"Something's wrong! Dodge!"
Sensing an anomaly, Bullseye pushed off the ground with his right foot, launching himself sideways like an arrow released from its bow.
As he rolled away—
Three throwing knives, gleaming coldly under the dim lights, were flung from his hands with lightning speed.
"Thud, thud, thud!"
Almost the moment Bullseye landed—
The three knives hit their mark perfectly, embedding deep into the eye sockets of the three gang members who had just entered the elevator.
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
The three men collapsed lifelessly, their bodies hitting the floor one after another.
However—
At the same time—
The four other gangsters who had been standing around Bullseye were gunned down, falling in pools of blood from the wild gunfire of the three assault rifles.
"Damn it! What the hell just happened?!"
In mere seconds, seven of his men had been wiped out, causing Bullseye's face to darken with rage.
Yet, more than the loss of his subordinates, what truly disturbed him—
Was the bizarre reaction of the three men inside the elevator.
The ones guarding the underground levels of Fisk Tower weren't ordinary thugs.
Every one of them had been personally selected by Kingpin—his most trusted enforcers.
They enjoyed privileges that ordinary people couldn't even imagine, but at the same time, their lives were completely in Kingpin's grasp.
Given their deep understanding of Kingpin's ruthlessness, they would never dare to betray him so easily.
Let alone all three of them at once.
"Wait… they only started acting strangely after stepping into the elevator…"
Recalling the surveillance footage from earlier—where the security guards had bowed and scraped before that clown-masked stranger—
A bold, almost impossible thought flashed through Bullseye's mind.
"Could it be that those three… just like the security guard… were also…"
Before he could finish his thought—
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out, and a bullet curved mid-air, twisting around the corner of the elevator—
Aimed directly at Bullseye.
The moment it was fired, he felt an intense sense of danger wash over him.
A sharp pain radiated from his left chest, as if his instincts were screaming at him.
Almost reflexively, Bullseye twisted his body forward, barely dodging the bullet that was meant for his heart.
"A bullet that curves… The Assassin Brotherhood?"
Staring at the round lodged into a nearby pillar, Bullseye immediately recalled the ancient order of assassins that had lurked in New York for over a thousand years—
An order that had supposedly been eradicated by law enforcement not too long ago.
His gaze turned icy cold.
"Even if you're an assassin from the Brotherhood, it won't matter. If you dare to cross Kingpin—you will die."
Suppressing his frustration—
Bullseye pulled three high-explosive grenades from his belt and yanked the pins out simultaneously.
Without hesitation, he lobbed them toward the elevator, where the shooter was most likely hiding.
"If you want to hide—then stay hidden forever."
The three grenades arced gracefully through the air, heading straight for the bullet-ridden elevator.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Before the grenades could land—
Three silver bullets tore through the air, striking the explosives mid-flight.
"Boom!!!"
A thunderous explosion erupted in midair.
The simultaneous detonation of the three high-explosive grenades created a shockwave akin to a raging hurricane, obliterating the lavishly decorated elevator hall.
Even Bullseye, who had thrown them, was sent flying by the powerful blast.
Through the swirling flames and debris—
For a fleeting moment, Bullseye caught sight of a shadow standing within the firelight.
A clown-masked figure—watching him from the flames.
"Shit!"
A chilling realization gripped Bullseye's mind.
His instincts screamed at him.
Every fiber of his being was overwhelmed with an unmistakable sense of imminent danger.
With a flick of his wrists—
Two throwing knives, razor-sharp and gleaming coldly, formed a lethal "X" shape as they shot toward the clown's head and heart.
The blades whistled through the air at a speed too fast for the naked eye.
At that moment—
Eren, still standing in the flames, seemed momentarily frozen in terror.
But the instant before the knives reached him—
That fearful expression twisted into a playful smirk.
Then—
In Bullseye's stunned gaze—
Eren's entire figure vanished from the firelight.
As if he had never been there at all.
As if everything Bullseye had seen was nothing but a hallucination.
"How is that possible?!"
Bullseye's eyes flickered with disbelief.
Before he could process what had just happened—
His mid-air momentum faltered, causing him to crash onto the ground, rolling twice before slamming into a nearby wall with a heavy thud.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, he sprang to his feet with a swift, practiced motion.
His eyes darted around warily—scanning every possible hiding spot.
But aside from the now-destroyed elevator hall and the scattered corpses—
There was no trace of the clown.
Nothing standing.
No shadows moving.
No sign of that eerie figure.
Yet—
Despite seeing nothing, Bullseye knew one thing for certain.
The prickling sensation on the back of his neck told him—
He was being watched.
Another sweep of his surroundings revealed nothing.
Without a moment's hesitation, Bullseye dashed toward a nearby hallway, making a run for it.
As he sprinted, his movements were erratic—zigzagging unpredictably.
His gloved hands clenched two jet-black throwing knives.
His entire body was wound tight like a spring.
"Where are you, you bastard…?"
He knew his opponent was still there.
He just had to find them first.
But then—
"Looking for me?"
A mocking voice echoed in his ear.
Bullseye's heart froze.
At the very edge of his vision—
That clown-masked figure was already standing at the hallway's exit.
Arms crossed.
Expression unreadable.
Watching him.
"He's blocking my escape."
A fierce glint flashed in Bullseye's eyes.
"Die!"
Without hesitation, he flicked his wrist sharply.
The black throwing knife shot forward like a bullet, streaking through the air toward Eren's throat.
At the same time—
Bullseye dug his heels into the ground, abruptly skidding to a halt.
The sheer force of his sudden stop left two long skid marks nearly a meter in length across the tiled floor.
His body came to a halt—
Standing atop a red diamond-shaped tile.
"Fast… This speed… So that's your trump card?"
Across the hall, Eren's voice echoed softly.
There was a hint of admiration in his tone.
He couldn't deny it—
Bullseye was fast.
Deadly fast.
But that only made things more fun.
As Kingpin's top assassin, Bullseye indeed possessed abilities far beyond those of ordinary people.
At the very least—
The speed at which he hurled his throwing knives was something even Eren had to admire.
The velocity of this black throwing knife surpassed even those conjured by Paper Soldiers, the magically-enhanced paper weapons created through potion effects.
And while Eren marveled at the sheer speed of the knife—
The black blade plunged straight into his chest.
"BOOM!"
The instant the knife struck, a massive explosion erupted—far more powerful than even the three high-explosive grenades detonated earlier.
The sudden burst of flames obliterated the entrance to the underground third-floor corridor, reducing it to rubble.
"Impossible!"
Staring at the now-destroyed corridor, Bullseye's eyes were filled with disbelief.
But his shock wasn't due to the explosive power of his specially crafted detonation knife.
What truly shook him—
Was the fact that the clown's figure had vanished completely in the explosion, dispersing like a mirage.
A phantom?!
Again?!
"What the hell is this guy?!"
"Is that all?"
Just as Bullseye struggled to make sense of what had happened, a disappointed voice suddenly echoed in his ears.
"If that's all you've got, then this ends now."
Hearing the sudden chill in the voice, Bullseye's gaze turned just as cold, with a hint of madness flickering within.
"Heh… I'll admit, your abilities and bizarre tricks are beyond what I expected."
"But killing me won't be that easy."
"You arrogant bastard—die with me!"
With a wild roar—
A glint of insanity flashed in Bullseye's eyes as he pressed a hidden switch beneath his combat suit.
The moment he did—
A faint electronic beep echoed through the ruined elevator hall.
And then—
The countless explosive devices buried beneath the area were activated simultaneously.
"Bombs? How cliché—"
"Huh?!"
Before Eren could finish his sentence—
The red diamond tile beneath Bullseye's feet suddenly gave way.
In the blink of an eye, he plummeted into a hidden escape tunnel.
And as he fell—
He flicked another black detonation knife upward.
If Eren chose to pursue, he would walk straight into the explosion of this terrifyingly powerful blade.
Given the sheer destructive force, even if he survived, he would be gravely injured—unless he used a Paper Substitute to take the blow.
Meanwhile…
Falling into the hidden escape route, Bullseye's frenzied expression faded into one of calculated coldness—and, for the first time, a slight sense of relief.
From the moment Eren took the elevator down, to the ambush at the elevator, and now this desperate retreat—
Barely a minute had passed.
Perhaps not even that long.
Yet within this brief time—
Eren had pushed Bullseye to his absolute limits.
Until, in the end—
Bullseye had been forced to rely on the traps of the elevator hall to deal with Eren.
In truth—
The moment Bullseye realized Eren had somehow manipulated the security captain and three of his men—
He immediately decided that a direct confrontation was not an option.
As a professional assassin, he knew better than anyone—
He could not risk being mentally controlled.
Thus—
While seemingly engaging Eren in battle, Bullseye had actually been leading him into a trap.
Including:
Blowing up the corridor leading to Kingpin's location—
(To cut off Eren's pursuit route.)
Pretending to fight to the death, to lure Eren into chasing him.
Triggering the hidden escape tunnel at the last moment, while simultaneously activating the hall's explosive devices.
Throwing one last detonation knife to block pursuit and destroy the escape route.
Bullseye wasn't just Kingpin's most lethal assassin.
He was also a master strategist.
"BOOM!"
The moment Bullseye hit the bottom of the tunnel, he rolled aside instinctively—
Just as the detonation knife exploded.
A massive fireball engulfed the tunnel entrance, collapsing it completely.
Bullseye, though further inside, was still blasted several meters away by the shockwave.
...
Back in the Elevator Hall
"Oh?"
Standing amid the ruins, Eren watched Bullseye's entire sequence of moves unfold.
Feeling danger pressing in from all directions—
His mind clicked everything into place instantly.
All of that…
Was a setup?
Everything—calculated?
But instead of frustration at being tricked—
A gleam of excitement flickered in Eren's eyes.
"So it's strategy and traps now?"
"Now this is interesting."
A wide, twisted grin spread across his face.
"But…"
"Trying to bury me in a bomb-filled room?"
"That's a bit too naïve, don't you think?"
"Did you really think I wasn't doing anything this entire time?"
(End of Chapter)
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