Stopped time.

Gunpowder fell from the handgun. A blast of smoke. Sparks in the air.

Time slowed down multiple times today. It happened whenever I focused on sensing too much.

But as the bullet rushed towards Clintarou, my senses exceeded demi-human limits. I could feel the little vibrations in the air. I could feel my muscle's fibres twitch. I could see individual strands of his fur flail around in the wind.

The bullet was moving as if someone gently threw something in zero gravity. The gun's recoil, the erratic movements of the obese terrorist happened at a sloth's pace. My eyes started to burn.

'Clintarou will die at this rate.'

No... I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!

I CAN'T!

Enhancing my body like never before- I threw my hand in front of the dog. But the hand was tremendously slow in its course. Had it not been right next to Clintarou, I wouldn't have made it. My hand paced through the air just enough to let the back of my palm block the bullet's trajectory.

I tensed all my muscled up. It was like the fibres were frozen in space.

My hand should have been able to take and stop the bullet. And for that I waited. My face was tensed and I cringed.

The bullet finally came in contact with my skin

.

.

.

And as soon as it did, it passed right through the bones between my middle finger and ring finger. I could see little strands of flesh fly out and feel my palm get dissected.

The bullet wasn't normal. It was heavy.

I pushed that hand back so that the fingertips touched Clintarou. The bullet was still thirty centimetres from the dog. I didn't want to push the dog, no matter what. At this speed, any movement would accelerate the force tens of times when sped up to real-time. This 15-year-old dog's body wouldn't be able to handle it.

I stepped just a little forward, and my left hand left to catch the bullet. I curved my finger in to cup the bullet. But right through the index and middle finger, the bullet tore through. There was a perfect circle and shards of broken bones.

The bullet didn't slow down a bit. My attempts resulted in failure.

NOTHING WORKED!

NOTHING FRIGGING WORKED!

Th-there was nothing left to do anymore.

My heart dove inside my chest. I was out of options. In a deadlock.

I put as much strength as I could on my fingertips. Hoping that it would at least push Clintarou into JiiJii's arms. And curled my fingers out. A yelp from the flying dog. But I subconsciously held back.

The dog's speed was slower than the bullet's.

For the third time, using my right hand that I pushed Clintarou with, tried to block the bullet. But this time the bullet travelled straight through my wrist.

If it was just my hand I could move it at a noticeable rate. But moving my body in this slow of a time frame was physically impossible.

I felt dread. Blook started to leave me. I could feel my heart thumping out of my chest even when the time was slowed down to this extent.

I watched the bullet slowly glide through the air. Hoping it would miss. Hoping it wouldn't reach Clintarou. Begging.

But my wishes were in wain. Nothing stopped the inevitable. Closer and closer.

My heart didn't work. No air entered my lungs. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to weep. I wanted to do something.

But all I could do was nothing.

Just stand there and watch it happen. My interventions ended in failure.

I never expected this... THIS! Was so far out of the blue.

Only if I had known, only if I could match up- But I was too late.

The bullet flew further and further until it touched Clintarou.

Breaking through the skin, running into the ribcage. I watched my dog get shot in full detail and in slow motion. I wanted to look away, but Clintarou's proud look and tired happy eyes wouldn't let me.

HE WAS SHOUTING THAT HE SAVED ME WITH HIS HANGING TONGUE!

The bullet that would have passed through my chest had he not alerted me! He was so happy. SO BEAUTIFUL!

AND I COULDN'T SAVE HIM!

I, at the very least, had the responsibility to see his death and honour him. The bullet made it through Clintarou and then grazed JiiJii's foot. Their faces twisted in horror.

My blood curdled. I wanted to kill them. I wanted revenge. As Clintarou slowly fell to the ground.

Time reached its normal consistency. With a thud on the ground. I saw blood spill.

A high pitched yelp followed by heavy breathing. Breathing that only lasted a second. And eyes that closed right after.

The greatest dog to ever exist passed away.

"NO... no NOOO! FUCKING FUCKKK!!!"

Before I realized my body flung towards the two terrorists. Blood oozed from my fists not because of the bullet holes but because of my nails digging into my skin.

It was pure seething rage. Blind to the state of my body. I wasn't going past my limits, this was suicide. I lost any control I ever had over my decisions.

I will kill these fucks even if it was the last thing I did.

"MAO DON'T!" JiiJii shouted. But it was too late.

The next second, my knee was buried inside the tall terrorist's stomach. But he wasn't the one coughing up blood. I was.

From my left, a tight fist dug into my ribcage and I went flying into the side, through the trees and into the field. The vest tore from the friction against the rough soil.

My body wasn't physically in pain. I was numb. Always have been. But my mind was broken.

While getting dragged back by momentum, I put my hands behind my head and kick flipped up.

I had too many handicaps. I couldn't kill them like this!

I dug my finger into the hole in my arm and pulled the bullet out. Healing as much of it as I could. The soreness was gone but my arm would soon become useless. I had to hurry up.

I broke through a limiter. Blood flowed out of my nose. I enhanced my body as much as I could… No, I enhanced even more than my body could handle. The individual muscle fibres started to rip from within.

"AAARRRGHH!!" I sprinted again. It wasn't instantaneous. I was 200 metres away from the terrorists. But within 13 seconds I was already onto them. The dirt moulded around my foot as I jumped for a sidekick. Right onto the fat bitch. But in one quick movement, the skinny bitch hit me with his elbow. I got thrown into the dust.

That hit was nostalgic but the change in momentum caught me off guard.

"Oh dear Mao-kun… Why so eager? You are supposed to overthink these situations like you usually do. Did you think we were just ordinary terrorists?" The skinny kicked my guts throwing me back a couple of metres. The kick wasn't all that impactful but the distance I travelled because of it was uncanny. "Did you?"

I spit blood and dirt out of my mouth.

This was my first experience being in a position of hurt. This never happened to me before. Me? Being unable to kill someone I wanted to kill? It sounded like a joke.

I got up again. My arms flailing around and my back arching.

"You… Aren't normal terrorists." I wiped the blood from my brow. "Normally terrorists I killed just because they were in the way… You? I'm gonna kill you two with passion."

"STILL THE BIG MOUTH I SEE! BRING IT! HAHAA!"

I wasn't running purely on rage anymore.

These people knew me. And one of them awakened a fighting talent. Judging by how heavy the bullets were and how far I got flung back, I think he could control the momentum of objects.

Moreover, these two had a personal vendetta against me. I highly doubt that someone from 3000 years ago survived thus far, so that could only mean that these two were losers I ignored at some point… from a noble house.

"Hup!" The skinny guy punched straight, but I bent back far enough to dodge it. My hands formed an arc with the ground, and my anchored feet shot up the dirt on the ground.

It wasn't enough to blind him but it gave me a second. I pulled my left leg bag and hit his head. He fell back a couple of steps.

I did this to gain some distance.

The skinny bitch wasn't my target. The one who had to go first was the man who didn't kill Clintarou. I'll give the skinny bitch a horrifying death.

Getting the tiny opportunity I did, I pushed myself from the handstand position. The skinny bitch got his shit together by then. An uppercut, one that I dodged right under. It was about rhythm. A bigger punch would take longer to reach me.

"JiiJii!"

I raised my hand a large rod flew right into my hand. I grabbed it tightly.

"You'll be the first to die." I raised Bolg to point right at the tall fat man.

The thin one got in my way as the fat one stepped further back.- "You won't even get to him."

{a/n: From now I'll call the fat one 'O' and the skinny one 'V' for clarity.}

Without wasting a second. V pulled his gun towards me and took his first shot. He was in a hurry, or he was insecure. Did he fear me? I wouldn't put that past any of my acquaintances.

'How did JiiJii do it?'

I pictured in my hand the moment he used Bolg to deflect bullets. Twist it between your fingers and hit the bullets 3/4th through the diameter of the rod.

Watching as the bullet went past I hit it with Bolg. It shot straight up into the sky.

That's it.

I took a step forward and shifted my bodyweight ahead.

Let's run.

My run-up shouldn't get disturbed. The rod in my hand started to rotate like a turbine. There was fear in V's eyes.

I took my first step, then my second, then my third. With every spring in my feet, V got closer. His bullets were prey to Bolg. Not one reached me. By the third bullet, I had gotten the hang of deflecting bullets.

It was about redirecting it. The longer they were in contact with Bolg, the easier they were to manipulate.

I deflected one right into his hand making him drop the gun.

"FUURRGHHH!" He bent over in agony and struggled. V got the taste of his own medicine.

Noticing my arrival, he twitched his left hand and my feet got lighter, he wanted me to lose my balance. But I didn't.

I ran straight up to him and buried Bolg into the ground.

Holding the top, I conducted mana into the legendary weapon. And just like it did in JiiJii's case, Bolg grew in height. Taller and taller, I was at least 10 metres up in the air. I was pole vaulting.

The speed from the run-up and the momentum V added unintentionally meant that I was headed straight for O.

He had his hands up guarding his head... He was paralysed or was simply unable to move under all that filthy fat.

I retracted any and all my mana and the spear went to its normal length.

Bolg was behind my head as I pulled it further and further back. And right when O was a metre away from me, I swung with all my might.

First Bolg hit his hands but then they broke like twigs and caved in. Then his the helmet through the fat and made a crack. A crack that turned into a crevice. A crevice that a fountain of blood spewed out of.

The attack was so hard that I was suspended in the air for a second, my feet took no damage.

He, on the other hand, took all the momentum I had. His back bent twisted I could hear the sound of his entire spinal cord breaking.

O simply got squashed. His feet held up his tail bone broke through his posterior skin. He stopped moving. An instant death.

I kicked his body and stumbled back onto the ground.

The fat man tumbled behind as his blood started to soak into the mud. And his helmet started to fall apart.

"Time you showed me who's inside, you oversized pinata."

My eyes burnt. My head was numb.