The shattered clone was not a beast driven by instinct. It was a weapon programmed with a single, overriding directive.
Having lost its rusted saber and suffering massive trauma to its maxillary plate, the monster’s crimson sensor lens whipped away from Vesper and locked directly onto Arthur Vance.
The Decapitation Doctrine.
In the twisted programming of the Sovereign Chimera Order. Just then, a bound beast proved impossible to climb, the only path to victory was the immediate, violent extermination of the human handler. Knock the tamer unconscious, and their companions would suffer three to eight seconds of total synaptic dizziness—more than enough time to butcher them all.
The monster didn’t hesitate.
With an explosive kick from its powerful hind legs, the eight-meter chimera launched itself across the arena, ignoring Vesper entirely, barreling straight toward Arthur at two hundred miles per hour.
Its leftover natural saber-tooth—a sixty-inch blade of white Gengjin crystal—was leveled directly at Arthur’s throat like a lance.
Arthur didn’t flinch. He didn’t dive behind Titus’s shell.
