Trash of the Firearm Magic World

8. Bulletproof

The next minute, Loris was already on the stage. 

With everybody’s eyes on him, Loris signed his name on the duel paper, but because his hand shook, it came out crooked. When the acting duel master saw this, he couldn’t help but feel pity toward Loris, but then again, this was necessary to make the duel between Loris and Remuel valid if that was their true goal. By signing this duel paper, it meant the two parties both agreed to follow all the rules. In addition, it meant no one would hold Remuel accountable even if Loris died. 

Remuel proceeded to go straight to the stage but Loris stopped her. 

“Sign it,” he uttered coldly while glancing down at the paper. 

Signing a duel of life and death wasn’t a casual occasion to witness. Even the strongest rarely held such duels, never mind the weak and the crippled. Needless to say, most of the audience looked at Loris as though he had gone crazy. They all thought, who in their right mind would sign that duel paper given their current condition? 

Even Remuel was taken aback by Loris’s decision. She had expected for the two of them to engage in a casual duel. In reality, she was willing to go easy on Loris out of mercy and pity. She didn’t expect for Loris to sign the duel of life and death. 

Seeing how cold and dark Loris’s eyes and the severity of his tone, Remuel couldn’t help but feel slightly terrified. 

“As long as you can take three shots, it would be your victory. There’s no need to sign this duel paper,” Remuel said. 

There was no way he would put his life on the line for this, right? She didn’t even want this kind of duel in the first place. Just a casual duel between them would do – it would be enough to make Loris know his place and to accept defeat while Remuel was still being nice and their engagement be called off peacefully. He should at least be able to get that, right? 

But to her surprise, Loris flatly replied, “No.” 

Remuel frowned. 

“Let’s follow the normal dueling rules. I will let you fire three shots first. It’s not a victory if you dodge three shots yourself,” he said, his eyes and tone cold as ice. 

Remuel swallowed down while looking at Loris’s determined gaze. It was clear as day he wouldn’t take a no for an answer from her. She could sense different eyes on her, mostly beginning to judge and question her. 

Not wanting to be embarrassed further, Remuel proceeded to sign the duel paper, trying her best to ignore the trembling of her hands. When she saw the crooked signature Loris made earlier, her trembling stopped and the anxiety she felt inside disappeared. 

How could she have forgotten? Her opponent was Loris Federico, a person who couldn’t shoot, let alone hold a gun properly. What was there to be scared of?  

Remembering this, Remuel quickly calmed down. 

After signing, the two of them turned their backs to each other and stood on the dueling stage. 

The rules of the duel were simple. They would walk out ten paces at the same time, while turning back and firing.  

Remuel had already regained her confidence when she remembered who her opponent was but when they were standing back to back, she couldn’t help but feel a shiver run down her spine. 

The amount of magic coming from Loris was too overwhelming and shocking. 

There was no way she could have mistaken it. 

That violent magic power… It was too immense and powerful. 

It was then she realized and thought internally: “Although this person had become an invalid, he never stopped cultivating magic power… Even when his shooting talent was zero, his magic power was strong – even stronger than these people around him!” 

Realizing this, Remuel couldn’t help but feel her heart racing, her face turning pale slightly. Her newly recovered confidence slowly started to deplete in seconds.  

Meanwhile, Loris was already thinking he must use his magic power to release the [Bulletproof] skill before the opponent attacked. It would serve as his main weapon of defense. However, using the skill would require him to build up magic power and take a reasonable amount of time. 

In this world, using magic power to fire a gun required a significant process. As such, every time you use magic power to fire a gun, the magic power would flow through your body, and you need to experience this process of flowing continuously in order to make the magic power evenly generate a magic barrier around you. This would serve as a shield to protect your body. As the term dictated, it would be your personal [Bulletproof]. 

Loris knew all of this. He had acquired a lot of knowledge ever since he became Loris Federico after all. [Bulletproof] was just one of the many skills he knew even when he was still on Earth. 

Forgetting his origin for a moment, he stood at the stage and slowly felt magic flow through his body. Bit by bit, Loris tried to remember how he mobilized his magic when his body wasn’t crippled yet. He counted the number of steps while trying to control his magic and keeping everything else at balance, a harmonious flow running through his stream as he did. 

At first, there was no fluctuation, the level of his magic was controlled and everything else was at ease and balanced. 

Loris continued to move forward. 

By the fifth step, Loris remembered the humiliation he had suffered. 

By the seventh step, he remembered those fantasies of gunmen who traveled through a hail of bullets.  

By the tenth step, Loris’s hand finally shone with the light belonging to magic. 

He turned around and faced Remuel who was holding a gun. Her gun, contrary to his, was in the shape of a flintlock pistol, and was directed at him solely. 

Loris raised his hand to Remuel, and with great difficulty, he extended a finger – “The first shot.” 

Remuel took a deep breath and fired.