The moment the new presence stepped forward, the difference was immediate.
It wasn't like the previous entity.
It didn't feel distant.
It didn't feel undefined.
It didn't feel beyond reach.
It felt—
Real.
Adrian noticed it instantly.
The way it stood.
The way the space reacted to it.
The way its presence didn't distort the environment but instead settled into it, as if it belonged there completely, as if this layer itself acknowledged it.
That made it more dangerous than anything he had faced before.
Because this—
Wasn't something outside the rules.
This was something—
That was the rule.
The figure didn't rush forward.
It didn't attack immediately.
It simply looked at him.
And that alone—
Carried weight.
"You stabilized," it said.
Its voice wasn't empty.
Wasn't detached.
It had identity.
Adrian exhaled slowly.
"…Yeah."
