He understood the pattern now. Maintaining a continuous coating during full-speed motion required too much adjustment. The instability came from trying to preserve structure through acceleration.
When the skeleton lunged again, blade thrusting toward his chest, Ivor stepped off the line and altered his method entirely.
Instead of forcing the coating to remain thick throughout the swing, he kept it deliberately thin during movement. Only in the final inch before impact did he push a compact surge of mana forward, compressing it outward at the exact point of contact.
The result was immediate. The compressed surge of mana detonated outward at the instant of contact, and a sharp crack split across the skeleton's front ribs. Fractures spread from the impact point like thin lightning veins through brittle bone. The creature staggered backward, its red-lit gaze flaring as its torso partially caved inward.
