Chapter 143: Fierce Battle in the Train

Chapter 143: Fierce Battle in the Train

After slumbering for who knew how long, Riezel's consciousness began to return.

As the dream faded away, Riezel could clearly feel himself returning to reality, back to the state of sitting on the train.

It was as if he had been dozing off, his body gently swaying with the movement of the train, the sound of the train whistle becoming clearer in his ears. Everything became real again, unlike in the dream where even the wind and sunlight had no sensation.

However, with the return of sensation and senses coming back, Riezel was surprised to find that his surroundings had drastically changed.

*BOOM!*

A tentacle resembling a meat pillar swung past him, hitting an empty seat and smashing it to pieces.

The once somewhat desolate wooden carriage now resembled the inside of a giant intestine, with wooden walls transformed into fleshy walls from which flesh-like tentacles sprouted and thrashed wildly.

"What the hell?" Riezel looked at the scene with a hint of astonishment.

"Hey! You finally woke up, Bento Boy!"

Just as Riezel felt perplexed, a familiar hearty voice reached his ears.

Not far away, Kyoujurou stood, wielding a Japanese sword known as katana with a black and red blade, fighting off tentacles attacking from all directions.

"Huuu... Haaa..."

Kyoujurou assumed an Iai stance, lowering his body, inhaling a large amount of air, simultaneously breathing and murmuring.

"Flame Breathing - Fourth Form - Blooming Flame Undulation."

Flames erupted from Kyoujurou's sword as he swung it like a windmill, slashing extremely fast in all directions.

In an instant, a vortex of flames appeared in the carriage filled with flesh walls and tentacles, blasting outward with his slash.

*Pu-chi!*

All the incoming tentacles were instantly cut into pieces as if melted by the high temperature of the vortex of flames.

Kyoujurou continued to wield his blazing sword, relentlessly cutting through the attacking tentacles.

*Swish!*

*Swish!*

Even so, the tentacles on the train seemed endless. Just as they were cut off, new ones immediately sprouted from the flesh walls and swarmed toward Kyoujurou.

Just as Kyoujurou was about to counterattack, a silver flash of light passed by at a high speed.

*Pu-chi!*

Although the silver light merely grazed the tentacles, they were immediately shredded into countless pieces as if cut by a cutting machine.

Riezel, holding a bright silver short sword, appeared behind Kyoujurou as if teleporting, his speed too fast for Kyoujurou to react.

Seeing Riezel, Kyoujurou's pupils contracted for a moment before a big smile spread across his face.

"Ohh! Just like Young Mizoguchi, Crying Boy, and Boar-Head Boy said, Bento Boy, you're really something!"

After saying that, Kyoujurou directly exposed his back to Riezel, swiftly slicing through the tentacles that attacked him with a flick of his blazing sword.

Riezel seemed even more relaxed than Kyoujurou, just standing still, casually swinging his sword with fast slashes. Each tentacle that came at him was effortlessly sliced into pieces by the silver light flashing extremely fast.

"What's the situation now?"

Riezel took a moment to ask Kyoujurou behind him.

Meanwhile, Kyoujurou once again transformed into a fiery pillar, dashing extremely fast through several carriages, cutting off tentacles one by one, before returning to Riezel's side.

"I understand what you mean, but the train is moving at its fastest speed. How do we evacuate two hundred passengers from here?" Kyoujurou asked, his sword ignited, raising the temperature inside the entire carriage.

"Simple, let's stop the train first."

Riezel answered calmly, swinging countless sword lights to cut off tentacles and flesh walls, then turning his head to Kyoujurou.

"Later, I will stop or even dismantle this train. When that happens, you must evacuate all the passengers as soon as possible. Is that all right?"

"Hmm? Do you have a way to stop this train?" Kyoujurou paused for a moment, then without hesitation, he promised. "No problem! I'll get all the passengers out as soon as the train stops!"

"Good."

After cutting off several tentacles, Riezel turned around, looked at Kyoujurou, and warned.

"Be careful."

"Ouh!" Kyoujurou grinned, without looking back. "You too!"

Riezel smiled softly, then disappeared on the spot.

Feeling Riezel's aura disappear behind him, Kyoujurou's smile grew stronger on his face.

'The journey this time is truly amazing! Getting to know such an outstanding friend, I, Rengoku Kyoujurou, feel deeply honored!'

Inside his mind, Kyoujurou was overjoyed but at the same time, he also felt a bit puzzled.

'But... I can't help but feel that Bento Boy's breathing has changed somehow... What a strange feeling... Maybe just my imagination?'

As Kyoujurou thought like that, tentacles came at him again.

'Umu! Let's focus on completing the mission first!'

Kyoujurou concentrated, pushing away distracting thoughts, enveloped by flames, rushing toward other carriages.

===

*Toot—!*

In the wilderness, atop the railroad tracks, a train sped through the darkness, emitting bursts of steam whistles and the sound of its wheels. However, this train was now covered in flesh walls everywhere, looking somewhat grotesque and nauseating.

"Inosuke! Hurry up!"

At this moment, Tanjirou was running on the roof of the train, shouting at the boar-headed youth beside him as he ran.

"I know! Watch me!"

"Boar Rush!"

Inosuke wielded two saw-like swords, charging recklessly toward the front of the train.

*BOOM!*

However, just then, a figure smashed through the train's wall, leaping onto the heads of the two.

"Eh?"

Tanjirou looked up, astonished.

"Bi-Big Brother?"