A red lantern reached the branch seed before Raska could lift her saw.
Red light passed through black glass without breaking it. Three thin roots opened inside the glow and drove into the white collars.
Under Jiang, the graveback tried to fly.
Its back slammed upward beneath Bone Orchard. Keeps jumped on their branch lines, roofs struck bridges, and the opened living plate snapped shut on Raska's saw.
Jiang hit the rib breast-first.
A second red root pulled Tide-Fin sideways.
Hot marrow fluid became a river. It caught Jiang under the keel and threw him toward the branch seed while the graveback's buried fin dragged toward reflected starwater.
Deep-Claw answered last.
Road bone beneath the carrier split with a sound like a tree being torn out of winter ground.
[FORCED EVOLUTION CONFLICT | SKY-BONE / TIDE-FIN / DEEP-CLAW UNDER FOREIGN HOLD | HOST CHOICE ABSENT]
"I know," Jiang said.
His words became bubbles against black glass.
