Time stretched out painfully as the heart-shaped magic circle hung above the academy, its purple-pink glow casting an eerie light over everything.
Most of the knights, who had been on alert when it first appeared, were now slumped against walls or sitting on the ground.
Some were napping in shifts, jolting awake every so often only to find that nothing had changed.
They muttered to each other in low tones, their initial anxiety dulled by the strange calm that had settled over the grounds.
***
Inside one of the professor's offices, a group of teachers had gathered, their expressions weary but curious as they continued to debate the strange magic circle.
Books were scattered across tables, ancient texts and scrolls pulled from dusty shelves, all in an attempt to decode the symbols hovering over the academy.
Professor Darian, an older man with streaks of silver in his hair, leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples.
"We've been studying that circle for hours, and we're no closer to understanding it.
Maybe we're overthinking this.
It could be some student trying to pull a prank."
The tension in the room lightened as a few of the professors chuckled.
Professor Talon smirked, crossing his arms.
"Right! Perhaps one of the students has gone grand with romance and is trying to impress a girl.
You know how these young ones can be."
Laughter rippled through the group, and even the most serious professors found themselves chuckling.
Then, Professor Lynn, a soft-spoken woman with deep, thoughtful eyes, stood by the window, gazing up at the luminous circle.
She squinted, unfazed by the glare of its light.
"It's... beautiful," she murmured, almost to herself.
"Something that looks this lovely couldn't possibly mean harm."
Her admiration was cut short by a sickening sound.
Suddenly, her head burst open, a spray of blood exploding from her neck, painting the window in dark red streaks.
The warm, coppery scent of blood filled the air.
Lynn's body crumpled to the floor, a gruesome mess of flesh and blood pooling around her as her colleagues froze in horror.
From the place where her neck had split open, a grotesque creature twisted itself free.
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It was black, with an elongated, writhing body, like shadows made solid.
A single, large purple eye blinked open, its pupil pulsing with a sickly glow, casting an ominous gleam across the room.
The eye was cold and watchful, seeming to savor the fear emanating from the professors around it.
Someone screamed, and chaos broke loose.
Professor Royce, who had been standing closest, scrambled backward, covering his mouth as bile rose in his throat.
But there was no escape; the towering heart-shaped magic circle pulsed above, casting an ominous pink glow that bathed everything in eerie light.
Thunder rolled overhead, and the rain, which had been steady and cold, suddenly changed.
Now, it poured thick and red, drenching white uniforms in dark, spreading stains, turning puddles into pools of crimson that rippled under frantic, pounding feet.
One by one, students stumbled, fell, or froze, and each time someone's terrified eyes met the creature lurking in the rain or the ghastly light above, it happened again.
A head would burst in a splatter of blood, and from the gory remnants, a creature would twist free, something nightmarish and wrong.
It would crawl from its host, a dark, slithering thing with an enormous, single eye that gleamed purple, casting death wherever it gazed.
In the chaos, some of the sharp-minded students had pieced together the deadly pattern.
A voice rang out, hoarse and panicked.
"Don't look! Don't look at it!
Cover your eyes!
Stay down, keep your heads low!"
More took up the desperate command, each warning shouted with rising fear.
"Look down! Don't stare at the light, don't even look at the rain!"
But panic was a relentless force, and many students, drenched and trembling, lifted their eyes in instinctive, horrified curiosity—and fell to the same fate.
With each new victim, the blood-red rain pounded harder, pooling around their bodies, staining grass and earth alike.
In the center of it all, a girl with brown hair knelt on the soaked ground, her whole body shivering as rain poured down her face, mixing with her tears.
She clutched a small cross necklace in one trembling hand, her head bowed as she sobbed and whispered into the storm, her voice barely audible over the chaos.
"Dear gods above, please, please save me,
Let this terror end, set my heart free.
I've sinned, I've strayed, I've lost my way,
But spare me here, don't let me sway."
Blood-streaked, her fingers trembled, and her eyes squeezed shut as she clung to her only anchor of hope.
"In this dark night, hear my plea,
Keep the monsters far from me.
With this cross, my faith I bind,
Shelter me, gods, don't be unkind..."
Her voice choked as fresh tears mixed with the blood rain streaming down her face, her hands clasped tightly around the cross.
"Take this fear, this cursed breath,
Spare me now from endless death...
And when the morning light does break,
Let me wake, gods, let me wake."
She shuddered, her small prayers mingling with the storm, clinging to her last shred of hope in the crimson downpour.