The one who gathered those who had been scattered was none other than Rita Rozay-en.
"Third Magician! Don't tell me you're planning to wage war against the Rail Zeppelin?!"
"Cut the crap, Rita Rozay-en. As much as I dislike Dead Apostles, I am currently accompanying Waver, you see. I have my own business to attend to, and I have no intention of starting a war with the White Wing Lord under these circumstances."
"…Dammit. Then which bastard laid hands on my train?!"
Rita Rozay-en began to stamp her feet in a fit of rage.
…Well, I didn't answer her, but the culprit was obvious at a glance.
That loathsome piece of trash pretending to be flustered while pulling down his fedora… It must be the work of Leif Uvall Flauros.
"Dead Apostle, I was under the impression you had a decent relationship with the White Wing Lord?"
"That's ancient history… Since that damn Serpent of Akasha caused the incident in France, the alliances have shifted. I broke off from the White Wing Lord's faction a long time ago!"
"I suppose I'll have to pray that those words are the truth."
"I think prayer alone won't be enough."
Caren Hortensia, who had woken up at some point, interjected into the conversation.
"…Come to think of it, Aylesbury Valesti is a place being watched by the Burial Agency. How many Dead Apostles are gathered there right now?"
"We don't have an exact count, but at least four are gathered. Trauam, the overseer of the ritual; Luvululilli Paranodalia of the Twelfth Seat; Fina-blood Svelten, who went as Altrouge's representative; and even the Anti-Apostle, Enhance."
Fina-blood Svelten was a Dead Apostle ranked within the top ten, someone treated as having achieved 'immortality' similar to Nrvnqsr Chaos or the Forest of Einnashe. Furthermore, he was on terrible terms with Rita Rozay-en, so taking the Rail Zeppelin there would certainly not be welcomed… Moreover, since I had been halfway dismantling the White Wing Lord's faction, if luck wasn't on my side, the spider Apostle Trauam and Luvululilli would likely be my enemies as well.
"…Rozay-en, is it impossible to stop the train?"
"There is no way to stop it when the coordinates are not connected to a leyline. There's no choice but to race to Aylesbury as quickly as possible, finish resupplying there, and escape."
"Everything is properly tangled… Trisha, do you see anything?"
Waver asked urgently, but she, who possessed a Mystic Eye of Prediction, also shook her head from side to side.
"Assuming Enhance is on our side, Third Magician, to what extent can you deal with the Dead Apostles?"
"As long as the magical energy supply is superior, I can at least stall someone like Trauam. He's the type who fights with martial arts and familiars, so he has a good compatibility with me…"
"Then Kotomine, the lady from the Burial Agency, and I will handle the spider Apostles. That leaves Fina-blood Svelten, but…"
"That man is the biggest problem. I don't know the details, but I recall him possessing a Reality Marble called 'Parade'… Hey, Waver. Can you analyze a Reality Marble?"
"Don't talk nonsense! At this rate, wouldn't it be better to call a True Ancestor instead?"
"It's impossible. This train is a complete Otherworld, so communication with the outside is blocked."
Of course, the moment we arrive at Aylesbury, I could send out a request for help—a Buster Call of sorts—and Aoko-nee would come running immediately, but…
'Flauros won't just leave us be.'
Among types of magecraft, interfering with electronic devices is simple enough, and as long as a spy like him is on the inside, communication can be considered completely sealed. Furthermore, there is the variable of Souren Araya…
"How long will it take to reach Aylesbury if we travel with as much haste as possible, Rodin?"
[Assuming the most stable path, approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes remain.]
"…It would be best to prepare as much as possible until then. Does anyone object?"
At Karabo's words, who had drawn his Black Keys at some point, everyone present nodded and began preparing their own armaments.
Kotomine Kirei and Karabo Frampton drew their Black Keys, tucking them into their belts or between their fingers. Caren Hortensia hopped down from Kotomine's arms and wrapped the Shroud of Magdalene around herself.
Olga Marie Animusphere and Trisha Fellows began checking their respective Mystic Codes, while Jean Mario loaded his gun and placed his spiders into jars.
"You there, the insect-user. You'd better throw those spiders away. Luvululilli can control any low-grade insect."
"…Hmm, they're expensive items, but they're not more precious than my life."
Hearing Rozay-en's advice, Jean Mario threw the jar containing the spiders out the window. Souren Araya began establishing Bounded Fields while rolling his prayer beads.
"Rozay-en, can we use the Mystic Eye Catapult?"
"How do you know about that… No, that Puppetmaster must have told you anyway. That is truly a last resort. I have no intention of using it unless absolutely necessary, so keep that in mind!"
"It can't be helped then. What about selling Mystic Eyes right now?"
"…Selling?"
Instead of answering, I summoned the Six Paths of Pain and showed them to her. She looked at the Rinnegan etched into the dolls' eyes in surprise, then sighed as if realizing the truth.
"They're fakes."
"To be precise, the eyeballs of these puppets automatically transform into the Rinnegan. Of course, the output itself is nothing compared to the original, and if they lose connection with me, they return to being ordinary, grotesque-looking eyeballs, but…"
"…Which means you can transplant Mystic Eyes into them."
"I don't care if they're Non-Color, and standard Noble Color eyes are fine too. Rather than using them as one-time disposables, wouldn't it be better to put them in my puppets where there's at least a chance of recovery?"
Of course, that was a lie.
A Mystic Eye is essentially a massive Magic Circuit. My proposal was based on the hypothesis that if I were to overload all the Mystic Eyes in six puppets, I might be able to drop a small-scale Tengai Shinsei.
"With your skill, transplanting six Mystic Eyes within an hour should be no problem."
"Hmm…"
"5 million dollars per puppet. I'll pay double for Noble Colors, and from Gold-rank upward, I'll pay 50 million dollars."
At my words, Waver spat out his tea, and even 'Leif Lainur,' who was looking at me with a performative expression of grief, looked at me in shock.
"Additionally, if a puppet is destroyed and a Mystic Eye is damaged, I will provide that puppet to you as compensation."
"What…?"
"For your information, those are puppets made by a Grand-rank Puppetmaster."
"Thank you for your business, valued customer!!!"
Ah, this is indeed the power of money.
It can solve many things automatically.
"You crazy bastard… Do you even realize how much you're spending?!"
"If things go south, there's a possibility of going to war with the entire White Wing Lord's faction. This is a cheap price to pay for that."
"And you're the one saying that after burning 5 million dollars just to rent a single Mystic Eye?!"
* *
Rita Rozay-en's handiwork was swift and very clean.
Two Gold-rank Mystic Eyes were etched into the Deva Path and Human Path, and the other four puppets were fitted with Sapphire and Ruby-rank Mystic Eyes.
"That's 40 million dollars, plus two Golds, so that's 100 million. A total of 140 million dollars. Send the bill to the Einzberns."
While Rozay-en worried about the impending crisis, she kept letting out hollow laughs as if the astronomical sum of money didn't feel real. I gazed at the Rinnegan of the puppets, now etched with tomoe and patterns like Uchiha Sasuke's Rinnegan, and tested them by controlling them.
The transplantation was certainly successful; the location the Asura Path gazed upon began to burn, and the space viewed by the Deva Path became fixed in place.
"How long until we arrive?"
[…We will reach Aylesbury Valesti in 20 minutes.]
"Good. As soon as we arrive, stop the train, hole up inside, and then move to the next track to escape. Understand?"
When I spoke, they all nodded in unison, starting to show signs of anxiety as if bracing for the coming chaos.
Before long, the dark night sky began to reveal itself through the fog-covered windows, and beyond the thinning mist, a plain pervaded by an ominous magical energy came into view.
"It seems we've entered the outskirts of Aylesbury."
"Come to think of it, you said the Burial Agency manages this place. Are there any particularities we should know?"
"Ghouls and wraiths appear in massive numbers."
"…That's information that doesn't really matter whether we know it or not."
While we were on edge, the conductor's voice rang out once more.
[A large flock of pigeons has appeared one minute away. They are presumed to be controlled flying Phantasmal Species.]
"Pigeons. It seems the White Wing Lord has made his move first…!"
Almost as soon as Karabo shouted, countless flocks of pigeons surrounded the train and began crashing into it like a bird strike.
The pigeons, looking like something out of the Cthulhu Mythos, shattered the glass windows and grotesquely burst apart, scattering bizarre-looking tentacles in all directions.
"Dammit, only a Dead Apostle would create such disgusting familiars!"
"…We can't stop the train now. Rozay-en, sorry, but we have to push straight through!"
Leif Lainur, sensing it was time to fight, stuck close to Olga Marie and shot down the pigeons with Magic Bullets. I expanded Shinra Tensei to form a Variant Bounded Field, causing the pigeons to be repelled.
Waver, whose combat ability was lower than even his apprentices, retreated slowly, while Pepe and Kadoc formed a formation and began shooting down the frenzied pigeon familiars.
However, the ones who were unquestionably most active here were the two Executors.
"If they are mere familiars rather than the Dead Apostle himself, then they are our specialty…!"
"Removing the Mystic Eyes seems to have indeed increased my physical capabilities."
The two of them, moving throughout the train with Black Keys in hand, had shot down all the pigeon familiars before I could even step forward.
* *
As the pigeon attack thinned out, Jean Mario, who was shooting them down with twin pistols, spat out a complaint.
"Dammit, is there no end to these things…?!"
"Endure just a bit longer, Chef! This is likely only the entrance…"
As if to prove Waver's guess correct, the crazed pigeons stopped attacking us after the last one was shot down by Rozay-en, and instead began circling above the train.
Rita Rozay-en took the opportunity to halt the train and ordered Rodin to connect with the leyline and fix the track distortions.
"Hey, Manager. How much longer must we wait to properly escape this territory?"
"…I cannot give a specific time, but we must remain stationary for at least two hours."
"Including the one hour it takes to leave, that means we have to wait three hours."
While the Rail Zeppelin absorbed magical energy, I also began absorbing energy through the Seal Absorption… and soon, I felt something strange.
"What is it?"
"I feel an ominousness in the magical energy."
"…Like that mud from back then?"
"No, not that much. But it's definitely a disturbing magical energy… It feels as if it was extracted from killing people."
"Isn't that just the Od from primitive magecraft?"
"It's different from that… It feels like human blood has been squeezed and gathered in one place."
Regardless, having even one more means to protect ourselves was effective, so I began to summon the familiars of the Animal Path with the gathered energy.
When I summoned a giant flying bird wearing a bizarre mask, eyes once again turned toward me, and Waver spoke in admiration.
"It's been a while since I've seen a Phantasmal Species from the Age of Gods…"
"Come to think of it, you were trapped during the Clock Tower incident."
"It wasn't a pleasant experience… By the way, can you really face Dead Apostles with just that one thing?"
"Since I don't have backup like a Magician, my current magical energy is at its limit summoning one at a time."
Immediately after, the sound of flashing thunder accompanied a grotesque roar, and the cry of a Nue began to resonate loudly.