Ch 307: Dinosaur Hunting.

Shizuka squirmed, her body burning with lust. She was blindfolded, her head the only part sticking out of the vacuum bed, while Sakura was using her hands and a vibrator to edge her relentlessly.

"Please, Mistress... I need it." gasped Shizuka.

"No."

"But… have I not been good?" whined Shizuka. She hated hearing herself whine, but right now, the need to cum was consuming her. It seemed like nothing else mattered.

"You are a Good Girl." nodded Sakura. "But tonight, we start the hardest lesson for you to learn."

"What?"

"Nee-san and I taught you to enjoy being a submissive. You now enjoy being bound and used like a plaything. But true Submission, Shizuka, is not about your own pleasure. It is about you giving pleasure to your Master or Mistress. That is why I am afraid that the next few days will be full of edging for you, with few orgasms, if any."

"….nnnnghhhh." groaned Shizuka, feeling despair.

"You will learn that your pleasure has to be earned from now on, if you please your Owner enough that they decide to reward you. It is not owed simply because you do not resist when we bind you. You need to learn to derive pleasure and satisfaction from the act of serving itself, not simply from the rewards you may or may not get."

Shizuka nodded reluctantly. She understood Sakura's point. If Shizuka had been in her normal state, she might even has agreed that it was a good reason, at least.

But not now, while she had been edged for what seemed like half an hour and could think of almost nothing except go over the edge!

"…Please…" gasped Shizuka.

"It's hard for me as well, you know? I like rewarding Good Girls, but…"

Sakura's words were interrupted.

"Sakura! Gantz is calling!" exclaimed Rin.

Shizuka flinched. In barely a second, Sakura and broken the seal of the vacbed and opened it. Her hands seemed everywhere, removing the inner straps holding Shizuka's limbs.

She groaned at the idea of being seen wearing the black latex bodysuit clinging to her body like a second skin.

Rin seemed to read her mind, as she started literally tearing away the bodysuit from Shizuka's body.

"Time still goes twenty times faster here, so we just barely have time to get you dressed in something more casual. No time for a shower, though. You'll have to do without one."

"Thank you, Mistress." said Shizuka, adding the Mistress by sheer reflex.

Meanwhile, Sakura was getting out of her own fetish outfit, a blue latex bodysuit with a corset.

As soon as Shizuka was naked, Rin created for her a set of black cotton underwear, gray T-shirt and leather slacks.

"I haven't gained those abilities yet." sighed Shizuka as she quickly put them on.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure you're safe, no matter what we face." said Sakura.

Seconds later, they left the Sanctuary, and Shizuka immediately heard the ringing inside her head. She dashed into her room to grab her G-suit. She was still panting from the edging and regretted that she couldn't touch herself right now.

G-suit in hand, she walked to the living room, where some of the others were waiting. Eru was in the process of being 'faxed' to Gantz.

"Kei and Ayase have already been transferred." said Tsugumi.

Shizuka nodded, and Sakura walked closer before whispering to Shizuka.

"Be a good girl during the mission as well, and when we return, I will give you a reward."

Shizuka nodded.

"That's not going to help me cool down, you know?"

"You'll have to deal with it." chuckled Sakura. "Did you know? Akeno-sama once did an experiment with three girls she was training. She wanted to see if they could fight properly while wearing chastity belts with anal and vaginal vibrators constantly turned on."

"That's insane!" gasped Shizuka, aghast at the idea.

"The girls couldn't manage it as they sparred, so she abandoned the idea. But if they had… Maybe I would have tried to train you to be able to do it as well. You would look so cute, denied and aroused."

Shizuka shuddered in fear. But also, a little, in anticipation.

Sakura read her like an open book.

"And that fear, Shizuka, is why you aren't ready yet. When you are, you will be willing to lock yourself in chastity for however long your Owner wishes, because wanting to please them will be more important to you than wanting to cum. You will relish their control more than you will crave an orgasm."

Shizuka nodded with a gulp, and then her vision changed to a view of Gantz's apartment. It was her turn to be transferred.

And she quickly noticed something abnormal.

"Eru, isn't there too many people?" quietly asked Shizuka.

"I was wondering too." replied Eru.

From what Sakura had told them, new people were only brought by Gantz to replace the losses, or the people leaving. They had expected six new people to be revived to replace Kurono, Kato, Nishi, the dog, as well as the kid and his grandmother whose freedom Sakura and Ayase had bought.

And yet, there were already twelve new faces present, most of them men. Including four black men. African Americans, if Shizuka guessed correctly from their features. And sitting in a corner of the room was a panda, of all things.

As Rin was next to be transferred, Shizuka clenched her teeth. She guessed that this one was going to be bad, if Gantz judged necessary to bring in more people. She hoped that not having completed Sakura's training wasn't going to be her end.

The newcomers were confused, most quietly observing, others talking softly in small groups They were, wisely, staying clear from the panda.

Sakura was next, and Gantz went on to bring in still more people.

Shizuka groaned when a little kid was next. He couldn't be older than 4-year-old.

"Hey, little one. What's your name?" asked Ayase with a smile as she crouched near the kid.

"…Takeshi Koumoto." said the kid after a short hesitation.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ayase. Can I be your friend?"

"…Yes."

"Thank you, Takeshi. I'll ask you to stay with me for…"

"Hey! You're Reika Shimohira, right?!" loudly cut in an average-looking woman in her forties, displaying a triumphant expression as she pointed a finger at a women huddled in a corner of the room.

Shizuka had noticed her before, but the woman had used her long, straight black hair as a curtain to hide her face. Now that she looked more closely, Shizuka indeed recognized her. It was hard not to, as her face was on many commercials, both on TV and in the streets and subway.

Reika was likely the most famous Japanese gravure model of her generation. More than once in the past, Shizuka had stared at Reika's image and envied her body lines.

Reika winced, feeling vulnerable like never before. She had been stabbed by a so-called fan, lost consciousness before she could use her phone to call for help, and had found herself in this strange room filled with strangers, mostly males. Although the last arrivals were evening the gender ratio.

"Oi oi, isn't this babe a real bombshell?" said one of the black men in English.

"She's right down my alley. Maybe we could invite her into a hotel room and show her why BBCs are superior." snickered another in a low voice, and they chuckled while staring at Reika.

The snickering man had been loud enough for Reika to hear anyway, and from her disgusted glare, she understood English perfectly.

"Alright!" called out Rin, clapping once to attract everyone's attention. "This must be the first time for most of you that you find yourselves in this place, so you must be pretty confused. For me and some of my companions, this is the fourth time. I'll tell you what you need to know, but before that, I will issue a warning."

"Here, we kill rapists. Two Yakuzas tried before, and they aren't around anymore. You guys were given a chance to cheat death once, but only once. So stay away from Miss Shimohira."

"You a female cop or something? And what's with those rubber outfits you guys are holding? Are you SM freaks?" asked one of the black men in broken Japanese.

"No, we aren't cops." replied Sakura with a light smile, setting her suit on the floor. But her eyes were cold. "Cops are bound by laws. There are limits to what they can do to you. They wouldn't stuff a barbed rod deep into your rectums and break your limbs to punish you for trying to rape a girl."

As she spoke, Sakura made a sleigh of hand, and suddenly, a fifty centimeters long rod of black metal was in her right hand. Most of it was covered by dozens of thick metal thorns, all curving toward the handle. Clearly, the thorns would only be a minor inconvenience to the rod's insertion into any hypothetical rectum. Its extraction, however, would be another matter entirely. A very bloody one.

The people seeing it were too intimidated to really wonder how the crazy girl had managed to keep this rod hidden in her sleeves.

"Let's hope this warning wasn't required." said Rin. "Now I'll give you the gist of it. This black sphere has been nicknamed Gantz, and it has revived you guys right after your death using alien technology. However, it is doing it for its own reasons, not for charity. Gantz will provide each of you with a black suit like those, that are like full-body ballistic armor amongst other things, as well as weapons, and we will be sent to another part of Tokyo to hunt aliens. After this is done, Gantz will bring us back here, heal any injury the survivors may have, distribute points according to our individual contributions, then unlock the door and let us go, until it is time for the next hunt in a few days."

"Once you get 100 points, you can buy your freedom and leave, with your memories of anything associated with Gantz erased. You will then be free to resume your life without interruptions. Until then, if you try to leave the hunting area during a mission, Gantz will kill you. If you try to speak about Gantz to any third party between hunts, Gantz will kill you. If you prove to be a danger to the rest of the group, I will kill you. Questions?"

"Aliens?" asked the woman who had pointed a finger at Reika, her voice displaying contempt and incredulity. "You're completely crazy! You belong to an asylum!"

"Lady, you can believe whatever you want." shrugged Tsugumi. "I promise you that after tonight, you'll either believe in aliens, or you'll be dead."

"That's not the nicest way to put it, but that's true enough." nodded Shizuka. "If you guys want to survive what is about to happen, you better take this seriously!"

Sha was about to say more when Gantz broadcasted his old-fashioned music, and every eye turned toward it. Then it displayed his usual message.

"Y0ur l1v3s hav3 3nd3d.

H0w y0u us3 y0ur n3w l1v3s 1s 3nt1r3ly up 2 m3.

Th4t's th3 th30ry, 4nyw4yz."

"Y0u Shmucks w1ll n0w g0 0ut 4nd d3f34t th1s p3rs0n.

Kappe Alien

Characteristics:

Thick-headed

Sweats a lot

Likes:

Birds, Lizards.

Quote:

This is myyy place! Don't look down on me! If you want to leave, then leave!"

"Is that really an alien?" asked one of the Japanese men. He had a tall and wide build, and his short beard, short black hair standing up, and arched eyebrow gave him a somewhat wild appearance.

"Gantz never gives us a complete list of targets." shrugged Ayase. "In the last mission four days ago, We were supposed to kill two aliens looking like buddha statues, but the mission only ended when we destroyed every statue of the Shozo temple. They were all aliens in disguise."

"Ah? It was you? The medias talked about it for days!" exclaimed the middle-aged women.

And she fell with a cry when Gantz opened its compartments, shoving her aside.

"The rear panel has suits for each of you. I highly advise you put them on." said Sakura. "We girls will move into the hallway to change. If any of you men try to peek, you will pay dearly."

Tsugumi walked behind Gantz, grabbed the suitcase with Takeshi Koumoto's name on it, and returned near the kid with her best smile.

"Hi. I'm Tsugumi, Ayase's best friend That makes you my friend as well. Come with us, we'll take care of you."

Takeshi nodded, and they walked into the hallway.

Seconds later, three of the four women Gantz had added to their team joined them, suitcases in hand.

One of them, a woman with blue eyes and neck-length blonde hair, cleared her throat with a slight smile.

"Hi. The name's Mary McLane. Are those weird suits really effective against those aliens?"

"Hello. I am Sakura Tohsaka." smiled Sakura as she stripped. "I am sorry if I intimidated you earlier, but… let's just say I have an history with rape. I got over it, but since then, I have no tolerance for scums. To answer your question, those suits only offered limited protection against the aliens we have encountered so far, but they were better than nothing, and they have other functions. With a wrist computer you can take from Gantz's racks, the suits can make you invisible, although at least some aliens will still be able to locate you, and they can amplify your strength. There are artificial muscles embedded into the material. "

"Artificial muscles? So the suits make you stronger?" wondered Mary.

"With them, you could jump from the third floor of a building without injury as long as you land on your feet, or you could lift a car." nodded Rin. "I'm Rin Tohsaka, Sakura's older sister. It is nice to meet you."

"I still have a hard time believing I'm not having a strange dream." sighed Reika as she watched Ayase help the kid get his legs into his small G-suit. "I am Reika Shimohira, pleased to meet you. And thank you for speaking out for me earlier."

"Do not mention it." smiled Rin. "Do you mind if I call you Reika? We're all on a first name basis."

"I don't. My fans and my agent all call me Reika all the time. How do you even put on this suit?"

"I can help you if you wish. When the mission starts, I'll tell everyone how to use the weapons. They are powerful, but they have their quirks. And when the mission is over, we'll talk with the survivors about the little we know about why Gantz exists and recruited us in the first place."

"With the Survivors?" said the third new woman, speaking for the first time. She had a thick Kansai accent. "How bad is it going to be?"

"…We have done three hunts so far." replied Ayase. "The first two were fairly easy, and those who died were mostly those who acted foolishly, didn't put on the suits, or tried to leave. The last one, with the buddha statues, was relatively easy, aside from the giant buddha and the one with dozens of arms… But for all three missions, there were twelve of us. Tonight, we are over twenty. It's rather ominous."

"… well, shit." muttered the young woman. She was pretty, with neck-length black hair and black eyes.

"What's your name?" asked Sakura.

"Ah, it's Anzu. Anzu Yamasaki. Sorry for not introducing myself properly. I'm still in shock, I think."

"That's understandable." smiled Sakura.

Shizuka, Ayase, Tsugumi, Kei and Eru used the lull in the conversation to introduce themselves as well.

"Anzu, Reika, Mary, I have a suggestion." said Sakura. "When the mission starts, we will do like we did during the previous missions and form two groups. Shizuka and Ayase will be on the reserve group to protect Takeshi-kun. Tsugumi, who currently has 32 points, will take the lead of the assault group. I advise you three to remain with the reserve, to get some experience before you have to be in the thick of it, and because we intend for Tsugumi to reach 100 points as soon as possible and pay for Takeshi-kun's release. A kid shouldn't be involved in this."

"I agree." nodded Anzu. "Has there been other kids in your previous missions?"

"Yes." nodded Rin. "Last time, Ayase and Sakura paid 100 points each to get a kid barely older than Takeshi-kun and his grandmother out. We're sorry if that is going to delay your own release, but we will still do it."

"I understand." frowned Reika, observing how Sakura was putting on the suit and understanding how her own was supposed to be fastened. "And I approve about getting Takeshi-kun out first. But what about the men?"

"We'll tell them what we just told you, and why we're going to prioritize Tsugumi getting kills." shrugged Rin. "But we won't try to restrict their freedom. Or yours, for that matter. If they choose to cooperate with us, that's great. If they want to strike out on their own, they are responsible for their own lives. We'll have done our duty to them by giving them the information relevant to the mission."

Reika, Anju and Mary nodded, as Rin's stance was reasonable. Soon enough, they were all suited up, their street clothes folded in neat piles on the floor, and after waiting another minute, returned to the main room.

Aside from the four black men and the middle-aged women, they all had put on their suits, and the girls started taking weapons and wrist computers from Gantz's racks.

Shizuka and Ayase chose a G-Rifle and a computer each, and encouraged Reika, Anzu and Mary to take the same weapons. There were only twelve weapons of each kind and eight computers, but the men hadn't taken anything from the racks yet.

Tsugumi, Sakura, Rin, Kei and Eru each took a G-gun and a G-sword, and the Tohsaka sisters took a computer as well.

The others armed themselves, and Gantz started sending them away.

"Alright, everyone!" said Rin once again. "The weapons are now activated. Let me show you how they work!"

As Rin explained how the triggers on the weapons worked and pointed out the delay between firing and the actual effect, Shizuka was observing her surroundings, ready to aim at anything that moved.

Thet were standing near the corner of a small square. On the opposite side was a hug building with a modern architecture. A museum.

The hunting area is centered around this building." said Ayase, an eye on the computer.

"…It's going to be like the Buddhist temple, right?" asked Shizuka, flinching at the conclusion she had reached, and asked rhetorically. "And what will we find in a museum?"

"Human mannequins, possibly… and probably, dinosaurs." muttered Ayase.

Ayase didn't say it, as several people were close enough to hear, but she already knew from the quests they had received that this hunt was going to be about dinosaur aliens.

"I'll gladly take dinosaur aliens over ones holding tools that can be advanced weapons." shrugged Sakura. "Their huge size would be an advantage, but also an inconvenience. We'll see them coming and have a hard time missing."

A waste bin nearby exploded, and Shizuka turned toward the group. One of the black men had just tested his G-rifle and was laughing like a kid at Christmas. The four of them barely waited the end of Rin's explanation before they headed toward the museum's main entrance.

The middle-aged woman had walked away almost as soon as she was transferred. Shizuka had seen her leave, but didn't bother trying to stop her. She had already been warned.

"Alright! We're starting." called out Tsugumi when the black men entered the museum. She walked toward the main entrance as well, with Kei, Eru, Rin and Sakura following close by.

"We of the reserve group will follow about fifty meters behind the assault group, close enough to provide fire support if needed, far enough to not attract too much attention from the aliens." explained Ayase to Reika, Anzu and Mary, holding Takeshi's hand. "We'll use wall corners and other obstacle as cover to be more discrete, while the assault group will act in a flashy way.

"Will they really be okay?" worriedly asked Reika.

"Yes, don't worry about them." grinned Ayase. "They may not look like it, but they all are veteran martial artists."

"They are?" asked the tall, wide man with an interested smile. "I mean no disrespect, but they seem… rather slender."

"Appearances can be deceiving." shrugged Ayase.

The man nodded doubtfully. There were the four other men standing close, who apparently decided to tag along with the reserve group. Two had been dressed like womanizers or club hosts, one was a college student, and the last one a middle-aged man with glasses and a bit of a beer gut.

Shizuka ignored them, keeping her attention on their surroundings, with regular checks on the map displayed by her wrist computer. And as the assault group entered the immense building, a blip suddenly appeared on the map.

"Contact, deeper into the building, left after entering." announced Shizuka. She looked back at the girls forward, but didn't have to inform them as Rin was already pointing in that direction.

Seconds later, they heard a strange but very loud scream, and the blip disappeared from the radar.

"…Is that it?" hopefully asked Reika.

Before Shizuka could make a joke about jinxing them, a chorus of deep, rumbling screams of anger came from inside the building, answering Reika's question. Shizuka glanced at the map and sighed, as half of the museum now seemed filled with overlapping blips. There had to be at least a hundred of them.

"Tsugumi, Sakura!" shouted Ayase, getting the attention of the assault group. "We're hunkering down here!" "They'll have to cross those long hallways to reach us!"

"Okay!" shouted back Sakura.

Then the girls of the assault group did something that made no sense to Reika, Anzu and Mary. They split up. Tsugumi and Rin ran toward a side passage, Kei and Sakura ran further down another, and Eru trotted back to the reserve group.

"Why did you split up? That's insane!" asked Mary, her face pale.

"Divide and Conquer. We want to engage the enemy on several fronts, to stop them from gathering into a single group." said Eru, taking her G-sword and extending the blade to two meters. "I'm remaining with you guys in case it turns into a melee."

They could feel the ground vibrate, and the sounds of a stampede was coming from deeper into the building. And it was coming closer, fast.

The first alien reached the corner at the end of the long hallway. The ivory skeleton of a tyrannosaur. It was running at such speed that its feet skittered on the hard stone floor and it collided against the wall, but it recovered fast.

The skeleton roared, despite not having any visible vocal cords or soft tissues, and charged toward them as parts of its skull and two of its ribs exploded.

"Open fire!" shouted Ayase to shake the others out of their shock. She was already taking shots at the alien, as did Shizuka and Ayase.

The skeleton opened its mouth and somehow spat a fireball at Eru, who threw herself to the side to avoid it.

More dinosaurs, and not simply skeletons this time, but full monsters with muscles and hides, emerged from the corner behind the tyrannosaur skeleton. Shizuka was too busy aiming and firing in quick succession to make a headcount, but she saw another tyrannosaur, two stegosaurs that somehow had the pointed teeth of carnivores, a dozen smaller bipedal ones, and even two triceratopses. Except those triceratopses had pointed fangs and stood upright on their hind legs.

The giant skeleton finally collapsed when an explosion at the base of its skull caused the head to be violently separated from the spine, and the girls shifted their attention to the others.

They were getting close, and some at least would reach their firing line.

Shizuka clenched her teeth, when Eru called out.

"Careful where you shoot!"

With those words, she jumped forward, and started dancing among the smaller dinosaurs, velociraptors or other similar beasts Shizuka couldn't identify.

Eru danced, her graceful limbs moving with precision, and her long black blade made flashing arcs, severing the heads of any raptor withing her range.

Shizuka shook her head for a second, chasing off the fleeting envy, and focused her fire on the approaching triceratopses.

By her side, Ayase was laying down murderously accurate fire, aiming at the aliens' vital points and locking them with the speed of a machine, and pressing the weapon's lower trigger every five or six locks. She more than compensated for the lack of accuracy and panicky response from the other members of the reserve group.

More and more fake dinosaurs appeared in the hallway and charged them, but only one of the big ones reached Eru, an Allosaurus with abnormally long forelimbs allowing it to run efficiently on all four, and Eru dove under it as it tried to tackle her, opening its belly as it went and spilling its guts. The alien monster screamed and tried to whip its tail at her, but Eru was already on her feet and jumped over it, aiming her G-Gun at the Allosaurus's face and pressing the locking trigger a few times, then the firing trigger once.

She jumped away before a kick from the monster reached her, and slashed with her sword to her right, killing another raptor that had tried to take her back.

The Allosaurus had just gotten back on its feet when a the left third of its head exploded on several spots and became a bloody mess.

Eru used the opportunity to slip into the suddenly created blind spot and performed an upward slash at the alien's right shoulder joint, severing the limb. The follow-up downward slash severed most of the Allosaurus's thick neck, including its spine, and the beast collapsed.

And aside from the dying alien, there were no more living dinosaurs threatening them. Shizuka, Ayase and the others had been busy, and the hallway was now littered with corpses.

"Eru… How?" asked Reika, staring at the blood-stained brunette with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Is this the suit, that let you move like this?" wondered Mary, equally shocked.

"It's not the suit. Its… I'll let Sakura explain. Sakura, Tsugumi, Rin and Kei, and Ayase too, they are just as strong and fast as me, or even stronger. There's a reason they choose to split up."

"Yes. The number of blips on the radar is decreasing steadily." nodded Ayase.

The others has no trouble believing it, as they heard bestial screams in the distance, and the faint sounds of flesh exploding, and heavy bodies collapsing.

"Looks like sticking with you was the right decision." sighed Anzu before glancing at the dinosaur corpses and shuddering. "That was scary as heck!"

"Are you okay, Takeshi-kun?" asked Ayase, suddenly remembering the kid and finding him huddled to the side behind a large potted plant. The poor kid was shaking, his face pale.

"…Are the bad dinosaurs gone?"

"There's a few more, but we won't let them hurt you." smiled Ayase, crouching in front of him. "It will soon be over, and we'll bring you home to your parents."

Ayase had apparently stepped on a landmine, as Takeshi flinched, looking more afraid than before.

"…I don't want to go home." trembled Takeshi.

"Why? Do you not want to see your parents?" asked Ayase, and Takeshi shook his head.

"Why? Can you tell me, Takeshi-kun?"

"Mom's new daddy. He hit me, because I ate his pudding." shivered Takeshi, tears escaping his eyes. "He kicked my tummy really hard, and I couldn't breathe."

"Did that happen just before you joined us in the room with the black ball, Takeshi-kun?" asked Shizuka, feeling like throwing up.

"Yes." nodded Takeshi. "Please, I don't want to go back home."

Ayase nodded, and was already thinking about logistics, arranging for the kid to live with them while not being exposed to the activities happening inside the Sanctuary. She could ask Unohana. She might welcome the distraction.

"You'll come like with me, kid." suddenly declared the tall, wide man.

Shizuka turned her head toward him, and he shrugged.

"I already raised two kids, and they turned okay. I have room to spare, and I can protect him." shrugged the man.

"I'm sorry, I didn't ask for your name. We intended to do proper introductions after the mission's debriefing." said Ayase.

"I'm Daizaemon Kaze. The strongest man in Japan." Although after what I just saw, I won't claim to be the strongest person. "That man will have to go over my dead body to hurt that kid again."

Shizuka could hear the promise behind his words.

"What do you think, Takeshi-kun?" asked Ayase.

"…Can I be strong and big like you?"

"Yes, kid." smiled Kaze, gently patting his head.

"We'll discuss it after this is over, Kaze-san." suggested Ayase after another glance her radar, and he nodded.

"Let's advance further. The others may need support." said Eru, and the group walked cautiously toward the sounds of fighting.

As they walked over the dinosaur corpses, Kaze picked up Takeshi to let Ayase free to use both her hands.

Following the side corridor Tsugumi and Rin had taken, they soon saw more and more corpses, most having died from having their heads severed.

They reached an exposition hall just in time to see Tsugumi run up the long neck of a huge, carnivorous brachiosaurus that was whipping its tail at Rin. The giant beast tried to shake Tsugumi off, but it was too late, and her blade pierced its skull.

Tsugumi waved it around inside the wound, greatly amplifying the damage, and the alien collapsed.

"Rin, Tsugumi!" called out Ayase, waving her free hand.

The two girls watched back toward them for an instant, noticed the bloodstains on Eru's suit, and nodded.

"It seems everyone's okay. Good job." smiled Rin.

"We got about three dozen of them." said Eru.

"A bit more for us." smiled Tsugumi.

"And the radar isn't showing any more. Sakura's and Kei's icons are moving toward us." nodded Ayase, checking her computer.

It wasn't long before the two girls, using their own computer, found their way to the reserve group. They watched their surroundings vigilantly as they walked closer.

"We found the bodies of the four black men." sighed Sakura.

"I am glad everyone else is safe." nodded Kei.

"It seems the mission is over. We're being transferred." pointed out Kei as she watched he middle-aged man. His head was disappearing.

"Nice. But I wonder what the medias will say about this. We made a mess again." sighed Tsugumi.

"First a temple, now a museum." nodded Rin. "The police is going to go apeshit over it."

They were relaxing, and it was Takeshi's turn to be transferred, when Sakura suddenly turned her head toward the hallway from which they had come from, frowning. Ayase, Key, Eru and Tsugumi did the same barely a second later.

After a moment, Shizuka heard it as well. Footsteps, from many people.

The newcomers turned the corner, appearing before them, and Shizuka frowned.

There were about thirty of them, almost all men, all dressed in various black clothes, from suits to open leather vests exposing their chests, and all wearing the same model of sunglasses.

"Ah, our preys haven't escaped yet." smiled the one leading them, one with shoulder-length blonde hair and a suit.

Shizuka frowned. The G-suits they wore were supposed to make them invisible to normal people, which suggested that those people weren't. Not that their lack of reaction to the corpses and blood wouldn't give them away.

Wearing sunglasses at night was also weird, and when the man spoke, Shizuka saw his canines, abnormally long. She immediately thought about vampires.

"Are you guys vampires?" asked Sakura, reaching the same conclusion.

"You Hunters killed too many. You have bounties on your heads now, and we intend to collect!" said the leader with a nod of acknowledgement.

Shizuka frowned as she saw some kind of shimmering liquid fluid from his right hand. The fluid took the form of an automatic Uzi-like firearm in barely a second, then seemed to solidify. The vampire leader lifted his weapon and fired in a smooth motion, and Sakura's left arm became a blur.

Some of the vampires gasped as Sakura let a dozen bullets drop from her hand. As did Reika, Kaze and the others.

"I don't know if they're worth points, but…" shrugged Sakura, handing her sword to Tsugumi. "Tsugumi, go all out. Do that thing you did the last time we sparred."

"Aye aye!" grinned Tsugumi, a black katana in each hand.

Shizuka kept her attention on the group of vampires, and she saw what happened. Suddenly, Tsugumi was in the middle of the group, and she twirled. As she did, she extended the black blades to as far as they would go and slashed out.

In the blink of an eye, the vast majority of the Vampires, their leader included, had been bisected at waist level.

The surviving Vampires that had been far back enough to avoid the human blender didn't have time to complete the creation of whatever weapons they intended to use before they were cut down as well.

Her business done, Tsugumi shortened her blade and suddenly reappeared near Sakura, giving her one sword back.

"…I think I'll be sick." muttered Anzu as she turned away, her hands on her mouth.

"…How did you move so fast?" asked Kaze, once again in shock.

"Let's speak about it after Gantz is done with the grading." replied Sakura, seeing Rin start to being transferred.

No more vampires came, and soon enough, they were all beck in Gantz's apartment.

The panda was there, but the middle-aged woman wasn't. Shizuka assumed she hadn't taken Rin's prior warning seriously about trying to leave the mission area.

Shizuka, Ayase and the girls put the weapons back on the racks, and the others followed suit.

"We can keep the suits with us." said Rin. "But when you hear a ringing sound in your heads in a few nights, you better have them close by, because Gantz won't issue any replacement. As a reminder, you must not mention Gantz or anything that happened tonight to anyone who isn't present in this room. Gantz will know the instant you do, and your head will explode."

"T1m3 t0 sh4r3 th3 p01nts!

"Leaf Muncher – 5 points.

D1dn't th1nk y0u h4d 1t 1n y0u."

"Wow, the panda actually killed a dinosaur alien." whistled Eru, looking at the small bear with bright eyes.

"Violent Girl – 64 points.

..."

"Violent girl?" asked Anzu with a raised Eyebrow.

"Gantz gave me that nickname after I broke a few bones from a wannabe rapist Yakuza." shrugged Rin.

"Super Scary Girl – 46 points.

1 f34r n0 m4n. But th1s g1rl, sh3 sc4r3s m3."

"Hehe." chuckled Sakura.

"Catgirl – 129 points. Total 161.

Choose an option:

1 – More powerful weapon.

2 – Freedom.

3 – Revive one person."

"Gantz, can I make that choice before the start of the next mission?" asked Tsugumi. "I want to free the kid, but we first have to make a few arrangements."

Gantz didn't reply, but displayed the score of one of the men who looked like they came from a host club.

"That probably means yes." shrugged Ayase.

Eru got 58 points for her participation in the mission, and Ayase 48 points for her accurate shooting delivering great results. Most of the people in the reserve group got between 2 and 10 points, for their role in stopping the charge of the largest dinosaur group.

When Gantz was done, it stopped displaying anything and became inert.

"Okay, I think everyone would like to change back into their street clothes." said Sakura. "When that is done, we can introduce ourselves to each other properly, and we'll speak about what we know about Gantz, and why some of us can do what we did."

They all nodded, as the newcomers were still not used to wearing form-fitting rubber-like suits, and the girls moved to the hallway with Takeshi to change.

Anzu, Reika and Mary didn't say a word as they removed their G-suits, thinking about the questions they wanted to ask. Ayase used the opportunity to tell the others about Takeshi's home situation.

A few minutes later, they were all back. And introduced themselves to everyone. The middle-aged man with a slight beer gut was Yoshizaku Suzuki. Shizuka had a rather favorable impression of him, as he seemed to be a decent and kind man.

The two womanizers were Toshizo Takeda and Yujiro Kato. They displayed their best smiles as they introduced themselves, likely hoping to woo some of the girls, but they didn't react.

The college student was Hiroto Sakurai, who claimed to have a supernatural power of his own. And he actually did, managing to lift a coin without touching it. Although his trick caused him to have a nosebleed.

"Alright." sighed Rin. "Now that the introductions are out of the way, let's give you the info you guys want. First, about Gantz."

"Our source is confidential and we won't tell you about it, so you'll have to rely on our word. But we have no doubts about the reliability of the information. There are several alien species in the galaxy. I know, shockers, after tonight. But two of those species do not get along, and one of them is out to conquer our planet for its resources. Their invasion force is either already on its way to our world, or it soon will be."

"The other species doesn't care much for us either. But they want to put a stick into the wheels of those coming to invade us, so they secretly contacted some wealthy industrialists somewhere in Europe, gave them a warning about the upcoming invasion as well as the technologies Gantz is using, and those industrialists have secretly started building black spheres and the equipment that we used tonight. There is already one Gantz in many major cities all over the world. To put it like our source phrased it, we're about to be invaded by the Russians, the Americans gave us weapons and training, and we are the Afghan resistance, here to make the invaders' lives as miserable as we can."

"According to our source, as long as we work hard, we actually have a good chance at convincing the aliens to pack up and leave our planet alone. But make no mistake, it's going to get really ugly. This carefree life as we know it is about to end."

"Does your source… knows when this will happen?" asked Anzu, her face tight with anxiety.

"No, but it's soon." sighed Rin. "I think we have at least two or three weeks, but…"

She trailed off as Gantz suddenly displayed something.

"37 days, 13 hours."

"Well, we have our answer. Thanks, Gantz." shrugged Sakura.

"Shit shit shit…" muttered Hiroto, his face pale.

"This is all we know about Gantz, and those who made it. The only thing we know about the invading aliens is that they are big enough that we would call them giants, and…" Rin lowered her voice after a glance at Takeshi, choosing her words carefully. "…they do not share our ethics about consuming other sapient beings for sustenance."

"You mean they are going to fucking ea… mmmph!" started Hiroto, before Ayase clamped a hand on his mouth.

"Mind your words." warned Ayase as she removed her hand, wiping it on her jeans. "Do not give Takeshi-kun nightmares. But yes, it is what you think."

The man nodded, feeling queasy.

"Now, I want to return to my bed soon, so let's speak about the other matter." said Sakura. "Some of us can use supernatural abilities. Including some we haven't yet shown you. Can you guys also learn and use those abilities? Yes and no."

"Normally, it would take someone talented at least a month to be able to use basic body reinforcement using Magecraft, making you stronger, faster, tougher. Although not to the point of being able to grab bullets with your hands or move like you're teleporting. Those would take at least five or ten years for you guys to learn, and that's assuming you're talented enough."

"However, there is a way. A way for us to bypass the normal training and just imprint those advanced abilities into others, regardless of their talent, and we can do it fast, requiring only a few days per individual. Eru and Kei learned them just recently, and Shizuka is a work in progress."

"We can do it using a form of Eromancy, or Tantric Arts, or whatever you would call it. Which means, sharing intimacy. And since all of us are into girls only, I'm sorry for you guys, but you'll have to make do with the Magecraft teaching, assuming you want to learn it."

"You mean that I can become as fast as Eru and Tsugumi, but I'll have to be intimate with one of you for a while, am I understanding correctly?" frowned Anzu.

"That is correct." nodded Sakura. "We won't try to force anyone, but I strongly recommend it. If you reject that option, we will still do our best to protect you during the hunting missions, but when the invasion starts, we may not have that latitude. And to be blunt, the more enhanced people there are, the more innocent people we'll be able to save in a little more than a month."

Anzu nodded, troubled.

"Anyway, let's exchange phone numbers for now, and then we can part ways for tonight." suggested Rin. "We gave everyone a lot to think about, and some decisions shouldn't be rushed. We'll likely organize the first lessons about Magecraft within three days. And Takeshi-kun, do you know your home address? We'd like to have a little chat with your mother."

"And her boyfriend." nodded Sakura with a pleasant smile. But something in her voice make Kaze, Reika, Anzu and the others look at her sharply. For an instant, they all remembered Sakura's spiked rod, and they fully understood why Gantz had given her that "Super Scary Girl" nickname.