—"Deadlock."
If you break it down literally, it's simply the English word for being at a dead end — no way forward, no way out.
Put a little more plainly, it meant "a group of students trapped in a bottleneck for one reason or another."
They came from different schools and grades.
As for backgrounds, they ranged from pampered young ladies to delinquent punks.
Now, all of them were gathered here, weapons in hand roaring like angry beasts, their eyes locked unblinkingly on Misaki and Makoto.
"What a bunch of fools."
The girl's voice beside him was as clear and sweet as an oriole's call.
At the same time, the slender arch of her fine brows dipped, and her thumb pressed down on the red button.
"Damn it."
"Ah!"
Makoto swore outright. In the split second before a red flash of lightning could slam into Shokuhou Misaki's delicate body, he grabbed her by the collar and yanked her into his arms.
In that same instant, his free left wrist twisted — and from his sleeve shot out a claw-like grappling hook, which buried itself deep in the crown of a nearby tree.
"Looks like your ability didn't work."
Holding Misaki's slim waist with one arm, he let the retracting cable pull them both rapidly toward the tree's canopy.
"Their speed's too high — I can't get a lock."
Misaki's face was set in a dark scowl, the air around her heavy with low pressure.
Her ability was extraordinarily powerful — one might even call it omnipotent.
But even she had a weakness.
To make her overwhelming Mental Out powers easier to control, she had set a "self-rule" to weaken them. And that rule was this: she had to aim her remote directly at the target she wished to control.
"No… still no good."
Perched on a thick branch, Misaki continued to try lining up her remote.
But even on the rare occasion she managed to get a bead on one, the target would instantly accelerate out of her sights.
"A perfect countermeasure. They know your ability well. This isn't just a random skirmish — this is a hunt designed specifically for you."
Makoto's voice was grim.
The Deadlock he knew didn't have this bizarre, gear-like acceleration equipment.
According to previous intel, their tactics were simple — ability use and conventional weapons.
This gear, with its wheel-driven boosts, was clearly something they'd only just equipped.
As for what it could do?
The fact that it had completely nullified the powers of a Level 5 like Misaki spoke for itself.
That helmet probably wasn't standard issue either.
Most likely, it had some autonomous program that detected abnormal brainwave activity and instantly moved the wearer to safety.
After all, not even Mental Out, the pinnacle of psychic control, could affect pure machines or non-human animals.
"I know. Which is why I've never trusted anyone."
Anger?
Not exactly.
Rather, the faint stir of emotion Makoto's earlier words had caused in her was now gone, replaced by perfect composure.
"No need to lump everyone together. The odds are higher it was one of your enemies who leaked your details."
Makoto's eyes stayed fixed on the Deadlock leader, who had stopped beneath the tree and wasn't moving with the rest of the high-speed members.
"A grappling hook? You're not an esper?"
Makoto didn't answer immediately — it was the Deadlock leader who spoke first, voicing his own doubt.
Espers rarely used modern weaponry.
Unless their ability required a technological medium — and while there was no formal rule about it, it had become an unwritten norm.
And even then, nobody carried a grappling hook as standard gear.
"Who are you? A Dark Side operative?"
Not an esper, but far more like one of Academy City's specially trained covert operatives.
"The Dark Side, huh."
Vrrrmmm—
It was the guttural growl of an engine revving.
Vrrrmmm-vrrrmmm—
A red streak like lightning shot toward Makoto's back.
Almost at the same instant, the corner of Makoto's mouth curved upward.
His hand jerked upward sharply — and in that moment, bursts of light flared suddenly around him.
Bang-bang-bang-bang—!
Gunfire erupted without warning.
Those sudden flashes were muzzle flares — the instant bullets left the barrel.
BOOM—!
A much larger flare exploded mid-air, followed by the heavy thud of bodies hitting the ground.
No one had seen a gun.
No one had seen the motion.
It had been nothing more than a single, casual lift of the hand — and yet, several bullets had ripped through the air at impossible angles, blasting apart the ultra-compact jet engines strapped to the backs of the charging Deadlock members.
"The Gun Magician? You're Harumura Makoto of 'Leo'?"
Ignoring the still-smoking, charred corpses of the members killed instantly in the blast, the Deadlock leader spoke without a flicker of emotion, confirming Makoto's identity.
—The skill-out armed group Leo!
Now entrenched in the abandoned sectors of the Eighth District, they had formed roughly three years ago. In short order, they had crushed every other powerless group in the Eighth District and established their headquarters there.
And Leo had proven their dominance beyond any doubt.
Since then, the Eighth District had seen no more gang brawls.
Naturally, no other powerless armed group had been able to take root there.
Others from different districts had eyed the Eighth District greedily, of course.
After all, it was a faculty residential area adjacent to the Seventh District, often frequented by high-class students.
For those looking to ambush such prey, the Eighth District was prime hunting ground.
But not a single group had ever managed to breach Leo's defenses.
Whether in brawls or with firearms, all challengers had been beaten back.
Those battles had forged the legend of Leo's leader.
In street fights, he never showed himself.
But the moment an opponent escalated to guns or blades, he would appear alone, wielding "invisible bullets" and ghost-like movement to annihilate the enemy.
No one knew when he would draw.
No one knew when they were in his sights.
No one even knew when they had been hit.
It was an attack beyond reaction speed — and even those who tried to disrupt him by attacking elsewhere found themselves thwarted, as he swung through alleyways and between buildings with his agile grappling hooks, vanishing from sight.
And so, the leader of Leo — Harumura Makoto — had come to be known as…
—The Gun Magician.