At the exact moment the Two Hooded Figures made their move, J and Margaret completed their first direct clash.
When J charged in wrapped in the Black Armor Membrane, Margaret did not even retreat. She stood where she was, the Pale Blue Water Membrane condensed around her right arm already spreading over the entire limb, dense enough to verge on solid.
J's Black Short Blade cleaved toward her shoulder, and the two liquids collided violently at the point of contact.
Then J's expression changed.
More than half of the Black Armor Membrane wrapped around him was siphoned away in that instant of collision.
The moisture separated directly from within the black water. The armor membrane rapidly shriveled and cracked, and even the Short Blade began to collapse and deform.
Closing in had not broken her siphoning—it had instead brought him closer to her, multiplying the efficiency of her extraction.
An utterly fanatical smile surfaced on Margaret's face, making her look like a completely different person from the weary, quiet woman who sorted lists at the Branch.
"You're so weak. So weak!"
J's first instinct was to pull back and widen the distance. His armor membrane had shriveled and cracked, his Short Blade had collapsed; all his usual methods had failed before this woman. His instincts told him to disengage.
But he did not have time to retreat.
Margaret's left hand had already clamped around his forearm. The instant the Pale Blue Water Membrane touched his skin, the remaining black liquid was visibly drawn out from the point of contact, flowing along her palm and toward her arm.
J's forearm dried out in an instant.
After the moisture was drawn from the black liquid, it did not vanish.
What remained on the surface of his skin changed in texture. The once-flowing