Isolde's opinion turned out to be true, as soon after, strangers with energy cannons in their hands rose from their seats all over the train and took control of their respective carriages.
Just like the others, the carriage where Arceus's cabin is located, along with eight more, is also under the control of four masked villains.
A disturbance occurred in the adjacent cabin of Arceus. The other three also heard screams nearby, followed by a threat in a deep voice.
Isolde hurriedly passed instructions to them to sit tight and cooperate before one of those masked villains arrived there.
Except for Elysia, all others looked quite calm.
As the masked villain came to their cabin and saw the teenagers who sat there in silence, he pointed the weapon at Elysia as he observed her and then Isolde, "A pair of high-breed elves, eh? You surely fetch a great price."
Displeasure was all written over on Isolde's face as she replied calmly, "I don't know which organization you are from but you sure are foolish to hijack a train full of Astron warriors."
Astron warrior is the term used for everyone who can use mana but doesn't have the license of a pro hero.
The masked villain, however, chuckled as he shifted the target toward Isolde while grabbing her sister, who was sitting nearby.
"Ahh…" Elysia let out a scream as her arm was grabbed tightly and she was pulled toward him with brute force.
Arceus and Ayush narrowed their eyes while Isolde became serious as she clenched her fist, "Leave her now. Or else, you will pay."
The energy cannon lowered a little bit, and his finger pressed on the trigger. A mana bullet was fired by the weapon and struck Isolde's abdomen, taking everyone by surprise.
"Sssss…" She hissed out in pain as blood started pouring down from her abdomen with a deep wound.
"Sis…" Elysia screamed while Isolde tightly pressed her palm against the wound. She could no longer raise her head and just looked down on the floor, focusing on stopping the blood flow.
"It looks like you don't understand who is in control here, elf," said the masked villain as he freed the younger elf and walked away.
Once he was out of sight, a golden aura formed over Isolde's skin, healing her wounds instantly.
"Sis, you alright?" Elysia grabbed her in worry. Isolde removed her hand and showed that she had recovered from the injury.
Looking at Ayush, Isolde spoke, "The more resistance we show, the more violent they become. It is best to show our animosity but not our strength to people like them."
Ayush let out a sigh of relief, "I was worried for a second. Arceus was also… Hmm?" He was about to speak about his friend, but when he glanced to the side, he saw Arceus opening his backpack
"What are you doing, Arceus?" he asked.
Taking out a pair of black daggers, hidden deeply in his clothes, Arceus replied, "What else, equipping myself. Can't sit around and do nothing."
"Do you think we can't defeat them? Why did you think I took action earlier?" Isolde scoffed in response to his reply, "There are hostages around, and we don't know the enemy numbers. Any kind of attack will result in dire consequences. Best to stay silent. These terrorists probably want to use this to negotiate with the authorities."
The hijack of the special train naturally caused a commotion in several nations, especially in the nation of Eclantis, where the incident occurred.
The police took control of the surroundings of the place where the train is halted on the tracks. The media personnel were blocked while a special team was on its way to negotiate with the group leader.
Meanwhile, at Headquarters of Alsacian Federation Special Forces, Sector 14, Central City;
At the so-called war room, one of the five Lt. Generals of the Federation, Cheng Hu, quickly called for a meeting with an elite team led by a veteran A-class Hero codenamed Wave Rider.
The six-member team filled with B-class Heroes listened attentively to what their superior had to say.
"Listen, this incident could go south at any moment. So, we have to hurry up with the capture," said the Lt. General, giving a signal for his assistant to display the images on the projector screen.
Just one photo was displayed with details on the side.
The woman explained, "The leader was the only one identified. Or we should say he let himself be identified. Luther Brain, the leader of the Scorpion bandits. According to the data sent by Eclantis' police, using their thermal imaging cameras, they found about 28 villains that have energy cannons moving around. There could be more in hiding as the hostages."
"Yeah, we cannot underestimate the villain with a 5 million zeni bounty on his capture," nodded the Lieutenant General.
The A-class Hero took another look at the projector screen and asked, "So, what's the demand?"
"We don't know that yet," replied Cheng Hu's assistant. Adjusting her glasses, she further added, "But we could guess it. The demand is most likely the release of his younger brother, Kruger Brain. After being acquitted last year for the mass murder of the Clain family, including their guards and servants, he was currently serving his 28-year sentence at our maximum security prison."
"There is no way we are going to release that bastard," Cheng Hu gritted his teeth in anger, looking as if he had some personal connection with the case. He further said, "Soon, you will be joined with the Centauri squad, but your mission is different."
The assistant changed the slide to another page. This time, two images are displayed: a nerdy-looking blonde girl and a messy black haired boy with handsome features.
"Divinia's crown prince and princess," Cheng Hu revealed their identities before giving an order, "your mission is to extract these two before the villain realizes it and use them to his purpose."
"But the royal family doesn't have power there. Divinia isn't even a constitutional monarchy. So, why bother?" asked a B-class Hero, codenamed: Slime Queen.
The A-classer gave her the reply instead of their superior, "It's because of Arcanite ore. Almost 40% of the world's Arcanite supply comes from Divinia alone. If our relations turn sour and they put up an export ban on Arcanite to us, it will hurt us greatly."
"Yeah, with the rise of villains in great numbers, we can't let our magical technology get behind the other superpowers," commented the Lt. General before addressing the heroes, "Leave the rest to Centauri squad. We don't have much time. So, prepare yourselves for the departure. We will be using teleportation formation to send all of you to the site."
Everyone rose to their feet and saluted, "Yes, sir."
Meanwhile, at the hijacked train;
In a carriage a bit far away from the one Arceus and his acquaintances were on, a villain without any mask or weapon was seen sitting in a two-sleeper cabin. Two bodyguards were lying outside the cabin in a dead state, leaving the pair of siblings of the same age in the villain's presence.
The boy looked calm and confident, while the girl was shivering in fear as the villain sat beside her.
With the scent of fresh blood filling one of the VIP carriages with only six cabins inside, the burly man in a suit, with several scars on his bald head and another one just above his left eyebrow, was calmly eating steak with a glass of red wine on the side.
As there was only a small piece of meat remaining on the plate, he cut it into two and spoke, "I'm almost done. Should I take it that you don't want to reveal your names no matter what?"
"Ah, that's…" As the girl was about to speak, the boy interrupted her, "That goes without saying."
"So, you don't have any qualms about killing your sister here?" The villain raised his eyebrow.