The man with the kind smile was going to respond, but Barrett avoided his blows and continued to land accurate blows one after the other. Someone switched out the light, but the exchange continued unabated.

Barrett evaded Tony’s attacks while simultaneously hitting him in strategic places. Tony continued to throw blows.

Tony looked at Barrett, who had his eyes closed and was still battling as if nothing had changed, and he retreated after noticing that the light had been turned back on. He took in a breath.

Barrett took a few deep breaths, then broadly smiled as he opened his eyes to look at Tony and remarked, “I thought you didn’t feel pain, that you didn’t recoil, ever! But you’re going backward.”

Tony, who was spewing blood on the ground at the time, said, “How can you know where I am with my eyes closed? How can you know what I’m going to do if you don’t open your eyes?”

Barrett sprang up onto the balls of his feet, grinned broadly, glanced at Mina and then at Tony, and asked, “Do