The force of her blow had caused a sudden drop in air pressure, sending a column of dust and smoke to billow out into the brumal air. Minute variances in this concealing cloud's atmosphere sent shivers across her bronzed skin, revealing the form's presence careening towards her. 

Not enough time for a clean dodge, she reflected as her hands shot up in accordance with the attack's trajectory with it shifting from her face to her torso as her form lifted inches off the ground in imitation of the mtyholi's previous movements. The muscles along her arms and shoulders braced at the moment of impact, her armored right palm pressed against the flat of the monster's outstretched foot; her left hand wrapped around the toes.

Najwa gave a horrendous, twisting yank of her attacker's foot that would have torn the limb from its socket in a lesser creature. As she was propelled backwards, Najwa's grip tore loose and the two separated. Her form crashed through a layer of stone wall back-first, through a broad corridor where her body doubled-over itself then through a wooden latticework that overlooked an auspicious courtyard. A few tight sable tresses came undone as she flew across the square and came to a crashing halt against a central pillar of the temple's ornate gate, her boots sinking nearly a meter into the material. Tiles clattered to the cobblestone from its tiered design, their sound muted by the gate's heavy groan of severe structural damage. 

Najwa dropped to her feet, immediately assuming a defensive position with fists at the ready, the familiar heft of her sheathed machete shifting along her waist. Her eyes took in the majesty of these empyreal heights, prismatic hexagons of light dancing along arctic winds; thick blankets of snow draped over  towering, razor-edged karsts. Any other time, this would have been a pleasant experience. But others relied on her return, and return she would.