Pressure makes diamonds—or it breaks them.
By the time the regional qualifiers began, ECLIPSE was running on both.
The arena buzzed with static and nerves.
Our booth lights flickered to life; five screens flared with our tags.
The commentators' voices echoed through the hall:
> "After a rocky month of rumors, can ECLIPSE pull it together?"
I adjusted my headset. "We can."
No one answered.
The first match started rough.
Ashen dove early, Luna missed a heal, and my map calls came half a second too late.
Each mistake stacked on the next until the crowd's excitement turned to polite applause.
Defeat.
---
In the silence after the loss, the booth felt smaller than ever.
Ashen ripped off his headset. "You should've called retreat earlier!"
I didn't look up. "And you should've listened when I said hold lane."
He slammed his chair back, standing. "You're not infallible, Qin Ruo!"
"I never said I was."
Luna tried to speak, but he was already gone, the door clanging shut behind him.
I sat there a long time, listening to the cooling hum of the PCs.
Control. Always control. And yet everything kept slipping through my fingers.
---
Outside the arena — dusk
The air smelled of rain and neon.
I leaned against the wall, letting the cold sink in.
A quiet voice came from beside me.
"You played better than the numbers show."
Lao K stood there, hoodie up, hands in pockets.
I should have told him to leave—ZGDX had a match in an hour—but instead I said, "You shouldn't be here."
"Neither should you," he said, a hint of a smile. "But here we are."
I laughed once, short and tired.
He handed me a bottle of water. "You're allowed to lose."
"Not me," I said. "Not twice."
"Then don't call it losing. Call it learning."
I looked at him then, really looked—at the calm that never wavered, the steadiness I'd spent my life pretending to have.
"Do you ever get tired of being the stable one?"
"Only when no one else is."
Something in my chest shifted—small, dangerous.
Before it could turn into anything else, my phone buzzed with an alert: next match in thirty minutes.
I straightened. "Thank you."
He nodded. "Go remind them why they followed you in the first place."
---
Back in the booth, I set my headset on, voice steady again.
> "Ashen, Luna—reset. We win the next one. No hesitation."
Ashen glanced at me, jaw tight, then nodded.
The countdown began.
3… 2… 1…
This time our movements aligned, precise and ruthless.
Every trap, every flank, clean.
When the final tower fell, the roar of the crowd hit like a wave.
Victory — ECLIPSE.
Ashen turned toward me, the fight in his eyes replaced by relief.
"Guess you were right," he said quietly.
"Guess we both were," I answered.
---
Later, as the lights dimmed, I caught sight of Lao K in the corridor—watching, unreadable.
He raised a hand slightly in silent applause.
I didn't smile, but something inside me steadied.
The cracks were still there.
But maybe, for now, they held.
---
✨ End of Chapter Nine — "Fault Lines."
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