WebNovels

Chapter 16 - Dead Silence vs Razorline

[System Alert: Public Duel Scheduled – Ghost Ledger vs. Razorline]

[Location: Tier II Broadcast Arena | View Count: Projected 1.3M+]

[Conditions: Tier-Locked Traits Only | Live Commentary Enabled]

Jack stood under the searing white lights of the Broadcast Arena, letting the roar of virtual applause fade into the cold edge of his mind.

He hated these stages.

The scale, the spectacle, the way the House made pain into theatrical performance.

Every movement would be logged.

Every breath indexed.

This wasn't just a fight. It was surveillance with an audience, virtual audience.

Today, they'd given him a title: Dead Silence, etched across the screen in stark, gray serif.

Across from him, his opponent shimmered into view, digital light resolving into solid form.

Razorline.

No alias written. No emotion to be read from him.

The opponent was tall, his hair is silver and shiny, contrast with his matte black eyes.

A duelist from the House's enforcer tier. He moved like a blade… slow until he wasn't. His past wins weren't listed in the system. The House didn't advertise slaughter.

[Profile: Razorline – Traits: Edge Flow (C), Reactive Shardcast (D+), Sight Reversal (Passive)]

Jack exhaled slowly to calm himself.

Hollow stood at his left in the observation deck, a nervous energy radiating from him.

Lucen and Sear, quiet behind the transparency field, their focus a tangible weight in the air.

This was Jack's duel, they're not part of it and have to watchedd from the side.

[Trial Format: 1v1 | Observation Team: Ghost Ledger | House-Approved Wager]

[Stakes: Trait Modulation Slot (Advanced) | Winner Receives +1 Passive Rewrite Permission]

Jack stepped forward into the field.

A dome of energy locked around them with no exit after you stepped in and no echo support. Just silence full of sand, and the faint hum of thousands of unseen observers.

Razorline smiled faintly. "You're the rewrite boy."

Jack didn't respond. [Calm Speech] engaged.

The fight began at an instants.

Razorline moved first, a blur of edge strikes those dislocated angles targeting the limits of Jack's vision.

[Edge Flow – Trait Active: Vision Disruption Phase 1]

Jack turned into it. His trait [Dominion] pulsed, not to overpower, but to interrupt the attack.

His foot slid, not away, but into the arc of Razorline's slice. Blade met nothing. Air warped around and Jack had already moved away.

The crowd noise swelled, digitally delayed but emotionally accurate.

Lucen whispered from behind the glass: "Jack's not reading him. He's refusing to be readable."

Hollow grinned. "Classic Dead Silence."

Sear didn't smile. She watched Razorline's posture shift, his body coiling for the next strike.

"Next phase," she muttered.

Midway through, Razorline shifted strategy, his form becoming a kaleidoscope of light.

[Shardcast Deployed – 3-Point Defensive Shell Formed]

Crystalline reflections bloomed across the arena.

Jack's movements became tracked, duplicated then reversed.

[Passive Trait Detected – Sight Reversal: Inverts opponent's last action as a mirror ghost]

A mirror of Jack appeared beside him, flickering with the energy of a perfect, unthinking copy.

Jack inhaled. He stepped sideways not to evade, but to layer himself. His ghost followed right away.

Razorline lunged toward Jack and he dropped low, twisted around and collided with his own reflection at just the right angle, used it as cover.

The mirror ghost absorbed the first strike. Jack's elbow followed, a brutal sudden impact into Razorline's side.

Impact registered, then the crowd went into silent.

[Hit Confirmed: Precision Body Impact | Razorline Phase Disrupted]

Jack landed, reset. One breath. Two breath. In rhythm.

"You're bleeding tempo," Jack said softly, his voice a steady hum in the suddenly silent stadium.

Razorline growled, a flicker of rage in his matte black eyes. "You think that means anything for me?!"

"It means I'm already writing your ending. Right?"

[Dominion] flared.

The final exchange was a storm of motion.

Razorline used everything. He use blur strikes, crystal defense after it and angle reversals.

Jack let him do everything. Every motion was a loop, Jack had already unraveled.

Every mistake a whisper of strategy. [Calm Speech] echoed beneath each pulse, a constant, silent drone.

Jack mapped the silence not as an absence of sound, but as a shape. Each breath was a puzzle piece. Every hesitation is a statement for him.

He was no longer fighting Razorline's moves, he was fighting his intentions.

He wasn't just predicting, he was co-authoring the fight in real-time, twisting the narrative so that every aggressive action became a part of his defensive counter.

This was the true power of Dominion, the ability to control the emotional and psychological space of the duel.

The arena had become a canvas, and Jack was painting a masterpiece of misdirection which is seen very stunning for everyone.

And then, in the heart of the chaos Jack stopped moving.

He stood still.

Razorline tried to attacked. A furious, elegant, and terminal strike toward Jack.

Jack let the first cut slice air beside his cheek, feeling the phantom heat of its passage.

Then he pivoted one inch.

His fist hit Razorline's collarbone with a dull, sickening thud.

Razorline dropped his gun and held his crotch for a moment, then he collapsed.

The enforcer dropped.

[Trial End – Victory: Dead Silence (Jack Bernard)]

[Reward: Passive Rewrite Permission (Granted)]

[Trait Upgrade Slot: Unlocked]

[System Reaction: Public Visibility Spike – Ghost Ledger Trend: +17%]

In the observation deck, Lucen nodded with a very little smile. A rare, small gesture of approval come from her.

Hollow cheered. "He ghosted the ghost."

Sear simply said, "He's changing."

Jack stood in the center of the arena, breathing hard. He didn't raise his fist. Didn't bow. Just stared at the screen, the only thing that mattered.

Where Razorline's name had been, one word replaced it: DEFEATED.

Across the House, observers tagged the moment, filing their reports with a chilling efficiency.

[COMMENTARY FLAG: Dead Silence Enters Rewrite Tier]

[REVIEW QUEUE: Tactical Control Above Predicted Level]

Backstage, a system whisper processed the footage. "He moved like he'd already seen the match."

"Then next time, don't give him a script."

[Chapter End – Jack's Alias "Dead Silence" Goes Public. Passive Rewrite Pathway Unlocked. Razorline Removed from House Enforcement Tier.]

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