Bandit 1: So you’re telling me that these cards are really what we need?

Bandit 2: Yes! We just need to hide from the military leaders, and we’ll be safe!

Blaze: Well, I don’t know about that.

Bandit 1: How the hell did he find us already?

Blaze: First card: Double Sword!

Bandit 2: I think it’s time to use my card too. Card activation: Sword!

Blaze: So that’s just one normal sword? Second card: Blazing Swords!

Ryker: Blaze, watch how you use your cards. You can only use five cards in a mission—those are the rules.

Bandit 1: What the hell is with that cape? Oy, oy, oy—it’s the leader of a division!

Blaze: I know that already, Rey!

Bandit 2: He doesn’t have any card on him right now.

Ryker: My card? I always have my card with me.

Ryker puts his hand on his cape, and it transforms into a sword.

Ryker: First card: Transformation! Second card: Fire Sword!

Bandit 1: I don’t care who he is! Card activation: Centaur! Hmmm, this will be useful!

The first bandit uses his card’s power to grab the second one and run into the forest.

Blaze: Captain, it seems they’ve escaped!

Ryker: This is it.

Blaze: We’re not going after them?

Ryker: No, we’ll just lose too much time and energy.

Blaze: If you say so.

In the forest

Bandit 1: We escaped!

Bandit 2: I told you these cards are the best!

Suddenly, a strange power fills the air around them.

Stranger: Well, look at that! If it isn’t the meal I’ve been expecting.

Bandit 2: This... this much power!

Stranger: Card activation: Beast Mode!

Screams echo through the forest, loud enough for anyone nearby to hear—even Blaze and Ryker.

Blaze: Captain, did you hear that?

Ryker: This sensation… it’s just like twenty years ago.

Blaze: I think we have more important things to do, Captain.

Ryker: Yes, you’re right. We need to attend the tournament fights and see who will be joining us.

Ryker: In this world, things are simple. Official cardholders are called Pure Ones. Those without cards are just humans. Some people, though, buy and sell cards on the black market. Many of these cards contain the power of monsters and are called Beast Cards.

In this kingdom, we are the Thirteenth Division of the army, tasked with the jobs no one else wants. We’re classified by the mana our cards use. I’m the leader of the Thirteenth Division—a division of outcasts. But the one thing that separates the powerful from the weak is the activation of a card’s true power.