Time hung frozen—leaves suspended mid-fall, dust motionless in the air—yet Nolan and the Divine Dragon King still moved as if the pause never touched them. Nolan tightened his jaw. "Fine," he thought. "Then I'll put everything into this one punch."
He surged forward. The dragon met him with terrifying speed, lunging up and slamming a massive forelimb down. Nolan's fist rocked into the beast's jaw and drove it upward; the force alone sent a ripple through the frozen world. He followed with a relentless barrage—blows that landed like falling mountains. For a moment the dragon staggered, then pushed back, muscles coiling, eyes burning with a furious, restrained intelligence.
