Meanwhile, Aria's heart thumped wildly as she ran.

'I thought I was a genius… so why does this month's trial feel like it's filled with monsters instead of recruits? How did he kill that muscle-head with just one punch? What the hell is going on?'

She pushed her Gravity Manipulation to the limit, bending the pull beneath her feet to increase her acceleration. The terrain warped slightly under the invisible force as she darted through the savannah like a fleeing arrow.

She hadn't fought Bruce yet, not even once. But instinct didn't lie. Something deep inside her screamed the truth, she stood no chance against him. How was she supposed to fight someone who could casually one-shot an overpowered berserker like Donn Chitt, someone who could brute-force his way through her gravity fields without slowing down, yet still died in a single punch?

'To hell with fighting him. There are so many other opponents I can kill. As long as I escape, I can still rack up points. I can still get the money for my sister's treatment… I just need to survive.'

She risked a glance back.

Bruce wasn't chasing.

He was just standing there, staring at his own fist, as if trying to understand what he had just done. Blood still dripped off his knuckles.

Aria's breath caught.

'Yes. Stay like that. Wallow in regret or confusion or whatever that is. Just don't move. Please don't move.'

Her thoughts spiraled into silent begging. 'I swear I'll watch your dot from now on. I won't let you get within a hundred meters of me ever again. Just let me go this once. Please.'

Her pulse hammered harder with every step. She had never felt like this before. This wasn't the adrenaline rush of combat. This was prey-instinct terror, like a helpless child running from wolves, hearing their claws scraping closer with every heartbeat. Her chest felt tight, her breathing uneven, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it might burst out of her ribcage.

And who could blame her?

She had just watched a friend, someone who joked with her, someone who promised stuff to her, get killed so brutally it didn't even look real.

One punch. Not a spell. Not a technique. Not a combo.

Just… a punch!

Her mind kept replaying it, and the more it replayed, the more her legs trembled even as they ran.

She prayed, actually prayed in her mind, to any god that might be watching, that Bruce wouldn't suddenly appear behind her… that he wouldn't decide she was next… that he wouldn't close the distance in a single step the way monsters in stories did.

She prayed he wouldn't be able to catch up…

Then a thought rang in her mind to look again and she did...

But horror washed over her face as she saw Bruce sprinting rapidly toward her, a malevolent grin carved across his lips, closing the distance with every heartbeat. If she knew he wasn't even going at half his speed right now… she would've killed herself on the spot.

'He's too fast. I need to slow him down!' A malefic smile crept up her face. 'Good thing that's what I'm best at.'

"Gravity Field!"

WHUM!

Mana surged and the air bent. The ground trembled. An invisible weight pressed out in a radius and sank its claws into Bruce.

At once, her speed spiked, fluid, light, unburdened. She turned mid-sprint and screamed back, "Let's see how you fare against that!"

She smirked even harder as Bruce's pace dipped, noticeably, visibly, like he'd slammed into a wall of pressure.

Bruce frowned. 'This… it's almost like the mana gravity pressure chamber. She's stacking gravity on me in tons… This is 2,000 tons of weight…'

His stride hitched for a breath. He rolled his shoulders against the crush, lifted his gaze, and flashed Aria a calm, almost gentle smile as she glanced back...

"Just kidding."

BOOM!

The sound barrier shattered. Air peeled back in rippling rings. The gap between them collapsed in a blink, less than a second, less than a gasp.

Aria's heart leaped out of her chest.

"Please! I won't call you a monster again, just let me go!" she screamed, voice breaking.

She poured more mana into the field, driving the pressure higher, thousands more tons, stacking and stacking, until she hit the ragged edge of her limit. 5,000! 10,000! 15,000! 20,000!

But Bruce's speed didn't fall.

It climbed!

Terror rooted her bones cold. He was still accelerating under twenty thousand tons. At that point, all she could do was curse her luck, and Donn's jealousy, for putting her here. If Donn hadn't been so poisoned with envy and stopped Aria from dragging him out earlier… maybe they could've both escaped. She'd told Bruce they had no beef, that they were just passing by, maybe he really would've let them go. But it was too late to drown in regret now...

He was right behind her.

Her heart thundered in panic as she snapped around, only to see him so goddamn close to her back…

Her breath stopped.

Her pupils shrank.

A cold rush flooded down her spine, freezing her blood where it flowed. Her legs almost gave out under her, not from injury, but from pure animal terror. Sweat trickled down her temples in thin, shaking lines, dripping off her chin as her body trembled violently against her will.

Her lungs refused to work. She tried to inhale, but the air felt too thick, too heavy, as if even oxygen itself had abandoned her. Her heartbeat hammered so hard it hurt, slamming against her ribs like it was trying to escape first and leave her behind.

She had never been this close to death.

Not the threat of death. Not the idea of it. Death itself.

Standing right behind her.

The pressure of Bruce's presence alone erased every thought except one:

Run!

Run even though it's useless. Run even though he'll catch you. Run because stopping means dying!

She opened her mouth to speak, to beg, to bargain, to scream, but all that came out was a cracked whisper.

"Please…"

She didn't even know what she was pleading for anymore. Mercy? Time? A miracle?

Bruce just looked at her, expression unreadable. No anger. No thrill. No pity. Just the calm, patient look of someone who had already decided the ending long before the chase began.

Aria felt her knees wobble. Felt her body fail her.

She was fast. She was smart. She had control over gravity itself.

And none of it mattered.

Because against monsters like Bruce…

She was just a girl running in circles, begging not to die.

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