Elias raised an eyebrow.
What exactly was she being smug about? This was literally the first time he had ever heard the name Dowaten.
Just then, Eric nudged him on the shoulder. "Humph! Damon and those three guys are here. You should punch him again if he tries to act out of line!"
Elias didn't respond immediately. His gaze shifted as the noise in the cabin slowly settled—four boys had just stepped into the assembly, their movements sharp with anger.
Elias grinned. "Yeah. I guess I would."
There was a pin-drop silence.
And it wasn't even because of the anger radiating off Damon and his goons as they made their way to the front of the cabin.
It was because of what everyone was seeing.
Raven, Claw, and Anthony all had parts of their clothes shredded. Scratch marks covered their reddened skin, and even now, they were still scratching at themselves as if something were crawling under their skin.
Their eyes burned with fury—and humiliation. Even so, they still carried an air of dominance, as though daring anyone to step out of line.
Damon, however, looked untouched.
His luxurious clothes were pristine as he walked with his hands behind his back. If anything, the only thing visible on him was the restrained fury simmering in his eyes.
Whispers and suppressed giggles spread through the cabin as they passed.
"Geez… what the hell happened to those guys?"
"Don't know… but I heard screaming near the bathroom doors this morning. Think it has something to do with that?"
"Gosh, Raven should take it easy. The guy's going to rip his shorts at this rate."
"Hey, someone take a picture."
"Quiet—are you trying to get us killed?"
The three boys' faces darkened with rage and embarrassment at the comments, teeth grinding as they stood behind Damon.
Damon stepped forward, taking his place at the front of the assembly. He clapped twice, the sound cutting cleanly through the cabin and forcing silence.
His eyes swept across the room.
Those eyes were furious—almost spitting murder. The ripples around him pressed outward, making everyone shift uncomfortably as their heads ached under a wave of intrusive, suffocating thoughts.
Even suicidal ones.
"Someone among you dared—actually dared—to use such underhanded and shameless tactics against me," he said, his voice trembling with suppressed rage.
"And you probably think you can hide… that I won't find you. But you're wrong. I will find you…"
His voice dropped lower.
"And I will destroy you."
The words carried across the cabin, landing heavily on a nervous boy with dirty blonde hair sitting alone.
His body shook violently as Damon's gaze swept over him.
"Everyone here, without exception, will go and admit to Dorian here that they have nothing to do with the… state of my subordinates," Damon continued, pointing at the blonde boy, who flinched as nearly every eye in the cabin turned toward him.
"He just so happens to be able to sense intentions—whether truth or lies."
His gaze moved across the crowd, glinting with cruelty.
"Refuse… and you will be seen as guilty. I will make sure you go through hell long before I send you there myself."
Murmurs spread through the train. Most voices were filled with dissatisfaction, but none of them dared speak loudly. Fear kept them restrained.
Well… none except one person.
"There's no need for any of that."
The cabin went silent.
"But what I want to understand is how you look fine even after I poured a good amount of itching powder into those water pipes. At least double what I left for your three dogs."
Every head snapped toward the voice in shock.
Elias sat there casually, as though he were commenting on the weather.
He sighed.
Behind Damon, the three boys' faces twisted with rage, their bodies trembling as if they might erupt at any moment.
But Elias simply continued, dark eyes calm—almost amused.
And he was enjoying this a little too much.
"Doesn't matter anymore. I guess those three fools tested things out for you. Must feel nice having sturdy meat shields that take the fall before you do. Makes me tempted to get a couple of them myself."
He continued with a faint smile, leaning his head back against the cabin wall.
"Hey, Raven. That particular place itching real bad, huh? At this rate, you're not going to have any kids in the future. Hasn't your dad told you a man's gotta value his balls?"
"Claw, why are your teeth chattering so badly? Do you want to say something?"
"Anthony, be careful. You're a few moments away from stripping naked. You're going to scar the ladies here for life, you disgusting pervert."
Eric suddenly began clapping after he finished, his voice bursting with laughter.
"Pervert! Pervert! There's a disgusting pervert here!"
It started as a giggle—then laughter exploded across the room.
Damon's calm expression twitched slightly with every word, while the three boys behind him trembled with visible rage.
"It just had to be the dog I destroyed yesterday," Damon said flatly, eyes locking onto Elias with cold contempt. "Why do people like you never learn?"
He didn't even seem interested in fighting him himself. As if it wasn't worth the effort.
He turned slightly and gave a final order.
"Destroy him. Mutilate him. Rip him apart—but leave him alive."
He hadn't even finished speaking before the three boys moved.
Their bodies blurred forward, rippling with force as they shot toward Elias with speeds beyond human limits.
Gasps erupted across the cabin.
Most of the teenagers looked away or winced, already convinced of the outcome. After all, this was the same Elias who had been beaten up just yesterday.
There was no hope for him.
Or at least… that was what they thought.
But something was different.
Even now, Elias tilted his head slightly, watching the three attackers with a faintly puzzled expression.
Slow.
Why were they so slow?
He shook his head and took a step forward.
Just one step.
But to everyone watching, it looked like he vanished entirely—his movement too fast for the eye to follow, leaving only the whistle of displaced air behind him.
When he appeared again, he was right behind Raven and Claw.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The two boys barely managed to turn their heads toward him in shock before he reached out and grabbed their necks.
"Wha—"
"How—"
What everyone heard next was the sound of two heads smashing together, followed by two dull thuds as they hit the ground.
Silence.
Then shock.
The entire cabin stared, mouths wide open, watching as the two boys who had been terrorizing most of them lay unconscious without even landing a single hit.
The only thought echoing through everyone's mind was:
What the hell just happened?
Elias stood in front of Anthony, watching as the boy scrambled backward, his face pale with fear.
"Boss… boss, save me!"
Damon's expression had already twisted moments ago.
"Don't you dare—"
"Oh," Elias said.
He lifted the flailing Anthony by the neck as though he weighed nothing and turned slightly toward Damon, lips curling faintly.
"And what if I do? Who the hell are you to stop me?"
Damon's body tensed. His teeth gritted, and for the first time, a clear wariness flashed in his eyes. The scene before him had clearly pushed things into territory he didn't understand.
Elias glanced down at the boy in his grip, resisting the brief urge to simply punch him.
After all, he now held the title Bone Slayer. A strike like that could easily crush his skull just enough for him to die.
So instead, he studied him quietly for a moment… before tossing him aside like a used sack.
Anthony crashed onto the two already unconscious boys, a hoarse cry of pain escaping him as it echoed through the cabin.
Elias stepped forward again.
In an instant, he was in front of him.
He lifted his leg and brought it down into Anthony's knee.
Even while holding back, the sound of bone cracking echoed through the train.
Elias exhaled softly.
"You're too loud."
Anthony stopped screaming for a moment. The sight of his leg twisted unnaturally—almost deformed—made his eyes roll back as he fainted.
The three boys now lay slumped on the ground, turning the scene into something almost absurd to those watching.
The commotion had already begun drawing attention from those who hadn't been part of the gathering—either from other Noble families or teenagers strong enough to resist Damon's command.
They moved closer from their sections of the large cabin, eyes narrowing curiously at what was unfolding.
But Elias didn't care about any of that.
His gaze locked onto Damon.
For some reason, the boy still looked calm. As though watching his subordinates get destroyed was nothing more than an inconvenience.
But his eyes…
They burned now with palpable hatred.
"I see where you get your confidence from," Damon said, voice rising. "And I don't know why you were hiding that power… but it won't be enough to stand against me!"
His aura thickened instantly.
Dark red pulses of light began to coil around his body, and a Resonance String formed outward, vibrating with a chilling, insidious tone.
It rang through the cabin like a curse.
A soundless pressure seeped into the minds of everyone present, as if something inside them was whispering—telling them to die.
The air grew heavier.
Damon had manifested his Resonance String outward.
Only one thing that meant.
He had reached at least the Initial Apprentice Stage (E-).
Against someone like that… could a Novice even put up a fight?
***
It was widely known:
A Resonance String only truly awakened when a person crossed from Novice to Apprentice.
At the Apprentice stage, it became possible to externalize it—forming short bursts of attack that carried emotional wavelength as force. At that point, the Song gained a physical presence, no longer limited to invisible ripples emitted by Novices.
But even as Damon stood there, lit by pulses of dark red light…
Elias' expression didn't change.
If anything, he looked mildly annoyed.
Like his target just happened to be resisting a little too much.
"I am going to wipe that infuriating look off your face. After I'm done, I'll squash you like the bug you are—while making sure you live the rest of your miserable—"
He didn't finish.
Elias appeared behind him.
Damon's eyes widened in shock. He barely even registered the movement.
Then he felt hands clamp around his neck.
The entire cabin froze.