A single projectile is flying towards the target or targets, only to be split into two or more parts midair by external forces such as an Absurdly Sharp Blade. This allows hitting multiple targets or a target that would be typically able to avoid the original projectile's trajectory.
See also:
- Recursive Ammo where the splitting is an intentional feature and doesn't require external forces.
- Parrying Bullets when this is done to avoid damage.
- Roboteching when the split parts move in different trajectories.
- Hair-Trigger Explosive when the projectile is an explosive.
- Shoot the Bullet / Splitting the Arrow / Shooting At Your Own Projectiles when projectiles hit each other.
- Mirrors Reflect Everything when the projectile is energy-based.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In the first episode of Afro Samurai, the titular character slices the shot from a flintlock rifle, causing it to burst into shrapnel which strike the enemies behind him.
- Doraemon: In The Doraemons spinoff, Dora The Kid (the cowboy cat robot) at one point is in a gunfight with a pair of villains. At one point, as the 2 baddies is about to attack him from both sides, Kid quickly finds an idea: using his unique Air Shot Arm Cannon, he shoots it to the tree in front of him; the "air bullet" splits into 2 upon hitting the tree, the halves of which then hit the 2 baddies at the same time.
- In JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, Josuke accidentally splits an air bubble bomb into two pieces using a blade made of hardened blood during an attempt to pop it, giving the enemy a chance to use two air bombs against Josuke rather than one.
- In the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam movies, Kamille invents the "Beam Confuse" maneuver as a defense against fast but lightly-armored missiles and Attack Drones - he first throws a spinning beam saber then shoots at it with his beam rifle, causing the shot to be deflected and spray outwards.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans: A tragic and unintentional example; when the Mobile Armor Hashmal becomes active and goes off on a human-killing rampage, Ride attempts to protect the Agriculture Center in its path with his Shiden. The Shiden's nanolaminate armor No Sells the Hashmal's beam weapon, but the beam diffuses around it and does heavy damage to the center behind it.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: One manga chapter has Yami Yugi challenging a person to a dice roll game where the person who rolls the lowest number wins (Yugi also makes a rule where even a tie will be his opponent's win). Yugi rolls first and gets a 6. His opponent gets arrogant and simply chucks the die at Yugi's face, thinking he will win no matter what. Yugi actually uses his Millennium Puzzle to deflect the die, causing it to split in half with 1 and 6 facing up, a total sum of 7 and thus Yugi's win.
Film — Live-Action
- The Dark Tower: In the climax, Roland finally kills Walter O'Dim by firing a bullet at him, then splitting it with a second bullet at the last moment so Walter's magicks can't stop both fragments in time.
- San Basilio: the protagonist splits his bullet with a knife to kill two goons
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- X-Men Origins: Wolverine: during the opening where the team of mutants' assault on a building, Wade Wilson enters a room full of armed mob which proceeds to fire at him. At one point, he cuts an incoming bullet with his katana, which splits it in two; the halves then hit 2 mobs behind him.
Literature
- A variation occurs in The Last Hero: Cohen the Barbarian is playing dice with a god. The god rolls a single six-sided die and gets a 6. He then informs Cohen that as a god, he wins all ties. So Cohen throws the die and slices it with his sword in midair. The two halves land with a 6 and a 1 up, giving Cohen a 7.
Live-Action TV
- There's the myth (proven possible by the MythBusters) that Davy Crockett shot a lead ball at an axe so it could be cut in half and hit two targets.
- In the second season finale of Wynonna Earp, Doc Holliday splits a bullet fired by Wynonna in order to kill two adversaries.
Toys
- BIONICLE: In the comics, Pohatu and Tahu defeat a pair of Tarakava by the former kicking a large boulder at the latter to cut in half so each half would hit each Tarakava behind him.
Video Games
- In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Wolverine or Captain America could combo with a character who fired an energy beam, like Iron Man, to deflect the beam in a spray so that it hit a large number of enemies.
- Mega Man Zero 4:
- One of the bosses, Mino Magnus, has a move where he makes a cluster of metal junk using his magnetism ability. Then, as the cluster floats towards him, he smashes it with his axe, causing the chunk to split in two as they're launched away from him.
- One of Dr. Weil's moves after he goes One-Winged Angel is to shoot a large, slow-moving Energy Ball. Said ball can be shot/slashed by Zero, but upon hitting it enough, it'll split into 3 smaller energy balls.
- Mega Man ZX Advent: One of Thetis' boss moves (in Ashe's storyline) is to generate a chunk of ice in front of him, then he slashes it with his halberd, causing a spread of icicles to shoot out. After Ashe gains his form, she can use a weaker version of the attack.
- In the Unreal Tournament series, the Shock Rifle has two firing modes: the primary fire shoots an energy beam that hits instantly a target and can knock back an enemy hit, and the Secondary Fire mode fires off a Painfully Slow Projectile in the form of a slow-moving orb that has even greater knockback than the beam. Shooting down a secondary fire's orb (doesn't have to be your own, it may also be another orb fired by an enemy player) with the primary fire's beam creates a large, devastating explosion with HUGE knockback and usually powerful enough to instantly kill any enemy caught in the blast.
Western Animation
- The Flintstones: a bowling ball splits into two halves after being lobbed into the air in order to successfully hit a split.
