Chapter 171: Sparring
Shay’s body moved.
Explosive.
His legs snapped together. Hard. His core tightened. Every muscle contracting at once. Then he kicked down against the concrete. The force launched his entire body upward.
A kip-up. One smooth motion. From flat on his back to standing in less than a second.
"Woo! Woo!" Shay shouted. His arms spread wide. "I feel amazing! Like the power is surging inside me!"
He looked at his hands. Flexed his fingers. Watching them move.
Liam exhaled. ’That was fast. Way faster than a normal person should move after taking that hit.’
"Thought i actually killed you."
Shay grinned. "Nah. The pain was there at first. Everything burning. But then it just disappeared. Now I feel incredible."
Liam nodded. "Good. Now we know you won’t die. Two powerhouses in the group now."
Shay’s grin widened. "I’m really happy this worked out. Thanks, man. I can’t believe I really didn’t like you before."
Liam tilted his head. "It’s weird. I didn’t like you either. Because of how we met. But I really respect you now."
Shay laughed. "Hell, I never thought I could respect you either."
Both of them laughed. The sound echoing off the warehouse walls. High ceiling. Bare concrete. Stacked crates along the far side casting long shadows under the overhead lights.
Liam gestured toward the crates. "Alright. Let’s test your strength on those bricks."
Shay shook his head. "No."
"No?"
"I don’t want to test it on bricks." Shay’s eyes locked on Liam. "I want to test it on you."
Liam raised an eyebrow."Is this revenge for something?"
"Maybe. Don’t tell me you’re scared."
"I’m not as stupid as Damien. That doesn’t work on me."
"Hey!" Damien’s voice cut through from across the warehouse.
Both turned. Damien was sitting upright against the wall. Blood dripping from his nose. He wiped it with his hand. A dark smear across his knuckles. "You had me. I’m not that easy to trigger."
He tried to stand. Got halfway. His legs wobbled. He dropped back down. His back hit the wall again with a dull thud.
"If only I could stand straight," Damien muttered, "I’d beat your ass."
Liam smiled. "I’d like to see you try."
Shay stepped forward. "That’s enough. We don’t have long before this wears off. I really want to see what I can do."
Liam looked at him. At the yellow light still faintly flickering under his skin. Pulsing slow. Like a heartbeat.
’He’s right, if we don’t test it now we won’t know what we’re working with.’
Liam nodded. "Alright. I’m fine with sparring."
Shay cracked his neck. Left. Right. The sound sharp in the quiet warehouse. He started bouncing on his feet. Fists up. His eyes focused. Already locked in.
Liam took his stance. ’It just a sparring match. No need for Silent Stride.’
He looked at Shay. "This is a new power. Let’s not overdo it."
Shay didn’t answer. Just kept bouncing. Ready.
They circled each other.
The warehouse floor was uneven in places. Rough concrete. Old stains running dark along the joints between slabs. Their footsteps were the only sound. Slow. Measured. Both watching. Both reading.
Shay’s eyes tracked Liam’s shoulders. His hands. Looking for the tell.
Liam watched Shay’s feet. The way his weight shifted.
They kept circling.
Liam moved first.
Threw a jab. Left hand. Fast. Straight.
Shay’s head slipped right. The punch missing by an inch.
Liam followed with a cross. Right hand. More power.
Shay blocked with his left forearm.
Yellow light flashed. Brief. Where the punch connected.
Shay grinned. "I felt that. Keep going."
Liam threw a low kick. His shin aimed at Shay’s thigh.
Shay lifted his leg. Blocked with his shin.
Another flash. Brighter this time.
Then Shay countered. Right hook at Liam’s ribs.
Liam stepped back. The punch missed.
They reset. Both breathing easy. Neither one winded yet.
Liam threw a combination. Jab. Cross. Hook. Uppercut.
Shay blocked the first. Dodged the second. Caught the third on his shoulder. Blocked the fourth.
Each hit created yellow light. Flickering across Shay’s body. His forearms. His shoulder. Small bursts. Dying out quick.
"More," Shay said. His eyes starting to glow faintly. "I need more."
Liam understood immediately. ’He’s storing it. Each hit I land he absorbs the energy. Holds onto it. Which means at some point he releases it back out.’
He stepped in. Threw a hard body shot. Right into Shay’s ribs.
Shay took it. Didn’t even try to block. The yellow light exploded across his torso.
His eyes glowed brighter.
He smiled. "Yeah. Like that."
Liam threw another. Left hook. Same spot.
Shay stood there. Arms at his sides. Just took it.
The light pulsed. Brighter. Spreading further this time. Down his ribs. Across his stomach.
"Keep going," Shay said. His voice steady. "I want to see how much I can take."
Liam threw a right straight. Hard. Into Shay’s face.
Shay’s head snapped back. But he didn’t fall. Didn’t stumble. Just reset. Rolled his neck once. The yellow light covering his face now. His cheekbone. His jaw. His eyes burning bright.
"More."
Liam threw a roundhouse kick. High. His shin connecting hard with Shay’s ribs.
THUD.
The impact was solid. Heavy. The kind that would have dropped most people. Shay slid sideways from the force. Three feet. His boots scraping across the concrete floor.
But he stayed standing.
The yellow light covered his entire right side now. Pulsing. Growing. Spreading slow across his chest like cracks forming in stone.
Shay looked down at himself. At the light dancing across his skin. "This is insane. I can feel it building. Like a battery charging."
Liam circled him slowly.
’He’s charging so he can choose to keep it. That’s kind of cool.’
"How much more can you take?"
"I don’t know. Let’s find out."
Liam threw a spinning back kick. His heel aimed at Shay’s chest.
Shay crossed his arms. Blocked.
The impact was massive. A deep boom filling the warehouse. He slid backward. Ten feet. His boots scraping a long pale line across the dark concrete.
But he stayed up. The yellow light now covering his arms. His chest. His shoulders. Crawling up his neck.
His whole upper body glowing.
"Okay," Shay breathed. His voice strained for the first time. "I think I’m close to full."
Liam stepped in again. Threw an elbow. Hard. Aimed at Shay’s temple.
Shay turned his head. Took it on his forehead.
CRACK.
The light exploded. Bright. Intense. Covering his entire head now. His ears. His jaw. The top of his skull.
Shay stumbled. One step. Two. Then caught himself. Planted his feet wide. Breathed through it.
His whole body was glowing now. Yellow light covering every inch of him. Pulsing. Throbbing. Like electricity running under his skin. The air around him felt different. Heavier. The way it feels before a storm rolls in.
The overhead lights above them flickered once.
His eyes were completely yellow. No pupils. No whites. Just glowing gold.
"Okay," Shay said. His voice different now. Deeper. Resonating. Like it was coming from somewhere further back in his chest. "I think that’s enough. I can feel it. It wants out."
’That’s my sign to stay back.’
Liam stepped back. Creating distance.
He looked at Shay. At the light crawling and pulsing. At the way even the air around him seemed to bend slightly. Like looking through glass on a hot day.
"Let’s see what you’ve got."
Shay took a breath. His chest rising slow. His glowing eyes focused. He rolled his right shoulder once. Then he moved.
Fast. Faster than before.
He closed the distance in two steps. The concrete cracked under his foot on the second one. A small split. Like something had been slammed down hard.
His right fist cocked back. The glow intensifying around it. Pulling inward. Concentrating. All the absorbed energy flowing down from his chest. His shoulder. His arm. Gathering in his fist like water rushing toward a drain.
"Here it comes!" Shay shouted.
He threw the punch.
All of it. Everything he’d absorbed. Every kick. Every elbow. Every body shot. All of it releasing in one single massive strike.
Liam saw it coming. The fist. The light. The air distorting around it. ’Move.’
He moved.
Ducked. Hard right. His body dropping low. His knee almost touching the floor.
The punch sailed over his head.
Missing by inches.
The wind from it hit Liam’s face. Powerful. Like standing in front of a jet engine. His hair whipping sideways. His eyes watering from the force of it.
Then the punch kept going.
The air itself seemed to compress. A visible ripple pushing outward from Shay’s fist. Then it exploded forward.
A shockwave.
Visible. Distorting everything it passed through. The dust on the warehouse floor lifting in a line. A straight path cutting across the concrete from Shay’s fist to the far wall.
It shot across the warehouse. Fast. Unstoppable.
Hit the far wall.
BOOM.
The sound was enormous. Filling the entire warehouse. Bouncing off every surface.
The concrete exploded. Chunks of stone launching outward. Smaller pieces peppering the floor twenty feet in every direction.
A crater forming in the wall. Maybe six feet across. Deep. The rebar inside bent and twisted and exposed.
Cracks spiderwebbing outward from the center in every direction. Running up toward the ceiling. Down toward the floor.
Dust erupted. A thick cloud billowing outward from the impact point. Rolling across the floor. Swallowing the crates stacked against the nearby wall.
The overhead lights swayed on their chains.
Liam straightened slowly. The dust reaching him. He turned his face away. Waited for it to thin. Then looked back at the wall.
At the crater. At the chunks of concrete still settling on the floor. ’That would have taken my head off. Every bone in my skull gone. Just from one punch.’
Shay stood there. His fist still extended. His arm still locked out from the follow through. The yellow glow fading from his body. Draining away. Starting from his fingertips. Moving up his arm. Across his chest. Down his legs. Disappearing.
His eyes flickered. Gold. Then brown. Then normal.
He lowered his arm slowly.
He looked at his hand. Then at the wall. At the crater. At the dust still drifting through the air. Then back at his hand.
"Holy shit," he breathed. "Did I just do that?"
Liam nodded. Slow. "Yeah. You did."
’Scary!’
Damien’s voice came from across the warehouse. Weak. Shocked. Barely above a whisper. "What the fuck was that?"
Shay started laughing. High. Excited. The kind of laugh that comes out when something is too big to process any other way. "This is incredible! Let me try again!"
He turned back to Liam. Took his stance. Fists up. Eyes bright. "Hit me some more. I want to do that again."
Liam just nodded.
As he moved forward. Threw a jab.
It connected with Shay’s face.
"Ahhhhh"
No light. No flash. Nothing.
Shay blinked. Touched his face where the punch landed. "Huh?"
Liam threw another. Harder. Into Shay’s ribs a little lighter.
Still nothing. Just a normal punch. Normal impact. Shay winced slightly and took a half step back.
Shay looked down at his body. At his hands. Turned them over. Both sides. "It’s gone."
Liam stepped back. ’Just like that. One second it’s there. Now it isn’t.’
He checked his watch.
"About twenty minutes," he said. More to himself than to Shay.
Shay blinked. "That’s it? Twenty minutes?"
"Your scary-ass power has expired i guess." Liam looked at the crater. At the dust still hanging in the air.
At the cracks running up the wall toward the ceiling. "Thank God."
Shay was quiet for a moment. Just standing there. Staring at his hands. The warehouse settling around them.
"Twenty minutes is short," Shay said.
"It is."
"But if I spend the whole time absorbing—" Shay looked at the crater. Something shifting behind his eyes. Working through it. "Save it all for the end."
Liam nodded.
Shay grinned. Slow. Confident. "Next time this activates, I’m going all out."
"Not looking forward to it."