The staff cut through the air and both Seongji and I jumped in opposite directions.
The guard watched us, in no hurry to move. '...These two kids. Sharper than they look.'
Seongji went first. He dropped low and rushed in. The guard swung the staff in a wide horizontal sweep, but Seongji ducked under it, got both hands on the guard's belt, and used his own momentum to hoist him up and slam him into the ground.
The guard hit hard, but rolled away and got back on his feet fast. His eyes had changed. "Judo?"
Seongji didn't answer. He reset his stance and came forward again.
The guard was ready this time. He jabbed twice with the staff, pushing Seongji back, then swept wide. Seongji slipped to the side, and the moment the guard pulled the staff back, Seongji closed in and locked onto his right wrist. Six fingers drove straight into the gaps between bones.
The guard's expression shifted. He could feel it — this wasn't a grab at skin and muscle. Those fingers were digging into bone.
He yanked hard to pull free, but Seongji's grip followed the movement and torqued with it. When the joint hit its limit, the guard let out a muffled grunt and his knee dipped slightly.
I charged from the side, jumped, and went for an elbow. The guard's free hand caught me and threw me. I hit the rock face nearby and the impact ran straight up my spine.
'...This guy is strong.'
Seongji used the moment to switch his hold, reversing onto the guard's elbow joint and forcing it the wrong way. The guard bent forward under the pain. Seongji drove a knee into his stomach and used the leverage to push him back.
The guard retreated two steps before he steadied himself. His breathing had gotten heavier.
I pushed off the wall and got back up. Seongji glanced back at me. "You alright?"
"Fine. Keep going."
The guard didn't wait this time. He came in hard, throwing three rapid strikes that walked Seongji backward, then suddenly dropped the staff and rushed inside Seongji's reach with his bare hands.
Seongji reached for his wrists. The guard didn't let him. He pushed both hands outward against Seongji's elbows, forcing his guard open by sheer force, and drove a palm into his chest.
Seongji stumbled back three steps.
The guard's frame was just too solid. Seongji's technique could close some of the gap, but not all of it. '...He's using raw strength to break my joint control.'
The guard pressed forward, grabbed Seongji by the collar, and brought an elbow down. Seongji got his arm up to block but was still driven back, step by step, until the rock face was right behind him.
I came in from behind. The guard felt it, turned, absorbed my charge, and shoved me straight into Seongji. We crashed into each other and both went down.
The guard stood over us, breathing hard, his eyes cold. "That's enough. What do two kids think they're going to do?"
He reached down and hauled Seongji up by the collar, drew his fist back.
Seongji's eyes were still steady.
He let the guard lift him. Then both hands snapped onto the guard's wrists — not gripping skin, all twelve fingers pressing directly into bone at once, both hands twisting in opposite directions.
The guard's fist stopped in midair.
'...This force...' He tried to pull away, but both wrists were locked at the same time, and every direction he pulled in was the wrong direction for his own bones. His face went pale.
Seongji's head was down. He was grinding his teeth, pushing everything he had into those fingers.
The guard finally couldn't hold it. A choked grunt escaped him and one knee hit the ground.
I watched from beside them with a single thought running through my head. '...How is he doing that.'
The guard was gasping now, real panic behind his eyes. He threw himself into a desperate, full-body wrench. Seongji was pulled off balance for just a moment, and the guard used it to crash his entire body weight forward, driving Seongji to the ground. They rolled together.
The guard ended up on top, one hand clamped around Seongji's throat. Seongji's face went red. He pried at the guard's wrist with both hands, but pinned on his back he couldn't get the angle.
"Seongji!"
My hand found a rock.
The guard wasn't looking at me. Every bit of his weight was going into that hand on Seongji's throat. Seongji's struggling was getting weaker.
I grabbed the rock and ran.
The guard heard me and started to turn.
Too late.
The rock came down on his temple.
His hand went slack. He toppled sideways and hit the ground and didn't move.
I stood there with the rock still in my hand, and my hand was shaking.
Seongji was on the ground coughing violently, dragging air back into his lungs. I crouched down and pulled him upright. He grabbed my arm and held on, and it took a long moment before his breathing evened out.
"Seongji, the way you just..." The words didn't come. I just looked down at his hands. All twelve fingers. The thick calluses worn into his palms. A kid my own age who had just come within a breath of snapping a grown man's wrists with his bare hands.
Seongji followed my gaze down to his own hands and said nothing.
Something shifted inside me. 'I want to get strong.'
We helped each other up. The mountain path stretched ahead, dark, no end in sight.
"Can you walk?" I asked.
"Can you?" he shot back.
I laughed, and my ribs made me regret it immediately.
We leaned against each other and started climbing, one step at a time. The village fell away behind us and kept getting smaller.