"Let's talk!"
Barton responded decisively.
This kind of thing didn't need consideration at all. Even if it might be the other party's trap, it was a choice that had to be attempted.
"Very good!"
A satisfied smile appeared on Hayato Gokudera's face. He raised his right hand, and the skeletal gun fixed to his right arm burned with red flames. "Then, let's continue our previous battle. Flame Arrow!"
"Huh?"
Barton was stunned for a moment, then rolled to the side.
BOOM!
The crimson light arrow passed by, leaving a fist-sized hole in the wall behind him.
"What do you mean?"
Barton got up quickly and shouted, "You're the one who called for negotiation, and you're the one calling for a fight. What are you trying to do?"
"Is it difficult to understand?"
Hayato Gokudera inserted his left hand into his hair and smiled somewhat arrogantly. "Negotiation is negotiation, and fighting is fighting. The two aren't in conflict."
"How aren't they in conflict?"
Barton looked at Hayato Gokudera in astonishment.
Hayato Gokudera, on the other hand, was disappointed by Barton's reaction and couldn't help sighing deeply. "You... it seems you're just a simple soldier."
"..."
Barton frowned and remained silent.
Upon seeing this, Hayato Gokudera sighed again. "Although we don't want unnecessary conflicts, we also understand that weakness is the original sin. If we didn't have power to make you wary, then what's happening now wouldn't be secret surveillance but a full-scale cleanup operation!"
Hayato Gokudera didn't explain directly, but Barton still understood what he meant.
He wasn't fighting to win, but showing his strength on behalf of the force behind him, thereby determining the future relationship between the two organizations.
"I understand!"
Barton closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them, staring at Hayato Gokudera with eagle-like eyes. "Don't blame me if you die."
"Same to you!"
The corner of Hayato's mouth cracked into a grin.
Then both moved simultaneously.
Drawing the bow, nocking the arrow, pulling the string, releasing... the entire sequence was executed in one motion, taking less than a second.
Barton used his actions to show what a true marksman was.
And Hayato Gokudera was faster.
He simply raised his right arm, aimed the skeletal gun fixed to his forearm, and fired.
The flame arrows and explosive arrows were fired one after another, intersecting in the air, flying toward each other's targets.
BOOM!
BOOM!
The explosions sounded one after another, but neither was hurt.
The moment the flame arrow flew, Barton twisted his body and let the arrow pass by. Meanwhile, Hayato Gokudera mobilized one of his weapons made from black bones and shaped like a scope to block.
Seeing this scene, Barton's heart sank.
There were six such scopes, capable of blocking attacks from any direction without blind spots. The bomb in the room earlier probably hadn't worked because it was blocked by these.
In other words, his best attack method was ineffective.
"Looks like you don't have defensive measures!"
Compared to Barton's heaviness, Hayato Gokudera was much more relaxed.
He laughed wildly, and the five rings on his right hand burned with five different colored flames, then pressed them onto the socket of the box attached to his belt.
The flame acted like a key, opening the box as soon as it was inserted.
And from the box, which was smaller than a ping-pong ball, large ammunition the length of an adult's finger popped out.
Hayato Gokudera caught it skillfully, then inserted it into the back of his skeletal gun and fired without hesitation.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!
With six consecutive dull sounds, six small missile heads dragged tail flames and flew toward Barton in a hexagonal formation.
Barton's pupils shrank suddenly, and he turned and ran without hesitation.
He remained very calm, watching obstacles ahead and listening to the whistling sounds behind, then changed direction the moment the missiles fell, avoiding the explosion by a dangerous margin.
However, although he avoided the explosion and wasn't injured, he was affected by the shockwave and slammed into the wall.
Even so, he resisted the pain and stood up immediately.
Because at the moment he'd turned to escape, he'd seen... The instant Hayato Gokudera finished firing the missiles, he'd opened another box and ejected a machine gun ammunition belt from it.
With his own effort to avoid missiles, it was enough time for the opponent to link the ammunition belt and open fire. If he didn't move quickly, he'd most likely be turned into swiss cheese.
Sure enough, the moment Barton's front foot left, the next second an endless rain of bullets followed, tearing the wall apart.
Barton ran quickly, dodging bullets.
The enemy's machine gun was powerful—brick walls were torn apart. It was difficult to find adequate cover in this unfinished building.
Fortunately, this unfinished building was very large, with enough space for him to maneuver.
"Hey, are you just going to keep running away?"
Hayato Gokudera shouted. While maintaining continuous fire, he stepped on the red disc to move and chase, with six scopes suspended around him guarding against surprise attacks.
Barton ignored him and kept running.
The two—one chasing, one fleeing—moved upstairs.
There were no brick walls on this floor, only concrete pillars in the empty space.
When Hayato Gokudera caught up, Barton had already disappeared.
But he knew it was impossible to run far in such a short time—the other party must be hiding behind one of the pillars.
"Haha..."
Hayato Gokudera laughed. "You're thinking I'll come in to find you, then take the opportunity to get close and engage in melee combat, right!
Although it's hard to imagine what kind of melee ability a sharpshooter like you would have, there are indeed geniuses in this world who excel at everything.
So I'll never give you that chance!"
After speaking, Hayato Gokudera opened another box, and a bomb was ejected from it. He caught it easily, inserted it into his skeletal gun, and fired at random.
The crimson light arrow flew out, then split, transforming into a network like tree roots and branches, covering half the room.
BOOM BOOM BOOM...
Stone pillars shattered, and the floor trembled, as if about to collapse.
Hayato Gokudera didn't care and opened another box, then loaded and fired. The crimson flame arrow flew out, then curved in the air as if under control, bypassing the cement pillars and attacking from behind.
Hayato Gokudera manipulated the flame arrows to bypass stone pillars, winding through attacks, and swept across another section of space.
Immediately afterward, he opened another box... Sixteen boxes were tied to his belt, each containing different weapons and equipment.
In addition to the mobility disc, the six defensive scopes, and the freely attacking leopard, there were also eight ammunition boxes, each crafted according to different Dying Will Flame attributes with different effects.
Hayato Gokudera was the Storm Guardian—the Storm Flame had the most destructive power and decomposition properties. But he himself possessed five attributes that could be combined with each other to issue attacks with different effects... Split attacks with the Cloud attribute's propagation effect, armor-piercing attacks with the Rain attribute's tranquility effect, hardening effects of the Lightning attribute...
Various types of ammunition were fired one after another from his hands without the slightest pause in between, like an endless storm sweeping through the entire building!