Third Person’s POV
The Elder halted, and his robes settled heavily around him as he turned to face the gathered youths.
His massive black eyes swept across them one by one and lingered on no one in particular, yet it pierced each soul as if weighing them on so unseen scale.
His voice was deep and steady as it was carried across the courtyard with an authority that allowed no doubt.
"You will each remain in a separate room for the night.
And rember this well, there is to be no trespassing into another’s quarters.
Should any of you be caught violating this rule, you will be expelled imdiately. There will be no excuses, no appeals, and no second chances."
The finality in his words pressed on them like a mountain.
Seeing his expression that left no space for mischief and no crack where any youth rebellion might slip through, even the most arrogant among the group bowed their heads in acknowledgnt, with so nodding with stiff eagerness, and others with thinly veiled fear.
Clearly, these students, regardless of lineage or pride, understood the weight of the Sanctum’s rules and the rciless nature of the one who stood before them.
Ethan’s eyes lingered on their reactions and clearly noted the absence of even the faintest challenge.
Seeing this, it intrigued him, and he realized that this Enforcent Elder clearly was no ordinary overseer, as the sheer presence he exuded was enough to bend even proud heirs into silence.
Yet Ethan’s gaze was soon drawn elsewhere as, almost unconsciously, he turned toward the dark-haired youth who had earlier stood beneath the banner of the Empire of Abyssal Dominion.
Unlike the others, this young man’s expression betrayed no fear, no irritation, and not even indifference.
Instead, he appeared almost bored, as his sharp eyes drifted lazily across the spire and the looming castle with a peculiar hint of nostalgia, as if he had walked these halls before.
Feeling his gaze, the dark youth seed to realize sothing and turned towards him.
The man’s gaze shifted with deliberate calm and landed squarely on Ethan.
A faint smile curved his lips, and its nature was not mocking in any way, though it was also not friendly at the sa ti.
And Ethan got a feeling that he had been simply noticed or acknowledged in so way, though he didn’t know what.
And in that instant, Ethan felt it again.
The sa sensation as before, a cold, predatory weight pressing on his chest like a dangerous pulse that prickled his instincts.
It was sharper, darker, and more suffocating than even what he had felt from the Enforcent Elder himself.
His heart gave a slight lurch, and an involuntary chill spread through him.
Yet his face remained composed, and his crimson eyes revealed nothing.
He turned his attention back toward the towering demon elder and refused to grant the youth any sign that he was seeing him as a threat, as he had a feeling that it would lead to him getting a dangerous enemy he had no idea how to beat as of now.
While such storms were going on inside his head, the crowd noticed that after the hulking Elder had spoken his piece, he said nothing further and kept his indifferent and disinterested face that seed to show that he had been simply performing a formality.
With a slow turn, his hulking figure advanced toward the castle gates.
His robe whispered faintly as he walked, and then, in the span of a single breath, he was gone.
One mont, he was there, and in the next, the space he occupied was empty, as though he had dissolved into the shadows themselves.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed faintly.
’What was that movent magic? I wasn’t even able to see how he disappeared, much less comprehend how he did it.’
The thought barely had ti to form before the air rippled and, in a blur of movent, three new figures materialized before the spire, two n and one woman.
Their sudden appearance drew startled gasps from several of the gathered students, though their precision and silence spoke of individuals well-accustod to such theatrics.
Without acknowledging the crowd, the trio strode directly to the towering gates of the spire.
Moving in unison, they raised their hands and pressed them against the ancient stone.
A deep hum resonated through the courtyard, followed by a flare of crimson light.
A vast magic circle ignited across the gates, forming lines and sigils racing outward in intricate patterns until the entire courtyard was bathed in an eerie red glow.
The brilliance was blinding, yet its color carried sothing unsettling, a sinister hue that painted the air with dread.
Shadows twisted across the ground like writhing serpents as the circle pulsed, its light throbbing in harmony with the heartbeat of the spire itself.
The assembled youths shielded their eyes, yet not a single one dared to look away.
In the very next second, the newly inducted students vanished from the spire in a flash of crimson light, leaving behind only silence.
The eerie glow of the bloody moon bathed the desolate courtyard once more and painted its stones in shades of sickly scarlet and black while the night air was heavy and unmoving as it seed to whisper with unseen things.
Within the vast interior of the towering spire, the students collectively exhaled in wonder. Their astonished gazes road across the impossible space.
What had appeared from the outside as a narrow, skeletal tower of stone now revealed itself to be far larger within, as its halls stretched endlessly, lined with spiraling staircases that never seed to end as they spiraled above, and grand chambers that defied all natural laws.
Whispers of awe rippled among them, though none dared to speak aloud in fear of breaking the strange reverence of the place.
anwhile, unknown to any of them, the Enforcent Elder’s massive figure did not remain idle.
His hulking silhouette glided like a shadow through the silent, dimly lit corridors of the Sanctum’s inner castle.
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