Robert did not take a step back; he pressed on, moving right into it. The only direction that Harvey's second stage could not adapt to was within the radius of the compression field's generation.
The punch ca in fast. Robert braced himself, using his left forearm to deflect the blow—angling it just right to send the force upward instead of taking it head-on. It worked like a charm.
Seventy percent of it, to be exact. The remaining thirty percent slipped through the blade and into his arm. His left arm went completely numb from the elbow down to the wrist. The blade stayed locked in his grip.
Things are rough. Both arms are in bad shape now. My right shoulder is compromised, and my left forearm is numb. He still has two stages of a hidden technique active, while i am stuck with a sword that I can hardly keep a grip on.
The surrounding forest showed everything the fight had produced—two split trunks, one cracked trunk, and the ground between them compressed and broken from Seismic Stomp residue and the weight of repeated heavy exchanges. The undergrowth in a fifteen-ter radius had flattened completely.
The deep zone's silence felt different now. It was not just the silence of waiting; it was the silence of witnessing. Harvey drew his fist back and glanced at Robert's left arm.
He notices it right away. He rushed back without giving Robert a mont to really take in the damage. Clever move. Iron Collapse Fist—coming in from the left side, aiming for the arm that has gone numb. Robert activated Twin Dragon Fang, using just the left sword. One arm.
The technique required both strikes to arrive in sequence at the sa point—without the right arm's contribution, the second strike would be thirty percent slower.
Harvey would read the gap. He had to make the first strike count enough that the second strike's timing did not matter. He drove the first strike directly into the compressed energy field around Harvey's lead fist—not at Harvey, but at the field itself.
The splitting force struck the field right where it was created. This ti, the field did not break apart. The second stage was more compact than the first. The impact hit the field, and it stood firm.
Robert felt the rebound force travel back through the sword into the numb arm. He almost dropped the sword. Almost. Harvey's fist completed its approach.
Robert dropped to one knee deliberately—letting his body go below the strike's committed trajectory rather than trying to redirect it again. The compressed fist passed two centiters above his head.
He could feel the rush of air as it swept through his hair. From his knee, he launched a diagonal strike with his left sword—this was the second strike of the Twin Dragon Fang—targeting Harvey's wrist just as it reached its full extension.
The sword contacted the wrist joint at the precise angle the scan had shown as the delivery chanism's weakest point. The crack was small.
Sharp. Imdiate. Harvey pulled his arm back.
He glanced down at his right wrist and opened and closed his hand once. Nothing seed to respond as it should. Turning his gaze to Robert, who was still kneeling, he noticed a flicker of emotion cross his face. It was not a defeat. It was not anger.
The particular expression of a person who has just understood that the fight they thought they were winning has been operating on different terms than the ones they assud.
He had this all figured out from the mont his arm went numb. He guided to focus on the left side, setting up for the knee drop and finding a way to access the wrist from underneath. The energy around Harvey seed to pulse and flicker.
Not fading — flickering. The second stage had a ti limit, and it was creeping up fast. Harvey was aware of it. Robert was too. Thirty seconds. Maybe even less. They both knew exactly what those next thirty seconds would an.
Harvey was the first to make a move. With a powerful Iron Collapse Fist from his left hand, he put everything he had into that single strike. The surrounding air shimred as it cut through, and even before his fist made contact with Robert, the ancient tree to Robert's right began to crack under the pressure. The force of the wave was so intense that it caused the damage from a distance.
Robert stood his ground, refusing to bend. He anchored his feet firmly in place, raising the left sword with his numb arm. The forearm throbbed painfully, but he clung to the sword, relying on sheer willpower rather than any feeling.
The Twin Dragon Fang unleashed its full power, with both strikes aid squarely at Harvey's left shoulder at the sa ti. The first hit found its mark, and Harvey's fist kept pushing forward.
The second strike landed—on the sa point—the splitting force arriving at the joint from two angles in the sa half-second. Harvey's fist hit
Robert's chest.
Not the shoulder, but the chest. The energy from the compressed second stage surged behind it. Robert took off from the ground, soaring four ters before crashing into the ancient trunk.
Instead of splitting, the trunk shattered, with the bark exploding outward. The impact propelled Robert through the outer layer and deep into the living wood below.
He landed on the ground right in front of it and did not budge for a solid two seconds. The forest was utterly silent. Sai stepped forward from the tree line.
Robert raised his hand, a single finger lifted in a gesture that said, "Stay." Sai halted in his tracks. With a slow, deliberate motion, Robert pushed himself up from the ground, first to his knees and then to his feet. His movents were careful, as if he were navigating through a fog. Inside his chest, it felt like sothing had shifted just a bit, but in the wrong direction.
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