The air thickened between Adam and the golem. For a heartbeat, they glared at each other.
Then, they exploded into motion like beasts tearing at each other.
The golem was faster. Its mechanical arms hummed with enchantments, its silvery broadsword tracing a downward arc.
Adam's mythical eyes flared with sky-blue mana. Trajectory. Strength. Speed. He saw them all. He stomped right, feeling the cold bite of the golem's blade tear his uniform. It brushed his left shoulder, the blade's passage whipping up a hurricane that ruffled his hair. But the golem's guard was now down.
In that fleeting heartbeat between balance and momentum, the veins in his right arm squirmed beneath taut skin. He swung in his unstable position, the crystalline edges of his chronoscar drawing a somber arc that contrasted with the golem's.
Glacial trails formed in its oblique trajectory, and rifts tore across space at the golem's waist.
CLANG
