Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Hitori was staring at Tengoku standing in front of him with his gun raised. "Are you not running? You know your shield can not—"

He had had enough of that bullshit. "Do you want me to run? Ask yourself, Tengoku, do you WANT me to go? Would you LET me go?"

He took it in another context. "Just how gay are you?" His finger on the trigger moved.

Hitori turned and dived onto the ground. He held the shield as he rolled forward and grabbed Reon's gun on the way.

The gun came up on its own as Hitori got to his knees. "Oh, I am homophobic," he muttered and pulled the trigger.

Using a real-life gun was not as good and smooth as easy using a run in the game. You can not feel things in the game, but here, you can feel the recoil and the trigger trying to get back to its initial position.

The mechanism was so tight, Hitori thought all it took the pull the trigger was a slight pull, but it needed more than just a pull.

The first bullet he fired went from miles away from Tengoku. That popped a smile on his smile, but Hitori was in a pinch. He glanced at the gun till Tengoku fired five shots.

Hitori dropped his head and held the shield strong as it took five bullets. Nothing happened to the shield, but the bullets were crushed into tiny pellets.

When Tengoku squatted to reload, Hitori rose and fired at him. Tengoku went back and took cover around the corner, out of Hitri's range. And Hitori was not stupid enough to confront him.

He kept his eyes on Tengoku, knowing he would jump out and catch him off-guard, and he stepped back, then started taking steady steps to the kitchen door on the other wall.

Hitori glanced behind, he saw the kitchen door was open. Then he heard gunshots. He raised the shield and covered his face and took two bullets.

It was dark at the backside, yet Tengoku could aim. Hitori wanted to take the advantage of the darkness and disappear into the woods, but he was not sure about his own safety.

Tengoku's katana was dangling by the side as he walked toward Hitori with every bullet shot. Hitori could not see what was the scene outside anymore, all he saw were the trees moving behind Tengoku.

Bam, bam, bam. Hitori fired three shots but none hit Tengoku. He was walking as if he was an action movie hero, the one who knows a bullet is not going to hit him. That aside, Hitori thought it was because of his battle suit.

An image of a bullet tearing the side of Tengoku's suit flashed. Hitori stopped right around the corner, a few feet away from the door, and muttered, "He is not wearing a battlesuit?!"

"Oh, I see you!"

Hitori covered the opening with the shield and pushed himself back. But the abdomen was not Tengoku's target.

When the high-caliber bullet pierced his shoes and took the front part of his toe, Hitori could not help but let out a scream both due to the sudden pain and shock of the attack he was not expecting.

The gun slipped from his hand as he bent to grab his toe. Just then, Tengoku fired five more shots and turned to reload his gun.

"Heck with it." Hitori rolled back and slid next to the back veranda. He removed the shield and pointed the wand at his foot. "Heal!"

He could not regenerate his lost finger, but he could stop the bleeding. Hitori dropped the gun and grabbed his shoe from behind. Then, carefully, he removed his shoe.

The front was filled with blood, some even slid down as Hitori raised it before putting it. He could not feel the half-dangling part of his middle finger, but if something was not happening, he was sure it would hurt more than a half-broken nail hurts.

Hitori took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and moved his hand to his toe. It felt like a piece of rubber– it was weird enough to touch his finger.

Then with a snap, he pulled the finger and plucked it off from whatever remaining string of flesh was holding it. He leaped forward with a long exhale.

He held the lower end of his finger and started panting hard. As he was panting, he heard footsteps approaching him from behind or from the side. He could not figure.

The pain still remained and now it was reaching his whole foot, and his heart was racing due to the pain and fear.

He stopped caring about Tengoku approaching him or shooting him in the head. Right now, his finger was giving him hell. If Tengoku does come and shoot him, he would consider it as him putting Hitori out of misery.

Hitori wanted to shake his head and forget about the miserable thought he just had, but the pain prevented him from moving.

"Hitori." He heard someone. "God, what happened?"

Reon. Hitori spun his head and she was standing behind him with her mouth covered by her hand. "R-Reon," he said it out loud to let Tengoku know IF he was close.

"I-Is that blood? How did— your finger!" she exclaimed.

Hitori grabbed the gun and put his wand in his mouth. "Help me."

"A-Are you sure?" She leaned forward.

Hitori extended his arm, grabbed Reon's shoulder, and pushed himself. His mind was clearer than before now, he could differentiate between footsteps, and he could think better.

Even the pain was fading away when Hitori suddenly jerked his wand at the corner and created a shield. Two bullets rang from the other side and struck the shield.

Reon's grip slipped from his arm as she backed off. Hitori grabbed her and saw as the gun's head went back from the corner.

Hitori let go of Reon and leaned against the wall. He grabbed Reon's hand and urged her to come by his side, but she did not.

He saw it on her– the surprise of the attack now turning into pure anger. "Reon?"

She glanced at him, then raised the gun she was holding in her left hand. He immediately recognized Kamiya's SIG Sauer P220, a .45 caliber gun.