Last Gun Alchemist

"Ah... Ah... Ah... Ah..."

Jeremy panted heavily, each breath coming out unevenly as he struggled to keep himself upright.

Blood had already gathered around his mouth, and another thin stream slipped from his nose before running down his face and joining the blood that had already stained his clothes.

His chest rose and fell.

His hands trembled.

Yet he was still forcing Cognis into the Illusion Alchemy Circle.

"Tell that prick to hold his horse!"

Agnes shouted from across the battlefield.

Her voice cut through the clicking cries of the Young Ghost Crawlers as she raised her sword and looked toward the Elder Ghost Crawler.

"This is now our chance."

Hugh said, his breathing almost as rough as Jeremy’s.

His eyes remained fixed on the Elder Ghost Crawler.

The creature was moving aimlessly.

Its enormous legs dragged across the stone while its head shifted from one direction to another, still struggling to recover from the impact of Ezra’s Barrett M107.

Its eight violet eyes weren’t focused properly.

The creature seemed unable to gather its senses.

"I don’t know what gun Ezra used, but right now, I don’t feel affected by its illusion."

Hugh said as he adjusted his grip around his spear.

Wind began gathering around the weapon.

He prepared to execute his Wind Alchemy.

Agnes glanced toward him and nodded.

"Let’s clear the path for Samuel."

She tightened her grip around her sword.

The Scarlet Cognis moved faintly around her body.

Samuel stood behind them, already looking exhausted.

"Tsk. You guys are just working me to death, and I don’t even have that much Cognis left in my pool."

He complained.

Even while saying it, Samuel reached into his Space Bag.

He pulled out several Ironwood veins.

His fingers tightened around them.

The three of them brought their hands together.

Clap!

Their Alchemy Circles ignited.

Agnes and Hugh immediately stopped running beside Samuel.

They moved in opposite directions.

Agnes rushed toward the left side.

Hugh moved toward the right.

The Young Ghost Crawlers immediately noticed them.

"Kik-kik-kik-kik!"

"Kik-kik-kik-kik!"

Several of the creatures rushed forward, their many legs scraping against the stone floor.

Agnes swung her sword.

Slash!

A flame slash tore through the air toward the incoming creatures.

It struck one Young Ghost Crawler and threw it backward.

Agnes followed with another swing.

Slash!

A second wave of flame cut across the front.

At the same time, Hugh thrust his spear forward.

BOOM!

Compressed wind exploded from the tip.

The force struck the Young Ghost Crawlers rushing from the right and sent several of them crashing into one another.

Hugh stepped forward.

Another thrust.

BOOM!

Another group was pushed backward.

Agnes continued cutting through the creatures on her side.

Her sword moved from left to right, each swing creating another wave of flame that opened more space in front of Samuel.

The path wasn’t completely clear.

But it was clear enough.

Samuel stepped forward.

His hand slammed against the ground.

BAM!

A thin trail of blood slipped from his nose.

He ignored it.

His Wood Alchemy ignited.

The ground beneath him began to shake.

Crack...

Small cracks spread through the stone.

Then something forced its way upward.

Ironwood Vein Branches burst from the shaking ground.

They twisted around one another as they grew, their wooden bodies bending toward the Elder Ghost Crawler.

The branches reached its legs.

One wrapped around a limb.

Another crossed over it.

Then several more branches curled around the creature’s legs until they were locked together.

The Elder Ghost Crawler struggled.

Its enormous limbs pulled against the branches.

The wood bent.

Several pieces cracked.

But Samuel forced more Cognis into the Ironwood Vein Branches.

His breathing became rougher.

More blood dripped from his nose.

"I won’t be able to hold it if it wakes up!"

Samuel shouted.

He poured almost everything he had left into the Alchemy.

The effort was already reaching the point where he was putting his own mentality and life at risk.

Still, he didn’t release his control.

The Elder Ghost Crawler’s body shifted.

Its legs pulled harder.

The Ironwood Vein Branches strained under the pressure.

Samuel’s teeth clenched.

He knew that if the creature fully recovered, the branches would not hold it for long.

Diane saw the opening.

She passed Cognis into her legs.

Her body lowered.

Then she jumped out from behind the Ice Wall.

The force of her movement shattered part of the ice structure.

CRACK!

Fragments of ice scattered across the ground as Diane passed through the opening.

Ezra had already left his previous position.

He moved toward the upperclassmen, who were now close to their side.

His hands held the Glock 40 and Desert Eagle.

He quickly reloaded both weapons while moving.

A magazine clicked into place.

Then the other.

He raised the guns again.

The remaining Young Ghost Crawlers immediately rushed toward him.

Bang!

One fell.

Ezra shifted the Glock 40.

Bang!

Another dropped.

He moved his body to avoid a web flying toward his chest.

The white strand passed close enough to brush his white shirt before striking the ground behind him.

Ezra didn’t slow down.

He fired again.

Bang!

Another Young Ghost Crawler fell.

Above them, Diane continued descending toward the Elder Ghost Crawler.

A massive amount of Cognis gathered inside her palms.

She brought her hands together.

Clap!

Her Frost Alchemy Circle ignited.

The light-blue circle formed between her hands.

Her eyes remained fixed on the Elder Ghost Crawler.

The group had already decided on how they would attempt to capture it cleanly.

Ezra had first suggested something that sounded completely absurd.

The idea had been to use the Acu-Vector Mk.I. in a continuous firing order.

He would keep firing at the same spot, making sure that at least five of the needle flourishes struck the same location repeatedly.

If five needles could pierce through the same area of the Ghost Crawler’s hard armor, they could eventually penetrate deep enough to reach its brain.

And kill it cleanly.

The idea had sounded ridiculous to everyone.

Especially when considering the type of gun the Acu-Vector Mk.I. actually was.

But Ezra believed it was something he could accomplish, and the others simply had no way of knowing whether he could actually pull it off.

So, Diane had offered another method.

A Frost Alchemy that could internally freeze part of a living creature or a non-living object.

It was difficult to perform at their current stage.

But for Diane, it was possible.

And that was the method the group had chosen.

Light-blue Cognis shaped like lightning flowed into Diane’s left hand.

She stretched it toward the Elder Ghost Crawler.

The creature was still in its concussed state.

Its legs continued struggling against Samuel’s Ironwood Vein Branches.

Diane’s hand moved closer.

The Frost Alchemy gathered around her palm.

She was getting a bit closer to the Elder Ghost Crawler.

"KRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

The Elder Ghost Crawler suddenly screamed.

Its head snapped upward.

Its eight violet eyes focused.

The creature had regained consciousness.

Diane’s expression changed slightly.

The scream didn’t remain a simple sound.

It spread.

The surrounding air distorted.

The cave walls seemed to move.

The stone floor beneath Diane’s feet changed.

Her eyes widened.

The environment around her was no longer the Ghost Crawler’s nest.

And she wasn’t airborne, descending towards the creature.

She was standing inside a room.

A familiar room.

The moment she realized where she was, a figure appeared before her.

Her brother.

He looked down at her with those cold light-blue eyes.

"You will forever remain lonely while being in my shadow."

His voice echoed through the room.

Diane’s prepared Frost Alchemy began to fluctuate.

Her Cognis wavered.

Her hand trembled slightly.

The Alchemy that had been prepared to strike the Elder Ghost Crawler began losing its stability.

But Diane wasn’t the only one affected.

The entire group had been caught.

Jeremy suddenly found himself somewhere else.

He was looking at his friends and classmates walking ahead of him.

He tried to move toward them.

He tried to reach them.

But his body couldn’t keep up.

He was dead.

He could only watch them continue walking farther away.

His mouth opened.

But no voice came out.

Emily saw her step-sister.

The members of Tempest stood around her.

They were laughing.

Mocking her.

Calling her a dirty blood of the House.

The laughter surrounded Emily from every direction.

She clenched her fists.

Her breathing became uneven.

Agnes saw herself being expelled from the academy.

She stood outside the place she had worked so hard to enter.

The eyes of others were filled with disappointment.

She was a shame to her House.

A shame as a member of the Burnwick’s Lines.

Her sword slipped slightly in her hand.

Hugh saw his mother.

She continued working hard to provide a good life for him and his siblings as Non-Nobles.

But the money needed to treat their ill father was becoming scarce.

Less.

And less.

And less.

Hugh stood there watching everything crumble.

He was the last hope his family had.

After graduating from the Royal Academy, he was supposed to get a good job, return home, help his mother, and finally provide enough money to properly treat his father.

But the future he had been fighting for was disappearing before his eyes.

Samuel saw his fiancée.

She had betrayed him for a Young Noble man who is a close follower of Prince Daniel Aethelmont.

He watched the scene unfold again.

Yet what hurt wasn’t the betrayal itself.

The Young Noble man didn’t even care about her.

She had only been one of those girls he wanted to have fun with before throwing her away like trash.

Then she blamed him.

She blamed him for not doing enough to protect her from making that mistake after she had lost her chastity over something stupid.

Samuel stared at the scene.

His face remained still.

But the memory was there.

The words were there.

The humiliation was there.

And the Elder Ghost Crawler was using all of it.

Then Ezra saw himself back at the Sterling Mansion.

His body froze.

The underground prison appeared exactly as he remembered it.

The moment when everything had ended.

The moment he killed his mother with his own hands.

His fingers tightened.

The gun was in his hand.

The same gun he had used.

The only person who had truly cared for him stood before him.

And he had shot her.

He had killed her with his own gun.

He had killed his own mother.

The memories surrounded every member of the group.

None of them could immediately distinguish the Illusion from reality.

Their deepest pains.

Their secrets.

Their fears.

Everything they tried to keep buried had been dragged to the surface.

The Elder Ghost Crawler had found the perfect way to fight them.

It didn’t need to overpower them directly.

It only needed to make them fight themselves.

This was its checkmate.

Around them, the Young Ghost Crawlers began closing in.

Emily’s Storm Field flickered.

The navy-blue lightning weakened.

The wind became unstable.

Jeremy’s Illusion Breaker began to fade.

The dark-purple light across his body became weaker as his Cognis started running low.

Samuel’s Ironwood Vein Branches began loosening around the Elder Ghost Crawler’s legs.

The wood trembled.

One branch cracked.

Crack.

Another began pulling away.

All of their Alchemy was starting to cancel.

And in the middle of it all...

Ezra stopped shooting.

***

A question was asked...

Several days before the group entered the Black Zone, Kent approached Nine while he was busy with his research.

"Yo, Nine."

Kent waved his hand as he walked over.

Nine didn’t immediately respond.

His attention remained fixed on the small organism placed beneath the microscope in front of him. One hand rested beside the instrument while the other carefully adjusted its position, allowing him to observe the tiny creature from a different angle through the lens.

"What do you want, glass boy?"

Nine finally replied.

His tone was flat, and he didn’t even bother looking at Kent.

Whatever Kent wanted could wait.

Right now, his research is more important.

Kent’s expression changed slightly.

"You can ask me for a favor, and now I can’t even talk to you without you showing me that expression."

He said, acting hurt as he placed a hand against his chest.

Nine finally stopped adjusting the microscope.

He slowly looked toward Kent.

His arms folded across his chest.

"Speak. I want to get back to my research."

His eyes remained on Kent, clearly making it obvious that he didn’t have much patience to spare.

Kent’s playful expression faded.

He looked at Nine with a slightly more serious expression.

"Why did you want to know about my students and their hidden personalities?"

The room became quiet for a moment.

Nine’s expression remained unchanged.

But his attention had finally moved away from the microscope and toward Kent.

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