Marcus’s smile didn’t waver. “Prove it.”

Elena sat alone in the silent auditorium, watching the replay loop on her wrist-comm. Move 34. Knight to E5. A brilliant, game-winning maneuver.

She couldn’t. The logs were clean. The witnesses saw only the revised timeline. In this new history, she had made a beginner’s mistake and left her king exposed. There was no evidence of the original board state—only her own flawed, human memory.

Elena didn’t answer. She was already replaying the final sequence in her head. The moment her bishop had faltered. The turn when his knight had appeared from nowhere, slipping through a gap that shouldn’t have existed.

“You cheated,” Elena said quietly.