"Is that why Neo didn't eat her full corpse?" Kale muttered in a tone of growing terror. He remembered the Hydra's previous harvest... how it had meticulously avoided the torso... only devouring the limbs and the mana-rich core.
[Biological analysis confirmed... specimen Neo detected embryonic life force within the primary target... extraction was halted to preserve genetic purity of the catalyst].
The system notification flashed across his retina... a cold... clinical confirmation of the horror Fabio had just voiced. Neo's instinct hadn't been mercy... but a calculated avoidance of a biological variable that didn't fit its devouring parameters.
The repercussions chilled Kale's blood. Had he just killed an innocent?
Even though Paula had attempted to assassinate him... even though she was a spy of the Church... the life within her was a blank slate.
