The prodigiously tall man marched onwards with his two companions, 5 minutes had gone by since he heard a gunshot, maybe the freak killed the new guy or J, or maybe one of them sneaked up on them, either way, that means that they're momentarily out of the picture, what bothered him was the guy in the red and black suit that spat out a bullet on its own, he was fast enough to barely react to a bullet traveling at a little over 1000 meters/second, and he could bet that person was also the origin of the repeated smashing sounds he heard behind the rock standing before him.

"Z, should we flank him?" M asked with a worried expression

"Alright, M, you go hide on this side of the rock and wait. D and I will go and meet him, I'll see if I can get a name, that contract seems useful."

M did as ordered, taking position while unsheathing his short sword. D on the other hand, was as nervous as ever, all but shaking in his boots. Z just put a hand, or what could fit from it, on his shoulder.

"I don't know how much he can sense, so I'll just say this, we'll win D, no matter what."

D took several deep breaths.

"A-Alright... I'm sorry."

"No need." Z showed a tired smile before patting D's head, though it looked more like grabbing a baseball due to the size difference.

"Now let's go."

The two of them walked by the rock to see a lone man, he was of less than average height, about 1.7 meters with ashy gray hair and jet black eyes, wearing a mostly black suit with red stripes, when Z looked down, his caution instantly grew, the bullet wound was nowhere to be found, he was standing as if nothing had happened, instead, a revolting expression was drawn on his face, was that his attempt at a smile?

"Hey! So what brings you here?"

That revolting smile made the idea of killing him where he stands extremely tantalizing, but rushing things doesn't help anybody.

"Have you seen a guy pass through here? not that tall, black hair, a wuss." Of course, he knew they had at least met. This is the only good hiding place in Trik Lhram; that's why they came here in the first place.

"Alright, before I answer that, can you answer a question for me?"

Z sighed before speaking again. "Alright, I wanted to be friendly, but let me phrase it another way, hand him over or I'll have to kill you."

The man put his right index finger to his lips as if he were thinking deeply.

"You're gonna kill me either way, so can't you answer me and I'll give you that loser on a silver plate?"

"That's a lie."

"Yeah, sorry, but my savior wants him alive for some reason."

He didn't hesitate to answer Z's suspicions in the worst way possible

"Sorry, if it were up to me, I'd give you the guy without a second thought."

Z's desire to kill this man increased with every word out of his mouth, but what came out of it next froze him in place.

"You're Z, right? The kid's D and M's too shy to show himself. I never thought to use codenames since I came here, though I guess most people use them. What's Z stand for anyway? Zack, or maybe Zakaria, well anyway, name's Jack Woods, that's what you came for, right?"

Z immediately turned to the young man, who glanced back at him before nodding. The situation became more dangerous by the second, if he just said his name without hesitation, that meant that at least one of his contracts relied on it, was it the healing contract or one of those swords? But none of that mattered to him anymore, he got what he came for so all he had to do was kill this creature, that would at least ease this strange anxiety he was feeling, Z didn't waste any time, kicking off the ground, and clocking his fist backward, putting all his power into a punch targeting Jack's solar plexus, he could go all out on every punch like that since he didn't have to worry about defense, Jack was barely able to dodge it by sidestepping to the right, Z already anticipated this much so without pause, he raised his left leg into a reverse roundhouse kick, Jack jumped back with all his strength, normally he'd keep a distance of 2 meters at most, but with this monster, he had to keep at least 3 if he hoped to dodge, his only saving grace was that Z was slower than his appearance would imply, no doubt a price for his contract, which means that it's either a constant payment or he couldn't deactivate his contract, but his thoughts were interrupted by M, who was behind the rock a minute ago, sneaking up from behind with an outstretched sword towards him, Jack grabbed the tip of M's blade while midair, his suit protecting his hand, from there it wasn't hard to get behind M and use him like a human shield, mostly trying to gauge Z's reaction, unexpectedly, M just went limp on Jack, making it impossible to hold him up, it only took him 4 seconds to do that, as if he had experience as a human shield, but it didn't matter to Jack since he already got what he was looking for, it had only been for half a second, just barely noticeable, but Z slowed down, the pieces slowly started falling into place, he remembered the one important thing Leon said.

"The one time I saw him injured was against a whole squad, though the two he has with him weren't touched. So I think his barrier could be overwhelmed."

As for D, he only spared him a glance, the kid was hesitantly aiming an assault rifle, shaking like a newborn deer, so Jack decided not to give him any attention, focusing instead on dodging and analyzing, one well-aimed hit from Z would be fatal, and jumping away constantly was quickly exhausting his stamina, but he learned something about their tactics while doing so, M's role is to contain Jack and guide him towards Z's range, Z was this offense's engine more or less, so killing him would be enough to destroy it, of course, that was simpler said than done, but Jack was analyzing their fighting style and matching weaknesses, he raised both his hands making seemingly random gestures, they were directed towards May, who just stabbed the second sniper in the back a minute ago.

"Even if I shoot them both, the leader's still invincible" She saw his test, the giant slowed down for a second, it could have been natural hesitation, but something seemed off about the one Jack was holding onto, as if some separation was created between the two, barely noticeable, but crucial, Jack must've felt it directly, so he wanted to prove his theory, she sighed quietly as she realized his plan.

"Way too risky."

Nevertheless, she took her position, then let out a deep breath, pulling the trigger on empty lungs, launching a bullet directly headed towards M. The penetration of a 7-centimeter pointy metal object, the splash of blood, or the horrified screams were nowhere to be found, instead, the bullet fell limply on the ground.

"Bingo!"

May didn't miss; her aim was, in fact, perfect, and of course, M wasn't immune to bullets, moreover, he only seemed to notice when it was too late. Therefore, this wasn't his doing but nothing less than the true nature of Z's contract. I didn't waste a second, immediately pulling out my gun and unloading on the three of them. Seven shots, only one of which had any effect, but it was more than enough.

"Damn it!"

Dark red dripped slowly from the kid's wound

"Zidan!"

The kid looked shocked. Had he not seen blood before? A natural smile came to my face as the pieces fell into place one by one. My bullet penetrated Z's protection, my working theory is that it was caused by over-exertion. Now I just needed to do it again.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" I jumped away as Z screamed menacingly and went after me, 2 bullets following in his trail, May recognized the opportunity and immediately shot while M was running to the injured kid, I stopped on a dime and threw two swords at him, now that he was isolated from the other two, there's no way for Z to escape, even if he somehow blocked everything we'd just have to keep the pressure on, and he can't escape since his teammate is in that condition, now we just need to finish the job and grab Leon on the way to Rahma, speaking of which, where's Leon? he should at least help us save his ass.

"Fuck it!"

The source of those words was non-other than Z, unusually calm words that shook me to the core, I tried to grab another sword but to no avail, Z was already in front of me, he dodged everything as if his earlier sluggishness was all an act, but how? did I trigger his contract conditions, there was no time to think, I swung at the giant as hard as I could, I just need to run away and gather my thoughts, if I can analyze him some more then maybe...

Those thoughts were crushed by the behemoth's palm, along with my head, he just got behind me effortlessly and smashed my head into the ground, I spat out around half my teeth and a generous amount of blood on the uneven ground, I could feel the endless cuts in my mouth and the slight dent on my forehead, only slight because of a last-second reaction.

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

I can analyze it as much as I want, but overwhelming pain was still just that. I held my head as I rolled away from his feet, although I wouldn't be permitted even this futile resistance.

"Looks like you're still alive."

He stomped on my chest hard enough that it would've caved in if it weren't for my suit.

"Zack! Kill him quick. We need to take Zidan to a doctor." M's panicked screams barely registered in my agony-riddled mind.

"Not yet. I need to know how he bypassed my defense and what type of bullet he shot him with. We don't know what this lune has, so go ahead and take care of Zidan, the sniper won't shoot as long as I have him."

I see, so it's care that stopped him from killing me. 'Helpless gun' isn't a complicated contract, a gun that shoots slightly underpowered bullets with a 1 in 7 chance to shoot an ordinary bullet, but I'm still alive thanks to their lack of knowledge.

Think, think, how can I get out of this situation? I'm losing too much blood, should I heal myself? That would put him on guard, he might decide to just kill me regardless of anything else, but the pain's starting to subside. I might pass out if this keeps going.

"Sleep is the cousin of death, so don't doze off."

The old man's words rang through my ears, or was it Mr Woods who said that? It doesn't matter anyway, that concussion's gotta be pretty bad if I'm hallucinating already. I gathered what I could from my fragmented consciousness and moved my arm into the pool of blood I spat out. My suit took a couple of seconds to suck it all in. Now that the payment's complete, please break my fingers.

"AAAAAAA!"

I'll stay awake as long as I feel this pain.

"What the fuck is this lune doing!?" Zack picked me up

"He's breaking his fingers to stay awake, creepy."

The somewhat familiar voice spoke up, M already took the kid so there was only one guy it could be, I couldn't help but chuckle, spitting out some blood in the process, the theory that they were all under Z's protection and that I could break it by overwhelming him was based on one vital piece of information, a testimony that I trusted without much thought, why? Even though I thought I doubted him...

I really am an idiot.

"I don't know why, but I trusted you."

"I didn't." Leon answered curtly before turning to Z.

"I thought you were running away for a second there."

"You know I can't do that, not now, the woman has Nak's contract."

Z froze for a good minute before crushing my wrists.

"AAAAAAAAAA!"

"Don't kill him." Leon averted his eyes as he spoke.

"You did your job, now fuck off!"

"The deal was to bring them alive!"

"I'll make sure King doesn't collect the bounty. Now go..." Zack stopped suddenly and looked at me.

"What is it?" Leon immediately picked up on his change in attitude

"He's not bleeding."

I thought I'd have more time, but he's even more perceptive than I gave him credit for.

"And isn't his suit way redder than before?" Leon remarked.

"We should at least rip off his arms for now, stop him from trying anything."

"He could die from that, plus it could backfire if the suit is used for a post-mortem contract." Zack slightly relaxed his grip after hearing that.

"So we'll take him to Rahma and wait until Zidan wakes up."

I somehow made it this far thanks to their overestimations.

"Yeah, let's move off the road."

Zack slung me over his shoulder with a dissatisfied expression.

"I need a drink."

The overwhelming pain was no longer running through my body, replaced by a numbing sensation.

"I know, I know, but..."

"What's he going on about?"

"Just leave him be."

Their conversation seemed impossibly distant, fading farther away by the second.

"I can't..."

A voice that seemed feeble even for me signaled the fall of my last sliver of consciousness.