Last Gun Alchemist

Vera casually jumped backward, putting more distance between herself and Maxwell as the heat around the battlefield continued to rise.

Her boots touched the damaged ground for only an instant before she pushed herself away again.

Cognis continued to surge rapidly through her body.

Faint white streaks escaped from her skin and flowed around her limbs like thin streams of light, disappearing into the heated air almost as soon as they appeared.

Then...

BOOM!

A loud burst of wind tore across the platform.

The ground beneath Maxwell’s feet cracked from the pressure.

Maxwell spread both hands.

Above his head, the Golden Halo spun rapidly.

The ring rotated faster and faster as golden flames poured out from it, spreading through the air around him.

One Sun Ball formed.

Then another.

Then several more.

Within moments, the number had increased until hundreds of Sun Balls hovered around Maxwell, filling the space above and around him.

The sight alone caused the atmosphere in the arena to change.

Maxwell’s brown hair had begun to brighten beneath the golden light, strands taking on the same color as the flames surrounding him. His golden eyes glowed even more intensely as the heat continued to build.

The ground beneath his boots reddened.

Then the stones began to soften.

Small bubbles of molten material formed between the cracks as the temperature became high enough to affect the platform itself.

Hot steam rose from the ground.

The cheering from the crowd gradually died down.

People who had been shouting only moments ago now stared toward the center of the battlefield, watching Maxwell stand within the golden glow.

Even the spectators who did not understand anything about the details of Sun Alchemy could tell that something had changed.

This was not simply another attack.

Maxwell was gathering an enormous amount of power.

Several of Vera’s supporters looked toward their Lady.

The worry on their faces became harder to hide.

They had watched Vera fight through round after round.

They had seen her control firearms from different angles, overwhelm opponents with numbers, and move so quickly that even some Alchemists struggled to follow her.

But the power Maxwell was showing now made even them nervous.

Vera finally stopped moving backward.

She had created enough distance between herself and Maxwell.

The three BAR M1918s joined the remaining rifles hovering around her, their barrels still pointed toward him.

Vera glanced at one of her hands.

Sweat had already gathered across her palm.

”That’s a lot of heat.”

She said it plainly.

There was no fear in her voice.

Vera allowed white Cognis to spread across her skin, coating her body and helping regulate the heat entering her body. She also pushed Cognis through her inner body system, maintaining a balance against the temperature surrounding her.

Even with that protection, she could still feel the heat.

It was impossible not to.

The air itself felt heavy.

Her training clothes slowly became damp from the sweat forming across her body, but the heat was so intense that much of the sweat evaporated almost immediately.

Thin streams of hot steam rose from her skin.

Vera looked down at her hand again.

She did not wipe the sweat away.

She simply watched the faint steam disappear.

I should use Mass Alchemy to create more firepower for me...

Her thoughts remained calm, but they were moving much faster than her expression suggested.

But the best part to win will be to unlock that.

The Cognis building inside her body continued.

More and more white light filled her body until faint illumination could be seen beneath the surface of her pale skin.

Vera’s fingers moved slightly.

Her shoulders remained relaxed.

Then she looked toward the direction where Ezra was sitting.

”Ahhh.”

She sighed dramatically.

Golden light from Maxwell’s flames reflected across her face.

”The life I have to pay as an angry girlfriend.”

Her gaze remained on Ezra for a moment before she looked forward again.

A large amount of her Cognis suddenly flowed back into her brain.

It traveled through her body before reaching a particular area that seemed to have been coated with white Cognis.

The mass of Cognis pressed against that coating.

For a brief moment, nothing happened.

Then...

The pressure broke through.

It was like something snapping.

Vera’s vision instantly became blurry.

The entire world seemed to lose its shape.

For only a second, she could barely see anything.

And that second was enough.

Hundreds of Sun lasers were already moving toward her.

Vera raised her right hand and placed it against her face.

Her body staggered slightly.

The sudden movement caused several Ashenlockes watching from the seating area to flinch.

Their expressions changed immediately.

No one understood what had happened.

Why had Vera suddenly slowed down?

Why was she holding her face?

Why did she look as if she was struggling to see?

At the First-Year seating section...

Nina had been standing since the beginning of the final match, leading the cheers of the First-Year students supporting Vera.

She leaned forward over the railing.

Her hands gripped the edge.

”LADY VERA!!!”

Her voice came out in panic as the incoming Sun lasers closed in.

BOOM!

BOOM!

Explosions erupted around Vera’s position.

The Sun lasers struck the ground one after another.

The first impact tore through the platform.

The second followed before the steam from the first had even cleared.

Then another.

And another.

The barrage continued.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Hot steam flooded the battlefield.

The ground shook beneath the repeated impacts.

Chunks of stone were thrown upward before being swallowed by the heat.

Nina’s eyes widened in terror.

”Lady Vera!”

The barrage continued for another moment before Maxwell stopped the attack.

However, the Sun lasers did not disappear.

He suspended more of them in the air.

They remained above the battlefield, waiting.

Maxwell stared into the steam.

He wanted to see whether Vera had been injured.

The hot air did not remain for long.

Wind began pushing the steam apart.

The battlefield slowly became visible again.

Many spectators gasped.

Disintegrated holes covered the ground around Vera.

Some were shallow.

Others had been burned deeply into the platform.

The surface around them was blackened and cracked.

Yet Vera was still standing, and she had not been seriously injured.

Only part of her training clothes had been damaged.

Maxwell frowned slightly.

He did not waste time.

The hundreds of Sun lasers suspended above him began moving again.

Vera was still holding her face.

”Ahh, I hate this feeling.”

She muttered to herself.

Her firearms hovered around her, waiting for her command.

The V-01 VOLT remained in her left hand.

She lowered her right hand slightly and looked toward the incoming attacks.

But what Vera saw was no longer limited to the Sun lasers.

Her mind filled with possibilities.

One image appeared.

Then another.

Then dozens.

Then hundreds.

She saw herself moving to the left.

In another possibility, she moved to the right.

Another showed her bending backward.

Another showed her jumping.

Another showed Maxwell changing his attack immediately afterward.

The possibilities played through her mind almost like holographic images.

Some showed her avoiding the attacks without injury.

Others showed a Sun laser catching her leg.

Another possibility showed her taking an attack across the side of her body.

Another showed her suffering a much smaller injury.

They were all happening at once.

Vera’s thoughts became crowded.

And it was not only Maxwell she was seeing.

The spectators appeared in those possibilities as well.

People moving in their seats.

People cheering.

People eating.

People talking to the person beside them.

People quietly watching the battlefield.

She could hear them.

She could hear their thoughts.

And through those thoughts...

She saw their next actions.

One spectator raised a hand.

Another leaned toward a friend.

Another opened his mouth to shout.

Another looked toward Maxwell.

Every movement created another possibility.

Then another.

And another.

The number continued increasing.

Hundreds.

Hundreds.

And Hundreds.

Vera’s breathing remained steady, but the pressure inside her mind continued to build.

Nothing felt clear anymore.

Too much.

Her fingers tightened around the V-01 VOLT.

The world in front of her became filled with possibilities.

She could see too many answers.

Too many paths.

Too many things that might happen.

It felt as though she should pull her own brain out just to make the thoughts stop for a moment.

But...

BOOM!

A Sun laser crashed into the ground where Vera stood.

The explosion swallowed her position.

Yet Vera was already slightly ahead of it.

She had moved.

She slipped through the barrage before one of the attacks could close in on her, shifting her body at the last possible moment and bending slightly as the laser passed behind her.

Her movement was smooth.

There was no wasted motion.

The firearms around her moved with the same precision.

Vera shifted them into position while moving, using the body of the V-01 VOLT to block one of the attacks that came too close.

The force of the explosion pushed hot air across her back.

Her hair whipped behind her.

The ground beneath her boots cracked.

Vera raised a hand and wiped away the small amount of blood dripping from the corner of her eye.

The countless possibilities in her mind began to filter.

One after another, they disappeared.

She did not need all of them.

The one thing she needed to know.

And the one person she needed to watch.

Maxwell.

Her eyes settled on him.

She knew he was about to click his tongue.

”Tsk.”

Maxwell clicked his tongue.

Vera’s eyes narrowed slightly.

She had already seen the movement that followed.

Maxwell shifted his right side backward.

His stance changed.

Vera saw what came next.

BOOM!

Maxwell dashed in front of her.

The hundreds of Sun Balls above him began moving together.

The golden spheres joined into a larger mass as Maxwell moved his right hand forward.

A much larger laser began forming.

It was aimed directly at Vera.

Maxwell’s golden eyes widened.

One of the BAR M1918s had moved into contact with his right hand.

The rifle’s body touched him just as the Sun Balls gathered around his hand.

At the same time, Vera jumped backward.

The V-01 VOLT was already aimed at Maxwell.

KZZT!

Electrostatic lightning crackled from the mechanical section of the rifle.

The circular marking rotated rapidly.

Blue electricity gathered around the weapon.

Vera’s eyes remained fixed on Maxwell.

At the same moment...

BANG!

BANG!

The BAR M1918 and the V-01 VOLT fired.

Maxwell’s expression changed.

He could not completely gather the Sun Balls around his hand.

If he continued gathering them while the VOLT was aimed at him, Vera could shoot through both his hand and any section of his body before he finished the attack.

He did not want to give her that opening.

So, Maxwell released the Sun Balls he had already gathered.

The golden blast erupted.

At almost the same time, the BAR M1918 fired.

The two attacks collided directly on his right palm.

BOOMMMMM!!

A massive explosion erupted between Maxwell and Vera.

The blast pushed smoke and hot air outward.

However, the explosion was much closer to Maxwell.

He forced his hand forward, which had a small trail of blood and smoke around the center of his palm.

Still at the same time...

The remaining Sun Balls that he had not gathered responded immediately.

They moved between him and the incoming blue bolt bullet.

The Sun Balls intercepted it.

Another explosion erupted.

For a moment, Maxwell disappeared behind smoke.

Then...

He shot out of it.

His body spun through the air as he moved forward.

Sun lasers immediately followed.

They shot downward toward Vera.

Vera faded from her position.

One laser crashed into the ground.

She was already gone.

Another followed.

She shifted again.

Her movements were small, but each one carried her outside the path of the incoming attacks.

A third laser passed behind her.

Vera landed on the other side of Maxwell.

Her boots dragged across the ground.

She lowered her center of gravity as she stopped herself.

The V-01 VOLT remained in her hand.

The remaining firearms moved around her.

Maxwell’s body was still turning in the air.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Numerous gunshots sounded at almost the same time.

Maxwell’s senses immediately screamed at him.

Bullets were coming from multiple directions.

They were moving around him through the air.

And their timing was perfect.

His golden eyes shifted rapidly.

The fight had changed again.

Vera was no longer simply running from his attacks.

She was surrounding him with guns.