Chapter 3 - Coup d'État (2)

Ronald looked at his feet, and to his surprise, the dead body had disappeared.

"By the way, are you sure that Zomb is really dead?" Jacob asked, smirking.

"Huh?" Ronald froze in place. Was Zomb still alive? Was Jacob a traitor?

Suddenly, he felt a hard object press against his abdomen. He looked down. It was a gun barrel. More precisely, it was Zomb's pistol!

*BANG!* The first bullet was fired.

Ronald clutched his wound, trying to stop the bleeding. "How… how are you-"

"Hahaha! Did you ACTUALLY think I would let myself be taken by surprise again? This time, you’re the one on the receiving end! I’ll make sure to take my time killing you." A mischievous grin appeared on Zomb's magical mask, an illusion he made to cover his face.

Shot after shot, Zomb made Ronald bleed as much as possible. But in his eagerness to inflict pain, Zomb made a rash decision. He was enjoying torturing Ronald so much that he revealed his illusion powers.

"Earlier, I set up many illusions! The blood trail, the other me… They were all my CREATIONS to you here!"

In the dark corner of the room, Rico bit his nails, while Aaron had been as still as a toppled statue, pretending to sleep in his sleeping capsule.

Although cowardly, this gave him an advantage. Zomb had completely forgotten about him! Gathering his courage, Aaron picked up the knife he kept in his left pocket that night as a defence mechanism, got out of his bed, and slowly moved towards his prey.

‘If this is really my uncle, then this guy must not be an illusion since he can hurt him,’ Aaron guessed. ‘If I sneak up on him, I might be able to do something!’

Aaron crept behind Zomb. Scared and with horrifying timing, Rico shouted, "Aaron!"

Zomb was now aware of Aaron, but the kid acted quickly. His eyes glowed green as he used wind magic to remove the distance between them.

Zomb was now aware of the situation, but Aaron acted quickly. Before the man with the mask could turn around, Aaron stabbed him, not once, but four times.

Zomb jumped away, quivering, without realizing he had left his gun on the ground. "Argh! Fuck… this! Where did he… come from?!" he cried as he flew through the broken door.

Aaron knelt before his uncle, grasping his shoulders. "Ronald, uncle, you'll be fine… Right?!" he questioned, grasping his uncle's two shoulders and kneeling in front of him.

Of course, Ronald stated the obvious. "Ha… I don't think so! More are coming, and they will make sure to finish me!"

He paused as Rico approached them and then said firmly, "You both need to run. The one behind all of this is our very own vice master, Jacob Raider."

Seeing that his big brother was at a loss for words, Rico arrived at the scene. "Where should we go then?"

Ronald was shivering. His breath was unsteady, and his voice a whisper. "If you manage to get out of this building, take the High Road to the north all the way to the Tremblay Guild."

The High Road was a very long road that ran across the entire Amon Guild from north to south. It was elevated higher than any skyscraper and offered magnificent views of the territory from the sky, hence its name.

While the Amon Guild was the most prosperous guild on the Western Continent, the Tremblay Guild was safer and more stable. It was a democracy, covering the entire northern section of the continent, and was always regarded as the most promising place to reside.

Seeing that the two brothers had remorsefully accepted that they would have to leave their home, Ronald continued, "Once you get there, find 'Henri Tremblay.' He isn't exactly of high status in the Tremblay Guild, but he has some authority and was a close friend of your father.

“Also, Aaron, take this… Zomb dropped it." Ronald was starting to feel it. His blood was running out. "It is one of those multi-use intelligent guns that take... mana to operate… I am sure Zomb had... installed a few special things in it."

Aaron grabbed the pistol and cycled through the different modes on its digital screen. There were dozens of options such as firing an explosive bullet, a light bullet, and a heavy bullet. Each bullet type consumed a different amount of mana. He knew that running away by the hallways would be nearly impossible as their room was on one of the highest floors.

Aaron opened the window. Although he was a wind mage, he knew that even Ronald couldn’t jump from such a height with his magic. However, he could see the High Road which was about 500 metres away.

The young mage cycled through the different modes of the magic pistol and found a solution.

"Thank you, uncle. This pistol is indeed useful. Now, I might have a way to get to the High Road undetected."

Ronald coughed blood. "Oh? How?"

"With this!" Aaron aimed the multi-use pistol and fired a shot. The mode he found was "Sticky Grappling" and consumed 0.15 mana per meter. It was a grappling hook made of solid mana. After a while, the hook anchored onto the road in the clouds - the High Road.

The screen integrated into the side of the pistol specified that the action consumed 92.03 mana points, leaving Aaron with only 4.33 mana points left. He wouldn't be able to use magic for a while.

"It worked! Rico, hold on to me, this will be dangerous!" He paused and looked at his dying uncle.

"Farewell, Uncle Ron." As soon as Rico did as told, he pressed the [Go to the hook] option.

Ronald nodded, absent-mindedly. “Good luck.”

*FWOOOOOOSH!*

And so, the two brothers escaped, soaring through the sky. Rico had his eyes open at first, but after taking a glimpse beneath his feet, he quickly shut them and muttered to himself, "Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down!"

Meanwhile, Aaron looked back and took a final glance at the beautiful city he'd be leaving behind - Blue City, his hometown.

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