Twenty-seven minutes remaining.
Entity integrity degraded to thirty-eight percent. Systematic distance assault was working. Seven Champions maintaining coordinated attacks from maximum range. Nakamura directing precision strikes at identified vulnerabilities. Guardian entity trapped by own purpose. Couldn't pursue attackers without abandoning manifestation point. Couldn't defend position against distance attacks. Tactical checkmate through exploiting strategic constraint.
Civilian casualties had stabilized. Fifteen thousand two hundred dead. Horrible number. Catastrophic loss. But not growing exponentially anymore. Entity focus was defensive positioning not civilian slaughter. Guardian purpose meant protecting location not maximizing kills. Different from Herald. Different from Striker. Different from Infiltrator. Less catastrophic. Still terrible. But survivable terrible rather than extinction terrible.
