Thorgar threw open the heavy office door. The wide, marble hallway, just moments ago pristine and silent, was a scene of pandemonium.

Smoke billowed from a shattered upper window, and several grotesque, oily black creatures, Eclipse Beasts, were scattering the few students still present.

Thorgar didn't hesitate. He summoned a massive, crackling lightning hammer of pure aura into his hand.

With a wild, desperate swing, he brought it down upon the nearest Eclipse Beast, blasting the creature into a shower of purple sparks and foul dust.

Kael was already moving, his aura-clad sword, flashing.

He sliced the head from another beast mid-lunge, its body dissolving instantly into dust before it hit the ground.

A small cluster of terrified first-year students, huddled near a broken door, bowed low in shaky gratitude to Thorgar as he protected them.

"You all can't deal with Eclipse Beasts right now!" Thorgar commanded, his voice booming over the din.

"Move to the Auditorium and stay put! The professors there will protect you until this ends. Go! Now!"

The students, recognizing the voice of authority, nodded frantically and immediately left, scrambling down a side passage.

Kael approached Thorgar, sheathing his still-humming sword. "This invasion has been planned for long, Professor," Kael said, surveying the damage with grim certainty. "They knew. They did this right when both Headmaster Hamdal and Vice Headmaster Rowena are absent."

Thorgar clicked his tongue in deep annoyance. "Their timing is impeccable. This is a targeted disruption to neutralize our defense structure."

Roric, pale but focused, spoke up, his eyes darting to the highest point of the Academy's central spire. "This seems to be a distraction. I feel their main target is something else entirely. The creatures are chaotic, but the attack feels dispersed, not surgical."

Thorgar's eyes met Roric's. The earlier political standoff was forgotten, replaced by urgency.

"Can you track the energy you told me about earlier, Roric? The one that led you here? If this is a distraction, the culprit is moving now."

"I'll try," Roric said. He raised his hands, the arcane energy surrounding him not the gentle gold of the Revelation Spell, but a blinding, frantic silver light born of raw necessity.

His eyes glowed bright, tracking the residual thread of the dark binding magic amidst the chaos of the invasion.

Then, Roric suddenly bellowed, pointing high up the central spire. "I've got a link! It's moving downward, fast! Follow me!"

Without another word, the three of them moved, Roric leading the way, running at a full sprint down the main hallway toward the epicenter of the ancient, dark magical signature.

After Thorgar, Kael, and Roric turned the corner of the long, arched hallway, the sight of the heavy oak doors leading out to the academy grounds offered a brief, welcome promise of escape.

The chill night air, spiced with the distant metallic tang of the city's forge-smoke, beckoned.

They were almost there, their steps quickening with urgency, when they stopped, abruptly and simultaneously, as if hitting an invisible wall.

Standing directly in front of the exit, positioned casually between them and the freedom of the grounds, was a man.

He was striking, his sharp, almost delicate features sculpted from pale, alabaster skin that contrasted starkly with the cascading fall of his long black hair.

His body was lean, but clearly fitted and strong beneath a long, dark black coat that seemed to drink the ambient light.

His hands were clasped loosely behind his back, and he was watching them with a disconcertingly warm, almost gentle smile.

Kael, whose mind instinctively reached for polite civility even in this desperate moment, took a half-step forward, his mouth opening to ask who he was and why he was blocking their path.

"Don't!"

Thorgar's voice was a low, immediate growl, raw with an unexpected dread that silenced Kael instantly.

The warrior's massive hand clamped onto Kael's shoulder, the grip like iron.

Thorgar's gaze was fixed solely on the man, his own eyes narrowed to wary slits.

His face, usually a mask of grim determination, was now etched with something deeper, a chilling certainty.

"He's not on our side," Thorgar said, the words weighted and grave.

Kael was utterly shocked. His confusion was a sudden, cold wave; the man looked utterly harmless, even refined.

He started to turn his head to press Thorgar for an explanation, but Roric's voice, usually steady, cut through the air, thin and choked with terror.

"H-His aura..." Roric whispered, his breath catching. "It's unmeasurable."

That pronouncement, the absolute, terrifying anomaly of a being whose very energy defied the senses, shocked Kael into speechlessness.

The polite smile on the man's face now felt less warm and more predatory.

Thorgar's grip tightened briefly on his hammer handle, and he spoke, his voice now a low rumble of challenge. "Who are you?"

The man tilted his head, the long black hair shifting over his shoulder, and his smile broadened slightly.

"Me? I'm a human... or probably not? Maybe a beast? Nah! Not that...." He paused, tapping a slender finger lightly against his chin in mock contemplation, as if genuinely trying to recall a forgotten name. "Then what should I say..."

He dropped his hand, his eyes shining with cold amusement.

"I'm a gentleman," he said with a wide, effortless smile.

"Whatever you are, I don't care," Thorgar snarled, his patience dissolving.

"Move! Or else I'll make you." His eyes promised immediate violence.

The man let out a soft, mocking laugh. "Woooo... I'm scared."

In the space of a single heartbeat, his entire demeanor fractured. The warm, genial expression vanished.

His eyes went flat, losing all trace of warmth, and the sharpness of his features became suddenly ugly, laced with contempt.

"I don't like threats, you see," he said, his voice dropping to a smooth, dangerous silkiness.

"I just have to stop you here. So I'll just use a small bit of power."

Before the three of them could even brace, an intense pressure slammed into the hallway.

It was not a physical wind or force, but a suffocating weight that fell from an unseen height.

The very air turned heavy, thick as liquid bronze, and began to vibrate with a deep, low hum, a sound that resonated not in the ears, but in the bone.

Thorgar, with all his ingrained discipline and vast strength, managed to plant his feet and stand firm, though the effort strained every muscle in his neck and jaw.

Kael and Roric were not so fortunate. Their knees buckled, the ground seemingly tilting beneath them, and they shook violently, unable to stand upright beneath the invisible crushing mass.

Then, the shadows under the man's feet deepened, curdling into an impossible pitch of blackness.

From this void, twin masses of obsidian shadow separated, growing and solidifying into two monstrous forms.

Two towering Eclipse Beasts, creatures of pure, corrupted darkness with eyes like dying embers emerged, their monstrous bulk radiating a primal, savage hostility.

They stood hunched and growling, their razor-sharp teeth bared, looking fiercely at Thorgar, Kael, and Roric.

The gentleman's smile returned, cruel and wide.

"Entertain me," he invited, his voice cutting clearly through the vibrating air. "Maybe then I'll exchange a few moves with you."

With a bestial roar, the two Eclipse Beasts lunged.

Thorgar released a guttural battle cry.

He spun the massive head of his hammer, and a blinding, purple lightning aura, flared to life, shrouding the metal in vibrating energy as he swung it forward into the oncoming darkness.

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