Vincent struck Cube hard enough to split the clouds above the resort.
The impact detonated through the ice brace and threw Elara toward the pool deck. Cube stayed in her hands. That was the important part. Her shoulder screamed, her ribs barely obeyed, and the rest of her body hit the ground with enough force to break stone tile under a skin of frost.
Water surged from the pool and froze across the deck in uneven sheets. The cold did not arrive cleanly. It came in patches where Elara still had focus, thick near her hands and thin near her injured side, leaving slick paths that guests slipped across while crawling away. Guests scattered behind overturned chairs and service carts. Someone kept screaming the word fire even though ice had swallowed half the patio.
Elara rolled onto her side and forced air into her chest.
Cube hovered near her hands, covered in blue vapor and looking more offended than injured.
"You took a direct hit from him and you are still intact."
