One punch slipped past Max's sword defense. He shifted aside at the last instant, and the fist missed his body, but the shockwave didn't.
Boom!
Max was hurled backward. He landed dozens of meters away and steadied himself at once, his expression now completely serious.
'If I'd taken that one directly, it would have hurt.'
The shadow charged again, and this time Max moved to meet it. His sword grew faster, and the Emotion Severing Path spread further through Dragonheart.
The two of them clashed at the center of the arena, and the confrontation turned even more violent.
Hundreds of thousands of fists seemed to fill Max's vision as the Fourth Shadow attacked without pause, and Max answered every one of them with his sword. He slashed, blocked, redirected, severed, and countered.
