The creature charged toward the bearer.

Not toward Davan — the creature had processed that Davan was the one who had created the hole with the jump from the ceiling, but the bearer with F6 concentrated on the interior was the more active threat at this moment.

Reduced speed due to resource distribution.

Still enough to be dangerous.

"Cover me," said the bearer without moving from where she was.

"What?"

"I need ten seconds with F6 concentrated on the interior through the hole. Without interruption." Her eyes on the hole in the right flank. "Cover me for ten seconds."

"If I cover you, I won’t have an angle for the combo."

"The combo comes after." The bearer. "First Entropy on the interior. Then the combo. Damage without the buffer twice in a row."

Davan evaluated the timing.

The creature six meters away and closing.

Four meters.

"Ten seconds is a long time."

"Eight then."

"Done."

[F5 — Dominion Field — active barrier between creature and bearer]

Not suppression. A physical pressure barrier — Dominion creating resistance on the physical plane that the creature had to push through to advance.

Slowing without stopping.

The bearer with F6 extended into the creature’s interior through the hole in the right flank — Entropy finding the organic material without the exoskeleton as a buffer, the degradation distributing inside at a speed that would have taken ten pulses to achieve on the outside.

"One," counted Davan. The Dominion barrier gave way one centimeter under the creature’s pressure.

[F6 — direct internal degradation — without buffer — second one: 22,400]

"Two." Another centimeter. The Dominion field costing MP in real time — F5 sustaining the physical barrier while Davan held position between the creature and the bearer.

[F6 — direct internal degradation — second two: 22,400]

"Three." The creature pushed harder — its physical limbs pressing against the barrier, the creature’s threat‑assessment system identifying that the barrier was the variable interrupting access to the target.

[Davan HP: 81,600 → 68,200]

Thirteen thousand four hundred damage from the creature’s pressure against the barrier being transmitted to the bearer.

"Four." Holding.

[F6 — direct internal degradation — second four: 24,800]

Damage increasing — Entropy finding less resistance inside as accumulated degradation weakened the material from within.

"Five." The barrier at fifty percent capacity — the pressure of a 1,199,800 HP creature against the Dominion field of a bearer with 68,200 HP remaining was an equation with a predictable outcome.

[F6 — direct internal degradation — second five: 27,200]

"Six."

[Davan HP: 68,200 → 52,800]

Fifteen thousand four hundred more.

"Seven."

[F6 — direct internal degradation — second seven: 29,600]

The bearer with her eyes fixed on the creature’s interior. Not on Davan’s barrier. Not on either of their HP. On the degradation pattern that F6 read as temperature — the creature’s interior losing structure under direct Entropy at a speed that the exoskeleton would have completely slowed.

"Eight."

"Ready." The bearer retracted F6 from the interior — not turning it off, concentrating it. All the degradation accumulated inside over the eight seconds converged toward the point of greatest structural disorder that F6 had identified. "Now the combo. Directly into the interior through the hole."

The Dominion barrier fell.

The creature came through.

Both moved in the same instant — Davan toward the right flank, the bearer toward the same angle, both at the point closest to the hole that the open exoskeleton exposed.

The creature raising its physical limb for the blow that would connect if they didn’t execute in the next second.

[F5 — Concentrated Dominion — creature’s interior — through the hole]

[F6 — Concentrated Entropy — same point — eight seconds of internal degradation channeled]

Both Fragments found the organic material without the exoskeleton as a buffer.

Dominion collapsing organic structure from outside in.

Entropy accelerating structural disorder from inside out.

Both at the same time on the same point.

BOOM.

[Second creature — F5+F6 combined damage — interior without buffer — pre‑accumulated degradation: 287,400]

[Second creature HP: 1,199,800 → 912,400]

The creature’s physical limb that was about to connect lost coordination at the moment of impact — the creature’s internal system processing 287,400 instant damage while trying to complete the movement.

The blow landed.

With twenty‑three percent of its original force.

[Davan HP: 52,800 → 34,200]

[F6 Bearer HP: 58,900 → 39,100]

Both on the ground.

Both getting up.

The creature with 912,400 HP and a compromised interior — its regeneration system now divided between the exterior hole and the interior damage, insufficient resources for both simultaneously.

---

"Nine hundred twelve thousand four hundred," said the bearer, getting up.

"Yes." Davan standing. His knees with the kind of tremor that came from sustained effort and accumulated damage, not from fear. "Still too much."

"Yes." The bearer looked at the hole in the right flank — larger now than before the combo, the surrounding plates losing cohesion from the inside‑out damage. "But now the interior is compromised. Each direct combo there is going to cause over two hundred thousand."

Davan evaluated his own resources.

[Davan HP: 34,200]

[F6 Bearer HP: 39,100]

Seventy‑three thousand three hundred combined HP.

Against the creature’s 912,400.

"We don’t have enough HP for four more combos," said Davan.

"No." The bearer with her eyes on the creature reorienting. "We need to finish it in two."

"Two direct combos to the interior cause enough damage?"

"It depends on how much degradation I can accumulate between the first and the second." The bearer calculating. "If the first combo compromises the interior further, the second will find less resistance."

"How much damage would the second cause?"

"With the interior already compromised by the first — three hundred twenty thousand, three hundred fifty thousand. Variable."

Davan processed the numbers.

Two direct combos to the interior: 287,400 plus an estimated 330,000.

Total: 617,400 additional damage.

912,400 remaining minus 617,400 was 295,000 HP.

"That’s still enough to survive after two combos," said Davan.

"Unless the second combo’s damage is high enough."

"Can it be?"

The bearer looked at the compromised interior.

Looked at the degradation that F6 still read as temperature — the interior losing structure in real time because the direct Entropy from the eight seconds was still active even though she was no longer feeding it.

"If I concentrate all available degradation inside before the second combo —" Calculating. "— yes. It could be enough."

"How much time do you need to concentrate?"

"Twelve seconds."

"I can’t hold the barrier for twelve seconds with 34,200 HP."

"I’m not asking for the barrier." The bearer looked directly at Davan for the first time in the fight, with something different in her expression — not the unconcerned cataloguing, something closer to decision. "I’m asking you to give me twelve seconds, any way you can."

Davan understood what that meant.

Not a barrier. Not tactical cover.

Twelve seconds while the creature tried to reach the bearer.

With 34,200 HP.

"Alright," said Davan.