Dark Star Envoy

The real world, Station 13.

Dekola's sudden reversal caught many Dimensional Audience members by surprise.

"Good grief, I originally thought Dekola was just some insignificant minor character. Who knew he was hiding himself so deeply?"

"Sure enough, anyone with a name in an anime is never simple. Even I was fooled by him—I thought he was just plain arrogant and overbearing."

"The Star Envoy Association? Why is Dekola's father so certain that the moment Tiandao and the others expose their identities as Star Envoys, the Star Envoy Association will immediately intervene? Could it be that he has joined forces with the Star Envoy Association?"

Though it had only been a simple exchange of words.

The Dimensional Audience still gleaned quite a few crucial pieces of information from it.

If their guesses were right.

Then the first trouble Tiandao and the others would face next would come from the family behind Dekola.

And while the viewers continued their heated discussions around this speculation.

After a stretch of darkness, the anime's scene shifted to an office three days later.

And this office belonged to Dekola's father, Bordian.

Three days later, Roen Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Skysea Group.

President's office.

"Molten Mountain, you're late."

"Late?"

Facing Bordian, the president of Roen Technology Co., Ltd., who sat at the head of the office.

Molten Mountain, barely five feet tall and covered in a thick beard, swaggered over to a sofa and sat down with his legs spread wide, his attitude exceedingly arrogant.

Ignoring the scrutinizing looks around him, he leisurely pulled out a pair of nail clippers from his coat and began filing his nails.

"Bordian, how am I late? If you ask me, this meeting never needed to happen in the first place."

"Shadow Weaver Lina, Iron Coffin Claude, Plague Doctor Visser."

As Molten Mountain filed his nails, his gaze swept across the other Dark Star Envoys in the room. He knew their names and identities like the back of his hand.

After saying that, Molten Mountain's gaze finally settled on Bordian in the distance.

"They're just a bunch of brats who crawled out of who-knows-where, yet you called every one of us here."

"Bordian, Bordian... I don't know whether you're too timid, or whether you simply don't take me seriously. You should know—"

Molten Mountain raised a hand and, with utter insolence, blew the nail dust he had just filed off toward Bordian.

"—to deal with those brats, Molten Mountain alone is more than enough."

Whoosh—

In response to Molten Mountain's outrageously arrogant behavior.

The bodyguard nearest to him immediately drew the pistol at his waist and pressed it against the back of Molten Mountain's head, threatening, "Shorty, I know you're a Star Envoy, but even a Star Envoy won't get away easily from this distance."

"So apologize to Lord Bordian immediately, or else—"

At the bodyguard's threat, Molten Mountain's pupils abruptly narrowed into molten-lava slits. In a calm voice, he said, "Or else what?"

Molten Mountain turned his head and looked expressionlessly at the bodyguard, who was eager to earn merit.

Yet the bodyguard could not answer his question at all.

Because at some unknown moment, Molten Mountain had already seized the wrist holding his gun.

In an instant, large amounts of white smoke billowed from the skin on his wrist, exposing the gruesome flesh beneath.

Magma poured from Molten Mountain's palm.

As the scalding magma entered the bodyguard's wrist, his flesh immediately began melting like candle wax, revealing the stark white bones underneath.

"Ahhh—!"

Feeling the excruciating pain in his wrist.

The bodyguard screamed as he desperately tried to pull his hand back.

Unfortunately, Molten Mountain's grip was like an iron vise.

No matter how hard he struggled, he could not pull free in the slightest.

In mere moments, the bodyguard who had just threatened Molten Mountain turned into a charred corpse amid roaring blazing flames and toppled headfirst to the ground.

Looking at the artwork he had just created, Molten Mountain licked his cracked lips.

"Looks like he wasn't much after all."

With that, Molten Mountain turned to look at the others.

The remaining bodyguards in the room had all drawn their weapons and aimed them at Molten Mountain beside the sofa, their expressions grave.

Rather than fearing them, Molten Mountain smiled even more cruelly.

A terrifying heat wave suddenly burst from his small body.

Under the heat wave's influence, the office plants immediately began withering and carbonizing at a visible rate.

At this moment, Molten Mountain was like a humanoid volcano that could erupt at any time.

Utterly violent. Utterly... dangerous.

Fortunately, at this tense, sword-drawn-bow-bent moment, Bordian, seated at the head of the room, finally spoke.

"Put your weapons down."

"Lord Bordian—"

"I told you to put your weapons down. Didn't you understand?"

Hearing the sharper edge in Bordian's voice.

Though reluctant, the bodyguards obediently lowered their weapons.

Meanwhile, the other three Dark Star Envoys in the room all adopted an attitude that the matter had nothing to do with them, each continuing with their own business.

Shadow Weaver Lina kept playing with the human-bone harp in her hands without even raising her head, completely immersed in her own world of music.

Iron Coffin Claude focused wholeheartedly on polishing the metal coffin at his feet. His movements were so careful, his gaze so tender, that it seemed as though it was not a coffin at all, but his lover.

Plague Doctor Visser crouched beside the newly formed charred corpse, repeatedly taking syringes of various colors from his coat, seemingly considering which one to inject into the corpse.

So although Molten Mountain's conduct was exceptionally insane.

The other three Dark Star Envoys in the room did not seem normal either. Each had their own peculiarities.

Fortunately, strange as they were, they remained relatively well-behaved for now, far less unhinged than Molten Mountain.

That was what kept the atmosphere in the room from heating up further, allowing it to gradually ease.

Bordian glanced at the charred corpse on the office floor, then looked toward Molten Mountain in the distance and frowned. "Molten Mountain, I naturally have my reasons for gathering all of you here today."

"I know that you, who are said to be invincible below Rank 2, do not take ordinary Rank 1 Star Envoys seriously. But what if the other side, like you, is also about to reach Rank 2?"

The moment those words were spoken, Molten Mountain was stunned for a moment. Then excitement instantly filled his face—he was clearly interested.

Seeing this, Bordian immediately waved a hand.

Although the female secretary was terrified of Molten Mountain in his current state.

She still tremblingly placed a prepared tablet on the table in front of him, then quickly retreated to Bordian's side.

Molten Mountain picked up the tablet from the table and examined it curiously.

A moment later, Molten Mountain burst into booming laughter. Overwhelmed by intense excitement, he uncontrollably crushed the tablet in his hand.

"Interesting, so interesting!"

"A favored child of heaven only twelve years old, yet already possessing more than eight hundred points of Star Energy Value."

"Bordian, you've really found me an excellent toy this time!"

Looking at the exhilarated Molten Mountain, Bordian nodded. "A Genius Star Envoy who is only twelve years old, yet already on the verge of entering Rank 2."

"Molten Mountain, now that you know this, do you still question why I called all of you here today?"

"A genius like Tiandao cannot possibly be some rootless commoner without any background."

"I do not know his origins, but after several encounters through my son, I discovered that aside from the transfer student called Tiandao Siming, the other three transfer students are also Rank 1 Star Envoys."

"To be able to send so many young Genius Star Envoys at once, the organization behind them... must be immensely powerful."

"Molten Mountain, be careful. They will not be easy to handle."

Bordian had thought that after saying this, Molten Mountain would straighten up his attitude and take Tiandao and the others seriously.

But he had still underestimated Molten Mountain's arrogance, as well as his nearly pathological taste for amusement.

Molten Mountain tossed away the tablet in his hand, then headed outside without hesitation.

"Interesting. This is getting more and more interesting."

"A group of young Genius Star Envoys? You should know that what I, Molten Mountain, love most is watching these self-righteous geniuses kneel before me and endlessly beg for mercy in their ugly disgrace."

"Bordian, don't worry about me. How could I possibly let someone else handle something this interesting?"

"Let me go meet this Tiandao Siming first and see exactly what he's made of."

"I hope he can hold out a little longer. Don't let him get beaten to death by me right away."

With that, Molten Mountain kicked the office doors open with all his strength.

But just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed Lina, with her seductive figure, leaning against the doorway and fiddling with her human-bone harp.

Molten Mountain's gaze greedily swept over Lina's body. Then, in a rare move, he took the initiative to invite her to cooperate.

"Lina, do you want to come with me and listen to those geniuses scream?"

"You should know that the despairing cries of geniuses are far more pleasant than the harp in your hands."

"Believe me, you'll fall in love with that sound very soon."

Lina was not merely uninterested—she even yawned boredly.

Then she set down the human-bone harp she had finished tuning and said flatly, "Molten Mountain, be careful not to overplay your hand. After all, the blood of geniuses... is usually very hot."

"Overplay my hand?"

As if he had heard some great joke, Molten Mountain laughed heartily before saying with absolute confidence, "Don't worry. Below Rank 2, I, Molten Mountain, am invincible!"

With that, Molten Mountain finally walked out of the office and disappeared into the corridor.

Not long after he left, Lina suddenly asked Bordian in the distance, "Are you sure you want to let that idiot make a move so early?"

"Trillan's training camp is only a few days away. If that old fossil Dorian becomes wary too soon, he might immediately have his precious daughter leave the school and lock her away somewhere for protection."

Bordian gave a solemn answer to her question.

"Don't worry. Dorian will not do that."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Because he and I both know that when both sides understand the other's intentions, the key to deciding victory or defeat... lies in the cards each holds."

"I don't know what cards Dorian has, and he likewise doesn't know what cards I have. Since Molten Mountain wants to cause trouble, let him."

"It will be a good chance for me to see exactly what cards that old Dorian is hiding—cards called 'Star Envoys.'"

"And if he cannot show sufficient strength, we will not even need Isabelle. We can immediately drive him from power."

"After all, in this world of Star Sources, wealth is nothing more than the cheapest form of power."

Hearing this, Lina pondered for a moment before resuming her plucking of the human-bone harp.

Because she had already understood Bordian's meaning.

And she understood why he had goaded Molten Mountain into acting today.

Because he wanted to see what sort of cards named "Star Envoys" Dorian truly held in his hand.

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