Gunmage
Chapter 74: Two superpowers

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Two superpowers

It was that bastard of an elf.

It was Emrys.

Lugh cocked his rifle, his animosity seething from beneath his helmet.

"You dare gaze at me with hatred in your eyes?"

Sensing his malice, the elf raised a hand, but before he could do anything, a bullet zipped through the air. A magical shield flickered into existence, and the projectile was deflected.

Lugh stared at the smoking barrel of his rifle, his face betraying no shock. He simply rechambered his bullet, and lined up another shot.

Before he could fire, the entire floor lit up in an ominous blood-red glow. Looking down, Lugh saw strange, incomprehensible symbols and shapes stretching almost as far as the eye could see.

It was a magical circle, an enormous one at that, spanning dozens of kilometers.

They had walked straight into a trap of colossal proportions.

The coughing began. Not from Lugh, but from the resistance fighters still in the vicinity. Some collapsed, writhing against an unseen force invading their bodies.

One man spat out a stream of blood before his limbs gave way entirely.

"What are you doing?!"

Vaelith yelled, agitation evident in her voice.

Emrys chuckled.

"What am I doing? I’m granting them the greatest honor of all, a chance to be reborn. You need only look to understand."

Vaelith hesitated, then turned her gaze toward the fallen. Lugh did the same, focusing through his Mawglass.

What he saw chilled his blood.

The energy systems within the afflicted flickered violently, struggling to form before collapsing in upon themselves, bringing waves of unimaginable pain.

Beneath their skin, a rapid process of construction and deconstruction took place.

Lugh felt his mind numb.

This was... This was an attempt to artificially create magic circuits, something only those born with them could wield.

The process came at a devastating cost. The success rate was abysmally low, possibly below one percent.

That was why Emrys needed such a large crowd. As for the other ninety-nine percent... Death would be a mercy.

Vaelith’s voice trembled.

"Stop this. Now!"

Emrys’s smile widened.

"Why would I stop just because you’re telling me to?"

Vaelith removed her helmet, revealing long, pointed ears and striking lilac eyes. The struggling resistance fighters gasped.

Above them, the woman with silver eyes and long white hair tensed. Her companions grew pensive.

Only Emrys remained indifferent, at least at first. The facade didn’t last long, shattered by pure, unbridled rage.

"An elf... yet your mana reserves are as pitiful as that. An elf, yet you keep frolicking among these disgusting humans."

His voice grew deeper, dripping with contempt as he slowly drifted towards the sky.

Then, without warning, he released a suffocating surge of magical energy.

Commanding Riley Osniel’s body, Lugh had never been able to sense magic. But here, standing so close to its source, with supernatural senses, he felt it—the overwhelming, crushing density of power that threatened to drown everything in its wake.

Lugh barked an order to the still struggling people.

"Pick up your weapons! Shoot him down!"

But no one moved.

The figure floating above them radiated absolute authority, a being that could not be defied. None of them even dared to look directly at him.

"Damn it"

Lugh cursed under his breath. He had counted on the strength of the people. Now he knew that they were nothing more than sitting ducks.

"Elves."

Xhi shook her head. Her voice was a whisper, yet it carried.

She removed her helmet, and began to rise into the air. Vast amounts of mana coalesced around her in a visible whirlpool.

It was heavy, it was suffocating.

Lyra also pulled off her helmet, long hair flaring around her like massive whips. Vaelith tensed, arcane power surging within her.

Lugh considered removing his helmet but thought better of it. Better they couldn’t tell which was him and which were his puppets.

A beastkin wielding a familiar long spear landed in front of him.

Selene remained on the rooftop, joined by two others. All eyes locked onto the sky, where the two superpowers prepared to clash.

Emrys’s disdain shifted to apprehension as he stared at Xhi.

"I owe you an apology, Selene"

He murmured.

"They are strong."

Then the world erupted in light.

Two mana signatures collided at unholy speed, obliterating any and everything in their path.

As the cataclysmic battle raged above, those on the ground sprang into motion. With a silent nod, Lyra and Vaelith split off from Lugh, rushing toward the three figures on the rooftops.

Lugh was left alone with the beastkin.

A tall, muscular man with bronze skin. The ears of a beast, a long tail swaying behind him.

"My wife died in this city"

The beastkin said, his voice eerily calm.

"By the hands of your kind."

Lugh tensed. He would have preferred an opponent seething with rage, one who abandoned all tactics in a blind frenzy. Like a beast.

But that didn’t happen.

Despite the name, the beastkin remained unnervingly composed as he readied his spear.

"I’ll start with you. An offering of blood should be enough to appease her."

"Spare me the sob story"

Lugh shot back with an unbothered voice from behind his helmet.

His puppets charged in from both flanks. He raised his rifle, focusing through the Mawglass, prepared for the man to hurl his spear—just as he had when impaling Riley Osniel, the Fisherman.

But the expected strike never came.

Instead, the beastkin sank into a stance, ignoring the puppets flanking him. Then, in a burst of speed, he shot forward, straight at Lugh.

Lugh reacted instantly. One puppet swerved to give chase, the other pressed forward. He pulled the trigger.

The first shot struck dead center. A flower of blood blossomed from the man’s abdomen.

But he didn’t slow.

’Reinforced skin’

Lugh thought to himself as a plan hatched in his mind.

He racked the bolt with practiced speed and fired again at the same spot. Another hit. This time, the beastkin grunted in pain. But still, he did not falter.

He was already in front of Lugh.

The spear whistled through the air, its deadly tip aimed straight for his head.