"What happens to us, the teachers undergoing assessment?!" she cried out again, voice nearly breaking. "We don't carry our own results! You all know how the assessment works! It's based on our students' performance! And now they're gone! Taken! Not even allowed to finish!"
A hush fell across the coliseum once again—this time not imposed by magic, but by realization.
"In this Academy," she continued, her voice more strained now, "Mana Specialists who are still in assessment are bound by their students' results! So if the students… if they fail…" Her lips quivered. "Does that mean we fail, too?"
She didn't need to finish.
Everyone understood.
Some began to look around, whispering quietly, uncertain whether to feel pity or not.
Others glanced at the Black Vale knights, then at Old Duldor, expecting him to respond.
He did.
He didn't move.
Didn't turn.
Didn't even sigh.
He simply said, in a voice low and ancient:
"Yes."
