The blazing sun shined over the heads of two powerful warriors standing 40 yards away from each other, staring into each other's eyes and wondering who would be the first to draw blood. One was a middle-aged outlaw whose skills and killer instinct have no equal. The other was a newcomer whose background was shrouded in mystery. Leilong changed into his traditional combat uniform, the same one he wore when he and Gene Starwind locked horns. Valentine remained the same, keeping on his favorite colors: red and black.

The warriors felt a breeze pass by them, dust spiraling with the wind and getting blown through the space between the gunslingers. Neither warrior let their attention turn to the dust as they kept their eyes on each other, seeing who will make the first move. Leilong let his fingers wiggle, getting ready to draw one of his guns. Vincent remained motionless, folding his arms and letting his cape go with the flow of the wind.

"I see you're not in a hurry to die, upstart. You got a lot of nerve to spoil a real good drink, Valentine. Do you really think you can make yourself a name around here by killing me? Sorry to disappoint you, but you ain't got no chance at all. Now you're gonna die like the worthless dog you are," Leilong said. Leilong wore a smirk on his face, thinking his words would make his opponent edgy.

Valentine didn't move an inch, arms still folded.

"I'm not here to make a name for myself, little man. I'm here for a very important reason, and you're in my way."

"Oh? And what reason might that be, Valentine?"

"That's none of your business! What you should worry about now is how many minutes you got left before you die. Believe me: most people who challenged me became food for the worms. And you're next on my dead pool..."

Leilong tried to maintain his cool, but he felt something he never felt before in a fight. He felt nervous. Never has he felt nervous or edgy when he takes part in a gunfight. Here he was, facing a man who looks only about half his age and might only have a quarter of fighting experience, yet his hands trembled.

Man, for some reason, I really feel as though I'm in over my head. I... I can feel his aura... and it's very powerful. But how can that be? He... he's just a kid! Leilong thought to himself.

Trying again to swallow down his anxiety, Leilong spoke:

"All right, kid. Let's do this the old-fashioned way. Whoever draws the gun and hits the target is the winner. And the loser has to die..." Leilong motioned his hand to his large handgun holstered in his right thigh. Leilong relaxed his whole self, knowing that being loose is a major ingredient for winning gunfights. Standing tall, his right hand was one inch away from the gun, waiting for the right time. As his hand was ready to draw, he felt his pulse beating hard against his throat.

Vincent still kept his arms folded and his heels together, letting the wind blow his cape towards his side.

"... your move, Leilong..."

Suddenly, Leilong's eyes widened.

"DRAW!" With one quick motion, Leilong grabbed his gun out of his holster and squeezed the trigger. As soon as Valentine saw a spark fly out of Leilong's gun, Valentine moved with the speed of lightning. Still maintaining his posture, Vincent drew his own large handgun and fired at direction towards where Leilong fired. In a split second, a spark flared shortly between the two warriors. As the spark faded, the small object fell flat into the dirt. Leilong took a good look at what it was, and it made his palms sweat like crazy.

The small pebble turned out to be Leilong's bullet, dented by Valentine's.

"How... how can that be? You're suppose to be dead!" Leilong asked, startled by Valentine's defense.

Not wasting anymore time, Vincent Valentine knelt to the ground and took out a pair of armor-tearing shotguns. As he got them ready for action in a blink of an eye, he eyed Leilong as as bird of prey would towards a rabbit.

"LET'S DANCE!!" Valentine opened fire on Leilong, letting his gigantic shotguns boom to turn Leilong into a rotting carcass. Leilong jumped out of the firing range, barely dodging Valentine's attack. Leilong rolled for cover as Vincent continued to fire upon him. Keeping his back on the large shrapnel, Leilong quickly took out an 100-pound gatling gun. As he got out of the cover and aimed his enormous weapon at Valentine, Vincent's eyes widened.

"Time to say good-bye, upstart!" Leilong squeezed the trigger and watched his gatling gun spin. Leilong fired hundreds of bullets per second, hoping to turn Vincent into swiss-cheese. With tremendous speed, Valetine sprinted away from Leilong's speeding bullets and jumped for cover. Leilong smiled as he saw Vincent at his mercy. Leilong walked out of his cover and continued to fire on Valentine, slowly turning Valentine's cover into steel sawdust.

With nearly blinding speed, Vincent barrel-rolled out of his cover and threw a black object at Leilong. The metal object stuck to Leilong's gatling gun like a magnet and immediately glowed red. As the object began to blink red and make a beeping sound, Leilong knew what that meant.

"SH*@!!" Leilong dropped the gatling gun and ran for his life. As he was 6 yards away from the gatling gun, the magnetic bomb ignited and cause a quake throughout much of the battlefield. The fiery explosion sent Leilong flying into the air and crashing into the dirt. Feeling the explosion shaking his head a bit, Leilong was on his hands and knees, trying his best to regain full consciousness. Leilong felt a sweat trail near his eye as he heard Valentine's footsteps heading towards him.

Leilong saw Valentine loading two of his handguns, one silver and the other one black. Every step was getting louder as he was getting closer to Leilong.

"I heard you use to be one of the Anten 7. What was it they called you? Shimi, right? Your defiance to your group only proved how weak you are, Leilong. I'm still strong because I never betrayed or abandoned my friends..." Valentine said.

"... yeah, that's it... Just a little... closer..." As he heard Valentine getting closer, ready for the kill, Leilong slid 6 metallic objects right between his fingers of both hands. Seeing that Vincent was in the right range, Leilong leaped off his feet and landed to face Valentine once again.

Leilong has six large stick-grenades between his fingers, holding them as though they were daggers! Leilong wore a greedy smile as he felt the fight was now in his favor. Leilong could tell that underneath his collar, Vincent's jaw dropped.

"TRY THESE ON FOR SIZE, BOY!" Leaping away from Valentine, Leilong threw the six grenades like daggers, throwing them as though he was a circus performer. As Leilong ran for cover, Valentine leaped away from the incoming grenades. One grenade at a time exploded on impact with the ground. Valentine continued to leap away from the grenades, trying his best not to be consumed by the inferno.

As Leilong heard the last grenade go off, he got up from the ground and took a look around. Leilong didn't see Vincent anywhere. Leilong began to smile to himself and let out a chuckle. Then his chuckle turned into pure laughter.

"YES! I still got it in me. Not only did I beat a worthy guy, but now I'm 25,000,000 wongs ri-" Leilong's jaw felt Vincent's fist smash right into it. Vincent's punch was so powerful, Leilong felt himself leave the surface and skid down through the dirt. Trembling, Leilong barely got up and faced who he thought was dead. As he tried to stand up straight, Leilong fell back down on his bumper.

With a slightly burned cape, Valentine breathed heavily and stared coldly at Leilong. His metal gauntlet made a fist.

"You are pushing me to the limits!" As Valentine faced Leilong, he took out one of his favorite, huge handguns.

"I want you to meet a good friend of mine. His name is Outsider, and he wants to pierce his bullet right through your skull. Time to say goodbye..." Valentine whispered.


... to be continued.