This revolver was no ordinary weapon.
There was a reason for its destructive power, and, according to Paymax, it was simple—the revolver had been created using the corpse and soul of a supernatural being belonging to the Path of Fortitude.
Given the weapon's power, the creature might have even risen above the First Step...
But power always comes with a price.
And because of one unpleasant side effect, Mr. Nobody hadn't used more than two rounds at once for a very long time.
But be that as it may...
*BOOOOMM!!!* The third shot rang out, far beyond anything imaginable. It felt almost indistinguishable from a tank shot.
The bones in his right hand compressed under the recoil, barely maintaining their shape.
It felt like thunder or an earthquake had struck the desert... And yet it was only a gunshot.
"..." A piercing ringing sounded in his head, like the ringing after a concussion.
'This is not the time for that. Move!' he commanded his own body.
Perhaps this was already a side effect of excessive revolver use.
But be that as it may, he began to act without wasting a second.
The rear of the car now had a massive hole blasted through it. Terrifying destruction.
"..." With a quick movement, he left his cover and found himself right in front of the open rear door.
The shots did not rain down on him, because...
"Kh... Khrr… khah…" The Dirty Baal, hit by the revolver round, writhed in agony.
His companion, meanwhile, watched the mutilated figure with an expression of utter shock and horror. Perhaps the effects of a concussion were also at play, but the second guard could barely hold his weapon.
Anyone would have reacted the same way. It was truly shocking.
The first Dirty Baal had lost his right collarbone, shoulder, part of his neck, and the right side of his face. In their place was now only a mass of oozing red flesh with pieces of broken bone.
"Kh... kha..." Dirty Baal made painful, groaning sounds and looked toward the door he himself had opened.
His eyes were filled with horror and fear.
It was as if he had only now realized that he had let the true devil inside with his own hands.
A true predator who would not stop until he had finished off his prey.
"..." Mr. Nobody saw the consequences of the shot with his own eyes.
With such injuries, Dirty Baal was already a goner. But despite this, he was still standing and holding a weapon in one hand.
Perhaps it was his last dying effort, but the terrifying weapon began to aim directly at...
'Danger!' his mind screamed.
"...!" Heat flooded his body, and he jumped into the car.
"AAAAAGHAA!!!" The second Dirty Baal, standing in the back of the car, let out an inhuman scream and also aimed his rifle at him.
He wasn't hurt, but caught in the moment, he didn't aim as quickly as he could have.
"..." Mr. Nobody was already right in front of the first Dirty Baal and swung his metal fist.
*Thud!* The fist hit the wounded man's elbow and caused him to drop his weapon.
"Kh-h..." Along with the gurgling blood in Dirty Baal's eyes, despair and a premonition of his own death flashed through his mind. He could no longer find the strength and fell straight into the hands of his enemy.
"..." Mr. Nobody, in turn, did not flinch and strangely used the blood-soaked body as cover.
The corpse shielded most of his body. At that moment, with a quick movement, he reduced the power of the revolver to 30-40 percent and aimed the barrel directly at the corpse's stomach.
*Bang!*
*Boom!*
Two shots rang out simultaneously.
"Aaagh...!" A moment later, the second guard cried out in pain. The fourth shot from the revolver tore through the stomach of his half-dead comrade and hit him in the thigh.
However, his own shot was far more terrifying.
For the first time, he saw the power of this rifle in action.
"..." And although Mr. Nobody took cover behind the body of the first Dirty Baal, it did not completely protect him.
A painful electric shock ran through his left arm. The upper layers of skin sloughed off his left arm, like grains of ash or dust scattered by the wind.
And although the limb survived, the pain was piercing and agonizing, like some elaborate form of torture. In addition, echoes of the electric pulse from the shot spread throughout his body.
Heat, pain, and... rage. These feelings completely overwhelmed him, becoming twice as strong as they had been since the third shot.
"..." At the same time, the first Dirty Baal, who took the full force of his comrade's shot with his body... His fate was terrible.
In a matter of moments, his body underwent a process of complete annihilation. First, his skin, hair, and nails simply turned into bloody dust, exposing the internal structure of his body. Next came the muscles, tendons, and organs — they too turned into bloody particles.
The last to go were the brain and the skeleton. The bones turned into white powder, and the brain turned into a grotesque puddle.
In a single instant, all that remained of the living being was red and white dust mixed with brain slime.
The first guard's body had completely evaporated. Mr. Nobody was left alone with the last Dirty Baal.
Only a couple of meters separated them.
They stood face to face.
"..." He looked at him.
"..." The Dirty Baal looked back.
Only a brief moment — when Dirty Baal cast a desperate glance at his comrade's remains — prevented the second rifle shot from hitting him.
Mr. Nobody did not make the same mistake and jumped straight at his enemy.
*Clang!* A metal fist struck the rifle from below.
*Boom!* The rifle, which had recently been aimed at the man, discharged into the roof of the car.
Without wasting any time, Mr. Nobody swung his other arm at the guard's wounded thigh, but...
"***!!!" Dirty Baal screamed wildly, overcome with rage and pain.
He caught the man's arm in midair and squeezed it viciously. Blood seeped through the skin that had already been stripped of its upper layers.
"...!!!"
The terrible pain in his arm made Mr. Nobody's jaw clench, almost biting his tongue.
The electric shock from the rifle shot was still affecting him, and in a moment of weakness due to the pain, his legs buckled.
Without wasting any time, Dirty Baal took advantage of this and forced him onto his back.
With one hand, he still pressed down on Mr. Nobody's wounded arm, while with the other, he reached for his belt.
A moment later, he pulled out a terrifying knife resembling a machete.
"GHAAAA!!!" Dirty Baal shouted angrily, like a wild animal.
He swung and aimed the knife straight at the man's face!
*Clang!* The metal arm intercepted the sharp blade when it was only a few dozen centimeters from his eye.
The knife almost plunged into his face, but the steel arm held back the pressure.
"...!"
"...!"
It was a clash of fortitudes.
Their heavy breathing, faces filled with rage, and eyes filled with hatred were facing each other.
One burned with a thirst for revenge for his slain comrades, and so his limbs were filled with furious strength, and the other...
And the other...
And the other...
And the other...?
Was there a reason why his fortitude was ?
Was there a reason for his fury?
Was his fury stronger?
Was his will to live... the strongest?
"P-Paym... m-max..." he croaked through clenched teeth, staring into Dirty Baal's furious face.
The answer came immediately.
"I'm taking over the protective functions," Paymax said mechanically.
A moment after this phrase, the strength in his metal arm completely disappeared!
"Aaaa!" Dirty Baal shouted, putting all his strength into one last lunge. His opponent had let his guard down, and now the knife was about to pierce his eye...
*Clangg!* Another collision between the metal arm and the knife, but this time it happened a couple of centimeters from the eye.
And this time, only one finger of the metal hand managed to stop the blade.
"..." Shock flashed in Dirty Baal's eyes. It seemed to him that he had tried to push the knife through an indestructible metal wall.
And this confusion played a cruel joke on him.
*Clang...* The metal arm allowed the knife to slide across its surface. The sharp tip only grazed and cut the skin of the hand.
Blood spilled, but...
Determination, rage, thirst for revenge, momentum, and the force of the blow... All of this was stuck to the metal floor of the SUV. A fatal mistake.
Mr. Nobody, in turn, rolled over and moved away from his opponent.
Dirty Baal's hand was still clenching the stuck knife when...
*Crunch!* The metal fist struck the opponent right in the head.
It seemed the blow must have concussed him, because Dirty Baal simply collapsed to the floor, just like...
*Crunch!* There was a crunching blow.
It seemed that some bone in Dirty Baal's head had broken, but...
*Crunch!*
The metal fist struck again.
*Crunch!*
Again…
*Crunch!*
And again.
*Crunch!*
The metal fist relentlessly beat the fallen Dirty Baal, turning his face into a bloody pulp.
"...!!!" Mr. Nobody's eyes filled with red rage, and his ears were still ringing.
*Crunch!*
The side effect of the fourth shot from the revolver was fully manifested. He destroyed his defenseless opponent like a true barbarian.
*Crunch!*
He didn't even hear the crunching sound of his own blows.
*Crunch!*
Without a word, he turned his opponent's head into something like a watermelon smashed open.
With his right hand alone.
*Crunch!!!*
...
"..." Caught up in the process of killing, Mr. Nobody didn't even notice that all this time he was being watched by the piercing blue eyes watching him from inside the car.