Pipquet rushed into Class B's train car. Immediately, all heads turned to her abrupt entrance as she stood by the door, panting.

“What's going on?” Hollander asked.

“Are we under attack?” Lucielle shouted.

“Attack? We're under attack?” Camza worried.

Pip took a deep breath of air before yelling at the top of her lungs, “Everyone! Calm! Down!” Everyone snapped to attention at her, a sudden quiet that only echoed the chugging of the train. Another loud bang and rumble followed soon after, shaking the cabin. Dust fell from the ceiling as the cryst lights flickered. “We're under attack by a large unspawn.”

“What?”

“An unspawn? Why would there be one here?”

“We need to fight it!”

“There's too much a chance for collateral damage!”

“We'll all be dead if we don't do something!”

Her blood was boiling at that point. With another breath, she roared, “QUIET!” Her class was silenced again. “Class C is battling it now. We have to help move all the passengers to the front cars. If we can't beat the unspawn, we'll be cutting the connectors between carriages to lighten the load of the train to escape. Those who have their weapons with them can come up top to help fight.”

She was climbing atop a chair to reach her carry-on. While the main lance body of her weapon was stored in the front luggage car due to its size, she had disassembled the handle which consisted of the flamethrower portion of her magma lance and carried the firearm in her hand luggage. In its complete form, the device would be connected to the heavy lance head, with the main flamethrower component being the handle and counterweight. A sparkler set things aflame. Combined with her wind magic, it made for a deadly weapon.

With artillery in hand, she climbed back down, expecting most of her classmates to follow in arms. However, she turned to those around her in shock. Most looked at each other in confusion. Others in worry. None of them were prepared for battle.

“Where are your weapons?” she asked.

“They're in the luggage car. There weren't any space left and we didn't think we'd need them like this.”

As Spellblades, one of things they were taught was to carry a form of arms at all times. If they had been students at any other school, such a rule would not exist, let alone apply. However, they were Spellblades who volunteered to be trained to be defenders of the people. The strongest and most capable fighters that were meant to be the frontlines should another war of gods broke out. Yet, they were not ready for the worst case scenario. She was a meticulous planner, and such lackadaisical attitude to life and death put her off to no end.

She heaved furiously, “Evacuate the cars and get armed! Get the teachers' attention on this!” Her classmates jumped in shock but did not move. “Now!” she screamed.

The last call got them afoot. But the sheer size of the class meant the action of squeezing through from car to car was a slow and tedious process. It was one of the things she missed about being in Class C. While Class B was larger and had small coherent groups, they did not have the same coordination as that of the entire smaller class. Each small group in Class B had their own leader but no one really stood out as capable of mobilizing the assemblage as a whole.

Pip left her class with handling the evacuation as she climbed out a window and onto the trains' roof. The train howled through the air. She caught her hair flailing wildly and quickly tied it up with a band though a few strands were still caught between her lips. She could not hear even her own breathing over the roaring of the wind.

At the far end, the rest of Class C stood, the Twins setting behind them and silhouetting their figures. Everyone except Shichi were fully armed. With weapons that were either collapsible or small in size, they had no trouble carrying their equipments into the cabins. Like Pip, Shichi had detached the firearm from his oversized scythe and it now sat as a long cannon in his hands.

Another slam into the pillars of the tracks shook her footing and she knelt down to brace herself from the rumble. Once stabled, she ran to the side of her former classmates.

“What's the situation?” she shouted at full volume over the wind.

Kingston, Four, Pempe, Seks, and Shichi had been tilting over the sides of the train. The range combatants of the class seemed frustrated and worried.

Kingston said, “We can't get a clean line of sight. It keeps weaving under the tracks and pillars.”

Pip voiced, “Maybe we should cut the carriages and just escape.”

“No,” Seks said. “There's a chance this thing could continue its rampage. If we don't take down the unspawn here, people might still get hurt.”

Save everyone. That was their motto. Even if the people they were trying to help never knew it, they were going to do their best for them anyway.

Pempe, their voiced leader, said, “Seks is right. Cutting the train is a last resort. I think I have a plan. Four. Lua. Head to the front carriages. If, and only if, I give the signal, slice it.” The two girls nodded and headed to their positions. “Joachim. How much spare strings do you have for your yo-yo?”

He signed and Ishumi translated, “A whole yarn ball load.”

“Excellent. Tie them to Seks's waist.”

The drakin exclaimed, “What?”

He explained, we'll have you jump off the train and glide behind us. Basically, we'll fly you like a kite. You can manoeuvrer yourself better into a clear shot from the air. Bank to the left. Take my shotgun. It has more rounds than your revolvers.”

Pempe passed Seks his custom 40 rounds barrelled shotgun. Ishumi and Joachim proceeded to tie the spare strings to Seks's cloth belt. The ball unravelled quickly in Joachim's hand. Another hit from the creature below them nearly sent them tumbling to the roof floor but they held together. The impact felt harder than before, as if the unspawn was gathering momentum in strength with each successive strike.

“Shichi, pass your cannon to Kingston. King, use your wind magic to angle the shots to the right. Chase the monster out for Seks to hit. Pip!”

Her attention piped up. “What do you need?”

“Do you still use those powder for your flamethrower?”

“Of course,” she replied, holding up her weapon.

“Great. The rest of us are going to lean you out the side of the train.”

“What?” she exclaimed with the same shock Seks did. “Why?”

“We need to do as much damage to this son of a gun as we can. Use your magic. Full pressure blast right into its face. If Seks doesn't get it, we'll set the thing on fire.”

It was a mad plan. Borderline insane and bound to fail. “I'm in.”

Ishumi, Joachim, and Quinton held onto the grounded end of the strings. The moment Seks spread his wings he caught onto the wind rushed from the train and took flight. For a moment, the anchoring trio was pulled towards the edge though they quickly found their footing after. Gliding behind them, Seks shouted something but they could not hear him clearly. Soon, the drakin banked left as planned.

Enneya Devini climbed back into the cabin below and pushed her quarterstaff out of the window with herself and Shimona as counterweights on the end inside the cabin. Pempe and Nos climbed onto the staff after Pip, forming a human chain for her to hold onto as she hung off the far side, one leg dangling precariously off the edge of the tracks and over the plains wooshing by below.

Pempe gave his signal. Under Shichi's guidance, Kingston fired off an enchanted shot that curved in the air and disappeared behind the tracks. For a second, Pip waited with bated breath, wondering if the shot had missed. She then heard the explosion as the round discharged its blast on impact.

Though it was translucent and hard to spot, she managed to track the unspawn as it smashed into and through one of the pillars. Bricks sprayed out like toys being thrown by a child and the portion of the tracks above the destroyed support column collapsed behind it. Luckily for them, the creature had been pushed back slightly and the train was on none of the obliterated path. However, if the monster rushed at them again, they might not be so fortunate.

So Pip quickly activated her magic. Her circuits heated up as she charged all her available energy into her flamethrower. She pointed the device like a wand and aimed straight at the creature. She adjusted her sights lower to accommodate for the wind speed of the train. Then, she nudged left slightly to account for the curve of the tracks.

“Bite me!” she quipped and triggered.

A stream of white powder guided by compressed wind magic sprayed directly towards the unspawn, covering the creature in a coat of white.

Above her, Seks adjusted his flight path and moved directly above his target. He aimed, then fired. The shotgun shells spread in the air towards the creature. Those that did not hit it punched into the ground, enchanted with earth magic. Earth spikes shot out instantly, slamming into the sides of the monster that relentlessly gave chase as it continued to feel no pain. Seks fired a second barrage. A third. A fourth. A bombardment of endless shells descended. From the side, Kingston shot another explosive round that curved towards the creature. The blast ignited the powder and the unspawn started to burn.

It tripped as its legs were ripped away by the onslaught of earth spike and crashed to the ground. Each of the movement it made as it burnt and tore apart were soundless, as if they were watching a mime's emotionless reaction to every bone in their body being broken. As the train pulled its distance from the beast, the class watched the monster squirm in the middle of the plains, burning in the twilight with its size slowly diminishing with each passing second.