Chapter 29

Rentaro was taken aback for a moment, but he soon nodded cheerfully. “All right, I will.” Suddenly, there was the sound of a gunshot, and Tina fell to her knees. “Ah………” Tina looked in disbelief at the black hole that had opened up in her chest. The fresh blood leaking from the hole slowly soaked into her clothes. Tina moved her slightly gaping mouth a little, but couldn’t speak as she looked up at Rentaro, then tilted her head in embarrassment as she tried to smile. A man approached them briskly, wearing a uniform cap with a white cape, shooting a Luger pistol. Fresh blood spouted from Tina’s throat, and she fell backward. Yasuwaki kicked Tina’s stomach hard, sending her body lightly into the air. It landed with a thump when it fell. The whole scene was like a bad joke. “I can’t believe you’re having so much trouble with a little killer!” said Yasuwaki mockingly. What’s he doing here…? His brain numb, Rentaro tilted his head in confusion. Yasuwaki looked in his direction, as if to answer his question. “I safely escorted the Lady Seitenshi to her conference. She is probably in the middle of talks right now. I need to get back before the conference ends, so I don’t have a lot of time. More importantly—” Yasuwaki stopped and grinned evilly. “What’s with that expression? I just disposed of a piece of trash for you. Why don’t you thank me for it?” When Rentaro heard those words, rage pierced his spine, and his brain lit on fire. “I’ll kill you!” Just as he put his hand to his holster to draw his gun, there was a rustle and an attack from behind. Rentaro gasped as the air was squeezed from his lungs. He looked back and saw a friend of Yasuwaki’s, one of the Seitenshi’s personal guard, with a fist buried in his back. Panting, Rentaro smashed his attacker’s chin with a backward punch, but someone else held down his hips and kicked his legs out from under him. Just as he thought the ground was approaching, a strong force pushed his head down and slammed it into the ground. A sharp pain shot through his arm, and looking back with effort, he saw that three other guards were on his back, pinning his arms back. Gritting his teeth so hard he thought he might crack a tooth, he groaned and flailed hard, but they didn’t loosen their hold at all. “Yasuwakiiiiiii! You bastard!” Yasuwaki laughed. “This is exactly what it means to profit from someone else’s fight.” Just then, Tina’s body curved, and she coughed up blood. Tina! She’s alive! After Yasuwaki looked at his own Luger pistol, he looked at Tina warily. “It really is hard to kill them without Varanium bullets.” Then, looking like he just thought of something, he smiled faintly at his friends. “Hey guys, wanna do a biology experiment? The topic is How many shots does it take to kill a Red-Eye with lead bullets?” The other guards’ shoulders shook, and they started snickering. Stepping over Tina’s prone body, Yasuwaki pulled the trigger of his gun a few times. Tina’s body danced, and fresh blood gushed out and got on Yasuwaki’s face. Tina’s legs became taut, and they kicked at the ground. Rentaro yelled. “Stop it…! I’ll kill you, Yasuwakiiiiii! You bastard…! I’ll kill youuuuuu!” Yasuwaki spread his hands and laughed maniacally. “That’s it! That’s the expression I wanted to see, Rentaro Satomi!” He kept laughing. Yasuwaki lifted the muzzle of his gun and aimed between Tina’s eyes. “It’s time for the finale!” “That’s enough!” The roar of the dignified voice made every person at the scene freeze. Yasuwaki, his subordinate guards, and everyone else froze with their mouths gaping, holding their breaths and looking in the same direction. “Lady Seitenshi……,” someone muttered. Her beauty was like that of glittering stars, but her piercingly powerful eyes were like lightning. This authority of pure white wasn’t supposed to be here—but she was. Yasuwaki let his gun drop and turned pale as he stepped back. The binds on Rentaro loosened, and he stood up in a daze. Why was she here right now? Wasn’t she in the middle of a conference? Yasuwaki seemed to have the same questions and started saying agitatedly, “Why in the world…?” “I heard that you all were acting without permission, so I excused myself from the meeting with President Saitake to come here.” “Impossible! I cannot believe you threw away a conference with the ruler of Osaka Area for the sake of a mere civsec officer!” “To me, Satomi is not just a mere civsec officer. And I cannot overlook your violence any longer.” The Seitenshi looked sideways at Rentaro. “Satomi, please tell me. You saved my life. What is it that you wish for in return?” What did he want? He made a hard fist. It was obvious. “I want power! I want the power to protect the people I care about!” The Seitenshi kept her eyes shut for a while. Finally, she opened her eyes and said resonantly, “Satomi, with power comes responsibility. You must not forget that when you swing your sword, it leaves blood behind it. With too much power, one becomes a tyrant, and with too much responsibility, one’s heart breaks. From the beginning of the universe, power and responsibility has never been balanced. But you must find that balance.” She paused. “Very well, I will give you that power.” The dignified voice resonated in the night sky. “With my prerogative as ruler of Tokyo Area, I waive the written appointment of the IISO and hereby promote Rentaro Satomi from Rank 1,000 to Rank 300. Satomi’s top-secret information access key is now at Level 5, and his pseudo-rank has been promoted to first lieutenant. In other words, you are now one rank above Yasuwaki. Do you understand what that means?” “Yes,” said Rentaro. “Justice without power is not worth anything. Become stronger, Satomi, stronger than anyone.” Rentaro raised his face quietly and the personal guards froze, with Yasuwaki losing all color in his face. Rentaro drew his XD gun and fired three times. One hit Yasuwaki’s right shoulder, the second hit his side, and the last blew off the thumb of his right hand from the joint. “Arghhhhhhhhh!” Yasuwaki screamed. Rentaro looked coldly sideways at the flustered guards who pointed their guns at him. “Who do you think you’re pointing your guns at?” Surprised, the guards stopped moving. Rentaro passed by them to stand in front of Yasuwaki, looking down at him. Yasuwaki shuddered, awestruck, and tried desperately to back away. “Ahhhhhh… D-don’t come near me… Don’t come near meeeeeee!” Rentaro, with the full moon behind him, raised the muzzle of his gun and aimed at Yasuwaki. His heart was boiling like magma, but his voice was frozen at absolute zero. “Get out of my sight, and never come near Tina again. If you refuse, I will shoot you to death here and now for refusing to obey orders from a superior officer.”