The finals arena was a bowl of silent tension. The neutral hand-bell was tested—a single, clean tone that hung in the air. Ropes hummed with calibrated force. The scent of hot wax from freshly stamped documents mixed with the gritty smell of the lots tray's felt lining. Qin Ye's eyes tracked the tray as it was set down. The faint vendor mark—a broken circle and chevron—was smudged on the felt. A tiny scuff marred the draw gong's chain.
He stepped forward. "Clause 7.2. Request public re-inking of the lots, issuance of fresh witness gloves, and a two-witness draw." His voice was a scalpel.
The clerks, under the gaze of the Device Witness sigils already glowing on the apparatus, complied. Fresh ink was poured. White gloves were donned.
---
Qin Ye's hand brushed the draw gong's chain.
[Daily Sign-In available.]
[Location: Draw Gong Chain.]
[Sign-In? Yes / No]
Yes.
[Ding! Sign-In successful!]
[Reward: Echo-Break Thread (Lv.1, 25 breaths — resist external cadence entrainment) + Lot Beacon (1 use — auto-log & announce every contact with draw tray and lots).]
A sigil flared on the tray's rim, unseen by most but noted by the proctors' log.
---
Before the draw could begin, a clerk reached to "straighten" the tray.
"Contact logged," the Lot Beacon announced, its mechanical voice flat.
Qin Ye didn't look at the clerk. "Chain of custody requires a reset. Two witnesses."
The head clerk and Liu Shan stepped forward. The tray was lifted. Under the felt, a faint circular impression was visible—the ghost of a micro-weight. The clerk's badge number—#47—was read aloud into the ledger. The human trail sharpened.
The draw proceeded, clean and witnessed. Lane Three was assigned. Rope parity was checked and logged. The neutral bell was confirmed.
---
The Echo Step duo entered the ring. Their movements were a subtle call-and-response—a synchronized foot stamp, a soft baton click, a shared breath hiss. Their entire presence was a weapon designed to pull opponents into their rhythm, to entrain them, before filing "echo-claim" appeals for alleged illegal mirroring.
The official's bell struck.
The duo opened with layered cues, a complex web of sound and motion meant to hijack timing.
Qin Ye activated the Echo-Break Thread. For twenty-five breaths, their external cadence became a distant noise. He locked onto the silent, steady Pulse Counter in his palm. A single tap of his thigh synced Lin Xiu to this internal metronome.
Their Silent Steps were ghosts. Quiet Pivots held the center. A Blade Nudge corrected a micro-angle. Their toes hovered a finger's width from the humming rope. The Device Witness sigils glowed steadily in the background.
---
The lead Echo Step disciple raised a hand. "Echo-claim. Their mirroring exceeds tactile allowance. Prearranged code."
The head clerk pointed to the placard. "Permitted cues are listed. Device Witness shows no apparatus contact. Appeal dismissed." A stamp thudded on the log. Momentum preserved.
---
The Echo Step duo shifted. They sprang their trap near the boundary, crowding the center, forcing Qin Ye and Lin Xiu toward the rope. A legal shoulder angle combined with a sharp cadence spike—a classic push-call designed to bait a shove or force a judge's reset, breaking their hard-won rhythm.
Qin Ye refused the reset. A pre-registered parity check was already in the log. His Edge and Center retention buffs activated instinctively. A single, precise Quiet Pivot turned the pressure, using the duo's own force to slide them along the line. The world narrowed to the rope's hum and the count in his palm. The neutral bell seemed far away.
---
[Ding! Main Quest updated — Paired Final.]
[Optional Objective unlocked: "Win the Final with zero judge resets." — Reward: Technique Cache (advanced, locked).]
---
At the officials' table, a soft chime sounded. The Lot Beacon's log, combined with the witness statements, identified the handler. The head proctor's eyes lifted, locking onto Clerk #47. The man's shoulders slumped.
[Ding! Side Quest completed: Trace the Hand (Stage 2).]
[Reward: Evidence Seal (upgrade) + Reputation: Proctors +1.]
---
The Echo Step duo, undeterred, initiated their final gambit of the chapter. A vicious cadence fake—a double-tick auditory illusion designed to force a step error on the boundary.
Qin Ye's Echo-Break Thread hit its final beat. The protective buffer vanished. His palm Pulse Counter and Lin Xiu's readiness, signaled by a slight tension at her sleeve seam, were the only constants.
The bell was poised. The rope sang a high, tight note. Qin Ye's lead foot was mid-air, the stone below it a chasm. The last echo of the broken thread burned out in his veins.