THE RAILMASTER vs THE WARLORD
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
NATION OF X’OMNERA — BORDERLAND RIDGE — HIGH-NOON DIVERSION POINT
Rain slid off the rails in sheets.
Gable’s first shot cracked across the ridge.
A streak of lightning tore across the air like written code.
The Conductor caught the current.
He kneeled to one knee, placing his palm on the rail.
Steel vibrated.
Gable’s current heaved downward, absorbing into the rail lines.
Then back out.
His own attack recoiled back at him twice as fast.
The counterblast cracked into the gravel beside Gable and blew a trench into the hillside.
Gable slid a half-step. His men scattered.
The Conductor lifted his finger, calm as a man reviewing schedules.
"You all appear too old to be playing on train tracks."
Then he moved.
The Conductor shifted his weight, heel kissing the rail.
A moment later he was gone.
Boots gliding.
Sparks trailing.
The rail screaming under his speed.
“Eyes on him!” someone yelled.
Too late.
The Conductor swung one arm, and the entire left rail flexed upward in a wave.
Steel lifted like a striking serpent and slammed down in front of Gable’s flanking team.
Men hit the dirt before the rail snapped back into perfect alignment.
The Conductor moved again.
He barreled down the line and the left track swelled upward under him.
A smooth wave of metal rising like a wave.
Cartel fighters scattered before it slammed back down hard enough to bury them in the cliff.
Gable fired again.
Four-shot lightning burst, aimed chest-level.
The Conductor corrected instantly.
Palm to steel.
The line screamed. The metal twisted a few degrees, just enough that Gable’s lightning refracted harmlessly into it.
The man didn’t look away from Gable.
His aura stayed invisible.
Dead quiet.
Absolute control.
Behind him, Gable’s crew began the plan:
Two men anchoring grapplers to the cargo cars.
Three climbing the ridge for firing angles.
One wiring burst-round detonation points along the opposite rail.
The Conductor reversed direction instantly.
For a moment the air stilled.
Then the rail exploded with white heat.
A shockwave racing outward, lifting every loose bolt, every metal shaving, every metal fragment into the air.
Shrapnel weaponized to kill.
Gable’s crew ducked, covering their faces, their vitals.
Gable kept going. He was relentless.
He barreled through the shockwave, aether punching holes through the rising debris cloud, until he was close enough to see the Conductor’s eyes.
Gray.
Empty.
Unbothered.
The Conductor, still in reverse motion, swept his arm sideways.
The front engine car deformed like clay as the Conductor swept past.
Metal splitting into a row of jagged spikes that shot out like a kill command.
They tore through the air toward Gable.
He dropped off the rail in a hard skid, a spike grazing his shoulder and ripping a hot line of blood across his coat.
A heartbeat later, the metal snapped back into place.
Smooth hull.
Clean edge.
As if it never had opened at all.
The Conductor slowly skated up the step plating and disappeared inside the engine walkway, the metal door sealing behind him with a hydraulic slam.
The cartel fighters stood there breathing hard, lightning still buzzing on the rails under their feet.
Gable wiped rain from his brow.
“Alright,” he said, voice low.
“We take the train one car at a time.”
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣