The Eternity of Pain

She had first seen him in the ruins in Berlin, trailing Sadie's point man. His power, dimmed in the course of day, still cast hard shadows outside her position. She dropped down silently behind him in an explosion of magic, the ordinary stillness of the world slowing to a literal stop around them. Protected behind his wards yet too well-drilled by his KSK instructors, he drew his sidearm.

Having predicted his actions thus far, Astarlane was entirely surprised by his choice of weapon. Instead of a tame little automatic, a huge revolver blasted her defences in a spray of white-hot sparks, causing her to duck in close.

She stopped his attack with an iaido-style cut-from-the-scabbard with her sword, a low flickering strike at stomach level that smashed into his body armour with vicious force. The deflection she turned into a whirling cut at his leg where there would be no ballistic plate.

Tenever had pressed two fingers into the soft space at the base of her throat and blown her into unconsciousness.