Mitsuda’s angry voice also gathered attention, making it all the more difficult for the people to notice the boy’s pale face.
“That’s why I was against using amateurs! These useless scrubs!!”
Mitsuda spat curses as he aimed his gun at one of the people breaking down.
Caught up in guilt, defenseless, the man reacted too late, but Mitsuda couldn’t care less; he set his finger upon the trigger all the same.
“!”
When Shinichi felt the killing intent emanating from Mitsuda, his face paled and he kicked off against the ground.
Mana naturally coursed through his legs, and in the next moment, in a speed literally too fast for the eyes to catch, he appeared in front of Mitsuda.
Shinichi made a bitter face and clicked his tongue.
“Tch —Magic Raiment Battle Law, Form of Gentleness.”
Mitsuda was surprised to see Shinichi suddenly appear in front of him, but even if Shinichi died, it didn’t matter anymore.
Mitsuda heard him speak in a ‘language that didn’t make sense’, but he couldn’t be arsed to care.
Without any hesitation, he pulled the trigger, and the cruel bullet shot toward Shinichi.
Surely that bullet would open a hole in the body of the boy.
And even if he were to dodge, someone would still get hit.
As everyone finally realized what was going on, images of that future flashed through their minds and their backs drew cold sweat.
The only one who saw a different future was Shinichi, whose eyes were coursing with mana.
“Ha.”
As a feeble voice much like a snicker resounded, Shinichi’s arms that were coursing with mana moved.
He moved his arms as if to brush something aside, but neither blood nor holes appeared.
“Hah?”
Mitsuda wasn’t the only one who let out that astonished voice, but he was surely the most shocked.
He knew full well that he didn’t miss. His gun wasn’t empty either, so ‘when nothing happened’ he was more confused and more afraid than anyone else.
“T-The heck did you do!?”
When those feelings rose within him, he tried to fool himself with tough words and pulled the trigger a few more times.
But each time Shinichi’s arms would sway, moving so fast that only afterimages could be seen.
Before anyone knew it, Mitsuda had ran out of ammo and dropped the gun.
He didn’t want to understand what Shinichi did, but he still had his suspicions.
And as if to prove those suspicions right, Shinichi opened his hands, and down came falling the bullets as they scattered on the floor.
“Eek!”
“A~a, I did it again…”
Mitsuda faltered as he was scared out of his wits.
Shinichi sent him a lighthearted sidelong glance, but his smile was rather melancholic.
These sort of events happened all the time back at Falandia.
He has even caught silent arrows and deflected cursed magical bullets.
Catching bullets gave Shinichi an unexpected shock, however.
“Ha ha, catching bullets with my barehand… It’s just like the mangas.”
Shinichi snickered to himself and looked down at his palms. He was astonished to find that there were no other wounds other than the knife wound from earlier.
Bullets flew at speeds invisible to the human eye to kill its targets.
Even though they were things that played no part in his life before, they were still terrifying weapons to him before he was drifted away.
And yet now he could easily see and catch those bullets.
If Mitsuda were using Garesto’s weapon instead, his reaction would be different.
The fact that he was easily able to deal with a real weapon from when he was young greatly affected him.
In the otherworld, he was able to fool himself by saying ‘well, it’s another world, so you know…’, but now those excuses no longer worked.
“…So, are you still planning on continuing?”
But such things weren’t really important. Such sentimental issues should be put off until later.
What needed to be prioritized now was neutralizing the threat in front of him.
Shinichi threatened Mitsuda, but he didn’t actually expect it to bear fruit.
“Don’t you mess with me, boy! So what if you can catch some bullets!!”
True enough, Shinichi’s threats were only met with more yelling and hostility.
Of course, that was actually just because Mitsuda was terrified and he didn’t want to admit it, but all the same, he refused to surrender.
“Don’t get cocky just because you managed to block some old weapons, brat!”
Mitsuda pulled out a thumb-sized red capsule from his bosom and threw it at Shinichi.
Shinichi didn’t know what that thing was, but since Mitsuda was taking it out here, it must surely be a weapon of some sort.
“—Form of Strength.”
As Shinichi muttered in a tongue that only he could understand, mana wrapped around his arms.
Only those who could see magic could see that dim light as Shinichi stepped forward.
The speed of that capsule could only be labeled as impertinent when compared to the earlier bullets; hence, there was no need to wait for it.
Shinichi caught it while it was still in midair, and then— He crushed it.
“What!?”
Who was it that let out that shocked voice?
The moment Shinichi crushed that capsule, a small explosive sound erupted within his hands as sparks scattered.
The fire spread to Shinichi’s cuffs and set his arms on fire.
The girls panicked and wavered while Mitsuda gloated, but Shinichi just quietly waved his arms once to extinguish the flames.
“…What’s up with the fireworks?” Shinichi asked the Garestonian girl while he kept his eyes on the speechless criminals.
Black smoke could be seen billowing from Shinichi’s palms accompanied by a charred smell.
“Huh? …Ah, yes! That’s umm… How should I say it so that it will be translated properly? Umm, if I recall correctly, the correct term should be… Capsule Bomb. Can you understand that?”
“Yeah, that’s easy to understand.”
Not just language-wise but shape-wise too.
That was indeed a bomb in the shape of a capsule.
The system of the translator device will just pass proper pronouns as is, so the girl had to choose her words carefully so that it would make sense when translated.
“It’s one of the weapons used by the commoners of Garesto for self-defense, but because it was likely to be used for criminal activities here, its production, sale, and importation is currently banned… The fact that they have that means…”
“Oh?”
The explanation was a lot more detailed than Shinichi was expecting. The girl even added her own conjectures. Shinichi voiced out his admiration as he put himself on guard.
Although the girl continued with her conjectures, her eyes never left Shinichi.
Not only did he immediately crush an object that seemed to be dangerous, he remained calm even in the face of guns and flames.
After being shown that much, it only stood to reason that the girl would not be able to keep the excitement from welling within.
It was a familiar feeling she experienced somewhere a long time ago.
“But if so, then that makes this complicated.”
Meanwhile, Shinichi changed the order he had inside his head.
It would be dangerous if things were left like this.
As he decided that, he allowed mana to course through his limbs as he kicked off against the floor.
“!?”
Mitsuda didn’t even have the time to cry out before Shinichi was right in front of him.
His face cramped in fear, but he still tried to resist. He had tools in his hand that Shinichi didn’t know of.
They were probably weapons from Garesto. Depending on their usage, they might be able to surprise him.
But that could only happen if they were used.
“GAH!?”
The moment Shinichi reached Mitsuda’s chest, it was already too late to bring out a weapon.
Shinichi’s fist buried itself into the pit of Mitsuda’s stomach. Of course, he held back, but Mitsuda still found himself struggling to breathe.
“Don’t sleep just yet,” Shinichi said.
When Mitsuda’s consciousness was about to leave him, Shinichi grabbed him by the collar and slammed his head against Mitsuda’s.
The purpose of that attack was not just to inflict pain upon Mitsuda but also to keep his consciousness intact through the pain.
“Since you dared demand something so stupid from my friend, I’ll give you an extra serving. Take this!!”
“Eek!!”
While Shinichi still held him by the collars, Shinichi gave him a knife thrust to the side, and then took his capsule bombs as Shinichi’s hand retreated.
Finally, Shinichi took those red things and pushed them into Mitsuda’s stomach.
Shinichi covered himself in mana, so the impact and heat only blew Mitsuda away.
“GAH, AH, GAH!!??”
Only a part of Mitsuda’s outerwear and the remaining winds from the explosion remained with Shinichi.
“Huh?” The other criminals muttered in a daze as Mitsuda blew past them.
They have been out of it since Shinichi started catching bullets.
Mitsuda landed into the CD and DVD shelves.
“ah… u… ahh…”
His crispy stomach was exposed.
He was still alive, but his eyes had already rolled over and his consciousness was already gone.
Shinichi gave Daigo a thumbs up as if to say that he avenged him.
Daigo could only respond with a faint smile.
He still found it hard to reconcile how that weak childhood friend of was able to do all of this.
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