Chapter 6: A Decisive Strike!

“When life gives you a Glock, shoot it!”

—Meisatsu Kanezuka

With his Glock fully loaded—albeit mysteriously—Meisatsu was back in action.

Pointing it squarely at Umare, he tightened his hold on the grip, while his finger rested softly on the trigger.

With a cool tone he asked,

“So, you ready for round two, huh, Umare?!” His gaze emanated a menacingly intense, ominous aura.

“Haa kid, you finally decided to take this seriously,” Umare responded. “Well, I might as well respond in kind.”

Umare took a battle-ready stance—the same one he used to speed blitz Meisatsu earlier. His knees bent, leaning forward and ready to dash toward him at supersonic speeds, but—

That’s the move he used before, it ain’t gonna work on me twice, Meisatsu thought.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three shots fired at Umare the moment before he began his attack. Just as before, he parried and deflected the bullets with impeccable precision, only this time—

“Gotcha!” Meisatsu yelled, having used that brief delay to close distance between them. He aimed for Umare’s neck and fired, causing Umare to block high with his sword, but alas, that was also part of—

Meisatsu’s master plan.

With a swift right hook—

CRACK!

Meisatsu buried the muzzle of his gun into Umare’s left ribs and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

Escaping by the skin of his teeth, Umare just barely managed to dodge the bullet in time—grazing him as it flew by, striking a barrel filled with wine in the corner, the owner throwing a fit at the sight.

“You boys better pay for that!” the owner cried, while shaking a raised fist.

“That’s payback” Meisatsu smirked. “You know, for that mean gut punch you gave me earlier?” he said pointing at his stomach.

“Aww, holding a grudge now, are we?” Umare responded sarcastically.

“You sure do pack a mean punch. Keep ‘em comin’,” he said as he sprinted towards Meisatsu, his sword being set up for a big swing.

With a swift motion, Umare swung his sword, the blade aiming at Meisatsu’s side.

SHWAA!

In a perfectly timed duck, Meisatsu dodged the blade and unleashed his own counterattack—a frontal kick to the gut—which...

Did absolutely no damage, barely moving Umare from his spot.

Oh crap! Meisatsu thought.

I had a feeling that would happen... Come to think of it, I noticed a lot of my strength is in my arms.

Wait! Could it be to counter the recoil from each shot? So that’s how I knocked out the Swipe Fox earlier.

Alright, for now I’ll focus on using my arms more—and I mean, a lot more...

“Gaaargh” Umare yelled as his sword came down with a thundering crash cracking the ground beneath it.

Meisatsu quickly stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding the strike that was inches away from connecting.

“It seems like you’ve got guts—I’ll give you that.” he said, lifting his sword up to rest it on his shoulder. “But do you have the strength to back it up?”

Meisatsu thought deeply, more so on the last thing Umare said.

I’ve been so focused on the fact that, even though I had no form of a social life—heck, I barely even existed in my former life—all these crazy things are happening around me. People look up to me...

They see me as some sort of Hero... Meisatsu smirked subtly.

I’ll use this chance I’ve been given to make myself relevant for a change...

The two rushed toward each other, one swinging his sword—the other swinging his gun?

CLANK!

The clash of their weapons set off a couple of sparks that flew in all directions—sort of like a mini firework display—causing the crowd to ooh and aah in awe.

One of the sparks landed on the old shop owner's barrel of high-quality spirit—causing it to erupt into flames.

Due to the brave efforts of some nearby spectators, the flame was successfully put out though the shop owner was almost at his limit because of all the property damage.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The two combatants zipped around with great agility, the sight of them was almost blurry to follow.

This kid, Umare thought. He’s getting faster.

Meisatsu, for the first time in his life, had decided on going out of his way to do something for someone other than himself—

The people.

Meisatsu while dodging and counter attacking with—gun swings?—of his own he had finally thought of a way to land—

A DECISIVE STRIKE.

Alright, I think I can pull this off. All I need is to time this perfectly and I could possibly wrap this up. Any slip-ups would probably end up with me having my butt kicked—again...

The two went at each other with such intensity that the strikes began producing mini shock waves that created a gust of wind that turned some spectator’s hair into a hot mess.

I’ll wait for him to go for an overhead attack and make my move.

Then—the overhead swing—he had been waiting for finally happened.

Meisatsu repeated the sidestep he had used to dodge the last—only this time—

CLANK!

Umare’s sword was stuck in the ground, his head facing the heavens and his body arched back.

(Narration)

The instant the sword came slicing down, he had also lifted his Glock up, for a similar downward strike.

The objective was to create an opening by burying the sword deep in the ground.

As Meisatsu brought down his Glock with a mighty swing, the moment the gun touched the sword—he pulled the trigger.

His outstanding arm strength, coupled with the recoil energy from the Glock, created a tremendous force that sent Umare’s sword digging into the dirt.

Then—with his gun still on the blade of the sword...

He began sliding it along the blade.

As though it were a ramp.

With a swift motion, he kept going till just before the hilt.

He broke off, heading toward Umare’s lower jaw.

Upon impact he pulled the trigger to add the force from the recoil as well as to disorient him with the sound of gunfire at that distance and—

BANG!