### 1. PROSE EVIDENCE

*   **Quote 1 (Early):** "The Sigil burned like roots seeking deeper soil, its earthen resonance mapping agony across Elara's ribs as she swayed on the threshold, grey blight-ash crumbling from her mud-caked form." 
    *This effectively establishes the physical cost of the ritual and ties Elara’s internal state to the external environmental decay.*
*   **Quote 2 (Mid):** "Inside the threshold, Elara felt the first strike. It wasn't a physical blow, but a shudder in the song of the Earth."
    *This successfully communicates the metaphysical nature of the conflict, shifting the stakes from a physical siege to a spiritual one.*
*   **Quote 3 (Late):** "Massive slabs of lichen-covered stone rose from the dirt, forming a physical rampart that crushed the advancing thorns."
    *The prose here provides necessary visual scale to the "Earth Stage" completion, grounding the magic in tangible consequences.*
*   **Quote 4 (Late):** "He reached out into the air, his fingers closing as if crushing a throat. He didn't look frustrated anymore. He looked patient."
    *This creates an effective tonal shift for the antagonist, moving from frantic failure to a more dangerous, calculated menace.*

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### 2. CHARACTER VOICE AUDIT

**Character: Elara Vance**
*   **Quote:** "I... I flow... no, I mean falter."
*   **Signature Vocabulary/Tics?** YES. Uses "By the roots" and the "I flow... no, I mean falter" stammer.
*   **Avoid Forbidden Patterns?** YES. No slang or modern idioms used.
*   **Consistent Register?** YES. She is fragmented and rhythmic according to her 70% arc/exhaustion level.

**Character: Kaelen**
*   **Quote:** "Then let me be the mountain."
*   **Signature Vocabulary/Tics?** YES. Reflects his protective/vigilant state.
*   **Avoid Forbidden Patterns?** YES. 
*   **Consistent Register?** YES. Reflects his 65% arc transition from deserter to "Vessel's shield."

**Character: Thorne Blackroot**
*   **Quote:** "Hark, you mewling curs! ... The roots remember."
*   **Signature Vocabulary/Tics?** YES. Uses "Hark" and "The roots remember."
*   **Avoid Forbidden Patterns?** YES. No apologies or admissions of doubt.
*   **Consistent Register?** YES. Expresses the "total escalation" noted in his ch-07 state.

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### 3. STRENGTHS TO PRESERVE

*   **Elara’s Imperfection Signature:** "I... I flow... no, I mean falter," she stammered, her voice thin and watery." This must be preserved as it is the specific marker of her spiritual drain established in the voice sig.
*   **The Debt Motif:** "The falls whisper what the roots already know—debt binds us deeper than stone, Kaelen." This specific line anchors the chapter to the overarching thematic "obligations" tracked in the RAG context.
*   **Thorne’s Injury:** "His right side of face blistered by the Ritual’s pulse; left arm near-useless." The text honors this via: "His left arm was a ruin of blackened skin, still smoking from the Sunstone’s earlier flare."

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### 4. MUST-FIX -- CONTINUITY

*   **ORIGINAL:** "He leaned heavily on the Hilt of his blade, the Sunstone Shard embedded within it pulsing with a fractured, fitful light."
*   **PROBLEM:** Continuity error regarding artifact location. The RAG context [Canon Artifacts/Key Items] and the [World State] describe the Sunstone Shard as a standalone item "recharged by the ritual," and previously Kaelen acted as a "channel" for it. There is no mention of it being "embedded" in his sword hilt in the established canon. 
*   **FIX:** "He leaned heavily on his blade, his other hand white-knuckled around the Sunstone Shard, which pulsed with a fractured, fitful light."

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### 5. MUST-FIX -- CLARITY

*   **ORIGINAL:** "The 'Grey Zone' was no longer just a place of decay; it was a siege engine."
*   **PROBLEM:** While metaphorical, the transition from Thorne kneeling to the "Grey Zone" acting as a "siege engine" is too abrupt. It’s unclear if the Grey Zone itself moved or if just the thorns within it did.
*   **FIX:** "The thorns within the 'Grey Zone' twisted together, weaving into massive, barbed lashes that beat against the Sanctum’s perimeter like a living siege engine."

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### 6. OPTIONAL SUGGESTIONS

*   **OPTIONAL Suggestion:** In the section where Elara reveals the Council's secret ("The Council... they didn't just fail to stop it. They hid its birth."), the shift from the high-action ritual to exposition is slightly sudden. 
*   **Quote:** "There is something you must know. Something the spirits whispered when the stone broke." 
*   **Upside:** Adding one sentence about her wincing as she looks toward the distant Oakhaven would bridge the physical location to the political betrayal.

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### 7. FORBIDDEN CHANGES / NON-GOALS

*   **Do not "fix" Elara's fragmented speech:** Phrases like "I... I flow... no, I mean falter" are mandatory indicators of her spiritual depletion.
*   **Do not remove Thorne’s "Hark":** This is a specific speech quirk identifying his archaic/superior attitude.
*   **Do not smooth out the "Roots/Stone" metaphors:** The repetitive use of "By the roots" and earth-based metaphors is a core requirement of the Vessel’s voice signature.

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### 8. VERDICT

**REVISE**
**SCORE: 88**
**Justification:** The chapter is tonally and stylistically excellent, adhering closely to character voice signatures and arc requirements. However, a REVISE is required due to a factual continuity error regarding the Sunstone Shard being "embedded" in a sword hilt (a detail not found in the RAG Canon Artifacts list) and a minor clarity issue regarding the "siege engine" metaphor.