BANG! BANG! BANG!
Maria went to the door. She clenched her fists to hide the slight trembling caused by fatigue and stress. She turned the lock.
The door was shoved inward.
Three men entered.
Two gigantic guards in full black metal armor with helmets covering their faces, and a thin man in a dark navy uniform with the silver badge of "Internal Security" on his chest.
The security officer regarded Maria without expression. As if he were looking at a hardened criminal, not a ten-year-old student.
"Maria Alessandra?"
Maria swallowed.
"Yes."
At this moment, the bathroom door opened.
Warm steam and the smell of soap rushed into the room. Sarah, unaware of everything, stepped out with a white towel wrapped around her wet hair and a flushed face.
"Maria, I think you used my shamp—"
Her words froze in her throat.
Sarah stared with wide eyes at the two armored giant men and the man in black standing in the middle of their bedroom. The towel fell from her hand.
"W... What's going on?"
The security officer didn't even turn his head toward Sarah. His gaze was locked on Maria.
"Maria Alessandra, on charges of 'involvement in the Eastern Zone explosion' and 'violation of Level 5 protocols,' you are summoned for initial interrogation."
For a moment, Maria couldn't feel her legs.
Interrogation. Not a reprimand.
This had become a security case.
Sarah jumped forward, her voice trembling but trying to be brave.
"Wait! She didn't do anything! She was with me all night!"
The officer raised his hand, a dry and decisive motion.
"Your testimony will be recorded later, Miss. Do not interfere now, or you will be arrested for complicity."
Maria looked quickly at Sarah and begged with her eyes for her to be quiet.
"Sarah, please. Don't say anything."
Then she brought her hands forward.
"No need for violence. I'll come myself."
The guards flanked her. Like two black walls. Maria looked smaller and more fragile than ever between them.
Without a chance to say goodbye, they took her out of the room. Sarah remained trembling in the doorway, watching her friend leave.
News of the Special Guard's arrival had traveled faster than the Guard itself.
Room doors were half-open.
Dozens of heads peeked out. Girls in pajamas watching the arrest scene with a mix of fear and curiosity.
The silence of the corridor was broken. The sound of whispers echoed in Maria's ears like the sound of a swarm of locusts.
"It's her..."
"They say she caused the explosion. Maybe she's a spy for 'Seragonia'!"
"Look at her... how calm she is. Like it's not her first time."
Maria kept her eyes on the floor.
She felt the weight of the stares. Until yesterday, she was the "Strategy Hero" who defeated Damian. Now? Now she was a "Dangerous Criminal" being taken with a military escort.
Every step she took, she felt her distance from a normal student life growing leagues apart.
It felt like a public sentencing.
And Maria knew that even if she were acquitted, this image of arrest would remain in these kids' minds forever.
They didn't take Maria toward the administration building.
Their path veered. Toward the northern side of the Academy, where gray, windowless stone buildings stood.
A building no student wanted to set foot in.
The metal gates of the building opened with a terrifying creak.
The air inside was colder than outside. It smelled of old paper, ink, and something like "stale fear."
The walls were bare stone. No paintings or decorations. Only heavy metal doors with engraved numbers.
The guards guided Maria toward the basement of this building.
The sound of their footsteps on the metal stairs rang like death knells.
Maria shivered.
This wasn't the Headmaster's office where things ended with a warning and grade deduction.
Students called it the 'Detention Center', a place for interrogating spies, traitors, and dangerous mages.
The security officer stopped in front of door number 10. A door with only a small barred window.
"Get in."
Maria entered.
A small room, with stone walls covered in "Anti-Mana Spells." Maria felt her faint connection to mana sever, as if the air itself had grown heavy.
A metal table, chairs and a one-way mirror on the wall.
The door closed behind her.
Maria sat on the cold chair. She looked at her hands.
No way back. Varon is out there... and I'm here. Lonelier than ever.
The cold, white light of the magic lamp hanging from the ceiling shone directly into Maria's face, making her pupils ache.
She wasn't alone.
Three people sat opposite her, on the other side of the metal table.
Senior Security Officer: A man with a stone face and a scar on his neck, leafing through a thick file.
Representative of the Faculty Council: A woman with gray hair in a bun and pince-nez glasses, whose look was full of judgment and disdain.
Scribe: A young, hunched man with his pen ready on the paper.
The silence of the room was broken by a shout from the other side of the wall.
A muffled but clear voice:
"...I'm telling you it was her fault! That crazy girl caused my arm to break! I saw her standing by the device!"
Maria shivered.
Testimonies... they are interrogating the explosion victims.
The security officer closed the file with a loud sound. Bam!
The sound startled Maria.
The officer leaned forward. His shadow fell over Maria.
"Well, Maria Alessandra. Let me be blunt."
His voice was deep and threatening.
"We're not here to search for answers. We already have them: a device exploded, a creature escaped, and you were there."
The Councilwoman added in a dry tone:
"This session is only to decide whether you are 'worth' convening the High Council for tomorrow morning, or if we should sign your expulsion and exile order tonight and throw you out."
Maria's throat tightened.
"So it's in your best interest to answer precisely and thoughtfully."
The officer asked:
"What were you doing in the restricted area behind the dormitory at 2 PM?"
Her thoughts spun rapidly, calculating every possible answer.
If I say I was looking for the creature = Crime. If I say I was with Varon = Complicity.
"I... I heard a sound. The sound of explosion and vibration. I went to see what was going on."
The Councilwoman narrowed her eyes.
"Don't lie. Reports say you were there before the explosion. And more importantly... why are your clothes bloody?"
Maria looked at her clothes. The creature's blood.
"I... I tried to help. One of the students was injured."
"Which student? What's their name?"
Maria was trapped.
The officer slammed his fist on the table.
"Do you know that creature? Witnesses said they saw the creature looking toward you, not toward the forest. As if it was waiting for you."
Maria's heart beat wildly.
"It was a wild animal! How would I know it?"
The officer threw the shattered crystals of Varon's device onto the table.
" Why did you tamper with the circuit? Traces of your mana were found on the broken parts of the device. You caused the explosion, didn't you?"
This was the most dangerous question.
Maria knew that if she said "I wanted to save the creature," she was expelled. If she said "Varon forced me," Varon would destroy her.
She had to tell half the truth.
"I didn't tamper with it to explode... I tried to turn it off!"
Maria shouted with a desperate look (half of which was real):
"The device was becoming unstable! Varon was trapped under debris! If I hadn't cut the current, the whole dormitory would have gone up! I saved everyone's lives!"
The scribe wrote rapidly.
The officer and the Councilwoman looked at each other.
This was a new "narrative." A narrative that turned Maria from a "saboteur" into an "unwilling hero." But would they believe it?
The officer leaned back.
"Enough for now. Take her out."
The guards took Maria out of the room and sat her on the metal bench in the hallway.
The hallway was busy. But not normally busy.
The students injured in incident had been brought in to file complaints and testimonies.
Maria lowered her head; she couldn't bear to look.
A second-year boy with an arm completely in a cast, groaning in pain.
A girl with half her face covered in magical bandages; probably mana burns.
And another girl crying, saying: "I'm scared to go back to the dorm..."
Guilt pressed in, heavy and inescapable.
These are my fault. I brought that creature. I provoked Varon. These kids... were innocent.
One of the injured saw Maria. Pointed at her with a healthy finger and whispered with hatred:
"It's her... that girl. It's all her fault."
Maria closed her eyes. It hurt more than any torture could have.
The door of one of the special rooms at the end of the hall opened. A room that, unlike Maria's, looked furnished and comfortable.
Maria raised her head.
Varon exited.
Unlike Maria, whose clothes were bloody, hair messy, and hands bound, Varon was clean.
He was wearing a formal suit. The wounds on his leg and face were bandaged.
The Head of Security escorted him respectfully to the door.
"We are sorry, Master Varon, for taking your time. The investigation will be completed."
Varon nodded calmly.
"I understand. Academy security is the priority. I hope the main culprit for tampering with my equipment is punished soon."
Varon turned to leave.
On his way out, he passed by Maria's bench.
His steps were measured.
Maria held her breath. She expected Varon to say something, threaten her, or sneer.
But Varon didn't stop.
Just for a moment, he tilted his head and cast a short, fleeting glance at Maria.
A cold, empty, and confident look.
A look that said:
I am the master; you are the student. I am power, you are a tool. I'm going home, and you're staying here to take the fall for our mess.
Varon passed without a word, and the sound of his shoes faded in the hallway.
Maria stared at the empty space. The metal cuffs around her wrists felt colder.
Maria didn't need words. She understood.
Varon was not going to fall.
If someone was going to be sacrificed, that person was Maria.