NinjaFang1331 and Princess Bloodina Carnage: Thank you
WildCard555: He went back to being normal. Forgot to address it last chapter.
Guest(1 ,2, & 3): While he does have power he still has to learn how to properly use it.
What was paragraph 2.
I'm not good at pairs so I'm not sure if I'll do more then just put Tatsu in cute situations with them.
And I have no idea what message 2 and 3 meant.
HaruhismFollower: It's not a timer, think of it more like Murasame, Akame can hold it, but unless she uses it then it doesn't take her energy/concentration. As long as Tatsumi doesn't do anything that is out of the limits of his normal body, then there is no reason he should get tired. (I know what enemy you're talking about, just wait, she'll make her entrance soon)
Only time will tell… as well as my attention span in writing.
Thank you.
XxXxXxXx
Have any of you ever woken up to the unblinking red eyes of an Assassin that seems to stare into your soul? Let me tell you, not a nice wake-up call.
As soon as Tatsumi stopped screaming he saw that something was different.
The sky was vibrant blue instead of the normal black of night. He had to have slept for over 10 hours, judging by where the sun was currently positioned.
"Hope you slept well. We need to convene at once." A pause. "After you wipe your face, but be sure to hurry." With that, Akame left.
After finding a mirror, blushing when he saw his face was covered in dry drool, burnt crumbs, and things of the sort, Tatsumi cleaned up and hoped it wasn't anything to important he was postponing.
XXX
"Esdeath has returned from the North after conquering their rebellion."
Apparently it was very important. According to the faces the veteran Night Raid members made.
"On the upside though, her army has been ordered to stay in the North and keep watch so another uprising doesn't happen."
"So she wasn't brought back to deal with the Revolutionary army?" Bulat asked.
"Not that we know of, it seems that since her return she's been busy in the government torture chambers." Najenda took a drag from her cigarette. "Leone, you are to go to the capital and watch her. Be sure to stay on guard, run at the slightest sign of her awareness to you." Najenda warned, she had already lost so much to that woman, she didn't want to lose anything else.
"Got it, boss." Leone still held that snarky grin on her face while on the inside she was wondering just how bad this woman was.
"There is one more matter we need to discuss." Najenda pulled out a flyer from within her jacket pocket. "Someone has been committing a string of murders under our name. " The paper had Night Raid's logo with the message 'Heaven's Judgement, Delivered by Night Raid'.
"So why are we dealing with them? Our big fish are in the capital, the main base can send someone to deal with them." Mine questioned.
"The reason is because all the targets are civil officials. The current count is four officials and sixty-one bodyguards. Now if these killers were normal they'd have been killed from the increased security that the officials had hired after they heard of the other's death. But they were able to dispose of thirty highly trained guards in their last attempt. Causing people to truly believe that we are the ones responsible for this crime."
"So these killer's are teigu users as well." Akame realised.
Najenda only lit another smoke. "These killings are all against people who would see this Empire return to it's past glory. That means that the Prime Minister is orchestrating these murders and pinning them on us."
"I know this is stupid to ask, but you know that there's another possible reason they're doing this, right?" At the curious look from his little brother, Bulat said what they all thought this could be. "Maybe they want to set up a trap for us."
"I know that that is a great risk, but people like those officials will be needed for the new Empire to thrive and prosper. We must have the decency they held so we don't revert to how we are now. As such we cannot let these murderers continue their spree and protect those that seek to make the Empire prosperous and kind."
Najenda gazed at all of them. "Is there anyone who wishes to share their opinion?"
"Really?" Her gaze locked with his. "You know our answer better than anyone else." A smile arose on both of their faces. "So let's go and save the people who'll protect the future from tyranny!" Tatsumi finished with a boom in his voice.
The room was filled with smiles and nods as everyone present shared the opinion of the emerald eyed boy.
"So it's decided, let's teach those who'd destroy the future for the people a few lessons." Najenda stood and donned her coat as she looked towards her team. "There are 5 officials in the Capital who are possible targets. Of those five, only three are leaving the capital, giving ample opportunity for these frauds to attack."
Najenda looked to her right. "Akame and Lubbock, you are to go to Mura village to the East of the Capital."
She looked to her left. "Bulat and Tatsumi, you are going to the massive cruiseliner; Ryuusen."
Finally she stared ahead. "Mine and Sheele, you are going to Doko village to the Northwest."
With looks of confirmation from everyone, they all set out to their destination.
XXX
As Tatsumi was standing agasp at the ship, he could only think that massive was an understatement.
'That thing's as big as Shikoutaze-i- I mean a mountain.'
"That is pretty big." Bulat commented, appearing as empty space due to his invisibility being active. "Wonder how the wood feels, it's gotta be a pain maintaining such a big item, but I hope they keep it nice and smooth."
Tatsumi started to walk on the boat and repress the perverted comment from his Bro. 'He's been spending way to much time with Leone.'
Unknown to the duo, there was a quartet casually moving behind them. Three wearing cloaks, completely inconspicuous due to the dark clouds visible on the horizon. The other was walking in plain sight, but unable to be seen by anyone. Using her power to make anyone who looked in her vicinity only see what was in that direction.
Complex and annoying to do, but effective. And she relished the challenge to expand her control on her abilities. Plus she wanted to see if she might have some fun doing things humans normally do. Her usual motif was becoming a bore. Even if this was even more mind numbingly boring then her usual activities. It might make her find more joy in them when comparing it to this.
XXX
The ship had taken off and was sailing smoothly. Passengers all around him were getting drunk and chowing down. Yet Tatsumi was just staring out at the water, thinking of what Bulat had told him when they were still docked. About his past and why he joined the Revolution. This just increased the hatred he felt to this city, it was nothing more then a cesspool of disgusting people doing horrible things to people who couldn't stop them.
As he moved to get some water, he heard something. A nice, melodious tune. Though as he heard this his will was being drained. He felt as though everything was pointless and he should just stay down.
"Fight through this." He told himself. Fumbling to pull the mask from his inner coat pocket.
He had just managed to grip the mask when he heard a voice behind him. "Ah, someone's still awake? Sucks for you, we can't have any witnesses." The voice belonged to a behemoth of a man. He was a taller than Tatsumi was even with the mask on, if only by a few inches. His muscles could be seen pushing against his dress shirt and coat. And his eye seemed vacant of anything except pure white sclera.
"So you're part of those fuckers messing with our name?" Tatsumi was still gasping for breath but it seemed as though that draining music had subsided.
"Oh? So do you mean you're the real deal." The man's smile grew as he grabbed a sheathed sword from a nearby guard and tossed to the boy.
As Tatsumi let go of Balzac and caught the blade he still had to question why this man was giving him a fighting chance.
"That's simple, I just want to get the most experience from this mission so I can become the strongest." His bloodlust was seeping into the air. "Should be clear to fight here, everyone's out of commision so nobody can bother us."
Tatsumi said nothing as he unsheathed his blade. 'Akame thought that these guys had teigu, so I gotta make him to use it first. Then I'll be able to surprise him with mine.'
The air was tense as neither moved. It was only a brief moment however as the man was to impatient to wait any long. As such Tatsumi ran to meet him halfway.
His face twisted into an insane grin as he brought his double-sided axe up for an overhead swing. "Excellent. I'm sure you'll give me lots of experience."
From the look of the axe and the bravado in his voice, Tatsumi knew to evade the hit. It turns out jumping away was the good move as the floor where the axe struck nearly collapsed.
'That would have turned me into mush.' Tatsumi stared at the man's weapon with wide eyes.
"Seems like I was right, I might actually have to try." With that the man grabbed to handles from between the blades and pulled. The axe split in two and was chucked at Tatsumi with the power of an Earth Dragon.
"Shit." Tatsumi swore as he evaded one only for it to spin back towards him and cut him. Luckily his reflexes were on their way to recovery as the axe was deftly evaded.
But in his fear of one weapon he lost sight of the other.
He only had the sound of the whipping air to warn him as he spun and placed his sword up to block or parry the blow. Only for the axe to blow past the sword. Leaving a gash on his arm.
He turned to follow the axe and saw the other one coming in for a second hit.
To not let history repeat, Tatsumi ran towards the weapon and slid underneath it at the last moment. In its journey to hit its target the axe quickly righted its course and once more followed Tatsumi.
"Let's see if your blades can hit you instead of me!" Tatsumi shouted as he ran towards the imposter. Dropping his sword and ripping the mask from his pocket when they were ten feet apart.
It was strange, everything seemed to slow down and speed up at the same time. With the mask on, Tatsumi noticed the second axe blade flying above him. Aimed at the white-eyed man. So his foe could not continue with his plan and regain his weapon, Tatsumi jumped above him and grabbed the hilt mid-air. The force of the blade only being slightly less than the amount behind Tatsumi's jump. Allowing him to still go forward.
Daidara could only look in surprise as the runt took out a teigu and threw a wrench into his plans.
As he turned to face the kid he shot a hand out for his axe to land in.
Both opponents stood armed with the same weapon, ready to kill the other without a second thought.
If Tatsumi didn't have his mask on he wouldn't notice what was going to happen.
"Took you long enough." Before Daidara could ask what the kid was spouting. He had a spear shoved through his chest from behind.
"Subtly activating Incursio is pretty damn near impossible, and no thank you for taking care of him?" Bulat asked as he disengaged his invisibility and removed Neuntote from the dead man's chest.
"I coulda taken him out and you know it." Grabbing the other side of the axe from the floor, Tatsumi let the parts reform into one.
"Still a big brother should protect his family." If the situation was in a secure area, Bulat would have started to comb his hair.
"Yeah, yeah, you've been reading to much Blea-" Before he could finish a tendril of water tried to impale Balzac's user. It was for naught however as Tatsumi blocked with the axe's blade. The teigu being made for battle ensured that the metal could not be destroyed that easily.
"Seems like we got company." With that remark an old man with a ponytail came out of the shadows alongside what looked like a child who had cat like eyes and demon tail and horns. They both wore the same outfit the brute from earlier did. "So you guys have a dress code?" Tatsumi questioned.
Without dignifying him with a response, the child just looked at the corpse at their feet. "Really? Damn, I thought you could at least stay alive until we got here." He looked at the two. "Good that you at left his face intact though. Now I can add it to my collection."
"So you wanna beat the elderly or the youth?" Bulat asked his masked compatriot.
"Either's good."
Having enough of the duo's bickering, the old man waved his ringed hand forward. Barrels of water exploded outward to quickly destroy the two.
Bulat quickly dispersed the water as he spun his spear to act as a shield.
"Guess that the cat… demon… thing is my opponent then." Tatsumi knew Bulat's weapon gave him a better standing in fighting this opponent. After actually looking at the boy… girl… it, Tatsumi noticed something.'They have a recorder. He must be the one who put this ship to sleep.'
At the sight of his enemy trying to place the instrument in his mouth. Tatsumi split the axe in his hand and threw it with all his might.
If the material was any weaker then Nyau would have been cleaved in half. Luckily for him his recorder was as strong as the best swords in the capital. So his life was saved, but it cost him dearly. His teigu had an axe lodged into it, meaning that even if he could lift it that the sound would be different and that the teigu's power would be as strong as an average flute.
Nyau could only look at his hands in shock. Unable to see the other axe aimed at him.
With a whir of a blender, Nyau's head was puréed. Poetically destroying his, in his eyes, beautiful visage.
As the axe returned from the shadows of the boat's interior, it seemed to be faster than before. Yet it still wasn't a danger as, to Tatsumi, the spinning was as fast as a pinwheel in a light breeze.
Grabbing the weapon with his right arm, he noticed that the injury this weapon gave him earlier had already healed, granted the wound was shallow, but it's not like it could just disappear.
Filing that under questions to ask Najenda about later. Tatsumi stared at the weapon, he saw no blood and that it seemed to be colder. He knew the blood had just slid off of the blade due to it's high speed spinning. But the return speed and temperature were strange. 'Probably the teigu not liking me.' Was what he chalked this strange occurrence to be.
Looking back to where Bulat's battle was going on, Tatsumi saw that they were addressing each other. Apparently this man was Bulat's old General. It was funny, the man's imprisonment was what made Bulat join the Revolution but it made River even more dedicated to the Empire, well, Esdeath, but she's a big part of the Empire.
Tatsumi hated himself in the one fact that he had no way to help his Bro. Without the right weapon Tatsumi would just end up getting hurt, and since Bulat would dive in to save him. He'd take the damage for him.
So he could only watch with clenched fists and teeth at the battle before him. Flinching every time his friend got hurt. Wait for the one moment where he could land an attack and end their enemy's life.
As luck would have it. Tatsumi wasn't needed. Through all the blood, sweat, and pain, Bulat managed to surprise River and bisect him from his head to his groin when he stupidly let his guard down.
Bulat was gasping when Tatsumi reached him. Both from asphyxiation and exhaustion, he was so badly hurt when he defeated his enemy that Incursio was falling to pieces. As he sealed his armor, Bulat was given a shoulder to lean on. Turning to his left he saw the man who had taken out two out of three of Esdeath's special unit. He couldn't help but let out a wry laugh. This was the first mission he and Tatsumi took together, and yet he was the one hurting rather then the new recruit.
At the sound of his brother's laughter Tatsumi started to smile as well. They had taken down the copy cats and both survived. He was nearly crying in joy.
Then a sound deafened everything else. It was as if thousands of glass panes were shattering all at once.
"Hahahahaha, bravo." The cheer came from within the ship, footsteps seeming to slam when the person was walking normally.
"You managed to defeat all of my watchdogs." A cruel smile was placed upon her face. "Now let's see how you fare against their master." Esdeath shouted with glee.
XxXxXxXx
Yeah, I did that. For those wondering how she got on board, since she has ice I just used refraction/reflection in a space around her to so everyone seeing that area would see what's normally there instead of her. While annoying to make, it makes her 'invisible' for as long as she keeps it from melting. And aside from the space and temp. issue, she's completely hidden.
So tell me what you thought about this chapter. I think that this is my best fight scene yet.
(But you've only wrote about 3 in total.)
Shut up, voice in my head, point is I hope you guys liked the fight.
Have an Awesome day: N.I.A.
PS: This is the biggest chapter I've written for anything so far.