Evil Without Cause

"Godzilla… It’s actually Godzilla?!"

The Tokyo Black Ball Team stood atop a building in Tokyo’s Ginza district, looking down at the monster that had already routed the Japan Self-Defense Forces below.

Kei Kurono found it hard to believe. Even though they had faced all kinds of aliens under Gantz’s control, seeing a monster like Godzilla rampaging through Tokyo without restraint still gave him the disorienting feeling that his worldview was collapsing.

Gantz had now announced that the rule under which Black Ball Team members would be killed if seen by ordinary people had been abolished. The Black Ball Team had officially become a force that could step forward to save the world.

For a time, this change had thrilled Kei Kurono and Masaru Kato.

When the ghouls had run rampant before, the restrictions of Gantz’s rules had made them hesitant even when protecting the women they loved and their younger brothers.

Masaru Kato especially was the kind of "saint" who would always lend a hand to anyone in need. With Tokyo now facing such a disaster, he felt duty-bound to act.

His Reinforcement Suit was fully activated. He gasped for breath, his body instinctively terrified of a giant beast capable of destroying a city, his survival instincts restraining his movements.

Yet his pounding heart kept pumping hot blood into his limbs, making him seem as though he might leap down to fight the giant beast at any moment.

"Calm down, Kato. Against something that huge, we need to prepare properly. You saw that breath attack just now…"

Kei Kurono was unexpectedly acting very much like a captain. He noticed his friend Masaru Kato’s state and stopped him from acting impulsively. At the same time, he knew that ever since Bonnie, who had joined during the previous mission, had been identified as a Reincarnation Star Person and turned into an enemy, the Tokyo Team’s morale had been extremely low.

"Miss Reika, can you contact Bonnie?"

Kei Kurono’s words stunned the members of the Tokyo Team. Daizaemon Kaze, the powerfully built legendary fighter, and the psychic master and disciple, Hiroto Sakurai and Kenzō Sakata, all realized something.

After losing Bonnie, these people were now the Tokyo Team’s strongest fighting force.

Daizaemon Kaze in particular was a legendary fighter who had traveled the world and mastered China’s Baji Quan. Combined with his terrifying muscles, a Reinforcement Suit allowed him to contend head-on with quite a few alien bosses.

"But hasn’t Bonnie already been judged by Gantz as a target that must be killed…?"

Reika Shimohira did not understand what Kei Kurono meant, but she had secretly developed feelings for him because of his heroic performance during the mission. Even though she was confused, she still instinctively dialed the contact number Bonnie had specifically left behind.

"Hello, Miss Bonnie… Where are you now?"

As Kei Kurono listened to the voice over the phone, his gaze became unusually clear. Years of life had once left him muddled, robbing him of the courage and cleverness to fight, but at critical moments, he always displayed that special talent.

Faced with a giant beast more terrifying than any alien they had encountered before, the target Kei Kurono thought of was Bonnie, the Reincarnation Star Person they were supposed to kill.

Everyone on the Tokyo Team knew how powerful Bonnie was.

And that woman was not merely powerful. She had constantly saved others during missions. When the city was about to be destroyed, such a kind and powerful person was the strongest help he could think of.

Gantz might deduct points after recovering a team whose members failed to complete a mission, and it might even issue punishment missions.

But that was a matter for the next mission. Besides, the opponent would not necessarily be a Reincarnation Star Person as powerful as Bonnie!

Kei Kurono had found a loophole: Gantz’s mission punishments were not absolutely unbearable. At a time like this, he wanted to find a powerful ally for the Tokyo Team and all the Japanese people in Tokyo.

Once Masaru Kato, Hiroto Sakurai, and the others understood the idea, excitement appeared on their faces.

In fact, before this, Kenzō Sakata and Hiroto Sakurai had already been considering throwing everything aside and trying to kill the giant beast with their psychic powers.

Kenzō Sakata was a prodigy who had independently mastered psychic powers. Not only could he control liquids and heart rates, he could also resist bullets. He also possessed the ability to teach psychic powers to others through some method.

Hiroto Sakurai had gained X-Ray Vision and telekinesis through Kenzō Sakata’s gift, and his powers had surpassed Kenzō Sakata’s. He had ultimately become the Tokyo Team’s ultimate weapon.

Their psychic powers were not strong enough to directly kill overly powerful aliens, and forcing their use would bring backlash. Attacking the giant beast was practically the same as preparing to sacrifice themselves. Hearing Kei Kurono’s plan now, the two of them quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Reika Shimohira’s expression suddenly changed as she said to the others,

"Miss Bonnie is injured. She’s being attacked by other Reincarnation Star People. What do we do?!"

Kei Kurono came up with an answer almost without thinking.

"Reincarnation Star People are targets for us to hunt. Of course we’re going to support Miss Bonnie!"

They immediately turned to head toward Bonnie’s coordinates. As they left the building, they brushed past many people sheltering inside. Without Gantz’s frequency-shifting invisibility, ordinary people could see them directly.

But what puzzled Kei Kurono was that no one looked kindly upon them. Not even the celebrity Reika Shimohira received a greeting. Everyone simply averted their eyes.

"The atmosphere is strange."

The Tokyo Team, dressed in black Reinforcement Suits, stood in the elevator as the good-natured Ryoichi Suzuki offered that reminder. In truth, someone as worldly as him clearly understood that the eyes those people turned toward their group were filled with fear and hatred.

Whoosh—BOOM!

The moment they stepped out of the building, a massive explosion erupted in the distance, followed by the enraged roar of the giant beast. The next instant, a burning armed helicopter spun through the air and crashed onto the roof of the building they had just left.

A huge fireball erupted, and terrified screams rang out from inside the building. The humans hiding within swarmed outside like ants.

Amid the chaos, the smell of blood spread through the air as people trampled one another.

In that chaos, Masaru Kato turned and rushed into the crowd, trying to help those who had fallen to their feet. But everyone he saw had red eyes and cursed at him, telling him to get lost.

"You want to join that damned government and kill the Godzilla protecting us too?!"

Someone suddenly shouted at Kei Kurono and the others from within the crowd.

The Tokyo Team did not understand what the person meant at first. The next moment, someone took advantage of the confusion to shout,

"It was these people who destroyed Tokyo together with those monsters!"

BOOM!

Chaos erupted. The tide of people shifted direction and surged toward them. Daizaemon Kaze stood in front like a wall, but the next instant, he saw a Shōnen desperately shoving through the crowd ahead, while a girl had already fallen.

Daizaemon Kaze’s anger flared, and his body suddenly shook.

BANG!

A powerful burst of force instantly sent the crowd before him flying. The nearest few had their chests cave in as blood sprayed from their mouths.

That sight immediately sent the fleeing crowd into even greater panic.

"Those people in black killed someone!"

Noise. Chaos. Daizaemon Kaze could no longer see the two children. The bloody aura grew thicker and thicker. He wanted to explain, but did not know how. He wanted to save people, but everyone before him was crying for help.

At that moment, Daizaemon Kaze, too, fell into confusion.

BOOM!

A thunderous roar ruptured eardrums as something moving beyond the speed of sound slammed down from the sky ahead, trailing Blazing White light.

It was too fast to react to.

Kei Kurono only had time to throw himself over the teammate beside him before he heard a deafening boom and a Blazing White shockwave swept in from behind.

All of them were blasted into the air and sent tumbling into the street.

Severed limbs covered the ground, and blood seemed to have become a river.

Terrifying sounds continuously came from the building, as though it might collapse at any second.

Kei Kurono staggered to his feet.

"What… happened…?"

The next second, he saw a tall man covered in blood and grime shake his head and rise from among the corpses.

Bai Cangshu had not expected the giant beast’s strength to be so great that it could send him flying with a single blow.

The next instant, Bai Cangshu bent his knees, and the ground cracked beneath him with a sharp crunch.

BANG!

Amid a spray of blood mist, sonic boom clouds burst open one after another. The giant beast’s pained roar rang out through Tokyo City once more.

From beginning to end, the tall man had not spared the Tokyo Team a single glance.

Kei Kurono trembled as he looked at the scene before him. The crowd that had been as dense as ants moments ago had been reduced to nothing but mangled flesh and broken corpses. Daizaemon Kaze had been embedded in a wall by the shockwave, while Masaru Kato had been blown more than ten meters away.

Among the bodies, a Shōnen crawled out of a mass of unrecognizable flesh. From another pile of corpses, he dug out his younger sister. Because they had been squeezed into the crowd by the adults around them, the two had instead survived by luck.

The Shōnen looked at the fallen Black Ball Team members and the street that was no longer crowded because so many people had died, and a strange smile appeared on his face.