What is he maintaining, Satou thought, while also managing this fight?
He pushed the engagement harder.
[ASSASSINATION ARTS — GRAND MASTER: TECHNIQUE #47 — PRESSURE POINT CASCADE]
His claws moved in the specific sequence that Merc Assault's three-century accumulation of killing methods had refined into something approaching theoretical perfection — not targeting flesh but the metaphysical pressure points of a demon lord's power structure, the junctions where capability met will and will met manifestation, the specific points that, struck in the right sequence, disrupted the operational coherence of even high-tier demon lords.
Against Chronus's temporal field — temporal effects that Satou's nature made inapplicable — the technique had to be adapted in real time, targeting the aspects of Chronus that weren't temporal. The physical structure. The consciousness that maintained the working. The distribution of attention across multiple simultaneous operations.
Chronus responded.
