The first collision drove Sagiri through the timber skeleton of an abandoned watchtower, and he twisted mid-fall to keep the debris from raining onto the empty road below.
Kiana followed through the gap she had made, patient in a way that had nothing to do with mercy and everything to do with certainty.
'Empty road,' he thought, catching himself on Nokai's flat, 'good, keep it empty.'
He caught her wrist before the next strike landed and redirected their combined weight toward the open hillside instead of the sleeping village beyond it.
The hill split under the force, dust climbing in a column visible for miles, while the village roofs stayed dark and whole behind them.
"You keep spending strength on people who can't see you doing it," Kiana said, twisting free of his grip, "that is an inefficient way to fight."
