The blast struck Constance's chest, fire washing over her armor, heat that would have melted normal metal. Her suit's defensive matrices flared, energy shields engaging to disperse the thermal load, but even Imperial engineering had limits.
She was driven back, her armor's surface glowing red from the heat, systems screaming warnings about critical temperature thresholds.
Caden hit Jorghan from the side like a meteor.
The tackle carried both of them across thirty feet of desert before they impacted with the ground hard enough to create a crater. The wind was driven from Jorghan's lungs, ribs cracking under the impact despite his enhanced durability, pain flaring white-hot through his torso.
Caden's fist came down toward his face, the armored gauntlet capable of delivering enough force to pulverize stone. Jorghan's head snapped to the side, dodging by millimeters, and the fist cratered the ground where his skull had been.
The second punch wasn't as easy to avoid.
