They spent the next twenty minutes demonstrating the power of Kali knife-fighting techniques and the vicious striking power of a karambit blade against a trained fighter like Jack. All of Jack’s blocks were easily countered with the flick of the blade. Kicks were stopped, too, and countered with slashes across feet, ankles, and thighs. Amador used his free hand and feet for strikes as well. Jack and Amador stopped in the middle of each strike-counterstrike sequence and demonstrated the subtle but powerful techniques Amador deployed.

“Now let’s switch up. Jack, you attack me, and I’ll defend,” Amador said.

“Do I get the knife?” Jack asked, hopefully.

“You don’t need a knife. You’re much larger and more powerful than me. I’m just a little old man!” Amador laughed. “Begin!”

Now Jack moved in, throwing slow-motion punches and jabs at Amador, easily six inches shorter than him. As in other martial-arts demos Jack had witnessed, Amador used a variety of techniques to dodge or deflect the heavy blows with his free hand but instantly counterstruck with the wicked claw-shaped blade, inflicting slicing wounds across the back of Jack’s hands, around his wrists, down the biceps, across the forearms. They no longer stopped to demonstrate at each point of contact but flowed continuously with the fluid motion of their attacks and defenses.

Jack picked up the pace of his attacks, adding straight and rounded leg kicks. Amador matched him step for step, blow for blow, dancing inside and out of Jack’s larger frame and delivering crippling knife strikes at the groin, inner thighs, stomach, and face. Other blows were struck with the far end of the knife, the steel retention ring acting like a brass knuckle. It delivered crushing blows to soft tissues, cartilage, and bone in the nose, larynx, and eyes.

“It’s like I’m boxing with a velociraptor!” Jack said, admiring the fluidity of Amador’s movements matched to the vicious talon in the man’s skilled hand.

After the last lethal blow was struck—the curved blade’s inner edge striking Jack below the left ear, then dragging the pointed tip across the carotid artery—the shadow fighting stopped. Jack acknowledged his defeat with a gracious smile and a bow.

“Questions?” Amador asked.

“I noticed that a lot of your knife skills were connected to your openhanded martial-arts technique,” Dom said. “It was kind of hard to separate the two.”

“Good observation. That’s because all forms of openhanded fighting were derived from blade fighting. Swords and knives were always preferred in combat. But what happens when a man loses his sword or spear in battle?” Amador held up an empty hand. “He learns to fight with these. Still, don’t be confused. Empty-hand fighting is different from knife fighting. They are connected, but different.”

“Any more questions?” Martinez asked.