The construct did not immediately release them.
Instead, it lingered in a strange, suspended state, as if waiting for confirmation that what had just happened was real. The runes embedded in the stone flickered between stable and erratic patterns, recalculating variables that no longer aligned with their original parameters. Merlin could feel it clearly now—the system wasn't broken, but confused. It had identified him as something outside its expected threat scale and was struggling to decide whether that made him a hazard or a solution.
Elara kept her spear angled low but ready, her stance relaxed enough not to provoke the field further. Nathan shifted his weight once, eyes never leaving Merlin, a thousand questions written across his expression but wisely left unspoken. Dorian remained half-submerged in shadow, watching not the constructs but the mana flows themselves, tracking distortions the way others tracked movement.
