A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

The Vyker Captain looked over in the direction of the speaker of the words that had managed to stop him in place and his eyes went wide when they fell on the purple pulsing gem on Angus' chest.

Almost like he wanted to taunt the Vykers still alive, Angus didn't have his shirt as buttoned up as it had when he arrived to deliver the news of the coming attack. He also pushed his chest out with his hands jammed in his pockets and a confident grin on his face as he walked closer.

"You—" The Vyker Captain said.

"Yes," Angus said calmly, "Me."

"Angus Dionisio," the Vyker Captain said.

"The one and only," Angus said and he watched as the Vyker Captain took note of the fact that he had regained control of his body and coiled to spring.

Angus was unbothered.

Facing Fifteen Vykers with no one else but Gang members who generally lacked any magic would have led to deaths and certain defeat. Having Yelena do it instead, was all gains and no losses. That said, against one Vyker— okay, maybe two—, Angus was confident of victory.

Especially since the two hadn't yet thought to seal themselves from the power of his Spellbinding.

"Get rid of those garish mutations," he said.

The command gripped the two Vykers and their scales and fur sunk back into their bodies.

Immediately the Vyker by the Captain's side was no longer protected by scales, Angus raised his gun, took quick aim, and fired.

The Vyker watched with wide eyes as the head of the last person he had to command and possibly watch his back, jerked aggressively atop his neck before he fell and hit the ground with a *thud*. With blood and brain matter leaking out of bullet holes.

"You—!" The Captain started and claws began to extend from his fingertips.

"Pipe down," Angus said, and whatever rant the Vyker was about to get into got stuck in the back of his throat.

Angus' eyes went to the claws and he frowned,

"I don't remember telling you it's okay to bring them back—"

Angus was stopped mid-sentence as the Vyker was suddenly in front of him. The Vyker Captain stretched out a clawed hand and grabbed hold of Angus' mouth before pushing back by driving every bit of strength he had in his body into his arm.

The Captain had an elated grin on his face. He was the last but he just might survive.

He had acted quickly. All he had to do was rip the item off the thief's chest and get the hell away before either the one wielding the Magic gun or the Witch could react.

Even as he thought of it, he could just tell how unrealistic the idea was, and yet, elation at shutting Angus up had spiked his adrenaline and he shut off all 'reasonable' thought to put his unwise plan into effect.

Henry made to shoot but Angus stretched out a hand to signal him to stop.

The force of the Vyker Captain's push caused Angus to go back a few steps but he locked in his knees soon enough and refused to let himself get pushed back further.

The Captain drew back his arm and struck his clawed fingertips toward Angus' chest but the Gang leader grabbed the enemy's wrist before the claws could make contact and spun the arm away.

Angus pointed his gun at the Captain's chest and fired two shots only for both bullets to flatten against the furred chest.

'Of course,' Angus thought with hardly any surprise. It might have looked like 'simple' fur, but non-magical metal will always fail against magically-protected surfaces.

"Give it to me!" The Captain yelled and punctuated his words with a growl rumbling in his chest as he tightened his grip around Angus' mouth. Intent on cracking the thief's skull with what he assumed was his superior strength.

Angus chuckled. He still couldn't talk but the way he angled his head passed his message across quite well; 'Why would I?'

Again, the Captain stretched a clawed hand at the item on Angus' chest and again Angus smacked it aside. However, unlike before, the Captain recovered quicker and returned to try again which sparked a combat of hands as they both employed maneuvers to gain the upper hand.

The exchange ended with Angus grabbing the Captain's wrist and squeezing so hard he forced him to groan out in pain.

"Nghh— You bastard!" The Captain let out as he tried to pull his wrist out of Angus' grip and found that he could not.

Next, Angus jammed his gun back into his holster and struck a blow into the joint where the Vyker captain's arm met his shoulder.

"Argh—" The Vyker yelled and released Angus' mouth but Angus didn't let him stagger back.

Instead, he used the grip on the wrist he was already holding to pull the Vyker closer before leaping and sinking a knee into his jaw.

The impact of the knee-strike knocked the Captain's head back but again, Angus didn't let him fall backward and with a hard jerk of the wrist he was holding, he pulled him closer, sidestepped, grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face into the ground so hard, the *Crack* of a broken nose could be heard by Gang members still inside the Hadron Mansion.

Angus twisted the Vyker's arm, cracking it and as his victim's pained groans were muffled against the ground, Angus stomped hard on his head three times.

*BAM!*

*BAM!*

*BAM!*

With each stomp, the already badly damaged face only got more damaged to the point where every act of rebellion the Vyker Captain was still nursing seemed to melt away.

"Stay there," Angus said slowly as he turned the Captain over and looked down at his shattered, and blood-splattered furry face.

The Vyker Captain's eyes were rolled into the back of his head and his fingers twitched like he was nursing the idea of rising from the ground. Angus grabbed the other arm and put an end to such thoughts with a hard twist that broke it.

The Vyker tried to yell but the sounds were muffled by Angus bringing down his foot on his face with such force, that it broke his teeth. Fangs and all.

Through gritted teeth and his purple eyes flashing with malice, Angus said,

"Turn. Off. That. Dammed. Mutation!"

Forced to obey the command of Angus' Spellbinding, the Vyker Captain pulled his fur back into his body and with the protection against bullets that it had granted him now gone, he was at the mercy of Angus who drew his gun from his Holster and shot both his knees.

Angus didn't fire just once. He emptied the rest of his cylinder to the point where the enemy's kneecaps were completely decimated and looked like they could never again hold up his weight.

"AH—" the Captain began to yell.

"Shut It!" Angus ordered and the Captain's mouth sealed shut with his eyes bugged as he yelled out his pain in his head.

It seemed Angus was still not satisfied because he stomped the Vyker's head into the ground again and watched with an almost sadistic grin when his victim's eyes were still bugged and he struggled against the command still forcing him to keep his mouth shut.

Henry watched it all curiously.

Brutality to an enemy was not new to him. In fact, on a normal day, he would have respected Angus for not pulling his punches just because the enemy was already down. It was just, for some reason, Henry could not bring himself to think favorably of Angus at the moment.

Devon, Charles, Dana, Stefan, and Triss were at the entrance of the Hadron Mansion now. The others stayed there and watched but Devon continued walking like he had been summoned.

He glanced at Henry as he got closer. The look in his eyes was both admiration, as well as a challenge at what he supposed, was Henry's stupidity,

"Why were you even out here?" He asked, "She didn't need you."

Henry said nothing.

Indeed, to everyone who had watched, he wasn't needed. How Yelena had killed three Vykers showed she was more than enough on her own but a more keen-eyed individual would also have noticed how she had looked after she killed. They would have noticed that henceforth, she avoided making any more kills.

Henry glanced over at where Yelena had been standing and saw she was no longer there. He saw her edge past Triss and Dana and head into the Mansion.

"Devon," Angus called with an impassive wave of his hand at the prone and very injured Vyker on the ground,

"Get him inside."

"You're not going to kill him?" Devon asked.

Henry seconded that question.

"Why would I do that?" Angus asked with a small smile as he placed a hand on the Vyker Captain's chest and passed a strange purple energy into his body,

"Killing him would be a waste. We have quite a bit to ask him."