twenty meters in a punch

Ren slipped in front of Nora as her hammer rose meaninglessly, for she wasn’t the target. I watched as Ren’s Aura flickered and gathered, the entirely of it pooling in his fist. Hui thrust his spear over Ren’s head, seemingly ignoring him to attack Nora—and then the fist lashed out, striking at Hui’s heart in a motion that reminded me bizarrely of a snake lashing out. There was a moment of rippling flesh and then armor broke on both his front and back.

I was less than twenty meters away when it began. Less than five by the time the blow hit. Perhaps a meter away when an organ I identified in midair as a heart exploded out of the back of Lei Hui’s chest.

All of which just meant I got to stand right next to Ren as Conquest forced him to murder his grandfather to save a friend.

I had a moment to regret that failure, to understand that this was just to spite me and strike against me, and yet even still didn’t have time to hesitate. I grabbed Ren roughly as blood sprayed, splattering roughly from the wound. I pulled him back, dragging the now defenseless boy out of their path and erecting a wall of air in the way even as I flung him down hard, barely holding back enough not to hurt him too badly. He slammed into the ground hard enough that I heard something break, but as I turned from the shield, it was only to lift my sword high once more and bring in down.

There was a moment of silence as blood finished splattering, Ren and Nora’s eyes wide as they looked down at my sword—and the hand it had cut from Ren’s arm. The Tiger reached down and snatched it up, pitching it away before he even began screaming.