Snow gusted through the ruined wall of the speeding train, blinding their vision and cloaking the two fighters in a white curtain.
The masked man kicked off the wall, soaring through the air. Poison sprayed from his claws in a deadly arc. Felix sidestepped, heart pounding when he saw the venom burn holes in the floor like acid.
Too fast…
He pulled a black lantern from his belt, chanting words in an ancient tongue.
"Awaken, you who are hidden within the apocalypse!"
The lantern erupted in flames of blue and violet. Darkness spread like a mist around Felix, and within it, countless eyes blinked open.
The largest one rose behind his head, golden irises sweeping left and right. The masked man grimaced at the suffocating presence of those unseen gazes.
The train lurched sharply, throwing them both off balance. Felix seized the opening, activating one of his stigmas—Seeker.
With it, the awakened eyes revealed his opponent's weak points, hidden seals, and the fractures in his magic. It was the power of Absolute Truth, the sight that laid bare his enemy's intent.
However, I can't waste too much time. Otherwise, I'll be at a disadvantage.
"You're like a rat," said the masked man, his voice raspy from his throat, but Felix remained unaffected by his provocation.
"Just die!" he said coldly, a flash of anger igniting in the masked man's eyes.
"Don't expect a painless death!"
The masked man took the three black beads hanging from his belt, and the beads rose in his palm.
They resembled wolves, but with flattened skulls and jaws lined with dagger-like teeth. Forked tongues lashed out between their fangs.
"Attack!"
The three beasts charged. Felix's right blade transformed into a chain, and as one beast leapt at him, he sliced it with his left sword—only to watch it dissipate into smoke.
"You can't kill my beasts with that pitiful sword!" the masked man jeered.
Felix smirked, swinging the chain. The golden eyes within the shroud bled sticky light onto the beast's body. Only Felix could see it.
As the smoky creature solidified under the gaze, the masked man's black eyes flickered with disbelief.
"Impossible…"
Felix yanked the chain and drove his blade into the beast's chest. Its scream drowned out the roar of the train as it collapsed, lifeless. One of the man's black beads cracked and shattered, the mark on his hand fading.
The man snarled. "Who… are you?"
Felix tilted his head slightly, his cold, expressionless gaze fixed on him.
"Someone just lucky enough not to die."
Meanwhile, Damien woke up. The blast rendered him unconscious, and now pain throbbed at his temple.
His fingers came away wet with blood. His ocean-blue eyes fluttered open as icy air hit his face. He turned, seeing the wrecked train wall and the deadly clash between Felix and the masked man.
Damien's eyes widened as Felix struck down the beast, only for it to disperse into smoke.
What the hell is that?
His shock deepened when Felix killed the same beast a second time, this time leaving its body to fall lifeless. Damien hadn't seen the golden eyes that revealed the weakness.
His eyes trembled because he had never seen anything like this before. He watched as Felix captured the same monster with the chain in his hand and then killed it by thrusting his sword into it.
"Why was he unable to kill it the first time using the same method, but managed to kill it the second time?"
Muttering in astonishment and curiosity, he hadn't seen what those golden eyes, now open in the darkness around Felix, had done to the monster. Damien pressed his hands to the ground, wanting to help him.
Apparently, these monsters can't be cut down with swords. Felix must have found a way during the battle, but if I intervene, we'll both be in danger. So I need to help him differently.
Instead, he pressed his palms to the floor. Cracks spread beneath his hands, roots reaching into the frozen earth beneath the speeding train. Green sprouts burst from the fissures, growing into thick vines that lashed toward the second beast.
But like the first, the vines passed through its smoky body. Damien bit back his frustration and turned his power on the masked man himself.
The vines wrapped around the man's legs. He cursed, glaring at Damien with bloodshot eyes. With a swipe of his claws, he shredded the bindings.
"Parasite!" he spat. "Kill them!"
The third beast vaulted over Felix, leaping straight at Damien. He drew his sword in panic.
"You can't cut him with a sword!" Felix shouted, throwing the chain in his hand, which wrapped around the third beast's leg.
Felix pulled the chain, flinging the beast to the other side, while simultaneously cutting the second monster with his sword, killing it.
Another bead shattered, another mark on the man's hand faded.
"If swords can't kill them, then how are you defeating them?" Damien asked, astonished.
"They're called Fumari," Felix said coldly. "Their bodies are smoke. You can't harm them with ordinary attacks."
Damien's brows furrowed when the slain beast reappeared at its master's side. "Then what do we do?"
"Use your vines to bind him. Leave the beasts to me."
The golden eyes blinked once more, dripping light over the Fumari. Their bodies solidified, but their speed doubled as they grew denser. Felix cursed under his breath.
"Tsk. I need to finish this fast."
As Felix battled the beasts, Damien's vines lashed again and again, but the masked man cut them with ease. Both Felix and Damien were growing battered, their stamina fraying under the relentless fight.
Then, without warning, the masked man's body caved inward. His head imploded with a sickening burst, spraying blood across the wall. His corpse crumpled to the ground, and the remaining beast dissipated into smoke.
Damien stared in shock. Felix frowned, sensing a new and dangerous presence. He slashed upward, only to see his blade caught effortlessly by a figure standing atop it.
The hood had slipped down from his head, so now he could see his face. His vertical pupils, peering over his black, round glasses, were crimson eyes. When they curved like a crescent, the beauty spot under his right eye became visible.
His lips curved. Felix's face hardened at the familiar face.
"We meet again."