Second chapter of the week! This one is full-on combat so hopefully it makes up for the dialogue-filled last chapter. This one is also a few hundred words longer than last chapter. Enjoy!

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Kyte was focusing on analyzing multiple formation theories. He hasn’t gained much progress in the past several days, mostly because of everything that was happening. However, every bit counts. Besides, Kyte doesn’t really know how effective these formations would be. It would be great if he could proficiently use them. They could potentially be a life-saving power as well as a nice trump card.

As the train sped down its track, several figures appeared within Kyte’s Spirit energy. They were quickly moving toward the train at inhuman speeds. Kyte opened his eyes and stood up to look toward the approaching figures.

Kyte saw several metallic surfaces that reflected sunlight. It was quite easy to see, mostly because the sun was brightly shining down. The quality of metal between the train and the metallic figures was quite apparent. The train was like copper compared to gold.

Kyte doesn’t care though. If it works, it works.

As I thought, they’re Guardians. There seem to be three S rankers and quite a few A rankers.

As the Guardians were coming closer, Kyte discovered even more approaching from the opposite direction. However, the new group comprised of even more S rankers. In total there were eight S rankers and more than twenty A rankers. Kyte shouted, amplifying his voice:

“Everyone stay inside! There are several S rank Guardians approaching.”

The atmosphere inside the train suddenly grew dim. Some people thought they were going to die. How could one S rank Gifted defeat several S rank Guardians? Besides, most of them barely knew of Kyte from the tournament. They only saw him being pummeled into the ground by Jill, and his match against Terris was practically the same. They didn’t see Kyte as a real S ranker at all. Despite this, Kyte was their only hope.

Kyte knew all of this, but again, he couldn’t care less. Besides, he’s wanted to show how powerful he really is compared to S rank Guardians. During the virtual test, Kyte was almost defeated by the last A ranker. Granted he wasn’t paying attention, but still. Now that his power had increased by tenfold, he was eager to test it out.

Kyte waited a few more seconds until the Guardians were within one hundred meters. Several black tendrils of Internal energy spread out from Kyte and spread out to reach the Guardians. He controlled the tendrils to swipe through the two groups, slicing apart several Guardians. Unfortunately, the only Guardians that were destroyed were a few A rankers. Due to the length of the tendrils, it was quite difficult to accurately control them.

As Kyte watched the Guardians getting closer, he felt a bit depressed. These Guardians were easily catching up to the train, but Kyte’s fastest speed isn’t even close to the train. Right now, that technology is even stronger than him. Speed-wise, anyway. Even while using Windwalker, Kyte isn’t faster than the Guardians. This is especially true because their energy source allows them to continuously fly for a very long time.

The S rank Guardians suddenly launched several lasers toward the train. The lasers were aimed at various locations along the train, to Kyte’s dismay. There was no possible way to block all the lasers, especially when he can’t even fly fast enough to keep up with the train. However, he knew he had to try.

Black light rapidly escaped Kyte’s body which began to wrap itself around the train. He made an inch of space between the train and the black light’s domain, which made it possible for more black light to cover more of the train. Instantly, a rudimentary amount of the space within the black light went under Kyte’s control. He controlled the space to distort into a repelling force, which would bend the lasers around the train.

A split second later the lasers hit. A muffled boom rumbled outward as the lasers impacted and then were forcefully redirected across the spatial distortions. Unfortunately, Kyte’s control over the black light space was very limited due to the amount of time he had available to train. Thus, several lasers swept through the top of the train, shaving off several sections.

Fortunately the damage wasn’t too bad as it didn’t hinder the train’s movement too much. However, this attack gave the Guardians enough time to land on the train. Kyte instantly retracted the black light and brought out several strands of Internal energy. He also wove his Spiritual energy with the Internal energy to try to damage the insides of the Guardians, as well as their overall structure. It didn’t do much, but every bit helps.

Kyte was pretty much powerless as he watched two of the Guardians slip inside the train through the broken roof. He was already lashing out several attacks toward the surrounding Guardians as he began to hear screams coming from inside the train. The frown on his face grew deeper as he instantly activated Bloody Accel and equipped the Bloodcursed armor.

His power simultaneously increased three fold as he quickly blasted toward the nearest Guardian. A black sword materialized in his right hand which he used to slash horizontally at his target. The Guardian swiftly raised both its arms to block the incoming sword. Upon impact a loud bang blasted through the air as the Guardian was launched off the train and smashed into the earth. A small flash of understanding moved through Kyte’s mind as he turned to advance toward the next Guardian.

He lashed out with a black whip in his left hand while simultaneously releasing a sonic wave toward another. The sonic wave, which was materialized from Kyte’s seventh stage energy, was many folds stronger than the last time he used it. It easily broke the sound barrier, sending out a deafening boom as it smashed into a Guardian. It tried to dodge, however, even the energy around the sonic wave was enough to blast it off the train while sustaining light injuries.

The other Guardian easily dodged the whip. After missing, Kyte hardened the whip and swung it horizontally toward the Guardian, however, it still dodged. The whip barely grazed its frame as it swerved around it and flew toward Kyte with its sword arm outstretched. Kyte let it come to him as he converted his sword into a whip and lashed out at a different Guardian. The whip smashed an arm off an approaching Guardian as the Guardian on Kyte’s left finally sliced down its arm.

Kyte lifted his hand and caught the sword within it. A loud bang resounded out that sounded like steel smashing against steel. Kyte felt his entire arm go numb as the force from the impact shook his flesh. The armor covering Kyte’s hand, however, barely had a small scratch. Kyte gripped the sword in his left hand and crushed it through pure force. The Guardian’s mangled arm was still within Kyte’s grasp as he swung the Guardian in-front of him and smashed his fist into its head. Green liquid splattered out as the Guardian’s figure went limp. Kyte stored it inside the storage necklace for later.

Kyte felt quite excited after testing the Bloodcursed armor. Its defense was better than he originally thought. The Guardian’s attack left a smudge against his hand. Though he still felt the force behind the attack, which made his arm go numb. The armor itself basically wasn’t damaged at all.

This all took time to explain but in reality it happened within a few seconds. Kyte turned his attention to the remaining Guardians and instantly blasted toward them. He used the force from the train to exponentially increase his speed as he traveled in the opposite direction. Even he barely saw the area change as he crashed into a Guardian, completely destroying it. He quickly stopped himself and leaped toward another one.

Slashing down with his sword, Kyte threw his left fist toward the Guardian’s side. Another Guardian appeared behind him and slashed toward his back as the Guardian Kyte was attacking dodged backward. Another one fired a laser toward his side and he saw the Guardian in-front of him being firing its laser.

Determination flashed through Kyte’s eyes as he twisted his body to avoid the attack from behind. He grabbed the outstretched sword-arm and flipped the Guardian in-front of him just as both lasers were fired. Kyte moved backward and to the side as the lasers shredded the Guardian within his grasp. Even the green liquid was evaporated from the intense energy.

Kyte looked at the two remaining Guardians, one of which had an arm missing, and instantly created a black light domain around them. It was pitch black inside the sphere, however, Kyte was able to perfectly tell where the two Guardians were. He could also tell that the two of them were disoriented within the sphere of black light. It was probably due to the different space within the sphere or maybe just the darkness.

Kyte controlled the space within the sphere to crash into the two Guardians. It was a failure but it still somewhat constricted their frames as Kyte noticed that their mobility was significantly hindered. He quickly appeared next to one of them, with the help of space, and crushed its head. He smashed the head of the other as well. Afterward, the sphere of black light disappeared as Kyte swiftly moved into the train.

Upon entering, Kyte saw several corpses in puddles of blood. He deeply frowned as he quickly continued in the train. He heard metal smashing against metal as his figure flickered in the different train sections. Finally he arrived at the sight of the remaining two Guardians slicing a Gifted in half down the middle. Behind that Gifted was a group of other Gifted that had despair covering their faces. There seemed to be about twenty or so left from the entire train.

Kyte silently sighed at what was presented before him. There was nothing he could’ve done to save the ones that were already killed. There was only one of him and eight S rank Guardians, two of which instantly entered the train. At least he’ll be able to save some of the Gifted.

Kyte’s figure flickered before reappearing behind one of the Guardians. He instantly reached out and smashed his fist through its back. He lifted it up and tore it in half before crushing its head under his foot. The other Guardian instantly reacted by leaping toward the remaining Gifted, intent on killing as many as possible. Kyte activated Blood Accel again before manifesting a sword in his right hand and blasting toward the Guardian.

It was if it happened in slow motion. The Guardian’s sword-arm was piercing toward a Gifted’s chest as Kyte’s sword was only a few inches away. Kyte’s sword was moving upward to deflect the Guardian’s sword up and away from the Gifted’s chest. The Guardian’s sword barely pierced the Gifted’s skin as Kyte’s sword smashed it upward. A straight line of red appeared on the Gifted’s chest up to his shoulder as the Guardian’s sword was deflected upward.

The force from the two swords blew back the few Gifted that were close by, making blood leak from their mouths as they were thrown to the ground. They had fear but also a bit of relief written over their faces as they intensely watched Kyte and the Guardian. They had never seen the Bloodcursed armor before so seeing something that looked so dreadful and dominating made them automatically feel lesser.

After deflecting its blade, Kyte gripped the Guardian’s left arm and grabbed its head. He pierced its head with Internal energy needles which continually destroyed it from the inside. It immediately went limp and suddenly disappeared because Kyte used the storage necklace. Kyte looked at the remaining Gifted and began to walk toward them. He felt nothing after seeing their terrified expressions. The only reason why he was getting angry was because he would be responsible for the deaths of so many Gifted, since the train was under his jurisdiction. He couldn’t care less about their feelings.

“Whoever is injured, come sit down on my left side. I will administer aid to you. The others, just take a seat and relax. It’ll still be several hou-”

Suddenly, the train began to stutter and the wheels began to screech. Kyte kept his Spirit energy spread out just in-case. He flew out of the train and found that the train stopped in a forest-y region. It looked as if they were on the outskirts of a forest that the train was supposed to go through. Unfortunately, they were on the entrance side instead of the exit. This means that they have to either go around or travel through the forest.