The sand behind the assassin rose in ugly shapes.
One shoulder, then another. A torso pulling itself out of the dune with no skin, no blood, no weight of life in it. Another form followed near the broken ruin. A third bulged under the ground farther right, not fully born yet, but close.
Alice drew a harder breath.
Neo did not need her to say it. He had already seen enough. Her swings had lost some of their old heaviness. The axe still hit like a falling wall, but the space between strikes had widened, and the Soul Essence around her had thinned to a thread.
The bastard across from them saw it too.
His smile came back.
"There it is," he said, blood drying dark across his side. "I was wondering when your friend would start emptying out."
