The silence lasted only a few seconds.
Then the arena floor cracked.
CRACK.
Avdhoot looked down.
A thin line of purple light ran beneath his feet.
Manaswini's face went pale.
"Everyone back!"
The crack widened.
The protective runes around the arena began flashing.
Professor Kapoor raised her hand.
"Barrier formation!"
The professors moved simultaneously.
Mana surged through the arena.
For a moment, the fracture stopped.
Then—
Something struck it from below.
BOOM!
The barrier shattered.
A wave of corrupted mana swept across the arena.
Students screamed.
Professors immediately began evacuating them.
"Move!"
"Get to the western gates!"
"Don't stop!"
Avdhoot turned toward the centre.
The crack was no longer a crack.
It had become a tear in space.
Something moved inside it.
Then a creature emerged.
Its body had no fixed shape.
Limbs formed and dissolved.
Purple light burned where its eyes should have been.
It screamed.
The sound struck the mind rather than the ears.
Several students collapsed.
Priya covered her ears.
"What the hell is that?"
Manaswini stared.
"I don't know."
More creatures emerged.
One.
Three.
Ten.
Then dozens.
The arena became chaos.
Professor Kapoor stepped forward.
Her mana surged.
"All students retreat."
The first creature lunged.
She lifted one hand.
The creature stopped.
Its body compressed under invisible pressure.
Then vanished.
The students stared.
Priya whispered.
"…Okay."
Raivan's eyes narrowed.
"That's professor-level magic."
More creatures charged.
The four students moved together.
Priya's flames tore through one.
Raivan froze another.
Manaswini trapped a third inside an inscription.
Avdhoot struck at the creature's core.
But the body reformed.
"They're regenerating."
Raivan's jaw tightened.
"No."
Avdhoot watched the mana.
"They're being sustained."
He looked toward the breach.
The creatures weren't independent.
Something was feeding them.
Above the arena, Irawen Solas appeared.
His eyes locked onto a distortion high above the battlefield.
Someone was there.
A cloaked figure.
Solas' expression hardened.
"…You."
The figure didn't move.
But the creatures below suddenly became more violent.
Solas understood.
"You're using the breach as an anchor."
The figure remained silent.
Avdhoot looked up.
For a brief moment—
He felt something.
A pull.
Not physical.
Not magical in any way he understood.
Something had noticed him.
The cloaked figure turned.
Their eyes met.
Only for a second.
Then the figure raised one hand.
The breach expanded.
Avdhoot's instincts screamed.
He stepped forward.
"Move!"
He gathered the strange compressed flame.
This time he didn't force it.
He built it carefully.
Layer by layer.
Heat.
Mana.
Compression.
Control.
The flame became smaller.
But far denser.
He released it into the centre of the breach.
BOOM!
The corruption recoiled.
For one second—
The creatures froze.
Then the breach surged back.
The backlash struck Avdhoot.
He was thrown across the arena.
He hit the ground hard.
"AVDHOOT!"
Priya ran toward him.
Avdhoot pushed himself upright.
His vision blurred.
The breach was still open.
Worse—
It was growing.
Irawen looked toward the cloaked figure.
"…You're not trying to invade."
The figure finally spoke.
"No."
A pause.
"I'm opening a door."
Irawen's expression hardened.
"To what?"
The figure said nothing.
The breach pulsed.
The entire academy trembled.
Professor Kapoor looked toward the students.
"Everyone out."
Her voice carried across the arena.
"Now."
For the first time, the professors stopped fighting to win.
They began fighting to contain.
The Celestial Convergence was over.
The arena had become a war zone.
And somewhere beyond the breach—
Something was trying to come through.
[End of Chapter 35]