Convoy of Malevolence

The train rushed through the city as fast as a bullet. Shien growled, pummeling the warriors with rolling punches. He snatched their shields, throwing them at the snipers.

"Shien!" Mivangeline ducked under a spinning shield. "This is a battle we can't win. We need to find a vehicle to escape!"

"Not without Phoenicia!" Shien shouted.

Shien dodged a katana strike. He pushed his elbow on the samurai's back, knocking him off the train. He and Mivangeline ran across a trolley full of spiraling square crystals. The two stopped when a pillar with two buzzsaw arms and two metal claws emerged.

Wartram Defense Arm

Level 75

HP: [75,575/75,575]

The four-armed sentry slashed its grinding saws at Shien. He jumped over the saws as they carved into the train roof. As he ran past the defense mechanism, the machine's two claws fired red lasers at him from behind. The thin beams hit Shien's legs. A Dynastiotron samurai jumped with his blade to attack Shien. Mivangeline darted underneath the buzzsaws, slashing the warrior into blue particles.

"Shien!" Mivangeline pulled him up.

In an instant, Shien charged towards the flat cars. Shien pounced away from the samurai's spinning shields and katana strikes. He closed his fingers into beak shapes, stabbing the samurai with his Woodpecker Beak Strikes. The platforms were full of dark heron-shaped walkers. Their long taloned legs were compressed with their armored cockpit heads.

"We can use an ardedius hellcracker to escape!" Mivangeline grabbed Shien by the collar of his caidercoat.

"Mivange! Let go of me!" Shien demanded.

"You're going to get killed!"

"Phoenicia is my friend! I can't leave her!"

A warrior hopped into one of the walkers. With the sound of grinding gears, two cannon eyes protruded out of the closed cockpit as the legs bent up. The machine heron stood 30 feet high. It sharpened its talons onto its shiny filed tibias, emitting scratching noises that made Mivangeline and Shien cringe. Under its beaked chin, a machine gun fired at the two.

Dynastiotron Ardedius Hellcracker

Level 145

HP: [145,750/145,750]

As Mivangeline protected herself with her knives, Shien hopped across the other walkers, landing on the next cabin car.

"Shien! Get back here!" Mivangeline opened a hellcracker's cockpit. "Let's get out of-"

The 30-foot tall hellcracker swiped its long leg across the platform, spinning its talon blades at Mivangeline. She jumped up to the cabin car. The operational hellcracker knocked out the other walkers, preventing her from using one.

"We can't escape now," Mivangeline huffed.

"Mivange!" Shien dragged her away as the hellcracker slammed its talon onto the cabin's roof.

As they ran for their lives from the ardedius hellcracker, another defense arm emerged, firing lasers at the two with its claws. Shien rolled past, backflipping away from a saw strike, climbing onto the bismuth crystals of a hopper cart.

The sentry swung its saws at Mivangeline. She jumped onto the flattened side of a saw before bouncing off. Mivangeline sliced off a metal claw as she landed on the multicolored crystals.

She tripped. The defense arm swung its saw at her. Shien caught her, leaping off in time as the buzzsaw scratched the square crystals.

"There may be more walkers on this train," Mivangeline told Shien. "We will escape once we find another."

As a squad of samurai warriors and ronin sharpshooters jumped up from the windows, Shien mauled them with his palm strikes. He grabbed one by the neck, using him as a shield against the sniper blasts.

"Are you listening to me, Shien?" Mivangeline ran away from the hellcracker's machine-gun bullets.

She jumped away from the walker's crushing talon. The monstrous war machine bent its knees, firing blue gunpowder from its eye cannons. Mivangeline backflipped away from the azure explosions.

Shien tossed the warrior at the sharpshooters, knocking them off the train. A train car opened, releasing an aerial elephantier.

Dynastiotron Aerial Elephantier

Level 125

HP: [500/500]

Trait 1: Zero Armor

Trait 2: Ironclad Plating

The aerial elephantier fired balls of blue gunpowder at Shien. He jumped up to its golden head, punching it. The elephantier spun over the next train cars, trying to shake Shien off.

"Why am I only dealing 1 damage per hit?" Shien kept punching the golden head of the helicopter. "I'm hitting its exposed parts!"

"It has Ironclad Plating!" Mivangeline dodged right before the hellcracker's talon could grab her with its sharp toes. "Chloridium said it makes all damage done to it reduced to 1!"

"That's not fair!"

"I told you! We can't win! Getting out with a walker is our priority!"

The tall walker swished its spinning talon across the cabin cars, kicking Mivangeline past the elephantier. She landed headfirst onto the top of a metal cage cart full of machine horses. From afar, the hellcracker opened a side compartment armed with red rockets, launching them at Mivangeline. She hid behind the bismuth crystals of a carrier hopper cart as the rockets exploded onto the colorful crystals.

"Walkers!" Mivangeline found a flat car of compressed ardedius hellcrackers a few cars ahead.

A cabin car behind the walker platform opened to reveal six gray missiles with control panels next to them. All six missiles targeted Shien.

⚠️Lawrencium Missile⚠️

Neutralize!

Time Remaining:

[00:00:30]

Target:

Shien Niang

"Oh no!" Mivangeline rushed to the missiles. "Chloridium told me about these. They permanently decrease stats! I have to stop them before they launch!"

She ran to the first control panel. It gave her six numbers to memorize before they faded: 561231. Mivangeline pressed the keypad with the correct numbers. The missile melted.

I got this! Mivangeline melted another missile by typing 991538.

A defense arm emerged, slashing its saw arm at Mivangeline. She ducked from the spinning blade as she blocked the lasers from the claws.

"No!" Mivangeline found skull icons above the missiles.

She was too late. The four missiles soared up in the air, crashing onto Shien. He screamed, falling off the elephantier through the thick orange smoke.

Shien Niang

Level 121

HP: [31,572/45,538] 💀Max. HP -67,142

ATK: 357 💀Max. ATK -356

ACC: 55% 💀Max. ACC -33%

DEF: 243 💀Max. DEF -289

AGI: 54 💀Max. AGI -29

💀Lawrencium Sarcoma💀

"Shien!" Mivangeline caught him. "Come on! There's a walker we can use on the next cart."

"Ugh... not yet..." Shien jumped off her arms. " I promised to protect my friends..."

Shien flipped over the spinning saws of the defense arm. He ran across the next platform of ardedius hellcrackers as the elephantier struggled to find Shien through the smoke.

"Why won't you listen?" Mivangeline jumped over the sentry, dashing for Shien.

She wrapped her arms around Shien.

"Stop, Mivangeline!" Shien struggled to break free.

"You listen to me! We're outnumbered and outgunned! We leave now!"

Suddenly, a glitchy tab appeared.

!Warning!

☠The Ghostcraft is Coming...☠

A helicopter launched into the air. Its head was shaped like a sickled beak with two orange eyes with veins running down its neck. The veins were connected from the eyeballs down to its orange cube-shaped heart encased in a metallic rib cage. The aircraft had two scythe wings armed with miniguns along with a long tail shaped like a crescent moon. As the miniguns strafed the car rooftops, they ejected hordes of shells onto the train surface.

Dynastiotron Francium Warbird

Level 186

HP: [186,666/186,666]

Trait 1: Poltergeist Semblance

Trait 2: Phantasmal Mitosis

Shien sped underneath the bullets. He jumped at the helicopter, throwing punches to its cube heart. But the fists went through it instead as several "Miss!" icons appeared. The warbird flew up, firing orange francium beams from its eyes.

"Why couldn't I hit it?" Shien backflipped off the laser trajectory.

"Poltergeist Semblance," Mivangeline opened a hellcracker's cockpit. "It makes all attacks against it have 25% accuracy. Now, get in the walker!"

"I see the magnet cart!" Shien ran for the barreled car that contained Phoenicia. "I can save her!"

"Oh my gosh. Shien!"

The warbird hovered towards Shien with miniguns ablaze. A ball of black goo budded off the aircraft's heart, morphing into a black liquid clone.

Phantasmal Replicant

Level 93

HP: [93,333/93,333]

Trait 1: Poltergeist Semblance

Trait 2: Pathogenic Contact

The shadow clone fired black lasers from its eyes. Shien dropped onto the side rails of the barrel car to avoid the attack.

"Phoenicia!" Shien saw her through the glass window. "I'm here for you! Just hang on!"

He stood beside the barrel-shaped car, punching the door.

"Crap..." Mivangeline looked ahead.

A cabin car ahead of Shien opened. Ten lawrencium missiles were ready to launch at Shien. The two warbirds turned to Mivangeline, firing their miniguns at her. She closed the armored cockpit. The hellcracker's armor protected her from the mowing firepower.

I can't get to those missiles with those warbirds in the way, Mivangeline thought. I need to use the walker to stop them.

The francium warbird's eyes fired orange lasers at Shien. He fell onto the platform, paralyzed with Francium Hemorrhage as the ten missiles launched. Mivangeline pressed buttons in the cockpit, firing the eye cannons and chin gun at the lawrencium missiles. They exploded, infesting the air with orange debris.

As the warbirds were blinded by the smoke, Mivangeline lunged a talon forward to grab Shien. She opened the cockpit, tossing Shien inside. The aerial elephantier and the hellcracker from earlier caught up with the two, blasting blue gunpowder at their walker.

"Thankfully these hellcrackers are well-armored," Mivangeline pressed down a lever. "Let's go."

The enemy hellcracker lifted its talon, aiming it at Mivangeline's cockpit. She pulled down a lever to bend her walker's knees, leaping off in time as the enemy talon scratched the side of the cockpit. Her heron-shaped mech landed on rocky plains as the train zoomed past.

Mivangeline breathed heavily as she looked for Tetrachrome. Across the empty ground, she spotted a small colorful speck of the city. She checked on Shien. He was covered in ash and exposed red veins on his skin due to Francium Hemorrhage.

Shien Niang

Level 121

HP: [5/45,538] 💀Max. HP -67,142

ATK: 357 💀Max. ATK -356

ACC: 55% 💀Max. ACC -33%

DEF: 243 💀Max. DEF -289

AGI: 54 💀Max. AGI -29

💀Lawrencium Sarcoma💀

🩸Francium Hemorrhage🩸

Mivangeline swiped her item tab to give him an Eonspace Brew. Shien's health was restored up to his lowered maximum HP and cured Francium Hemorrhage, but not Lawrencium Sarcoma.

"We'll need to find the right antidote," Mivangeline drank an Eonspace Brew to quench her dry mouth.

"Ow," Shien twitched his body as the veins on his skin shrunk. "Mivange?"

"It was stupid of you to take on the train alone," Mivangeline walked the ardedius hellcracker across the cracked plains.

"What about Phoenicia?" Shien sat up. "I could have saved her!"

"You couldn't. One person can't take on the wartram alone."

"But Mivange, you kept on stopping me!"

"Ex... excuse me?"

"You could've helped!" Shien frowned. "I didn't need you to jump along if you weren't going to help me!"

"Shien! If I wasn't there, you would've died!" Mivangeline snapped. "I didn't have to go through the trouble to save you, but I did because I care about you!"

Shien looked away, crossing his arms. Mivangeline huffed as she walked the mech towards Tetrachrome. The two were silent. Shien stared at the rugged plains outside the cockpit window, thinking about his attempt to save Phoenicia. The warbirds paralyzed him with 5 HP remaining as the lawrencium missiles launched. It was Mivangeline who used the hellcracker to stop the missiles from killing him. If she never boarded the train with him, he wouldn't be alive now.

"Hey, Mivange?" Shien turned to her. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said all of that. You did save my life back there. Thank you."

Mivangeline didn't say anything but nodded to him.

"I didn't want to fail her as a friend," Shien placed his hands together. "I have protected my friends before, but this time I couldn't. What's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you," Mivangeline said. "You couldn't win that battle. That wasn't your fault."

"I failed Phoenicia. Am I a bad friend?"

"No!"

Mivangeline stopped the walker.

"When I lost Chloridium during our fight with Dosigma, I wanted to give up but you encouraged me to keep leading the team," She took Shien's hand. "You even carried me when I was too weak. Shien, you have a big heart, and I know you'd do that for your friends too. That makes you a wonderful friend!"

Shien was stunned.

"Mivange?" Shien tilted his head. "I never hear you talk so confidently!"

"Um… I..." Mivangeline's cheeks reddened.

She looked down to realize that she was holding Shien's hand.

"Eep!" She released her hand, flailing her arms in embarrassment. "I… I didn't mean to touch…"

"Don't let go!" Shien grabbed Mivangeline's hand. "It feels soft!"

"Waah! Sh… Shien? Wha… what are you doing?"

"I always wanted to feel the hand of the idol Shuruuko! I'm literally holding her legendary hand that holds the microphone before she sings!"

"Stop… stop it!" Mivangeline jerked her hand off. "It's embarrassing!"

Shien laughed as she reactivated the walker.

"The train can take us to Skcimita Diluvian," Mivangeline realized. "If it transports androids for the empress, it knows how to get there."

"So we can save Phoenicia!"

"Yes. We just need to figure out a strategy to board the train with the team. Once we beat the Dynastiotron Empress, we save our android friends."

"Awesome!" Shien jumped.

"Shien, I know you care about your friends but could you please think of a plan before saving them? Recklessly charging into a wartram by yourself wasn't a great idea."

"You got it, Mivange!"