Lena closed her eyes.
She didn't want to see him crushed beneath her fist.
For a split second, she almost convinced herself that this was mercy.
The moment her knuckles struck something solid, her entire body tilted sideways.
"Huh—?"
The sound barely left her lips before the ground rushed up to meet her.
She hadn't been pushed with brute force. It was worse than that.
She had been redirected.
Before she could even process what had happened, her body dropped, balance stolen from her center like it had never been hers to begin with.
Then came the kick.
It was clumsy.
Unsteady.
Imperfect.
But it was unmistakable.
Lena's eyes widened.
No… that stance—
Even as she was falling, she recognized it. The foot placement. The slight twist of the hip. The delayed pivot that sacrificed speed for stability.
There was no way she could forget it.
She had drilled that movement into him herself.
