The Demon elder's claws were just three inches from the Human Emperor's throat, the black venom on his fingertips gleaming eerily in the candlelight.
Layton's metal fist had already reached the Human Emperor's chest. Magnetic arcs hissed across his knuckles, ionizing the surrounding air and filling it with a scorched smell.
Di Tian's poisoned dagger had barely pierced the dragon robe, its tip almost touching the Human Emperor's skin.
Then everything froze.
Time came to a complete standstill!
Time Law-Time-Stop Power.
[The World] activated!
The Demon elder's vicious grin froze on his face.
Frenzied excitement burned in Layton's azure eyes. His politician's mask had been torn away completely, revealing the bloodlust and fanaticism beneath. Magnetic arcs hung over his fist like a spiderweb.
Di Tian's expression was the most complicated.
Resolve, greed, the release of ten thousand years of repression, and a fleeting trace of hesitation-all were locked onto that refined, gentle face, making him look both familiar and strange.
All those expressions were frozen.
Even the entire great hall had been put on pause.
The flames in the glazed palace lanterns froze into motionless pillars of light. The flames above their wicks retained their dancing shapes, each one different.
On the long table, a crystal wineglass had been knocked over, spilling its red wine. The amber liquid hung in midair, bubbles suspended within it, refracting tiny specks of light.
Soup splashed up from another dish, its droplets of oil suspended in the air like a string of transparent pearls.
The delegations from every nation were frozen in a moment of terror.
Europa's envoy had his mouth wide open, a scream still trapped deep in his throat; a Skyhawk Empire attendant had raised his arm to shield himself, his hand still halfway up.
The warriors of the Northern Plains remained