Last Gun Alchemist

Ezra looked at Vera, who remained as calm and observant as ever.

However, he could see that her mood had changed slightly.

There was a faint trace of excitement behind her dull expression.

Not the kind of excitement that caused someone to smile or become restless.

Vera simply looked more awake.

And more interested.

She had already experienced Ezra’s martial art with her own body, and now that it was her turn to show Ezra the Martial Art, she wanted him to understand, there was a subtle anticipation in her eyes.

Vera moved.

Her body shot forward.

The distance between them disappeared in a blink.

Ezra reacted immediately, moving a step backward while shifting his body slightly to the left. His hands rose at the same time, his muscles remaining loose as he prepared himself to guide her incoming attack away before returning with a counter.

But...

Ezra’s eyes flinched.

Vera’s body stopped.

No.

It hadn’t actually stopped.

At least, not completely.

Her right hand had already been coming toward him in a punch, and the speed behind her forward movement had made the attack appear certain to continue.

Yet in that instant, everything changed.

Her momentum seemed to disappear.

The punch stopped just before entering his range.

Then, within the same motion...

Vera’s left hand dropped.

Her body twisted.

The attack she had originally begun with was immediately switched into a spinning hook kick.

Everything happened so fluidly and quickly that Ezra almost lost track of the transition.

There had been no pause between the movements.

No obvious preparation.

One attack simply flowed into another.

Ezra reacted sharply.

He raised his arm to block while moving his free hand into position for a counter.

But...

Once again.

Vera’s attack stopped before it could reach him.

Her body remained in the middle of the movement for less than a moment before she changed again.

In a blink...

The attack became something completely different.

Vera flexibly maneuvered her body while maintaining the same motion of the hook kick.

Her waist shifted.

The angle of her raised leg changed.

Then the spinning strike transformed into an axe kick.

Ezra moved several steps backward.

This was his first time facing something like this.

Vera’s level of flexibility allowed her to change an attack in the middle of its execution, smoothly switching from one movement into another without giving her opponent enough time to fully understand what was happening.

That alone showed how strong her control over her body was.

Bang!

The axe kick descended toward the floor.

But instead of landing with her heel...

Vera’s toes touched the ground first.

The change was small.

Yet Ezra immediately noticed it.

The position that had looked like the end of an axe kick instantly became a running stance.

And in that moment...

Whoosh!

Vera moved again.

Ezra stabilized his stance.

His right foot shifted slightly against the floor before his body followed.

He moved forward.

His right hand shot out in a fast palm strike toward Vera.

But...

His palm passed through her.

Ezra’s expression changed slightly.

Vera’s body had faded directly in front of him.

The sudden speed at which she moved made it seem like an illusion, but Ezra immediately understood that it was nothing more than an afterimage created by her sudden movement.

His plain black eyes dropped instantly.

Vera’s left fist was already closing in on his stomach.

Ezra’s leg moved sharply.

His left foot stepped backward and slid across the smooth training-room floor, allowing his upper body to lean away from the incoming punch.

The fist passed dangerously close.

Only an inch remained between it and his stomach.

At least...

That was what Ezra thought.

Bam!

The punch landed.

The impact struck his stomach hard.

”Tsk.”

Ezra’s body bent slightly as the force spread through his abdomen.

He staggered backward before dropping to one knee, one hand pressing against his stomach.

”I clearly evaded that punch, though.”

He spoke while trying to understand what had just happened.

His eyes remained fixed on Vera.

She had already straightened herself.

There was no prideful smile on her face.

No sign that she was enjoying the fact that she had landed the hit.

She simply stood there calmly, waiting.

Ezra eyebrows frowned slightly.

However, he didn’t need much time before gaining a small understanding of what Vera had done.

”What have you learnt?”

Vera asked.

She could already see that Ezra had begun grasping something.

Ezra remained silent for a moment.

Then...

”It’s like a one-inch punch.”

He muttered to himself.

Vera tilted her head slightly.

A faint trace of confusion appeared in her dull black eyes.

She clearly didn’t understand what Ezra meant by a one-inch punch.

Ezra remembered the time when he had gone through the different types of Martial Arts from his past-self world stored inside the Book of Memories.

There had been information about a one-inch punch among the records he had read.

A type of strike that utilized...

A sudden burst of strength.

The memory became clearer in Ezra’s mind as he looked at Vera.

Her Martial Art style followed the Steel Snake Arts.

The principles of the Art were simple to understand in theory.

Evade.

Shift.

Create an opening.

Exploit it.

And finally...

Strike continuously.

However, the Martial Art Vera displayed while utilizing the Snake Arts was on a different combined level.

Everything about Vera’ Martial Art revolved around an extremely high level of control over the body and its strength.

It wasn’t merely about balance.

It wasn’t even limited to one’s center of gravity.

Vera’s movements had shown Ezra that the true foundation of the Art lay in controlling exactly how much strength entered every part of the body.

Her sudden speed had made it seem as though she had used Cognis Enchantment.

But she hadn’t.

She had simply controlled her physical force with enough precision to create that sudden burst of movement.

That was why her body could suddenly stop.

That was why a punch could appear to have lost its force before somehow landing with power.

And that was why she could change her attacks without needing to reset her stance completely.

The only thing was...

How was she able to utilize that control throughout her entire sequence of movements?

Ezra stared at Vera.

The more he thought about it, the more possibilities began appearing in his mind.

If I have this level of force control and apply it to my Tai Chi...

Ezra quietly thought to himself.

His mind was already trying to understand how Vera’s Art could be blended into his own.

Tai Chi focused heavily on understanding force.

Receiving it.

Guiding it.

And Redirecting it.

But Vera’s Art seemed capable of controlling the force produced by one’s own body at an extremely precise level.

The two concepts were different.

Yet...

Ezra could already see where they might connect.

He slowly stood up.

His hand left his stomach.

The pain from the punch hadn’t completely disappeared, since he wasn’t utilizing Cognis, but it was no longer enough to stop him.

”That makes our fight one-one.”

Vera said calmly.

Ezra rolled his shoulders slightly before flexing his arms.

”We still have time.”

His eyes remained on her.

”Your Art has piqued my interest.”

He added as he moved back into his stance.

Vera also took her stance.

”Same as yours.”

For a brief moment, the two simply stood there.

Their eyes remained fixed on one another.

Both of them had already learned something from the first exchange.

And that only made them want to continue.

”Show me more.”

The two spoke at the same time.

The next moment, they flashed forward without any hesitation.

Their bodies collided once again.

The two fought for many rounds.

Ezra won.

Then Vera won.

The winning strikes continued to change as the two of them kept observing, analyzing, and countering each other’s Arts.

Each exchange taught them something new.

Ezra gradually became more familiar with Vera’s strange changes in momentum. At first, her attacks had seemed impossible to follow, but after experiencing them repeatedly, he began noticing the small movements that came before her sudden changes.

The slight shift of her hips.

The movement of her shoulders.

The placement of her feet.

Vera, on the other hand, slowly became more aware of how Ezra guided her attacks.

She began to understand that his hands were not simply moving randomly to push or pull her.

Every movement had a purpose.

Sometimes he would guide her strikes away.

Sometimes he would use the force behind her own movement to turn her body.

Other times, he would deliberately give way, allowing her to believe she had found an opening before using the momentum of her advance against her.

Their bodies continued moving across the training room.

Bang!

Ezra’s palm struck Vera’s shoulder.

She moved backward.

Before she could fully stabilize herself, Ezra stepped forward.

But Vera’s body suddenly shifted.

Her leg swept toward his lower body.

Ezra jumped back.

The kick missed.

However, Vera had already used the motion to rotate her body.

Her other leg came around.

Ezra raised his arm.

Thud!

The strike landed against his block.

He immediately tried to redirect the force.

But Vera loosened her body at the same time, preventing him from guiding the attack as easily as before.

Ezra’s eyes narrowed.

She had learned.

Vera’s body moved away.

Then...

Ezra was suddenly in front of her.

His palm moved toward her chest.

Vera’s foot shifted.

Her body moved backward by the smallest distance necessary.

The palm missed.

Her fist came forward.

Ezra tilted his body.

The strike passed beside him.

He reached for her wrist.

Vera twisted.

The two continued.

Round after round.

Neither of them wanted to stop.

The more they fought, the more clearly the two Martial Art ideologies became visible.

Ezra’s Guiding Momentum Art.

Vera’s Instant Force Art.

By the end of their sparring...

Ezra had gained a small grasp of Vera’s Instant Force Art, while Vera had also gained a little understanding of what she thought as Ezra’s Guiding Momentum Art.

Of course, that didn’t mean either of them had mastered what they had learned.

The two understood that there was still a long road ahead before they could fully integrate the Martial Arts into their own techniques.

Understanding a principle was one thing.

Making it part of one’s instincts was another.

Still...

Their hand-to-hand combat abilities had already gained a major improvement.

They now understood something that they hadn’t understood before.

Of course, this also didn’t mean Ezra and Vera had shown everything they possessed.

Ezra had another technique that he had blended into his Tai Chi, and he hadn’t used it against Vera during their spar.

The same was true for Vera.

Neither of them had intended to completely expose every part of their abilities.

This had been an exchange.

A chance to learn.

Not a battle where one side needed to reveal everything in order to win.

Time passed.

And like that...

The First Day of the Grand First-Year Combat Festival began.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Fireworks exploded in the air.

The bright morning sky around the Main Administrative Center flashed repeatedly as colorful bursts spread across the open sky before disappearing into drifting smoke.

A Noble Private Dirigible owned by the Royal Academy floated through the air.

The large airship moved slowly above the surrounding buildings, making it impossible for the people below to miss the enormous poster attached to its side.

Bold words were written across it.

Grand First-Year Combat Festival.

On the ground...

The atmosphere was even livelier.

Noble and Royal Steam Buses arrived one after another.

Noble and Royal Steam Carriages rolled into the large parking area.

Some vehicles were already neatly lined up, while others were still moving into position under the direction of the Royal Academy’s security personnel.

Security men stood at different points around the parking area, directing the arriving vehicles and ensuring that the growing number of guests did not create unnecessary disorder.

There were even Royal and Noble Phantom Rolls.

Fordliners.

Winter Rollers.

Land Sailors.

And many other new vehicles that had been created with the ideologies Ezra had introduced into the vehicle production field.

Some were easily recognized.

Others were models that had only recently begun appearing across Britannia.

Their polished metal bodies reflected the morning sunlight as the vehicles slowly came to a stop.

Nobles of different statuses stepped out with servants and guards assisting them.

Some families arrived with only a few attendants.

Others had entire groups following behind them.

The same could be seen among the Non-Nobles of different levels of wealth.

Wealthy merchants.

Industrialists.

Small company owners.

And other influential citizens arrived with their families and personal guards, carrying themselves with the pride expected from people whose status allowed them to stand close to the world of the nobility without actually belonging to it.

Many of them were parents and family members of the first-years who were about to show the whole of Britannia how much they had grown as Alchemists.

Others were simply guests who wanted to watch the entire Festival in person.

The First-Year Combat Festival had always attracted that much attention.

Because the students competing were the future of Britannia.

Some could become future powerful Alchemists.

Some could even enter into other noble families through marriage, just from this.

Others could join the military, create companies, or make names for themselves through other paths.

No one could know who would rise in the future.

That was part of what made the Festival worth watching.

Shops selling merchandise of the popularly known first-years had also been set up around the area.

Some stalls displayed items connected to the more famous students.

Others sold snacks and drinks to the growing crowd.

There were also stalls selling Royal Academy merchandise.

And another section sold merchandise connected to past winners of the Festival.

Those former students had now gone on to become well-known Alchemists across Britannia, making their old victories part of the Academy’s growing history.

The entire place was filled with movement.

Cheerful conversations overlapped.

The sound of steam engines mixed with the voices of arriving guests.

Families moved together.

Some upperclassmen and servants, who came to watch their juniors, passed through the crowd.

Guards maintained order.

And as more people continued arriving, everyone gradually moved in the same direction.

Toward the Arena.