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.
Confidence drained from some. Alarm surfaced in others. The Ferans stiffened, instincts screaming that this was no longer politics. The Griffins felt it too, wings tensing, golden eyes narrowing as something ancient in them recognized danger.
Torace stepped forward half a pace, his expression no longer composed. "Mr. Billion," he said carefully, "this is a celebration hall."
I didn’t look at him.
My eyes stayed on Ryn.
"Then you shouldn’t have treated your word like entertainment," I replied calmly. "Because I take deals seriously. Especially when they’re spoken in front of witnesses."
The hall felt smaller now, compressed by something that had nothing to do with walls or distance. It was the kind of pressure that made people breathe carefully, as if a single mistake might fracture the moment beyond repair.
My palm remained raised, facing him directly.
"Choose your next words carefully," I said, my voice level. "This is the last time I’ll ask. Are you going back on your word?"
Ryn swallowed. His eyes flicked away from me, blinking once, then twice, before turning toward Torace. I could see the calculation behind that glance. He had assumed I would retreat the moment things turned uncomfortable, that this had been nothing more than posturing meant for the crowd. He hadn’t expected me to push. And he certainly hadn’t expected me to enjoy pushing this far.
I had already sent the signal. My summons were ready.
Torace moved.
He flashed forward and placed himself directly in front of Ryn, wings spreading slightly as if by reflex. The other Griffins reacted almost instantly, stepping in to form a loose barrier around their young master. A heartbeat later, the Ferans responded. Shera and the generals shifted position, bodies aligning between me and the Griffins without a word exchanged.
Then, after a brief hesitation, even the Elemental and Aqua representatives advanced, not aggressively, but deliberately, placing themselves into the growing line of division.
In the span of seconds, the hall was split.
Torace turned his head just enough to look back at me, his expression composed again.
"Mr. Billion," he said, a faint smile touching his lips, "think about this carefully. You are in Feradros."
I returned the smile.
"I am aware," I replied. "That’s exactly why I’m asking."
My gaze slid past him, locking once more onto Ryn.
"Feradros is watching," I continued calmly. "So are the Nagas. The Elementals. The Aquas. And everyone else who will hear about what happens here tonight."
The pressure in the hall didn’t ease. If anything, it sharpened.
"So I’ll ask again," I said, my voice carrying cleanly through the silence. "Do your words mean something... or don’t they?"
The silence stretched.
No one answered.
I held the moment for another breath, then nodded slowly, as if confirming something to myself.
"Alright," I said quietly. "I understand."
My hand lowered just a fraction.
"I’ll take your silence as an answer."
The words had barely settled when the world reacted.
It began as a ripple, subtle enough that only those sensitive to Essence felt it first. A low, oppressive tremor rolled outward from my body, passing through the hall, through the island beneath it, and then far beyond.
The island shuddered.
Gasps broke out across the hall as warning systems screamed to life all at once. Defensive arrays flared instinctively before failing to lock onto anything concrete.
My domain unfolded.
Not fully.
But enough.
Behind and above the island, the sky darkened unnaturally fast. Violet clouds churned into existence, dense and layered, spiraling inward as if drawn toward a single unseen center. Thick bolts of lightning tore through them, deep amethyst streaked with black, each strike echoing across Feradros like the growl of a waking god.
The sound carried everywhere.
Across the ocean.
Across the other islands.
Through the bones of the planet itself.
People staggered as pressure descended. Breathing became work. Essence flow collapsed into chaos.
Then the silhouette appeared.
Behind me, towering above the grand hall, an ancient tablet took shape in the sky. Vast. Monolithic. Its surface was etched with runes too old and too complex for most minds to process, each line glowing faintly with violet authority. It wasn’t fully solid, not yet manifested completely, but the weight it carried was undeniable.
The roof of the hall didn’t explode.
It simply failed.
Stone, crystal, and reinforced materials disintegrated into fine particles, unable to exist beneath that pressure. In an instant, the celebration hall was open to the sky, giving everyone an unobstructed view of the churning clouds and the looming tablet above.
Screams broke out.
Torace moved.
Golden Essence surged around him as he began to unfold his own domain, wings of light forming behind his back, the silhouette of a massive Griffin emerging, radiant and proud. For a heartbeat, the two forces pushed against each other.
Then I scoffed.
The sound was soft.
Dismissive.
The golden Essence forming behind Torace shuddered violently, then tore free of him as if ripped out by invisible hands. It streamed backward in a blazing arc and was swallowed whole by the churning violet sky, merging seamlessly into my domain.
Torace staggered.
His eyes widened, pupils constricting as he felt the connection severed.
"What—" he started, then stopped, breath catching in his throat.
Across the island, Feran generals cried out as they tried to manifest their own domains. Nothing answered them.
The Essence of the island roared.
Every current, every ambient flow, every residual charge in the air twisted violently and was dragged upward, spiraling into the forming tablet. The island itself groaned under the strain, ground cracking as water from around rushed in.
The only Essence left moving freely was mine.
And whatever remained bound within living bodies.
Torace stared at me now, no composure left to hide behind.
My palm remained extended, steady, unmoving.
The tablet behind me grew clearer, its runes burning brighter as the domain stabilized just shy of full manifestation. I could feel it responding, waiting for instruction, its presence vast and absolute.
This was restraint.
This was me holding back.
Torace swallowed hard.
"Mr. Billion," he shouted suddenly, his voice cracking through the storm, "wait."
I turned my head slightly, just enough to acknowledge him.
"We can renegotiate," he said quickly. "We can offer something else for the deal."
The clouds thundered overhead.
Lightning struck again, close enough that the air itself screamed.
I looked at him fully now, my expression calm, almost curious.
"Something else," I said evenly. "Enough to replace your young master. What could it be?"