The bullets sprayed down on Atlas and his entire life flashed between his eyes. From his days as a kid to his days in school to the day his father died, and the last one was that particular day when he decided to take on the stupid mission.
He closed his eyes and accepted death. Until all of a sudden…
*Clang*
"We may not know each other, but you're somewhat special!" A familiar voice spoke out underneath the sounds of bullets hitting metal.
Rin who had been tossed aside like a doll earlier, was blocking the bullets from approaching him. What was he blocking with? A massive sword!
'What the hell?'
Atlas stared at Rin's back in massive disbelief but decided it was best not to stop when he had the chance to escape.
He got up and jumped backwards multiple times, to get a clearer view of the situation.
"Why the hell is a Demigod helping humans?" Thomas yelled as he stopped firing.
He was referring to Rin as a Demigod; something Atlas thought he would see in only comic books and television.
"That's none of your business. I wonder why the hell a child of Zeus would go through so much trouble?"
Thomas the Giant grew angry at that and rapidly changed the bullets in the bulky machine gun.
"I am no child of Zeus. That was all a lie, boy. I am a Giant. The blessed of The Lord Trickster!"
As he said this, he fired more bullets everywhere. But this time around, the bullets were coated in a strange black mist that trailed through the air.
'Poison gas?'
Atlas took the smoke for poison gas and yelled at Rin.
"Be careful. I think that weird black stuff may be poison!"
Rin ignored the request and blocked the bullets using his gargantuan blade. Surprisingly, the shells didn't just fall to the floor like the first time, and instead curved and went for Rin again.
Atlas soon determined that the smokey substance wasn't poison and that these men weren't just avid comic book fans.
'I'm either dreaming, or my whole life has been a lie!'
He ran behind a building and watched the fight from there.
"I could just run away now, to find out that it was all just a dream. But Rin helped me and I can't just leave him to die…"
Atlas mulled over the idea for a few seconds and still couldn't come to a good decision. Eventually… He grew frustrated of carrying the whole world on his back.
"Just fuck it all!"
He yelled and grabbed a small pistol that was next to him, in the hands of the dead, purple-haired lady.
"Take this!" he ran forward at top speed, yelling until he finally reached Thomas and Rin.
Atlas had never handled a gun before, but there was never a wrong time to try something new.
*BAM!*
The bullet flew out causing a recoil that was mostly negligible to Atlas due to his ferocious strength.
"Huh?"
Thomas didn't see it coming, and the rotating bullet flew straight to his temple. Atlas jumped in joy upon this, but Rin turned to him, both eyes widened and yelled.
"Run away!"
Atlas wasn't able to react in time, and the explosion erupted the next second after. He and Rin were thrown across the battlefield to two different locations but were somehow alive. Atlas landed next to the dead purple-haired woman, but he was unable to move properly.
He looked up to the smoke where the explosion was from. Thomas stepped forward, his large feet stepping across the battlefield in similarly large strides. Half of his body was covered in the same dark smoke that covered his bullets from earlier.
Thomas the Giant now looked nothing short of devilish.
"You should have run away when you still could, Atlas but you had to act like a hero, carrying the world on your back. But let me tell you something, Atlas. You may be named after your father, but you are nothing like him! You cannot carry the burden he has!"
His words were strange. He seemed to know something that Atlas himself wasn't aware of.
"What… the hell are… you talking about?" Atlas managed to grunt from under the large boots.
"I don't care about that… ugh. My mother named me Atlas… but that doesn't mean I give… two damns about the world. Atlas the Titan from the myths… carried the world… on his back. Well, my world is my mother… not the rest of you!"
He couldn't speak quickly, but he still managed to get those needed words out. Ultimately, Atlas decided to summarize his life in one word.
"I don't give two craps about my father's burden or whatever you keep going on about. All I want to do is… Protect my mom!"
Atlas' words took a downwards turn at first but returned to their usual nature.
"Ha!"
A burst of energy ran through him, and his muscles bulged through the clothes that he was wearing. This burst of energy allowed him to lift the Giant off his body and head.
"Die!"
He rose up from the ground, causing Thomas to fall back, then grabbed the Giant by his feet and swung him around and around.
When he let the monstrous man go, he grabbed the machine gun that was next to him and began to fire, without regard for his own life. As he did this, he turned to Rin who was watching from the ground.
The other boy's large sword was nowhere to be found, and he was severely injured.
"I don't know who or what you are, but do me one favour and take care of my mother!"
He moved closer to the giant's body and kept on shooting, still remembering the first time when the man survived a bullet to the temple.
The gun ran out of bullets soon and Atlas through the large gun aside and collapsed. Alas…
"Stop trying to kill me, boy. I've been blessed by the Lord Trickster" Thomas's voice rang out, but from behind Atlas.
Atlas looked back and saw nothing but a figure made out of dark smoke. He looked front again to see Thomas' barely recognizable, mutilated figure.
"What?" He said weakly, staring at the figure made of black smoke.
The figure laughed devilishly and pointed a wisp-like hand forward.
"That was my poor puppet. I can't believe you killed it. Well, doesn't matter now. But don't you feel a little sad that you just killed your benefactor, even if he was controlled?"
Atlas stared numbly. He was ready to accept death.
"I knew it. Hahaha. It's really fun to piss off titan-kin. Especially when they don't have any ide-"
Then a blinding light shone upon the dark scene, and an ethereal voice yelled out.
"Silence, invader!"
Atlas looked up to the sky to see a rather familiar figure radiating with sunlight; though it was night, and holding two golden balls of light.
"Tiny?"
But it couldn't be Tiny. Tiny wasn't that tall, nor could he float.
"Go to sleep, Atlas."
****
Author's Note: Follow my Instagram @purplemidnightnovels
For more updates on God Of Gangsters and access to short stories, go to my p.a.t.r.e.o.n: Purple_Midnight
[Note for those that don't understand some of the things said like when Thomas said something about Atlas' father.
This is relatively simple. Atlas, in Greek myths, is the Titan that carries the world on his back. In this story, you can guess who he is to the main character (as I have pointed out clearly). Apart from that, Atlas also represents enormous responsibility which our MC has shown to bear all on his own in the beginning chapters.]