Merlin felt the world tighten around him.
Kessler finished:
"We are initiating a full-scale protection and interrogation protocol. Effective immediately."
The door of wards pulsed, waiting.
Merlin took a breath.
Everything was changing again.
And this time—
the academy wasn't ignoring the threat.
It was preparing for war.
The ward-door sealed behind them with a sound like a thousand locks snapping shut at once—quiet, final, and absolute. The moment it closed, Merlin felt the shift in ambient mana immediately. This chamber wasn't just reinforced. It was clad in layered defensive spells, the air thick with invisible boundaries designed to trap or kill anything that didn't belong.
Even the temperature dropped several degrees as the runic ceiling activated, bathing the room in a cold, sterile white glow.
Elara instinctively stepped closer to Merlin.
Nathan's eyes darted around. "This… isn't the usual briefing hall."
Kessler didn't slow. "It's not meant to be."
