The Reincarnated Hitman

Chapter 7: Hitman Vs Giant

Death.

That was what Liam could feel approaching as the large hand got closer to his face.

Fortunately, this wasn’t the first time he had come so close to death, so he didn’t freeze in place.

Instead, he suddenly crouched, letting the hand move past him, spun the gun he had in his hand, and then pulled the trigger twice, towards his attacker’s face, at point-blank range.

Liam then stepped on his attacker’s broad frame and pushed himself back, creating distance between him and the attacker, as he reassessed the situation.

All this had happened in less than thirty seconds, though he realized that his reaction was a lot slower in this body.

"I was hoping to catch you by surprise," the attacker said as he stood up straight and looked at the kid before him.

"So was I," Liam let out a disappointed sigh.

He watched as the man’s skin changed from metallic silver to its normal color again, right at the spot where the rubber bullets landed. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

The man before him was the Splinter leading this operation,

Titan.

The comic had described him as huge but it seems that description had been greatly conservative about his actual form.

From what Liam could see, the man was a giant, standing at seven feet, give or take, with a build that made the corridor feel significantly smaller.

But more than his size, his Factor was an even bigger annoyance.

Passive Hardening.

It allowed Titan’s skin to become hard enough to nullify any attack aimed at him, as long as he was aware of said attack.

And he doesn’t even have to think about it to harden up.

"Pfft," Liam suddenly let out a chuckle as his mind wandered.

"What’s so funny?" Titan asked as he looked at the kid.

"Nothing," Liam shook his head, though he did let out another chuckle, "I just realized that your Factor makes you hard."

This caused the giant of a man to narrow his eyes, reassessing the intruder.

"You’re not scared," he said.

Most would’ve been trembling in his presence by now, especially since the one who had reported the presence of the intruder, told him that the kid seemed to have no Factor.

After all, he was busy using guns and rubber bullets instead of any abilities.

But he was still making jokes rather than trying to run.

"Well, your size is definitely intimidating," Liam said honestly, "my Pragma is running low and this corridor isn’t giving me a lot of room to work with, so I’d say the situation has legitimate concerns attached to it."

"But scared?" He continued, "Not particularly."

Titan looked at him for a long moment before responding, "You should be."

With that, the giant of a man rushed towards Liam.

And that’s when Liam discovered the next thing that the comic had greatly undersold about this ’third-rate’ villain.

His speed.

Titan crossed the corridor faster than his size should’ve allowed... fortunately, his factor wasn’t super speed, so Liam could react to it.

Instead of backing off or trying to create distance between them, he ran straight towards the large man, causing a grin on Titan’s face.

The giant of a man then extended his hand again, in hopes of grabbing the kid.

But before he could reach the kid, Liam suddenly grabbed onto one of the classroom doors.

He then used his momentum to pull it open and then swung himself around it completely, using the door as both a pivot point and a shield between himself and Titan’s outstretched hand.

Titan’s hand went through the glass panel, immediately shattering it.

His passive hardening immediately activated and his skin turned metallic silver the moment the impact registered, causing the larger shards to deflect harmlessly.

But the door had swung open unexpectedly, so the initial shards had managed to leave the smallest of cuts on his arm.

Titan looked at the cut as he withdrew his arm from the door before turning to Liam who was now comfortably sitting on one of the desks inside the classroom.

"Who are you?" The man asked with narrowed eyes as he continued looking at the white-haired kid, "Did the HA send you?"

At first, he thought that the kid was some sort of idiot trying to play hero, but their brief clash had forced him to reconsider.

After all, no normal, unawakened human, was capable of staying this calm whilst in front of an Awakened that very clearly outclassed them in strength.

So he guessed that the kid was from the HA, responsible for handling stealth missions.

But, then again, his uniform, or rather, the lack of one, confused Titan even more.

"The HA?" Liam muttered before waving his hand before his face, "nah, I’m just a concerned citizen."

"A concerned citizen huh?" Titan muttered before letting out an amused laughter, "probably an insane one too, if you just decided to crash into an ongoing hostage situation."

"You hurt me so," Liam placed a hand on his chest as he looked at the man standing outside the classroom, "I’d very much like to think that I’m completely sane."

"You’re sitting on a desk in a classroom having a casual conversation with someone who could put you through the wall."

"You could try," Liam said pleasantly, "though I’d point out that the last time you tried to grab me, that happened."

Titan looked at the cut on his arm and then back at the kid, confirming that he had deliberately planned that.

With a sigh, Titan said, "Would you like to join the Splinters?"

Liam was a bit surprised at that offer, but he didn’t let it show, instead, he asked, "What’s the pay like?"

"Pay?" Titan looked at him, a little confused.

He had expected the kid to outright reject but as it turns out, he truly couldn’t predict him.

"Yeah," Liam seriously nodded, "if I’m going to join, I’d at least like to know what I’m getting paid."

"You truly are insane kid," Titan said with a chuckle before answering, "but since the Splinters are just starting, then the pay is—"

"Not interested," Liam cut him off, "besides, I don’t work well with teams."

"I see, a pity then," Titan said as he stepped into the classroom, "shall we cont—"

Before his words could be completed, a desk was suddenly mid-air and aimed at his face.

Titan was forced to cross both arms before him as his skin immediately hardened, unfortunately for him, that was only a distraction.

Because, the next second, Liam was already behind him, with his gun pointed at the giant.

Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger twice in the same second, launching two rubber bullets at the same spot on Titan’s neck.

Passive Hardening activated just a second after, but it was too late, as the bullets had already landed.

Titan froze the moment the bullets landed, and the next second, he fell forward, shaking the ground beneath them.

THUD!

The Splinter was completely unconscious.

Liam stood up straight, looked at the unconscious villain, then at the desk he fell on, and finally at the broken door before shrugging,

"I’m pretty sure they won’t mind a couple of broken stuff in an effort to rescue them."

He then turned around and walked out of said classroom,

"Now then, the Gymnasium."