If anyone else had said that one man could stand against Shinra head-on by himself, Tifa absolutely would not have believed it.
But Mr. Kain could definitely do it.
She did not even think Mr. Kain needed to bring out those large machines. Mr. Kain alone could carve his way straight through.
After all, she had seen the kinds of monsters Mr. Kain fought.
Now, except for the members who stayed behind to handle logistics, every Avalanche member responsible for front-line combat was heading to a certain location together.
When they arrived at a warehouse and pulled the power switch, the heavy metal door opened.
This was one of Avalanche's storage warehouses, used to keep weapons, vehicles, and other resources.
"That thi—"
Jessie had just stepped inside and was about to ask how he planned to bring out weapons that could increase Avalanche's strength when a massive metal cabinet appeared without warning in the empty space beside them.
H-how had that appeared?
It had appeared out of thin air, right?
The man walked forward and touched his palm to a glowing panel. The metal box immediately gave off a series of mechanical clicks and opened, revealing the weapons inside.
Some of them were obviously firearms. Others were harder to understand at a glance. But could these really give Avalanche the power to attack Shinra head-on?
The man picked up a hexagonal metal plate roughly eight inches across, with a handle attached.
The next second, the metal plate expanded like an umbrella being opened, spreading out until it was large enough to cover a person's body if they crouched behind it.
"Attack me with your weapons. Use anything you want."
So he wanted to show them how strong the shield was.
"Anything we want? You sure?"
Barret raised an eyebrow as he asked.
"Yes."
"Fine. Everybody, get back!"
Barret ordered the others to move to a safe area.
Since this man wanted to test the shield's strength and had said something like that, it had to be more than it looked. They needed to be careful with the test. If the bullets ricocheted, they might hit someone else.
Once everyone had retreated to a position where ricochets would not reach them, Barret aimed the machine gun mounted on one of his arms.
The next second, the machine gun roared. A dense metal storm of bullets slammed toward the man's shield.
Sparks flashed, and the sound of impacts echoed through the entire warehouse. The man stood completely unmoved. At the same time, tiny pits began appearing in the ground off to one side of Barret.
Only when his machine gun stopped spinning and ran out of ammunition did the little pits beside him stop multiplying.
All of them had been caused by bullets bouncing back.
But the truly frightening part was that the man had adjusted the shield and redirected the bullets toward that spot.
These were not beams of light. It was not as simple as using a mirror to reflect them wherever he wanted.
They were bullets. The impact force from so many bullets should have been tremendous. The fact that he could control them with that much stability showed just how terrifying the man Tifa had found really was.
"Can I use this?"
"No problem."
Barret pulled the trigger without hesitation, and a rocket shot forward.
Boom!
The man's figure was swallowed by flame and black smoke.
But as the firelight and smoke cleared, only the ground around him showed any damage.
The man himself was still fine, protected by the metal shield.
However, the metal shield did look like it had a problem this time. It had warped.
Still, the advantage of the thing was that it looked very light and portable. A person could carry quite a few of them.
And inside that metal case, there were even heavier metal shields. Those might be able to withstand even direct impacts.
Suddenly, the man tossed the metal shield into the air. Then he raised the gun in his hand and fired a grenade round at it.
There was no massive explosion as they had imagined. Only a flash of orange light. After that, the shield was almost vaporized, with only a few molten fragments dripping to the ground like liquid iron.
Bang!
He fired another grenade round, this time hitting a thick metal block in the warehouse. Half of it melted away in an instant, faster than ice thrown into a furnace.
With that kind of terrifying destructive power, could they not easily destroy anything Shinra had?
A little while later—
"Ohhh!"
Wedge, whose large build gave him a somewhat simple, honest impression, was jumping in place. He could easily leap twice as high as a normal person.
That was thanks to the assistance provided by an exoskeleton he was wearing.
With this equipment, he could save a great deal of strength and carry far more gear.
Bang!
With a low roar, Biggs' shoulder was struck by a powerful recoil, almost as if it were about to be dislocated.
He was operating a sniper weapon. The bullets fired by this thing produced the same effect as the grenade rounds.
If he had not also been wearing the so-called exoskeleton equipment, the recoil really might have broken his shoulder.
That one shot instantly melted through a metal plate.
That said, making such a loud disturbance here would normally alarm the surrounding area.
First, however, this area was abandoned, and almost no one came here.
Second, the warehouse had been soundproofed.
After all, Jessie sometimes made explosives here, and those also created quite a bit of noise and power.
Looking over at Barret, the man was now covered head to toe in equipment. He was armed to the teeth, especially with one special weapon strapped to him. Its power was too great to test here.
"This thing is incredible."
Jessie was also cheerfully playing with the new toy in her hands. Under her remote control, the palm-sized flying device no longer crashed around randomly. She could already control it fairly freely.
This micro aircraft, called an FPV drone, also had a self-destruct function. It was an excellent tool for suicide attacks.
"Hm?"
Tifa, who was swinging a dagger to get used to its feel, suddenly noticed Mr. Kain's gaze sharpen as he looked outside.
Her expression immediately turned serious.
Someone was probably outside.
"I think there's someone out there."
Aerith said it uncertainly, gripping the item in her hands. It looked like a short metal staff. It had an electric shock function and could also fire several laser shots.
"There is someone. Stay alert."
As he warned them, Kain raised his hand without hesitation and fired, directly destroying the warehouse door.
The instant he rushed out like a cannonball, a throwing star flew straight at him.
At the same time, he locked onto a figure slipping away at high speed, almost blending into the darkness.
He caught the throwing star, then flung it backhanded after the fleeing figure, sending it vanishing into the dark shadows along with them.
As he made that movement, there was also a bang, and a large cloud of smoke swallowed him.
The throwing star had also functioned as a smoke bomb, and the smoke was extremely choking and acrid.
"Aaaaah!"
A miserable scream echoed through the night.
Although the scream was wretched, it was also clearly young—the voice of a young girl.
And the scream carried a sobbing edge.
It sounded as if she had been hurt so badly in an instant that she had started crying on the spot.
Vaguely, they seemed to hear her saying something about her butt.
(End of Chapter)
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