The streetcar heading toward Eden High Academy was like a silver-gray iron dragon, gliding smoothly along its fixed tracks in the dawn light. The interior was spacious and bright, yet it felt somewhat crowded due to the morning rush, the air thick with the distinct youthful energy of teenage boys and girls.
Looking around, almost everyone was a student dressed in the dark-colored academy uniforms that shared a unified style across different departments.
Some stood in groups of three or five, chatting in low voices; some wore headphones with their eyes closed to rest; others seized the final moments to flip through notes or electronic screens. The hems of uniform skirts and neckties swayed gently with the motion of the streetcar, forming a picture of orderly academy life.
Hell stood alone near the doors, one hand loosely gripping a silver handle overhead as his body swayed slightly with the vehicle’s movement. He did not engage in conversation or occupy himself like the other students. Instead, he simply tilted his head, silently watching the urban scenery flash past through the clean window glass.
Buildings with modern, high-tech lines streaked by. Occasionally, the streetcar ascended onto elevated track bridges spanning the city, overlooking the constant flow of hovering vehicles and intersecting streets below. In the distance, the iconic spires of the Academy District’s towers reflected the soft morning light.
The book he had transmigrated into — *Starlight Girls and the Sword of Covenant* — primarily took place in this massive metropolis called Eden. It was a classic Academy City setting, serving as a hub for education, research, defense, and cutting-edge technology.
The background of this world was originally a normal human society with highly advanced technology, similar to modern Earth. However, about 100 years ago, distorted monsters known as Crystal Husks appeared at the edges of the world without warning.
These monsters took various forms; some retained vague human silhouettes, while many more were unprecedented beast-like or hybrid shapes. Their common characteristic was a bizarre coating of a mixture resembling crystals and bones covering or embedded in their bodies, emitting an ominous dark luster and chaotic energy fluctuations.
The Crystal Husks appeared in swarms, mindlessly attacking human settlements and cities, bringing calamity wherever they went.
Because these Crystal Husks were not purely carbon-based organisms and possessed bizarre internal structures, their surface crystals could absorb and deflect energy attacks. Their texture was exceptionally hard, rendering conventional human thermal weapons largely ineffective. Sometimes, even after saturation bombing with massive amounts of missiles, the smoke would clear to reveal the main force of the Crystal Husks still standing with minimal casualties. The scenes were utterly desperate.
It wasn’t until humanity was pushed to its limits that they deployed their ultimate weapon — nuclear bombs. However, even that terrifying power, capable of destroying cities, failed to completely kill certain powerful individual Crystal Husks or fully stop the spread of the swarms.
Only then did humanity truly realize the scale of the disaster they faced — one that defied all logic and common sense.
Furthermore, the land where the Crystal Husks passed would be eroded by a strange energy field, becoming barren, sandy, and polluted. The surfaces of buildings would be corrupted and covered by dark crystal clusters that grew like tumors, eventually losing structural integrity and collapsing.
They were like mobile sources of pollution and sowers of destruction.
At the darkest hour, when human civilization was on the brink of extinction, about to be swallowed by this incomprehensible and irresistible wave of darkness, a turning point appeared.
Among humans, a very small number of young girls began to receive mysterious premonitions and calls. They were chosen by a Goddess who existed only in legends and sensations, gaining powerful and pure magical strength that far exceeded common sense. These girls were known as Goddess Angels.
Their power seemed naturally designed to counter the Crystal Husks. They could easily pierce through those hard crystal coatings, purify the chaotic energy within, and wipe out swarms of Crystal Husks that had previously left human armies helpless.
Thus, the Goddess Angels stepped forward, becoming the final light of hope for human civilization. They collaborated with the remnants of human governments and military forces to begin a joint resistance against the Crystal Husk tide. Based on research into the power of the Goddess Angels, human scientists finally found a direction, developing new energy weapons and enchanted armaments capable of dealing effective damage to the Crystal Husks.
Although these weapons were nowhere near as powerful as the near-primal, pure magical strength of the Goddess Angels, they at least gave ordinary soldiers the ability to defend their homes. They were no longer merely lambs to the slaughter.
After 100 years of long and brutal stalemate, defense, and counterattacks, the structure of society was reshaped by the disaster.
Through the combined efforts of the Goddess Angels and human armies, humanity painstakingly reclaimed some lost territory. They established island-like Defense Cities of various sizes around key energy nodes and sturdy fortifications.
Because the Goddess Armaments and special weapons created based on the Goddess’s power principles placed extremely high demands on the user’s mental strength, physical fitness, and a certain “aptitude,” not everyone could wield them.
Consequently, the governments of the major Defense Cities began establishing specialized academies to systematically train Adaptors who could use these armaments to fight the Crystal Husks. These students, both male and female, had to undergo rigorous training and testing.
However, one ironclad rule that had remained unchanged for 100 years was that true Goddess Angels were only born among girls. Furthermore, this immense power was not granted permanently.
Once a Goddess Angel reached a certain age or completed a specific mission cycle, her power would be quietly reclaimed by the Goddess. She would turn back into an ordinary person and return to a mundane life.
Therefore, the true identities of the Goddess Angels were classified as top secret within governments and relevant agencies.
On one hand, this was to protect them from being targeted, kidnapped, or assassinated by hostile organizations like the Eternal Night Gospel. On the other hand, it ensured that these girls, who had sacrificed their youth and strength for humanity, could live a relatively peaceful and safe life after their powers disappeared.
The heroic deeds of the Goddess Angels were praised far and wide, but their true faces and names were hidden behind a veil of glory and secrecy.
Academy City Eden was an extremely special and important representative among the many Defense Cities established over the past century.
Its uniqueness lay in the fact that the core and soul of the entire city was Eden High Academy, located in the center of the island. This was the highest institution dedicated to training Adaptors capable of using Goddess Armaments and supplying talent to the front lines against the Crystal Husks.
All other buildings, facilities, commercial districts, residential areas, and even the defense systems within the city were designed from the start to provide service, support, and convenience to this academy and its students and faculty. The entire city operated like a precision ecosystem centered on education.
It was built on a massive island surrounded by the sea on four sides, connected to the main continent and neighboring islands through a series of spectacular and complex bridges, undersea tunnels, and high-altitude overpasses.
The dense streetcar lines and high-speed rail routes, in particular, acted like the city’s blood vessels, constantly transporting people, materials, and vitality to every corner of the island while maintaining its connection to the outside world.
Hell watched the scenery fly past the streetcar window, silently organizing the world-building of *Starlight Girls and the Sword of Covenant*, with its blend of fantasy and sci-fi elements, in his mind.
*Ding-dong—!*
A crisp chime sounded as the streetcar arrived at a major transfer station and came to a smooth stop. The doors slid open with a hiss, and the students who had been waiting on the platform began to board in an orderly fashion.
Those boarding were all young faces wearing the uniforms of Eden’s various departments. Since this line was specifically for the academy’s commuters, the car quickly became even more crowded during the peak morning hour.
Once the students had finished boarding and the crowd on the platform thinned out, the streetcar emitted a warning chime. The doors began to slide shut.
“Wait — wait!!”
A panicked, breathless girl’s voice came from around a corner of the platform. Immediately afterward, a petite figure came stumbling out.
She was a girl with refreshing, blue, shoulder-length hair that had become messy from running. Clearly not used to intense exercise, her cheeks were flushed, and she was gasping for air. She gripped her bag strap with one hand and reached out desperately with the other, aiming for the closing gap of the streetcar doors.
The girl’s speed exploded at the final moment. Like a nimble but clumsy kitten, she managed to squeeze inside just before the doors fully shut.
However, perhaps because she was too frantic and her momentum was too great, or perhaps because she tripped over something the moment she jumped into the carriage, she failed to regain her balance. With a cry of surprise, she lost her footing and began to fall backward — right toward the closing metal doors.
If she hit them or got caught in the closing mechanism, the consequences would be dire.
“Whoa!”
The students nearby who witnessed this let out short cries of alarm. Many instinctively backed away, their faces full of shock, yet they seemed frozen in place, unable to react in time.
In that lightning-fast moment of crisis—
A slightly pale but slender and strong hand reached out swiftly and steadily from the side.
Hell had noticed the situation the instant the girl cried out. His reaction speeds, honed by long-term exposure to dangerous environments, made him more than a step faster than the ordinary students around him. Almost at the same time the girl’s body tilted back, he released the overhead handle, leaned forward, and reached through the gap between the other passengers to precisely grab her wrist as it flailed in the air.
Her wrist felt delicate, warm, and damp from her run.
He pulled back firmly.
Carried by the force, the girl stumbled forward, completely clearing the danger zone of the doors. At the same time, the streetcar doors slammed shut behind her, sealing off the platform.
Due to momentum and her lingering shock, the girl tumbled directly into Hell’s arms, her forehead bumping against his chest. Hell’s body swayed slightly, but he stabilized himself quickly, using his other hand to lightly steady her shoulder to prevent her from slipping again.
“Huff… huff…”
The girl gasped for breath, her heart pounding wildly against her ribs. She slowly lifted her head, wanting to see who had saved her.
The first thing she saw was a young man’s face. His skin was a sickly shade of pale, and his features combined to create a handsomeness that was almost sharp, even carrying a hint of gloomy aesthetic. However, beneath his light-colored eyes were prominent dark circles, giving him an air of lingering fatigue and detachment.
At that moment, this handsome face was looking down at her calmly.
The girl’s face turned bright red at a visible speed, like a ripening apple. As if she had been burned, she quickly lowered her head, not daring to look him in the eye again. Only the tips of her reddened ears and her slightly trembling eyelashes were visible.
In a voice so soft it was nearly drowned out by the sound of the streetcar, she stammered.
“…Th-thank you, Senior…”
“Mhm. It’s fine.”
Hell’s gaze swept over her freshman-style uniform and her youthful face before he gave a curt reply. His tone was flat, devoid of emotion.
The girl finally snapped out of it, realizing she was still leaning against him. she hurriedly took a step back to create distance, the blush on her face deepening. With her head down, she whispered another thanks before darting into the crowd like a startled rabbit to find her companions.
Hell leaned back against the carriage wall and gripped the handle again, his gaze returning to the window as if the little incident had never happened.
Not far away, the blue-haired girl had regrouped with several other girls who appeared to be freshmen as well. The flush on her face hadn’t fully faded. While clutching her chest to calm her breathing, she couldn’t help but steal a glance toward where Hell was standing. Then, in a low voice filled with excitement and shyness she couldn’t hide, she asked the girl next to her.
“Just now… the Senior who saved me… who is he? Do you know him? He’s… he’s so handsome…”
The classmate she asked followed her gaze. When her eyes landed on Hell’s highly recognizable profile, her expression shifted instantly, as if she were looking at something unclean. A flash of obvious wariness and disdain appeared in her eyes.
She quickly retracted her gaze, grabbed the blue-haired girl’s arm, and pulled her toward the other side of the carriage. Leaning into her ear, she spoke in a whisper that was low but still managed to drift toward Hell due to the proximity. Her tone was heavy with warning.
“Shh, keep your voice down. Don’t look at him. That’s Hell from the sophomore class.”
The girl paused, her voice dropping lower yet becoming clearer as she spat out the rest.
“He’s… a famous ‘scumbag.’ He relies on his family’s wealth and power to toy with girls’ feelings. He has a gloomy, weird personality, and I heard he’s even involved with some delinquent groups… Anyway, he’s not a good person. Stay away from him, and whatever you do, don’t provoke him.”
After hearing that, the flush on the blue-haired girl’s face drained away, replaced by shock and a hint of lingering fear. She quickly lowered her head and didn’t dare look back.
Hell’s profile, which had been staring out the window, stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment. Then, the corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
‘It’s really… quite a reputation.’