Gerhard looked at the darkened streets of Luminberg, a sight that he never thought would be possible in "The City of Endless Daylight". These lamps ran on the magical energy veins that ran underneath the city, which was much-touted as the means the city was kept forever lit. The Gray Fox's machinery went as far as to drain these ancient sources. Only the moon and the occasional tongues of fire from burning houses prevented the city from becoming completely engulfed in blackness. It felt like home still – as much as he hated to admit it to himself. Bodies littered the major roads; there was little in the way of differentiating the still-living from the dead, save for some individuals whose energy was being spent in uttering bellows and groans while recuperating from the life-threatening experience.

  The magician was sure his parents at the other quarter were not spared from this parasitic mechanism that the old crime lord set loose upon the city. He hoped there was time to pay them a visit; a glance at a window, seeing them lying asleep inside the safety of their home, was enough to placate him. Should they die and become building blocks of this grand ambition, could Gerhard see his master as the same ideal he looked up to?

  Something else broke sentiments away from his thoughts.

  He did not like the second-skin feeling of the preservation suit. The nighttime air seemed to have little or no effect in keeping Gerhard cool—his sweat being the only means of giving him a sense of cold. The armed men who accompanied him formed a ring around him; he thought that this security detail only slowed him down, not that he lacked the means to look after himself.

  He wondered about the fate of the Silberns: his reason for being in Luminberg. The Gray Fox's decision to put him and Cornelia on a special standby status made his personal mission something that had to be done at another time. While that old Luminberger family was far from pushovers, the crime lord's special mechanism sent the city to its current state of disaster. All this served as a half-victory for him; had the city administration fallen to the energy drainers, there wouldn't be a chance to hear the old Academy Headmaster reason himself out of the revenge Gerhard wanted to serve on him.

  The air smelled stale, probably due to the towers converting all forms of non-tangible matter into magical energy. Gerhard wondered what the Gray Fox wanted this much magical energy condensed. He was always told that it was the fuel for the new world his master always envisioned—one that would put Kriemreich on top of a new order. Political maneuvers suited the purpose more: the old doctor becoming the new Kaiser would have allowed him to continue developing more projects for a grand bid at establishing influence and authority beyond the lands of Delitia. If he had money and materials to bring a city the size of Luminberg to its knees, being installed in the way of politics more likely costed less.

  Gerhard knew the old man: the Gray Fox would not settle for anything less than a grand entrance once his plans were set in motion. Usurping the throne from the Royal Family would have made him less endearing to the average Kriemreicher. After all, the Gray Fox lacked any ties with the nobility, and that incident from long ago registered his name as dead to the nation.

  Now at last, Gerhard was called upon by the command station to assist Winston Norton with a pursuit operation. Surely, no member of the Imperial Armed Forces was left standing after the spectacular yet frightening display of power from the tower-mounted machines. The stragglers were probably in a bunker that prevented the energy-sapping contraptions from affecting them. Those soldiers would have been no better than the ones at the Imperial Archives, save for that officer who managed to mark Gerhard's left side with scores of stinging pellets. He would have been captured or killed if not for Cornelia looking after him.

  This time around, Gerhard would have to complete this task without the mildly annoying, yet endearing, female sword-wielder who either took the vanguard or covered his flanks. His quest to pay the Academy’s administration a visit was put on hold; whatever was tying up Norton was more than what his forces at hand could handle.

  A weak scent of gunpowder led Gerhard's group to a warehouse. Gunfire rattled from the interior, followed by muffled screams. Gerhard found the squad leader limping towards a lamppost with his gun as a crutch. This enemy proved more formidable than he expected, basing it on the bodies of Winston's men that littered the warehouse's vicinity. Some were breathing, though others lay too still to be considered alive. With a waving of his right hand, the exiled Luminberger fashioned a barrier with enough magical energy between his colleague and whoever was attempting to kill him. Gerhard transformed it into a wall of fire that interrupted Winston's aiming.

  "You don't seem to be in good shape, Master Winston."

  "I... didn't expect that... I would run across a... an unnaturally determined... boy."

  Boy, he said? Gerhard was looking at Winston, who was massaging his right shoulder. A fight definitely erupted in this area, with the Gray Fox's men on the verge of losing. The magician approached his superior, not bothering to ask about his condition. Gerhard's men caught up with their leader moments later.

  "A few of my men are with me." Gerhard signaled a few of them to tend to the injured commander. "I'll have you pulled out of this place. Let me deal with your hunter."

  "You have... my thanks, Mister Guildenstern."

  "Nice fire flashing things you did there, but I'm not letting you take Green Eye away from me."

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  A young man's voice echoed throughout the warehouse. Gerhard could not tell where the source was; one rapid burst of gunfire brought him to his senses. This enemy meant business, despite the light and almost humorous tone. The magician willed some of the broken crates to his side; a purple glow emanated from them before they floated about, forming a screen that covered Winston's retreat. The bullets struck the magically-charged wood; each of them burst into embers and splinters upon impact.

  "This is so much fun! I've always wanted to test what I'm made of against people like you."

  Gerhard judged that the source of the voice was coming from the rooftops; the path his bullets took in the attempt to finish off Winston Norton also confirmed this. He caught a glimpse of the figure on the roof of a house to the warehouse's left. A charge of bluish sparks appeared about the would-be attacker, followed by a small bolt of lightning that dived towards the unseen person. Nobody would have been agile enough to dodge what the magician took pride in as one of his better spells.

  A string of gunshots from another direction brought Gerhard back to reality. He called forth another batch of broken wooden planks to absorb the bullets.

  "This coward may prove to be more annoying than I thought."

  Some of his men were leading Winston to one of the dark alleys; the transport disks should be arriving to pick them up in minutes. Gerhard drew a diamond in the air; inside it was an intricate diagram with several ever-changing symbols in blue and white. The attacker appeared again as a shadow cast by the moonlight, which the magician responded to through a series of fiery orbs shot out by his magical construct. His enemy ran out of the field of fire, jumping onto a rooftop where the energy-charged projectiles struck a building's edge and missed their target.

  "You won't be able to keep your little trick for long, magic-man. I can see it."

  How was that possible? Gerhard remembered that scholars of the First Empire made mention of special people who could see the flow of magical energy in both the living and non-living. This was not the time to reminisce about Academy days. If only there were a source of magic power that could be tapped immediately. He thought at that time that blocking only two bursts of gunfire from this attacker taxed his magical energy reserves. The soldiers from the Aurelburg archives did not cause him to exert this much effort, and they were in a better position to stop him from casting anything. Gerhard then realized that even with one of his master's machines disabled, the other functioning towers kept a field potent enough to compete with him in harnessing what he needed.

  Help came in the form of a dozen floating disks that headed their way.

  Gerhard moved his shield of broken wood to the alley opening, where Winston Norton and the escorting men went to be removed from the site of battle. The magician imagined this would be worse had these enemies been a squad of experienced Imperials. A single rifle flashed from the roof, followed by a thread of fire that burst from one of the disks as it lost altitude and crashed. Smoke trailed from the failing machine in its descent.

  “He caught on to the disks. There must be something I can use...”

  Most of the first batch of transport disks reached the location undamaged; three of the flying devices struck rooftops and collided with buildings. Beams of light shone above Winston Norton and two of the men assisting him; their bodies disappeared from the scene when the machines resumed their ascent.

  "Green Eye is gone." Gerhard heard the deadly stalker move away to set up elsewhere. “You took him away from me. I guess I’ll have to do with Magic-Man as a playmate for now.”

  More gunshots cracked from above. Gerhard was able to move more sections of his magical construct to meet the bullets intended for him. A second disk en route to his location was shot down; it crashed in a rain of sparks and broken pieces of metal and crystal.

  More sections of the magically animated wood spread wider; his localized protection could not hold out for long. His sigil unleashed another batch of searing energy orbs in the direction of the warehouse's roof; all of them whistled upward before fading in the sky.

  "Bullets aren't good enough for you, huh? I like that."

  "Do not belittle me, knave! Face me."

  "Oh, I will..."

  The voice was closer than before. Gerhard heard faint ticks when three spheroid objects fell overhead. He looked up fast enough to recognize that these were the little belt-stored bombs from Norton’s operatives. How brazen of this attacker to try to kill Gerhard with equipment taken from the Gray Fox’s men. They exploded upon colliding with his magic-enhanced defenses; the resulting shockwaves dispersed his barrier, sending splinters and debris flying everywhere. The forceful blast from the explosives threw the magician into a clearing; the buildings stared at Gerhard as fate was about to judge him.

  “Not as strong as the other one’s magic shield.”

  There was another magic-user in this city? How? Where would that person draw magical power when the whole city was being stripped of it?

  Gerhard caught the silhouette of someone aiming from the rooftop in front of him; bayonet and rifle muzzle gleamed in the passing beam of light high above. He waved his arm to pull up whatever debris his ability could pull up immediately. A desperate attempt to save himself from this situation. He wouldn’t die to a faceless enemy in the dark.

  Help came again, as a fighter on the same roof as Gerhard’s would-be executioner. Gerhard collected himself and hid in a corner, following the exchange of clashing metal between warriors. He knew his reliever based on how a sword moved in the dark. It turned out that the annoyance he did not count on to disrupt his task would be one to relieve him of a deadly situation.

  The new arrival pulled back immediately, trading gunshots with the unknown rifleman. It jumped off the building and onto the dark street below and ran towards Gerhard.

  “Hello, Gerry.” The fighter held on to a sword—or the hilt and a small portion of the blade that used to be one. “Can you run?”

  Gerhard nodded.

  “Monstrous bastard. That, boy?” The female fighter threw away her broken weapon. “He knew where to shoot. Let’s get out of here. Fast.”

  “Thanks, Cornelia.”

  “Don’t thank me yet.” She looked back while loading a pistol. “We’re not out of danger.”

  Footsteps echoed in the silent alley. Both of the Gray Fox’s operatives left the scene in a hurry.

  ????

  Their hunter stood at the edge of the roof, following the fleeing pair with his eyes. It was about to give chase when it jerked its shoulders and arms, as if jolted by an external force. The figure in a black coat rubbed his eyes, staring at the rifle he held in his hand.

  He leaped down at the edge of the street and found the smoking remains of what was one of the peculiar flying machines that roamed Luminberg. He set his gun aside and picked up the smoldering contraption. The gunman looked at the machine, spotting a bullet hole that destroyed its probable power source. Seeing no use for the device, he tossed the wreck into the waste bin beside him and walked away.