The air in the corridor had frozen.
The demon Wrath's bone-spiked claws swept through the air with a reeking gust, aimed straight at Freddy's heart.
Freddy's eyes were shut, his neck squeezed so tightly by an invisible force that he couldn't even choke out his last words.
Just as the claws came within half an inch of his chest.
Boom!!!
The corridor ceiling exploded without warning.
It didn't crack apart. The entire slab of reinforced concrete turned to dust in an instant, as though a cruise missile had hit it head-on.
Amid the billowing dust, a frantic roar drowned out the crash of collapsing masonry.
"Let go of my family!"
Then came a thunderclap that pierced their eardrums.
"Shazam!!!"
Golden-blue divine lightning poured through the hole like a raging thunder dragon, striking the center of the corridor.
The blinding light made Sivana instinctively raise a hand to shield his eyes.
A second later, a fierce wind tore through the dust.
A muscular figure in a bright red bodysuit, a golden lightning emblem glowing on his chest, dropped from above like a cannonball.
There was no technique, and no wasted breath.
Billy Batson, in his Shazam form, swung an arm thicker than a grown man's waist and slammed his fist into Sivana's pale face.
Bang!
A visible ring of white air burst from the point of impact.
Sivana flew backward like a kite with its string cut.
His body smashed through the walls of three classrooms along the left side of the corridor before burying itself deep in the rubble amid the teeth-grating screech of snapping rebar.
The invisible force choking Freddy vanished instantly.
Thud.
Freddy hit the floor hard. Clutching his neck, he retched frantically like a fish starved of oxygen, tears and snot smeared across his face.
A strong