The mana pressure radiated by the Central High Magic Council guards made the air in the main courtyard of the Royal Astra Magic Academy feel so heavy, as if every breath had to be paid with extra effort.
Some first-year students in the back row began to stagger, but the presence of Leon Arven, Serena Rose, and Kai Renford standing in the group's front line successfully held their classmates' mental state from collapsing before the council higher-ups.
Grand Magister Valen did not shift his gaze from Erin at all.
His cold gray eyes stared sharply, trying to find cracks of doubt or panic behind the blue-haired girl's calm expression.
However, what he found was the exact opposite—absolute calmness radiated by Erin's yellow eyes, reminding him indirectly of the woman who once troubled the central council twenty years ago.
"You possess extraordinary courage, Professor Erin," Valen's voice broke the gripping silence, sounding low yet sharply piercing eardrums.
"Standing tall before the High Magic Council without fear. Is that part of the legacy left by your mother before she disappeared from the academy history records?"
Erin raised her chin slightly, staring straight into the middle-aged man's eyes before her.
She knew dodging or pretending not to know wouldn't solve the problem.
The central council wouldn't travel far to this suburban academy without holding evidence or at least strong suspicions regarding the origin of her magic.
"If what you mean by legacy is knowledge on how magic should be used to protect each other, not to oppress or interrogate people in the middle of a people's celebration, then yes... that is the best thing taught by my mother," Erin answered in a calm, firm voice echoing clearly between the academy stone walls.
Several senior professors hearing it immediately held their breath.
Speaking that harshly to a Grand Magister from the central council is a form of open defiance that has never happened before in modern academy history.
Valen's face hardened instantly.
The lines around his mouth grew tenser, and the magic aura around him vibrated heavily showing the destruction of his patience.
"Insolent!" snapped one of the hooded guards behind Valen stepping forward, releasing a blackish mana wave directly pressing the ground around Erin's feet.
However, before that pressure wave could touch Erin, a bright blue light flash shot from the side, deflecting and destroying that dark magic pressure in the blink of an eye with a loud small impact sound.
*Bratak!*
All eyes immediately turned to the light source.
Academy Principal Amelia stood tall with a silver command staff unsheathed in her right hand.
Her facial expression was much colder than ice, radiating absolute authority of a top institution leader who would not let anyone trample her academy's dignity on her own land.
"Enough, Grand Magister Valen," Amelia's voice was cold, sharp, and full of implied threat.
"The Royal Astra Magic Academy has full autonomy over all teaching staff and curriculum running within this territory. If you wish to examine one of my professors under the pretext of her mother's past, show an official warrant from the King or the kingdom's highest judiciary council, not by deploying mercenary guards to scare our students on festival day!"
Valen glanced at Amelia, then shifted his gaze to the silver staff still glowing in the Academy Principal's hand.
Knowing that using physical violence openly within the academy complex before hundreds of witnesses—including merchants, minor nobles, and student families—would trigger a major political scandal difficult to control at the central level.
Valen slowly took a deep breath, suppressing his anger behind a cold smile returning to his lips.
"Academy Principal Amelia... you always protect the wrong people under the pretext of autonomy," Valen spoke in a cynical tone.
"But know this, the mana flow anomaly happening in the northern border region is getting worse every day. The dimensional seal connecting our world with the vacuum void cracks is beginning to weaken. And based on the mana core analysis we tracked, the resonance source of that instability points right to this place... toward this girl."
Hearing the words 'dimensional seal' and 'vacuum void cracks', the atmosphere around the courtyard tensed again differently.
Even professors who were angry earlier now looked pale.
Dimensional cracks are not bedtime fairy tales; they are ancient cosmic disasters that almost wiped out the entire magic civilization hundreds of years ago before being sealed by grand ancestors.