The second collision split the clearing in half.
Damien and the captain vanished from their original positions and reappeared twenty meters away in a spray of shattered earth and splintered wood. Their fists met again, and the impact created a concussive boom that sent the remaining soldiers stumbling backward.
The fractured stone disk at the clearing's center finally gave way, collapsing inward with a grinding crack.
Damien slid back several feet, boots carving trenches through the dirt.
The captain didn't.
It stood exactly where it had stepped.
Unmoved.
Its crimson eyes glowed steadily, unblinking.
"You are stronger than the reports suggested," it said evenly.
Damien rolled his wrist once, loosening tension in his forearm. The bones in his knuckles ached from the collision.
"I guess your reports are outdated."
He moved first.
No wasted motion.
