Dorian stomped his foot against the ground, generating momentum, and leaped toward a high rock standing to his left. His boots found purchase on the stone's irregularities, and in two moves he was on top, ten meters above the canyon floor.
—Hmm…
—It has monstrous strength —Dorian murmured, adjusting the plate on his right forearm, which had taken the impact of a rock fragment during the explosion. He flexed his arms, and the suit's servomotors responded with a brief, precise sound.
Crag! Crag!
The sounds of the mechanical actuators were like an extra heartbeat in the night. Dorian flexed his fingers inside the gloves, feeling the immediate response of the micro‑plates.
—Well —he said, almost laughing—, after all, it is a monster.
The Predator still hadn't emerged from the dust cloud. Maybe it was feeding on the debris—though that idea was absurd—or maybe it was simply waiting, evaluating, as intelligent predators did. Dorian's green eyes scanned the whole area, searching for any sign of movement, any shadow that shouldn't be there.
—So you want to play —Dorian said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. It was a smile he knew well, the one that appeared when adrenaline and the thrill of combat mixed in his bloodstream.
—I have no choice but to play along —he murmured, his smile widening until it seemed almost twisted. A smile that, on Helion Astra, his instructors had learned to recognize as the prelude to something dangerous.
—It would be very bad manners on my part —he exclaimed, raising his voice so the universe could hear him—. To refuse such an offer. I wouldn't forgive myself if I committed such a stupid crime.
—For that reason, we must play with them. So they don't feel bad. And so they don't treat us as disrespectful or cheating.
The dust cloud began to dissipate, and the Predator's silhouette slowly emerged from it. Its reinforced body showed no apparent damage.
—Hahaha —Dorian laughed—. You are so unfair. This… this is cheating.
The spines on its back glowed more intensely, as if the impact had activated something inside it. Its multiple eyes fixed on Dorian, up there on his rock, and the creature roared again, a sound that this time had a different nuance: frustration, perhaps, or recognition that its prey wasn't as easy as it had thought.
The monster, seeing that Dorian had positioned himself up high, followed him without hesitation. It began to scale the wall with impressive ferocity, sinking its claws into the rock like blades into butter, ascending at a blood‑chilling speed.
—Oohh —Dorian murmured, while a new smile—this time more dangerous—formed on his lips—, so you won't give me time, huh? You're too possessive. Or he. Well, God knows what your sex is. But I don't like being controlled so much.
So don't come looking for me!
The Predator completely ignored Dorian's complaints and kept climbing, its mandibles opening and closing in anticipation.
—Hehehe! —Dorian laughed, a laugh that meant one thing: he was about to do something demented, out of the ordinary, a madness that only he could come up with.
Sir. Omega's voice was a whisper laden with warning. You can't be serious. You really want to do that crazy thing?
—But you can't deny it will be very spectacular —Dorian replied, and there was something in his tone that made arguing with him impossible.
…
Omega was silent for a moment, processing, evaluating, calculating probabilities. Then:
Fine, do what you want. I know I can't stop you.
And Dorian walked into the void.
He didn't jump, didn't push off. He simply stepped forward and let himself fall, as if the ground ten meters away were a perfectly reasonable place to be. The wind whistled around him as he fell, and for an instant, everything was weightlessness and darkness.
The Predator, still climbing toward where Dorian had been, saw its prey hurl itself into the void. Its multiple eyes followed the trajectory, and its mandibles opened in what might have been surprise or anticipation.
Dorian, for his part, didn't fall straight down.
At the last moment, while the Predator continued its ascent, Dorian extended his arms and jumped toward the wall, using the inertia of the fall to propel himself in a new direction. His boots found a foothold on the rock, his knees bent to absorb the impact, and from there, with an explosive movement, he launched himself directly at the Predator.
The creature saw him coming. It opened its multiple mandibles, preparing to receive him, to tear him apart in mid‑air. But Dorian wasn't heading for its jaws. At the last instant, when it seemed inevitable that he would crash into that sea of teeth, he twisted his body in the air, grazing the right side of the monster's back. His left boot scraped against the scales with a sound of metal on metal, and for a moment, Dorian was so close he could see the inside of the mandibles, the dark moisture of its throat, the reflection of his own eyes in the creature's multiple eyes.
Then he fell.
The impact with the ground was brutal. Dorian rolled, the Exosuit's multilayers moving in unison to absorb the energy, his arms protecting his head, his legs bending at impossible angles. He rolled once, twice, three times, kicking up dust and small stones, until finally he rose into a crouch, gasping.
The Predator roared again, but this time the roar had a different nuance. Not pain—he hadn't actually touched it—but frustration. Its prey had escaped its jaws by centimeters, and for a predator, that was almost an insult.
Dorian watched as the creature leaped away from the wall, landing on the ground with an impact that shook the canyon. Its four legs absorbed the fall effortlessly, and its eyes fixed on Dorian with an intensity that froze the blood.
There was no time for more games.
Dorian reached for the metal hilt on his right thigh—his compressed sword—and activated it. He felt the familiar vibration through the gauntlet, that small explosion of energy that preceded armed combat.
With a click, the energy blade extended in a pale blue flash that illuminated the canyon like lightning. The characteristic hum filled the air, a frequency that spoke of death and precision.
Combat mode: melee weapon activated —Omega announced, her voice clear despite the chaos—. Energy level stable. Blade at 100% capacity. Estimated continuous combat duration: 47 minutes.
—Let's see what you're made of —Dorian shouted, as he ran toward the Predator. His boots struck the ground in a perfect rhythm, his muscles burned with the promise of combat, his mind was clearer than ever.
The Predator ran toward him too. They met in the center of the canyon like two forces of nature colliding.
Dorian brought the sword down at a precise angle, a movement he had practiced thousands of times in the training halls of Helion Astra. The energy blade sliced through one of the Predator's front legs mid‑leap, tracing a perfect blue arc in the air. Flesh and bone offered resistance for a fraction of a second, then gave way with a sound that was both metallic and wet.
Black blood gushed from the wound, oozing across the ground and partially evaporating on contact with the air. The smell was nauseating, a mix of chemicals and rot that made you dizzy just breathing it. Disgusting, Dorian thought as he dodged the creature's body, which fell spinning, kicking up dust and rocks in its wake.
But the Predator didn't give up.
Despite losing a leg, despite the blood gushing from the wound, it got up quickly. It limped, yes, but its multiple eyes still gleamed with the same murderous intensity. It exhaled a dark vapor from its fractured mandible, a mist that smelled of death, and then it lunged again.
Faster than before.
Much faster.
—That… —Dorian didn't have time to finish the sentence. The creature was on him, its mandibles opening, its claws extended. There was no time to dodge, only to meet it head‑on. Only that.
Dorian raised his left arm, and the blue geometric shield materialized milliseconds before the impact. The Predator's claw crashed against it with a force that made the air vibrate.
CRASH!
The impact was like a steel bar slamming into titanium.
Dorian felt the energy travel up his arm, his muscles tensing automatically to absorb the blow, his teeth grinding from the vibration. But despite everything, his arm trembled. The ground sank several centimeters beneath him, cracks radiating from his feet like spiderwebs.
—Stronger… —he gasped, as his mind processed the information—. Its musculature is generating internal kinetic energy. It's using its own body as a spring.
But there was no time for analysis. The Predator was already preparing another strike, its mandibles searching for a gap in Dorian's defense.
And then, Dorian did what he did best: he adapted.
In an economy of motion that only years of training can provide, he pivoted on his left foot, slid under the monster's body—feeling the claws scrape his helmet, the hot breath of its exhalation—and from below, with the sword pointing upward, he cut.
The energy blade pierced the Predator's abdomen, traveled through its torso, and exited through its neck.
Tchk.
It was a clean sound, almost delicate.
The Predator stopped dead. Its multiple eyes blinked once, twice, and then went out, one after another, like lights in an abandoned building. Its body collapsed, this time forever.