The clash erupted again without warning, the fractured silence of the top floor shattering as Ethan lunged forward in a burst of erratic, unstable speed, his half-mechanical body flickering with distorted signals as his limbs reshaped mid-motion, metal flowing and locking into new configurations that extended into bladed edges and reinforced striking arms.

Damon met him head-on.

The sledgehammer swung in a wide arc, its weight carrying crushing force as it descended toward Ethan’s shoulder, but Ethan twisted sharply at the last moment, the mechanical half of his body reacting with unnatural precision as his arm morphed into a hardened plate, intercepting the blow with a violent clang that sent shockwaves through both of them.

Damon didn’t pause.

He pivoted immediately, shifting his stance and driving a follow-up strike toward Ethan’s side, but this time Ethan’s lower limb split apart mid-movement, reforming into a segmented extension that pushed against the ground and launched him backward, narrowly evading the impact before countering in the same breath, his arm elongating into a spear-like construct that shot forward with lethal speed.

Damon tilted his body just enough to let it graze past him, the edge tearing through the fabric of his already damaged shirt as he stepped inside Ethan’s range, bringing the hammer upward in a brutal rising strike that forced Ethan to retract and reconfigure his limb again, the metallic structure collapsing inward and reforming into a compact guard just in time to absorb the blow.

The force drove him back.

But he didn’t falter.

Instead—

He adapted.

Faster.

Each exchange grew sharper.

Cleaner.

More refined.

Ethan’s movements, once erratic from the malfunction, began to stabilize in bursts, his mechanical side compensating for the instability by optimizing reactions, his limbs shifting seamlessly between offense and defense as blades became shields, shields became striking tools, and striking tools became ranged extensions in the span of a heartbeat.

Behind them, Serena stood firmly in front of Mira, her whip coiled tightly in her hand as her eyes tracked the fight with sharp focus, searching for even the smallest opening to intervene, but the speed at which Damon and Ethan moved made it nearly impossible, their figures crossing and clashing in rapid succession, leaving no safe angle for her to strike without risking interference.

Damon pressed forward again, forcing another exchange, the hammer colliding against Ethan’s morphing limb with a heavy impact that reverberated across the floor, sparks flying as metal ground against metal.

"You’re just a mad, hypocritical bastard," Damon said, his voice cutting through the clash, calm yet deliberately provoking.

Ethan’s head snapped slightly, his expression twisting.

"What do you know?" he shot back, his voice distorted, layered with both fury and instability.

Damon laughed.

"Are you still running away from the truth?" he continued, his tone sharpening as he stepped in again, forcing Ethan to react, "you’re the one who killed your family."

For a fraction of a second—

Ethan froze.

Then—

"Shut up—!"

His voice cracked.

"Shut up... shut up... SHUT UP—!"

The words repeated, overlapping, glitching over themselves as his movements faltered briefly, the instability returning in bursts as his mechanical side struggled to maintain synchronization.

Damon didn’t let up.

He advanced again, striking harder, faster, forcing Ethan further into reaction—

But then—

Something changed.

Ethan adapted.

His movements snapped into sharper alignment, his reactions becoming cleaner, more precise as he began reading Damon’s rhythm, anticipating his strikes before they fully formed, deflecting the hammer with calculated angles rather than brute resistance.

A strike came—

Ethan parried.

A follow-up—

Dodged.

A third—

Countered.

The flow shifted.

Subtly at first.

Ethan slipped past one of Damon’s swings, his body rotating fluidly as his limb reconfigured into a reinforced edge, striking across Damon’s side and forcing him a step back, breaking his forward pressure for the first time in the exchange.

And just like that—

The advantage began to tilt.

The shift in momentum did not stop.

It repeated.

Again.

And again.

Damon pressed forward with another calculated strike, the sledgehammer cutting through the air with lethal intent, but Ethan was already moving before the attack could fully land, his body slipping just outside the trajectory with minimal effort as his limb reconfigured mid-motion, redirecting the force and turning Damon’s own momentum against him.

A counter followed instantly.

A sharp impact across Damon’s side.

He staggered.

Recovered.

Struck again—

Only to be read.

Intercepted.

Neutralized.

Each exchange became shorter.

Cleaner.

More one-sided.

Damon’s attacks, once unpredictable and overwhelming, were now being anticipated, his patterns broken down in real time as Ethan’s mechanical half processed, adapted, and responded with increasing efficiency, until it felt as though every move Damon made had already been seen before it was even executed.

Another strike came.

Dodged.

A follow-up.

Parried.

A third.

Countered.

Damon was forced back.

Again.

His breathing remained steady, but the strain was beginning to show, the rhythm of the fight slipping out of his control as realization struck him sharply.

Is this...

His eyes narrowed.

Is this abomination learning my movement patterns in real time?

A strike came too fast—

He blocked, but the force pushed him further back, his footing sliding slightly as he stabilized himself.

No... this won’t do.

"Serena—!" Damon shouted.

For a brief moment, Serena paused, her eyes flicking toward him as she read the shift instantly, understanding what he was asking without needing further explanation.

Then—

She moved.

Damon dropped his stance and rolled backward, disengaging from the immediate exchange as Serena stepped in, her whip snapping outward as she entered the battlefield, her presence replacing Damon’s in the frontline while he repositioned himself near Mira, regaining control and reassessing.

"His mechanical side is allowing him to learn and adapt to our fighting patterns in real time!" Damon called out sharply.

Serena nodded, already engaging, her movements fluid as she tested Ethan’s reactions with rapid strikes, forcing him to adjust to a new rhythm.

Behind them, Mira stepped closer to Damon, her eyes filled with concern.

"A-are you hurt?" she asked softly.

Damon shook his head.

"I’m fine."

But the situation—Wasn’t.

At first, Serena managed.

Her whip lashed out in unpredictable arcs, her footwork shifting constantly as she avoided direct engagement, forcing Ethan to recalibrate to a completely different combat style.

But it didn’t last for long.

Ethan adapted again.

His movements began to align with her patterns, his reactions sharpening as he started predicting the trajectory of her whip, slipping through its range with calculated precision while countering at angles that forced her to retreat rather than press forward.

The pressure built gradually.

Then rapidly.

Serena found herself pushed back, her strikes losing effectiveness as Ethan’s responses became faster, tighter, more refined, until even her control over distance began to slip.

She exhaled sharply.

Then—

Closed her eyes.

"Angelic Retribution."

Light burst forth once more.

Her form transformed again, radiant wings spreading behind her as the atmosphere shifted, a calming force washing over the battlefield, disrupting the aggressive flow of Ethan’s movements as a faint hesitation crept back into him, his attacks slowing just enough to create an opening.

Feathers moved.

Cutting through the air.

Precise.

Lethal.

But—

Ethan dodged each one cleanly.

His body shifting with minimal movement, his mechanical eye tracking trajectories with perfect calculation as he weaved through the incoming attacks.

"Hahaha..." he laughed, the sound distorted yet confident, "I have already learned this attack pattern."

Serena pressed forward anyway, her whip following through in a sharp, controlled strike aimed to catch him mid-transition, but Ethan adjusted again, his body slipping past the attack with exact timing, maintaining distance while still under the suppressive effect of her resonance.

He hesitated in attacking her.

But she couldn’t land a decisive hit either.

The stalemate formed.

Fragile and unstable.

Serena’s eyes flicked toward Damon briefly as she spoke, her tone sharp, decisive—

"We need to fight him together!"

Damon’s gaze flicked toward Mira for a brief moment, and for the first time since the battle had begun, a trace of hesitation passed through his eyes, subtle yet unmistakable, as if weighing something far beyond the immediate fight, while Serena, already holding her stance, caught that hesitation and narrowed her eyes slightly.

"What are you thinking of?" she asked sharply, her tone carrying both urgency and warning.

Damon exhaled slowly.

Then looked at Mira.

"Be careful," he said, his voice low but firm.

Before she could respond, Damon’s expression hardened again as he muttered under his breath—

"Fractured... Ruin."

A distorted wave pulsed outward from his body, subtle to the eye yet heavy in presence, as if reality itself warped slightly around him, disrupting the flow of mechanical synchronization in the surrounding space, and without wasting a single second, he moved.

Fast.

Far faster than before.

He re-entered the battlefield alongside Serena, their movements aligning almost instinctively as the shift in pressure became immediate, Ethan’s body glitching again as the interference from Damon’s resonance disrupted his adaptive systems, creating small but critical delays in his reactions.

For a brief window—

They dominated.

Serena’s whip struck with precision, forcing Ethan into defensive transitions, while Damon followed through with heavy, decisive blows, the sledgehammer crashing into his morphing limbs and forcing him back step by step, their coordination tightening as they alternated pressure seamlessly, one creating openings while the other capitalized on them.

Ethan staggered once.

Then again.

The rhythm broke.

For a moment—

Victory seemed within reach.

But then—

He adapted again.

The glitches lessened.

The hesitation disappeared.

His movements snapped back into alignment, sharper than before, his mechanical eye tracking both Damon and Serena simultaneously, recalculating, predicting, optimizing in real time. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Serena clicked her tongue under her breath.

"Who knew a machine could be this dreadful..."

The fight intensified.

Now no longer a simple exchange, but a coordinated assault from both sides as Damon and Serena fought in tandem, their movements weaving together in a complex rhythm, Serena controlling space and forcing directional shifts while Damon closed distance and delivered crushing strikes, each adapting to the other in real time to counter Ethan’s evolving responses.

Ethan, however—Was no longer on the back foot.

He adjusted and shifted.

Turned defense into motion.

And then—He laughed.

"Hahhahahahha!"

A sharp, unhinged sound.

In the middle of the exchange, Ethan deliberately stepped into one of Damon’s incoming strikes, allowing the sledgehammer to collide with his body, the impact sending a violent shock through him—

But instead of resisting—

He used it.

Redirecting the force.

His body propelled forward at high speed.

Not toward Damon.

Not toward Serena.

But—

Toward Mira.

Everything happened in an instant.

"Aaaahhh—!"

Mira’s scream cut through the battlefield as Ethan closed the distance before anyone could intercept, his hand shooting out and clamping around her throat, lifting her off the ground effortlessly as her body tensed in shock, her hands instinctively grabbing at his arm as she struggled to breathe.

Ethan’s head tilted slightly, his expression twisting into something cruel, something broken.

"You seem to protect this girl so much, huh...?" he said, his voice distorted with a sick amusement.

His grip tightened slightly.

"What if I kill her...?" he continued, his tone lowering, almost whispering, "maybe then you will understand my pain..."

A manic laugh followed.

"Ahahahaha... then you will follow my vision."

"Don’t you dare—!"

Damon and Serena’s voices overlapped as both of them reacted instantly, their eyes widening as they lunged forward without hesitation, abandoning all caution as they rushed toward him.

Ethan watched them and laughed.

"Hahaha... let’s see who is faster..."

His mechanical fingers twitched slightly.

"A flick of my thumb..."

His gaze sharpened.

"Or you."