The void-silk woman reacted first, her form dissolving into layers of folded darkness as she reappeared above him, palms already forming a compression seal meant to crush the soul rather than the body.
Kexell looked up.
He let it hit him.
The seal slammed down, collapsing space around his skull. Bones shattered. His vision burst into static. His neck snapped at an impossible angle.
Pain flooded in.
And instead of slowing him, it fed him.
His spine twisted back into place with a sound like grinding stone. Dark flames surged higher, no longer just burning but howling, reacting to the conversion of pain into raw output.
"Ahh! There we go," Kexell breathed, voice hoarse with pleasure.
He jumped.
Not flew.
Jumped.
The arena plates cracked as he launched upward, crossing the distance in a single bound. His claw tore through the void woman's torso before she could phase again. The flames clung to her like leeches, eating through her intangibility, forcing her into form.
