Once again, I should clarify that I'm portraying events in a way which is not strictly accurate to how they would go if this were an actual game of Exalted. Ten would, if that were the case, have been able to defend himself more ably; contrariwise, he wouldn't have been able to pull off the massive tornado throw of the last page. Not without custom Charms or extreme stunting, anyway; if it really bothers you, assume one of those is the case (Though I think I did once actually write a custom Terrestrial Charm that did something similar to what he does in this one).

However, if this were Exalted, what's happening in the comic now would take longer, as there would be an elegant dance of action and defense, the whittling of essence reserves and so forth. Or, perhaps, Ten could have simply escaped uninjured, aside having had to deplete his mote pools. And in the game these are all perfectly fine, and work with the system around which it is based. Dramatic injury, however, is a staple of heroism and action stories and I wanted to use it, showing that Ten is willingly sacrificing his own well-being to put his allies out of harm's way; and, also, showing a bit of the difference between Dragon-Blooded and Celestial Exalted, by contrasting Ten's injuries with how Marena was able to shrug off a wound earlier. So I have to fudge things away a bit from the game, where usually characters will only suffer physical injury when they're already on the point of utter defeat.

Actually, the game does have a stand-in of sorts for dramatic injury, in the form of anima display; most Exalted have reasons not to let their animas flare, so when they do, it's a sign they've been "forced" to use their full power, and that they've had to resort to using part of their limited resources. In the comic, however, there are some problems with doing this (such as the fact that we can't "see" how much essence the characters have left, as players would be able to), so� basically, I hope that explains things a bit.

The lateness of the last page means a probable bit of catch-up with this one, too. Apologies in advance.