Chapter 846: Self-styled: The Artist's Lady 

In the carriage, excluding the clear enemies—Heartless, his servant Iskandar's shadow, and Arcueid, who stayed behind to fight the Forest of Einnashe—there were a total of sixteen people.

They were Lorelei, Shinji, Waver, Gray, Melvin, Luvia, Caules, Fiore, Adashino, Yvette, Olga Marie, Jean-Mario, Karabo, and the three train staff members.

Among them, those with relatively strong power and mobility were Shinji, Lorelei, and Gray. They could carry six people. If the remaining four could be taken by the train staff, it would be a perfect solution.

However, the acting manager did not answer Shinji's question but asked instead:

"If we leave, what will happen to the train?"

"Uh, it would probably be destroyed by the aftermath of the battle," Shinji awkwardly rubbed his nose. Although the train wasn't directly destroyed by him, it was still ruined because of him. He wondered if he and Touko were truly mobile disasters, causing destruction wherever they went.

Upon hearing this, the acting manager and the other two exchanged glances, then shook their heads together.

"We're sorry, esteemed guests, but we cannot agree to that."

"Letting this train continue to be harmed would be a disgrace to Rita Rozay-en, and thus a disgrace to us as managers."

"We are entrusted by our master to manage this train and have sworn to live and die with it!"

Their resolve was so firm, and their determination so unwavering, that Shinji could feel the intensity of their emotions without needing to activate any magical thought-concentration techniques. Faced with this powerful emotion, he found himself unable to speak.

Of course, if he couldn't speak, someone else could—Lorelei.

"Don't be foolish. The train is dead, but we are alive. Only by surviving can there be hope."

"Our master's trust is above all else."

The acting manager's indifferent attitude made Lorelei frown.

"You—"

"Enough, saying more would only insult them."

Shinji sighed and shook his head at Lorelei.

The acting manager glanced gratefully at him.

"Rodin, Leandra, go to the cockpit and initiate the Mystic Eyes Projection! Everyone else, please leave quickly. We will stake everything and fight to the last moment, ensuring Rita Rozay-en's name will not be tarnished."

"Understood. We will follow the acting manager's orders."

"We shall not let Rita Rozay-en's name be shamed!"

The two bowed, their emaciated or stunning figures filled with a resolute spirit that was truly moving.

At this moment, a new voice suddenly sounded.

"The loss of material possessions will not tarnish Rita Rozay-en's name; losing such excellent subordinates like you would."

Hearing this voice, the acting manager, Rodin, and Leandra trembled simultaneously, their faces showing expressions of disbelief.

"Mas...ter? Lady Rita Rozay-enr?"

"Hehe, you've done well. I am very pleased to have such subordinates."

The newly appeared voice sounded lazy as if it lacked energy, but if one listened closely, there was an unmistakable tone of approval. Unconsciously, an image of a woman lying on a bed, yawning while smiling, appeared in everyone's mind.

However, this was just imagination. No one except those three knew what was truly happening because the voice was not from a real person but from something that looked very strange.

It was a light-colored, cold, humanoid figure made from skin that resembled a lizard or a snake—just a piece of skin, hollow inside.

Despite being just a piece of skin, the acting manager and the other two instinctively knelt, their knees bending in reflex, but the humanoid figure stopped them.

"Stop, no need to bow. This is a familiar made from that guy's shed skin. It feels weird to bow to this thing."

"It was you who urgently needed materials to create a familiar, so I gave you my shed skin. Now you're saying things like this? If I had known, I wouldn't have given it to you."

A different voice, also lazy, came from the corresponding mouth of the humanoid figure.

"Drunkard, don't interrupt. Go drink on the side. Once I finish arranging things here, you can either fight or drink as much as you want."

"But the wine you brought is already finished."

"So soon? Do you absorb it directly with your body, you water monster? If there's none left, bear with it for a while. If not, we'll go to my castle and drink until we're satisfied. I've had enough of your castle with nothing but shed skin."

"Oh, I've been waiting for you to say that. Once we finish drinking, we'll have a good fight. This time, I must dig out those treasured Mystic Eyes of yours."

"Hmph, before that, I'll cut off your tail first!"

The voices within the humanoid figure continued to switch, filled with complaints and banter, yet conveying information that made several people, especially Lorelei, frown.

The voice that made the humanoid figure and conveyed the message undoubtedly belonged to the train's true master, one of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, Rita Rozay-en, a being on the same level as Forest of Einnashe, who was currently fighting Arcueid.

The other voice, the one bantering with Rozen, should be her close companion, another member of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, the Water Demon Sumire. The information indicated that only this peculiar mutated Dead Apostle, who often shed her skin and was usually drunk, could transform her entire body like a snake. Her peculiarities extended beyond her ownership of the same Marble Phantasm as Arcueid. One notable feature was that she was an aquatic Dead Apostle.

Legend has it that vampires cannot cross running water, making rivers, streams, and seas insurmountable barriers. However, Sumire overcame this limitation at the cost of finding it difficult to operate on land, gradually evolving into an aquatic species. She sheds her skin like a snake, and from a magical perspective, these skins are top-tier materials. Even a single piece would cause a frenzy if released into the world, but Sumire only hoards them in her castle, never letting them out.

Now, because Rozay mentioned needing materials, Sumire voluntarily offered her shed skin. This would typically signify an extremely close relationship, yet the two still spoke about cutting off parts of each other, leaving one to wonder whether their relationship was good or bad. Indeed, these ancient Dead Apostles are all oddities, each more twisted than the last.

While the two female Dead Apostles were bantering, a loud crash suddenly erupted from the front of the train, causing the wall standing in front of the engine to collapse. This was a defense line created by Arcueid to buy time for Shinji and the others to retreat. Defense was not the princess's strong suit, and she had already done her best by coming up with such a solution.

Arcueid pursed her lips in dissatisfaction and created a vacuum layer near the collapsed wall, shredding the extending vegetation. At the same time, she didn't forget to remind them.

"If you don't want to die, leave quickly. I won't be able to hold on much longer."

She could only "hold" on, not that she couldn't win.

From the moment she was born, defense was never something she considered. What she excelled at was always offense, offense, offense. The True Ancestor's powerful regeneration meant she feared no one in a fight where injuries were exchanged. Rather than wasting time on defense, it was more efficient to spend all her time on offense since she would heal quickly anyway.

If not for being influenced by Shinji and considering the presence of humans, she would have long since dropped a meteor to flatten the entire forest, then searched for the Crimson Core in the ruins—this time, she would not give it a chance to revive.