The standoff outside the massive gates stretched into tense silence as twelve hundred exhausted students watched eleven Imperial class students assert their authority through nothing more than confident posture and subtle magical pressure.
The contrast between the two groups was stark; tired arrivals seeking entry versus established residents defending their territory.
Ren studied the situation with analytical detachment while his mind processed the social dynamics at play.
These weren't upperclassmen intimidating newcomers, these were his actual peers, students who had earned identical recognition but arrived through different paths and were now establishing the hierarchy that would define their relationships for years to come.
Seraphina's welcome had been calculated to assert dominance while maintaining plausible politeness.
