"Third Elder, it's this guy—Max!" Frank cried out suddenly, scrambling forward and pointing a trembling finger straight at Max. His eyes were wild, face pale with a mix of fear and hope that perhaps by offering up Max, he'd spare himself the old woman's wrath.
The Third Elder's head snapped toward Max, her expression darkening into an inferno of murderous intent. "You… You deserve to die!" she hissed, her voice icy and crackling with killing intent.
Before Max could even react, before he could even so much as flinch, an invisible force slammed into him with the force of a mountain.
BOOM!
The world exploded in pain as he was hurled backward like a meteor, his body smashing through several trees in rapid succession, each trunk splintering into wooden shrapnel as his form tore through them. He crashed to the ground with a bone-jarring impact, blood erupting from his mouth in a violent spray as he skidded across the earth, carving a deep trench in the soil.
