We are currently in a sticky situation.

It’s not even been a couple of days since I was almost killed by the supervisor mage losing control. But this is clearly a different situation now. This rail guard had clearly made up his mind on killing us right here.

I heard the rail guards were a bunch of heartless bastards but seeing how he just cut off Jame’s arms like as if cutting weeds, tells us how evil these guys are.

He tried to act familiar with James and I even believed that he was friendly and had ties with the Malice family. This just shows he never intends to side with any of the folks here.

Coming to this isolated floor was a mistake.

I glanced at James whose body was motionless as he lay in the puddle of his own blood. I can’t tell if he is even alive.

The ruthless rail guard glanced at his hand,

“Darn it, his blood managed to stain my hand.”

He then proceeds to wipe his hand with a handkerchief and then throws it aside.

I looked around to see any ways to escape but there were hardly any routes.

The elevator and the stairs that lead downstairs were the places where the ruthless rail guard was standing. So I am pretty sure he won’t just move aside and let me walk away.

It was certain that the candidates were quite important for the ceremony organizers and the kingdom to recruit more mages to their military might. So just killing us all would surely be punishable in some way or another. Hence why the other rail guards were tolerant enough to not harm us. So any sane mind person would not risk getting chewed by the organizers.

I just hope that this guy saying about killing all the witnesses here was just a mere joke.

The rail guard suddenly let out a sigh,

“Alright, I hope you guys don’t struggle much so that I can keep the hallway intact. I shall give you an easy death, just take it easy.”

Saying so he stretched his arm aiming towards us.

Fuck! This guy is totally nuts and just a sadist killer.

Totally insane.

Why the heck are all the mage associations recruiting a bunch of weirdos.

I have to quickly get out of this turmoil somehow.

The maniac rail guard mana started converging in the palm of his hands.

Yellow lightning started forming around his arm and gathering in his palm.

The crackling of lightning echoed throughout the room sounding like the echoes of death.

He was a mage that can manipulate lightning attributes. That is one of the rarest and deadliest elements even among the mages. If his spell hits us, not even my bones will be left.

The way he’s gathering the energy in the palm, he intends to kill us all with one swift attack.

I quickly looked around.

The other brats were sitting on their arse like rocks in their piss. They had long given up resisting. Moses was among one of them.

Using these brats as a meat shield would be an option.

Although seeing the overwhelming gathering of the mana used by the spell, I don’t think a couple of meat bags would be able to withstand its power.

I can’t just run to the opposite side, there is just a straight hallway behind me, and I can’t possibly outrun his attack spell. Lightning attacks are one of the fastest traveling spells so even that was pointless.

That’s when I noticed the public restroom.

I could possibly run there and possibly evade the blow. But I am pretty sure I would be cornered in the end. So I must go toe to toe with an elite class mage. I was quite lucky to be able to use mana during the trial by sheer luck. I don’t think I have the ability to fight a mage, this early.

There is just a 98% chance that I could get killed even if I tried to use mana, assuming that I could still use basic mana skills.

The lunatic rail guard had a pleasant smile as if he was enjoying as he readied his spell. He was taking pleasure seeing the other brats sitting on their ass as they wept, awaiting their death.

I had no intention of joining them.

I quickly decided my next move, dodging his spell was the priority.

I quickly gathered all my strength in my legs so that I could race to the public restroom.

Shall try to figure what to do next later.

But just when I was about to run, a figure appeared behind the lunatic rail guard. It was like a blur of the person racing towards the lunatic rail guard. Thankfully my vision was still pretty good to notice it from afar.

But even the lunatic rail guard noticed this,

“It seems like someone is snooping around.”

He quickly diverted the spell towards the approaching figure.

The lunatic rail guard released a chain of lightning-like whip destroying everything that it touched. There was chaos and rubbles flying all around as the spell hit.

But to my surprise the new guy was like a fucking ninja, he evaded the spell with grace and precision.

He crawled the walls and ceiling evading the spell by just hair's breadth and still charged at the lunatic rail guard.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I don’t know who this mysterious guy was but if he was going against the maniac, so calling him an ally wouldn’t be a bad thing for now.

Seeing the mysterious savior smoothly evading the attack, even the maniac lightning mage had his face turned twisted,

“Tch. The disciplinary committee dogs are here already. You think you can evade my lightning like that.”

The lightning mage suddenly went all out.

He stretched both his arms and a surge of yellow lightning appeared on both of his arms.

Even his eyes started glowing.

I had to back away from the fight area as I could feel the tingling electricity in the air. There was a lot of mana imbibed in the air gathering around him and it was getting quite a painful standing here.

“Young lord, Rayzer. By the order of the disciplinary committee, I request you to drop resistance and surrender.” said the mysterious savior.

“You want me to surrender to a disciplinary committee dog like you. Never!” saying so, the maniac unleashed his spell from both his arms.

The yellow lightning covered the entire corridor and engulfed the savior.

Despite the odds, the savior didn’t stop and rushed at the maniac without any hesitation.

But just when he was about to enter the range of the lightning, he quickly took out a weird-looking knife from his back pocket. He then threw it at the ground for some reason.

As soon as the knife contacted the ground, it suddenly started glowing.

The next second the entire yellow lightning in the corridor was then suddenly got directed towards the knife. The knife ends up absorbing all of his lightning spells in an instant.

“Darn those mana absorbing toys of yours.” saying so, the lightning maniac started gathering more mana.

This time he started covering his entire body with lightning.

In the next few seconds, he was covered in an armor of lightning.

“You think you can best me in close combat! Let’s see you try.”

Seeing the lightning maniac's armor, the mysterious savior stopped and this time took out a golden chain.

This weird golden chain had two stone weights around the end.

As soon as the lightning mage saw the chain he was flustered,

“That thing is…”

Before he could do anything the man flung the chain at the mage.

The lightning mage tried attacking the chain but couldn’t even stop its momentum.

The next second the chain wrapped around the maniac rail guard.

It also dissipated the lightning armor around him in an instant.

In just mere seconds the new mysterious guy already managed to subjugate this lightning maniac.

He appeared in front of the maniac guard revealing himself.

Dressed in a black jacket and hat. He looked quite the average guy. If I hadn’t seen his skills I would have thought he was just another guy. His eyes looked quite dead and his demeanor was quite calm and serene. Unlike the other rail guard, he didn’t carry around a sword.

But this guy had a red armband with a hammer and sword insignia etched on it.

That looked quite important.

Now that I mention it, I do remember the maniac called him the disciplinary committee's dog.

Seeing how hair-triggered and unsociable the rail guards were it would make sense to have a group of people that could control these guys.

They should hire more guys to patrol around here.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be any candidate left for the kingdom to recruit.

The disciplinary guy suddenly looked at us candidates. He then glanced at our bracelets.

He didn't say anything.

He then saw James there on the ground.

He suddenly let out a sigh,

“Lord Rayzer, what have you done,”

Meanwhile, the lightning maniac named Rayzer just scoffed,

“Well, that brat over there just tried touching me with his puke-stained hands. I just instinctively cut off his hands so that his hands won't ruin my clothes. Now that I have calmed down chopping his arms was a bit mean. I really didn't want any of this to happen, this is just a little accident. So please can you overlook this incident, this one time. Now release this chain of yours already.”

The disciplinary guy approached James and checked his nerves around the neck,

“This kid is almost on the verge of dying.”

The disciplinary guy then tore a piece of clothing and wrapped it at the stump of the amputated arm. Then he took out the thread and tied it at the end to stop the bleeding.

“Hey!" shouted Rayzer, "I told you to get rid of these chains. I admit that I shouldn’t have used mana against a candidate, and from next time onwards I would be careful to not let this happen, ever again.”

This dude had no remorse for what he had done.

He chopped someone's arms as if they were just weeds growing on the roadside.

“Hey~ You!” the disciplinary guy called out pointing to me, “Could you fetch your friend’s arms if you don’t mind?”

I didn’t move and just stood still.

Why should I bring those severed arms of James?

I feel a bit bad about what happened to James but I didn't feel obliged to do that to help him.

The one who should be doing this should be one of the lackey's but they were a little too scared at the moment.

Hence, I didn’t decline outright but just stood still.

The disciplinary committee guy also noticed that I wasn’t ready to help out.

He suddenly scratched his head,

“Well I don’t mind going and fetching the arms myself but then this dude here will be out of the range of my mana abilities. Those chains that are currently restraining him will quickly lose their power if I walk too far away from him. I am sure you don’t want this lunatic to go in another killing frenzy, do you?”

“Hey! Did you just call me a lunatic! Do you even know who you are talking to! I am Rayzer Maverick, the heir to the Noble house of Maverick clan!” shouted the angry Rayzer.

So this maniac belonged to a noble house, no wonder he was so cocky.

Although I don't want him to be free from those chains.

I quickly rushed and picked those severed arms James and handed them back to him.

Will he rejoin the arms? Does he have healing abilities that can restitch one's arms?

Not that I care.

“Thank you,” thanked the disciplinary guy after I handed back the severed arms.

This disciplinary guy was more humble than the entirety of rail guards put together.

“What the hell are you waiting for! Just get rid of these chains already!” demanded Rayzer as he struggled in his chains.

Suddenly the disciplinary guy let out a sigh,

“Lord Rayzer, you attacked a candidate of a golden class member. If it were a lower class, then I wouldn’t mind setting you free but the golden class member has a committee that overlooks the security of its gold-class passengers. I am just a guy who has the authority to restrain violent mages, I don’t have the power or the ability to deal with this matter. In short, I can't let this matter pass only, a wagon manager can handle this matter.”

Rayzer rolled his eyes,

“For fuck sake, not the wagon managers! Anything but that, I am here just to use the time chamber for training otherwise I would never bother volunteering to be one of your rail guards. Do you think us nobles would bother lowering ourselves to protect lowly peasants aboard this train? For fuck sake, I don't even know letting these peasants aboard this train in the first place.”

Nobles volunteering to be rail guards?

Time chamber? Training?

What the hell is going on here?

“You boarded the train, so you should have followed the rules. There are other nobles just like you but they managed to fall in order to use the time chamber. But you still had to throw a temper tantrum resulting in almost killing a candidate. Anyway, what's done is done, there’s no turning back for you.”

The disciplinary guard then reached out to the back of his pocket and took out a glass ball.

The glass ball in the hand was the size of a berry.

Seeing the crystal ball, Rayzer's eyes looked enraged,

“You motherfuc-”

In the next second the disciplinary guy shattered the glass ball in his hands.

“I am sorry but I had no other choice.”