[???]
From her elevated perch atop a fragmented outcropping of stone, Victoria stood with her arms folded and her hair billowing gently in the wind. Mana residue fell in the atmosphere, remnants of every violent clash between Fiona and the towering magitech—Alpha.
She simply watched and her eyes missed nothing. Every evasive twist of Fiona's form. Every swing of Alpha's shifting limbs—now blades, now cannons, now something more abstract.
A thought stirred in the back of her mind.
("Fiona's handling herself well… for now.")
The Solkari girl was dodging the onslaught, with newly acquired instincts—her enhanced ruin-wolf form more than proving its utility. But Victoria's expression remained unreadable. Her gaze was already set beyond.
("It's only a matter of time before Alpha recalibrates… that construct was no doubt designed to respond, to adjust, to learn. Its database is constantly expanding. Every dodge Fiona makes is another variable the machine will learn to counter.")
