Nova stifled a surge of blood that wanted to escape her mouth as the heavy impact forced her to her knees. The strike had no trace of finesse or swordsmanship. Finn had dealt it like a heavy blow from a hammer and the sheer force of it pounded down on her with a weight that her mechanical enhancements could barely withstand.
She was flung backward several feet across the stone but she rolled into an upright position with a desperate speed. She didn't even bother to look at her left arm which had gone slightly limp and was sparking with traces of disjointed circuit electricity from the blow. She knew that he wasn't going to give her any reprieve so she began launching attacks before he could even take another step.
Behind Finn, on the other side of the arena, the cannons in the air had finished their cooling cycle. They were charged and ready to fire with a brilliance that was even greater than before. But Finn was in such close proximity to Nova that they remained still.
