Asteroid

"No special attributes, but powerful bullets: Asteroid."

- Shiori Usami about Asteroid.

is a Gunner Trigger.

Appearance
Asteroid appears as a straight, luminous trail once shot.

Overview
The origins of this Trigger are unknown. It was initially used exclusively in trion cube form, until firearms were invented.

Abilities
Asteroid is one of the mid-ranged options available to Border agents, which can be fired as a trion cube or through a firearm. It has no special properties, moving in a straight line and not manifesting any particular effects on impact. As a consequence, it is slightly more powerful than the other Gunner Triggers. It is the best suited for concentrated fire and breaking Shields.

As a Gunner Trigger, Asteroid is ordinarily less powerful than Attacker Triggers and consumes more trion than the latter. The higher the trion amount of the user, the more of it can be allocated to its three basic parameters, enhancing its performance. Osamu Mikumo's undivided Asteroid cube was perceived as harmless by Rabbit, to the point that it did not attempt to dodge it and simply let it bounce off the armor on its head, whereas Chika Amatori's volley disintegrated the Trion Soldier. If a bullet is powerful enough to break through a Shield, it will continue along its trajectory instead of dissipating upon impact; on the other hand, Asteroid is generally unable to punch through matter that is not made out of trion, its effect being comparable to that of regular shells. A safety mechanism is in place so that, should a bullet collide with a flesh and blood body, the owner will be knocked out from the pain and impact, without suffering any penetrating trauma.

The lack of additional functions characteristic of this Gunner Trigger can be utilized strategically: by passing off special bullets as Asteroid, an opponent who is familiar with Border bullets can be surprised by the bullet's special properties. With a large high trion discrepancy between the user and the target, a small number of skilled agents might see through the deception due to the special bullet's lower firepower. Some degree of variation can be achieved by altering Asteroid's parameters. Takuma Yuba is notable for sacrificing range and limiting his magazine to six bullets, leading to an increase in muzzle velocity and firepower such that it can normally be blocked only with focused Shields or Full Guard. With ordinary trion levels, Asteroid is the best Gunner Trigger to combine with Lead Bullet.

Users
See also: Asteroid Users

Asteroid is the most popular Gunner Trigger, with 42 known agents having at least one Asteroid chip in their Trigger Set, 19 of which fire it through assault rifles, 12 in the form of a trion cube, 10 through handguns, two through shotguns and one through a minigun. The latter is used by Reiji Kizaki, who also utilizes an assault rifle, with no. 1 Gunner Kazuma Satomi channeling the bullet through one handgun and one assault rifle. The Asteroid user with the most points is no. 1 Shooter and no. 2 solo combatant Masataka Ninomiya. Asteroid is also used by an unknown number of trainees, and possibly by agents who do not take part in rank wars.

Trivia

 * All known All-Rounders have Asteroid in their Trigger set.
 * This Trigger's abilities were replicated by Yūma's Trigger from Shūji Miwa's Asteroid to create the Bolt seal.
 * It is currently unconfirmed whether, on top of boasting greater firepower, Asteroid is ordinarily set to be faster and have more range than special bullets. Using Lead Bullet with any other Gunner Trigger was stated to lead to diminished range and muzzle velocity, although this may be due to the Optional Trigger siphoning trion from those two parameters as a consequence of the quantity allocated to firepower being insufficient to manifest the weights.