[ The Skeksis get pummeled into the ground, which Maruki knows isn't enough to take them out entirely, but it does afford them a few moments to collect themselves–

Or a few moments for him to turn over his shoulder, to see all the careful guards on Akira's face dropped away to reveal nothing but honest awe, to hear–

What the fuck is that thing.

Inhale.

And what the fuck are you?

Exhale.

A wound he hadn't realized was still festering somewhere alongside the phantom impalements from Rashomon mends. ]

I'm still figuring that out, Kurusu.

[ Strange, that what he is had been easier to answer than who, even as it dug holes into his heart, even as that answer was just as unclear.

Noises from the downed Skeksis; they're struggling back up to their feet, shrieking, waving those wands, rupturing the very foundation of the machiya's entryway as if to try to rip it from the rest of the home.

Quick, frantic: ]

We can talk about it later, alright?

[ And with that, one of the lesser tentacles rises up from the ground beneath one of the three Skeksis, Piercing Strike skewering it with Almighty force again and again and again and again, until it goes down. ]

We need to take out the other two.