Darkness.
That was all Nemesis could perceive as he tumbled through the void. There was no up, no down, no sense of space or time—just an endless expanse of nothing. He had felt his body unraveling the moment he absorbed the ancient power from the prison, a power far beyond what even he could have anticipated.
For all his strength, all his calculations, he had underestimated it.
He had wanted to claim it, to bend it to his will. To take the power that had lain dormant for so long and become unstoppable, to transcend the boundaries of life and death. But instead, the power had lashed back, seeping into his bones, saturating every part of him until he could feel his own essence tearing apart.
Nemesis could still feel it, that unbearable energy pulsating within him, trying to rip him apart from the inside out. It wasn't just power; it was *alive*. It clawed at his soul, gnawing at his control, trying to turn him into something else. Something less than human, but more than a monster.
In the depths of the void, he was *weak*.
That single thought enraged him more than the pain that wracked his body. Weakness had been the enemy of his existence. He had built his strength from the ground up, carved his legend into the bones of all who dared challenge him. He had become Nemesis—the invincible, the unyielding. And now this *thing*, this ancient, primordial force, was reducing him to nothing.
His body trembled as he fought back against it, his willpower alone holding the power at bay. But even then, he could feel it. *The power wasn't finished with him.*
"I will not... be broken." Nemesis snarled into the blackness, his voice shaking with barely-contained fury.
He could still feel the power rippling beneath his skin, like wildfire tearing through his veins, burning away what little control he had left. His own body, once a fortress of strength, was betraying him. He had to escape, to find a way to regain control, or it would consume him entirely.
He gritted his teeth, focusing on the fragment of power that still responded to him, bending the overwhelming force into submission with sheer will alone. The void trembled around him as he reached out, summoning the energy that remained tethered to him. If he was to survive, he would have to bend this alien force to his command, or risk it devouring him whole.
*Vanish. Disappear. Become unseen. Hide your weakness.*
His body flickered, a ghostly shimmer in the endless blackness. He felt himself slipping further from the world of the living, moving between realms, phasing out of existence itself. It wasn't teleportation—not like Benji's pathetic "Blink." No, this was far deeper, more dangerous. Nemesis wasn't just moving through space; he was *erasing* himself from it.
In that moment, he understood.
The power didn't want to be mastered. It wanted to be free. And if he was to survive, he would need to allow it—to relinquish his iron grip, if only for a moment. He couldn't bend it to his will, but he could adapt. He would let it flow through him, let it exist alongside his own strength, until the day came when he would *control* it fully.
*Patience.*
For now, he would bide his time.
His body phased out completely, leaving behind the black void that had tried to consume him. He drifted between the threads of reality, his form no longer bound by the rules of the physical world. Nemesis floated through the cracks between dimensions, his presence undetectable, a wraith of pure energy and willpower. The power no longer tore at him, but instead coiled deep within, like a predator waiting to strike.
There was no light here, no place for his enemies to follow. He was invisible to them now. To Benji, to the rest of the survivors, to the world itself. They would believe he was gone, defeated—perhaps even dead.
But he wasn't dead.
Far from it.
Slowly, he felt his strength returning, the pain receding as his essence stabilized. The power still thrummed within him, a constant reminder of its presence, but it no longer sought to destroy him. He had survived the impossible.
Nemesis clenched his fist, feeling the energy surge in response. This would only be a setback. The power had weakened him, but in time, he would grow stronger—stronger than he had ever been before. He would master it, not by force, but by merging with it, letting it become part of him until it answered to *his* will.
He would return, more powerful than ever, and when he did...
Benji and the others would face a reckoning unlike anything they could imagine.
The thought brought a twisted grin to his lips, a smile that did not belong to the man he had once been. This was no longer just about power or control. This was survival. Evolution. He would become something new, something the world had never seen.
The void around him trembled as he vanished completely, leaving behind only a whisper in the endless dark.
"I'll be back."
YOU ARE READING
Blink: Ethereal Fury
Science Fiction**Novel Description:** In a world where heroes walk a razor-thin line between justice and brutality, *Blink* follows Benji, a 17-year-old raised in an isolated Japanese temple by a powerful but powerless blind Sensei. Benji and his fellow students p...
