Art stepped out of the shimmering veil of his portal and was immediately greeted by silence. His boots crunched against the ashen soil, brittle and cracked beneath his weight like paper-thin glass.
The academy grounds were no longer recognizable.
A flat, desolate plain stretched endlessly around him. The wind carried dust, but no scent of life. Just dryness and ruin.
Except for one thing.
The library.
Somehow, impossibly, it still stood.
His eyes narrowed, the crackle of mana briefly dancing along his fingertips.
'Why is the library still intact?' he thought. 'And where the hell are the monsters? No corruption, no blood, no signs of battle… this place is too quiet. Too clean. It's like the disaster skipped this spot on purpose.'
But now wasn't the time to unravel mysteries.
