---
Near the center, a guard stood beside a pillar, rune glowing faintly in his palm. The rune was not just intimidation. It was enforcement. The Contract Market did not rely on city law to hold its deals together. Its contracts were created under the authority of a mid-level Contract God, and the paper itself carried that authority.
Once both parties signed, neither could break it unless they were stronger than the Contract God's binding. That was why this place survived inside a city that claimed to have rules. The city might pretend to be civilized, but Null respected power, and contract power was a kind of godhood people could purchase in advance.
If a contract was broken, the breach had to be reported. The market investigated. The market judged. The market was punished.
Not quickly, not emotionally, but efficiently, the way a blade cuts meat without hate.
