The extraction worked relic by relic instead of tearing everything at once, isolating each bond so Sagiri could feel the sequence while lacking the freedom to break it cleanly.
First came the shallowest thread, the one that answered battlefield awareness more than deep memory stored under N'garu ash.
Sagiri resisted by locking his breath to the pain, learning the order the way a fighter learns an enemy's favored combination under real cuts that refuse to wait for theory.
'Sequence first,' he thought, ribs screaming against the band that owned his torso, 'panic later if there is still a later left inside this ring.'
Sir Black watched the pale line stretch toward Rika with patience earned across years of waiting for this night under Safaya-border stars.
"You are mapping it," Sir Black said, eyes bright while his hands stayed folded in laboratory calm, "hell, understanding the process will not free you, yet it proves the records were accurate."
