Secco commenting on Bruno's transformation is interesting to me because it doesn't necessarily mean this happens normally - he's never fought anyone underground before! But he also constantly talks about how weird Bruno's body is, he knows he's basically a corpse very well
So a lot of my argument actually rests on the first example: Here's the thing. A direct hugely important plot point in this chapter is that BRUNO DOESN'T COUNT AS LIVING MATTER ANYMORE. Cioccolata's mold treats him like it treats dirt or rocks