Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 101 BUDDHA

We were all teleported to the same location for once. It was outside of a temple. The buddhist asked, “Is this Rateiin Temple?” As he appeared, looking around. He had been acting like us teleporting was us being sent to hell. Which was weird, I didn’t know if buddhist’s believed in hell. He wasn’t too far off though. This mission would be. I would consider myself lucky if half the people survived. 

A couple of the people that had refused to put on suits began walking down the sidewalk. “I wouldn’t recommend that!” I yelled. “If you stray too far, your head explodes.” I hadn’t seen it, but I thought I remembered it happening. From what I remembered there was a bomb placed in everyone’s head. If you talked about Gantz or used the guns and suits against normal people your head could explode. I hoped I didn’t have one since I could jump worlds, but I might have to stick around long enough to get it pulled out. 

“Whatever,” one of the guys said, continuing to try to leave. Only 1 turned back to us. I threw down 2 of the suitcases I had grabbed. 

“Again, put these on if you want a fighting chance. But I’m not your babysitter.” I turned to focus on the fight. Pulling the Seastone Jitte out I began to pour chakra into it. The blade rippled in the moonlight as I let it simply exist. Sharpening it only when I needed it to be. 

People grumbled, about 8 had the suits on, besides us returners. Including the Lara Croft lady. She eyed me as I looked around. In front of us was a large temple. A large wooden door in front of someone tried to open it. That’s when I noticed the aliens. 

They were statues. Guards on either side of the door. At least 15 feet tall they were muscular demon men. Faces contorted in rage, heads shaved with a top knot, they looked like statues. But their faces were that of what was displayed on Gantz. I calmed myself. The aliens pretended to be statues still. Not knowing we were there to kill them. 

“Kishimoto, Kato,” I said. The 2 turned to me as I waved. I grabbed their shoulders as they walked up, moving my head between theirs as I whispered. “There are 2 aliens behind me.” They looked and both gasped as they noticed the statues too. “You take the one on your right. Both of you shoot, aim for the head. I will take the one on the left. Keep shooting till it is down. This place will be much harder than last time.” Their breath caught but they nodded. 

We moved apart and as I channeled chakra I let out a yell. Jumping to the head of the alien I slashed. It moved faster than I thought to try to block me, but not fast enough. My blade cut into it’s neck. It wasn’t like skin, or the metal it appeared to resemble. It was more like cutting mud. My blade was strong though. I sliced and the head was lopped off. 

As the huge body fell to the ground Kishimoto and Kato had begun shooting the other one. Both yelling as they did, after 7 seconds it’s skin began to bubble and explode. A long drawn out groan escaped it’s lips as it fell to the ground with a resounding boom. 

“Good,” I said. Turning to the others they had stunned looks as they stared at the giants that were slain. “That is the first of many. There will be more in here, people. You sure you don’t want to put on the suit?” The priest and the man in the karate gi made a move for the suitcase. The karate guy made it first. He was quickly stripping down as he put the synthetic skin suit on. 

“Okay. Now that you’ve seen we aren’t lying, a quick tutorial. These suits give you superhuman strength. You Lara Croft,” I pointed. She jumped, pointing at herself. 

“Me?” 

“Do you see any others?” She blushed but shook her head. I pointed at the door between where the alien guards stood. “Try to open this door.” 

She frowned but moved over to it. Pushing with all she had she gave up quickly. “It’s locked.” 

“Kishimoto,” I said. She nodded and moved to it. With a Sparta kick the door was blown off it’s hinges. The 2 giant doors were blown in, tumbling a dozen feet before falling hard. 

“Stop this desecration!” The priest said. I ignored him. 

“In these suits. Simply think about becoming stronger, and you will be,” I said. “Kishimoto, Kato, and I have been training for a while with them. If you have questions, ask. Those guns that some of you have. There are scopes, right?” A few guys nodded. “There will be statues inside this temple. Most all of them will be aliens. They won’t have to look like these 2 we just killed. If you look through the scopes, they will show you underneath the skin of the aliens, confirming that they are one. You fire, and 5 to 7 seconds later the area you hit will explode. If you point it at any person, I will kill you myself. Are we clear?” 

People slowly nodded. Fear in their eyes since I had killed the alien with my Jitte rather than the gun. “Good. The more aliens you kill, the more points you get. But these guys are strong. I recommend sticking together. But again, I’m not a babysitter.” I headed into the temple. Kato and Kishimoto soon following. 

As soon as we got in there were another 4 statues staring at us. These didn’t pretend to be lifeless. They began to move toward us. “I have the one on the left. Kishi, Kato the one next to it. You all fire on the last 2!” I ordered. Running at the aliens they were smarter this time. 

Moving quickly one tried to stomp on me. I slid my blade up slicing it deep, as I passed. The huge guard didn’t appear to care as it hefted a club and swung at me. I felt my strength and dodged easily. Then I was running up the bigger monster. At least 25 feet this time my chakra charged feet stuck to the back as I went up. I was more than pleased to find that I could still use chakra through the synthetic skin. 

My blade began sliding along the back of the monster as I moved up. It roared as blood poured out of it. Then a club was thrown at me. One of the guards tried to squash me by throwing it. I dodged just in time and the guard I was on fell face first. The priest let out a scream as the guard landed on him, squashing him. 

I felt a little bad, but not bad enough to hesitate. Slicing down I ran up the aliens back and cut off the head. I turned to see that only 1 was left standing. Kishimoto and Kato were finishing off their target, and the others had knocked the other down by shooting it’s feet. The last one swung the club at a man screaming. He was knocked away like a golf ball. I cursed. 

Pouring chakra and using my suit I jumped the 50 feet with a single step. Landing on the head of the last monster my blade slid into it’s brain. It thrashed but I sliced out. Brains and blood spurted from the new hole and the alien tipped over. Hitting with a resounding boom I let out a sigh as I noticed the others had finished their targets. 

“Can these suits do that?” Lara Croft asked. 

“No,” I said. “Some of what I can do, but not all.” I looked around. We had sadly lost 4 people. “Salvage weapons. We aren’t done yet.” 

“That was badass dude,” a guy in his twenties said. “How’d you do that?” 

“Training,” I said. “Stay on your toes. The worst is yet to come.”

“Worse than these?” The family man asked. 

“Yeah, the bigger they are, the less scary. It’s the small human sized ones you have to worry about,” I said. 

“Like that?” Lara Croft said pointing at the temple. There was a statue standing on one of the roofs of the temple. He looked like a priest, but he had the same chiseled physique as the giant guards. He held a gold staff with rings on the top, called a Shakujo. 

“Exactly like that.” The alien stared at us from afar then dropped off the roof, disappearing behind the buildings.

“Another…” Someone said to my right. There was a boar’s head statue walking toward us. The karate guy walked up to it. In the suit now he punched it, but nothing happened. He kept hitting, kicking, and yelling with each hit. Then the suit activated and the boar thing went flying. 

The man statue was soon running around the temple, heading straight for the dark haired beauty. I poured chakra into my body and was running to intercept. The thing and I locked our weapons as it’s face contorted in rage. I began to cool the area down exponentially. My sword whizzing through the air the alien met me blow for blow. 

I sped up. The alien slipped up and my sword went through it’s arm, then the arm that held the weapon, then the neck. It dropped dead as the ground began to rumble. A giant buddha statue stood up inside the temple, tearing the building asunder. 

It’s face placid it picked up a giant log from the building roof and threw it. I was too late to stop it from hitting 2 of the side characters. I cursed. I had hoped to save half, we were already past that. I ran at the buddha. Kishimoto and Kato began shooting it, but we had practiced. They shot one side of it while I attacked the other. The buddha began walking through the temple as I got closer. Uncaring about my presence the slow monstrous 40 foot tall statue walked. 

The left side of it’s face began to bubble and explode from Kishi and Kato’s shots. I stabbed the thing in the arm, it was tougher, but not invincible. Running along the length of it’s sleeve I continued slashing. This time the air and my blade were as hot as possible while I used my quirk. The seawater began to boil as it seared the buddha’s flesh. 

I made it to it’s shoulder as it swiped at me. But I was ready. Slicing through the neck in one hack the thing stumbled and fell to the ground. Those below got out of the way as it crashed. I rode it down and jumped off before it hit. 

“What is with this place?” Kishimoto asked. “Way harder than last time.”

“Yeah, I think they get progressively harder,” I admitted. “I don’t think we are done yet. Who is left?” 

“Us and that guy in the camo, he’s up there,” Kato said pointing to the roof of one of the buildings. He had a large sniper rifle like version for the Gantz guns. “He was shooting the buddha in the head. Our hits were mainly on the body.” I waved to the guy, he waved back, sending me a nod of acknowledgement. 

“Are you guys like some elite fighting force?” The new girl asked. 

“Basically,” I said. “Wait, what about the model guy and his stalker?” 

“They ran that way,” Kishimoto said. I cursed. They were probably already dead. 

“Let’s go finish this. The real boss is yet to come,” I said. 

“How do you know?” Lara Croft asked. 

“I just do,” I said. We began running in the direction of the model and his stalker. I wasn’t sure why the guy let her stick around him, especially since she killed him, but whatever. 

We came around the temple to see what I feared. The male model and the stalker were embracing on the ground, only their top halves at least. Over them was a many armed statue like an Asura. A woman with swords in her hands. 

“Fuck,” I said. “Don’t get close. Only fire when I am away!” I yelled as I ran at it. This was the final boss and had killed everyone last time. It was the strongest foe yet, but these kids had been untrained when they went up against it. I knew what I was doing…I hoped. 

I ran and the 6 armed woman statue blocked the attack with one blade and sliced at me with another. I dodged under it slicing at it’s leg. The Jitte didn’t go in. I began to boil the water again. Sharpening the chakra as I dodged another slice. Her face contorted in rage as she moved faster. Her arms becoming a blur. I slowly got into the zone as I dodged each slice. 

5 hits in a row blocked I began to push her back. My blade slicing with all my strength I broke 2 of her swords and caused a giant gash in her abdomen. 

She began to grow angrier. Moving faster still. I matched her. Slicing up and through. Striking for all I had. I jumped back, “Fire!” I yelled. The group began firing at her as she ran at me. When she got close they stopped. After 5 seconds her skin began to bubble and explode. My Jitte sliced through her middle. Cutting the top half off as she had done in like the stalker and model. 

I didn’t wait to see if it took. My Jitte moved down, embedding itself in her head as her skin boiled. She let out a voiceless wail and shuddered. Dead with the last hit. 

I was actually breathing heavily as I stood over her. The fight had been short, but taxing as I moved more quickly than I ever had before. I looked to my Jitte. It was in the same condition as when I started somehow. Either my chakra or the seastone itself was stronger than I imagined. 

The trio ran up to me. “That was amazing,” Lara Croft said. 

“Yeah, I honestly can’t believe I survived,” I admitted. I had been fearing this fight for a while. 

“You guys were like a blur as you moved,” Kishimoto said breathless. 

“Yeah-” Kato stopped as he began to disappear. I let out a sigh of relief. All the fretting over the past week finally paid off and we began to teleport. 

“Don’t worry,” I told the new girl. “We will go to the room.” We were all soon in the Gantz apartment. Me, Kishimoto, Kato, the guy in camo, and Lara Croft. I was a little sad no one else appeared. 

“That was crazy,” camo guy said. “That was utter batshit crazy.”

“Welcome to Gantz,” I said. “Points are coming up.” 

“What? Are we all that made it?” Lara asked. I nodded as I walked to the ball. 

On the screen the camo guy’s picture appeared, his name was Camo on the screen. He got 8 points. Then it was Lara, her name was Jolie on the ball, she got 10 points. She must have fired more than I expected. 

Kato was next. He got 12 points putting him at 17. Then Kishimoto got 18 points putting her at 28. I held my breath. I got 57 points. I let out a sigh as it added up to 105. “Finally,” I said. 

“You did it,” Kato said, amazed. 

“Gantz, show prizes,” I said. 

1. You will be freed along with your memories erased. 
2. You will be given an extremely powerful weapon. 
3. You will be able to revive a human being from the memory.

“What’s that?” Lara asked. 

“If you get 100 points you can pick one of these to be awarded with,” I said. My fingers hovered over it. 

“Are you picking number 1?” She asked. 

I looked at her then Kato. Kato looked a little worried I would. “No, that is a trap,” I admitted. “If Gantz likes you, he will work it so you are killed and brought here again. But you won’t have your memories. Never pick number 1.” 

“Really?” Kishimoto asked, fear in her voice. I nodded. 

“Yeah, we are trapped doing this for some time yet,” I admitted. 

“When will it end?” Kato asked, a tired sigh let out. 

I couldn’t remember. “There will be an alien invasion,” I said. “I don’t know when. Some time yet, probably. Our foes will get stronger and stronger. Then aliens will invade. Think Indepence Day kind of invasion.”

“What?!” Camo guy asked. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am,” I admitted. “So, tell me, would you really want to have your memories erased, not have these suits, knowing that super strong aliens will be coming to kill you sometime during the next year?” 

They didn’t have an answer. I picked number 3 and the screen pulled up the mugshots of everyone it had in it’s memory. “You’re bringing someone back to life?” Lara asked, amazed. 

“Yep, I made a promise,” I said, and I had a quest. Kato had actual tears in his eyes. I clicked Kurono Kei’s icon and my points dropped to 5. Behind us he began to be 3-D printed. He appeared to be in a midrun. I guessed it was how he looked when he was run over by the train. 

“Wh-what?!” Kurono gasped as he fell to the ground. 

“You explain it to him,” I told Kato. The big man nodded as he looked to his friend. I rubbed my head as I walked out.