Magi turned and began walking back toward the rift in Sector 9. His pace remained unhurried, methodical. The same steady rhythm that had carried him through fourteen kilometers earlier that morning. No rushing, no dramatic sprinting toward danger. Just a man changing direction.

  His communicator vibrated continuously with Guild alerts, each more urgent than the last:

  EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED: All civilians evacuate Sectors 8-10 immediately.

  A-RANK TEAMS DEPLOY: Containment perimeter established at 400 meters.

  SCIENCE DIVISION ALERT: Unprecedented energy readings detected.

  Magi silenced the device and slipped it into his pocket. The notifications would continue regardless of whether he read them.

  As he crossed back into Sector 10, the distant rift's behavior changed visibly. Its violent expansion slowed, then paused. The purple energy flickered, like a flame struggling against wind. Emergency vehicles raced past him, their sirens wailing as they headed toward the disturbance. None stopped to question the lone figure walking calmly in the wrong direction.

  Three blocks later, Magi could see Guild barricades being hastily erected at the boundary between Sectors 9 and 10. Raiders in full combat gear positioned themselves in defensive formations, weapons and artifacts ready. Medical teams established triage stations behind the lines. The standard response protocol for a major dimensional incursion.

  A Guild officer spotted him approaching and raised a hand.

  "Halt! This area is restricted. Return to evacuation routes immediately."

  Magi stopped walking. The rift, now clearly visible beyond the barricades, pulsed once and contracted slightly.

  "I'm a C-rank Raider," Magi said, showing his identification. "Magius Necros."

  The officer checked his tablet, frowning. "You're not on the deployment roster. All C-ranks were ordered to standby positions in Sector 7."

  "I was in the area."

  "Doesn't matter. Protocol says—"

  The officer's tablet chimed with an alert. He glanced down, then back at Magi with narrowed eyes.

  "Wait here."

  The officer stepped away, speaking urgently into his communicator. Magi remained where he stood, watching the rift over the barricades. Its violent purple energy continued to settle, the tear shrinking visibly with each passing minute. Raiders at the front line lowered their weapons slightly, exchanging confused glances.

  The officer returned with a senior administrator Magi recognized from the Guild Hall. Analyst Vega from the Science Division.

  "Raider Necros," Vega said, her voice carefully neutral. "Interesting timing."

  "I was on my way to a contract in Sector 12."

  "And yet here you are, walking in the opposite direction." She studied him, then checked readings on her tablet. "The rift began stabilizing approximately eight minutes ago. Coincidentally, that's when our tracking system shows you changed course and began approaching this sector."

  Magi said nothing.

  "Would you mind coming with me?" It wasn't a question.

  Vega led him through the barricade, past teams of Raiders who watched with curiosity as a C-rank was escorted through their defensive line. Beyond the barricade, the evacuation had been thorough. Empty streets, abandoned vehicles, the occasional personal item dropped in haste.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  They stopped at a mobile command center positioned 200 meters from the rift. Inside, screens displayed real-time data, dimensional readings, and thermal imaging of the affected area. Senior Guild officials huddled around a central table, their conversation stopping abruptly when Magi entered.

  "This is Raider Necros," Vega announced. "The one I mentioned."

  Administrator Whitehall looked up from the table, her expression unreadable. "Raider. You were scheduled for a contract in Sector 12 this morning."

  "Yes."

  "Instead, you're here. Why?"

  Magi glanced at the screens showing the rift. It had contracted significantly, now barely half its previous size. The violent energy had calmed to a steady pulse.

  "I saw the rift reactivate as I was passing through."

  "And you decided to approach it rather than continue to your assigned contract?"

  "Yes."

  Whitehall exchanged looks with the other officials. "Interesting choice for a C-rank Raider with no specialized dimensional training."

  Magi remained silent.

  "The rift has been stabilizing steadily since you changed direction," Vega said, pulling up a timeline on one of the screens. "The correlation is... difficult to ignore."

  "Correlation isn't causation," one of the other officials said.

  "True," Vega replied. "Which is why I propose a simple test." She turned to Magi. "Raider Necros, would you be willing to assist us with an experiment?"

  Magi considered his options. Refusing would only increase their suspicion. "What kind of experiment?"

  "Nothing complicated. I'd like you to approach the rift, then retreat from it, while we monitor the dimensional readings."

  The officials murmured among themselves. Whitehall nodded slowly. "Approved. But with safety protocols in place."

  Twenty minutes later, Magi stood 100 meters from the rift, surrounded by monitoring equipment. The tear had continued to shrink during their preparations, now barely three meters tall. Its purple energy pulsed weakly, like a dying heartbeat.

  "We're ready," Vega's voice came through a communicator. "Please approach the rift slowly. Stop when I tell you."

  Magi began walking forward. Each step closer to the rift caused visible changes in its behavior. The purple energy dimmed further. The edges of the tear became less defined, more stable.

  "Stop at fifty meters," Vega instructed.

  Magi halted. The rift continued to contract, responding to his proximity.

  "Now remain perfectly still for two minutes."

  Magi stood motionless, watching the rift. He did nothing, no activation of attributes, no special techniques, no conscious effort to affect the dimensional tear. He simply existed in its presence.

  The rift's response was unmistakable. It continued to stabilize, the violent energy dissipating, the tear in reality slowly mending itself. The purple glow faded to a pale lavender, then to a faint shimmer barely visible against the morning sky.

  "Remarkable," Vega's voice came through the communicator. "The dimensional instability is resolving itself at an accelerated rate. Without any active intervention."

  Magi remained still, his expression neutral. This was exactly what he'd hoped to avoid, concrete evidence of his effect on dimensional stability.

  "Now, please back away slowly," Vega instructed. "Return to your previous position."

  Magi turned and began walking away from the rift. The effect was immediate and obvious. With each step he took, the rift pulsed brighter. The tear widened slightly, the purple energy intensifying.

  "Stop at seventy-five meters," Vega called.

  Magi halted. The rift's expansion paused, holding steady at its new size. Larger than when he stood at fifty meters, but smaller than its original state.

  "Now return to fifty meters."

  Magi walked forward again. The rift responded, contracting once more, the energy dimming.

  For the next thirty minutes, Vega directed him through a series of movements. Approaching, retreating, circling, standing still, while monitoring equipment recorded the rift's reactions. Throughout it all, Magi did nothing but follow instructions. No special techniques, no conscious manipulation. Just his presence, affecting dimensional stability through proximity alone.

  Finally, Vega called him back to the command center. The officials stared at him with expressions ranging from fascination to concern. The screens displayed conclusive data. The rift responded directly to Magi's movements, stabilizing when he approached, destabilizing when he retreated.

  "The data is clear," Vega said, pointing to a graph. "Raider Necros has a direct stabilizing effect on dimensional rifts. The effect is strongest within fifty meters and diminishes with distance, but remains measurable up to approximately seven hundred meters."

  "Seven hundred?" Whitehall looked alarmed. "That's significantly larger than our previous estimates."

  "And it appears to be growing," Vega added. "Based on historical data from previous incidents involving Echo Squad, the radius of effect has expanded by nearly three hundred meters in the past month alone."

  The officials exchanged worried glances. One of them, a stern-looking man Magi didn't recognize, leaned forward.

  "If this continues, a single individual could potentially stabilize entire sectors of the city simply by walking through them."

  "Which would effectively eliminate the need for Raider intervention in those areas," another official added.

  "And collapse our entire operational model," Whitehall finished.

  They all turned to look at Magi, who stood quietly by the door, his expression unchanged.

  "Raider Necros," Whitehall said finally. "You are hereby reassigned to the Science Division for further study. Your Raider contracts are suspended indefinitely."

  Magi nodded once, unsurprised. This had been i