Moments earlier...
The Demon General raised her hand, and a barrier of dark energy blocked the strike. They stood there, blade against barrier, lightning crackling against shadow.
"You are wasting my time," Morana hissed.
She raised her other hand, and the shadows around them surged, swallowing the chamber in darkness.
Seraphina and Cassian could not see. The dark was total, suffocating, pressing against their eyes like a physical weight.
The last thing Seraphina heard was Morana's voice, soft and cold, whispering in her ear.
"...Sleep."
The word drifted through the darkness like a feather falling into an endless void, soft and cold, barely a whisper yet somehow loud enough to fill every corner of Seraphina's mind.
Seraphina stood in a void so absolute that even her Grandmaster-level senses found nothing to grip. The mana in the air was stagnant, and beside her, the presence of Cassian had simply vanished, severed by a spatial shroud.
