His feet hit the ground hard. Piles of dirt and grass flew up in the wake of Zack’s feet. Before the youth could even process exactly what was going on, he felt something hit him hard of the back. He was brought to the ground by Talen and the shadow warrior’s ability to out-teleport him. His mouth filled with the coppery taste of the ground, his back injury rang with the feeling of several bags of bricks being dropped on it. He tried to push himself up, flip around and once again put himself in an advantageous position.

That’s when the whip session commenced once more.

Zack let out a chorus of yelps each time the shadow tendrils laid into his back. He could feel the mists of blood as they spurted out of his injury. He winced and tried to catch his breath. Each time he inhaled, another loud crack filled the air and sent him involuntarily exhaling once more. He could feel each blow slowly crack the bones in his back more and more. The pain was unbearable, and Zack Blaze found himself in a position he could not think his way out of.

He had one final gamble to play; his ace in the hole. He figured that Talen would do the same thing again should the street fighter attempt to teleport out of the beat down. Instead, Zack used the stone’s ability to teleport the sword at his hip above the young Shadowalker. The hope was that Talen would be so engulfed in his sadistic rage that he would not notice the blade’s disappearance. Even if he did see that the weapon was gone, Zack hoped it would be too late by the time he realized it.

For thirty feet above the two warriors, the blade simply known as ‘The Sword’ came down, tip first, towards Talen’s right shoulder.

((Bunny approved by Hysteria))