A single word cleaved through the battlefield, a realm already teetering on the brink of apocalypse. It struck Asher's ears with the force of a divine edict, as though the voice of a god had commanded mortals to obey without hesitation, without question.
The moment the word reached him, Asher felt its weight crash down upon his existence. His entire body halted, not with a gradual deceleration, but with an unnatural, absolute stillness. As if time itself had been forcibly arrested.
The crackling lightning that once danced along his form froze mid-arc. His heartbeat, his breath, his very footsteps, everything was suspended.
Even Virelass, ever eager in his grasp, fell silent. Only his thoughts remained, trapped in the echo of that word, reeling as they struggled to comprehend the sheer magnitude of what had just occurred.
