‘The longer it takes to return the obelisk, the more unstable Innangard will become. Your emotions may even spill into the world somehow.’

Mioko mentally recycled Brandr’s words while the passing world continued vying for her attention. It passed in a blur, surrounding pine tree reduced to smears of brown and green. The wind folded her hair over her face as she stood reverent, the train beneath her eliciting a repetitive click-click sound as it raced down its tracks.

Mioko pulled her hand away from her heart, opening it to reveal the metallic pendant. She tucked it under the hand wrap, which ran across the palm of her hand, then closed her fist around it. The hand wrap folded a metal plate into place ahead of her knuckles as she made a fist and attempted to flex her wrist back against a metal plate that ran across the top of her forearm. It wasn’t comfortable, but at least she wouldn’t spring her wrist.

Shadows contorted ahead of her and she finally looked, acknowledging the ninjas that were climbing through hatches, from between railcars, and over the side, digging climbing spikes into the dull gray of the train’s roof. The shadows wore traditional garb, all black with guards on the outside of their forearms and shins. Swords were freed from scabbards once they stood atop the train.

Hnoss echoed in her thoughts.

‘I’ll just kill everyone and move on to the next. Eventually, someone will know something.’

Mioko shook her hair from her eyes, her braid flapping and her scarf’s tail stretching out behind her like a banner. She clinched her fist around the pendant and grit her teeth.

‘Where’s the proof that she’s not actually the one that destroyed it?’ Wolf echoed. ‘This could all be her doing!’

I’m nothing like her, she thought, squeezing her eyes shut. A kunai struck the metal plate of her closed fist, which rested over her heart. Her eyes shot open as it tumbled away and another projectile opened a wound on her shoulder. “I’m nothing like you!”

Mioko opened a Shield, several projectiles diverted elsewhere. She leaped across a gap between cars. More projectiles taking flight. She slid, opening a Drop, which she fell into, her kick descending into a face.

The figure collapsed backwards, then ripped away with the scenery when he rolled off the side.

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A sword strike came from the side, rebuffed by the block of her forearm plate. The shadow’s guard opened and she struck with a closed fist, her metal-reinforced knuckles obliterating the cartilage beneath the black face covering. His sword forgotten, he reached towards his ruined face when a front kick rocketed him over the side.

A drop kick descended towards her and she opened a Shield, sending him flailing over the edge.

They rushed her. She torqued her torso and arms, twisting the plates to intercept blows. A kick came, which she met with her own, their shins striking one another.

She brushed her forearm out, blocking a sword but taking a punch from the opposite side. Stars burst in her vision as a Drop opened beneath the attacker.

Mioko blocked another blade, leaning forward as she dragged her Nightfall out of its scabbard in an attack, then resheathed it.

The figure doubled over after a wound opened across his abdomen.

She continued up the train, taking an occasional punch or kick as well as cuts along the periphery of her guard. But fighting into the wind made her ache more than the damage she took. Her muscles burned, but more importantly, it burned away her anger, some of the ninjas dissipating as smoke wisps before they attacked.

Mioko’s breathing grew ragged and she stopped putting her sword away. The rooftop grew slick with spilled blood, her footing becoming less certain.

Blood dipped into her eye from her brow, her vision turning red as she blinked and raised Nightfall to block a strike. She wiped at her eye with the back of her fist, only smearing the problem.

Another sword attack, but she struck first, slicing in a rising arc that freed fingers from the handgrip. The sword fell free and she snatched it before slipping. She collapsed to her knee, driving the new sword into the roof.

Her opponent reached for his ruined hand in a jerk, causing his own feet to come out from under him, tumbling past and rolling off the train.

Mioko had taken them all out except for one. The last was a big guy, standing across the next gap in the railcars. He wore the same gear but had a headband with a logo. He was two ninjas wide and half again as tall. A long handled mace laid across his shoulder and he looked to her with contempt as he stepped across the gap.

Mioko sheathed Nightfall and heaved as she surveyed her blood covered surroundings. The staked sword was the only thing keeping her from slipping, and she moved to the fore side, setting her heel against it to keep her in place. She wiped again at her eye, only seeming to blur the red tint.

The boss ninja began to run. She focused on the roof and opened a Drop in his path. But he had plenty of time and leaped to span the distance.

Mioko sprung away from the sword, meeting him in the air, her knee colliding with his face.

He fell backwards but grabbed her, both descending through the lockspace. They ousted a short distance back towards the roof, Mioko kneeling on his chest as he fell horizontally. They struck the train and his back arched violently as the impaled sword hilt erupted from his chest.

Mioko blacked out on impact but came to when the body beneath her dissipated. She was sliding across the roof, her searching grip only finding a slickened rooftop. She finally turned head-first into her slide and opened a lockspace. Her top half passed through, stopping her on a patch of coarse roofing.

Mioko’s eyes grew heavy. She opened a lockbridge nearby, then her forehead slumped against the train.