From Bullets To Billions

Chapter 737: Making A Plan

Stephen and Na were working together, attempting to take out two dangerous Black Hand members at once: the woman in office attire, who was a master at long-range kicks and maintaining distance, and the young Trickster, who had rejoined the fray after defeating Wolf.

"We have to be careful," Stephen warned, shaking his head slightly. "For him to have beaten Wolf, it means he’s serious trouble."

Stephen was holding his head right where the heavy coin had struck him earlier. Because he had kicked off at full speed when the coin hit, the collision had hurt far more than he expected.

"We just need to do the exact same thing as before, right?" Na suggested, adjusting his stance. "We target one of them together first, completely ignore the other, and then we take down whoever’s left."

"Agreed. And since that young kid is the one who stopped my charge, let’s go for him first!"

Learning from his previous mistake, Stephen decided not to sprint blindly ahead. Instead, he advanced cautiously, keeping pace right alongside Na. Once they closed the distance, Stephen prepared to burst forward for a decisive blow—but the moment his foot hit the floor, a sharp, digging pain shot through his sole.

Small, spiked caltrops had been scattered across the stone floor. As Stephen instinctively glanced down for a fraction of a second, the woman in office attire seized the opening, delivering a lightning-fast kick directly to his temple.

Distracted by Stephen getting hit, Na lost his focus on the Trickster and reached out to grab the office woman’s extended leg. But before he could clamp his fingers around her ankle, a foot whipped around from his blind spot—the Trickster’s boot blade slicing deep into his forearm.

Grouting through the pain, Na threw a heavy, compact punch toward the young assassin, but the strike missed its mark. The Trickster leaned back effortlessly, using the momentum to drive a second upward kick right beneath Na’s injured arm, the hidden blade cutting into his muscle again.

Having navigated his way through the spiked caltrops, Stephen recovered his balance and rushed toward the Trickster, only to be met by a heavy front kick straight to the stomach from the office woman.

Combined with Stephen’s forward momentum, the collision amplified the impact exponentially, almost knocking the wind out of him completely.

Damn it! I thought she wouldn’t dare try to kick me head-on like that, Stephen thought, clutching his abdomen. With my momentum, shouldn’t my weight have just plowed right through her foot?

The reality was that Stephen was only half-right. His raw kinetic force had hurt her leg, but her body was so thoroughly trained and fortified from years of assassin conditioning that she could withstand the force of the collision. She certainly wasn’t eager to test her luck against his momentum a second time, but that was a detail Stephen had no way of knowing.

"Why is this so much trickier than the last fight!" Na complained, wiping sweat and blood from his brow.

"Maybe we actually need to sit back and think of a real strategy?" Stephen replied, gritting his teeth.

Before they could formulate a new approach, both the Trickster and the office woman went on the offensive. Stephen was forced onto the back foot; even though he could move his body at absurd speeds, he had to remain conservative with his Vow. His physical stamina was strictly limited, and unlike his raw speed, it wasn’t something he could easily push past its natural threshold.

He had to be patient and wait for a guaranteed opening. He had already struggled when fighting the office worker one-on-one, so he didn’t have many fresh options left in his playbook. Thankfully, the reinforced exoskeleton arms provided a solid shield, allowing him to raise his guards and absorb the incoming barrage.

"ARGHH!" Na roared in frustration, swinging a wide, heavy arm out to clear the space around them.

The strike missed both targets completely as the two assassins ducked to the side, synchronizing their counterattacks to drive kicks directly at Na’s face. Seeing the incoming lethal blow, Stephen stepped into the pocket and raised both of his exoskeleton arms, successfully intercepting and blocking both strikes at once.

The moment their feet made contact with the metallic frames, the two Black Hand operatives instantly retracted their legs, backing off a few paces. They could feel the unnatural, mechanized resistance behind Stephen’s guard and knew better than to linger.

"Do you have any ideas?" Na asked, panting heavily. "Because I’m getting a little beat up here."

All Na could think about was how he would train differently so he’d never end up in a corner like this again—though that realization didn’t do him any good in the current fight. He had genuinely believed that his elite special forces background, combined with the power of his Vow, would be more than enough to dominate the battlefield. But against S-rank assassins who spent their entire lives perfecting the art of killing, that assumption was falling apart.

As Stephen scanned the courtyard, his eyes suddenly landed on a motionless figure lying near the edge of the stone platform.

"I don’t have a plan... but I think I know someone who might."

Stephen bent his knees and exploded into a sprint. Instead of charging toward the two Black Hand members, he took a wide arc around them, racing straight over to where Wolf was lying face-down on the ground.

He knelt down and carefully lifted Wolf’s head, feeling a faint, steady breath against his hand. He was slowly regaining conciseness. Stephen had noticed him moving slightly, a twitch of his body and that’s when it came to mind.

Thankfully he was alive but it was quite clear that Wolf was in no condition to help fighitng himself.

"Good, you’re still breathing..." Stephen exhaled in relief, shaking Wolf’s shoulder gently. "So can you tell us—tell us how the hell we’re supposed to beat these two? You’re the one who always comes up with a crazy plan, right?"