Bang.
After the completely unexpected gunshot, Shawn felt a powerful tug on his right hand. The DV camera he had been holding steadily was blasted away, its fragments bursting outward and embedding themselves in his skin.
In the distance, Hesta held two guns. Smoke already curled from one muzzle—the gunpowder, gun oil, metal shavings, and soot left behind by the shot.
By the time he realized the danger, the second shot had already rung out—
Bang.
Shawn finally entered Bullet Time, and this instant of change stretched into eternity in his eyes—
The shell casing from the previous bullet struck the ground, bounced up, and landed by Hesta's feet. The second empty casing was flying diagonally out from the rear upper side of the chamber.
And that dark golden bullet, blasting forward at high speed, had already reached the space directly before Shawn's chest. He could even see its tip pressing a shallow dent into his leather jacket...
It's over.
Too late...
The terror of imminent death seized Shawn's soul. In the end, his Bullet Time could only be used to prolong this moment of death.
The instant was so swift, yet so agonizingly long.
A violent pain erupted in his chest, and Shawn fell backward.
After a dull impact, Shawn lay on the ground. He stared up at the ghastly white lights overhead, his features twisted with intense pain as a powerful weakness swept through every limb and bone.
Is this... death?
Shawn heard distinct footsteps drawing near—the heels of Hesta's soft leather shoes striking the stone floor of the base.
She stopped beside Shawn and looked down at his face without expression, as though she were looking at an ant.
"No wonder Miss Chiba said I was making things complicated before," Hesta said calmly, putting away her guns.