He lashed out with his chain; the links snaking around the third creature's leg. With a violent jerk, Felix hurled the beast aside, simultaneously bisecting the second monster with his left-hand blade, finally snuffing it out.
The masked man's eyes shifted, narrowing as he reassessed the battlefield. He had found a new, more troublesome prey. His gaze locked onto Damien, who now stood at Felix's back.
With an annoyed click of his tongue, the assassin's body seemed to liquefy into smoke, slipping through the chains around his legs before reforming a few paces away.
"Tch... pests," he hissed. "Kill them both."
The last creature, which had been circling the perimeter, charged. It scrambled up the shattered wall and launched itself over Felix's head, diving straight for Damien's throat.
Damien dodged the airborne assault at the last millisecond, sliding across the floor to land firmly beside Felix.
Executing two consecutive bursts of light-speed movement had left beads of sweat cooling on his forehead.
His breathing was heavy, labored—but his eyes remained as sharp as a predator's, finally locked onto his mark.
As the second obsidian sphere shattered, the corresponding mark on the masked man's hand flickered and dissolved into nothingness.
"If they're immune to steel... then how are you killing them?" Damien asked, his curiosity finally overriding the adrenaline.
"These entities are known as Fumari," Felix replied with chilling composure. "Their physiology is composed entirely of spectral smoke. Ordinary physical strikes simply pass through them."
As if to prove his point, the very monster Felix had just dismantled coalesced once more in front of the masked man. Damien's brow furrowed in a dark scowl.
"Then what's the play?"
"The solution is simple: we force their forms to solidify."
From within the shroud of darkness clinging to Felix, the spectral golden eyes flared with renewed intensity. A thick, molten-gold substance seemed to bleed across the second creature's smoky hide.
As the Fumari's form grew tangible, its movements became a blur of lethal velocity—mirroring the first one.
That was the trade-off. Once their essence became physical, their speed multiplied several times over.
Damien didn't fully grasp the mechanics of Felix's power, but the oppressive, heavy sensation radiating from those unseen eyes sent a shiver of cold sweat down his spine.
He gritted his teeth, shifting his stance. "You can solidify them... but you can't pin them down, can you?"
Felix shot him a fleeting, sharp glance. "Stability comes at the price of speed."
"... Understood."
Damien drove his massive greatsword into the floor of the carriage. The sun symbol behind him erupted, radiant rings of solar energy rippling through the air.
In an instant, arrows of pure light rained down upon the Fumari. They didn't just pass through; they anchored the beast, forming a searing cage of light that pinned its physical form to the spot.
For the first time, the creature was truly trapped. Felix's golden eyes remained fixed on the target, his expression a mask of cold calculation.
"... You've immobilized it."
Damien exhaled a jagged breath, the effort visible in his eyes. "You provide the substance. I'll ensure it has nowhere to run."
Watching the two of them weave their powers together with such sudden, lethal coordination, the masked man's gaze darkened with a murderous, focused intent.
"Tsk... I need to put an end to this. Now."
With Damien anchoring the beast in place, Felix's blade carved through the final Fumari, destroying it utterly.
Damien remained rooted, his body strained by the sheer output of power required to maintain the light-trap.
The weight of the battle had shifted entirely onto Felix's shoulders, and Damien could see the toll: their stamina was hemorrhaging, and their minor injuries were stacking into a dangerous debt.
At this rate, they were fighting a losing game of attrition.
But just as despair settled, the laws of physics seemed to fold. The masked man's body suddenly collapsed inward with a sickening crunch.
His limbs twisted at impossible, grotesque angles, as if an invisible titan were crushing him in its palm. A soul-shredding scream tore through the cabin.
The masked man's bloodshot eyes darted wildly, searching for the source of this unseen carnage. When he caught the shared confusion on Felix and Damien's faces, a primal chill raced down his spine.
This wasn't their doing. This was something else—a raw, suffocating certainty of death.
Before he could even turn to flee, his skull caved in—and then burst.
Blood painted the wreckage in a violent spray. His lifeless husk hit the floor, and the last remnants of the Fumari dissolved into nothingness, their tether to the world severed.
Damien stood frozen, staring at the gore. His mind refused to process the sudden vacuum of violence. Slowly, his gaze drifted past the corpse, searching the shadows behind it.
Felix's brow furrowed, his instincts screaming. He felt the ripple in the air before he saw the threat. In a flash, he swung his blade in a defensive arc.
The attacker evaded the strike with terrifying ease—landing lightly on the flat of Felix's sword, balancing there with an effortless, mocking grace.
Felix looked up.
It was him. The third passenger from their cabin.
His hood had slipped back, finally revealing the face beneath. Behind round black sunglasses, a pair of crimson eyes with vertical pupils curved into predatory crescents as he smiled.
The small beauty mark beneath his right eye was a sharp detail against his pale skin, and the red tassel earring on his left ear swayed gently as he tilted his head.
His lips curled into a smirk that didn't reach his eyes. Felix's expression hardened, his grip tightening on his hilt as he stared at that hauntingly familiar face.
"... We've run into each other again," said Aren; his voice was as soft as silk, but he couldn't hide the mischief in it.
***
Ten Days Earlier
The waitress placed the last dish from her tray onto the table and offered a polished, polite smile.
"Enjoy your meal."
Then, she turned and melted back into the bustle of the café.