No one answered Calvin.
Instead, several more shuriken came slicing through the air from another direction.
This time, however, they were not aimed at him.
They were aimed at his car.
Psssssh!
The shuriken struck the tires with perfect accuracy and buried themselves deep in the rubber.
The tires immediately began to deflate.
“…?” Calvin stared at the car in silence, completely speechless.
His house had been blown up not long ago, and now the brand-new car he had received today already had its tires slashed.
‘Do these people have some kind of radar for the most expensive thing I own?’ “Those are ninjas from the Hand,” Natasha warned at exactly the right moment, sounding almost like a helpful commentator explaining the fight from the sidelines.
“Be careful.
They coat their weapons in extremely potent poison.
If it gets into your system, you’re in serious trouble.” The corner of Calvin’s mouth lifted.
“Okay.
Now I’m starting to believe you might actually be Black Widow.” Of course he knew they were ninjas from the Hand.
It was not as though he had never killed any before.
As far as Calvin was concerned, they were just another bunch of rats that preferred hiding in the dark.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The air directly in front of him shrieked.
Three kunai glowing faintly green shot out of the darkness, moving far faster and carrying considerably more force than the earlier shuriken.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Calvin instantly pulled the Golden Desert Eagle from his system inventory and activated Dead Eye.
Three casual shots knocked all three kunai out of the air, sparks bursting where bullet met steel.
Then Calvin raised his voice toward the darkness.
“What century are you people living in?
Throwing knives?
Is the Hand too broke to afford guns?” He grinned.
“Want me to start a fundraiser for you?” His voice carried clearly through the otherwise silent night.
Apparently determined to prove that the Hand was not suffering from financial difficulties, the darkness answered with a chorus of whistling projectiles.
Dozens of poisoned kunai tore through the night from every direction at once, sealing off virtually every possible route Calvin could have used to dodge.
Natasha’s heart sank at the sight.
‘Well, this is bad.’ She had survived more dangerous situations than she could count, but she had never expected to die tonight because her rookie partner decided to insult a clan of homicidal ninjas.
Then a strange, low hum reached her ears.
A soft yet powerful current of air swept past her, lifting strands of her dark-red hair.
Natasha instinctively turned toward Calvin.
Her eyes widened.
The Golden Desert Eagle was gone.
In its place, Calvin was holding what looked like an utterly ordinary kitchen cleaver.
He casually raised it and swept the blade through the air.
Something impossible happened.
A wall of compressed wind several meters high erupted into existence in front of them.
Even beneath the dark night sky, the violent currents twisting across its surface were clearly visible.
The incoming kunai struck the barrier and were instantly thrown aside, clattering harmlessly across the pavement.
[Ability: Wind Technique] [Effect: Max-level Wind Technique, a mysterious sword style originating from Ionia in Runeterra that channels the power of the natural wind.
Includes four techniques: Steel Tempest, Wind Wall, Sweeping Blade, and Last Breath.] [Evaluation: The wind is always changing, and so is the battlefield.
Your technique doesn’t matter.
Your mechanics don’t matter.
Your win rate definitely doesn’t matter.
What matters is having fun!
With the power of the wind, you are now the happiest man alive!] “Nice.
Very nice.” Calvin could not stop himself from grinning.
The technique he had just used was Wind Wall, one of the abilities included with Wind Technique.
Its purpose was simple: stop incoming projectiles.
Forget a few poisoned kunai.
Calvin was confident that even ten miniguns firing at him simultaneously would not get a single bullet through that wall.
There was only one problem.
Whenever Calvin used Wind Technique, he inexplicably felt extremely happy.
The feeling was so strong that he constantly wanted to laugh, which did somewhat ruin the cool, mysterious swordsman atmosphere the ability was supposed to have.
When their projectiles proved useless, the ninjas hiding in the shadows apparently decided subtlety was overrated.
One after another, they emerged with katana in hand.
There were ten of them in total.
Nine wore black ninja uniforms that blended into the darkness, while the man at their head wore red.
Every one of them held their weapon with practiced confidence, their eyes sharp and focused.
It was obvious they had undergone extensive training.
“You!” The red-clad ninja suddenly pointed at Calvin, fury exploding across his voice.
“You’re the bastard who interfered with us and helped Daredevil last time!” Calvin tilted his head.
“Who are you?” The red ninja visibly twitched.
“You son of a bitch!” He did not attack immediately.
Instead, he studied Calvin with growing caution.
The longer he watched, the more confused he became.
The man standing in front of him seemed full of openings.
His stance was loose, his posture casual, and there was nothing about him that resembled a trained swordsman.
Yet every instinct the ninja possessed was screaming the same warning.
‘If I attack him, I’m going to die.’ Unfortunately, retreat was not an option.
Calvin possessed an ability capable of neutralizing their ranged attacks, which meant the red ninja was the only person present who had any chance of stopping him.
If the secrets of the facility behind them were exposed, everything the Hand had built in this part of New York could suffer a devastating blow.
So he attacked.
“Die!” The red-clad ninja launched himself high into the air and brought his katana down in a brutal overhead strike.
A visible wave of force rolled around the blade, pushing the surrounding air aside as it descended.
That force was chi.
A sufficiently skilled practitioner could channel chi to achieve feats far beyond ordinary human limits, even producing enough force with a single strike to send a car flying.
At first glance, the energy surrounding the katana almost resembled the Wind Wall Calvin had just created.
“Yeah, screw that.” Just before the blade could reach him, Calvin snapped one leg upward.
His kick moved so quickly that it left a blur behind.
His foot connected directly between the ninja’s legs.
Crack.
The sound was disturbingly similar to an egg breaking.
The red-clad ninja shot backward several meters and crashed into the men behind him hard enough to send several of them sprawling and coughing blood.
“Ghh…
gah…
you…
bastard…” Two ninjas struggled to hold their leader upright.
Sweat instantly soaked through his mask.
His eyes bulged and turned bloodshot while his entire body shook violently from the unbearable pain radiating upward from what was left of his dignity.
Even Calvin felt phantom pain just looking at him.
With trembling fingers, the red ninja pulled a syringe from inside his clothing and tried to drive it into his neck.
Before the needle even reached his skin, a twisted grin appeared in his eyes, as though whatever was inside that syringe might somehow restore everything Calvin had just destroyed.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Three gunshots sounded almost simultaneously.
Two bullets punched into the ninja’s chest.
The third entered his head.
Blood sprayed into the air.
Two to the chest, one to the head.
Hard to argue with that combination.
The red-clad ninja went completely limp and collapsed to the ground.
Calvin blew a thin wisp of smoke away from the Golden Desert Eagle’s barrel.
“Come on, man.
Did you seriously think injecting yourself came with invincibility frames?” He shook his head.
“Trying to use a combat stim right in front of me is just disrespectful.” “Kill him!” Seeing their leader die in front of them, the remaining ninjas charged Calvin with practically suicidal determination.
Faint currents of chi gathered around their swords as well, although none were anywhere near as powerful as their leader’s.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Calvin’s trigger finger blurred.
He used the exact same pattern on every target.
Two rounds to the chest.
One to the head.
The remaining ninjas dropped one after another.
Once the last one hit the ground, Calvin returned the pistol to his system inventory.
His face was slightly flushed, but there was not the slightest trace of guilt in his expression.
If anything, he felt fantastic.
There were certain things he never could have done in his previous life.
Getting to do one of them now was almost ridiculously satisfying.
‘Ninja cult.
Human experimentation.’ Calvin looked at the bodies.
‘Yeah.
I’m not losing sleep over this.’ “You…” Natasha finally recovered from her shock and looked up at him, swallowing instinctively.
“What the hell was that ability?
None of that was in your file.” His combat capability had exceeded every estimate she had made before the mission began.
More importantly, throughout the entire fight, Calvin had only been using one hand.
The other had been holding Natasha by her belt the entire time.
Calvin smiled.
“Forget about my abilities.
You still haven’t proved you’re actually Black Widow.” Natasha let out an exasperated sigh.
“I already called S.H.I.E.L.D.
for backup.
Once they arrive, you’ll have your proof.” Calvin’s expression changed instantly.
His eyes widened in horror.
“You did WHAT?!”