[Celestial Academy — Administrative Wing Corridor — South Section — 11:41 AM]

Alex felt the exact moment the second creature died.

When the second node collapsed, the system responded with the magical equivalent of a circuit losing one power source and redistributing the load to the remaining ones.

The first creature, in front of him, absorbed that redistribution.

Alex saw it in real time.

[First creature — HP: estimated 680,000]

[System redistributes energy from eliminated node]

[First creature — HP: 680,000 → 847,000]

"It went up," said Alex.

"I see it." Seraph with F2’s scythe active, her eyes on the creature that had just absorbed the energy from its eliminated node. "How much?"

"One hundred sixty‑seven thousand HP."

Seraph processed that.

"The third one fell too," said Alex. F1 reading the disappearance of the third node — the mother in the courtyard, eliminated by Raven and the team. "Just now."

[First creature — absorbs energy from third node]

[First creature — HP: 847,000 → 1,094,000]

"Two hundred forty‑seven thousand more."

Seraph looked at the creature.

The creature they had been fighting for twenty‑two minutes and that now had 1,094,000 HP — more than double what it had when the second creature fell.

"The system doesn’t divide equally among the three," said Seraph. "It concentrates on the one that remains."

"All the energy from the other two now in this one."

"Yes."

The first creature reoriented.

Different from before — its movement more fluid, its spiritual limbs responding with less latency, its exoskeleton with a density that Alex perceived on the plane as something more solid than five minutes ago.

Not stronger in the sense of being more aggressive.

More complete. As if before it had been operating at sixty percent of its actual capacity, and the eliminated nodes had returned what had been missing.

"The damage we dealt it over the last twenty‑two minutes," said Alex.

"Is still there," said Seraph. "The HP it lost before the redistribution didn’t recover. It only added what came from the other two."

"How much damage did we deal before?"

Seraph calculated.

"With the desynchronization pattern and the direct combos — an estimated 340,000 accumulated damage."

Alex processed that.

Without the redistribution, the creature would have had 340,000 HP remaining from an estimated original 680,000 before the absorption.

Now it had 1,094,000.

With all the damage they had dealt it included.

"So it effectively undid twenty‑two minutes of work," said Alex.

"And then some."

---

[Alex HP: 285,700]

[Corruption: 95% — stable via F1+F4 synchronization]

[Seraph HP: unknown — no visible system]

The creature charged.

With a speed different from all previous exchanges — its spiritual limbs not scouting first, not covering flanks. Both simultaneously from the start, as if the energy redistribution had updated its threat‑assessment system with the information the previous twenty‑two minutes had produced.

It was no longer learning.

It already knew.

Seraph with F2 created structure on the spiritual plane — not a barrier, the kind of cut that desynchronized spiritual limbs from the physical body for fractions of a second.

[F2 — desynchronization cut — right spiritual limb]

The right limb lost coordination for 0.3 seconds.

Not 1.8 like at the start of the fight.

0.3.

"The desynchronization time has been reduced," said Seraph, dodging the physical impact that arrived before the 0.3 seconds ended.

"Why?"

"The energy redistribution strengthened the connection between the spiritual limbs and the physical body." Seraph repositioning. "F2 can still desynchronize, but not for the same duration."

Alex processed the implication.

The pattern they had established — Seraph desynchronizes for 1.8 seconds, Alex hits the weak point — no longer worked with a 0.3‑second window.

0.3 seconds wasn’t enough for Alex to reach the weak point from any position other than direct contact with the creature.

"I need to be closer," said Alex.

"If you’re closer when I desynchronize, the physical limb will already be in range."

"I know."

"You’re going to take the hit while you reach the weak point."

"I know that too."

Seraph looked at him for a moment.

Not with doubt. With the evaluation of someone calculating consequences in real time.

"How much HP do you have?"

"Two hundred eighty‑five thousand seven hundred."

"And the corruption?"

"Ninety‑five. Stable."

"How long can it stay stable at ninety‑five with continuous damage?"

Alex considered being honest.

"I don’t know."

Seraph nodded.

"Then we work fast."

---

The creature reoriented for the second exchange.

This time slower at the start — not because the redistribution had weakened it, but because the system with all the energy concentrated in a single node required a different calibration than when it was operating distributed across three.

Two seconds of calibration before the next charge.

Alex used those two seconds.

"The weak point changes with the redistribution," he said. "The exoskeleton is denser everywhere now — the points we found before are no longer the same."

"Can you read the new ones?"

[F1 — Soul Sight — active]

The spiritual plane of the first creature with the redistribution complete — different from five minutes ago. The energy from the other two nodes was distributed in the exoskeleton not uniformly, but following the paths of least resistance in the material.

The zones where the material was more irregular absorbed more energy.

The zones where the material was dense and homogeneous absorbed less.

This created points of higher energy concentration — more resistant — and points of lower concentration — less resistant than before the redistribution, but more resistant than the original weak points.

"The left rear joint," said Alex. "The material there is irregular — the redistribution concentrated less on that zone."

"How much less resistant than the rest?"

"I can’t measure it exactly. But it’s the closest thing to what we had before."

"And the time window with 0.3 seconds of desynchronization?"

Alex evaluated the distance from possible positions to the left rear joint.

"If I’m one meter away when you desynchronize — possible."

"One meter from the creature while I’m charging the desynchronization."

"Yes."

Seraph considered that during the second remaining before the creature’s calibration ended.

"We switch roles," she said.

"What?"

"You contain it in position. I’ll find the weak point."

Alex processed the change.

Seraph with F2 could read the spiritual plane more precisely than he could — fifteen years of integration versus Alex’s seventeen months. If Seraph searched for the weak point with F2’s Soul Sight instead of creating the desynchronization structure, she could find the exact angle faster. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

And Alex containing the creature in a fixed position was possible as long as the F1+F4 synchronization held.

"Can you attack directly without using the scythe as a desynchronization tool?" said Alex.

"F2 doesn’t just desynchronize." Seraph oriented the scythe toward the creature, which was finishing its calibration. "It can cut directly on the spiritual plane. Without the intermediate step of creating a structure." A pause. "More damage. Less coverage."

"How much more damage?"

"It depends on the point." Seraph looked at the left rear joint that Alex had identified. "On a weak point like that — enough to matter."

The creature finished its calibration.

It charged.

---

Alex moved forward.

Not dodging — toward the creature, closing distance instead of creating distance. The inverse logic that the creature hadn’t processed in twenty‑two minutes because for twenty‑two minutes Alex had always created distance.

The creature oriented its spiritual limbs toward the flanks where Alex had been.

Alex in the center. Two meters away. One meter.

The creature’s physical limb adjusted toward the target that had approached instead of retreating.

[Blood Weapon — crimson chain — wrapping around the physical limb]

Not to damage. To fix — the chain channeled through F1+F4 synchronization, F4 anchoring the chain on the plane between life and death where the creature also partially existed.

The physical limb was fixed.

Not completely — 1,094,000 HP of creature against a bearer’s chain at 95% corruption was an equation with a time limit. But fixed for long enough.

"Now," said Alex.

Seraph toward the left rear joint — not with the scythe creating a desynchronization structure. With F2 direct, the cut on the spiritual plane finding the point that Alex had identified with Soul Sight and that Seraph’s F2 confirmed as the point of least resistance.

[F2 — The Scythe — direct cut on spiritual plane — left rear joint]

The scythe’s light shifted from blue‑white to pure white.

The cut connected.

[First creature — direct F2 damage to weak point: 78,400]

Seventy‑eight thousand four hundred.

The creature roared — the spiritual vibration propagating through the corridor, the ceiling releasing dust, the existing cracks widening.

Alex’s chain broke — the creature’s physical limb freed with the urgency of something responding to significant damage.

[Alex HP: 285,700 → 261,200]

Twenty‑four thousand five hundred damage from the energy released when the chain gave way.

Both repositioned.

The creature at 1,094,000 → 1,015,600 HP.