, oblivious to the slaughter happening aorund him.But now, the burning intensity inside him began to fade.
Slowly, painfully, his senses returned.
He staggered, his vision clearing just enough for reality to crash down on him.
Bodies.
They were everywhere.
Scattered across the chamber in twisted, unnatural positions. The stone floor was soaked in blood, the walls splattered with it. The smell hit him all at once; the thick, metallic stench burning his nose.
His stomach twisted violently.
Null gagged, barely managing to keep from vomiting as his eyes traced the carnage around him.
Then he looked up.
Prime stood across the chamber, unmoving. A shallow scratch ran across his face vertically, blood dripping slowly from it. Somehow, impossibly, he had survived the slaughter with only that.
Null's gaze shifted.
Nox stood frozen, his claw suspended inches from Kaelith's face. Kaelith's glasses were shattered, fear etched into every inch of his expression. Another member crouched behind him, shaking uncontrollably.
Null recognized them.
The ones who had captured them.
His eyes searched desperately for the third.
And his stomach dropped.
The severed head lay several feet away from its body, blood still gushing out.
Only two remained alive from the star genesis, aside from their leader.
Confusion slammed into Null. His head throbbed as fragmented information flooded his mind, panic and chaos pressing in from every direction.
'What happened? Did I command The spirit just now?'
But he acted.
"Teleport them back," Null said hoarsely, his voice cracking as blood pooled in his mouth. "Or there will be more bloodshed."
He didn't know if the threat would work,but he had to try.He only hoped it would be enough.
Kaelith didn't hesitate, immediately without a word, he slammed his hand into the ground. A portal tore open beneath the captured children, swallowing them instantly and sending them away from the chamber.
Kaelith had considered doing the same for him self ans his companion,but he feared too much that the spiri..no demon in front of him would kill him.
Null let out a weak, relieved smile.Then his head screamed in pain.A sharp ringing tore through his skull as he spat out a mouthful of blood, his body convulsing violently. At the same moment, Nox'Zerath dissolved into black lightning, streaking straight toward Null.
The lightning slammed into the black mark on Null's forehead.
Null collapsed to one knee, coughing violently, blood dripping from his lips as his vision swam.
He looked up.
Prime stood before him, fury burning in his eyes.
And Null knew...
Whatever came next would be far worse.