Taking the First Step

The New Federation's lawless zone.

As the name suggested, this place had none of the laws or rules found elsewhere. As for fairness?

If you lived on the world's Dark Side, you could forget about something that didn't exist.

To survive here, people could only rely on themselves.

Pitch-dark alleys, whispers buried beneath layers of caution, eyes that barely concealed their greed—to mercenaries and ordinary residents alike, these were everyday sights.

Yet amid the darkness and shadows, people still dreamed.

What if they could look up and see something other than night? What if there were another life they could choose?

Unfortunately, most people living here had no right to choose.

Some were the New Federation government's disposable tools. Others were lost lambs who had yet to decide which road to take.

But one person became the lucky one among those countless lambs.

Perhaps it was luck. Or perhaps something about her nature, so different from everyone else's, had won a god's favor.

Whatever the reason, she received a gift.

That gift was a ticket to Lahai-Roi Star Torch Academy.

The girl was overjoyed.

Even though it came with a price, one that had been set in secret long ago...

So what?

Sick of living in the gutter, the girl would still seize it without hesitation.

And when the girl who had known only darkness left the New Federation, she discovered...

Every day at the academy was more wonderful than she had imagined.

Bright corridors stood in stark contrast to the gloomy back alleys. Confident discussions replaced dishonest whispers...

Everything here dazzled her, and every new thing made her more eager to understand it.

Only then did the girl realize that being "alive" could hold such brilliant colors, colors she could never bear to give up.

She no longer wanted to live merely to survive. She wanted to live for herself.

Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!

But when the academy finally handed down its expulsion order, when the crimson warning lights flashed and the alarms sounded...

The girl thought of the comics and novels she had read at the academy.

She had read a great many during her time there, and certain lines and scenes had stayed with her.

Stolen time always, always comes to an end.

"Am I really... just going to run away?"

"Mo Bai, go somewhere safe with the others from the academy."

With no time to say more, the Rover called that instruction to Mo Bai and ran outside.

Click—

As the dorm room door shut, Mo Bai looked through the window at the scene outside.

Thick smoke rolled in beyond the academy. Teachers and students hurried toward safety alongside the machines. The beautiful scenery he had known was gone.

There was no need to ask what the Rover had gone out to do.

Mo Bai still did not know much about the Rover's past. But after seeing how fiercely the Rover had wiped out that Remnant Star Society, he had come to think of the Rover as this world's "hero."

And now that great hero had told him, an ordinary person, to stay somewhere safe before going off to save the world.

What about Lynae?

Had she taken advantage of the chaos to escape? Then she would no longer have to worry about the academy catching her.

No...

She would not do that.

The academy she loved was in danger. She would surely go and fight the Voidmatter Magnetic Storm and the Voidworms too.

And what about him?

The Rover and Lynae saw Mo Bai as an ordinary person, and he saw himself the same way.

He thought he was no different from any other ordinary person in the world. He had simply been a little luckier.

Run if you encountered a Voidmatter Magnetic Storm. That was the academy's rule for ordinary students.

Phew.

Under the White Divine Dog's watchful gaze, Mo Bai rose and walked toward the dorm room door.

At the last moment, he turned to look at the divine dog that had been watching him all along.

It was his own shadow.

"Come on. Time to help our friends."

The academy was in a panic. Everything around the students seemed to make them uneasy.

The Voidmatter Magnetic Storm was about to strike. The Rover Swarm creatures contaminated by it would turn from the academy's little helpers into their enemies.

But that was not the worst of it.

The Voidworms responsible for the storm were advancing toward the academy.

Exposure to the concentrated Voidmatter Magnetic Storm, the Rover Swarm running wild, and the Voidworm invasion...

The students had no idea what to do.

"Beep, beep..."

At that moment, a signal light on an octagonal, disc-shaped Rover Swarm creature in the crowd changed from green to red.

Danger was approaching.

"Wah! The Rover Swarm! The Rover Swarm is going to—"

Whoosh!

As the student cried out, he felt something race past him.

Screech!

The huge, masked, owl-like bird let out a cry. Purple lightning flashed from it, and the Rover Swarm creature on the verge of going berserk shut down on the spot.

Mo Bai arrived among the crowd then.

The students' screams had drawn him here to see what was happening.

From here, he could clearly see what was happening outside the academy.

That enormous blue worm...

Without a doubt, it was the monster he, Lynae, and Rover had shaken off earlier.

Besides the huge worm, Mo Bai could make out two figures near it.

They were Lynae and Rover, riding a motorcycle and apparently trying to lure the monster away.

"Tch."

Mo Bai's anxiety spiked at the sight.

He had only two shikigami. If he summoned the White Divine Dog to guard this place, Nue alone would never be enough to help the Rover and Lynae.

But there was no time to subdue a new Shikigami here...

"Dr. Lu Hess?!"

A startled cry rose from among the students.

Mo Bai turned and saw Doctor Lu, whom he had met once before.

"I can handle things here at the academy. The Voidworms are a far greater threat than the Rover Swarm creatures."

As if he had read Mo Bai's mind, the doctor spoke gently, with a hint of encouragement.

"Then I'll leave this to you."

Mo Bai mounted his motorcycle and sped toward the Voidworms.

On the way, he tried to work out how he could hurt that monster with the means he had.