A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

"It. Can't. Die?" Henry asked with a pause between each word like he was finding it difficult to come to terms with them.

"Well, actually, it can," Eloise said and although Henry brightened up, he felt a gloom from behind and realized no one else shared his optimism at this new piece of information.

He furrowed his brows but returned his eyes to Eloise to ask,

"How?"

"We need to find it" she said with her voice as grave as ever and her hand on the handle of her sword.

"What's it?" Henry asked.

"A Phylactery," Eloise said, and before Henry could ask her to explain because the word meant nothing to him, the voice of the Lich sounded again.

"It's rude to discuss me like I'm not right here," it said and then let out a harsh sound that took Henry a while to realize was a chuckle,

"Then again you pointed your weapon at me and fired already without so much as an introduction so clearly courtesy is not your strong suit."

No one said a word.

They all just stared at the Lich like their minds were working fast. Nyx had her black eyes trained on the Lich as well and let out a few snorts while her tail swished back and forth in agitation.

The faces of the groups being led by Norbert were shifty as they stole glances at the door they had walked through into the Hall and tried to decide if they should make a run for it.

And then they were off.

They all turned tail and ran.

At first, the action caught Norbert by surprise, and looked like he was about to yell at them and accuse them of being cowards but he quickly gave up and joined them to run.

The Lich clenched its bony fist and the door into the Chamber slammed shut with a deafening sound that seemed to echo and intensify the feeling of gloom that spurred the groups to even attempt escape in the first place.

"Disappointing," the Lich said,

"You've all worked hard. Lost comrades just to be here and you'll just run? No, no, no. Come on now. Stay a while."

Eloise let out a breath and took a step forward. Her brows were furrowed and while her hand remained tight around the handle of her sword, she didn't pull it out.

"Henry," she said quietly. She seemed to be trying to keep her words from hitting the ears of the Lich but Henry doubted it was an effective tactic.

"Hmm?" He answered.

"We need to find the Phylactery," Eloise said gravely still in a whisper.

"I still don't know what that is," Henry said.

"It's a box, an item, a jar… I don't really know what it is. It could be any number of shapes. But it's an Anchor. It ties the soul of a Lich to the Mortal Plane and makes it impossible for them to pass on."

"So—" Henry started as understanding dawned on him.

"Yes," Eloise said with a nod, "It's the source of the Lich's immortality. We have to find it and destroy it or the Lich can never die."

"Where is it?" Henry asked.

"Don't know," Eloise said with a shrug, "It can't be too far. From what I've learned about their kind, a Liches is never too far away from their Phalectery but they always keep it well hidden. But that's an all theory of course. I've never actually faced one before."

Eloise drew her sword now and she glanced over at Aurelius who had found his way to her other side before looking back at Henry,

"We'll distract it," she said, "You have to find it."

Henry blinked,

"Wait," he said and held out an arm.

Beyond the fact that Eloise was being sacrificial about a role she had decided for herself, Henry wondered why he was the one on search duty.

He felt he could distract the Lich as well as anyone else and even though he hadn't yet said this out loud, Aurelius smirked like he could tell.

"Leave no stone unturned," he said with smugness as he drew his sword too, "Don't let our efforts be in vain."

And then he charged.

Eloise hadn't even called for the fight to start but clearly, Aurelius wasn't the slightest bit interested in waiting for a go-ahead because he was already swinging his sword at the Lich's neck.

"Hm," the Lich let out but unlike with Henry when it had simply allowed the attack to strike it, this time, it acted.

With a snap of its bony fingers, a spell circle appeared, and out of it charged a fist conjured thickly of Mana.

*Bam!*

The fist struck Aurelius and slammed him into a far wall in the chamber where he slid to the ground and used his sword to keep himself relatively upright as he shook off the impact of the hit.

He had his shield on one arm but hadn't raised it in time to intercept the blow so his body had suffered the brunt of the force.

"If I let that sword go through me, I lose even more of my robe," The Lich said calmly without any indication that it just cast a spell. It didn't even look at Aurelius who looked to be gearing to try again.

"Henry, remember to search!" Eloise said and in a few seconds, she completed her spell chant, cast a spell circle, and fired a magical beam at the Lich.

A Magic circle, Violet and thrumming with even more Arcane might, appeared in front of the Lich's chest and out of it fired a purple beam that slammed into Eloise's beam, pushing it back until it obliterated the spell circle it had charged out of before striking into a shield Eloise had managed to conjure.

Once her shield had blocked the beam and managed to reduce its force to the point where it only forced her back a step, Eloise vanished from the spot she stood and brought her sword down in a vertical cleave onto the Lich's head.

The Lich acted as unbothered by her charge as it had acted to Aurelius' and with a wave of its bony hand, a spell circle appeared that slammed her with a fist conjured with Mana.

Eloise had expected the attack. She would have been foolish not to expect it after Aurelius only just suffered a similar attack.

She Channeled her Oath, let her Mana surge, and with an incredible presence of mind, she interrupted her ongoing attempt to cleave the Lich and turned it into a spin that had her sword cutting through the conjured fist.

The fist shattered into tiny Mana flecks and Eloise's feet hit the ground about two feet from the Lich.

There was no change in its expression and with a snap of its fingers —and in the completion of a Spell cast it had already started from the moment Eloise was cutting through the conjured fist— multiple Spell circles appeared and out of them all charged blades of Mana that spun and boasted powerful piercing might.

Eloise frowned and deployed Magical shields but when the Blades barraged the shields and destroyed them she was forced to deflect them while still making her way toward the seated Lich.

She arrived within a foot of the Lich and stabbed her sword at its chest in an attack she knew wouldn't kill it only to be slammed by a forceful invisible shield that sent her right back to where she had first started her charge.

She fell into Henry's arms and he caught her.

"Why aren't you searching?" Eloise asked Henry with wide eyes because she believed he had barely taken a step from the spot she had left him.

"I am," Henry answered earnestly and before Eloise could tell him to search harder, the Lich spoke.

"Your insistent and pointless attempts to attack me bore me. Even if I don't act, you will still fail.

But, if it's opponents you can defeat that you want, I will provide."

At the end of the Lich's declaration, Spell circles began to appear all over the chamber.

Henry recognized the circles. So did Eloise, Louis, Andor, Aurelius, and the Squires. They knew what was coming from the circles and the bandaged half of a summoned Mummy rising out of each of the circles wasn't even needed to confirm their guesses.