The spiral took shape in my palm. I'd drilled this under Vale's supervision for three weeks now, learning the exact threshold where stamina converted to destructive force, the specific angle that maximized concussive spread, the way the bronze-tier energy twisted inward on itself before erupting outward. Basketball-sized and spinning fast enough to generate its own wind current, the compressed sphere hummed with potential violence.
The first mosquito reached me.
I released.
The creature didn't explode so much as cease to exist as a coherent entity. One moment it was an airborne threat with a proboscis like a spear. The next it was component parts distributed across a ten-foot radius, chitin fragments and tissue spray painting the undergrowth in a pattern that probably revealed more about my mental state than I cared to examine. The shockwave knocked three more insects tumbling through the air, wings crumpled and flight paths interrupted.
