Apophis's energy burst out.
The battlefield trembled under the weight of her power.
Gravity bent wildly around Ben and dragged his limbs down, like the world wanted to bury him alive.
He grit his teeth, blood dripping from his mouth as his knees buckled.
His bones creaked under the strain.
Even his reinforced muscles began to tremble under the impossible pressure.
"I told you," Apophis said.
She floated above the broken field like a distant, cold ruler.
"You are nothing without me.
Your body, your system, your evolution, it all came from us.
And now you will die beneath the weight of your own arrogance."
Ben did not answer because he could not.
The air was too thick.
The pressure crushed every breath from his lungs before he could speak.
The tendrils on his back spasmed.
One of them snapped under the strain and disintegrated into ash.
Cracks formed across his skin, and his vision blurred at the edges.
Yet something stirred deep inside him.
