The Archive exploded upward in countless tendrils, wrapping around Rika's wrists, ankles, waist, and throat before she could react.
Sagiri was about done with her.
It was time she died, and he wanted to look in her eyes as he finished her off.
She crashed hard onto one knee as the restraints tightened with merciless force. Every attempt to move only caused the tendrils to constrict further. Her claws dug furrows into the stone, but she could not break free.
Sagiri finally moved.
He raised a single hand, and the ten hunting blades immediately abandoned their pursuit, reversing direction in perfect formation. They returned to him one after another, joining the ten that had never left his side until all twenty hovered silently behind him like a shield.
He walked toward Rika without haste. Each footstep echoed through the shattered battlefield.
