[Celestial Academy — Administrative Wing Corridor — North Section — 11:29 AM]

The second creature had 1,800,000 HP.

Davan knew this because F5 told him — not with an exact number, but with the specific pressure of something evaluating a threat and returning the information that the threat was large enough for Dominion to process it as an absolute priority.

They had been fighting it for twelve minutes.

[Davan HP: 280,000 → 198,400]

[F6 Bearer HP: 180,000 → 131,600] 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Eighty‑one thousand six hundred combined damage in twelve minutes.

The creature with 1,800,000 HP absorbed that rate with the same indifference with which a rock absorbs rain.

---

The F5+F6 combo had worked three times.

Each time producing between 60,000 and 67,800 damage at the point of contact. Each time requiring both of them to position themselves at exactly the right angle, for Davan to concentrate all of Dominion on one point instead of distributing it across the field, for the bearer to channel the distributed entropy toward that same point at the same instant.

Each time with the creature learning the pattern a little faster than the previous one.

"Three times," said Davan, repositioning after the third exchange. "It’s already learned the timing."

"Yes." The bearer evaluated the creature with the casual attention of someone cataloging an interesting phenomenon. "It adjusted its response radius by 0.4 seconds after the second combo. Now it interrupts before we can complete the synchronization."

"Solution?"

"Change the contact point."

"The combo works because we concentrate on the same point."

"The combo works because we concentrate." The bearer looked at the creature’s exoskeleton with her eyes, which had something beneath the normal color when the light hit just right. "The point can change if we find another point with the same conditions."

[F6 — Entropy — The Root — active]

The entropy field spread over the creature’s exoskeleton — structural degradation distributed across multiple zones simultaneously, internal disorder accumulating in the material without any specific point giving way yet.

The bearer read the distribution.

"Left lateral joint zone," she said. "The material there has irregular density — degradation accumulates faster in zones of irregular density."

Davan evaluated the angle.

"It’s covered by the spiritual limbs when it advances."

"When it advances forward, yes." The bearer. "When it turns to the right, the left spiritual limb partially retracts to compensate for the weight."

"How long is the exposure when it turns?"

"0.6 seconds of exposure."

Davan processed that.

0.6 seconds was less than the previous combo’s timing.

"We need to make it deliberately turn to the right."

"Yes."

"How?"

The bearer looked at him.

"You are Dominion." Without irony. Just data. "What makes something turn where you want it to?"

---

The creature charged.

Its physical limbs toward Davan — the established pattern, the creature having identified F5 as the most intense presence in the corridor and consistently prioritizing it.

Its spiritual limbs deployed toward the bearer from the flank.

Davan activated [F5 — Dominion Field — expansive mode — 12m radius].

Not to suppress. To create pressure on the creature’s right flank — Dominion pushing from that side with an intensity that could not be ignored even though it caused no direct damage.

The creature processed the pressure on its right flank.

It turned slightly to the left to compensate.

The left lateral joint zone was exposed.

0.6 seconds.

[F5 — Concentrated Dominion — point: left lateral joint zone]

[F6 — Concentrated Entropy — same point — accumulated distributed entropy channeled]

BOOM.

[Second creature — F5+F6 combined damage — left lateral zone: 71,400]

[Second creature — HP: 1,800,000 → 1,565,800]

The creature went two meters to the right.

It didn’t bend. It *went* — its mass displaced by the impact to the lateral point, its spiritual limbs losing coordination for 1.9 seconds while its system compensated.

Davan looked at the number.

"Seventy‑one thousand in one exchange."

"And the lateral zone has less regeneration than the front." The bearer evaluated the impact point. "The material there is thinner. Accumulated damage will add up faster."

"How many exchanges to finish it?"

The bearer calculated.

"At this rate, with no mistakes — seventeen."

"We’re too slow."

"I know." The bearer without taking her eyes off the creature regrouping. "But it’s what we have. The other three times we caused sixty‑seven thousand. Now we’re causing seventy‑one, and on a point that accumulates better." A pause. "We’re improving."

---

The creature reoriented.

This time differently — not directly toward Davan. Its spiritual limbs deployed to both sides simultaneously, creating lateral coverage before the physical body moved.

It had learned that the left flank was the attack point.

[Davan HP: 198,400 → 174,200]

The impact arrived while Davan was still evaluating the pattern change — the creature charging before the analysis finished, the mass of 1,800,000 HP of something that didn’t need precision because its mass was enough.

The Dominion field absorbed part of the impact.

Not enough.

Davan against the corridor wall.

[Davan HP: 174,200 → 142,800]

Thirty‑one thousand damage in one blow.

The bearer activated [F6 — entropy field — deflector at contact point] at the last possible moment — the next spiritual limb lost structure before fully connecting.

[F6 Bearer HP: 131,600 → 108,900]

Twenty‑two thousand seven hundred.

Both damaged. Both standing.

The creature evaluating.

---

"We’re taking too much damage," said Davan, getting up.

"I know." The bearer with the expression of someone who had just confirmed a variable she had already expected. "The creature learned that the combo comes from the left flank. Now it covers that flank while hitting us."

"Another point?"

"I need time to read the entropy distribution in the other points." The bearer. "Three minutes."

"We don’t have three minutes of margin."

"I know."

Davan looked at remaining HP.

[Davan HP: 142,800]

[F6 Bearer HP: 108,900]

[Second creature HP: 1,565,800]

The creature with 1,565,800 HP and learning.

The two of them with 251,700 combined HP and also learning.

"It’s incredible," said the bearer.

Davan looked at her.

"What part specifically?"

"That those girls neutralized a level‑200 creature on their own." The bearer with the specific tone of someone cataloging a notable fact. "Raven, Marcus, and Aurum finished the third one in — how long? Thirty minutes?"

"Less." Davan evaluating the creature’s next move. "The third one generated lesser ones. It distributed energy."

"Exactly." The bearer. "The one Carter and Seraph are facing, and the one we’re facing — those concentrate energy. They’re fundamentally different in threat type." A pause. "And still four Fragment bearers have been at it for over twenty minutes without finishing them."

"They should have fallen ten minutes ago," said Davan. "Four Fragment bearers against a level‑200 creature should be a predictable outcome."

"And yet."

"And yet."

The creature charged again.

Both moved in opposite directions — the pattern they had established in the first three minutes that the creature still hadn’t found a way to fully disrupt because it required attacking two targets in opposite directions simultaneously.

The creature chose Davan.

[F5 — Dominion Field — impact absorption]

[Davan HP: 142,800 → 121,400]

The bearer from the flank with focused degradation on the rear impact point — not the full combo, just F6 alone.

[Second creature — damage from F6 alone: 18,200]

[Second creature HP: 1,565,800 → 1,547,600]

Eighteen thousand two hundred without F5.

The difference between the combo and F6 alone was the difference between seventy‑one thousand and eighteen thousand.

"The combo is what works," said the bearer. Not as a new conclusion — as confirmation of what they already knew. "Without F5, Entropy alone doesn’t have enough scale."

"And without F6, Dominion can’t find the weak point."

"Exactly."