*On top of one of the train cars Raika was firing at the Eclipses with her rifle as the train rode along a cliff. Running electricity through her body to magnetize it, Raika was able to keep herself from falling off and concentrate on firing at the Eclipses. However, this did leave her open to attacks out in the open. As she continued to fire at the Eclipses in the sky, an Eclipse in the form of a bear landed on the second car behind her. The Eclipse ran toward Raika and just when it looked like it was about to strike her with its paw, Sanada appeared to slice it in half with his sword and the Eclipse vanished. A second and third Eclipse bear appeared but was immediately attacked by Gael and Jade who delivered high jump kicks that sent the Eclipses falling off the car. More Eclipses soon started to fall onto the car and make their way toward Raika, but Sanada, Jade, and Gael were keeping them at bay. On the opposite side of the train Eclipses were also jumping onto the train. On this side, Dust, Zia, and Rika were keeping the Eclipses at bay. Up in the sky, Ryuuji and Alita were flying around and fighting the Eclipses along with Hibana’s three drones who were firing lightning bullets at the Eclipses. Meanwhile, Jin, Morgan, Hibana, Amarti, Mumen and Nate were in the train car. While Jin, Morgan, Hibana, Nate and Amarti were staying alert and protecting the engineer should Eclipses get into the car, Mumen was in his seat meditating with his eyes closed*
(Morgan): This area should have been wiped clean of Eclipses. Where the hell did they come from?
(Nate): If it’s this many Eclipses there’s only one logical explanation, Red Eclipse.
*As soon as Nate finished his sentence a loud thud could be heard on the roof of the car*
***
*On the roof of the car, Dust slashed through an Eclipse with his finger knives while Zia and Rika used their blades to slash through other Eclipses. Zia slightly lost her footing and was about to fall off but Rika grabbed her by the arm and helped her regain her footing*
(Rika): Be careful! It’s slippery up here.
(Zia): Right! Watch out!
*Zia pushed Rika away to safety to avoid getting bit by an Eclipse. Zia then turned her kukris into her dual katanas to slice the Eclipse in half. Dust was dodging the attacks of two Eclipses that had him surrounded and forced him near the edge of the cart. With no room to escape and the Eclipses closing in on him, Dust jumped off the car grabbing the edge with his hands. He did a quick swing to jump into an open window on the side of the car to get inside. Once inside he quickly ran to the other side, opened the window and swung himself upward to return to the top of the car where he delivered a dropkick to the backs of the Eclipses to send them overboard. On the opposite side of the train, Sanada’s team continued to fight off the Eclipses and Ryuuji’s team was shooting the Eclipses out of the sky. Eventually, the train came to a tunnel and entered it. Everyone on top of the train ducked to avoid getting hit while Eclipses slid down the mountain and began running along the tracks chasing after the train. Ryuuji saw this out of the corner of his eye*
(Ryuuji): Hibana, you’ve got Eclipses following behind you. Come on! We’re going after them.
*Ryuuji flew toward the tunnel followed by Alita and Hibana’s drones*
***
*In the tunnel, everyone inside the train saw the Eclipses chasing after them. The yellow of their eyes kept getting closer and closer to them*
(Amarti): Is there any way we can go faster?
(Engineer): We can’t! If we go too fast we risk falling off the tracks.
*Everyone heard a loud thud and looked to the back to see an Eclipse at the back door. The Eclipse ripped the door off with ease and entered the train. Jin acted quickly and fired off his hand cannon to hit the Eclipse to send it flying backward. Jin then ran toward the back of the train to see more Eclipses running towards them. Jin began to fire at them to take them down and was joined by Amarti who threw blade discs at the Eclipses to defeat them. Along with Alita, Ryuuji, and Hibana’s drone coming up from the rear they were able to defeat all of the Eclipses pursuing them. With all the Eclipses defeated, Ryuuji and Alita landed in the train along with Hibana’s drones*
***
*The train exits the tunnel and was now out in the open where the flying Eclipses from before were in the sky*
(Ryuuji): These things just won’t quit.
(Hibana): Uh, guys? Is it normal for the monk to start glowing?
*Hibana’s comment made everyone in the train turn to Mumen who had a glowing green aura surrounding him. Opening his eyes, Mumen got up from his seat*
(Mumen): I apologize for the delay. Leave these enemies to me.
*Mumen walked toward the window. He opened the window and pointed his staff out the window toward the sky where green lightning shot out of it. The lightning missed the Eclipses and hit the clouds*
(Hibana): I think you need to work on your aim.
(Mumen): Be patient my young elf. And behold.
*All of a sudden the clouds began to become dark and a green lightning began to shoot from them striking all the Eclipses and destroying them. Everyone watched in amazement as the Eclipses were destroyed by the lightning*
(Hibana): Where was that fifteen minutes ago?
(Mumen): I am one with nature. Nature is one with me. Though the enemies before me are many and fierce. I shall not fear them. Because all bend to the power of the gods.
*On top of the train, everyone stood up when all of a sudden a fire bullet landed by Raika’s foot and exploded throwing her overboard*
(Sanada, Jade, Gael, Rika, and Zia): Raika!
(Dust): Hibana! Drone!
*Dust leaped off the train and managed to grab Raika with his left hand and arm and fired off a wire from his right wrist. The wire latched onto Hibana’s drone and it began to pull the two back toward the train before it was destroyed by another fire bullet that came out of nowhere. This forced Dust and Raika to fall down into the forest below. Everyone gasped as Hibana sent another drone after the two while Ryuuji ran to the front of the train to speak to the engineer*
(Ryuuji): Stop the train! We’ve got to go after them!
*The train hit a bump along the track and this forced open a cabinet which revealed a lamp burning Red Eclipse over a blue flame*
(Ryuuji): You!
*Before Ryuuji could warn everyone, the engineer injected him in the arm with a liquid that caused his whole body to go numb instantly and he fell to the floor*
(Engineer): Apologies for the rough treatment. But Lady Cinder would like to have a private word with you personally.
*Pressing a button the car detaches itself from the other cars. When everyone finally realizes what’s going on it’s too late. Their car begins to slow down, and the engineer tosses the lamp with the burning Red Eclipse into their cart. Morgan attempts to fire an ice spear at the engineer, but it was destroyed by another fire bullet from a man sliding down the mountain and landing on top of the engineer’s car. He wore all white with blonde/brown dreadlocks for hair and white cloths on his hands. His eyes were green and his arms covered in tattoos*
(White clothed man): May you be born a new in the flames of the sun, brothers and sisters. Fire Grid Form 117: Pyro Barrage!
*Bullets made of fire appeared on the man’s fingers and he shot them toward the cars to burn everyone alive. The cars fell off the tracks and into the forest below*
Author’s Note: Hey guys. How’s it going? Quite the shocking ending. Fun fact, when I showed this chapter to my friend/editor, he was thrown off guard by the train engineer being a member of the cult. I was happy, because we’ve known each other for years and he’s used to my writing style and thinking, so he can sort of predict what I’m going to do next in the story. He doesn’t fully predict it, but there are times when he’ll land close to what I’m going to do next. This chapter is a short action-packed fight scene. I thought about combining it with the previous chapter, but when I saw how long and serious it was, I decided to split it into two chapters. We finally got to see Mumen’s magic and its lightning. I was honestly going back and forth between light and lightning with this character, but decided on lightning as I felt it was a nice contrast with his character and fighting style I have planned for him. Keep reading to find out what I mean and look forward to the next chapter. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.