VROOOOOOOOM!
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The twin roars of a booming engine and a raucous man resounded together for countless kilometers.
WHOOSH!
A blur of black zipped past those spectating the track, moving at speeds so high that even the eyes of many practitioners couldn't catch up to it.
It had already been five minutes since this fiasco started, and at this point, it was drawing far too much attention from uninvolved parties to continue.
"That's enough! Come on back!"
Ezio's voice cut through the crowd's cheers and entered the driver's ears.
The extreme speeds of the vehicle he was driving slowed almost instantaneously, and the machine cut through the air as if defying the laws of physics to drift until it parked mere meters away from Ezio.
"Hahahaha!"
Even after dismounting the vehicle, the driver was laughing.
How could he not?
'This thing is fucking awesome!'
It had been a long time since Damien had such novel fun.
"Not only did you tame Atalantis in minutes, you even grew into a professional rider in the same span of time! Tell me, you're not the hidden son of some old monster, are you?" Ezio teased with a grin as he slung his arm over Damien's shoulder.
"Ha…haha…how could that be…? If I was really some powerful person, why would I choose to be a foot soldier here?" Damien responded awkwardly.
'It's not like I completely lied…my young master benefits won't activate until I reach the Heavenly World.'
Damien shook his head with a smile.
"Is my riding up to par? I don't want to hold everyone back when we get to battle."
Ezio rolled his eyes. "Don't go fishing for compliments just because I gave you a few! Hell, with your skills, you could even be the captain of your own unit, let alone a small member of mine!"
"Don't joke, captain. I don't have nearly the leadership ability for that."
"Hahaha! Kid, you're a good one! Come, let us meet with the rest of the brothers and prepare to set off."
Damien put his hand out and pushed a pulse of mana into his bike. Once the bike received his mana, it turned into a purple card slightly larger than a playing card for Damien to store on his body.
"Tch, I'm jealous."
"I would be too."
Damien smiled as he put the card away. Really, this bike was everything a man could ever dream of.
Horsepower wasn't even a worthy term for it with its speed that far outstripped that of sound. Its design was sleek, it sounded beautiful, it had countless conveniences for its rider, and it even had an anti-theft system of its own that killed those who tried to steal it.
If it wasn't a man's dream, then just what was?
'Actually taming it was annoying, though.'
To the outside world, Damien merely touched the bike's surface for a few minutes and it accepted him. However, in reality, he fought a fierce battle against the bike's system to earn its approval.
'The mana currents it emits for self-defense are pure and attributeless, but the way they snake up one's mana system to attack them is shocking. It almost moves as if it has free will, though it hasn't developed even a sliver of consciousness yet.'
The fact that its abilities were a pure wonder of technology and mana engineering made its existence even greater.
'But it's name…'
The bike was clearly named after the Greek goddess, Atalanta, who was deemed the fastest goddess in mythology, however, Damien wasn't a fan of the name.
He was American, after all.
Between Atlanta and Atlantis, there was no need for an Atalantis.
'Your name…'
Damien felt the card in his pocket. He felt the slim connection he created with the machine.
His heart and soul intertwined with the machinery.
His eyes gleamed.
'…Jack Black.'
'…'
Damien could swear he felt the bike deflate in disappointment.
He almost snorted.
'I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I can't change the bike's original name because that would be an insult to the creator. Since he wished to name his creation after a God, I can only abide by his will. However, I don't feel like saying that long name whenever I need you, so I'll just call you Blackie from now on.'
Damien smiled a very concerning smile as he squeezed the purple card until the voice of rejection from within stopped.
"Hm? Is everything okay?" Ezio asked.
"Everything's fine. Perfect, in fact." Damien responded.
"Well, good then! It's time for us to meet the boys!"
Damien and Ezio finally arrived at their final location, a small campground a few hundred meters away where a group of around twenty were merrily chatting and laughing.
"Oi! Who told you idiots you could rest?!"
Ezio immediately charged over when he saw them, slamming his fist down on the nearest man's head.
"Run! The captain's back!" Someone shouted.
"It's too late for that, dumbass!" Someone else replied.
Bonk!
The furious bonk of a bottle bouncing off the fleeing man's head rang out, sending a shiver down the rest's spines.
As the man fell to the ground with his butt sticking in the air, Ezio turned around with red eyes and an evil grin.
"Who else wants some?"
"…"
Everyone remained silent.
"…"
The silence continued.
"Run!"
Everyone scattered.
"You fuckers! If I don't catch you today, drinks are on me tonight!"
RAAAAAAAAH!
Roars of approval came from the distance as the men ran away from the now-charging Ezio.
As for Damien, he watched from the sidelines with a wry expression on his face.
'Well this is…an interesting group of people.'
Damien grinned.
If anything, he wouldn't get bored traveling with them.
And really, if he thought about it…
That was all that mattered.
***
Time rushed by.
Damien was introduced to the squad, all of whom had been caught by Ezio, and while they wanted to invite him to drink with them, time didn't allow such a thing.
The checks and security measures ended within the first few hours of the day. A few hours after that, the army was completely organized.
Millions had been separated into countless different divisions and trees, connecting further and further as one went higher up the power ladder.
And once these two essential steps had been completed, there was no more need to stay in the camp.
The march began.
Day one was the harshest.
The entire length of the march could be added up to at least 500,000 kilometers. If they wanted to meet the Nox Army before they could invade the Grand Heavens Boundary half of Eien, they needed to move around 200,000 kilometers a day!
To people of Damien's level, 200,000 kilometers was chump change, however, for the 3rd class beings who enlisted, it was absolute torture.
People collapsed like flies, and no matter how hard the medical division worked, it was impossible to save everyone.
In the Blood-Drenched Wilderness, the migration of these powerful practitioners was no different than the migration of mortals on a manaless world.
Even with their strength, they couldn't avoid deaths during the journey.
On the first day alone, 5,000 died.
And that toll only grew with every new day that passed.
