Frost spread beneath the hooded man’s feet, expanding throughout the entire passenger car and engulfing bodies with ice, even the Hashishins who weren’t aware of a threat on board. The man unloosened his tie to solidify it, and hiked through the pathway of frozen agents. His eyes scanned over each and every one of them before he stopped by at the table where the Hashishins sat. He pointed his tie-shaped icicle at the three.

“Which one of you is the son of the greatest Hashishin?” he interrogated with the expectation of an answer from one of them. “Oh right, you’re all frozen and can’t speak. Might as well kill you all instead of wasting my time.”

Hoshika’s anger from Atsushi’s earlier joke built up, instantly thawing the ice over her body before shattering the enemy’s frosted tie once she pulled her blade out of the sheath. He leaped to the end of the passenger car and created an ice wall to cover him as her flames swooshed through the entire carriage with a spin of her katana, thawing the rest of the crew’s bodies.

“Get to the other carriage, we’ll handle this!” Hoshika commanded. Atsushi and Hashimoto got out of their seats. wielding their own weapons.

“Who must you be?” Hashimoto asked, standing in front of Hoshika, his blade angled to reflect the man’s face.

“The name’s Chiaki. I’d prefer to go by what I’ve been entitled to: Z-Kelv.” Chiaki presented himself, pulling his hood down to free his prickled snowy hair. He stomped his foot and spiny icicles emerged from the ground, making its way to pierce the three. Atsushi raised his axe then slammed it down, using the poll side like a sledgehammer. The other two hopped over the seats to shorten their distances with the enemy, clashing their blades against Chiaki’s iced armour that prevented the blades from slicing through.

Hoshika kept her frustration contained, letting it grow as she inhaled deeply. Her Spiritual Brutality reactivated her flames as she spun, dodging Hashimoto and slicing Chiaki’s neck. Once again, she was blocked by the thick layer of ice protecting him. Most of the enemy’s Spiritual Brutality energy was concentrated in his right arm, and it developed a large arm blade and whacked against Hoshika’s blade with full force, sending her through the train.

“HOSHIKA!” Hashimoto hollered, quickly throwing his katana back into its sheath. He rushed forward, then jumped and landed a powerful double kick against Chiaki’s waist, causing it to crack. Atsushi ran in to swing his axe with precision, going for the same spot Hashimoto delivered kicks to as an indicator on where to hit. The butt of the axe cracked through the armour before blasting Chiaki through the hole he created from launching Hoshika out of the passenger car. Chiaki quickly recovered, halting himself by channeling spiritual energy to the bottom of his shoes. Ice pillars formed under him, creating a long swirl over the train as it followed it. The momentum from being blasted allowed him to slide through the swirl like he was ice-skating his way back to the passenger car where the two Hashishins were.

“Hey, shithead!” Hoshika called, grinning as she soared through the air with the help of her crossbow propelling her.

“Huh?! How did you—!” Chiaki dropped himself on top of the hurried train as Hoshika brought herself down to be eye level with the villain.

“What? Ohhh, you’re surprised how I caught up with the train huh?” Her left hand rose in front of her, showcasing her elastic launching device known as a crossbow. Blood spilt from the palm of her other hand. “Let me give you a brief explanation of how I got here. With this, I can shoot arrows to repel me. It’s got a recoil of a cannon.”

Hoshika stretched her arm behind her to grab an arrow, piercing the sharp tip into the wound in her left palm as it caught on fire. She placed the bolt on the stock of the crossbow, pulling back the string that needed most of her muscle strength to be able to click in place.

“Why don’t you volunteer to be my test subject, hm?” Hoshika smirked.

—

Stolen novel; please report.

Meanwhile, the members on board rushed to the first passenger car for safety. Hashimoto and Atsushi ran through the crowded carriage and swung the door open to the locomotive, where the engine man was caught frozen with the control panel.

“We have no way of stopping the train, if we destroy the control panel it’ll explode and lead to many casualties!” Atsushi warned Hashimoto who had planned to demolish it. Luckily he halted after being told.

“Are you able to call back up?” Hashimoto asked.

“We already have back up, but they’re specialized in using guns which won’t be a clever move to order them to fight with guns. Nowadays sword fighting has become superior to firearms. We’ll have to protect everyone and keep the carriages with weapons safe. I’ve got the feeling that ice guy must be going after you and the-

—

“-scythe” Chiaki said. “I’m looking for this ‘scythe’ you and your gang muttered about... and that boy who’s the son of the greatest Hashishin.”

“You’ll have to go through me before getting your dirty hands on whatever you're going for. Who do you work for?” Hoshika raised her crossbow to point at Chiaki.

“That’s classified. I swore on my lord to never allow myself to tell scumbags like you about who I work for.”

“Aw, that’s unfair! You know who we work for, might as well make it even and tell me who you work for,” She covered up her frustrations with a smirk on her face as her blood kept boiling and boiling.

“I’m only here to assassinate the boy and take the scythe, I’m sure my lord will be pleased.” Chiaki explained one more time before he threw his hand forward. Her irritation generated energy as it scattered throughout her body to maintain a good posture. Hoshika pulled the trigger of her crossbow, launching the flamed arrow in a beeline as it whistled in the gust of wind, colliding against the ice wall he formed after he put his hand out, shattered in the process. Hoshika remained in place.

The train shook as the wheels continued to do its job. The explosion indicated Hoshika’s return to the others.

“That crazy son of a-” Atsushi chuckled.

“The hell was that?” Hashimoto questioned the quakes.

“That was Hoshika, she’s one crazy girl using her crossbow.. She isn’t even aware of the train being explosion resistant and she had the nerve to use it!” Atsushi rushed through the broken window, hooking the cutting edge of his axe on the outside roof of the train to allow him on top. Hashimoto climbed out of the same window, grabbing onto Atsushi’s hand that reached for him to get Hashimoto up.

—

The abyssal ball of smoke expanded as it rose to be a part of the grey-clouded sky. Hoshika emerged from the mist with her blade slicing through it before skidding it across the frozen arm blade. She chuffed, swung her leg with aggression to kick, blocked by his ice wall that caused her to hit against her shin. Atsushi came in with a surprise attack: an axe to the back of Chiaki’s neck, but the handle got caught by the villain’s hand.

“Ever thought of becoming a lumberjack instead?” Chiaki snarled, pulling Atsushi by the arm to launch him toward the edge of the caboose. With a bit of distraction, Hoshika channeled her flames through her glowing blade before cutting across the front of Chiaki’s torso.

“Funny you say that, I am a lumberjack! Ow..” Atsushi yelled before getting a good laugh at himself, then felt a sharp pain occur in his chest.

“Don’t be talking trash at my mentor, unless you want the end of his axe right up your ass that is!” She gave Chiaki a smug face, Hashimoto charged before leaping in the air. He channeled his energy to his legs, exhaling before knocking Chiaki off the train and into the woods with a kick in the face. Landed back on his feet.

“You think we’ve worn him out?” Hashimoto panted, stabilizing his Spiritual Brutality.

“Yeah, probably. Don’t be surprised if he returns like what he did earlier.” Hoshika gave him a heads up, clipped her crossbow on her back, clicking in place.

“How far are we to Saitama?” Hashimoto asked.

“Just a little further away from us, but this train travels really fast. You should thank the company that designed it, not sure how they were able to build a train that allows passengers to feel nothing while it transports them faster than any other train in Japan.”

The woods Chiaki was thrown in was completely engulfed by a frosty blast. His energy channeled through his legs as he produced a slippery path that followed the train tracks. He professionally ice-skated as he was catching up to the vehicle. His exhaustion getting to him as his surroundings encased him in ice walls.

Atsushi, who felt one of his ribs break, held onto himself as he recovered his breathing. He used his axe as a walking stick, looking up ahead to notice the villain’s absence on the train.

“Darn it.. I really need to fight in style to be up to their level.. Can’t be a proper mentor when I can’t impress my mentees...” Atsushi chuckled, continuing to pull himself through the air that attempted to blow him off the train. The sounds of ice crackling faded in.He looked to the side as an identical copy of the train started catching up on them. The train replica was made with pure ice and was being operated by Chiaki’s Spiritual Energy.

“...You’ve got to be kidding me..” Atsushi mumbled, took a deep breath before lifting the axe off the ground.

“How is this possible?!” Hoshika exclaimed. “He must be abusing his Spiritual Brutality to create all that..”

“You think I’d give up that easily?” Chiaki asked as he shook his head,standing in the middle of his creation. He looked down to his hands, feeling bloodlust taking over him but controlled it by dissipating it into his glazed vehicle.

“By dedicating my life to him, it has led me to exceed my old self.”