Hello, thank you so much for waiting for this chapter! I hope I didn't make you wait too long.

Special thanks to RevansStories, shanagan, kijimoshi, and taimurpro for following/favouring this story! You're simply the best.

Now, without further adieu, I hope you enjoy!

The earth shook with the weight of the battle.

The colosseum had never such destruction going rampant within its grounds. Its walls crumbled, its pillars shivered, and the grass beneath it was set ablaze. It had turned from an execution field to a battlefield.

A man charged straight ahead, and smashed down a massive wall of ice in front of him, grinding it down to mere specks.

Small petals of ice flickered through the air, making the weather in the colosseum slightly chilling.

Akame was standing back, surveying the area carefully and trying to locate Tatsumi. Bulat was in front, standing directly opposite the General.

Bulat gasped as he felt his skin tear apart. This was a kind of pain that he hadn't experienced in a long time, and the world around him fluttered as he gradually became light-headed.

His muscles were pulsating outwards, his teeth had become sharp and jagged, and Incursio's armour had taken on a different appearance. It was taller, wider, and became dragonic. The armour was originally a tough, metallic alloy, but was now soft and flesh-like, with scales adorning Bulat from head-to-toe.

Esdeath stood in front of this opponent, her eyes trained cautiously on him. She felt her rapier in her right hand, and a crystallized sword made of ice in the other.

"This wasn't in the records." Esdeath commented. "What is your Imperial Arm doing?"

Bulat panted, still feeling excruciating agony surge throughout his body. He was crouched on the ground, his eyes beginning to glow. He still looked relatively the same, physically, but the armour covering him made him look like a miniature dragon, setting an unnerving atmosphere in the field.

"I really didn't...want to do this..."

Esdeath's blue eyes were sharp. "What have you done to your armour?"

Bulat's gaze was weak, yet strangely threatening. "This is the technique...that Gensei taught me..."

"Gensei? That sounds...familiar."

"He was my mentor, and the previous wielder of Incursio's key. He told me...about this hidden ability..."

"What hidden ability?"

"The beast that was slaughtered to make this Imperial Arm," Bulat breathed heavily. "It's still alive, and its essence can still be tapped into...if you let it."

Esdeath looked calm, but intrigued. "So that's why your armour looks like...that."

"Gensei was a smart and brilliant man. He made sure to never use it, he knew the risks..."

"The risk of what?"

"Of letting a Danger Beast do whatever it wants to you, and change you to its liking..."

A small grin suddenly grew on Esdeath's face. "You're willing to let your Imperial Arm consume you...just to kill me?"

The dragonic armour motioned forward slightly, and Bulat held both of his hands out and at the ready.

She couldn't see his expression, but she could feel his emotions perfectly. Just the thought that an opponent would go to such lengths just to bring harm to her was...delicious. It was incredibly amusing to her.

"Come forth then, Bulat!" she cheered happily, a new spark of excitement brewing within her. "Show me what this transformation can do!"

Bulat watched her beckon him, and he knew that he would have to push himself to the limits.

He closed his eyes shut and remained silent for a moment.

His heart was hurting. It was beating unnaturally fast, and it felt like it was going to pop open and burst at any second. While others would've been seduced by the influence of a Danger Beast and relished in this energizing sensation, Bulat felt nothing but discomfort for it. Something was pumping through his bloodstream that didn't feel right, and it was giving him way too much all at once.

He could hear better, see everything clearly no matter how far the distance, and his thoughts were being processed relatively two times as fast as before.

This was the boost that his precious mentor had warned him about. The power that laid dormant within Incursio's key.

Something was scratching at the back of his mind, but he couldn't tell what it was. It was trying to say something to do but its echo was too distorted.

Even though it hadn't been more than a full minute since he triggered this power, he could already feel himself slipping. If he didn't end this battle quickly, the changes to his body and mind would become permanent.

He opened his eyes again and took in a deep breath.

Do it.

He whispered quietly to himself, pushing forward.

Do it for Tatsumi.

The wind blew in the complete opposite direction as Bulat launched himself forward, sending out a devastating shockwave behind him in an instant.

Ice materialized in his place, but with his velocity he simply rocketed through it and created a large crater in his wake. More ice followed to slow him down, with spears raining down and piercing the armour, but Bulat just kept moving. He was a nigh unstoppable force now, a wrecking ball that showed no signs of slowing down.

Bulat was amazed by how fast he was moving. He hadn't been expecting this kind of boost. It was difficult to adjust, and for a moment Bulat didn't know if he could even control all the power he had been given.

Esdeath held out her two swords in front of her, and blocked a seismic punch from Bulat's reinforced fist. The ground beneath their feet vibrated from the impact, and Esdeath was impressed by how much force she had needed to block against.

Bulat's glowing eyes could be seen through his helmet. "I'm going...to crush you…!"

"Please," Esdeath giggled in amusement. "I barely even tried to block. You're going to have to hit a little harder than that."

As Esdeath held her blocking position, Bulat raised his other arm high above his head. A sparking, electrifying energy surged rapidly within it, making it feel like all the muscles inside the arm had been set on fire. He held it up, charging the punch for as long as he could possibly hold it, then unleashed it all at once.

His fist collided with Esdeath's swords.

Wind picked up around the two immediately, creating a miniature tornado around them as several shockwaves had been made from the collision. If anyone had tried to get close between the two, the wind would've lifted them and torn them apart in seconds.

Once again, Esdeath had managed to block the punch, but this time her expression had changed.

Bulat couldn't tell how much Esdeath had struggled with that one, but she definitely changed her look once she had felt the force of it.

"Not bad." she nodded.

He quickly went for an uppercut to catch her off guard.

The General leaned back and dodged, then blocked two immensely powerful kicks from her opponent. Every time she had to block, however, she smiled more than before.

And each time Bulat unleashed an attack, it significantly more impactful from the previous one. He could feel his body performing like an engine, building and charging up energy repeatedly, shaking with inner power. It was reaching the point where his punches were moving too fast for himself to see and his kicks too quick to follow, he was reaching a boost he had never prepared himself for.

A barrage of punches followed Esdeath's down the battlefield, with blocks of her ice blocking them each time and breaking down from the collision. Esdeath continued to take small steps backwards and let her ice fight with Bulat instead, taking on his dangerous punches one-by-one.

"I'm surprised, Bulat. You're actually breaking down my ice."

"Graaaah!" Bulat roared out like a vicious animal as he smashed down Esdeath's last block of ice.

"From a simple islander...to a man battling against a General of the Empire." Esdeath put her hands on her hips and gave a smug look. "You've come far. It's almost a shame that it'll end here."

"...you know about me?"

"I've done my research."

"Why?"

"Because you interested me. In our first battle, you used moves that I recognized very clearly. The same moves we teach our troops here in the Capital." the General smirked. "I wanted to know more."

Bulat could feel his body get stronger and stronger, but he remained calm. "My past...means nothing."

"Please, I know how loyal to the Empire you used to be. There was a time when you would give your life for us."

"Not anymore." Bulat shook his head.

His glowing blue eyes stared deeply into hers, and he realized he wanted to ask a question.

Just one.

"What about you, Esdeath? You fight so valiantly for the Empire. Are you loyal to them?"

Esdeath paused for a moment, and blinked.

Her expression was unreadable for a moment, but her usual smile soon found its way back onto her face.

"I'm loyal to myself. No one and nothing else."

Bulat's cracked his knuckles, dug his feet deep into the ground below him, and sent all the energy pumping through him into his legs.

"That's all I wanted to know."

He dashed forward, letting his armour empower him to its highest extent, to unleash hell upon Esdeath.

Dust picked up and cluttered the air.

Tatsumi heard sounds in the distance, faint explosions going off again and again. He closed his eyes and clenched his hands in frustration.

With all of his heart and soul, he had hoped no one would've come to his aid. He wasn't under the danger of execution, even if they didn't know that. He was going to be fine, all they had to do was stay away and forget about him.

He was kneeling behind a pillar within the colosseum, and couldn't see the fight that was going on. He wasn't allowed to show himself. It was torture, not being able to know what was happening, were his friend alright? Who came to save him, out of the people of Night Raid? All of them? Just one of them?

A small smile appeared on his face, despite feeling guilty about it almost immediately.

He was upset about the current situation, sure, but this also meant that the people of Night Raid cared about him. He still hadn't been with them for too long, so he didn't know if they actually wanted him around or not. If they were willing to come all the way to the Capital and take General Esdeath head-on, it meant he was of value to them. As pathetic as it was, it was heart-warming to Tatsumi.

Tatsumi gritted his teeth and felt something bubble up inside him.

He had to help them. He couldn't let Night Raid take this burden on their own.

With his hands tied tightly behind his back, he turned and looked at the guard watching over him.

This was the most infamous executioner in all of the Empire, according to Esdeath. He was absolutely gigantic, towering over Tatsumi with his large build, and his face was completely hidden by a black mask. It depicted a demon sticking its tongue out, which was definitely not pleasant to look at.

If this man was a more feared executioner than Zank, Tatsumi shuddered to think of what the man was capable of.

Tatsumi weighed his options. He no longer had the Adayusu with him, Esdeath had shattered that Imperial Arm into a thousand pieces, and wasn't sure if he could take this man head-on.

He wasn't intimidated by the executioner, but Esdeath had left this man in charge of guarding him, which meant that Esdeath trusted his abilities.

"H-Hey..." Tatsumi whispered, a nervous smile on my face. "Can...can you let me go…?"

The executioner had Tatsumi's rope held in his right hand. It didn't look like it was the kind of grip you could just pry open.

The masked man didn't look his way. He didn't even make a sound. It was impossible to tell if he was even alive, the man was as motionless as an actual statue. Tatsumi had never seen someone look like this before, and he wondered what exactly was wrong with this man.

"What's your name?" he asked thoughtlessly.

He realized what kind of mistake he had made, and almost wanted to punch himself in the face. Esdeath had told him they had cut this man's tongue out. He couldn't answer that question, even if he wanted to.

Tatsumi remembered what Esdeath had called him from before, and wondered if that was actually the name he went by. The General had named him her 'little Gremlin'.

"G-Gremlin…?" he said anxiously, half-expecting the executioner to pummel him for calling him that.

But it worked. The man immediately looked down and turned his attention to Tatsumi. His face couldn't be seen, but he wasn't hostile either. He simply stared at Tatsumi from behind his mask, and made a small, friendly grunt.

"Is your name...Gremlin…?"

It obviously wasn't his real name, but he probably long since forgotten it while working at the Empire. Esdeath must've kept calling it over and over that it eventually became his new identity.

Gremlin gave a quick nod, and another grunt.

Tatsumi tilted his head and almost laughed. A man of this size, with muscles popping out of his skin, with a name like that…

There was something really wrong about it.

And now, after watching Gremlin simply grunt to respond, he felt so terribly upset. He didn't know much about the man, perhaps he had done awful things in the past to deserve it, but it wasn't a nice sight to behold. Tatsumi felt sorry for Gremlin. Pity.

"Gremlin, can you please untie my ropes?"

He stared at Tatsumi again. His silence lasted for quite a long time.

But, eventually, Gremlin shook his head and gave a deeper grunt. He held tightly on Tatsumi's rope and clenched his fist as hard as he could.

"Please, I'm begging you." Tatsumi spoke timidly. What he was doing was pathetic, but there was nothing else he could do.

Gremlin took a step back and hummed in a deep tone. Tatsumi couldn't tell what he was trying to say, but it definitely wasn't a yes. The executioner seemed to want to communicate with Tatsumi but also seemed unwilling to comply.

"Are you a good guy, Gremlin?"

The masked man paused his hum, then nodded his head.

"You're a good person, right? You don't want to hurt anyone. Esdeath forced you to become a bad guy?"

Like a charm, Gremlin immediately nodded his head again, bobbing it up and down. It was a tremendous yes.

"And she cut your tongue out when you became an executioner?"

Gremlin gave a slower nod.

"Was it because you knew something they didn't want you saying?"

Gremlin shook his head. No.

"Was it because you weren't being obedient to Esdeath?"

Gremlin nodded his head quickly. Yes.

"You poor guy. I feel for you." Tatsumi said, and he really meant what he was saying.

They were still complete strangers to each other, yet Tatsumi felt as though he knew this man very well. He could clearly imagine what kind of pain he had to go through, and what the Empire had done to him to make him obey.

"You know these people are cruel. You know what they do is wrong." he protested, giving Gremlin a soft and pleading expression. "You can stand up against them. Let me go, please."

Gremlin made a sound behind his mask, a grunt that almost seemed pained. He lowered his head and stared at the rope, his grip on it slightly looser than before. Tatsumi watched hopefully for the man to set him free, but the executioner was still holding on. He was refusing.

Tatsumi heard another explosion in the background. It was deafening, and gradually getting closer.

"Why, Gremlin? Why won't you help me…?"

The man made another pained moan. He wanted to say something, but couldn't manage it.

Instead, Gremlin knelt down close to the earth, just like Tatsumi was. The giant man stuck out his large index finger, and pointed it directly at Tatsumi. The boy looked back, confusion written all over his face.

"What…?"

Gremlin then pointed towards, signalling Tatsumi's to look at the dirt beneath them. Tatsumi frowned, he had no idea why the man wanted him to do this, but he listened anyway. He glanced down at the brown dirt hidden underneath a thick layer of grass, staring at the soil just like the speechless man was commanding him to.

For a few moments, he just gazed at the plain dirt, and nothing happened. He wondered if he had understood Gremlin wrong.

But, without any warning, the dirt he was looking at began to shift. Blinking a couple of times, Tatsumi thought his tired eyes were just seeing things, but he soon realized that the soil was actually moving all by itself, as though it had a complete mind of its own.

It formed small carvings in sharp, straight lines to look like letters. This was happening all by Gremlin's will, and as Tatsumi looked closer, he could see what the letters were spelling out.

I can't. I'm sorry.

Tatsumi immediately looked back up at Gremlin, his jaw shot wide open.

"How are you doing that?"

Gremlin pointed at the dirt again. Tatsumi watched it carefully.

It's my mask.

The black mask that had been covering the man's face all this time, with the ancient depiction of a demon with its tongue out, was the one doing this? Tatsumi had been amazed like never before.

"Is that mask...an Imperial Arm?"

The dirt shifted again.

Yes.

"Wow." Tatsumi looked incredibly impressed, then upset as he regained focus. "Why can't you let me go? I'm innocent, and you're a good person, right?"

Gremlin grunted sadly as the soil moved once more.

I can't.

"Why?!"

Tatsumi looked down at the ground one more time, and something sore built up in his throat as he saw the letters that had been drawn for him.

Esdeath will hurt me.

The realization hit Tatsumi hard.

Gremlin wasn't refusing to set him free because he was obedient and loyal to General Esdeath. He was refusing because he was terrified of her. Just imagining what someone as sadistic as her did to this man in order to make him so afraid of her...it turned Tatsumi's stomach and made him sick.

"You don't have to be a slave to her." he spoke confidently, looking at Gremlin dead in the eyes. "You can stand up against her."

The large man leaned back and seemed hesitant, shaking his head in fear.

But Tatsumi took a step forward and held eye contact. He said something to Gremlin that shook him to the core, and changed his world.

"You don't have to be afraid anymore."

Gremlin couldn't say anything, and simply gasped instead. His body went rigid.

"So..."

Tatsumi gave a reassuring smile and held out his tied up hands, looking up at Gremlin with soft eyes.

"...will you help me?"

Every muscle in his body felt like it was falling apart.

The sky was full of ice shards. Large areas of the ground had been completely destroyed, leaving behind small craters in the earth.

An explosion followed that almost blinding Bulat as his fist collided with Esdeath's rapier. Just the force of that collision alone ignited the atmosphere, and set off what felt like was several shockwaves in every direction, breaking down and smothering the colosseum's walls as though they were made of paper. The battlefield was gradually being reduced to nothing.

"Good, Bulat." Esdeath giggled happily as her ice exploded right in front of her face. "This is much better."

Bulat couldn't think. He could only move. He could only move by pure instinct, letting his body do whatever it needed to do, as long as he could keep up with Esdeath.

A spear made of her ice pierced through his right arm, but he barely even felt it. He simply pulled the spear out, watched himself bleed for a moment, then got back to fighting.

He didn't feel like himself. He didn't feel like the man he once was. Little by little, the fighting techniques he had trained himself to learn and honed over the many years of his life...it all started to fade away. Instead, mindless punches and kicks became his only move-set. He gradually began to fight more ferociously, than thoughtfully.

He shattered two pillars of ice that were hurdling in his direction, then caught one of Esdeath's spears in mid-air and crushed it in the palm of his hand. His entire body felt like it was on fire.

His thoughts of doubt and anxiety slowly melted away, and he felt so relaxed without them. It was like a breath of fresh air, having no worries in his mind anymore. He didn't need to overthink everything around him as much as before. That was so exhausting to him.

Acting on instinct, it was how everyone should live.

He got right up into Esdeath's face, then watched as her rapier slashed down and created a huge gash on his left cheek.

He didn't feel it.

With an elbow to his jaw, he fell back and got kicked by Esdeath into the ground. He could hear something break in his body, one of his bones, but he couldn't feel that either. It seemed all sense of pain had been shut down throughout his system.

Still being pressed down by Esdeath's foot, he looked up and saw a gleeful look in her eyes. The General was definitely amused by their long, ruthless battle for each other's lives.

"Esdeath..." Bulat moaned, his body almost bursting with adrenaline. "Esdeath...Esdeath..."

"Hm?"

The General was flung back as Bulat suddenly leapt up, forcing himself back onto his feet.

With a laugh, Esdeath backed off and watched her opponent rise back up with confidence.

"Come on then, Bulat." she held her hands out in an inviting fashion. "Destroy me. Break down every fibre of my body. Do it if you can."

An animal-like snarl came out of Bulat's mouth.

He was planning on doing that even if she hadn't had asked. The only thing he cared about right now was tearing up this woman and leaving no remains behind.

"Bulat!" a familiar voice shouted out in the distance.

He quickly turned his head, eyes wide open. He saw a girl standing back, her expression unreadable. Akame.

"Tatsumi...I couldn't find him anywhere in the colosseum." she reported to him, her Murasame still held carefully by her side.

Right.

Bulat had only just remembered.

Akame was in charge of finding Tatsumi while he kept the General busy. Everything about that plan had completely been wiped from his mind, and even with a reminder now, he still couldn't fully remember the details about that.

For a moment, he frowned and looked back at the assassin. Her black hair, her glowing red eyes, her silver katana. It was everything that made her who she was.

But he couldn't recognize it anymore. As he looked at the girl in the distance, she gradually became less and less familiar to him, to the point where he started to wonder if he actually knew her. His mind was clouded, it was the exact opposite, it was so clear and washed that there wasn't much in there any longer. As hard as he tried, he couldn't recall any important memories about this 'Akame'.

It was strange to him. Something told him something was definitely wrong about that, but there wasn't anything he could do to fix it.

And the person she was talking about...

Tatsumi.

He kept repeating that name in his mind over and over, trying to get the memories flowing, but everything was vague. His memories of this boy were there, somewhere in the back of his brain, but he couldn't grasp them.

Who was Tatsumi?

He felt horrible for not remembering. He felt guilty.

A face popped into his mind, with long brown hair and green eyes, but it was too foggy to see the details. Something painful twisted in his stomach when he realized he couldn't recall anything more than that, and that his image of that boy was already too blurred.

He took in a deep breath, then shook his head.

No, it was fine.

He didn't need to think so much.

His only objective was killing Esdeath. It was all he wanted to do, the only mission that still remained present in his mind. Even if he had to break down his body and mind even further, he would ensure that she would die here.

Kill Esdeath.

Just kill Esdeath.

He kicked just one of his feet off the ground, and shot forward faster than the human eye could see. He was a complete blur as he held his right fist up and threw it at Esdeath.

Esdeath pulled her head back and dodged, then dodged again repeatedly as Bulat closed the gap between them. The two immediately jumped into close combat, and fists flew at a rapid pace. As each punch from Bulat came flying towards Esdeath's face, she would counter it with her arms, blocking each of them as they smashed into her.

The second Bulat saw his punches being blocked, however, he raised his right foot and went for her legs, his attempt at quickly slipping her off balance.

Even at the speed that Bulat was moving, the General laughed and simply took a step back, dodging the sweep entirely. She gave one simple jab to his chest as a follow-up, and watched with excitement as her opponent spat out blood almost immediately.

She was obviously loving this. More than anything, she savoured the sensation of toying with her foes and seeing them struggle. Especially when they were actually putting up a good fight, like Bulat.

"That's the way..." she sighed in relief as the flow of entertainment wouldn't stop. "This is exactly the kind of fun I relish in!"

Bulat's head twitched.

Fun?

Fun?

Bulat wanted nothing more to see Esdeath's proud, smug face contort into misery and agony. To watch her enjoy this battle to the death was torture to Bulat, and infuriated him beyond measure. This was not a game, and he demanded to be taken seriously.

"Just..." he muttered, his voice suddenly becoming incredibly deep.

His scream actually hurt Esdeath's ears, but made her grin as much as she had ever done before.

"DIIIIIEEEE!"

Like a mindless beast, he dropped down to all-fours and pounced, galloping straight at Esdeath with nothing held back. His arms and legs sizzled with strength as he charged forward, sending out every last ounce of power that his Imperial Arm had given him, ready to completely demolish everything and anything that stand in his way.

Esdeath didn't bother stepping aside either, instead choosing to take her charging opponent head-on. Just the thought of what their impact would do excited her immensely, and she simply stood there in anticipation, waiting for the explosion that would follow quickly after.

But she was interrupted.

"Gremlin, now!" the voice of a young boy cried out.

A masked, muscular man ran forward and dove down, digging his fingers into the ground. His hands touched the dirt, and in just a moment, the entire area around him started to shake.

Esdeath gasped as the grass she was standing on grew in size, then latched onto her ankles. Every last strand of the grass had suddenly unleashed itself onto her, pinning her down into one position and keeping her there. She raised her right rapier to cut down the mystical grass and be rid of it, but only more followed to tie up her hands as well.

She was being held in place incredibly forcefully, with enhanced grass squeezing her arms and legs as hard as it could. Something like that would've been incredibly painful, but the General simply looked annoyed.

"What the hell is-?"

But she wasn't given time to finish her sentence.

The very earth beneath her suddenly rose up, with piles and piles of dirt gathering up from both her left and right. She simply observed with a frown as the structure of the ground beneath her was changing, shifting and moving at a dangerously fast pace.

In just a few seconds, the earth to her sides had risen so high, she was sandwiched between two massive, towering walls of dirt. It was a spectacle like no other. Nothing of such strange proportions had never been seen by the human eye before, it was like the very fibre of the planet was working together in synchronization.

From a very long distance, a brown-haired boy cheered with a determined smile on his face.

"Yeah!"

And from the other side of the colosseum, Akame noticed the boy almost instantly. "Tatsumi…?"

He didn't hear her, he was too focused on his plan.

Esdeath was being crushed as two plates of the earth surrounded her, and she was immobilized. She groaned in frustration, hating all the amount of dirt that was falling on top of her. Once she had tugged hard enough to rip off the long grass what was holding her down, she raised her left hand and prepared to summon some ice to get her out of her dirt cage.

But she forgot about someone.

Her eyes widened as she saw Bulat coming straight towards her, moving so fast that the air around him was converging into one area, making him look like an actual bullet.

Her smile finally dropped as she realized what was about to happen.

The only thing that could happen when someone moving that fast collided with a singular object.

Esdeath hadn't prepared herself for the devastating impact that was going to follow. Gremlin's interference had hindered her concentration.

She remained in the two plates of earth, and could only watch as a burning bullet zoomed directly at her.

"Oh my."

That was all she had time to say.

Before the entire colosseum erupted into a blanket of flames and shockwaves.

Tatsumi had planned for this to happen, and had braced himself for the explosion, but he was still instantly swept off his feet. He fell to the ground and watched as fire zipped over his head, just barely missing him. There was a storm of dust brewing in the air, and he had to close his eyes as hard as he could in order to keep all of it out. He tried to get up on one knee, but another shockwave came in his general direction and he fell down again.

He had never expected this much force, it was terrifying what kind of source could produce an implosion as destructive as this. Not once had he ever imagined anyone being able to cause all of this all by themselves.

When everything had finally subsided, Tatsumi still hesitated to stand up for a couple of seconds. He was so sure that a detonation like that would go on forever, but it had eventually died out like it should've.

He raised his head, saw Gremlin already on his feet, and sighed in relief.

Looking at where Esdeath once stood, he saw nothing but rubble now. The ground around that area had become completely blackened by the explosion as well. He didn't see the General at all, and wondered if she had actually been part of the explosion, causing every last trace of herself to turn to dust.

Would something like that actually happen to Esdeath? It didn't seem like anyone would survive what Bulat had unleashed.

But once Tatsumi surveyed the area properly, he found the actual answer.

A gargantuan crater had been created in one side of the colosseum's walls, it looked like a wrecking ball had just smashed through it.

But it was human-sized. It wasn't a wrecking ball that had been flung into that wall.

It had been Esdeath.

Tatsumi stared out, completely frozen in shock. The explosion had sent the strongest in all of the Empire flying directly into a stone wall. Something like that would shatter every single bone in a person's body, there was no way the General had survived something like that.

Rubble was covering most of the crater, however, so he couldn't see her. He wasn't sure if he wanted to. She had been most likely reduced to nothing but a tiny puddle.

He heard frantic footsteps. He looked to his right to see a very familiar face.

"Akame..." he smiled.

The girl didn't smile, but he could tell she was relieved. "Tatsumi, you're alright."

"Yeah." he nodded. "All thanks to Gremlin over here."

"Now we need to run."

"Run? What are you talking about? We won!"

"No," Akame quickly shook her head, the sound of urgency clear in her tone. "This will only slow her down for minute, maybe even less. We have to go."

Tatsumi couldn't believe what he was hearing. "S-Seriously?"

"Yes. Let's check on Bulat, then run as fast as we-"

The assassin was cut off short.

Gremlin, Tatsumi, and Akame turned around at the same time as they heard someone approaching. For a second, Tatsumi's heart froze as he thought Esdeath was already back up and ready to kill.

But it wasn't Esdeath walking towards them.

It was a creature, white skin. It had scales covering its entire body, giving it a sleek, reptilian look. A tail stuck out from its backside, two horns dangled unnaturally from its head, and its jaw was wide out with its teeth bared.

Each tooth alone was around half the size of Tatsumi's side.

The young boy felt his body go cold, then numb.

It was a dragon.

It was only slightly taller than them, but it felt like it looked down on them like insects. Tatsumi had seen or heard of plenty of different, odd beasts that roamed the land, but none of them looked as horrifying as this one.

Tatsumi took a step back and gulped. "A...Danger Beast…?"

"No." Akame answered, standing motionlessly as the small dragon approached them ominously.

Its glowing blue eyes glowed in the night, and it gave a deep snarl as it bared its claws out with murderous intent.

"Akame…?" he whispered as quietly as he could, his body shivering from head-to-toe.

"You don't recognize him anymore, do you?" the girl responded, her voice full of sorrow.

"No...you don't mean-?"

The dragon took one more step closer.

Akame lowered her head, gave an apologetic bow to the creature, then slowly went for her sword. As she clasped Murasame's handle and pulled it out of its sheathe, her hand trembled.

"Hello, Bulat." she muttered to the dragon.

Something cold pierced Tatsumi's heart, something that immediately caused him to start crying. Tears flowed down his cheeks with no end in sight.

Tatsumi could only watch in pure horror after that.

As Bulat leapt forward to reduce them to nothing but chunks of rotten flesh.