Chapter 96: You Said Stop

Liam wrote ordinary punch beneath Reversal, then stared at it for a moment. Lin didn’t need the sword to hurt him. He didn’t need to shout the name of a technique or give Red something convenient to recognize. A hand around his wrist would be enough if Liam stood close and waited for a notification. He added don’t wait beside the first line, turned the notebook toward Clara, and pushed his chair back before she finished reading.

"Not here."

She looked toward the space he had cleared.

"I wasn’t going to hit you."

"You were thinking about it."

"A little."

Liam put the notebook away. They weren’t going to solve the difference between him and Lin at two in the morning, and staying awake imagining every possible attack would leave him slower tomorrow. He checked the apartment door, placed the screwdriver’s cradle beside the bed, and lay down with Clara. She stayed awake longer than usual, one hand resting against his chest. When he finally stopped thinking about the parking lot, he realized she had been waiting for his breathing to settle before closing her own eyes.

By Saturday morning, he had decided what he wanted to practice.

Leaving.

Clara looked unimpressed when he explained it over breakfast, though that changed when he pointed out that every round with Lin had taught him to remain close enough to finish a throw. That was useful when the man was holding back. Against his full strength, reaching for the same position could leave Liam trapped before he understood what had happened.

"You want me to chase you?"

"I want you to stop me reaching the door."

"Which door?"

"Somewhere we aren’t paying for the furniture."

They found an available hour at the warehouse later that morning. Liam moved the mats away from the wall, marked a starting point, and left his notebook beside the water. There would be no takedowns to chase and no requirement to keep fighting after he had space. Clara needed to catch and hold him. He needed to cross the line near the entrance without dragging her through it or putting either of them into the door.

She caught him on the first attempt.

On the second, he moved sooner and still lost because he looked back to see whether she was following. Clara’s hand closed around his shirt, stopping him just short of the line. He stared at the distance remaining, then at her fingers.

"You could have kept going," she said.

"I would have torn the shirt."

"Then wear an ugly one."

’Very helpful. I should write that beside God Tier Footwork.’

The next attempts were shorter and considerably less comfortable. Clara stopped waiting for him to prepare. Sometimes she approached while he was standing straight; sometimes she caught his wrist while he was turning. Liam learned quickly that deciding to leave wasn’t the same as having room to do it. The cape helped once he had space, but a careless pull twisted his shoulder when Clara already had hold of him. He stopped that attempt immediately and began again with smaller movements.

By the end, he had crossed the line three times.

Clara had caught him far more often.

Liam accepted the result without asking for another round. His head had begun to ache, and the new Focus skill made it easier to notice when he was getting stubborn. It didn’t give him more energy simply because he could keep his attention on the exercise.

He was putting away the mats when Lin called.

Liam looked at the screen, then showed Clara before answering.

"What?"

"We should settle this."

Clara stopped folding the towel. Liam put the call on speaker and placed the phone on the table, keeping his hands free while he listened.

"I said I’d leave your system alone."

"You also spent weeks keeping something from me."

"And fighting proves I won’t do that again?"

"It proves I don’t have to depend on your promise."

Liam leaned against the table. There was more anger in Lin’s voice than there had been at the end of their meeting, but the words sounded considered. He had spent the night thinking too. Perhaps he had decided Liam’s honesty was an opening. Perhaps the reward looked better after several hours of staring at it. Liam couldn’t read the man through a phone, and Red had already admitted it couldn’t read his messages.

"What are you proposing?"

"Tomorrow. The warehouse."

"No sword."

"No reflection."

Liam almost laughed. Lin had gone straight for the ability that could make a powerful attack dangerous to its user, while offering to put away a weapon neither of them should be drawing anyway.

"You don’t get to remove everything inconvenient."

"You want me to use it?"

"I want the terms before I agree to anything."

They argued for several minutes. Lin wanted a clear defeat. Liam refused an open-ended fight where the stronger man decided when enough damage had been done. Clara stood beside him throughout, saying nothing until Lin suggested they meet alone.

"No."

The answer was sharp enough that Lin went silent.

"She’ll be there," Liam said. "And either of us can stop it."

"Then you’ll stop when you start losing."

"Possibly. You can decide whether that’s worth coming for."

He expected Lin to refuse. Instead, the man asked what Liam wanted, and Liam looked toward the line Clara had caught him trying to cross.

"One round. You keep me inside the marked area for one minute. If I get out, we’re finished."

"That’s running."

"That’s what I’m offering."

Lin took long enough to answer that Liam could hear someone speaking in the background. Then a door shut, cutting the sound off.

"You think that cape will save you."

"I think we’ll find out."

They settled the details before ending the call. No sword, no strikes to the head or throat, no pursuit beyond the marked area. Liam would keep Reversal available if Lin used something it could answer. Clara would call the stop. There was no agreement to surrender either system and no promise that Lin’s mission would accept the result.

Liam made him repeat that last part.

After the call ended, Clara picked up the phone.

"You’re letting him turn this into a fight."

"He already wants one. Here, I know where he’ll be."

"That doesn’t make it clever."

"No. It makes it better than finding out when you aren’t with me."

She looked at him for a long moment, then put the phone down.

"One minute. I’m not giving you another because you get angry."

Sunday morning, Lin arrived without the mats.

He carried a small bag, placed it beside the wall, and looked over the square Liam had marked on the floor. There was enough room to move, but not enough to escape simply by taking one long step. Liam stood near the middle while Clara checked the timer. The screwdriver rested in his hand, already changed into a short blunt rod. He had brought it because Lin knew about it. Leaving useful equipment behind wouldn’t make the fight more honest.

"You’re really doing this?" Lin asked.

"You came."

Lin took off his jacket. When he stepped inside the square, Liam felt the difference immediately. There was none of the casual patience from their training. Lin watched his hands, checked the distance to the boundary, and positioned himself where Liam would have to turn before reaching the nearest edge.

His gaze caught briefly on Liam’s face.

He blinked, his jaw tightening, then looked toward his shoulder instead.

The aura had answered something.

It hadn’t stopped him.

’Fine. Don’t count on that either.’

Clara raised the phone.

"When I say stop, you stop. Both of you."

Lin nodded without looking at her.

"Ready?"

Liam bent his knees slightly.

"Go."

Lin moved before Liam finished taking his next breath. His hand caught Liam’s sleeve, pulling him away from the nearest boundary as the other reached for his upper arm. Liam turned with the first grip, using the grappling knowledge to keep his shoulder from being trapped, and sent the rod between them. Lin knocked it aside with his forearm without trying to hold it.

The cape pulled.

For an instant, Liam had space. Then Lin followed at a speed he had never used during their rounds and caught the back of his shirt. The fabric tightened across Liam’s chest, dragging him sideways before his feet had settled. He stopped the cape’s movement rather than let it pull his neck against the collar, dropped his weight, and turned beneath the grip.

Something tore.

He came free with half the shoulder seam hanging open.

There was no notification offering Reversal.

Lin had barely done anything except move and grab him.

"Forty-five."

Clara’s voice made Liam realize how little time had passed. He was breathing hard already. Lin stood between him and the edge again, one hand holding a scrap of cloth that he dropped without looking at it. Liam recalled the screwdriver and moved left, then changed direction before Lin reached him.

It wasn’t enough.

Lin’s palm struck his upper chest, controlled enough not to crush anything and hard enough to make his feet slide. Liam caught his balance before falling, but the man was already close. An arm came around him, and for a moment he understood exactly how this would finish. Lin would put him down, hold him there, and let the timer run while Liam discovered how useless good technique could become against too much strength.

He stopped trying to win the grip.

The cape lifted him just enough to take his weight off the floor. Lin adjusted immediately, tightening his hold rather than letting Liam rise. That was what Liam needed to know. He couldn’t pull free upward, and pretending otherwise would only spend the strength he had left.

He lowered himself again.

Then he let the screwdriver fall.

Lin’s eyes moved toward it for less than a second. Liam shifted in the other direction, keeping the tool close to the floor as it lengthened across the space behind Lin’s feet. It wasn’t meant to strike him. It gave Liam something solid to press his own shoe against when Lin dragged him back.

For one brief moment, he had support where Lin expected an empty floor.

Liam drove sideways.

His shoulder slipped from beneath Lin’s arm. Pain ran down to his elbow, but the grip loosened, and the cape carried him through the opening before he could waste time checking it. He recalled the screwdriver at once, leaving nothing behind for Lin to trip over.

The boundary was two steps away.

Lin caught his wrist on the first.

Liam turned hard, following the pull instead of fighting it. His feet crossed beneath him, the cape tugged him toward the line, and Lin’s grip tightened enough that his fingers began going numb. He could see the escape his grappling skill offered. He could also feel that he wasn’t strong enough to finish it cleanly.

Clara’s voice cut through both thoughts.

"Stop."

Liam stopped pulling.

Lin didn’t release him immediately.

For a fraction of a second, the entire room seemed to narrow to the hand around his wrist. Then Clara was beside them, her fingers closing around Lin’s forearm.

"I said stop."

Lin looked at her, then let go.

Liam stepped back, breathing through his mouth as feeling returned painfully to his hand. The timer was still running on the phone she had left beside the mat. He hadn’t crossed the line. Lin hadn’t held him for the full minute either.

Clara looked between them.

"His hand was going white."

"I had him," Lin said.

"Yes," Liam answered.

The admission made Lin turn toward him. Liam flexed his fingers carefully, then lowered the hand. There was no point pretending the result had been different. He had come close to leaving, and Lin had stopped him. Another few seconds might have given him an opening. They might also have left him unable to hold a fork.

"You had me. She stopped it."

Lin looked past him for a moment, attending to something neither of them could see. His mouth tightened.

Liam noticed.

"Did it count?"

"No."

He said it with enough irritation to answer the question Liam had been turning over since the phone call. Lin had agreed to their terms, but the reward had still been sitting behind them, promising something this controlled exchange hadn’t supplied.

"Then that’s your answer for today."

Lin looked back at him.

"You think this settles anything?"

"I think the round is over."

Clara remained beside Liam until Lin picked up his jacket. There was no handshake and no agreement to train again. He left with the bag over one shoulder, closing the warehouse door harder than necessary.

Liam waited until the car outside started before sitting down.

His wrist had begun to swell.

Clara crouched beside him and examined it without pressing.

"We’re getting that checked."

"Yeah."

"And next time?"

Liam looked toward the boundary. It was close enough that, sitting where he was, he could reach out and touch it with his shoe. He had spent most of the round watching that line while Lin watched him.

"Next time I don’t give him a minute."

Clara looked up sharply.

"To catch me," he added. "I’m not arranging another one."

She held his gaze, then nodded and reached for his bag.

On the table, Liam’s phone lit up.

The message was from Lin.

Don’t mistake this for me trusting you.

Liam read it once and put the phone away. His hand hurt, the shirt was ruined, and the man who knew several of his best abilities had just learned how close he could get without triggering Reversal.

There would be no reward panel to make that better.

He stood when Clara offered her hand and went with her.