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Savathûn recoiled as twisted branches shot out from the disciple’s back, his bloodied mouth frozen in a grimace of anguished plea.
Rhulk, on his part, watched in fascination. His eyes followed the agonal thrusts of the lignifying body, and when it finally stopped moving, he stepped forward to examine the black, thorny growths sprouting from its shoulders, skull, and along the spine. Ash sprinkled the ground when he touched one, phantom wood dissipating.
“Incredible. There’s still resonance within them, but frozen, like the potential energy of movement trapped in amber…” He glanced back at Savathûn, who still stood unmoving, somewhat expectantly. “Wouldn’t you call it—what is it that you say? Elegant?”
“Hardly.” She was already messaging her coven in secret, ordering them to study this phenomenon. “But I would call it a waste of resources.”
“He was a traitor.”
“Even my brother realises the value of traitors.” Savathûn thought about Cra'adug and Mengoor, their dyad-bound spiral of tithe propelling itself and accelerating forever. A clever scheme. Much more elegant than whatever this was.
Rhulk’s frills bristled as he straightend himself ever so slightly, offended. “Then I’m eagerly waiting for the news about a knife between his shoulder blades.”
A smirk pulled at the corners of her mouth. For such an esteemed warrior, he stuck his fragile ego out for a punch so thoughtlessly he made it almost uncomfortably easy for her. She fancied a mental image of him bawling his eyes out into a worm-shaped pillow, would the Witness ever choose to honour Oryx with an individual audience.
“If that’s all we were here to witness, I’ll be on my way.” She shook off her wings, careful not to touch any of the branches, and fanned them out. Rhulk tilted his head.
“Not staying around to dissect this wonder like an intricate clock, until you understand all its machinations?” He stepped up, half-circled her. “Or does it dismay you, Savathûn?”
She punched him in the gut all too effortlessly and took off before the swing of his glaive could reach her. Rhulk’s deep laughter followed her as she flew away, reverberating through the pyramid’s halls, still echoing faintly even when her feet touched the smooth grey stone of her throne world.