The guard stood behind David, hand already drifting toward his weapon. "I don't recognize you, Guard. What's your business here at this hour?"
David's skull throbbed with another spike of suppressed power, the mandatory quest burning like acid in his mind. Time was slipping away, every second spent in explanation was a second closer to discovery, to failure, to permanent damage he couldn't afford.
Talking will take time we don't have.
"Fuck it," David muttered under his breath.
He spun around with fluid precision, his fist connecting with the guard's gut in a perfectly calculated strike. The man's eyes bulged as physics took over, David's suppressed strength still far exceeded normal human limits. The guard launched upward, his armored body slamming into the stone ceiling with a sickening thud before crashing back down in an unconscious heap.
David examined his handiwork with clinical detachment. Efficient. Quiet. No permanent damage.
