The hammer hit him in the chest.
There was no gradual buildup, no moment of contact before the full force arrived. One instant Raizen was mid-swing, committed and off-balance, and the next his feet left the ground. The world around him became a blur of green and brown as he rapidly approached the surface of a trunk that his back met with a sound that echoed through the forest floor like a door being slammed.
He hit the bark spine-first. The impact drove the air out of his lungs in a single compressed gasp, and for a moment his vision whited out - pure, blank nothing, his brain resetting from the shock. Then he slid down the trunk's surface, bark scraping against his shirt, until his feet touched the ground. His knees buckled and he sat there at the base of the tree, blinking at the canopy above.
He could taste a coppery taste in the back of his throat.
