Two's Dao Array Eyes tracked the blade's trajectory, processing attack patterns faster than conscious thought could follow.
The sword came at him in a diagonal slash that would have opened him from shoulder to hip, and he twisted away, feeling the edge pass so close it sliced through the fabric of his robes without touching skin.
The blade reversed instantly, coming back at him from the opposite angle before he'd even finished the evasion. Two dropped flat to the ground, and the weapon passed overhead with a sound like tearing silk.
He rolled, came up in a crouch, and the sword was already there, driving down toward his skull in a vertical strike that would have split him in half.
Two threw himself sideways, his shoulder hitting the ground hard enough to bruise, and felt the impact as the blade struck where he'd been a fraction of a second before. The sound echoed through the empty space like a gong strike.
This wasn't working.
