It nearly did not work.
The Last Defender read it inside two exchanges, and what he did about it was the most frightening thing he had done all day.
He let Finn hit him.
Deliberately — turned his shoulder into a cut he could have avoided, took eight hundred and something for nothing, and let the small mass of red gather at the wound while Finn was still recovering.
Then he held it.
He held it for four seconds, fighting normally, while Ronan drove into him and forced him to plant his shield to take the pressure — and the instant Ronan's shield went down and his weight went into it, the Last Defender spent everything he had into that exact point.
Ronan's whole front went out from under him.
He did not fall. He went sideways and lost the line completely, and there was suddenly nothing at all between the Last Defender and the man with the scythe.
He turned on James.
Finn got there.
