He released the wrist and staggered one step.
Scale Armor had reduced the impact, but Kunther's physical enhancement put enough force behind the elbow that it reduced and eliminated different things, and the difference was currently making Jake's vision strobe.
Kunther was already repositioning, sword arm recovered, reading the momentary vulnerability with the predatory accuracy of someone who had spent years identifying and exploiting the gaps between a hit landing and a person recovering from it.
He crossed the distance.
Jake dropped.
Not a fall—a deliberate drop to one knee, ducking under the follow-up slash that passed through the air where his neck had been. From the lower position, he drove his fist upward into Kunther's midsection with everything his bloodline-enhanced strength could produce in a short-range upward strike.
The impact sounded like something structural giving way.
