Vasa filled a classroom table with copied tournament rules, old broadcast transcripts, and screenshots of sponsored matches from three cities. Nox sat across from her with the core blade stripped down to its plain grip, checking the channel beside its spine.
"The wording is consistent," Vasa said, drawing three boxes on a sheet of paper. "A patron gets one intervention. It may change terrain, restore one sponsor skill, or send advice. It cannot put force directly on you."
"That still lets a god choose the whole fight," Kendra said from the doorway.
"Only once," Vasa replied. "Once they spend it, they have to let their champion live with the board they made."
Nox set the blade down. "So we stop treating it like an unfair rule and make them waste it early."
Mina looked up from the public odds feed. "Most champions save the intervention until they are losing."
"Because their patrons want a clean rescue," Nox said. "We show them something that looks like a loss before it is one."
