In the alley, Walker did not look at the knife. His indifferent gaze swept over the little beggar holding it, and then he calmly raised his right hand.
The movement was utterly natural, without the slightest hint of aggression, as though he were brushing dust from his clothes.
But any wizard present would have detected the energy fluctuations it contained.
Gray-white light spilled from the edge of his palm, spreading along the arc of his gesture into an even, thin veil that enveloped the entire alley.
The light covered the whole area like a slowly spreading sheet of water.
The little beggars froze simultaneously upon touching the light, as though someone had pressed pause.
Their eyes remained open, their pupils darting about, yet they could not move.
The little beggar holding the knife still had his hand raised, but he could no longer thrust the blade down.
The alley fell quiet again.
All the noise had vanished, leaving only a deathly silence.
Even the sounds from the street were blocked by the corner at the alley's entrance, as though an invisible barrier had divided the space into two separate sections that could not affect each other.
Walker took the short knife from the little beggar's hand. Under the boy's terrified gaze, he casually crumpled it into a ball of scrap metal and tossed it onto the ground.
The little beggar knew perfectly well that he had picked on the wrong person!
They... were probably done for!
Sure enough, under his despairing gaze, Walker extended his palm and held it about a hand's breadth above his head.
He was not trying to kill him, however.
The Soul-Searching Technique reached in through his palm, and information began pouring into his Sea of Consciousness.
Walker saw fragments of their lives through their eyes: