Last Gun Alchemist

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

The two handguns collided with several of the incoming Blood Needles while Ezra continued spinning through the air.

His body rotated smoothly, using the momentum of his jump instead of trying to stop himself in midair. The two handguns moved in the air redirecting the blood needles away from him.

Then, during that same motion, Ezra pushed both hands into his Space Bag.

His fingers reached inside.

For an instant, his hands disappeared into the strange storage space.

Then they came back out sharply.

Several daggers flew from his Space Bag and spread through the air toward the incoming Blood Needles.

White Cognis was already flowing through the circuit systems inside the daggers.

Thin lines of light appeared across their surfaces as the Cognis completed the circuits, and the moment the systems fully ignited...

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Explosions erupted between the two fighters.

The blasts pushed air outward across the platform, scattering loose snow and small pieces of stone.

Several Blood Needles were knocked away from the space where Ezra had been, while others were caught directly in the explosions and melted apart under the heat and force of the explosive daggers.

For a moment, the space between Ezra and Desmond was filled with smoke, fragments of blood, and the fading glow of Cognis.

But Ezra didn’t stop after blocking the Blood Needles.

His boots touched the ground.

The instant he landed, his knees bent slightly to absorb the impact, and his body straightened without wasting another movement.

His hand went into his Space Bag again.

Several more daggers appeared between his fingers.

Ezra threw them toward Desmond’s position.

Desmond immediately sensed the danger.

His crimson eyes shifted toward the incoming weapons, and he pushed off the ground.

He jumped upward while controlling the Blood Needles scattered across the platform. Several of them had already stabbed into the ground, while others had fallen flat after being knocked away by the explosions.

Desmond pulled his hand.

The blood responded.

The Blood Needles shifted around him as he moved through the air.

Then...

Boom!

A small explosion ignited from the position where Desmond had been standing.

Smoke rushed upward.

A few flames remained on the platform, flickering against the cold air while small pieces of broken stone rolled across the ground.

”There it is!!”

Patrick suddenly shouted.

He had stood up from his seat without realizing it, one hand gripping his microphone as he stared at the fight platform.

”The explosive daggers from Ezra Ashenlocke!!”

His voice carried through the Arena.

The audience immediately became even louder.

”Those are the special daggers!”

”So, cool!!”

”He used them again!”

”Look at the explosions!”

The excitement spread through the stands as people pointed toward the platform. Even those watching through the Skynet broadcasts were unable to look away from the fight.

The cameras shifted between Ezra and Desmond, following the two Young Alchemists as the smoke began to spread across the stage.

This was no longer the same fight the audience had been watching earlier.

Ezra had already shown that he could dominate Desmond in close combat.

Desmond had answered with Blood Alchemy.

Now Ezra was bringing out another weapon.

And nobody in the Arena knew how far the rematch would go.

Back on the fight platform...

The blood continued moving.

It flowed in liquid form across the ground toward Desmond’s position, which was still covered by smoke and small flames.

The crimson liquid gathered around his feet.

At almost the same time...

CLAP!

Both Young Alchemists brought their hands together.

Ezra had already drawn his two handguns back to his position.

His other hand reached inside and pulled out three more Black Steel Bars, one Orichalcum Bar, and two Limestone pieces.

He threw the materials across the platform floor.

The moment the materials touched the ground, the air around Ezra began to change.

Cognis fluctuations spread from both fighters’ positions.

Ezra’s white Cognis became denser around his hands.

His palms separated slightly.

A Gun Alchemy Circle formed between them.

He immediately slammed one hand onto the ground.

The circle ignited.

White light spread across the platform.

The Desert Eagle and Glock 40 that had been dropped on the ground were drawn into the Alchemy process, joining the three Black Steel Bars, the Orichalcum Bar, and the two pieces of Limestone.

The materials began to melt.

Metal softened first.

The Black Steel Bars lost their solid shape and flowed like dark liquid. The Orichalcum followed, its surface shining beneath the white light of the Alchemy Circle, while the Limestone broke down and mixed into the process.

The melted materials flowed toward one another.

They compressed.

Then they began to take shape.

A long barrel formed.

The body followed.

The stock extended backward.

The weapon continued to assemble itself piece by piece as the Gun Alchemy shaped every part into the structure Ezra had already memorized.

Then the Alchemy finished.

The materials had been modeled and formed into...

AWM .338 Lapua.

A long-range precision sniper rifle.

Ezra looked at the weapon for only a moment.

Among all the modern firearms he could study through the Book of Memories, the AWM .338 Lapua was one of the sniper rifles that fit what he needed at the Adept rank.

There were stronger sniper rifles he wanted to create.

The Barrett M107 and Barrett M82 were already among the firearms he had converted into Gun Alchemy Circles, but both were far above his current rank in terms of what he could safely execute.

Even the Mauser Tankgewehr M1918 was another example.

The anti-materiel rifle had been introduced by the Evergrey’s after they signed a contract for the rights to the rifle with the people of Germany, but even that firearm belonged to the Arcanist rank.

Ezra couldn’t create those weapons yet.

So, when he thought about what he needed now, the answer was simple.

He needed a strong sniper rifle that belonged within the Adept rank.

The AWM .338 Lapua was that weapon.

Ezra’s hands closed around the rifle.

His left eye moved toward the Schmidt & Bender PM II 5–25×56 scope mounted on top.

He lowered himself into a kneeling shooting posture.

One knee touched the platform while the other leg remained raised enough to support his body.

His cheek settled against the stock.

His left eye aligned with the scope.

The world seemed to narrow.

The crowd was still shouting, but Ezra’s attention had already moved beyond them.

Through the scope, the smoke became clearer.

He could see movement inside it.

Ezra’s expression did not change.

It was almost as if he already knew what Desmond was about to do.

Then...

Bang!

At nearly the same moment...

Whoosh!

Two sounds echoed through the Arena.

From the smoke-filled area above the platform, something crimson suddenly shot downward.

A blood laser-like jet descended toward Ezra.

But Ezra had already fired.

The bullet left the AWM .338 Lapua at the same moment the Blood Laser emerged from the smoke.

His timing was precise.

The Schmidt & Bender PM II 5–25×56 scope had already magnified the scene for him, allowing Ezra to see the movement inside the smoke before the Blood Laser completely emerged.

CLASHHHHHHHH!!!!

The bullet collided with the Blood Laser.

The impact didn’t stop the blood completely.

Instead, the compressed blood split around the bullet and rushed to both sides.

The wind around the collision point became violent.

The redirected blood struck the platform on both sides of Ezra.

Psssh!

Psssh!

The blood pierced holes into the stone surface with ease.

Small pieces of the platform broke away and rolled across the snow.

Ezra didn’t panic.

He remained in his kneeling shooting posture, keeping the AWM .338 Lapua raised as he looked through the scope.

His breathing remained steady.

His finger moved.

Bang!

He fired again.

The second bullet entered the Blood Laser before the first had completely lost its force.

Then Ezra fired another.

Bang!

The third bullet traveled through the opening created by the first shot.

It wasn’t random firing.

Each bullet followed the path created by the previous one.

Ezra watched through the scope.

Bang!

The third bullet struck the back of the second bullet, then the second bullet did the same to the first bullet.

The impact increased the forward force of the first round.

The first bullet surged farther through the Blood Laser.

Ezra’s finger moved again.

Bang!

Another shot.

The same thing happened.

The fourth bullet followed the path of the earlier shots.

Then, as it traveled through the air...

Bang!

The front of the fourth bullet struck the rear of the third bullet.

The chain of impacts sent the first and second bullets farther forward.

They tore through the Blood Laser.

The compressed blood began to break apart around the holes created by the bullets.

A clear opening appeared inside the smoke.

It looked almost like a large hole had been punched through the center of the cloud.

Ezra saw what was behind it.

Desmond was floating in the air.

His two hands were pressed together, and the Blood Laser was being released from between his palms.

The force of the attack had been strong enough to keep his body suspended.

But now the sniper bullets had pierced through it.

The support keeping Desmond in the air was gone.

His body began to descend rapidly.

Desmond reacted immediately.

He twisted his body slightly while drawing more blood toward himself.

The blood gathered beside his arm.

It compressed.

Then it spread into the curved shape of a scythe.

Clank!

Clank!

Desmond swung the Blood Scythe through the air.

The incoming sniper bullets were cut apart.

Ezra shifted his aim.

His eye remained against the scope as he followed Desmond’s descending body.

Once Desmond’s feet touched the ground.

Bang!

Ezra fired.

Desmond’s hand sharply moved.

The Blood Scythe swept across the bullet’s path and sliced through it.

The impact traveled through the blood weapon and into Desmond’s arm.

His expression changed slightly.

He could feel the force behind the shot.

”That’s one hard firing power, Ezra Ashenlocke!!”

Desmond shouted.

Then he jumped.

His body flashed forward.

In the next instant...

He was already in front of Ezra.

BOOM!

The Blood Scythe came down.

Ezra didn’t evade.

Instead, he brought the body of the AWM .338 Lapua upward.

The rifle met the Blood Scythe.

The impact pushed against Ezra’s arms.

But he didn’t try to overpower the blood weapon directly.

His hands adjusted their position.

The AWM .338 Lapua moved like a staff.

Ezra guided the Blood Scythe downward with the body of the rifle, turning the force of the strike toward the platform instead of allowing it to crash into his body.

The blade-like blood weapon struck the ground.

The platform cracked beneath it.

Ezra’s Cognis flowed from his hands and into the AWM .338 Lapua.

At the same time, his other hand moved toward his Space Bag.

He pulled out a leather rope.

With a quick Alchemy manipulation, the rope began to change.

The leather softened and melted under the flow of Cognis before spreading around the rifle.

The material fused with the AWM’s structure.

A strap formed along the sniper rifle.

Ezra moved without wasting time.

He placed his head through the black strap and shifted the rifle toward his back, securing it against his body.

His hands were already moving again.

Desmond noticed the movement.

He abandoned the Blood Scythe and stepped forward.

His elbow pulled back.

Cognis gathered around his arm.

He closed the distance and prepared another strike.

Ezra’s black eyes turned toward him.

The AWM was now secured against his back.