All Bubbles

Cold rain dripped down the shattered window frame, forming small puddles on the top floor of the abandoned office building.

In the darkness, Tanner sat leaning beneath a rusted steel beam, his body trembling slightly from the lingering electric shock. His exposed skin still bore the sticky residue of webbing and scorched black marks.

Yet in stark contrast to his somewhat bedraggled appearance, the Inheritor's distinctive eyes, gleaming with greed, showed not the slightest trace of defeat. Instead, they burned with nearly fanatical excitement.

That brief but intense encounter had been completely misinterpreted by his mind, warped by greed and family prejudice. He saw it as an incredibly successful rehearsal for a hunt.

"He dodged my first lethal sneak attack!" Tanner muttered, his voice hoarse with excitement. "Yes, he relied on that damned sense! But!"

He suddenly clenched his fist, his long, sharp nails nearly digging into his palm. "I succeeded! I interfered with it! With the device I made myself, I turned that annoying sense into noise! That proves my approach is right! Those idiots in the family only know how to brute-force everything, but intelligence! Intelligence is the key to hunting!"

Scenes from the battle replayed over and over in his mind, each one reinterpreted in his own way. "His raw strength is inferior to mine! I sent him flying with ease! He smashed through so many things!"

He completely ignored the fact that Peter had been forced to take the attack after his senses were disrupted and he had lost the initiative.

"His attacks... hmph! Ridiculous! Weak and powerless! He can only rely on those laughable little toys and the surrounding junk to block my true strength!"

Tanner sneered and waved a hand as if brushing away something beneath notice. He selectively forgot that those very "laughable"