Gunmage
Chapter 183: Emrys is dead

Chapter 183: Chapter 183: Emrys is dead

If I Were to Fight Emrys, Huh...

Selaphiel gave Lugh a long, unreadable look—one filled with veiled meaning. There was a subtle gleam in her eye, as if she were trying to discreetly measure him. Or perhaps, more precisely, gauging his measure of her.

These humans...

They thought themselves clever. Always trying to probe without asking directly. Very well, she’d play along. She would reward his wit with an answer.

An honest one, even.

Honest?

Was that his plan all along?

She blinked, momentarily thrown off.

Everyone glanced at the silent Selaphiel. She was confusing herself. Best not to think too much about it.

She spoke.

"Well... there would be no honor in such a fight,"

She said at last, voice smooth but edged with something wry.

"Not that I’m known to be particularly honorable, mind you."

"No honor?"

Lugh repeated. She hadn’t answered his question, but he chose to be patient.

"Yes, no honor,"

She responded.

"Because unlike me, Emrys is not a combat-oriented mage. He’s a healer. Our abilities will be different."

Emrys is not combat-oriented.

Lugh recalled the swirling vortex of obliterating flames, entire avenues scorched into molten glass. The myriad of magic circles that had spewed out destructive lightning. His absolutely insane physical combat prowess.

He grimaced.

"Huh? What the hell are you even talking about? How is Emrys not a combat mage?"

Selaphiel glanced at him, her expression unreadable in the colourful light.

"Well, think about it. Since you’ve met him before, you should know of his most notable skills."

Lugh thought back. Flames, lightning, ice destruction, but also...

"Healing magic"

He responded.

"Exactly"

She spoke.

"Emrys is one of the greatest healers to have existed. I don’t see myself losing a fight against him, but I find it hard to imagine myself winning.

This is because he would just regenerate all the damage done to him. It would be a truly infuriating battle."

Lugh paused.

"But Emrys is over a thousand years old. Won’t it be arrogant of you to think you can stand up to him?"

Then he added,

"Unless, of course, you’re about the same age as him."

The last part had enough suspicion laced in to make the room feel colder despite the daylight filtering through. Selaphiel spoke.

"Oh heavens no. Don’t you remember? I told you already, I’m no older than s—six hundred years old!"

Through his right eye, the Mawglass, her lips hadn’t moved.

Which meant she was lying.

Lugh sighed.

"OK. Enough talk."

Selaphiel continued, folding one leg over the other, her barefoot somehow remaining spotless.

"Why don’t you tell us what happened after Emrys arrived?"

All the others seemed eager to know as well.

Although Lugh had framed the recount as him giving them information that would have to be repaid later, in truth, he was enjoying the fact that he had someone to tell.

Someone to bear witness. All the others that would have otherwise remembered had died during the collapse of Drakensmar, leaving behind only those too broken to even want to remember the events that had unfolded.

And it was all because of him.

He spoke.

"He appeared with others. Members of his organization, I assume. The sylph we fought earlier was there, along with more of her kind. There was also a beastkin—my first time facing one."

The manor’s room grew silent again. The ticking of an ornate clock on the wall punctuated his words.

"The battle would have ended in an instant. After all, we held the superiority in numbers—the absolute advantage, considering that there were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of resistance forces members with us, most armed with firearms."

"It should have been an easy result. But fate had other plans."

He paused.

"The entire area was trapped in a giant magic circle. One with the effects of breaking down and reassembling the internal systems of the humans present—causing them unbearable pain in an attempt to create artificial mana circuits."

"What did you say?!"

Selaphiel stood up abruptly from her seat, the chair’s legs scraping harshly against the floorboards.

Jahira followed suit, a low gasp escaping her.

Lugh had expected her to react in some way. She had exceeded his expectations. Perhaps she had an ambiguous relationship with Emrys? Or with the experimental method used to create mana circuits.

Lugh often wondered about the past of the strange elf, but now was not the time for that.

After what he had just said, they remembered his earlier words.

Is it possible to create mana circuits in someone born without mana?

They had firmly denied this—only for the opposite to happen.

Wait. Hold up. He hadn’t confirmed if it worked yet.

Jahira inched closer.

"Well? Did it work?"

"Yes, it did,"

Lugh responded.

"Although the success rates were very low. A lot of them lost their lives. And as for the remnants... those strong enough to power through the pain?

They didn’t pick up their weapons or attempt to fight back. They seemed terrified of the prospect of facing an elf in battle—not even knowing how much more devastating their weapons were."

"This left us to fend for ourselves. Have you heard stories of fire tornadoes?"

Lugh questioned.

"Of course we have"

Isolde responded.

"I haven’t,"

Jahira added begrudgingly. Isolde ignored her.

"Flaming tornadoes, the cracked sky, shockwaves that leveled buildings, waves of incinerating flames washing over the streets."

Lugh nodded.

"Yes. Those were a result of our battle between Emrys and his crew."

"Wha—"

"You fought him?"

The rest were truly stunned. Lance included. Although they had suspected that something of the sort had happened, direct confrontation was still terrifying.

"Well... how did the fight go?"

"Most of the fight was an aerial battle between him and my flying companion."

He was talking about Xhi. Although he was sure they had questions, he wasn’t compelled to answer. They would surely attempt to pull the information from him though. But until then.

His voice echoed

"He pulled off a lot of insane tricks—which is why I’m very skeptical when you say he’s not adept at combat magic and is just a healer."

This naturally meant both good and bad news for Lugh.

The bad news meant that elves were a whole damn stronger than he had estimated.

The good news meant that most elves would not be able to regenerate like Emrys had done.

Which meant guns and cannons were still verg much on the table.

Selaphiel spoke, a wry smile tugging at her lips.

"So not only did you people encounter the legendary Emrys, you even fought against him and escaped with your lives. Do you, perhaps, by any chance, know where he is now? I’d like to claim a bounty."

Selaphiel wasn’t expecting anything. Emrys had evaded elven law enforcement so many times it had become an art. It would be impossible for them to know where he currently was.

But if by some chance they could provide clues, then things would be rosy.

Lugh’s next words, however, shocked her to her core.

"Emrys is dead."