The ruin at the edge of the fringe was quiet.
Too quiet.
Elian crouched low behind a broken signal node, his Threadsense crawling. The distortion around him from the Echo-Bound effect warped local thread signals just enough to delay detection.
And yet…
Someone was coming.
He felt it before he heard it. Pressure through the threads. Soft. Steady. Deliberate.
Not a system response.
A person.
Then she appeared.
Slim. Cloaked in silver-threaded armor. Masked. One eye exposed — bright and cold. She stepped lightly across fractured stone, scanning the ruin without a trace of hesitation.
Seedborne.
Faction-aligned.
Hunting.
She stopped three meters from him.
Didn't draw a weapon.
Didn't speak.
Instead, her Threadsense reached toward him — probing.
Testing.
Elian let it touch him.
Let her feel the wrongness.
She flinched.
Then whispered, "You're real."
Elian stood slowly. "And you're late."
Her voice was sharp. "They thought you'd be stronger."
He tilted his head. "They were right."
She moved — fast. Blade drawn, aimed at his neck.
But the moment she stepped forward, the distortion triggered.
[Threadfield Spike – Local Pattern Breakdown: 12%]
[Scout Trait: Blinkstep DISRUPTED]
[Counterstrike Opportunity – Window: 0.6 sec]
Elian didn't hesitate.
He twisted, dropped his weight, and slammed the hilt of his blade into her ribs.
She gasped, stumbled — but didn't fall.
The fight wasn't over.
But the illusion was.
She backed away, eyes narrowed.
"You're bound to something."
He said nothing.
She nodded slowly. "That's what they feared."
Then she reached into her cloak and tossed a capsule toward him — a pulse orb, coded with one purpose:
To mark.
It exploded mid-air — but didn't hit him.
The threads devoured it.
The Echo inside him flickered.
And the mark failed.
[System Tag Disruption Successful]
[Trace Link: VOID]
The scout froze.
Then, quietly, she laughed.
Not in mockery.
In disbelief.
"You're already past the point of classification."
She stepped back, hands up.
"I wasn't sent to kill you. I was sent to confirm."
Elian said nothing.
"You've been flagged by the Paradox Weavers. And the Architects are watching."
Then she turned.
"Whatever you are now… you're not alone anymore."
And she vanished into the threads.
Elian stood in the ruin, heartbeat steady.
This wasn't peace.
This was reputation.
The world was learning his name.
And forgetting how to say it without fear.
[Lucid Trait Sync: 30% → 32%]
[Threadbreaker Progress: 3.5% → 3.8%]
[Echo-Bound Status: Stable – Presence Dormant]
[Faction Notice Received: Paradox Weavers]
[End of Arc II]