The corrupted soul moving towards them..
Slowly...
Koru stared at the soul slowly approaching them. His glasses lit up, a faint blue glow reflecting across the lenses. Without blinking, he raised his hand, and with a soft thump, a leather book dropped into his palm. He flipped it open and scanned the pages quickly.
"Nki can't fight right now…" he muttered to himself. "I just need the main point..."
His face remained calm as he looked at the page and spoke, voice low.
"A one star soul… A Lost One..."
Nki shakily got to her feet, her hands still trembling. But as she stepped forward.
"Stop." Koru gently raised a hand in front of her, blocking her path.
"Huh?" Nki blinked.
Enix furrowed his brow, watching the soul limp toward them. "Bro, he's coming this way…"
The soul dragged its broken body closer, clothes torn and stained. Its twisted, crushed legs left a faint trail as it moved, bones sticking out of its ribs. They were frozen in place, unsure of what would happen.
Then it stopped right in front of Koru.
Koru stood still, eyes locked with the hollow, black sockets.
Then the soul spoke.
"T-T-Ticket... please…"
Its voice was deep, slow, and glitchy, like an old tape recorder struggling to play.
Koru didn't flinch. He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his metro ticket.
He held it up calmly.
The soul stared at it. Then…
"…Thank… you."
It turned away and started walking toward the next train car, dragging its body silently past them.
The three let out a collective sigh of relief.
Enix sat back down and exhaled hard. "What the hell was that?"
"Why didn't it attack?" Nki added, still catching her breath.
Koru's eyes followed the soul as it left. "Not all corrupted souls are aggressive. Some are just… lost. They don't have a core. No purpose. Just memories of what they used to do when they were alive. These types are called… The Lost Ones."
They both looked down the aisle.
Nki's eyes softened. "That means…"
"He died on this train…" Koru said, voice low. "An accident, or something worse."
Then, he pulled out a small knife from his belt. Its blade was short, simple but as Koru closed his eyes, it started to glow faintly with golden light.
"What's that?" Enix asked.
"I filled this with my deviner energy," Koru replied.
He tossed the knife gently It spun once in the air before stabbing into the soul's back. The moment it pierced through.
The body of the soul turned into dust, floating into the air like ash, quiet peaceful.
Then.
DING
A robotic voice echoed through the train speakers.
"Next station: 3.5 kilometers."
They blinked. The lights flickered back on. The train moved like normal again.
Everyone slumped into their seats.
"Waaa, I'm so done…" Nki groaned, stretching her arms.
Enix looked down, pointing at the floor. "Uhh, what about this… vomit?"
A puddle of pizza disaster was still sitting there.
Koru didn't even glance down. "The train staff will deal with it. Just leave it."
Nki hugged her stomach. "Man, now I'm hungry again…"
Enix stared at her. "Didn't you just eat half a box of pizza?"
She pointed. "Can't you see the pizza laying over there?"
"Bruh, then go eat it," Enix said with a dead look.
Koru stared at them like they were aliens. "How can you two still act like this after seeing something like that?"
Enix smirked. "We're..."
"Just like this," Nki finished with a peace sign and grin.
The train kept moving forward as the city lights passed by outside.
Some time later…
Deep in the forest, far away from the city buzz, was a strange village tucked into nature. Old shrines and buildings stood between towering trees It looked like a mix of ancient temples and modern homes lanterns hanging from wires, stone paths covered in moss, and mist crawling across the ground like smoke.
At the very front of that place was a large metal gate made from red painted poles. In the center hung a huge paper talisman, slightly weathered from the wind painted on it was a beautiful woman her hair long and flowing like a river dressed in elegant robes. Her eyes were soft but her expression held power, she had six golden arms each holding a different relic a fan, a flute, a scroll, a sword, a lotus, and a bell.
Above her, written in bold characters were the words.
"Devine Lady Sumi, The Protector of All."
Two people stood at the gate arm crossed, Aaru and Lali.
"It's almost 9," Lali groaned, kicking a rock. "Where are they?! I'm bored and sleepy and hungryyyy… I want my cream bun!!"
Aaru glanced up from his phone. "They're close."
Lali's eyes lit up. "Really?! Where Where?!"
She started spinning in circles searching.
Then.
A voice shouted from the distance.
"Big bro Aaru! Big sis Lali! We're here!!"
Lali turned around and saw three figures walking toward the gate, Enix, Nki, and Koru.
"Big… bro?" Aaru blinked.
"…Big sis?" Lali muttered, confused.
Nki and Enix stood in front of the massive gate, their eyes wide in surprise and amazed.
"Woahhhhhhh!" Nki gasped, hands gripping on Enix's sleeves.
"I didn't even know something like this existed," Enix added, stepping forward with awe.
From behind them Koru strolled up, arms crossed casually.
"You were here before you just forgot," he said with that usual blank tone.
Both of them blinked and turned to him at the same time. "Huh?"
Just then Lali came skipping over her smile all smug. "Yup! He's right. You guys weren't allowed to come out from ma'am Geli's place so you never saw this place."
Koru walked up to stand beside Aaru and Lali, hands in his coat pockets. "We sent you back to your camp from the back route avoided this whole area."
Enix squinted at them. "You played dirty with us…"
Nki crossed her arms, pouting. "How rude. Hiding cool stuff from us."
Then, without a word, Koru leaned closer to Aaru and whispered something in his ear real quiet, Nki and Enix couldn't hear anything just saw Aaru's eyes widen a bit.
Aaru nodded slowly. "I see… that's interesting."
Lali popped in between them like a jumping bean. "Heeeyyy! What're you two talking about?! Tell me too! I wanna know!"
Koru and Aaru exchanged a glance then looked over at them.
"You two should rest for now," Koru said, turning back toward the building.
Aaru gave a small smile, almost too calm. "Because tomorrow… you're meeting Lord Father."
Back inside the train.
"…Do we really have to clean that?" one janitor asked quietly.
The other two slowly nodded.
A glowing puddle of unholy puke vivid orange possibly moving, sizzling slightly.
"That ain't normal puke, that's possessed puke."
Skinny guy squinted. "Did someone… eat pizza and sadness at the same time?"
One covered his nose with his sleeve. "Why does it smell so bad!."
They stood in a triangle around the scene like it was a crime scene.
"Right protocol says we do rock paper scissors," one said solemnly.
"No" one said stepping back. "Last time I lost and it took me two hours of bath to get the stinky smell of my body."
Skinny guy pulled out a spray bottle from his toolbelt labeled "Holy Disinfectant Lemon Scented".
He sprayed once.
The vomit sizzled and hissed like it had feelings.
"Bro, it just growled at me," skinny guy said.
"Then it's evolving!" one screamed. "Spray more! Spray more!!"
"Forgive us holy train gods… we know not what sins passed through this pizza…"
After ten full minutes of cleaning, silence settled.
The vomit was gone, banished.
"We need a raise"