Elsewhere, Rika held Fenghua in a crushing grip, her entire arm embedded in Rika's white body. She dragged Fenghua along the outside of a building, plowing a deep furrow through the wall as shattered glass and chunks of concrete exploded behind them.
Gritting her teeth, Fenghua swung her blade backhanded. Steel flashed, and Rika's gripping wrist snapped clean off. Without pausing, Fenghua turned the blade in midair and slashed straight down, severing Rika's entire arm at the shoulder.
"Unforgivable! Unforgivable!"
Rika's voice shrieked like a snapping string. Her other palm slammed down like an iron door falling from the sky, striking Fenghua squarely and sending her flying.
Fenghua tumbled several times in midair, smashed through a streetlamp, then bounced twice across the ground, leaving a long trail of blood. In that same instant, her blade never stopped moving. Using the momentum of her flight, she slashed again, cutting off Rika's other hand at the wrist.
Uro stood atop the rubble nearby, watching Fenghua fly away. A thought flashed through her mind-Perfect. One kill for the taking. Just as she was about to move, she caught sight of Okkotsu out of the corner of her eye. He had already put some distance between himself and Ryu Ishigori.
Okkotsu was lowering his right hand from his mouth. His lips still held the shape of the final syllable, and black curse markings had appeared on his cheeks at some point.
Okkotsu's Cursed Technique... was Cursed Speech?
Alarm shot through Uro, and she whipped her hands up to cover her ears.
"Don't move."
But Uro was still too late.
Okkotsu's voice was quiet, not even particularly loud, but in that instant, Uro felt as though invisible chains had clamped down on every muscle in her body. She gritted her teeth and struggled desperately, barely