Path of the Unmentioned: The Missing Piece-Chapter 97: Mana Rail 17 [3]

BOOM!

A violent explosion ripped through the front cars of the train.

The floor trembled.

Windows rattled.

People screamed.

Some were thrown from their seats, crashing into walls or landing hard on the metal floor.

Bags flew from the overhead racks. A woman cried out as her shoulder smashed into a table edge. A child screamed for their mother.

Panic surged like a crashing wave.

The lights above flickered. Then died out.

Total darkness swallowed the train car.

"Wh-what happened?!"

"Are we under attack?"

"I can’t see. Someone help!"

A man tripped and slammed his head on the side railing with a sickening thud. Blood began to pool.

A baby cried somewhere in the back. A woman was shouting, trying to break open the carriage door that refused to budge.

No one knew what was happening.

Then...

A voice rang out. Calm, yet strong.

"[Lumous]."

A soft white light flared from Eleanora’s palm. It spread like a warm ripple, filling the entire car.

Shadows fled and the outlines of terrified faces came into view.

The passengers stared at her light like it was a gift from heaven.

"Everyone, calm down," Eleanora said clearly her voice sharp and steady. "Panicking won’t help us. Stay still. Stay quiet."

The noise faded a little. People froze where they were. Breathing heavily. Eyes wide.

Kyle didn’t speak. His eyes swept across the chaos, locking onto every corner.

Then, silently, he reached down and touched the black ring on his finger.

It shimmered.

A soft hum escaped as the ring twisted and reshaped. Growing longer, darker. In a second, the weapon was in his hand.

Zalrielle.

His spirit weapon.

The tachi pulsed softly. As if responding to Kyle’s heartbeat. Like it could sense his tension.

Stay calm.

Nobody noticed him draw it. All eyes were on Eleanora and her light. Everyone else was too busy trying to survive.

"Stay close," Kyle said quietly, but firmly.

He wasn’t just speaking to Eleanora and Reo. He was also talking to Mira and Anaya. The mother and daughter huddled together in the corner, too terrified to move.

Reo, standing beside him, summoned his weapon. A long, sharp spear made of mana infused steel. It gleamed a faint green in the light.

Eleanora moved with grace. She stepped beside them and drew her estoc. A sleek, elegant blade that looked made for precision kills. She held it with practiced ease.

The noise from the front cars was getting louder now.

Screeches. Scraping metal. Screaming.

"Anyone who can fight. Get to the front!" Kyle called out. "If you are a civilian, move to the back! Protect each other!"

There was a pause.

Then a big man stood up, pulling a heavy axe from his spatial pouch. Another person. A woman with short hair, summoned a short sword. They looked nervous but determined.

Most of the others? Still frozen in fear.

And then—

Silence.

Everything went quiet.

No screaming. No growls. No noise at all.

Then... click... click... click...

Footsteps.

Slow.

Dragging.

A figure appeared at the connecting door.

He was limping.

His clothes were torn. Blood covered half his body. He looked like a survivor—barely alive.

The man with the axe stepped forward. "Hey, are you alrigh—"

"Wait—!" Eleanora shouted.

Too late.

Shlick!

The survivor’s body twisted in an instant. His arm stretched out, snapping bones and tearing flesh, transforming into a long, jagged blade.

He slashed the axe-wielding man diagonally. From shoulder to hip.

Blood sprayed the walls and floor. The man’s body split in two.

Gasps and shrieks filled the car.

The creature in front of them... wasn’t human anymore.

Its skin was pale, sickly, and covered in black, pulsing tumors. Bones jutted out at odd angles. One eye was missing.

Its mouth stretched far too wide. filled with jagged teeth. Its entire right arm had turned into a blade made of bone and corrupted flesh.

Then the next door burst open.

More came in.

Five.

Six.

All just as hideous. All once human. Now monsters.

They shrieked like animals and charged.

"Fall back!" Kyle shouted.

But his body refused to move.

That mana. The demonic mana.

It was the same as the one from the Vipers’ hideout.

The same mana that almost killed him.

He could still see it. The broken bodies. The masked figure. The blood everywhere. The smell.

’Not now...’

A monster lunged at him, blade-arm aimed for his head.

CLANG!

Reo stepped in. His spear blocked the blow just in time. Sparks flew.

"Snap out of it!" he shouted, teeth clenched.

Eleanora didn’t hesitate. She moved like lightning, slashing clean through the creature’s arm. Black blood splattered across the floor.

Reo grunted and slammed his foot into the monster’s chest. Wind burst out. Sending it flying backward into the wall.

Kyle’s eyes cleared.

"S-sorry," he said.

Zalrielle vibrated in his grip, steady and calm.

His body stopped shaking.

He stepped forward. Breathing out a cold mist of ice.

"[Ice Field]," he said calmly.

The floor shimmered. Ice exploded from below, sharp and jagged. Two monsters were caught mid-charge. Frozen spikes impaling their torsos and pinning them in place.

Another one slipped and fell. Another roared and charged.

"Reo—left!"

Reo spun and swept his spear wide. A blade of wind cut through the air, slicing clean through a creature’s chest. It dropped.

Eleanora raised her hand.

[Umbra Spikes].

The shadows around her stirred. Then lunged—forming deadly black spikes from the ceiling and floor. Two more monsters were pierced instantly.

But it wasn’t enough.

More kept coming.

Three more burst through the doorway. Then four. Then more behind them.

Kyle gritted his teeth.

"What the hell are these things?" Reo muttered between breaths. Sweat running down his temple.

His spear thrust forward, stabbing a snarling creature straight through the throat.

The monster gurgled. Black blood pouring from its mouth, and dropped lifeless to the floor.

"They are not human anymore," Eleanora replied, her voice calm but firm. She didn’t even look back as her blade sliced through another enemy.

"They were demonic cultists. But their contracted demons overloaded their mana cores. Their minds shattered. Now, they are just empty shells... filled with corrupted mana."

Kyle’s eyes narrowed.

’How does she know that?’ But he didn’t have time to ask.

More of the twisted figures poured in from the front car.

The train shook again as something heavy slammed into one of the walls. Screams echoed behind them.

The civilians were still panicking. Some pushing and climbing over each other to escape, others frozen in terror.

One of the passengers who had stepped up to fight was already on the ground. Blood pooling beneath him.

The other barely held her weapon, backing away with wide eyes.

And then—

"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—!"

A piercing screech tore through the train. It wasn’t human. It wasn’t even animal.

It sounded almost like metal grinding against metal. High-pitched and painful.

Every person. Fighter or not. Flinched at the sound.

Kyle’s heart dropped.

From the far end of the next train car, more figures appeared.

But these weren’t like the cultists.

They were worse.

Larger.

Twisted.

Monstrous.

The first one stepped forward. Its body a patchwork of rotting flesh and jagged stone armor. One arm was far too long. Its claws dragging across the floor.

Bone spikes jutted from its back. Glowing red eyes burned inside a misshapen face.

Then more followed.

Some crawled on all fours like animals. Others walked upright but jerked with unnatural movements. Their bones clicking loudly with every step.

Pieces of tumors hung from their bodies. Some didn’t even have proper faces. Just holes and twisted mouths full of teeth.

Kyle took a step back without realizing.

"Th-they are not normal monsters..." he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Beside him. Eleanora’s eyes were wide. Her grip on her blade tightened. "No... They are corrupted."

The air around them felt heavier. Like the oxygen itself had turned thick and poisonous.

The pressure these things gave off was suffocating. Kyle could feel the mana pouring off them.

It was dense, foul... wrong. It clung to his skin like oil.

Demonic mana.

Real monsters. Not just people twisted by magic. But beasts born from the abyss.

The three of them. Kyle, Eleanora, and Reo stood shoulder to shoulder.

Their clothes were torn, faces slick with sweat, weapons stained with black blood.

Behind them, terrified passengers clung to each other, too scared to run, too afraid to breathe.

Ahead of them. The corrupted monsters growled.

Their claws scraping the metal floor as they closed in.

The train was no longer a place of safety.

It was a battlefield now.

And this...

This was just the beginning.

———