Chapter 9 – Futility

Chapter 9 – Futility

Approaching the door to the shopfront, Emily tightens her grip on her weapons and listens to the familiar conversation as she waits for the ideal moment to strike.

They looked really focused while casting that truth spell, I bet I can catch them off guard if I attack then.

“Miguel, is he telling the truth?” Diego’s question signals her chance.

Holding her breath, she stands and hooks the toe of her right boot around the door and swings it open past herself as Miguel begins his chant.

“-and my blessings of light...”

Emily points the crossbow in her left hand at Diego and the hand cannon at Miguel, then freezes.

Can I really kill a person?

Her split second of indecision costs her dearly, as Carlos spots her and dives towards Diego with surprising speed, throwing the knife from within his robes and yelling:

“Watch out! Armed gunner!”

Shit!

Emily pulls the two triggers in panic. She feels a slight jolt in her left hand, and a jarring kick in her right. The crossbow bolt flies past Diego’s head, narrowly missing him as Carlos tackles him to the ground. Miguel isn’t as lucky, a sizeable bullet punching a hole through his chest as he opens his eyes from his chanting in disbelief.

“Argh!” Emily cries out in pain.

Looking down, she sees the hilt of a knife jutting out of her stomach, she drops her weapons and starts reaching for her breast pocket to grab The Clock. While doing so she fails to notice the faint murmuring coming from Jose, only realising her mistake as a bolt of ice tears clean through her left thigh.

She falls to the ground with tears in her eyes, unable to support her weight on the injured leg. Grasping The Clock, she presses the rewind button and tries to ignore the pain as time slows.

̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

Congra...

_____

She sees a glimpse of a system message as her consciousness starts to fade.

***

“Aargh!”

Emily is jolted back to attention by a loud, familiar thundercrack.

“Damn that hurt!” she mutters to herself while rubbing her side and thigh, trying to forget the visceral pain still lingering in her mind.

I can’t give them enough time to react like that again. I need to be able to reset the second the fight starts to fall in their favour.

After shooing Herber away once again, she continues thinking over the failed fight she just started, remembering the system notification popping up at the end.

What was that? System.

̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

Congratulations on your first kill!

[Reward granted]

Sub-system unlocked: Progression

_____

Staring at the system message in shock, Emily starts to shake, remembering the look of horror and disbelief in Miguel’s eyes after she shot him.

Calm down, he deserves to die. They killed Dad. He deserves it.

She closes her eyes and follows her breathing technique to calm her nerves. After a few minutes, her shaking stops and she opens her eyes again.

“He deserves death,” she repeats aloud to reaffirm her determination.

Opening the system again, Emily sees a few changes. The top of the window is split into two sections labelled [Status] and [Progression]. There is also a small bell icon in the top right.

She focuses on the bell first and a small popup appears.

̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

[Notifications]

Mute notifications in combat? [Yes]/[No]

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Congratulations on your first kill!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Skill created: Basic Meditation (active)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Intrinsic skill created: Magic Network (passive)

_____

The list continues on, and she quickly realises it’s all the messages the system has sent her.

I guess that’s useful if I pass out again. Does muting mean I won’t get system popups in a fight? Can’t hurt to test.

She focuses on the mute option, selecting ‘yes’ instead. Navigating back to the main window, she selects the progression tab.

̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

[Progression]

[Circle/Stage:] First

Requirements:

-Intelligence 22/35 (Not Complete)

-Create 5/5 unique F rank machines (Complete)

-Create 0/1 E rank machine (Not Complete)

-Learn 0/5 first circle spells (Not Complete)

-Learn 1/3 basic magic knowledges (Not Complete)

_____

I assume completing all these requirements will make my circle and stage increase, but why is one of them already complete? It must count the machines I made before I got the system too. Neat!

“By divine power and the light of the stars,

mend all his ills and leave nought but scars.

For the strength of this blessing to ensure he is healed,

my life’s a small fee and to you it I will yield!”

A complicated glowing runic lattice of gold and red forms around Miguel and starts pulsing as a twisted crimson light flows out of him and into Diego.

Emily presses The Clock’s button and watches in rapt fascination as Miguel shrivels and Diego’s wounds heal.

***

Emily once again sets up beside the door, waiting for the moment to strike with all three of her weapons.

This is risky, I should really have The Clock ready to activate, but I can’t fight four mages with one hand. I only have two bullets for the hand cannon, and I won’t be able to get to the guards' post to steal more black powder in time to make extra, so I have to make them both count. Miguel was able to heal Diego, but it looked like a one-time use, so he’s still not a priority.

She calmly waits for her prey with the hand cannon and crossbow raised, a spare bullet for the cannon held between her fingers on the crossbow grip. The door swings open and Carlos steps in again. Emily fires a shot from the hand cannon, ripping a hole in Carlos’ heart and Diego’s shoulder once again.

“Argh! Kill her!” Diego screams again as Emily releases a bolt from the crossbow.

The bolt flies out, sailing past Diego and slamming into Jose’s chest, knocking him back. Emily rushes forward, dropping the crossbow and folding open the breach of the hand cannon, dropping the empty casing to the floor as she slides a fresh bullet into the chamber.

A blinding light flashes, but Emily predicts it, shutting her eyes and raising her hand cannon to fire at the source. Miguel drops, clutching his bleeding stomach as a new hole appears, and Emily opens her eyes again while reaching for the baton at her waist. Unfortunately, she doesn’t predict Diego’s fist connecting with her shoulder, sending her flying sideways into a display case, shattering it as she tumbles past with a searing pain in her arm

Fuck, he broke something.

Emily chokes out a breath, the shock of the impact stunning her as she struggles to stay focused and turn to her attacker. Before she can raise herself from the floor, a foot connects with her side, slamming her into the wall with inhuman strength, knocking the air from her lungs and cracking something in her chest.

She coughs up blood, clutching her chest as she forcefully raises her head, meeting Diego’s rage-filled gaze.

“Jose, Miguel, get up,” he hisses, never taking his eyes off Emily. “Kill everyone else in this house and heal me for fuck’s sake!”

Emily looks over in horror as the two nobles drag themselves up from the floor, clutching their wounds but still breathing.

How aren’t they dead? Those wounds should be fatal.

She notices the bolt in Jose’s chest is only buried to halfway up the shaft, and Miguel is surrounded by a warm golden glow that seems to focus on his stomach, holding back the blood trying to pour from the gaping wound.

Damn it, how hard are Jose’s bones? I need to aim for a weaker point, and Miguel can stop his own bleeding, so I need to kill him instantly too.

She presses the button on The Clock through her shirt without Diego even noticing, relaxing her hold on her consciousness as she falls back through time again.

***

Emily returns back to her room, sending Herber away and retrieving her weapons from their resting place once again. This time, instead of moving straight to the shopfront to set up, she drops her weapons onto her workbench and looks over them with a critical eye.

“I need to take better advantage of my surprise attack and land as many blows at the same time as I can,” she mutters to herself, glancing at the clock on her desk and considering how much time she has till the mages arrive. “I don’t have long so it has to be simple.”

Her eyes fall on the spare ammo for her hand cannon and an idea strikes her. She instantly springs up, rushing around her workshop and gathering a few scattered materials, dropping them onto her workbench beside her weapons. Her hands turn into a blur of creation as she knits together a few pieces of pipe, some gears, and a wire into a strange, twisted excuse for a gun. It’s ugly and crude, stinging Emily’s pride slightly, but it’s exactly what she needs right now: a small, break-action barrel, with a spring-loaded firing pin lined up behind it, attached to a thin trigger wire.

She ties a similar wire around the trigger of her hand cannon, before grabbing a few clamps from her drawers and hiding the bundle in an empty sack. Glancing at the clock on her desk, reassuring herself she still has time, Emily leaves the workshop. She passes Herber in the kitchen, barely giving a response when he informs her about the broom and questions the sack, already planning her firing angles.

She steps into the shopfront and quickly locates two solid mounting points on the display cases, dashing over to the first and crouching down, pulling the hand cannon from the sack and lining it up with the door against the side of a table-leg. Emily pulls a clamp from the sack, twisting it shut around the pistol and locking it in place. She trails the wire to a good hiding spot and drops it, carrying her sack to a second position, raised and more exposed than the first, but also tucked just behind the door when it’s open wide, hiding the trap from an entrant’s field of view.

She finishes her setup and settles into place behind a cabinet a few minutes before her targets arrive. She takes the crossbow and baton in each hand and raises the former in anticipation. The hand holding the baton also grips the two trap’s wires, waiting to spring them at a moment’s notice.

Emily waits with bated breath, a shiver of excitement and anticipation running down her spine as the door swings open.

Please work.

She waits a moment for the mages to file into the room before yanking on the string in her off-hand and squeezing the trigger of her crossbow. Two loud bangs ring out, covering a small twang and hiss, as the Mandrago mages are hit by a wave of unexpected violence. One bullet tears a hole through Carlos’ heart and Diego’s shoulder, and the other punches clean through Miguel’s heart behind them. The arrow from Emily’s crossbow flies out, slamming home into the side of Jose’s throat, causing him to gasp for air and frantically reach up to grasp the foreign object jutting from his breathing tube.

A rush of endorphins floods Emily’s system as she springs forward, not wasting any time, unwilling to make the same mistake and be kicked around by Diego again. Luckily, she reaches him before he can fully process the sudden ambush, and slashes out with the baton, slicing a line through his throat once more.

He collapses to the ground, clutching both wounds, as Emily continues on to finish off Jose properly. He reacts to her approach, holding out a hand and trying to mutter a chant, but the obstruction to his breathing makes speech far harder than anticipated, and Emily’s foot soon connects with his windpipe, knocking the arrow free as it gouges a wide hole that lets blood flow freely to the floor. He slumps back, a look of panic, pain, and disbelief contorting his face as he frantically grasps at the wound leaking out the last dregs of his life.

His distressed reaction sews a small seed of doubt in Emily’s mind about her ruthless murders, but it’s quickly forgotten as the image of Herber’s defiled body flashes across her mind, sending shivers down her spine and almost making her puke. She turns away from the dying man to check on the other three, finding them all lying still, the last of the heat fading from their bodies along with their blood, the shopfront stained with the evidence of her brutality.

Emily isn’t given any time to appreciate her successful plan as the door to the kitchen bursts open and Herber steps in, frantically looking around. His eyes lock on Emily, scanning her for injuries, and the tension in his shoulders relaxes slightly as he finds her safe, but his concern quickly shifts to confusion and horror as he takes in the bloodbath surrounding her.

“What have you done?” he hisses as a cold wind sweeps over the city, sending a shiver down Emily’s spine.

The doubt and questioning in Herber’s gaze punctures Emily’s heart, but she tries to ignore it, knowing he’ll understand when she’s explained herself. She takes a deep breath to begin, but finds herself frozen. She doesn’t even hear as Herber calls to her again: questioning her actions while growing more panicked at the sight of the dead nobles. She is frozen by her awareness of an immense, sickening presence that has suddenly focused on her.

The hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and the breath in her throat seems to lock in place, choking her as she feels herself to be the focus of a powerful predator. Like a desert hare stuck in the gaze of a sand stalker, her instincts scream danger.

“What the fuck is that?” Emily hisses, surprising Herber as he tries to approach her.

She spins around to face the door, the cold trickle of machina down her spine helping her regain control as she feels the presence grow more intense, approaching her rapidly. She reaches for her breast pocket, her fist closing around The Clock as the pressure becomes unbearable, and a sudden, immense force locks her in place.

What’s happening?

Her heartbeat slowly increases, thumping a loud rhythm in her ears as she’s pulled slowly towards the door against her will, sliding through the air without moving a muscle. She’s dragged out into the sunlight, where she sees everyone gathered on the street staring up at a floating man in awe and terror.

The man is tall, his presence made larger by the unnatural way he calmly stands in mid-air with his hands behind his back and the small, glittering green orbs of runes floating behind him. He seems to be in his early twenties, with well-kept, golden blonde hair, but his deep, piercing blue eyes betray a wisdom that can only come with age. The stormy rage in his gaze announces anything but calm and chokes Emily.

“Who do you work for?” he asks coldly, his voice ringing out in violent waves of sound that vibrate Emily’s head, making her feel nauseous.

She opens her mouth to answer, and realises it’s not just his presence choking her. Emily tries to speak and finds her lungs completely empty. She tries to breathe in, but no matter how hard she pulls, her lungs won’t expand as no air will enter them. Her heart beats faster, panic setting in as a dull ache gnaws at the base of her skull.

“Who do you work for?” the domineering mage asks again, and Emily notices the slight, cruel upturn to his lips as speaks.

I can’t speak if I can’t breathe, asshole!

“Emily, what’s going on?” Emily hears Herber ask behind her, but she can’t answer, nor does the mage spare him even a glance.

Finally, the vice grip around Emily’s lungs releases, and she gasps for air before rasping: “No one!”

“Tell me the truth,” the mage says calmly, pulling a hand from behind his back and gently flicking his finger towards Emily, one of the spell orbs behind him pulsing lightly as he does. “Who do you work for?”

A sudden burst of pain hits Emily as she feels her left arm snap in two. She grits her teeth, hissing out through them but refusing to scream as her gaze fills with rage, a glint of cold electricity racing across her eyes.

“She works for me. Can I help you?” Herber asks, sweat dripping down his brow and his hands shaking slightly as he steps into Emily’s line of sight.

Emily’s blood runs cold as the mage’s eyes flit over to Herber, an irritated scowl flashing onto his face for a moment. He doesn’t even deign to respond, simply flicking his wrist towards Herber. Emily watches in horror as Herber freezes in place and a small plume of dirt sprays up behind him.

Slowly, his body slips apart, as four clean slices dissect him. Emily resists the urge to vomit, swallowing her bile as his chopped intestines splatter across the ground. Several onlookers scream, and a few are sick, but the culprit doesn’t seem to notice they exist.

“Well, are you going to tell me?” he practically hisses, his voice cutting a slice out of her ear as it hits her in a burst of wind.

Emily forces down her revulsion and raises her head to answer again, stalling for time as she tries to move her fingers to activate The Clock. However, a scream in the shop behind her makes her pause, fear clamping her heart as the flying mage glances past her.

I won’t let him touch Anna!

Emily grits her teeth harder, cracking something as a small burst of machina floods her right thumb, and it slowly creeps down. She squeezes her hand with all her might, forcefully working through whatever spell is holding her in place as the mage speaks to her again and she doesn’t even hear him. He starts to float down towards her, as the panicked sounds of struggle behind her increase her urgency, but he never reaches her. The Clock finally activates, its ticking slowing to a halt and reversing as Emily relaxes, exhausted from the encounter.

I can’t kill those four if it means this monster will show up... I can’t win.