A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

Eloise kept her eyes on the Undead Knight as its two halves hit the ground and then her eyes fell on the Spell circle she had stealthily cast while drawing her opponent into a false sense of security.

A memory came to mind… Early years when she was still interested in having a relationship with her father. The years when she had not yet seen him as the power-hungry control freak that he was…

As the spell circle fizzled out, Eloise's eyes continued to drop until she was looking at her face reflected in the magical steel of her sword. Almost subconsciously, she raised the sword and held it at a horizontal angle to look into it.

Her grey eyes stared back at her in the reflection. The eyes were the only things she had gotten from her Father… Besides her magical talent, of course.

Eloise let out a sigh and shook her head as though to get rid of annoying thoughts before she once again looked at the Undead she just cut in two to deliver one final cuss,

"Burn in hell, you talkative asshole."

"Ah!"

A cry of pain pulled Eloise out of her melancholy and she was quickly reminded that she was in a massive hall with battles happening all over.

The cry that had particularly drawn her attention came from much closer. Both in distance and familiarity; It was Aurelius who had just gotten bashed away by an Undead Knight.

Aurelius slid a bit before stabbing his sword into the ground to stop as he looked up at his Undead opponent who had its shield raised and its Spear pointed menacingly.

The Undead Knight charged at Aurelius but suddenly, Eloise was there, parrying the Spear away before slamming her hand against the shield the Undead didn't let shift in its defense.

The spell cast was quick and the magical beam was unleashed at point blank range where it pushed the Undead Knight a few steps back even though it swung its shield as though the defect the force of the beam aside.

Eloise made to charge in and follow up but Aurelius ran past her to strike his sword at the Undead Knight who reacted in time to raise its Shield in defense.

"I have this, Eloise," Aurelius said through gritted teeth. Whether the gritting was due to effort or annoyance was unclear.

Eloise must have thought it was the latter or both because she grinned tauntingly.

"You looked like you needed help," She said as she stabbed at the Undead Knight hoping to take advantage of the fact that Aurelius had its attention.

"I was handling it," Aurelius said as he hooked his shield against the Undead Knight's shield just to get behind the defense and strike more directly against its body.

"Sure you were," Eloise said with a smile before she grimaced as the Undead Knight slammed the shaft of its Spear in such a way that it came at her and knocked her sword stab to the side.

In the same move, the Shaft also created a bar to intercept Aurelius and in a single surge of sickly deathly Mana, it unleashed a wave that slammed into the two attacking Knights to knock them away.

As Eloise and Aurelius tried to resist the force and stand their ground, the Undead Knight struck its feet against the ground and began to ooze the convictive aura of Oath-channeling.

Eloise and Aurelius shared a look and as one, they channeled their Oaths as well.

In a moment, the landscape seemed to change in a way it hadn't even when Eloise had fought an Undead Knight just minutes ago;

The Oaths to protect the weak and fight for the downtrodden faced off against the Undead's Oath to stand guard within this Hall and make sure no one moved on and faced its Lord.

The Undead Knight's grip on its Spear tightened just as Eloise and Aurelius shared a look.

Eloise said nothing but she raised a brow as though to ask,

"Still want me to stand aside?"

Aurelius rolled his eyes at her but he spoke instead,

"Provide support. Only support!"

"As you wish," Eloise said and they were off.

Eloise seemed to vanish from the Undead Knight's senses and while it considered sensing her out, Aurelius was there striking his sword against its Shield. The attack was parried but he refused to be moved even a foot and was quickly back to strike again.

When the shield came to knock his sword aside again, Aurelius was ready and found the self-control to stop his swing and hook his shield against his opponent's just so he could open up a path to attack.

"You've tried this before," The Undead knight said. Speaking for the first time, it sounded exasperated that Aurelius would be foolish to retry a move that had failed once already.

The Undead Knight swung its Spear to use it as a bar to intercept Aurelius's attack with then its glowing hollow eyes widened when a beam was fired and struck it in the chest.

*BAM!*

The impact was heavy and most of all unexpected. It knocked the Undead back and Aurelius took that time to slash at its body. His sword struck the enemy's Armor-protected chest and was able to cut a gash through it. Also, the mere force of the attack caused the Undead Knight to stumble even more.

It regained its stance quickly when its senses warned of an attack coming from behind.

Eloise was aware her magical beam could do very little more than push the enemy. Her Intelligence, while impressive was lacking compared to her strength so, besides trickery, a full frontal attack with physical might was most assured a good result over a magical attack. Which was why she was now stabbing her sword at the Undead Knight's back.

It turned its torso and swung its Spear toward her. The attack moved fast. Faster than Eloise could react to, so, of course, she slowed down the attack by conjuring three magical shields preemptively.

The Spear broke through them all in turn but the critical reduction in its speed gave Eloise the precious seconds she needed to duck low and avoid it.

Just as the shaft of the Undead Knight's Spear was sailing clear above Eloise's head, Aurelius arrived and stabbed his sword through the enemy's back.

At the same time, Eloise raised her sword-wielding hand and stabbed her weapon into the enemy's midsection. The blade of her sword got stuck within bone but with a heave, she cut through it in an attack that was completed by Aurelius wrenching his sword through the undead and shattering its sternum.

The Undead Knight began a Mana surge and tried to resist the attacks with its physical abilities improved through Oath-Channeling. Alas, with important pieces of body-holding bone formations cut through, the glow in its eyes began to lessen.

Eloise took note of the lessening glow and she didn't care to let the process continue or end as she rose off the ground and decapitated it so the head hit the ground hard only protected from shattering due to the black helmet it had on.

The Armored body fell soon after.

"Teamwork," Eloise said with an easy smile. Just barely mocking.
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Aurelius rolled his eyes as though to reiterate how she had not been needed. He looked around for the Squires that had joined to assist in his fight against the Undead Knight. They had all gotten slammed aside by repeated Mana surges and Spear-shaft slams but they were alive.

The same, however, could not be said for the halved-up body Aurelius's eyes fell on next.

He felt Eloise stiffen by his side as they both realized that while they had been busy and had their attention gripped by Undead Opponents, one of their charges had met a horrible end.