Chapter 29

My eyes shot open.

My body was hot. Immensely hot. Burning, even. It felt like fire was everywhere inside me, clawing at my skin, wanting to be released. As I saw the great sword aimed directly at my neck, I felt the heat expand, as if it was enveloping me. I heard the voices of my family echo in my head.

“You’re our dragon.”

Then, it happened.

My body became engulfed in red flames. The heat and immolation enough to send Kyosuke reeling back. Tsuki let out a loud gasp of surprise as she witnessed my body combust. I got up to my feet and glared at the two Bishops. They were squawking out more taunts, but I heard nothing as I raised my hand up and conjured my manifestation. This time, however, instead of being an ethereal orange hand cannon, I summonsed a flaming red one that had a longer and thicker barrel. I fired at the two Bishops, the bullets faster and stronger than before. Kyosuke was still able to dodge my attacks, but the bullets sailed right through Yukino’s shield, piercing her shoulder and arm.

Kyosuke again appeared next to me, his great sword ready to cleave my side once more, but as I looked at him, the flames around me intensified, becoming a thick wall of fire. He recoiled once more from the heat, and I raised my free hand up to him, red mist swirling in it, before finally forming into another handgun. Kyosuke’s eyes widened as he stared down the barrel of my second manifestation, and I fired it at him. The bullet hit him right between the eyes, but his mana shield was still strong enough to withstand the powerful shot, but not without flipping him backward and slamming him into the ground headfirst. I aimed both guns at him and was about to fire, before getting hit by several orbs from Yukino, and getting sent through the air.

“Kyosuke, stop messing around! You almost got killed by that nobody!” Yukino screamed out.

“He’s clearly not at the same power or are you that stupid you can’t tell?!” Kyosuke groaned while rubbing his forehead.

“Don’t dare insult me, you’re the one who refuses to use any magic because you want to cut his head off! Talk about being an idiot!”

“Are you two done bickering?” I said to the two Bishops.

The two mages stared up into the air where my voice had echoed from. Their eyes were wide as they watched me. Even Tsuki made a dumbfounded noise followed by expletives as she saw me. None of it was unfounded, however, as I was hovering in midair, staring down at them. The flames that were enveloping me were now spread out wide behind my back in the shape of large flaming wings. The fire also wreathed my head in the shape of a western draconic skull. I raised up my manifestations and hailed down bullets at Kyosuke, causing him to dodge erratically as he tried to avoid my attacks.

“Ryuki, how the hell are you doing that?! That’s so amazing! Why did you never do this before?” Tsuki cried out.

I said nothing as I looked down at Yukino who was preparing another attack, but it wasn’t aimed at me. She was attacking Tsuki, who was exhausted from her constant use of that beam spell, clearly something she wasn’t well-trained at using for prolonged periods. I soared down at a blistering speed, held up my hand, and blocked the onslaught of light orbs that Yukino launched with a fiery barrier. Then as a follow up, she threw her naginata manifestation at her. The blade sailed through the air, heading right towards Tsuki’s head. The blade stopped in midair and Tsuki’s eyes went wide as she looked at me in pure awe.

“H-how did you jus-” Tsuki stuttered out. “How did you just grab someone else's manifestation?!”

Tsuki was right to be amazed. I had just caught Yukino’s Manifestation with my own hand. A phenomenon never thought possible. A manifestation was thought of as an extension of the mage; their ethereal essence brought forth into a corporeal form that was linked to and only useable by that mage. It was part of why ranged manifestations were considered powerful; the mage could send that essence forward without needing it to return. Throwing melee manifestations was nearly as rare but always known as possible as the weapon was essentially attached by an invisible thread. Touching, let alone fully grabbing, someone else’s manifestation had never been confirmed or even theorized and was always thought impossible. But here I stood, holding Yukino’s naginata.

“I... I don’t know.” I said as I gripped the blade tight.

I could feel Yukino trying to pull the weapon back, that she was recalling her essence, through the manifestation itself. I gripped it tighter, some of the white blade turning orange. Then, I spun around in a pirouette and tossed the weapon at Yukino like a javelin that homed in on the target due to her calling it back. The blade pierced through her upper chest but unfortunately was not a kill shot as she let out a howl of pain before cursing at me and dispersing the manifestation. I turned back to Tsuki, making sure she was safe.

“Tsuki, if you’re spent you need to get to safety.” I said quickly as I conjured my guns again.

“No, I should be able to fight, just not with any spells like that again.” She protested.

“Then do what you can.”

Tsuki grunted, conjuring one of her katanas. She let out a dissatisfied groan as she stared at her empty hand. Then she looked up at me, and her eyes shrank as she started to scream my name. I spun around quickly, my wing hitting the attacking Kyosuke, but he charged through the flames with his great sword arching down at me. I held up one of my manifestations in a vain attempt to block the sword. Kyosuke’s sword was crackling wildly with red sparks; his rage and murderous intent coursing through it uncontrollably. Even with the powered-up state, I didn’t think my gun could stop it. But just then, the gun started to morph, extending and reshaping itself. The handle changed into a long shaft and at the top of it an extended glaive-like blade protruded out. In my hand now was an exact copy of Yukino’s manifestation. Kyosuke let out a confused grunt as his sword clashed with my naginata, red sparks exploding out between the crosses manifestations.

“Just what the hell are you, Ryuki?!” Kyosuke grunted out as he pressed against both my intense flames and my new manifestation.

I brought up my other manifestation to Kyosuke’s face. I felt my blood pump faster and the heat around me increased intensity. Flames enveloped my eyes, bursting out from them like flamethrowers. I could feel power surging throughout me as my gun manifestation’s colour deepened and it too crackled with energy.

“I’m your end.”

I pulled the trigger and the manifestation shot out with a thunderous roar. Kyosuke screamed as he tried to do a last second dodge, but the bullet passed through his shield and into the back of his head, tearing through his skull and passing out the other side. His manifestation dispersed, the runes on his body vanishing, and his body collapsed onto the ground, lifelessly. I stood over the dead body and stared down at it. I aimed by gun at it and fired several more rounds into the corpse, punching holes into the corpse that were several times larger than the one that pierced the head. Even though it didn’t stop the bullet, Kyosuke’s mana shield still managed to diminish the power of my manifestation a great amount. But now that he was dead, and the shield was gone, the true power of my manifestation was that of an antimaterial rifle hitting an unprotected civilian. I kept shooting the corpse, as seeing how my weapon tore it apart satisfied me.

“KYOSUKE!! NO!” Yukino screamed out. “Stop it, you monster!” Yukino then launched another barrage of her light orb attack, but I easily blocked it with my wing as I kept punching holes into the corpse.

“R-ryuki, he’s dead, you can stop it... Ryuki?” Tsuki said as she crept up to me slowly.

I stopped decimating the body as I stared down at it. I could feel a wicked grin spreading on my face. I turned my head back on an unnatural angle as I looked over at Yukino.

“You’re next.”