The Disillusioned Land

Chapter 36 - Break the Night

There's a sickness in my heart. A sickness that has taken hold of my very sense of self, like a thorned vine wrapped around my soul, the seeds of which were sown before I even knew who I was. Right now, as I advance across this wretched train, I feel it within my entire body. Despite all I've done, despite the fact that I myself am to blame for all of this, despite all my sins and mistakes, now more than ever, I am overwhelmed by pride. That I of all people will be the one to end all of this, that after all my wrongdoings I've found some sort of redemption for myself, of all this I am proud. I know full and well that this sickness will consume me if I let it go any further, but in this dire situation I need all the confidence I can muster. The cold wind blowing against me tells me I'm headed in the right direction, towards the front of the train. And so I move further and further down this train, the metal roof creaking beneath my determined steps.

...

"Slow down, there's no need to rush. These things require precision more than anything else"

I steady my breathing and adjust my grip on the scalpel. I've never seen anything quite like this, it's unnerving to say the least, but I wouldn't have made it this far if this much was enough to throw me off. I make the final cut and drop a single droplet of red liquid into the opening.

"There you go, that should be everything. This'll just take a second."

The woman pulls out a small metal rod from beside her. After a brief moment of waiting she moves it up to the subject. The... thing reaches out and begins to wrap around the object, quickly encompassing the entire length of it, only stopping a millimetre away from her fingers still holding on to the rod.

"It reacts to external stimuli as if it were alive, impressive don't you think?"

"It really is... wait do you mean to tell me it's not really alive?"

"You saw how we made it, there's nothing alive about it. I suppose if you asked a Buddhist they might tell you there's life in everything, but from my perspective it's just a union of chemistry and magic."

"Couldn't you say the same about all of us?"

She chuckles. "Your philosophising isn't going to get you out of work this time. Come on, I'll show you how we store these things."

"Heh, alright you're the boss miss."

The woman disappears through a door. I stand up again and quickly rush after her.

...

Even knowing how it all turned out, what it led to, I can't help but look back fondly on those days. Some part of me is even proud of the work I did back then. What an amusing contradiction, to feel pride both in what I've done and the fact that I'm putting a stop to it. I'm sure she'd laugh at me if she was still around... or rather, still herself.

The sound of metal bending and breaking permeates below me, having grown significantly louder than before. I had previously attributed it to my heavy running steps, but even with my currently inflated ego I can't imagine myself being responsible for such a visceral noise. I slow my pace a little to try and hear whatever it is that's causing this, but can't discern much. Now on the edge of one carriage and approaching another, right before I make the jump, I stop and hesitate for a fraction of a second.

-

A giant set of black beastly jaws towers over me, originating from the carriage in front of mine, only a hair's breadth from my face. The carriage in question is left almost entirely eviscerated. The already closed mouth extends further into the sky in front of me and then disappears as quickly as it appeared, converging upon the now visible person at the epicentre of the attack.

Although far too late, my body instinctively jumps back at the sight of danger. With movements resembling an orchestrated dance, Ran lands from the air in the very spot I was just standing in. We share a brief glance, but ultimately both of us know the time for conversation has long ended. Without another moment of hesitation I unholster my blade. Considering the distance between us... she'll dodge, I'm sure of it.

I drag my blade along the air and release a slash heading straight for her. Predictably enough she jumps over the attack, thus another follows. Ran weaves her body in between my projectiles skillfully, continuously closing the distance between us. Another barrage heads towards her, this time consisting of several interconnected slashes, forcing her to take to the air once again. Now close enough for a decisive blow, the fox dives towards me. As she soars through the air that same black mass gathers around her appendages and forms large claws. Right before she lands and crushes me I slide underneath her and avoid her attack.

With our positions reversed making a break towards the front of the train becomes an option once more. Though since she damn near destroyed the carriage in front it would be quite difficult to cross while fighting. I decide to not risk it just quite yet, instead opting to find a way to disable her for a moment or two to create an opening. Seemingly sensing my cowardly thoughts, Ran fires off a barrage of her own in an attempt to keep me occupied. These hastily produced simple bullets pose little threat to me in my current state, my blade blocking the vast majority of them with ease, but they still require my near undivided attention. Ran once again rushes towards me, this time firing off stray volleys of shots in between her steps. Instead of blocking the shots I instead perform a large slash while ignoring the pain of bullets hitting me. The attack spans the entire roof of the train, ripping it apart as it travels.

Once again, Ran takes to the air and uses that black thing to prepare an attack. This time, however, she seems intent on not giving me any room to dodge, her claws taking up enough space to fill her entire side of the battlefield. As she soars towards me I grip my blade tighter than ever before and fire off a massive attack.

The slash travels through the air and misses my opponent entirely. I was never aiming at her after all. The attack hits one of her elongated claws, cutting it clean off. The black substance quickly dissipates as it loses its connection to her, leaving only her own left arm. The sudden change in balance throws her off course and she goes flying off the train into the black abyss. I look over to where she fell and see her hanging on to the bottom on the train with both hands. She'll no doubt get back up soon, but a single moment is all I need.

I run over to the next carriage, carefully but quickly making my way through the mangled scraps of steel. On the other side of the shredded cart I see it, the locomotive. I open the door and step inside the conductor's room. Of course I've never driven a train before, but it shouldn't be too hard to execute my plan. I quickly scan the control panel: emergency brake, signals, several buttons I can't make sense of. At the very end of the panel I find it, a control lever perched near the bottom of its capacity. I immediately throw the lever to its highest possible position. The train begins gaining speed as soon as the lever is moved, quickly reaching nauseating velocity.

I hear the sound of metal being broken from behind me, it seems that Ran has made her way up already. With my preparations complete I only need to stop her from changing the speed of the train again. I step outside the locomotive and face Ran once again. This place isn't infinite, it can't be, not even Yukari is that powerful. All I need to do is hold out until this train outpaces her ability to expand her domain.