However, just a split second before all the attacks were about to reach the man—

He opened his eyes.

There was no world-shaking explosion, no blinding burst of light.

It was merely the act of opening his eyes.

Time seemed to have been paused by an invisible hand.

All the attacks mid-flight—the fierce blade light, the sharp ice spikes, the scorching flames, the freezing chains—

froze in mid-air, as if they had hit an absolutely invisible wall, unable to advance even a fraction of an inch.