Lin landed as always with feline grace, but her eyes were never as wide with genuine shock.
Ren had achieved the impossible.
He had dodged her completely.
"How...?" Lin murmured, her voice carrying huge disbelief.
"I didn't have a choice," Ren replied, his voice firmer than before.
The emotional intensity had unlocked something in his connection to the encysted seed. It wasn't his full power, but it was more than he'd had access to in months. More than he'd dared hope for.
The wind had helped position his body faster, redirected him at crucial moments, while the earth sank into simple formations he could generate quickly to alter his trajectory. Basic techniques, but executed with a precision born of desperation.
Lin didn't have boosts that were too high, they were actually slightly lower than Ren's even at his now half power. But that was in her base form. Now that she was fused and tripling her statistics, she was operating at more than double Ren's base capabilities.
