[Celestial Academy — Administrative Wing Corridor — North Section — 11:34 AM]

The second creature charged toward the right flank.

Because the previous two minutes had established that the front and the right flank were the angles without additional spiritual coverage.

What it didn’t know was that the bearer had been accumulating distributed degradation on that exact flank for twelve minutes.

Davan saw it coming.

"Now or never."

"Now," confirmed the bearer.

---

[F5 — Dominion Field — expansive mode — creature’s right flank]

Massive pressure from that side — not to damage, to make the creature have to compensate for Dominion’s weight on its right flank while charging.

The creature compensated by turning slightly to the left.

The right flank exposed 0.8 seconds longer than it would have without the compensation.

[F6 — Concentrated Entropy — right flank — accumulated degradation channeled to single point]

Twelve minutes of degradation converged toward the right flank in less than a second — the specific heat that F6 read as the presence of structural disorder, the internal degradation the creature didn’t know it had, collapsing at the point of highest concentration.

[F5 — Concentrated Dominion — same point — simultaneous]

BOOM.

The entire corridor vibrated.

[Second creature — F5+F6 combined damage — right flank — pre‑accumulated degradation: 118,400]

[Second creature HP: 1,453,000 → 1,334,600]

The plates on the right flank separated — not cracking like the right rear joint, separating. The material lacked the cohesion to hold itself together at the point where internal degradation and external pressure had converged simultaneously.

The creature went four meters to the left.

First time an exchange moved it more than two.

Davan looked at the result.

"One hundred eighteen thousand."

"The pre‑accumulated degradation multiplies the combo’s damage." The bearer evaluated the separated plates on the right flank.

"The material there can no longer regenerate normally — the internal degradation interferes with the repair process."

"How long does it take to regenerate?"

"Longer than the other points. The internal degradation in that zone is now systemic — it’s not surface damage the system can close. It’s the material itself losing the property that made it resistant."

Davan processed that.

"If we keep attacking there, the damage will escalate."

"Exactly."

[Davan HP: 98,200]

[F6 Bearer HP: 71,300]

[Second creature HP: 1,334,600]

Still 1,334,600.

And both of them with HP that gave them no margin for errors.

---

The creature emerged from the four‑meter displacement.

This time without the established pattern — its spiritual limbs not deploying toward the previously attacked flanks nor covering the compromised right flank.

Its spiritual limbs retracted completely toward its physical body.

The same move the first creature had made when Alex and Seraph had established the desynchronization pattern — retracting its spiritual limbs, gaining speed at the cost of anticipation.

"It changed tactics," said Davan.

"Yes." The bearer evaluated. "Without extended spiritual limbs, it’s faster but more vulnerable to direct damage. It’s prioritizing speed over coverage."

"Why?"

"Because the combo needs time to activate. If it hits us before we complete synchronization, the combo doesn’t happen." The bearer. "It’s trying to interrupt the timing."

"Can it do that?"

The creature charged before the bearer answered.

Full speed. No prior anticipation. No spiritual limbs creating an alert signal.

Davan activated [Shadow Step] toward the corridor ceiling — the only movement that created enough distance without reducing his own speed.

The bearer moved left.

The creature passed between the two with enough speed that the wind from its movement displaced the bearer half a meter sideways even though the blow didn’t connect.

[F6 Bearer HP: 71,300 → 58,900]

Twelve thousand four hundred damage from air displacement.

The creature against the far corridor wall — the impact creating another crater in the stone, the corridor’s cracks extending another three meters in all directions.

"Yes, it can," said the bearer from the ground where the displacement had thrown her. No urgency in her voice. Informative. "It can interrupt the timing."

Davan from the ceiling.

"Are you okay?"

"Twelve thousand four hundred damage from not being the direct target." The bearer getting up. "Functional."

[F6 Bearer HP: 58,900]

Fifty‑eight thousand nine hundred HP.

The margin was closing.

---

The creature emerged from the crater in the wall.

This time more slowly — the impact itself had cost it something, its physical limbs recalibrating after the massive deceleration of hitting forty‑centimeter stone at maximum speed.

Two seconds of recalibration.

"Two seconds," said Davan from the ceiling.

"I see it." The bearer with the entropy field already extending toward the compromised right flank — not a distributed pulse this time. Direct concentration on the point of the separated plates. "The right flank still has the plates separated. If we land the combo there while it recalibrates—"

"I don’t have an angle from here."

"Come down."

"If I come down, I leave the only point where the creature’s speed can’t reach me."

"Two seconds end in one." The bearer without taking her eyes off the creature. "Come down, or the moment passes."

Davan evaluated the angle from the ceiling.

The compromised right flank visible from here — the separated plates as a dark spot on the exoskeleton where the corridor light didn’t reflect the same way. Four horizontal meters from his position on the ceiling.

He didn’t have Shadow Step available — its twenty‑second cooldown was still active.

He jumped.

No Shadow Step. Free fall from the ceiling toward the creature’s right flank — four horizontal meters, three meters of height, the trajectory calculated in the one second he had before the two seconds of recalibration ended.

The bearer with F6 concentrated on the point of the separated plates.

Waiting for Davan’s contact moment to synchronize.

Davan landed on the creature’s right flank — not on the ground, on the creature itself, using the exoskeleton as a landing surface and the point of contact from his feet as the application point for F5.

[F5 — Concentrated Dominion — direct contact point — separated plates]

[F6 — Concentrated Entropy — same point — simultaneous]

BOOM.

[Second creature — F5+F6 combined damage — separated plates — second impact to compromised zone: 134,800]

[Second creature HP: 1,334,600 → 1,199,800]

The exoskeleton on the right flank partially collapsed — the already separated plates losing the structure that had kept them even in position, falling to the corridor floor as material without cohesion.

A real hole in the creature’s exoskeleton.

Not large. Approximately thirty centimeters in diameter.

But real.

The creature roared — the strongest spiritual vibration of any previous exchange. The corridor walls gave way at four simultaneous points, the ceiling releasing two stone blocks that Davan dodged by rolling to the creature’s opposite side.

[Davan HP: 98,200 → 81,600]

Sixteen thousand six hundred damage from the spiritual vibration.

But standing.

"A real hole," said the bearer, looking at the creature’s right flank.

"I see it." Davan also looking. "Is the inside more vulnerable?"

"Much more." The bearer with something in her eyes that hadn’t appeared for a while — not the neutral cataloguing of the first twelve minutes. Something more active. "The exoskeleton exists to protect the inside. Without the exoskeleton at that point, whatever is inside takes damage directly."

"What is inside?"

"I don’t know exactly." The bearer activated F6 in perceptive mode — Entropy reading the inside through the hole the way F1 read the spiritual plane through Soul Sight. "Something organic. With an energy signature different from the exoskeleton."

"More vulnerable to Dominion?"

"Anything organic responds to Dominion more than inorganic material." Davan already knew that — F5 had taught him in the first minutes of fighting that Dominion found more resistance in the exoskeleton than in any living presence within its radius. "If we land the combo directly inside—" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"Damage without the exoskeleton as a buffer."

"Exactly."

The creature stabilized the spiritual vibration.

Reorienting.

The hole in its right flank was visible to it as well — the creature’s regeneration system trying to close the point, available resources redirected to that sector with maximum priority.

Which meant fewer resources for its spiritual limbs.

Which meant that maximum speed without the limbs as stabilizers cost more than before.

Kira in the central courtyard had described the mother contracting resources.

This creature was doing the same — but without the option of stopping lesser‑creature generation to free up energy. Just the regeneration system competing with the movement system for the same resources.

Davan saw it in the creature’s behavior.

Slower to reorient.

Not by much. But perceptibly slower.

"It’s distributing resources between regenerating the hole and continuing to function," he said.

"Yes." The bearer. "If we open another hole before it closes the first one—"

"The system collapses."

"Or slows down enough for us to finish this before our HP hits zero."

[Davan HP: 81,600]

[F6 Bearer HP: 58,900]

One hundred forty thousand five hundred combined HP.

Against the creature’s 1,199,800.