[Level Four — 2:58 PM]
The fully open plane changed the nature of combat.
Not the rules — the very substance of what it meant to fight in that space.
With Level Four transformed into a zone where the line between alive and dead was blurred, every physical attack carried an involuntary spiritual component. Every movement left a trace on the plane that the Veil could read before it was completed.
Alex understood it in the first exchange after the Full Release.
[Shadow Step] — three meters.
The Veil was already oriented toward where Alex was going to appear.
Not tactical anticipation. Direct reading of the plane — Alex's movement existed in the space between life and death before it existed in physical space.
The Veil's fist arrived at the same time as Alex.
[Alex HP: 140 → 110/1,110]
Thirty damage. But the specific type of damage from Fragment 4 — not just physical, something deeper.
Alex landed rolling.
He stood up.
