Max barely paused, his gaze flicking sideways as Ben's fierce, battle-hardened eyes locked onto him from across the cavern, he instantly sensing his presence like a predator detecting a ripple in the air.
But before Ben could so much as blink, Max lifted his other hand and released a black flaming lotus, its petals swirling outward with eerie grace as it hovered in the air. The lotus emitted a deep, ominous hum, crackling with dark flames that pulsed with sinister energy, cloaking the cavern in shifting shadows.
"STOP—!" Ben roared, surging forward like a lightning bolt, his aura erupting around him in a brilliant white blaze. But even as his powerful body blurred across the cavern, Max was already gone. With another silent flicker of spatial energy, Max vanished, slipping into the folds of space as if he'd never been there at all.
