1 Chapter 1: An Unimaginable Force

It was a silent and calm, full moon night. On the tracks that were laid on the sidelines of a forest, was running a train that had unusually modified cars made up of Xerinium. Xerinium is the rarest and toughest metal known to mankind. The train was loaded with Xerinium to be transported to the processing station for processing.

It was the mission of "Blazing Wings", an insurgent group, to attack the imperial train and steal at least 200 grams of Xerinium as it is extremely lightweight. Only the most skilful members of the group were chosen to be in the squad.

On top of one of the cars stood a man with a cape behind his back which had "Blazing Wings" written on it. Several other squad-mates were also present over there.

Nikolas was the name of that man and he was the incharge of the mission. He was a man who had pride on his strength, a man who believed himself to be the strongest in the insurgent group and a highly skilled fighter. He had never lost in his life.

It was a stealth mission. Most of the cars of the train had guards for guarding the Xerinium. It was unknown in which car the Xerinium actually was.

The squad clung to both the side walls of the last car and got ready. The Guards, unaware of their arrival, were eating food. The squad pointed the guns at the guards. "Fire!" said Nikolas in a low voice. All of the guns were fired at the same time, due to which none of the guards were able to shout and died in an instant.

The guns had suppressors that were specially designed with futuristic technology due to which the sound of the gunfire was reduced to a bare minimum. The sound of the gunfire was so low that even the person firing the gun couldn't hear it easily.

Nikolas said, "Move in! Quick!".

"Aye aye, captain!", replied the squad-mates. The squad moved in through the windows. The train had a special Intruder Alarm System for such a situation. The squad was prepared for this. All the squad-mates had an alarm blocker attached to their waists. It seemed to be working. But, to their surprise, the alarm went off.

"Ahh! Seems like one of our devices has malfunctioned." said Asta. "Captain! What do we do now?"

"The guards would be here any minute!" said Gerald.

Nikolas, with a calm look, said, "Everyone, use Acute Hearing, 5th Manifestation."

"Captain! Are you crazy? We'll go blind if we use that Manifestation! Don't you know that?" said Alexa.

"I know that very well. Just do as I say if you want to get out of here alive." said Nikolas in a serious tone. "The windows in the carts up front are curtained. Try and avoid the guards the best you can and advance further."

With Acute Hearing, 6th Manifestation, they can hear a leaf fall as far as 100 meters. But there's a catch, whenever a person uses this Manifestation, that person goes blind until they stop using the Manifestation.

"How will we know where to go? We can't see anything." said Asta.

Nikolas said, "Follow me through my footsteps. I am wearing special shoes, you can easily differentiate my footsteps from the guards. I'll use the Sixth Sense Manifestation and Acute Hearing 5th Manifestation simultaneously. The 6th Sense Manifestation would enable me to sense the objects around me and thus, helping me move."

"Using two Manifestations simultaneously! Didn't know you could do that." said Gerald.

"Alright, now shut up and move." said Alexa.

The next cart was apparently not connected to the cart the squad was currently in. Nikolas and the squad could hear the footsteps of the guards as they were approaching. Nikolas quickly moved towards the side of the car and began moving forwards. Everybody was following Nikolas.

"Find them and kill them! They must not escape alive!" said one of the guards.

Just as the squad was moving forwards, Gerald said, "I can hear several bikes approaching the train!" Shortly after, several reinforcements arrived. The guards were riding bikes near the sides of the train.

"Looks like we've got company!" said Asta.

"Guess we're gonna have to do it the hard way! Everyone, use the Void Spell on yourself to clear the effects of the Manifestation." said Nikolas.

Everyone used the Void Spell and the effect of the Manifestation was cleared, now they could see. Nikolas said, "Get ready! Asta, take out that bike on the left!"

All the guards were using High Grade Machine Guns. Now the guards that were inside of the train knew their location and rushed to the side of the car. There was gunfire all over the place. It was an intense fight.

"Everybody move! Take cover!" said Nikolas.

The squad broke the windows of the car and moved in. The High Grade Bullets fired by the guards were also made of Xerinium, hence the bullets were able to penetrate the cars.

One by one, the squad was able to take down all of the guards on the bikes but some of them grappled onto the train and got in. With the guards that grappled onto the train and the ones that were already present in the train, the squad was surrounded. The squad was at gunpoint, as their guns were taken away and destroyed by the guards using magical abilities.

"It's over. We lost!" cried Alexa in despair.

"No! Not like this!" said Asta with sorrow.

While all this was happening. Nikolas was quietly watching. "23rd Manifestation, Raging Thunder!" said Nikolas. All of the guards were blown out of the train as an extremely powerful thunder force was released by Nikolas' body.

"Bravo! Captain." said Gerald with glee.

"I think we're clear!" said Asta.

All of a sudden, the train stopped in the middle of the forest. "Everyone, move out! The train stopped. Which means there is someone who is probably still alive. Don't let your guard down. Try and find a way to locate the Xerinium." They got off the train and started looking for the Xerinium. Suddenly, Asta got shot, it was expected that all soldiers would take quick action but nobody moved. All of them froze in fear including Nikolas. Asta getting shot wasn't the reason for their fear, it was something else.

A cold pressure was felt by everyone. Everybody felt like there was a boulder on their backs. This feeling was of immensely powerful, dense, evil magic.

Magic is the life force that is there in every being. But, stronger magic always stands out and the feeling of magic is reflected by the type of person the bearer is. Every being has a limited reserve of magic. It depends from person to person and how big their reserve is.

But this magic that they felt right now was immensely strong and in a large volume. The bearer of the magic seemed to have nearly infinite magic power.