Nathan stepped forward hesitantly. "Headmistress, what exactly was that thing? I've never seen corruption behave like that. It… adapted."
Morgana's eyes softened slightly, as if she'd expected the question.
She moved behind her desk, touching one of the hovering runic sigils. It shimmered, and a three-dimensional projection of the academy grounds appeared, centered on the crater they'd just left.
"Corruption normally relies on a host," she said. "A living organism, human, beast, or elemental residue, to bind itself to. What you fought was something different."
She zoomed in, showing black threads of energy branching like veins through the soil. "This construct's energy signature doesn't match any known alchemical, demonic, or human-made pattern. It's a null-energy core, a containment mechanism from a… less understood domain."
Liliana blinked. "Less understood… meaning?"
"Meaning," Morgana said quietly, "it shouldn't exist here at all."
The room fell silent.
