{19 deaths later}

... Just when Vass and Polystar were about to clash, Soren screamed.

"Now Bloodshine!"

Vass's flames were about to hit Polystar—but both he and the target, Ivory, disappeared, reappearing in a different corner.

Everyone froze.

What was going on?

It was a crude method, but this was Soren's solution to ensure Vass and Polystar didn't clash egos during their fight against Ivory.

Polystar and Vass were like two engine parts that refused to work together.

So Soren concluded on adding a lubricant—Bloodshine.

While Pencil had frozen in the corner, Tommy and Bloodshine had recovered from the shock of facing an instructor long ago.

Soren had realized something early on.

Bloodshine was far more tenacious than anyone expected.

Back then, when he achieved Soul energy, she was the only one to survive Marcus' massacre.

And so Soren instructed her on what to do. This way, Ivory would not pick on such a weak point in their teamwork.

However, that meant that he would remain her main focus.

Despite wounds inflicted from Soren and Polystar, she launched for the group leader.

—bombarding him with a potent mix of kicks and punches.

Soren dodged and parried desperately.

Two things helped him survive.

Firstly, Ivory was slower now.

There was no doubt the injuries he and Polystar had inflicted had bled away her momentum.

Secondly, it was his martial arts. If he had not trained in hand-to-hand combat technique with Polystar, he would have died from just one of her blows.

For attacks that were too heavy, he reinforced himself with a mix of soul energy and Claps for defensive attacks.

Ivory frowned.

Soren could tell. She expected her martial arts to be able to beat his.

But this woman had no idea how many times he had repeated this day.

This battle.

Suddenly, an opportunity.

Polystar appeared behind her.

Ivory's eyes moved. "Got you!"

She launched a roundhouse kick at Soren. He raised his arm to block—

Then she paused.

It was a feint. He was not her true target.

Her body twisted unnaturally midair. Her kick tore through the still-burning trunk of a tree and smashed into Polystar.

Crack.

'Aaagh!' He screamed.

Polystar's right leg was gone.

He fell heavily to the ground.

But another kick was coming. This one, without an ounce of doubt, would definitely displace his neck from his head...

Boom.

Polystar was lucky.

Soren appeared in front, elbow raised to defend the attack.

"Ghh—!"

Blood poured from his mouth as the impact rattled his organs.

If not for his tenacity built over multiple deaths, he would have fainted.

Ivory's brows knitted together. Surprisingly, she smiled.

Not surprised.

Impressed.

But in her brief pause, Soren had managed to grab her leg.

Again.

Stab.

He dug the dagger in.

"AHHHH! You little bastard." She cursed, her tongue shooting for his head.

Soren had no choice; he had to leap back. A second too late, and his head would have been blessed with a new hole.

Luckily, she also leaped back.

~Silence

Flames burned, crackling around them; the garden had long been ruined.

The glass dome was no more. The fountain was reduced to mere rubble.

The walls of the train were already terribly dented.

Their battle had been that intense.

Soren had no doubt that the Soulbound knights that fell must have heard the commotion and were rushing back now.

But how long would that take?

Would they last that long?

He scanned the place. Pencil was no good in a fight.

Tommy held on tight to the box carrying the Eldritch.

Polystar had a broken leg and was therefore out of the battle.

Although Soren could see that Ivory's posture was also bad from the wounds they had inflicted, it was still not enough.

Aside from the damage to her legs, Polystar's attack on her abdomen had done significant damage.

No doubt, she had suffered internal injuries.

Such was the effectiveness of the Clap hand-to-hand combat technique.

Only three people were remaining in this fight. Himself, Vass, and Bloodshine.

But Soren could not be satisfied.

Why?

Two reasons. He was also injured. Soren had not even made a full recovery from his battle with the Eldritch back in his hometown, and he had to face a monster like Ivory.

Right now, his bandages were ripped, and old wounds were leaking blood.

Secondly, Vass.

At the beginning of the battle, when he released his soul energy in rage and it blasted the glass dome above, some of it had fallen on his back.

Soren knew Vass was trying to hide it. That was why he had not engaged in physical combat but attacked with his flames from a distance.

They were all wounded.

And ivory... she still had it.

That annoying smile. Like things were still in her control.

"You should stop now." Soren threatened, "The other knights will soon be here. Turn yourself in."

"Maybe," she shrugged, "or—"

Her gaze suddenly moved across the damaged room, settling on Tommy.

Soren's gaze followed.

The Box.

Boom

She kicked off again with that abnormal speed.

She is going for the Eldritch.

Soren understood her plan. If she got the Eldritch, it would give her an unfair advantage in this battle.

While killing the eldritch had indeed come to Soren's mind before, he knew that it was the only thing still keeping her here.

It was his bait.

With how things had progressed, if she left this room, all the other cadets in the cafeteria would die.

Soren moved to block her. But she whispered, "Gotcha." Wrapping her arms around him, she leaped off the ground, through the empty roof, and out into the open.

SOREN/TURDFACE!!!

They screamed for him as both figures vanished.

Crash

Ivory kicked Soren through the wall of an abandoned building.

Dust filled the air; some found its way into his lungs

Cough.

Soren struggled to sit up against the wall. His body hurt so much some parts had gone numb.

If not for his soul energy wrapped around his major organs, he might have already lost consciousness.

Still, he persisted. "Good, we arr finally alone."

She arrived, heels gone, clothes ripped here and there, revealing her toned muscles.

Yet, none of her grace had vanished.

She approached him steadily. "You have talent, Soren. Incredible talent. Others might not see it, but I do."

"And let me guess," Soren spat blood to the side, "you want me to join you."

She paused. Surprised that he just spoke her thoughts like that.

"I'll really like that, yes." She admitted softly.

"And let me guess, you will teach me how to use my shade properly..."

As he spoke, he used the wall as a crutch to stand.

"...or how to become a Soul Mecha Pilot."

She nodded, smiling wider in anticipation. "Of course." She replied affectionately.

Soren chuckled.

Then his head snapped up, a potent mix of annoyance and irritation clear in his eyes.

"Do you think I am Alpine!?"

Ivory froze.

Eyes widened in confusion.

"Who... who told you that name?" She asked, grabbing him by his shirt, slamming him against the wall.

It cracked.

"Oh... so I'm right." Soren muttered through gritted teeth. "That was his name, wasn't it?"

Soren did not say that in one of the loops, she had muttered it while teaching him how to get his first form

"WHO TOLD YOU!?" Her force was harder, digging him deeper into the wall.

But her reaction was confirmation of Soren's suspicions.

After his encounter with her which resulted to him achieving soul energy, Soren had done an incredible deep dive on Ivory.

It was not his forte, but he had Tommy, and the nose-digging lad had a knack for finding information.

Coupled with the fact that this train had records on certain histories of noble families in its libraries.

It was not so hard.

A lot of things needed clarification, but Soren had easily put the puzzle together.

It turned out that when Ivory was little, and it was her turn to find a pet as required by her family, she had not come back from the woods with a dog, bird, or cat.

She came back with a person...

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