The noise from the Virex sections was enormous and immediate—not built, not crescendoing, just there at full volume the moment Eldrin's knees hit the stone, the sound of people who had been waiting for this moment since Azula walked out of the tunnel and were now receiving it with everything they had stored.
It spread.
The neutral sections came with it the way neutral sections always came with genuine moments—not because of allegiance but because of what the fight had been and what the ending meant within that context. The five-streak fan and the knee hit and Eldrin getting back up and the hip being found twice—the story had been complete enough that its ending carried weight regardless of which side you were on.
Eldrin was on the stone.
