Written in the style of Uprooted by Naomi Novik:

The foreman towered above Jimmy, his burly chest puffed out, waving a weathered pickaxe back-and-forth like the glaive of Guanyu himself. He was a terror to behold. Jimmy blocked his path, feet planted firmly in the dirt, standing resolutely before the man’s bellowing, body spread out to shield the injured Jiao. His head only came up to the foreman’s chest, yet he held the man off with the confidence of a brick wall.

“That creature’s killed two of my crew that I know of,” the foreman fumed, “you would insult their deaths by sparing that… that…”

He leapt back with a startled gasp. Jimmy had called up a fire spell close enough to singe the man’s chest hairs.