I'm Not Going Through Another Reincarnation!

Luca didn't bother retrieving the phone he'd dropped.

When he raised his head again, he immediately noticed something.

At an intersection that had been perfectly normal a moment ago, a dump truck that had been driving in front of their car suddenly slammed on its brakes for some reason.

If Shamira hadn't kept a safe distance from the truck and reacted quickly enough, their car might have gone straight under it.

Even so, their car had been forced to stop in the middle of the road.

Shamira had reacted in time, but that didn't mean the other cars behind them had.

Luca barely had a moment to catch his breath.

"Bam—"

A deafening crash rang out.

Without a doubt, the car behind them had slammed into their rear bumper.

The tremendous impact shoved their car forward again.

Then came a rapid string of crashes: "Bam, bam, bam, bam!"

Who knew how many cars had piled into one another?

But by then, the front of Luca's car had become completely wedged beneath the truck ahead.

The windshield had shattered like a spiderweb, and the airbags had burst open, slamming Shamira's head hard against the seatback.

But Shamira couldn't worry about herself.

She pulled out a sharp little knife and stabbed the airbag, then shouted to Luca, "Young master! Get out!"

Still dazed from the successive impacts, Luca drew on his past and present experience with car crashes. He quickly felt for the seat belt at his side and unfastened it.

But—

"Bam—"

Another collision.

This time, a car from the next lane had rammed straight into Luca's side of their car.

The impact wasn't all that strong, but the other car had hit at just the right angle to jam Luca's door shut.

Luca quickly straightened up and glanced at the car.

Its driver didn't even look his way. He simply abandoned the car and fled in a panic.

Luca immediately realized the crash hadn't been an accident.

Sure enough, when he turned to climb across to the other side, he saw a massive dump truck in the distance, barreling toward him from the other side of the intersection without slowing down. (Image)

"Shit!!"

There was no time to think. Even if he climbed across and got out through the other door, he might not escape the roaring truck.

Luca looked at the shattered window on his right and quickly forced himself to think clearly.

Then he reached for the holster at his waist.

He pulled out a large, oddly shaped handgun, its entire body a dark green.

At the same time, he scrambled toward the door, using both hands and feet.

The gun's blue-green light strips flashed repeatedly as a string of electronic announcements sounded.

"Portable psychological diagnostic system not connected. Dominator startup complete. Confirming user..."

"Quit the damn chatter! Switch to Decomposer mode!" Luca roared, cutting off the tedious announcement.

"User confirmed. Execution mode: Destruction—Decomposition!"

The dark green handgun in Luca's hand quickly split open and unfolded.

Like an exposed chip, blue-green light surged and formed bands that wrapped around half his arm.

Electricity crackled continuously.

"Shamira! Get out first!"

Hearing Luca's shout and noticing the weapon charging in his hand, Shamira knew how powerful it was. Without hesitation, she jumped out through the driver's door.

By then, Luca had pushed open his door and planted one foot on the ground.

The speeding dump truck was almost upon him, but Luca's eyes held only a cold, murderous glare.

"Go to hell! I'm not going through another reincarnation!"

He raised his arm and aimed the gun, while the announcement in his ear continued.

"Target will be completely eliminated. Please take caution!"

The ball of light at the muzzle had swollen to its limit. The blue-green bands drew together, forming a horrifying stream of high-energy particles.

In the next instant—

"Vmmm—"

A blue-green beam of high-energy particles blasted out and struck the dump truck head-on.

Blue-green and white light surged, forming a massive, crackling sphere of energy.

The terrifyingly hot particles instantly cut a huge circular hole through the truck's front.

As the vehicle continued rushing forward, the cut rapidly spread toward the rear.

In the blink of an eye, the high-energy particle sphere hovering before Luca had pierced through the entire truck.

The blazing red cross-sections of the severed metal broke apart, scattering in every direction with the truck's momentum.

The massive dump truck was completely pulverized by that single shot.

Only a few scraps remained in the dead zones around the circular cut.

"Rumble—"

Scattered fragments whizzed past Luca.

He could even feel the heat rolling off the streams of molten metal as they swept by his ear.

The cars on either side were battered by the flying metal fragments.

Yet Luca, standing at the very center of the collision, was completely unharmed.

That single shot had torn through every "attack" coming his way.

He stepped out with his other foot and let the breeze stirred up by the heat wash over his face.

Luca steadied himself.

The Dominator in his hand quickly folded back into its ornate configuration, becoming a dark green handgun with only a slightly unusual shape.

Even now, most bystanders still had no idea what had happened.

But whether they were people on the street or drivers climbing out of their cars after the pileup, cursing as they searched for the culprit, every one of them stared in a daze at the destruction Luca had caused.

The whole street seemed to fall silent for a second.

Until—

"Holy shit!"

"Ahhh!!"

Angry shouts rose from all around.

Well, no one was screaming in terror.

New Yorkers who had just been through the Chitauri invasion had already had their nerves tested.

Most people simply stopped and took out their phones to record.

As for the one yelling "Ahhh," that was the driver who had just rammed the dump truck at Luca.

Maybe he'd planned to jump out at the last moment. Or maybe he'd just gotten lucky.

Even with the entire dump truck torn to pieces, the guy was still alive.

One of his legs had been completely decomposed, and he lay on the ground, bruised and battered, writhing and screaming.

Luca shoved the Dominator back into its holster and glanced at the crowd taking pictures, but didn't bother with them.

Shamira, who had gotten out first, came around from the other side just then.

She kicked the driver unconscious as he lay there screaming, then went over to Luca and quietly reported, "The drivers of the dump truck up front and the car on the side have already disappeared. The driver behind us really did just get caught up in the pileup. That leaves only this one alive."

Luca simply nodded.

After making sure none of the cars behind them were at risk of smoking or exploding, he leaned against the car door and instructed Shamira, "Call the lawyer. We'll wait here for the police!"