The silence inside the Salesbia Superdome cracked. It started as a low rumble in the corner of the arena, before erupting into a unison roar. The crowd smelled blood, they wanted war. The invincible 8-0 run of the visitors had snagged on a rock.

  Aria Fillar stood at the net. She bounced on her toes, shaking out her arms. The ethereal, bored goddess from the first set was gone. In her place stood a competitor jumping with puppy energy.

  "Service," the referee signaled.

  The ball went into play. The Divers received cleanly, Willow pushing a tempo set to the right. Sarah Lemear swung, but the Salesbia defense was awake now. The libero dug the ball effortlessly, popping it high for Kaia.

  Kaia glanced once, immediately recognized her callings, she fed the beast.

  The set was flat, fast, and ugly. It lacked the beautiful, disciplined, calculated arc of the first set.

  Aria didn't care about all that much beauty. She accelerated, her sneakers squeaking violently against the varnish. She launched.

  Across the net, Himeko Nakamura adhered to the system. She waited. She watched Aria rise, preparing to time her jump for the descent, to catch the ball as it fell.

  Aria didn't let it fall.

  She cut her jump short. She hung in the air face-to-face with Himeko, her waist level with the blocker's chest instead of the net tape. She coiled her core and snapped her arm forward, driving her fist through the ball.

  BAM.

  The ball slammed into Himeko's upper arm before she could fully close the space. It ricocheted off her triceps, flying wildly out of bound.

  "Point Salesbia! 8-2."

  Himeko rubbed her arm, her expression darkening. Her mind was unshaken as she was calculating something, something everyone else on the court was yet to understand. She rotated to her new position.

  The next rally came fast.

  Kaia pushed the ball to the pin again. Aria was already there. She exploded off the floor, meeting the ball on the way up.

  Himeko jumped. She pressed her hands over the net.

  Aria grinned. She saw the hands. She swung directly at them.

  THWACK.

  She punched the ball straight into Himeko's palms. The powerful horizontal force bent Himeko's fingers backward. The block broke. The ball punched through, dribbling down the front of the net to land on the Osea court.

  "8-3."

  The Divers scrambled to side-out. Jules managed a crafty wipe off the block to steal a point back, bringing the score to 9-3. The service right returned to the Divers.

  "Service Divers."

  Jules served. The Salesbia reception was perfect. Kaia set Aria.

  This time, the set was tight, too close to the net.

  Aria jumped as she looked for Himeko.

  They met in the air, separated by inches of white mesh. Aria swung with reckless abandon, aiming for a collision.

  BOOM.

  The ball blasted off Himeko's forearms and rocketed out of bounds.

  "Point Salesbia! 9-4."

  Aria landed. She was breathing hard, a sheen of sweat making her skin glow under the harsh lights. She looked through the net at the Osea captain. A wide, bubbly smile stretched across her face, showing teeth.

  "Wow!" Aria chirped, her voice bright and cheerful amidst the tension. "You are super strong! It feels like punching a brick wall!"

  She tilted her head, eyes sparkling with 'misty'chief.

  "Maybe paperwall..."

  Himeko stood stone-still. She stared down at the shorter woman. Her face was terrifyingly neutral, the kind of expressionless void that usually preceded a natural disaster. Aria felt a bit fearful regret from what she had just said.

  Himeko turned her back away.

  The scoreboard clicked over again moments later after a net violation by Willow.

  9-5.

  BZZZZZZZZT.

  Coach Elena hammered the buzzer with the heel of her hand, making an attempt to put a hard stop to the bleeding.

  "Timeout, Port Osea Divers."

  The players jogged off the court. The confusion was evident in their eyes. The strategy they thought to rely on for the whole set had been deactivated.

  Inside the huddle, Elena Vance paced back and forth, her heels clicking, clicking, clicking against the floor.

  "Hmmm they are playing like that now..." Elena muttered, staring at the diagram of the court. "If we cover... no, direct hits are too random."

  Elena looked up at her team. Her eyes darted from Lisa to Sarah.

  "We have to stop the bleeding. Himeko is getting battered on the 1v1. If we slide Viny and Lisa over..."

  Elena's hand hovered over the whiteboard, preparing to draw a helping arrow from the right side. She stopped. Her hand froze in mid-air.

  No.

  If Sarah leaves the right wing to double-team Aria, the entire back side of the court opens up. Misty Cole is standing there, waiting for exactly that mistake. The moment the block commits to the middle, Misty runs the slide attack and buries them. A classic pick-your-poison scenario.

  She bit her lip, the 9-5 lead felt terrifyingly fragile. She looked at her players, preparing to give a desperate instruction, perhaps a prayer.

  "Coach."

  Elena stopped pacing. She turned.

  Himeko sat on the bench, a towel draped over her shoulders yet there was no sign of exhaustion. She was looking directly at Elena with eyes that held zero turbulence.

  "We don't need to change the formation, it's good," Himeko stated, her voice projected absolute confident.

  Elena blinked. "But... she's scoring. She's overpowering your solo block."

  "She is scoring, yes," Himeko agreed. She took a sip from her water bottle, capping it slowly. "But they are abandoning their greatest weapon, her height. We have a real shot if they don't switch strategy."

  Elena stared at her captain. Somehow, despite the not-looking-so-good situation, Himeko looked completely unshaken. She was calm, looked out the court as if she couldn't wait to challenge the high-flying ace once again. And it usually meant one thing for Port Osea Divers: they will win the match. She let out a long breath, her shoulders dropping two inches.

  "Right," Elena smiled, a soft reassurance this time. "You're right. I panicked."

  She turned to the rest of the huddle, her voice steady and commanding again.

  "We hold the line. Continue to trust our plan. However..."

  Elena made a small tick mark on the whiteboard near the libero's position.

  "Lisa, cheat up a half-step. Since Aria is driving the ball flat and hard, the deflections won't loop high. They will scatter fast. Be ready to chase the garbage."

  "Got it," Lisa nodded.

  "Willow, hold your ground. Do not get sucked into the middle. Trust Himeko."

  "T-trust Himeko," Willow repeated.

  The buzzer sounded.

  "Break!"

  The Divers stood up. They turned and walked back onto the court.

  The whistle blew. Salesbia United had the service.

  The ball floated over the net, hunting for a seam in the blue defense.

  Lisa Denire moved. Her sneakers squeaked against the varnish as she slid into position. The ball struck her platform as she absorbed the momentum, popping it high and clean into the air.

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  "I-I'll take it," Willow called.

  The setter stepped under the pass. She felt the rhythm returning. She saw Jules Moreno calling for the ball on the left, hungry to answer Aria's onslaught.

  Willow pushed the set: fast and precise.

  Jules approached. She exploded off the floor, meeting the ball at the antenna. The Salesbia block was late closing the gap. She snapped her wrist, wiping the ball off the outside hand of the blocker.

  "Point Divers! 10-5."

  The momentum swung back. The Divers huddled briefly, high-fiving, breathing in the small victory.

  The rotation turned.

  Lisa jogged off the court, swapping out as the rotation cycled. Himeko Nakamura walked to the baseline.

  The noise of the Superdome swelled. Twenty thousand fans watched the opposing captain, hoping for a mistake. Himeko spun the ball in her hands. The leather felt cool. She looked down the court.

  She tossed the ball. She struck it with a flat palm.

  The serve sailed over the net. It was technically sound. It cleared the tape, dropped into the court, and forced the receiver to move but it lacked venom. It lacked the erratic wobble that made a float serve dangerous. It was in all accounts, extremely safe.

  The Salesbia libero stepped forward. She received the ball with insulting ease, cradling it on her forearms like a baby.

  "Kaia!"

  The pass was perfect. Kaia Blakitu didn't even have to move her feet. She caught the ball high. She looked at her ace.

  Aria Fillar was already in the air.

  With Himeko serving from the back line, the net was unguarded by the Divers' strongest shield. The front row consisted of the reserve middle blocker and the shorter wings.

  Aria saw the open sky. She saw the lack of the "tall one."

  Kaia set her.

  Aria met the ball at her peak. She looked straight down into the back right corner of the court.

  Willow Vance stood there, frozen in defensive posture.

  Aria swung.

  BOOM.

  The ball traveled faster than thought. It exploded off the floor inches from Willow's foot. Willow flinched, turning her head away as the ball rocketed past her ear.

  "Point Salesbia! 10-6."

  The whistle blew. Himeko stared at the mark on the floor. Her safe serve had invited the monster in.

  She walked toward the sideline. The rotation demanded the switch. As a middle blocker moving to the back row after losing the serve, her defensive shift was over.

  Lisa Denire stood at the sideline, holding the substitution paddle. The libero looked ready, her eyes half-hidden behind her bangs, her arms taped and red from the earlier assault.

  Himeko stepped off the court. Lisa stepped on.

  They passed each other at the line.

  Himeko looked at her front row. Jules. Sarah. The reserve blocker. They looked small against the towering presence of Aria Fillar.

  "Hold on," Himeko whispered to the air.

  She grabbed her water bottle and sat on the bench. She could only watch now. For the next three rotations, until she returned to the front, the Divers were exposed.

  On the bench, Himeko gripped the plastic water bottle. The polymer crunched, turning white under the pressure of her fingers; the roar of the arena swallowed the sound.

  From the sidelines, the perspective of the court warped. The net looked higher, a white mesh cage separating her team from the predators on the other side. Without Himeko's towering silhouette anchoring the front row, the Divers looked small. They looked breakable against the red wall of Salesbia.

  Kaia Blakitu sensed the vacuum. She saw the absence of the "tall one."

  The Salesbia setter pushed the ball high to the left pin. She fed the lion.

  Aria Fillar took flight.

  Jules Moreno and the reserve blocker leaped together. They were disciplined. They were technically perfect. Four hands pressed over the net, sealing the line. Against ninety percent of the league, it was a shutdown block.

  The Queen saw the barricade. She saw that the top of the wall was six inches lower than usual.

  She didn't bother with power and simply swung over the top.

  Her wrist snapped at the peak of her jump. The ball cleared Jules's middle finger by a comfortable margin, sailing over the defense to drop heavily into the unprotected center of the court.

  10-7.

  The next rally was a carbon copy. A high ball, high jump. The ball touched nothing but floor. The "funnel" strategy was useless if the ball never came down low enough to enter it.

  10-8.

  The lead evaporated. The air in the Divers' lungs grew thinner with every point Salesbia clawed back. The weight of the comeback pressed down on the court like a boulder.

  Yet, the Divers refused to capsize.

  "Serve!"

  The Salesbia ball rocketed toward the baseline. Lisa Denire stepped into the path. Her platform held rock-steady amidst the chaos. The ball struck her forearms and died, floating perfectly into the setter's pocket.

  Willow Vance joined the tempo, refusing to let the offense stagnate.

  Sarah Lemear accelerated on the right. She knew she couldn't hit over the red wall, so she used her veteran guile. She swung hard, aiming for the knuckles of the outside blocker.

  Thwack.

  The ball ricocheted off the block's pinky finger and flew into the stands.

  "Point Osea. 11-8."

  They traded blows, but the exchange rate was ruinous. The Divers spent a dollar to earn a dime. They scrambled, dove, executed perfect sets, and relied on veteran trickery just to side-out. Salesbia simply passed the ball to Aria.

  Kaia set the middle. The Salesbia blocker ran a quick attack, catching the reserve blocker flat-footed.

  11-9.

  Salesbia served. Lisa received. Willow set Jules. Jules hit a sharp cut shot that painted the line, a masterful stroke of precision that required perfect mechanics.

  12-9.

  The Divers clawed back the serve, but they couldn't hold it. On the very first return, Aria crushed a cross-court spike that nearly took the reserve defender's head off.

  12-10.

  Now came the pain. Salesbia retained the serve, and the momentum was on them once again.

  An ace against the reserve defender - laser beam that targeted the rookie's nerves.

  12-11.

  A roof block on Sarah Lemear. The veteran tried to tool the block again, but this time, the red wall swallowed her whole.

  12-12.

  The Salesbia crowd sensed blood in the water. The volume kept rising and rising. The chant began again. A-RI-A. A-RI-A.

  Salesbia served again. The reception was shaky, the pressure cracking the Divers' foundation. Willow was forced to return the ball.

  "Pipe!" Lisa screamed, seeing the horror unfold.

  Aria Fillar exploded from the back row. Aria met the ball in free air, unencumbered and unstoppable.

  She hammered it.

  12-13.

  Salesbia had taken the lead.

  Himeko stood up from the bench. She tossed her towel aside sharply and angrily. She moved to the substitution zone, her eyes locked on the court. A caged animal she was, waiting for the gate to open.

  Just one, she willed her team. Get me back in.

  The Divers scrambled. Willow set Sarah again. It was a bad set, drifting wide. Sarah swung with pure desperation, contorting her body to wipe the ball off the block.

  It spun away. It clipped the antenna. It fell out of bounds.

  13-13.

  The game was tied.

  The buzzer sounded for the substitution. It was the sweetest sound Himeko had heard all night.

  Lisa jogged off the court, her chest heaving, her eyes apologetic but relieved. She crossed the sideline.

  Himeko Nakamura stepped onto the court.

  The rest was enough for Himeko to take the set back for Divers.