The room was chaos until, moments later, more professors burst in through the doors, their faces pale, eyes wide as they took in the wreckage the shattered mirror, the body of the fallen professor, and the blood on the floor.
"Clear the area. Now!" Professor Liu barked, his voice firm and cutting through the noise.
Students began shuffling out, dazed. Kai started toward the exit, hands shoved into his pockets, when Professor Sunderland, Pearl stepped into his path.
"No. Not you," she said sharply, pointing at him.
Kai arched a brow, smirking. "What, and here I thought I'd earned a cookie or something."
No one laughed. The weight of the moment still pressed on them like a storm cloud. Kai sighed, shrugging. "Tough crowd. Seriously, I'll stay. Don't all clap at once."
Pearl was already bending over Quentin, who still sat frozen on the floor, pale and rattled. Liu knelt beside Alice, checking her over.
"Yeah, I'm… uh… I'm okay. Thanks for asking, guys," Kai muttered dryly.
"Shut up, Kai," Kady hissed, not even looking at him.
Pearl focused on Quentin, softening her voice. "Quentin, how did the Beast know your name? Think. Try to describe the creature. And how did it get here?"
Quentin fidgeted, struggling for words, his mind still spiraling from the encounter.
Kai, leaning against a desk, muttered just loud enough, "Geez, he acts like the Beast asked him out on a date."
Penny shot him a look. "Dude. Can you be serious for once? We nearly got killed."
Kai grinned, completely unfazed. "Hey, life's all danger, buddy. Some people just prefer to make it interesting."
The other students clustered near the door gave him wary glances like they weren't sure if he was brave, unhinged, or both.
'Besides,' Kai thought to himself, 'I can't die.'
Moments later, a stretcher team entered, solemn as they lifted the lifeless professor's body. Another team gently loaded Dean Fogg, who had mercifully passed out from blood loss.
Pearl's attention turned to Alice. "Alice, tell me everything you saw."
Alice swallowed hard. "We were frozen. Some kind of paralysis spell locked down the whole room. Kai… I don't know how, but he moved first after it broke. He attacked the Beast maimed its hands, trapped it in fire. He... stopped it."
Pearl's brows knit together. "Stopped it how?"
"I don't know. He just… he did it."
Pearl shifted her gaze to Penny. "And you? What do you remember?"
"I told you already," Penny said with irritation. "The Dean had something. I don't know what it was or where it went."
Pearl nodded grimly, then turned to Kai, who had perched himself in a chair, looking all too relaxed for the situation.
"Kai," she said carefully. "How did you know those spells? According to your entrance exams, you had no formal magical training. Who taught you?"
Kai spread his hands. "Okay, look… I didn't want to seem weird, all right? But my parents… they were into all kinds of stuff. Along the way, they stumbled onto magic. Kind of a family hobby."
Pearl narrowed her eyes. "Those spells you used they're not what we teach here. They're different. How do you explain that?"
Kai leaned back, casual. "Incantation magic. They developed most of those spells themselves. Private research."
'Well, not entirely,' Kai thought. 'I don't actually need incantations at all but no reason to admit that.'
"Unique," Pearl said at last.
"Yeah, well… they were overachievers."
"We'll discuss this again later," Pearl said pointedly.
Kai saluted lazily. "Aye aye, Captain."
Pearl moved to address the class. Standing at the front of the ruined room, she tried to bring a sense of calm.
"I know you're all shaken. You want answers. Here's what I can tell you: we live in a world among many worlds. The creature you saw the Beast came from one of them. We don't know its exact nature, but it was powerful, malevolent, and it is gone now."
'Oh, my dear… you've no idea,' Kai thought darkly.
He couldn't help himself. Quietly, he muttered, "I wouldn't be too sure about that just yet."
Kady, beside him, glanced over. "What was that?"
"Nothing," Kai said, flashing her an innocent grin.
She exchanged a look with Penny, who just shook his head, as if to say, 'don't even bother.'
Pearl went on, droning about wards, shields, security things Kai had no patience for at that moment. His mind wandered. 'Julia… she should be with Marina by now. I hope she's not doing anything reckless.'
Suddenly, Pearl's voice snapped him back.
"There will be a quiz on this material next week."
Kai groaned dramatically, throwing his head back. "Ah, yes. A pop quiz. Just what I needed after being nearly murdered. Truly, the cherry on top of today."
No one responded. The room emptied as students shuffled out, leaving Kai leaning there, smirking after them.
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