The creature attacked again.
Faster this time.
Angrier.
Andres barely kept up.
Each movement cost him balance.
Each dodge felt like borrowing time.
He realized something important mid-fight.
I'm not winning.
Not even close.
He was surviving.
Barely.
There was a difference.
The creature feinted.
And this time—
He didn't react correctly.
Pain.
A shallow cut opened on his arm.
Not deep.
But immediate.
Real.
Andres gasped.
Not from injury.
But from realization.
"…It can hurt me."
That was the first time the world stopped feeling theoretical.
The creature prepared to finish it.
And Andres did something instinctive.
Something stupid.
Something desperate.
He grabbed a nearby stone.
And threw it.
It wasn't strong.
It wasn't aimed perfectly.
But it disrupted the creature's rhythm for a fraction of a second.
And that fraction—
Was everything.