"So fast—!!"
Lucy was stunned as the wind whipped past her face.
Fast. Too fast.
It was like he'd teleported. In just three seconds, Kael was already a tiny speck in the distance.
"Wh-what is this?!" Lucy blurted. She stared at Erza and Happy. "Is that speed magic? Or teleportation magic?"
Erza shook her head. "Neither. That's just his normal running speed in this form."
"N-normal running speed? How is that normal?! It's not normal at all!!" Lucy shouted, completely dumbfounded.
What normal person ran to catch a train—especially one that had left an hour ago?
Erza's eyes narrowed. "We need to follow him!"
She trusted Kael to handle it, but it would be bad if his magic ran out.
(On the train)
Kageyama handed a three-eyed skull flute to Erigor. "This is it."
"Oh... so this is the forbidden magic, Lullaby..."
"I heard this flute... the great Black Wizard Zeref evolved it into a more powerful magic flute."
"He really... created something terrifying."
"Anyone who hears the sound of this flute will be cursed and die! This is the 'Mass-Curse Magic'—Lullaby!!"
"Oooh!!"
"Way to go, Kageyama!"
"The plan is perfect!!"
Erigor rallied them. "It's time to make those old fools pay!! This is revenge for what they did to us!! I'll make them pay it back a thousand times!!"
"Oooooohhhhh!!"
The Eisenwald members were ecstatic. They were about to finish off those old geezers. If they pulled this off, Eisenwald would be famous. They might even become leaders of the Dark Guilds. They'd have wealth, status, and fame.
They all sat down—eating, drinking, and relaxing. Some leaned back. Some stared out the windows, smiling.
Suddenly!
Swoosh—!
A figure flashed past the side of the train.
The man who saw it froze, then rubbed his eyes. When he looked again, there was nothing there. He swallowed and forced a laugh, telling himself he must have seen things.
After all, how could a human possibly outrun a train?
Swish!
Kael stopped in front of the train.
Watching it thunder toward him, a wild, slightly evil smile spread across his face.
Kael crouched and grabbed the tracks with both hands.
"Time to fly!!" he yelled.
He stood up.
The two tracks tore free from the ground like ropes in his hands. The rails in front of the train ripped upward—straight toward the engine.
Inside the train, the Eisenwald members were still lounging.
Suddenly!!
A terrifying impact hit.
"Uwaahhh!"
"Waaahhh!"
Everyone inside was thrown around like toys. For a split second, it felt like they were being flung into the sky.
Outside, the engine was launched into the air by the ripped-up tracks—followed by the cars connected behind it. Car by car, the whole train was yanked up and sent soaring.
Then the climb stalled.
And everything began to fall.
"Ahhhhhhh!!"
The men inside screamed as weightlessness took hold.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The train cars smashed into the ground one by one, slamming up a massive cloud of dust.
A few moments later...
Swish! Swish!
A car was cut open, and Erigor stumbled out.
"Damn it! What the hell happened?" Erigor's face was grim. That ride had rattled him hard.
"Ugh! That hurts!"
"What happened? Did the train derail?"
"Damn it! Why now?"
The other Eisenwald members crawled out of the wreckage one after another—dazed, coughing, and furious.
Just then, a voice dropped down from above. "Yo! Eisenwald trash! How are you?"
"What?!"
Hearing themselves called trash, they all snapped their heads up in rage.
A man in a black t-shirt was crouching on top of the train engine—which was sticking upside down out of the ground.
Erigor's expression darkened. "Who are you? Did you do this?!"
The ground here was flat. A train wouldn't just derail. And this guy knew their name. It had to be him.
"Yep."
The Eisenwald members were startled by how casually he admitted it.
"Kill him!!" Erigor barked. It didn't matter who he was. Anyone who messed with Eisenwald had to die.
One man lunged at Kael with a magic sword.
"Go to hell!"
He swung the blade straight at Kael's head.
Just when they thought Kael would be split in two—
"So slow."
Kael lifted two fingers and caught the blade.
"What?!"
Shock rippled through the group.
Then, still pinching the sword, Kael raised his hand—and lifted the man into the air as if he weighed nothing.
Kael flicked his wrist.
"Uwaaahhh!"
The man went flying.
"That's not how you use a sword."
Stab!
Before the man even hit the ground, Kael was already behind him. The sword—now in Kael's hand—drove through the man's back.
"Waaaahhh!!" The man screamed, body jerking.
Kael swung the sword hard.
Bang!
The man's body slammed to the ground, and the motion snapped the blood off the blade.
Kael had no mercy for anyone trying to kill the guild masters. And he was in the middle of a Take Over—"Tyrant" Fushiguro Toji. Mercy wasn't his strong suit. Killing was.
"..."
The Dark Guild members went still.
They hadn't even seen Kael move.
A suffocating pressure rolled off him—killing intent so sharp it made their bodies tremble. Looking at him felt like staring at a mountain of corpses. How many people did you have to kill to carry that kind of aura?
Kael's gaze swept across the Eisenwald members, arrogant and predatory. "Hm? What's wrong? Weren't you going to kill me?"
He smiled, sharp and ugly.
"If you're not going to make a move, then I will. My time is very valuable, after all."