The clash did not begin with an attack.
It began with pressure.
Not the crushing weight Prime favored, but something subtler—an environmental tightening, as if the universe itself were bracing for impact. Gravity Sight flared across Rourke's vision, threads aligning too cleanly, too perfectly.
Prime was close.
Seren felt it before she saw anything.
"He's doing that thing again," she muttered.
"Where everything feels… tidy."
Rourke nodded.
"He's preparing the board."
The Memory Core dimmed.
"Hunter Prime is initiating a calibration strike."
Seren frowned.
"That sounds bad."
"It is not lethal," the relic replied.
"It is instructional."
Prime Appears—Again
Hunter Prime manifested without fanfare.
No distortion.
No dramatic entrance.
Just presence.
He regarded Rourke calmly, eyes scanning subtle fluctuations in the realm.
"Your output has changed," Prime said.
"You have reduced amplitude."
Rourke met his gaze.
"Efficiency beats excess."
Prime tilted his head.
"An adaptive response."
Seren crossed her arms.
"Say what you came to say, calculator."
Prime ignored her.
"You are delaying synchronization," he continued.
"This is unexpected."
Rourke felt the pull—
Prime testing him, quietly trying to provoke escalation.
He didn't rise to it.
"I learned something," Rourke said.
"You only win when I panic."
Prime paused.
That, alone, was a victory.
The First Move
Prime raised one hand.
Gravity did not surge.
It simplified.
All competing vectors collapsed into a single directive.
Containment.
The space around Rourke stiffened, locking into a perfect gravitational lattice designed to limit movement without violence.
Seren swore.
"He's pinning you without touching you."
Rourke felt it—
the trap was elegant.
Old Rourke would have shattered it.
This Rourke breathed.
He did not push outward.
He reduced gravity inside himself.
Just enough.
The lattice bent.
Not broken—
misaligned.
Prime's eyes narrowed.
"…Interesting."
A Clash Without Force
Prime stepped closer.
"You are no longer attempting dominance," he observed.
"You are attempting refusal."
Rourke smiled faintly.
"Choice, remember?"
Prime extended the field.
The pressure increased.
Seren felt her knees weaken.
"Rourke—"
"I'm fine," he said calmly.
He focused on less.
Less pull.
Less reaction.
Less certainty.
The lattice warped.
Not violently.
Quietly.
Like a system encountering undefined input.
Prime withdrew his hand slightly.
The pressure eased.
For the first time—
Prime adjusted mid-action.
The Anomaly Interferes
The blind spot pulsed.
Rourke felt it before he saw it—
the anomaly shifting closer, reacting to Prime's presence like a ripple in still water.
Prime noticed instantly.
His gaze snapped to it.
"…That entity should not be here."
Seren stiffened.
"So you don't know everything."
Prime regarded the anomaly carefully.
"This variable was removed from projected outcomes."
Rourke spoke quietly.
"Maybe your projections are incomplete."
Prime looked back at him.
"They are now."
Prime Tests the Bond
Prime extended a precise gravitational probe toward the anomaly.
Not forceful.
Diagnostic.
The anomaly recoiled—
then stabilized.
Rourke felt a tug in his chest.
The Heart reacted.
Synchronization spiked dangerously.
Seren shouted, "Rourke—don't let it pull you!"
He clenched his jaw.
"I'm not."
Instead of resisting Prime—
Rourke withdrew.
He reduced his influence entirely.
The probe passed through the anomaly—
and failed to register it.
Prime froze.
"…Null-adjacent behavior."
The Memory Core pulsed urgently.
"Hunter Prime is recalculating."
The Turning Point
Prime stepped back.
A full step.
Seren's eyes widened.
"He stepped back."
Prime addressed Rourke directly.
"You are becoming inefficient in a new way."
Rourke met his gaze evenly.
"Good."
Prime studied him.
"This path leads to instability."
Rourke nodded.
"I know."
Prime's voice lowered.
"It also leads beyond my authority."
Silence stretched.
That was the closest Prime had ever come to admission.
The Clash Ends
Prime folded his hands behind his back.
"This encounter is concluded."
Seren blinked.
"That's it?"
Prime turned slightly.
"This was not a battle.
It was a measurement."
Rourke felt the truth of it settle.
"And?"
Prime paused.
"…Your resistance curve has shifted."
Then he vanished.
No warning.
No pressure.
Gone.
Aftermath
Seren sagged with relief.
"I hate how calm he makes apocalypse sound."
Rourke exhaled slowly, hands trembling only now that it was over.
The Memory Core glowed faintly.
"You did not win."
Rourke nodded.
"I know."
"But you were not dominated."
Seren smiled.
"That's new."
Rourke looked toward the anomaly.
It hovered closer now.
Watching.
Waiting.
The second clash had changed something.
Not just in Prime.
But in the rules.
Rourke whispered:
"He's afraid of what I'll become…
if I keep choosing."
The anomaly pulsed once.
Agreement—or warning.