The alley was wrong.
Ethan realized it the moment he stepped in.
Too quiet.
Too narrow.
Too certain.
Three figures waited at the far end, blocking the exit as if they had always been there.
One held a steel pipe.
One carried a knife.
The last leaned against the wall, smiling.
A familiar pattern.
Ethan slowed.
Not out of fear—but because something inside him was already pulling away.
[Observer State: Active.]
[Identity Erosion: 1.7% → 2.1%]
The notification should have alarmed him.
It didn't.
The man with the pipe took a step forward.
"Wrong street," he said. "Hand over—"
Ethan didn't hear the rest.
He was watching.
Not the man.
The outline of the man.
The way his presence interacted with the alley—the flickering streetlight, the puddles on the ground, the blind angles created by stacked trash bags.
The world thinned.
The pipe swung.
Ethan didn't dodge.
He stared at the attacker's arm.
[Target Persistence: Unstable.]
[Cognitive Overlap Detected.]
For half a second, the man hesitated.
Not physically.
Mentally.
His grip loosened—just a fraction—as if his brain was suddenly unsure whether the pipe was still his.
That was enough.
Ethan stepped in.
His shoulder struck the man's chest. Bone gave way with a muted crunch. The body hit the wall and slid down, breath gone, eyes unfocused.
The knife came next.
The second man lunged, face twisted with panic now. Ethan saw it before it happened—the trajectory, the overextension, the moment the attacker's balance would fail.
He moved into that moment.
An elbow.
A sharp turn.
Teeth shattered against concrete.
The knife clattered away, forgotten.
The third man stopped smiling.
"What the hell are you—" he began.
Ethan looked at him.
Directly.
[Observer Authority: Minor Influence Applied.]
The man froze.
Not because he was paralyzed.
Because, for an instant, he felt unseen.
As if the alley no longer acknowledged him.
As if the world had quietly decided he didn't matter.
"No—no—wait—" the man whispered, voice cracking. "Please, I—"
Ethan stepped forward.
"You were here," Ethan said calmly.
"But you won't be remembered."
He pushed.
The body hit the ground.
Didn't move.
Silence returned.
Ethan stood alone in the alley, heart steady, mind eerily clear.
No triumph.
No guilt.
Only confirmation.
[First Observation Kill Completed.]
[New Skill Unlocked: Peripheral Cognition]
[Effect: Increased awareness of blind spots and cognitive hesitation in targets.]
[Identity Erosion: 2.4%]
Ethan finally felt something then.
Not fear.
But distance.
As he walked away, he realized the thought that scared him most wasn't what he'd done—
It was how natural it had felt.