Black Bullet, Vol. 1: Those Who Would Be Gods by Shiden Kanzaki

knowing anything, huh? You poor things. It’s what’s inside the duralumin case you were talking about.”
    “So yesterday, you were in that room because—”
    “That’s right. I followed the source Gastrea into the room, but what I was looking for had disappeared somewhere, and as I was hanging around, a police squad broke the window and came in. They surprised me, so I ended up killing them quite by accident.” He laughed from deep in his throat as he held his mask to his face.
    Rentaro felt hatred for the laughing Kagetane. “You bastard…”
    Kagetane spread both arms wide and turned on the tabletop. “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s review the rules! This is a race to see who can find the source Gastrea and get their hands on the Inheritance of the Seven Stars first. The Inheritance of the Seven Stars is surely engulfed in the Gastrea’s body, so all you have to do to get ahold of it is kill the Gastrea. How about we bet your lives?”
    “I can’t listen to your yapping any longer.” The muffled voice came from the other side of the table. It was Shogen Ikuma, with his bastardsword and his skull-face scarf. “You’re talking too much. Basically, we just need you to die right now, right?”
    Rentaro thought Shogen had disappeared, but the next instant, Shogen had buried himself into Kagetane’s chest. He was fast. “I’m gonna kill you.”
    “Oh?” said Kagetane, amused.
    Surrounded by a sudden surge of wind, the great sword swung like a tornado. Its deadly timing was perfect, leaving no margin for escape. But then—it was repelled with a thunderous clang, and the next instant Shogen’s sword flew in a different direction.
    “Wha…?” said Shogen.
    “Too bad!” said Kagetane.
    What was that just now?
    It was only for a second, but Rentaro saw a bluish-white phosphorescent glow between Shogen’s sword and Kagetane.
    “Get back, Shogen!” With Mikajima’s single roar, Shogen instantly understood and retreated, clicking his tongue.
    As if they had been waiting for that instant, all the presidents and Promoters who had gathered drew their self-defense pistols at once and fired round after round. Rentaro fired. Kisara fired, too.
    The ear-splitting sound of gunfire came from all directions, 360-degrees around. The thunderous sound came again, and this time, the bluish-white glow was more clearly visible.
    It was a dome-shaped barrier. When the bullets hit the barrier, they were repelled in all directions with a shrill sound. The glass in the furniture and on the paintings was blown away, and the sound of bullets competed with someone’s war cry.
    Rentaro also shot his XD gun as if possessed, but after a while, he was out of ammo and the slide stop popped up, and everyone there had fired all of their bullets. In the strange silence filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke that followed, the cries of the unfortunate people here and there who had been hit with stray bullets could be heard.
    “No way…” Rentaro swallowed his bitter spit along with the out-of-this-world sensation that he felt.
    In the middle of the table riddled with bullet holes, the masked man and the girl looked down at everything around them. All the high-ranking people in attendance froze as if numb.
    Kagetane placidly spread his arms. “It’s a repulsion force field. I call it
Imaginary Gimmick
.”
    “A barrier…? Are you really human?” said Rentaro.
    “I assure you I am human. However, in order to generate this, most of my organs have been replaced with Varanium instruments.”
    “Instruments…”
    “Let me tell you again who I am, Satomi. I am Kagetane Hiruko, former member of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Eastern Force, 787th Mechanization Special Unit, of the New Humanity Creation Project.”
    Mikajima’s eyes widened in surprise. “The special unit created to counter Gastrea during the Gastrea War…? It actually exists…?”
    “You are free to believe it or not,” said Kagetane. “Well, what