"Lieutenant, I need support!" yelled a soldier, his voice battling with the sound of his powerful machine gun.

Mira’s eyes widened at the sight of the monstrous abomination that had breached the train's defenses. It resembled a colossal tarantula, its violet-cracked carapace oozing with black ether. A mere touch from its tendrils spelled the risk of getting infected.

"On it"

Mira wasted no time to act. With abilities honed through years of training, she aimed her weapon at the beast's legs, trying to destabilize it. Her shots were on target, but the creature's tough hide deflected most of her bullets. Panic gripped her as she realized their firepower might not be enough against this monstrosity.

The ascenders who could have supported them were elsewhere, dealing with their own battles in other train cars.

Mira gritted her teeth, knowing they were alone in this fight. The defense systems, crucial for keeping the infected at bay, were offline at the moment and some creatures had found a way of getting onto the train. Soon, they were going to become infected themselves if nothing was done about this.

The creature then lunged, its speed and ferocity catching them and herself off guard. In the next moments, chaos erupted as it tore through soldiers with its mandibles that were strong enough to rip through flesh and break human bones with horrifying ease.

“This is bad. This is very bad.” Mira's heart sank as clear screams echoed across the car, each one a stark reminder of the stakes they faced. This is what they had signed up for.

Gripping her gun, she began firing relentlessly at the creature and managed to blind one of its black eyes out of sheer luck. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to halt its advance. She watched in horror as it cut through their ranks, leaving a trail of death and corruption in its wake. But that didn't stop anyone from attacking.

Mira’s eyes trembled at the sight of the towering beast as it got closer and closer. Everyone here carried a zenshi-powered weapon, supposed to be capable of harming the infected.

But…

This infected one seemed different. It wasn't dying after all the bullets that had penetrated its carcass.

'We're all going to die here.' That's all she thought as she viciously pressed the trigger of her weapon. And when she finally ran out of charge, she made a split-second decision to attack. With agility born of desperation, she darted past the soldiers, slid under the creature's towering legs, and reached its blind side.

Mira then drew her energy sword in one fluid motion and swung at one of its toughed legs. The creature let out a weak roar and dared to attack her.

Luckily, another soldier managed to snap out of his terror and started shooting at the abomination with absolute madness and fury burning in his eyes.

His actions turned its attention away from its attacker. And brought Mira enough time to climb on top of the creature’s head and plunge the plasma sword right through it with all her strength. Once its brain was destroyed by the zenshi, the creature stopped moving and collapsed on the floor before drying up and turning into black ash.

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The black ether must’ve been the only thing keeping its body moving.

Even though they had won, no soldier bothered to smile or dare to celebrate because the creature's death meant nothing if the defense system was offline this meant that black ether was now in the air and more monsters were going to find a way into the train.

Why were they so fixated on getting in?

Looking out the window, Mira’s face even paled more when she noticed that more infected were marching towards the moving train.

Why were they suddenly coming at them? And why were there so many infected in a place that had been just evacuated recently?

Something else was at play here. She could feel it.

With an exhausted sigh, she counted down the soldiers left in their car. Only twenty of the seventy soldiers meant to protect the main car were left.

'The weak are not meant to exist in this world.'

Those were the words her master kept telling her when she was still at the Sect. While there, Mira watched her friends awaken and leave her behind because she lacked divinity. That's just how this damn world worked…The weak die, and the strong fight to survive. The Hong family only picked her because their oldest son was weak and she was strong despite being a mundane human.

She was given better training from better martial artists and even some small insight on how to use qi in detecting enemies. Mira had hoped that there was more to qi. But sadly, the knowledge of the great mystical art was lost thousands of years ago before the Fall.

Thinking back to how she has lived her life. Mia only wanted one thing…

to Survive.

The only reason she always came back alive from most missions was because she wanted to survive. She survived by either clinging to the strongest ones, running away, or fighting for her life when she had no choice like today. She had planned on sticking closer to the great Dark Blade, daughter of the Flame of Winter.

But all her plans were blown away when Luna rushed off to the reactor room without warning.

Mira wanted to follow, but if the creature there was strong enough to get Luna's attention, who was she to join?

'Gods. Why is living so hard? Can't I just be doing twenty-four-year-old things?' Mira sighed and stared at the young soldiers. She almost felt bad for what she was about to do.

Using her sword as a cane, she faced the men and put on a determined face before she spoke. "We will fortify our defense and hold our stand here. Anyone with severe signs of corruption, end your life and at least die as a human. We only have eight minutes before the black ether starts affecting our bodies. And if they elapse before the reactor comes back on, it was nice knowing you all."

They only needed to survive for one night. Though the night now felt longer. The situation outside was worse due to the fact more cursed creatures had decided to join in on the fun. The smell of blood here was getting stronger and drawing their attention.

The ascenders outside seemed to be more than capable of holding their own against the ferocious monsters.

Many of the creatures had already fallen at the hands of the summoned beasts that held mystical powers. Even in the dark sky, they could see a glowing winged beast soaring through it with lightning shooting out of its wings and frying them instantly.

“We will live.”

The soldiers got to work quickly as they prepared for what was to come. First, they replaced the crystals in their weapons and got into position. Those who were corrupted jumped out of the train while some killed themselves.

'Like samurai committing seppuku.' she thought as she watched the two scenes unfold. Those who ran feared death while those who killed themselves feared losing their humanity.

'How poetic.' Mira thought and looked away from the scene.

When she thought there was no hope, the train trembled and hummed back to life immediately. Then, they all heard the robotic voice announce once again.

"Self-repair complete. Defense system online."

A strange energy washed over the entire train and the mundane humans. The broken windows resealed themselves as the reactor's power expelled all the black ether lingering in the air.

Before Mira and the soldiers could celebrate, another tremor happened. This one violently shook the train.

Dum…Dum…

Mira quickly reached for a metal pole and stared at the newly sealed door leading to the reactor room. In the next moment, she witnessed something shoot through the thick metallic walls guarding their car and landing right next to her.

Her eyes remained on the thick door as the air suddenly left her lungs. “what the the…” She had no words for what just happened. The entire car full of soldiers was suddenly silent when her terrified gaze moved to see what had just penetrated the thick walls and her heart sank immediately.

…It was none other than the girl she was talking to earlier. Her dark hair was filled with dust and metal and her pale skin was covered with burnt marks, revealing the flesh underneath. It was also covered in violet cracks of black ether.

Lady Lunaris was unconscious and she had been infected.