Spiritshot

With the threat of the behemoths now gone, Elliott was free to continue towards Spiritshot. 

There wasn't any time to rest. The cowboy merely took a few seconds to breathe before resuming his trek. 

The rest of the journey was pretty underwhelming. There weren't any other machines that came out of the walls, and there weren't any other traps that threatened to send Elliott plummeting to his doom once again. 

Eventually, Elliott came upon the end of the long corridor. At the very edge of the room, the narrow hallway spread out, revealing a large square vault. There was also a vault door that separated the corridor from the actual vault, but Elliott was able to get around it by pressing the button on the switch. 

He had finally reached it. In the center of the room, there was a golden pedestal. There were also countless other treasures and artifacts spread out across the vault, but Elliott ignored them all and focused on Spiritshot. 

The gun itself was fashioned like a revolver, the same type as the ones Elliott used. Its handle was a deep black, mimicking the color of modern handguns. 

That wasn't the iconic part of Spiritshot, however. The barrel, along with the rest of the gun's parts, were ashen white, the same color of the ash that would be left after a fire. 

Before grabbing it, Elliott asked Andrea if there were any traps around. This was the single place in the Domasos residence that carried more than ninety percent of their wealth.

The other ten percent of course, for emergencies. 

"My informants told me the vaults shouldn't contain any traps, from what they know. But keep your guard up either way, Deadeye."

Was it simply confidence? Did Pablo believe that no one would be able to make it to the vault? Or was there something sinister hiding behind this?

Either way, Elliott's mission was nearing its end. All he would have to do was grab Spiritshot and return back home. 

"Let's see if Fate is smiling at me today." 

Not wasting another word, Elliott reached out and took Spiritshot from its place in the pedestal. He waited to see if anything would happen once he did. 

Ten seconds passed. Nothing happened.

"Looks like I'm in the clear." He smiled triumphantly. "I've got Spiritshot in my hands, Navigator."

"Good, I think it's about time you take your leave. I was just notified by my subordinates that Pablo has just woken up, and he's returning home."

***

"Ahh, finally. Fresh air, at last." Elliott said as he pushed open a trapdoor and crawled out. 

It turned out that there was a secret hidden door located at the very back of the vault. Thankfully, it seemed to have led back to the surface. 

Now that Spiritshot had been obtained, the mission could basically be marked complete. There was just one tiny little problem. 

How was Elliott going to escape the Town without getting caught? 

While on his way up, Andrea had warned the cowboy that an entire platoon of Rogue Guild members had been hired on the fly by Pablo. With their help, he was planning on raiding his own home to find Elliott. 

After all, Spiritshot was a rare artifact. There was no way that he was going to let it be taken away.

Looking around, Elliott tried to think of a plan. 

By now, he had remembered by heart the guard patrol schedules, so he didn't find it difficult to sneak past them. 

"If you're looking for an escape, then might I suggest raiding the stables? It's close by, and it seems to be unmanned for now. You could probably steal one of the horses and make your way to the portal."

"You're a woman after my own heart, Navigator." Elliott smiled. 

"Bleh, just get to it." Andrea recoiled in disgust. 

Time was of the essence. There was already a high chance that Elliott would bump into one of the Rogue Guild members and set off the entire platoon, especially with his getup. 

His best bet was to make a beeline for the stables and steal a horse before they even noticed he was gone. 

Which was exactly what he did. The moment Elliott exited the Domasos' property, he ran as fast as he could towards the stables, guided by Andrea. 

Luck was smiling on him today too. Elliott somehow did not run into a single one of his pursuers. There were a few close calls, but he was able to shake the ones who almost found him off his tail. 

The stables were pretty open. The horses were set outside in full view, just ready to be taken. Not bothering to check if anyone was there, Elliott picked a random horse from the group and mounted it. 

There seemed to be no adverse reaction from the horse. Rather, it seemed like it didn't even care that it was being ridden. 

"Alright, time to go. Yeehaw!"

Lightly kicking the horse's thigh, the animal neighed loudly, before proceeding to gallop in the direction of the exit. 

Their speed was gradually increasing, and the horse seemed to be focused enough on the road for Elliott to leave it alone. 

He had other matters to focus on. Namely, the Rogue Guild. That single neigh from the horse had alerted the nearby members, in turn alerting the entire platoon. 

Luckily, Elliott had the advantage in speed. In fact, he was quite surprised at how fast the horse was able to run. The members from the Rogue Guild were struggling to keep up as they tried to jump from roof to roof.

"Haha, take that, suckers!"

His celebration was short-lived, however. Not even ten seconds later, Elliott could hear the cries from other horses. Just when it seemed like they had disappeared, he was surprised to find four Rogues had gotten their own horses and took to chasing him. 

They were gradually increasing in speed as well, and would only be a matter of time before they would catch up. Not to mention, the bullets they were firing from their guns were startling Elliott's horse. 

"Gaha! I live for times like this!" 

Perhaps this was the closest Elliott had ever felt to being in an actual wild west scenario. 

The wind on his hair felt twice as nice, and the gunshots sounded like music to his ears. 

Just then, a bullet grazed his cheek, leaving a shallow wound. 

"Whoa, easy there, fellas! Two can play that game, then! Let's see what Spiritshot can do."

Removing the artifact from its holster, Elliott inspected the silver-white revolver in his hands. 

Opening up the chamber, he loaded six bullets. Then, he spun it, before pointing the barrel of the gun at his assailants. 

Ngah… 

The first shot sounded… odd. It wasn't how a bullet would normally sound. Usually, it'd be a bang. 

"So the rumors were true. The gunshots from the artifact sound like the screams of the dead."

"Well, I'll be damned! This thing feels awesome."

Elliott could naturally feel his hands being guided to aim at his pursuers. Despite them firing magic and all sorts of attacks at him, his aim remained steady. 

Three more bullets were fired. At the same time, three continous screams were heard. 

The bullets flew straight through the air, piercing the skulls of Elliott's unlucky opponents. 

"Bounty time! Who wants a Bounty?"

It was finally coming out. The skill that he had purchased from the skill card vendor. Bounty enabled Elliott to place "marks" on his enemies, which made attacks on them more deadly. 

Like a charity worker giving out free gifts to the needy, Elliott marked the Rogues with his skill, before accompanying it with a shot from his new weapon. 

Just then, one of the Rogues had the bright idea of protecting their faces with his earth magic. He formed a small mask around his head, aside from small gaps in the eyes.

Too bad for him. Any sort of obstacle was meaningless against Spiritshot. The artifact had the ability to shoot bullets that could pass through anything, making the mage's attempt to shield himself useless. 

Bounty's effect then began kicking in. Elliott could feel the bullets in Spiritshot's chamber refueling. Every kill on a marked enemy would grant him a restock.

Just as the final Rogue had died and Elliott thought he could finally get a breather, something unforeseen happened. 

His horse randomly stopped. 

Was it the work of a Mental magic user? Did they command the horse to stop, or take over its head?

Either way, Elliott had long since passed the town's walls, and was already in the middle of the plains leading to the forest.

Leaving the horse, Elliott continued on walking. There was only around ten or so more minutes left of walking, if he was being generous. 

For the first five minutes, everything was quiet. It was already night, and the only sound that he could hear was the faint rustling of grass, and the occasional cricket chirp. 

But it was then that he saw him. At the very edge of the plains, he saw a figure basking in the moonlight. He was wearing full white robes, allowing him to absorb the moonlight. 

Elliott could recognize that person anywhere. There was only one human he knew who would wear clothes that weird unironically, like him.

"Elliott. Good to see you."

"Yeah… you too, Cyrus." The cowboy's face suddenly turned grim. 

"What have you been up to?" Cyrus asked. "Disregarding our teacher's wishes again?"

"I told you, it wasn't my fault that she–"

Cyrus raised his hand to silence him. "I won't hear it. I didn't come here to fight, nor to talk. I came here to warn you."

"Warn me?"

Cyrus smiled. "That's right. Teacher's inheritance note stated that two weeks from now, we are to have one last duel. The one who wins… gets to receive her blessings."

"I'm winning that duel, Elliott. No matter where you are, I will come to you, and we shall have that duel."

"You're mistaken." Elliott shook his head. "I'm winning that duel."

"We shall see. Until then, do your best not to die to some mere criminals. I took care of the ones following you."

Cyrus turned his back towards him. "Well then, I think that was it. Goodbye, Elliott. The next time we meet will be the last time."

"I know. And you better be prepared to die."