Having realized he shouldn't have so quickly come to rely on others or put himself out there so willingly, Owari had an epiphany of sorts. He took a deep breath and stopped slowing his blood flow. He changed his breathing back to its normal rate and gave a few practice swings of his sword as he ignored the pain in his body. He couldn't afford to be conservative in his way of fighting. He wasn't like the other front liners, he didn't have a mystic art. Even if he injured himself here by overexerting himself, he could recover. Even damage to the ligaments and tendons which don't heal much naturally can be recovered with current-day medicine.
He was being too careful and was too afraid of going beyond his natural limits. He hadn't been willing to risk himself, and yet he had tried to protect someone else when even his own safety wasn't confirmed. He had gone beyond his means and had tried too hard to be someone he couldn't afford to be. If he was going to be a hunter who didn't rely on an agency and who pioneered his own path and held his freedom in his own hands, then he couldn't afford to be so afraid to push his limits and risk his life. He had come out to do just that, but the sudden change in the situation hadn't given him the chance to sort out his feelings and act as he should have. His resolve had been weakened and his heart had wavered. But that was no longer the case, he smiled wickedly as he chuckled and watched the insects approach him.
Instead of running away, Owari watched them approach for a moment before running to meet the enemy head-on. Now that he didn't have to watch some brat and keep them safe he was able to act how he wanted. The main reason he got injured in the first place was due to his actions being restricted. He went straight for a group of three dog-sized insects, if they were surprised by his actions they didn't show it as they hunched over and prepared to launch at him. However Owari wasn't going to be outdone, as he approached them he leaned forward and crouched before putting all his strength into his leg and launching himself forward. His speed doubled in an instant and he passed the final gap between them in a moment.
He swung his sword and managed to cut both of the eyes out of one of the insects. Then he swung his foot out in front of him and used it to press the insects face into the ground while redirecting his force through it and cracking its exoskeleton under the pressure as his muscles groaned in protest, he ignored them however. The other two had turned towards him, but only one pounced at him since they had been lined up evenly before. Owari leaned to the side and converted the last of his forward momentum into a spin and gripped his sword with both hands and using a vertical slash with all his strength to split the insect's head. As he finished his attack he landed on his back on top of the insect whose head he crushed. Instead of stopping his sword's momentum, he diverted it while switching his grip and plunging the blade into the eye socket of the insect underneath him. The blade dug all the way through and out at the other side.
After that he spun in place and yanked the sword out as he reoriented himself and got back on his feet. Then he kicked off and jumped above the final insect and reversed his sword grip before plunging it through the neck area of it and twisting the blade allowing him to cut its head halfway off in one swoop. After that he didn't waste time on giving his body rest and shot off towards a group of cat-sized insects that rushed towards him as well. When they were only a meter apart they suddenly jumped in speed as they flapped their degenerate wings to gain momentum. Owari kept running forward despite the nine insects flying right at him and swung his blade in an arc that bisected three of them.
Then he switched his grip and swung again in one fluid motion taking out another two, before using the speed of his swing and a little change in direction to spin in place and catch three more in a clean slice. Then as the last closed in on him he flicked his wrist and swung his blade in a diagonal arc smacking straight into the insect. By this point he had lost all momentum and the insect staggered back as if it had hit a solid wall. Before it could reorient itself though Owari reached out and grabbed it before slowly closing his hand and crushing it into pulp in his grip. The reason he hadn't done this before was due to fear that it would be poisonous or have secret internal spikes or something. However Owari had given up worrying over such little details at this point. As he squished it the insect had begun clicking before screeching and finally letting out a horrid metal tearing sound before silence reigned.
By this point the front liners would have to be blind to have not noticed Owari. Many had seen most of what happened as he had protected the albino girl and were silently thankful. The spear guy was especially glad he had set Owari in the back since if he joined the front then he wouldn't have been able to help right then. When the older gentleman had shown up and saved the girl he had been relieved since someone like Owari would prove to be helpful in the coming few hours, however he was absolutely infuriated when the man had ignored Owari and only saved the girl, even leaving his post and causing an issue that could have caused the deaths of everyone on the train.
Luckily Owari had immediately caught the attention of everything in the area and the circle was closed to make up for this mistake, but he certainly had some words to say when this was over. Not only him, many of the other front liners were infuriated by his actions. Included was the bow-wielding girl and a few rather well dressed and calm people who didn't seem too afraid of the current situation. However nobody could afford to drop their current position and do something about it, if they could they would have saved the girl before. What did shock them however was what Owari did next. The spear guy was especially sharp and had keenly watched as Owari crushed one of the insects with his bare hand with a wicked grin on his face. It was a clear contrast to his previously calm expression as he protected the girl.
Owari of course didn't care what they saw or felt, in his opinion all that mattered was causing as much chaos as possible before retreating. He wasn't suicidal and he knew he was rapidly draining himself. Once he was out of energy he would have to go rest, but before then he could cause a stir in the insects' ranks and throw them off while taking out as much as possible. One thing about hive minds is that each simulacrum required a certain amount of resources to make so it wasn't infinite, so by killing some he was putting pressure on the hive mind if only a little.
Like this he continued to run, slash, and stab his way through the ranks of insects. It took a minute but the older gentleman showed back up and retook his position, paying no heed to the glares thrown his way. However when he saw Owari slaughtering his way through insects with a wicked grin and covered in his own blood he was startled and froze up for a bit. He hadn't realized how ferocious that child was before, and had realized perhaps he had made a rather unfortunate enemy this day. But he brushed it off as well, as if everyone here was out of his sight. Owari didn't even spare the man a glance, such people wouldn't change or care about him unless he put a blade to their throat, and he didn't plan on doing that yet.
Within a few minutes of the man's return Owari started to feel too dizzy to continue and he made his way back to the front lines. He had fought his way around and into the area of a man who was wielding a rapier. Owari barely spared the man a glace before he shot past him and behind ally lines. After getting past the encirclement he crouched down and carefully calmed his breathing before sheathing his sword and making his way into the train car. Nobody stopped him and few even risked glancing his way. He was soaked in his own blood, and his expression was only just now relaxing back into his calmer smile. He entered the train car and finally got a good look at the people he was defending. There were around 30 people or so of varying age and status. However he only briefly looked them over before confirming he didn't recognize anybody before going over and sitting with the fighters who were resting. When they saw him covered in blood many of them were quite frightened but he just waved them off and said it was fine before ignoring them. He quickly got to work by removing his haori and taking off his shirt to reveal his blood-caked body. He tore up his shirt and used it to cover and tie off some of his wounds, however it wasn't exactly peak medical care. Soon the woman in her twenties came over to him and spoke up.
"I have a medic kit here, let me treat your wounds." She had a kind smile and calm smile.
"Sure." Owari shrugged and took off his makeshift bandages.
The woman didn't waste more time on words and pulled out a towel that she soaked with water from a jug. The water smelled of disinfectant, and she quickly started to wipe his body as she tried to find the locations of the wounds. Owari didn't make a fuss and closed his eyes as he entered meditation to slow his metabolism and rest his mind which was quite strained. The woman carefully wiped his body down and could only smile forcefully as she realized how many layers of dry blood there was. Eventually she managed to clean off all the blood, but at that point she had soaked two towels with blood and a puddle of red-dyed water had pooled beneath Owari who seemed to ignore it and continued his meditation. She could only shake her head and treat his wounds. She found all the cuts on him; a set of cuts on his chest, a chunk of his right flank had been torn open, his right shoulder blade had some light cuts across it, his left arm had some cuts on it and a small chunk torn out along with a gash across his forearm.
Of course he still had his pants on so she didn't know about the cut on his right thigh and could only treat what she could see. She disinfected them with some alcohol before pulling out some bandages of varying sizes to slap over the wounds. Of course a few of his injuries would be better off being stitched like his flank and arm, but they didn't have the tools to do so here so this was all she could do. Honestly with how much blood he had lost she was shocked he was even alive let alone conscious. But she didn't pry, mostly because she had watched as he blocked out even the intense pain that would have come with her pouring alcohol over his numerous wounds as if it hadn't even happened.
Slowly time continued to pass, and after only two or three minutes someone came over from the group of thirty. It was a man in his late thirties and he approached Owari somewhat hesitantly. "Young man, can I have a moment of your time?" He asked with some trepidation.
"Do you need something?" Owari asked with a calm smile as he opened his eyes. He had already settled his mind and let go of his rage over the previous situation. It helped that he had rampaged a bit after what happened which acted as a kind of stress reliever.
"I was wondering if you needed a change of clothing. We should be about the same size and your clothes seem a bit..." He had gained his confidence a bit when he saw Owari's attitude but as he got into the topic he started to get a bit hesitant again.
"If you have some spares I wouldn't mind, but I plan on fighting more so it's unlikely you'll get them back. If you need me to pay for them don't bother, I'm not someone with a lot of money so I'd rather just stick out with these rags considering the situation." Owari accepted the man's kindness, but he wasn't a fool and immediately brought up the issue of money. There were many people in the world who would use a bad situation to make a profit, so he wasn't willing to give the man a chance.
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"No need for money, if not for all of you out there I'd be dead." The man smiled with a bit of embarrassment and grabbed a bag by his side. "I already prepared a pair of my old clothes, should be easy enough to move in and I don't need them so feel free to rough them up." He laughed lightheartedly as he said that.
"Thank you." Owari reached out and grabbed the bag before standing and giving a thankful bow to the man. After that he walked off to the end of the train car and hopped up into one of the stalls in the car to change.
When he came out a few moments later Owari was in a pair of brown slacks, and a dark green shirt. He had removed his socks and shoes since they were covered in blood, as for his haori he had obviously brought it with him and had used some of the water left in the stall cart to rinse some of the blood out of it. The brown coat still had some bloodstains in it and it was wet, but he could fix these things with some stuff once he got to the city so he threw it on and resecured his sword as he sat back down away from the blood puddle. Unfortunately his weight gear had been thoroughly useless and was both torn up and bloody so he stopped wearing it. It was only slowing him down at this point.
As he sat down dressed up again most of the people in the room let out a breath of relief. Although his blood-covered pants had been quite frightening to look at, the main reason a lot of people had been bothered by his previous clothing was a lack of a shirt. Although people in this day and age weren't prudish by any means, Owari had a well-sculpted, which made many of the guys quite jealous and many of the girls quite embarrassed. On top of that, his sickly appearance gave a weird sense of disconnect that made people unsure of how to perceive him. So when he was finally fully dressed again everyone felt a step more comfortable. Obviously Owari ignored all of this, he didn't care how they saw him or what they thought of his body. He had trained to be a hunter and not some show piece anyway, so what did it matter if some girls threw him a heated gaze or whatever? Not to mention his heart was still bitter over what happened with Milly.
Time seemed to pass much quicker in the cart then it did outside, probably since it was safer. Nothing major happened during the first hour since the people outside were still mostly fresh. However about an hour and a half in, someone ran in with a message. "Lance needs three front liners to come switch out. For backliners he wants half of you to switch." Owari heard what he said and assumed Lance was the spear using guy, a fitting name.
There were only three frontliners capable of switching in currently so they were confused by the wording, but the three quickly agreed and a few backliners also joined in. Soon the swap happened under Lance's watchful eye and nothing went wrong. However he was likely not at all pleased with this, more than likely the hive mind was saving up for a big push later when everyone was worn down further. Owari however had nothing to do with that, he just sat inside the car meditating to regain strength as he changed breathing between stamina restoring methods and blood restoring methods. The three who came in this time were the bow-wielding girl, the guy Owari had passed by when entering the train who wielded a rapier, as well as a woman who seemed to be in her forties and who had a bolt of white in her hair who held a staff in her hand.
Owari glanced at them, and when he did each glanced his way and the older woman and man shivered before giving him a wide berth. This was noticed by most of the others in the car who also made a note not to get on Owari's bad side. However the girl with the bow looked at him with curiosity and interest before deciding to rest up before anything else. She wasn't so inexperienced as to let her curiosity get in the way of her survival.
After this time passed by quickly once again, however about half an hour passed by this time before things changed. From a location near Owari someone who had been laying down quietly all this time stirred back into life. It was the girl he had saved, and she had been conscious this entire time. However her body had been pushed too far and she couldn't move properly. Luckily with some medicine and rest she was able to recover and she was actually almost fully back to normal at this point when she finally regained control of her body. She sat up and looked around before her sight stopped on Owari who was only a little over a meter away from her. When she saw him she sighed and her entire face was filled with complicated emotions.
"If you're just going to stare at me I'll move somewhere else." Owari suddenly spoke to everyone's shocks. Needless to say nobody here expected him to initiate conversation with the girl.
"No need. I was just caught up in my thoughts." She replied after a moment of hesitation. Her voice was quite light and Owari would describe it as being weak, like a candle about to go out.
"Alright." Owari replied simply and went back to meditating. Even though he started the conversation he didn't seem all that interested in keeping it going. Everyone who had heard the exchange was perplexed, did he want to talk to her or not?
"About what happened. I'd like to thank you." After hesitating for nearly a minute the girl finally said this.
"Thank me for saving you or acting as bait to help you and that old man escape?" Owari's voice was completely even as if he held no opinion on the matter one way or the other.
"Saving me." Her voice became even smaller. However she took a deep breath and seemed to regain her confidence. "I'll punish him properly later. My name is Noel Silverblood, he is my servant and is under orders to ensure my safety. Please don't judge him too harshly."
"I don't care either way. His life must be pretty awful to be so excited to watch some random kid die for no reason. I pity him honestly." Out of all the responses he could have given this was certainly not the one anyone here expected.
"Might I know your name?" Noel asked, completely ignoring what he said as if she hadn't heard it. Whether it was because she didn't know how to follow it up or if she simply didn't want to continue that conversation only she would know.
"It's pretty unlikely, we've never met before after all." Owari answered with a smile as he continued to meditate. Clearly he was making fun of her way of talking, catching her off guard.
"Ehem, I meant to ask what your name is." She coughed lightly and tried to keep the conversation on topic.
"I figured, like I said we've never met before so how would you know my name?" Owari still evaded the question with a smile.
"Indeed, that was my intention. Could you tell me your name then?" She also smiled a bit as she tried not to let his evasiveness faze her.
"I could tell you my name, after all it's only a single word and I'm quite familiar with it." Owari still refused to give an inch. He started to find this game quite interesting and even opened his eyes to get a clearer sight of Noel's expression.
"Right, I'd hope you would be. I'd like to know it as well. What is your name?" She directly asked the question instead of dodging around it as she had been, even if it was a bit ruder it seemed she wouldn't get a straight answer without asking so directly.
"It's Owari." He decided anymore would pass from being a joke and into him just being pointlessly defensive.
"An eastern name, I guess that makes sense. I'd like to say it again, but thank you for saving me Owari. My family takes our debts very seriously and I owe you my life. Obviously what my servant did earlier was very out of line, had you lost your life his own would have been forfeit." Her tone started out light and slowly grew heavier as she spoke. By the end she spoke in a very grave tone that Owari could tell was utterly serious. She was probably not lying when she said the older gentleman would have been killed for letting him die.
"What would that change? I'd be dead so killing him would do nothing. Well whatever, I didn't save you to get something out of it. Honestly I was quite impressed, you faced such a deadly situation so calmly and with such resolve. Personally when I saw you turn around and face those bugs you looked quite heroic. It would have been a shame if you died just like that." Owari didn't bother hiding his thoughts at all, not to mention how he had only recently had a brush with death, he was originally a very honest type of guy.
Hearing what he said Noel couldn't help but blush a bit. She had been called many things in her life ranging from frail to beautiful, but heroic wasn't something anyone had ever called her. "Thank you for the compliment, though I'd have to say the same of you. Even though I had been so difficult and you could have just dropped me off and left me to my fate, you even had enough kindness to put me down gently and even got injured protecting me afterward. I felt quite terrible when I saw that and I'd like to apologize. I'm simply not used to being touched and my condition makes it even more unpleasant, so I panicked a bit." She seemed to be the type who wouldn't stop talking when she started, and she immediately started dumping out all her words as soon as they started coming.
Owari didn't mind though, it was better than someone like him who was terrible at making small talk at least. After hearing what she said he was a bit surprised, most people wouldn't so willingly admit to their mistakes and ask for forgiveness, in a way she seemed a bit naive and pure despite her mature way of speaking. As for how the rest viewed her words, seeing as how the three frontliners had seen Owari's rampage they felt that the word 'kind' was the last thing they’d call him. Of course they'd never say it out loud, after all not only was Owari quite scary, Noel wasn't simple either. Obviously the fact that she had a servant was proof enough, but even Owari recognized the name Silverblood.
They are a family of powerful tamers who have created dozens of mystic arts over many generations. Each new generation is required to build their own mystic art from scratch, and they aren't allowed to learn the art of another in their life. When they reached the peak of their life they would release their personal art to the public and let them decide how good it is. Once it was publicly decided the results would determine how good or bad your treatment would be during your retirement.
"Is that so? I can't really blame you for being so surprised at some stranger grabbing you though. I'd be the same after all." Owari's tone was quite casual and calm, he clearly didn't mind her status. One thing that was public knowledge was how upright the Silverblood family was. Of course there were obvious exceptions, but Owari had guessed Noel wasn't one of them so he saw no reason to keep up pretenses. With that said though, not everyone would be able to do the same. After all most people would be too scared of her family or too stunned by the chance to meet what could be considered a celebrity.
"I suppose that makes sense. But it was still a bit dull of me given the circumstances. I'll make sure I don't make such a rookie mistake again in the future, so I must thank you for giving me a chance to learn this lesson safely." She seemed genuinely happy to have this opportunity, however Owari could read the undertone in her voice. She was partially ashamed of herself, but mostly she was excited to have improved. It was the latter feeling he could empathize with, he loved that feeling of successfully improving and growing and he could feel that she was the same.
"I also learned some lessons thanks to you so it's fine." Owari gladly expressed his own feelings about the matter, after all he had no reason to hide his own excitement at having solidified his heart as a warrior. He now had lost the last bits of hesitation and fear he had and could wholeheartedly enjoy the thrill of combat. Over these few hours he had even found that his body could heal quite quickly with the aid of his breathing techniques and meditation. Soon enough all the side effects would be minimal at best, and only his actual wounds would remain.
As if picking up on the similarity between them, Noel grew quite a bit more confident as she talked to Owari. The main problem most people would face when talking to someone like him is finding common ground as well as finding stuff to talk about. For the latter problem Noel was a natural chatter bug so it wasn't even worth noting. Now that she had found something they had in common it would be easier to talk to him. "I'm glad I could help you, though I'll still have to say you've helped me far more. While we both may have learned a few lessons through the whole event, the fact remains that you saved my life when you didn't need to." She still didn't seem willing to concede on this point however, though if what she said about her family was true Owari could figure out why.
"Even if you say that, what would you even do to repay me? After all nothing is as valuable as one's own life. Once you die it's all over. If anything was worth more than your own life it would be overpayment to use as thanks. So really even if you owe me your life there is no way to pay it back." Owari gave a very objective view of the matter. For him the only thing more valuable than his life was his haori and his mother, and he would never give away either for his own life. Not to mention his mom wasn't an object to be handed out.
Hearing what he said Noel was shocked into silence. He was completely right, no matter how she tried to repay this it would never really be the same value as her own life. She had only two options, to either dedicate her life to him or to wait for an opportunity to save his life. Obviously option two was the more logical choice and would be quite easy as her family and by extension her to some extent, had a lot of power behind them which could really help Owari one day if he needed it. However to someone as pure and sheltered as Noel, and who was still a teenage girl, she couldn't help but keep thinking about the first option. This caused her to go red in the face as she thought many things.
However as she looked at Owari to see his intentions she only saw him giving her a calm smile and his gaze seemed pure of any ill intentions. She was pretty confident in her ability to read people, but she couldn't feel anything bad from Owari. Instead of making her feel relieved she just grew more embarrassed and she couldn't help but keep going in circles inside her head as she tried not to think such things. However she soon realized she had opened a door in her mind that wouldn't easily close. Since that was how things were she could only silently accept it and do her best to not let it cloud her judgment. She sighed and reigned in her thoughts while coughing to dispel her embarrassment. It would probably be difficult to face Owari for her going forward, but she decided it wasn't such a bad feeling as she smiled a bit more sincerely.