Last Gun Alchemist

”Found the key!”

Aliya’s voice echoed slightly through the narrow stone corridor. She stood at the end of a dead-end path in the maze, holding up a small rectangular card she had just taken from a long stone stool placed in the center of the space.

The place felt too quiet as always.

”Really?” Lime ran over to her, leaning forward to inspect it like he expected it to explode.

He grinned when he saw it.

”Wow. That was fast.”

”Who would’ve expected us to randomly find the key so quickly?” Bobby added, smiling widely.

”You can’t actually be sure it was quick,” Ezra said calmly as he approached. ”We don’t know how long we’ve been walking and searching.”

”At least say something like ’job well done,’ for once,” Aliya muttered, giving him a sharp side-eye.

”Just saying,” Ezra replied flatly.

Aliya sighed and handed him the key.

It wasn’t shaped like a traditional key. It was a smooth rectangular card and on its left edge were four small circular dots aligned horizontally.

”So, what now?” Bobby asked, peering closer. ”It doesn’t look like any key I’ve seen.”

”I think we register with blood,” Aliya said, glancing at Ezra for confirmation.

Ezra gave a small nod, but inside his mind.

Aren’t you the highline noble here, how I’m I supposed to know about a key like this?

Lime immediately pulled out a dagger. ”Let’s do it now.”

”Wait.” Ezra raised a hand.

”If we register here and another group steals it, they can easily overwrite us by just placing their blood again. So we do it at the exit, after facing whatever challenge is waiting there.”

”Oh.”

”Okay then,” Lime cracked his knuckles. ”Let them come. This new Lime is ready.”

”Yeah right,” Aliya muttered.

They continued moving through the maze.

Dead ends, turns.

Stone corridors that looked identical. They even found another key at one point but left it alone and continued their journey.

”We haven’t seen any groups,” Bobby whispered. ”I guess we might actually be ahead of the others.”

”Don’t jinx us,” Lime smacked his shoulder.

Bobby quickly covered his mouth. ”Sorry,” he muttered.

Aliya laughed softly at him while he was sulking, but her smile faded when she noticed Ezra.

He had stopped walking, his posture had changed and his eyes were fixed forward, sharp and distant at the same time.

”E...” she started to call him.

Bang!!!

Bang!!!

The corridor exploded with sound.

A barrage of bullets tore through the maze air, metal screaming as it cut forward.

They were aimed at Ezra, but because he was in front...Everyone behind him was in danger too.

Bobby and Lime froze for half a second, eyes wide.

Ezra and Aliya did not.

His dagger flashed out instantly.

Cling! Clang! Clink!

Bullets ricocheted as he angled his blade precisely, deflecting each one by inches. His wrist movements were tight and controlled, never exaggerated.

Aliya reacted just as quickly.

She snapped both rods together mid-step. The staff locked with a metallic click and she spun it in front of her body, intercepting the rounds that slipped past Ezra’s guard.

Sparks burst in the tight corridor.

Then...

Silence.

Four figures stepped out from the far corner.

Pamela, Cale, Nile and Jimmy.

Ezra’s eyes locked on her immediately.

”Pamela.”

”We finally face each other properly, Ezra,” she said coldly. ”Or should I say Zara. I don’t even care which name you prefer, but today you will die by my hands and I will atone for my brother.”

Her killing intent wasn’t subtle.

It pressed down on the air like weight.

”Lady Pamela? Zara?” Bobby whispered, stunned. What’s going on?

”What do we do?” Lime asked. ”Do we fight?”

”One minute you were confident,” Aliya shot back, tightening her grip on her staff. ”Now you want to run? Of course, we fight.”

Ezra raised his hand.

”No. You guys go ahead.”

”Eh?” Aliya looked at him like he had just stabbed her.

”Ezra, we can fight too,” Bobby insisted.

”It’s not about whether you can fight,” Ezra said quietly, eyes never leaving Pamela. ”This is my fight and I’ll be fine on my own.”

”You...!”

Aliya walked up and grabbed his collar.

”We are a group, you fool!” she snapped. ”Do you think we’re still weak? That we’ll hold you back? Maybe those two bird brains might...”

”What did we do?” Bobby and Lime whispered to each other, offended.

”But I won’t,” she said, staring straight at him.

Ezra looked back at her.

Blank, no anger, no reassurance.

Just distance.

Aliya’s fingers tightened in his collar.

It wasn’t about strength, it was about him always being alone, even when they stood beside him.

He prepared herbs substantial to not need Bobby’s help.

Studied different survival skill in other to do things alone.

Was reluctant to train the other while he continued training alone.

When they finally fought together, she had to sync to him—not the other way around.

He built himself like someone who never planned to rely on anyone. That fact fully clicked in her head.

She let go.

”Tsk. I thought we were getting close... or was that just you pretending?”

She turned. ”Let’s go.”

”Eh? We’re actually leaving?” Lime asked.

”We should stay!” Bobby protested.

”You heard me!” Aliya’s tone shifted. Commanding.

Bobby flinched. ”...Okay.”

They walked past Pamela’s group.

Cale smirked. ”Good choice, Aliya. I don’t want to kill someone I know.”

The others laughed quietly.

Aliya didn’t respond, she didn’t look back either. She just left with a sad look on her face.

Jimmy smirked at Ezra. ”How heroic of you. Sending your friends away so they don’t die with you.”

”Can we stop wasting time?” Ezra interrupted calmly. ”Pamela, I expected a one-on-one when we finally met, but this is better. Nice choice, using numbers.”

Pamela’s eye twitched slightly, but she kept her composure.

”Sharp tongue for someone about to die,” Nile stepped forward. ”Let me handle him alone.”

”No,” Pamela raised her hand. ”We do this how I planned.”

Pure hatred burned in her gaze.

”Okay, Lady Pamela”

Nile moved to her right and Cale to her left while Jimmy stepped behind her and Pamela stood at the center front. A proper formation.

Ezra laughed quietly at their arrangement.

Silence stretched.

Then...

Cale and Nile flashed forward from both sides, their speed tore air.

Ezra’s eyes tracked both movements, at the same time, he noticed something else. A fluctuation of Cognis...

Behind Pamela.

Jimmy was making preparation for an Alchemy.

Cale and Nile drew long swords in mid-run from their space bags.

Steel sang as blades descended.

Clash!

Ezra had already drawn two daggers from his space bag.

Left hand and right hand.

Both swords slammed into both daggers. The force was heavy.

”Ahhh!!”

Cale and Nile pushed together.

Ezra slid backward several steps, boots scraping stone.

He nearly lost footing...But stabilized instantly.

He exhaled.

Eyes scanning, positions, spacing, Jimmy’s hand posture, Pamela’s breathing, mapping everything in a second.

I always knew this day would come. He paused, watching the two ran towards him.

Now... how should I face her?

The question lingered in Ezra’s mind for a brief second as he stood there, staring at Pamela’s burning gaze.

He remembered Vera’s quiet plea.

Please, don’t kill her.

He exhaled slowly.

”I’ll think about that after I beat them.”

Without waiting another second, Ezra burst forward.

He didn’t retreat.

He didn’t circle.

He ran straight through the gap between Cale and Nile.

It happened so fast their eyes barely registered his movement.

”Huh?” Cale turned his head sharply.

”Was he that fast?” Nile muttered in disbelief as Ezra slipped past them like a passing shadow.

”Lady Pamela!” Nile shouted, finally realizing the direction Ezra was headed.

Pamela did not hesitate.

She pulled a revolver from her space bag in one smooth motion and immediately began firing at the rapidly approaching Ezra.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Each shot was measured and accurate, but Ezra’s body flowed between them with minimal wasted motion.

He leaned left.

He dipped right.

He twisted his torso.

One bullet passed so close to his cheek that he felt the heat scrape his skin.

Another he deflected with the flat of his dagger, the metallic impact ringing sharply in the corridor.

Then, in one seamless movement fueled by precise timing and enhanced arm strength through Cognis, Ezra hurled his second dagger toward Pamela’s chest.

The blade cut through the air with speed.

Pamela reacted instantly, striking the dagger aside with the barrel of her revolver.

The impact made her wrist tremble slightly, the vibration traveling up her forearm.

”Tsk... are you done, Jimmy?” she asked without taking her eyes off Ezra.

”Almost,” Jimmy replied, sweat already forming at his temples.

Ezra’s eyes flickered briefly to Jimmy.

The Cognis fluctuations behind Pamela were getting more intense and concentrated.

This alchemy was not for creating a Big-4.

He knew the highest Novice-ranked gun.

He knew its signature.

This felt heavier and denser.

Binder-ranked.

Cale, realizing he couldn’t catch Ezra in raw speed, pulled out a revolver from his space bag and fired from the side to intercept him.

Ezra pivoted sharply, blocking Cale’s shots with tight dagger movements before immediately rotating back forward to deflect Pamela’s continuing gunfire.

He was fighting in two directions simultaneously.

Nile finally caught up; sword raised high.

He swung violently at Ezra’s neck.

Ezra stepped inside the swing, the blade grazing air where his throat had been.

Nile followed with a thrust.

Ezra turned his torso slightly, the sword tip slicing only cloth.

”You silky bastard!” Nile growled, abandoning precision for anger as he threw a heavy punch toward Ezra’s face.

Ezra caught Nile’s fist mid-swing with his left hand.

The grip was tight.

In the same breath, Ezra’s right fist drove hard into Nile’s cheekbone.

The impact echoed.

Nile’s head snapped sideways.

His body lifted off balance and slammed into the stone wall of the maze.

”Nile!” Cale shouted.

But he didn’t stop advancing.

Cale dragged his blade across the stone floor as he charged, sparks flying behind him before he swung horizontally at Ezra’s head.

Ezra stepped back by the smallest margin possible, the sword slicing past his nose.

Then he countered immediately.

His dagger thrust forward toward Cale’s shoulder joint.

Cale blocked, but the edge of the blade still cut through fabric and skin.

A thin line of blood appeared.

”Argh!”

Cale staggered half a step back.

Ezra did not give him space to recover.

He spun his body and delivered a full rotational kick to Cale’s chest, enhanced subtly through Cognis at the moment of impact.

The force lifted Cale and sent him crashing across the maze floor.

As Ezra landed, his focus shifted instantly.

Pamela and Jimmy had completed the joint motion.

Both their hands were pressed against the arranged materials on the ground.

The Alchemy Circle beneath them, drawn with a white chalk on the ground, lit up and pulsed violently.

”Joint Alchemy...” Ezra muttered under his breath.

Cognis surged outward.

The weapon took form.

Heavy frame, wide barrel and a Drum magazine.

AA-12.

A shotgun bordering Adept-tier standards when created properly with a better high percent of Cognis.

”You didn’t expect this, did you?” Pamela gripped the forming weapon tightly, her breathing already strained from the Cognis output required.

”I knew even with numbers we couldn’t overpower you in close combat,” she continued, lifting the gun and aiming carefully. ”But with a fully automated shotgun...”

Her eyes sharpened.

”...everything changes.”

Ezra’s mind moved rapidly.

No time.

He reached into his space bag and pulled out two steel bars and clapped his hands in fluid motion.

Cognis flared between his palms as Pamela immediately pulled the trigger.

The AA-12 roared.

Five rounds per second.

It took only four seconds for the Twenty rounds Drum to be emptied in a relentless storm.

The corridor vibrated under the barrage as the shotgun rounds rushed toward Ezra like a solid wall of destruction.

In the narrow span of seconds before the storm reached him, Ezra slammed his Alchemy Circle onto the steel bars.

Metal liquefied and reformed.

Baske 1945. Fourth grade.

He tightened his stance.

Feet planted firmly and shoulders squared.

He knew the recoil would be brutal.

At least three rounds... his thought flashed.

The shotgun rounds were already meters away.

Bang!

The first Baske round exploded outward, colliding with the incoming shotgun barrage mid-air.

The resulting explosion tore apart the air between them.

The recoil forced Ezra backward a step.

His right arm screamed in protest, but he held on.

Bang!

Second shot.

His boots scraped the floor as the recoil slammed into him again.

His hand stiffened, but he held the grip firm.

Bang!

Third shot.

The collision of rounds triggered a violent explosion inside the corridor.

Stone fragments cracked loose.

Pamela was thrown backward onto the floor.

Jimmy, drained beyond his limit, collapsed as his Cognis snapped thin.

Ezra himself was blasted backward, disappearing into smoke and dust.

Silence fell except for ringing ears.

”Is he dead...?” Pamela whispered as she pushed herself up painfully.

She squinted through the smoke.

For a second...Nothing.

Then...

A silhouette appeared.

Standing.

Holding the Baske in one hand.

The smoke slowly parted around him.

Ezra stood there, breathing heavily, clothes scorched and blood trailing from the corner of his mouth.

But alive.

Pamela’s grip tightened unconsciously.

Ezra spat blood onto the stone and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Then...

His senses screamed making him turn sharply.

”That’s enough, Pamela.”

A male voice echoed from behind him.

Ezra’s head snapped around.

Two more groups had arrived.

Seven figures.

Each holding an Acu-Vector Mk.I.

Seven muzzles aimed directly at him.

”We’ll take it from here,” the boy said calmly.

He gave a signal.

Seven triggers pulled at once.

The air filled with an overwhelming storm of needles.

Hundreds of projectiles surged toward Ezra simultaneously, covering his entire field of vision.

There was no gap, no clear escape lane.

Just a metallic rain closing in from every angle.

For the first time since the fight began...

Ezra’s heartbeat skipped.

”Fuck,” he whispered under his breath.