The ground smoldered where they stood, fissures glowing like veins of molten blood through the broken sector.
Silas clenched his fists tighter, the glow in his veins thrumming like a war drum. Marc rose across from him, calm, blood trailing from his lip but his expression still as still as stone.
Silas's chest swelled. "You're not untouchable."
He blurred forward, the rubble exploding under his boots. His fist cracked against Marc's jaw, snapping the boy's head to the side. Silas followed with another, hammering into his ribs, then an uppercut that sent him spiraling upward into the ruined sky.
Dust and stone rained in sheets.
Silas leapt after him, each movement detonating the ground below. His fists came like thunderbolts, every strike carrying the weight of absorbed energy, each blow glowing with stored light. He drove Marc back, further and further, pressing him like a storm.
