A Gunslinger’s System in a World of Magic

•••

Angus hit the ground and the very next second, a magic circle appeared above him, and out of it descended a powerful force of forceful wind aiming to slam and crush him into the ground.

He rolled out of the way so fast, he seemed to blur. Next came what looked like dark spears condescended with Mana and crackled ever so slightly with energy similar to the Arcane tendrils but not quite the same.

Believing himself to be faster on his feet compared to down on the ground, Angus got to his feet and began to perform a kind of dance that saw the spears sail right past him to the astonishment of the Warlocks attacking him.

"That's about enough of that, don't you think?" Angus asked with a confident smile.

It seemed like an innocent attempt at a conversation and yet, his Spellbinding flowed from him in a visible arch that hit the Warlocks and locked them in place as their faces twisted in frustration and annoyance.

"That magic," one of the two Warlocks —The one who had now suffered Angus' Spellbinding twice—, managed to say as he and his comrade rapidly circulated the Mana in their bodies to get rid of the enemy's hold on them.

"And put down those shields too," Angus added and to the two Warlocks, it seemed like he had renewed his Spellbinding hold on them because, even though they were already regaining control of their bodies, they lost control again.

The shields went down and Angus pointed his gun and fired.

At the very same time, one of the Warlocks decided to let go of the idea of using Mana to force his body to obey and instead discharged it in a forceful output that pushed his body to the side to slam into his comrade and knock them both out of the way of Angus' shots.

It wasn't a perfect dodge attempt and a bullet still struck one of them in the shoulder but they had managed to avoid the worst of it. Plus, the contact between their bodies seemed to knock off the enemy's hold on them.

Angus didn't watch with disappointment. He didn't think this was a bad outcome.

He could have used his Spellbinding to have the two attack each other striking each other at least once before they regained their senses. But that could kill them and Angus didn't want that.

He came here prepared to fight Vykers and the Warlocks had proven a change in expectations but Angus believed he could still work with this. No, he KNEW he could still work with this.

He had a plan.

The Warlocks stood back up, re-conjured their shields, and started to prepare their attack spells while taking precautions to ensure all words that hit their ears from that moment on would be filtered for the Spellbinding Magic they had fallen victim to multiple times already.

But Angus didn't use his Spellbinding against them. He just started running at them with a confident smile on his face.

The eyes of the two Warlocks widened when Angus' running speed looked too fast for their eyes to follow.

Among their Master's Vykers, there were very few capable of such speed and so with the slightest bit of panic and an inability to properly aim at an enemy whose speed their eyes could barely capture, the Warlocks completed their attack spells and launched them.

One sent his spears in all manner of angles while the other created a wide barrier of forceful wind and released it with one of his most powerful displays of Mana discharges ever.

The goal was to leave very little room for Angus to survive.

Alas, their disappointment started when there were no sounds of any of the crackling spears hitting a human body as they sailed away and slammed into the ground far behind with loud *Bang!* sounds.

The forceful barrier of wind backed by mana discharge, however, definitely hit something. Unfortunately for them, what it hit refused to be pushed back.

With eyes screwed in focus, Angus pushed hard against the forceful field. The winds that made up the field moved violently and lashed at his clothes, ripping them in certain areas and cutting his skin enough to draw blood but they were mere scratches so he easily endured.

The Warlock watched Angus struggle against his forceful wind barrier and his lips twitched in the sheer absurdity of Angus' attempted physicality.

"To try resisting my barrier… What a Monster!" the Warlock mumbled and then smiled as he added in a gloating tone,

"But not very smart."

However, the very next second, that smile froze on his face when Angus finally broke through.

"How—?" The Warlock asked in shock.

This level of physical strength was rare even among his Master's Feral Meisters even after they had shifted into their Beastly forms.

To think a Vyker whose special ability was just Spellbinding was this physically capable was mind-boggling.

'Could Master's item be empowering him somehow?'

The moment he made it past the forceful wind barrier, Angus regained his running speed that had been slowed and in seconds, he arrived in front of the Warlock responsible for that spell and struck out a powerful punch.

*BAM!*

The punch hit the Warlock's shield but its shockwave traveled past the shield and blew the Warlock's hair back.

But even as his eyes widened in shock and a cold sweat dripped down the side of his face in admiration of Angus' strength, the Warlock smiled.

All that physicality was useless against his shield.

The second Warlock had his hands already forming more seals to conjure up his crackling Spears and strike at Angus now that he was close and might find it difficult to dodge.

Angus looked through the semi-transparent shield into the face of the Warlock and smirked before he opened his mouth and let out a yell,

"AHH!!!"

Angus' purple eyes flashed and the Vinculum on his chest pulsed with a powerful intensity as his voice traveled in visible arches of sound waves that made their way through the Warlock's shield and struck his ears over and over in an ever-powerful constant stream of Spellbinding force.

The arches broke past the Mana filter in the Warlock's ears but they carried no command. They were just the product of a yell that debilitated the Warlock's entire psyche and broke through every mental defense in place against Angus' Spellbinding.

The yell didn't spare the second Warlock either. It interrupted his casting attempt and the crackling Spears that were starting to take form fizzled into Mana that blew away in the air while the Warlock raised his hands and pressed them against his ears as a loud ringing played over and over in his head.

With the Warlock he had punched at now incapable of keeping his shield up, it melted away but Angus didn't attempt another punch. He just spoke a simple command,

"Kneel."

*Thud!*

*Thud!*

When Angus spoke, his command hit two sets of ears simultaneously and two sets of kneels hit the Manor Compound's cobbled stone floor.

Hands pressed against ears were useless in keeping him out and the loud ringing didn't drown out his voice either.

Angus placed his hands on the heads of the two Warlocks and the Vinculum glowed even brighter against his chest as ripples of purple energy flowed through his hands into their heads and through their whole being.

He had done something similar once before to the Vyker Captain but because of an already existing life-long bond in place between that Vyker and his creator, the best Angus could manage to produce was a powerless imbecile who could answer his questions.

The Warlocks were free of that complication.

Angus took control of their minds and bodies and subjugated them to his will through the Vinculum. Creating a bond to rival the one between a Creator and their Vykers.