'Shit.'
The weight of the blade shifted.
Kairo felt it instantly—the moment the tentacle constricted around the obsidian edge. At first, he thought it was resistance. The ordinary clamp of muscle and flesh.
Nothing unusual.
But then the pull deepened. Stronger. Hungrier.
'Is it stuck? No… it's…'
It was being swallowed.
His wrist flexed, tendons straining, muscles coiling as he pulled back hard. Scarlet aura surged along the obsidian steel, vibrating with power.
The blade should have come free, tearing through meat and sinew.
But it didn't.
Instead, the weapon sank deeper. Inch by inch, the tentacle's muscles rippled, suction ridges locking with grotesque precision. The monster's body pulled it in like a throat swallowing prey.
"Tch." Kairo's jaw tightened, composure cracking for a fraction of a second. His boots dug into stone, the cavern groaning under the strain as he pulled harder, aura blazing.
The blade slid forward anyway.
The hilt slipped in his grip.
And then—
