SWNOVELXO Chapter 268: Stirring Awake?
BANG!
The bullet blasted out of its chamber with a ferocious roar, travelling down the barrel of her revolver with bloodthirsty speed.
Upon exiting, it shot towards the winged man and pierced through the gap in his helmet with extreme precision.
Jericko, watching his teammate fall out of the air like a bird with clipped wings, turned his attention back towards the black-haired woman, who was the cause of this.
He then widened his eyes. The gun that was held tightly in the woman's hand had begun to glow an ethereally bright light that seemed to encompass the world.
Marionette, for the first time since the start of this match, had expressed a look of shock and surprise as she felt the gun in her hand vibrate at a concerning rate as though it was a twitching organism.
She then felt it shift and change shape.
And then... She heard a robotic voice whisper inside her mind.
[An Item is undergoing change. The Item {Regular Handgun} is stirring awake.]
***
[Back at the Colosseum]
The announcer, standing on his pillar, looked towards the screen with a look of shock before bringing the microphone near his mouth.
"It seems the contestant, Marionette Von Roselle, the heir of a very prestigious noble family, had somehow caused her revolver to explode into a shining light!"
Lillian, who was seated in his seat, tightened her right hand into a fist as she quickly sat up. Her legs bumped up and down without rhythm.
She then breathed under her breath, opening her blue eyes that seemed to have stars shining inside her very pupils.
"Finally... Let me see it's glory in action!"
***
Jericko, holding his arms over his eyes to shield them from the blinding light, eventually lowered them. Once the light died down, he was immediately met with a loud—
—BANG!
The sound ruptured the surroundings as though it came from a military tank firing its bombshell.
Jericko hastily raised his hand, summoning his cracked barrier that had yet to fully repair itself from its earlier damages. And unfortunately for it, it would be unable to for a while.
SHATTER!
Time seemed to slow down. The pupils in his eyes trembled as he saw what was rapidly approaching him amidst the shattered shards of his once steadfast barrier.
A thick magnum bullet with gold veins stretching across its surface with a burning glint shining on its metal body.
He quickly tilted his head to the side, narrowly dodging the bullet as it left a cut and singe on his cheek, which he reflectively placed a handover.
"What on Earth..."
He moved his attention away from his cheek and towards the woman in front of him, who now held an entirely new weapon inside her right hand.
The weapon she held in her hand still had the form of a lengthy revolver. However, instead of a metallic frame, it now had a darker and shard-like body—like it was forged from pure obsidian.
However, traces of blackened metal could still be found exposed at the barrel, which had become unusually thick and sharp.
The cylinders were made of a much thicker and heavier material—a variant of the same darkened metal around the barrel. It glowed faintly as the engraved runes on its surface seemed to pulsate as though on beat with the Assassin.
And unlike before, where it had five chambers for each bullet, it now had 6.
Wrapped around the grip of the revolver was a worn and dark leather that seemed more like hardened, cracked stone.
Marionette's finger pressed gently on the rough trigger of the revolver as she stared at the weapon with a dark glint in her eyes.
She stared at the system panel that detailed its stats and hastily scanned through it.
===
[Item Name: Regular's Last Word]
[Item Type: Weapon]
[Item Grade: 4]
[Item Rank: 4]
[Item Description: A talented craftsman from an ancient nation of innovation crafted this specific weapon with the partial corpse of Regular, a fearsome Great Gore whose body was fractured into countless parts.
This would later form the Regular Series of weapons—this handgun being one of them to represent the cries of the monster's last moments.]
[Enchantments: Bullet Conversion, Willful Ammunition, Curse Resistance, Targetted Ricochet]
[Bullet Conversion: Convert bullets inside the chambers of the handgun into burning explosive shells that explode into piercing, flaming shards.]
[Willful Ammunition: Using either Stamina or Mana, you are able to create ammunition inside the chambers directly. You are unable to form more bullets until you have used up all your current bullets.]
[Curse Resistance: You are resistant to any form of direct misfortune placed upon you that takes the form of a curse.]
[Targetted Ricochet: Your bullets will try to find their way to their targets after a maximum of five bounces. Each bounce will increase its speed by a certain percentage.]
===
"That gun... What is that?!" Jericko yelled with an incredulous expression.
But...
He was left unanswered, for Marionette was focusing on something darting towards him from behind.
Jericko's ears twitched at the sound of a sharp whistling. He twisted his head back subconsciously before feeling something piercing through his left shoulder and...
Taking off his entire arm...
His eyes drifted towards the cause for this, feeling the world go slow once more.
And what he found shocked him.
It was the bullet that Marionette had shot earlier. It had somehow returned back and with even more speed compared to before.
Fortunately for him, he still had his dominant arm that wielded his katana.
He sent his mana into his sword and made it crackle vigorously before swinging down towards the ground, intending to send another wave of explosion towards the woman.
However, right as he was about to strike the ground...
The bullet that had torn off his arm had begun to glow an eerie light before—
Boom!
—Releasing a scorching wave of fire and fragmented metal shards of the bullet.
A cloud of dust erupted from his position, surrounding his entire area and blinding those outside from seeing what had happened.