A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

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—West Wing of The Hadron Mansion—

Yelena was lying on the bed in the medical bay reading through a book— a book of stories and fantasies and myths all about chivalry and Prince Charming.

She had read that book and others many times over her Three Centuries of 'imprisonment' mostly because she never could get any new material and had to stick to whatever was in her Family's library. It was the only part of the Mansion the looters had not cared to rob when they stripped it of its valuables.

Apparently, they didn't think books were worth much.

Yelena disagreed.

Books were her solace. The only way she could 'see' out of the four walls of the Mansion. The only references she could refer to and get an inking of what life was like for normal people.

She never really got tired of reading this novel in particular but she would be lying if she said she was paying attention to the words on the page.

For two days now, only one thing had been constantly on her mind; The Kiss.

It consumed her every thought.

As she flicked through the pages of the novel she was reading, she paid the most attention to the illustrations. Her imagination imposed her face over the heroine's and Henry's face over the hero's.

It made her smile and then it made her chuckle.

While the heroine was about as innocent as she was, Yelena found it funny that she sometimes seemed to have more in common with the villain of the story. A powerful witch who had lived for centuries and used Magic to remain youthful and aimed to kill the heroine to 'steal her innocence'. The similarities were not to the letter but they were there.

And Henry, well, he was not quite like the Hero of the Story either;

The Hero of the story was an armor-wearing macho blond-haired blue-eyed do-gooder with a heart of gold. Completely infallible in his principles. A chivalrous Knight whose goal was to slay evil and take the Princess.

Yelena thought there were similarities between Henry and the Hero for sure. He was certainly dashing. He had always been good looking but this past few weeks, his body had undergone developments that had skyrocketed those looks.

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But his hair was brown and not blond. His eyes, deep and endearing as they were, were black and not blue.

Also, he is no do-gooder, Yelena was sure. He's not chivalrous. He's not infallible— He's a gang member after all. He's basically one of the very kinds of villains the hero of the novel was always supposed to get rid of.

And Yelena felt she preferred that— She preferred him to the cookie-cutter hero.

There was something authentic about it— about him.

He had killed many times before and would kill many more times again and yet, supported her not wanting to go down that path. He even gladly shouldered her grief so she didn't have to.

His profession lived off loot and yet he handed her a precious Magic scroll just because he heard her, at one time, mention how much she wanted one.

Yes, she and Henry were different from the Heroine and the Hero but to Yelena, that was what made it perfect.

Yelena's face was flushed a rosy red when she heard a sound from somewhere in the Mansion;

*BANG!!!*

The sound was followed by the explosive shattering of bricks as an entire section of the Mansion collapsed, and as it did, pain tore through Yelena's body and she let out a loud cry,

"AHHHHHHHH!!!"

It felt like a part of her body was torn away from her with an excruciating slowness that forced her to feel every bit of the process.

She curled up into a ball on the bed but her horrors were just beginning.

*BANG!!!*

With another powerful explosion, another part of the Mansion was blown up. This time it was an upper level and its floor crumbled so hard it rained down bricks. The bricks fell and struck Yelena's head, creating a long gash that bled. They crushed her arms and legs with multiple sickening crack sounds.

Her body, immortal as it was, healed but healed much more slowly in proportion to the current state of the Mansion.

Yelena was still yelling when more bricks fell on top of her head, burying her and drowning out her pained cries.

*BANG!!!*

*BANG!!!*

*BANG!!!*

*BANG!!!*

All over the Hadron Mansion, walls were getting blown away by the explosions attached to them. Over half and a quarter of the building's overall structure quickly fell to ruin and crumbled.

Angus watched it with a wide smile on his face. Watching the centuries-old structure crumble filled him with a level of elation he hadn't expected.

When the Demolition was finally over, Angus released the trigger he had plunged and looked to the side at Joe whose eyes were widened in horror.

"What's with that look?" Angus asked with a raised brow,

"What did you think was going to happen after I asked you to plant the explosives?"

"Well, I expected this to happen, I suppose," Joe said slowly and then gulped as he added,

"It's just— I think Yelena was still in there."

"Of course, she's still there. That's why I did it," Angus said looking confused about Joe's reaction but then with a shake of his head at the portly man's lack of understanding of his ways, Angus looked away and back at the dilapidated Mansion.

The dust from the collapse was immense and it only cleared a bit when Angus walked into it with an arm over his nose to keep from choking on it.

Bricks still fell as he walked. They always seemed to fall on spots he had been standing at before moving forward or spots he would have been at if he hadn't paused for a second. It was like the damaged Mansion was angry at him. The thought made Angus chuckle as he made his way through the West Wing.

The ceiling of the Medical bay had caved in and a well-made arch was the only thing keeping the doorway fairly intact but a little shove from Angus was all that was required to knock the door off its hinges.

Angus looked around the room and didn't see Yelena but he knew she was there. The tether he could sense through to Vinculum indicated she hadn't left this room.

And then his eyes fell on a mound of bricks at the spot where the Medical bay bed was supposed to be. As he watched, the bricks wobbled like something was trying to break free.

*Crackle*

Dark tendrils crackled from right beneath the topmost bricks.

"Ahh," Angus said with a smirk,

"There you are."

*Bang*

A tendril shot out right then and blasted open enough space for a broken hand to break through.

Gasp!

Taking in a breath after the intense feeling of suffocation, Yelena pulled her head from beneath the bricks, and with a heave of effort, she dragged the rest of her body out of it.

Her gown was covered with dirt, splattered with blood, and torn up to show gashes on her skin. Gashes that still bled.

Her legs were broken in many different places with her bones sticking out horribly. The weight of the bricks on her body had hindered her already slowed-down healing but now that she was out of them, they pulled back into shape and snapped back into place with sickening crunch sounds that had Yelena wincing in pain.

But that pain was mild compared to what she was feeling due to the Hadron Mansion's demolition. She no longer felt whole. It was like entire portions of her body had been cut away.

She didn't even notice Angus as he walked closer but she looked up when she heard his voice.

"Look at you all weak," he said with a smile,

"You must be in pain. Let's put an end to that, shall we?"

Yelena saw his hand reach toward her and knew she didn't want that. She hurried back a few steps as she summoned her tendrils.

"No, no," Angus said wagging a finger at her,

"None of that for now."

And then, Yelena felt it. Something broke. The connection that kept her tied to the Mansion— The connection that kept her alive was suddenly gone.

Her Magic, always so full and abundant, waned and her tendrils fizzled out.

Her aging which had slowed due to her conditional immortality, struck back at her as her brown hair turned grey and started to stretch past her shoulders. The process of her body breaking down and her life ending wasn't instantaneous but she could feel it barreling fast at her.

And then, Angus gripped her shoulder and her mind was pulled into a Mental space where the physical aging of her body was shut to the side as her mental individuality was quickly at risk.