Gunmage
Chapter 116: Glass and silence

Chapter 116: Chapter 116: Glass and silence

What was that?

Lirienne’s voice was a whisper lost to the stone halls.

She leaned around the corner, her breathing silent and shallow.

There, moving slowly through the gloom, was a silhouette. The shape was unmistakably human, gliding closer with steady steps that echoed too evenly.

Was it Mirelle?

She held her tongue, watching with a mix of hope and wariness.

The figure finally stepped out of the corridor shadows and into the pale glow of moonlight infiltrating from a nearby window.

Lirienne let out a breath.

Oh... just a maid.

One of the older ones, by the look of her uniform.

Best she doesn’t see me, Lirienne decided, slipping back, but then came the voice.

"Young miss, is that you?"

Lirienne halted mid-step.

Damn it.

She turned and gave a sheepish smile.

"Ah, yes! It’s me. I was just—I was just... looking for a midnight snack! Haha!"

She said, scratching the back of her head in a forced gesture of innocence.

"Oh! In that case, I can guide you to the kitchen"

The maid said cheerfully.

"There are some delicious desserts left over. I’m sure you’ll love them."

"No thank you"

Lirienne replied, smiling tightly. As she turned to leave, she locked the maid’s face to memory.

"Ah, young miss"

The maid called again, her tone unchanged,

"Aren’t you getting the snack? You don’t have to worry about me"

"Well, really, it’s bad manners to eat so late"

Lirienne replied, still walking.

"I don’t know what got into me, but the urge is gone now. I should really get going"

She didn’t slow her pace.

"But the desserts are really tasty"

The maid said, still following.

"You should stay"

"No, thank you"

"You should stay"

The words were colder now, stripped of warmth. A hollow edge had crept into her voice.

Lirienne didn’t answer. She quickened her steps.

"You should stay!"

It was no longer a suggestion, it was a demand. Lifeless and inhuman. Lirienne broke into a sprint, her slippers slapping against the marble floor.

She didn’t dare look back. Behind her came the sound of hurried steps and the whisper of cloth on stone.

She flicked her fingers mid-run. A pottery stand shot backward with sudden force, shattering behind her in a burst of clay and fragments.

The echo bounced off the high ceilings, and was followed by a dark chuckle.

"Oh?"

Damn it!

Lirienne gritted her teeth. She flung a vase off a side table and with a twitch of her hand, collapsed a shelf in the corridor’s edge.

A crashing, stuttering path of chaos followed her as she ran. She slammed a set of double doors shut and locked them with a push of Force.

Her control was slipping, the energy bleeding faster than she could handle.

She barreled up the staircase, knocking over a statue that shattered into arms and faces behind her. Still no one stirred. No lights lit.

No one’s coming, she realized with dread. It’s just me.

At the second floor landing, she stumbled. Her breathing ragged, her legs trembling from effort.

She turned.

The maid stood at the top of the stairs, smiling.

The expression hadn’t changed, but now it looked like a mask, wide and fixed. She walked forward with slow, patient steps.

Lirienne scanned around her. Force Control can’t affect living beings with mana, she reminded herself bitterly.

Not unless she was of Crown rank. And even then, only barely, for mundane humans.

Once the person had the tiniest bit of mana, even as a beginner, it would become ineffective.

And the maid, whatever she was now, definitely had mana.

She needed tools.

Glancing around, her eyes caught sight of a wrought iron coat stand, a heavy flower vase, a half-shattered painting frame, and—a window. A wide stained-glass one.

That was it.

She tried to focus but just then, a deep ache bloomed behind her eyes. Her nose began to bleed.

"Out of mana, are we?"

The maid cooed. She clapped her hands together in mock delight.

The voice had turned sweet again, yet it scraped at Lirienne’s ears like rusted iron.

She turned her power inward, summoning every last shred of arcane energy in her body. The window began to crack, splintering like ice under pressure.

Lirienne staggered but didn’t stop. She could hear Lugh’s voice in her mind, chiding her. She was still weak. Still untrained. But even so—

I can’t die here.

With a scream, she poured the last of herself into the spell. The stained glass shattered.

A whirlwind of razor-sharp shards filled the corridor. Dozens, then hundreds. Floating in the air like tiny mirrors catching moonlight, each one infused with raw kinetic energy.

A swirling maelstrom of glass, wind, and mana spun to life, ripping into the walls and gouging wood and stone. Portraits were shredded, curtains sliced into ribbons, the floor carved with spirals of destruction

Lirienne’s body gave out as the storm devoured the hallway.

When it calmed, silence fell. The maid was gone, no trace of her. Not even blood.

Lirienne dropped to one knee, panting. Her limbs were numb, her vision doubling. She pressed a hand to the wall, trying to stand.

That’s when she felt it, a cold presence behind her.

A whisper followed.

"Wow... you really are impressive. I guess the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree."

Her body froze in fear

"W-Who are—"

"Now..."

The voice began, thick with amusement

"...Let’s have some fun."

In another wing of the manor, under the soft flicker of a desk lamp, Lugh paused mid-sentence. His pen hovered above the paper.

Something was wrong.

There had been a surge, a massive outpour of energy.

But there was no sound. No vibration. That wasn’t natural. He spread his senses around, focusing.

There was an enchantment surrounding his room.

"Since when has this been here?"

He muttered

A pulse of mana spread out from him, breaking the invisible seal like snapping glass.

And then it hit him, the scream.

A piercing, soul-shaking sound that tore through the quiet night.

"Lirienne!"

His eyes sharpened. A crackle of mana exploded from his form, ripping through the manor and shattering every dormant enchantment layered across its halls.

He dashed forward with inhuman speed. The walls blurred past, the rush of wind trailing him.

He saw the destruction. Splintered doors. Cracked vases. Skid marks and blood. Paintings torn from their frames. Something twisted in his chest.

He reached the corridor and skidded to a halt.

A shadow flickered, something leapt through the broken window, vanishing into the night.

Lugh stepped forward to give chase, but then he noticed it. A figure slumped against the wall, obscured by debris and blood.

He hadn’t seen it at first, because it had no mana.

None at all.

His heart dropped.

"Lirienne?"