Missiles flew, cannons roared, and the entire palace was obscured by modern firepower.
Barton, who was at the palace gate, subconsciously wanted to find cover to avoid it, but seeing everyone in the Vongola Family standing indifferently without any intention of dodging, he immediately realized something and couldn't help widening his eyes.
Could it be they didn't even pay attention to this level of saturation attack?
But this idea shattered as artillery fire fell, the palace became fragmented, and members of the Vongola Family screamed as they were blown up or buried under collapsing debris.
Damn it, these guys were just pretending to be tough.
Barton was so angry he wanted to curse, but the situation was extremely dangerous. The impulse to save people was stronger than the urge to scold. He subconsciously grabbed Takeshi Yamamoto who was blocking in front and tried pulling him outside. "Quickly find a place to hide!"
However, he wouldn't budge.
"What are you doing? Do you want to die?"
Barton turned his head angrily, but saw Takeshi Yamamoto had regained the aura of a friendly big brother and said with a smile, "Don't worry, this is just a world constructed by Chrome."
"Constructed world?"
Barton looked at Chrome. The mature and beautiful Mist Guardian had removed her eyeglasses at some point, and the number in her right eye had become "五" (five)!
Thinking of the information Fury had given him before the surveillance mission, he immediately understood.
This was all illusion!
But was it really an illusion?
Barton looked outside blankly. The artillery fire continued, explosions of flames and shockwaves swept and ravaged everything. The magnificent palace shattered little by little, then collapsed.
The heat wave, the breeze, even the sensation of gravel splashing against his body—everything was so real.
Was this really an illusion?
Barton continued surveying the battlefield. Countless people caught in explosions screamed and groaned...
Wait—being hit by such violent explosions, how could they still scream?
Barton finally found a trace of inconsistency.
With his knowledge of modern weapons, such close-range explosions would definitely kill someone instantly without even a scream... Although there was survivor bias, it was very rare.
And here, basically everyone who encountered this kind of explosion could scream, then roll on the ground a couple times before dying.
(It seems Chrome still doesn't know enough about these war weapons!) Barton thought.
"I'm sorry about before!"
"Hm?"
Barton was pulled from his thoughts by the sound, looked up at Takeshi Yamamoto strangely, not knowing why he suddenly apologized.
"I misunderstood you before. I'm very sorry."
"What!?"
Looking at Takeshi Yamamoto who bowed 90 degrees to him, Barton was a bit confused.
What the hell was this?
Wasn't this guy mafia?
So polite?
"Are you still angry?"
Takeshi Yamamoto raised his head, and seeing that Barton didn't respond, couldn't help asking, "If you can't calm down, then I can only..."
"No, I'm not angry at all."
Barton stopped Takeshi Yamamoto.
Although he didn't know what this guy would do if he didn't stop him, or whether his apology was sincere.
But now wasn't the time to care about that at all.
The army outside was most important.
"Really? That's great."
Takeshi Yamamoto scratched the back of his head and smiled heartily, which made Barton wonder: Was such a guy really an assassin?
No, the coldness from before couldn't be faked.
This guy was probably someone who hid a knife behind a smile. Don't be fooled by appearances and let your guard down.
"Chrome, release Barton's illusion, otherwise he might be accidentally injured!" Takeshi Yamamoto shouted at the Mist Guardian who'd walked to the front.
Chrome glanced from the corner of her eye.
Immediately, everything flashed before his eyes and returned to calm.
There were no missiles, no artillery fire—only the U.S. military in the distance seemingly performing a stage play, carrying out the general's orders one by one, performing empty operations on various equipment and weapons.
This scene made Barton feel very absurd.
But at the same time, he was also shocked by the Vongola Family's power.
He'd originally thought the other Guardians were all at Hayato Gokudera's level—even if extraordinary, not too outrageous.
But Chrome's actions completely changed his view.
If it had been the Mist Guardian who fought against him yesterday, he would have had absolutely no chance of winning.
After all, even if the environment couldn't be 100% synchronized with reality, it would be hard for him to notice the slight sense of incongruity without someone pointing it out.
Moreover, even if he were aware of it, there was no way to break it.
(It seems the six Guardians of Vongola should all be different types of extraordinary people.) Barton recalled when Gokudera had mentioned the six attributes of the Dying Will Flame. Combined with the six Guardians and current situation, it was easy to reach this conclusion.
However, there was one thing he didn't understand.
Illusion was illusion no matter what—why had Takeshi Yamamoto said before that if he didn't release it for him, he might be accidentally injured!
Could illusions also cause real damage?
As soon as this thought formed, Barton heard screams from the army in the distance.
He was startled and looked up quickly.
He saw that in the army, countless people were running wildly as if on fire, or rolling on the ground screaming. The movement became smaller and smaller until they completely lost all movement.
In the sky, three helicopters also fell crookedly toward a farther area, then exploded with a bang.
Silence, silence, silence...
Looking at the battlefield ahead without a trace of gunpowder or thick fog, Barton felt absurd.
Two U.S. Marine battalions equipped with the world's most advanced equipment... their failure against the Vongola Family had been expected from the beginning.
However, in less than five minutes, they'd been defeated without firing a shot.
This was so damn ridiculous.
Were all these soldiers collaborating with the enemy?
In the end, what happened in the mirror world?
Also stunned alongside Barton was Fury.
This S.H.I.E.L.D. director had never been pulled into the illusion from the very beginning. He didn't know what was happening—he saw the U.S. Marines who'd been holding him suddenly start improvising, then screaming and losing all movement.
He crouched in front of the nearest soldier and carefully stretched out his hand to check his breathing.
No breath.
He was dead.
Fury's face became ashen, and his fists clenched involuntarily.
He checked every soldier, and except for Talbot, no one was alive. What made it incomprehensible was that these soldiers' bodies were very hot, as if they'd been roasted by fire, and even exuded the smell of burnt corpses.
"Ah, these guys are so strange!"
Tsuna arrived with the Vongola Family. Hayato Gokudera looked at the corpses lying on the ground, his mouth twitched, and he said with sarcasm, "They surrounded our house with weapons, then asked us to come out and surrender. And when we came out, how did they become like this?"
"Haha..."