Akame Ga Kill
Thunder's Beast
Chapter 4
Unknown destination
He adjusted the scope of his sniper as he zoomed into the target's face. Wolf grimaced as the sadistic noble whipped the old man on the back again.
The noble was talking, but Wolf was at least a kilometer away and was only able to guess what he was babbling about from lips reading.
'Die in the name of the emperor!' he seemed to say. When Wolf saw the man reached for the sword strapped by his belt, he prepared.
The young assassin calmed his breath and became one with the black rifle. He inhaled deeply, and exhaled thoroughly. His mind did the calculation and moved the sniper five inches right from the head of the noble as he took account of the wind direction.
He waited for the noble to brandish his sword; and when he raised it high above his head to behead the injured old man, Wolf stilled and pulled his right index finger.
The silencer of the sniper did its job; a barely noticeable ping rang in the quiet air and disappeared in the breeze.
"Headshot." He muttered behind his scope as a red hole appeared on the elderly man's forehead abruptly. "Another mission well done." He placed the smouldering sniper in the luggage and closed the lid gently. He caressed the black harden leather lovingly before shouldering it by the strap.
"Great job, Yasuke. Your boss' gonna be proud of ya." He said to himself sarcastically.
He ignored the loud shouts from the town as he turned and disappear in the woods.
By the time the guards arrived, they could only find a black business card clipped between two well placed debris.
-Thunder's Beast-
Timeskip: a day later
"Ah, home sweet home…" he stretched to get rid of the soreness in his back when he finally arrive the small dirt path leading to the base of Night Raid.
"Wolf!" a far too enthusiastic shout came behind him. "How's the mission?" Tatsumi emerged from the woods half-naked in only his trousers. The bloody sword by his side indicated the fact that he was hunting for dinner.
"Tatsumi," He forced a tired smile on his face even if knew the boy could not see it, "the mission is another success. One less scumbag in the Empire." He stride towards the direction of their secret fortress, "Good luck with your hunting." He waved without turning.
Tatsumi, he was interesting, definitely one of the most talented young man he ever seen. His skills were improving dramatically every single day.
The day they first met it was a total smack down for Tatsumi. It's only been one and a half month, and he had advanced in leaps and bounds. He had lasted a full three minutes against Wolf without their Teigus.
Recently, Tatsumi had been begging him to teach the boy how to channel Chi throughout his body. He had declined boldly at first, since it had a dangerous routine most people would have a decent chance of dying.
But Tatsumi was a stubborn fellow, he asked day after day until Wolf finally snapped. He punched him in the face so hard he sailed into the forest and snapped a couple ribs, but he was forgiven when he surrender and would teach him the way to use Chi.
After weeks of training, there was little progress. Chi training required unyielding patient and the sharpest concentration, people who were reckless or easily distracted would never learn to manipulate their spiritual energy.
In spite of the almost non-existent improvement, it was still there. Even if he was unable to use Chi effectively, he was able to remain calm-headed and calculative during the heat of the battle.
Wolf came out into the sparring ground to see Mine and Chelsea in another bickering battle; Mine scorned while Chelsea teased.
Upon hearing his faint footsteps, the argument stopped short as they both turned their attention to the masked assassin.
"Back from another mission already?" Chelsea called, still sucking on her lollipop while intentionally making annoying noises to irritate the genius sniper.
"Yep. See you for dinner." He waved and disappeared behind the opened doors thus ending the short exchange, not even waiting for their reply.
He turned to the left corridor, his room was in the far end of the hall. It seemed like eternity when he was finally in arm-reach with the doorknob.
He reached over to turn the handle, anxious for an at least eight hours sleep. He'll report to Najenda later; that could wait. He doubt he could stay on his feet any longer.
He entered the plain room. With only one objective, he spared no extra time leaving his weapons on the desk while slipping off his clothes, leaving only a pair of boxer on his waist.
He fell on the bed, not even bothering that the pillow was suffocating the boy, he fell into the blissful realm of Morpheus.
-Thunder's Beast-
Again, Wolf found himself in another dream.
But instead of the terrifying wolf he expected to see every time he dreams, he was floating in the middle of the air.
Another memory of the past, when he was still a loyal dog of the rotten place called the Empire.
He saw to cloaked figure moving in the alleyway, leaping on wall to wall until they were on the rooftop.
They were not alone. There was another man with them, waiting for the Imperial assassins with his strange broadsword drawn and settled in his battle stance.
The man glanced at the duo before his eyes were shadowed by his long blonde bangs, "So young, what have the Empire done to you children?" there was clear pity in his gruff voice. His gaze hardened as he readied his blade, "The Empire… it's too far gone! This needs to change. And if you two stand in my way, then I will kill my heart and put you out of your misery!" he yelled the last part.
Akame drew her katana while Yasuke clenched his fist. And the man charged with a defiant roar.
The battle didn't take long; as skilled and experienced the man was, he was nothing against two Teigu users.
Yasuke punched the flat side of the sword, sending trembling shocks to the man's sore arm. Instinctively he dropped his guard and allowed Akame to perform a horizontal strike that bisected the man in two halves.
Both assassin watched ruthlessly as the man fell to the ground. In his final breath, the man whimpered, "such cold eyes… this empire… truly needs to change." And he stayed silent.
Akame flicked blood off her blade and turned on her heels to move away from the dead rebel solider. Yasuke lingered his eyes on the man for a while.
He was a good man; he could tell that much from the brief exchange they had during the battle.
Even though he had completed the mission flawlessly and suffered no injury, it left a bitter taste in his mouth. His eyebrows crunched together as his mouth set in a frown.
That was the when Yasuke saw what was underneath of the clean surface of the Empire.
-Thunder's Beast-
His eyes snapped open as his instincts screamed him awake. His arm shot up to grab a hovering wrist.
He looked over to who was the assailant, and sighed once again when he saw the innocent looking bust blonde.
"Seriously? How many times you've tried this?" he asked, and Leone scratched her head cheekily while shaking her head sheepishly, "That's right! Too many to count! Quit It!" he cursed as he let go of the arm in his iron grip. And went to his pile of cloths to dress himself.
"Aw… but I just want to know what's behind the mask…" she pouted.
"You infuriating woman! You just have to go ruin my mood!" he stormed out his room. "You know what? Fuck you! I'm sleeping outside. Don't even think of bothering me." He looked over his shoulder and gave Leone a death glare. Big mistake, it was until then he noticed the tripwire just set out his room.
"Now! Lubbock!" Leone screamed, seeing victory near her grasp. The green haired assassin grinned and pulled.
Everything slowed down. The wire moved in slow motion. Wolf's mind ran a thousand miles a second, he could only watch helplessly as the thin wire wrapped around his leg and tightened. He waved his arm desperately as he fell to the ground, face first.
-Thunder's Beast-
Lubbock was waiting outside the window as he spectated Leone creeping in Wolf's room.
He, too, was interested at what was behind those stupid mask. But he knew better than mess with Miss Najenda's personal bodyguard.
The first night he met the assassin, he could only gape in awe as he ran through the crowd with nothing but two tiny pistols. He had witness the man putting bullets after bullets straight into the targets' head. He could catch Mine slight dropping her jaw from amazement.
Then, the 'accident'.
Leone, the prankster of Night Raid, just had to go after Wolf for personal enjoyment.
She dyed his shirts pink, and his underwear, apparently.
And mysteriously the next day Leone was found hanging upside down on a branch outside the base, sneezing and shivering from staying out all night in the cold.
In spite of that, Leone's interest on the masked assassin had yet to die down. And so she asked Lubbock for help.
She wanted to know what was behind the mask, why he was making such a big deal of it when all the Night Raiders had their face revealed to the whole world to see and didn't give a damn about it.
It was suspicious, but Lubbock wasn't going to risk his life just to find out how Wolf looked like.
But he could only crumble at the offer Leone made with him.
He cried silent tears as Wolf started shrieking behind the doors.
He had killed, pranked, stole, robbed, and the list went on.
But never in his life had he actually touched a girl's boob.
Who could resist the urge to touch a woman's boobs, not to mention it was Leone's bust.
Besides, if he refuse the offer now, when was he going to get a second chance? He'd probably die before seeing the end of the revolution.
The green door slammed open and startled Lubbock slightly.
"You infuriating woman! You just have to go and ruin my mood!" behind the loosely packed trees, he could see Wolf rushing out with heavy footsteps, "You know what? Fuck you! I'm sleeping outside. Don't even think of bothering me." He stepped out with agitatedly.
Leone winked and smirked. The Crosstail Teigu user gulped. Maybe this isn't worth it. But it was too late to turn back now.
"Now Lubbock!" closing his eyes blindly, he pulled the string attached to his claws.
He'd thought Wolf was the perfect assassin prepared for any ambushes. And so Lubbock widened his eyes in surprise when he felt resistance in his strings.
No way. Wolf stumbled and fell to the ground, his head ramming harshly on the plank that made both assassin winced in sympathetic pain.
As soon as he stumbled, he struggled to push himself back onto his feet, "Look, whatever mean things I did to you in the past, I didn't mean it." He staggered backwards as Leone neared him in a crouched position like a predator to its prey. "Guys, think before you do. Don't do anything that you will regret."
Too think that he would see Wolf in such a pitiful state, Leone lunged and tackled the poor masked assassin.
"Wha! Fuck! Stop it! Hey-hey! Quit it!" He pushed Leone aside by accidentally smacking her across the breast. She recoiled from the sudden pain.
"Dude, did you just…" Lubbock trailed off. Leone glared with her flaring eyes, her belt glowed as if responding to her boiling rage.
Wolf panted as he somehow got out of the tight clutch of the assassin's Teigu. He scrambled and backed against the wall.
"Okay…" he sighed, "You all just want to see what's behind the mask, right?" sweat could be seen trailing down his side of the face.
Leone's anger dissipated instantly and nodded, so did Lubbock.
"If I show you then, promise that you will never bother me, again. At least not for such a stupid reason." They nodded as one.
"Very well." He grabbed the side of his mask, "behold…" as if tempting their growing frustration, he pulled the mask slowly.
"Under the mask…" the knob fell loose and a part of the mask came off. The duo pranksters leaned forward.
And the face was revealed, "Is another mask." (Pulled of a Kakashi) Wolf smirked as the two deadpanned.
Without waiting, he hugged the pillow and jumped out of the opened window and plunged to the earth, searching for a sturdy tall thick branch for a nap.
-Thunder's Beast-
"There's a new species of humanoid Danger Beast around the area, namely the south side of the Capital." Najenda explained, exhaling a cloud of smoke in the air.
"There is a large number of the danger beasts, and they move in groups. Every one of them are strong and tough. There are rumors that even the best of the samurai are defeated single-handily by the monster."
The group of assassin had tight expressions. Wolf meanwhile was twirling his throwing knife by the ring on the handle.
Najenda sighed, crushing the remains of the cigarette with her metal fingers, "They are the aggressive ones, feeding on villagers and soldiers. And so of course they captured the Empire's attention. The Jaegers and Imperial Soldiers are on this case as well."
"I don't see why we are not leaving this mess to the Empire." All eyes turned to Chelsea, "you are all too naïve."
Tatsumi turned, glancing at the girl who was leaning against the wall a sharp glare.
"I know what you mean by that. But those guys maybe attacking innocent citizens while we are talking." His eyes piercing and clenched fist rested tightly by his side, "We are killers, but we are also the protector of the people. The faster we eliminate the threat, the more life we can save."
The whole room was struck silence by his small speech. Najenda smiled at his sense of justice.
Wolf stared approvingly at Tatsumi. This boy was kind-hearted, but too kind. Someday this kindness was going to cause him.
The auburn haired assassin sighed in defeat, "whatever, very well then. But don't blame me if something bad happens."
Najenda eyed her subordinates, before continuing with the mission, "to be safe, you will be traveling in groups of two. So be sure to cover each other's back."
"We will depart by midnight. Get some rest until then."
"Understood!"
He didn't know if Najenda was screwing with him or not. But apparently he was specifically paired up with Akame.
For the past two and a half hours, he could not fully focus on his task, and earning him a couple thin scratches on his suit.
Akame however, was not bothered the least and was able to one-hit all the danger beasts with her cheating sword Murasame.
Wolf stood as he watched the giant fist moving slowly towards his face. It may move slowly because of his Chi reinforced try, but it certainly look heavy and lesser man would be crushed under the punch.
He took one particular lesson in the east to his heart. One that wouldn't use brute strength against brute strength, but encountering with flexibility and redirects the blow instead of taking it head on.
With precision, he palm rested against the side of the giant's fist. With little difficulty, he pushed it to the side, just enough so that the punch missed him by inches.
The fist buried deep into the earth, blowing up cloud of dust and gust of wind. Wolf spun on his heel for a full two circle. With the accumulated momentum, his leg extended and burst towards the face of the unaware giant.
In the last moment, a blade shot out from the heel, and sunk deep into the flesh of the monster's neck.
It roared in either pain or anger in its last moment of its short life before falling dead on the ground limply.
Wolf breathed behind the mask, the metal cool against his heated skin.
He turned to the remaining of the monsters, but found them already in pieces on the dirt. There stood the infamous red-eyed killer, her deadly blade brandished and glinted under the moon. Her steel cold eyes reflected no emotions, and Wolf found that alluring; it was the eyes of a true master assassin.
Even against all those danger beasts, so much blood shed, there was no visibly patches of blood on her coat or mini dress.
"All the threats in this area are eliminated, let's move on to another area." She spoke, bringing the boy back to reality. Nodding blankly, he rushed up to the girl's side.
For a moment there was silence, no humanoid monsters attacking them out of the blue. Wolf slowly eased, finally getting used to the girl's presence. It never occur to Wolf that Najenda paired them up to improve their relation with each other.
"So…" the masked boy tried to strike up a conversation, "where did you get that blade."
"Where did you get the gloves?" she retorted bluntly, tilting her head to stare up at the taller boy with her glowing crimson eyes under the dark.
Said boy was startled, but then gripped his head in pain as another memory hit him like a slap on the face.
"Heh, nice gloves…" a dark haired teen mused as he stuffed the pair of gloves in his pants pocket.
"Uh… I don't really remember, actually." He reached up to touch the strap around his head that secures his light metal mask; a habit he took up from another masked assassin.
"You don't remember?" her orbs showed clear confusion.
He felt like smacking his head on a trunk. This was Akame, the companion and his partner in the past. The person he wanted the least to know his identity.
"I had a friend…" The girl stopped her advancements and turned slightly to face the panicked boy, "He was skilled and cunning, but he was also lazy as well. Coincidently, he used gloves with the ability to manipulated electricity, just like you. And what makes it suspicious, is that he had purple eyes."
Wolf swore he could feel his heartbeat through his chest. Cold sweat trickled down his side of the face, but was concealed from the girl with his mask.
"Just who are you, Wolf?" Suddenly, his senses tingled as his hand shot up to grab the gauntleted arm as Akame tried to reach up to tear off his mask.
He was absolutely calm as he stared deep into the girl's eyes. Violet met red into a deep glaring contest; mostly Akame glaring as Wolf narrowed his eyes in exasperation.
He knew that he could not hide this forever, the cat would eventually come out of the bag. She would be pissed, angered, and most definitely outrageous. There was no running from this, and if he does, it would only make it worse.
Sighing in frustration, Wolf said, "Not now. Maybe in the future, but not right now. I promise, you will know when the time comes. But for now, this is to be kept a secret."
He released the girl's wrist. The girl was not resisting, though he was shooting daggers behind Wolf's head.
"Just tell me." she sounded desperate, and Wolf was tempted to just tear off his mask and said 'screw it'. But instead he tensed his shoulders for the briefest moment, too fast to be noticed even by the Empire's most wanted assassin. Then he shrugged, and headed back to their base over the mountain.
This was enough for the night.
When they arrived back the base, they were met with solemn faces.
Akame and Wolf were briefed by Lubbock.
"Tatsumi's taken, again?" Akame forced out her clenched teeth, "by Esdeath?"
"I'm not sure if it's Esdeath, but there was an intruder passing through my strings in absurdly high speed. And I found traces of frozen ice on top of the mountain. That pretty much answers the question."
Esdeath. His teeth grounded hardly behind the plate of metal. The bitch that ruined his life. She was powerful, the Empire's strongest. "Well, there's nothing we can do than hope he survives."
-Thunder's Beast-
Turned out that they were worried for nothing. Tatsumi had returned with barely a scratch on his vest.
Though he did notice the slight change in the boy. He didn't cackle as much as before, in fact, he hardly allow a smile on his face. He was pretty sure his boss noticed the change as well.
Today was another one of those days, Tatsumi had busted in through the door and nearly got skewered by the one of the hidden darts on the ceiling.
"Train me!" he declared. Wolf, still with his face mask on when he slept, looked tiredly up from the bed.
"Why not train with Susanoo like you always do." He let his head drop back into the soft fabric, he was on the verge of snoring in seconds.
Tatsumi felt his eyebrow twitch, "Susanoo did teach me a lot of stuff in fighting and battling, but there's a limit to what he can teach me. I want to learn how to fight like a true assassin."
"Why me? Go bother Chelsea instead, she's a professional." His voice was slightly muffled in the pillow.
"Chelsea? She assassinate targets by changing forms. Besides, she cannot fight."
"Just because she doesn't fight in the frontline like you are Leone doesn't mean she is not a good assassin." He turned head to breathe air, "She is the perfect assassin. She could mask her emotions during missions, she can act and sound like exactly like the person she was pretending; do you have any idea how hard that is? To shift into different persona is like breathing air to Chelsea. Not to mention that she is an assassin with the highest mission successful rate I'd ever seen. Do you need any more reasons?"
Seeing Tatsumi didn't answer, Wolf sighed, "You are an assassin, not a soldier, where bravery and combat skills mean everything. Assassin hide their emotions, mask their presence, and is able to blend with the crowd. So far I can only see you fighting mindlessly in your armor. Are you good at fighting? Yes; are you a good assassin? No. Go figure yourself."
Wolf turned and faced his back towards the still silent boy, he waited for a while until he heard Tatsumi leaving his room. The masked assassin sat up when he felt the fading footsteps of the depressed brunette.
Grabbing his shirt by his bedside, he threw them on and glanced at the ticking clock on the wall. 10:30, just enough time for his brief mediation on his newest project.
Instead of taking the door, he placed his boot on the window sill and stepped out the opened window to the open field. The battle-experienced boy landed lightly in a crouch to absorb most of the force. And dashed into the woods sprinting. He was gone in mere seconds behind the lines of trees.
He began free running among trees. Even if he could not recall anything from the past, his muscles still remembered the way he used to move. He jumped over a thick branch accordingly, before sliding under another higher branch.
Wolf ran in circles, steadying his breathing and getting his body to warm up. When the faintest sign of sweat appeared on his forehead, he decided that it was enough and made his way to his personal training ground.
It was a wide clearing with a decent size pool for perfect drinking source. Numerous large borders were laid coordinately across the field, each painted with red paint while some destroyed ones were tossed behind the bushes in a pile.
Wolf dug his hand in his pocket and slipped his Teigu on. He charged the Teigu with a fraction of its power and smiled pleasantly as sparks leaped on his fingertips.
He reached up his chest pocket and fished out a single piece of metal, a coin. He tossed it in the air and caught it in his palm absently as he ran through the theory in his mind for the thousandth time.
Wolf had come up with this idea from the Western country, where most of the blueprints of his weapons came from. It was one of the most advance country he had ever seen. And when he was on a mission to assassinate a mad scientist, he had witness coated scientist loading millions of volts of electricity into a tiny piece of metal. Turned out that he didn't even need to do the job. The glowing metal piece vibrated and blew 5up like a bomb in front of the mad man's face.
He was scorched and the tip of his cloak was burned to crisp. But he had always thought that the idea would be great if used correctly in battle. The explosion could blow a whole building away like Mine's Pumpkin while in a pinch.
Breathing slowly, he felt himself falling into a hollow calmness, his heart beating gently against his chest steadily.
He fingered the coin, and let it dropped into the slight gap between his index finger and thumb.
He pointed his arm in the general direction of a faraway rock in the distance, his thumb twitching as electricity flowed through and into the metal.
Wolf sweated bullets as he focused to force hyper-charged energy into the small storage, careful not to put too much for it to explode or to less for it to not charge up enough to fire it off.
Unable to control the massive amount of energy, arcs of tightly compressed golden lightning escaped his skin and leaped into the ground. A gentle breeze took up and leaves gathered and circled around him as the pillar of ozone stirred up in the air.
Then he felt the dam crack, more than necessary volts of lightning was forcefully pushed into the already glowing metal of devastating destruction.
Feeling more of his control slip, he was force to end the charging procedure before it was actually 100% complete.
He flicked his thumb, and it exploded outwards. Even with his sharp eyes, he could only see a glowing blur with a single orange tail trailing behind the bullet.
The glowing metal bomb impacted the large flat rock, and an explosion rocked the forest. Heated waves of air swept past the electric manipulator, causing the boy to narrow his eyes and shield his face from the intense temperature.
When the air stilled and dust landed back on the earth, Wolf lowered his arms and spectated the destruction.
Where once was trees and rocks, were now replaced by a huge blacked crater.
Hesitantly, Wolf stepped forward to inspect the damage done by his experimental attack. He leaned over the crater.
"That's better than I expected…" he muttered. If he could cause this level of damage by just half charging the coin, what damage it could bring if he charge a larger piece of metal with more capacity to max power? It could probably blow even Esdeath to kingdom come.
Satisfied with his improvement with his new technique, he went and practiced his karats and knife combats.
This continued to noon until Akame came over and informed him that Boss had called a meeting.
She eyed the crater impassively, but didn't voice out her question.
-Thunder's Beast-
"When the group splits into two, here." Najenda drew a circle on the map, "we hit them with all our force. There's 6 to 7 members in Jaeger, so expect at least three members during the encounter."
"I know Esdeath, and if I assume correctly, she would go after me as her first priority, which will be the bait and allow us to fight the other group in full power." She drew a few more strokes on the paper.
"The Revolutionary Army have direct orders to eliminate the two most troublesome Jaegers; namely Bors and Kurome."
Akame's expression flickered into one of conflicted before settling back in a straight face.
Wolf had heard of this Kurome person, it sounded familiar. Cameron had told him in the report that she had the ability to summon the undead to her side during battles.
"The villages supporting the revolution had been burned to ground by Bors' Teigu, the Rebicunte. His Teigu is a powerful one, so it is certainly the case he is considered a threat."
Tatsumi was in confusion, from his short time in the Jaegers, he had took glimpses of each of the member's personality. They were all good person, all fighting for their beliefs in their way.
Bors was a married man, a loving father. He was gentle and shy, very considerate. He was the person he had come into liking other than Wave.
The Incursio bearer gritted his teeth as his kindness battled with his sense of justice. And his resolve as an assassin came out as the last of his doubts were crushed; for the sake of the people.
"I will fight with all my strength, even if they are the target or not. I will not allow this to waver my will."
The members smiled, Najenda grinned, "Good."
They had been briefed of the plan. Akame, Susanoo, Leone, Tatsumi and Najenda herself would be engaging the group directly. Mine would stay in a safe distant and take the first killing shot at Kurome, and would stay as a support afterwards.
Lubbock and Chelsea had been appointed as supports, as their Teigus were not the most suited for direct combat against skilled fighters. But they would assist when given the chance.
"Wolf, I want you to act as a support. The Empire has yet to know your existent in our group, and I intent to use that as our advantage, our trump card. Watch our backs, and when you see the opportunity, don't hesitate to go for the kill. Chances rarely occur twice."
The ravened haired assassin nodded. A useful gadget came into his mind and he smiled, his hand went to his belt and returned with a black C shaped object. He tossed it to Najenda.
"This is a communication system. Long stuff short, put it around your ear, and we will be able to communicate through the device. There's only two unfortunately, since this stuff is hard as hell to make, and I'm giving this to you."
Grinning, Najenda stuffed it in his pocket, "You sure have a lot of toys."
"My 'toys' can blow up towns, you want me to demonstrate it?" he pointed out challengingly, offended when his superior insulted his arsenal.
"Save it for the battle." Najenda leaned back into her chair, "It'll be a couple more days till the final battle. Until then, take some rest and lay back, it could be our last."
With a nod of affirmation, the meeting was dismissed.
Two days until the ultimate battle between Teigu users.
-Thunder's Beast-
Timeskip: next day
The group of assassins had gone to the lake to enjoy themselves. Najenda was brooding on the flat rock that oversaw the whole wide forest.
As her bodyguard, Wolf had accompanied her, sitting by her side fixing his guns and rifles.
The escort grabbed a screwdriver and loosen a screw on the rifle. With gentle swift hands, he removed the barrel and dissected the gun. One by one, he grabbed his towel and cleaned the scope.
A while later he noticed his leader watching him working with interested in her eye, without raising his head, he asked, "yeah?"
"I don't know you are a mechanic, you are very familiar with guns."
"A little, I did learn a thing or two from a fellow mechanic during my travel." He attached the separated parts back into one piece after checking nothing was out of place, "we came up with the ideas of this weapons."
"Impressive, he must be an expert to come out with such weapons, perhaps we can ask him over to help with the revolution?"
"That's not possible." His voice lowered and hardened.
"Why is that?"
"He's dead. Some scums wanted his studies, he tried to negotiate with them, but they put a bullet in his head." His eyes darkened as he saw an image of an old man lying on the ground dead with a spot of red on his forehead.
Sensing the heavily saturated depression in the air, the conversation ended.
Rifle cleansed, Wolf moved to his wrist blades. He rolled up his sleeves and unstrapped the bracelets. He pushed a button on the side and the weapon split into two halves. He grabbed another unstained towel and polished the blades.
"Your arm…" Najenda turned to look at Wolf, who was still focusing on his work, "I can modify it, make it lighter and add a few improvements. it will be a lot better than your current version, do you want me to look into it?"
She thought for a second, before shaking her head and rolled her still arm, "No, maybe after this battle. It'll hinder me if I'm not used to it. Thanks for the offer by the way." The boy grunted.
"Just make sure you don't die tomorrow."
"You too. Will your sickness affect the battle tomorrow?"
"Nah, I had an episode just earlier this morning, and usually it won't happen for another three to four days, give or take one." He mused as he looked up to stare at the wide view of the nature, "I'll spend most of the time at the back, providing assistant long distant and be a lookout the same time."
"I wonder how many will die in the battle tomorrow." He grimaced as he looked at his reflection through his blades.
-Thunder's Beast-
Wolf was lying flat on his stomach, watching the whole development of the battle going on in the valley.
Bols, Kurome, and another Jaeger called Wave, had arrived on their respective horses without Esdeath presented, just as Najenda predicted.
The attempt ambush shot from Mine was evaded by Kurome with her inhuman reaction speed with her drugs. Not even a second after the bang, Susanoo busted out from the fake scarecrow and threw a heavy strike towards the distracted younger sister of Akame. However Wave interfered, taking the blow meant for the girl and sent flying in the sky.
Moments after the fail ambush, the team revealed themselves to the remaining two members, it was pretty clear who would come out victory when it was 8 vs 2 battle between the two parties.
But then Kurome raised her Teigu. Purple lightning sparked and skeleton claws shot up from the dirt, flesh and organs formed in front of their very eyes and soon there stood six figures and a monstrous skeleton of a danger beast.
The Night Raid members went ahead and picked off their opponents. And soon it was a battlefield raining craters and explosions.
They were so far dealing pretty well; Mine had gone off with her own gun fight with another gunwoman, Tatsumi had picked off an ape danger beast, Akame eliminating her target Bors, Najenda and Susanoo trying their best fending off the Ultra-class danger beast, Leone being whipped by another reincarnated general.
Kurome and Natala was casually watching the raging battles on top of a apex with interested eyes. As much as they were seem to be in control of the battle, they were in the losing side. Humans had stamina, and they would soon run out of it; but in the other hand, the undead did not have such thing; they were puppets, until they were still intact in one piece, they would still fight.
To prove his point, the monster let out a blast of super-charged energy that scorched the entire valley black. Luckily, none of the Night Raiders were harmed from the blast.
Feeling a need to step in to help the armored fellow of his group, he focused his eye scope on the battle at the far side. It was a two verses one situation, Tatsumi might had no trouble dealing with the ape, but the killer in the shadows were constantly disrupting his attacks and allowing the danger beast to land punishing blows on the dented armor.
Wolf breathed, adjusting the sniper rifle slightly so that the cross rest on the almost invisible shadow hiding under the shades.
A single bullet would not do much, even if it damaged the brain, so he would need to try something else. With his gloves on, he directed a sufficient amount of energy in to the bullet through the barrel and made it brittle enough to explode upon impact.
He stilled, waiting for the right moment for the perfect shot.
The moment the shadow darted to left after its failed ambush against the boy, Wolf pulled the trigger.
The masked boy smirked under his mask it produced a hole on its chest. The shadow seemingly gagged when the bullet finally reached its breaking point and exploded, blowing up the body into a shower of gore and blood.
With the distraction gone, Tatsumi landed lethal deep cuts on his opponent with his spear.
He caught movement in the corner of the scope, there stood Chelsea, a cute pout on her face succeeded sending the message that she was not happy stealing her kill.
Then he watched the undergoing battle. Susanoo had gone into his ultimate form when he activated his trump card, cutting the monster down with ease with his huge sword.
Leone was careless and costed her an arm from Kurome's ambush from the back. Enraged, she didn't lose temper and joined Akame on her battle with Bors and am undead bodyguard.
Mine had been gone from his sight for a couple moments, but when she emerged, her dress was torn and soaked, her hair was ruffled and she definitely did not look happy. Regardless of her pathetic condition, she was unharmed.
He watched when Najenda mercilessly gave her former comrade a super punch in his stomach and blasted him back peacefully back in the earth, in pieces.
Leone had destroyed Bors' Teigu while Akame literally disarmed the bodyguard. In the final ditch of effort, he threw out the tank that fuels his flame based Imperial Arms and detonated the bomb. Wolf shielded his eyes from the heat.
When the blast had stilled, a half a mile radius crater was made, Leone had shielded them with the bodyguard's reinforced plastic shield and only suffered minor injuries. The other were out of the blast radius.
When the smoke ceased the two were nowhere in sight. Wolf growled, a failed mission, and to make thing worse, they'd seen their faces and in no time wanted posters would be everywhere.
Wolf placed the rifle back into the luggage and shouldered it before running towards the general direction of the Capital, determined to finish his job.
He skirted around the valley and finally caught sight of a lone figure on a wide path. Smirking, he pulled out his rifle and leaned over the cliff, slipping a single bullet down the slot and adjusted the scope.
He trailed the barrel on Bors' head, zooming in for the guaranteed shot. The moment he was about the squeeze the trigger…
BANG!
"What the-" his focus shattered as he pulled the trigger. Instead of going through his skull, it pierced in the naked back of the man. He howled in anguish and pain, before falling limp on his own pool of blood.
That should do it, rapid blood lost and severed spine; he'll never be a solider again even if he survived.
Another gunshot echoed around the air and told him the position of the shooter. That's not Mine, she'd already retreated back to their temporary base with the others. Then it was the enemy.
Dread filled up his veins and he trembled. In his short time in Night Raid, even if he wasn't friends or bonded to some of the specific members, it was still his duty to watch out for their backs; he did promise Najenda that he would make sure they all return alive.
He dropped his luggage and instantly his body felt lighter. Without another thought or hesitation, he sprinted towards the source of the gunshots.
-Thunder's Beast-
Chelsea wasn't sure how this happened.
Everything was supposed to go smoothly; she disguise as Bors and sneak up next to her target, taking advantage of her battered form and lack of awareness, she stabbed her in the back of the neck with her poisonous needle and removed a vital area, then she would skip back to base and be praised by her boss and Tatsumi.
But lucky had the tendency to mess things up for her.
She turned her back to the downed girl, confident that she would be dead in mere seconds from the deadly venom in her system. But then she heard the earth shifting, she had not expect to see her standing with a malice eyes drilling holes behind her head.
"Shit!" She was running for her life. Even though if Kurome did survive the supposingly fatal wound, she was still severely hurt and on the verge of fainting unconscious; her puppets were moving clumsily from her terrible control over her Teigu.
A couple shots were close calls, some had gazed her dress and left faint lines of wounds on her frame.
Wind whistled and she ducked instinctively, the extended blade cut through a few auburn stands of her hair.
Unfortunately, even luck had her limits.
A single bullet had pierced her left thigh, she cried out in pain as she stumbled and crashed ungracefully on the dirt; the wet mud smearing over her blouse and face.
She rolled over just to see the barrel of a gun pointed directly over her face.
"Bitch, Dora's going to put a bullet in your face, and then I am going to slash your body to pieces and feed them to the wolves." Kurome approached while leaning heavily on Natala, "Beg like a whore you are, and maybe I'll give you a swift death."
Chelsea grounded her teeth as the cold steel pressed up against her forehead, tears threatened to roll down her cheek.
So, this is how I die…
The girl sighed as she closed her eyes, waiting for the embrace of death to shroud her presence.
I guess it's not the worse way to go… I'm sorry, everyone, Tatsumi…
But it never came, instead she heard a heavy thud and a crack and the weight of the western cowgirl on her body disappeared.
And no longer was she lying limply against the muddy earth, but she felt a pair of strong arms wrapping protectively over her waist and legs in bridal style. She blinked at the sight of a wolf mask.
"…Why are you here…" she mumbled weakly from exhaustion.
The boy looked down and glowing purple orbs gleamed from the eyeholes.
"Damn assassin and their stupid pride…" he tightened his grip on the injured girl, "Don't ever get ahead of yourself." She smiled thinly before leaning against his chest, enjoying the warmth from her savior.
Kurome was furious, she removed her eyes from Dora's downed form against a snapped trunk and glared murderously at the boy.
"Fuck you! Who are you now? Why won't you let me fucking kill the bitch!" she screeched.
Wolf did not gave a response to the furious girl.
"Close your eyes and hold tight." He whispered softly, and the girl nodded and clenched tightly on his jacket. He pulled out a flash grenade from his pouch and threw it on the ground.
"What is this shi-" an explosion of light blinded her vision and her control over her puppets for seconds, and it was enough for the duo to escape from the scene.
He darted into the woods and disappeared among the line of bushes. And by the time the light faded and Kurome's sight returned, they were nowhere in sight.
Needless to say, she was far from angry.
She screamed at her failure to kill the assassins just as Wave arrived the clearing with a bandaged Bors over his shoulders.
-Thunder's Beast-
Sorry it took so long to update, but I am quite busy and there's a lot of exam. I did a little change in the story. Frankly, I don't think Bors deserves to die, he is a good person and I was quite shocked when I saw his dead in the manga.
Also, Chelsea doesn't die, the reason is the same as Bors.
Anyway, thank you for reading and I'll see you all next time.
AnimeLover137