The first collision occurred before anyone could breathe.
Zani flashed in a sheer arc, slicing through the air at an impossible angle, so fast it left black rifts suspended in the atmosphere—as if space had been torn apart and hadn't yet decided whether to mend itself again.
Scathach raised her bare hand, and the runes on her body lit up all at once, pulsing in unison like the hearts of giants. The collision generated a flash that blinded even the warriors in the sky. Daniela instinctively shielded herself with her wing, Frieren raised a shield, and still they felt the impact rip through their bodies, sending blood pounding through their veins.
The entire island screamed.
The sand on the beach turned to glass in concentric circles, trees on the distant slopes were uprooted, and the sea—the sea receded even further, opening a liquid abyss that exposed abyssal creatures writhing in the darkness, as if unwitting witnesses to the duel.
