Divided by Dawn

The walk to the Twilight Dueling Arena felt like a death row march. Henry could feel every stare from the other students, their whispers following him like dead leaves in the wind. News of his "mishap" in class had spread like wildfire. He wasn't just the mysterious new kid anymore; he was the unstable anomaly.

The arena was a wide, open-air circle of polished stone, surrounded by empty stands. In the center, Headmistress Elara and Master Kael waited next to several diagnostic crystals that hummed softly. The sky above was a bruised painting of orange, purple, and indigo. The sun was a dying ember on the horizon.

"Mr. Henry, please take your position in the center," Headmistress Elara said, her formal voice barely hiding the academic excitement in her violet eyes. "Just relax. Let the energy flow naturally. The crystals will record everything."

Henry walked to the center of the arena, his heart hammering out a funeral dirge. *Relax?* That was like asking a man at the guillotine to loosen his neck muscles. He could feel it coming—that familiar itch under his skin, the cold seeping into his veins.

*This is going to be fun,* Tsukuyomi giggled in his mind, her presence a weirdly comforting cold spot against his panic.

The last sliver of sun vanished. For a heartbeat, there was a suspended silence. Then, the temperature in the arena plummeted.

A sudden, crushing pressure descended on everyone, an aura so thick and predatory it made the diagnostic crystals whine erratically before cracking, one by one. Master Kael and Headmistress Elara took an instinctive step back.

The boy in the center of the arena wasn't the boy anymore. His white hair had bled into a deep, starless black, and when he lifted his head, his eyes glowed with a malevolent crimson light. A slow, arrogant smirk spread across his lips.

"So," the new Henry said, his voice a smooth, dangerous baritone. "This is the famous 'diagnostic'? I have to say, I'm a bit underwhelmed. I was expecting more... fireworks." He glanced at the shattered crystals. "Oh, dear. I think I broke your toys. You really should invest in better equipment if you plan on poking things you don't understand."

"Your aura..." Master Kael whispered, his smoke-hands twitching nervously. "It's pure entropy. It's not just an affinity for shadow, it's darkness itself."

"Ten points for the smoke professor," Henry mocked, giving a sarcastic bow. "And the headmistress? What does your profound wisdom deduce from this little transformation?"

Headmistress Elara regained her composure. "You are the nocturnal manifestation. The personality Joseph warned us about. You are under the authority of Aegis Academy. I suggest you cooperate."

Henry laughed, a sound that echoed unnervingly in the silent arena. "Control? Cooperation? Such small words. So... limiting." He started walking toward them, each step oozing casual menace. "You think you've built a cage for a wolf, when in reality, you've invited an abyss inside your fragile walls."

"That is enough!" Elara's voice cracked with authority. "You will be contained!"

"Is that your best threat?" Henry tilted his head, the smirk widening. "How about a counter-offer?" He stopped, and the shadows on the arena floor writhed. They shot up, not as tentacles, but as razor-sharp claws, meters long, aimed directly at the two professors. "How about I teach you a lesson about what happens when you poke the dark?"

He lunged forward.

The instant the shadow claws were about to hit their marks, a blinding light flooded the arena. It was brighter, purer than any of his previous outbursts. It was warm, like the midday sun, and it carried an authority you couldn't question.

From the top of the stands, a figure descended, not walking, but gliding through the air on a platform of solid light. It was a woman. She wore immaculate white robes, trimmed with gold thread that formed intricate patterns. On the chest of her robe, a symbol glowed with its own power: a radiant sun.

"That is enough," the woman's voice was calm, but it resonated with a power that made the very air vibrate.

Henry froze, snarling at the newcomer. The light she gave off was physically painful, searing his skin like acid.

The woman ignored his death glare. She raised a hand. In her palm, a sphere of golden plasma formed, spinning and pulsing. It was a miniature sun, a newborn star. With a gentle flick, she sent it high above the arena. The tiny sun erupted in a silent flare, bathing everything in a convincing, relentless daylight.

For the nocturnal Henry, it was agony. He screamed, an inhuman sound of rage and pain, dropping to his knees as the artificial sunlight bombarded him. The darkness was ripped from him, his body convulsing violently. His black hair flickered, turning back to white. His red eyes went dark, the terrified blue returning. The forced transformation was a thousand times worse than the natural one.

He collapsed onto the stone floor, unconscious, back in his daytime form.

The woman in white landed softly on the arena floor. She glanced at the fallen boy, then at the two stunned professors.

"Headmistress Elara, Master Kael," she said, her voice flat. "You were informed he was a special case. What, exactly, made you think a 'diagnostic' at twilight was a good idea?" Her eyes, as golden as the sun she had made, shone with disapproval. "From now on, the case of student Henry is under my jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the Solari Clan."