I Won't Die

Tama Hill had not always won every battle. He had brushed against death even more times than Ash had.

Though he truly was the pinnacle of mortals, to the point that he could even resist the direct influence of Spell Spirits, he was still only mortal in the end. And an artificer's many transcendent methods were impossible to predict or guard against. Before one gained control of a Holy Domain, battles between artificers were always strange and unpredictable; an unexpected Spell Spirit might change the whole battlefield, let alone a fight between an artificer and a mortal.

Tama Hill had also served as the most dangerous kind of Adjudication Martial Warrior, clashing each time with the most vicious and wicked artificers. More terrifying still, the vast majority of Evil Artificers in the Wasteland were in fact criminal forces carrying out missions on behalf of churches—for instance, the Robbery Fire Church's "Ruin Hunters," the War Holy Temple's "Fuses," the Spinning Light Church's "Three Hands"... This also meant that when Raven Slaughter hunted Evil Artificers, they might not only face retaliation from other churches; during the pursuit itself, the Evil Artificers might receive support from those churches.

Tama Hill had encountered it once. He and Tano Mu were chasing a band of horse bandits disguised as a merchant caravan. According to the intelligence, the other side had only a few ordinary One-Winged Arcanists left, but just as the Black Crow was slaughtering his way through them, he was struck at close range by a Grey Fox Gun.

Grey Fox Guns were extremely rare in the Wasteland. At most, the Black Crow had done some response training against crude homemade guns. Facing a Grey Fox Gun whose rate of fire and kinetic force far surpassed homemade guns, he only had time to dodge