Dust rolled through the broken street.
The Hunter rose from the rubble slowly.
For the first time since it arrived, its movement was imperfect. One of its armor plates hung loose where Aren had twisted the force of its own attack against it.
Blue light flickered across the cracks.
System warnings pulsed across its body.
Integrity: 91%
Combat model adjusting
The Hunter lifted its spear again.
But this time it did not attack immediately.
It studied Aren.
"Learning speed… abnormal," it said.
Aren stood in the center of the shattered street, breathing slowly. Blood from his shoulder still ran down his arm, but the pain no longer mattered.
The lines of force were everywhere now.
Invisible currents flowing through air, stone, gravity, motion.
Vector Break had opened his perception.
He could see the world's structure.
The Hunter moved again.
Faster.
It vanished and reappeared behind Aren in a flash of blue light.
The spear swung toward his neck.
Aren stepped half an inch to the side.
The blade passed harmlessly through empty air.
Before the Hunter could react—
Aren touched its arm.
Vector Break.
But instead of redirecting the attack, he altered the force traveling through the Hunter's body itself.
The result was immediate.
The Hunter's own movement twisted violently.
Its legs lost alignment.
The armored body slammed sideways into the street.
Stone exploded.
Across the city rooftops, people stared in disbelief.
A system Hunter—
Knocked down.
Impossible.
The Hunter stood again, slower now.
The system voice echoed through its armor.
Anomaly threat level increased.
Authority conflict detected.
Aren took a step forward.
"Your system has a problem," he said quietly.
The Hunter tilted its head.
Aren raised his hand.
"I'm not inside it anymore."
Then he moved.
For the first time in the fight—
Aren attacked.