Intervention is not rescue.
It is parameter alteration.
The cascade was still active.
Coupling remained above unity.
Liquidity continued thinning.
But something new appeared:
Constraint.
In Washington, D.C., coordinated language began circulating privately.
In Zurich, emergency swap lines were reviewed.
In New York City, balance sheet capacity was quietly assessed.
Timing mattered more than scale.
Maya reframed the system once more.
"Cascades stop when damping exceeds amplification."
She wrote the modified dynamic:
Amplification term minus damping term.
"If c > k," she said,
"growth turns to decay."
Keith nodded.
"So the question isn't liquidity."
"It's restoring dominance."
Mid-session the announcement hit.
Measured.
Deliberate.
Liquidity facilities expanded.
Collateral terms eased.
Backstops clarified.
No dramatic language.
Just a shift in available balance sheet.
Markets did not reverse instantly.
That would imply panic.
Instead—
Acceleration slowed.
Jasmine watched the propagation metric.
Effective amplification had dropped.
Still positive.
But shrinking.
In London, funding spreads stabilized.
In Chicago, dealer hedging became less reflexive.
In Frankfurt, credit stopped widening.
Transmission had not ceased.
But multiplication was weakening.
Maya computed the new threshold condition.
"Once below unity," she said,
"each iteration shrinks."
Keith studied the tape.
Price still declined.
But increments were smaller.
Oscillations reappeared.
That was the tell.
Oscillation means coupling weakened.
Pure descent means unchecked multiplication.
In Singapore, leverage reduction slowed.
In Tokyo, forced liquidations subsided.
In Hong Kong, futures stabilized without limit interruptions.
The brake had engaged.
Not fully.
But materially.
Jasmine recalculated systemic energy.
Energy was finally dissipating.
Not dramatically.
Gradually.
Keith exhaled for the first time in hours.
"So we're safe?"
Maya shook her head.
"We're stabilized."
Different word.
Different meaning.
Cascades that are interrupted do not erase damage.
They compress volatility into aftermath.
Structure has shifted.
Leverage has reset.
Participants are altered.
Chapter 193 does not end with recovery.
It ends with deceleration.
Amplification has been challenged.
Damping has reasserted presence.
The descent slows.
Oscillation returns.
And the network, still tense,
Begins—
To breathe.