Kill the Puppets Part 1: Night Raid Faction 2(Part 1)

This was not going to be easy. But, as typical, Akame didn't hesitate to launch herself straight towards Kurome. "The user's movements will become slower if they control eight corpses at once. I will not miss this opportunity!" The sisters clashed swords with, and went skidding past each other. Akame swung again, only to be blocked by the Naginata of a familiar face, "Natara!" She barely dodged Natara's strikes. "Just put him to rest, Kurome! You grew up together!"

"Why would you say that, Sis?! I want him to stay close to me, forever, and ever; he's my special friend! And I would love to add you to my collection...cause that way, we could be together like the old days."

"Not on your life!" Akame was knocked off the destaghoul.

"Too bad."

Bols was starting up Rubicante,"Magma Drive." and a huge fireball came out of the flamethrower, right towards Akame.

"His Imperial Arms can do ranged attacks?!"

Once again, I had to jump in and save the day as usual; by grabbing Akame. "Don't take them on alone! This isn't like you, Akame!"

"I'm sorry."

When we landed, I told them what I knew. "These guys won't go down, without a fight."

The destaghoul let Kurome and Natara off on a ledge. "Big sister; it's a shame you betrayed the empire and sided with 'them'."

Ieysayu, "WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"Destaghoul, crush them!"

The undead danger beast was about to unleash an immense beam of blue energy from its maw, forcing all of us to jump out of the way and take cover. That beam ripped through the canyon like it was nothing.

Me, "Mine, are you all right?"

"S-Class danger beasts are worse than I thought; that's incredible!"

"They do have the power to alter the landscape."

Nearby, Lubbock, Sheele, and Sayo were monitoring using Cross Tail and binoculars. "Looks like the fight's already started!"

Lubbock, "Najenda, rest assured, I will do the best I possibly can for you...and when this mission is over, I'll tell you how I really feel. If I wait any longer, Su's gonna nab you first!"

Back with the fight, Su, "Its power is true to its class."

Najenda, "Got it! Everyone, work together!"

"You didn't issue the proper command."

"Huh?!"

"This destaghoul may indeed be a formidable foe, but I can handle it on my own. Assign the rest of the team elsewhere."

Me, "The other puppets!" I noticed Mine was trying to aim for Kurome again, when Natara extended his Naginata, and another puppet, a female gunslinger, was headed right for her.

Ieysayu was facing an apeman danger beast. "Is this thing a danger beast? I've never seen this type before." It came at him with a barrage of punches, before he landed a blow with Belvaak. Then, "Another one?!"

I took care of it; a masked man with wrist blades.

Akame was tackling Bols on her own. "It'll be dangerous if he were to supply cover fire with that flame. I will consign him!"

Bols, "To think she would come straight at me..."

When he expelled a fire stream at Akame, she simply dodged, and tried sneaking behind him. "HAHH!" However, another puppet—a bald man, wearing sunglasses and a white monkey suit, and using a riot shield—blocked Murasame. "Kuh! Murasame won't work against the corpse puppets!" She ended up getting knocked flat onto her ass by him.

"Akame!" Leone went to her aid, only to have her ankle snagged by a whip. "Huh-" she was thrown aside by yet another puppet—a man with red hair. "...Old man, you've sure done it now." He tried whipping her again, but she easily adapted. "I can see through an attack of that level..." But he had another surprise for her. "I can't?!" He whipped her repeatedly, and very fast as well. "Ow! My kinetic vision can't keep up, even though I'm transformed?! Even though he's not using an Imperial Arms or anything...Kuh...this guy...!"

Kurome was simply watching from where she was sitting. "Woow, it's a huge melee. Interesting!"

Akame was clearly struggling. "Kurome..."

"Hey, aren't they great? My toys. Doya is an assassin sent from the northern tribes. Her confident nature shows on her face even now, see? But she was crying and screaming when I killed her, if I recall. Wall was a famous guardsman, but I killed him because he was protecting a target of mine. Apeman's a meathead, but he's easy to use so I've had him as a favorite for a while. Hentarr was a survivor from the Ban tribes. His movements are tricky, and I hard a hard time killing him. He's my pride and joy. Rokgough was a general of the empire. He was exposed trying to betray us and join the rebel army, so he was assassinated. I found Destaghoul hibernating in a huge hole in Seiga. That was lucky. And Natara is my friend from childhood. He guards me completely during Yatsufusa's activation! And the last one is a danger beast I made into a puppet just a while ago, but you'll have to wait a bit more for its debut."

Ieysayu was having a bit of trouble with Apeman. "SHIT!"

Luckily, I showed up and faced the danger beast. "Hey, Monkey Boy...Pick on someone your own size!"

Fight

Apeman's attacks were simple; just punches, kicks, and biting. However, I used my own wrist blades to stab him repeatedly in the abdomen, until I hit the spine; that action completely stopped his lower body movements, thus weakening him, severely, as, contrary to popular belief, most of a punch actually comes from the lower body.

"Finish him!"

I grabbed his neck, and just pulled his head off—spine included—the rest of him dropped to the ground. Sub-Zero called it the "Spine Rip".

Tatsumi Wins-Flawless Victory-Fatality

"The removal of their central nervous system stops them; their brain and spine, both."

Leone was facing Rokgough. "Old man, so you were an imperial general. I thought you were strong." He tried to hit her with his whip—"But,"—she caught it again, this time she memorized it. "As you'd expect,...I'm already used to it."

Fight

Leone kicked Rokgough away, then launched a charge, followed by a pounce, and savage claw slashing. Rokgough managed to get in a lucky chain of three whip strikes on her afterwards though. She grabbed him, and began punching the stuffing outta him; the fifth one launched him. Leone ended it—I taught them all this at some point—with an X-Ray Move of her own; Leone threw Rokgough into the air, then brought him down on her knee, breaking the stomach, back, and legs, and then brought him to her upper back and shoulder again, dealing damage on the higher end of his spine, heart, and ribs, causing them damage.

Leone Wins

"Don't think that the same move is going to work on me forever!"

Rokgough just got right back up, but was still badly damaged to the point where he was limping. That's when Najenda came in. "Good work, Leone!" Even with all her injuries, that artificial arm is brutal when used as a weapon. "General Rokgough, as an ex-colleague, I will free you from the binding as quickly as possible."

Leone was amazed, "It...It's been a while since I've seen the Boss fight. All right, me too..."

Sneaky little Kurome came down, and sliced Leone's left arm off; now, Lionelle may grant regenerative abilities, but it cannot bring back an entire arm—for that, it needs the aid of Crosstail. "You really shouldn't take your eyes off of me completely. Because if there's ever an opportunity, I'll attack as much as I can. Until you die." At the same time, I was jumping up to help Mine. Already, Hentarr was holding me back.

Leone was definitely pissed; she hates being the victim of surprise attacks, as you probably already knew. "You've done it now..." Leone squeezed the wound till it closed, and the bleeding stopped. "HAHH!"

"Ooh, amazing, you can stop your blood yourself!"

"I'll show you just what happens...when you anger a lion!"

Najenda stopped her from doing something really stupid. "Don't charge in, Leone! Kurome has guards! First, go support Akame. You two go for Kurome after that. We're both ex-generals over here...if the opponent doesn't use an Imperial Arms, I'll be able to do something about them."

"...I understand. Just you wait. I'll be heading over there afterward!"

Kurome was mocking her. "How tough. I might want to have you in my collection."

Akame was struggling with Bols and Wall. "Kuh...! Because of the guard...I can't thoughtlessly jump in! But if I keep moving, an opening should appear!" She kept running circles around them, and dodging all the flames Bols threw at her at the same time. Then, an opening came, and she launched herself straight at him, "I can do it!" avoiding Wall completely. But Bols had a metal plate in the palm of his hand that prevented Murasame from cutting into his flesh. "Protection here, too...! Countermeasures against Murasame!"

Bols fired again, but Akame's reflexes saved her life. "She just did an amazing dodge!?" For a moment, Bols asked Akame something. "Akame...may I ask you something? Why did you join the revolutionary army? It would've been so nice to have you with us."

She remained silent for a moment; remembering the carnage she caused when she worked for the empire. "I chose Night Raid, because my heart told me it was the right thing to do. I simply decided to follow the path in which I believe."

"I completely understand. I do. But I'm sorry," Bols prepared Rubicante again, "I'm afraid it's still my job to eradicate you, regardless of your beliefs."

Leone showed up. "Wait just a secooond!" She landed right next to Akame, "Let me in too! With this, it's a two versus two." The latter noticed that the busty blonde was missing an arm. "Well, don't mind this. Focus on the fight for now!"

"He's strong. Be careful."

"Yeah. Let's defeat Bols and go to where Kurome is!"

Najenda held her own against her former comrade. "Considering I'm about half as strong as I was before I got these wounds from Esdeath...I'm swifter than I expected!" Then, Rokgough thrusted his whip straight into the ground. "Earth Shaker?!" The other end popped out of the ground right in front of the silver-haired woman. She barely avoided it by using her reel mechanism. "We've been fighting for so long, I can stay ahead of anything you've got!" She fired the mechanism again, this time straight at the red-haired man. He dodged it, but the Boss was just faking him out. "Fire! Reel assault!" She retracted the line and kicked Rokgough's head off. However, that did not stop him, much to her shock. "What the hell kind of Imperial Arms is this?!" She kicked, and punched him into another beam shot by Destaghoul. That same beam took Su's right arm off, but he regenerates instantly, so he wasn't handicapped at all. Su was distracted by a minor detail.

"This is difficult, but I won't be defeated."

"Well, it is an S-Class; are you having trouble with it?"

"It hits really hard, but the main problem is right there." Su pointed at the danger beast's left arm, "That little bump is getting on my nerves. It's disgusting how it completely breaks up the symmetry. If it wasn't so distracting, I wouldn't have got hit."

"You're joking...I swear, you really need to get over this obsessive-compulsive thing. Still, if someone doesn't get Kurome soon, we're gonna start suffering casualties." Najenda turned to her Imperial Arms, "Susanoo! As your master, I am giving you permission to use your Trump Card!"

"Understood."

Ieysayu was trying to keep Hentarr busy, while I went to aid Mine(I just wanted to feel better, by not letting her get injured). It wasn't going so well. "Dammit! Why won't you just hold still?!"

Then, Hentarr spotted someone; a member of his fallen tribe. At that point, he completely stopped; he had longed to see at least one of his people again. However, the tribesman thrusted a needle into his forehead, drawing blood. "It's just like Akame said." The tribesman was actually Chelsea. "Yatsufusa's corpses don't have a will of their own. They're nothing but puppets. But a few traces of their quirks and their deepest feelings do remain intact. Sorry, but I'm not actually a member of your lost tribe."

Hentarr screamed in rage. Then, Ieysayu took the upperhand he got. "Hey, remember me?...You're all mine."

Fight

Hentarr leaped into the air, and kicked Ieysayu. Ieysayu landed three punches and juggled with an uppercut. He separated Belvaak and threw one half right at Hentarr. He then did an X-Ray Move; Ieysayu smacked the side of Hentarr's face with the flat side of Belvaak, then swung downwards with the edge smashing into the spine, shattering it. Finally, Ieysayu turned Hentarr back around, and thrusted his knee into the corpse's skull. Ieysayu slashed downwards with Belvaak, slicing Hentarr in half.

Brutality-Ieysayu Wins

"Nice one, Ieysayu! He shouldn't be such a nuisance anymore. By the way, where's Tatsumi?"

"He's trying to aid Mine...I don't know why he would...she's such a pain in the ass."

"Well," Chelsea went back into the wooded area, "Guess I'll leave the rest to you! See Ya'!"

"Ah, COME ON!"

"I can't believe I took such a big risk back there! And after everything I said about Bulat being a failed assassin! Maybe all that sentimental junk is starting to rub off on me! Oh Tatsumi, it's all your fault."

Kurome was actually able to feel when a corpse puppet was out of commission. "Hmm...the intervals between my snack breaks keep getting shorter and shorter. I wonder if Wave's okay. He seems fairly sturdy. I'm sure he's alive. Uh-oh, Rokgough and Hentarr stopped moving...Apeman too?! Guess it's time...before sending in my final corpse, I should probably set another trap."

A Distant place from the canyon:

Wave was badly hurt from the crash landing into rock. "Ugh! That was a serious hit! If Grand Chariot's sword hadn't blocked it, I'd be dead." he struggled to get back on his feet, "I have to get back...or Bols and Kurome won't make it. Despite what Kurome thinks of herself, she can be pretty helpless. If I don't help her..." Wave stumbled flat onto the ground, "Ah...Dammit! That hit must've been even worse than I thought...I can't move."

Doya didn't give Mine much trouble, but that wasn't what I worried about. "So you're a sharpshooter. Too bad you're up against me. They don't call me a genius sniper for nothing." Behind her, a long tongue grabbed her, "Wha-hah-aaaaah! Ew, what is this nasty thing?!"

Kurome ran up to her, "Oh, that was quick; it's already eating someone! This is my new recruit, the kaiser frog! It's stomach acid is capable of dissolving anything it eats! It's delightful, I know! Oh, Seryu told me something funny; she said Coro almost gobbled up one of your friends. It's kind of fitting that you'd suffer that same fate!"

"No...there's no way in hell...I'm gonna die in a place like thiiiiiiis!" The frog swallowed Mine.

"The end comes much too easily, doesn't it? Bye-bye! Good boy, ready for the next meal?"

I made it to the spot, only to find that Mine was already eaten. "Mine! No!" My alarm drove me to jump onto the frog and use Neuntote to try and slice it open. "Uragh! Kurome, don't think for a second I'll go easy on you just because you're Akame's little sister!"

"Well, you don't know when to quit, do ya'? Careful, Natara's power is ten times more intense than Apeman's."

"Agh, Great!" I kept trying to find the frog's stomach, but was being held back by Natara. Currently, my revenant genes were trying to break free due to my anger. I was managing, but if Mine wasn't unharmed when I got her out, I might become lethal by succumbing to the darkness inside of me.

Yeah, I want to show just how determined this reborn Tatsumi is. Bet you weren't expecting the "Spine Rip" fatality to be used by him, were you?

The fights in the next chapter are Susanoo vs Destaghoul(Level/Boss battle), Tatsumi vs Natara(Mini Boss), Tatsumi vs Doya(Mini Boss), and Akame vs Wall(Sub-Boss). Email me the moves each fighter uses. Obviously with the first one, it's like Malos from "Shadow of the Colossus", a living level as well as a boss battle.

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