Adaptation improves response.
It does not eliminate delay.
The new regime functioned smoothly.
Feedback loops tightened.
Volatility spikes faded faster.
Correlation clusters dissolved before aligning dangerously.
In New York City, execution algorithms updated intraday risk weights dynamically.
In London, structured desks hedged convexity earlier in the cycle.
In Tokyo, margin recalibration occurred automatically with volatility drift.
Response time had shortened.
But it was not zero.
Maya adjusted the adaptive model.
"Every feedback loop contains latency," she said.
She wrote the delayed differential form.
Keith recognized the implication immediately.
"So correction is always based on slightly old information."
"Yes."
"And when tau is small, stability holds."
Jasmine estimated effective delay across major participants.
Execution lag.
Model recalculation lag.
Market absorption lag.
Aggregated delay still measurable.
Small.
But present.
In Chicago, hedging algorithms reacted within milliseconds—yet liquidity replenishment lagged seconds.
In Frankfurt, credit repricing reflected macro data before funding markets adjusted.
In Singapore, macro portfolios updated exposure daily—not continuously.
Adaptive.
But staggered.
Maya sketched the stability boundary under delay.
"If corrective strength times delay exceeds unity," she said,
"oscillation re-emerges."
Keith frowned.
"So stronger adaptation can destabilize?"
"Yes."
"If too aggressive relative to latency."
Minor disturbance.
Nothing large.
A moderate macro surprise.
Models adjusted.
Positions shifted.
But reactions overlapped imperfectly.
Price dipped.
Then overshot.
Then corrected.
Oscillation returned briefly.
Underdamped.
In Hong Kong, overnight futures whipsawed before settling.
In Zurich, hedging demand spiked then normalized.
In Washington, D.C., policy tone remained unchanged.
The disturbance was internal.
Feedback interacting with delay.
Jasmine monitored amplitude envelope.
Correction eventually dominated.
But oscillation lengthened slightly.
Latency visible.
Keith summarized quietly.
"So adaptation works."
Maya nodded.
"But it is never instantaneous."
"And delay is risk."
"Yes."
"Especially when systems accelerate."
Chapter 203 does not destabilize.
It reveals constraint.
Adaptive regimes reduce amplitude.
They shorten cycles.
They damp resonance.
But feedback loops require time.
And time—
However brief—
Is where instability can briefly live.
The system is strong.
But not immediate.
And in complex networks,
Latency is the thin space
Between correction
And oscillation.