From Bullets To Billions novel Chapter 686

Chapter 686: Who’s The Boss

"Oh, so you don’t dodge attacks?" Shooting said, her eyes glinting with a sharp, dangerous curiosity. "Well, that certainly makes things interesting."

She didn’t give Darno a second to breathe. Pulling her wooden sword back, she unleashed a flurry of rapid-fire thrusts, the tip of the bokken becoming a blurred needle of cedar aimed directly at his vitals. Darno’s expression tightened as he shifted into a purely reactive state. He couldn’t afford to be sloppy; he had to focus every ounce of his concentration on slapping the strikes away at the exact millisecond of impact, knocking them off their trajectory just enough to save his skin.

He couldn’t afford to swing his heavy arms too widely; if he overcommitted to a parry, he wouldn’t be able to pull his guard back in time to catch the next lightning-fast jab. His opponent was a master of speed and precision, and she was exploiting his stationary stance with ruthless efficiency.

’It’s not that I don’t want to dodge these attacks, but because of my damned Vow, I literally can’t move!’ Darno was screaming internally, his frustration reaching a boiling point. His entire martial arts philosophy was built on the foundation of blocking a hit and immediately counter-attacking, but with an opponent utilizing the superior reach of a weapon, he was trapped in a defensive loop, unable to bridge the gap.

From the outside, it looked like a high-stakes performance. Both the Billion Bloodline members and the women of the Fallen Rose stood back, watching the exchange with bated breath.

"These guys are actually pretty good," Sarah commented, her hand resting casually on her hip as she appraised the scene. "Maybe we should have taken that job after all, just to test ourselves. Or maybe this guy is just a one-off fluke of strength."

Driven by a sudden, impulsive need to test that theory, Sarah kicked the end of her wooden sword, sending it spinning up from the floor. She caught it mid-air, her body rotating in a fluid, acrobatic motion as she launched herself toward the nearest Bloodline member. She aimed a stinging strike directly at the man’s face, a blow he clearly hadn’t anticipated, until a hand shot out from the periphery and caught the wooden blade in a crushing grip.

The sword was held perfectly still, the momentum of her leap neutralized in an instant.

"What do you think you’re doing?" Stephen asked, his voice low and vibrating with annoyance. "You people came here requesting a formal meeting, and now you’re just attacking random members of my staff?"

Sarah’s cocky grin faltered, replaced by a flicker of genuine nerves. She prided herself on her situational awareness, yet she hadn’t sensed this man’s approach at all. He had moved with a ghostly, unnatural speed, appearing at her side as if he had teleported. More concerning was the grip he had on her weapon; despite the force of her thrust, he held the wood as if it were a stationary iron bar.

Stephen flung his hand out, dismissively throwing the sword back. Sarah managed to keep her hold on the hilt, but she was staggered by the sheer physical displacement.

The reason Stephen was able to react with such overwhelming force was twofold: his Vow had granted him the necessary speed, but the hidden exoskeleton beneath his clothes provided the structural power to halt a full-velocity strike without breaking a sweat.

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