void of existence

Akamatsu stood in the wasteland that had once been a battlefield. The air was still, the sky an empty canvas, void of stars or light. There was no sound, no trace of the monstrous horde that had once threatened him. Not only had he destroyed them all, but he had erased them from every timeline, every possibility, every reality.

And with them, the fabric of existence had begun to unravel.

He took a step forward, but the ground beneath him did not respond. There was no sensation of weight, no resistance. Time itself had lost meaning. He could see remnants of reality fading at the edges, dissolving like sand slipping through fingers. The universe had become a husk, an abandoned shell.

"What have I done?" Akamatsu murmured to himself, his voice swallowed by the silence.

For the first time, he felt something unfamiliar—emptiness. Not just around him, but within. His past, his battles, his victories—all seemed like echoes of a story that no longer existed. His enemies had shaped him, defined his path. And now, with them gone, there was nothing left.

Then, the silence was broken.

A deep, guttural voice echoed through the void. "You have made a grave error, Harbinger."

Akamatsu turned, his senses sharpening, though there was no true space to orient himself. From the void itself, something took shape—a shifting mass of dark energy, swirling with chaos. It was not a creature, not a god, but something beyond understanding. It was the backlash of his actions, the void seeking to correct the imbalance he had created.

"You severed the chains that bound destruction, but in doing so, you have unshackled something far worse."

The entity pulsed, and suddenly, Akamatsu felt pressure—true, crushing force, something that even his godlike abilities struggled against.

For the first time, he had an opponent that he hadn't anticipated.

The void itself was fighting back.

Akamatsu narrowed his eyes. "Then I'll tear through you just like I did the others."

The void responded with a deafening howl, and reality twisted. Tendrils of pure entropy lashed toward him, warping the space they touched. Akamatsu moved, but the attack followed his existence, ignoring concepts like speed or direction. He swung his blade, but the tendrils absorbed the force as if it were nothing.

Akamatsu gritted his teeth. His Reality Bending, his Supreme Power—none of it had an effect. This wasn't something that could be rewritten or destroyed, because it was what remained when destruction had gone too far.

Then, something within him shifted.

A power greater than anything he had wielded before. A power beyond existence itself.

He clenched his fist, and the universe around him trembled. The very foundation of reality bent not under his will, but under his presence.

With a single thought, Akamatsu rewrote the rules of battle itself. The void shrieked as it struggled, but it was now bound by his reality. He erased the concept of opposition. The entity thrashed, trying to resist, but Akamatsu was no longer fighting—he was dictating.

The void collapsed inward, crushed beneath the weight of its own contradiction. It howled in defiance one last time before vanishing completely.

And then, for a moment, there was nothing.

Akamatsu stood in the endless abyss, alone in a universe that no longer had conflict, no longer had threats.

Was this victory?

Was this… the end?

Then, the faintest whisper brushed against his mind.

"…You were never meant to be alone."

A ripple spread through the void. The echo of something familiar. Something long lost.

And for the first time in what felt like eternity, a new path revealed itself before him.

The story was not over yet.