The next morning.
Taking advantage of the weekend, Lucas Kane arrived early at a small apartment building across from Queensbridge Park.
This was his new home.
Finding it hadn't taken long.
Apartments that were cheap and comfortable were rare.
But apartments that were simply cheap?
Those were everywhere.
Even so, most landlords refused to rent to someone under eighteen—especially a teenager without a guarantor.
Fortunately, once Lucas explained that he had already obtained legal emancipation from the court, the landlord finally agreed.
Which was why Lucas had come so early.
After verifying the court documents confirming Lucas's independent legal status, the landlord didn't waste time.
They signed the lease.
Lucas paid six months of rent up front.
The landlord handed over the keys.
Transaction complete.
Once the landlord left, Lucas closed the door and looked around his new apartment.
It wasn't large.
If anything, the place looked like a shoebox that life had stepped on.
The carpet was old.
The walls were faded and spotted with age.
The living room was barely big enough to hold a worn secondhand couch and a small folding table. Turning around required careful movement.
The bedroom was no better. After placing a bed inside, there was hardly any space left.
Still—
Small as it was, the apartment had everything he needed.
And most importantly…
Just like his old place, there was a fire escape outside the window that led straight to the rooftop.
That had been a key condition when he negotiated with the landlord.
Seven hundred dollars a month.
For that price, Lucas had no reason to complain.
Over the next two days, Lucas cleaned and reorganized the apartment.
"Reorganized" might be an exaggeration.
He bought a new mattress.
He replaced the old yellowed shower head in the bathroom.
And he kept the windows open for two days straight to get rid of the lingering smell of curry that had soaked into the apartment.
Eventually the air cleared.
During the night, Lucas also made a quiet trip to his hidden stash.
His trophies from the alien invasion.
Five Chitauri weapons.
He wrapped them in the bedsheet that had come with the apartment and slid the bundle beneath the bed.
Hidden.
Secure.
That evening, Lucas grabbed dinner from a nearby shop—a hamburger and a cup of cola.
Just like he used to.
He climbed the fire escape and stepped onto the rooftop.
After scanning the area and finding a relatively clean spot, he sat down.
As he ate his burger, he looked up at the stars scattered across the night sky.
Several of those distant lights flickered softly.
Inside Lucas's Cosmo, stars flickered in response.
He had already decided which constellation he would awaken first.
Not Pegasus.
Not Cygnus.
Not Dragon.
The one he had chosen was—
Phoenix.
Constellations were more than just symbols.
They were the vessels of a Saint's power.
Once a Saint awakened their constellation, they inherited the traits associated with it.
And in Lucas's view, among the forty-eight Bronze constellations, none possessed a more valuable core attribute than the Phoenix.
Because the Phoenix carried a power that even the twelve Zodiac Gold Saints did not possess.
The Phoenix never dies. It is only reborn.
If the Dragon constellation represented strength and protection—
Then Phoenix represented immortality and rebirth.
There was, however, one problem.
Because the Phoenix's core ability was so extraordinary, becoming a Phoenix Saint was notoriously difficult.
According to the history Lucas remembered, from the first Holy War onward—when Athena established the eighty-eight Saint constellations—the Phoenix constellation had almost never appeared.
It didn't emerge until much later.
But that was in the Saint Seiya universe.
This world was different.
Here, Phoenix wasn't bound by those rules.
If Lucas lit the Phoenix constellation within his Cosmo—
Then he would immediately inherit its core attribute.
The Phoenix never dies.
Even if he were killed, as long as the Phoenix constellation remained intact, he would eventually rise again.
Reborn from the flames.
For Lucas, the choice was obvious.
His original goal had never changed.
Survive.
If possible, survive comfortably.
And survive for a very long time.
With his decision made, Lucas focused inward.
The twelve stars he had already ignited within his Cosmo—earned from defeating Chitauri soldiers—began to shift.
He arranged them according to the shape of the Phoenix constellation.
The Phoenix star map consisted of:
One second-magnitude star.
Two third-magnitude stars.
Six fourth-magnitude stars.
The stars Lucas had awakened so far were all fourth-magnitude.
Two fourth-magnitude stars could merge into a third-magnitude star.
Two third-magnitude stars could merge into a second-magnitude star.
Lucas watched the star map form.
Then he smiled.
"Two more stars."
"Not bad."
"Almost there."
He took a sip of cola while admiring the nearly completed Phoenix constellation shining within his Cosmo.
At that moment, something strange happened.
The faint projections of the other forty-seven Bronze constellations flickered inside his Cosmo.
For some reason, Lucas felt something like mild resentment coming from them.
Almost like complaints.
But then—
A sharp cry echoed.
A phoenix's call.
The complaints vanished instantly.
Lucas blinked.
Above the other constellations, the half-completed Phoenix star map hovered proudly.
It looked like a majestic phoenix spreading its wings across the cosmos.
Watching everything beneath it.
Clearly—
Being chosen first had only made Phoenix even more arrogant.
As if declaring:
The Phoenix is the strongest.
Lucas twitched slightly at the corner of his mouth.
Then he withdrew his awareness from his Cosmo and climbed back down the fire escape into his apartment.
Later that night, lying on his bed, Lucas closed his eyes.
But his thoughts were still active.
Awakening the Phoenix constellation would grant him its core trait—rebirth.
But forging the Phoenix Cloth would unlock the constellation's true combat techniques.
For example—
A devastating mental attack that shattered an enemy's mind instead of their body.
Phoenix Phantom Demon Fist.
A direct psychic invasion that tore apart an opponent's consciousness with overwhelming mental force.
And finally—
The Phoenix's ultimate technique.
Transforming into a blazing phoenix and unleashing a massive wave of destructive flames.
A signature attack belonging only to the Phoenix constellation.
Phoenix Wing Rise.