A murmur rippled through the guests. This was the moment where things stopped being polite.
I nodded slowly, as if accepting new information.
"Then you are also ready to handle the consequences," I said.
I raised my hand.
It wasn't dramatic. There was no sudden explosion of light, no violent distortion. The change was subtler and far more terrifying for those who could sense it.
Essence in the hall stopped.
It halted, as if time itself had paused for everything except living minds. The faint currents that ran through the air vanished. The ambient flows feeding spells, artifacts, even simple enhancements went dead in the same instant.
My aura began to unfold.
Slowly.
It didn't crash outward. It pressed. A weight of absolute authority spreading through the space, forcing reality to acknowledge me whether it wanted to or not. I could feel dozens of defenses instinctively trying to rise and failing to fully manifest.
Faces changed.
