Gunmage
Chapter 77: Pinnacle of sorcery

Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Pinnacle of sorcery

Lugh had turned his puppet into a suicide bomber, and the result was nothing short of spectacular.

It didn’t matter if his opponent’s skin was as hard as diamond, the shockwave of an explosion at such close range would be enough to rupture internal organs.

When the dust settled, only charred, dismembered remains were visible amidst the smoke. A turning point in the battle. The second mage had fallen, and it was achieved using mostly mundane means.

Up ahead, the battle raged on with growing ferocity.

The world strained to repair itself, but pale hands clawed from the widening rift, prying apart the cracks in reality. The first of the creatures emerged, a grotesque, mist-shrouded horror with several mouths.

Emrys saw it and felt his mind jolt, but he did not die. He was far too old, and his mastery of magic had reached legendary heights.

These lesser horrors could impede his thinking, disrupt his mana flow, and wreak chaos, but they could not kill him with a mere glance.

Another crack split open. A massive, serpentine mass of pulsing darkness slithered free, a corrupted entity born from the abyss.

More horrors lurked beyond, desperate to breach the barrier, but Xhi acted swiftly, sealing the rift before further monstrosities could emerge.

She glanced downward. The battlefield was still swarming with struggling humans. It was far too soon to let this place become a true hellscape.

Yet even two horrors were enough.

Following Xhi’s command, the creatures surged toward Emrys, cutting through the sky with blistering speed. He refrained from looking directly at them, restricting his mana sensors to minimize the passive damage their existence inflicted on him.

An intense clash erupted, tearing through the air and shattering the sound barrier. The storm clouds above had long since been scattered, leaving only the blinding sun against a sky tinged red by the corrupted influence.

Magic was weakened in this tainted atmosphere, yet Emrys held his ground.

With a swift motion, he raised his arms. Magic circles flared to life around him, launching solar flares that homed in on their targets. The horrors recoiled, their advance momentarily stalled.

Emrys seized the opportunity. Hovering in the air, he rotated, using his very body to carve a massive magic circle.

The sky itself seemed to recoil as Emrys shaped his devastating spell. Wind howled, swirling into a monstrous vortex, its hunger pulling debris, bodies, and lingering rain into its spiraling grasp.

The very atmosphere twisted at his command, clouds parting, the sky distorted under the force of his magic.

The horrors struggled against the vortex, but they pressed on, pushing through the razor-sharp winds.

Then came the ignition. An instant, a mere flicker of golden light at its core.

The spark bloomed.

A firestorm erupted, roaring to life with a cataclysmic burst. A great tornado of flame ascended, a blinding pillar of wrath that seemed to support the heavens.

The ground cracked beneath its searing heat, stone and steel melting as all moisture in the air was vaporized in an instant.

The battlefield was drenched in unbearable radiance, the sky itself glowing orange as embers rained like hellfire

The horrors shrieked, their grotesque forms writhing. Blackened flesh peeled away as they were consumed by the divine conflagration.

Their bodies resisted, pulsing with eldritch resilience, but Emrys’ flames were relentless, an inferno that burned reality itself.

Slowly, the abominations were pushed back, their forms unraveling into nothingness as the rift trembled, sealing behind them.

But the firestorm had not ceased. If anything, it was growing larger.

Lugh.

Xhi’s voice echoed in his mind.

Yeah?

I’ll stop the attack. I need you to buy me some time afterward.

A pause. Then,

Alright.

Xhi moved without hesitation.

An inconceivable amount of energy, drawn from the countless dead in the capital, surged forward.

Her will stretched across the city. The residual souls of the fallen answered her call.

A dark miasma of energy thickened over the battlefield, it swept towards her in blackened waves, visible even to the naked eye.

A primal dread settled into the hearts of all who bore witness.

gods...

Lugh forced himself to stop shivering. He moved quickly, dismounting a large-caliber machine gun from the wreckage of a ruined armored vehicle, his puppet assisting him.

The weapon was far too heavy to wield alone, but he found an incline among the crumbling bricks of a collapsed building and perched it there, angling the barrel toward the sky.

By now, Xhi had amassed a staggering amount of mana. With deliberate effort, a force beyond comprehension, she seized the inferno.

The flames began to slow, their brilliant colors fading, drained to a monochrome stillness, the entire scene became frozen in black and white.

Time itself seemed to hold its breath.

Then—

A shattering eruption, an earth-rending force that detonated with cataclysmic violence. The inferno split asunder, its energies bursting outward in a colossal shockwave that scoured the land.

Buildings crumbled in an instant, walls ripped from their foundations, entire structures were leveled in the face of the unchecked destruction.

The sheer force flattened everything taller than a man, leaving only ruin and dust in its wake.

Emrys was revealed, coughing blood as he struggled to maintain altitude. His once-pristine robes hung in tatters, his hair disheveled. Having his magic forcibly severed had exacted an immense toll on his body.

Lugh didn’t hesitate.

The machine gun roared to life, vomiting a river of red hot bullets into the air. Emrys abandoned flight, redirecting all his magic to conjure a barrier.

It held—for half a second.

A single bullet he could block. Even a handful. But the unrelenting hailstorm of concentrated fire shattered his shield again and again, riddling his body with wounds.

None were instantly fatal, but they tore into his flesh faster than he could heal.

In an instant, he made his decision.

With a burst of wind magic, he accelerated toward the ground, letting gravity do the work. At the last moment, he arrested his fall with levitation, landing hard but alive.

He immediately channeled every ounce of mana into halting his bleeding.

The machine gun fire ceased.

Emrys breathed heavily, his expression twisted in pain as he glared at his assailant. His hair was wild and his hands bloodied. But, his rage was intense.

He would make the insolent fool who had caused him such agony suffer dearly.

But he wouldn’t have to wait long.

Lugh couldnt adjust his heavy weapon in time so he chose to abandon it. He drew his dagger. Alongside him, his puppet did the same.

And together, they sprinted toward the wounded Emrys, ready to strike before he could recover.