A figure stood at the shrine entrance.
From the outer silhouette, it was clearly a man, tall, lean, and very much human. But that only made things more unnerving. All of the students and teachers were present, and this stranger didn't belong.
What struck them most wasn't just his sudden appearance.
It was the robe.
Black, heavy, and soaked with enchantment. The hood shimmered unnaturally, cloaking the man's face in a distortion spell that blurred all identity. No one could see who he was, only that he was watching them.
"Um… Teachers? What should we do?" Yolden asked, voice trembling slightly.
After everything they'd just gone through with the beasts, even a single unexpected moment felt like it could tip them back into chaos.
"Wait… that robe, the enchantment, " a student stammered. "Could that guy be with them?"
"The Dark Guild," another student whispered.
