Clive sat on the sofa, leaning slightly forward as the glow of the television filled the room. The news anchor's voice cut through the silence, sharp and formal.
"Now I will say the date to choose Skyph fighters."
Clive's breath slowed. His heart began to race, each second stretching longer than the last.
"The date is 27 August."
A quiet realization settled into him, heavy yet electrifying.
"Looks like it's so close," Clive murmured.
The reporter straightened the papers in front of him.
"So, that was the full news. Goodbye."
"Goodbye. Goodbye," Clive said happily, almost without thinking.
He turned off the TV. The room fell silent again. Clive moved to his bed, sat down, then leaned back halfway, staring at the ceiling as thoughts spun through his mind.
"Huh… I think Delom was really serious…" he whispered.
Far beyond Earth, in the cold emptiness of space, a half-destroyed spaceship drifted helplessly. Fire burned along its broken surface, debris floating like dying stars. In front of it stood an alien figure, calm and unmoved by the chaos.
✨ Nyx ✨
"These humans will die here," Nyx whispered.
His voice rose, sharp and filled with contempt.
"Because they don't deserve it…"
Nyx laughed, clenching both fists. An invisible force surged outward, crushing the spaceship's structure as if it were made of paper.
Inside the headquarters beneath the shattered hull, alarms blared. Screens flashed with rapidly changing numbers. Detro, the head controller, pressed his earpod tightly, his voice strained.
"Madam… Our spaceship is almost 60% damaged!"
His fingers flew across the controls as calculations filled the air.
"Madam… if Nyx deals 5% more damage, I won't be able to control the spaceship…"
✨ Head Lead: Seuph Lux ✨
✨ Vice Head Lead: Untras ✨
Above the ship's surface, Untras stood trapped in twisted metal, his legs pinned.
"Don't forget me," Untras said calmly into his earpod.
"What!?" Detro exclaimed.
Untras stretched out his hand. Metallic fragments around him shifted, assembling into a sniper.
"Huh… Nyx will get a great lesson…" Untras said.
"You are not enough p—" Nyx began.
The sniper's core pulsed with a soft green glow.
"Save your spaceship first!" Nyx shouted.
He clenched his fists again. The ship groaned under the pressure.
"So clever, but…" Untras said.
He placed both fists on the ship's surface.
"Deassemble…"
The spaceship shattered into countless tiny blocks.
"Reassemble…"
In an instant, the blocks snapped back into place. The ship restored itself completely.
"Sir, spaceship is 100% repaired now," Detro said in disbelief.
Nyx's voice dropped to a whisper, then rose cold and sharp.
"If you saved your teammates… so, what about you?"
He closed one fist. Untras's body was crushed violently, pushed to the edge of death.
"Detro… there is no sadness after saving all fully, right?" Untras said weakly.
"Why did you do such a foolish act?" Detro asked.
"I was just saving all of you," Untras replied, forcing his words through the pain.
✨ Code Student: Rote ✨
Rote ran through the control room, pressing his earpod.
"Sir, at your command!"
"Rote, never forward. I order," Untras said.
"I regret your order," Rote replied.
He opened the outer door and stepped onto the ship's wall, grabbing the sniper Untras had formed and fixed to an antenna.
"Sir, you trained me a lot. But now it's time to use my talent."
Rote locked onto Nyx and fired. The bullet struck just below Nyx's chest. The crushing force on Untras loosened.
"Excellent!" Detro shouted.
"Little boy, how dare you…!" Nyx roared.
Nyx clenched his other fist. Rote's body was crushed, and he fell from the ship's surface.
✨ Code Student: Era ✨
"Rote is always a fool," Era said through her earpod.
"There is no permission to fight with an alien," Untras warned.
"I understand, sir," Era replied.
She leapt outside through the open door, sealing it with red energy ropes. Catching Rote mid-fall, she pulled him back inside as his body trembled.
"Little humans! You will die! I can't crush you harder in a second for just these suits!" Nyx shouted.
"All I am here just a minute more," Seuph said calmly.
"Madam, why are you late?" Era asked.
"Nyx threw me so far, I was almost entering a mini black hole," Seuph replied.
She jumped from plate to plate, closing the distance.
"Your main lead is so—" Nyx began.
A yellow display plate smashed into his head. The crushing force vanished, freeing Rote and Untras.
"Uh… you again…" Nyx growled.
Seuph lunged forward and grabbed him.
"What is madam doing?" Rote asked.
Spikes burst from Seuph's body, piercing into Nyx.
"You deserve another throw," Nyx snarled.
"It's a special move of Madam, Rote," Untras said.
Seuph released Nyx and landed back on two plates. She pulled a massive laser gun from her back and began charging it.
Back on Earth, inside Delom's house, the world felt calm—almost ignorant of the chaos in space.
"Mom, give me some money," Delom said.