[POV — Professor Aria Greenish]
The faint ticking of the clock echoed softly through the director's office.
Professor Aria Greenish stood before the desk while Andy Huntelaar, the academy's director, gazed out the window with a heavy expression.
The afternoon light reflected off his short, gray hair. Even in stillness, he carried the quiet weight of an S-rank hunter who had seen more than he cared to remember.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The air itself felt... dense.
"You felt it too?" Andy asked without turning his gaze away from the view.
"Yes," Aria replied quietly. "It was brief, but intense. The pressure... it was unlike anything I've ever felt on this island."
The director exhaled slowly.
"I thought my senses were deceiving me, but... that was no ordinary mana."
Aria gave a small nod. "It was as if something had... breathed. Just for an instant."
Andy remained silent, his eyes fixed on the courtyard below, where some students were still dispersing after the incident.
"Let's just observe for now. If it happens again, I want to know immediately."
The professor bowed her head in agreement and left the room, the sound of the clock reclaiming the silence.
The director stayed by the window, watching.
Outside, the sky seemed darker than it should have been for that time of day.
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[Evening — Arven's POV]
Their training had been interrupted hours earlier, when a wave of mana rippled through the entire hall.
No one could explain what it was — only that, for a brief moment, the air grew heavy, and breathing became difficult.
Now, with the sun gone beyond the hills, Arven, Lyra, and Kael gathered once more in the empty hall, still trying to make sense of what had happened.
"Did you see Professor Aria's face?" Kael said, sitting on the floor. "I thought she was gonna evacuate the whole building."
Lyra leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "I've never felt anything like that before... it was like the air just stopped moving."
Arven stayed silent for a moment, staring at the center of the room.
The place still felt... different.
Even with the night breeze drifting through the windows, the air seemed charged.
"Maybe it was some kind of academy safety test," Kael muttered, trying to lighten the mood. "They love scaring us like that."
Lyra chuckled softly. "I doubt it. I saw her face — that wasn't part of any test."
Arven lowered his gaze.
'That feeling... it was alive.' A chill ran down his spine.
'And for a second... I saw the air break apart. Like something was trying to come through.'
"Arven?" Lyra's voice snapped him out of it. "You okay?"
"Yeah..." he replied, forcing a faint smile. "Just thinking."
Kael stood up and stretched. "Well, since training's over, I vote we go eat. I'm starving."
"Go ahead," Arven said. "I'll take a walk first."
"Fine, but try not to vanish again," Lyra teased, tugging Kael's arm as they left. "And sleep before three a.m., hero."
Arven was left alone.
He glanced at the moonlight reflecting off the wooden floor before finally walking toward the main gate.
The island's central district buzzed with life — lights, laughter, and the smell of grilled food filling the air.
That's when he saw them — Lucien Temaki and Gabriella — walking side by side under the amber glow of the street lamps.
They were talking and laughing — too close, too comfortable.
'Lucien... and Gabriella?' Arven's eyes followed them from afar, an unfamiliar tightness forming in his chest.
Then, for a brief moment, the air around him seemed to creak, as if an invisible crack had torn through space.
He blinked — and everything was back to normal.
Yet the feeling lingered, like something was still watching from within that fracture.
Arven stood still in the middle of the street, feeling the air vibrate.
The laughter and chatter from the marketplace grew distant, muffled — as if the world itself had fallen into a strange silence.
The wind stopped.
'Again…' His heart raced.
'That sensation… it's coming from the same place.'
A few meters ahead, the air began to creak, as though something unseen was being forced open.
A sharp sound split the silence — crack, crack, crack — and suddenly, a fracture formed in the air, splintering like glass under pressure.
Arven took a cautious step back.
The streetlights flickered, and a chilling breeze swept through.
From that fracture... something emerged.
A thick shadow poured out, slowly condensing into a humanoid form.
Its body was made of pure darkness — no face, no defined features — only a pulsating veil of smoke that seemed to breathe.
A dry, rasping noise echoed from within, something that sounded like breathing… but wasn't human.
The ground beneath Arven's feet trembled faintly.
The creature tilted its head slightly, as if watching him — even though it had no eyes.
'What… is that?' Cold sweat ran down his neck.
His instincts screamed to run, yet something within him refused to move.
It was as if the creature's presence called to his mana — as if something inside it recognized something inside him.
The shadow took one step forward.
Every light in the area went out, plunging the world into darkness.
For a brief instant, Arven could see something within the mist: red markings, glowing in strange, rhythmic patterns.
And then…
It stopped.
The sound of footsteps behind him made Arven turn sharply — but no one was there.
When he looked back, the fracture was gone.
The street was normal. The lights, bright again. People walked by as if nothing had happened.
'Was that… real?' Or had only he seen it?
The wind blew once more, and the faint scent of smoke lingered in the air.