Owari glanced around while holding his shirt to his chest to stop his bleeding. All of the insects near him had reverted to sludge so he confirmed he hadn't killed the hive mind, not that he thought he had for a moment. After slowing his bleeding Owari started to take better stock of his surroundings. The car he was in was turned over on its side, and so the windows were on the ceiling and floor. Obviously the floor windows showed nothing, while the ceiling windows just showed a rock ceiling up above the car. He walked around to all of the bodies and confirmed that his fellow passengers had all either been eaten or died during the initial crash.

Owari had survived because of his training which made his body more durable as well as his quick reaction when they initially crashed. He didn't dwell on their deaths however, although it was sad, they were already dead and nothing could be gained from letting it bring him down. It didn't take him much effort to locate his luggage and more importantly his cage. Looking inside the ghost eye cocoon was perfectly fine. It would take more than a train crash to break its cocoon. Owari reached into the cage to take out the cocoon before placing it inside his pocket. He couldn't really afford to carry around the cage in this situation. He left his luggage inside the train car and approached the hole in the wall. He would need to confirm whether he was trapped inside due to a cave-in or not.

He didn't exit right away and stuck his head out a bit to glance around. Looking out he could barely see anything, but he quickly brought his head back in without hesitation. From a single glance he saw dozens of both the small cat-sized and larger dog-sized insects. He also saw some variants but didn't get a close look. This meant this exit was a no go, he would never be able to fight through so many enemies, not to mention he didn't know if there was even an exit that way. Since this way was off-limits Owari decided to find a new way out. He first sheathed his sword and walked over to the seat filled wall. He quickly started jumping and climbing his way up to the ceiling and made his way over to one of the doors.

He reached his hands in between the sliding doors and pried them apart. For a few moments it resisted before he heard a crack and the doors flung open. The crack had likely come from the locking mechanism that keeps the doors shut. He didn't immediately leave and first took a peek, and confirmed that there were none of the insects on top of the train car. On top of that with some looking around he was relieved to see that nearby were a number of cars turned over like his own with some light shining out from them. This meant he might not be alone, however his thoughts were confirmed almost immediately as he heard shouting and the sounds of fighting coming from the opposite side of his train from where the hole was. There were a number of people yelling and it blended together with the sounds of metal clanging, not to mention Owari could hear the sounds of air freezing and electricity crackling. That meant there might be some mystical arts users around here which was good news.

Owari dropped to one of the seats below him and breathed deeply before jumping out up and out of the train car door while unsheathing his blade. He landed lightly on top of the train car with his blade at the ready. He left his luggage behind since it would just get in the way and ran along the train cars towards the sounds of battle which was a little way down the tunnel. He stayed at the center of the train cars and hopped between them as quietly as he could to avoid getting the insects' attention. After only a few moments he was close enough that he took a chance and looked out at the battle.

Down below were a few dozen people equipped with a variety of weapons fighting back a tide of insects, some like the two types he had seen, and a few others as well. One was an even smaller insect that was flying around and acting as support to distract the various hunters. Another one was a larger cow-sized insect that kept shooting out some kind of tongue-like extension from its mouth that was trying to skewer people. Owari looked down and also noticed that the people were keeping a specific car safe. Glancing in the window and seeing some shadows blocking the light, Owari guessed it was filled with the non combatant survivors.

Seeing that the ones fighting still had the ability to concern themselves with the people who couldn't fight, and with the looks they had, Owari figured things weren't as bad as they appeared. Among those fighting Owari noticed a few who were of special note, there was one who was wielding a spear wreathed in blue lightning sending out sparks as he swung and stabbed it causing the various insects to freeze up before being skewered or bisected. Another of note was a girl with a bow shooting out arrows of ice that would freeze their target and explode sending ice shards into nearby insects.

Owari was fascinated with these displays of strength, it was rare to watch mystic arts in action unless you knew one yourself. Of course among the fighters, Owari noticed that most of them had some kind of mystic art, some more impressive than others. The people without mystic arts were all crowding a hole in the passenger car and killing the few insects that got by, though they required a lot of teamwork to kill even one of them reliably. Owari didn't want to be misunderstood and prepared himself before moving forward while looking for an opening to join the fight. If he wasn't careful he could distract some people and cause more trouble so he had to be careful. As he approached he was unsure what to do, if he jumped in he'd certainly cause an issue, and if he yelled out to ask it would be even worse. However before he had the chance to figure out how to jump in one of the people down below on the front lines noticed him. It was the one who had the lightning cloaked spear, and he seemed to be a leader of sorts as everyone else was grouped up with him as the center.

"Hey, you on the train! Where did you come from?" His tone was calm despite the situation and he didn't seem accusatory which was good.

"I was in one of the back cars, I just managed to get out. Where do you need me to go?" Owari decided to just let this leader type guy give him orders. He wasn't much of a leader and he wasn't the strongest here so this would be best.

"You managed to survive back there?" He seemed a bit surprised. "Do you know any mystic arts?"

"No." Owari obviously couldn't lie otherwise it would put everyone else at risk.

"Alright, join the backliners." He didn't seem to fully believe Owari based on his tone. However he also didn't have the time to refute him. In the end he just decided to dismiss him as lucky and get back to work.

Owari just nodded and ran over to the train car with the survivors in it. When he got close to where the back liners were he jumped off and flicked his wrist cutting one of the small-sized flying support insects that had snuck past the front lines in half. He landed with a slight thud due to the massive weight he had with his training equipment still on. He quickly ran over to join the backline who made a bit of space for him. He stood in between one guy who had a longsword, and another guy who had a spear. They weren't much older than Owari and they seemed incredibly frightened by the situation. They had likely been like him and had intended to go start a new life only to be thrown into this situation.

Owari didn't bother focusing on these two, his job was to keep the enemy from reaching the survivors. Soon enough another insect rushed past the front lines, it was fairly close to Owari, and he glanced around and saw everyone else tense up. He wondered how much of his ability he should show here, clearly he was a step above these people since they struggled with a single cat-sized insect. However, he also didn't know whether the attention he'd get would be good or bad. In the end though he didn't think too much, if it was only his life on the line he'd be willing to hide his strength, but other people were relying on him to stay safe and he wasn't that cold to hold back while protecting others. Not to mention there was the chance that if these people died he'd be stuck in a no-win situation and that would be bad. The best thing to do is to simply try his best to survive while keeping everyone else alive. Plus it wasn't his style to hold back.

When the insect reached the halfway mark to the group it suddenly froze before turning to Owari and shooting in his direction. He was slightly surprised by this, but he had figured this might happen. It had likely either recognized the pheromones on him or the hive mind had recognized him and saw him as a threat. Either way it seems he had been deemed more important to kill then any of the other back liners. The insect shot forward with a lot of ferocity, more than anyone back here was used to anyway and it startled them, especially the two next to Owari. However he just calmly pulled his blade back and swung it as soon as the insect entered his range, slicing it straight in half using its own momentum against it.

Like that it died without even getting a chance to fight back. The rest of the backliners all revealed expressions of disbelief. The exoskeleton of even these smaller sized insects was as hard as stone, which meant that Owari was able to cut through stone like butter. Some people assumed he must be using some special weapon, which based on the coloration of the blade was the case, while others just assumed he had lied about being a mystic arts user and just wanted a safer position. While the first group was slightly right, they also weren't completely on point. Although his sword was indeed a bit special, a lot of why he could kill the insects so easily is his own skill.

While Owari had never trained in any specific type of swordsmanship, he had been swinging a katana since before he could even think for himself. His knowledge about it's properties, reach, balance, how to move it to reach his desired effect, what it's weaknesses were, and so on allowed him to instinctively know what ways to attack to make the best use of his sword's strengths while negating it's weakness. For instance when he cut the insect in half he had swung the blade instead of just holding it in front of him. By swinging the sword he was able to leave a nick in the insect's exoskeleton and introduce a weak spot that would allow the momentum and sharpness of his blade to dig deeper into its body. Like when you tap a nail in with a hammer to give the nail a hold before hitting it harder to dig it deeper in. This wasn't much different, at least to Owari.

As for the front liners, they were too busy to focus on Owari and them. They would only look back if the backliners called out to them. Things continued like this for a few moments before another cat-sized insect got through. Like before it rushed at Owari who killed it in one swing. This was the order of events that repeated itself a few times before something changed. The girl with the ice bow suddenly called out. "The Sapphire agency has confirmed that they are sending reinforcements. However we need to hold off the enemy for at least six more hours." Her voice was nice but it was ruined by her tone which seemed to have a bit of hopelessness in it. Although the people here were strong, fighting for six hours straight was bound to lead to some mistakes.

"We need to shrink the defensive circle and start assigning a shift to rotate." The spear guy took control of the situation immediately. His tone was so confident it caused those who were about to lose morale to suddenly gain some confidence themselves. "Who is running low on mana up here?"

"I am." Among the front liners was a guy with a longsword, he was maybe a few years older then Owari and he seemed exhausted.

"Okay, when we confirm everything you'll be one of the first to rest." The spear guy simply nodded and waited. There were about 12 people out in front so a few more would be fine to switch.

"I have some mana left, but it won't last much longer." A lady in her mid-twenties spoke up from the other side of the frontlines out of Owari's sight.

"No need to use so many words. Who else?" The spear guy didn't stop fighting as he calculated various things in his head.

"I could use a break." A guy wielding a large hammer and covered in plate armor spoke with a hint of exhaustion in his tone.

"Alright. Anyone else?" As expected he didn't miss a beat. Owari was really starting to respect this guy who could command so many people and keep his cool even with this situation.

"The young miss needs a break." Suddenly an older gentleman to the side spoke up, he was holding a glaive and swinging it with ease despite the hints of white in his brown hair. Obviously he didn't seem tired at all, but he motioned to a young lady to his side who didn't have a weapon, instead she had a pair of thick leather gloves. She seemed to be the same age as Owari and was the youngest of the people on the front line.

"I can keep going if someone else needs some rest." She immediately denied the older gentleman's claim. She was quite petite, with a small build and she was clearly showing signs of weakness as she punched out and barely managed to send one of the cat-sized insects flying back.

"Just take a rest, no need to sound so noble. We're fighting for our lives after all." Unlike most of the others, the spear guy seemed to be more conscious of this young lady and spared the time to properly respond.

"Very well." She responded reluctantly. Even she couldn't argue when lives are at stake.

"Backliners, any of you need to rest?" Although he asked that he didn't look back.

The many backliners looked at each other strangely. Honestly they felt like they were unnecessary after Owari showed up. However instead of voicing their thoughts, a few of them stated their need for a rest which the spear guy noted. Once about half the back liners confirmed a need to rest he made some plans before yelling out orders to everyone. It was important that they do things right or else they'd risk letting the defensive circle break. As orders were being sent and carried out, a few of the people on the front lines started to close in on one another in preparation to pick up the slack when the few frontliners left to rest.

As for the backliners, they would only leave after the front lines in case some stuff got through so they could hold it off in the hopes that some frontliners managed to deal with the problem. Basically, it was a nice way of saying they were fodder for an accident. Owari glanced around and saw that most of the people there had caught on to that and were in varying states of fear, acceptance, or resolve. As for himself, he wasn't worried. He already knew he could kill a small group and if things did get that bad then the front liners would have had to royally fuck it up at which point they'd hopefully respond appropriately.

As orders were being given and people were moving around, Owari kept an eye out on the insects in the background. One thing he remembered about hive minds is that they are more cunning than normal magical beasts. Although it might not seem like it with how things went with the group he woke up near, it should be noted the hive mind was likely more preoccupied with this fight out here. So Owari was careful as he tried to pay attention to the movements of the insects, after all they had literally announced their plans out loud and didn't show any complex tactics when enacting their plan. This would be the optimal moment to strike.

As he looked around the call was made for the front liners to retreat, and in that moment Owari saw movement among the insects on the edges of the encirclement. He likely wasn't the only one who saw it as the spear guy glanced over with some surprise and an ugly face. Meanwhile the girl with the bow let out a sound and shot a few arrows over towards one of the groups that had made the commotion. However there were three groups that had decided to move at this moment, one large group approached the spear guy to keep him from acting freely, while another group had acted as a distraction by gathering a lot of insects and charging to get the bow girl to look away from the real threat. One of the cow-sized insects rushed forward with the help of some of the smaller sized support insects and one of the cat-sized insects helped to lighten it.

Meanwhile, three dog-sized insects guarded it, ready to act as sacrifices. It seemed the insects had also made the same observations on who was the strongest as Owari had. As for the target of the cow sized insect, it was of course the weakest link, the girl with the gloves who was practically exhausted. It didn't help that she was quite small in size. Owari only spared a very short glance at the girl as he realized the target of the insects. He hadn't paid much attention to the talk earlier and had only noted the locations of each retreating frontliner. Because of this he wasn't really sure how things would go as he hadn't heard how tired the girl was.

However when he glanced at the force coming at her he guessed she was probably not able to fight it off. So far the largest force to attack any one of the frontliners had only been a single cow-sized insect and two dog-sized ones. Even then it had been the spear guy they attacked who only had to put in some effort and sweat a bit to deal with. As proof that he was a cut above the rest, he was currently facing twice as many enemies as the young lady just in the hopes of distracting him and not to directly kill him. Owari looked at the two closest frontliners to the girl, unfortunately she was the one closest to the train and only one person was near her, which was an older gentleman in a modified suit which seemed designed to be easier to fight in. He was currently facing a small swarm of the support insects who were buzzing around and creating a wall of sorts between him and the young lady.

Taking all of this in, Owari realized the insects had been planning such a thing for a while now and had been feigning simplemindedness. It was clearly quite sharp and had accounted for all the variables present to create this plan. Owari gave a slightly wicked smile, it was no wonder it tried to viciously kill him during this short period of time. He was a variable that had suddenly shown up and who could ruin it's planning. As proof, a number of support insects also diverted to try and rush him and get in his way. However they were too late, Owari was already moving, and he didn't hesitate.

Some people might worry about the swarm and think it would attack some of the non-combatants or even the backliners, but Owari didn't worry, If the front line was broken everyone would die anyway. He absolutely had to stop that from happening even at the cost of some lives. Even though he had resolved to take responsibility for a number of lives today, he was relieved a moment after he began moving when the swarm that had diverted still went after him instead of wreaking havoc. It seemed the hive mind may be cunning but it didn't have much understanding of the human mind. Although Owari might not hesitate to sacrifice some people, most people might and it could use that opening to break the front lines. However it hadn't done that, which meant it likely wasn't all that used to dealing with humans.

Owari ran forward at full speed, unfortunately he had no methods of increasing his speed and could only push his legs to the maximum while changing his breathing a bit to stimulate his legs and keep himself steady. On top of that the girl was on the opposite side of his position in the back lines, in fact Owari noted that her position was likely the safest among the front line as there wasn't much room for a large force to gather near her. But he had no time to think about such idle thoughts as he instead focused on the targets, the group of insects attempting to rush the girl.

By the time he reached halfway there they had approached quite closely and the girl had finally realized what was going on. She panicked and called for help from the older gentleman before realizing the two were cut off from one another. Then she looked over and saw that the man with the spear was occupied, before looking and seeing the girl with the bow looking the opposite direction while giving off a feeling of focus and caution. Seeing most of the people she could call for help occupied she looked around for anyone who could possibly save her, but she quickly reigned in her fear. She wasn't someone who would crumble under such pressure. She just needed to survive long enough for the enemy to lose the initiative and then someone would be able to jump in and help her finish off the enemy. She turned around and took a stance as her gloves hummed with power. She decided to risk using all her mana and passing out if she had to, now wasn't the time to hold back.

Owari of course had noticed this series of events. When she had suddenly started panicking and had called out his attention was drawn to her for a moment. This was how he got his first good look at her and was surprised to see a young lady not likely any older than him. However what really caught his attention was her appearance. She was quite smaller, at least a foot shorter than him. However her hair was pure white like snow, and he had gotten a short look at her face which was pale, but her eyes were the color of amethyst. He only needed a moment to confirm she was an albino. Being albino was both a blessing and a curse. You were doomed to experience a pain others may never understand and to live life with a fear of sunlight, but at least in this world albinos' had much larger reserves of mana then ordinary members of their kind. For humans, if you learned a mystic art you may even find a method to overcome the weaknesses one with albinism would experience.

However Owari only had a momentary interest in the girl's appearance. What really caught his attention was her actions after that. He saw her show great fear and the look of hopelessness as she tried to look for help from those around her before she realized no help would be coming. Her resolve after that and the feeling she gave off as she turned around to prepare and face the enemy was quite heroic. Owari felt this girl had potential and would go far in life if she lived through this. The lesson she just learned was something that can't be taught. Owari kicked his pace up a notch, even risking some wearing out and pain, he was willing to put in the effort to save someone like her.