"I'm saying," Satou said, "that a purely computational being would have found a way to replace what Richard provided. To replicate the anchor element through other means. You're the Tenth Seat demon lord. You've existed for millennia. If this was purely a technical problem, you had other options." He paused. "You chose this one. You chose the one that required using the being who took Richard from you. Who is, in some specific sense, the last place Richard's signature exists in the world." He held Chronus's gaze. "That's not computation. That's something else."
Silence.
The working's field moved above the central structure.
Chronus was very still.
And then, from the northwest, the ambient temporal field registered a change — the subtle reduction in the working's boundary integrity as Morgana's patient unseating work reached a tipping point in the northwest anchor's connection, and the compensating load across the other six anchors increased.
Chronus's attention moved northwest.
