Fate Coiling Sword

Chapter 12: Beatdown

Beta read by Shigiya and Darklord331

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--Fuyuki City-

The situation was dire, stressful enough to have Shirou's body tense, his mind panicking from what just happened. 

He expected this day to proceed normally, or at least, normal in the sense of his hunting out any of these beasts if there were any. As his luck would have it, one did appear and it was actually being hunted down by someone else — an Enforcer most likely. Except now the Enforcer was also after Ayako!

With clenched teeth, he pulled the trigger and fired the round with a loud bang. The recoil of the sniper pushing against his shoulder which he had Reinforced out of habit. He didn't want to kill her, that was the last option he wanted to consider. But if all things failed then… no, he would find a way!

The bullet sailed through the air, flying at Mach speed and even beyond that. The shot packed quite the punch, capable of even tearing someone's limb off entirely if aimed properly. Like he had done now, Shirou aimed to hit the Enforcer's leg and incapacitate her long enough for Ayako to escape. 

"—!" 

She seemed to have noticed his shot!? Her eyes turned towards his location as he could feel the hair all over his body rise, a dreadful chill going down his spine from what she did next. 

Just like before, her hands blurred before he saw with his own eyes how she literally punched the bullet into dozens of pieces! 

'What the…  Just what kind of Reinforcement was that!?’ He had never heard of the spell being capable of allowing someone to destroy a SNIPER shot so easily! "No, it's those gloves again… it has to be them!" 

Either that or he was going to deal with another monster soon.

From how she dispatched the creatures before and how ominous they looked, that was the only possibility he could think of. Unless she practiced a form of Magecraft that provided a superior form of defense or if she had some sort of Mystic Code on her — there were many options when it came to magic. 

Thankfully, she stopped her pursuit. ‘I'll need to buy enough time for Ayako. Hopefully, that girl will not be stupid by going to the police.’ His biggest concern now was her safety and getting her off from the Enforcer's radar. 

With the carbon steel barrel still smoking from the initial shot, the scent of gunpowder filled his nose as he prepared another shot and fired a second time. 

Bang!

Unlike last time, the woman did not try to punch the bullet and instead jumped backward to dodge it. The shot impacted the concrete below, creating a fist-sized hole. Her eyes wandered around a bit until they locked onto his exact location, now certain of where he was. 

‘She traced it back!’ With four more rounds left, Shirou repeatedly fired the remaining ammunition in quick succession.  Half of which were destroyed like the first one and the other ones missing his target. As he started to reload, the redhead saw how the Enforcer started to move at a fast pace. Making a beeline right at the building he currently atop 

‘Damnit, I'm just wasting my bullets on her!’ 

What should he do right now? Escaping was the logical solution, given she wouldn't reach his location this fast. He could leave and hide until she lost track of him. But then again, there was a slight possibility for her to resume her hunt on Ayako!