Ruler Of Iron And Flesh

Sitting in a first-class sky train car had its perks. Inian sipped on some wine while sitting on a cushiony seat. He stood out a bit from the higher class citizens of the continent who were all giving him strange looks.

He was still wearing the soldier's uniform while everyone else wore extravagant suits and dresses. Inian smiled at a couple who were walking by, and they returned his smile with dirty looks. Inian frowned, 'it would be fun to mess with these people a little bit, showing them who I am.' But he refrained from showing off.

A woman service attendant brought food to him. "Here you are Mr..."

"Inian."

"Yes, Mr. Inian. We have a full course of steak and lobster for you today." The attendant began laying out food on the table in front of Inian, then paused before she left.

"If you may pardon me asking, what do you do for a living? Your attire tells me you are a soldier, but your taste tells me something different."

Inian smiled, "I'll just say that I have some excellent connections."

The attendant bowed, "of course, sir, pardon my intrusion."

She then left, leaving other first-class passengers curious about this soldier eating steak and lobster.

Inian rubbed his hands together and was about to dive into his food when a rumble shook the train. The lights blinked on and off, and people quietly gasped and whispered to each other about what was going on.

Several low-tier sh.i.p.s flew next to the train car, and one mid-tier ship was with them. Men in scraggly clothes jumped from those sh.i.p.s onto the train, and footsteps were heard clambering on top of the train.

Inian g.r.o.a.n.e.d as he put down his bite of steak, 'I only wanted a relaxing trip to Preah, is that too much to ask?'

A sword stabbed through the ceiling of the train car and sliced away an opening. Several men in ragged clothes and armed to the teeth jumped through.

The high-class citizens all ducked underneath the tables they were at, and the attendants did as well.

"Well now, that's rude!" called out one man with a longsword and a scar across his nose.

"We only just got here! I understand that we aren't high-class such as yourselves, but soon we will have the money to join you on trips such as this!"

The pirate waved to a lackey who opened up a bag and began walking to each person.

"All I ask is that you put anything valuable on your person into this here bag, and nobody will get hurt. You all understand?"

Whimpers from the citizens were the only replies that he received.

"Good! Now hurry up and stick them in the bag!"

The lackey went to each person and had them stick their valuables inside the bag.

Inian watched this with a little bit of satisfaction, 'I'll wait just a moment more, then I'll help them out.'

Soon, the lackey made it to Inian, and he shoved the bag in his face, "put any valuables in here!"

Inian smirked at the lackey and stood up, "I'm afraid I don't have any valuables on me, but let me ask something real quick, is your life valuable to you?"

The lackey's anger flared up, "I said, hurry up!" He aimed a pistol at Inian's head, and the man with the scar came over.

"What's the hold up over here? Why is this taking so long?"

The lackey answered, "this man is giving me some trouble boss. He apparently doesn't know his place."

The boss looked at Inian's soldier uniform and said, "a soldier who tries to be brave will end up dead. What you're doing is simply stupid. Since you don't want to give any valuables, I think a lesson is in order."

Inian continued to smirk while the boss pulled out his longsword and swung it down at Inians shoulder.

Inian didn't even bother to harden his skin, and the sword made a clanging sound as it bounced off of him.

The boss and the lackey both looked surprised. The boss roared and swung his sword down again, and again, it bounced off.

The attendants and citizens looked up in shock. The boss looked around him then pulled out a pistol.

"Die!" He yelled, then pulled the trigger.

The bullet ricocheted off Inian's head and shot the lackey who went down to the ground. A gunshot wound leaked blood from his forehead, and his eyes were glazed over.

The boss began to sweat, "what...are you?!"

Inian stopped smirking, and anger overtook his face, "I am the ruler of the world. Ruler over your blood and bones, your very existence!" He grabbed the boss's head and lifted him off the ground, "I am the one who decides your fate, whether you live or die. I...AM...YOUR...KING!"

Inian crushed his head with a small amount of grip force. The boss's head exploded all over the train's floor, and Inian smiled, seeing the boss's end.

He stopped when he noticed what he just did, 'what did I just say?' He saw the blood running down his arms, and looked up to see fear written all over the faces of the crew and passengers.

"Let's get out of here!!" The remaining pirates all left through the same hole they came in and made a hasty retreat.

Inian stumbled as his head was pounding, so he sat back down in his chair.

He looked towards one of the attendants getting up, "um...miss, can you bring me an icepack?"

The woman seemed to jump out of her skin when Inian talked to her, "Of course, sir! I'll be right back!"

She quickly ran out of the train car to get an icepack.

The citizens had all sat back in their chairs, and they observed Inian with extreme caution and fear. Some left the train car altogether.

Inian looked back down at his hand, 'what the heck overcame me?'