The scoreboard burned bright over the roaring gym:

VORPAL 41 – WILDCATS 27.

The air felt like the final moments of a championship game.

Ethan's chest rose and fell with controlled intensity, sweat carving thin trails along his jawline.

Lucas's fingers curled around the ball as they transitioned, but the Wildcats' defensive shape compressed like a metal jaw.

Miho didn't sprint to join the trap.

He walked.

Each step a verdict.

Each breath a sentence.

And with every slow stride, Vorpal felt the court shrink.

Miho's dribble began the moment he crossed half-court, quiet, soft, minimal.

But the effect?

Like gravity twisted around him.

A perfect center of rhythm.

Ethan spotted it instantly. He felt the shift, like the air dropped ten degrees.

Ryan's sneakers skidded as the Wildcats formed a four-man trap on Lucas, the angles fartoo clean to be random.

Brandon braced, but Davis Conner's mass pressed him back with brutal precision.

Kenji Takeda slid like quicksilver to cut the reverse lane.

Armi Haasuf's arms extended like blades ready to slice any passing line.

And then…

Jun Seo.

He drifted in from the blindside, feet whisper-quiet.

Lucas stiffened.

He felt the trap closing from all four sides.

"Don't let them collapse your space!" Ethan shouted, sprinting toward the fray.

But Miho raised his hand, without looking away from Ethan.

"My rhythm," he said softly, voice steady as a metronome, "isn't for spacing."

His eyes sharpened into cold steel.

"It's for erasure."

The Wildcats' formation snapped

A single heartbeat.

A single pulse.

The Cataclysm Sync had begun.

Lucas tried to pivot out.

He spun the ball toward his hip

Jun Seo's hand materialized on the ball first.

Not fast.

Not forceful.

Just perfectly timed.

Lucas felt the ball slip through his fingers as though Jun Seo had stolen his intent rather than the physical object.

Ryan lunged to intercept Jun Seo's outlet, but Kenji cut across him in the exact micro-second he reacted.

Evan gasped.

"They're predicting the reaction time itself?!"

Charlotte in the stands gripped the railing with both hands, knuckles white.

"They've compressed all five rhythms into a single unified beat. It's not Mirage Flow anymore… it's a marching algorithm. If Vorpal hesitates for even a tenth of a second, they'll be swallowed."

Ayumi could barely breathe.

"Then… what is Vorpal supposed to do?"

Charlotte whispered:

"Break the beat."

But on the court, breaking the beat meant surviving the next five seconds.

Jun Seo snapped the ball behind his back without looking.

Armi caught it mid-stride, sending a one-touch pass to Kenji, who had already accelerated before receiving it.

Davis sealed Brandon so deep he practically buried him under the rim.

Evan tried to rotate

but the Sync cut his angle before he could plant his foot.

Miho arrived at the top of the arc, his dribble ghostlike.

He didn't need to shout.

The Wildcats already knew where he wanted the ball.

Kenji bounced it to him

a dribble-height pass so sharp it hummed as it traveled.

Miho received it.

And time thinned.

Ethan's pulse hammered in his ears.

Lucas cursed under his breath and chased the cutting lanes, but each lane died before he took two steps.

Brandon fought through Davis's seal, but Davis re-angled his hips like stone grinding metal.

Miho raised the ball slightly.

Ethan recognized the setup.

A pull-up three?

A drive?

A pass?

None.

Miho wasn't choosing between options.

He was erasing them.

His dribble softened

then decayed

then faded into invisible beats that carried no readable signature.

Ethan felt it like a punch to the ribs.

"He's removing his tempo entirely again? No—this is deeper. He's removing the floor timing itself."

Miho bent his knees.

Ethan readied himself.

But Miho's feet didn't push off the normal way.

He twisted his hips

delayed the push-off

split the force

and surged diagonally like the court itself tilted to let him slide across it.

Ryan gasped.

"He shifted planes!"

Lucas sprinted to contain him

but Miho took a second step that didn't match the direction of the first.

A double-plane dash.

A dimensional feint.

His body flowed like liquid mercury around the perimeter.

Ethan lunged.

He missed by inches.

Miho stepped inside the three-point line

Armi cut in; Davis sealed the baseline; Kenji rotated; Jun Seo floated to the corner

Ethan's thoughts blazed:

"I can't read this. He's blending sequences, he's blurring reaction with preparation he's—"

Miho jumped.

Too calm.

Too centered.

Too balanced.

A mid-range fadeaway with no wind-up, no tell, no rhythm.

Ethan launched himself upward, arm extended, fingers straining toward the release—

Miho smiled.

A soft, almost respectful smile.

"Took you long enough."

He twisted.

Just a hair.

Just enough.

The ball left his fingertips

neither fast nor slow

just inevitable.

Ethan's fingertips brushed air.

Nothing more.

Swish.

The net rippled like silk.

The Wildcats bench roared.

The score shifted:

VORPAL 41 – WILDCATS 29

But the possession wasn't over.

Because Miho landed on one foot, pivoted backward, and before Ethan or Lucas touched the ground

He tapped the air.

A signal.

Armi and Kenji crashed toward Ethan.

Davis boxed Brandon like a steel wall.

Jun Seo darted toward the inbound lane

And Miho's voice cut through the chaos:

"Phase Two."

The gym trembled.

Because the Wildcats were not celebrating the score.

They were launching the second strike of the Cataclysm Sync.

Lucas sprinted to inbound the ball before Jun Seo could intercept.

Evan called out rotations.

But Miho's dribble already set the tempo.

A slow pulse.

Then faster.

Then faster.

Then suddenly

Stopped.

Dead.

Ethan froze mid-step.

"A false tempo collapse—!"

When Miho's dribble resumed

the Wildcats surged like they were pulled by invisible strings.

Armi closed on Lucas.

Kenji shadowed Ethan.

Jun Seo appeared behind Evan.

Davis bulldozed the interior.

Miho didn't even sprint.

He drifted.

The ball arrived to him through three passes too fast to track.

Brandon roared

"Someone stop him—!"

Miho was already mid-gather.

But this time

Ethan reached him.

Not late.

Not early.

Perfect.

He slammed his foot down, mirrored Miho's footwork, and cut his shooting arc.

Miho rose

Ethan rose with him.

Their eyes locked.

Two wills.

Two storms.

Two rhythms clashing across the air.

Miho shifted release again

but this time Ethan shifted with him.

Miho's pupils widened a fraction.

"…You learned the angle."

"I'm not the same player from ten seconds ago." Ethan's thoughts burned with steel. "Your rhythm isn't untouchable."

Miho exhaled softly.

"Then let's see if your resolve is."

He didn't adjust the shot.

He killed it mid-air.

The ball slipped down his body

A mid-air self-pass.

A trick that would break most players' balance.

But his core didn't wobble.

Jun Seo burst forward.

Ethan twisted

But Lucas appeared like a blade, hand slashing toward Jun Seo's catch.

They collided mid-air.

The ball ricocheted between fingers

Evan dived

Ryan lunged

Bodies crashed

The ball flew loose

And Ethan broke from the pile, exploding past Kenji—

He caught the ball with one hand.

The gym detonated.

He planted his feet.

He didn't hesitate.

He pulled up.

Miho soared toward him

But Ethan released before Miho's shadow reached him.

His form clean.

His mind clear.

His heartbeat steady.

"My rhythm… isn't yours to erase."

The shot flew.

Arcing.

Gliding.

Cutting through the air

Swish.

VORPAL 44 – WILDCATS 29

The arena erupted.

Fans pounded the bleachers.

Ayumi screamed into Charlotte's shoulder:

"HE ANSWERED MIHO! HE ANSWERED HIM DIRECTLY!"

Charlotte shook with awe.

"Identity versus identity… and Ethan's is evolving faster."

But the possession was still alive.

Because Miho caught the inbound with one hand

spun without landing both feet

and immediately surged forward.

A coast-to-coast acceleration.

A comet streaking through the gym.

Lucas tried to cut him off.

Miho didn't slow.

He stepped into Lucas's lane

A step that looked ordinary.

Until it wasn't.

His body split in two directions

his upper body leaning left

his lower body cutting right

a movement that should tear normal muscle fibers apart.

Lucas blinked.

Miho vanished past him.

A clean break.

Ethan sprinted.

He blocked the direct path.

Miho didn't flinch.

He didn't swerve.

He went through the gap between Ethan and Ryan

a gap so narrow it shouldn't physically exist.

A ghostline cut.

A dimensional slip.

Miho rose under the basket.

Brandon towered up to block

Miho twisted under Brandon's arm

Then under Ryan's

Then under Ethan's

A triple-phase adjust.

He released blind.

The ball hit glass

and fell in.

VORPAL 44 – WILDCATS 31

But Miho didn't land looking at the ball.

He landed staring at Ethan.

Breathing steady.

Eyes calm.

"You answered me again…" he said quietly.

Ethan met his gaze, sweat dripping from his chin.

"Yeah. And I'll keep answering."

Miho smiled again.

Except this one

was sharp.

"You'll need to."

He turned his head toward the Wildcats' formation.

"Because the real Cataclysm Sync starts now."

Ethan felt his ribs tighten.

Lucas wiped sweat from his brow.

Evan bit his lip.

Ryan cracked his neck.

Brandon exhaled once, grounding himself.

And Miho dribbled

once—

twice

The gym vibrated.

He was no longer controlling rhythm.

He was rewriting it.

Ethan stepped forward.

"Come on then."

His voice carried through the hush.

"Let's see whose identity breaks first."

Miho's dribble stopped.

The ball hovered in his palm like the calm before a supernova.

And then

He moved.

And the battle truly began.

To be continue

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