Nathan didn't hesitate.
He walked.
One step.
Then another.
Bullets whistled past him, striking the asphalt with violent sparks.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Marcus raised his rifle, firing toward the attackers hiding behind the overturned delivery truck.
"Cover the Boss!"
The bodyguards immediately spread out into formation.
Unlike ordinary bodyguards, none of them stood in front of Nathan.
Instead, they secured his blind spots while allowing him a clear line of fire.
Nathan preferred it that way.
He wasn't a man who hid behind others.
He was the man others followed into battle.
Nathan raised his pistol.
His cold blue eyes locked onto a masked gunman aiming at one of his men.
Bang!
The gunman cried out, dropping his rifle before collapsing behind a parked car.
Another attacker rushed from the left alley.
Nathan turned without panic.
Bang! Bang!
The attacker barely managed to dive behind cover.
Marcus couldn't help but admire him.
Even surrounded...
His boss never wasted a single bullet.
Meanwhile...
Benny struggled to keep Xavier close.
The terrified crowd continued pushing from behind.
Someone slammed into Benny's shoulder.
Another person stumbled against Xavier.
"B-Brother Benny!"
"I've got you!"
Benny immediately pulled the little boy back against his chest.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
He looked around desperately.
Every exit was blocked.
Smoke covered the road.
Burning vehicles trapped both sides of the street.
The only sounds were screams...
Explosions...
And gunfire.
"We need to hide."
Benny spotted a concrete flower planter near the sidewalk.
It wasn't much...
But it was better than standing in the open.
He hurried toward it with Xavier.
The moment they ducked behind it—
Rat-tat-tat!
Bullets tore across the pavement just a few meters away.
Chunks of concrete flew into the air.
Xavier cried out and buried his face against Benny.
"I'm scared..."
Benny wrapped both arms around him.
"It's okay."
His voice shook.
But he refused to let Xavier hear it.
"I won't let anything happen to you."
Nathan saw everything.
His gaze remained fixed on the young man shielding the little boy instead of himself.
Most people...
Would have abandoned the child.
Or frozen in fear.
Benny did neither.
Without thinking of his own safety...
He had become Xavier's shield.
Nathan narrowed his eyes.
"...Interesting."
Marcus followed his line of sight.
"The civilians?"
Nathan spoke quietly.
"The young man."
Marcus frowned.
"He knows the kid?"
Nathan didn't answer.
Instead...
He suddenly noticed movement from the rooftop.
His instincts screamed.
"Down!"
Marcus immediately dropped.
A second later—
BOOM!
A high-powered sniper round slammed into the hood of one of the SUVs.
The impact punched straight through the armored steel.
Marcus' expression changed.
"Armor-piercing rounds..."
Nathan calmly looked toward the rooftop.
"There."
Nearly three hundred meters away...
A sniper began chambering another round.
Nathan raised his pistol.
Marcus blinked.
"...Boss."
"That's too far."
Nathan ignored him.
He wasn't trying to hit the sniper.
He fired anyway.
Bang!
The bullet struck the rooftop railing.
The sniper instinctively ducked.
Nathan immediately spoke.
"Move."
Three bodyguards sprinted forward.
Using the brief distraction, they changed positions.
Marcus finally understood.
"He wasn't aiming to kill..."
"He forced him to lose sight."
Nathan simply replied,
"Never underestimate timing."
Back behind the flower planter...
Benny carefully peeked over the edge.
The street looked like a war zone.
Luxury cars burned.
Broken glass covered the road.
People cried for help.
Emergency sirens echoed faintly in the distance.
Then...
He saw him.
Nathan.
Walking calmly through the battlefield.
His black coat fluttered behind him.
A pistol rested steadily in his hand.
Every shot he fired forced another attacker back.
He wasn't running.
He wasn't hiding.
He was advancing.
"B-Brother Benny..."
Xavier whispered.
"Isn't that..."
Benny recognized him too.
"The man from the rain..."
Before he could think further—
One masked attacker broke through the line of fire.
He spotted Benny and Xavier instantly.
"There!"
"They're exposed!"
The attacker raised his rifle.
Time seemed to stop.
Benny instinctively pulled Xavier behind him.
He knew...
He couldn't outrun a bullet.
Nathan saw it happen.
His icy expression disappeared for the first time.
"Damn."
Without another thought—
He sprinted.
Not away from the gunfire...
But straight toward Benny.
At the same time, he raised his pistol.
The attacker tightened his finger on the trigger.
Nathan fired first.
Bang!
The bullet struck the rifle before it could discharge.
The weapon flew from the attacker's hands.
But another masked man appeared from the opposite side...
This time...
He was only ten meters away from Benny and Xavier.
Nathan's eyes turned ice cold.
"Marcus!"
"With me!"
The battle had only just begun.