For most of the first-year students, nothing appeared to happen.
The Mirage Hermit stood at the center of Zenith's orientation stage, looking over the one hundred and eighty-seven students seated before him.
Then he raised one hand.
No chant.
No formation.
No visible mana.
No warning.
The world simply disappeared.
Every first-year student went completely still.
One hundred and eighty-seven pairs of eyes remained open.
Their bodies remained upright in their seats.
Some still held notebooks.
One student had been whispering to the person beside him and froze with his mouth half-open.
Alash Vortex remained leaning comfortably with his pillow between his arms.
Yet none of them were seeing the orientation hall anymore.
The hall itself fell into immediate chaos.
"What happened?"
A professor stood sharply.
Another's mana surged.
Three defensive formations activated simultaneously around the first-year seating area.
"Headmaster!"
"Don't touch the students!"
