Mark was closing distance and the crowd understood what the closing meant.
The Dead Eyes built faster at close range—the sustained gaze more effective with less space between fighter and target, the simulation's construction rate climbing as the distance dropped. Mark needed to close. Ordin needed to keep him away. Every exchange was a contest between the closing and the keeping away and the crowd was watching both dynamics simultaneously.
Ordin fired Arrow Bursts continuously—not aimed at specific positions but creating coverage, filling the space between them with compressed air projectiles that forced Mark's evasion to spend more effort per step of approach.
The silver eyes read each one.
Mark moved through the coverage—not efficiently, the sustained rate of bursts requiring real evasion rather than single-exchange readings, his path toward Ordin not straight but present, the approach continuing through the projectile field.
Thirty feet.
Twenty-five.
