Then, they moved.
There was no battle cry.
There was no theatrical winding up of attacks. There was only the devastating aftermath of violently displaced space.
They crossed the hundred-yard distance separating them in less than a fraction of a microsecond.
When Jake's right fist collided perfectly with Borsuka's left forearm, the resulting impact defied the very laws of physics.
For a singular, terrifying moment, all sound was completely erased from the world, replaced by a horrifying, high-pitched ringing that burst the eardrums of the beast kin watching from the palace steps.
Then, the kinetic shockwave detonated.
A perfectly spherical dome of raw, unadulterated force exploded outward from the point of impact. It instantly vaporized the shallow lake of rainwater beneath their feet, carving a massive, perfectly smooth crater into the indestructible runic stones.
But the most surreal phenomenon occurred in the air them.
