CHAPTER 72 – PROTOTYPES
Leylin's fist collided with hers.
For an instant the world fractured.
The shockwave tore outward in a perfect sphere, flattening the broken landscape around them. Stone lifted from the ground and shattered into dust before it could even begin to fall.
Then Leylin felt it.Resistance.
Not equal force.
Something worse.His strike..driven by the Gluttony Core and reinforced with the accumulated residue of the barrier..should have torn through mountains.
Instead, it stopped.Completely.Crimson Six stood exactly where she had been.Her arm hadn't even bent.Leylin's eyes narrowed.
She smiled."Good."
Her fingers slowly closed around his fist.The pressure was gentle.Too gentle.Then the bones in Leylin's hand cracked.The sound was quiet but precise.
Leylin twisted his body immediately, redirecting the force through his shoulder while the Gluttony Core surged, devouring the shock traveling through his arm.
He tore himself free and retreated ten meters in a blur.Crimson Six looked down at her hand as if examining a minor curiosity.
"You adapt quickly," she said.
Leylin's hand reformed slowly as the devoured energy rebuilt the crushed bones.He watched her carefully."You broke the momentum."
Crimson Six tilted her head."Momentum?"
Leylin pointed slightly toward the ground."When two forces collide, the stronger one continues."
He studied her."But mine stopped."
She smiled again."Good observation."
Then,She took a slow step forward.The ground beneath her foot sank several centimeters into the earth.
"Now ask the real question."
Leylin did not move.Crimson Six tapped the center of her chest.The Wrath Core pulsed once.
"Why?"
Leylin said nothing.She sighed softly."You're still thinking like a creature bound by physics."
Her eyes gleamed faintly."I'm not."
The air distorted around her.Leylin felt it immediately.Something fundamental had shifted.Not energy.Not gravity.Something deeper.
Crimson Six lifted one hand and drew a slow circle in the air with her finger."You believe reality is consistent," she said.
"Force equals force. Motion follows law. Cause creates effect."
Her smile widened slightly."But laws are only laws because something powerful enough enforces them."
The Wrath Core pulsed again.A violent wave of pressure rolled outward.Leylin felt it pressing against his bones.
Crimson Six spread her arms slightly."Wrath doesn't break physics through rage."
Her voice softened."It breaks it through persistence."
The energy around her began climbing.Not explosively.Gradually.Relentlessly.Leylin felt the pressure rising with every second.
His instincts sharpened.She was getting stronger.Continuously.Without limit.Crimson Six took another step.The ground shattered beneath her foot."Wrath," she continued calmly,
"is sustained escalation."
The air trembled.
"With every strike I throw… my strength increases."Another pulse from the core."With every strike I receive… my strength increases."
Another pulse.
"And with every second I remain in battle…"
The pressure doubled.
"…the system amplifies itself."
Leylin's mind calculated instantly.Feedback loop.Energy growth without decay.Exponential.His pupils contracted.Crimson Six looked pleased.
"Now you understand."
Leylin moved.The ground beneath him exploded as he launched forward again.But this time he did not attack directly.The Envy Core flared.For a moment his body blurred—imitating the earlier distortion she had used.Reality flickered around him.His speed doubled.
Then tripled.Crimson Six raised an eyebrow."Oh?"
Leylin appeared above her.
His hand descended like a falling star.Black devouring energy spiraled around his arm as Gluttony surged again.But this time he did not aim for her body.He aimed for the Wrath Core.Crimson Six laughed.A genuine laugh.
Her hand rose lazily.They collided again.The explosion carved a second crater inside the first.Leylin's strike landed.
For a fraction of a second he felt the core's energy.Endless.Burning.Violent.Then Crimson Six's fist buried itself in his stomach.
The world folded.Leylin's body shot upward through the sky like a cannon shell.Clouds exploded apart as he tore through them.
Before he could stabilize...She was already there.Waiting.Leylin's eyes widened slightly.Crimson Six floated above the clouds, arms crossed.
"You copied the distortion using Envy," she said.
"Impressive."
Her eyes gleamed with quiet amusement.
"But imitation isn't mastery."
She vanished.Not speed.Not teleportation.
Absence.Then her knee struck his spine.Leylin's body folded violently as the impact launched him back toward the planet.The descent became a flaming streak through the atmosphere.
He crashed into the earth like a meteor.Mountains of rock erupted around the impact zone.For several seconds the battlefield was silent.Dust slowly settled.
At the center of the crater..Leylin stood.His breathing was heavier now.But his eyes were sharper.Inside his body the cores rotated slowly.
Gluttony devouring the shock.Envy analyzing the distortion.Greed beginning to pull energy from the surrounding environment.
Crimson Six descended slowly through the smoke.Her boots touched the ground softly.She studied him for a moment.Then she nodded.
"Good."
Leylin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth."You said they were prototypes."
Crimson Six smiled."Yes."
Leylin's voice remained calm."Prototypes of what?"
For the first time since the battle began..Crimson Six's gaze shifted slightly.Not toward him.Toward the distant structure behind the battlefield.The massive pod buried within the formation.Ancient.Silent.Waiting.Her voice lowered slightly.
"They're prototypes…"
She turned her eyes back to Leylin.
"…of something far older than me."
The Wrath Core pulsed violently.Crimson Six's aura surged again.Stronger than before.She cracked her knuckles.
"But you're not ready to understand that yet."
Her smile sharpened.
"First…"The pressure around her doubled.
"…you need to survive the lesson."She stepped forward.
This time..The ground didn't just crack.Gravity itself bent.