THOOM!!

The warriors crashed together with all of their strength, sending an eardrum spliting kaboom bouncing off the rising hymn of the monoliths. The adrenaline pumping through Daniel's body swelled in time with it, the rush of combat pounding in his ears, a hammer shaping his burning resolve. The dragon had stopped his advance full force, with a cloud of dust spiraling into the sun scorched sky. He understood in that sliver of contact that this beast was older, more cunning, stronger than he was; he knew in an instant that this would be a duel to where he would need to strive, bleed, force himself to survive. 

As the dragon slammed its right shoulder into Columbia's Destiny, Daniel ground to a stop, giving no ground and less mercy. At the speed of superhuman reaction, Daniel turned his body outward towards his left, and whipped the Manifest in his right over his left shoulder in a deadly arc towards the nape of his foe's neck. If the dragon was pushing hard or would be in short order, Daniel's pivot should tilt the beast's shoulder just enough to make a block from behind difficult. If the wicked looking blades flashed out to test Daniel's swordsmaship, he was prepared to shift his weight back, parry with the shield, and riposte. At the same time he made these preparations in positioning, he readied himself once again to press the big red button. The octanitrocubane charge he had placed on the outside of his shield earlier would yield a greater explosion than any conventional military explosive, enough to snap even Daniel's superhumanly durable body through his shock resistant armor-- were he on the wrong side of it. This time, the dragon had the misfortune of standing on the wrong end of Daniel's shield, and the explosion was sure to deal some serious damage if it failed to assess its threats correctly. As Daniel sliced his blade outward, his fingers tightened on the detonator.

[i]Click.[/i]