'Fuck!' her thoughts echoed as the devastating punch came through.
Nyla quickly adjusted, met it head-on.
Her twin blades crossed in front of her, ice forming so fast it crackled audibly, layers building in milliseconds to create thickness that might—maybe—survive one impact.
The fist hit her guard.
The ice shattered immediately, explosively, fragments that had been solid becoming projectiles that sprayed in all directions. But that fraction of a second of resistance was enough—Nyla absorbed the impact through her entire body instead of just her arms, let the force drive her backward in a controlled fall rather than an uncontrolled flight.
And in that moment of contact, in that brief instant where volcanic heat met absolute cold—
She felt it.
The thermal envelope fluctuated.
Just for a heartbeat. Just the tiniest disruption where extreme cold had forced the heat to recalibrate, to redistribute, to acknowledge something that could contest it.
{HP: 51/100}
