"Did you honestly think I wouldn’t be watching?"

The cold, highly synthesized voice of Nyx filled the train cabin, echoing from the ceiling speakers.

"Did you really believe you could just lock him in a little box in your domain and keep him to yourself?"

Valeria let out a loud, ear-piercing shriek.

She didn’t bother looking for clothes; instead she just kicked the tangled pants and soaked panties completely off her ankles.

She stood in the middle of the luxury cabin completely naked, her golden Aegis mana flaring so violently it started scorching the velvet cushions.

"You miserable digital bug!" Valeria roared. Her fangs were practically bared as she glared up at the massive purple eye on the monitor. "I will march the entire Vanguard army into the Omni Domain! I will burn your servers to the ground and scatter the ashes!"

"You can certainly try," Nyx mocked, her digital voice dripping with clear contempt. "But right now, you look so pathetic, Valeria. Stripping off your armor like a desperate beggar. Falling to your knees on a dirty train floor. Did you honestly think acting like a tame pet would make him love you?"

"He chose me!" Valeria screamed, curling her hands into tight fists. "He touched me! He wants me! You are just a string of code hiding in a basement, you jealous bitch!"

"I am the Goddess that runs this world," Nyx corrected her sharply. "And you are a rabid dog playing with a masterpiece you lack the intellect to comprehend."

Valeria snapped.

Without summoning her sword, she simply lunged forward.

Her fist, glowing with explosive golden light, punched the reinforced digital monitor dead center. The screen shattered into a million pieces, erupting in a shower of sparks and black smoke.

"Shut up!" Valeria yelled.

Immediately, the monitor on the opposite wall booted up. The massive purple eye blinked at her.

"Violence," Nyx laughed dryly. "How typical... and boring too. You haven’t changed in five hundred years, Vanguard."

Zen ignored the screaming match.

His mind was moving at a thousand miles an hour. He quickly reached down, grabbed his discarded shirt, and hastily threw it on.

He pulled his pants up and secured his belt, fully aware that his newly expanded High E-Rank core was humming with the power he had just stolen from Valeria.

"Relax, Nyx," Zen finally said, keeping his voice perfectly level as he stepped into the center of the cabin. "I’m already on a train heading straight to your territory. There is no need for this kind of drama."

The purple eye on the screen immediately shifted its focus to him. The hostility in Nyx’s voice vanished, instantly replaced by a sickeningly sweet, possessive warmth.

"My Emperor," Nyx purred. "I have missed the sound of your voice. But if you recall the message I sent you, my invitation was for you alone. I certainly did not invite a particular brute."

"Anywhere he goes, I go!" Valeria snarled, stepping protectively in front of Zen. Her golden mana flared even hotter.

"You have already spent too much time with him," Nyx replied, completely ignoring Valeria’s threat as her tone dropped back into a cold, jealous chill. "I am simply cutting the dead weight. I have already overridden the train’s navigation systems and locked the coordinates to my Domain to make sure there’s no unplanned detour. You are coming home, Zen."

"Nyx, this isn’t a game," Zen warned, his hand resting on the hilt of his tungsten sword. "Commander Valerius has locked down District 7. The military is sweeping the entire area. If you actively hijack a Vanguard magi-train, you are going to draw their entire fleet straight to your borders."

"Let them come," Nyx dismissed casually. "My borders are sealed. My defense grids are flawless. I can hide you from Valerius. I can wipe your entire existence from their databases. I can give you the world, Zen. But I will not let you stay with her."

"He doesn’t want you!" Valeria snarled. "He wants me! He just told me I belong to him!"

"He was manipulating your simple mind," Nyx stated coldly. "As he always does."

"You are a liar!"

"Am I?" Nyx challenged. "You claim to be his protector, Valeria. You claim to be his ultimate shield. Let us test that theory."

As soon as she said those words, the cabin lights suddenly flashed bright red, and a blaring, high-pitched alarm began to scream through the train car.

Zen frowned. "System, what is going on?"

[CALCULATING INTENT...]

[PROBABILITY OF NYX TRIGGERING A LETHAL THREAT IN ADJACENT CABIN: 99.8%]

"What did you do?!" Valeria demanded, her head snapping toward the heavy steel doors at the front of the carriage.

"I just unlocked the security locks in carriage four," Nyx announced smoothly over the intercom. "I have deployed twelve Omni-Guard plasma drones. They are currently cutting through the connecting blast doors. In exactly forty-five seconds, they will flood this entire space with superheated plasma."

Valeria’s crimson eyes widened in pure horror. She spun around to face the front doors. "You insane bitch! You would risk killing him just to prove a point?!"

"The more you talk, the less time you have," Nyx mocked lightly. "Thirty-eight seconds now. Keep barking, and you will both be turned to ash."

A loud, hissing sound echoed from the front of the train. Bright orange heat began to melt through the edges of the connecting door.

Valeria didn’t hesitate.

She instantly summoned her heavy kinetic chest plate and her blood-red broadsword. The terrifying aura of the Vanguard Commander slammed back down onto the room, crushing the air in the cabin.

"Stay behind me, Zen," Valeria ordered frantically, her eyes glued to the melting metal. "Do not move a single inch. Do not drop your guard."

"Val, wait," Zen said, grabbing her shoulder. "Think about this. She is the Spymaster. She doesn’t fight directly. This is bait."

"I don’t care what it is!" Valeria shouted, her Guard Dog instincts completely hijacking her logic. The thought of Zen being harmed overrode every single rational thought in her brain. "I am your Vanguard! I will tear them to pieces!"

"Valeria, don’t step out of this cabin!" Zen commanded loudly.

But it was too late.

The heavy steel door hissed open just a fraction. Valeria violently kicked it the rest of the way, shattering the locking mechanism, and charged headfirst into the adjacent dining car with a terrifying war cry.

"Die!" Valeria roared, swinging her massive blade. The sound of crunching metal and exploding plasma immediately echoed through the corridor.

Zen lunged forward to follow her, his hand reaching for the doorframe.

"I don’t think so, Emperor," Nyx whispered.

Before Zen could cross the threshold, the heavy, reinforced tungsten blast doors violently slammed shut right in his face.

CLANG!

Six different, heavy metallic locks engaged at once.

Zen hit the door with his shoulder, gripping the handle and pulling with all of his newly acquired High E-Rank strength. It didn’t budge a single millimeter.

"Valeria!" Zen yelled, pounding his fist against the tiny square of reinforced glass set into the door.

On the other side of the glass, Valeria had just cleaved a drone in half.

She turned around as the doors locked, her eyes widening in pure panic. She dropped her heavy broadsword and sprinted back to the door, slamming her bare hands against the thick tungsten.

"Zen!" she screamed, but her voice sounded muffled by the heavy soundproofing. "Zen! Open the door!"

"I can’t!" Zen shouted back. "It’s a digital lock override!"

Valeria went completely berserk.

She started tearing at the tungsten metal with her bare fingers, her golden mana flaring wildly as she desperately tried to pry the doors apart.

Her nails cracked and bled, but she didn’t stop scratching and punching the reinforced glass.

"Let me in!" Valeria shrieked, looking up at the ceiling cameras. "Nyx, open this door right now or I swear I will kill you with my bare hands!"

"You have had enough time monopolizing him," Nyx announced over the intercom, her voice echoing in both cabins. "You failed to protect him from Kaelen Thorne. You failed to protect him from the Inquisitor. You are unworthy of him."

"Zen! Step back!" Valeria screamed through the glass, her fist pulling back and glowing like a miniature sun. "I am going to shatter the glass!"

"Valeria, don’t!" Zen ordered instantly. "We are moving at four hundred miles an hour! If you break the pressure seal, the vacuum will rip you out onto the tracks!"

"I don’t care!" she sobbed hysterically, her face pressed flat against the thick glass. Tears streamed freely down her flushed cheeks. "I am not leaving you! I promised I wouldn’t lose you again!"

"Stand down, Commander!" Zen barked, projecting every ounce of his ancient, authoritative aura through the glass. "That is a direct order! Stand down!"

Valeria froze.

Her fist trembled violently in the air. She couldn’t disobey a direct command from her Emperor. She slowly lowered her hand, sliding down the length of the door until she was on her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Please," she begged, placing her bloody hand flat against the glass. "Please don’t take him away from me."

"Initiating carriage detachment," Nyx’s automated voice chirped cheerfully.

A massive, violent jolt shook the floorboards.

Through the reinforced window, Zen watched the heavy steel coupling between the two train cars disengage. Sparks flew up into the dark tunnel as the physical connection severed completely.

"Zen!" Valeria screamed one last time, jumping to her feet and pressing both hands against the glass.

Zen placed his hand against the window, directly over hers.

Valeria’s half of the train instantly triggered its emergency brakes. The wheels screeched violently against the rails, throwing off massive showers of orange sparks.

Zen stood in complete silence as he watched Valeria’s carriage rapidly fall behind. Her desperate, crying face grew smaller and smaller until the darkness of the tunnels swallowed her entirely.

She was gone.

The digital monitors in Zen’s cabin all flashed purple at once.

"Finally," Nyx whispered softly from the speakers in extreme satisfaction. "Just the two of us."

The massive engines beneath Zen’s boots roared, shifting gears as the train accelerated uncontrollably. It was no longer bound by the speed limits of a public transport line. It plunged deeper into the dark, heavily fortified tunnels.

[CALCULATING OVERRIDE TRAJECTORY...]

[PROBABILITY OF REACHING PUBLIC OMNI DOMAIN TERMINAL: 0%]

[PREDICTED ARRIVAL POINT: OMNI DOMAIN CENTRAL SERVERS (RESTRICTED ZONE).]

[PROBABILITY OF EVADING PERMANENT CAPTURE: 2.1%... AND DROPPING.]

Zen stared at the plummeting numbers. He was entirely alone, trapped in a steel box moving at five hundred miles an hour, heading straight into the most heavily surveyed and controlled territory on the planet.

And the Goddess waiting for him at the end of the line was the only one who actually knew everything.