Taziraka rose from the crater without answering Sagiri's question, black ridges climbing his forearm as though the words had never reached him at all.
Sagiri set Nokai across his body and studied the blank stretch where recognition should have lived, watching the same shoulder drop into the same opening angle from moments before.
'A man repeats a stance because he trusts it,' Sagiri thought, tracking the identical drop of the right shoulder, 'this is repeating because nothing inside him is choosing anything new.'
Kiuga circled wide with Zazarie, both keeping their distance from the crater's broken lip while Kaka held the center, watching Taziraka's ruined knee for any sign it still ached.
"He's not tracking us as separate targets," Kiuga said, jaw tight.
"He's running the same three moves, like a drill he can't stop."
Sagiri caught the opening on the third repeat, driving Nokai across Taziraka's ribs hard, folding him sideways without touching the organs beneath.
