Jax's scream cut through the loading bay as the gold line spread from his chest into both arms. The shock baton fell from his hand, but his body caught it again before it reached the floor.
"End the match," Diana said from the commentator rail, her camera drones pivoting toward Rook. "A competitor is under an undeclared foreign possession attempt."
"There is no evidence of possession," Rook replied. "There is only an athlete under strain."
The baton rose in Jax's hand with a movement that did not use his shoulder. Nox stepped away from the control plate as a gold-edged blow shattered the crate where he had been standing.
Appraise II showed the pattern more clearly with every strike. Astra's old contract had been severed, but a splinter had remained inside the natural core, folded against a seam where nobody would see it until stress gave it room.
"It is trying to rebuild the contract around his nerves," Nox said, cutting aside the next baton strike.
