Chapter 33: Rapid Progress—the Fall of the Stations (Patreon)

Night was as black as ink.

Outside the ruins of an abandoned station, a campfire crackled in the wind.

Orange flames illuminated the young face of Biba Amatori.

He sat upon a broken stone with a short firearm in one hand, its barrel pointed toward the ground.

His eyes remained fixed on the flames as though he were deep in thought.

Members of the Hunters were spread throughout the surrounding area.

Some inspected their equipment.

Others stood guard.

A few leaned against ruined walls and slept.

Days of continuous fighting had exhausted everyone.

Finding even a temporarily safe location was rare, so they were taking full advantage of the opportunity to recover.

Biba, however, remained uneasy.

Something about the night felt wrong.

It was as though someone—or something—was watching them from the darkness.

The sensation was faint.

But it refused to disappear.

Suddenly, Biba turned.

His pistol snapped upward.

The barrel pointed into the darkness behind him.

“…Nothing?”

Only several dead trees stood there, bare branches swaying in the night wind.

Biba slowly lowered the weapon.

He exhaled.

Perhaps prolonged combat had simply left his nerves strained.

He started to return the firearm to his waist.

Then—

a sharp sting struck his neck.

Biba slapped one hand toward the spot.

His fingers closed around something furry.

He pulled it away and examined it in the firelight.

A bat.

Its entire body was black.

Only its eyes gleamed an unnatural crimson.

Biba’s pupils contracted.

He was about to smash the creature against the ground when overwhelming dizziness suddenly crashed through him.

His consciousness disappeared almost instantly.

The pistol slipped from his fingers.

His body pitched forward.

He collapsed.

The bat escaped his hand and flew into the darkness.

It landed upon the fingers of a figure hidden among the shadows.

Then it melted into a drop of blood and vanished into pale skin.

The figure smiled faintly.

A moment later, her entire form fragmented into countless bats.

They burst upward and disappeared into the night.

“Lord Biba!”

“Lord Biba!”

Members of the Hunters rushed toward him.

Panic spread when they discovered their commander lying unconscious.

Several lifted him.

Someone brought water.

Another checked his breathing.

Others repeatedly called his name.

Then—

Biba’s eyes opened.

For the briefest instant, a dark crimson light flashed deep within his pupils.

He slowly sat upright.

His gaze passed across the concerned faces surrounding him.

After a moment of silence, he spoke.

“Begin the operation.”

Over the following days, Aragane Station enjoyed an unusual period of peace.

The residents continued discussing the giant serpent and the divine being who had appeared, but ordinary life gradually resumed.

Within Dio’s residence, Ayame was becoming increasingly accustomed to her new role.

The awkwardness that had initially defined her interactions with Dio slowly faded.

She learned his routines.

His preferences.

When to speak.

When not to interrupt.

And how to carry out responsibilities as the Yomogawa family’s representative without constantly becoming flustered.

Her progress was rapid.

But while the residence itself remained peaceful—

Aragane Station was entering an unprecedented crisis.

One armored steam train after another began arriving from different directions.

Black smoke poured from their engines.

The trains thundered slowly into Aragane’s station.

They came from surrounding settlements.

Some were packed with refugees.

Others carried supplies and weapons.

Several bore deep claw marks and bloodstains across their carriages, clear evidence of horrific fighting during their escape.

The samurai on the platforms worked frantically.

Wave after wave of refugees were guided from the trains and sent toward temporary shelters throughout the city.

Aragane’s streets quickly became overcrowded with terrified families.

Children cried.

Adults shouted.

Samurai barked orders.

The entire station descended into chaos.

The sudden population increase quickly exceeded Aragane’s capacity.

Temporary tents filled every open plaza and unused stretch of ground.

The air became heavy with sweat, anxiety, and fear.

Kenshou personally went to the station and met with the lords and representatives fleeing from other settlements.

From their exhausted accounts, a terrifying picture emerged.

Every station had been attacked by enormous Kabane hordes almost simultaneously.

Some had fallen within a single day.

Survivors escaped and fled toward neighboring stations—

only to discover those places had been attacked as well.

They continued moving north.

Again and again.

Until only one major station remained.

Aragane.

Back in his study, Kenshou spread a map across the table.

With a brush, he circled each fallen station in red.

More.

And more.

As the number of red marks increased, a chilling pattern gradually became clear.

The fallen settlements formed layers.

From the outer regions toward the center.

Like an enormous net steadily tightening.

And every line converged upon the same point.

Aragane Station.

This was not a normal Kabane outbreak.

The monsters were ferocious, but they had never demonstrated such organized, strategic behavior.

Someone was directing them.

There was a mastermind behind the attacks.

And whoever it was appeared to be deliberately driving every surviving population toward Aragane—

gathering humanity into one place.

Whatever the ultimate purpose might be, one immediate problem could not be ignored.

Aragane could not support this many people for long.

The station was an industrial settlement specializing in ironworking and steam technology.

Its agricultural output was extremely limited.

The warehouses contained emergency grain reserves, but those supplies had been calculated for Aragane’s original population.

Now, several times that number of people had arrived.

The food would last perhaps three days.

After that—

even if the Kabane never attacked again—

hunger would trigger unrest.

And Aragane would collapse from within.