I Only Want To Kill-Chapter 162: The Train

Blaze woke up due to some commotion outside. He stood up and looked outside the glass window. There it was, a wooden ticket counter stood in the middle of the train track. On it was a soldier in a green uniform. Blaze could recognize remnants of John’s uniform on the soldier’s fabric. Whoever they were, they came from the same place.

Blaze walked out of the office and then approached the man cautiously. He looked up from his table and smiled.

"It’s been a long time since I met with a customer. You’re here for the train to the Undercity, yes?"

Blaze nodded. "What are you? Are you a spirit of this world as well? Do you know John?"

"Of course. Yes to both of your questions. As for who I am, I am the ticket conductor. If you would like to get on the train, you’ll need a ticket."

"Would this be sufficient?" Blaze took out the key from under his shirt. The key was dangling on the necklace.

"Oh? You’re able to kill a formidable Wretched, yeah?"

The ticket conductor took out a box from under the table. The box was covered in dust. The man blew on it. The dust flew off the air in a cloud of dirt.

On the box, the number 1008 was engraved.

"Please. Insert your key."

Blaze did as instructed and twisted the keyhole. The box popped open, inside were two pristine paper tickets. Both have names on them. One was Alyson Aldrin. The other, the name was scratched off by a black pen, making it impossible to know its content.

"I see you have reserved a seat for two. Where is your companion?"

"She isn’t here yet."

"Well, would you like to wait for her?"

Blaze nodded.

"Then I will hold on to her ticket for you. She must be in person to claim her ticket. As for you..." The man took Blaze’s ticket to give it to him. His eyes lit up when he saw the scratched-off name. "Oh, my! You are a special kind!"

"What do you mean?"

"You don’t know your own name! Ha ha!"

"My name?"

"Hold the ticket, then tell me your real name."

The ticket conductor gave Blaze the ticket. He held it in his hand, the paper swirled like it was alive.

"Tell me your real name now. Not some nickname or title." The man continues.

"I am Blaze Singer."

The ticket swirled some more. The scratched-off name straightened itself up, revealing the first name as Blaze. But for some reason, the name went black again, returning to illegible scribbles.

"What the?"

"There’s a mystery to you, Mr. Singer. Whatever it is. I hope you will find out about it soon. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

You can get on the train whenever you want. Just click on the button in the office."

The ticket conductor took off his hat and slightly bowed to Blaze.

"I hope you have a safe trip."

In the real world, Alyson sat down with Blaze’s subordinates and clones. Hugo, Anton, and Isaac were there. Wolf and Shadow were also presented. They sat around in a circle in Blaze’s room.

Isaac had turned into his soul form, so he wasn’t a raven at the moment.

"So where is Master?" Isaac said.

"He is in the Void... Sixth Layer." Alyson said.

Wolf stood up immediately. He may not have Blaze’s current memory, but he had it up until he was transported away. "What?! The Dream Layer? How did the original get there?"

"It’s probably because of that..." Shadow shared a look with Wolf. They both had the memory of when the Gate of Heaven fell down and tried to pull Blaze away. Then the System had done something.

Wolf sat down, his expression stern.

"What should we do now? Should we find a way to rescue Master?" Hugo said.

"No." Wolf and Shadow spoke in unison. "The original will find a way."

"I still can’t get used to having multiple Blazes around." Alyson trembled a little bit. "Then we should just wait for him, yeah?"

"Not really. You tell me that you were able to get into the Dream Layer. How does that work?" Wolf said.

"It’s... I don’t know. I think it may be a power. But I can never control it. It’s just that when I sleep, I dream about you a lot. And most of it turned out to be true."

Shadow slapped his thigh. "So that’s why you knew us so well when we first met! It all makes sense."

"Ha ha..." Alyson tried to play it off and not give off a stalker vibe.

"Don’t beat yourself up! We don’t care about it." Wolf said, "But there may be a problem. Based on what you tell us, you weren’t just ’dreaming’ about him. You were there. In the Void. The original may not leave if he doesn’t know you’re safe."

"That’s true." Shadow nodded.

"Then what should I do?"

"You need to go back in there." Shadow said.

The seventh day after Lucia was gone, Blaze was eating some wild meat he found in the wilderness. Luckily there were still normal animals in this layer, so food was not a problem. He made a makeshift fire under the subway and had been surviving quite comfortably.

But Lucia never came back, and Blaze started to think that maybe she wouldn’t.

Today was the last day he would be staying behind. He had decided to move on and get on the train. As worried as he might be, Lucia wasn’t Alyson. The real one was out there, in the real world. He needed to get back to her.

He needed to get back to resolve unfinished business. Cavalcante, Vox Entertainment, and Ranas. There was still a lot that needed to be done.

The ticket conductor had disappeared and never came back. Blaze entered the subway office and called the train to come.

Within seconds, the horn of the train roared, and its bright headlights were filling up the subway. An old steam train entered the rail and stopped right at the office.

There was no one up there. It was completely barren and lonely. However, it was still able to run for some reason.

Blaze hopped onto the train. The paper ticket flew out from his hand and burned itself in the air.

"What’s a weird train..."

Blaze sat down at the outside rail of the train, waiting for it to take off. He was hoping that maybe Lucia would show up just in time.

But no one was there. And the train started to move. He sighed briefly, then stood up and got inside.

"Blaze!" Lucia called out to him.

Blaze looked back to see Lucia in her ancient outfit running to the train.

"Come quickly!" Blaze shouted.

Lucia’s palm lit up in blue, and she slapped it on her thigh. Her feet were covered in the same faint blue light, and her speed got quicker. She was able to reach Blaze in no time.

But when she tried to get on the train, a semi-transparent orange barrier stopped her.

"What the?" Blaze said. He reached out at the barrier and saw that he, too, couldn’t penetrate it.

Blaze took out the Twinblade and slashed at it, but it didn’t work.

"The ticket! You need a ticket!" Blaze shouted.

"I’m here, boy and girl."

The ticket conductor appeared again in his same spot, a bit far away from where Lucia was.

She didn’t need a pointer and dashed at the ticket conductor immediately. He had already left her ticket on the table for her to grab.

When she took it, the name on the ticket changed; now it was Lucia De la Croix.

The ticket conductor’s eyes lit up in surprise. Another anomaly. He had never seen one before, but now he saw two of them.

"Thanks!" Lucia quickly said it and then dashed back to the train.

The train started to go quicker and quicker. A little bit too fast for Lucia to manage.

"Come! Grab my hand!" Blaze grabbed the rail with one hand and then reached out his other hand, leaning his body out of the train.

Lucia tried her best to run as fast as she could. She reached out her hand.

Their distance was only a couple of meters. It got closer to a meter than a few centimeters.

But then the train completely enveloped itself in an orange light. It got much quicker and extended the distance.

Their hands almost touched. But that was no longer possible.

Blaze’s gaze never moved away from her as he slowly got farther and farther away. Lucia’s speed was no match.

"Call the next train!" He shouted, "Meet me in the tallest building in the Undercity!"

"Wait for me, Blaze! I will be there! I will!"

"I will wait for you, Lucia!"

The train got completely covered in light, and it disappeared from the tunnel. Lucia caught her breath, staring at the nothingness.

The train was now moving in a blank white space. There was no sky nor ground, and the train wasn’t even running; it floated in a zero-gravity dimension.

But Blaze was still experiencing gravity on the train, his feet planted on the floor.

"What is this?" As he finished his sentence, a portal opened up, consuming the train whole.