Everyone was stunned for a moment at what had just happened.
Minami rushed towards Johan to check if he was fine.
Werner didn't waste another second; he drew one of his swords, held it like a spear and turned towards the direction from which the shot came.
He located the exact location from where the shot came.
The shot came from a hot air balloon that was several kilometres away; one couldn't even see the hot air balloon from the position they were in.
Werner flung his sword at a tremendous speed that far exceeded the speed of sound; the sniper that shot Johan couldn't even notice it; he was preparing for his next shot. The next moment he was gone, and so was the hot air balloon; the strength and speed with which Werner flung his sword were so much that the hot air balloon and the sniper were removed seemingly out of existence.
And the sword seemed to stop at the mesosphere.
Werner went towards Johan as well.
Johan was alive and unscathed.
There was a unique mechanism in his suit that allowed him to dodge bullets and high-speed projectiles before they hit. This was done by some tiny pins that were present inside his suit.
These pins had the support of many sensors that would detect incoming projectiles, and then the pin would slightly prick the side of Johan's body that was going to be hit by the projectile.
Instinctively, Johan would completely move away.
This time too, the mechanism got activated and pricked his temple. But Johan wasn't able to completely dodge it.
The bullet was shot by a sniper who was a power user, whose ability allowed him to fire bullets at a desired speed without any deviations, and he was able to shoot them from several miles away.
Unfortunately, his talent got wasted by Werner.
The shot was silent as the sound of the sniper came a second later. The bullet was much faster than the speed of sound.
Johan wasn't able to properly dodge it, but it also didn't cause any harm to him, although the part of the suit that was grazed by the bullet was completely destroyed.
A few seconds later, there was complete panic among the juries present there. All of them tried to locate the sniper, but Werner already took care of the sniper.
Minami quickly held Johan up and asked him if he was okay.
"Yeah...I have gotten quite a bit rusty; I wasn't even able to dodge a bullet."
Replied Johan.
Minami was silent.
"Sir, it's not quite possible to completely dodge a bullet. I don't believe that you were able to dodge bullets even in your prime." Minami thought to herself.
But he was not bluffing at all.
The juries, Werner and Minami, were swiftly clearing up the site. Noah's body was packed in a body bag and was to be buried alongside his brother's remains. Which was instructed by Johan.
Within just half an hour everything was cleaned up, and all of the juries dispersed into the crowds that were trying to enter the scene.
Johan, Minami and Werner went back to the HQ in a car that was sent for them.
They had thought that the one who was sent to attack Johan was just the sniper.
They were completely wrong...the mastermind's motive was not to kill Johan; the mastermind knew that Johan couldn't be killed by mere bullets. All the mastermind wanted to know was the Vanquisher's real identity.
*At the moment Johan was shot*
When Johan was shot and the part of the suit hiding his temple was destroyed, the destroyed part also revealed his eye. More importantly, the colour and positioning of the eye.
The mastermind was hiding in one of the houses when the place was getting cleaned up, and the mastermind was none other than Chan Woo Hyuk.
The one who manipulated the rankings and the other seven rankers for placing Noah at the third was Chan Woo.
The world ranks one and ten never concerned themselves with dealing with Chan Woo or anyone else after the previous war with the juries.
All Chan Woo needed was the Vanquisher's identity to ensure his complete victory over the juries.
Now, even by only knowing the colour of his eyes, Chan Woo can easily track him and eliminate Johan.
Johan has no way of knowing what he was plotting.
Minutes later, they arrived at the HQ; the discussion regarding the future was underway with the rest of the Black Card members.
Werner and Johan had secretly decided to keep the fact that there was a traitor among the black tiers a secret; they had decided that they would find out the identity of the traitor by themselves.
During the meeting, Vsevolod and Carmilla deduced and announced with full confidence that the mastermind behind all this was the world rank no. 2, Chan Woo Hyuk.
Johan had already found out the identity of the mastermind moments before he was shot. But he decided to keep it to himself.
Even though Johan had fought countless fights and battles with the fellow black tiers. There was now a creeping sense of suspiciousness in him.
He was looking at everyone with suspicion; the presence of a traitor among them caused a seed of doubt in his heart to be planted.
The same people with whom he had spent almost half of his life now looked like suspicious strangers to him.
He hadn't really paid much attention to the topics others were discussing. He had noticed that he was suspecting the same people who were like brothers and sisters to him.
He was in the entire meeting trying to think of a different reason as to how Noah had got his hands on a crucial piece of information.
Carmilla then concluded the meeting. Others went off to prepare to go to their branches and alert the juries and get them prepared for another 'war' they thought would be coming in the near future.
After everyone left, Johan was leaving too. She came up to him and whispered in his ear.
"Johan...don't worry, you can trust me, Vsevolod and Werner if nothing else... Go spend time with your family and friends. You have worked hard to stay with them and protect them...
Don't let them go now, child..."
She said and patted him on the head before leaving as well. She had noticed that Johan was lost somewhere else during their meeting.
Johan had a sense of relief; he was now sure that he could completely trust them. The seed of doubt in his heart was completely plucked away by Carmilla.
He was always like this; he would easily let the people close to him erase his suspicions about them.
This was one of the reasons that proved Johan was still a human too.
But this time, it was a mistake, a big mistake that will cost him the lives of his loved ones and his as well.
Johan's suit was not usable for a while, as his suit was sent for repair, and it would take an entire month for its complete repair and a few more alterations and improvements he had ordered.
Johan reached home.
He knew that his mother wasn't coming home for another week or two.
By the time he had reached home, it was already late night. He went to his kitchen to eat something, and after eating, he went straight to his room for a good sleep.
Noah's burial was done a few hours later; it was buried with discretion. The attack done by Noah was labelled as a 'terrorist activity'.
Those who had survived the attack and had seen the truth were silenced.
The total death toll of citizens and tourists was around two hundred, with around forty people who survived and were only injured.
The only reason they were not silenced was because they were unconscious or some of them had memory loss, so the corrupt authorities had no way of knowing if they had seen everything or not.
The next day hit, Johan was not able to sleep properly even after Carmilla's assurance.
After waking up, he thought he would go to the HQ, but he then remembered Carmilla's words. So, he decided to call his friends for hanging out.
He called up Anna first. He was sceptical at first, as before, she was upset and didn't want to even see the faces of Hans and Irina.
But the moment he asked her, there was an immediate yes from her.
He was surprised at first; he didn't expect her to say yes that quickly but was happy that she was back as her usual self. After Anna he called Hans and Irina as well.
There was yes from their side as well.
They decided to spend the rest of their days off from their college just going from place to place enjoying themselves to the fullest.
Anna was overjoyed; the other two were happy too, as they didn't get to spend much time with each other these days, and also because Johan was free as well.
Unfortunately, they were not aware of the impending doom hovering above their heads.
Chapter 13: completed