Into the World of Moving Iron Fortresses

Previously, Sora, Zen, Kiki, and Mitsuhide went inside the house in the forest with Shirayuki, who told Zen the reason why she ran away from the Kingdom of Tanbarun. So far, the two retainers; Kiki and Mitshuhide, have seen how Zen interacted with Shirayuki and seemed to like her and of course, Sora had no qualms since he already knew about Shirayuki. Meanwhile, Sora received his first ever mission, and is now waiting on the bridge of the Hyperion, waiting for Durandal to meet up with him.

Sora, who was waiting for Durandal to show up, decided to check her stats and to level her up as well. He knew she was already very powerful for the world they were going to, but making extra preparations never hurt anyone.

(A/N: Ok, I checked various wikis and also checked in-game, and Valkyries have varying stats at lvl 1. Dunno how it goes but it should be affected by their type, their grade, and finally their levels. I'll only be basing from an S-class valk since I don't own BKE in any accounts that I have and just raise the stats by 10/lvl up, same with that of the MC. Then maybe add 20 for every 10 LVLs.)

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[Status Screen]

Name: Durandal (Bianka Ataegina): Bright Knight: Excelsis

LVL: 1

HP: 283 (283 (Base)) + 0 (Stigmata) + 0 (Equipment)

SP: 148 (148 (Base)) + 0 (Stigmata) + 0 (Equipment)

ATK: 101 (101 (Base)) + 0 (Stigmata) + 0 (Equipment)

DEF: 20 (20 (Base)) + 0 (Stigmata) + 0 (Equipment)

CRIT: 7 (7 (Base)) + 0 (Stigmata) + 0 (Equipment)

STIGMATAS: T (None) M (None) B (None)

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"Ok…I should buy those EXP chips. I really need more gold though. Hopefully there would be some in Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress' world." Sora then accessed the [Supply] tab, then clicked again on the [Shop] tab. He then went and bought 5 ADV EXP chips and 5 ADV Learning chips for 202,000 gold. It was a huge chunk on his finances, but it was going to be worth it if it means getting stronger.

He then used 2 ADV Learning chips and raised Durandal's level up to LVL 10, since the rule where the Valkyrie's LVL can't exceed that of the captain's level is still present. After doing that, he checked Durandal's status again and nodded his head at the result.

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[Status Screen]

Name: Durandal (Bianka Ataegina): Bright Knight: Excelsis

LVL: 1

HP: 393 (393 (Base)) + 0 (Stigmata) + 0 (Equipment)

SP: 170 (170 (Base)) + 0 (Stigmata) + 0 (Equipment)

ATK: 197 (151 (Base)) + 0 (Stigmata) + 46 (Equipment)

DEF: 50 (50 (Base)) + 0 (Stigmata) + 0 (Equipment)

CRIT: 11 (8 (Base)) + 0 (Stigmata) + 3 (Equipment)

STIGMATAS: T (None) M (None) B (None)

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"Then unlock the available skills in her [Skills] tab…That should be good enough. She's already pretty powerful, already being at peak J-rank in Tier 1. Hmm…Ai-chan, can I ask you something?" Seeing Durandal's stats, Sora was satisfied, until he remembered something. He then called Ai-chan to ask for her assistance.

"Yes captain? Do you need something?" Ai-chan then popped up on his side, waiting for his question.

"I can see on the stats that there is a percentage that I can get from equipping a battlesuit. How can I do that?"

"Yes, to do that, captain just needs to think about the battlesuit that you want to equip. The appropriate percentage will then be distributed per attribute. You won't be getting all of the battlesuit's stats since the higher beings don't want you to rely too much on outside power. It would be preferable if you were to go stronger by yourself, and Ai-chan thinks the same as well." Ai-chan explained the reasoning behind how the amount of stats he would receive from the battlesuit he would equip won't include all of the stats of the battlesuit, just a percentage of it.

Sora wasn't one to grumble about it; since he would also think the same if he was the one attempting to raise a suitable pawn. And yes, he was thinking of the possibility that he was being raised as the higher being's dog. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows, especially with the reason on how he was chosen. He would take it as far as him being used for their machinations, but that would be more preferable than being controlled like a mindless puppet.

"So, how much do I gain for each stats?" Haru asked Ai-chan again.

"Yes. It should be: 30% for HP, 20% for SP, 20% for ATK, 30% for DEF, and 20% for CRIT. The stats that will be taken will be from the overall stats of the Valkyrie, so captain should prioritize the weapons and stigmatas of Miss Bianka as soon as possible." Hearing Ai-chan's explanation of the percentage of stats that he can receive from equipping a battlesuit, Haru felt a bit disappointed. It wasn't too much, and he needed more power for insurance.

"But, the stats aren't the only thing that you gain from equipping a battlesuit, captain."

"Ohh? There's more?"

"Yes! After equipping a Valkyrie, captain will also have access to the Valkyrie's available skills. In other words, as long as captain has raised the Valkyrie's level and grade, captain will also be able to use the same skillsets as the Valkyrie uses." Ai-chan explained while waiving her hands around excitedly.

…

"That's…I will be able to use those OP moves and abilities?" Haru was still shocked. Even without the additional stats, just this would be more than enough for him as a guaranteed of him being able to at least make sure of his and Durandal's safety during the quest. He was pretty familiar with most of the playable Valkyrie's skills, and although he doesn't remember all of them, he can somewhat recall vague images of those skills and he could still ask the Valkyrie to perform said skills in front of him to refresh his memory.

"Captain should still be careful though, even if you can use those skills, you won't be able to execute them as skilfully as the Valkyries can, as those skills aren't yours to begin with. It would be more like the difference between a rookie that executed a jab and an expert who did the same."

"I see…Still, this would be good enough. We should be all set now." With Ai-chan telling him that the abilities and skills he would be able to use from the Valkyries that he would equip wouldn't be as powerful, Sora just shrugged his shoulders. No matter what, those skills are still very powerful, and it would be fun being able to mix weapons and Valkyrie abilities together.

"Still, where's Bianka? Its past 10 minutes the time I allotted her. And here I thought she was a strict one…" Sora murmured since considering Durandal's personality, she would either arrive on time or even be earlier.

*Door opening*

Sora was taken out of his daze as he heard the mechanical door open behind him. He then saw Durandal come in, already in her BKE battlesuit, carrying a huge suitcase in her right hand.

"Sorry I was late, captain. I had some trouble with my…apparel." Slightly bowing her head, Durandal then explained to Sora why she was late, but the reason being her clothing, she was a bit embarrassed, and turned her head to the side before saying the last part of her sentence.

"Ahh, don't worry. I know that it is important, but still, I don't think it is necessary to bring that much, Bianka." Sora had a wry smile on his face while alternatingly looking between Durandal and the huge suitcase she brought.

"Ehh? We're going to another world, are we not?"

"Well, yes. But, we can still come back here in the Hyperion. The world we're going to is the time even before the pre-civilization era in the Far East, or in my previous world, it is called Japan and in the world we are going into, it is called Hinomoto. In this world's current era, other than the developed steam locomotives and weaponry, everything else is a bit…behind, in terms of technology. It would be better if we take care of our hygiene here instead of there." Sora explained to Durandal the condition of the world they were going in, and frankly, it wasn't the best.

He was a bit flabbergasted that they were even able to develop portable boilers for their steam guns, yet they weren't able to create showers by using those boilers. Sure they were living in very troubling times, yet that is why they should also focus on creating every kind of relaxation or entertainment that they could. Always living in fear, the minds of the populace in the world of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress is slowly getting eroded, hence the various tragic incidents like that of Mumei's and others keep on occurring again and again.

"I understand, captain. Please wait for me a bit longer, I will return this to my quarters." Durandal, finding Sora's reasoning was good, went back and returned her huge suitcase back to the dorms, taking another 10 minutes before she returned again.

"Well then, are you ready?"

"Yes, captain."

"Alright then, Ai-chan, please do the honors." Nodding towards Durandal, Sora then turned towards Ai-chan, who was floating on his left side.

"Aye2x captain! Initiating mission in 3…2…1…Start!"

After the countdown, Sora, Durandal, and Ai-chan were enveloped by a white light, and with this, they unconsciously closed their eyes.

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When he came to, it felt like he woke up from a long sleep, and he could feel the rumbling of the floor beneath them. Sora opened his eyes and surveyed their surroundings. They were inside a metal compartment, large enough to contain two beds and a bit more of ample space. Both him and Durandal were lying on the beds and decided to get up. "Durandal, are you fine?" Sora asked her since it was also her first time, albeit she did experience going to the Sea of Quanta, this was a different one.

"Yes, captain. Everything seems fine as of the moment." Also opening her eyes and standing up, Durandal clenched her right hand into a fist and did some light stretching, maybe to find out whether there was something wrong with her body, and thankfully, there was none.

Nodding his head, he peered through the small gap present on the iron wall, and he could see they were approaching the first station that was introduced in the series: the already abandoned and run-down Hayatani station. "Durandal, get ready for combat. You're going to see what the zombies of this world looks like. Ahh, but you wouldn't be able to fight with the lance since there are only small gaps…"

"Don't worry captain. I was able to bring pistols as well. Since I wasn't able to bring my clothing, I instead brought every type of weapon available from the Hyperion, along with a few spares and lots of munitions for the guns and heavy cannons." Taking out a pair of USP45's from her battlesuit, Durandal's explanation made Sora sweatdrop a bit.

(A/N: I'll make it that the battlesuits have storage capacities, but only for weapons and ammunitions because, why not? Heck they can use the Ultimate Evasion and slow down time, what's stopping them from having spatial storages.)

"Alright, let's go." Approaching the steel door, Sora opened it and proceeded to move to the other cars which were likely to be attacked by the Kabaneri. Durandal was also following behind him, wary of her surroundings.

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In the dark of night, a rumbling sound can be heard, its source being huge based on how load the sound was. A few moments later, the source of the sound made another kind of noise, this one being much louder compared to that of the rumbling.

*Blaring horn noises*

The source of these sounds came from a huge locomotive with eight cars in tow. The difference from a normal one was, this one was covered in metal plates that looked like the ones used to push ice and snow aside, only, there's no snow this time of the year. Two huge headlights could be seen in the front of this locomotive, and the vent used to release the smoke continued to spew more of it, blotting out the radiance of the moon.

Inside the enclosed cab of the locomotive, three people were present; one fat man who was standing in the middle, another which seemed to be manning the controls of the cab, and a pink-haired girl that was looking towards the man who was on the controls, seemingly waiting for orders.

They were all looking grimly, the fat man in the middle even paled a bit. They saw the station that they were passing through didn't have any sort of lights on it, and this wasn't a good sign.

"Don't drop the pressure! If we stop, it's all over!" The fat man ordered the one manning the controls.

"Yes sir. Make the announcement." Wiping the sweat that was forming on his face, the man who was manning the controls of the cab gave his reply to the fat man while closing his eyes; he then gave an order to the girl who was with them.

"Yes sir. We're passing through an abandoned station. Please brace for impact." The girl nodded towards the man and made an announcement by opening a seal and speaking on the tube. This tube carried the sound through all of the cars, along with Sora and Durandal who were making their way through the second to the last car to proceed to the next one. Everyone who heard that announcement held unto something to stabilize their positions, same with Sora and Durandal, since if they didn't, they'd have fallen down badly.

A few moments later, the steel locomotive continuously hit something, and that something was spraying and dyeing the front of the cab in red. Eerie sloshing sounds could still be heard even with the roaring of the engine, much like the sound of meat being grinded and crushed beneath metal. From the cab until the last car, everyone was almost thrown around due to the impact that the locomotive experienced, and if they weren't holding on to something, they really would've kissed the steel floor.

Several thuds were then heard around a few cars, as if something landed on top of them. Suddenly, the steel wall of a compartment bent inwards, as if something with incredible power punched it. A few more parts of the wall dented in, and a woman equipped with a gun that had a hose connected to a contraption on the back of her waist backed away, then checked the other side through the hole present. This was a very bad move though as she saw two amber-colored glowing eyes filled with veins staring back at her.

The woman was petrified, and this was the clincher. The owner of the eyes reached inside and grabbed the hair of the woman, attempting to pull her out and banging the head of the woman against the steel wall in the process. The hand kept on pulling, eventually pulling out the hair of the woman straight from the scalp. Luckily for her, someone helped her and hit the hand that was holding her hair with the butt of his gun. The man then inserted his gun through the gap and shot at the owner of the hand while shouting, "Damn it! Get out of here! Stay back!" These sorts of shouts could be heard from several cars since they were also experiencing the same thing; being attacked by these humanoid creatures that kept on eyeing them. Their shots weren't that effective though, as even if these creatures were shot, they act as if they felt no pain and kept on doing what they are doing. There are also noticeable lines present all over their body, glowing with an orange color reminiscent of fire or lava. These veins then all converge on one spot- the chest area, where the hearts are glowing in a more golden glow, encased in a steel-like cage.

Soon, one of the men armed with guns had his pulled by a creature. He tried to take it back, but he couldn't overpower the strength of the creature that had gripped his gun. Another man helped him try to take the gun back, but this man got his hand bitten. Still he didn't mind the pain and they managed to pull back the gun from the creature, and they both fell down on their butt on the floor.

"Are you ok?" Asked one other man who was looking at the two.

"Yeah. I owe you one. *Gasps* Oh my god!" He looked around his hands to see if he was bitten anywhere, and thankfully he wasn't. But when he looked at the guy who helped him, he saw that the hand of the guy was bleeding; meaning, he was bitten. The others distanced themselves a bit from the bitten guy with wary looks, scared that any moment, this ally might become like one of those creatures outside without them knowing.

A purplish blight started spreading from the part of the hand of the man that was bitten. Someone threw something towards the bitten man and said, "Use it." This something was a cone-shaped item, the flat part of the cone being made of wood, and then the part extending to the top of the cone was a cloth, maybe used to hold something inside the cone. Lastly, on the top of the cone, there was a string extending for a few centimeters, and at the end of the string, a small hoop was attached.

Seeing the item thrown to him, the man looked with his face agape at his allies, these men he fought with side-by-side look at him with scared expressions, pushing him to use the item as soon as possible.

"Use the suicide bag!"

"…"

"Hurry up!"

"Show us what you're made of!"

"Don't be a disgrace!"

"What are you doing!?"

"Pull it already!"

The man had no other choice, so he opened the part of clothes in the chest area, and placed the flat part of the item right on top of where the heart should be. Looking one last time at his allies, and then bowing his head; tears streamed down his face. Hooking his index finger through the small hoop on the item, he then whispered, "Mother…" These should have been his last words, but then, everyone present in the car heard a voice full of disdain.

"How pathetic." (A/N: Nailed it. XD)

As the men that were keeping their eyes on their comrade that got bitten was about to turn around and look at who the voice belonged to, something flew above them and landed in between them and the bitten man. They were about to take aim, but a bright blue light shone in front of them, and a moment later, all four men were pushed away by a force that caused them to tumble and roll until they were near the door of the car.

While these men were rolling in pain, slow and steady footsteps were heard reverberating within the compartment, as everyone was silent due to the sudden turn of events. These footsteps belonged to a young man, about 20 years of age. He has medium length black hair that was swaying with the wind, wearing a brown bodysuit; a jacket with an insignia of a wolf where only the neck part was buttoned to make for easy manoeuvrability, brown fingerless gloves, balck cargo pants with belts on both of his thighs, and lastly, black military boots.

(Image will be posted here. Just ignore the violet eyes and minus the armlets and various black tapes.)

This young man was Sora, and the one who pushed the men away was Durandal, who was still stretching her hand out with a large, bright blue shield with intricate designs in front of her. Seeing Sora was near her, she dissipated the shield and stood to the side to let Sora see the condition of the bitten man. The man was also surprised with what happened, it was so fast that he was unable to react to anything and was looking at Sora that had already stopped in front of him. A few moments passed, Sora then asked the man with a very simple question-

"Do you want to live?"

Upon hearing this, the man's eyes opened wide, never could he have imagined someone would ask him that question, considering the only outcome that they have ever known if they were bitten was to either commit suicide, or be killed by his own comrades. He then closed his eyes, from which tears once again streamed from them and he shouted, "Yes, Yes! I want to live! I don't want to die!"

Hearing the reply of the man, Sora nodded his head and replied, "Understood. I've heard your resolve. Now, grit those teeth." Before the man was able to respond, Sora drew the [Plasma Kagehide] that was sheathed on his waist and cut the arm of the man in front of him right on the wrist, severing his hand that had a bite on it. The immediate area around the cut then turned slightly black, which were signs of frostbite.

"Gaaahhh!" The man then screamed and writhed on the floor, holding the area of his arm that was near his severed wrist. The others were also surprised and became scared, and were about to aim their guns at the two individuals, but they weren't able to move since they felt pressure. This pressure originated from the one that conjured the shield, which was a woman with long, curly blond hair; wearing slightly revealing white and blue armor, and she was looking intently at them, as if waiting for them and if they were to move, she would as well.

"I've severed your bitten hand. You shouldn't turn into one of those things, but to be sure…" He turned around and faced the scared men. "You lot can keep him on a separate car or bind his limbs, and if he does turn, then you may kill him. But, should I find a dead body without the traces of being one of those things outside, you all will join him. Am I clear?" Displaying his ability to command, Sora had experience on the battlefield, so he knew what and what not to do in cases like this.

Seeing as they would be unable to do anything, the men could only nod and decided to tie up the man who's hand was severed by Sora. They all couldn't look him in the eye since they immediately told him to commit suicide once they discovered that he was bitten.

"Please do remember what I said. I always pull through with my promises. Durandal, let's go." Warning them for the last time, Sora then continued walking forward, occasionally severing some hands that came in through the gaps from the outside.

"Yes, captain." Durandal responded. She also kept on shooting the two pistols that were on her hands, aiming the left one on the left-side gaps and the right one on the right-side gaps. She was able to hit them with pinpoint accuracy, and was thus able to remove the creatures that were trying to enter this cab.

The two then pushed on, continuing to fight and either killing or pushing the creatures off the cars.