Hal v. Stice, continued: the serve that wins the point by itself
there was a solid pock as this Stice cracked it flat into Orin’s brother’s body, handcuffing Hal at such speeds the ball’s movement presented only as afterimage, the creamy retinal trail of something too fast to track. [...] The Darkness really won that point on the serve itself.
Context
Stice's power is a killer's, and here it does a killer's work: the flat serve "cracked... into Orin's brother's body," so fast it "presented only as afterimage, the creamy retinal trail of something too fast to track." Hal is handcuffed, and deLint's verdict is that "The Darkness really won that point on the serve itself" — the whole point decided in a single overwhelming physical act, no architecture required. This is the pure-pace game the taxonomy will call killing.