“Who hired you?” Modred asked in Japanese.

Tanaka simply glared at him.

Modred shot him in the left kneecap. Tanaka howled with pain.

“You can die fast or you can die slow, ” said Modred. “Take your

pick. I can use a spell of compulsion on you to get what I need

anyway, but why waste the energy?”

He calmly shot him in the other knee.

Tanaka screamed.

Suddenly the runestone in Modred’s chest flared, sending a wave

of heat through him. He gasped, his eyes grew wide, he spun

around… and a powerful bolt of thaumaturgic force struck him

squarely in the chest, blasting its way completely through his torso.

The ruby runestone was driven through his body and out the other

side. It fell, flickering, to the grass. His life rapidly ebbing from

him, Modred looked up and saw a hazy figure advancing toward

him. His vision swam. He summoned up his last ounce of strength

and tried to raise the Colt, but it twisted in his hand like a snake

and wrenched itself out of his grasp. As the figure came closer,

Modred could no longer see it clearly. He gasped for breath with a

hideous, rasping sound and suddenly there was a roaring in his ears

and he felt as if he were falling, spinning down and down, being

sucked away into a void…

Kira doubled over with pain, dropped her gun, and screamed. The

sapphire in her palm was blazing. Instantly she knew. “Modred!

No!”

At the same time, the emerald runestone sent a searing wave of

pain lancing through Wyrdrune’s forehead. He cried out and

brought his hands up to his head, collapsing to his knees. He gasped

as the pain washed over him and the awful realization struck him.

He did not know how he knew, but it meant that Modred was gone.

Kanno stood over Modred’s body, staring at it with puzzlement.

No life force had been released. There was no sign of any runestone.

Nothing. He swore furiously and walked over to where Tanaka lay

in agony, clutching at his ruined knees. He drained him of his life

force and left an empty, bloody husk lying on the ground, then