INT. Kisasa City Bank Main Hall
Maro's left arm pinned the Mindless against the cracked wall.
The creature clawed at his grip, gasping, half its face buried in dust.
THUD — the first punch slammed into its ribs.
THUD — the second made the wall tremble.
THUD — the third sent cracks splintering through the marble behind it.
The Mindless twisted, desperate to break free. Useless.
Maro drew back for the fourth strike, one that would end it, when another shape lunged from the side, fast, silent, a blur.
A flying knee.
Maro caught it mid-air with his right arm, the impact booming through the hall.
Even so, the force threw him backward. He struck the wall hard enough to shatter it.
Plaster and dust rained down as he dropped to one knee.
He wiped blood from his nose, eyes locked on the two creatures before him.
Then he laughed, short, rough, almost amused.
"Heh… that all you've got?"
The two Mindless hesitated, startled. Then rage replaced fear. They rushed together. Fists met flame, claws met bone. Maro's forearm caught one strike. His knee stopped another.
He drove a counterpunch into a jaw, pivoted, and slammed an elbow into a chest.
The other's claws raked across his shoulder, tearing fabric.
The exchange blurred, hit, block, strike, step. The Mindless roared, eyes blazing red.
Flames erupted across their bodies, swirling violently around them. The heat flooded the hall in a suffocating wave. Maro stood at the center of it, too close to run. He felt the burn on his skin,
the pressure of fire pulsing around him.
For a moment, he thought of the survivors above, their cries, the thin walls.
I can't keep holding back.
His boots dug into the cracked floor. The air around him rippled, his own fire answering the surge.
"Damn it," he muttered.
He clenched his fists, flames crawling up his arms. Heat rippled across the fractured floor as he drew one back.
Then he drove it down.
The punch landed like thunder. Fire exploded from the point of impact, a shockwave ripping through the hall. Marble shattered, floor plates buckled, and the entire level gave way beneath them.
Outside, the bank's windows burst outward in a blinding flash. Flame and glass spilling into the street, a rolling wave of dust blast through the city air.