Last Gun Alchemist

After walking a short distance through the tunnel, they stopped. Ezra’s steps had grown uneven, his breathing rough. Pushing forward like that would only make things worse.

Aliya and Bobby helped him to the wall and lowered him gently to the ground. His back rested against the cold stone. Ezra immediately scrambled his hands into his space bag pulling out three blankets from the space bag and wrapped himself in them layer by layer until he looked like a cocoon. His face was pale, his nose red, his body shaking without him noticing.

Lime opened his own space bag and took out small pieces of wood. He bought them back at the market place in preparation for this Trial with the second trial in mind. He stacked them carefully and lit a fire close to Ezra. The flame crackled softly, its warmth slowly reaching him.

Ezra let out a weak breath.

”I didn’t expect you to be this weak to cold,” Bobby said, nervous, as he crushed herbs between his fingers.

”I’m surprised too,” Aliya replied. Her eyes stayed on Ezra.

No wonder he always wears a coat, every time I saw him back at the base, he was always on one or wearing a cardigan, she thought.

And now it’s soaked.

She picked the coat up and spread it near the fire to dry, glancing at Ezra again.

Now that she was really looking at him...

Her cheeks slowly turned red.

He wasn’t guarding himself. No sharp gaze. No calm smile. Just quiet breathing and shivers.

He looks so... cute.

She stepped closer.

”Hey, Ezra,” she said softly.

”Yeah...” His voice cracked.

”You must be in pain,” she said, pulling a clean handkerchief from her bag. ”The blood on your body will dry if you don’t clean it. And you should also change your clothes too since it’s wet. You do have extras, right?”

Her words came faster as her thoughts ran wild.

”Let me handle everything,” she said with a small giggle, reaching out.

”Huh?” Ezra looked up at her.

This girl... don’t tell me...

Before she could touch him, Lime and Bobby grabbed her arms.

”What are you planning to do to Ezra?” Bobby asked, alarmed.

”Let go of me!” Aliya struggled. ”I just wanted to...”

”To do what?” Lime asked, narrowing his eyes.

”You’re a girl, and he’s a boy,” Bobby snapped, face turning pink. ”You can’t touch him with that look in your eyes!”

Aliya froze, then turned red with anger.

”You’re acting like I was going to do something disgusting,” she said sharply. ”I just wanted to clean the blood and help him change. You’re the ones thinking weird things.”

She crossed her arms and looked away.

”What do you take me for?”

Lime and Bobby looked at each other.

A dangerous girl.

With a crush on Ezra... and Veda.

They nodded silently.

”What’s with those faces?” Aliya complained.

Bobby shoved her back lightly. ”The point is, no touching Ezra.”

”I’ll handle it instead,” Lime said quickly.

”No one is touching me,” Ezra said coldly.

All three froze.

He looked serious, though his voice shook.

”Bobby, just give me the heat stimulant,” Ezra said. ”I can handle the rest after.”

Bobby studied him for a moment, then nodded. ”Okay.”

He finished preparing the medicine while Lime sat down nearby. Aliya returned to watching the fire, poking it now and then so it wouldn’t die out.

”Tsk,” she clicked her tongue, unhappy.

A few minutes later, Bobby handed Ezra the stimulant. Ezra swallowed it, his body slowly easing as the medicine took effect. His shaking eased. His breathing grew steadier.

Still wrapped in blankets, Ezra crossed his legs and began circulating his Cognis.

Aliya noticed and frowned. ”He’s already circulating it? Shouldn’t you rest more?”

Ezra didn’t reply.

His mind was elsewhere.

The Ground Ape.

The timing.

The choices.

Should he have used the Baske 1945 earlier?

Should he have used his other trump card instead of pushing himself that far?

Thoughts rolled through him one after another.

Thank God I bought more materials after seclusion.

He flexed his fingers slightly inside the blankets.

Those special Alchemy Gloves... really came handy, they saved me.

His breathing evened out as Cognis flowed again.

***

Alchemy accessories and special clothes, important things that aided Alchemist more than normal.

Take the cape Ezra wore. When Cognis was injected into it, the fabric hardened and could be used as a shield. The Space Bag, a must have for all Alchemists of different paths used to carry their materials and other gadgets with ease and of mass number. Then there were the gloves. Unlike normal equipment, the gloves could store Cognis inside them. That meant an Alchemist wouldn’t burn through their own Cognis too fast.

The amount the gloves could hold was tied to the rank of Alchemist. An upgrade to the alchemy circle on the gloves would be done to match the Alchemist rank. At most, they stored a quarter of the Alchemist’s current level.

***

That was the reason Ezra could still create the Baske 1945, even after draining himself, almost dry.

Because of that, the gun came out wrong.

A half–Second Grade Baske 1945.

One shot was all it could handle before collapsing on itself. The nozzle shattered, warped by power it was never meant to carry. As Ezra reviewed the design in his head, using knowledge from the shard of memories, the problem became clear since that wasn’t the only reason the gun came out wrong.

After studying the designs and functions of shotguns and rifles from the shard of memories, he realized something was wrong with the gun.

So that’s the problem.

The Baske 1945 was built on a shotgun’s body; wide frame, thicker walls, tolerances meant for spread and lower pressure. But the moment Ezra traced the internals in his head, the illusion broke. The firing system behaved like a rifle, and the bullet moved like one too; tight, fast.

It was wrong.

The weapon was forcing a shotgun-born frame to swallow rifle-level pressure. Every shot would drive stress straight into places never reinforced for it. Not all at once, no dramatic failure, but slowly. The metal would tire. Microfractures would spread. Fasteners would loosen.

He signed

It wouldn’t explode on the first trigger pull.

But it would surely fail later. When it mattered most.

Ezra exhaled softly again. Whoever designed it hadn’t been careless. They’d just mixed two with only power in his mind.

He frowned.

I need to fix this.

Even if someone ranked above Binder tried to make a Sixth-Grade version, it would still fail. The foundation was too flawed.

That meant this gun was not something he could rely on freely.

He sighed.

I’ll only use it if things get truly bad.

He still had three other trump cards. Those gave him confidence. What surprised him was the Trial itself. He hadn’t expected them to throw a monster that needed a full-star Binder to kill.

His eyes opened.

”My Cognis still hasn’t recovered fully,” he muttered. ”But I’ve got about a quarter back.”

He stood up slowly and stretched. Bandages covered his hands. His muscles still ached, but he ignored it.

The others were asleep.

Ezra moved quietly into the tunnel and washed the dried blood from his body using warm water he had boiled over the campfire earlier. Steam rose as he poured it over his arms and chest.

”How many bottles of water do I still have?” He checked his space bag.

Plenty.

Food too.

”I haven’t eaten properly since entering this maze,” he said quietly. ”I’ve been using Cognis to fight hunger and thirst... but now that it’s low, I’m really feeling it now.”

He pulled out bland ration snacks. They didn’t taste like much, but a few bites filled the stomach. He ate, changed clothes, then tossed the blood-stained ones into the fire.

After that, he lay down and rested.

***

Hours later, Aliya woke up.

She rubbed her neck, wincing at the stiffness from sleeping on stone. When she lifted her head, she froze.

Ezra was already awake.

He was doing pushups.

”You’re awake?” she said.

”And you’re wearing your coat again,” she added, watching him. ”How do you feel?” she rubbed her eyes.

”Better than before,” he replied without stopping. ”When the others wake up, we should move to the next stage.”

”Yeah...” she said, still half-asleep.

She glanced at Lime and Bobby, both snoring peacefully.

Her eyes twitched.

She grabbed a handful of sand and threw it at them.

”Wake up!” she shouted, throwing more. ”I can’t believe a highline like me woke up first while you idiots sleep peacefully!”

”Mm...what...?” Bobby opened his eyes.

Sand went straight in.

”Argh! My eyes!” He rolled around, yelling.

Lime shot upright. ”What...are we under attack?”

Sand fell off his shoulders. He looked at Bobby, then Ezra. Ezra pointed calmly at Aliya, who pretended to be asleep.

Lime stared.

Aliya felt the gaze and stood up at once. ”Ah...what? You’ve been sleeping forever. Don’t you feel ashamed that an injured boy and a girl woke up before you?”

She crossed her arms. ”So, what if I threw sand? Big deal.”

Lime clicked his tongue and turned away. He pulled water from his space bag and helped Bobby wash his eyes.

”Thanks,” Bobby said, relieved.

”Aliya,” Ezra called.

”Eh?” She stiffened.

”You could’ve used something better to wake them,” he said, packing his sleeping bag.

She pouted and silently packed her things.

”Alright,” Ezra said once everyone was ready. ”Let’s move out. We don’t have time to waste.”

They stepped back into the tunnel together.