Kain was fast.
Genuinely, seriously fast — the fast of a Champion at full engagement, every attribute doubled, moving with the focused efficiency of someone who had decided that speed was the only advantage available and was deploying it immediately and completely. His level was higher. His stats were doubled. The arena geometry was his. He came in with everything he had from the first movement because he had determined that holding anything back was not a version of this that led anywhere useful either.
Lexel moved his hands from behind his back.
Caught the strike. Not blocked — caught, the bare hand finding the weapon arm at the wrist with the specific precision of someone who had been watching the pattern for one second and had already read the next three.
"Have you eaten yet?" Lexel said.
He redirected. Stepped through. Let Kain's own momentum carry the strike somewhere that wasn't useful.
