Wave and Tatsumi both stand firm, staring each other down, with Wave completely oblivious to the fact that Minazuki is hidden right below the earth. Tatsumi quickly tries to make a break for it by jumping away, but Wave manages to intercept his escape and block off any attempt he makes at running away without a fight.

"This is gonna be bad if Esdeath shows up! We have to deal with this fast!", Tatsumi thinks to himself as Wave continues to block his path.

"I won't let you escape, Night Raider! Man up and fight me!", Wave shouts as he leaps toward Tatsumi with a devastating kick.

Tatsumi leaps out of the way of the destructive attack, dodging to the side while shouting, "I have no reason to fight you! Leave!"

"You might not have a reason to fight me, but I have a reason to fight you!", Wave shouts back as he punches Tatsumi as hard as he can into the mountain side. As the stone cracks from the impact, Wave shouts, "And that reason is Night Raid!" Wave jumps back as Tatsumi slides down to his knees, and the blue haired boy says, "I've read the data on you guys. Over and over you indiscriminately carry out your assassinations. You're villains that are slowly eating away at the peace and security of the Capital. To make matters worse, the story is you're somehow connected to the Revolutionary Army as well. Your very existence can not be forgiven!"

With rage filling his soul, Tatsumi rises to his feet and shouts, "You're wrong! It's true that we do kill people, but...We...Night Raid.. We are nothing like villains!" His burning rage fills Incursio and power starts to swell withing the armor itself, fixing the dings and cuts Wave had just inflicted on it.

Suddenly, Bulat's voice rings in the young boy's mind, saying, "You won't survive if you just let your boiling blood control your actions. Always keep a cool head in dangerous times."

"He was right. No matter what, I need to keep my cool in times like these. Make a plan, and get out. That's my goal right now.", Tatsumi thinks to himself as he looks for a way out of this mess, but before he can escape Wave spikes him back down to the ground with a devastating kick.

With his burning passion in his heart, Wave glares down at his opponent as he growls, "I already told you once, I won't let you escape! The only way you're leaving here is in a body bag!" With his threat out in the open, Wave charges at Tatsumi oncemore, causing a massive shockwave as the two clash with one another.


Hearing the commotion going on above him, Minazuki closes his eyes and quickly thinks, "This isn't good. Tatsumi doesn't have the experience to deal with Wave. Even if Tatsumi had as much experience with Incursio as Wave does Grand Chariot, this would still be a tough battle for him. If I act now, I can kill him without anyone hearing." As he goes to unleash a wave of earth spears at Wave while the armored boy fights his friend, he pulls his fist back and contemplates, "Just one hit, that's all it'll take. I can end this here and now."

Before he can unleash his attack however, Minazuki hears a familiar voice in the back of his head call out to him, mocking him as it says, "Yes, kill him. Kill him like all the other innocent people you've murdered."

Minzuki's eyes quickly shoot open in fear and his heartbeat skyrockets as his clenched fists start to tremble. The boy frantically looks around his small hole underground bunker, barely managing to mutter to himself, "But, where did-", before seeing Esdeath appear out of nowhere before him.

"Where did I come from? Shouldn't that be obvious by now? I'm always with you, Minazuki.", the phantom growls at the boy as she looks down at him, her cold eyes matching the original Esdeath's perfectly. With a cruel smile coming across her face, the General mocks him oncemore, noting, "So you're going to kill him without him even knowing? That's just like you, too afraid to look your victims in the eyes as you kill them. You always kill them with your gaze turned elsewhere so you don't have to see what you've done. You're a monster and a coward."

Minazuki throws a punch at the woman, but his attack passes through her and hits the wall, shattering the stone behind her as he roars, "Shut up!", back at the phantom. As the woman's body seems to disappear into the very walls, the boy's left in complete horror as the stones around him start to crack. "W-what the-", he begins to think before the rocks shatter like glass and he's left standing in an empty abyss, surrounded by nothing but darkness.

"Wondering where you are?", a voice calls out to him from behind, and when Minazuki whirls around to see who it is, he sees it's Esdeath again. She's in her usual General uniform with her rapier drawn, ready to cut him down at any second. "Do you not recognize this place?", the phantom curiously asks the boy, seeming somewhat surprised that he doesn't seem to know where they are.

Minazuki glances around for a moment, and as he fails to remember this dark world around them, he mutters, "No, I don't." He looks down at his hands and as he sees his bare hands, his eyes widen in shock. "Where's Quake!?", the panicked boy thinks as he continues to look down at his hands. Minazuki quickly feels his face and instead of a mask, he feels his face. "The mask too!? When did I lose them!?", he continues to panic as Esdeath slowly starts walking over to him through the darkness, dragging the tip of her blade along her side as she cuts through the twilight.

"Don't worry, Coward, you'll remember soon enough.", Esdeath happily tells the boy as she raises her blade and slashes at the confused boy.

Barely able to react to the Ice Queen's quick movements, Minazuki leaps back to avoid the silver blade, its razor sharp tip barely missing his nose as he evades the attack.

"Would you like me to tell you where you are, Coward?", the General asks Minazuki as she prepares to attack him oncemore. As she slashes wildly at the boy, Esdeath explains, saying, "This is the darkness in your heart, Coward! Think of it as your own personal Hell!" With each attack she makes getting faster and faster, Minazuki takes fails to evade the final hit of her rapid slashes, leaving a cut across his cheek. "Hm, so you're not only a coward, you're also a weakling then? Come on, fight me! Stand up and fight me!", the woman demands as she charges at him again with her blade ready to strike.

"I guess I have no choice!", the panicked boy thinks as he ducks under the General's blade, following up with a quick uppercut to her jaw. The attack goes straight through her phantom body and the woman quickly counters by appearing behind him before stabbing him straight through the back. Minazuki, feeling the sharp pain through his chest and the warm liquid escaping the exit, looks down to see the tip of Esdeath's blade sticking out of his chest as blood drips down from it, falling seemingly into the empty void below them.

"Pathetic.", Esdeath growls as she places the sharp heel of her boot on the boy's back before delivering a quick kick to him, sending Minazuki flying off of her blade and tumbling across the invisible ground. As she makes her way over to the now immobilized boy, Esdeath scolds him yet again, saying, "You'll die here if you don't defeat me, so stand up and fight! Or are you just that much of a coward, that you'd rather stay here and die than face what you've done?"

"Face what I've done..? Does she mean...?", Minazuki begins to think before the thoughts of Tapu village and all those he killed run wild in his mind. As he hears their howling, demanding he die for what he did to them, Minazuki manages to force himself to stand, grasping at his head in pain as he remembers the many faces of those he'd killed in his own village. As his thoughts become reality, the many villagers Minazuki left behind in his past life appear before him with their bodies mangled and deformed, leaving the boy in complete and utter terror.

"You can't escape what you've done, Coward! These are your sins, the sins of a KILLER!", Esdeath exclaims as she sees his frightened expression. Faced with the many innocent people he helped send to an early grave, Minazuki finds himself unable to even move or breath as the hoard of undead raise their farming tools against him. In a split second, Minazuki finds himself run through with a wide variety of equipment, ranging from basic kitchen knives all the way up to the scythe embedded in his chest. With all the weapons seeming to have hit their mark, Minazuki falls to his knees with blood pouring out of every wound.

As the phantom smiles down at the broken boy, seeing her handiework, she's shocked to hear the boy mutter to her, "You're right."

"Ah, so you finally admit to it then? You're a monster just like me.", she happily replies as her grin widens at the victory before her.

Minazuki quickly rips this wonderful feeling from her, turning her gleeful grin into an irritated scowl as he forces himself to his feet, fighting through the pain as he growls, "No, I'm not a monster." As he finally makes it to his feet, he starts pulling the blades from his body as he continues on, saying, "I might be a killer, but everything I've done has been for the greater good. Everything life I've taken has been to better this world and end the constant suffering that this Empire plagues us with." With every weapon except for the scythe in his chest pulled free from his body, Minazuki grabs the rusted blade with both hands before shouting, "But if that makes me a monster, then I don't care! I might not've been able to save everyone back then, but now...now I have the power to make a difference, to save everyone... Everyone would have wanted me to keep going, and that's exactly what I'm going to do, no matter what!", as he rips the last piece of metal from his chest.

As the scythe's blade makes a metallic clank against the darkness below them, the phantom's scowl slowly shifts to a slight smirk. "So you've finally done it. You've accepted your fate.", she happily mutters as she looks to the wounded boy, confusing him with her seemingly misplaced smirk. As the boy raises an eyebrow at the woman's odd expression, he hears a crackling noise followed by cracks starting to form on the General's body and clothes. With a kind smile the woman shatters like glass right before Minazuki's eyes, causing an explosion of light that blinds him and forces him to cover his eyes.

When the light finally dies down, Minazuki uncovers his eyes to see not Esdeath standing in front of him, but...himself? It's an exact copy of himself, one wearing Shoryu's signature mask along with his jacket and Imperial Arm. Minazuki looks down at himself to see that his body is completely healed before gazing around to see that the once completely dark world covered in twilight is now a mixture of both darkness and light.

As his copy extends his hand out to him, Minazuki looks to his reflection, completely astonished by what he's seeing. "Is that...me?", the baffled boy thinks to himself as he looks into his copy's eyes. They're the only thing that don't match Minazuki to a T, being eyes like a Danger Beast rather than that of a human.

Before Minazuki can ask it any questions, his slightly monstrous counterpart scolds him, saying in a slightly deeper version of his own voice, "We're running out of time. Return to the real world and save the innocent and rid this world of the darkness in it. Like we've always wanted." The figure takes a few more steps towards the boy before placing its open hand on Minazuki's chest, covering his heart as the gauntlets begin to glow with an ominous brown aura. As the aura envelops Minazuki's entire body, the figure before him shouts, "Now, return to reality!", and the world becomes dark oncemore.


Shocked back into reality, Minazuki jerks his entire body forward as he opens his eyes to see nothing but the darkness and stone walls around him. "Was that...all a dream?", Minazuki thinks to himself before patting his body for wounds. When he fails to find any sign of injury, the boy relaxes, letting out a heavy sigh of relief as he loosens his shoulders and slouches. But as he takes another breath, he feels an odd pain in his chest before thinking, "Wait, how long have I been in here..?" Realizing what's happened, Minazuki closes his eyes to sense the world around him, thinking, "I must've used up too much air when I was panicking in my dream! If I don't help deal with Wave now, I won't be able to get out of here in time to get fresh air..."

Much to Minazuki's surprise, Tatsumi and Wave are still fighting, though Tatsumi is doing more evading and blocking than attacking. As the silver armored boy evades another destructive kick from the blue suited seaman, Wave furiously exclaims, "Stop running and fight me like a man, Night Raid!"

"I have to do something now, or Tatsumi's going to die out there...", Minazuki continues to think as he tries to put together a plan to save the boy from certain death. "Earth Dragons!", the masked boy cheers internally as a lightbulb turns on in his brain. With a few punches to the earth, Minazuki causes the earth under the two warriors' feet to tremble ferociously.

After sending Tatsumi flying across the battlefield with yet another kick, Wave stops for a moment to look around for the source of such powerful shaking, thinking, "W-what the hell is that!? An earthquake!?"

As Tatsumi pulls himself up off of the dirt, he looks to the ground and thinks, "Minazuki..? What are you doing?" Much to the young boy's surprise, what looks like an Earth Dragon; a tall creature with dark brown scales standing taller than the average tree, bursts out from the earth.

"W-what the hell!? Is that a Danger Beast!?", Wave exclaims in complete aw at the creature before him, only to be further baffled by the beast swiping Tatsumi with its tail, launching the boy straight into the lake!

Under the water, Tatsumi finds himself pulled into a small tunnel before the hole he came from suddenly closes itself. After coughing up the water in his lungs, Tatsumi looks around to see he's underground and thinks to himself, "I guess Minazuki finally found his opening. Heh, took him long enough. I can barely move now..." With the last of his energy fading, Incursio returns to its key and Tatsumi passes out face first into the dirt. As the boy lays unconscious on the ground, the earth raises up behind him, making a small platform that scoops him up and carries him along down the tunnel, taking the boy straight to Minazuki.

"Alright, I have Tatsumi now, and better yet Wave seems to be buying it. Since he doesn't seem to know that much about these kinds of Danger Beasts, I can use that to my advantage. It might not be perfect because of the pressure and lack of air, but I can at least fool him into thinking he's fighting an Earth Dragon.", Minazuki thinks as he manipulates the stone dragon. With a few quick motions of his hands, Minazuki makes the stone copy lash out at Wave with its long claws.

Wave however isn't intimidated by the beast in the slightest and shouts, "I don't have time for you! Get out of the way!", as he delivers a devastating kick to the beast's face, causing it to go flying into the nearby forest.

"So this is Grand Chariot's power! And we haven't even seen its Trump Card yet...", Minazuki notes mentally as Wave rushes to the riverside to look for his target oncemore.

As the the blue haired boy looks to the calm waves in river, he sees no sign of the Incursio armor and shouts, "What!? He's gone!? Where'd he run off to!?" The seaman looks at the river and follows the current with his eyes, seeing it's going downstream before shouting, "The current! He's using the current to escape undetected! That's a cleaver trick, Night Raider, but it won't fool a man of the sea!" With his heart burning with his desire to complete his duty, Wave quickly follows the current, leaving the battleground behind in search for Tatsumi.

With the threat running down the river, a hole bursts open in the earth and out pops Minazuki, with the unconscious Tatsumi in his arms. As he finally escapes the small prison he made himself, Minazuki gasps for air, desperately taking in every last bit of oxygen he can before coughing it back up. After a moment, Minazuki finally regains his ability to breath normally and takes in the situation for a second, looking to the broken, unconscious Tatsumi laying next to him.

"To think Tatsumi had the Incursio armor on and Wave still did this much damage to him. Wave and Grand Chariot, they're a real force to be avoided then.", Minazuki thinks as Tatsumi lays on his back, seemingly asleep. Minazuki suddenly senses something nearby and thinks, "A Danger Beast? I can barely sense it, yet it's so close... Am I just that tired, or did that fight from earlier drain me that much..?"

Without any warning, the beast leaps out of the nearby bushes and tackles Minazuki to the ground. With his eyehole covered, the masked boy can't see a thing though he feels warmth wrapped around most of his body before hearing a familiar voice shout, "You idiot, what did you think you were doing!? Infiltrating the palace like that!?" As he regains his sight, Minazuki sees Leone, who has his mask in hand, making breathing much easier for the boy.

"Leone? What are y-", Minazuki begins to ask the girl before she cuts him off by saying, "We need to get moving! The Jaegers are bound to come back here, right Akame?"

Glancing over the blonde's shoulders, Minazuki sees Akame just eliminated a danger beast that was getting slightly too close to them before she says, "Yes, but first we need to tend to Tatsumi's wounds. He's hurt badly."

"Leone? Akame? Why are you two here?", Minazuki weakly as he tries to move, but finds it's too hard to do so.

"We've all been going out and keeping watch for you guys after Leone told us you were going to infiltrate the palace. We were stalking the North entrance when we saw you guys going on your hunting trip. We were tailing you in secret.", Akame explains as she checks on Tatsumi only to find he's completely unconscious.

"We lost you for a moment there, but we just now caught up. I'm surprised you didn't just kill him, Minazuki. That blue armored guy.", Leone says with a slightly confused look.

"There wasn't any need for him to die.", Minazuki sluggishly replies as he lays in the lioness' arms.

As the two girls look to Tatsumi, Akame nervously notes, "It looks like he really took a beating. He's alive, but it's gonna take some time before he's up at full strength again." Throwing her unconscious friends' body over her shoulders, Akame starts carrying Tatsumi as she says, "Let's go home...Tatsumi."

Lubbock suddenly jumps out of the bushes, ruining the moment, while saying, "HELLO~~" He grabs of Akame and Leone's shoulders, pulling them along with Tatsumi and Minazuki, who were being held up by the girls. Lubbock looks back at them and shouts, "We don't have time for this right now! We need to get as far away from Esdeath as humanly possible! Come on! Let's go!"

"Calm down Lub! We'll be fine. We just need to be a bit careful for the moment, just relax.", Leone says to him with a swift blow to the back, that was supposed to be a pat but instead it sends him toppling over.

"You came too, Lub..? Thanks.", Minazuki says with a light chuckle and a smile.

"Well, at first I advised them that this was just stupid. You two both walked right into the lion's den. There was like zero chance of getting either one of you back alive. And, you know, with both of you guys gone, I'd be the only guy left in the house. It'd be like my own harem. You know how long I've dreamed about having my own harem, Tatsumi!", Lubbock replies with a grin on his face.

"He might say that, but the truth is he was worried sick about both of you guys, right Lub?", Leone jokingly adds as she smirks at the green haired pervert.

"S-shut up!", Lubbock growls back at her, seeming to dodge the question.

"We missed you too, Lubbock.", Minazuki says with a slight smile aimed at the boy. "Night Raid... A group of killers and murderers, and I'm one of them... And that's okay.", Minazuki thinks to himself as they continue to head back to the base.


The next day, Wave is being tortured for his failure to protect Minazuki and Tatsumi along with failing to terminate the member of Night Raid he encountered. He's sitting in front of Kurome, Ran, and Esdeath, tied to a pole sitting atop spikes that are digging into his knees from the weight of the stone slabs that have been put on top of his lap. "General, I'm truly very sorry for what I've done! I've deeply reflected on my actions and I apologize.", Wave says through the pain in his legs.

"Due to your ignorance, Tatsumi and my Love Adviser may be dead or in the hands of Night Raid. But more than that, above all, is the fact that you allowed a member of Night Raid to escape! That is the most shameful of all your crimes! Kurome, stone!", Esdeath says with a disappointed look before motioning for Kurome to drop another stone slab onto the pile. Kurome does so without any hesitation, causing Wave to scream out in pain. "It was the Incursio armor, so it was the one known as the 'Hundred Man Slayer,' Bulat then. Within Night Raid, he is a person deserving of special attention. And this is why you were told, that once found, that no Night Raid member could be allowed to escape! Now the enemy will likely change the location of their hideout and go into hiding for who knows how long! KUROME, HEAT!", Esdeath says before Kurome uses a lit candle to burn the back of Wave's neck.

"AHHH, HOTTTTT", Wave shouts as the flames touch his neck and sear his flesh.

"Wave, your abilities are top notch, but your mental control is lacking at best. At least you're reflecting... So we'll finish your punishment with some water torture and a bit of light whipping then we'll put this all behind us.". Esdeath says with a sigh. She puts her hand to her face and her murderous intent fills the room as she says, "The next time you screw up this badly, I'll be handling your punishment personally! So keep that in mind!"

This strikes fear into everyone in the room and Wave nervously replies with, "Y-yes, ma'am, understood!"

The door suddenly slides open and they see Seryu and Phi rushing in. "General Esdeath! Our apologizes! We were unable to locate any signs of Tatsumi, the Monk, or the enemy! Even using Koro and Phi's tracking skills, our efforts were ineffective!", Seryu reports with a salute.

"Well, Koro is more for battle anyways. And it's to be expected of an assassin to leave no trail to follow. But what about Stylish? I sent him out to search as well. Has he not reported back yet?", Esdeath says as she looks up at the two girls.

"He has yet to report back, General. He seems to be acting on his own accord.", Phi says with a sigh.

"I see, it might be from the scolding I gave him this morning. How annoying. I'll be sure to deal with his punishment when he gets back.", Esdeath says in an annoyed tone.

"General, I have a question about Tatsumi and the Monk.", Ran asks. Esdeath turns to him and motions for him to go on. "You were saying before that there was a possibility that Tatsumi might join the Revolutionary Army and that this Monk could also turn to them as well, is that really true?", Ran asks with a concerned look.

"Yes, he desperately tried to get me to defect from the Empire and remain neutral throughout the war in fact. I'm afraid that if I don't help him see proper logic, he'll turn to the Revolutionary Army to fulfill his 'dream world' idea. And as for the Monk, I'm still unsure about his motivations. He's a complete mystery. He seems to be a man who'd prefer to stay out of the war, but he dislikes the Empire as it is now, so it's likely that if he chose a side, he'd likely be our enemy.", Esdeath explains with her cheek in her hand as she looks away from Ran.

"If they do in fact end up our enemy in the future, how would you like us to deal with the situation?", Ran asks.

"Honestly, I love Tatsumi even now. My desire burns even hotter and more passionately now that he is no longer in arms reach. As for the Monk, he's a valuable asset and wise beyond his years. However, the lives of my subordinates take priority over all that. Bringing them in alive would be preferable, but if it comes down to you or them, there should be no doubt in your mind what you should do.", Esdeath replies passionately before standing up from her seat for the last part.

Ran and Phi nod and Seryu says, "We have no choice but to pas judgement on those who are drenched in sin!" Esdeath walks away from her chair to an open window while thinking, "If you do get killed, it just means that you were too weak, right? But you aren't weak. You're a survivor, like me. You'll fight, you'll survive, you'll endure. It truly is a wonderful thing, Monk. I'll meet Tatsumi again, that I know from the bottom of my heart. And when we do meet again, I'll be more than prepared to do everything in my power to make him mine!"


Back at the Night Raid base, all of the assassins are gathered around in the meeting room as Sheele patches up Tatsumi's wounds, the boy somehow managing to recover before reaching the hide. As he lets out a sharp wince, Mine scolds the young assassin, saying, "Stop being such a big baby and hold still. You're lucky I'm not the one patching you up or I would've knocked you out again."

"Mine please, Tatsumi's been through enough. The last thing he needs right now is to be yelled at, let alone beaten anymore.", Sheele tells the young pink haired girl who only huffs in response before turning her attention back to the meeting. "Tatsumi's wounds...I just started treating them and they've already started to heal... Minazuki didn't need me to patch him up, but Tatsumi was in a big fight with Wave, so he should have more wounds than this. I guess the Incursio armor might've healed them while he was fighting..?", the kinder girl thinks as she continues to patch up Tatsumi's wounds. The purple haired girl turns her lighthearted gaze to Minazuki before mentioning, "You said they all are experienced Imperial Arms users, that could be a bigger problem than we first expected considering how many of them there are.", to which the boy simply nods.

"And for Kurome to be a member too...", Akame mumbles to herself as she interlocks her fingers, laying her cold hands gently in her lap.

Glancing over at the crimson eyed killer, Tatsumi notices the gloom in her eyes. "You're worried about Kurome? If you're that worried, then why didn't you both escape the Empire together?", Tatsumi asks the assassin, causing his kindhearted nurse to pull the wrappings around his waist tight, causing him to groan in pain before turning his gaze to Sheele.

With a slight glare, Sheele whispers to the ill-informed boy, "Akame's very sensitive when it comes to her sister. Please try not to bring it up too much."

The dusk colored girl surprises the duo however, waving off Tatsumi's ignorant questioning as she tell Sheele, "It's fine, I don't think I've told you this yet, so I might as well get it out of the way now, since we're going to be fighting Kurome now..." Looking down at her hands, Akame sees her intertwined fingers and tells her tale, saying, "When I became dissatisfied and wanted to defect, I tried my hardest to convince her, but she chose to stay. If you asked her, I'm sure she would consider me a traitor to the Empire and say that I deserve to die for that betrayal." As she tells this story yet again, Akame can't help but think of her little sister, remembering the kind, smiling girl she used to know. Unknowingly, Akame's hands begin to tremble as her grip tightens on her hands, locking each finger into place like a solid wall of stone. Akame swiftly snaps out of her gloom, shaking her head to empty the memories inside before turning to Tatsumi and asking, "Tatsumi, was she constantly eating something? Kurome I mean."

"Yeah, she had whole bag of sweets that she refused to share with anyone. She'd be snacking on one every time you look at her.", Tatsumi replies, recalling the bag of cookies the little girl hoarded for herself like a greedy child.

As she hears this, a slight smile comes across the sister's face as she thinks, "She's at least eating, that's good..." "I see... Thank you for telling me.", Akame thanks the boy before returning to her usual silent self with her smile hidden from the others.

Seemingly out of nowhere, they hear Mine cock Pumpkin as she says, "Akame! I already told you this once, but I'll say it again, if your sister appears as an enemy, we have to hit her with everything we have. We should be prepared if we're going to be up against her."

Lubbock quickly pulls out the book of Imperial Arms they'd been keeping from underneath the table before asking Minazuki, "Can you give us some information about their Imperial Arms so we can add it to our notes?"

"Seryu's strength has been enhanced by weapons placed in her body, likely from Doctor Stylish and his Imperial Arm, Perfecter. Bols wields the Flame Thrower Imperial Arm, Rubicante. The winged Imperial Arm, Mastema, belongs to Ran. It's more of a support type than an offensive type Imperial Arm. Its Trump Card is literally used to fly away and retreat. Grand Chariot is another Armor type Imperial Arm, similar to Incursio, just without the ability to turn invisible and adapt.", Minazuki begins to explain, which earns him confused looks from everyone except Leone.

"How do you know all this exactly?", Lubbock asks, skepticism ringing throughout his questioning. In response Minazuki pulls Shoryu's journal out of his pocket and drops it down in front of Lubbock. Lubbock opens the journal only to find illegible writing and a few drawings inside and as the boy tilts and turns the book every way he can think of, he asks, "Dude, what the fuck am I even looking at!? I can see the drawings, but the hand writing is garbage!"

"It's Shoryu's journal. The text seems to be written in a language that only I can read.", Minazuki explains before Lubbock lazily tosses the book back on the table.

As the book skids across the table, it stops right in front of Tatsumi, who picks up the book. The bandaged boy flips a few pages and starts to read it off saying, "Mastema: Weapon Type: Winged Imperial Arm. Abilities: Allows the user to fly for a short amount of time. Though they are called the Winged Imperial Arm, they can not allow for sustained flight for longer than twenty minutes. Along with flight, the feathers from Mastema can be shot out of the wings as projectiles. These feathers are sharp enough to cut through average steel and can pierce through a man's skull with ease. Trump Card: Considering this Imperial Arm was originally made for recon purposes, its Trump Card doesn't surprise me in the least. When activated, Mastema will allow the user to take off to great heights and their speed will be increase to an incredible level, though only for a short period of time. After that period has elapsed, Mastema will overheat and won't be usable for at least another day."

"W-what!?", Lubbock asks as he looks to his brown haired friend in complete shock.

"You were able to read Shoryu's journal?", Minazuki questions the injured Tatsumi, rushing over to see that the boy read the entry perfectly, word for word. Tatsumi simply nods in response and Minazuki starts to contemplate what this might mean. "Maybe it isn't linked to Quake itself. If it's not that, then what could it be?", Minazuki starts to think to himself before he hears an eerie voice say something in an unrecognizable language. He turns around, expecting to see someone there, but the only people behind him are the other members of Night Raid.

"Minazuki? Are you alright? You kind of flinched at nothing.", Mine says as she looks around, trying to find what the newcomer was looking at.

"I could have sworn I just heard a voice.", Minazuki says as he looks around for the source of the voice.

"Yeah, me! I said something!", Mine growls back at the boy, furious with him for ignoring her question.

"No, it was someone else. I haven't heard this voice before.", Minazuki says as he closes his eyes trying to sense anyone nearby, but nobody but the rest of Night Raid are here.

"So, Akame, what kind of Imperial Arm does your sister use?", Tatsumi says trying to change the subject.

"March of the Dead, Yatsuhusa. Those cut down by that blade, their corpses are turned into puppets while also retaining all the skills and abilities they had while they were alive. The user can freely manipulate the puppets to do anything she pleases. She can even rescind her ability and turn the puppet back into a corpse.", Akame explains coldly.

Tatsumi begins to panic before shouting, "That means that if she kills you, you get a fate worse than death! You get turned into a mindless husk to serve their evil purposes, right!?"

Leone giggles at him before saying, "But since you'll be dead, you won't even know about it."

"Murasame is pretty scary, but Yatsuhusa is just as frightening.", Mine says with a worried look on her face.

"I seriously don't want that kind of death. Anyways, do you know anything about Perfector or whatever that Phi girl had, Minazuki?", Lubbock says before turning to Minazuki, who's still looking for the source of that voice.

"Stylish's Perfector is a powerful support Imperial Arm, but lacks any offensive capabilities. Though, I believe the Doctor has his own personal army, based on what I saw back at that bandit camp. It improves the both speed and precision of the user's fingers, increasing their abilities least a hundred times. It could be considered to be one of the best support Imperial Arms, but that's all it really has going for it. It lacks any real Trump Card. As for Phi, I never saw her Imperial Arm, so I can't say what it is or what abilities it may hold.", Minazuki explains with his eyes still shut. He hears the voice again, but this time it sounds as if it's mocking him. Minazuki lets loose his pent up murderous intent through the room, causing everyone to reel back a bit at the sight of it. "This damn voice, where's it coming from!?", Minazuki says to himself as his rage starts to take over.

He's suddenly enveloped in a giant hug from Leone who says, "Don't worry, your partner is here to protect you! It doesn't matter where that voice is coming from, as long as we're all here, they don't stand a chance against us! Now let's just relax and celebrate being together again!"

"I'm just happy that I can finally help.", Tatsumi says, slightly depressed.

"So, what do you think of the person herself after seeing her in person?", Mine asks coldly.

"Esdeath? She's on a whole new level I never imagined existed, but she was actually really kind to me. Like, she actually believed that we could be together or something.", Tatsumi replies with a concerned look.

"Minazuki, does that book say anything about the limitations of Esdeath's Imperial Arm?", Mine asks forcefully.

"No, the only notes that it says about limitations are that the limits are set by the user's skill level and that the ice doesn't form from nothing, it forms from moisture in the air. So, if you took her out into the desert, we'd be set.", Minazuki replies.

"She might be one of the Empire's strongest, but she has one weakness that we all know.", Akame says coldly.

"And that is..?", Sheele asks with a confused look on her face.

"Tatsumi?", Leone asks as she points to Tatsumi.

Akame shakes her head no as she rises to her feet and says, "She's alive, and has a beating heart. With that, I know that Murasame will be able to eliminate her! One cut is all I need to take down the fabled strongest General in the Empire!"

"That's our Trump Card for ya. Just what you'd expect.", Lubbock says with a grin on his face.

"That's not even a threat, it's a promise.", Sheele says with a smile.

"That's the honor student, but instead of just saying it, why don't you put your money where your mouth is, Akame?", Mine says smugly.

Leone plops down on the couch, forcing Minazuki to sit by her side as she continues to hold him close, while saying, "Ending it like that sounds so anti-climactic, but, well, if it gets the job done, who am I to argue, right?"

Tatsumi lets out a sigh and says, "Back to the topic at hand, I think the Jaeger members just about match us in ability. So as it stands now, we're at a bit of a disadvantage in regards to number of members."

"If we had to go up against them as we are right now, we'd be in serious trouble. I don't think it's just our fighting spirit or heart either. We all just need to keep getting stronger, or else.", Tatsumi says in a more serious tone.

Leone waves her hand dismissively before saying, "We can worry about that later! For now, let's just party! We got both of you guys back and nothing bad happened! We even got information on the Jaegers in the process! We won!"

Minazuki couldn't help but smile at her positive attitude, and decided to ignore the voice for the moment just so he could enjoy himself for a short period of time.


Only a few hundred feet away, Doctor Stylish and three of his test subjects are walking closer and closer to the base. "There are still traces of their scent here, even though they went to such great lengths to try to erase it. But no matter how well they try, the smell can't be completely erased. And I can track that scent using my enhanced sense of smell you blessed me with, Doctor Stylish~", the freak with the beak like nose says to the Doctor.

"Thank you, Hana. This the first time you all are being tested in the field, but you're all surpassing my expectations!", Doctor Stylish replies.

"There seems to be a barrier made of thread just ahead of us. Please follow my exact movements to avoid the strands.", the large muscular one says with his giant eyes always open.

"Well done, Me.", Doctor Stylish says to him with a pat on the back.

"I'm hearing some faint voices up ahead of us. It sounds like someone's having a party.", the short girl with large bat like ears says.

"Wonderful job, Mimi!", the Doctor adds with a smile. "I knew that brat was too suspicious from the very start. And that Monk, who does he think he is, calling me out like that? They both adapted to the situation much better than any ordinary person would've. You can't fool me that easily.", the stylish man explains as he puts his face in one hand and his elbow in the other.

"You're a genius, Doctor Stylish! You figured them out so easily, well done!", the big nosed freak complements his master as he holds his face, blushing at the sight of Stylish's perfection.

Me agrees with Hana, giving his fellow test subject a quick nod before adding, "That's to be expected of the great Doctor Stylish, you should expect nothing but the best of the best from him."

"And to think someone so smart and stylish is our master, this is just divine!", Mimi happily adds as she blushes at the Doctor's gaze when it falls upon them.

The Doctor's gaze quickly shifts to a glare though as he grits his teeth and growls at them, saying, "Would you ass kissers shut it already? I've just made a giant discovery and you three are making the moment so unstylish for me..." When they hear this, the trio quickly silence themselves, covering their mouths to make sure not even a single word escapes their lips.

Rolling his eyes at this, Stylish turns his attention away from the test subjects to look at a giant building built into the side of the mountain in the distance. The great Doctor stops dead in his tracks to look up at it before saying, "Bingo!", as he points up at Night Raid's home. With his blood starting to burn with pride, Stylish grins up at his new discovery as he says, "My intuition is never wrong~ Though it's a long way from Fake Mountain, here it is! Night Raid's hideout! I. Found. You~"