Gunmage
Chapter 79: Rift and ruin

Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Rift and ruin

Lyra’s enchanted sword was unlike Lugh’s blades. While his carried a passive enchantment, hers bore two active ones, making it a completely different beast on the battlefield.

Its primary ability was ’Rift Edge’ as they had named it. A technique that bent space itself, allowing the blade to slip through reality and strike from unpredictable angles mid-swing.

A deceptively simple concept, yet its applications were profound. The sword’s previous wielder had mastered its higher functions, shifting through space itself as though stepping between worlds.

Through her weapon alone, Lyra could stand against top-class mages without ever tapping into her own magic. And when she did, he devastation was absolute.

Now, she and Vaelith were locked in a deadly struggle, the battlefield was a maelstrom of chaos.

Firestorms roared in the distance, deafening shockwaves shattered the ground, and the very air felt starved of mana. Anything could go wrong at any moment as the balance between life and death kept shifting with each heartbeat.

Then, Xhi’s voice echoed in Lyra’s mind.

Help Lugh.

Her grip tightened on the hilt. A flicker of hesitation crossed her mind, could she afford to abandon Vaelith?

The elf fought well, but her magic was... unconventional. Unlike most mages who followed structured schools of thought, Vaelith’s spellwork was a chaotic mess, a haphazard collection of techniques with no true foundation.

It was unpredictable and versatile, but ultimately flawed.

That said it was better than most. And her physical combat skills were monstrous.

Not that it mattered if she couldn’t close the distance. Their opponent’s illusion magic was suffocating, more a means of control than outright destruction.

Every time they thought they had an opening, it slipped away like mist.

Lyra, hurry.

Xhi’s voice came again, more urgent this time. Lyra scanned the battlefield and spotted Lugh locked in combat with... an elf?!

There was no more time to hesitate.

Her mouth opened, and she mimicked the sound of an explosive mine.

The result was instantaneous.

A violent detonation ripped the earth apart, blue flames consuming the space where the enemy mage had stood just moments ago. She didn’t waste time checking if it was an illusion. Her focus was already on her blade.

"Now!"

Lugh’s voice rang out, and in the next instant, she tore through space. One moment she was standing amidst the chaos, the next she was behind him, her sword already swinging in a clean, precise arc.

The puppet before them was split in two, revealing the man behind it, Emrys

The vile mage was heavily wounded and disoriented, yet his instincts had not dulled. With pure reflex, he staggered back just enough to avoid immediate death. But not unscathed.

Lyra’s blade bit into his robes, a shallow but precise cut tracing across his stomach. The wound alone wasn’t lethal. The enchantment, however, was another matter entirely.

The second ability of her sword—Entropy.

Before Emrys could react, his flesh began to rot. The decay spread visibly, crawling from the wound outward, as though time itself had turned against him.

His lips curled in frustration, his hands instinctively channeling the meager mana he had recovered into his famed healing arts.

The process slowed, but it did not stop.

"A curse?"

He muttered, eyes darting to the blade in Lyra’s hands. His gaze darkened with something between rage and revulsion.

"An enchanted weapon"

He sneered.

"Vile, disgusting thing."

His fingers brushed against his abdomen. The wound remained. Unhealed.

He looked back at Lyra, his expression becoming resolute.

"Then I suppose I’ll just have to kill the wielder and take the weapon for myself."

His hand dipped into his robes, retrieving a small glass bottle filled with a shimmering red liquid.

"Stop him!"

Lugh sensed it instantly, his instincts screaming danger. He reached for his sidearm, pulling the trigger twice.

Two bullets tore into Emrys’ torso. He jolted back but did not fall.

The red liquid disappeared down his throat. A moment passed, then a crimson haze erupted from his body.

The battlefield stilled.

Everyone, Lyra, Lugh, Vaelith, and even their enemies, felt the shift.

A crushing, unnatural force swept over them, suffocating, overwhelming and extremely repulsive.

Selene, the white-haired woman, was the first to act. Her eyes widened in horror. She turned and ran.

"I’m leaving."

She vanished without waiting for a response, fleeing the battlefield as fast as she could.

Lugh could hardly breathe.

His pulse hammered in his ears as he realized what Emrys had done. The man had burned through his own life force. The magic was twisted and corrupted, made possible with alchemy born of something truly abominable.

They had no chance in hell.

Lugh’s instincts screamed at him to run. He grabbed Lyra’s wrist, yanking her into a sprint.

"We have to—"

They were too late.

Emrys had already moved.

But just then—

Xhi, whom they had all nearly forgotten, hovered high above the battlefield, her arms outstretched as though embracing the heavens.

The air around her shimmered, reality itself bending beneath the weight of the incantation she was weaving.

"Seven Rings, the Pillar Divides. The Chains of Radiance, the Mouth of Ash.

Unhallowed Star, give forth thy decree. The First Dawn Awakens—it burns. Oh, it burns!

All hail the sun!"

The sky split open.

A vast, searing column of light descended with the wrath of an unshackled divinity, striking the battlefield like a judgment from the heavens.

The world itself seemed to shrink before its radiance. Shadows erased in an instant, swallowed by a tidal wave of incinerating flames that erupted outward, towering tens of meters high.

It was apocalyptic. The ground cracked and crumbled as the holy inferno swept across the land like an unstoppable flood.

And yet—

The fire did not touch them.

Not a single strand of their hair was singed. Their clothes remained intact. But the world around them was reduced to nothing.

Armored vehicles melted into liquid.

Stone walls crumbled to ash.

The massive magic circle suppressing them shattered.

And then, the earth collapsed.

The ground beneath them gave way, sending them all plummeting downward. Lugh crashed hard, his body rolling over debris and shattered stone.

When he finally came to a stop, he groaned, his mind reeling from the sheer devastation above. His vision slowly cleared.

They had fallen into ruins.

Not just any ruins.

Ancient, forgotten structures, carved from elvish stone, buried deep beneath the battlefield. Ruins none of them had known even existed.

And as the last of the fire’s glow faded above, darkness took its place.

They were trapped.