"Let's dance, Yatsuhusa.", the God growls as he raises his open palm, causing the earth to tremble oncemore with his stone claw slamming into the ground with a thunderous crash. Much to everyone's surprise, the claw begins to move again, but as it rises up from the dirt much more comes with it. Out from the stony gorge, stones begin to erupt out and as they group together to form a figure in Quake's likeness, though much smaller. And as the God points a finger toward the bony fiend before him, the newly formed beast's mouth opens and small balls of green energy begin to float up from the ground and into its gaping maw to form a growing ball of light.
With her eyes widening at the sight of this somewhat familiar attack, Kurome quickly turns to Destaghoul and shouts, "Destaghoul, take him out before he can fire that attack!"
Quake looks up at Destaghoul with a slight smirk as the undead beast charges up its laser once again. "What a hindrance. I'll eliminate you first then, Destaghoul!", the irritated God growls as he aims his open fist at Destaghoul, causing the dragon's stony mouth chomps down on the radiant green ball. Without any warning, Quake simply closes his hand as he mutters, "Fire.", and the dragon opens its mouth to shoot out a light green beam that clashes with Destaghoul's bright blue beam.
"W-what the hell was that!?", Mine gasps as she continues to fight against Doya with Sheele by her side.
Sheele looks over to the battlefield to see that the source of the green beam seems to be Minazuki and she shouts, "I think that green beam is Minazuki's! Is this his Trump Card!?"
"Don't know, let's ask him when we're done here!", Mine shouts back at the purple-haired woman as she manages to finally put a few rounds in Doya, sending the cowgirl flying backwards off the cliff in the process.
Bols watches on in amazement as the two beams clash, send shockwaves across the canyon floor with the raw power behind their collision, as he thinks, "Night Raid, they're even able to give Kurome's strongest puppet a run for their money... These guys are way stronger than I thought!"
"As much as I'd love to take my time with you, I have much bigger beasts to fry! Return to the earth, Destaghoul!", the raging God shouts at the towering bony puppet as his radiating green beam starts to gradually force Destaghoul's blue attack back as the beast struggles to match Quake's overwhelming power. The green beam suddenly enlarges, growing to three times its original size before completely enveloping the heartless puppet in its unbearable light and destroying its entire skull in one focused blast before fading away.
"Minazuki...eliminated Destaghoul in just one shot.", Najenda gasps after seeing the results of his devastating attack.
"That isn't Minazuki.", Susanoo bluntly tells his master with a cold glance focused on the God.
"Susanoo? What do you mean?", Najenda quickly questions the Imperial Arm, to which the horned warrior points toward Quake.
"Look at his eyes and the overwhelming power surging through his body, Najenda. It's clearly the work of the danger beast inside his Imperial Arm.", Susanoo explains to his master as the duo focus their sights on Minazuki's eyes and the visible aura pouring from his body.
After mentally putting together the pieces of the puzzle, the wise General recalls the Ripper incident with Meno from long ago before turning her attention back to Susanoo and asking, "Do you believe he'll be alright? Should we stop him?"
"At this point, I don't believe that's an option we have. Not even my Trump Card would stand against Quake's full power in this state.", Susanoo coldly answers her as his relentless gaze follows the God's movements as he raises his hand in order to aim the dragon head back up at Kurome, the same green energy seeming to rise up from the earth and form a deadly green sphere in the inanimate beast's mouth.
"Now, mortal, unleash Yatsuhusa's full power for me! I would like to enjoy what little time I have left here!", the God furiously demands from the girl before launching a quicker, but less powerful, blast up at Kurome.
Natala quickly pulls the little sister out of the way of the deadly blast, holding her close to his chest with one arm as he uses the other along with his Imperial Arm to launch his spear head to the other side of the gorge while the beam begins to slice through the cliff side. Seeing the puppet evade his initial strike, Quake attempts to adjust the head's aim to follow their movements as the two zip through the air, but Natala is just barely fast enough to avoid the beam of light.
"Well, it seems for now, he's still on our side.", Najenda sighs to herself as the God continues to fight their mutual enemy. "Is this what we need to defeat Esdeath? The power of a rampaging Imperial Arm?", Najenda thinks before watching Hentarr dash toward Quake, looking to take advantage of his opening.
With his burning glare focused on the soulless being rushing him down, Quake shifts silences his deadly beam and furiously roars, "Pesky insect, return to the Earth!" With a powerful, earth-shattering stomp, multiple earth spears jet out of the ground, trying to run Hentarr through, but the undead shadow of a man masterfully weaves his way around the attacks. But, before he can make it any closer to Quake, a sly grin comes across the God's face as the spears connect to forming a small cage. Following Quake's quick flick of his wrist, sand erupts from the ground, lining the stony cage to form a perfect dome around the baffled Hentarr before quickly sinking into the ground, crushing every bone in the masked puppet's body and putting him to rest once and for all.
"Hentarr!", Kurome exclaims as she watches another one of her servants fall to Quake's rampage. "Damn it, I can't summon my last puppet while I'm running like this! I need more space!", the panicked girl thinks as Natala carries her in his arms, continuing their escape as he shoots another spearhead and zips along with it to safety.
Quake barely catches the duo in his sights as they continue to escape, mentally grumbling to himself, "How insufferable, if I had my real body I'd be able to go after them without any trouble, but I suppose I have more pressing problems to deal with at the moment..." The God glances over his should for another brawl only to see Akame and Leone fighting Bols, to which he grumbles, "I guess I'll deal with Rubicante first." Rushing toward the masked fire blaster, Quake pulls his fist back to unleash a devastating punch unto his mortal flesh, but Woll blocks his path, swiftly moving between the God and his newly found prey. "More insects. Just return to the earth, you pathetic pile of flesh.", the unrelenting beast coldly demands before ripping the shield from Woll's grasp with one hand and slamming the puppet's face straight into the ground, shattering the hardened earth with his skull.
"Wolls too? What even is this guy!?", Bols mutters to himself in a panic as he takes a step back from the radiating figure as he drops the cracked shield on the seeming immobile Wolls. "Three enemies at once, and with that one in the state he is now, I stand nearly no chance in this kind of fight...", the masked fire manipulator thinks as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small detonator. "Trump Card, activate!", Bols courageously exclaims at the top of his lungs as he hurls his Imperial Arm toward the assassins, forcing Leone and Akame to dodge out of the way of his attack, but Quake just rushes the man down without a hint of self preservation showing in his actions.
As he rushes towards the confused Jaeger, Quake catches the heavy weapon and drags it along his path while thinking, "This mortal thinks he can pull such a simple trick over on me!? A God!?"
"What!? He's not afraid of my bluff!?", Bols lets out a hushed gasp to himself, baffled by the enemy's boldness before the God shouts, "Foolish mortal, I already know all of your tricks! Magma Drive was your Trump Card, and if that device in your hand is what I think it is, you wouldn't activate such an attack within its range!" Quake goes to destroy Bols with devastating punch to his chest, but much to his surprise even without his head, Wolls hurls his shield to the unarmed man.
Bols quickly drops the detonator and manages to catch the twirling shield, which he quickly uses to block the oncoming attack, catching the God's glowing fist before the enforced glass starts to crack under the pressure and the raw force of the attack sends his giant body rocketing off toward the nearby woods.
As Bols flies off like a human frisbee, Kurome call out for her comrade at the top of her lungs, screaming, "Bols!", before turning to Natala and growling, "We need to retreat, now!" The blonde puppet quickly nods and with her tiny body in his arms and his Imperial Arm on his back, he carries her away as fast as he can.
Gritting his teeth in his fury, Quake glares down at the detonator Bols dropped before crushing it under his heel. "Mortals, they think they can do whatever they want with us. Even blow us up if they feel the need. I'll be sure to kill that one slowly for his insolence.", the God growls to himself as he gently sets the flamethrower down by his feet.
"Hey, partner, what are you doing? You could've just crushed that guy, you know?", Leone says with a confused look. He glares over at her and Akame points Murasame at him, prepared to fight, but they seem too tired to do so.
"You two should retrieve the Imperial Arms and head back. You've taken too much damage to be of any use in this fight. I'll head after the targets and make sure they're properly disposed of.", Quake bluntly orders before walking off on his own, leaving the two women with the Imperial Arm.
Off in the distance, Bols crashes through three hollow trees, using Wolls shield to protect himself from the wooden fragments falling around him before finally crashing down into the ground and tearing a gash into the dirt with what's left of the shield. With only a few broken bones and his body aching all over, Bols pulls himself up using a nearby tree for support before saying, "I...I made it.." He leans against the tree for a moment before muttering, "Wave, Kurome, I hope you two are alright. But Phi, she's gone. How am I gonna tell Seryu...and General Esdeath...?" He remembers all the nice times they had together as a team, having dinner together, enjoying tea, even Phi stopping over at his house to meet his daughter. "I wish...I wish we could do all that stuff again...", Bols continues to ramble to himself in his sorrow as he starts to force himself to move forward. Uncertain of anything about his path but it's away from the battle and away from that monster of a man that sent him this far, Bols treads on with his hand over his cracked ribs.
Out of thin air the flame-master hears the crying of a small child before turning to see a little girl crying as she sits next to a tree stump. The little girl has short, white hair done up into two equally long pigtails with a bright red bow on top of her head, knotted in the shape of rabbit ears and is dressed in a matching red shirt and black shorts with her shirt having a cute floral pattern across it.
The wounded soldier slowly makes his way over to the distraught girl before kindly asking her, "What seems to be wrong?"
The girl nervously looks up to the man and as their eyes meet, she screams at the top of her lungs, "AHHHHHH, A GHOST!", at the sight of his somewhat terrifying mask and terrifying figure.
"I-I'm not a ghost! Don't worry, I'm a soldier!", Bols kindly replies, trying to calm her down. His eyes look her over before finding a fresh burn mark on her left leg and kindly telling her, "You're hurt, let me help." He pulls out some bandages from his pocket and instead of using them on himself, he uses them to help this small girl in need. As he applies some medicine on her wound and lightly wraps it up, he says, "Don't worry, the pain will go away soon. And you'll be all better."
The girl gives him a warm smile as he finishes before gleefully squealing, "Thanks Mister!"
Her kind smile and words warm his aching body and heart, causing him to smile under his mask before gently telling her, "Don't worry about it."
The small girl leaps into his arms and wraps him with a unyielding hug, and as he closes his eyes he hears her whisper in his ear, "But Mister...the places that you burned...They'll never become better!" With a light stinging feeling in the back of his neck, his eyes shoot wide open before his whole body begins to go numb. The little girl quickly get enveloped by a cloud of smoke before transforming into an older girl, Chelsea.
"That girl just now, she was a child from one of the many villages that you've burned down, Bols. They were suspected of assisting the Revolution, so you burned the whole place to the ground. Although, I'm certain you don't remember a single one of them, since you burned them all in bunches.", the stealthy assassin scolds the murderer before ripping the needle from his neck and letting his body crash to the ground face first.
"I always knew...this day would come...That I would receive judgement for my crimes against humanity...But, even so...!", the bleeding giant thinks as he starts to crawl away, trying to escape his fate. "I have to... return home... They're both...waiting..", he says as he continues to pull his body along the bloodied dirt, his body slowly growing cold. He starts to cry as he see his daughter in his wife's arms. He reaches out for them and says, "I have to... return to them...", but as the image fades, so does his life. He slowly shuts his eyes and says, "I'm...sorry..."
Chelsea just leans against a nearby tree, listening to every delusional word Bols spilled as he died. "Really, fights like these are repulsive. There's no true good ending I guess. But to think Minazuki managed to launch him all the way out here...", Chelsea says as starts to walk off. She uses her Gaea Foundation to mimic Bols' appearance before thinking, "Next is Kurome! I'll finish her off before she can regroup with Esdeath and the others!"
Back at a small log cabin in the woods, Leone, Akame, Tatsumi, Najenda, Susanoo, Sheele and Mine are resting after their battle with Tatsumi sitting in bed with his wounds tended to while Susanoo treats Mine's multiple gashes and bruises on her arms and shoulders. "You all took quite the beating, but at least we're certain that we eliminated one of the Jaegers today. We even got two of their Imperial Arms. This will really help in the war.", Najenda proudly notes as she turns to the Imperial Arms resting on the nearby shelf.
"Yeah, but I feel like hell though.", Tatsumi groans as he holds his wrapped lower ribs in his open hand, wincing in pain at the slightest touch.
"Me too, that whip really hurt.", Leone tiredly adds as she rubs her bruised and beaten body as she leans against a wall.
"Well at least you didn't have to dodge bullets the whole time you were fighting, Leone!", Mine shouts back at the lioness as Susanoo continues to wrap her wounded arm.
"I'm just happy we all made it out in one piece, right Akame?", Sheele cheerfully notes, looking to the brighter side of the situation before turning to Akame for her approval.
The crimson-eyed swordswoman seems lost in thought however, failing to reply as she looks silently at the Imperial Arms beside her.
Everyone's slightly confused by her silence before Najenda calls out for her, shouting, "Akame!", which snaps the assassin back into reality.
Akame quickly shakes the cobwebs out of her head before turning to Najenda and asking, "Yes, Boss?"
Najenda raises an eyebrow at the stranger than usual behavior from her trust killer and asks, "Are you alright?"
Shifting her gaze back to the ground, Akame lets out a heavy sigh and answers, reluctantly saying, "It's Minazuki. His voice and eyes were different and his overall attitude changed completely. What exactly happened to him?"
"Is it possible that was just his Trump Card? That beam thingy seemed pretty powerful.", Tatsumi quickly suggests as he raises his finger in the air only to pull a muscle and grasp at his ribs in pain oncemore.
"No, I'm certain that wasn't his Trump Card.", Susanoo bluntly corrects the injured boy as he finishes wrapping Mine's shot arm and pins the gauze in place.
"Then, what was it Suu?", Leone curiously questions the Imperial Arm.
Susanoo turns to the blonde with a cold glare before answering with, "I believe Quake has taken over Minazuki's body."
There's a moment of silence in the room and Mine just tilts her head and asks, "What? Quake? As in, his Imperial Arm? Can they do that?"
"On our first mission together, when we went out to eliminate The Ripper. Their Imperial Arm appeared to have corrupted their mind and twisted it somehow. But...could the same thing be happening to Minazuki?", Leone tells the injured sharpshooter as she looks down at Lionel around her waste.
"According to the legend. Quake was forged from an ancient ultra-class danger beast that was so rare that their power was considered to rival that of a God. It's likely that the soul inside that Imperial Arm took over during Minazuki's mental struggle after he killed Phi.", Susanoo worriedly suggests as his sharpened gaze turns to the doorway.
"Then we have to go after him and get him back, right!?", Tatsumi courageously suggests as he tries to get up from his bed, but his wounds won't let him, the pain forcing him to sit back in the bed and lean his head against his bright white pillow.
"We're all too beaten up to go anywhere right now. We need to take a minute and get our bearings.", Najenda bluntly tells the boy as she puts her hand on Tatsumi's shoulder, one of the few places he didn't get hurt.
As she says this, the doorway suddenly swings open and Lubbock walks into the room shouting, "Najenda!" She quickly turns to him and as he tries to catch his breath, he gasps out, "Najenda, Chelsea... went after Kurome...Already eliminated Bols... Don't know where...Minazuki went... She's pretending to be Bols and Minazuki might kill her!"
Najenda lets out a light sigh at this and says, "He already found a way to see past Chelsea's disguise, so that really isn't a problem. Bols being eliminated is good news. Though, I am a bit worried with having Minazuki on the loose in his current state."
"Wait, he can see through her transformation?", Tatsumi quickly asks as he tilts his head at the idea, but Leone just nods.
"I can too, but it takes a lot of effort and enhanced senses.", the tired lioness adds, earning a quick 'Ohhh' from the beaten brunette.
Najenda places a gentle hand on Lubbock's head and as she gives him a warm smile, tells him, "I'm glad you made it back alive, Lubbock."
With his face turning a bright red from her touch, he starts to nervously twitch as he mumbles, "T-thanks..."
"So, what do we do now, Boss?", Sheele quickly asks the one-eyed General, to which she crosses her arms and goes silent.
After taking a moment to think everything through, Najenda turns her eye toward her purple-haired subordinate with a confident glance."We wait this out. It's likely that Minazuki will either get to Kurome before Chelsea does or slightly after. Knowing Chelsea, she'll take her time and wait for the perfect time to strike Kurome down.", Najenda answers as she brings Lubbock further into the cabin and closes the behind him.
"I'm not sure if Chelsea could take her down. After seeing her ridiculous superhuman reflexes back there, she might be on something stronger than Akame knows about.", Mine worriedly notes as she puts her hand to her chin and contemplates it all.
"We'll have to give it some time and see if any of you feel better in about half an hour. Then, if any of you are feeling up to it, we'll send out a squad to look for Chelsea and Minazuki.", Najenda sternly replies as she makes her away over to the bed to sit down and rest for a moment.
Everyone nods in response and Leone turns her sights out through the nearby window as she thinks, "I just hope he doesn't get himself killed before we can move out."
Along a dirt path through the wilderness, Kurome's walking alone, using her sheathed Yatsuhusa to help support her along the way. Finally, as she runs out of breath, she stops for a moment to catch her breath, sitting atop a small rock and pulling out a cookie from her bag of sweets to get something to eat. As she holds her cookie up to her mouth, the exhausted girl lets out a long sigh and says, "Other than Natala, Doya, and my Trump Card, they broke all my puppets. It'll probably be impossible to gather that much ability again..." After taking a quick bite from her sweet, there's a suspicious rustle from the nearby bushes, which causes the girl to jump. "An enemy!?", she quickly thinks in a panic as she turns to see what or who it may be, her hand ready to draw her blade.
Much to her surprise, Bols pops out from the forest behind her, gleefully gasping, "Ah, I knew I heard you voice! It's Kurome! You're safe, thank goodness!"
"You survived that fall, Bols? That guy sent you flying pretty far.", Kurome says in amazement as she lowers her guard, taking her hand off her hilt as she sits back down on nearby rock.
The fire-master replies with a stern nod before saying, "Before he hit me I managed to block his attack with Wolls' shield, it definitely saved my life...but I'm afraid it broke when I landed, sorry."
"Oh, don't worry about it. Wolls' shield is small price to pay, I'm just glad you're safe...", the cheerful girl happily replies with a warm smile and a sigh of relief.
He rubs the back of his neck and says, "You're not mad at me? I lost my Imperial Arm when I got launched by that assassin too, I'm completely helpless."
"It's alright, Bols. Given the situation we were thrown in, I doubt General Esdeath will be too mad. Let's go meet up with the others and see if we can find Wave on the way there. I doubt we could get rid of him that easy.", the dark-eyed killer remarks as she pulls herself back up from her seat and the two continue down the dirt path.
"The tone and personalities of each of the Jaegers that I learned from Tatsumi and Minazuki, they must be very accurate. She doesn't suspect a thing. And she's deactivated Yatsuhusa's ability too. But I won't attack yet. According to the reports, Kurome is doping, so I should wait for the proper opening and attack!", Chelsea thinks as she continues to pretend to be Bols.
As they continue to walk down the path together, Bols glances over to his small companion and happily notes, "We'll arrive in town soon."
"Don't let your guard down Bols, they might be waiting to ambush us again.", Kurome coldly warns her companion as she gives him an equally freezing glance.
"What's with her? There's something I can't put my finger on...She isn't making a single opening either. Maybe I should fall back for now...", Chelsea contemplates as their eyes meet, causing a chill to crawl its way up her spine.
"General Esdeath will probably return soon. When she does, I'll tell her about Phi and Wave if we don't find him. You've already been through enough, Bols.", Kurome tiredly explains to him before suddenly dropping to her knees and grabbing her head in pain, dropping her Imperial Arm as she struggles to stay conscious through the pain.
"Kurome! Are you alright?!", Bols gasps in a panic as he stops to assist the shaking girl.
"It's because I didn't get to finish my sweets earlier...", Kurome mentally scolds herself as she desperately tries to force herself to stand, but her body fails her, forcing her back down to her knees.
"Are you hurt anywhere? I have medicine.", Bols kindly asks as he gently places his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.
"I'll be fine, I just need to eat some of my sweets is all.", she replies with a smile as she manages to reach into her bag and grab another cookie.
"You look like you're in pain... You poor think. I know, I'll say a charm to make you feel better!", Bols says, causing Kurome to smile a little more as she places her cookie in her mouth.
"Go right ahead Bols. If you think it'll help.", she replies as she starts chewing on her cookie, closing her eyes in pure exhaustion to enjoy the delightful taste of her goodies. Before she can react, Kurome feels a sharp stab in the back of her neck and when she opens her eyes she sees Chelsea where Bols was!
"There, now you won't be feeling anything anymore.", Chelsea coldly tells the injured girl, causing Kurome's eyes to widen in complete disbelief.
The lollipop assassin quickly seals the kill, tearing out the needle from the young girl's neck as she says, "Goodbye.", and Kurome falls over on the ground bleeding.
As she appears to fall over, unable to even move, Kurome rambles to herself, saying, "B..Big..Si..s...", as slowly closes her eyes.
"Both targets down. Now to head back to base.", Chelsea coldly mutters to herself as she looks down at Kurome's dead body. As she looks down at Akame's little sister, she thinks, "This girl, her last words were 'Bis Sis'...It's unfortunate, but consider this the karma tied to our trade... Don't worry, I'll help make this world peaceful soon. And you can be reborn into it once that happens."
As she starts to walk away she hears Kurome say, "Hey..." She turns around to see she's actually alive and standing, ready to fight! "That charm, it isn't working...It's very painful, and I'm suffering quite a lot.", Kurome says in a crazed voice as blood drips from her forehead.
"I'm certain I hit a vital point..!", Chelsea gasps in disbelief as she reels back at this unbelievable revival.
"After Big Sis left, they made a new drug. A strong medicine that strengthens the body beyond any other drug's effect, though, the side effects do put a toll on your body. But the results are worth it! It seems that if you want to kill me, you'll have to do a lot better than that, Night Raid!", Kurome explains as she draws Yatsuhusa from its sheath, preparing to attack. Before she can as much as point her sword at the confused redhead, an overwhelming source of murderous intent rushing toward them, the frightening power behind it causing both girls to stop dead in their tracks. "What the-", Kurome begins to ask before Quake leaps down from the nearby trees, slamming his right fist down into the ground in front of them, creating a giant crater from his light attack.
The force of the impact sends both of the girls flying back and as they both look up at the God, he violently growls, "There you are, Yatsuhusa. I almost passed you up, but then I sensed your murderous intent and rushed over here! Let's finish our little dance, just the two of us! What do you say, MORTAL!?"
"Another Night Raider, damn it! I'll kill you both!", Kurome shouts in a rage as she summons her remaining puppets. "This time, I'll be sure to use my Trump Card!", she furiously adds as the earth starts to shake. Alongside Natala and Doya, out of the ground comes a beast even larger than Destaghoul, a bone dragon with large bony wings with rotting flesh, cracked scales and glowing purple eyes with its pupil's shaped like Xs.
As Quake greedily looks up at the monstrosity, he smiles and the happily shouts, "So you finally reveal yourself, Yatsuhusa! Come, let's fight like we did over a thousand years ago!" The beast doesn't seem to react to his words and Quake just chuckles to himself. "I almost forgot I was speaking in this damned human tongue. Krede Yatsuhusa! Belda cre ne dara se kell nok!", the God greets the undead dragon, shouting the last part in dragon tongue. The beast still doesn't answer and on closer inspection, he notices that the dragon's eyes are glazed over, as if he were completely blind to the world around him.
Quake furiously grinds his teeth and the world itself begins to tremble. "You insignificant piece of shit! How dare you bring this hollow shell before me and call it a Trump Card!? I WILL CRUSH YOU WITH EVERY LAST BIT OF POWER I HAVE!", the raging God roars as two nearby mountains tear away from the earth, floating high into the air like small planets.
Chelsea and Kurome both look up in complete horror as the mountains seem to explode into a million spears, all aiming for Yatsuhusa's dragon body. "THIS IS THE POWER THAT SHAPED THE VERY EARTH ITSELF! BEHOLD THE POWER OF A GOD!", Quake exclaims in his fury before unleashing a hellstorm of spears down upon the helpless girl and her puppets. Yatsuhusa attempts to block the attack with its giant bony wings, but the raw number of spears quickly shatter its defenses before spearing it through every part of its body.
"NO, Yatsuhusa! Get up! Get up and fight, damn it!", Kurome shouts in frustration as she shakes her sword at the immobile puppet. As the sheer weight of the spears plunged inside it starts to force the giant's entire body to the ground, the spears explode, ripping it apart from the inside out. It lets out a blood curdling roar before a giant earth spear pierces its skull and explodes, returning the beast to the Earth. With her Trump Card defeated in mere moments, Kurome falls to her knees before blood starts to spurt from her mouth, her weakened state causing her two puppets disappear as well.
"It seems like using such a Trump Card pushed you to your limits, mortal. I'll be sure to take my time with your death.", the furious God proclaims as he raises his open palm, causing the remaining spears to aim straight for Kurome. Before Quake can unleash his final attack on the helpless girl, the spears suddenly begin to drop from the sky, completely missing their target and landing sideways in the ground before falling over with a thunderous crash. Before he can kill her any other way, Quake violently coughs into his open hand, and when he glares down at it, he sees it's coated in Minazuki's blood. "It appears my time is running out.", he mutters to himself before turning his attention to Chelsea, who's still in complete shock from the mountains shattering. "Even in this state, I can eliminate this insect and return his body back to his little friends in one piece. All I have to do is-", Quake begins to think before hearing Wave shout, "Kurome, was that you!? I saw a giant undead dragon thing!"
"That other one's here now? How troublesome... If I want this body to stay in one piece, I'd best retreat now, before I end up pushing him too far.", the God grumbles to himself with a quick flick of his hand, cleaning his hand of the blood and staining the ground at his feet in the process. He swiftly leaps over to Chelsea, frightening her at first, before throwing her onto his shoulder and rushing off toward the meeting location.
"Hey! Where are you taking me!? Are you listening to me!? HEY!", Chelsea shouts as she continues to struggle, violently flailing her as she hits the barely familiar figure on the back with her balled up fists.
"Mortal, you're starting to irritate me. If you continue struggling like you are...I'll bury you alive and leave you to die.", the less than phased God coldly warns the girl, causing her entire body to freeze in fear for her life. Unable to move, she finally stops her struggling and before she realizes it, they're at the cabin where they were supposed to meet up at after the ambush.
The door to the cabin suddenly swings open and a bandaged Tatsumi rushes out while shouting, "Alright, now let's go find Minazuki and Chelsea! If they've run into the enemy, they'll need us now more than ever! Let's go!", before running right into the two.
After reeling back from the collision, Tatsumi looks to see that they've finally returned as Chelsea giggles at his childish expression and says, "I guess you completed your mission then. I'm glad to hear you were so worried about me though, Tatsumi~", as Quake lazily lets the girl down from his shoulder.
"Minazuki!", Leone happily calls out to the boy before seeing his monstrous eyes staring back at her.
Before anyone can mention the oddly colored eyes, Quake starts to cough up more blood into his hand before looking at it and muttering under his breath, "I guess I've enjoyed myself a bit too much. I should've known that this temporary melding wouldn't end well."
"Temporary melding? What are you talking about?", Akame curiously questions Minazuki, but only earns a deep growl from Quake.
"Mortals, they're always so curious. Well, I think I'll give your body back now, Mortal.", the tired God whispers to his partner before closing his eyes in exhaustion. When they open again, Minazuki's eye return to normal and he falls to his knees, gasping for air.
"Minazuki!?", everyone shouts as he continues trying to catch his breath. His breathing eventually slows down as he finally catches his breath before looking up at the others. They all look to him with concerned glances, but he just lets off a chuckle.
"I'll be fine.", he says as he pulls himself to his feet, struggling to stand at first before forcing himself through.
"Like hell you are! You can barely stand!", Leone shouts as she storms over to him and throws him over her shoulder before carrying him inside.
"Leone, put me down.", he weakly demands, but to no avail.
"Nope. You're getting your rest and there's nothing you can do to keep me from-", the busty blonde begins to say before he says, "I was actually going to get some rest." She's taken aback by his sudden willingness to relax and doubtfully growls, "Are you joking? You never make an attempt to recover. And you just tried to convince us you were 'fine' a second ago."
"I'll live, so in that aspect, I'm fine, but I feel like I've been trampled by a stampede of elephants. My body's sore all over, I can barely move, and even breathing seems to be a challenge right now. Maybe a few days of rest would be nice.", Minazuki tiredly replies with a slight smile as she sets him down on the bed. "So that was the power of melding? Even though he took control, I could still feel the power flowing through my body. If that was just from a temporary melding, I couldn't even begin to imagine the power you'd receive from a natural fusion.", Minazuki thinks as remembers the mountains being shattered so easily.
Leone pulls the covers up to his chest and the boy turns his gaze over to the Imperial Arms resting on the nearby table. "So, you all managed to collect the Imperial Arms from the Jaegers we were able to kill?", Minazuki chuckles as he turns his exhausted attention back to Leone.
"Yeah, but don't worry about that now. You just get some rest. I'll be right here until you wake up, alright?", his partner worriedly replies as she pulls up a chair and sits by his bed.
As the boy slowly starts closing his eyes, he barely mutters off, "I think I'll do that...I'm so...tired..", before finally shutting his eyes and falling asleep.
Shortly after Minazuki falls asleep, Chelsea debriefs everyone on what just happened. "He did what?", Najenda questions the red-haired assassin, her tone radiating with doubt.
"Two mountains? Like, the whole thing or what?", Tatsumi adds to the list of questions as he raises an eyebrow at the lollipop girl.
"Two whole mountains, gone.", Chelsea bluntly clarifies as she looks to Minazuki with a worried glance.
"And they were just...floating in mid air?", Lubbock add with quite the skeptical look on his face.
Chelsea quickly nods before adding, "I wouldn't have believed it myself if I didn't see it, so I understand your skepticism."
"To think an Imperial Arm would be able to do something of this magnitude...", Najenda mutters to herself as she turns her sights onto the boy with a worried look of her own. "This might be another way we can defeat Esdeath. Maybe dropping a mountain or two on her would be enough to kill her, but who knows? She is Esdeath after all...", Najenda contemplates as she places her metallic hand over her chin.
Before she can finish her thought however, she's cut off by Susanoo reluctantly calling out, "Chelsea..." This earns the young girl's attention as he gives her a stern glare and asks, "What was it again that he said when he unleashed this attack on Yatsuhusa's giant dragon puppet?"
"Something like, 'behold the power that shaped the world, the power of a God,' or something along those lines.", Chelsea answers him with a slightly confused glance aimed at the Imperial Arm.
"I see, so my assumption was more accurate than I thought it was.", Susanoo mutters to him as he closes his eyes and places his hands in the other's sleeves.
"What is it Suu?", Sheele nervously asks, not quite sure if she wants to know the truth.
"Originally I assumed that the legends simply meant that the Danger Beast used to forge Quake was strong enough for those from the beginning of the Empire to consider the beast to be at a Godly level, but perhaps they meant it in a more literal terminology. If so, Quake might have attempted a hostile take over of Minazuki's mind and body. After taking its toll, Minazuki's body reached its limits, so instead of forcing it even further through the process, it returned control to Minazuki and now it's waiting to strike again when Minazuki's body is able to handle the full extent of his power.", Susanoo bluntly explains as his eyes fixate on the gauntlets.
"Then, what can we do? We can't risk letting something like this happen again, right?", Leone frantically asks as she looks over her shoulder to them, still sitting by Minazuki's side.
The room grows silent before Najenda admits, "I wish I could say that we'll put Minazuki on the side for now and separate him from Quake, but we need him for the coming battle and the war."
"But Boss, it could kill him!", Leone furiously growls at the General with a burning glare aimed her way.
"And if he doesn't continue and we fail our mission, millions of others will likely die. That's just a fact. We need him to fight in the battles to come, Leone.", Akame reluctantly adds as she rubs her left arm.
Leone scoffs as she turns back to Minazuki and says, "I bet if it were Tatsumi in this situation, everyone would be on my side."
"That's beside the point! We need Minazuki's raw power to stand against the remaining Imperial Army Generals and the rest of their army!", Najenda forcefully replies as she glares back at the pissed off lioness.
Mine, uncertain of what exactly she should do, turns to Susanoo and asks, "Hey Suu, do you think Minazuki could control that power? Today, it seemed like Quake took control and used its power all on its own, but do you think Minazuki could actually control Quake and use that power himself without being taken over or whatever?"
Susanoo ponders the idea for a moment and says, "It's highly unlikely, considering how Quake could have been a literal God at one point in time, but some would say floating mountains is also an impossibility, so anythings possible at this point."
"See, there's your answer right there, Leone. He just has to control that power and he might just be fine. You're welcome.", Mine confidently tells the lioness as she looks to Leone with a cheeky smile on her face.
"You know, if I didn't promise Minazuki I'd stay by his side through this, I'd be over there strangling you right about now, Mine...", Leone bluntly threatens the pink-haired sniper as she barely glances over her shoulder to shoot her a sharp, unrelenting glare.
Mine points Pumpkin at her with a sinister grin before firing back, "I'd like to see you try, that'd be quite the pinch."
"That's enough, both of you need to calm down! Minazuki will remain on the sidelines until he feels up to returning to action.", Najenda sternly orders as she stands in between two arguing killers.
Mine reluctantly lowers the barrel of her gun as she says, "Fine, I'll let it slide this time. But only because the Boss said so."
Leone turns her attention back to Minazuki only growling back with, "Go try to intimidate someone more your size like Tatsumi."
Mine starts to grind her teeth at the lioness' sudden jab before going to fire back at her, but Sheele stops her with light hand on Mine's shoulder, earning the tiny sniper's attention. "Don't worry about it too much, Mine. She's just worried about Minazuki, and that's putting her a little on edge.", Sheele gently suggests as she brings her back to her seat.
Mine turns her burning glare back to the blonde only to find that Leone's usual carefree character has completely broken down into distress and concern as she holds Minazuki's hand, patiently waiting for him to wake up. "Why is she so hung up over that guy? He's not even that cute or anything...", Mine thinks as she turns and sits off to the side with Sheele.
With the situation back under her control, Najenda lets out a light sigh of relief before saying, "Alright, once Minazuki is able to move again, we'll start making our way to our real destination, Kyoroch."