The week of detention did nothing to ease the tensions between Shadaiku and Gashuki. They sat in silence on opposite sides of a dusty library, forced to copy old, meaningless runes as punishment. The air between them was as thick and charged as a storm cloud. Mileina tried once to offer them some of the tea she had brought, but both boys just grunted in refusal, not looking up from their work. Kanochi, who had thankfully avoided detention, was nowhere to be seen, likely hiding away in his room.
They were four isolated islands, and the sea between them was growing rougher.
The atmosphere across the entire academy shifted a few days later with the arrival of a new transfer student. His name was Kiran.
He didn't look like much at first—tall, with a lean build and sharp, calculating eyes that scanned the grand hall like he was already pricing everything he saw. But the whispers started almost immediately, passed from the older students to the younger ones in hushed, fearful tones.
_"That's him... from the West District."_
_"I heard he took down five senior enchanters by himself at his last school."_
_"He doesn't use magic like we do... he fights dirty."_
Shadaiku was coming down the main staircase when he saw him. The moment his eyes landed on Kiran, his blood ran cold. All the color drained from his face, and his usual swift, confident posture locked up rigid. He stumbled back a step, his hand gripping the banister until his knuckles turned white.
Mileina, who was nearby, noticed immediately. "Shadaiku? Are you okay?" she asked, her voice full of concern.
He didn't answer. He just stared, a haunted look in his eyes. Without a word, he turned and quickly walked away in the opposite direction, disappearing into the crowd.
Gashuki saw the whole interaction. He saw the fear on Shadaiku's face—real, genuine fear, not just annoyance. It was so out of character for the smirking, fast-talking boy that it gave Gashuki pause. He looked at the new student, Kiran, with a new, wary interest. Anyone who could shut Shadaiku up that completely was someone to be careful of.
Later that day, the story found its way to Kanochi. He overheard two seniors talking in the sparring yard.
"...and the new guy, Kiran? Yeah, he and that lightning-fast new kid, Shadaiku, have history. Rumor is they got into it back in the city. Shadaiku thought he was tough, but Kiran... he didn't even use magic. Just beat him down. Badly. Left him in an alley. Guess some people never learn their place."
Kanochi felt a strange twist in his gut. He didn't like Shadaiku. The guy was arrogant and irritating. But the idea of someone being that brutal, that merciless, sent a familiar, hot anger creeping up his spine. He didn't like bullies.
Kiran's first few days were a masterclass in intimidation. He didn't need to shout or threaten. A look was enough. He would shoulder-check students in the hall and never apologize. He would take the best seat in the library and glare until the previous occupant left. He was a predator, and the entire academy was his territory. The teachers saw it but had no concrete reason to act.
What no one saw was the darkness that had followed him to Atarashi.
That night, Kiran stood alone in the darkest corner of the academy's outdoor gardens, a place where the magical light from the spires didn't reach. He was muttering to himself, furious.
"This place is full of weaklings," he snarled at the shadows. "They talk a big game, but they're all soft. I need real power. Not this pathetic parlor trick magic they teach here. I need the power to make everyone bow. The power I was promised."
He had come to Atarashi because he'd heard it was the best. But it wasn't enough. He craved more. He always had.
As if answering his deepest desire, the shadows around him began to writhe. They deepened, becoming a blackness so absolute it felt like a hole in the world. From the void, a voice, smooth as silk and cold as the grave, slithered into his mind.
"You hunger for more... I can feel it. A delicious ambition."
Kiran didn't jump. He smiled. "Who's there? Show yourself!"
"I am the answer to your plea," the voice whispered. "They offer you a cup of water when you crave an ocean. I can give you the ocean. I can give you power that will make these insects tremble at your very shadow."
A tendril of pure darkness, colder than ice, reached out and touched Kiran's chest. He gasped as a terrifying, wonderful energy flooded into him. It was intoxicating. It felt like ultimate strength.
"I am Kurozai. Serve me, and the world will be yours to break."
Kiran threw his head back and laughed, a sound that was swallowed by the hungry dark. "Yes! This is it! This is the power I deserve!" He clenched his fist, and dark energy crackled around it, swallowing the light. He was fully aware of the monstrous gift he had been given. And he welcomed it.
The clash happened in the main courtyard the next afternoon. Kanochi was walking back from the training grounds, his mind on controlling the flickers of flame that still sometimes leapt from his fingers without warning.
He turned a corner and saw Kiran. The taller boy had a first-year student pinned against a wall by his shoulder. "I said I wanted your notes," Kiran said, his voice dangerously calm. "Are your ears not working?"
"L-let me go!" the younger student stammered, terrified.
Something in Kanochi snapped. The memory of the alley, the shame of his own anger, the sight of a stronger person preying on a weaker one—it all coalesced into a single, burning point of rage.
"Hey!" Kanochi yelled, his voice echoing across the courtyard.
Kiran slowly turned his head, a bored expression on his face. He released the first-year, who scrambled away without looking back. "What do you want, Firecracker? I hear you have trouble controlling that little spark of yours."
"Pick on someone your own size," Kanochi said, stepping forward, a flame igniting in his palm.
Kiran laughed. "I am. You're all small." He looked Kanochi up and down with disdain. "You think because you can make a campfire, you're a threat? I've crushed tougher bugs than you."
That was all it took. With a roar, Kanochi launched a fireball directly at Kiran's chest.
The fight was on.
Kiran didn't even flinch. He simply held up a hand, and a shield of swirling darkness erupted from his palm. The fireball hit it and was snuffed out of existence with a hiss, as if it had been thrown into a black hole.
"Pathetic," Kiran spat.
He retaliated. He thrust his hands forward, and lances of solidified shadow shot towards Kanochi. Kanochi dove behind a stone bench. The shadow lances struck it, and where they hit, the stone didn't crack—it corroded, turning to dust.
The students who had gathered to watch gasped and backed away. This wasn't normal academy sparring. This was something else. This was dangerous.
Kanochi leapt out from behind the bench, unleashing a torrent of fire. Kiran simply walked through it, the flames parting around his dark aura. He moved with an unnatural speed and backhanded Kanochi across the face. The blow wasn't just physical; it felt like a blast of freezing cold despair. Kanochi stumbled, his vision swimming.
"Is that all?" Kiran taunted, kicking him in the stomach. Kanochi doubled over, gasping for air. "The great elemental vessel? You're a joke."
Kanochi tried to fight back, but it was useless. Kiran's dark magic was on another level. He was faster, stronger, and his power was corrosive and cruel. He blocked every attack and countered with blows that drained Kanochi's energy and spirit. He was playing with him.
Finally, Kiran ended it. He grabbed Kanochi by the throat with one hand, dark energy choking the air from him. With his other hand, he gathered a pulsating sphere of pure black energy.
"Let's see how you handle this," Kiran sneered.
He slammed the sphere point-blank into Kanochi's chest.
There was no explosion. There was a terrible, silent implosion. The dark energy flooded into Kanochi, and he screamed. It was a sound of pure agony. He felt his own fire magic being extinguished, his energy being devoured by the cold void. He was thrown backwards, skidding across the courtyard pavement, coming to a stop in a broken heap. His clothes were singed with dark energy, and he could barely move. The will to fight was completely gone. He had lost.
Kiran stood over him, smirking. "Looks like the fire's gone out."
It was then that a blur shot between them. Shadaiku stood there, his body trembling slightly, but his fists clenched. He had seen the end of the fight from a window, and despite his fear, he couldn't let it happen. Not again.
"Stay away from him," Shadaiku said, his voice quieter than usual.
Kiran's eyes lit up with malicious joy. "Well, well. The little speed bump. Come to get beaten up again? I thought you'd learned your lesson."
Shadaiku said nothing. He just got into a defensive stance, his mind racing, screaming at him to run.
Kiran laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "Who's this small brat who comes to intimidate me? I'll crush you in seconds!"
He didn't bother with a simple attack. He wanted to erase Shadaiku from existence. He gathered his hands together, and a massive, swirling vortex of darkness formed between them, howling like a thousand lost souls. It was far more powerful than anything he'd used on Kanochi. The air grew cold, and the light around them dimmed.
"Void Lance!" Kiran roared, and he hurled the devastating spear of darkness straight at Shadaiku's heart.
Shadaiku's eyes went wide. There was no time to think, no time to plan. There was only instinct and a desperate, overwhelming need to survive. He didn't try to dodge. He did the only thing he could think of. He put all of his fear, all his anger, all his unpredictable energy into one motion.
He punched forward.
As his fist flew, the air around it crackled violently. Blue-white sparks, wild and untamed, erupted from his knuckles, covering his arm in a chaotic glove of lightning. He wasn't trying to use magic; he was just trying to hit back.
His lightning-wreathed fist connected with the tip of the incoming Void Lance.
There was a tremendous CRACK-BOOM! of thunder and a flash of blinding light.
The dark energy of the lance didn't absorb the lightning. It reacted to it. The chaotic, positive energy of the lightning disrupted the ordered, negative energy of the darkness. The Void Lance didn't explode outward—it rebounded.
The blast of dark energy reversed its course and slammed directly into a shocked and unprepared Kiran. His eyes bulged in utter disbelief a second before the force of his own attack lifted him off his feet and threw him twenty feet backwards into a stone wall. He hit it with a sickening thud and slid to the ground, completely unconscious, dark smoke rising from his chest.
Silence...
Deafening, absolute silence fell over the courtyard.
Shadaiku stood there, panting, his fist still outstretched. Tiny arcs of blue electricity still jumped between his fingers. He looked from his own hand to Kiran's motionless body, completely stunned by what he had just done.
The silence was broken by the sound of running feet. Gashuki and Mileina, drawn by the noise of the fight, arrived at the scene. They took in the destroyed courtyard, Kanochi lying injured on the ground, Kiran knocked out against a wall, and Shadaiku standing in the middle of it all, crackling with residual power.
Their eyes met. For the first time, the anger and misunderstanding between them were gone, replaced by a single, shared, terrifying thought.
What just happened?
The secret was out. They weren't normal students. And the world had just become a much more dangerous place.