After the cool reviews i got in the first upload, i have decided to set up another one!

btw, this is starting a little before the start in AGK, but not far back to ZERO, so im not sure if certain characters have their faces on wanted posters already, (its been 2 years since i watched, 4 months since i finished reading) so...

¯\_ツ_/¯

After the hold-up from earlier, Maria found herself outside of a bookstore, carefully eyeing the front covers of the products that were apparently selling. It's been an incredible amount of time since she had been selfless and done something such as this, what's the harm?

She didn't bother with the name of the store front. It was too generic for her.

There was one that stood out to her than the rest of the covers.

There was one book that had something like a knight from a bygone age, with it's back to her. The knight was surrounded by an abyss of darkness. Decorative fabric hung from the armor, colored with blue, although it was terribly worn and faded, and had long since started unraveling itself.

Someone had gone through a great deal to detail this picture.

A small space near the head of the knight, filled with the same darkness that surrounded the blue knight, and was situated exactly in place of the head. A metal beak like that of a bird hung right over where the head would be, and it was turned to the reader.

'Abysswalker Ertorias...'

Maria flinched backwards from the book in the stand, and a near-silent opening of the front door sounded. Searching the source, she found a well dressed young man.

"Afternoon, lady..." The store employee called to her, before he stopped right in his tracks to take in the sight of a woman who was obviously a foreigner.

That pale face was that of a ghost, and fancy dress was something not even a noble possess or wear, the sight was a first for the young man.

"I am just looking..." And her voice was definetely a first for him. Over the many shops he had worked at, there was nothing like this woman's accent, it was strangely sweet. Not even this kind of accent was familiar. "Right, I'll be someone inside if you'd like to buy anything." The young man smiled at her, as was etiquette, and retreated back inside."

Night Raid - Secret Base

A grand secret known to only a few, was that below the bookstore, was in fact a secret compartment where one could truly feel in privacy, it resembled a place where a person could lazily lounge away from the the wary, dangerous life in the Capital.

A woman wanted by the Capital slepy lazily on a couch as if she wasn't hunted by them at all. That was, until the stench of death wafted through from above.

"Ah, Leone. What's the matter?" The woman suddenly recovered from her sleeping to look right at her fellow assasin. There was the knight on the front cover of the book a foreigner was inspecting above, who wore blue as a decoration. And then there was this teen dressed as if he wanted the entire world to know what his favorite color is.

Within an instant, she crawled over a coffee table to his couch.

He was grappled, and man who spoke quickly had his mouth covered with a palm, struggling broke out, and his grunting became muffled.

"Raba! Shh! I smell blood." The man fell deathly silent, and his co-worker's silencing hand became lighter, eventually freeing him from her grasp. Raba trusted her enough to not play this kind of trick on him.

'Is one of Esdese' captains here? Damn it!'

The woman clenched her teeth together as her head went through several thoughts a second.

'Did they see us in a mission? That can't be possible! We were perfect all the way through!'

The blonde could not be faulted. Her green friend knew perfectly what kind of 'blood' she warned him about.

It accumulated on those who live through the deaths of those around them. It was a common aura around those who wield a Teigu in the name of the corrupt Capital.

"Kek."

Leone fell over her backside in laughter, right back into her own couch, and her legs kicked at the air in unrestrained glee. Briefly, she rose only so she could see her partner's face and pointed to him in harassment.

"Raba, you should have seen your face! It was like..." Continuing to bully her younger assassin into a position where he attempted to let her insults roll off of him, Leone contorted her visuals to mimic him in that moment.

Even if there was about to be an encounter with one of incredible power, Raba did look pretty funny, what with his eyes coming to realisation instantly, and the lack of struggle coming from him.

Raba put a hand over his face and goggles. "Leone, stop that. You scared the life out of me, we're here for a mission, you know. The boss wants to see if we can't get anybody of worth into Night Raid..."

It would have seemed that he was ignored, if it weren't for Leone's later comment.

"Raba, don't be like that. Come on, loosen up a little..."

It was actually her next comment that set him off.

"That's precisely why you don't have a girlfriend."

Leone laughed so hard she rolled backward over her couch, conveniently avoiding the impact of a nearby magazine from an overly red Raba.

"Alright, Raba. Kuku...lets go and do our jobs." Leone peeked from her hiding spot, seeing her lower-classman cover his face with both hands in silence.

An audience glowed with feverish cheering for the blood that had been shed, watching as the last two finally looked at one another.

In a lower part of a huge colosseum, Maria was surrounded by defeated bodies of men and women. But mostly men. There was definetely changes from her usual hunter battles, humans could change in the physical constitution area, in fact more than a few of her opponents were larger than the norm, sometimes even three times her own size. She swung her blade to assert her aura of elegance over her enemies, of whom she had incapacitated.

Since she was new to the land, it was not a bad idea to gauge the strength of the average fighter in the Empire. So far the average fighter was more or less a civilian in posession of a sword or gun, without any kind of training what so ever.

There were obviously exceptions. Outliers.

In fact, one shared the colosseums arena with the Old Hunter. It was of the ones who stood tall over the majority of humanity, at least two and a half times higher, and with more than enough muscle and power to support it.

But before that, this person was covered in what had to be one of the hardest armor Maria had ever come across, and that was even if she could get past the huge iron shield in the left hand.

Truly this foe was a symbol of strength. , It's shield was the size of a goddamned bedframe, and twice as wide!

It was greater than just a tool for blocking however. More than a few times, Maria had seen a human smashed into red mist and paste, as they had been flattened by the stereotypically protective piece of gear. There was even a slight point at the very front, to enhance effectiveness.

Actually, the entirety, from shield, armor, even the weapon, all of it seemed to be from a single make. There were distinct lines of folded iron all over the metal, even on the shield and weapon. And it wasn't like whoever was inside is slow, the armor had actually been quicker and agile than anyone had ever expected; running from one side of the arena to the other in seconds, and annihalating whomever was not able to escape.

It became clear that whoever was in that suit wasn't reliant on the armor at all. With a single swing of the weapon in it's right hand, the weaker opponents, whose strength lied more on hope and wishful thinking, were instantly eviscerated in half. While the larger, more able of foes were knocked backwards a great distance.

But it wasn't all bloodlust and guts. The helmet featured flat horn-like extensions that curved back. If 'knighthood' was still a practiced concept, this particular foe would be the 'one' knight to guard the most reknowned of kings, the one to protect a queen from an entire army of invaders for days, and return unscathed, head bowed in service to the royalty that whomever was under the armor served. Beyond that, an aspect of elegance hung from the back of the iron helmet. A red tassel of interwoven textile flew in motion with the wielder, though the color seemed to have faded over time.

The weapon was simply something no normal human being could ever hope to wield.

It was a humongous axe shaped like that of an executioner's. Likely made of the same metal as the armor as well. As sharp as it was heavy, this huge axe could only be wielded by those of monstrous physical strength.

The armor had a very dominating presence on any battlefield as an overwhelming powerhouse. This was the opponent that Maria had avoided the most, simply remaining in single duels even as more combatants were deployed. Most of them chased the armor, paying no attention to the power held within.

Before they could engage, a giant gate of fenced metal had lifted upwards. Now there was nothing seperating the darkness behind it, and the arena where the people were astound with burning desire to see more of the knight in glorious combat.

The appearance of a particularly powerful monster inspired flames into their souls.

It was a captured Apeman, a larger size, even the iron knight seemed small in presence. Instantly, the two lost interest in one another, and turned to the giant Danger Beast at once.

Maria was at first impressed by the courage of whomever was underneath the metal, to fearlessly engage a beast well over three times your size is a feat of the ages. She pulled apart her Rakuyo, not believing that a pistol will prove effective.

Once the was within range, the captured Apeman loosened a punch at the rushing combatant. With speed that shouldn't be possible with such heavy, resistant metals, the armor evaded with little effort.

Maneuvering away from the other arm, the greatshield was then connected to it's back. In place of the versatile shield, the left hand found a place further up the hilt, close to the blade. Pushing against the sandy ground, the axe-knight flew through the air, and smashed the edge of his blade straight into the foot of the Danger Beast.

Maria was already moving. She baited out an attack, knowing somehow that the other combatant could handle themself. The rush of air came at her, and the Old Hunter mounted the arm and pierced the back of it's palm with her two blades. She imagined the damage done at this point would be trivial, and progressed to the Apeman's head.

She went up and over the intercepting arm, and there. For a fraction of a second, she made eye contact with the glowing red eyes of the Risk Species. It snarled and tried to eat her, but Maria was already too far from reach.

She would have to do this quick, slice up the back of the head as fast she can, evade the returning arm if it came back, and return to killing the monster.

Holding the two weapons at her sides, Maria twirled on the Apeman's large nape, and cut right into the flesh two times over, the usual spray of blood gushed along.

'Here it comes.'

But before the giant hand could even come close, the entirety of her world seemed to unhinge, and things started to fly past. Luckily, the Old Hunter corrected herself by holding onto the fur of the beast.

Looking down, Maria found that the source of the world loosening was that her former opponent. The blade of the giant axe was melded with red, from the leg that had just been taken from the Apeman.

She cleared the monster's head just before it hit the dirt.

Finally, with her target left more or less unable to move, she could guarantee the next plan's effectiveness. Maria reformed her Rakuto, red sparks started as the pieces joined, and stepped back a single pace, pulling the full double-sword to her side.

The undoubtable sound of clinking metal came not far off, and together, they severed the arms of the Danger Beast, little droplets of rain burst from where the Apeman's arm connected to it's torso.

Maria was in one place. The next moment, she was at another, slicing apart the flesh and getting blood spray on the back of her hunter's coat.

The heavier foe took both hands and presented the weapon to the gods in the sky, before smashing the blade into the earth, completely bypassing the flesh like it were paper.

The massive weight of the weapon translated into incredible force, which in turn caused the earth to rumble and shake under Maria's feet, and even directed threatening vibrations into the stands where the audience cheered.

They were even more rowdy, and with the defeat of the giant monster, it was time to see who would kill the other in no doubt a battle to the death.

But other influences held other plans.

"CEASE!"

A grand shout from even higher up of the colosseum subdued the ecstatic audience, and they more or less fell silent.

"So, Raba. What do you think?" Leone elbowed her scouting partner with fervor.

"They're both incredible...Obviously that huge guy isn't suited for us." Raba eyed the walking heap of iron from afar. It was what most boys dreamt about; impossibly powerful strength together with the largest weapon they'd ever seen.

Surely, the Revolution could use somebody such as that on their side. And surely, so would the Capital.

"Yeah, that guy's out of the question, but I wouldn't disagree that the army would definetely want something like him. But that girl though...hmhm." Agreeing with Raba, Leone quickly went to the more interesting possible applicant. "She seems able enough for us. Assuming she isn't planning to go the Capital." She and her scouting partner knew what that meant.

There was the 'Capital'.

And then there's the 'Capital.'

The one who called an end to the fighting began again.

"Gladiators!"

"For your impressive display of ability, I have decided to award the both of you amply!"

The audience instantly rose the their feet at that, even if they were a little put off about not being able to see what no doubt would have been the most entertaining duel in their lifetime.

"Its good that Esdese is out of the Capital. No doubt she would have drafted those two into her forces by now if she were here." Leone stood up, stretching her arms and legs, before closing in on the green man beside her. "Come on, we should get ready to greet our new coworker. Let's leave metal-man to the Army's scouters." With how loud everyone was, it's no wonder they went uninterrupted.

"BLADE! BLADE! BLADE!"

The two stood, and pushed past the jubilant men and woman who either shouted with joy, or shouted their arena names.

"AXE! AXE! AXE!"

Hello.

Once more, leave a review behind so i know if i should go through with this series.

u been gr8 for reading this far.