"Human-die!"
The roar did not pass through space.
It slammed straight into Reynold's mind.
Hatred and will crashed down on his consciousness like an avalanche, heavy and overwhelming.
For a brief instant, his thoughts scattered, his vision darkened, and his body locked in place, suspended in the endless white as if nailed there by an unseen force.
But the moment did not last.
Reynold sucked in a sharp breath and turned his will inward, seizing his own awareness and tearing free from the intrusion.
Pain throbbed behind his eyes, his skull ringing as though struck by a great bell, but his feet steadied in the void. His vision cleared just in time to see what that single lapse had cost him.
The seven remaining heads had already moved.
Light fell. Beams erupted from above, below, and every possible direction, converging on him in a single, merciless instant.
