As deafening silence eerily spread across the street, Asher felt an unexplicable heat rise from the small box in his hand.
The box abruptly shattered, it's glittering fragments spilled out into the air before suddenly gathering in his hands once again, as if drawn in by a black hole. A sword hummed as it slowly materialized as the fragments combined.
A strange energy permeated inside of him as he reached out and grasped the sword tightly.
'A sword against a gun? Great'.
After lamenting for a few seconds behind the safety of the dilapidated car, Asher quickly peeked his head out of a corner for a split second. Cold sweat dripped down his face.
He had spotted the glint of a rifle scope, shining maliciously through the canopy of a vine covered window down the road.
'Hah... this is crazy... Okay you got this!'
With his heart hammering against his chest, he sprinted towards another car. He saw a flash, as something whizzed past, grazing his cheek. He tripped. The car was meters away. He couldn't make it.
Asher glimpsed the muzzle flash out of the corner of his eyes once again. He twisted in a panic, raising the sword in blind fear. It was the end. He squeezed his eyes shut, yet the bullet never came.
With a ragged breath, he opened his eyes. Time seemed to have slowed to a halt. The world around him sharpened. The vine coloured building across the street, the glimmer of sunlight on the rifle's scope, the vibrating air as the bullet lay in the middle of the air, on a trajectory towards him.
Yet there was something beyond that. Asher could see something shimmering beyond the street, no, perhaps beyond the dimension. A gold thread, tied to the end of the bullet.
The thread. It was telling him where the bullet was going. His torso.
Asher reached out, attempting to yank it away from himself. It moved. No, it had bent. Yanking harder, it seemed to slowly deviate from it's original trajectory.
As he struggled, he realized that the flow of time was returning.
'I need to go faster'
He pulled harder, devouring any ounce of energy in his body as he worked to move the string. A surge of triumph coursed through him, the thread connecting to the ground next to him. Yet to his utter astonishment, the string seemed to lengthen and curve, it's end pointing towards his chest once again.
'An ability?'
Time seemed to creep forwards from it's standstill, exponentially regaining it's original flow.
Sparks erupted. As the deafening crack of the gunshot soon followed. Asher felt a burning explosion erupt in front of him, as an immense force sent the sword ripped away from his grip.
Asher sprawled onto the asphalt, as the irony taste of blood emanated in his mouth as if he had just been punched. Had he.... cut a bullet? Was it a fluke? No, it wasn't a fluke, he had consciously sliced that bullet.
He let out a raspy laugh. There was no way he had won that brief exchange. A sword against a gun? Absurd. But he was alive and kicking. Living proof of the miracle that had just happened. But then again, what was a miracle in the current state of the world?
The victory was vacuous, however. The fight wasn't over. It sounded crazy to go up against a gun with a sword, but for now, he would take solace in the impossible, in the glimmer of hope that lay deep inside him. If he survived, he would learn how to use it.
No. Given such unprecedented power. He would be a fool not to use it right now.
Grasping the sword he had dropped, he rose with newfound confidence, barreling towards the sniper. Another bullet flew towards him. He could see the string. He swung his sword, noticing a golden streak growing from his sword towards the bullet before it deflected the bullet.
A chaotic sword dance of an erratic silver and gold tore through barrages of bullets, as Asher barreled towards the sniper. He could see more strings!. There were strings everywhere. From each step he took, to the angle of the sniper.
He jumped, leaping in front of the building. The owner of the rifle quickly disappeared behind the safety of the walls, footsteps pounding as he ran.
He felt an unexplicable feeling towards one of the threads. He frowned. Halting in front of the wall of the building, he crouched slightly closing his eyes, as he scoured the golden thread in front of him. He took a breath. Yes, this was it.
CLICK!
As he swung out, his eyes flew open. The gold of the thread seemed to erupt as the sword followed it's trajectory perfectly. He felt a large amount of energy sapping from his body as a dazzling gold burst from the sword. He cut through the wall in front of him like butter.
The wall collapsed in two. A barrage of bullets burst through the dust, catching Asher offguard in his weakened state. Asher collapsed whilst a large burst of pain radiated from his chest and arm. He scrambled backwards, grunting in pain. As the dust settled, the menacing sillhouette of a man appeared, the smoking barrel aimed squarely at his forehead.
"Goodbye".
Asher struggled to dodge as the man's finger slowly pulled back on the trigger. A snarl abruptly sounded from his side, disrupting the mans shot, whilst a withered, haggard figure impacted his body. The man screamed in pain as it's ragged claws left bloody streaks in his body. After a few more seconds, his screams abruptly cut off.
The street stood in eerie silence, with only the sound of the fiend's breathing occasionally breaking the silence.
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