Small Steps Forward

After successfully preventing anyone new from boarding the Hell Express, Vahn and Co, now accompanied by FUG's former team, sans Elliot, began their ten-day journey to reach their next destination. This time, however, it wasn't Artoria and the rest clearing out the cars. Instead, Vahn had Yura act as the Team's Light Bearer, directing the trio of Daniel, Vicente, and Anna while Ryun rendered her services as a Guide. As for Angel, she had tentatively 'retired' to the Second Layer of the Little Garden, enjoying a momentary reprieve from an inordinately long period of suffering...

As could be expected from a team comprised of 'elites', Daniel, despite being a Scout, was able to clear most cars without any assistance. He hadn't lived for more than six-hundred-years without picking up a few skills along the way, and, though he had lost Hoaqin's demonic parasite, he was still able to use a unique form of Shinsu control known as 'Necromancy'.

Unlike the Necromancy Vahn was familiar with, Daniel's allowed him to absorb the 'souls' of the enemies he had defeated, storing them within a secondary 'container' that had been created near his dantian. Unlike the energy stored within the dantian, the wellspring that served as the 'root' of a person's power, the energy kept within this secondary vessel was finite. In other words, once he ran out, he could no longer use his abilities as a 'Necromancer', so, whenever he defeated a foe, Daniel would absorb the energy released from their 'souls' in order to refill this peculiar reservoir.

Using the energy he stored within, Daniel was able to create 'living' Baangs of Shinsu. These often appeared as screaming purple heads, complete with twisted expression and teeth that could bypass most resistances due to their spiritual nature. It was quite the eerie sight to behold, as, even without his direction, these heads were capable of passing through objects and pursuing their enemies like vengeful spirits, wailing madly as they attempted to devour anything perceived as an enemy.

With the ghostly heads able to absorb the 'power of souls' for living organisms, they were capable of both sustaining themselves and replenishing Daniel's reserves. The only downside was that most Shinheuh, for a number of reasons, provided very little 'soul energy'. This was especially true on the Hell Express, as, unlike those found outside, the Shinheuh found within were effectively 'projections' comprised of Shinsu. They even vanished into motes of light upon death, reabsorbed and recycled by the Hell Express in order to produce a functionally unlimited number of enemies for Regulars to face.

Fortunately, what Daniel believed to be the 'power of souls' was just a purified form of Shinsu, so, even though the Shinheuh onboard were bereft of anything even remotely resembling an Ego, he was still able to sweep through them while replenishing his secondary reserves. The only thing that prevented him from defeating 'every' enemy was the fact he could only sustain two Baangs at a time, and, though they were quite fast, it wasn't particularly difficult to dodge ghostly purple heads that constantly announced their presence via screaming.

Acting as the Fishermen of the group, Vicente wielded a peculiar sword, resembling a claymore with an inordinately wide guard, to deftly cut down any foes that ventured within seventy meters of him, his sister, and Yura. He was the type of swordsman who focused almost exclusively on defense and counters, so, as could be expected, his perception and reaction time were both remarkable. He also got 'a lot' stronger whenever he was protecting something, so, with his sister close behind, Vicente was able to demonstrate a degree of skill that would eclipse most B-Rank Regulars.

With his techniques revolving around manipulating, curving, and severing Space, Vicente was able to create an 'absolute field of protection' that functioned similarly to a domain. This required him to remain stationary, but, so long as it was active, his technique allowed him to cut down anything that ventured into the hemispherical space surrounding him. This included other sword techniques, and, as could be expected, most Shinsu-related attacks.

During his youth, Vicente, much like each of his other siblings that had been fooled by Hoaqin, had been ostracized by the rest of his Family. He was considered to be a prodigy on the level of Hoaqin, but, rather than go on the offensive, all of his techniques revolved around defense. This earned him a reputation as a coward, and, due to their inability to land so much as a single blow, even his older siblings began refusing to train with him. The only exception to this rule was Hoaqin, who, prior to becoming the entity known as White, researched all of his siblings before picking those who would be most useful to him after fusing.

Hoaqin's swordsmanship focused entirely on offense, so, in order to cover for his own weaknesses, he extended a helping hand to Vicente around the same time that everyone else was shunning him. This was seen through by Vicente, but, having already given up on surpassing his father and being accepted by the rest of his Family, he didn't care about the consequences. He just wanted to belong somewhere, and, after getting to know his younger sisters, each equally as ostracized as he was, the only thing he really cared about was protecting them.

In the end, White was an amalgamation of Hoaqin's otherworldly offensive capabilities, Vicente's unparalleled defense, Anna's innate talent for Sorcery, David's ability to temporarily possess other people, and Albelda's uncanny ability to completely erase their presence. These last two had been particularly useful as they were ultimately what allowed him to successfully fool countless people during his 'kingdom building' days. They were also what allowed him to survive his initial climb up the Tower, as, rather than appear as himself, he often possessed the bodies of talented Regulars in order to escape the scrutiny of the Ten Great Families.

Unfortunately, though the whole Tower was better for it, White had been forced to separate into his constituent parts after his battle against Arie Hagipherione Zahard. This left him without the unique abilities he had relied on for thousands of years, and, though he still possessed a ludicrous amount of offensive power, his mentality as a 'God' made him blind to the schemes that had been enacted against him by a group of Regulars.

Now, the only thing that remained of the tyrannical Slayer were the fragments he had been infused into the Egos of his siblings. Two of these had already been 'exorcised' by Vahn, so, for the first time in their lives, Vicente and Anna were free to make their own decisions. For the time being, their primary objective was saving their siblings. After that, Vicente wanted to study swordsmanship within the Little Garden, apprenticing under Vahn while Anna studied under Eva.

Vahn had become rather fond of Vicente due to his resolute desire to protect the people he cared about, and, though their abilities were fundamentally different, Eva seemed to see her former self in Anna. She had also been ostracized at a young age due to her magical abilities, and, much like the former, her power had first manifested as an ability to create and manipulate dolls. She could also sense a powerful desire to prove herself simmering within the not-so-young girl's heart; so, with the intent to turn Anna into the Tower's most preeminent Magus, Eva had taken the taciturn girl under her wing.

Though she had only been studying for a few days, Anna wasn't considered a prodigy in sorcery for naught. She might not have been able to make any real progress towards understanding the basics of Eva's constantly evolving magic system, but, with an Innate talent for creating puppets, she now had five mannequin-like humanoids, each with the aptitude of a powerful D-Rank Regular, fighting at her behest.

Eva's intent was to guide Anna down a very similar path as her younger self, shaping the girl into an Archmage that could create a literal army of autonomous magical soldiers. This was something that Anna was also interested in, and, after witnessing Eva's instantaneous creation of several copies of herself, each capable of manipulating Shinsu to devastating effect, a powerful desire to develop her own ability had blossomed overnight. This brought the two of them a lot closer, but, unfortunately, Vahn was destined to remain 'hated' as Eva had forbidden him from approaching within five meters of her young apprentice...

---

After a relatively leisurely ten days, Vahn and Co found themselves outside of a chamber guarded by a giant, frog-like Shinheuh. It appeared almost identical to a standard bullfrog, but, instead of green skin, it's glistening hide was a peculiar shade of blue. It was also more than ten meters tall, and, rather than possess two eyes, it had a bulbous third eye located at the center of its forehead.

Having spent much of the last six-hundred-years onboard the Hell Express, Daniel recognized the peculiar creature in an instant, saying, "I never expected to encounter the Three-Eyed Tyrant this early on. It normally only appears after the Hell Train had surpassed the 40th-"

Before Daniel could finish explaining the specifics regarding the peculiar Guardian, Anna's dolls, now resembling various stuffed animals, began peppering it with concentrated beams of Shinsu. Her talent for Sorcery directly translated to an equally extreme potential as a Wave Controller, so, much like Ryun, she had managed to master the basics of the Shinsu Black Hole Sphere using the method created by Eva. This made her attacks especially devastating, and, though it had resulted in a number of puppets self-destructing, she had been working on manifesting the unique control skill through her ever-growing population of autonomous soldiers.

Though he could have defeated it on his own, Daniel couldn't help but stare with his mouth agape as Anna's army of stuffed animals decimated the notoriously difficult enemy. It couldn't even fight back, as, unlike normal Shinsu, Anna's seemed to ignore conventional resistances, tearing apart the target without mercy.

Turning his head, a fearful glimmer flashed across Daniel's otherwise vibrant blue eyes as he stared back at the white-haired girl, seemingly no older than ten, hugging a stuffed pink rabbit. She didn't even need to exert herself to defeat a foe that would have taken him several minutes to defeat, and, so long as Vicente and Yura were at her side, her defenses were nigh-impregnable...

Noticing the former's gaze, Anna met Daniel's eyes with her own silver-whites, her face devoid of any emotion as she cocked her head to the side and asked, "What are you looking at...?" in a cold monotone.

Feeling slightly unnerved by Anna's expression and tone, Daniel offered a wry smile in response as he said, "Ah...it's nothing...I was just surprised by how strong you've become in such a short period of time. The descendants of the Ten Great Families are pretty...amazing...?"

Noticing the surrounding temperature decreasing, Daniel's instincts began to sound alarm bells in the back of his mind. He seemed to have stepped on a landmine by mentioning Anna's relation to the Arie Family, and, as a result, her expression became even icier than usual as the rabbit-like doll in her head raised its head to meet his gaze with its beady black eyes. At the exact same moment, each of the other dolls turned their heads toward him, necks twisting unnaturally due to their lack of bones...

Fortunately, just as it seemed like he would suffer the same fate as the Three-Eyed Tyrant, Vicente moved to block Anna's view of Daniel, his expression and tone calm as he said, "Anna...he is not an enemy..."

Calming down almost immediately, Anna just nodded her head before hugging her doll close and retracting her bloodlust. This caused the palpable chill in the surroundings to fade away, and, as a result of her apprentice's antics, Eva couldn't help but laugh aloud before making a few remarks at Daniel's expense...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: '*The sound of every true Necromancer and Lich clicking their tongues*','Eva be like, "Not this time you little shit..."','Anna about to fuck up the Arie Family on her own o_o...')

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