Sticking to his plan to drop the girls off at the Koutetsujou, Kaelis continued on.
Biba's men could handle themselves; they weren't his problem anyway.
Once Ayame and Yukina were safe, he'd swing back around to clean things up.
Within minutes, the familiar iron train came into view.
"Oi! Kurusu!" he called out, touching down beside it with a light thud.
Silence greeted him.
No one was outside either. The stillness around the Koutetsujou made it clear—everyone was holed up inside.
Kaelis had been the one to escort everyone there the moment they realized the station was under attack.
The soldiers guarding them earlier had rushed off to join the fight, giving the group a chance to move freely and take shelter inside the train.
"Is… is that you, Mr Kaelis?"
Instead of Kurusu, it was Takumi who stepped out, looking both relieved and tense.
"Yeah, it's me," Kaelis replied, setting Yukina down gently. "Where's Kurusu?"
"Oh, he's inside with the passengers," Takumi answered.
Kaelis gave a short nod and ushered the two girls toward the train.
"Take these two and get Yukina patched up properly," he said. "Make sure there's no infection—or scarring. I'll be heading back."
He turned, ready to take off, when Takumi suddenly shouted, "Wait! Ikoma's not inside!"
"Hm? What do you mean?" Kaelis asked, turning back.
"He went to look for Mumei—and he hasn't come back yet!" Takumi said, worry lacing his voice.
"Got it. Thanks for the heads-up. I'll look for him while I'm out there."
With that, Kaelis shot into the air, heading back toward where he last saw Horobi.
…
"Raaahh—"
The roar echoed across the battlefield as Kaelis hovered high above, scanning the chaos below.
His sharp eyes quickly caught sight of her—Horobi—now standing face to face with Lord Biba.
Quite a number of soldiers were gathered there—both Biba's men and Iwato's—forming a tense circle quite a distance around Horobi.
All of them had their rifles trained on her, fingers hovering over the triggers, but none dared to shoot with Biba standing so close.
"Guess you haven't gone completely mindless yet," Kaelis called out, his voice carrying through the chaos.
Heads turned, eyes scanning the smoke-filled sky until they found him—floating above the scene.
The soldiers wanted to ask a hundred questions, but now wasn't the time—they were too busy keeping their sights on Horobi, who looked ready to snap at any second.
"Well, well. Look who decided to show up," Biba said, voice carrying a faint amusement as he smiled up at Kaelis.
"I'm quite glad you came."
"I had to, you know," Kaelis replied with a smirk as he slowly descended. "Saw something interesting, so I figured I'd come back for a closer look."
"I'm glad I made it back before she… well, before things got worse. I wanted to see what else she's capable of," Kaelis said, nodding toward Horobi.
"Hahaha! You really did show up at just the right moment," Biba replied, a hint of relief in his tone.
He turned his attention to Horobi, who seemed to have regained a semblance of her senses.
Looking her directly in the eyes, he smiled gently. "Now… it's time to do exactly what we had initially planned."
A day earlier, after Kaelis had given Biba a humiliating beatdown and Horobi had regained consciousness, they'd made some adjustments to their plan to take down Iwato Station.
Previously, the plan was to have her become a hybrid colony and destroy the wall to let the kabanes outside rampage.
But after the humiliation he suffered at Kaelis's hands, they added a new element—during the hybridization, she wasn't just going to destroy the gate.
She was going to take Kaelis down too.
Yet due to the short duration of it, she only managed to accomplish the former.
Now after the transformation and the drastic increase in strength, would be the perfect time to eliminate Kaelis—but alas, he was nowhere in sight.
And if that wasn't enough, she felt her life slipping away by the minute so she felt her use to biba was no more.
Now, Kaelis had presented himself on a silver platter.
Instead of spending her final moments with Biba, she was ordered to go after him.
She spun to face Kaelis, her eyes burning with a murderous glare indicating she was slowly slipping back to furry behavior.
"Oh? What's this?" Kaelis raised an eyebrow, unfazed.
Biba, noticing the expression on Kaelis's face, mistook it for fear and smiled smugly, convinced the advantage was his.
The ground you stand on will be your grave, Kaelis Valeblade! This is for the humiliation you caused me."
Kaelis's frown was small, almost amused.
"You don't think… she can stop me, do you?"
"You may have special abilities," Biba shot back, voice tight, "but when it comes to physical strength, you are far too outclassed."
"Huh?" Kaelis blinked, genuinely surprised.
Before Kaelis could even react, Horobi lunged at him, her blade-like arms slicing through the air.
Shrrrk!
He easily deflected her strike, the claws tearing grooves into the ground beside him.
Stepping back to put some distance between them, Kaelis prepared himself—but Horobi wasn't done.
Without hesitation, she surged forward again, relentless.
Shhfff!
Her arms shot out, aiming straight for his throat.
Kaelis sidestepped just in time, the tips of her claw missing him by inches.
"W-what's happening!?" someone shouted, eyes wide.
"They're moving… so fast!" another added.
From the outside, it was almost impossible to follow—their movements were a blur, too fast for the naked eye.
Slashes and dodges tore through the ground, sending chunks of earth and debris flying with every movement.
"Hahahaa! How is it?! How does it feel to be hunted like prey?! Summon a sword, 'oh god!' You can't, right—can you!?" Biba shouted, his grin widening as he watched the chaos.
From his vantage point, Kaelis was barely keeping up, narrowly dodging by a hair's breadth.
To Biba, it seemed Kaelis was completely defenseless, unable to summon a sword or fight back.
So, the usually calm biba leaned into the moment, taunting loudly.
"Hehehahaa! You've got no chance to summon a sword! Your only means of defense is cut off! Hahaha! Hurry and kill him, Horobi!"
But while Biba reveled in what he thought was Kaelis's suffering, Kaelis himself remained unnervingly calm, almost treating the situation like a lighthearted game.
His goal was simple: gauge just how strong she had become.
And now…
She was roughly 180% stronger than Mumei. Well, that settles that.
As Horobi readied herself to charge again—her mind completely consumed—time seemed to slow for Kaelis.
Clenching his fist tightly, Kaelis drove it straight into her jaw.
DOOM!
The impact was devastating—her body vanished instantly, leaving nothing but her legs from the knees down.
In less than half a second, she was utterly obliterated.
Crack!
The ground beneath her shattered, cracks racing outward at a blinding speed.
And then…
BOOM!
A deafening explosion tore through the air.
"Aaaaaahhh!!"
Nearly everyone nearby was sent flying by the blast, while those farther away braced themselves against the shockwave.
"Somebody help me!"
"H-help!"
"Cough… cough… Brother!"
"What's going on?!"
Biba, sprawled on the ground, lifted his head and looked around.
He couldn't see a thing at first; the dust and debris hung thick in the air.
All he could catch was the faint, muffled sound of his sister calling out, barely audible over the ringing in his ears.
By some stroke of luck a strong gust of wind blew through (definitely not Kaelis), sweeping the dust aside and clearing the view.
And what he saw made his pupils shrink to the size of pins.
A massive crater yawned before him, the earth torn apart in every direction.
At its center lay one lone figure—and just a pair of legs, remnants of the chaos that had just erupted.
"So… um, you were saying something earlier?" The figure grinned.
Chapter 35 end.