76 – Foes at the Entrance
30F Archimedes
At night, my shifter Beastiont, taking the outer appearance of a low level Tower Shinheuh with wing-like fins, flew stealthily into the Acorn Workshop, following a little ways behind Hatsu, who was himself stealthily following after Cassano and Horyang after they opened the door.
My Beastiont had some minor camouflage capability but could still be seen quite easily, so it had to rely on hiding in the shadows.
The door of the Acorn Workshop opened into stairs descending into another barely lit corridor.
Once Cassano opened the next door, light spilled out from the room that was mostly decorated in white as stereotypical lab rooms were.
"Ilmar?" There was a woman's voice, and then Horyang rushed in excitedly after hearing his old name.
Hatsu sneaked beside the door to spy but my Beastiont was forced to stay back further away.
Just then, another voice came from inside the corridor.
"Hey, it's a peeping tom," the boyish voice said. "Having fun?"
"Who's there?!" Hatsu whirled around, hand going to his empty side, only to realize he didn't have his sword anymore since Cassano broke it in the bullet game.
"What? Wanna play with me?" The voice asked eagerly.
Cassano heard the commotion and came out, recognizing Hatsu at once.
He quickly subdued the weaponless Hatsu.
My Beastiont stayed out of sight until the group dragged Hatsu into the lab room. They didn't close the door behind them.
Sneaking closer, I used the moment when their backs were turned while Cassano threw Hatsu into a side room to speed under a desk with some things that could provide cover.
"Ms Sophia…who is this kid?" Cassano asked.
"Oh, say hi! This is Beta," said the woman, who was the researcher that took care of them during the experiment.
"I'm not interested in halves," said Beta. The teen-looking boy in a blue hoodie with his left arm attached to a movable intravenous drip stand.
After the boy walked off and left the room, Sophia spoke. "He's only been living in the lab…and he's a bit shy. He's your 'brother'. Come, I'll show you my research."
Sophia began to lead them out of the room and down the corridor as well. I remained in the room until the door closed, then came out to get a closer look around.
Suddenly the door opened again, and a large yellow arm made of some sort of Shinsoo tried to grab onto my Beastiont, but I reacted fast enough to flap away and it barely missed.
"Heh, so I was right, another peeping tom," said Beta, now without his IV drip. "Did you think I didn't notice? I was just waiting for them to go away so we could play properly. What are you supposed to be?"
I didn't answer, but stared him down, contemplating what to do.
The point of this had been to do some quiet reconnaissance so that by the time I actually broke in, I'd know where to find things, but being discovered meant that I couldn't really do that anymore.
This room seemed to have only one exit and he was blocking the way. I could also try to free Hatsu, but he wouldn't be particularly useful without a sword since his hand-to-hand was underwhelming.
"Can't talk? Or don't want to? I don't think you're a random Shinheuh that found its way here. Where's your master?" Beta asked.
"Too far away for you to play with. But I suppose I wouldn't mind having some fun with you," I said through the Beastiont. "You must be bored being stuck here."
"Oh, so you can talk after all. Interesting. Is that common for Shinheuh? I haven't really seen many."
"No. Most are dumb and just growl, hiss or roar."
"I'll take your word for it. So, let's fight," Beta grinned.
"Aren't you going to get in trouble if you fight here? It looks like there might be important stuff here we shouldn't break."
"Maybe," Beta said, shrugging. "I don't care."
Then he attacked without warning, another enlarged yellow hand reaching out.
The Beastiont was too slow in its Compressed form to dodge, and his hand was closing in around me.
So then I triggered the Decompression, and smacked away his hand with a tailwhip, before spitting a stream of acid towards him.
He retracted the Shinsoo hand to use it as a shield, then I used the opportunity to shapeshift.
Discarding the Shinheuh disguise, the Beastiont grew arms and legs while its torso condensed, turning into a more draconic figure.
With a push of its legs and a flap of its wings, the Beastiont shot forward to tackle Beta through the open door that he was blocking.
We smashed into the wall on the opposite side of the corridor, then Beta twisted around and threw the Beastiont off.
What followed was a simple physical wrestling match as we tackled, swiped, and tumbled around the tight corridor. Beta was quite strong and could probably overpower this Beastiont easily but he wasn't taking it seriously, merely laughing.
It wasn't long before the guards came out of an elevator down the hall, followed by Sophia and the two Arm Devils.
However, by then, my Beastiont had unleashed a large amount of smoke from various holes in its body, filling the already dark hall to obstruct visibility.
It pushed away from Beta while transforming its body again back to the Shinheuh and making a fast escape up the stairs, ejecting slippery fluids to cover the ground behind it.
They did not give chase beyond the main door, so I had it Compress again and find another hiding place on the 3rd floor of the Archimedes, to wait until there was another chance to infiltrate or back me up when I chose to break in for real.
O O O
35F Hell Train
"Welcome, newbies," someone said, from a large crowd of people standing in a loose semi-circle facing us.
One Regular in particular stood out, towering over everyone else by a huge margin, standing at the center behind a core group of followers.
Several other groups were spread out to the sides, ranging from two to five each. Apparently our group had the most numbers, at least if we compared each one separately. But it looked like they might all be allied.
All in all, there seemed to be around thirty boarders besides us.
"That's Aka Williams," said Darul, gesturing to the huge guy at the center. "They say that newcomers have to become his subordinate after getting on the Hell Train, or die."
"That's right. Our Scouts watched you guys fight down there. Very impressive for newbies, but now that you've made it on this Train, you should learn your limits," said one guy with brown shaven hair walking forward. "Join us and follow Sir Aka, we can fight through the Hell Train together. Everyone else here has already agreed. It'll be dangerous for you otherwise."
"Hmm…I'm not interested," I said. "Please stand aside."
When there was no movement from the other side, Darul took my cue and followed up. "Don't you people have any shame? Bullying newcomers like this and forcing them to join your group every year. And you still can't make it through the tests on your own?"
A different guy in unusual blue skin walked forward, pointing a staff towards us. "You sure have high opinions of yourselves, newbies. But don't get cocky just because you only fought weak ones so far. Especially you, the girl in the cloak. You must be newto the E-Ranks. I'll admit that you're strong for a newcomer, but even if you are from the Lo Po Bia Family, that doesn't mean anything here. I've killed plenty of scions from the Great Families on this Train."
"Who told you I'm from the Lo Po Bia Family? I've never said anything like that," I said.
"What? Aren't you? That's the family with all the Animas," he said.
"There's no relation. Or do you think every Anima is from that Family?"
He shrugged. "Consider it a compliment that we mistook you for one of them considering how good of an Anima you were. But either way it doesn't matter. This isn't a place where you can carelessly show off with just those skills. Take this chance that Sir Aka is offering you and join us. You have good potential, it'd be a pity if you couldn't live to see it blossom."
"Tough talk coming from guys that are hiding behind having a huge group!" Fisherman 1 shouted back angrily. "What kind of skills do you have to compare yourself to Lady Sasha?!"
"Yeah, you don't look so tough!" Maid yelled. "I bet Lady Sasha could defeat you without lifting a finger!"
The blue skinned Regular scoffed. "Is that something the likes of you should be questioning? By the way, our offer is only for her. We have the intel and know that the rest of you wouldn't even be able to get tickets on your own without your precious lady, so we won't even let you join if she doesn't come along. Sir Aka only accepts those who are worthy ticket holders."
"You're all just bootlickers yourself, Sir Aka this, Sir Aka that!" Spearbearer 2 spat. "If you're so confident, how about you show us your skills?"
"Why is it always like this with dumbass newbies?" The brown shaven guy shook his head. "So eager to fight at every chance."
"What? You're the ones threatening to kill us if we don't join you! How the hell are we the ones eager to fight?" Fisherman 2 demanded.
"You're misunderstanding something here…we aren't threatening you and we're not going to kill you. The newcomers who don't join Sir Aka die because they get in over their heads and can't handle the dangers on the Train. This place isn't like the normal tests. You'll be fighting for your lives every single day," said the brown shaven guy.
"Could've fooled me. If you're not threatening us then why are you blocking the road?" Darul asked.
"Enough." Aka Williams' voice rang out. "Sasha, was it? If you are not from a Great Family, that makes your talent even more impressive. But you are making a mistake to challenge the Train brazenly like this. You are acting up because you don't know better, and I can see that you won't budge unless you see for yourself where you truly stand. So, Moontari, show her."
"Are you asking me…?" Moontari turned back to Aka, who nodded. Then Moontari walked closer to our group. "You wanted to see my skills, didn't you? Now you'll get the chance. Come, any of you, or all of you at once."
"Is he fucking serious?" Spearbearer 2 asked. "Just him against all of us?"
"Lady Sasha, shall we take care of him for you?" Darul asked.
"Hmm. Go ahead. This will be a good experience for all of you," I said.
"I see…that means he's truly strong, doesn't it?" Darul asked.
"Haha. Maybe."
…
A few moments later, Team Darul was lying on the ground, defeated and groaning. While Moontari had barely broken a sweat.
"Tch. All you fools seem to have gotten some kind of power up, but your skills are sorely lacking," Moontari said, before pointing his staff at me. "Now, lady Sasha, it's just your Shinheuh left."
"I'm curious now, do you really think you can take on all of my Shinheuh too?" I asked.
"I'll admit, your Shinheuh seem quite strong, and I'm not sure how many you have. That's why we like your potential. But I'm only one member of Sir Aka's team, and Sir Aka's power is far beyond mine. It's a good deal for you to join us," said Moontari.
If the Train wouldn't stop us from all moving together, then going with a strong and experienced team like theirs might not be a bad idea.
However, the problem for me was that I was aiming to find a specific location in the Hell Train, not to pass all the stages or follow the schedule. The fewer eyes that saw where I was going or any of my true power, the better, and in any case, I didn't want to be held back by stragglers in a large group when my time was limited.
"I'm afraid that I have my own reasons for traveling through the Train independently. So I must decline. But, I do find myself curious how my Shinheuh stack up, so I'll entertain you for a little while," I said.
Then I released the four wolves, the bear, and the beetle, all at once.
Moontari took a new fighting stance as my bear advanced alone while the other Beastionts collected Team Darul and I started to heal them of their light bruises.
My bear roared and charged on all fours.
Moontari met the charge head on, and then the bear stopped cold in the middle of its run.
His staff slammed into the bear's head, sending it toppling down.
"Reverse Flow?" I asked aloud. Yes, there was somebody capable of using that around this part of the Tower, I suddenly remembered.
It was a very powerful skill to possess at this level, and with it, he could very well take on all of my Beastionts, depending on just how good he was with it.
"So you recognized it. Yes, this is Fast Skip. And your Shinheuh seem to be weak to Shinsoo control skills, so this looks like a bad matchup for you," Moontari said. "Now, are you starting to understand? You're not that special on this Train. It would be wise for you to learn this early on instead of blindly charging into danger."
I observed that the bear was still stuck in flow paralysis and did not seem to be making any progress whatsoever in getting out of it.
With their awful Shinsoo resistance, this was actually much worse than being trapped in a Lighthouse control field. He could just hit each of my Beastionts one after the other without being limited to a certain area of lock down.
"It's too early for you to assert victory, don't you think? How many times can you use that skill?" I asked, sending out the rest at once with full Reinforcement.
The beetle sprayed him first, while the wolves charged in next.
He jumped and swung his staff, releasing a wave of Shinsoo that blocked any acid that got close to him, then froze one wolf before he landed.
Then he rolled to dodge one wolf's lunge and froze that one again while passing underneath it.
The next two wolves that charged him, he visibly struggled to keep evading and got smacked away flying after a couple of exchanges, but he still successfully froze them both.
Finally, the beetle sprayed at him again just before he landed, and he tipped his staff against the Floor to push off and backflipped aside, leaving the beetle frozen too.
When he finally landed again, he dropped to one knee almost immediately, supporting himself with his staff and panting madly.
I clapped slowly at the scene. "Now that was impressive. Six consecutive uses of Fast Skip, all highly accurate, even after you took a hard hit. If the rest of your team is this good, I can see why all these other Regulars have decided to follow your lead."
"U-unbelievable. Is this what elite ticketers are capable of…?" Fisherman 1 murmured. They were all standing behind me watching.
"Heh, it's not a particularly tiring skill to use, if the opponent has weak Shinsoo. It's more about finesse than power or stamina," said Moontari, getting back up slowly.
"Those Shinheuh are pretty strange, aren't they? Normally if they were that strong, they would have decent resistance to break out of it after a minute at the most. This weakness must be related to how she can control so many abnormally powerful ones," said the brown shaven Regular next to Aka and the rest of their team.
"Everything has a weakness. Even those monsters that seem invincible…" said Aka with an expression that seemed like reminiscing. "There's always a price for power."
"So, what now? You have anything else up your sleeves?" Moontari asked. "Or will you hold out until I take down that big cat of yours too?"
"Again, it's too early for you to assert victory. This is just the entertainment. Rather than asking me, I should be asking you if you have anything else up your sleeves, or are you a one-trick pony?" I asked. "Why didn't you press the attack, isn't it because you exhausted yourself and needed a break?"
His expression soured rapidly. "There's a difference between perseverance and stubbornness, you know? Forgive me if I won't be so nice anymore, lady Sasha!"
He dashed forward with a burst of Shinsoo that cracked the ground, momentarily going almost as fast as my wolves at maximum speed.
This was actually more impressive than it might sound because the speed scaled much worse than strength with bigger body mass and with Reinforcement on larger masses. Part of their superior speed was simply having longer limbs to cross larger distances. But their instantaneous acceleration and short-distance burst or pivot speed was much worse.
This meant that in reality, Moontari's move just now actually significantly outclassing my Beastionts in agility yet nearly reaching their maximum speed in a fully accelerated run with prior momentum.
That was part of the reason he'd managed to skillfully evade the wolves' attack earlier, even before using such a strong Shinsoo burst step.
My tiger steed got frozen but I remained seated, unperturbed as Moontari's staff came swinging down after he jumped onto the tiger's head to reach me.
My snake suddenly tore out of my cloak from my neck and Decompressed itself, elongating forward.
"Hsss!" It tackled and wrapped around Moontari's arm and upper chest even as he reacted instantly to freeze it just before it managed to bite his neck with fangs full of venom.
He struggled for a bit with his momentum stopped, and movements constricted, while I sent my own Shinsoo into the snake whose lower half was still wrapped around my body.
Simultaneously a Baang formed in front of him.
I dragged back the upper half of the snake that was gripping onto him, breaking the Fast Skip technique with my own Shinsoo control.
My Baang released its payload and blew him away, while the snake coiled around my neck and above my head.
Three new Light Cubes appeared around me, creating a Shinsoo control field of my own, removing the effects of Reverse Flow and restoring the tiger's ability to move with a growl.
I sent forward and expanded the Light Cube' coverage in order to do the same for the other Beastionts.
The beetle was revived first, shooting sticky goo at Moontari. He managed to roll and dodge that, then freeze it again, but by then the bear was revived and charged him.
"Fuck!" He cursed while panting hard and holding out his left arm to freeze the bear again, his right arm holding the staff in a weak attempt to keep up a stance.
I launched another Baang at him while he was on the verge of collapse, then proceeded to continue unfreezing my Beastionts while he laid flat on the ground, unable to get back up this time.
"It looks like you're done, mister Moontari. A bad matchup, you said? Did you think I had no way of covering for such a blatant weakness? The truth is, this is a bad matchup for you. Against a Regular, your Fast Skip might allow you to easily end the battle in a single strike. But you lack the firepower to actually take advantage and wound my beasts, while each use tires you out much faster than it takes for me to get rid of your technique."
"Haha! Who's cocky now you bastards! Lady Sasha is the greatest after all!" Fisherman 1 shouted.
"Damn it…a Lightbearer and a Wave Controller too? You've got to be kidding me…" Moontari groaned while a couple of his teammates hoisted him back.
"Why is that a surprise? Everyone has at least one of the primary positions, you couldn't possibly have thought I was just an Anima with no other skills? I even had a Light Cube beside me the whole time," I said, referring to the soccer ball sized Cube I kept floating beside me that secretly housed my main body.
"Where in the hell did you come from? There doesn't seem to be any record of you from the E-Ranks or D-Ranks," the bald and scarred member of their team said while having his own Lighthouse in front of him and typing to presumably go through the info on public networks.
"I've no obligation to answer that. Now are you thugs going to stop blocking the way, or will the entertainment continue?" I asked, bringing the rest of my Beastionts back into formation. "Who's next? I'll take any of you, or all of you at once."
There was a tense moment of silence while the faces of the core group around Aka turned ugly after hearing me return Moontari's words.
Some of the other groups had contemplative expressions now too, amidst whispers.
A grey haired man spoke up then, standing alongside two others whose faces had wide eyes that were a little too…awed and probably indicated their own inexperience. "Hey Aka, isn't this enough? This person is obviously not a normal newbie. We're only going to move as one big group for a short while anyways, until new guys come in from the next station. What does it really matter if they want to go off on their own now?"
"Mind your own business Boro. I leave you and your so-called apprentices alone, and how many of them stick around for more than one attempt or even survive?" said Aka. "How long has it been since the last time this kind of new talent appeared? Just letting her go is irresponsible, especially because of those ticketers from higher stations that will prey on the newcomers."
"Sir Aka, this person may have the qualifications to survive on the Hell Train on their own, but I can't stand this level of disrespect for you!" Said a man in a black jacket and sunglasses.
"And just imagine, with the kind of attitude she has, if she doesn't get humbled a little here, she's going to end up provoking and fighting every strong bastard on the way up. Losing to us is better than getting killed or worse," said the brown haired shaven guy.
"I agree," said a woman with long blonde pigtails holding some kind of assault rifle.
"Where did you get the idea that I go around picking fights? What kind of warped rationalization is this? You are the ones blocking my way and forcing a fight," I said.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about. You don't seem to understand, you don't need to pick fights to piss people off. Just acting the way you are right now is enough to get plenty of psychos on your tail for one reason or another," said the shaven guy.
"Somehow I feel like you guys are just being greedy. I always knew you were greedy, Aka, but you might bite off more than you can chew one of these days too," said Boro. Then he turned to his apprentices. "We're leaving now. If we stay here too long we'll have a harder time getting through the night when the monsters spawn."
"Yes, sir."
"Do whatever you want Boro, you'll just come back with a tragic story every year and find new apprentices. But I don't want any more deaths weighing on my heart," said Aka.
Boro sighed and led his group away, onto the road of light that led to the gate to the inner train.
"This is Revolution Road…the same road that Zahard and the Great Warriors took that changed their fates and the fate of the Tower, or so the story goes," said Boro, acting like a tour guide for his apprentices. "But it's more like the road to hell, because that's what's waiting for us ahead."
Most of the onlookers watched them leave quietly, some questioning among themselves if they should follow or wait with the big group, but Aka's core team and I stared each other down.
O O O