Time seemed to slow to a crawl for the Ancient One as the bullet flashed toward the point between his brows. The force field forged by the Power of Negation was unable to slow it in the slightest, and as it reached his flesh, he felt his entire face on the verge of unraveling. In less than a fraction of a second, the shot would destroy his head, then his brain, and finally his soul.
Even if his True Name survived, the loss would be inconceivable, and all the plans that spread for more than a billion years would collapse into nothing.
At that instant—when the scythe of death brushed against his neck—the Ancient One erupted with power greater than ever before.
White plasma wings burst forth from his back, making the Matrix of Origin Island react violently. Shock filled the eyes of both the Scarlet King and the Crimson Exarch as they recognized those wings. They were the same as theirs.
Yet that realization was pushed aside as time itself froze at the heart of Origin Island.
