The force didn't hit like before. It didn't spread out or distort the ground first. It locked on. Direct. Focused. Riven felt it before it landed. Not power. Attention. Like something had finally decided to look at him properly.
He moved.
Not back. Not sideways.
Forward.
The impact still connected, but not clean. It scraped past him instead of crushing through. The ground behind him caved in where he had been a second ago, space folding in on itself before snapping back like nothing happened.
"…that wasn't Lanks…" someone said, voice low, unsure.
Riven didn't respond. His eyes stayed on Lanks, but his focus wasn't only on him anymore.
That feeling—
It wasn't part of the fight.
It was outside it.
Watching through it.
Lanks staggered, his body twitching again like before, but worse this time. His movements weren't just unstable now—they were delayed. Like something else was forcing commands through him but not perfectly syncing.
"…you felt it," Lanks muttered, his voice slipping between two tones again.
Riven exhaled once. "…yeah."
"Then don't hesitate."
The pressure rose again, but not randomly this time. It tightened around Riven in a straight line, cutting off angles instead of overwhelming everything at once.
Cleaner.
Sharper.
Not Lanks.
Riven's gaze shifted slightly. Not enough for anyone else to notice, but enough to confirm it.
"…you're not the one attacking anymore," he said quietly.
Lanks didn't deny it.
His smile didn't return either.
"…I'm just the point it's using."
Behind them, no one spoke. The difference was obvious even to them now. Earlier, the fight looked impossible. Now—it looked wrong.
Riven stepped once to the side. The force followed instantly. No delay.
He stopped.
It stopped.
He moved again.
It adjusted.
No gap.
No pattern.
Or at least—
That's what it wanted him to think.
"…fine," Riven muttered under his breath.
If there was no pattern—
Then he'd make one.
Lanks disappeared again, but this time it wasn't clean. His outline distorted halfway through, like the movement itself lagged for a fraction of a second.
Riven saw it.
That tiny break.
He didn't react to where Lanks appeared.
He moved to where that delay would matter.
A strike came from behind—faster than before, heavier too. The space around it bent inward, amplifying the hit.
Riven stepped just off-line.
Not enough to dodge completely.
Enough to change the angle.
The attack clipped his side instead of landing center. Pain shot through, sharp and immediate, but he didn't slow down.
He turned with it.
Closed distance again.
Too close for large-scale control.
Lanks' body jerked as another command tried to push through. His arm moved to strike again—
Stopped halfway.
"…don't… stay close…" Lanks forced out.
Riven ignored it.
"…if I step back, it gets full control," he said calmly.
Lanks didn't answer.
Because he knew it was true.
The pressure built again, but it struggled now. At this distance, everything overlapped too tightly. The control wasn't clean anymore.
That was the opening.
Riven didn't rush it.
Didn't force it.
He waited.
Half a second.
That was all.
Another command came through Lanks' body. Stronger. Cleaner. Trying to reset the fight.
That same slight delay followed it.
Riven moved instantly.
He stepped in, cutting through the space before it fully formed, and grabbed Lanks again—this time harder.
Not to stop him.
To anchor him.
"…listen," Riven said, voice low but steady.
Lanks' eyes shook violently again, the white layer flickering.
"…you can't win this like before," Riven continued. "…so don't."
"…then what—" Lanks started, voice cracking.
Riven tightened his grip.
"…we break what's controlling you."
For a second—
Everything went still.
Then—
Something shifted.
Not in Lanks.
Not in the battlefield.
In the space around them.
Like the attention that had been focused on the fight—
Adjusted.
"…you shouldn't have said that," Lanks whispered.
Too late.
Riven already felt it.
That presence—
Locked onto him completely now.
No distance.
No filter.
Direct.
The pressure that followed wasn't wild or unstable.
It was precise.
Cold.
Calculated.
And for the first time—
Riven's movement slowed.
Just slightly.
Not because he couldn't move.
Because something was interfering with the way he read the fight.
"…it's watching you," Lanks said, barely able to speak now. "…not me anymore…"
Behind them, the party felt it too. Not the details. Just the change. The weight in the air dropped suddenly, but it felt heavier at the same time.
"…why does it feel like… we shouldn't even be here…" one of them muttered.
Riven didn't look back.
Didn't speak.
His eyes stayed forward.
But for the first time—
They narrowed.
Not in focus.
In thought.
Because this—
This wasn't part of the "game" he knew.
Not mechanics.
Not systems.
Not patterns.
Something else.
Something that wasn't supposed to interact like this.
Lanks' body started breaking again under the pressure, small cracks of force appearing around him as the control pushed harder to take over completely.
"…Riven…" he forced out one last time.
"…end it… or it won't stop."
Riven didn't answer immediately.
His grip loosened slightly.
Not letting go.
Thinking.
Calculating.
Adjusting.
Then—
He stepped back.
Just once.
The distance opened.
And instantly—
The control snapped back fully onto Lanks.
Clean.
Perfect.
Dangerous.
"…yeah," Riven muttered quietly.
"…that's what I needed to see."
The pressure rose again, sharper than ever, but this time—
Riven didn't move right away.
He watched.
Not Lanks.
Not the attacks.
That invisible point where everything was being decided from.
"…found you," he said under his breath.
And then—
He moved.
The chapter ends. 🔥