Arthur found himself in front of a temple, two 10 meters tall statues depicting extremely muscular warriors standing around a closed wooden gate, all around him the gantz members stood in groups looking around the empty street;
The salaryman seemed to have told everyone about the head bomb so most of them were just looking around in fear but, as soon as the fat priest got transfeared he screamed, pointed his fingers at him accussingly and then turned around trying to run away from him Arthur sighed and shook his head.
"Can't save everyone I guess" With how much carnage he had seen in Raccoon city and the knowledge that death wasn't really the end he just couldn't bring himself to care about a suicidal priest that would probably get more of them killed if he continued in gantz.
Kato and the other male veteran gantz member still attempted to stop the priest but the fat man actually activated the suit to push past them and continue running, they all watched as he continued to move and Arthur could see some of the people start considering leaving while talking with each other.
Then his head exploded in a shower of blood and bone and his momentum caused his body to roll forward until it slammed into a street lamp and stopped. The screams and freak outs were expected but Arthur just turned his head away, he had seen worse.
The soldier kept watching the priest's body for a few seconds before cursing in japanese and holding his gun tighter against his body "Well, seems like you were telling the truth"
"That was fast"
"Still find it hard to believe in monsters with superpowers but…" he motioned towards the priest and Arthur nodded "What does this… Gantz want?"
"Hmm… if you ask the guy in the ball he'll show you a countdown, a great disaster is to arrive at the end, since it keep calling the monster aliens I think it's probable to be an invasion" Arthur told him the truth while trying to make it believable and verifiable, no need to tell someone the whole plot only to not be believed, "Still it's just what I think, you can form your own opinion if you survive"
Kato approached them and tried to speak with him but he shook his head and the soldier started a conversation with him
"Aliens?" asked the salaryman from his side, he just nodded and started watching one of the gangsters try his rifle on the temple's doors taking quick glances at both giant enemies and trying to find a way to easily kill them "Can I leave the hunt?"
By this point Kurono himself had approached with his girlfriend while the creepy stalker and her target were close by, Arthur started thinking about things, he wasn't going to survive this mission, his body was already on a countdown to the moment the virus would take over and he wasn't going to be responsible for the new zombie apocalypse.
At the same time he had already changed things when he made the entire team wear the Gantz suits… in the manga this mission was essential to teach Kurono to be a better person but… he decided Kato could probably slap the stupid out of him so his new priority was to keep the boy alive this time.
Then he noticed the statue's eyes moving and knew the time was up, lifting his transference gun he aimed it at one of the big statues even as he shouted for the others to move "get away from the statues!"
In the manga it all looked so slow that sometimes Arthur had gotten angry at the characters for reacting slowly and in dumb ways, he had been wrong.
The huge 15 meters tall warrior he was aiming at burst out of its pedestal the second he aimed the gun at it, everyone turned its way and the second statue stepped out too before kicking one of the delinquents and sending him flying down the street.
Ignoring the things around him he aimed the transfer gun and watched the little screen as it locked on the giant even as it punched down upon the karate guy smashing him into the ground, then he pressed the trigger.
Three rockets connected by a black rope were released from the weapon towards the creature, he watched as the rockets adjusted their path slightly and wrapped around the giant tying its arms together and piercing the ground around the thing.
The second giant ignored Kurono as he shot it twice in the chest with his own guns and grabbed at the cables tying its partner, straining his muscles the giant pulled one of the rockets out of the ground in a few seconds, then Arthur realized he had been doing the same thing he got so angry at characters for, he was watching the effects instead of acting.
Looking towards the guy who got kicked away he saw his head had been blown up from getting too far from the target area, Kurono finally got a shot into one of the giant's leg bringing it to its knees but got backhanded through the temple's doors for his troubles.
Kato was helping karate guy get up from where he had been hammered into the pavement and screaming something, everyone seemed to get the message and started running inside the temple.
Lifting his hand again Arthur started running towards the temple at the same time he aimed his transfer gun towards the second giant, it took him a few seconds to lock on the thing which allowed the twins to pull a second rocket out of the ground, then he pressed the trigger, the rockets wrapped around the thing and, since it was already unsteady on its knee, toppled it onto its side, the first giant was still busy getting free from his own chains and couldn't help it.
Arthur finally made it inside the temple to see most of the people scattering about in fear with only the veterans and the soldier standing their ground on the stairs, glancing back he saw the first giant get completely free but the second one already had most of its right side transferred away by some kind of sky beam that seemed to be disintegrating it's body, having stopped struggling and just laid there on the ground limp.
Aiming the transfer gun for a third time he watched the freed giant charge him for the few seconds it took the weapon to lock on, managing to make it halfway to his position even as he backtracked, then he shot again.
The giant grabbed one of the burst doors and threw it at the rockets making them twist around the huge piece of wood and transfer it away instead "Oh shit"
Then Kurono flew from behind him screaming like a madmen and hit the thing in the face with his whole body, before he bounced away he managed to grab onto the creature's head and started shooting his gun as fast as he could.
The giant was unable to recover but still managed to slap his own face and send Kurono bouncing through the ground, then the giant's entire head blew up showering Arthur in its blood.
Kurono recovered quickly and looked his way in defiance, when he didn't react the boy turned his head away and snorted.
He shook his head and holstered his weapon, then the temple behind them exploded as a giant buddha statue burst through its roof.
Standing at least three times as tall as the other monsters it looked around the gathered fighters with a smile on its face and stepped forward, almost as one they all turned around and started shooting at the thing causing small wounds to explode all over its chest but the thing was just too large to even be bothered by their guns.
Without a care in the world It started trying to stomp on them and scattered the fighters.
Hearing someone screaming from behind him Arthur turned and saw a civilian entering the temple with a livid face, the guy seemed to be angry at all the damage done to the grounds and walking towards the stairs, completely oblivious of the monster ragging in there.
Thinking fast Arthur punched the ground with enhanced strength and pulled out a fist sized piece of rubble before throwing it as hard as he could at the ground in front of the guy, the newcomer fell on his ass as the ground in front of him exploded in shards of ceramic, he seemed completely freaked out as he finally snapped out of his rage and started hearing the sound of the ground breaking under the giant's stomps and ran away screaming.
From the side Arthur saw the second gangster come flying out, his suit leaking black fluid and his arm hanging limply by his side as he was followed by a wave of human sized statues.
"Over here!" He screamed to try and catch one of the fighter's attention before grabbing his sword and dashing towards the guy.
Paying attention to his posture and remembering his HEMA training he delivered a strike to the left side of the head of the closest statue only to invert the direction of the blade when it managed to lift a staff for a block completely cutting off the top half of its head.
He dodged back from a staff strike from another statue and opened up the creature's chest, almost bisecting it, before he could deal with the remaining statues he saw them start to explode one after another.
Glancing back, he saw the soldier snipping at them from a safe place while the others were still dealing with the giant which was repeatedly stomping down on Kato while ignoring anything done to its body until someone managed to get one of its eyes and it stumbled back shielding the wounded eye with its hand.
Looking around while thinking of a solution Arthur glanced down at the transfer gun but, if the gate guards could escape the effect, this thing wouldn't even notice the restraints, then he noticed Kurono, his whole body filled with muscles and using the wounds on the thing's body to climb it.
Looking around Arthur saw a tower with a bell on it still standing close by the stumbling behemoth and dashed towards the thing, perhaps he could get closer to the creature's head for a blow or even a jump that way.
Reinforcing his legs Arthur jumped up aiming for the top of the tower, he didn't make it but he did manage to grab one of the wooden support beams from which he could push himself up with enhanced muscles.
When he turned back towards the giant it had recovered from the pain of the wound and grabbed the annoying insect climbing its body, its face was a mask of rage as it lifted Kurono close and started crushing him.
Arthur gave the boy credit he didn't give up, even as he screamed in pain Kurono still had enough will to enhanced his whole body and appeared to be slowly opening the buddha's fist before the giant used his other hand and squeezed, Kato tried to jump up to help Kurono but the giant was too tall and he missed by only a meter or two.
Widening his stance Arthur concentrated as hard as he could to enhance his entire body and cause his sword to grow to a ridiculous size, then he put everything he had into a single blow, as well executed as he could manage, the katana's blade had stretched for almost 20 meters behind him but he didn't feel any strain of its increased weight as the edge cut off both of the giant's arms and bit deeply into its neck.
Kurono fell down, still held in the monster's hands with black liquid flowing out of his suit's neck but his new girlfriend managed to jump up and stop his momentum before freeing him.
The giant managed to take a step back, then its head rolled back over its neck barelly held by a small strip of flesh. It toppled back and fell on top of one of the buildings crushing it completely under its bulk.
Arthur released a breath and felt his suit relax around his body while the sword shrunk down to the form of a handle once again so he let himself relax, the easier part was done, laying back on the rooftop he started to laugh quietly.
This was what reincarnation should be like, facing monsters with superpowers not being a normal human in that cursed hellhole of a city filled with dying or dead woman and children.
Looking at his steady hands he didn't exactly smile but his frown relaxed a little, killing such obvious monsters was much better than having to deal with former humans.
Pushing himself back to his feet he simply stepped away from the roof and let himself fall straight down only needing to bend his knees a little bit, the woman was cradling Kurono to her chest while he was left breathing hard and with wide eyes, Kato himself was hovering over his friend while the third Gantz veteran was helping the wounded guy to his feet while tying his arm in a sling.
He watched the small group of veterans as they started discussing things, the woman started screaming with Kato but he just shook his head then she caught sight of him and screamed his way, Arthur shook his head "I'm sorry I only speak english" then he paused "ou portugues"
She took a few seconds to recompose herself and then frowned in concentration "You know about all this" she made it an statement and he just nodded, he didn't know she spoke english too but it wasn't that surprising, he had never been to japan before but in other places he had visited english had always been the prefered second language "Can you save him?"
He thought about it, Kurono seemed to be in pain but mostly on his arms so he probably wasn't in immediate danger, he'd survive if they won, should he tell them something and change the plot even more, did he need to?
No, that was the wrong way to think about it, he had already changed the mission and probably the entire plot just by being here and he refused to let everyone die just to teach Kurono a lesson.
Looking at the wounded gangster, the almost unconscious Kurono and the others which were still missing Arthur realized he should have taken things more seriously, he should have shot first at the gate guards, reacted faster.
Despite trying he was still seeing the people around him as characters not real humans.
Alright then, taking a step back Arthur thought about what he would like to do, he had always hated when people tried to manipulate him or make decisions in his place so why was he trying to do it to someone else? Hypocrisy didn't sit well with him either.
"Fine" he sighed and decided to reveal at least the relevant things in this mission "Hey soldier, come over here, and that glasses guy, where is he?"
The man didn't seem that interested but was willing to follow his lead and approached them and the other english speaker wasn't anywhere in sight "Right where do I start?" he mumbled to himself and then just started speaking
"My name is Arthur and I have some information that is essential to you guys, first is that there is a disaster about to arrive on our world if you ask Gantz it will show you a countdown to fight this disaster, the man inside the ball takes people who are already dead, it resurrects them and forces them to fight what it calls aliens as a form of training"
"Can we escape?" asked the woman, still helping keep Kurono's body upward and breathing.
"Yes and no" he sighed "When you kill an 'alien' Gantz gives you points if you reach 100 points it will provide you with three choices, first you may be freed from fighting but your mind will be wiped and you won't remember anything, when the disaster arrives you'll be as hopeless as the rest of humanity.
The second choice is for power, Gantz will give you a new and stronger weapon every time you 'win' the game, making it easier to fight, as far as I know the first weapon will manipulate gravity but you can also get a stronger power armor and even a giant robot depending on how many times you win.
The third option is for you to revive someone else that has had dealings with Gantz, you won't be able to revive your long lost grandfather or something but if someone you care about died in the game or as a result of the game you can revive them for 100 points"
The information seemed to leave the duo able to understand english stunned but the soldier recovered first and passed on the message to the others. I decided to continue "this mission isn't over yet, I'm here to kill a creature far stronger than them, if you see a more or less human sized statue with dozens of arms don't try to fight it just run, it should also have at least another four guards"
"How do you know this" asked the soldier
"What's your name again?"
"Juzo Togo" he grunted
"Alright Juzo-san lets just say Gantz isn't the only thing capable of playing with dead people" he smiled, the information wasn't really essential so it amused him to sound mysterious "there's a reason the ball called me an interloper you know"
The group started talking with one another but, unable to understand anything, Arthur shook his head and sighed before stepping away, five minutes later Juzo and the woman approached again, the woman nodded "Hello I'm Sei Sakuraoka" she nodded and asked "how do we end this"
"Two ways really, you can kill every enemy or hide and give up the points for this mission, if the time run out with enemies still alive you lose all your points but survive and any damage you took is restored"
"The ball" asked Juzo, his voice serious but puzzled. "Does it accept failure?"
"Well only so much, if the team fails too much it will probably start requiring a minimum amount of points or just blow everyone's head off and restart"
The man nodded and Sei shook her head in disbelief, the silence stretched on for an uncomfortable minute before she asked "So how are we gonna kill this thing?"
Looking at the both of them as they stared with serious faces and then over their shoulders at Kato Arthur smiled.
"Well what you have to understand first is that I'll be fighting it alone first, you can help with the guns from range but let me deal with it in melee"
"I'm a fighter" Sei said while frowning at him and he realized she must think he was being arrogant.
"I'm not" he confessed and smirked when they both appeared surprised "I want to fight alone because I'm a danger to those around me, if you get hit with my blood or any fluid immediately wash it out and watch for any symptoms for at least a day, the suit can probably protect you but just in case, the virus can mutate your body and cause you to go insane becoming nothing more than an animal filled with rage and hunger for flesh"
Both of them took a step back and he smirked, then gave a little laugh when the woman glared at him in anger, she started to open her mouth but it was the soldier that asked first "How do you live without infecting anyone?"
"I don't, I'm too dangerous to be around people right now" he confessed and the soldier nodded in understanding "anyway try and get into position to snipe at the guy while protecting yourself I know he only has a single ranged attack, something like a laser that will slice right through your suit"
"Does it come from a weapon or his body?" the soldier questioned in a professional voice.
All through the fight Arthur had been pretty sure everyone could deal with the first monsters when they were wearing the suits so he had been planning how to deal with the true boss, in the manga it had been a mixture of luck and skill but mostly luck that killed the thing and it was almost a party wipe anyway so he had been trying to remember everything he could about the thing.
"It's a weapon but I don't know which one, the monster has at least a dozen weapons and they are what makes it dangerous, as far as I'm aware the melee weapons are pretty self explanatory but you guys should watch out for the other items it holds, I know one shots lasers, one is filled with a very strong acid and another allow it to regenerate its whole body no matter how wounded.
My plan is simple, I fight the thing while you guys observe and identify what each item does. Stopping its regeneration is key to killing the thing and any damage it takes before is meaningless. If you can, aim for the weapons first until you get the right one, hopefully I can survive long enough to kill it but if I don't you'll at least have an idea of what it can do"
Juzo seemed to accept his words and left to explain things to the others but Sei just stood there seemingly unable to understand him, then Kato approached and grabbed him by the arm saying something with a strained face, Arthur just looked at the woman and lifted an eyebrow.
"he's trying to keep you alive" She told him and grimaced when he laughed "how can you…"
"Don't worry I doubt it very much my own patron is done with me so this probably won't be permanent" Arthur told her and then had an idea "You know what, I don't know if it will be allowed and it probably won't be worth it but if one of you get the chance, revive me and I'll probably have dealt with this virus by then"
Kato still was trying to get his attention, probably arguing that they could find a way for him to survive but he just shook his head "You know, your little boyfriend is a bit of an asshole but he has potential, if one of you guys survive try and make him a better person will you, for everyone's sake it"
Yeah it would really be better if Kurono got over himself without having to lose everyone and everything around him, stranger things have happened after all.
Arthur was watching the young girl and the stalker were dragging Kurono to a safer place when he heard the shout of warning, turning around he saw two of the stone statues, they were thicker than the previous ones and held weapons in their hands one of them was dragging half the body of the karate guy, then their faces became angry masks and they threw the body at him before charging.
"Watch for the one with many hands!" Arthur shouted and drew his sword.
Sei herself lifted her gantz gun and started shooting at the things but they dodged aside, Kato held his own sword and stood besides him, hopefully he wouldn't bleed over the boy and fuck everything up.
Arthur meet the first statue head on with a horizontal blow delivered with his entire body, the statue tried to block but his enhanced body blew right through its guard and cut almost all the way through its arm.
Arthur tried to retrieve the blade but he had taken too long and the statue was faster grabbing his hand with the other arm the statue pulled him closer and smashed a headbut into his nose leaving him dazed, then it grabbed him by the head and smashed his whole body into the ground.
With a bleeding nose and having trouble breathing Arthur knew he had to move but his body wasn't answering him so he watched as the statue stomped into his chest pinning him to the ground, grabbed its weapon with its good hand and lifted it up, then its head exploded from a well placed shot.
Taking a second to recover he rolled aside and pushed himself up, he searched for his weapon and found it lying only a meter to his right. Kato was doing no better with his statue as the brute had grabbed him in an embrace and was trying to crush his back while using him as a shield against Juzo's shots, to his side Sei had given up on her gun and was fighting a third stone warrior in hand to hand, she hadn't managed to activate her own suit's enhancement but the passive effect was enough that, with her skill, she had already disarmed the thing and was kicking it repeatedly in the head.
Grabbing his sword Arthur stretched it behind himself and delivered a rising blow to the stone man's legs while it crushed Kato's back, the thing reacted too fast jumping up but losing its tight hold on the boy, Kato squeezed one farm free and delivered an empowered punch to the thing's head sending it thumbling towards Arthur, he charged.
Before the statue could recover one of its hand's exploded from another of Juzo's shots and Arthur lunged, plunging the tip of his sword on the thing's head all the way through.
Looking around he saw Sei had managed to activate her suit's power and was mounting it and pummeling the thing into the ground, then he saw the forth guard jumping down from a building on top of Kurono and his guards while the boss himself was standing besides it and looking towards Juzo's location, he screamed "Behind you!"
Kurono and both girls just looked his way with confused faces while the soldier immediately rolled sideways, he wasn't fast enough, a bean of energy cut right where he had been standing missing his body but cutting off his right arm just below the elbow, the man screamed but still managed to jump away from the house dodging a second bean and falling to the ground.
The last temple guard fell on top of both girls kicking the stalker away and riding Kato's girlfriend face first to the ground before punching the back of her head once, twice , it just didn't stop hammering her face into the pavement until it made a hole, it was lifting its arm for the eight time when three rockets twisted around it tying it up and locking it in place, unable to break free the thing started getting transferred away, behind it Arthur saw Kurono fallen on his side, his body trembling all over but his hand on a transfer gun.
The boss itself was getting hit with a barrage of shots from Kato and the second man. Juzo himself had managed to disappear from sight, no matter how much they shot him he just kept regenerating then another laser flew from one of its amputated hands, its aim was off but it still cut off both of the man's legs from under him and made Kato run for cover.
The boss took the opportunity to jump down from the roof and regenerate his entire body before lifting the little lantern and looking right at Arthur, he was already running towards the thing but managed to throw himself aside as the laser shot right at his head then followed his body with a wave of the boss' hand.
In desperation he strengthened his legs and Jumped forward, smashing into the second floor of a house and breaking through the wall but escaping the laser.
Rolling to his feet Arthur made sure he still had his sword and started taking deep breaths, that fucking thing was just unfair "Alright I can do it, I can do it" then he forced himself to enhance his entire body and started running.
Without taking the time to really think about things he just pushed himself away from the building and almost flew at the boos who had already turned around and was shooting another laser at kato hiding behind a rock.
He smashed into the boss side like a truck breaking most of its arms and sending them both down to the ground, he recovered first and stabbed his sword on the statue's eye, it didn't stop it from delivering a retur blow with a sword forcing Arthur to release the handle and step away for a second while its broken arms regenerated, then Arthur saw a hand holding a jar slart to tilt his way "Oh fuck no!"
Before the monster could splash the acid he pounced and grabbed the hand struggling to hold it in place, one of the monster's swords stabbed at him so he dodged by stepping back and pulling the creature out of balance making the tip pierced him in the kidney instead of the lung sending a spike of pain into his brain, he screamed in rage and focused one last time to force the jar backward splashing the content all over the boss face and body but losing quite a few fingers.
Screaming in pain he stepped away from the quickly dissolving boss as it lost all coordination and flailed about with its weapons, then it got tied up by the shot from a transfer gun coming from an empty space about 15 meters to the side, the rockets started circling the boss even as one of the items it held started shining and, when they pierced the ground the boss was already whole again but its body was firmly held in place.
The empty space from which the shot had came from shimmered and the guy in glasses fell down on his ass laughing and screaming in japanese Arthur knew better than to think it was over "Get the fuck away from here!"
Despite being tied up the boss had too many hands and some still had the ability to move so it raised a lantern and, as its head started being transferred away, shoot its energy bean cutting of its its head and quite a few arms including one with a disc, the transfer changed target and continued to affect the rest of the body.
Then Sei appeared and delivered a fully empowered hammer kick to the head crushing it to the ground and causing the eyes in all its faces to explode from the head, she pulled her gun and kept shooting it point blank and screaming, Arthur thought it must have been something like 'Die! Die! Die!'
Then he saw the disc shine again and moved, without interference the arm had flown further away from the head so he knew he wouldn't make it in time, his first instinct was to tackle her but knew he wouldn't be fast enough instead he just kicked her body away and felt the energy beam cut through both the leg he used the girl's left arm and leg with part of her shoulder, at least the thing burnt right through her flesh so she would have at least a little time instead of immediately bleeding out.
The boss's body was entirely recovered and its head had already started healing when the hand holding its healing disc exploded and he caught a glance of the soldier laying hidden below one of the houses, even with only one arm he had still made the shot.
Missing one leg and wounded as he was Arthur knew he should have been in excruciating pain but the T-virus must already be working to numb his body so he only felt a little of the pain.
As the boss started to push himself up, its face twisted in rage, he knew he only had one last shot, his first instinct was to break the regenerated jar of acid and dissolving both of them together but… he just didn't have the nerve, the little of it he had been hit with had caused him more pain than he had ever felt before in all three lives, he may be willing to die but not like that.
Instead he finally pulled out his Gantz gun, the trigger finger in the left hand was still intact and he managed to hold the gun in place before pushing himself away and shooting at the thing as fast as he could.
Arthur managed to get out six shots and, despite the small distance, still missed two before a bean of energy split him right down the middle, there was no pain and he still managed to see some of its arms and chest explode before blackness claimed him.
Arthur died knowing most people remaining would probably make it even if the boss was still alive.