With a knot on my neck, I take my last step.

I wake up from my dream like always.

Walking through the monochromatic world.

Everything is still the same, like a machine in eternal motion.

As I cross a bridge, I look through the entire city.

The first thing that catches my attention is a lonely alley.

Where a man is bringing a girl that tries to break free.

However, the man suddenly faints and falls to the floor.

I continue walking towards school.

As I enter through the grounds, I can already hear the many students.

Creating noise as they very existence depended on it.

"Have you seen the news?"

"A building has collapsed in a fire, right? Many people died."

"They say that a beast is the culprit."

"But the stars were able to defeat it."

"The First Star huh, certainly the most popular girl in the city."

A teenager with a muscular build overhears their conversation.

That is Stanrocc, self-proclaimed king of the school.

"If I could just have one night with her, she would certainly see stars."

"Gross." The girls laugh at Stanrocc's comment.

"I'm sure she would totally fall for you, King."

A teenager with an athletic build follows Stanrocc closely.

"You should try enlisting for the military, maybe there you can meet her."

That is Angelo, the Jack.

Following both Stanrocc and Angelo, carrying many backpacks.

Is a boy with a blank expression and long black hair.

"..."

"Faster, trash."

Angelo urges the boy to continue walking.

"Get up already."

"Huh?"

Stanrocc pushes the boy on the floor.

The boy tries to get up, but is pushed again.

Everyone around laughs.

As they walk through me.

I can only see the boy's hatred towards me.

But he can't do anything.

In this world, there is a rule.

The Survival of the Fittest.

Stanrocc is the King.

The apex predator, no one can go against him.

Stronger than everyone.

Angelo is the Jack, the Right Hand.

He follows the strong, and is seen as handsome.

While Stanrocc is strong, Angelo is the one the girls want.

While, the boy following them is Katala.

Everything started on the first day of school.

Stanrocc harassed a girl on the hallways.

Katala tried to defend her.

Rather than beat Katala directly, Stanrocc proposed a tournament.

All the guys seen as weak would arm wrestle to determine who is the weakest.

The two weakest would then fight to knock each other out.

I won, and Katala was determined as the one who would suffer bullying all year round.

However, everything that happens to Katala is his own fault.

Because he tried to make friends and defend the girl he liked.

The Survival of the Fittest.

I'm not strong, but I'm fit to survive.

Because I'm invisible.

The class is dismissed for recess, and I trek towards the school garden.

A giant forest-like place that no one goes.

I wouldn't call it the most relaxing place on school.

But it is certainly the one with less stress.

As there are no humans there.

However, Stanrocc's gang is there today.

"Stan, we got a good haul!"

Angelo and Katala begin harvesting plants from the floor.

"Finally, we won't need shit like this now."

Stanrocc, with a cigarette on his hand.

Puts out the fire on Katala's nape.

"Argh."

I can smell the scent of burnt skin and hair.

I need to wait sixteen minutes until they finally leave.

I walk towards my familiar bench, and sit down.

I have quite a few secrets with me.

The first one is that I'm unable to see light.

The only color that I can see is black.

Only black.

The entire world is painted in black.

People look more like silhouettes to me.

In a world where only darkness and shadows exist.

But I've grown used to it.

It is just horrible when I want to cross the road and things like that.

Also, imagine yourself sitting in a forest where all the tress are pitch black.

My second secret is that I can see the void.

When I walk around school, I keep looking downwards.

That is because just looking at someone is enough for me to fall sick.

Inside of each humans, lie a gaping hole.

Like a emptiness, the amount of trauma they have on their life.

I can't see what the trauma is about, but I can feel it on my own skin.

Stanrocc has a small void, Angelo has a medium one.

Katala has a big one.

The more you suffer, the bigger the void becomes.

Which is why being away from everyone is better.

No risk in looking at anyone.

I get up from the bench and walk towards a lake.

There, I can see my own reflection.

A shadow just like everyone else.

In this world, the void is like a sickness.

A virus deep inside everyone.

When people stay together, their voids also increase in size.

Humans are prone to hurt one another after all.

Everyone is sick.

But what sickens me the most.

Is this.

A colossal void inside of my soul.

The biggest I've ever seen.

If everyone is sick.

I'm the sickest of them all.

"BLERGH."

I lose all the strength on my legs just by looking at it.

My heart starts beating too fast.

And I vomit on the floor.

As I try to get up, the reflection looks back at me.

Eye to eye, I see the void inside of my own soul.

"AAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHH."

I fall face first on the vomit on the floor.

I try to move but it is hard.

This happens everytime that I look at someone.

The bigger their void, the bigger the reaction.

I take a few deep breaths to calm down.

And avoid the lake at all costs.

When I can finally stand up again.

Something happens.

A feather like that of a bird falls down on a nearby place.

What -

The space-time continuum is broken right in front of me.

As a claw of a lion appears out of it.

What -

The shadow creature walks towards me.

The body of a lion, but there is something folded on its back.

The creature prepares to bite me.

Sniff.

Before it smells something and stop.

It flinches a little.

What...

Oh, the vomit.

Disgust is a emotion that helps animals not eat sick creatures.

Its instincts as a lion means it won't attack me for now.

But I remember during the classes.

That is a beast.

Beasts are creatures that hunt down humans.

Some do not even need to eat, they kill by instinct.

Its face begin to change, and strange pincers from the sides of its mouth.

I need to run before it tries to kill me.

I take the opportunity to get up and I run with everything I have towards the end of the forest. The desperation is so great that I...

Look outside.

The amount of students outside the garden is astounding.

And I forgot to look downwards.

My legs lose their strength.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

I look back to see if the beast is following me.

It is a question of when.

Because the beast will kill everyone on this school today.

That much is true.

Stanrocc will known what a true apex predator looks like.

I should get up now.

"Where is the beast?"

Someone appears suddenly.

The silhouette of a girl.

I point towards where I came from.

"Thanks."

She pats my head before running towards the forest.

That girl... I've seen her before.

That is the First Star.

I should leave now.

Leave the monster to the authorities.

But... This does not feel right.

If I leave.

Everything will return to the way they were.

Nothing will change.

I get up again, and run towards the forest.

I've seen how the military works before.

Monsters can be detected, but their identity is not known.

I need to tell her the identity of the beast atleast.

I saw it after all.

The body of a lion...

There are too many monsters with that description.

Maybe a chimera or a sphinx?

Think... Think...

Those were... pincers on its mouth, right?

Articulated fangs, those were cheliceral teeth.

Those are from spiders...

And from scorpions!

A lion mixed with a scorpion...

That is a manticore!

Then... Manticores attack using poisonous quills they can shoot from their tail.

Their venom is enough to kill a human instantly.

"I need to go."

In life, there will be things that you need to do.

But for someone like me, I don't feel like doing anything.

I just want to do nothing until I die.

But this is the first time in a while that I want to do something.

Move body.

There is no problem.

Beasts are like animals, they do not have voids.

I can look at them.

I run towards the forest.

But the girl and the beast are nowhere to be seen.

I try to look for the girl's void, but I can't find it anywhere.

Where would a lion hide... Their habitat is a savannah.

But this a forest... Then where a scorpion hide... Underground?

But there is no way that beast digs with lion claws...

Where could it be?

I hear something from above.

Above? As I look, spikes come flying at me.

My body is thrown to the floor.

"Urgh -"

In front of me, the girl.

The first star.

She pushed me.

One spike pierced her shoulder.

Another spike pierced her leg.

And a third one pierced her neck.

Her body begins to rot from the venom.

Before the girl in front of me explodes in black flames.

So that is how a star dies.

I look above.

The manticore, flying on giant bat wings, above everything.

I was not expecting this... Manticores do not have wings in mythology...

That is a recent addition.

The First Star, the girl which the hopes of everyone she shoulders.

Died to save someone sick like me.

That is funny.

Then I don't have any other option.

There is another reason why I ran here without caring much.

I grab one of the spikes who fell from her body.

And pierce my eye with all of my strength.

Stabbing through my brain.

There is another secret I need to tell.

I'm unable to die.

I open my eyes while I'm sitting on the bench.

When I die, I return to the earliest checkpoint.

The checkpoint is chosen randomly.

I'm not smelling weird anymore.

This must be before I walked to the lake.

Then I just need to wait.

The only reason I'm scared to die is because of the pain.

The pain of being slashed open by a lion should be absurd.

But a venom piercing your brain? That is fine.

Now, I need to know how the manticore appeared...

I will just stand here.

Minutes pass by, before the exact same feather falls.

I feel the space-time continuum opening.

And there it is.

Grand Beast:

Manticore, the Man-Eater.

The feather is the one responsible.

I need to run now.

Flapping its wings.

The beast catches up to me before I know it.

Slashing my back.

I feel my intestines falling to the floor.

Pain enough to lose conscience.

I wake up on the bench.

Even standing on a safe distance isn't enough.

I need to find the girl fast.

I run towards the entrance of the forest.

The manticore should already have appeared.

I hide behind a tree when the girl finally appears.

"Hey! The beast is inside the forest, it is manticore.

Beware, it can shoot venomous spikes that can instantly kill someone."

The girl notices me approaching, and without thinking a second time.

A sword was pressed against my neck.

More specifically a rapier.

"Are you a beast? How do you know so much?"

Some beasts are able to take human form, that much is true.

"I happened to see the beast forming from afar.

I thought that it was a good idea to warn the stars about it."

"How did you know I would come?"

"Stars are sent to combat beasts, and the military can discover beasts as soon as they form."

"Mana reading: Zero

You're safe to go, leave this place at once."

I guess trying to convince her is meaningless, considering she is able to see that I don't have mana.

The girl runs towards the forest.

"The manticore will attack from above, beware."

"Thanks stranger, now I won't need to walk anymore."

In each of her hands, a rapier.

And by pointing them towards the floor.

A burst of flares appeared.

The First Star.

The Star of Fire.

Or just Arstria Sirius.

It is my first time seeing one of them.

But it is no doubt that they shine.

As the girl begins to levitate, she flies towards the sky.

I watch as the flying manticore tries shooting her, just for Arstria to dodge them easily.

She is able to send slashes of fire from a distance.

Which are so broad the manticore can't help but take them to the face.

She will win for sure, right?

The beast begins to flap its wings.

Is it using magic?

With its chiropteran wings, the beast covers the sun.

What is this...

The girl continues trying to hit the manticore.

But now she isn't aiming at the monster anymore.

The monster flies towards the girl and slashes her.

The girl comes crashing down.

What happened?

I run towards her.

If she died I will need to reset again.

"Are you okay?"

"Urgh... You're... The boy..."

"Why you stopped aiming at the monster?"

"What are you talking about? Can't you see the darkness?

This is not a power described to manticores.

Being able to cover a entire area in darkness.

I'm unable to light it with my fire..."

The girl talks too much.

The slash must have faint traces of venom.

She is not thinking properly.

Darkness huh...

That explains it.

I'm unable to notice because I already see a monochromatic world.

You can't make pitch black darker after all.

If I don't do anything, the girl won't be able to win anymore.

Think, think...

I look towards the flying manticore.

It keeps on screaming.

What is it doing...

"Echolocation, that is how the manticore knows where I am..."

Oh! That explains it.

The manticore has the full powers of a bat too.

"But it is screaming towards the sky..."

"It must not now that I fell yet, wait, you can see?"

"I can."

"How, you know what, it doesn't matter.

Are you a good guide?"

She gives me a gadget.

"That is a earplug, we will be able to communicate through it.

I just need to be able to attack the creature."

"No, that won't be enough."

"What?"

"I have an idea."

"I'm all ears."

My idea is strange.

But it will definitely work.

The First Star will lie in wait before I give the signal.

I have seen the amount of damage her attacks have done to the manticore.

The manticore only needs one good hit to kill her, while she needs multiple.

Also, the manticore is too fast.

Which means that any large scale attack like those I've seen her doing on TV won't hit it at all.

Then, with her fire powers, I lit a stick.

I run towards a certain place on the garden.

The beast flies over, trying to locate us through echolocation.

But it begins to change its face to that of a lion again.

It will smell us out easily now.

Just in time.

"It is going to find me, I need to go now."

The manticore starts to track Arstria down.

"Just one more second."

I'm finally able to find.

Now I just need to fire this up.

Throwing the fire stick on the plants on the floor.

Cats have around a sense of smell nine times more than that of a human.

Here goes nothing.

I light the cannabis on fire.

The weed begins to turn into smoke.

The manticore instantly notices the smell.

The manticore becomes unable to find Arstria.

"Then this."

I take another stick and begin to wave it frenetically.

This creates a sound similar to those of insects.

The main prey of bats.

The monster notices it and flies towards me.

I throw the stick towards the fire, where the chimera goes flying towards.

The smell from so close means...

Weed produces compounds known as cannabinoids, that when consumed makes someone high. Dizzy and confused. But what if it is smell by something with a way greater sense than us?

The manticore starts to have difficulty in staying standing.

"Now!"

Beyond the forest, a girl approaches.

"My name is Arstria Sirius.

I am the First Star.

Monster that endangers humanity.

Be burned away like the sins you represent."

Both of her rapiers become surrounded in fire.

Being on the floor means that she is able to use both rapiers to attack at once rather than one.

She releases a onslaught of slashes as she runs towards it.

The manticore, without even knowing what was happening, was cut and burned more and more.

"Ars."

The creature is unable to move anymore.

Its body boils down, as it finally falls to the floor.

Turning into a feather, that burns up completely.

The girl becomes tired.

She was cut by the claws of the manticore, after all.

The venom is way weaker than those of the quills or the stinger.

But it is enough to make her lose conscience.

I hold her body and bring her to the infirmary.

Around two hours after it.

"Hm...?"

The girl opens her eyes.

"What happened?"

"You lost consciousness.

However, you're almost nearly healed.

Stars have a strong enough healing factor to combat poison, apparently."

"Who are you?"

The girls asks me my name.

"Call me Fraxinus, that works."

"Then your plan suceeded, I see.

You're a good strategist."

If only she knew the time I forgot that I was not vomited and got instakilled by the manticore. She wouldn't think this way of me.

But to think just two resets were enough to win is a good record for the first beast I've encountered.

"I saved your life, to be more precise."

That much is true, but she was the one who saved me first.

"Oh, thank you, my savior."

She replies as smugly as possible.

I don't know her hair color, but she sounds like a rich blonde girl.

"Wait a second..."

She puts her hand on her ear.

Someone must be talking to her.

"She is coming?!"

Arstria becomes scared due to something she heard.

"Fraxinus, get out of here.

If the military sees you, this ain't ending well."

"Okay?"

I take Arstria's advice.

I could totally stay to see what she is so scared about the military.

And then just suicide and return, but if I died now, I might return to before the battle.

Which would be infuriating.

Fortunately, the class was evacuated as soon as the military noticed the beast.

Which means no one saw me carrying the most popular girl in the city in my arms.

That would screw up my whole invisible thing.

"And... Thanks a lot, Fraxinus."

She smiles before I leave.

Hm...

Maybe what I'm looking for... I will only be able to find by talking to the stars.

That was my first meeting with Arstria Sirius.

But is not the last time I will see her.