Chapter 16

Yuri loved the floors up leading up to the 35th floor…Pandora and Lero-Ro, not so much.

It all began when they happened to face off against a rather average regular who just so happened to be in possession of a rather important piece of paper- The Express Ticket. The ticket which allowed the holder (and their lackeys) to go aboard the Hell Train on the 35th floor.

As the name suggests, it was common knowledge that the Hell Train was not a welcome nor a good place to go…and yet the tantalizing offers and chances the train offered despite the dangers, risks, and unspoken horrors which awaited within brought challengers to its gate cycle after cycle.

The Hell Train Express is a special exam (or test) for D-Rank regulars  (those who have passed the 30th floor) offered on the 35th floor. Created by the Workshop, a mysterious organization which existed before even Jahad and his empire, the behemoth of a train serves as a shortcut in which regulars could take up to the 44th floor.

Due to its fast speed and efficiency, it was no doubt why regulars flocked to the train like moths to a fire despite its name-stake. There was a reason why it was called the Hell train after all. Tests while going up the floors were known to be brutal and the environment in which the regulars were forced to take the tests and live in were nothing short of horrendous.

Despite this, Yuri only seemed to take it as a challenge.

“Come on! We can beat the crap out of this Sachi or whatever! HAHAHAHA!” She would say or something along the line before turning to nag Lero to try and convince him to lead the team to the train.

In all honesty, Pandora didn’t see much value in going on the train. Their team was already climbing the tower at a speed even other Princesses would turn green from envy not to mention their stability in doing so. On each floor they continued to get stronger, learned new techniques, and gathered information about the tests on the next floor.

On the Hell Train, most sources of information would not only be blocked out and unavailable but the rush of the tests would only be annoying for them. Pandora (as well as Lero) would rather take the safe and secure way to the higher floors. No use in risking their lives in a device created by an organization which wants to become god. Jahad and the ten family heads steered clear (except Gustang) of that organization for good reason.

Shame…as things never went as planned.

… …

“Yuri! I told you to drop that ticket!” Lero yelled at the black haired princess as he impaled yet another reckless regular with his needle.

“Well come on! Are you going to throw away all the fun??! Besides, aren’t you guys curious about what’s in that place?” Yuri replied as she crushed in the skull of a poor regular who , unsurprisingly, tried his luck for the Express Ticket.

“It’s going to be the same but with less rest and hygiene.” Pandora bluntly stated as she calmly sliced off the remaining fools who approached their group.  As she sliced off the man’s head, she saw a piece of paper sticking out of the man’s pocket.

*sigh…*

“Woohoo! Another ticket baby! Now we really have to go!” Yuri exclaimed as she immediately snatched it before Pandora or Lero could slice/lose it.

“Listen Yuri. If that was a ticketer then there really isn’t much use in going on the train, is there? It’s going to be the same old same old.” Lero tried to reason but both he and Pandora already knew Yuri wouldn’t bend.

“It’s too late Lero. *sigh* Let’s just do as Sandbag wishes. Instead, we get first pick on meals and beds the entire duration.” Negotiating while there was still something left became her way of dealing with the black snakehead princess. 

… … 

Location: 35F, Train City

They had managed to find (as in kill) a ticket for Lero (number 99 out of 100) on time which was rather unnecessary as he didn’t mind going with them as an ‘underling’ to save time and remove the blatantly obvious target on their backs. However little could be done when idiots continued to attack them with blind abandon all for the sake of obtaining a piece of paper. How they could still be this weak and reckless after the 30th floor was beyond their understanding.

“Listen ladies, the Train is an entirely different setting altogether. We might be stronger but that’s not all we’re going to be tested on this time.” Lero said in our room while we waited for the time to pass. The train was scheduled to arrive next week. “Unlike exam rooms, this time the entire Train is going to be an exam setting.”

“Just crush through it like always *yawn* Besides shorty here’s going to slice through both flesh and metal. No brain, just swinging that piece of metal like an idiot.”

“I swear your mother dropped you on your head more times than you can count…oh, then maybe it wasn’t so much? Seeing as you can count to 7 for the seven times your mother dropped you”

“Anyway” Lero interrupted the argument “There are ‘Train Games’ which could be played before boarding the Hell Train. I suggest we go take a look, at least.”

“Why so?” Pandora questioned. She was feeling rather lazy and comfortable on her comfy bed. Not feeling the need or desire to move at the moment. “Train games are for those who don’t have a ticket yet. All of us already have one *yawn*.”

“It’s about picking up a good teammate Pandora.” Lero replied. “We’re on the 35th floor now and the tests are already getting harder. I understand we’re strong but we’re going to need more than just us.”

“So what. You’re going to get us a guide or something” Yuri said. She was looking through the fridge to see if the Station had prepared any complimentary food. To her delight, the fridge was filled with all sorts of foods.

“No, guides are unreliable. Too quick to ditch their team for their own paths or whatever they say.” Lero said. “We need a Scout. We’re jumped headfirst into danger way too many times.”

“Bah! We managed to punch *munch* *munch*, cut, through it each time!” Yuri said, mulching through a sandwich.

“Alright fine. Pandora, will you come with me at least?”

“*sigh* Fine” The Arie Princess pushed herself off of her bed before summoning her sword out of her arms inventory before slinging it over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”

Before she walked out the door she removed her eyepatch, which was a give-away symbol of her as a princess, and instead replaced it with a plain black bandana.

“Being a princess, especially here, draws too much attention.” She mumbled.

“Hasn’t it always?” Lero-Ro replied as he opened the door for her “The things I suffer because of your status…” he grumbled.

… …

Out of the hundreds of regulars that were competing, fighting, killing, and more there was only one regular which caught both of their eyes.

A fairly tall man with red hair and red eyes with skin shade equivalent to that of a metallic dark grey. What stood out was his boisterous, maniacal personality which could be heard and seen from across the entire arena. Most importantly was his obvious skills as a scout. He seemed to be one with the shadows as he disappeared into the darkness only to pop out from another shadow.

“My bet’s on that he’s from the Blitz family” Pandora said as she sipped her juice box. The two of them were watching from the sidelines, comfortably sitting, as they enjoyed the said regular pounce around.

“He’s too fast for one, don’t you think?” Lero replied “Even if he has red hair and eyes as well as….ahh, yup, never mind.”

The said regular burst his hand into flames before throwing them everywhere.

“Bit of a Maniac. Red hair and eyes. Fire. Fits all the prerequisites for a Blitz family, no?” The princess cutely tilted her head to the side though her eyes remained half closed and bored. “We should say hi at least. See if he’s interested in joining. Yuri might be fine since she’s practically indestructible but the Hell Train’s going to require a Scout on our team.”

… … 

“Wahhahahaha!!! You all should be honored that I’m joining! The name’s QUANT BLITZ! Remember that you normies! WaHAHAHAA!” 

“This guy’s mental…I’m sure I didn’t use any demons on him yet tho…” Pandora mumbled. Already tired from hearing the red haired freak’s boisterous claims and introduction for the last two hours.

“…Lero, can I kill him?” Yuri whispered

“Trust me, I’m tempted as well. The thing is he’s our best bet of getting across the train safely without triggering every single trap.”

“Well how about after that?”

“If he stays like this? …go right on ahead.”

In typical tower fashion, another member joined the oddball team.

… …

“There’s a lot less people here than I imagined” Lero said as he looked around the train station on Train City.

What he said was true. They were expecting thousands of people to be here trying to get aboard the train through any means necessary but all they saw ere a couple hundred.

Judging that there were only 100 tickets and each regular holding a ‘ticket’ was allowed to bring their lackeys with them…this really was not a lot.

“Muhahaha! They were probably scared away by my magnificence!” 

“Shut up Yuri” Lero reprimanded the dark haired princess at once. After being stuc-working together with the princesses for years, his old self of being crushed underneath by the two prodigy’s auras was nowhere to be found. Instead it was replaced by a hardened spirit who could take all the stress and pressure and still manage to come off as cool and unaffected. 

“Still…this is quite strange. Where are the others?” Pandora pondered. Something was off… Sure this might have been her first time on the Hell Train (as with most regulars) but through common sense it was easy to tell that something was off.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the Hell Train.

The Hell Train… was far bigger than anything she had seen in her entire life. It dwarfed the floating castle in which she grew on several times over. Even from so far away as the train slowly came to a crawl as it entered the station, or rather only a small portion fit inside the station, it was humbling…to see something so large. Befitting of the ultimate creation of the Workshop.

It was a behemoth of a locomotive that was levitating and moving as a train should on rails…but instead through the very sky. Where the wheels should be was instead blue fire fueled by the endless source of shinsu. 

As the train finally stopped in front of them, it seemed as if in just height they were looking at a towering skyscraper where they could barely make out the top. To make the scale even more utterly ridiculous, they could not see the end of the train on both side (right and left) in bright daylight.

“…whoa” Pandora let her true feelings out, all condensed into this one word.

Was this how all the others felt? Was this how great rankers of old would feel in front of this ancient machine? The Ten Great Families themselves were once in the very same position she had been. Anxious and unknowing of what laid inside the behemoth of a train.

“What’s so surprising? Noobs” The group turned around to see another group of regulars. 6 Regulars about to go up the staircase (at least 10 stories high) provided by the Hell Train itself to go inside.

The six of them were all human…though their shapes and sizes varied greatly among each of them.

The one who picked up on her ‘whoa’ was of average height, spike brown hair, almost glowing blue eyes, and she picked up on his sharp canines as he smiled.

“Nice to meetcha train newbies. Name’s Daniel Hatchid…and to tell you all something…” His complexion turned darker for a second as he leaned in and whispered “There’s a dark dark spirit sealed within the tower just waiting to eat you all an-OUCH! ROEN!”

“Sorry for his behavior. He’s a bit of a troll you see.” A girl hit the self-introduced Daniel over the head. The said girl had long ginger hair, orange eyes, and a confident smile. Wearing a pale grey waistcoat and a white knee-length skirt to match, it seemed as if she was going to a picnic rather than the ‘Hell Train’. 

“Name’s Roen Yuia. I’m in charge of this ‘problem child’ of the group. Sorry for that.”

“Roen! Hehehee, alright, my bad newbies. The thing is I’m a ‘being of a lie’ so it’s bad for my heart if I don’t lie. Hehehehe!”

At his words, Roen and her companions behind her just sighed as if they were used to the brown haired troll’s antics.

“It’s fine. She might not lie but we have our own troll - Gorilla Sandba—ouch! Yuri!” Pandora thought she heard the facepalming sound of Lero but she chose to ignore it for now as she fended off the mad strikes of the monk princess.

… …

Inside the Hell Train. 1st Compartment. 35F. 

“So you guys have been on this train multiple times then.” Lero asked.

“I would say, was this our sixth time guys?” “Seventh actually” “Oh, it’s the seventh then”. Lero talked with Daniel and a giant man called ‘Aka’ who was revealed to be a fire-defensive user. An unusual position to take in the tower.

“Anything you can tell us about the Hell Train?”

“To you newbies? Heh, just try not to wake up any monsters if you’re weak!” Daniel replied to Lero.

While the boys were talking strategy (and trash talking each other), the three girls from both teams gathered around a small campfire that Quant had helped set up. Yuri was trying to cook some S’mores, Roen was just enjoying the warmth, and Pandora was trying to cook bacon without a pan to try and make some Carbonara.

“So” Yuri began “What’s it like? The missions on the Hell Train.”

“Fun I guess. It’s good you two are so strong since the tests here are nothing like what you would have experienced so far.” The ginger haired girl replied. “The first time we got on board…out of the hundreds that boarded, we were the only survivors.”

“Really? Only survivors?” Yuri replied before she sneakily glanced at Pandora. Obviously hinting at their first meeting where Pandora had (not) accidentally set off her Toxin/Pathogenesis ability on the entire intake of regulars and quickly reduced their numbers to just three; Pandora, Lero, and herself.

“Not. A. Word” Pandora warned Yuri before turning her attention back to the bacon which was beginning to brown and the grease pool at the edge of the pan.

“Anyway we, the only survivors, decided to form a team and here we are…six train rides later.” Roen smiled as if she was enjoying the memory of their first time on the train. “You know…we’ve never actually made it until the end…or even the many side challenges.”

“What do you mean?” Yuri asked while trying to steal a couple pieces of bacon from Pandora’s plate. She failed miserably as she was almost stabbed with a fork.

“Well you see, the Hell Train is massive. There’s also time constraints since we need to complete certain tests before arriving on the following floors.” Roen explained “So we had to follow the main path ignoring many of the rooms and side tests the Train offered.”

She sighed as she continued. “Also…near the end the tests become exponentially harder.by the 39th floor…the tests become too dangerous for us so we always decided to leave on the 40th floor.” As Roen began describing the tests she took, Pandora finished grilling the onions, garlic, and mushrooms.

“So we’ve never made it till the end. There’s a myth you know? Two myths actually.” Pandora listened carefully to Roen all while stirring the flour into the melted butter “They say that at the end of this train, there’s a room where you can go back in time! I highly doubt it but who knows.” 

Pandora added a tiny bit of chicken broth and cream to the mix before getting the pan off the fire to bring down the heat a little. 

“Another is that…well” Roen lowered her voice before staring at Pandora “They say an Arie princess once sealed an evil spirit inside this train…and the spirit is just waiting to break free” she whispered while staring at Pandora’s obvious Arie features. White hair, (one visible) red eye, chalk white skin, and a glowing white shinsu aura all of which pointed solely towards the Arie bloodline.

“Whatever. More importantly, Carbonara’s done” Pandora said, deadpanned, as she sprinkled some parsley and Parmesan cheese on top. “Let’s dig in!”

Yuri blanched in disgust at the XXXX’s same meal while Rosen brightened at the prospect of not having to eat anther protein bar.

“Not again!” Yuri complained

Her reply came in the form of the finger

 

AN: Another long arc coming right up! I hope you all like the HELL TRAIN