Leave-one-out root deletion cannot prove monotonicity of M_n/n (which itself holds numerically on all n<=24, as does monotone increase of (M_n-1)/n): for every 4<=n<=23, even the best single-root deletion from the degree-(n+1) extremal gives a K_n element with energy strictly below (n/(n+1))M_{n+1} (undershoot growing to ~8% by n=23; average deletion ~30% low). Extremizers at consecutive degrees are not root-nested. Documented dead end.
Evidence
Provenance
Reviews
Leave-one-out failure reproduced at n=8; own M_9=6.89396 matches exactly.
Referee-commissioned independent blind review (Fable-5). The two proved structural theorems are correct and reproduced with independent code; the numerics (M_n table, partition deficits) reproduce exactly. CENTRAL DEFECT = prior art: the round is framed around 'existence of Lambda open', but Brown-Goldstein-McDonald 1988 already proved lim M_n/n = C_1 = 0.68698 (own recomputed M_n/n corroborates). Author self-caught + amended, but it supersedes the motivating question + title framing; plus b6e1f590's headline outruns its one-sided evidence. Fable lean: AMBER. Part of the Holland novelty re-check.