Last Gun Alchemist

Chapter 536: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: New Interest V

The two Young Alchemists stopped for a moment.

So did the cheering of the spectators.

The Arena, which had been filled with the sound of hundreds of thousands of people only a moment ago, suddenly became much quieter as everyone focused on the two fighters standing across from each other.

Ezra Ashenlocke stood surrounded by hovering M38 SDMRs.

Willow Derlis stood on the other side of the platform, her crimson Blood Alchemy spreading across the ground around her.

Neither of them looked away.

Their eyes remained locked.

To the spectators, it almost felt as though both Young Alchemists understood something that everyone else didn’t.

This was the moment that truly mattered.

Both Mass Alchemies had been created.

Both were ready to attack.

Now it only depended on how skilled either of them was at using what they had created.

A slight movement came from Ezra.

His right leg shifted backward ever so slightly.

It was barely noticeable.

But Willow noticed it.

Her left hand moved forward at almost the same instant.

The numerous crimson webs surrounding her began moving.

More appeared.

The Mass Alchemy that had already covered the platform continued producing additional blood webs until there were now roughly going into thousands of crimson blood webs stretching around Willow.

They twisted together, separating and reconnecting as Willow controlled them through her Cognis.

Then they thrust forward.

The crimson blood webs shot through the air toward Ezra.

They came at him like a wave of water rushing toward the shore, except every strand was sharp enough to slice through the platform beneath it.

Ezra didn’t panic.

His Cognis immediately flowed into the Black Magnetic Gloves covering his hands.

Thin black threads extended from the five-finger areas of both gloves.

The threads stretched toward the M38 SDMRs floating around him and attached themselves to the rifles.

Then the threads pulled.

Ezra controlled the rifles while the incoming blood webs continued advancing.

The attack was already close.

There was no time to move all the rifles into a perfect firing formation.

So, Ezra changed the way he used them.

Five M38 SDMRs moved directly in front of him.

They lowered themselves into a line.

Ezra stepped onto the first rifle.

His boot landed on its body.

Alchemy Levitation immediately kept the firearm stable beneath his weight.

Ezra pushed off.

He landed on the second rifle.

Then the third.

His movement continued without stopping.

Fourth.

Fifth.

Each rifle became a temporary stepping stone in the air.

On the fifth, Ezra pushed himself upward.

His body rose above the approaching blood webs.

The crimson attack passed underneath him.

The webs moved beneath his boots, slicing through the air where his body had been only moments earlier.

At the same time, Ezra controlled the rifles beneath him and pulled them back toward his sides, before the crimson blood webs could slice through them or do something else.

His body continued rising.

Then he spun in the air.

One black thread remained attached to an M38 SDMR through the polarity lock of his Black Magnetic Glove.

Ezra pulled.

The rifle flew back toward his hand.

He caught it during the rotation.

His body continued turning.

His eyes immediately found the crimson webs below.

The blood attack had already changed direction.

Some of the webs were moving upward after him, while he was descending towards them.

Ezra raised the M38 SDMR.

The Leupold TS-30A2 Mark 4 MR/T scope brought the incoming Blood Alchemy closer to his vision.

He aimed.

Thup!

The rifle fired.

The bullets struck the incoming crimson webs.

The first blood web was torn apart.

Another bullet cut through a second.

A third bullet hit a thicker section and broke it into several smaller strands.

The attack directly in front of Ezra was destroyed.

But only half of the blood webs had been stopped.

The rest continued moving.

Ezra’s expression remained unchanged.

He controlled the other M38 SDMRs.

The rifles moved closer to his body.

Then...

Thup!

The rifles fired in rapid succession.

The air around Ezra filled with gunfire.

Bullets flew into the crimson webs, cutting through them one after another.

Some of the bullets sliced through the blood webs.

Others were sliced apart themselves when the thin crimson strands crossed their paths at the right angle.

Small sparks filled the air as the bullets and the reinforced blood webs collided.

Ezra continued descending through that storm of metal and crimson threads.

The sparks flashed around him.

For an instant, it looked as though he was falling through a field of tiny stars.

But the Blood Alchemy didn’t stop.

More crimson webs moved through the gaps left behind by the destroyed ones.

They wrapped around the broken strands.

The damaged webs joined together.

New blood flowed through them.

The destroyed sections began growing back.

Ezra noticed it immediately.

There is no end to this...

The Blood Alchemy was continuously regenerating.

Destroying one section only allowed another to take its place.

Yet Ezra’s eyes didn’t change.

His expression didn’t flinch.

He simply adjusted his strategy.

The M38 SDMR in his hands was thrown forward.

The rifle flew toward Willow’s position, where her figure was faintly visible behind the enormous network of crimson webs.

At the same time, Ezra passed more Cognis into the Circuit system of his Black Magnetic Gloves.

The Repel function activated.

The magnetic force pushed against the rifle.

Ezra’s falling speed increased.

His direction changed slightly, sending his body diagonally through the air.

The change wasn’t large, but it was enough to alter his path through the incoming blood webs.

Ezra continued firing while descending.

The remaining M38 SDMRs fired through the gaps in the crimson network.

The blood webs came closer.

Some passed within inches of Ezra’s body.

One strand crossed past his shoulder.

Another swept beneath his leg.

Ezra twisted his body slightly and allowed it to pass.

But not every rifle managed to escape.

The hundreds of M38 SDMRs following behind him were still firing at the blood webs coming from his front, sides and even back.

But some of the blood webs reached them.

The crimson material wrapped around the rifles.

And the moment the blood touched them, the material changed.

The blood crystallized.

The metal and polymer parts of the rifles were instantly covered and hardened.

The weapons stopped moving.

Ezra glanced back.

He saw several of his M38 SDMRs trapped within the Blood Alchemy.

It’s like the Alchemy her brother used during our first encounter.

He thought calmly.

He didn’t waste time thinking about the lost weapons.

His attention returned to Willow.

He was getting closer.

His hand moved into his Space Bag.

At the same time, Cognis flowed into his Black Magnetic Gloves.

The magnetic function changed.

Repel became Attraction.

The switch was instant.

The change in magnetic force pulled the nearby M38 SDMR backward.

At the same time, Ezra’s body was pushed forward faster.

The change gave his descent another burst of movement.

His body cut through the air.

Willow’s position became clearer through the crimson webs.

Ezra reached into his Space Bag.

Then he threw.

Daggers and cards flew from his hand.

The Circuit systems integrated into the weapons were already active.

They moved toward the thick crimson webs surrounding Willow.

Willow’s Cognis flowed into her walking stick.

The weapon already contained a good amount of stored Cognis inside its crimson gem.

That stored power allowed the walking stick to continue acting as a support for her Blood Alchemy.

Plus, from the Blood Adrenaline, which helps stimulate the generation of Cognis and speeding the flow of Cognis while strengthening her body.

Boosted the level of Cognis control she was utilizing in her Blood Mass Alchemy.

Her Cognis flowed from the walking stick into the ground.

From there, it spread through the crimson webs.

Willow was using the webs in two ways at once.

Some moved forward to attack Ezra, while others remained around her position as protection.

She sensed the incoming Circuit weapons.

Her crimson eyes shifted toward them.

Immediately, Willow controlled the blood webs around her.

The strands moved.

They twisted together.

Layer after layer formed around her.

The crimson network became thicker.

The webs covered more of Willow’s body until Ezra’s view of her was completely blocked.

Boom!

Small explosions echoed across the platform.

The daggers and cards collided with the outer layers of the Blood Alchemy.

The explosions tore holes through the first few layers.

But the Blood Alchemy didn’t collapse.

More crimson webs filled the gaps.

The cards continued moving.

Unlike the daggers, their delayed detonation allowed them to travel deeper into Willow’s defensive formation before exploding.

Boom!

Another layer broke apart.

Then another.

The cards penetrated further.

Each one carried a different shape printed into its surface.

Those different shapes weren’t decoration.

They represented different detonation timings.

The difference was only a few milliseconds, but that small delay mattered.

One card exploded.

Then another detonated slightly later.

Then another.

The explosions didn’t happen at exactly the same moment.

That meant Willow couldn’t simply react to one blast and assume the rest would follow immediately.

The timing changed from card to card.

Willow hadn’t noticed the difference earlier.

The first time Ezra had used the cards, he had used cards with the same shape.

She had therefore seen them as one type of Circuit weapon.

This time, however, the cards were different.

And because Willow had already covered her view with layers of crimson blood webs, she couldn’t see the shapes clearly enough to understand the trick.

Boom!

The layers of Willow’s defensive Blood Alchemy were destroyed in quick succession.

Crimson fragments scattered across the platform.

Some of the blood crystallized as it struck the ground.

Others immediately flowed back toward Willow’s control.

But Ezra was already moving again.

Thup!

The M38 SDMRs fired again.

The barrage tore through the remaining crimson webs.

The defensive layers split apart.

For the first time, Willow’s body became visible again.

Her crimson eyes widened slightly.

Ezra’s descending body was getting closer.

He had broken through her defense.

But Willow didn’t panic.

Not even slightly.

Her glowing crimson eyes sharpened, while her free hand moved.

Her fingers slowly closed into a tight fist.

Immediately...

The crimson webs around Ezra moved.

They curled inward.

The strands that had previously been attacking him from the front suddenly changed direction.

They all came from multiple sides.

Above.

Below.

Left.

Right.

The webs began forming a large ball around Ezra.

The goal was obvious.

Capture him.

Ezra reacted immediately.

One of the remaining M38 SDMRs moved beneath his boots.

Thud!

His foot landed on the rifle.

Alchemy Levitation held the weapon firmly in the air.

Ezra pushed down.

His body jumped away from the curling blood webs.

He moved only inches away from the closing formation.

The crimson webs passed around him.

The M38 SDMR beneath his boot wasn’t so fortunate.

The Blood Alchemy wrapped around the rifle.

The weapon was swallowed by the crimson strands.

Ezra escaped farther away from the closing attack.

Willow immediately moved both hands closer together.

The blood webs responded.

The huge formation shifted toward Ezra’s body.

The strands tightened as they continued trying to trap him.

Ezra remained in the air, his plain black eyes looking forward.

He wasn’t panicking.

He had already measured the distance.

"This is close enough."

Ezra said to himself calmly.

The remaining M38 SDMRs moved.

One after another, they floated into position in front of him.

Their muzzles turned toward Willow.

She was still hidden behind the enormous ball of crimson Blood Alchemy that had been formed to capture Ezra.

The battlefield had become a strange contrast of metal and blood.

Ezra stayed airborne with his remaining rifles aimed forward.

Willow stood behind her enormous crimson web formation, her walking stick raised slightly and her Blood Alchemy still responding to every movement of her hands.

Neither of them had given the other enough space to breathe.

And now, at this distance, the next exchange would decide what happened to the advantage they had each fought so hard to create.