Lead Bullet

"It's a restraint Trigger that changes trion into weight. It's not directly destructive, so it bypasses a shield."

- Replica analyzing Lead Bullet

Lead Bullet is an Optional Trigger for Gunners. It can also be used in conjunction with Sniper Triggers.

Appearance
When Lead Bullet is selected, the Trigger used in conjunction with it turns black, as do its bullets. The weights appear as hexagonal prisms with a grainy, dark gray-purple tone.

Overview
The origins of this Trigger are unknown. At some point, Shūji Miwa had his Lead Bullet customized.

Abilities
Lead Bullet converts trion into heavy weights to slow down or immobilize the target. The weights are formed upon contact with matter, including trion bodies. For this reason, and due to it having no destructive capabilities, Lead Bullet is able to bypass Border's Shield and other constructs made out of pure trion, such as the barriers created by Idras and Yūma's Black Trigger as well as Alektor's bullets. However, it can be blocked by Escudo, since they convert trion into matter, which may be why it also interferes with Nikokyra.

Lead Bullet mimics the properties of the Trigger it is used in conjunction with. It can be combined with Gunner Triggers, including those fired as a Shooter, as well as Sniper Triggers. The size of the weights seems to be related on the trion expenditure: when Chika Amatori divided her trion cube in 27 parts, the weights were bigger than when she split it in 125, but still smaller than the one created with Lightning. Miwa's improved version, which he fires through his handgun, assigns heavier weights with a fixed mass of 100 kg. Additionally, it can be equipped in the same set of slots as the firearm, enabling Miwa to use other Triggers while shooting, which is not the case with the standard model. Since it does not interact with Shields, he can fire it from behind his own Defense Trigger.

The primary downside to this Trigger is that the weight effect, which replaces the "power" stat in the makeup of a trion bullet, consumes a large amount of trion, consequently decreasing the range and speed of the bullet. Even Chika, whose trion levels fa exceed the norm, was able to maintain range and speed only for about 30 meters when combining it with Asteroid. Combining it with other Gunner Triggers would cause those paramaters to decrease even further. Ordinarily, the user has to be very close to the target in order to score a hit, and thus requires the agility of an Attacker coupled with skills to shoot while on the move. As such, Lead Bullet is considered a Trigger reserved for experts.

Since Sniper Triggers guarantee range through the structure of the rifle itself, they would appear to be a good match; however, since they are long-ranged weapons, the reduced muzzle velocity would make them unusable in a real combat situation. In fact, despite having above-average trion by A-Rank standards, Mirai Hatohara was not able to reach an acceptable bullet speed. Although she was forced to abandon the project, her idea winded up benefiting Chika, as her massive trion amount, added to Lightning's ability to increase the muzzle velocity when fired by someone with high trion levels, made it suitable for combat. This combo is also favorable for Lightning, since it allows it to bypass Shields. Eaglet and Ibis, however, remain impractical. When Chika tested the latter, the result was an extremely slow, volleyball-sized projectile that exploded into a gigantic tank trap-like set of weights.

Since Bagworm cannot be used while firing, the position of the Sniper will become known as soon as they prepare to pull the shoot. Chika has also taken to utilizing Lead Bullet in conjunction with Hound, which makes her extremely dangerous at close range due to Hound's tracking ability on top of Lead Bullet's capacity not to interact with Shields.

Users
See also: Lead Bullet Users

There are only three known users of Lead Bullet: Shūji Miwa, Chika Amatori and Hitoshi Matsushiro. Miwa possesses a customized version which he employs frequently in battle, while Chika is remarkable for utilizing it both as a Sniper and as a Shooter. Mirai Hatohara is the one who came up with the idea of combining it with Sniper Triggers but, due to her not having enough trion to make the muzzle velocity combat standard, she was never able to use it in battle.

Trivia

 * This trigger's ability was replicated by Yūma to create the Anchor seal.
 * The first time Miwa used Lead Bullet, he manually inserted a new magazine in his handgun. That is the only instance of it happening thus far.