“Nooo!” Aaron was angry. Alex had just died, and there was no way to bring him back.

Keeping it on [Medium Bullet] mode, Aaron aimed his pistol at Rico and pulled the trigger.

Rico had been standing still. He was an easy target, and Aaron knew how to aim.

However, Aaron hesitated. He had known him since Rico was born. Rico was his brother! He hadn’t always been like that. Was killing him the right thing to do? The only option left?

At that moment, Aaron realized what he was about to do and couldn’t bring himself to accept it. ‘Perhaps… Rico can still change.’

*Bang!*

Rico only received a wound on his right leg. The injury wasn’t severe enough. He struggled to keep standing on his feet but remained awake. “Aaron, I hate you! DIE!” he screamed as his eyes glowed green.

Crow’s speed increased substantially because of Rico’s support.

‘Rico switched to using his wind magic!’ Aware of this, Aaron desperately dashed back with his own wind magic.

Crow was still closing in because his dark magic, air transformation, allowed him to turn his limbs into air currents that made him go faster.

With Rico’s wind magic increasing the dark magician’s speed, Aaron knew that he couldn’t escape Crow’s sword.

Aaron couldn’t think of a way to escape this inevitable sword strike, so he resolved to minimalize the damage.

*Slash* Crow was left-handed, so by shifting his body to Crow’s right, Aaron sacrificed his right shoulder yet kept the rest of his body intact.

“Argh!” Aaron couldn’t move his right arm anymore and felt much more pain than he envisioned. Thankfully, he held his pistol in his left hand.

Ever since Alex’s death, Isaac hadn’t been idling. He had been avoiding Explo’s beams.

Explo didn’t fight hand to hand with Isaac because her armour was metallic. She didn’t want to get electrocuted by Isaac’s magic.

However, this left him an opening. Isaac charged his conjured spear with electricity and threw it at Rico.

*Zzzt!* *Tchk!*

Despite being previously focused on Aaron, Rico reacted quickly. He didn’t have time to dodge, so he stopped the spear with his two hands before it could penetrate his chest.

But he still got electrocuted by Isaac’s magic. He stood there, barely managing to stand with burn marks, two injured hands and a bloodstained leg.

[Super Heavy Bullet]

*Bang!*

Aaron fired a very heavy bullet straight at Crow’s mask. The recoil pushed Aaron a few meters backward and upward.

[Wait out the 20s cooldown before firing another bullet of this mode.]

As Aaron observed Crow, he realized that the bullet didn’t do any apparent damage to him. Crow didn’t just wear his mask to hide his face. He wore it to protect his head. It was a very sturdy helmet.

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On the other side, Isaac was proud of his move. He observed Rico as he struggled to stand up.

‘Fool!’ Explo was angered but remained silent while she charged her red magic canon for another beam.

“Huh?”

*BVOOOOM!* Isaac had forgotten about her. He was still too inexperienced.

Isaac managed to move to the left yet still got caught in the explosion. He landed on his back with a few fractured bones.

“Isaac, use the red magic again!” Aaron hadn’t forgotten about what happened earlier, how Isaac saved Alex and him. That mysterious power could carve a hole through a building. Moreover, the magic seemed identical to the one used for Explo’s red magic canon.

However, Isaac felt powerless. He was crying and had lost his will to get back up. “I can’t! I don’t know how to control it!”

“Weak! You’re all weak! After I beat all of you, the Tremblay Guild will be mine!” Unlike Isaac, Rico had gotten back on his feet. His hair was full of static electricity because of the spear.

“Crow, now!” he followed.

“Shit! My pistol’s overheated!” Aaron was facing Crow’s sword for the second time. Once again, Rico used his wind magic to improve Crow’s speed.

Aaron couldn’t do anything this time. He couldn’t use the recoil of his gun to avoid like before since his [Super Heavy Bullet] was still on cooldown.

Crow was ready for him and would change his sword’s direction if Aaron tried to avoid it to the sides.

*SLASH!*

However, a shield appeared and blocked the sword. Aaron was still alive.

“This is getting repetitive. It’s the second time I saved you with a single shield from getting killed.”

*BANG!* Crow didn’t even have time to think over what had happened before getting shot by someone else using a shotgun.

“They found us already?!” Rico was surprised.

Using the last of his mana, Rico floated Crow and himself away with wind magic since they couldn’t run due to injuries. “Retreat!”

Sure enough, John, Christiana and Henri had arrived aboard their S-Craft.

The Rocket Crux took off, but they didn’t go to their pursuit.

There was something more meaningful to them going on. Alex was dead. No one could bring him back because of his upper body’s condition.

John was the only one not gathering at his body. He hadn’t known Alex much, so he refrained from joining them and let them mourn in peace.

Christiana and Isaac were crying -especially Isaac- while Henri and Aaron had bitter expressions on their face. They were all surrounding Alex’s corpse. Isaac had crawled to him, still lying on the ground.

“This is why I didn’t want you kids to participate in this war,” said Henri Tremblay, referring to Aaron, Isaac and Alex.

“Also, Aaron. Don’t blame yourself. Rico might have only come for you, but he has gone mad. He and Topaz Guild are the ones to blame for his death.”

Henri’s expression suddenly changed. He was a father yet failed to protect one of his sons. He thought of his deceased wife, then understood what he had to do.

“Christiana, get Aaron and Isaac’s injuries treated. Then, bring them to Hellish City.

“John, call for backup. We’ll pursue these fuckers, and kill them.”

…

Christiana brought Aaron and Isaac to a military base close by, got them treated, and took them en route to the Hellish City.

Although it was in another S-Craft and under different circumstances, Aaron and Isaac were seated in their same respective seats as they had before. Aaron was on Isaac’s left.

Being the driver, Christiana had taken Alex’s seat.

Isaac ceased crying. “Aaron.”

Aaron turned his face toward his friend. Through the half a year they had lived together, he had grown to accept Isaac and Alex as his brothers.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s take revenge once we get stronger.”

“Sure.”

End of Part 3 - Temporary

Part 4: Hellish City