Zucker, who should have been unconscious on the ground, opened his eyes and got up to see his success.
"You damn fool, finally dead, huh?" Zucker cursed Asic as though they'd been sworn enemies in a past life. If an agent was a professional at dealing with criminals, they certainly wouldn't reveal themselves easily—only at the right moment to attack.
Asic relied on firearms, so maintaining distance was natural. Even though Zucker knew Asic's location, Asic was still out of range of The Gambit's attacks.
Zucker's Ego, The Gambit, could turn a randomly drawn card into an explosive, with its power dependent on the card's number. The effective range of this ability was 150 meters—outside of that, the cards wouldn't explode. The revolver's effective range was around 25-50 meters, but Zucker vividly remembered how Asic had taken out two of his men with two precise shots in the blink of an eye.
It was accuracy at a godly level. Shooting a revolver accurately at a range of 150-300 meters was theoretically impossible, and Zucker concluded there was no way to harm Asic unless he could lure him in closer. But a top-tier agent wouldn't reveal himself so easily.
Thus, Zucker set a trap. He swapped his regular cards for invisible ones.
These invisible cards were made of a rare mineral called Zerettherium, worth hundreds of dollars per gram. The mineral's property was to refract light and blend into the environment. Zucker mixed it with paper, creating invisible cards. However, adding metal made them heavier than typical paper cards, making them difficult to throw long distances and introducing randomness to the card numbers—posing a high risk in actual use.
Zucker made The Gambit use these invisible cards instead, turning them into explosives and scattering them along the path. He intentionally let Asic shoot him to lure the agent into the trap. Judging by the way Asic used rubber bullets instead of live rounds, it seemed the officer had a soft heart. It was clear that he wouldn't aim for fatal spots like the head, which only made Zucker less afraid.
"Hah... hah... Damn, I thought I'd get caught there. Hahaha!" Zucker laughed in satisfaction, so pleased he almost wanted to open a bottle of champagne in celebration. The bastard had fallen for his trick at last. He felt a sense of relief that was difficult to describe. Zucker looked at the site of the explosion, intending to admire his work. But his smile slowly disappeared until it was completely wiped from his face.
There was nothing there.
The explosion had happened, but there were no remains to be seen. A single thought came to Zucker's mind.
'Oh, shit.'
BANG!
A rubber bullet hit Zucker squarely in the torso.
Zucker grimaced in pain, clutching his side and leaping to take cover behind the nearest tree.
"Damn it, why won't you die?!" Zucker couldn't understand how Asic had survived.
'I saw it with my own eyes—he stepped on the exploding card, and it was the King card, the highest rank! The force should've been equivalent to TNT. How is he still alive? Could he be immortal?'
"The Gambit!" Zucker called upon his Ego again. The Gambit shuffled the cards in the deck, and Zucker drew one to hurl in the direction of the shot.
BOOM!
The blast tore apart the trees in the area, but Asic had already slid away from his sniping position right after firing. He managed to avoid getting caught in the blast, but his position was now compromised.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Asic fired multiple rounds.
Zucker turned his back, taking all the rubber bullets as he ran. Asic knew something was off about Zucker's back. Despite being hit by twelve rubber bullets—which were just live rounds with rubber tips—Zucker was still moving fluidly. If it had been anyone else, they would have had severe internal injuries by now.
"Due to a work accident, I had implants installed in my back. Lucky for me, it comes in handy at a time like this," Zucker laughed loudly. The implant was an artificial organ made of metal or strong plastic, effectively acting like armor, rendering rubber bullets useless against it.
Zucker ordered The Gambit to shuffle the cards. Upon seeing the drawn number, he quickly calculated the distance and explosion force, enhancing his strength with Asra power before hurling the cards like shurikens at Asic.
'Faster cards?' Asic's body surged with energy. The purple aura transformed into electricity as he stomped his foot, his entire form instantly shifting five meters away from his original spot. The cards exploded upon contact, but Asic escaped unharmed.
"Lightning attribute power? You damn cheater!" Zucker yelled in frustration. Not only was Asic an elite agent, but he also possessed a rare Asra affinity. Zucker wondered what monstrous deeds he'd committed in a past life to deserve facing someone like this.
"Cheater? Maybe take a good look at yourself in the mirror first. Who's really the one cheating here?" Asic shot back. He had almost died back there—if he hadn't been quick enough to use his lightning affinity to boost his speed, he would already be having tea with angels in heaven. Judging by the force of the previous explosion, Zucker had likely used the highest-ranked card in his deck.
The Gambit had immense destructive power, and just now, its speed had increased almost twofold. If that wasn't cheating, what was it?
'There's something strange,' Zucker thought, observing Asic's use of lightning to speed up his movements to the point of creating afterimages. Even so, Asic shouldn't have been able to dodge those cards so effortlessly. Zucker had trained with The Gambit extensively, mastering its powers inside out. There was no way Asic could escape the blast completely unharmed.
'Something's suspicious! From back on the train—when did he reload? How did he throw my card out the window in time? And how did he dodge the explosive cards just now?'
"The Gambit! Draw ten cards!" Zucker's face paled from the continued use of his power. The Gambit shuffled the deck and drew ten cards simultaneously. Normally, Zucker wouldn't use this technique, as it drained too much energy, but his opponent was pushing him to his limit. These cards were invisible.
The Flying Card Technique—a magician's trick to control the direction of the cards freely. Against ten invisible explosive cards moving in complex patterns, it would surely pressure Asic. And this time, the cards weren't regular paper but invisible cards made from Zerettherium. Zucker hurled the cards like shurikens, each spinning like propeller blades, moving at incredibly high speeds. The cards disappeared from sight the moment they left his hand, heading straight for Asic.
"You know, you would make a better magician than a terrorist. You throw cards better than you set off bombs," Asic mocked.
"Shut up, you bastard! Let's see if you can dodge this!" Zucker was confident this time—the invisible cards were known only to him. There was no way Asic could predict when he was about to be blown to pieces.
"You know why I can do this? Because I've played with explosives far more than you have," Asic's eyes glowed faintly. Purple electricity emanated from his body, spreading around the area and expanding continuously. The moment an invisible card neared him, Asic's gaze shifted toward it, and he caught it mid-air with two fingers, flicking it back at Zucker.
"You son of a—"
BOOM!
The card exploded in mid-air. Zucker managed to leap away just in time. The following cards were intercepted by Asic and thrown into the sky, where they exploded harmlessly.
Asic couldn't actually see the invisible cards, but since they weren't purely paper and contained metal, it was easy for him to detect them. Using Asra power, he released a faint current to detect any metal. It required refined control and acute senses.
"Boom," Asic mimicked the sound of an explosion. Hearing it, Zucker's face flushed with rage—he felt utterly mocked. The invisible card strategy had failed, leaving Zucker's expression devoid of emotion.
"Alright then. The Gambit! Use all my Asra power to turn the entire deck into explosives. I'll blow this entire forest sky-high along with this bastard. Either he dies, or I do," Zucker commanded, pouring all his power into his Ego. The Gambit's form trembled violently, shuffling the deck and transforming every card into a bomb.
The instant they turned into explosives, Zucker knew he only had a short window before they would explode in his hand. Forcing the entire deck to become explosives took everything he had, even at the risk of self-destruction. However, transforming the whole deck also had its advantages.
"The Gambit, separate the cards by value from highest to lowest for me, now."
The Gambit moved its hands, separating the cards into thirteen piles of four cards each.
'All the cards have been turned into bombs. That means The Gambit's weakness—the unpredictability of the destructive power—is gone.' Zucker grabbed a handful of the sorted cards, throwing them with the Flying Card Technique. Each card flew accurately to where Zucker aimed and exploded.
Asic barely dodged, but his smile disappeared. Zucker threw bomb cards at him continuously. Power, distance, speed—all were meticulously calculated. Asic used his purple lightning to boost his speed, but the cards chased him closely, some even intercepting his path.
The explosions scorched the trees and grass around them, setting the forest ablaze. Despite using The Gambit to its fullest extent, Zucker still couldn't wound Asic. Like Asic had said, he had lived with explosives more than Zucker, even though Zucker had the power to turn cards into bombs.
Asic had already calculated the force of each of The Gambit's bomb cards. There was no way he would put himself within their blast radius. However, suddenly, the cards' speed increased yet again. Asic aimed to shoot them down but found that the chamber was empty.
As he reached for the other pistol strapped to his waist, Zucker fired at it, knocking it two meters away. If Asic used his power, he could grab it, but Zucker wasn't about to let him.
"Stop! Don't move!" Zucker shouted, aiming his gun at Asic. The situation had shifted. The revolver had no bullets, Asic was out of range, and Zucker had a fully loaded gun. The goddess of victory was clearly smiling on Zucker now.
"Put your hands above your head. Drop the gun, or I'll put a third eye on your forehead."
"Relax, we can still talk this out," Asic said, dropping the gun in his hand and raising his arms as Zucker commanded.
"Good... very good. Now, die!" Zucker pulled the trigger instantly. If Asic returned to the police force, cooperating in a manhunt, it would be Zucker's nightmare forever. Asic knew all of Zucker's tricks—The Gambit's power, the invisible cards, the bomb cards, the flying card technique. He had no intention of letting Asic go from the start.
The bullet flew straight for Asic's forehead, aiming to drill into his skull. Before it could pierce his head, Asic's amethyst eyes glowed, and purple lightning burst from his body. Time seemed to slow—leaves falling from the trees, clouds drifting in the sky—everything slowed down.
No, Asic had sped up.
The Temporal Technique—a two-second compression of time.
Asic sidestepped the bullet's path. In that moment, the chance of the bullet harming him dropped to zero. This was the ace technique that Asic used against other power users. He didn't rely on Asra cards, instead dedicating himself to mastering this ultimate skill.
Two elements increased one's combat ability beyond Asra cards—technique and mastery.
The Temporal Technique—time compression. It used electricity to push his senses to their limits, stimulating cells to work beyond their limits for a brief period. Within that time frame, Asic could move however he wanted in his own world.
Asic reached behind him and pulled out a short shotgun hidden under his cloak, aiming it at Zucker. As the time compression effect ended, the sight Zucker saw was not of Asic with his skull blown open, but of Asic aiming a shotgun.
BANG!
The metal shot tore through Zucker's flesh. The implant was only in his back—his front was still regular flesh.
"ARGH!!" Zucker screamed in pain, writhing on the ground. He couldn't withstand the injury. Asic approached, pressing the shotgun's barrel to Zucker's forehead. Zucker looked up at him, his bloodshot eyes almost glowing red.
"You... damn bastard."
"I've won. Surrender peacefully."
"You... damn... bastard." Zucker clutched his now blood-soaked clothing, warm blood pouring out. These weren't rubber bullets; they were real, metal shots.
"Am I going to die?"
"Don't worry. You won't die from birdshot. If you do, I'll make sure the press interviews your gravestone to figure out how that happened," Asic said, looking at the railway hijacker with pity.
"Birdshot...?" Zucker almost fainted. He, Zucker, leader of the Neo-Guevara group, was captured with birdshot?!
The ammunition Asic used was called birdshot—a type of shotgun shell typically divided into two categories: buckshot and birdshot.
Buckshot would shoot a single round with enough force to kill anything from a man to an elephant in one hit—it wasn't typically used unless the intent was to kill, or to hunt large monsters.
Birdshot, however, was intended to spread in multiple directions upon firing, ensuring it hit several points but without high lethality.
Asic carried three types of ammunition:
- Birdshot for capturing criminals alive.
- Buckshot for fighting hardened criminals, with a chance of fatality.
- Slugshot, or a single solid round, for kill-on-sight situations.
Zucker never imagined Asic would have a concealed shotgun hidden under his cloak. Asic wore the large cloak precisely to hide his short-barrel shotgun—his secret weapon. On duty, Asic always carried three guns—a revolver and a submachine gun with rubber bullets, and the shotgun with real shells. He hadn't known that Zucker only had an implant in his back, but once he confirmed the implant, he raised the threat level and responded with lethal force.
"Why did you become a terrorist? Can you tell me?"
"Because of filthy capitalism! Those big corporations took everything from me, just because I had no money," Zucker said, his mind teetering on the edge of madness, his eyes filled with hate. He spoke through clenched teeth, anger pouring out with his tears.
How deeply wounded must a man be to choose to fight against the state?
Zucker's bus, with his wife and child, had been caught in a tunnel collapse. The rescue team from the corporation arrived but ignored his family because they didn't have the company's insurance! By the time the city's emergency services arrived, it was too late. If those corporations had an ounce of humanity, his family wouldn't have died. He hated the big corporations and joined the Neo-Guevara movement because of it.
"Everyone has their own problems. No matter how tragic the injustice, it's not an excuse for crime. No matter how noble the ideal, if you commit crimes, you're just a criminal. I hope that when you get out of prison, you'll become an activist, fighting the right way."
"Someone like me... can get another chance?" Zucker laughed weakly.
"Everyone deserves a chance. It's up to you to prove you deserve it," Asic said, lowering his gun. Zucker showed no resistance; he was contemplating his future. He was finished now—his only destination was prison, likely for decades.
"Fighting the right way... sounds interesting."
BANG!
A single bullet pierced Zucker's head, blowing his brains out right in front of Asic. Blood and bits of brain splattered against the trees. Zucker's body convulsed violently before going still forever. The leader of the Neo-Guevara group had met his end without ever knowing who fired the shot.
Asic's amethyst eyes widened, his heart freezing until it felt numb. His hands clenched into tight fists, his whole body trembling with rage. He turned to the source of the shot and sprinted towards it with the lightning-infused stance. Within a few breaths, Asic appeared before a man in a police officer's uniform, calmly packing away a sniper rifle into a case.
When Asic arrived, the man turned and smiled as if he'd expected Asic.
"You killed him."
"You know what happens when someone's social credit goes negative, Agent 01—no, I mean, civilian," the man sneered at Asic's naivety.
All agents had programs installed to monitor citizens' social credit scores, like the ticket robots at the train station. In the new world, if a social credit score dropped below zero, the person lost their humanity—no matter who they were or what they had done, if their social credit dropped below zero, they were executed on sight.
"You're just a civilian now. It's none of your business anymore. Let the officers handle the rest. And put down your gun—I don't like it," the officer said, eyeing Asic's short shotgun. Anyone in the agent unit knew that Agent 01 could kill with birdshot if he wanted to—
Meaning, if Asic truly intended to kill.
"..." Asic lowered his gun, stomping his feet as he stormed away from the scene.