Sorry for being gone for so long, was in an accident that caused me to locked up in the ER for the last few months. As a warning through, updates are going to be pretty erratic for the next few months. Being cooped up has caused me to lose that writing mojo, I also have plenty of schooling to catch up on.

Chapter 10: Kill to our hearts' desire

"Storm is an elite assassin, as such he will most likely be top-grade poison on whatever he carries." Akame informed Night Raid as they stand around a round table to plan their assault.

Leone shrugged her shoulders, "He hasn't used poison on any of his known missions, always cutting people up with his Teigu. Not even the beggars can trace ingredients to him and they can find out what you are in the safety of your room."

"That's because he saw no need for poison." Akame countered, "His Teigu can cut through nearly anything and coupled it with his precognition; he's nearly unstoppable to those who don't know about his abilities which he keeps secret to almost everyone or those who are weaker than him. But I know his capabilities and we are not weak so I have no doubt that he'll bring it out."

Najenda slammed her non-metal hand on the table, "Enough! We'll plan our assault with what you said in mind, Akame. That means both Tatsumi and Akame are our best choice for facing The Reaper if only because Tatsumi's Incursio is an armor-type and Akame since he'll go easy on her."

"He'll go easy on her?" Lubbock scoffed with a perverted grin, "A Lover's Quarrel, perhaps?" Akame replied by unsheathing Murasame and pointed the tip at Lubbock, who raised his hands in surrender, "Shutting up now..."

"Easy as in he won't be fighting with deadly intent, just close to it since his partner will want to have the final kill." Najenda explained, "Which leads us to Priority Target 2: Kurome." She then heaped a huge folder containing multiple sheets of paper that has everything the Revolutionary Army can dig up on the girl including but not limited mission, training, notes about her and possible weaknesses; a majority of it was thanks to Akame spilling the beans out.

Nothing to see here- Just a transition from a past point to the present.

Storm had found himself in a multitude of weird situations over the years he worked for the Empire, even more if what Kurome said about some of his declassified career being true. But this one easily took the first spot as he was in a huge sewer with large candles on the wall that easily dwarfed him by a hundred times with the dirty water already up to his knees. Wondering how he had gotten here from his cozy bed whom he shared with his lover while using some of that 'Good Stuff' that was confiscated a few days ago; Storm heard a woman and child laughter coming from a direction.

Human voices meant information and information is sorely needed right now.

Trudging his way towards the voices, he had come across what appeared to be remains of steel bars that were supposed to be locked together to form a cell door. However, the steel bars were bent outwards indicating that something had escaped. Storm was on his guard to the mere size which meant that the bars were to hold a gigantic creature.

Suddenly, the candles burned alight and illuminated the inside of the cage, easily revealing a large bed along with a desk with a vanity mirror on it. Keeping his guard, Storm entered the cage and with the first step in, his head began to ache. Closing his eye for a second before opening them, the assassin received a surprise.

Where once the room was dark save for whatever light the candles brought, the room was brightly lighted. On the bed was a beautiful transparent red-haired woman with crimson slitted eyes and a neck choker with a steel chain connected to the bed. She was staring at a child who only showed his back to Storm as he going through what the teen saw as forms for a martial art. The most surprising thing through was that a word entered through his mind when he saw the woman.

The word being Mother...

"Excellent XXXXXX, remember that the XXXX consisted of five styles. The XXXX style suits your current body structure but it never hurts to learn the others." The woman praised as she gave a warm smile, one that brought a pain in Storm's heart for whatever reason.

Wanting to learn more, Storm walked forward but his actions caused everything in the vision to fade. A cold voice emanated from behind Storm, "A touching scene, is it not?" Trained instincts caused the assassin to jump forward while unsheathing Yamato and slicing horizontal at the person who snuck up on him.

At least, that was the plan but when he couldn't feel the weight of his sword and sheath as well as empty air when swinging, he knew that plan was fucked. Looking at who had gotten the drop on him, Storm saw a hooded white individual with several pouches and knife belts on spots where he placed his own. The stranger raised an arm to show Yamato was in his hand, "An amazing blade as well, it could cut through just about anything. It's also a shame that it's been stained in the blood of innocents for as long as it did."

Still in a salvageable situation, Storm asked, "Who are you? Are the one who brought me here?"

Chuckling, the Stranger tilted his head as he unsheathed Yamato, "You know who I am and to the second question...no. You brought yourself here, my friend."

Moving his body into a defensive stance, Storm felt his legs weren't responding to his commands. Looking down, his eyes went wide as the sewer water turned into blood and the thing that was preventing his lower body movement were dozens of moving corpses who he remembered as those who he had killed over the years.

A dark whispering could be heard as Storm struggled to escape the grasps of the dead as they pulled him into the blood-infested waters, "Why? Why must we die? We did nothing wrong! We did nothing wrong!" Other whispers included but not limited to, "Join us, join us, in the land of the Damned!" "Give me back my Life!"

As his face became the only thing above the blood, Storm could hear one final thing. A voice of a man who felt familiar and his name was on the tip of his tongue. "The First Tenet: Stay your blade from the flesh of innocents. The Second Tenet: Hide in plain sight. The Third Tenet: Never compromise the previous two Tenets."

Opening his eyes quickly, Storm jumped out of his bed and look around. Regulating his breathing, he realized it was all just a dream. Sighing in relief, he looked over to where Kurome slept last night, "Kurome, that stuff you brought was..." Storm stopped as he saw that Kurome was nowhere to be found, "Kurome?"

Retching could be heard from the bathroom causing Storm to rush over there. Opening the door, he could see Kurome barfing into the toilet, crimson red blood shining on the rims. Realizing the situation immediately, he placed his arm around Kurome's waist and drew himself closer to her back.

The girl stiffened her body before relaxing and after a moment of silence finally spoke, "It happened, it finally happened." Both of them knew what she meant as they were briefed upon it. Kurome was artificially modified with gene splicing and drugs to be handle the physical stress of assassinations as soon as possible rather than be fully trained which would take a very long time and even then she would have mediocre results compared to him or Akame As such, her body was eventually going to reject the modifications leading to her eventual demise and this was the first sign saying she only had less than three months to live.

It was something both understood and had come to accept but now that it was happening; Storm just couldn't take it.

"Don't worry, Kurome when the time comes, I'll come with you." Storm promised as he tightly hugged the small girl.

Leaning back, Kurome looked at Storm before sharing a passionate kiss with him. The man ignoring the wretched smell on her lips. Breaking the kiss, Kurome looked at Storm in the eye, "Promise me one thing."

"Anything..."

"When I die, if I haven't killed Akame, kill her for me before you go."

Afternoon:Several Days after Bathroom Incident

The Jaegers with the exception of Esdeath were riding horses up a mountain path. Wave looked around in anticipation. Several days ago, they had received intel that the leader of Night Raid, former General Najenda and Night Raid member, Akame the Red Eyed Killer were spotted in two different location but both lead to the same spot.

They were heading towards the town known simply as Peace, the Headquarters of the religion known as the Path of Peace. There was no doubt that Night Raid's next target was Bolic, a spy sent by the Prime Minister to infiltrate and assassinate the head of the religion known only as 'The Lord'. Afterwards, Bolic was to lead the followers after being The Lord was 'martyred' against the Rebels or as a neutral force if not possible.

The plan was to spilt into two teams with Team 1 having Bols, Kurome and Storm on one team to hunt Akame and the sniper Mine and the other team consisted of Wave, Run, Seryu and Esdeath following Najenda and the rest of Night Raid. Team 1 were riding horses down a forested path before reaching a pass with two plateaus on either side of the pass.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Kurome." Storm asked in a whisper, the girl dressed in black nodded as she said to the other two, "Let's take a break before we head through."

After setting a small temporary camp for a break, Bols was sitting in a circle alongside Kurome and Storm. Boris, unsure of the reason why, asked, "So why are we taking a break? The horses can keep going for some time."

"Inside is a perfect spot to ambush us; high walls on both sides, one entrance and exit. It's like when a deer getting stuck in a six-foot pit." Storm told them as he drew Yamato and made it look like he was sharpening the blade. "Besides, Night Raid is watching us right now."

Bols asked once more, "Are you sure?"

Kurome looked over her shoulder at a spot on the plateaus and smirked, "Yeah, We know so..."

Night Raid

"She's knows...I'm taking the shot." Mine hissed as she readied Pumpkin for the first bullet to start the battle.

Tatsumi, laying next to Mine, whispered, "No, the plan was to let them entered the pass before ambushing."

Najenda, who was staring at the Jaegers through binoculars, replied, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy, Tatsumi. That's why we have always make them as malleable as possible. Did you actually think we plan everything from the start?"

Mine fired her Teigu, the energy bullet flew strait and true at Kurome's head. However, the girl took a step to the left and the bullet missed her skin by a few millimeters. The shock of seeing her miss left Mine in a shock, not even Akame might be to dodge even if she knew where Mine was. Not only that but Mine had aimed in such a way that if she'd missed, even through it was highly doubtful, it would still hit the large lumbering masked man; that was also a failure as the other male pushed his comrade away.

Thankfully, Najenda was on point and yelled, "Susano'o, you know what to do!" Near the Jaegers, a horned man dressed in white and carried a large weapon rushed forward from a cover that blended in with the ground. While yelling 'Yes, mi'lord!" He aimed his weapon at Storm who stopped pretending to sharpen his katana and blocked the attack with a slash of his own.

At least, that was the plan until Susano'o sidestep him and jabbed at Boris who was behind Storm. The masked man blocked with his incinerator Teigu, Rubicante, and was flying. A shout that sounded like "Son of a Bitch!" could be heard from Storm as the large man flew dozens of yards away. Even when a fully-fit human would need several minutes to return back and that's if they weren't injured.

"Let's just hope Lubbock and Chelsea can kill the man while we clean up here." Originally, the plan was to send Storm flying away but that plan was scrapped for two reasons. One, Storm was trained in the wilderness which meant a homefield advantage for the enemy and considering that Chelsea and Lubbock are not suited for direct combat against someone like Storm. It would be like sending a baby deer to the hungry lion.

The second reason was that Bols's Teigu couldn't be used carelessly in a dense flammable forest lest Boris wish to kill himself. That Teigu had just become a disadvantage due to it's own ability.

Esdeath and her Team

"HahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Esdeath laughed insanely while the Jaegers take a step back, even the lovable yet deadly Coro. The reason for Esdeath laughter... A scarecrow planted in the middle of the road that looked like Najenda. On the figure's chest was a letter addressed to Esdeath herself and it read...

"Better Luck Next Time. With Love, Najenda."

"It was a fucking classic bait-and-switch." Esdeath explained when she finally calmed with large breaths that had small fits of sinister giggling in-between, "Najenda wasn't heading towards the east; she's heading towards Peace alongside her precious Night Raid."

Wave's eyes widened, "That means..."

"They're definitely fighting against our Jaegers, right now I'd say." Esdeath finished the sentence for Wave.

Seryu and Coro fought the need to salute as the prosthetic-limbed girl yelled, "We should go reinforce our allies of Justice then!" Run nodded as he added, "Judging by the time and possible geography, they should be at Mountain Crack Pass. That's the best place to stage an ambush considering they have to go through there to get to Peace as soon as possible."

"Then let's get a move on." Esdeath ordered, and with a flick of wrists, she nearly spurred her horse in the direction when she felt killing intent focused on her. A wall of ice was produced to form as a shield against a horde of arrows that were aimed at her. Seeing that their surprise attack failed, a charging army of bandits and raiders were rushing forward.

With a sinister grin on her face, Esdeath spoke only a single sentence...

"Kill them all..."

Bols

Coming out the craters that formed after his descent. Bols shook his head as he head back towards the fight. As he started to walk, he coughed and removed his mask to spit out the blood. Bols's head contained spiky silver hair and his face contained no scars at all. The man could be said to be beautiful by anyone's standard.

As he wiped the blood from his mouth, he didn't noticed wires tying itself around his neck and by the time he realized it, it was too late. The wires tightened itself as Bols struggled to remove them, his hands doing it's best to remove them before the body. But it was not to be; so knowing that he was going to die one way or another, The man with a family decided to go out with a bang.

He was going to reach for the self-destruct button and blow himself up along with this Night Raid assassin(s). However, that plan failed when even more wires locked his wrists into place. Then, his legs which fully immobilized the large man.

Rustling could be heard as a small girl dressed in a frilly dress along with a ribbon that was shaped into two rabbit ears. The girl looked at the man with a cold expression, as cold as the Arctic ice. She said, "This was the face of someone whom you burned along with her village just because they were suspected of aiding the Rebels. You've earned your retribution."

Chelsea expected the man who could callously burn down countless villages and people to be like what she envisioned of the Prime Minister; she expected the man to say that it was impossible for him to die, to beg for his life or anything to save his own skin really. The last thing she expected him to do give a look of acceptance that said he understood that today was his last day. His last lines proved it as well.

"I-I knew...this day..would come." Bols choked out with tears coming out of his eyes, "Sorry...Elizabeth...Mary, Daddy's not coming home." Chelsea silently stared for a moment before she gave a nod and the wires tightened to the point of breaking Boris's neck, instantly killing the man rather than a long drawn out death of suffocation.

The wires then removed themselves and Bols's corpse flop to the ground. A green-haired man dropped from a nearby tree and looked at Chelsea, "You alright?"

"Yeah Lubbock, just realized that the other side has it's own share of innocents." Chelsea replied. While she always knew that the Revolutionaries were not as good as they thought, she had always assumed that those still remaining in the Empire were literally scumbags of society. With the death of Bols, she now understood that they were people in the Empire trying to make a living and to protect those they loved.

All they had to was dirty their hands.

Name: Bols

Age: 42

Family: Elizabeth (Wife), Mary (Daughter)

Affiliation: The Empire, The Empire's Incineration Squad, Jaegers

Cause of Death: Cervical Fracture with the use of a wire

Remaining Jaegers: 6

Back to the Others

"Storm, make sure that you leave her body intact and slightly alive okay?" Kurome sat on a rock that was on the top of the plateau like a Queen staring down at her subjects with disdain as Natala's body was standing beside her like a silent bodyguard. Her smug smile was not helping to dissolve that image.

"I'll try..." Storm replied as he fought Akame with a dagger in each hand rather than drawing Yamato. As such, his current fighting style was slightly different to suit the weapons on hand.

As he threw a dagger at short range, Akame side-step it and slash upwards but Storm took a step back. The duo then stared at one another for a brief moment before rushing one another. At this point in time, Night Raid was having their hands full just dealing with Yatsufusa's March of the Dead ability that no one was able to help out their fellow Raider. At the same time, none of the corpse puppets can help as they have to deal with Night Raid itself and Kurome couldn't help due to her own katana's drawbacks of lowering her movement speed depending on how many corpses (up to eight) that were brought out under her direct control.

This left the two elite assassins to duke it out.

Storm drew out another dagger from his coat and gripped the twin blades in reverse-style. He then dodged to the left and trapped Murasame between his arm and waist. Akame tried to twist the blade before bending her back since a knife was jabbed straight at her. As she did so, she tripped Storm causing to stumble and that was enough for her to twist Murasame and aimed for his arm pit.

She knew from the fact that he trapped Murasame between his arm and waist meant that he was wearing protection against her. However, there was no way he could wear armor at joint locations since his combat style called for speed and flexibility.

This was stop as a bullet flew past her ear which in effect caused her to jump backwards diagonally without going for the kill. Storm, wielding a pistol in one hand, chuckled as he placed the firearm back where he retrieved it from while kicking the guard of his drop knife hard enough so that he could grab it from midair. As the guard was rather small to suit the steel size so the feat was more impressive than it actually sounded.

Chuckling, Storm said, "It's a shame that this is a job, I would love to just waste the day fighting you." As Storm rushed directly forward, Akame readied herself for the upcoming onslaught.

Tatsumi

"Fucking... slimy... piece of shit." Tatsumi growled as his black-cloaked opponent was slippery as hell. Not only was his spear unable to land a hit, if it wasn't for Incursio then he would have most certainly be dead. He was also that he still had a long way to go till he could call himself a master assassin.

The corpse puppet charged in quickly when Tatsumi overstep himself. Brandishing his claw-like weapon, the dead tribal warrior was going for the kill before stepping back as a rocket-propelled metal fist nearly hit it before the hand lodge itself in the wall.

Tatsumi looked towards where the fist was launched and sure enough, it was Najenda. He yelled out with frustration, "What the hell, Boss? Are you trying to kill me?"

"Relax, I know what I'm doing." Najenda replied, "Besides, you're in Incursio, one of the most indestructible Teigus out there. Now, go help Akame; I got this." The motors in her metallic arm started to activate allowing her to fly to where her hand was. At the same time, Tatsumi turned around to see that the fight between Akame and Storm was still about dead even.

As he charged over, Tatsumi's first instinct was to throw the spear at the enemy but thanks to his training with Susano'o and unknowingly Bulat, he had overcome that desire. Instead, he sprinted and face the man known as the Reaper to the Rebels. Akame saw Tatsumi coming and gave a nod, a gesture seen by Storm and caused the man to take his eyes off Akame.

Using an overhand strike, Tatsumi brought his weapon down upon his opponent. Through that missed by a few centimeters as Storm twisted his body sideways. The blonde man then flipped his grip on a knife and brought one of his daggers up to Incursio's throat, an area that was not covered by armor just as he jumped backwards to avoid a cut by Murasame.

A few feet away from the duo, Storm looked at his short blade and saw that it was broken despite going for the clothed area rather than an armored place. Tossing it, Storm still kept his smirk, "Well, looks like we found out that ordinary blades can't pierce Incursio. Now, let's try Yamato."

Leone

"Fucking monkey; just stay down!" Leone yelled as she launched a roundhouse kick at the ape-like Danger Beast that was her opponent. The creature hooted at her as it grabbed her leg before trying for an overhead smash into the ground. It never thought that the human was flexibility enough to bend and scratched it's eye.

Letting go, the ape covered it's eye as it howled in pain despite not having a conscious anymore. Leone landed on her feet and in a circular motion, wrapped her arms around the monkey's neck and snap the neck in one swift motion. The result was that the primate had stopped moving but Leone was going to take the chance. What she did was let go and continuously pummeled the body until it was nothing but paste.

Akame had told them that Yatsufusa used it's ability by channelling electronic signals from the wielder's brain into the blade as a focus before transferring the signals over to the corpses. As such, this was the reason why the person's speed and reflexes were lowered when Yatsufusa was activated. So, in order to disrupt the signals, one must either kill the 'head' (ie:Kurome) or destroy the brains of the dead.

When the pile of mush that used to be a Danger Beast didn't move, Leone pump a fist into the air and yelled, "Thank the fucking Gods it's over." As Leon's Teigu was 'Lionelle', her physical capabilities and stamina were off-the-charts but a girl can only take so much before they couldn't take it anymore.

She was so relieved that she didn't hear a yell from the Boss, "Leone, above you!" until it was too late. By the time she register it, her vision drop height until she was eye-level with the ground. Leone didn't understand why until she heard a 'thump' behind her. That was when she knew she had been beheaded and that she was going to die. A piercing headache that originated from the top of her head and the last thing she heard was her name from the voices of her comrades.

"Ara, I forgot, I wanted her as my new doll." Kurome realized as she lifted her sword out of the Lion-like Night Raider. "Oh well, I can't get them all." Despite Lionlle being one of the twenty-four Lost Imperial Arms, it's abilities and trump card were well-documented. If the girl wasn't killed quick then it would have been difficult. As such, Kurome showed no hesitation in eliminating such a potential annoyance the first chance she got.

"Leone!" Tatsumi yelled as he completely forgot about Storm in order to face Leone's killer. Just as he was about to reach her, a dark shadow came down upon him. Tatsumi was able to use his weapon to defend himself but the more force of it pushed him back. Looking to see that it was the blonde Imperial with a spear/cleaver hybrid of some kind, he imagine himself in Kurome's position and Sayo along with Ieyasu in that position.

The mere thought made him sick and even more pissed that she had no respect for the dead.

"Did I kill your girlfriend?" Kurome taunted, "Don't worry, I know what it feels like to be separated from your loved one so we send you to her soon."

Name: Leone

Age: 20

Affiliations: Capital City Slum Sector, Night Raid, Revolutionary Army

Family: N/A

Cause of Death: Beheading followed by a stab into the brain by a sharp bladed weapon. (Note: Was using the Teigu 'Lionelle' at time of death and as such, the aforementioned was alive despite being beheaded. It was not until the brain was pierce by a bladed weapon that the female had finally died.)

Night Raid Remaining: 7

Chapter End

AN: So Leone's dead and she's not coming back for those of you who are wondering. I'm sure to get some (read as a lot) hate for that but you have to admit, Leone had a chance to die early in the cannon story. AGK like to say that it's main characters can die but it's still not at the level of GOT or it's roots ASOIAF (A Song of Ice and Fire). Something which bugs me a little ever since I got into the series.

A lot of characters get flashy death scenes, Bulat having a final battle with his mentor and seeing Tatsumi inheriting his Imperial Arm, Ran dying to avenge his students, etc. etc.

Point is, the entire battle in cannon contained plot armor when it needs it and it's the size of a protagonist of an echhi comedy anime and I have to call bullshit when I see it. A one-one Teigu battle will at least minimum of one death. You're feeling that a 11 vs 8 battle that only a majority of Kurome's corpse puppets were killed along with Bols and only Chelsea from Night Raid died.

Think about it before sending those PM's.

Sidestory: A Change of Heart

Dear my beloved pupil,

By the time you read this, I am most likely dead at the hands of either Budo or Esdeath. If you had been doing your homework like you're supposed to, you know that these two are among the strongest our government has to offer.

At this point, the question why must be going through your brains. The answer is because The Empire is no longer what it used to be in the time of our ancestors. Many of the people in our kill list were people that the Prime Minister, the man who let this happen to satisfy his greed, had killed as his political rivals. A majority of these people were helping the civilians and performing damage control that their fellow 'nobles' had done over the years.

I had known about this for some time and as such kept your hands clean as best as I could by letting you hone your skills on tainted flesh. Don't worry, only I have broken the Tenets while you were innocent as you were kept unaware.

This is my last order as your master, escape the grip of the Empire as soon as you can. Once you've done that, head to these encoded coordinates which contains classified information that will give the Rebels a helping hand and tarnish the name of the administration.

Afterwards, keep an eye on the Revolutionaries and kill those who would take advantage of the chaos to help themselves without giving to those less fortunate. I trust in your judgement to differ between those who must survived until the very end even if it means giving your life and those who must die.

If you feel like you're going to die, don't worry about passing what skills or ideology you have. Everything falls to time itself but from the ashes will rise a new Order. The Tenets and The Creed are an idea and as long as there are like-minded men, it will never truly die.

-Desmond

Gripping the sheet of paper tightly, Storm felt bile rising from his mouth as his anger rose. All this time, he thought he was helping the people of this country. Now, he found out that everything he thought about was a lie. Not only were his actions indirectly leading to the suffering of the people, they were also the cause for it to spread like an infectious disease.

How could he be such a fool? The teen wanted to end himself then and there, as atonement for his sins. Storm nearly did it to as Yamato's edge found it's way to a centimeter from the neckline. One little push and it would have all been over for him.

The only thing stopping him was then fact that if he died, that would make the bad guys the winners. It was something that he couldn't allow even if it meant a different atonement rather than death.

Reaching into his pocket for a lighter, he burned the letter to ashes as he remembered the contents by heart. For now, he'll do as he asked but when the chance comes, he'll take that leap of faith.