"Are you really sure you can hurt him, your dearest friend?" Dark smirks feeling that Dark Mist is bluffing.
'I'm sorry Astral, I really don't want to do this but it's the only want to get you back.' Dark Mist mentally says hoping Astral can hear him. "I'll free him no matter what I have to do." He replies verbally so everyone can hear him.
He puts his hand on the canisters lid and opens it, taking out the stone. Dark seems to flinch as the stone is taken out of its protective container.
'No, I can feel my hold over Astral is slowly slipping!' Dark yells internally.
Small shock waves rip through Astral's mind causing him to whimper in pain but it's not enough to set him free.
"It's only delaying the inevitable… the shock waves aren't strong enough to stop the merge from happening." Astral says to himself.
"Release him!" Dark Mist demands.
"Never!" Dark hisses in pain.
Dark Mist moves closer to Dark while Dark moves away from him.
"I will get you to release him Dark no matter what it takes."
"If only you could hear Astral's whimpers of pain, the slow stuffing you're putting him through to try and save him."
This seems to cause Dark Mist to falter in coming closer to Dark with the stone.
"The closer you get to me the louder his whimpers become, do you really want to make Astral stuff like this?"
"Don't listen to him Dark Mist! We're merging, becoming one single entity!" Astral cries out mentally to Dark Mist, "If we merge completely with him in control I'll cease to exist as the person that I am. Time is running out, hurry or Dark will be the only one left." Astral's voice sounds even weaker then it did before as it fades from Dark Mist's mind.
'I have to get out of here before Dark Mist touches me with the Vibranium stone. If that happens I'll lose my control of Astral's mind and body. I won't be the last one standing.' Dark thinks to himself and looks for an escape root to get away.
Staying quiet in the shadows the other Barian Emperors watch as the event unfold, they see no need to interfere at the moment.