Morning Star

Ray was just a normal 14-year-old boy who arrived in Europe on a tour with his classmates, which was sponsored by his school, leaving his family behind.

They were still enjoying their tour when the meteor crashed.

They got separated due to the chaos which followed shortly after.

He somehow managed to make it to Euthopia and began living under the care of a woman.

He swore to make it back to his family who he longed so much to see.

He joined the Sentry when he got the opportunity without thinking twice.

In a year, he built his strength, becoming a very talented Sentry, who the people fell in love with, growing him to fame, and shortly after, a name was given to him because of his strange abilities which produce a golden aura.

"I love you morning star!" A loud voice came from the crowd, which caused Ray's mouth to twitch slightly.

'I can't believe this. Here I am fighting for their lives and there they are, putting it at more risk. The least they can do is evacuate from here.'

He wasn't a fan of fame and if he could take away the attention he drew anytime he fought with his abilities, he would be grateful, but unfortunately, he couldn't. Both he and his abilities were just too flashy.

Whenever he didn't face something that would warrant him to use his abilities, he didn't bring it out.

But right now he didn't have any of his gear with him, so fighting an abyssal like this would turn out dangerous for him, without the use of his abilities.

"Now, to end this," he muttered, bringing his full attention to the abyssal.

He was about to step into the building when suddenly.

"Booooommm!!!"

The abyssal flew through the house into the air with its wings fluttering, like that of an insect.

It stared at him in fury as blood dripped from its mouth. But this was obviously not the blood of those it had killed, as this blood was black and very thick.

Ray stared at the abyssal in confusion. "Do you think going airborne would make things easier for you?"

His expression turned into that of wryness.

"Well. You're right."

Without his weapon, aerial battles would be more difficult. But with the strength of the abyssal, its life was still not guaranteed

He crouched slightly in an attempt to leap upwards when he heard a voice, which caused him to stop.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

He turned around to see a furious young woman about 20 years old, stomping angrily towards him. She had long black hair stopping slightly above her waist, and green eyes, which were filled with fury.

She wore a white T-shirt that hugged her average-size bust, along with a jacket, black pants, and a pair of trainers.

Even with the frown on her face, it was obvious that she was a very beautiful young woman.

"Hmm! Today isn't my day," he sighed.

By his reaction, it was noticeable that he knew her, and this wasn't the first time they will be engaging in an argument.

"What do you think you're doing on my turf, you thief! Not only have you stolen most of the fame, but you also want to kill steal. You really are one shameless young man!" She roared. 

"Come on, I was just passing by and heard people screaming for help, so I decided to attend to their needs. Because their sectorial sentry, was too busy attending to her hair," he dissed, causing her fury to rise to even greater heights.

"Who told you that? You liar! Since when did you start acting nice?" At this point, she was just a metre away from him.

"Isn't it obvious?" He said, staring at her perfectly arranged hair.

"Y-you little·····." Her face turned as red as a tomato in embarrassment.

The abyssal who watched this from above felt rage, far greater than what she was feeling.

Not only has its hated enemy ruined its feast. Now, it was being completely ignored, not just by its despicable enemy, but also by the creatures, which it had deemed as lunch.

Of course, with two powerful Sentries, the people didn't feel threatened by the abyssal at all.

With all its fury and might, it blasted toward the couple, who were still engaged in an argument.

It focused its attention on the creature that had injured it, and when it was just seconds away from 'claiming' his life, the girl beside him, with a very quick and powerful movement threw something at it.

The speed of the sudden attack was too great for it to dodge, and its weak body covering was easily pierced by the small dagger through its skin and entered into the body.

It felt a sharp pain, but it wasn't comparable to what it felt when it got punched by Ray.

So it continued with its attack when suddenly it began expanding.

"Booooooom!!"

A large explosion occurred from within the beast, sending its body parts flying into numerous pieces which faded into dust, in mid-air.

"Woo-hoo!" Sounds of clapping occupied the whole area, as the crowd lavished them with praise.

She had a smirk on her face as she stared at Ray in victory.

"That's dangerous." Even though they'd met a few times as he sometimes passed through the area, this was the first time he had seen her kill and abyssal.

"Hmmph! Then you should know your place," she said with even more pride. But the next thing she heard, caused her smirk to change into a frown.

"He's really impressive."

"We love you morning star!"

"Can I have your number?"

A wry smile appeared on his face, while her teeth were grinding in anger.

'Didn't they notice that I was the one who took down the abyssal? What do they love about him anyway?'

She stared at his face outlining all the features. 'But he's kind of cute.'

She didn't notice when she began to blush.

"Why is your face flushed? Don't tell me you got exhausted from taking down that abyssal," he said, bringing her from her thoughts.

"W-what! That's impossible, I'm just feeling a little hot, that's all." She turned her face away.

"I need to get going. You should handle the report." He looked at his watch.

The moment he saw the time he froze up. "9:34 am," he muttered slowly.

'Shit! I'm 34 minutes late. It's over. Is there still a need for me to hurry up?' He thought, before remembering what happened the last time he came up with a conclusion like this.

'No, I have to hurry. Hopefully, she'll buy my excuse.'

Quickly he made his way to the bicycle and several seconds later was completely out of sight

"How dare he live like that? Such an arrogant show-off."

After cycling for some minutes, he stopped in front of a large building, which was the most prominent in the entire vicinity.

He parked his bicycle in front of the building and stared at it for a while.

The Sentry had 10 bases spread across Euthopia.

The sentry base in front of Ray was the ninth base.

After taking a deep breath, he proceeded towards the building. The moment the door slid open and he walked in, a lot of attention was drawn towards him.

Already used to this, he walked forward as though they were all inexistent.

Some people stole glances from the side of their eyes so as not to make eye contact with him, even though the probability of that was low.

It was noticeable that most of the people around were not sentries. While the sentries did all the fighting, these people also had their roles to play, like documentation, gear maintenance and creation, building maintenance, abyssal location and tracking, and many more.

Different expressions were displayed on their faces when looking at him. Awe, admiration, envy, hatred. But all of them at least had a hint of fear.

The dread some of them felt was as clear as crystal.

Ray was among the top talents recognized by the Sentry.

He joined about a year ago and had climbed the rankings to Epsilon within such a short time and was also very strong, and when he felt like It, he could be very ruthless. It was noticeable that he wasn't as harsh as about two months ago.

They could see that his face showed slight nervousness, rather than its usual aloof expression.

He walked towards the elevator, but before he could press the button, it opened as a woman in her early 20s quickly rushed out on a phone call, not noticing that there was someone in front of her.

She bumped into Ray, causing her phone to drop from her hand, but he was able to react quickly, catching the phone before it could make contact with the ground.

"I'm so····" Ray straightened himself, causing his face to come in full view. She paused her apology as she stared at who she had bumped into, causing even her palms to get sweaty.

"M-Morn…, S-sir," She floundered.

Ray stared at her in confusion. 'Is she trying to greet me? Shouldn't she apologize instead?'

Ray concluded that she might be mentally stressed out. Unknown to him that she wanted to refer to him by his unwanted Nickname.

"Here, get some rest," he said, handing her phone to her while entering the elevator, leaving the frozen woman behind.

After some seconds, she regained herself before looking back at the closed elevator.

'He isn't as bad as they say.' A complicated expression appeared on her face before resuming her phone call.

The elevator had just stopped on the highest floor, as the elevator doors slid open displaying a beautiful hallway with excellent lighting and a large door at the end.

From his position, he could already feel the heat being produced from the door.