The creature did not rush them.That alone told Frankie something had changed.Most scavengers attacked the moment they saw movement. They lunged like starving animals, driven by the instinct the angels had forced into their bones. This one climbed fully out of the gutter drain and paused in the middle of the street, its posture low but balanced.It watched them.Frankie felt the mark beneath her ribs tighten in response. The heat there had been growing steadily throughout the day, but now it sharpened into something more focused. Not a warning. Not quite danger either. It felt like the moment before a blade touched skin.Marco noticed the change in her stance."This one's different," he said quietly."Yes," Frankie replied.The scavenger tilted its head slightly, the way a dog might when trying to understand a sound it had never heard before. Its eyes burned brighter than the others they had fought that day, and its limbs moved with a steadiness that felt disturbingly close to intention.The man it had been chasing staggered toward the far side of the street and collapsed behind an overturned cart. Luca did not look at him. His attention stayed on the creature."Then we stop treating them like the weak ones," Luca said.Red Oath slid into position in his hands, the red veins along the spear's shaft faintly pulsing in the afternoon light. The weapon seemed almost eager now that Luca had begun to understand its rhythm.The scavenger moved first.It did not charge wildly like the others.Instead it stepped sideways and then lunged toward the edge of their formation, aiming for Yara rather than the fighters in front. The motion was fast and deliberate, a predator looking for the weakest opening.Yara twisted away, but the creature's claws still grazed her sleeve.Marco intercepted the follow-through.The scavenger crashed into him with enough force to knock an ordinary man flat, but Marco's body absorbed the impact the way stone absorbed rain. The creature seemed almost startled when the blow failed to move him.Marco drove the end of his cane upward into its ribs.The strike forced the scavenger backward but did not break anything. The creature rolled with the impact and came up again almost immediately."That one's tougher," Tomas muttered.Frankie was already moving.She stepped into the creature's path as it lunged again, turning just enough to redirect its weight rather than stopping it outright. The motion forced the scavenger to stumble across the street instead of tearing into Yara's side.Luca took advantage of the opening.Red Oath struck like a hammer.The spearhead slammed into the creature's shoulder and drove it sideways into the stone wall beside the merchant gate road. The impact cracked brick and pinned the scavenger for half a second before it twisted free.Half a second was enough.Marco stepped in from the other side and brought the cane down across the creature's spine with controlled force.The sound that followed was sharper than the earlier blows.Bone gave way.The scavenger collapsed forward, its limbs spasming as it tried to drag itself upright again.Frankie finished it.Her dagger slid into the base of its skull with one quick movement, ending the convulsions before the creature could scream.Silence settled across the street.Frankie felt the familiar pull of dominion again. It flowed through the air like invisible smoke, gathering around the group before sinking into the hunger that lived somewhere deep in her chest.She let the feeling settle rather than grabbing it greedily.The sensation passed a moment later.Marco flexed his hand slowly as if testing something new inside his own muscles."That felt different," he said.Frankie glanced at him without reacting outwardly.She could see the difference even if he could not.Marco — Bastion DemonLevel 3Dominion: 114 / 300Progress.Not fast, but steady.She tucked the knowledge away quietly. The others did not need to know yet that she could see the path his strength followed.Rafe nudged the dead scavenger with the toe of his boot."That one fought smarter," he said. "Which is not something I enjoy saying about creatures that used to be people."Callista crouched beside the corpse, studying the twisted bones along its back."The transformation was further along," she said. "The angels are refining the process."Yara wiped her blade clean against a strip of cloth."Meaning they are learning," she said.Luca rested Red Oath across his shoulder again."Then we keep killing them before they finish learning."Frankie turned toward the merchant gate road.The street ahead was beginning to fill with people who had heard the fighting. Shopkeepers leaned out of their doors. A pair of temple auxiliaries hurried toward the sound of violence with spears held nervously in their hands.Too many witnesses.Frankie stepped away from the body before the auxiliaries could ask questions."They will start searching the drains now," she said.Callista nodded."And when they do, they will discover tunnels that lead nowhere," she added. "The angels will already have moved the important work elsewhere."Tomas frowned."So we're chasing ghosts."Frankie shook her head."No," she said.She looked back toward the direction of the dye warehouses, where the mark beneath her ribs had first begun guiding her."We're following pressure."Marco tilted his head slightly."You can still feel it?""Yes."The warmth had not faded after the last fight. If anything it had grown steadier, like a slow heartbeat somewhere deep beneath the streets of Novara Prime.Callista stepped closer beside her."Then the center hasn't moved yet," she said quietly.Frankie started walking.The others followed automatically.Behind them, the body of the scavenger lay cooling in the street while the district gathered around it in uneasy silence. People whispered and pointed at the claw marks on the stones, trying to decide whether they had just witnessed a monster attack or something worse.Ahead of them the road curved toward the inner market squares.Frankie felt the mark beneath her ribs tighten again.Somewhere ahead of them another fight was waiting.And if the angels were learning from every battle they lost, then the creatures waiting for them deeper in the city would not be as weak as the ones they had already killed.
