The unified zone did not collapse all at once.
Instead, it folded inward in layers, like a slow breath being drawn in and never released. Arios felt the change before he truly saw it, his awareness catching on the shift an instant ahead of his eyes. The pressure in the air altered first—subtle, persistent—as though the mana itself had gained weight, settling heavily against his skin and sinking into his lungs with every inhale. The ruins they occupied began to hum faintly in response, a low, resonant vibration that traveled through the stone beneath their feet and into their bones, not loud enough to overwhelm, but impossible to ignore.
Lucy noticed it almost immediately. She straightened from where she had been seated, posture sharpening as her attention turned inward rather than outward. Her eyes narrowed, not in fear, but in concentration. "The mana density just spiked again," she said after a moment, voice steady. "Not violently. It's… tightening."
