Korr Dex crouched beside the cracked stone, two fingers brushing the ground.
His expression darkened.
"Blood," he muttered. "Fresh."
One of the hunters behind him snorted. "So someone didn't die fast enough."
Korr didn't reply. His eyes swept the terrain—broken ridges, fractured rock, shallow grooves where something heavy had been dragged away.
Then he saw it.
A faint scorch mark in the stone.
Not a kill site.
A wound site.
Korr's jaw tightened.
"Spread out," he said coldly. "Someone here knows what they're doing."
Eren Vale held his breath.
He pressed his back against the rock, heartbeat steady, senses stretched thin. The First Sanctuary's pressure weighed on him, but it no longer felt alien. His body had adjusted—just enough.
CORE-0 UPDATE
Threat proximity: Increasing
Recommended state: Stillness
Footsteps crunched closer.
Eren shifted his grip on the stone shard, adjusting his stance. No wasted movement. No panic.
He watched through a narrow gap as one of Korr's men moved ahead—careless, scanning the open ground rather than the shadows.
The man stepped past Eren's hiding place.
Too close.
Eren moved.
One step. A sharp twist. The stone shard drove into the back of the man's knee.
The scream was short.
Eren didn't linger. He rolled away as the hunter collapsed, blood splashing across the stone.
"Contact!" someone shouted.
Korr spun around instantly.
His eyes locked onto Eren.
For the first time, Korr Dex smiled.
"So it's you."
The other hunter charged, swinging a heavy blade wildly. Eren ducked beneath it, pain flaring as pressure crushed his lungs.
He struck low—once, twice—then retreated.
Not killing.
Testing.
CORE-0 ANALYSIS
Enemy profile:
—Korr Dex: Physically enhanced, unstable gene fusion
—Companions: Standard First Sanctuary hunters
Korr watched, eyes narrowing.
"You're not desperate," he said. "You're careful."
He stepped forward, aura shifting. The ground beneath his boots cracked faintly.
"Which means you already got something."
Eren didn't answer.
Korr laughed softly. "Fragments don't fall from the sky, kid. You only find them where blood spills the right way."
That single sentence told Eren everything.
So others knew.
So this wasn't luck.
Korr lunged.
The pressure hit like a wall.
Eren barely rolled aside, stone exploding where he'd been standing. His shoulder slammed into the ground, pain flashing white.
But he was already moving.
Not forward.
Sideways.
Breaking line of sight.
Korr paused.
That pause was the mistake.
Eren grabbed a loose rock and hurled it—not at Korr, but at the cracked ridge behind him.
The impact triggered a cascade.
Stone collapsed, dust roaring down between them.
Eren turned and ran.
Not in panic.
With purpose.
CORE-0 CONFIRMATION
Engagement objective achieved
Survival probability: Increased
Behind him, Korr's furious roar echoed through the Sanctuary.
"RUN ALL YOU WANT!"
"I'LL FIND YOU!"
Eren didn't look back.
He disappeared into the fractured terrain, heart steady, mind clear.
He hadn't won.
But he had learned.
And in the First Sanctuary—
Learning meant living.