The chatter died instantly.
Adrian let out a low whistle. "Damn. Straight to the final boss, huh?"
Ethan nodded solemnly. "RIP rlin."
Liliana smacked him. "Don't joke!"
Seraphina crossed her arms. "It was only a matter of ti. You were at the epicenter of the anomaly."
Nathan's gaze sharpened. "I'm going with you."
"No, you're not," rlin said imdiately.
"But—"
"I'm going alone." rlin t Nathan's eyes, voice steady. "This isn't sothing you can interfere with. Morgana called . Not us."
Nathan didn't argue further… but his jaw tightened.
Dorian spoke next, tone colder than usual. "If sothing happens, we'll know. We'll trace the mana pulse."
"That's not how Morgana works," rlin muttered.
Seraphina nodded. "He's right. If she wants a conversation unobserved, she can block half the continent."
The group fell silent. They all knew it was true.
But there was an unspoken agreent there too:
They'd still be waiting. Watching from whatever distance Morgana allowed.
rlin sighed softly. "Look, it's fine. I'm not in trouble."
"You don't know that," Elara said.
He glanced at her. "I do."
She didn't look convinced.
And it made sothing warm flicker in his chest.
Nathan clapped his hands, breaking the tension. "Okay! Then we'll all just stalk rlin from a respectful distance."
Ethan groaned. "Nathan, that isn't a thing."
"It is now."
Adrian nodded. "Brotherhood watches brotherhood."
Liliana giggled. "I guess that makes sense?"
Seraphina spoke up. "It doesn't."
Dorian said next. "It really doesn't."
rlin rubbed his temples. "Guys—no. Just… go to sleep tomorrow. I'll be fine."
Elara stepped closer. "At least let walk you there."
He opened his mouth to argue.
But seeing her face—serious, stubborn, and quietly worried—he stopped.
"…Fine," he said softly.
Elara's expression eased, but only slightly.
The group disbanded for the night, slowly peeling away toward their individual dorms. The stone halls were dim, lit only by floating mana lanterns. As they reached the turn toward his room, Elara lingered.
"You really think sothing is coming," she whispered.
"Yes."
"And you're scared."
He didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
Elara's voice softened, barely above a breath. "Whatever happens in that office… don't shoulder it alone."
rlin's throat tightened.
He reached up, almost on instinct, and brushed a strand of silver-blonde hair behind her ear.
Elara froze. Her cheeks tinted pink. Her eyes flicked away.
rlin stepped back with a small, warm smile.
"…I won't," he promised.
She nodded quickly—too quickly—and walked away before he could say anything else.
rlin didn't sleep much.
Not because he was afraid of Morgana—if she wanted him dead, he'd already be dead—but because every ti the world diverged from the book, even a little, he felt the tiline twisting beneath his feet.
This was a twist.
One he didn't see coming.
He dressed simply, grabbed his academy coat, and slipped into the hall. The corridors were quiet at this hour, only the sound of his boots and the faint hum of waking mana crystals filling the air.
As he stepped outside, he found Elara waiting at the courtyard entrance.
Arms crossed.
Eyes half-lidded with exhaustion.
Hair slightly ssy from not fully brushing it yet.
"Morning," she muttered.
"You didn't have to—"
"I said I would."
And that was that.
They walked together across the grounds as the sun began to rise—not touching, not speaking, but completely synchronized.
When they reached the main building, Elara stopped at the base of the stairs leading to the Headmistress' tower.
Her voice was soft. "I'll wait here."
rlin nodded slowly. "I'll be back."
He stepped toward the stairs.
Then paused.
Turned halfway back.
"…Thanks. For being here."
Elara's cheeks ward faintly. "Just go before you make worry more."
He laughed under his breath.
Then he climbed the stairs and entered the tower, the door closing behind him with a quiet finality.
Ahead, Morgana was waiting.
And the day—
the new arc—
was finally beginning in earnest.
The door to Morgana's office didn't creak.
It didn't groan.
It didn't echo.
It simply opened, as if the very wood bent to her will. rlin stepped inside, and the world behind him shut out in one smooth, silent sweep.
The room was nothing like a typical office.
Floor-to-ceiling windows frad a panorama of the sun rising over the academy grounds, bathing everything in warm gold. Crystal spheres floated lazily in the air, orbiting around a central obsidian desk like miniature planets. Bookshelves lined the walls, so filled with ancient tos, others holding objects rlin had no na for.
And behind the desk stood the Headmistress herself.
Morgana.
Black hair cascading like ink. Eyes silver and cold enough to freeze ti. Her presence filled the room, not with pressure, but absolute, unnervingly calm power.
She didn't sit.
She didn't gesture for him to sit.
She simply watched him enter, her gaze faintly narrowed, as if she were reading every thought passing through his skull.
"rlin Everhart."
Her voice was quiet, but it carried effortlessly. It always did.
He bowed slightly. "You called for ."
"Mm." She motioned with a single hand. The air shimred. A chair materialized behind him, pushing him gently to sit.
He didn't resist. Refusing Morgana's mana was like trying to argue with gravity.
She finally took her seat behind the desk.
For a long mont, neither of them spoke.
She simply looked at him.
Studied him.
asured him the sa way a master blacksmith examines an unfinished blade.
rlin didn't look away.
Eventually, Morgana broke the silence.
"You handled yourself well during the incident."
"Thank you," he replied.
"That was not a complint."
He blinked.
"I was not thanking you for your strength," she clarified. "I was observing your restraint. You held back—even when others stronger than you would have lashed out. Even when fear could have driven rash action."
She leaned back slightly.
"That is rare."
A small, dry laugh escaped rlin. "Wasn't aware I was being graded."
"You are always being graded." Morgana's eyes flashed. "Especially when the boundaries of this world begin to shift."
rlin's heart skipped.
She didn't know about the transmigration. There was no way she did.
But she sensed it.
She sensed the changes.
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