They didn’t move the bodies.
Not yet.
Ace stood still for a second too long.
Not frozen.
Not hesitating.
Thinking.
“…we’re done reacting,” she said quietly.
Mai nodded.
“Yes.”
Shammy didn’t look at them.
“…it’s still here,” she said.
A beat.
“…but it’s thinner.”
Mai exhaled slowly.
“…because it was used,” she said.
Ace frowned.
“…that made it worse.”
“Yes,” Mai replied.
A pause.
“But also… finite.”
Silence.
Ace blinked.
“…explain.”
Mai looked at the shard.
“Every interaction removes structure,” she said.
A beat.
“But it doesn’t regenerate instantly.”
Shammy’s head tilted.
“…it needs time to stay empty,” she said.
That landed.
Ace’s expression shifted.
“…so we hit it before it resets.”
Mai nodded.
“Yes.”
A beat.
“We force it to collapse.”
Shammy stepped closer to the shard.
The air tightened.
“…that means using it,” she said.
Ace didn’t like that.
“…bad idea.”
Mai didn’t argue.
“No,” she said.
A pause.
“Correct idea.”
Silence.
Mai picked up the shard.
Didn’t activate it.
Just held it.
“We don’t use it normally,” she said.
A beat.
“We overload the gap.”
Ace crossed her arms.
“…in English.”
Mai met her gaze.
“We create too many non-decisions at once.”
Shammy exhaled slowly.
“…we collapse the space it needs.”
Ace smirked faintly.
“…now that I like.”
They didn’t spread out.
They stayed close.
Wrong for combat.
Right for this.
Mai activated the shard.
No signal.
No response.
Just—
Silence.
Ace moved.
Fast.
Then stopped—
Too early.
Shammy stepped—
Then didn’t.
Mai initiated—
Then aborted.
All at once.
No sequence.
No resolution.
The space broke.
Hard.
Not like before.
Not slipping—
Collapsing.
The gap couldn’t hold.
Too many incomplete moments.
Too many missing connections.
The air twisted—
Not visibly—
But felt.
Timing snapped.
Then failed to reassemble.
Mai held the shard.
“…now,” she said.
Ace didn’t hesitate.
She took it—
And forced it active again.
Immediately.
No recovery.
No reset.
The system didn’t have time.
The gap—
Collapsed.
Real silence.
Not empty.
Complete.
The pressure lifted.
Instantly.
The street—
Aligned.
Movement returned.
Timing—
Normal.
Shammy exhaled.
The air flowed.
“…it’s gone,” she said.
Mai nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
A beat.
“For now.”
A voice behind them.
Quieter than before.
“…inefficient,” he said.
They turned.
He stood there.
Less certain now.
Not broken.
But—
Adjusted.
Ace stepped forward.
“…we broke it.”
He nodded once.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“You forced a collapse.”
Mai met his gaze.
“And you lost your dataset.”
Silence.
That hit.
He didn’t deny it.
“No,” he said.
A beat.
“I lost this instance.”
Shammy’s voice dropped.
“…you’ll try again.”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
Ace smirked faintly.
“…good.”
A beat.
“We’ll break it again.”
He didn’t respond.
This time—
He left immediately.
No observation.
No delay.
Gone.
The street moved normally.
People walked.
Cars flowed.
Sound aligned.
No hesitation.
No gaps.
Mai exhaled slowly.
“…it had shape,” she said.
Ace nodded.
“…yeah.”
A beat.
“…and now it doesn’t.”
Shammy looked at the space between them.
Quiet.
Whole.
“…for now.”
—
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