The sky above the Pacific was no longer a battlefield. It was a forge.
We were the hammers, Tenebria and I, and the atmosphere was the steel being beaten out between us.
I moved faster than I ever had in my life. The Miasma I'd breathed in burned in my veins like fuel poured on a fire, and my perception stretched until falling raindrops hung in the air like beads on invisible threads.
Sovereign Sword Art, Fifth Form: Thousand Star Convergence.
I didn't thrust once. I thrust a thousand times inside a single heartbeat. Valeria became a smear of silver light reaching for every vital point Tenebria had: eyes, throat, heart, the joints of her shoulders and knees.
The sound wasn't steel through flesh. It was a jackhammer working on a bank vault.
Tenebria didn't even block. She hung there in the air with her arms spread wide, a host welcoming a guest she found faintly amusing.
