The aftermath was a tableau of pain and power.

Roric lay crumpled some distance away, a bloody, still silhouette against the shattered stone of the academy floor.

Kael was closer, on his knees, his breathing ragged and shallow, the front of his uniform dark and soaked with his own blood, his fine sword discarded beside him.

Standing in front like an immovable colossus was Thorgar.

His massive back provided the last shield for the injured, radiating a grim stability.

The huge war hammer in his hands was a terrifying conductor, arcs of fierce, pale-purple lightning dancing and cracking over its surface.

In front of them, amidst the smoking ruin of the hallway, the dark man stood, clapping slowly, his expression a mixture of genuine respect and cold appraisal.

"Amazing! I never imagined you'd be this strong, Professor Thorgar," the man said, his voice carrying genuine praise.

Coiled around him like a shifting, living mantle was a humongous shadowy snake, its body the colour of midnight smoke.

It reared its terrifying head, hissing low and dangerously at Thorgar.

"You traitor!" Thorgar's voice was a ragged scrape of sound, forced through gritted teeth. "Betraying your own race, don't you feel ashamed?"

The man threw his head back and laughed, a loud, clear sound that grated against the heavy silence of the ruined hall.

"Betray? That's quite the accusation you're dumping on me, professor."

His laughter stopped as abruptly as a snapped wire.

His tone immediately shifted, hardening into cold fury that seemed to leach the warmth from the air.

"My race betrayed me first. Your greed betrayed me. Your inhumanity, your corruption betrayed me. And you have the gall to accuse me of betraying?" His eyes flashed with a deep, personal hatred.

"I am just taking my revenge against the ones that abandoned me. And I'll make sure I do that well."

Just then, his brow creased, a flicker of genuine annoyance replacing the theatrical malice.

He whipped his head towards the side, looking at some distant, unseen event.

"Tch! He fucking failed at such a simple task." The man clicked his tongue in profound irritation.

"I guess that's it for now, Professor. I have to finish what my junior couldn't. So, it's a goodbye for now." He offered a sickeningly pleasant smile.

"End this."

At his command, the shadowy snake coiled around him launched itself instantly.

It rushed at Thorgar, a massive, hissing coil of darkness, its fangs dripping with palpable malice, ready to devour the exhausted warrior whole.

Thorgar gripped his lightning-clad hammer tight, roaring in exertion.

His muscles screamed in protest; his arms, fatigued past their limit, struggled to lift the weapon for a final block.

The hammer moved sluggishly upward, but the snake was nearly upon him, its gaping maw reaching.

Then, everything stopped.

An immense pressure descended, a force so absolute it felt as though the very air had solidified, turning suffocatingly dense and sharp, throttling every sense.

Even the dark man's face twisted in shocked discomfort; the pressure was powerful enough to affect even him.

A figure landed with bone-jarring force directly in front of Thorgar.

His upper body was bare, showing the deep bronze of his skin and the rippling, corded muscle of his back, crisscrossed by a map of old, deep scars. His ornate headmaster's robe hung by his waist.

Familiarity washed over Thorgar.

A golden, almost blinding aura covered his right fist like a shining gauntlet.

It was Headmaster Hamdal.

"Sorry, Thorgar. I was late," Hamdal said, his voice deep and calm, without turning his head.

Then, his golden fist zoomed forward in a blur.

A catastrophic pillar of raw, compressed golden aura exploded from his knuckles, rushing out horizontally.

It struck the smoky snake mid-air, instantly vaporizing the black shadow into nothingness, and kept going.

The dark man raised a hand, and the black shadow under him surged out, instantaneously forming a gigantic, grotesque gate of darkness, a demonic face wrought of pure void, complete with gaping, fanged jaws, directly in the path of the golden pillar.

The pillar hit the gate, and the resulting force was cataclysmic.

Everything in the attack's path, the stone, mortar, and structure, blasted into smithereens, erupting in a shower of dust and debris, forming a long, circular trench in the academy hallway, leaving the once-arched corridor utterly unrecognizable.

When the dust settled, the dark man was still standing, but the enormous demonic gate in front of him had been utterly obliterated.

His arms dropped heavily to his sides, and a thin stream of crimson blood flowed from his lips.

"I'll face Lord Rahukin's fury, it seems," the man said with a dry, humourless chuckle, wiping the blood from his mouth with a sleeve.

"It was nice meeting you all. But today's not the day I greet you, headmaster. Hope we'll meet in the future, then."

He didn't wait for a response.

The shadow under his feet expanded, becoming an ink-black, churning pool.

He slowly began to sink into the darkness, the void swallowing him whole until he vanished entirely from the spot.

"Headmaster!" Thorgar's face finally broke into a profound expression of relief as he stepped forward, swaying slightly.

"Who was that?" Hamdal asked solemnly, turning finally to regard the damage and the injured students.

"I don't know, sir. But... he seems to be with the Eclipse Beasts," Thorgar replied, a palpable sense of shame tainting his voice for having been beaten and unable to hold the man.

"You did well, Thorgar. Restrain that shame." Hamdal's voice was firm but kind. "Let's clean this mess up now."

Thorgar nodded, the fight finally draining out of him, ready to obey.

Just then Hamdal's eyes fell on the two men behind Thorgar.

Seeing his gaze, Thorgar immediately spoke up.

"They are enforcers from the city watch guild sir."

Hamdal fixed Thorgar with a stern, yet understanding, look. "Thorgar, summon the recovery teams and get them treated. The perimeter must be secured. This breach is... unprecedented."

"Yes, Headmaster," Thorgar responded, his hand instinctively going to the communication stone hidden beneath his armor.

Hamdal's expression hardened. "We have a war coming, and it has just landed on our doorstep."

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