The pain didn't hit right away.
Jin's body folded over from the punch, breath caught mid-exit, muscles tight—but something felt wrong. Off. Her strikes were always dangerous, but this one? It had weight. Not just impact—refinement. Precision. Growth.
She'd gotten stronger.
He realized too late.
A split-second of recognition crossed his face.
And then—
BOOM.
The delayed trigger detonated in his gut like a compressed shockwave, every nerve in his torso lighting up like a red flare. The air inside his lungs collapsed in on itself. His feet left the ground before he even registered it.
CRASH.
Jin smashed through the large double doors of the Warden's Hall, marble and steel bursting apart around him as his body ragdolled into the grand room beyond.
He skidded violently across the polished floor, stone screeching beneath his boots until he came to a sharp, breathless stop.
