Gunmage
Chapter 75: Storm of steel and sorcery

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Storm of steel and sorcery

The beastkin charged forward, undeterred by his wounds. His spear shot out like a blur, but Lugh was ready.

Reading the future projections, he ducked low, driving forward on his heel. In one fluid motion, he pulled out Dain, the enchanted dagger, and slashed.

The blade cut true, but the wound it left was little more than a thin red line against the reinforced skin.

’Damn’

His opponent had already regained his footing. Lugh already closed the distance, making the spear less effective, but the beastkin didn’t need weapons to kill.

A hand lashed out, black claws glinting in the dim light as they whistled through the air, aimed at his throat.

A rifle cracked.

Lugh’s puppet had fired with pinpoint accuracy. The force of the bullet sent the beastkin’s arm recoiling backward, sparing him a grisly fate.

Seizing the brief opening, Lugh drew his invisible blade, slashing from top to bottom in a downward arc, his movements fluid.

This time, there was blood.

Hot and red, it spilled from a deep gash. The beastkin staggered back, pain flashing in his wild eyes.

Sensing the oncoming counter attack Lugh leaped back but he was a step too late.

The beastkin’s leg shot out with blistering speed. The crack of the impact was like a whip splitting the air.

Lugh barely had time to cross his arms in defense before the blow connected. A sickening crunch followed as he was launched backward like a ragdoll, his left wrist utterly crushed.

The beastkin charged at the opportunity, aiming to end the fight. He was fast, too fast. Lugh’s puppet would never make it in time.

Then the sky split apart.

A bolt of purple lightning, searing and monstrous, snaked through the space between them. The battlefield momentarily vanished in blinding light.

The very ground ruptured under the force. As the last traces of brilliance faded, the sound of a second gunshot echoed.

A bullet whistled through the air, aimed squarely at the beastkin’s eye.

A fraction of an inch saved him. With an ever-so-slight tilt of his head, the bullet struck his cheek instead.

His skin remained unbroken, but the force rattled his skull, dislocating his jaw. He reeled back, bloodshot eyes swimming with agony.

By the time he recovered, Lugh was gone.

He had vanished into the ruins of a crumbling structure, his pistol gripped tightly in his good hand.

Up in the sky, a battle of terrifying proportions raged on. The sheer aftershocks of the clash threatened to turn to ash anyone foolish enough to get too close.

It began as a raw collision of condensed mana, bright and deafening, the very air shook.

Blue Magic circles spontaneously lit up around Emrys. Tens, no, hundreds of them flickered into existence.

They drew power from the heavy laden clouds expelling numerous lightning bolts that snaked across the sky at impossible speeds.

Yet, as they reached a twenty-meter radius around Xhi, the illogical happened.

The lightning slowed. As if time itself hesitated.

Xhi clasped her hands, a flicker of mirth in her eyes. Then, with a deliberate motion, she brought them down.

Control of the magic was temporarily wrenched away from Emrys.

The bolts converged midair, twisting together into a single massive entity of pulsating energy before crashing toward the battlefield, aiming to obliterate the beastkin lunging for Lugh.

The warrior’s instincts saved him. He backstepped at the last possible moment, allowing the out-of-control lightning to shatter the earth where he had stood.

There was no lull in the battle

Emrys shot through the air at breakneck speed. Twin daggers of intricately crafted ice streaked toward Xhi, one aimed for her throat, the other for her heart.

She moved in an instant.

Her right hand caught the first dagger, blood seeping between her fingers. The second dagger buried itself in her chest, halting just before reaching her heart.

A sickly wave of rot and decay rippled from the wound, devouring the ice.

Alarmed, Emrys abandoned the weapon before acting. He muttered a quick incantation, and the dagger still in Xhi’s grip detonated into a violent cloud of snow and force, sending her hurtling through the air.

She twisted mid-flight, stabilizing herself.

When her gaze snapped back to Emrys, she saw it.

The sky pulsed with magic.

There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of magic circles, spread across a ridiculously large area. Each one vibrated with raw untamed, arcane power.

Xhi smiled.

She stretched out her bloodied palm and grasped at the empty air. With a slow, deliberate pull, reality itself began to unravel. A gaping rift split open, and from its depths, an eye blinked awake.

An unholy gaze pierced through the veil, spilling forth waves of corrupted energy. The very world shuddered under its presence.

The skies turned a deep, blood-drenched hue, and a violent gale expanded outward, scattering raindrops like bullets. The heavy storm clouds were ripped apart in an instant.

Emrys’s magic circles faltered. Then, one by one, they collapsed, igniting into dazzling eruptions of mana. The shockwaves from countless detonations sent cracks splintering through the battlefield. Buildings crumbled.

The very air fractured like shattered glass.

But the world would not yield so easily.

It began to mend. The fractures healed, but before the rifts could fully close, something pushed through. Pale hands clawed their way from the void, forcing the gaps wider.

The battle had only just begun.

..

With a silent exchange, Lyra and Vaelith split away from Lugh, eyes fixed on three figures perched atop a ruined rooftop.

Without hesitation, Lyra struck first. Her auburn hair flared to life, lengthening drastically before lashing out like javelins. They pierced through wood, tore through stone, seeking to crush the structure, or at the very least, destroy its foundation.

The enemy scattered.

Two white-haired figures and one with jet-black hair leaped off the crumbling building. As they soared through the air, Lyra’s strands lashed again.

One of them was caught midflight and yanked to the ground with terrifying force.

A sickening crunch followed. Blood pooled. The body was broken beyond recognition.

Then, it changed.

The corpse cracked apart, revealing nothing but stone within.

An illusion.

Lyra hissed under her breath. She hadn’t expected the enemy’s mana to have recovered enough to weave illusions so soon.

Things were about to get complicated.

Just as Lyra thought this, the rain shifted. The falling droplets crystallized midair, hardening into icy hailstones.

Vaelith had begun her move.