Ash stood before the Father, his gaze fixed in stunned disbelief. For the first time in ages, the easy, relaxed mask he wore had shattered.
"What the fuck…" he muttered, the words escaping before he could reel them back.
The moment those words left his mouth, his Battle Style reacted to his intent.
Instantly.... everything froze.
Time itself came to a complete standstill.
The chaotic battlefield of the Primordial Expanse turned into a still image, as if someone had pressed pause on reality.
The colossal manifestations of Nonexistence — the towering horrors born from notions like The End of All and The Silence That Consumes Thought — hung motionless in the void.
Some were mid-lunge, their grotesque limbs stretched out toward where Ash had been. Others were frozen while being torn apart, their forms suspended in grotesque, broken shapes.
High above, light hung suspended, frozen in place like a captured photograph.
