At the top of one of the tallest buildings in the busy city of Obsidior, a lone figure remained crouched against the cold morning wind.
Snow drifted lazily through the air.
The sunlight had already risen above the city, casting pale light over rooftops, streets, and chimneys that released thin streams of steam into the sky.
Far below, people continued their daily lives.
rchants opened their stores.
Workers pushed carts through the streets.
Horse carriages/ steam carriages rolled through the snow-covered roads.
Nobody could ever notice the boy watching from above.
Ezra rested against the edge of the building; his eye pressed against the scope of the Barrett M107.
Through the scope, the distant Sterling Mansion appeared clear before him.
Every entrance.
Every guard post.
Every movent.
Nothing escaped his gaze.
A stream of white breath escaped his mouth.
The cold bit against his face despite the layers of clothing he wore.
"I really need to make thermal imaging scopes soday."
His voice ca out low.
"Maybe sothing similar to the Augnted Reality X-Ray Visors."
The thought lingered in his mind.
The technology existed inside the Book of mories and it was definitely part of the devices he planned to bring from the past world into this world.
Although, that would have to wait for now.
Another gust of wind swept across the rooftop.
Ezra frowned.
Ah...
I hate this weather.
He pulled his scarf slightly higher.
Underneath his coat, cardigan, shirt, gloves, and thick trousers and Cognis continuously circulated through his body.
His blood flow increased.
Heat spread through his veins.
Without it, he was certain he would already be shivering close or to actual death.
"Let’s get this done."
His expression beca calm as the Barrett settled against his shoulder.
His finger moved to the trigger.
The scope zood onto the left side of the mansion grounds.
Several guards stood there chatting.
One leaned against a stone pillar.
Another laughed loudly at sothing his companion had said.
A third guard nearly spilled the drink in his hand while laughing.
None of them knew death was already looking at them.
Bang.
The Barrett fired.
No loud explosion followed.
Only a faint puff of smoke escaped from the silencer attached to the muzzle.
The bullet disappeared.
At almost the exact sa mont, Ezra’s hand adjusted.
The scope shifted.
Another target.
Bang.
Another adjustnt.
Bang.
Another.
Bang.
His movents flowed smoothly.
Like water.
Like a machine repeating a perfected sequence.
Within seconds, eight rounds had already left the barrel.
Only after the final shot did the first bullet arrive.
Far away.
One guard suddenly jerked.
A bloody hole appeared through his forehead.
His body collapsed before confusion could even form in his mind.
"Huh?"
The guard beside him turned.
Boom.
His skull exploded.
The third guard froze.
Boom.
Headshot.
Then another, then another.
Like dominoes falling in sequence, like a wave crashing one body after another.
Eight guards collapsed almost simultaneously.
None of them managed to shout.
None of them got the chance to understand what happened.
None of them even knew they were under attack.
Ezra calmly ejected the magazine.
Click.
A fresh one slid into place.
His scope moved toward the right side of the estate.
Another group.
Another series of shots.
The sa silent process repeated itself.
One after another.
Bodies dropped into the snow.
Red blood stained the white ground.
Then...
Everything changed.
A rcenary happened to walk around the front courtyard.
His eyes landed on one of the corpses on the floor.
Confusion appeared on his face imdiately, but before he could react...
Bang.
A bullet pierced through his head.
His body collapsed.
Unfortunately...
Unlike the guards before him, this man fell in full view of several others.
Shouts imdiately erupted.
Confusion spread.
Then alarms rang throughout the entire mansion.
Ezra lowered the Barrett.
The distant sound of bells echoed through the estate.
People began running.
Guards started shouting.
rcenaries rushed from building to building trying to understand what had happened.
Ezra looked at the different tall rooftops ahead of him expressionless, then he stood up.
The cold wind whipped against his coat as he cracked his neck slightly while placing the sniper back into his space bag.
Then...
He stepped off the building.
The world instantly tilted downward.
The city rushed toward him.
Wind roared past his ears as his coat flapped violently behind him.
Mid-fall, Ezra reached into his Space Bag.
A wooden plank.
A steel rod.
A long thin steel cable.
The materials appeared in his hands, then he dropped them airborne.
Clap!
His palms slamd together, Cognis surged outward.
An Alchemy Circle ford instantly.
The materials shattered apart. Fragnts floated around him, then they lted, then rged together, compressing and ford.
Within milliseconds, a Harpoon Gun appeared in his hands.
Ezra raised it and aid toward another distant building.
Fired.
Thunk!
The harpoon embedded itself deep into stone, the cable tightened imdiately and his falling body was violently pulled sideways.
The montum launched him through the air.
Like a pendulum.
You could also say... like a flying arrow.
Ezra swung between buildings.
His Cognis enhanced every muscle in his body.
The city blurred around him.
People below occasionally looked upward after noticing a shadow flash overhead.
But by the ti they raised their heads...
He was already gone.
One rooftop.
Then another.
Then another.
The distance between him and Sterling Mansion disappeared rapidly.
Finally...
Ezra launched himself high into the air above the estate.
A dark figure descended from the sky.
"Soone’s up there!"
A rcenary imdiately pointed.
Every head snapped upward.
Guards of the Sterling house, newly hired ones and rcenaries.
All spotted him at once.
Weapons rose sharply.
Rifles, Bows, Revolvers, Swords and Spears.
"FIRE!"
The order exploded across the courtyard.
Before the first bullet even arrived...
Thunk!
The harpoon Ezra fired pierced through the rcenary who spotted him first’s neck.
The man didn’t even have ti to scream.
The cable tightened and his corpse was dragged upward in a flash.
Then...
Ezra used the dead body as a shield.
Bullets tore into flesh.
Arrows embedded themselves into the corpse.
Blood sprayed through the air.
Boom!
Both Ezra and the dead rcenary crashed into the courtyard.
Dust exploded upward.
Blood splattered across the stone ground.
Several guards instinctively stepped backward, because so had never seen this much blood before.
Their faces turned pale.
Then...
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Five shots erupted from inside the dust cloud.
Five heads exploded.
The courtyard fell silent for half a second... then... the chaos erupted again.
Inside the smoke, Ezra stood now holding both Desert Eagles.
His eyes remained calm, cold and calculating.
At the sa ti, inside his mind, a wave sensor expanded outward.
Like ripples spreading across water.
The entire mansion entered his awareness.
People outside.
People inside.
Hidden people in positions and movent patterns.
Everything.
Ehn...
He narrowed his eyes.
So, he really hired that many people.
Bullets continued firing from his pistols.
More guards fell and more rcenaries dropped.
The number he counted kept climbing.
Forty?
Sixty?
No...
His eyes shifted.
Several Alchemists surged forward, Cognis flowing through their bodies as their raised swords glead under the morning sun.
Close to a hundred.
But I already reduced their numbers a little.
Ezra’s eyes swept across the battlefield while dust drifted through the courtyard and blood slowly spread across the snow-covered stone floor.
This will be troubleso.
But...
His grip tightened around the Desert Eagles.
The next mont...
Ezra exploded forward.
The stone beneath his feet cracked.
A burst of Cognis surged through his legs, launching him directly toward the rushing swordsn.
Many of the n charging him were Half-Star Novice Alchemists while very few were close to becoming Full-Star Novices.
Only the stronger presences inside the mansion caught Ezra’s attention.
Three Full-Star Novices.
One Binder Rank whose second star was still partially ford.
And deeper within the mansion...
A large Cognis presence.
Heavy, oppressive and steady.
His father.
The ister Rank Alchemist.
Even while fighting, Ezra kept track of every powerful presence around him.
The first swordsman reached him.
The man raised his blade high above his head and swung down with a shout.
Ezra stepped in instead of retreating.
Boom!
His kick landed squarely in the man’s stomach.
The swordsman folded instantly.
His feet left the ground as his body shot backward into the people rushing behind him.
At the sa ti...
Two blades ca from opposite directions.
One from the left.
One from the right.
Clang!
Clang!
Ezra raised both Desert Eagles.
The steel of the weapons intercepted both attacks.
Sparks flew.
His eyes moved rapidly.
Left.
Right.
Forward.
Above.
Behind.
Watching.
Observing.
Analyzing.
The battlefield unfolded inside his mind like a map.
Every enemy position and every enemy movent.
His hearing remained fully focused.
The sound of boots crushing snow, the shifting of clothing, the scrape of steel.
Even the movent of air itself.
Then...
His ears instantly caught sothing.
Wind pathing behind him.
Soone was approaching his blind spot with a sword swunged.
Bang!
Without even turning fully around, Ezra fired.
The bullet pierced directly through the incoming attacker’s forehead.
The man collapsed before his sword could complete its swing.
"What are all of you doing?!"
A Senior Guard shouted angrily.
His face was red from frustration.
"He’s only one person!"
The shout pushed the others forward.
More guards rushed in and more rcenaries charged.
The courtyard quickly beca crowded, but instead of becoming pressured...
Ezra beca calr.
The mont one of the Desert Eagles discharged its final round...
He imdiately released it.
The pistol dropped.
At the sa ti...
A swordsman whose forehead now had a bullet hole stumbled forward.
Ezra grabbed the man’s falling sword before it could hit the ground.
Then his leg moved.
Tap.
The Desert Eagle he dropped landed perfectly on the top of his boot.
He kicked upward.
The pistol flipped through the air.
anwhile...
Bang!
Bang!
The second Desert Eagle on his other hand fired twice.
Two Alchemists holding swords, charging from the front, suddenly lost half their faces.
Blood and bone sprayed through the air.
Before the corpses even fell...
Ezra stored the second handgun inside his Space Bag.
Then...
His free hand caught the flipping Desert Eagle.
The entire sequence happened so smoothly and only within 0.0022 milliseconds.
Without any hesitation and without wasted movent.
Like he had already practiced it thousands... No... a million tis.
The n surrounding him finally arrived.
Swords ca from every direction.
Front.
Left.
Right.
Above and behind.
The flashing steel nearly ford a cage around him.
Yet...
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Every strike was blocked.
Every slash was redirected and every attempt was denied.
The sword Ezra carried moved continuously.
His body flowed with it.
A step here.
A twist there.
A shift of weight.
A slight turn of his shoulder.
The attacks that should have cornered him instead collided with each other.
One rcenary nearly cut his ally’s arm.
Another almost stabbed a guard.
Their formation quickly beca a ss.
And Ezra noticed it imdiately.
Their coordination is terrible.
The realization appeared in his mind, then he began exploiting every opening.
Every gap, every hesitation and every mistake they made.
The empty Desert Eagle clicked again.
No ammunition remained.
Ezra imdiately stored it inside his Space Bag while still weaving through incoming attacks.
A sword passed inches from his cheek.
Another nearly reached his ribs.
But none of them connected.
Then...
His hand shot into the Space Bag.
And erged like a striking blade.
Several daggers flew outward.
Thwack!
Thwack!
Thwack!
The steel projectiles buried themselves into throats, eyes, and chests.
Screams erupted.
Before those voices could fully form...
Ezra spun around.
Clang!
His sword intercepted three attacks from behind.
The force traveled through his arm.
His feet slid slightly against the snow.
Then...
He accelerated.
The people attacking him suddenly felt a blur enter their vision.
Before they could react...
Smack!
Ezra struck one swordsman’s wrist.
The blade flew from the man’s hand.
Then...
Thrust!
Ezra’s sword drove directly into the man’s chest.
Blood sprayed from his mouth.
The man looked down in disbelief.
His body froze.
The next mont...
Slash!
The sword left his chest.
A red line appeared across another man’s throat.
Then another.
Slash!
Two necks opened almost simultaneously.
Blood burst outward.
The two bodies staggered forward.
Their weapons slipped from their hands, then both collapsed into the snow.
The white ground quickly turned red beneath them.
One of the rcenaries saw an opening.
At least, he thought he did.
Ezra had just cut down two n and was occupied dealing with the sword wielding Alchemists surrounding him.
To the rcenary, it looked like the perfect opportunity.
His grip tightened around his blade.
Cognis surged through his legs, then he rushed forward from Ezra’s blind spot.
Fast, silent and almost deadly.
A grin had already begun appearing on his face.
But suddenly...
His entire world flipped upside down.
The sky beca the ground.
The ground beca the sky.
Before his mind could even understand what had happened, his body was already sent flying backward toward the shooters stationed behind him.
Confusion filled his eyes, then he noticed sothing.
A stick grenade.
It was lodged inside his trousers.
His pupils instantly shrank.
When?!
His hands hurried toward it.
His heartbeat accelerated.
No...
No...
No!
The grenade had to co off.
Imdiately.
His fingers reached for it.
Then...
Thwack!
A dagger flashed through the air.
The blade pierced straight through his hand.
The force nailed his palm directly against the tal section of the grenade.
"AHHHH!"
Pain exploded through his arm, but the pain wasn’t what terrified him.
It was the realization.
The realization that he could no longer remove it.
His eyes widened.
Then...
BOOM!
The explosion erupted among the shooters.
Fire.
Steel fragnts.
Blood and bodies.
The blast tore through the formation.
Several rcenaries and guards disappeared within the explosion.
Others were thrown off their feet.
The shockwave smashed into the n standing nearby.
Screams instantly filled the courtyard.
The neat firing line collapsed into chaos.
At the sa mont...
Ezra jumped.
Several surviving shooters imdiately reacted.
"Fire!"
Gunshots erupted.
Bullets raced toward him from different directions.
Mid-air, Ezra twisted his body.
One bullet passed by his cheek.
Another flew beneath his arm.
A third nearly struck his shoulder.
The remaining shots were intercepted by the sword in his hand.
Clang!
Clang!
Sparks burst through the air.
Before gravity could pull him back down...
Ezra reached into his Space Bag.
The Acu-Vector Mk.I. appeared in his hands.
The next mont...
Tchk! Tchk! Tchk! Tchk! Tchk!
A storm of needles rained downward.
The thin projectiles pierced through flesh like angry hornets.
"AHHHHH!"
"My eyes!"
"ARGHHH!"
Cries of pain erupted everywhere.
n dropped their weapons.
So clutched their faces.
Others rolled across the ground trying to pull the needles out.
The entire courtyard beca a scene of confusion.
And Ezra wasn’t finished.
Not even close.
Clap!
His palms ca together.
Cognis surged outward and an Alchemy Circle appeared between his hands.
Even while airborne, he had already pulled materials from his Space Bag.
Black steel.
Wires.
Small components.
The materials floated around him, then lted folding inward compressing all together and rged perfectly.
The shape rapidly changed.
By the ti Ezra started descending...
A new weapon had already ford.
A Taser Gun.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"You know what I love about Black Steel?"
His feet touched down.
A guard standing beneath him barely had enough ti to look up.
Crack!
Ezra landed directly on the man’s shoulders.
The impact forced him to his knees, then Ezra grabbed his head.
Twist.
The neck snapped and the guard collapsed lifelessly.
Ezra stepped off him in one smooth motion.
"It has excellent conductivity."
He raised the Taser Gun, aid at one of the injured guards who had just managed to pull a needle from his eye.
The man looked up and their eyes t.
Then...
Thunk! Thunk!
The two conductive darts struck him.
For a brief mont, nothing happened.
Then...Suddenly...
CRACKKKK!
Electricity exploded through his body.
The guard’s entire fra convulsed violently.
His mouth opened.
No words ca out.
Only a scream.
But what happened next was far worse.
The electricity didn’t stop with him.
The conductive needles embedded in other victims imdiately attracted the current.
The voltage jumped from body to body.
Like a disease.
Like lightning searching for more victims.
Like a chain reaction nobody could stop.
n touching each other were also caught in the ss.
Injured rcenaries trying to help their comrades were caught too.
Even those who hadn’t been directly struck found themselves screaming as electricity surged through them.
The sll of burnt flesh spread through the air.
Bodies dropped everywhere.
So collapsed unconscious.
Others convulsed helplessly on the ground.
The courtyard had beco a nightmare.
BANG!
A gunshot echoed out of nowhere.
Ezra sharply tilted his head.
A bullet passed through the space where his skull had been a mont earlier.
Instead...
The round struck a rcenary charging toward him.
The unfortunate man collapsed instantly.
"Tsk."
Far above, inside one of the upper floors of the mansion...
A young man, who looked like he was in his early twenties lowered his sniper slightly.
"I missed."
He clicked his tongue.
The Springfield M1903A remained pressed against his shoulder.
Beside him stood another man, who looked like he was in his late thirties with folded arms.
"Aim again."
The order ca calmly.
The young sniper nodded.
A playful smile appeared on his face.
Yet cold sweat slowly rolled down his temple.
"But seriously..."
His eyes returned to the scope.
"That kid is tearing through everybody with ease."
The smile on his face beca strained.
"Scary. Really scary."
He exhaled slowly.
Because through the scope...
The scene didn’t look like sothing a new young Alchemist should be capable of doing.
Down below...
Ezra glanced toward the window the shot had co from.
His gaze locked onto it for only a mont.
Then...
Whoosh!
The sword in his hand left like a missile.
A guard charging with a spear never saw it coming.
The blade pierced straight through his neck.
The montum carried his body backward.
Blood sprayed across the snow.
Ezra didn’t even watch him fall.
Instead, he reached into his Space Bag.
The Kel-Tec PMR-30 appeared in his hands.
Click.
He adjusted his grip and rolled his shoulders, loosening his joints.
The movent looked casual.
Almost relaxed.
Yet the remaining guards and rcenaries stared at him as if they were looking at a monster.
Or perhaps sothing worse.
Ezra’s entire body was now stained with blood.
So of it did belong to him, but most of it didn’t.
His coat.
His gloves.
His boots.
His face.
Blood covered everything.
Yet his expression remained calm.
His dark eyes swept across the survivors.
The gaze felt bottomless.
Like an abyss.
Nobody moved.
Nobody wanted to be the next person to rush him.
Their instincts scread at them.
Run.
Escape.
Leave.
But another feeling crushed those thoughts.
A terrifying realization.
The mont they agreed to participate in this attack...
The mont they accepted money to hunt him...
The mont they drew their weapons and charged...
Their fates had already been decided.
Nobody was leaving.
Not today.
Not alive.
Because to Ezra, it is either he dies here, or every single one of them did.
There was no third option.
No retreat.
No rcy.
No escape.
Only slaughter.
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