Right after they advance to a new category.
The second most likely is when they reach a new degree.
Nothing is more deadly than the feeling of invincibility.
—Virgil Clay, Lecture
It only took a few seconds before Violet was completely free from hedron. The other students were, too. All exhausted, broken, bleeding, and confused. There were still too many hedron to count, even if there were far fewer than there had been initially. But every last one of them was funneling toward Stephanie, no longer concerned with survival or defense. They collided with each other in their rush to kill the lancer.
Violet paused for only a moment. Everyone did. The change was too sharp. Too sudden. There was no denying that something had happened to change their behavior. Violet had been called stupid by the occasional dim-witted observer, but she wasn’t. She could piece together her likely role in the hedron’s change in behavior, but she didn’t have time to truly examine its implications. Safe as she was for the moment, she could also miss an opportunity if she froze for too long. All of the remaining hedron were crowding together to kill Stephanie, which made them vulnerable. “Chain Lightning” would be magnitudes more effective on them in this state, and the lancer likely still had the energy left to use it at least once.
That was good, in a way. Violet thought it was pretty clear that she’d manipulated the hedron somehow, but she didn’t know how it worked. She preferred not to gamble on the ability to disperse them after Stephanie was dead. There was a reason Violet had triggered the swarm while Stephanie was still there, and this was it. Because it was the only chance everyone had at surviving. At the same time, Violet didn’t particularly want Stephanie to live through the fight. Ideally, she could wipe out the remaining hedron and kill Stephanie in the same breath, but she just couldn’t think of how to get everything she wanted. She could sacrifice one or the other, she supposed, but… she wanted to be in control.
And then, Aubrey moved first. Violet saw it all like time had slowed. Lightning in Stephanie's eyes like slowly spreading vines, nearly strangled by the panic already there. Determination piloting Aubrey like a marionette. Hedron narrowing into a compact spear and separating the two. Violet took the reins with a few words. “Aubrey, save her!” Violet shouted. “They are all together! Scream!” Everyone heard her, and it was only a few seconds before Aubrey did exactly that. Lightning escaped Stephanie’s trembling hands one last time. Aubrey shrieked at the same moment and from the opposite side of the monsters. The sound was like shattering glass, in Violet’s mind. It filled the air with such violence that hearing it felt like being cut. Violet clapped her hands over her ears as lightning met thunder with the hedron crushed in between.
It was beautiful, in a way. Light rushing through red crystal even as it was crushed, and blood raining down in the center. Thousands of the beasts, already forcing themselves into some sort of self-inflicted meat grinder, died. It was a single instant, and it looked like the dawn. It didn’t kill all of them. But it killed enough. The air was eerily still for a long moment afterward, everyone’s ears still ringing with Aubrey’s talent. Violet watched everyone carefully, until Stephanie dropped to one knee, coughed hard, and fell onto her side. Everyone was motionless for a moment longer, until all of the students processed what they were looking at. Like water escaping a new leak, every student lurched at once, running to aid their escort as she bled on the ground.
Aubrey reached her first, two fingers pressing against the woman’s neck and checking her pulse. Violet suppressed a curse as Aubrey sighed in relief.
“She’s alright!” the banshee cried. “We need to get her inside!” Violet reached the pair next, leaving the others to clean up what few hedron hadn’t fled yet.
“Is it safe to move her?” Violet asked. Aubrey looked up at her. There was a brief flash of vitriol in the girl’s gaze as it rested on Violet, but the emotion washed away like chalk in the rain. It may have been an appropriate time for distrust, but open hostility needed to wait.
“I think so,” Aubrey answered. “I think she’s spent on clarity, and she’s clearly torn up… but there are no noticable signs that anything is broken.”
“We’ll have to risk it,” Violet agreed. “It’s not safe to leave her out here, in any case.
“Uh, maybe we should get one of the conductors?” Guy suggested as he finally caught up.
“Won’t work,” Kiera answered, approaching right behind him. “Conductors are legally bound to stay on their train unless they have no other choice. They can only leave the cab one at a time, usually for scheduled meals and sleep. That’s why we haven’t met either of them yet.”
“We can ask, at least, right?” Guy suggested.
“No, we need to get her inside now,” Aubrey insisted.
“Since when are you a doctor?” Kiera snapped.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Honestly, you’re pretty eager, considering you had to wait for Violet to yell at you before you tried to stop the lancer from getting swarmed,” Guy poked.
“I was already doing it!” Aubrey protested. “And that doesn’t matter right now! We have to get her on the train and see if any clarity can be spared to heal her.”
“She’s right,” Violet agreed. “It doesn’t matter whether that last attack was her idea or mine. She probably was trying it already; I’m certain she wouldn’t lie about something so pointless at a time like this. We do need to get her inside as soon as possible. Can you help her with that, Guy?” Aubrey narrowed her eyes at Violet, but all Guy or Kiera saw was earnest concern, so she declined to say anything further. For the moment, Violet was in agreement with her, and that was enough.
“Right,” Guy quickly agreed. He crouched down and picked the unconscious woman up as gently as he could. Kiera steadied him as he rose to his feet, the lancer draped across his arms. “Where do I go?”
“The back car, with the beds. I don’t know how to use any healing apparatus the train has, but I’m sure one of the conductors will be able to show us at least that much. It’s best for her to lie down, in the meantime,” Aubrey answered.
Guy didn’t argue this time, simply nodding and turning toward the train. “What do we do?” Kiera asked nervously. She was actually in pretty decent shape, her illusions having kept her largely safe from attack. Her flicking tail did reveal a boiling anxiety, however.
“Can you help me disconnect the train from the pylon? Stephanie said it could be dangerous if it gets drained completely, and it’s been connected for a long time. I’m scared what might happen if we get attacked again while she’s asleep,” Violet answered. “I’ll get the ends on the pylon if you want to get the side on the train?”
Kiera nodded. “I just want to be done with this. That was so much worse than it should have been…” she grumbled.
“Meet us in the main car when you are done. We have to talk about the plan moving forward, now that we have no lancer escort,” Aubrey ordered. Violet snarled internally at the order, even as she felt glad it was given. It would be convenient for her.
“Sure, I’ll be as quick as I can be!” she cheerfully agreed. She paused for a moment, then refocused her attention on Kiera. “You can follow them in once your end is disconnected, Kiera. I’ll get everything put away out here!” Violet called to her new friend.
“Are you sure? It’s a bit dangerous out in the open, and, uh… you look pretty worse for wear yourself,” Kiera responded. Violet just smiled.
“The hedron won’t be back for a while, and I’ll notice faster than anyone else if they are. Go ahead! Better only one person misses the beginning of any meeting than two,” Violet insisted. Kiera was obviously reluctant, but Violet kept pushing as she pulled the tubes out of the gold base. Eventually, the kitsune relented and boarded the train while Violet coiled the second of two tubes up. Hypothetically, Violet would just return them to the station and be a couple of minutes behind everyone else. Violet sighed as Kiera’s tails disappeared through one of the doors on the main car.
She waited for a few heavy breaths, then sprinted to the back of the train. She shoved the coiled tubing under the car instead of wasting time putting them away, rapidly climbing the steps to the entrance. She was careful to use the same entrance Guy and Aubrey had used to bring Stephanie on board. She was bleeding from shallow cuts all over her body, and she didn’t want to leave blood anywhere that it wouldn’t be expected. With everyone moving to the front car for a meeting while Violet was busy, she had a very brief window to get everything she needed. The hedron were gone, and, if she was lucky, the lancer soon would be, as well. She had to consciously slow her movements as she opened the door. If someone was still in that car aside from Stephanie, she could simply say she was just using the closest door to the station. Her plan wouldn’t work out, but that was alright.
If there was no one… well. She could be quick. She carefully opened the door and walked into the quiet car. She looked in both directions, spotting a few places where Guy’s blood had been left on the odd railing and wall. They had already left, and it appeared they’d taken Alex and the final student with them. Violet looked toward the other end and spotted her. Stephanie was unconscious, but clearly breathing. She walked toward her, rolling each step from heel to toe to avoid making any noise. When she reached the bed, she sat down on the mattress next to the sleeping woman, then summoned two long, sharp needles with her “Tools of the Trade” talent.
A red talent was typically unlikely to do much damage to a category yellow. Depending on the yellow’s constitution and resistance, they could naturally defend themselves from many effects, even while unconscious. But, as the wounds all over the woman’s body revealed, she’d taken enough damage to break through that threshold. They had all been left by weak red hedron, after all. It was well known that any category would be vulnerable after using too much clarity. Violet was counting on everyone understanding this.
She didn’t have much time. She wished she could wake Stephanie up first, but the group would be headed back with whatever healing tools the train was equipped with as quickly as they could. She would have a few minutes at most. She pushed the needles into each of Stephanie’s ears, a shameful anticipation building under her skin as she did. Just when she was about to push the weapons in, however, Stephanie’s eyes flicked open.
Violet and Stephanie stared at each other for a frozen moment, and then Violet pushed.
There was an uncanny sound with the attack, like a soft grinding. It was wet, but also solid in a strange way, and it traveled through both women's bones. It was like the sound of dental work heard through the skull. Stephanie began to convulse, her jaw twitching up and down like she was trying to say something. Violet clicked her tongue, then grabbed a pillow from the side of the bed and shoved it into the lancer's face in case there was any screaming. She then returned her hand to the needle it had been holding before. With both hands, she began to turn the needles like the pedals of a bicycle.
“And so died Stephanie the Yellow. From your category, to your belly, to the fucking piss I hope you are found in,” she whispered with a soft smile. She leaned in just a little, resting her head against the pillow she had pressed into Stephanie’s face. “I do wish you could scream for me.” She had more to say. Much more. But she didn’t have the time to say it.
She heard footsteps. Stephanie was still moving. Violet was certain she’d done a lot of damage, but she couldn’t risk leaving the job half-finished. Higher categories were tricky, and there was no way to be certain anyone was dead until their body was still and their pulse was gone. She heard another few steps. She turned the needles, ignoring the meaty feeling as she did.
More steps. Stephanie’s body continued to jerk. A door opening. Violet had seconds left. She was out of time.
Just another update as usual! I want to preface this bit by being extremely clear that this request is unrelated to and will not effect the stretch goals below in any way. But if you are enjoying the story, and want a free way to support me, leaving a quick rating would, at minimum, be a nice confidence booster. You all have been very kind with ratings so far, and I greatly appreciate that support! If you haven't yet, and you are really enjoying the book, please do take a quick moment to leave a rating, or even a brief review! Thanks so much!
And one last time, to be very clear: There are NO rewards for ratings. I cannot and will not offer anything but gratitude in return, since that would be manipulation. And the follower count rewards that do exist will be granted when earned whether I get good ratings or bad, or none at all. (In my experience, rating actually does little to nothing to increase follower counts. Just makes it look shinier and makes me happy.) I just don't want there to be any confusion at all that this will move the needle toward any kind of reward. It will not. I will be very grateful, though!
Here are the current goals and rewards, as well as how close we were to each at 10:55 AM CST on the day this chapter was published.
Click Description to learn more about each!
1212 today, and #6 on rising stars! Thank you all so much! that's 206 up from the last chapter, which means if you keep this up, we are only 1 week out from the first reward! Keep following! ANd thanks again!
6k - 15k Bonus Chapter – 2,000 Followers
1,212 / 2,000
Description
Starting at 2,000 followers, I will write a bonus chapter between 6k - 15k in length every 2k followers. This may be a side character, this may be an AU, or anything else. Who decides? You do! When a milestone is reached, I will ask for suggestions and put up a poll of the most popular ones!
Webtoon Chapter – 6,000 Followers
1,212 / 6,000
Description
This is also a bonus chapter, but I will have it commissioned as a fully illustrated webtoon!
Spin-Off Novel – 15,000 Followers
1,212 / 15,000
Description
I will write a novel of at least 120k words focusing on Kiera, our resident fox girl!
Visual Novel – 20,000 Followers
1,212 / 20,000
Description
I will commission art for and develop a full length (and free to play) Cruel Violet visual novel.