The corridor leading toward the Silver Dorms was strangely empty.

That alone would have been suspicious in Awakener Supreme, where the hallways were usually alive with students, chatter, footsteps, and the occasional burst of magic from some idiot showing off to a friend.

But this stretch of stone passage remained oddly quiet, almost deliberately so, as though someone had made sure the usual traffic had been rerouted for the sake of a conversation that was not meant to be overheard.

Kallan Kallahan noticed that first.

He walked at the front of the group with his hands in his pockets and his jaw set in that familiar expression of annoyed confidence he always wore when he wanted the world to remember who he was.

Residue of lightning shimmered around his fingers every now and then, little sparks dancing across his knuckles as though his body could not quite contain the power he had already absorbed from the Society’s upgrades.

Behind him came the rest of the crew in loose formation, each one carrying the same mixture of swagger and spite.

Baroq moved like a wall with legs, broad shoulders rolling with every step, his heavy frame making the quiet hallway feel even narrower than it was.

Stacey Blue walked lazily. She lived a life free from stress so didn’t like to hurry. Her styled hair fell over one shoulder as she glanced around with the subtle contempt of someone who believed the academy existed to confirm her superiority.

Cecil and Cillian, the Temperature Twins, trailed near each other as they always did, one with the smugness of heat and the other with the colder, more detached stare of frost. The five of them looked like trouble before they had even spoken.

And, as usual, trouble was exactly what they were there for.

​"I’m just saying, if we’re going to shake down a Second Year, we need an entrance line," Cecil argued, adjusting his uniform collar. "Something that lets them know the heat is on."

​"That’s painfully cliché," Cillian said to his brother, rolling his eyes. "We need something chilling. Something that freezes the blood in their veins."

​"Both of you, shut up," Kallan snapped over his shoulder. "We aren’t here to impress them. We’re here to collect the Society’s dues. That’s it."

​Baroq lumbered alongside them, scratching his massive, thick-skulled head. "Wait. What exactly are we here to do again? I thought we were looking for that one kid who talked back to Lord Cobra."

​"No, you idiot," Kallan sighed heavily. "That was yesterday. Today we are—"

Kallan stopped walking.

The others followed a beat later, sensing the change in his posture before they fully understood it.

Kallan stood very still, his eyes narrowing as he tilted his head a fraction, as though listening to something only he could hear. The faint crackle of lightning around his hand dimmed and then rose again.

"Do you guys feel that?" he asked.

The twins exchanged a look.

"Feel what?" Cecil asked.

Kallan didn’t respond right away. His eyes shifted, his gaze hardening with each passing second.

"There’s static in the air," he said quietly.

That got everyone’s attention.

Baroq’s brow furrowed. "Static?"

Kallan took one slow step forward, then stopped again. "Yeah."

"I should have expected you would pick that up." a new voice echoed from behind them.

Startled, the five of them turned. There in the distance, they found Lancet Leogardt standing and smiling.

He looked relaxed in a way that made the moment worse for them. His hands were loose at his sides, his expression bright but unhurried, making it obvious he had not stumbled into them by accident.

He looked as though he had been expecting them all along, and that thought alone made Kallan’s expression twist.

Lancet’s smile widened as he gazed directly at Kallan. "You’re a Lightning Mage after all."

Kallan’s eyes flared blue. "You!"

He thrust one hand forward at once, lightning snapping into existence around his palm in a compact ball of blue-white fury. The air hissed. The corridor brightened in an instant, electric arcs crawling over his fingers as he prepared to strike.

Lancet’s grin widened. "Straight to the fight, huh?" he said, sounding almost amused. "Heh. I’m not even complaining."

He lifted his own hand.

Lightning gathered there too, coiling in a sharp, dense sphere of power that crackled louder than Kallan’s and burned brighter than it should have at this distance. The sight made the others stiffen.

Lancet’s eyes gleamed. "It’s just how I want it."

Baroq frowned sharply, glancing at Kallan. "Is this a good move?"

Kallan did not answer right away, his gaze fixed on Lancet as the air between them tightened. Baroq continued anyway, not sounding nearly as confident now as before.

"He beat us last time. And he killed a Demon Head." His eyes narrowed as the truth settled heavier into the group. "Have you not heard? They’re calling him Demon Dissector now."

Kallan’s face darkened instantly. "What are you yapping about, Baroq?" he snapped. "Have you forgotten we’ve also leveled up? Thanks to the upgrades we got from the Society we’re more powerful than ever!"

He cocked his hands. "Stop being afraid."

Baroq’s jaw clenched but he said nothing.

Kallan glared into the corridor ahead. "There are still more of us. We just have to be more coordinated than last time. Twins, prepare to flank."

"Alright," Cecil said, rolling his shoulders with a grin that looked more forced than confident.

"Stacey," Kallan ordered, "make him too scared to move."

No answer came. Kallan blinked and turned his head.

"Stacey?"

The others looked too.

Stacey was standing perfectly still, far more still than she should have been. Her eyes were wide. Her lips had parted slightly. Her whole body had taken on the stiff, panicked look of someone who had just realized the nightmare standing in front of her was real.

She was not preparing to use her mind magic.

In fact, she looked like she was the one too scared to move.

Lancet knew why. He saw it immediately in the way her face drained of color. She remembered the bathroom and what he had done to her when she tried to manipulate him.

Her fingers twitched once at her side and then froze again.

"Ngh!" Kallan barked, furious now. "Leave her! Just attack him!"

"Attack who?"

The bullies turned and realized that Lancet wasn’t in front of them anymore. He was above them!