"Pā!"
With a sharp sound of her foot striking the ground, Kinuhata Saiai shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, dashing straight toward Fang Li.
From the very start, her gaze had been locked tightly onto Fang Li's body, her eyes like a targeting scope fixed on its mark, leaving no room for anything else in her sight.
Seeing Kinuhata Saiai charging toward him at full speed, Fang Li narrowed his eyes slightly.
Kinuhata Saiai's ability was the Level 4 Offense Armor, which allowed the nitrogen surrounding her to automatically form a protective barrier around her body, an armor-like shell that tightly defended her from harm.
Though only a few centimeters thick, this "armor" could automatically deflect nearly all forms of attack. Even if she were struck directly by a sniper rifle, she wouldn't lose a single hair.
Moreover, the same ability could compress the nitrogen into dense clumps around her body, letting her easily lift cars barehanded and deflect bullets fired from an assault rifle.
When such an ability was used in close combat, the destructive power it offered was self-evident.
"Hū...!"
With a sharp whistle of wind, Kinuhata's small fist tore through the air like a deadly iron hammer, smashing straight toward Fang Li.
Relying on his sharpened instincts, Fang Li could sense the controlled flow of nitrogen swirling around Kinuhata's fist, the compressed air streams surging upward as her power condensed.
"BOOM...!"
A heavy impact thundered through the air, shaking it violently. But that wasn't the sound of her punch hitting Fang Li. Before the blow could land, Fang Li had already stepped back lightly, just one quick motion.
Her fist hit only empty space, but the sheer power of it was enough to make the air explode with a dull, echoing thud.
Such force was truly terrifying.
Yet even after missing, Kinuhata pressed forward without pause.
"Hū! Hū! Hū...!"
Her small fists, wrapped in swirling nitrogen, whipped up roaring gales as she drove punch after punch toward Fang Li, like a Gatling gun unleashing a storm of iron.
"Dong! Dong! Dong...!"
The muffled sound of compressed air pounding filled the alley.
Fang Li, however, merely tapped his feet lightly, his body gliding across the ground as if he were skating on ice, gracefully evading each heavy blow one after another.
But Kinuhata didn't let up. She advanced relentlessly, forcing Fang Li back with continuous strikes.
And just then…
"Kinuhata, I'm coming!"
Frenda's voice rang out.
As if to support her partner, she shouted a warning while flinging several more of her portable anti-tank missile warheads.
The warheads' tails ignited, spewing bright fire as they turned into miniature missiles, streaking through the narrow alley toward Fang Li.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Fang Li immediately fired several shots, the muzzle flashes flickering brightly in the gloom.
"Not a chance!"
Kinuhata suddenly spread both hands wide and stepped in front of Fang Li's gun barrel.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"
A series of crisp metallic clangs rang out as the bullets struck her body, sparks flying as they scraped harmlessly across the surface of her Offense Armor, completely blocked.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Almost at the same time, the missiles came screaming down.
"Boom...!"
The explosion rocked the entire alley. Flames burst outward like a wave, accompanied by a roaring shockwave that tore through the air, filling a four-meter radius with blazing heat.
That was about the maximum width of the alley.
The blast was contained by the walls on both sides, forcing the fire to surge forward and backward instead, engulfing Kinuhata Saiai completely.
However, within moments, Kinuhata leapt out of the flames and returned to Frenda's side.
With Offense Armor, such an aftershock couldn't possibly harm her.
Of course, the true danger here wasn't the explosion, it was the man.
"…Hey, Kinuhata."
"What is it?"
"…Think we might've kicked an iron plate this time?"
"I think so."
"…Can we run?"
"If you're not scared of Mugino, I totally support that idea."
"Hehe…"
As the two girls exchanged tense whispers, the roaring flames ahead slowly began to fade away. Inside the fading blaze, Fang Li stood completely unscathed, a gun still in his hand, and a faint, knowing smile playing at the corners of his lips as he looked their way.
In an explosion like that, he hadn't taken any damage at all.
Frenda and Kinuhata Saiai fell silent.
'Was this man truly a Level 0, a person with no ability?'
As though he could read their minds, Fang Li spoke lightly.
"I really didn't use any ability. I just stepped back a few times in the direction of the blast wave. In truth, I was never caught in the explosion. So, there was no need for any special power."
He said this as his calm eyes shifted between Frenda and Kinuhata Saiai.
"Sometimes, things that look like superpowers are actually things ordinary people can do, if they've mastered the right technique."
"For example…"
Fang Li holstered his gun.
Frenda and Kinuhata Saiai froze on the spot.
What happened next was something they couldn't comprehend at all.
"Bang!"
A gunshot suddenly echoed right in front of Fang Li…
…yet his hand had already put the weapon away.
A flash of muzzle fire appeared out of nowhere.
"Pā!"
At almost the exact same instant, Kinuhata Saiai's small body jolted violently, as if she had just been struck by an invisible whip.
"Ugh…"
She was completely unable to react before staggering backward several steps, the impact leaving her reeling.
"Kinuhata!"
Frenda shouted in alarm.
And then Fang Li's voice reached their ears again, calm and almost conversational.
"That technique just now is called Invisible Bullet."
"Simply put, it's the handgun version of the iaijutsu, the drawing sword technique. With intense training, even an ordinary person can learn it. If your Offense Armor didn't automatically defend you, that girl would already be dead."
As his words faded, another burst of muzzle flash appeared before him.
"Clang!"
A sharp metallic sound rang out right at Frenda's feet.
It was the sound of a bullet striking the ground, right in front of her.
"...!"
Frenda froze where she stood.
A chilling sense of fear began to well up inside her chest.
Invisible Bullet…
A technique where you couldn't even see the muzzle move. You couldn't predict when the shot would come or track the bullet's trajectory. The realization that she might already be in the sights of that unseen gun barrel, that the next second could be her last, made Frenda's body tremble uncontrollably.
As for Kinuhata Saiai, she could no longer stand.
"Offense Armor's defense is impressive," Fang Li said evenly, "but if a sufficiently powerful attack keeps hitting the same spot, it can still be penetrated."
He looked down at Kinuhata's body and smiled faintly.
"From the start, you've taken quite a few of my armor-piercing rounds. By now, your barrier should be cracked enough for the bullets' impact to actually affect you."
Hearing this, Frenda and Kinuhata Saiai understood completely.
This battle…
They had lost.
They had lost utterly and completely.
And what's more…
They'd been defeated by a man with no ability at all.
Just as he said…
This time, they had truly kicked an iron plate.
(End Of This Chapter)
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