ACT II · Chapter 16
Surgical Moon
The Moon That Cuts the Night
4E 201 | Early Sun's Dusk | Sixty Days Since Arrival
Tsukihana inhaled.
One.
A sphere limping on a ruined leg.
Two.
Three spiders on the wall.
Three.
The frost Colossus.
Four.
The wounded four-armed giant.
Five.
She raised the katana and pointed.
Then movement erased counting.
The smaller automatons came apart with surgical precision. No wasted cuts. No second strikes. A blade through each core, a severed conduit, a joint opened at the exact angle of weakness.
The frost Colossus swung its remaining fist.
Tsukihana caught the blow on the flat of her sword and redirected the mass as easily as moving a practice weapon.
The four-armed Colossus gathered magic in its chest and aimed at Katana. The attack expanded into a white beam large enough to melt stone.
Tsukihana appeared in front of it.
She raised her marked hand.
The magic struck her palm and collapsed inward.
Crimson lines burned across her arm as she absorbed the entire attack.
Katana stared. "What are you?"
Tsukihana had no answer.
She moved once more.
Fifth Moon: Midnight Eclipse.
One decisive cut split the first Colossus through its furnace. The second followed in a diagonal line of crimson light.
Both giants collapsed.
Silence entered the workshop.
Tsukihana remained standing between them, aura burning, black marks alive across her skin.