The Bullet Master has no name.
Without properly revealing his appearance or identity, he simply acts using only his alias as his calling card.
However, his skills were genuine. The fact that Lorraine remembered his name was proof of that.
The Bullet Master.
True to his alias, he uses all kinds of different bullets. If that were all, he would have been no different from other gunmen.
The Bullet Master's greatest characteristic was his ability to change the trajectory of bullets.
His greatest skill was being able to assassinate targets even outside his line of sight by curving bullets in mid-air and aiming at targets from completely different directions.
For those on the receiving end, it was an attack that went far beyond common sense, closer to a miracle.
With this, the marksman would cut off the target's breath briefly and definitively.
However, the Bullet Master felt considerable confusion for the first time at not suppressing his target within the given time.How did the opponent manage to detect and rapidly respond to an attack that would inevitably hit if not perceived?
The response method was even more absurd. She shot down the incoming bullets with bullets.
It was impossible to shoot down a bullet traveling at human reaction speed.
-Click.
The Bullet Master loaded a bullet.
He hadn't underestimated the opponent's skills, but it seemed he needed to raise his response level one more step.
He aimed the muzzle, now loaded with special ammunition, into empty space and then fired into the empty space with no target.
A suppressed "psst" sound of escaping air rang out and the fired bullet soon curved and disappeared from view.
The Bullet Master calculated its landing point through the bullet's trajectory.
The target was the gunman guarding Lucent.
While he needed to target Lucent's arm or leg to subdue him, this gunman needed to be killed unconditionally.
This wasn't a result of simple calculation, but some kind of intuition.
The intuition that leaving this gunman alone would become dangerous.
The bullet flew calmly through the corridor, baring its cruel fangs toward its predetermined target.
Just as he thought this was enough, the gunman moved.
'Dodged.'
The bullet aimed at the glabella failed to bite its target and pierced empty air.
Because Lorraine, the gunman, had turned her head just before it could hit.
'It wasn't just dodging, but precisely turning her head. Did she predict that I would aim for her glabella?'
The Bullet Master pulled the trigger in succession.
-Psst! Psst! Psst! Psst!
Four bullets flew in different directions but the target was the same. All of them were aimed at Lorraine's vital points.
Lorraine, who had come out into the corridor, was still standing in place.
That expectation of whether she could dodge this was dramatically unfolding.
Lorraine lowered her head, twisted her shoulder, and took a step back.
With each movement, the bullets pierced the empty air and embedded themselves in walls or floors.
The finger that had always calmly pulled the trigger stopped for the first time.
The Bullet Master stared in Lorraine's direction. His goggle lenses clicked, seeing through the wall to capture Lorraine's figure.
What was visible was only a translucent silhouette, but that was enough to grasp the opponent's location and appearance.
A gunman presumed to be female. Not only had she intercepted incoming bullets, but she had also dodged all the bullets he fired from various trajectories.
Was she predicting the future? Or did she have some other ability?
The marksman arrived at the optimal answer after calculation.
If she could dodge bullets, he would launch an attack that couldn't be dodged.
The ammunition he was using was an incendiary round. After setting the timer, it would explode precisely when passing the target.
The radius was within 3m. The power was enough to melt even metal.
This bullet's power was unbelievable for its size and was a product of modern science.
Though expensive, considering the income from this commission, this investment was worth it.
While changing ammunition with such thoughts, the marksman saw something strange in his vision.
Lorraine, despite being far away and having multiple layers of cover─was staring directly at him.
'Could she have noticed where I am?'
No. That's impossible.
She couldn't determine his location from the bullet's trajectory. With the suppressor, she couldn't detect it by sound.
But the direction of her gaze was too clear to dismiss as mere coincidence.
Lorraine then mumbled something.
Although it was just a silhouette, the Bullet Master could understand her lip movements.
-You're there, aren't you?
The moment he understood those words, the Bullet Master took quite some time to assess the situation.
During this time, Lorraine began running quickly down the corridor, turning at the intersection, and quickly descending the stairs.
Her steps were heading toward the inner part of the research room where the Bullet Master was hiding.
Normally, if under sniper fire, one would think the sniper is outside, far away.
The Bullet Master had instead positioned himself in the same building, on a lower floor.
He had been hiding inside this research building from the beginning, waiting for the incident to occur and then targeting the weak point.
But Lorraine wasn't fooled. She had identified his location and was now approaching close by.
The position he had taken to exploit the opponent's weakness was now working against him.
'Can't escape.'
When a sniper's position is exposed, they must quickly change location.
He should have been trained that way, but the Bullet Master was different.
He had never been caught before and believed he never would be. Retreating wasn't even an option.
Most of all, his pride didn't allow it.
'I'll counter.'
The marksman pulled the trigger as Lorraine poked her head out from beyond the corridor.
The incendiary round shot out in a straight line, timed to explode when Lorraine emerged from the corner but Lorraine stopped running instead.
The unceasing incendiary round exploded at the corner, engulfing the surrounding area in red flames.
As the marksman realized his failure and tried to draw the pistol from his waist, Lorraine burst through the blazing flames.
Lorraine, who had dramatically removed her heat-resistant poncho, had her pistol already aimed and pulled the trigger.
In a fraction of a second split into dozens of units, the bullet that navigated through that narrow gap flew and completely severed the marksman's arm as he was drawing his pistol.
"……!"
Toward the stunned marksman, Lorraine pulled the trigger again.
Even with a pistol, while continuously running and firing with one hand.
Yet those bullets miraculously embedded themselves in the marksman's knee, shoulder, and abdomen.
The Bullet Master couldn't mount any meaningful counterattack and simply fell backward.
Lorraine stepped on the fallen marksman's chest and aimed her gun at his glabella.
"I wanted to see the face of some pathetic guy hiding and shooting, but this is a bit unexpected?"
Lorraine, having confirmed the Bullet Master, let out an exclamation as if she hadn't anticipated this.
"Could it be that the Bullet Master, whose identity was never properly revealed, was a cyborg?"
Cyborg.
Unlike enhanced humans who strengthen themselves through experiments, this term refers to those who have replaced their human flesh with machines.
Typically, replacing limbs with prosthetics isn't considered being a cyborg.
To be called a cyborg, over 60 percent of the body must be mechanical.
Those who have replaced most of their body with machines, except the body parts necessary for human survival.
That's why they are treated like madmen. The reason people avoid the [Steel Followers] was also due to this.
You might wonder what difference there is from an automaton, but they can be considered superior in that they possess self-awareness.
"How did you do it?"
A mechanical voice that made it difficult to recall his human days flowed from the Bullet Master. Even his vocal cords had been replaced with machinery.
For him, Lorraine's miraculous marksmanship and movements predicting his attacks were completely incomprehensible.
No matter how much he reviewed his stored memories, there had never been a case like Lorraine.
"How? Just intuition."
"Intuition? Are you saying I was defeated by something so imperfect?"
"What? Imperfect? Ah, I see. You cyborgs were always like this."
Lorraine frowned at the Bullet Master's words.
What he said had touched her painful memories.
The inevitable imperfection inherent in being human.
The high-ranking military officials who believed machines without error would replace that had once tried to replace her unit members with various machines.
"Those who think flesh is inferior and only steel is supreme. I find your way of thinking so disgusting it makes me nauseous."
"Why? Humans will eventually reach the limits of evolution, won't they?"
A response that showed he genuinely didn't understand.
Lorraine gave up on persuading the Bullet Master. If such words had worked, wouldn't he have replaced his body with machines?
Moreover, the Bullet Master had replaced most of his body with machinery.
Just looking at the lens of his eyes, you could tell. That wasn't a mask; it was his actual face.
From the arm shot and broken, electrical wires were sparking.
What was dropping wasn't blood, but ether water that circulates body fluids.
The appearance of abandoning humanity to become a "better" being looked to Lorraine like regression instead.
"Don't ignore human intuition, you fool."
"Such unscientific..."
"It's that unscientific thing that defeated you. Still don't get it? I'm saying I'm superior to you."
"……."
The Bullet Master remained silent. No matter how much he tried to deny it, this was the reality.
Lorraine, who could hear the voice of bullets, had read their entire trajectory and knew where he was aiming, and had even found his hidden location without being detected.
Moreover, the ridiculous marksmanship Lorraine displayed was something even the Bullet Master, who received all kinds of mechanical corrections, would find difficult to execute.
"I was wondering how bullets could curve like that. Now that I know you're a cyborg, it all makes sense. You preset the bullet's trajectory with your own power and then fire?"
With all her curiosities resolved, Lorraine pulled the trigger without hesitation.
-Bang!
The marksman's head snapped back. No matter how much he had replaced his body with sturdy metal, his skull wasn't capable of blocking bullets.
Some flesh and metal fragments scattered along with the bullet exiting the back of his head.
Those were the parts he hadn't completely replaced with machinery.
Seeing this, Lorraine clicked her tongue.
"Ach, just ruined my mood."
While saying this, Lorraine began collecting the marksman's items one by one.
Though her mood was bad, she couldn't pass up the opportunity to capture the belongings of an excellent gunman.
This was close to a desperate attempt to scrape together some pocket money in case she couldn't recover her stocks.
"Gotta sell these goods. Sigh. Such is my situation."
Lorraine, who had captured new weapons, raised her head and gazed outside the building.
"I wonder if Diolan is doing well. Well, he'll probably handle it himself. Unless he meets a similar witch's familiar."
*
"Why is that? Is it already over?"
Inside the conference room turned into a mess, the amphibian human stuck out his tongue and gave a wicked smile.
At the end of the long pink whip was an exhausted Diolan, tied up.
Just as Diolan tried to growl, the amphibian human suddenly twisted his head.
Diolan, bound by the tongue, was sent crashing into the ceiling and a massive impact shook the conference room.
The amphibian human didn't stop there and shook his head multiple times.
Each time, Diolan's body was repeatedly slammed into walls, floor, and ceiling.
It was an attack severe enough to crush all bones and mash muscles but Diolan didn't die.
"Disgustingly tenacious. Still, being a son of mother, your life force is at least sturdy."
-Kwaaaak!
The amphibian human applied force to his tongue, strongly choking Diolan's neck.
With that pressure, it was beyond choking and could potentially sever the neck.
As the amphibian human thought about this future and let out a grotesque laugh.
Diolan's arm, which had been passively enduring until now, 'grabbed' his tongue.
"What?"
The amphibian man realized something was strange. How could a four-legged beast grab his tongue?
But Diolan had truly done so. Because that hand, rippling like darkness, had transformed into a human one.
"You, your form!"
His originally protruding eyeballs bulged even more.
But Diolan said nothing. Instead, he just strongly pulled the tongue with an arm that seemed mixed between beast and human.
"Krgh!"
The amphibian man tried to resist by applying force to his legs. The suction power of his leg base was strong enough that a giant cat-form Diolan couldn't shake it off.
But this time, he was pulled away incredibly easily.
"Huh?"
What the amphibian man saw was something pitch-black grabbing his own neck with the opposite hand.
Amid darkness rippling like blazing flames, a yellowish light, presumably Diolan's eyes, flashed out.