Oshibana Railway Madness: The Sequel [Private | Fraag]

Monster for Later:

The railways were awfully nostalgic of his early days as a Fairy Tail Mage. Come to think of it, the first quest he ever received from the Guildmaster back then – which had to be the playboy drunkard Heero – beckoned him to the railway core of Fiore where he was heading at once again, Oshibana. Truth be told, he was actually on his way to receive a package from a helpful client hailing from Bosco, and taking the train on this peaceful day felt like a treat for him. That was the short but sweet reason for his presence in here…

But alas, a Wizard Saint in a train cart attracted attention, no wonder. He tried his best to meet every person, mage or non-mage, who wanted to greet him, take a photograph on their iLac or simply give him a handshake and tell the story to their friends later. With how busy the Saint had been in his office over the years, he barely experienced this kind of treatment… it was reminiscent of another Midijin hero.

Had Mura reached the same level of power as one of the most beloved heroes from Midi, the honorable Hinokami himself Ardere? It was… mindblowing to really fathom. He wondered what he was known for, back in his homeland. Did they look up to him as much as he looked up to Ardere Kasai?

*Shake!*

“So what you’re saying is that it runs on electric powers, but it’s not fueled by mana?”
“Exactly! Electric power can fuel many things on its own, without the aid of magic… Bosco has proven that countless times.”
“Do they have a deficiency for magic over there? Is it some kind of Pergrandean agenda?”
“… I-I don’t know, they’re a tad far away from that weird country, but they do like electrically-powered inventions. They also have these strange glasses with moving lights and screens and stuff.”
“Hmff… if they like electricity so much, why not just gain some Magic on top of it?”
“Not everything has to be powered by Magic!”
“Why not? It’s most efficient.”
“B-But what if you’re dealing with obstacles that are detrimental to Magic?”
“Better possess Magic that supersedes that obstacle, then.”
“That’s cheap, you can’t just answer like that!”
“Yes I can, I’m making perfect sense!”

Those two at it again… but Kyuken’s attention was grabbed by a nearby silhouette of a blonde maiden a few seats further away. Thinking himself invisible to everyone (which he wasn’t always), the samurai ghost floated over to her, leaned an arm over the blode’s shoulder and gave off a playboy’s smile. Before he could even say anything to try and mimic a real, smooth conversation with the beauty, Zirconis cut him off: “Trying to harass unaware lasses, again?! Do you ever learn?!”

WC: 465

Oshibana was such a cozy place to be in. The people all seemed good-natured and eager to help, and Nita loved places like this. Granted, this meant that she would probably have less money in her pockets by the time she had reached her final destination (because it was an unspoken code of Nita’s to tend to spend more money in places where she was impressed with the services, or pleased with the denizens), but it was nothing that she couldn’t shrug off in a matter of working days. She had thoroughly enjoyed herself in the day she had decided to spend in Oshibana, on her way to Hosenka, which was almost on the other side of Fiore. It meant that she had quite a long journey ahead of her. This made little sense for someone who could, within a couple of heartbeats, travel across Earthland in an enviably short amount of time. But what better way to have a physical tour of the magnificent country, while lending help to those who needed it? In her steps to become a well-recognized hero in Fiore (since she couldn’t do it in Pergrande), she had decided that while the expected duty to fight evil wherever it cropped up existed, she was also going to try as hard as possible to connect with people on a personal level, and if this was impossible, at least make sure that she appeared very approachable. And have fun while doing so. Fiore was a relatively unpredictable place, so she was sure that opportunities would arise to do heroic stuff while she traveled.

And so, after doing a bit of shopping, Nita was quietly seated in the train cabin to which her ticket had been assigned, and was demurely reading a book. She was one of the first people in the cabin, and as such while waiting for the train to fill up, was passing the time with some academic endeavors. Then came the noise. Apparently, the hub of the buzz was a young, dark-haired fellow, who seemed to be quite the popular one indeed. Nita couldn’t immediately see him well, due to all the people milling around him and making all the noise. Interestingly, even some of the train staff seemed to be just as excited, instead of trying to get decorum created in the noisy train cabin. It certainly wasn’t a politician; they were mostly unapproachable, and truthfully not very much liked. So it was probably a hero. Nita’s expression perked up at the thought. Who exactly was it? She was sure she would be able to vaguely recognize most of the big names among mages whose base of operations was Fiore, so she was confident she would be able to identify this person easily. After all, others had seemingly done so without much ado. Still, it was next to impossible to see this person, for the sheer number of people milling around him. Even if she was a boisterous person from time to time, Nita knew the wisdom of patience. People could not maintain such high rates of energy expenditure for long, and eventually, they would get tired or uninterested, and leave the fellow to his own devices. As fate would have it (well, she was a lucky one, as her name implied), this luminary was occupying the same cabin space as she was, and while this meant she had to deal with the discomfort of people screaming and milling about, they would all eventually have to settle down. So she pretended as though she wasn’t even remotely interested in whoever this person was, and tried to continue reading her book.

Eventually, all the noise died down, everyone settled in, and the train journey began. Even though Nita was some seats ahead of the celebrity, the arrangement of her seat meant that she was facing him, and being in the opposite side of the seat rows from his, she could tell that he had some free space around him. Another serendipitous thing that despite all the adulation and fawning, nobody ended up deciding to permanently sit there with him. Maybe it was because of the weird spirits he had around him? It didn’t seem like anyone else in the train could see them, but… wait, that was Mura Kensho! Fiore’s Saint of Fortitude and the guild master of the questionable Fairy Tail. This was an auspicious day indeed. People like Mura meant that Nita, though she was a foreigner, could still end up being recognized as a hero here in Fiore. Though in consideration, Midi was not viewed with as much suspicion as was Pergrande in the circle of politics in which Fiore was quite deeply enmeshed. Anyway, the best way to deal with it was to try. And if the Fioreans were wary of accepting a Pergrandian heroine, she would just have to make them see why she was worthy to be recognized as a hero.

The spirits seemed to be discussing about technology; the specifics, Nita could not ascertain, but even though she simply pretended to be unaware of their presence, her attention was captured as soon as she had heard Pergrande being mentioned. She reflexively twitched her mouth to the side when she heard the phrases, ‘Pergrandian agenda’ and ‘weird country’, but still gave nothing away that she was listening to the conversation. It was all a matter of perspective; she had thought, and she still thought, that Fiore was a weird place. Even though she was now capable of using magic, she was not used to it, or its applications. Still, she was applying magic pretty well, in her own opinion. And then she realized that one of the ghosts was approaching her direction. It probably wasn’t her… or wait, it was. Nita still pretended as though she was deeply engrossed in her book, even when the ghost put an arm round her shoulder. She felt nothing, for the creature was incorporeal, but she allowed like two seconds to pass, while the spirit’s companion chided him. Then slowly, she lifted her head, turning it sideways just as slowly, until her eyes, which were narrowed into comical slits, met those of the spirit beside her. While the whole scenario might have been comedic to a third party, the spirit would feel exceedingly ominous vibes from her. Then suddenly the vibes were gone, and so was she. Using her Blink spell, she had simply teleported, to appear soundlessly beside Mura Kensho.

”Hi!” she said with a very bright grin. ”Patron Saint of Fortitude, ya? Pleased to meet you.” Yeah, they weren’t called patron saints, but did she have an idea? Probably not. ”Funny, I thought you’d be older,” she said, an expression of concentration on her face as she leaned back to inspect his, unaware that this might be awkward. ”You have a nice jawline, though.” Again, unaware of the awkwardness. ”Oh, but where are my manners? I’m Nita Fortune. Call me Nita.”


WC: 1161
TWC: 1626

”H-Hynnng?! Shit, you can see- w-wait, I can explain-“ Kyuken began panicking at the realization that those narrow, ominous eyes could see him and what he was doing. It threw the ghost out of wack, his trick was spoiled, and he now had quite a hassle to deal with now! He just wanted to flirt a little, b-but she didn’t look like she welcomed it one bit in that one, sharp gaze she threw at him… so slowly, he tried to move his arm away in a most awkward fashion. Ohhhhh, how awkward and humiliating it felt… but the blonde was suddenly just not there. Like, she faded into thin air before Kyuken could even process that she had teleported.

And right next to Mura, she was seated now. The Saint had tried to mind his own business concerning what Kyuken was doing, and since Zirconis was on the guard too, Mura decided to take a very, very, awfully short nap. His eyes opened up to the blonde maiden’s greeting as he quickly faced her, taken aback by being called a ‘Patron Saint’. “U-Uh, greetings… wait, Patron Saint?” Question marks popped all over his head at the title, not remembering the Council having changed the title of Wizard Saint into anything else. Was she a foreigner, then? She had a lot to catch up to.

“Ohhhh, what a sweet accent she got~! W-Wait, she’s not mad anymore?”
“Hopefully, she’s only mad at you and your antics – you have a way of showing people your true colors in a heartbeat.”
“B-But I’m not a bad guy, I swear by Mura’s life!”

“… O-Older?” Mura was yet bewildered by her words, rubbing his chin and feeling slightly bubbly inside. Did that mean that he looked quite young to her- wait… no, no, no, after all he had done, all those hours and all those regimens, there was no way that he still fell under the category of ‘shota’. No fucking way… b-but then again, she was oddly close to him as if he was hiding something from her. “Is there… something I can help with?” he gently asked her, his eyes darting over to each side to avoid growing timid by the oddly close inspection. Then, she simply complimented his jawline, which made his eyes widen up… in awe. He felt much better now! “Thanks! I worked really hard to get it…!”

“Oh, c’mooon! Mura, you’re being a playboy again – what happened to being married, huh?! I bet when Mythica finds out about all of this, she’ll tie you to the bed and do all sorts of mischief- w-wait, that sounds like HEAVEN! WHY ARE YOU SUCH A STUD, WHAT THE HELL!??!? WHEN DID ALL OF THIS HAPPEN!?!”
“Wha- I haven’t even done anything! Cut me some slack, won’t you?”
“… Infuriating, exasperating, maddening, tiresome, vexatious, braggy, smug little-“
“Would you *chomp* CUT IT ALREADY!?”

With Zirconis’ jaw claiming half of Kyuken’s hitodama (spirit ball form), the samurai ghost was screaming in shock and darting around the entire train cart. Mura simply sighed, knowing that some things would never change. “Don’t mind him… he’s always been emotional,” he apologized to the lady with the fancy name Nita, “Since I’ve been quite a bother as of now, let me compensate. My name’s Mura Kensho, and it’s ‘Wizard Saint’, actually… Wizard Saint, Saint of Fortitude, and Guildmaster. You sound like a foreigner to me who’s new in Fiore, so some things might be difficult to get a hang on early on… but I’ll help you out, since I’m a foreigner too. Ask me anything you want to know about.” He leaned back and crossed his arms, ready to answer any questions the maiden had about Fiore.

WC: 622
PWC: 1087
TWC: 2248

Nita was mildly surprised, but not at all displeased, at the ghost complimenting her accent, even if it was a ghost, not a real living human doing the appreciation. A part of her wondered though whether the appreciation of her exotic accent would still be there when they recognized that she was from Pergrande. Apart from Iceberg, she wasn’t sure there was any nation which did not regard Pergrande with diplomatic neutrality or outright hostility. As a matter of fact, even most of the diplomatic neutrals did not like Pergrande. She couldn’t say she blamed them though. The fact that her home country had, in the past, been very oppressive and expansionist did very little to improve an argument in her nation’s favor. Still, having lived all her childhood in a land as highly nationalized as Pergrande meant that even if she was not too enthusiastic about her homeland’s history, she still supported her country where she could, and wished it well. Maybe, despite her self-imposed exile, her actions would help to improve how individuals viewed her homeland. Individual views could be a very powerful thing, even though people liked to believe that the whole was greater than the sum of all its parts. A part of the greater whole could steer the entire whole down paths that the whole would not have taken, left to itself.

Still, Nita was much less interested in the ghosts and their antics (although she did place a figurative eye on them), and more focused on the Wizard Saint before her. Okay, they were not called ‘patron saints’. That information was shelved and filed for subsequent corrections. He didn’t seem very much like the boisterous sort of person, which Nita found odd, seeing as he was the guild master of Fairy Tail, a guild which had lost its legal status simply because of the gross amounts of collateral damage its mages usually left behind at the end of their missions. Well, combat did bring out different sides of people. It was very likely that Mura Kensho was probably less uninhibited when interacting with people he was meeting for the first time. In any case, he quickly threw off his slightly timorous response to her presence when she commented on his jaw line. And then the philanderer of a ghost spoilt everything when he mentioned that the person whose jawline she had just admired was actually married.

”Oh my days!” the blonde mage exclaimed, drawing back, an expression of shock on her face. ”Married? That’s—well I—I’m very sorry.” Now it was her turn to be embarrassed, her face turning red as she took a much more demure and ‘respectable’ sitting posture. Most people would probably find her antics odd, but Nita was of the opinion, even if people thought it was old fashioned, that marriage was a quite permanent thing, and required honesty and loyalty between both parties who engaged in it. And as she believed more or less in the Golden Rule, she was not at all condoning of cheating partners. Thus, the fact that she was carelessly throwing compliments at a married man was not of the best behavior, in her opinion. ”This is so unbecoming of me…” the Luminous Rose mage said, covering her face with both hands to hide her blushing face. In any case, apparently the spectral dragon seemed to be finally fed up with his incorporeal companion, and summarily removed him from the discussion with a dramatic bite.

At Mura’s apology for his ghost companion, Nita nodded, but her hands remained covering her face. His introduction was met with a similar response: a rapid multiple nod, still with her face covered. At his offer to answer whatever questions she had concerning Fiore, there was silence, and it seemed for a bit like she was not going to take him up on his offer. Then finally, Nita spoke, her hands still covering her face. ”How long have you been in Fiore? And what is the purpose of a Wizard Saint? Are you members of the higher echelons of Fiore’s military? And what do you think is the Fiorean stance on the war between Bellum and Pergrande?” She had actually been quite curious to know exactly where Fiore stood in the war. It seemed so far that Fiore was Bellum's ally, but that was probably only as far as the government was concerned, seeing as she had heard reports about Fiorean mages fighting as mercenaries for Pergrande. What the members of the country believed could shed more light on the actual truth and give the blonde mage some sort of estimate as to just how much effort she probably would need to put to make herself accepted and welcomed by Fiore. Maybe she would even try to become a Wizard Saint like the man seating next to her.

And still her hands remained on her face.


WC: 815
PWC: 1976
TWC: 3063

”U-Uhh?” Mura let out in genuine confusion at the scene unfolding. Now, thanks to Kyuken’s remark, the blonde lady looked a tad… ashamed of herself? Hopefully, Zirconis’ maw would teach the retard a lesson – don’t mess with a girl’s feelings, bro… not cool. Menka would definitely scold him when they’d return.

Again, how did that ridiculous samurai ghost ever get laid in his living days? The shaman was pretty sure that wandering around as a vagabond for years, challenging people left and right with no self-awareness didn’t exactly tick off any girl’s wishlist… okay, maybe Mura was the one being unreasonable here. It was just difficult to see Kyuken, the one being chomped down by a dragon ghost as we thought… urghhh, never mind.

“… Uhm, no offense taken? Pretty sure Kyuken just wanted to jab at me, the jealous rabbit that he is,” Mura softly explained to the flustered maiden as he closed his eyes, imagining his beloved wife right in front of him… ever since the events in the border between Bellum and Pergrande, he’d had visions of what kind of family that they were about to bring into the world. She was pregnant, and she could be expecting anytime soon. It brought a soft smile up on his lips as he continued: “But I am married, yes. Soon to be a father, too.”

She looked ashamed, still… but it appeared that she took up on his offer and asked about his stay in Fiore, the purpose of being a Wizard Saint, his official position overall and last, but not least, his opinion on the war he participated in before… sounded like a stern interview, all of a sudden. His brow raised in intrigue and a scent of suspicion, but then he suddenly relaxed again, leaned a bit forward and decided to answer her questions:

“I’m 22 as of now. It’s been 10 years since I first set foot in this country…” Man, what a callback to a very, very, very chaotic time in his life. The stress, the heartaches, the anxiety and paranoia that he might’ve ended up on the street with nowhere to call home after what happened at the Onmyōryō in Midi… and then, he found himself in front of Fairy Tail’s gate. The rest spoke for itself.

“The Wizard Saints are a group of ten… when the Magic Council officially recognizes you as one of the most powerful and skilled Mages in the continent, then they grant you this title. You might be able to tell that it partly has to do with the Council’s desire to politically flex over the other countries, but that shit’s beside me. And… the world and all of Earthland is huge. Even if the positions change members a lot, there are always someone out there with potential far beyond anything we can imagine… w-wow, now I completely lost my hype over being a Wizard Saint. Damn…”

Okay, he didn’t mean to lose track that quickly, but it sure put things into perspective. Then again, the Council would never recognize someone maleficent as a Wizard Saint, but even with his heroic achievements – when he had to test his power against a bigger foe – he often found himself lacking for one reason or another. His previous clash with the Black Lily was just one example of that… what good was it being a recognized hero, as all Wizard Saints were, if he couldn’t bring results when it counted the most?

Or was he outweighing all the good things he had done with those few losses? Who knew…?

“Short in short, a Wizard Saint is a recognized Hero Mage here in Fiore. They’re not exactly part of a strict, higher military group or echelon, and I have pretty much all the freedom of mobility as I had before.” Leaning back and resting his hands behind his head to stretch a little, it might’ve become noticeable for Nita to realize that his left arm was a wood-metal construct… a prosthetic of some sorts.


“I… they appear wanting to support Bellum. Fiore, that is. It sounds logical at first – rally up the mages against the anti-mages, clearly as black-and-white as it can be. The more I hear and read about the two countries, though, the more… confusing it gets. I’d like to just let it all pass over my head, but one of my prominent Aces are from Bellum. You get where I’m at?” Then again, had he heard Vandrad’s direct take on the war? He ought to talk with him a bit more outside of the training room…

“… You don’t need to cover your face all the time,” he worryingly stated before gently taking a hold of Nita’s two hands and moving them away to see her freckled face again, “You may be pretty and a bit bold, but I’ve been through worse- hold it.” His voice suddenly changed from that soft, careless tone to a sharp, commanding sound as his eyes moved past Nita’s shoulder and ahead of the train’s cartway. Then, he rose up on his feet as his prosthetic suddenly began re-arranging itself mechanically, while he moved ahead of the cartway and opened up the end’s door to face the other passengers.


“I’m surprised you haven’t eaten anyone yet. Is it because of me?” he spoke up to seemingly everyone inside the exotic cart, who all glared at him in confusion. They knew that he was a Wizard Saint, and therefore his words intimidated them a bit, but it was nothing compared to the incoherent shaking of a certain entity at the other end of the cart. With Mura approaching it slowly, its form began poking out of the shadow that it hid in… but it looked scared. Paranoid. Monstrous. “Don’t play innocent – you may be stereotypically slimy and all, and I can sympathize with yo-WHUP!” In a flash, the creature’s tendril was sliced off as it had attempted to jab it at a passenger sitting nearby it. The passengers quickly began pulling themselves back from the creature, while some felt safe under the wings of the Wizard Saint in the cart.

“… Weird, you harbor a ton of emotions. Still, you tried to harm that one pal of mine, didn’t you? That’s enough for me…” Finally stepping into action, he unsheathed his priced katana Harukami, and the air around the entire cart changed. It was sharp and spiked with mint, hitting the back of your throat with how dense his releasing mana became. Kyuken-Style, Pre-Verse-!

The monster, as he now labeled it, began moving forward to attack him, but it suddenly spotted… threads? White threads in the air? Silky thin, shining threads had suddenly appeared darting through its shoulder, chest, arms, legs and throat. The threads were waving and didn’t appear to cause anything, so the creature tried pulling them off – the moment its hand came into contact with the thread, said hand was severed by it. The threads were, like, sawing at it whenever it tried to pull them off of it, continuing to dismember itself until its throat suddenly got a hole boring right through. That was when the threads moved off from its limbs and sliced the monster up slaughterhouse-style, leaving not a drop of blood to spill on the ground before it was caught by black embers.

Garn Ball.

Another creature was already on the roof, but it was back at the first end of the cart where Mura came out from… right where Nita was. “Nita, above you! I can tell you possess enough power to beat it, so show me what you’re packing!” Truth and half-truth; he could tell she possessed considerable magic, but his Magical Sensory hadn’t been honed in a while… he hadn’t yet realized just how deep her pool was.

WC: 1302
PWC: 2389
TWC: 4365

It was quite interesting to realize that Mura was practically the same age as she was, and he was already a Wizard Saint, as well as soon to be a father. That was incredible, at least as far as the young Pergrandian was concerned. "Well wow, congratulations, brother!" she replied, her hands still covering her face, though her voice carried through all the emotions of admiration and impression that she felt. If someone as young as she was could be a celebrated Wizard Saint, then she had a lot of hope. She decided that she was going to begin carrying out more research on these Wizard Saints, and how they could be joined. That would be a medium term goal for her. If Mura said that they were heroes recognized by the government and the people of Fiore, perhaps striving to be a Wizard Saint was a path she would focus her attention on. Mura seemed to be a bit of a goofball, lending a rather human dimension to this hero figure who would normally be seen to be distant and aloof from the normal people who existed in rather mundane and not so powerful existences. Nita felt that she was more of a klutz than the man sitting beside her, but he was a Wizard Saint. There was no reason she could not be one as well. Except for one thing.

It was a good thing that the Wizard Saints were not as militaristic as Nita had initially imagined; the terms seemed to be just a title, though one that came with a lot of prestige and responsibility, and didn't really deprive its bearer from the freedom they had had before earning the title. But with Mura's next words about the war between Bellum and Pergrande, the blonde mage began to worry once again. Fiore was supporting Bellum. Her heart sank at the words, not only because she was a Pergrandian, from the nation that was Bellum's sworn enemy, but also because she had been hoping that Fiore would remain ultimately neutral in this war. Because it meant that she would have to choose a side. There was also the question of whether politics would arise with someone like herself, and due to her nationality, she would not be allowed to be selected as a Wizard Saint. One could argue that Mura was not Fiorean by birth, but he had spent ten years in Fiore, enough for someone to become a nationalized citizen. Also, Midi was in very good relations with Fiore, so making a Midijin a knight would not be an issue. Nita could not deny that she was beginning to feel rather depressed, so she sought something to focus on, to distract her from her painful thoughts. That was when she realized that Mura Kensho had a prosthetic arm. With her hands still covering her face, she shifted her head to study the object more closely.

It was impressive, especially as part of it was made of wood. Nita was not a technological guru; as a matter of fact, her knowledge of technology could be summed up into only three ideas, being that it worked, it made life easier, and i-Lacs could take selfies. But she had never seen a prosthetic made of wood. Most of the ones she'd seen were the ones made of current-day materials: plastic, metal, some glass; she had even seen someone with a foot of stone. But never wood. And by structure alone, the object looked like it would be a big help in combat as well. Nita's musings on his prosthetic arm would be derailed when she realized that he was holding her hands, and moving them away from her face. Deep down she found herself a little amused that he was unaware of the fact that his words were not particularly correct. It was not his fault though; many people made the same mistake, not about how good looking she was, but the assumption that she was bold was a little incorrect. Still, it was always made with cogent reasons, because people would often take not of her dressing, and her behavior. For Nita, though, the truth was that more often than not, she simply acted on her feelings, because giving much thought to them would make her choose to hide and avoid people, which would raise a lot more questions as it was expected that people who dressed the way she did were the 'bold and not scared of anyone' sort. Explanations were often too long, misunderstood, or not believed, so for her explanations were a last resort.

Fortunately, Nita was spared the embarrassment of turning red if exposed to Mura Kensho's gaze at her face for extended periods of time, when his voice suddenly became harsh, causing the Pergrandian's eyes to widen like saucers, as she stared at him, wondering what was wrong. And then she felt it. A strange miasmatic presence that seemed to be hiding somewhere on the train. As Mura got up to handle the threat, she rose to her feet as well, but did not follow, simply watching him. She remained motionless as the creature manifested itself, watched with a great deal of respect as he first protected an innocent, then shredded the creature without much stress. Nita had no idea what he did, but the spell looked rather impressive. Not too surprising, though. He was after all a Wizard Saint. He turned to her, alerting her to the presence above her, just as Nita's magic sense detected it. It had either been summoned, or had alighted on the roof. Nita nodded once at the Wizard Saint, and used Blink.

One moment she was in the carriage, the next she was on the roof, her long hair trailing out behind her, unprotected from the wind. And in front of her was one of the ugliest creatures she had ever laid eyes on.
"Eww," she said, as the creature took note of her and began ambling towards her, using its wings to balance its hideous form as it drew closer. She held up her right hand, and between her index and middle fingers, a black card formed, its edges burning with a flame of rapidly shifting colors. As the creature approached, she flicked the card into its mouth. even before it could reach her. With a preternatural scream, the demon burst into clear white flames, which danced into other colors in an impressive display of light, as the creature was reduced into askes as white as snow, leaving behind an incredibly eerie skeleton of the same color, which slowly dematerialized into ash and was blown away by the high winds around the moving train. Another Blink, and Nita was back in the carriage.

"What were those things?" she asked, her voice carrying a note of worry.


WC: 1141
PWC: 3117
TWC: 5506

@Mura Kensho

Huh… she was able to teleport herself. That would prove quite useful when fighting on a moving transport vehicle such as a train. There was a huge entity atop them, though, and Mura felt the need to get up on the top of the train himself… the other passengers were beginning to panic a little, thinking that the troubles wasn’t over yet. He had to calm them down, and he knew just how to…

Without warning, he pulled up what looked like an antique, clothed flute and began playing a pleasant melody that he had practiced back home. Some of the passengers began raising eyebrows as to why he began playing a song right now, and one passenger even rose up on his feet and raised a hand: “H-Hey, wait, there are more of those creatures on the train, right? You must stop them, b-before they get to us! Don’t just… s-stand there…” Mura, however, kept playing his melody… for he wouldn’t let anyone on the train perish. That was what the song was trying to convey via its tones and nodes. Soon enough, the panicking gentleman sat back down again and stabilized his breathing, while the others began feeling such pleasantry from the voice of his flute that the alert of danger ebbed away at their feet.

“…” They looked relaxed. Now was the time to save the day, y’know, as these heroic Wizard Saints were hailed for doing. However, much to the samurai’s surprise, the moment he prepared to leap up to the roof and aid Nita, she appeared right where she was a few moments ago… unharmed, unphased and victorious. “H-Hwah, that was quick…” he commented on her swift, efficient takedown before sheathing his katana and taking a look around the cart. Nita did ask a very good question; what on earth were those? Demons? Demon-like entities? They possessed very little strength, though… almost as if they were summoned?!

That did make the most sense, however! One of them appeared inside the cart, while another appeared outside of the cart… if there was a summoner, then they would most likely be inside the very cart that the two mages stood in. One monster inside to cause something, while another drew the wizards’ attention to the outside. Whatever the summoner’s intentions were, they were spoiled once Nita revealed her expertise and finished off the monster outside before Mura even had to leave the inside of the cart. “I’d take a guess and say that there’s a summoner…” he spoke to the blonde sorceress, “For these creatures were easy to slay. Felt like they weren’t physically at their best… that’s a common detriment with novice summoning. Either that, or the summoner’s very far away-“

“Mura! Outside!” Zirconis’ voice warned him from the window, alerting the shaman to charge over to the window and open it up widely. While the speed of his advance made the window crack a bit, it did make him spot the creature standing in the way on the train tracks ahead of them in time! A troll-looking creature with long, sharp claws was awaiting the train’s approach in an attempt to smash right through, an event Mura would not allow to come to light. And that was when the train conductor pulled down the brake in an attempt to stop the train…!

“Hang on, everyone!” the shaman warned before leaping out of the window, managing to fly up to the front where the conductor would be able to see him from the steering room. “Keep driving!” Mura asked him, bewildering the poor conductor at first while the shaman planted both his feet right in front of the train’s front helm. With both eyes gazing forward towards the incoming troll, Mura unsheathed Harukami once more and lowered his blade for an upper-cut. Kyuken-Style, Pre-Verse… Mole!

Flying up over the train was the troll’s lifeless body, conquered by Mura’s technique. However, from behind the train, creatures were clawing their way into the windows of the front where entrance was easiest. With Mura attempting to cut way through another wave in front of the train’s tracks, Nita was left with the incoming threats from behind…

WC: 697
PWC: 3086
TWC: 6203

[x3 C-Rank Missions WC Reached (solo)!]

The Wizard Saint seemed impressed with the speed with which Nita had managed to take care of the demon atop the train. She responded with an exaggerated flourish and a bow. ”I aim to please. But thank you all the same,” the Pergrandian replied. Even if Mura was probably being patronizing, seeing as he could have probably done it just as fast, the fact that she had been commended by a Wizard Saint did feel good. Of course, she was a sucker for praise, but the truth was, most people were. Those who shrugged off applause were either epitomes of humility (and such creatures were terribly rare), or just hypocrites. Nita had too many mental burdens to carry an extra one of pretending not to be rather pleased when she was commended for a job well done. The fact that he sheathed his katana when Nita had returned meant that the Wizard Saint wasn’t sensing any danger, which meant the train was safe, for the meantime, probably. Whatever those things were, creatures such as that didn’t just appear out of nowhere, and when they were present, it was because there was something that had drawn them, or someone that had called them.

The Wizard Saint did not give a direct reply to her question, although his mentioning of a sorcerer spoke volumes. That had to be the case, because it ticked all, or almost all, of the logical boxes. If Nita remembered correctly, the monster she had slain on top of the train carriage had dissipated, even down to its bones, meaning that its form had returned to whatever hellish dimension it had been drawn from. That was a fundamental law of summoning. A summoned creature, unless it had a powerful anchor, or had been drawn by powerful magic, was merely a visitor on this plane, and would return to its home plane when it had finished the work it was called to do, or if it was destroyed. Nita could not be certain of the level of power of the summoning spell that had brought that eldritch being, but the mere fact that it had dissipated upon its demise was excellent proof that it had most likely been summoned. But if it had been summoned, that created more questions. In Nita’s opinion, the first and most pertinent question was ‘why?’ The next, and of less importance was ‘by whom?’ Of course, there were those who believed that the most important thing to know was who was behind this attack, but to the Pergrandian, the identity of the culprit was not as pivotal to rectifying the matter as was the purpose, the reason for this attack.

Mura’s explanation was interrupted by one of his companion spirits calling his attention to something outside the train. Nita hurried to the window behind the one Mura had opened, managing not to crack the glass when she opened it. As her eyes fixed on the troll, she considered what sort of power it would probably have if it wanted to attack the train head-on, when the vehicle was moving at top speed. The sudden engaging of the brakes sent Nita tumbling. Despite the mighty arcane power she wielded, she was still quite light, as far as physical weight was concerned. ”There should be a warning or signal for when things like this happen,” she grumbled angrily as she picked herself up from the cabin floor. The Pergrandian knew that it wasn’t the fault of the poor conductor who had pulled the brakes; he had only done what he thought would ensure the safety of the passengers on the train. Well, that meant she could not take her anger out on the source of it, which was still standing on the rails and awaiting the train. Mura’s impressive upward slash quickly put a stop to whatever ideas the troll had for the oncoming train. But they weren’t out of the woods yet.

The sound of glass breaking alerted Nita to a monstrous hand trying to claw its way into the train from outside. It was time to work. First things first, though: she needed to ensure that everyone on the train was safe, including the conductor. She wouldn’t worry about Mura; she was sure that he was perfectly able to handle himself just right. Stretching out her psychic sense, the Luminous Rose mage created a telepathic platform with which to reach everyone on the train. Mura would also be included on the telepathic platform, so he would know what she was doing, and not get distracted by her own actions. Everything else was excluded from the platform. They didn’t need to know what information she would be passing across. ”Listen, everyone,” Nita began, projecting her message mentally into the minds of all the train passengers, the Wizard Saint included. This ability was quite nifty for her to use, as her voice was naturally soft, and she would probably scream herself hoarse without getting everyone on the train to hear her message. Besides, thought was faster than words, and it would take shorter time to deliver her telepathic message than it would to speak the words. ”Do not panic, I am a friend. Despite the unnatural attacks on this train, your Wizard Saint and I will do our best to protect you. But you have to help us keep you safe. To that end, everyone will need to be moved into the first carriage of the train after the engine. An oval portal will open in every carriage that will lead you straight to the first carriage.” As she relayed her message, Nita flung a blazing card on the intruding monster’s hand, causing the creature to light up in a bright purple flame as it left the train and tumbled off to an unknown fate. ”Once in the carriage, stay there. Do not be unruly, and do not disturb the train conductor. Thank you for your anticipated compliance.” As she concluded relaying the message, Nita flung seven cards, using her Carte Blanche spell. The cards created portals in all the train carriages, with their exit portal in the foremost carriage behind the engine. As the people evacuated, Nita sent a direct telepathic message to Mura.

”Don’t be scared I’m speaking into your mind, and don’t worry, I can’t read your thoughts, Wizard Saint,” she told him, as she summoned her twin daggers, the Ancient Celestial Fangs. ”If you want to communicate on this channel, all you have to do is think the thoughts you want me to receive, and I’ll get them. I won’t get anything else. Now, to inform you, I’m trying to evacuate everyone to one carriage, because they’ll be easier to protect if they’re all in one place. If these demons catch wind of what we’re doing, your end of the train might get a little busier. But you’re the Wizard Saint. I have faith in your abilities. I shall try to make sure that everyone gets into the first carriage. Then I can shield it with a warding spell, so we can focus better on sanitation.”


WC: 1184
PWC: 4301
TWC: 7387

@Mura Kensho