KingofHeartless'09: That's a wonderful idea!

skyblade132: Nobody cares about Nyau XD

TheWolfBoss06: Somewhere in between, I'll tell you that. Also, for Zank… I should have added more details to it. Also, you can plan on more quality work :3

Eriphabottackson: You can expect more from Saya. She was fun to edit. Also, to explain Pacific Rim just in case, it's really just a play where there are giant armored men that fight monstrous Danger Beasts. Also, yes, I suppose it was about time for me to return. Thanks for the shoutout on your story (also, I did your copy/paste thing and added a new option)!

J.f.w.: Who to burn to death? Flowey? Also, I felt the same emotions in all of the Jaegers' deaths except for Esdeath and Stylish. And yes, they're dead. Someone else will use Incursio, but way later. And yes, Ieyasu uses Belvark now, as he uses an axe (I had to look up the weapon he used as I couldn't find it originally). Lastly… GIVE ME MY HELMET BACK AIIUNAFDIJABIANJDFBDKAJFIEYGUHJNOIYYGFRDESWAZSXDCFVGBHNJKJIUHYGTGFR!

warrior of six blades: Why would gods have to be cautious of Kurome and her sword? They can just stomp on that stuff. But the first part is incorrect, but for a good reason…

Note: I will mention other things from media from now on but they will be replaced by plays, games, and toys.

Chapter 14: Demons and Gods

I knocked on the door of the Night Bookstore and waited for some time. Eventually, Lubbock appeared from the hidden room and opened the door.

"I was telling Akame not to look for you herself," he said. "She was about to leave until you knocked."

I sighed and said, "Thanks. I'm still having problems convincing Esdeath to let me keep my old house."

Lubbock sighed and smiled at me.

"Just so you know, attendance today is a bit… different."

We went down the hidden staircase and went down to see Night Raid.

Akame was there, of course. She gave me a smile and waved me over, and I sat next to her on one of the velvet sofas.

There was Leone drinking something that looked heavily alcoholic, and I was anxious to slap it out of her hand because of my memory of Shi the Bartender. Saya was asleep next to her, curled into a ball and snoring like there was no tomorrow. Then, glaring at me from the sofa opposite of me was…

"Matinding, seriously," Lubbock sighed, looking at him. "Please stop."

Matinding was a giant of a young man, with strong muscles and an obvious six-pack even though you couldn't see it. His hair was a shock of white with even skin and brown eyes. He wore a thick grey hoodie and I could see that he had kevlar underneath. His pants were a normal blue and his combat boots were obviously leather.

The catch? I couldn't tell which arm appealed to me more. His left forearm was like a thick metal gauntlet with thick, square-like fingers. His right arm was pure red and patterned with white swirls, but only had three fingers (one index finger, one ring/middle finger, and one thumb) and had talons.

Akame followed my freaked-out eyes and simply told Matinding, "He's mine."

Leone laughed heartedly, obviously drunk.

Matinding looked at me and asked, "You're Tatsumi, right?"

I nodded uncomfortably.

He got up and walked to me. I swear his eyes glowed.

He raised his red arm. I was afraid he was about to punch me until…

He offered his hand and said, "Everybody just calls me Matin. Thanks for saving those orphans from those muggers."

Confused, I just nodded and shook his hand. Despite its look, it was cool but scaly. Although, it was weird to shake hands with a three-fingered man.

Matin just sat down where he was earlier.

Before the silence got too long, I asked, "Who is the King on the Iron Throne?"

Akame gave me a sideways look and asked, "Where did you hear that name?"

I told them about my recruitment with the Jaegers and the argument the advisors had.

"That's some serious stuff," Leone said drunkenly, then laughed again.

"The King on the Iron Throne is his title," Akame explained. "His real name is Pang-Akit, the only person in his kingdom that holds and Imperial Arms. His kingdom and the Empire have a tense but peaceful relationship, especially how his army is so large, well trained, and well equipped that the only way we would survive an attack by them is that we have so many Imperial Arms users."

"But you can bet that in a war, most of the Imperial Arms users in the Empire would die," Lubbock added.

"Most of all, he uses the last demon weapon in the Imperial Arms list," Matin added.

"'Demon weapon?'" I repeated.

Akame raised her sword and Matin showed off his right arm.

"They say that the most Imperial Arms are used by the components of the four main demons in this land," Matin explained.

He launched into this story about Ente Isla, Guts, mercenaries, Femto, and stuff I couldn't remember.

"So what Imperial Arms are they?" I asked.

Akame told me, "My Murasame comes from the Silent Demon. Esdeath's Imperial Arms, Demon's Extract comes from the Sadistic Demon."

"Mine is the Sathamut from the Pain Demon, and Pang-Akit's is the Lorinus from the Wise Demon," Matin finished.

I frowned. Then I glanced at Saya.

"What is her Imperial Arms?" I asked.

Leone busted out laughing and said for no apparent reason to nobody in particular, "Oh, wait! Before anyone answers! Did you know that Saya and Matin-"

With a swift click, Saya was awake, sitting up, and holding a pistol to Leone's head.

It looked similar to the boltshot from the… what do you call it? 'Halo Weapons' toy collections? But this looked real, with a silver tint and pink lights instead of orange.

(AN: knows nothing about guns)

Leone stared at the barrel for some time. Akame looked simply curious while Lubbock looked plain confused. Matin's red hand was pressed to his face without comment.

Saya turned over to me, satisfied, and said, "You heard nothing."

Leone laughed again and said, "Of course not!"

She whacked Saya on the head, who started rubbing that spot repeating, "Owie…"

In the back of my head, some audience was saying, "Awww…"

Akame's mouth twitched. Then she told me, "Saya's Imperial Arms…"

"…is Hell's Explosions: Pagsabog," Matin finished, interrupting Akame.

Before I could ask why in the world a tiny pistol like that could make 'Hell's Explosions,' I looked up at the clock.

To put it simply? It was late. Very late.

I got up and said a bit crazily, "I have to go!"

I waved over at Saya, Leone, and Matin ("ByeseeyouguyslaterIhopeyouguyscomenexttime!"), gave Akame a quick hug ("SeeyoutomorrownightifEsdeathletsmekeepmyhouse!"), and shook hands with Lubbock ("ThanksfortheloanmanI'llpayyoubacksomeday!") before exiting the secret room and the bookstore.

GUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANE

I didn't get much rest last night, so I entered the Jaeger Meeting Room half-asleep. I didn't know or care who was

"Can someone help me take a nap?" I asked no one in particular.

Someone, I think the flute guy Nyau, said simply, "Sure."

It was definitely him based on the music, and I started falling asleep.

My consciousness didn't last long.

GUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANE

I didn't know that I was walking in on an important conversation.

In the normal pure-white world, Guide was sitting at a table on a chair that weren't much different from the Jaeger ones. I recognized Voorthoon and Drakkous from the book sitting on other chairs. There was someone else, a transparent guy about my age with a white glow wearing a simple shirt and shorts. His hair was a bit ruffled and his eyes were a simple black.

"Trion is doing his best to keep the Daybreaker at his strongest," Voorthoon mumbled, his voice the multi-pitch one I heard in my head. "Uragiri is his greatest creation, they say."

Drakkous nodded and turned to Guide. He asked in a deep, scratchy voice, "The Puppeteer?"

Guide scratched his chin thoughtfully and replied, "He's spoken with Tastumi on occasion. And I gained from his memories he recently spoke to some sort of audience…"

Drakkous probably frowned, but the gas mask covering his mouth made it hard to tell.

The transparent guy scowled and said in a human voice, "The Puppeteer…"

I took a small step back.

Mistake. My single step echoed loudly.

The gods' heads whipped toward me. Then they whispered to each other.

When they looked back at me, Guide said, "Ask away, Tastumi."

I sighed and asked, "What's going on?"

Voorthoon sighed and told me, "Uragiri, the nemesis of Infiniti isn't just an Imperial Arms that wasn't made by the Emperor. It is a weapon that was created by our greatest enemy, Trion."

Before I could ask, Drakkous continued, "Trion is known as the Great Phantom, the god of betrayal. The reason he is so great is because betrayal starts assassinations, suicide, single paths of fate, slaughter, coldness in people's hearts, and makes people start rash actions."

Funny how they spoke to me so casually. Because, you know, they were gods.

"Who's the Puppeteer?" I asked next.

Guide looked at me and said, "Stand back."

I took a few steps back. Even if I felt I was far enough already.

Guide got on his feet, as the others did. He suddenly went limp.

He flickered violet with red and black flecks. Then he stayed with that color and stood up.

Immediately, Voorthoon slammed into him and Guide became golden again.

Guide patted his shoulder and said, "Thank you."

He then turned to me and said, "That was the Puppeteer. I usually seem like an evil deity due to my multiple roads, but it's me if I tell you the good path. The Puppeteer, or shall I say Magmamanyika, is my alternate, evil form that gives a single, dark path for one to follow. Unfortunately, most follow his advice."

I was still confused.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

Just then, a swirling black cloud appeared in the room. The gods backed up, alerted.

"Leave!" Guide shouted. "Wake up!"

GUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANE

A cold, metal hand shook my shoulder. I gained full consciousness and grabbed the hand and flipped Zan Nin Na over my shoulder.

I heard slow clapping. The other three in the room were Nyau, who looked amused and clapped, Kurome, who just looked at me, and Wave, who looked dastardly confused.

I looked down at my 'attacker.'

"At least we know you can take down an evildoer with your bare hands," Seryu laughed.

At least I know she won't mistake me as an 'evildoer.'

I helped her up and she dusted herself. I looked at Coro, expecting a reaction, but really he was just indifferent.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I thought you were… him."

Nyau grinned and asked, "Who's 'him'?"

Before I could answer, Sayo walked in the room. Seryu scowled, but didn't go insane.

"We're going on our first mission," Sayo informed us. "Kinda early, eh?"

GUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANEGUILTYINSANE

Esdeath pointed at the giant stone tower.

"Here's the mission," she told us. "A close ally of the Daybreakers is hiding inside there with a large number of guards. You may choose to attack as you want."

It was dead night, and we were about five kilometers northwest of the Capital, surrounded by tall trees and grass. The tower where our objective was hiding. It was about twice the size of the Capital's walls, and from here I could see heavily armored men carrying assorted weapons milling about.

I saw the others prepare their weapons: Coro bit off one of Seryu's arms off to reveal a giant sword (What the hell?! How did that fit?!). Wave covered himself with some type of sleek, blue armor with a weird… thing floating around the head. Bols's flamethrower went up, Sayo notched her bow, Kurome raised her katana to the sky, and Run's wings came out.

Then everybody was staring at me.

Oh. Right.

I drew Infiniti and swung it out to my right side. A blue glow enveloped me and I was wearing the Armor of Galath. I willed Infiniti to change and it turned into a scythe.

We ran straight at the tower. The guards noticed us and prepared themselves, those at windows above aiming guns at us, those with combat weapons forming straight, disciplined lines.

Apparently, something was up with the Daybreakers. These weren't mercenaries. They had black combat armor and had a red sun patch stitched on their shirts.

The pieces didn't fit together. Soldiers weren't the way of mass murderers…

The guns fired, and I spun away from the bullets aimed at me. Some of the gunners were shot by arrows and two others were struck by axes.

I turned to Ieyasu behind me, who had no weapon. He gave me a thumbs up.

I noticed one gunner aimed on me, and there was no time to turn away.

A fireball went streaking towards the gunner and he screamed, bursting into flames.

I didn't check. Bols.

The footsoldiers ran at us, screaming on the top of their lungs.

I leaped high and swung my scythe down, and two were immediately killed. The guy who narrowly missed the attack got his head burst open by Wave punching him.

I knocked someone else back casually and commented, "Whoa."

Wave shrugged and uppercutted someone else.

I heard a song playing and the attackers slowed down until they just fell. I looked over at Nyau who was playing a song casually.

I shrugged and went to cut down more goons when Coro ate the three in front of me.

"Thanks… I guess?" I managed.

Seryu was nowhere in sight, but I'm sure that the mass of blood flying in the air was her.

I ran to the door and entered the tower.

The walls on the inside were iron, the ground hard wood, and there were banners hanging on the wall with the same emblem the soldiers had.

Something was up.

I climbed the spiraling staircase, trying to figure out about the banners. There were no guards, so I guessed Sayo got them all.

The top floor was… not what I expected.

The floor had a pink rug and there was a small, square, white table with a yellow chair matching it in the corner.

On the pink bed was a girl, no older than fourteen. She had small features and short orange hair, giving her the appearance of a nine-year old. She slept peacefully, which is how I could tell she's never started any bloodshed.

She must've heard me and yawned. I was still thinking how she didn't hear the battle raging below when she looked at me sleepily.

"Mmm… Shi? Has Manabe come back?" she asked dreamily.

She must've mistaken my scythe as Shi's. I didn't recognize the name Manabe, but…

"I heard that Za was around this area… but was Zan here too…?"

Zan Nin Na…

My vision went a dangerously dark red. I heard something in my neck crick.

I went up to her and raised the scythe. She was fully awake… cowering from me.

She knows Zan Nin Na…

Crimson.

Die die die die die die die die die die die die

Screaming.

Diediediediedieidiediediediediediediediediediediedie

Horror.

DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE

My vision cleared. What remained of the girl was…

My armor came off. I held my hand over my mouth, but it was too late.

I let everything out of my stomach. I couldn't breathe properly.

I heard footsteps behind me. I heard Ieyasu in the background, asking what happened, and then stared at me.

He was shaking me, demanding what happened. I couldn't answer. I couldn't believe what I'd done.

The blood of that girl was on my hands. A girl who was merely an associate of the Daybreakers… not a killer…

I started hyperventilating. The world was being covered in black spots as the other Jaegers surrounded me…

Last second Seryu is in my face. She says only one thing.

Justice.

Wow. That was dark. Even for me.

So… what am I supposed to say? I have nothing. Seeya!

…

…

…

His anger was beyond measurement. He saw the raid.

Yet… there was nothing he could do.

He felt a slim hand on his shoulder. He turned around.

Teru whispered something in his ear. She tried holding his hand, but he moved it away.

She said something else. That caught his attention.

Revenge.

He never thought it would happen, but…

He supposed it was true.

The Oni was waiting.