Darkar Chronicles: Empire's end

by godisme

Tatsumi and his friends left their village in search of fame and fortune, along their way they were separated, in a world with few good people they were fortunate to be taken in by one family that was exactly what they seemed but also something more: Welcome to a more sane world then canon and where love stands stronger over evil. Main Pairing:Tatsumi x Mass Harem, Good Aria, Seryu

34. Chapter 29

Chapter 29: The Blind and the Beauty's vengeance

Dedicated to Lemony Cheney 2009-2019 Rest in peace Elder Birdsmen.

Tatsumi looked at things from the comfort of his bed; it had been a week since his bought with Honest and he had gotten time to think about the whole fight and the threat Honest posed to him. "He was way stronger then I gave him credit for, in fact he was holding back and I was going full bore that means one thing I've got to push myself harder, I need to train in every sort of fighting technique, strategy, weapon, and trick that I can learn; I'm going to have to put myself thru the mill and push myself to the limit and pass the limit" Tatsumi thought to himself. He still felt pain in his shoulder, the regeneration had healed the wound along with a number of others in spite of this healing however he had a scar where Honest's blade had pierced him which despite the regeneration didn't heal, he attributed that to the fact that Honest had stabbed him with a Teigu blade which no doubt left serious wounds.

The door to his room opened and in came Sheele, she was dressed in her normal attire and had with her a plate of Angela's cookies and a glass of orange juice, in addition to his breakfast of Eggs, toast, bacon, sausages and hash browns. "Good morning Tatsumi-kun; I brought you breakfast, how are you feeling today" Sheele greeted.

"Like I've failed at being my best; I'm still shocked by how skilled a fighter Honest is and how he nearly mopped the floor with me; I've got to do better" Tatsumi replied as Sheele put his food on his tray.

"I know how your feeling, remember I fought him too, and I can agree he is by far the strongest enemy I've ever faced. If I had more focus, I think I could have taken him down; but in my haste to save you I didn't aim for his head; big mistake on my part. Anyway, I hope you love your breakfast; do you want me to stay here with you?" Sheele asked.

"Yes Sheele, I could use the company; I need to talk to somebody about how I'm feeling; you may want to shut the door though because I want to talk to something that relates to your secret identity" Tatsumi replied.

"Of course," Sheele replied and went to close the door which she did then pulled up a chair and sat next his bed. "So, what do you want to talk about?" Sheele asked.

"I've got a personal request Sheele, could you train me?" Tatsumi asked.

"Well I've taught you all Night Raid has on offer for you to learn and you're one of the best if the best members of our team" Sheele replied.

"I'm not talking about that kind of training, I want you to train me in the ways of the Sorrowful Ones" Tatsumi replied, to Sheele's surprise.

"Tatsumi what you are asking is well rather personal for me to give you: and it isn't something to be done lightly. You see for me to teach you fully you'd need years of training, unless you are an extremely good study; I trained from a very young age Tatsumi it isn't something that can be done over a matter of days it takes weeks Tatsumi, and well I'm concerned; you see Tatsumi the training is very dangerous if you fail the punishment for failure is death that is how dangerous it is" Sheele explained.

"Please Sheele, do it for me and not just me for everyone forced to live under Honest's rule, I need everything and anything I can learn to hold my own" Tatsumi replied.

"Alright then Tatsumi it's dangerous but if you insist I will teach you, just like my adoptive father taught me; you're in for an arduous training regimen that if you fail it will kill you, I can try my best to refine what takes years of training into a few weeks, we'll start training after you recover from your injuries and after I can set up a training center for you; this is secret however, the techniques of my order aren't usually taught to outsiders so upon the start of your training you will be required to join the guild by me: the Guildmaster." Sheele agreed.

"How long will it take for you to set up a center?" Tatsumi asked.

"About a week, I can use Angela's however there are a number of things I'll require for the training that I'll have to purchase; also you'll have to fast for two days at the start of your training it will strengthen you and condition you to survive in captivity or in the wild" Sheele explained.

"Thanks for agreeing; Any other things I could learn?" Tatsumi asked.

"Tatsumi there is no limit to the things you can learn" Sheele replied.

"I know that but are there other techniques and methods I could learn as well as weapons and tricks" Tatsumi asked.

"Well there is the option of learning the methods and fighting techniques of the Elite Seven, there are five members in Night Raid you can learn from, you could also learn the Oarburgh techniques and Grundel techniques too; then there is the Imperial Fist which you are learning from Spear, and special forces techniques and whatever Esdeath uses to be as kickass as she is" Sheele answered.

"I'm going to learn them all, I have to in order to be strong enough to defeat Honest and anything he has to throw at me" Tatsumi replied.

"I'm glad you are willing to do whatever it takes to make the world better, now I've got something else to tell you Tatsumi" Sheele replied and looked at him with happiness in her eyes. "I'm pregnant" Sheele explained, Tatsumi smiled.

"I'm glad to hear that; I'm so glad you are going to be a mother and me a father to our wonderful child, I just hope we can beat Honest before you give birth" Tatsumi replied, then Sheele did something unexpected and pulled a box from her purse. "What is it?" Tatsumi asked.

Sheele opened the box and inside it was ring made of silver and studded with opals. "Tatsumi it's a wedding ring: I want to marry you" Sheele explained.

"I'll gladly do so; one question though where did you get the money for that?" Tatsumi asked.

"From Mine; those jars sure have filled up, as much as she tries to keep herself from swearing she can't help it and when she says just one swear word it's usually followed up by the number 1 bad word with an I-n-g jar, then she says it again when I tell her about the five silver she owes and then goes off ranting a series of profanities so imaginative that I wonder how much she owes me afterwards" Sheele explained.

"Speaking of Mine, has she been you know about getting ready for such a proposal?" Tatsumi asked.

"If she has been, she'll blindside you with it" Sheele replied, then handed him the ring.

"I'll try and get you something just as good if not better for your wedding ring" Tatsumi promised.

"Tatsumi you're so sweet, personally I don't care how expensive the ring is merely that is comes from your heart" Sheele explained and kissed him on the cheek, causing Tatsumi to blush cherry red.

"I'm feeling a lot better now Sheele, I think I'll be ready to get back out in world tomorrow" Tatsumi explained.

"I'm glad to hear it; by the way Esdeath is coming over to see you later, she wants the whole encounter you've had in your words; Seryu and I have told her about the matter but she wants to know what happened to you first hand" Sheele replied.

"Great that means I've got a lot of explaining to do" Tatsumi remarked.

"Yep; anything also you need me to do?" Sheele asked.

"Sleep with me, tonight" Tatsumi requested.

"Granted; I'll be there and don't worry no missions are out that require my attention so you and I will have a lot of time to spend together; tomorrow we will begin your training and also we will survey the countryside and look for some side jobs we can do to get you back in shape and to test out what I've taught you" Sheele granted.

Meanwhile… Leone had done some thinking since her father's true identity was revealed to her and she was not going to steal from ordinary people anymore, but that would require training to avoid letting her kleptomania take hold; so in order to do that she decided to go with one of her favorite scams; conning new arrivals to the city out of their money, and keep an eye out for any interesting people and help them instead of rob them.

So Leone took her usual spot to watch for newcomers, the same one she had stood in when she first met Tatsumi, and waited and looked at the new arrivals to the city; there were a variety of people coming in thru the east gate and so far none peaked her interest a good number of them were refugees fleeing the Revolutionary Army in the east; while the Revolutionary army tried to keep its troops from committing any crimes there were some factions that didn't agree with this line of thinking and were opportunists just looking for an opportunity to rob, rape and kill for their own sick enjoyment; there were even some men and women who would rape captives taken by them in battle; even if these were the people they were supposed to liberate.

"More and more people come here to Melitine expecting to get some relief and safety from the war in the east; yet these poor dregs, they have no knowledge of how bad this city is to live in: and as the war draws on it will get worse. I personally am outraged that these people are having to run from people that are supposed to be fighting for them, it's like both sides are wrong, at least the Revolutionary Army tries to help the people, but at the same time they allow some of the worst parts of society not aligned with the Empire to fight alongside them and don't intervene when they go rampant" Leone thought. "I mean this war it's caused so much pain for the people, I wish it could stop; but it won't end until the reason we are fighting ceases to be in existence; that being the corruption that plagues the Empire as a whole" Leone continued thinking. "But really though what am I fighting for? I sure as hell am not even considering my father's offer not even remotely, did I just use the word father UGH! I hate knowing the fact that I am a child of that monster, the source of all the problems in this Empire; that demon in human skin; really is he even human anymore; somehow he managed to get himself a new arm to replace the one I ripped out of his socket; and he's dabbling in dark magic! Stop yourself Leone if you think about him, he's going to have you questioning yourself which isn't good." Leone continued thinking. "But really there is some sadistic shit going on with both sides; there are some dangerous characters, but there are those who'd want the Emperor dead? Why? He's just a kid, a 12 year old who acts like he's nine, he's not a threat to anybody and he has nothing to do with what is going in the Empire as a whole, that is completely Honest's doing along with all his cronies and supporters as well as the scumbags who think they can do anything they want and get away with it which for the most part they can because the system is damn corrupt" Leone thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw somebody that stood out from the mass of refugees, and by that really stood out. That somebody was a man, he had dark-tan skin and wore an orange and blue turban with golden thread woven in, his hair was black and he had an impressive black beard. His clothes were fine orange and blue silk robes worn and sown with golden thread and gems, at his side were two curved daggers of the jambiya style as well as two scimitars, his shoes were padded and he had a monkey on his shoulder. The monkey was dressed in similar garb and the man also had an Elephant leaden with goods and garbed in decorative armor; the man also was alone apart from the animals and however he was clearly wealthy and had a rather large bag slung on his back and a rather fine velvet purse.

"Well, well, I said I wouldn't rob ordinary people but I didn't say nothing about the rich" Leone schemed mentally, and suppressed a smirk as the man walked in her direction.

"Excuse me miss I've never been to this city and I'm looking for someone" the man explained.

"Aren't we all, and it is Mrs. as I am married; but you are forgiven, my husband is well how shall I put this badly injured in a recent attempt on his life and mine" Leone explained. "Anyway, but where are my manners my name is Leone and yours is?" Leone asked.

"Ibbin Al-Hashim, I've come to the Capital in search of my adopted daughter; she came here a few years back and I haven't heard from her since so I came to check up on her" Ibbin explained.

"Right and I'm the Empress, you aren't here to trade at all?" Leone asked.

"No that is indeed my reason for being here; Mrs. Leone have you seen her if not I will be on my way as I don't have time to deal with the sarcastic" Ibbin explained.

"Ok my apologies, so who is she and what does she look like?" Leone asked, figuring it may be worth a shot as she might know the person in question.

"My daughter, well my adopted daughter, I adopted her from an orphanage when she was six years old, she was rather eager to leave the place and I having lost my wife during child birth along with my child was eager to have a child to care for. Anyway, her name is Sheele, she would be about your age, she is quite beautiful and smart, she has purple hair and eyes like the people from the west and she wears glasses because she is near-sighted and she can be a bit-airheaded at times" Ibbin explained.

"I know her; she's a friend of mine, now look this city is full of people that aren't trustworthy; I've spent my life knowing that and having to survive here since my birth, I have friends but I am very protective of them so I'm not sure if I can trust you" Leone replied honestly, because his description was spot on.

"And I can't exactly be reliant on someone who has been eyeing my coin purse during this conversation, however I can see in your eyes you are being honest; also I can advise you that it would be rather foolish to attempt to rob me, I may look flamboyant and I am rather wealthy however I am not defenseless, not remotely, however I can make it worth your while if you can lead me to my daughter" Ibbin explained.

"Alright I'll bite, just warning you though I'm not incapable of defending myself and I'll also add that if you try anything to harm me or my friends, you'll regret it and you won't last a Night in this delightful city" Leone agreed.

"I won't betray your trust Mrs. Leone; I will pay you once we've found my daughter" Ibbin agreed and the monkey ooked. "Don't worry Omar I haven't forgotten about you and I'm sure Sheele hasn't either" Ibbin commented and the monkey smiled.

At Grundewick Manor… Tatsumi did one of the few things he could do when he was bed-ridden and recovering from injuries and that was reading books; in this case ones on tactics for duel wielding; in fact he had plans to also ask Cassandra to mentor him in the subject as she favored the multi-blade fighting style to make use of her extra limbs. He was studying a section on bladespiners of Tokaro when Seryu walked in with Koro at her side she wore a bathrobe and carried a gift basket.

"Hey Tatsumi-kun; I've come her to cheer you up and give you something to enjoy" Seryu replied and put down the basket by his nightstand, next to the other 20 or so gift baskets with get well soon cards brought to him by his lovers and his friends.

"Give me something to enjoy? Seryu I'm up to my knees in baskets, also I've nearly recovered from my injuries" Tatsumi explained. To this Seryu winked and untied her robe and dropped revealing the fact she wore very revealing, seductive and scandalous dark green underwear, clearly made of velvet and silk along with silk stockings held up by a garter belt.

"Just a little bit of fun you know you want it" Seryu seduced, revealing her left breast and nipple that was begging for his lips.

"Yes I do, It's been what, 4 days since I last had any sex and well I deserve it" Tatsumi agreed, Seryu removed her bra completely as well as her panties putting them and her robe to the side out of the walkway and by the closet, she then walked over and climbed under Tatsumi's blankets and removed his pajama bottoms and his underwear to find him fully aroused and ready.

"Man, I missed this" Seryu commented as she got into the bed and begin her work. Tatsumi moved the blankets forward and put his book to the side so he could see Seryu who wrapped her breasts around his length and began blowing him, he loved her cute look and the expression of her eyes. Tatsumi gave her a head pat and caressed her hair as she blowed him and massaged him.

"I love that soft hair of hers; man it's always so silky and it smells like watermelons which isn't a surprise given how much she loves them and the absurd amount of watermelon shampoo; her hair I consider it more valuable than actual copper" Tatsumi thought as he continued to caress her hair, while Seryu continued to blow him as she rubbed her breasts along the length before taking it deeper. "Man Seryu you give the best blowjobs in the world and that's even factoring in Esdeath and Cosmina" Tatsumi thought, even though Esdeath gave the added factor of the biggest boobs and best titjob he'd ever received she wasn't as talented when it came to blowjobs, not to say she wasn't amazing, but there were people who were better at it, Cosmina had years of experience but to her it was more a case of a cat playing with a ball of yarn then a matter of love; but Seryu it was all love thru and thru. "CUMMING!" Tatsumi yelled as he unloaded inside Seryu's mouth she swallowed all of it and then licked her lips

"Delicious, just as sweet as normal now for the main show" Seryu commented then climbed on him taking him deep inside her, while she kissed him romantically. "You know you missed me" Seryu remarked in his ear.

"Not just you this in general; Seryu I wonder if this is the chief reason you married me" Tatsumi commented.

"Ha! Well as much as I love having sex with you Tatsumi that wasn't the only reason I married you, I married you because your values are the same as mine and you've taught me what Justice truly is and you accept me regardless of my faults" Seryu replied as he intensified his thrusts before slowing again. "Seriously though; I'd hate to live in a universe where we never fell in love and I died a virgin and in some horribly fucked up way" Seryu added and the both laughed.

"That I can agree with; you know what would be worse though Seryu, living in a world where people who loved me and I loved died horribly and never got to express their feelings and one where Esdeath died without me having the chance to love her only for me to survive and have to live in world without her and most if not all the people I care about" Tatsumi replied.

"You're right that would be worse, Tatsumi though the worst of all would be a world without you: because you make the biggest difference in this world of ours" Seryu agreed.

"You're right and the worst world would be one without me" Tatsumi agreed too, then they resumed love making.

Meanwhile…. Leone was taking the most round about path she could, Ibbin knew it of course and asked her to stop. "Excuse me Mrs. Leone, I can tell you aren't taking the most direct path to our destination; as I can see you still have trouble believing my story" Ibbin stated.

"Yeah, but how did you figure that out?" Leone asked, shocked that he was aware she was actively trying to take the most roundabout path.

"I may not look it but I have my share of experience in the broader world and have can tell if someone is trying to mislead me; everyone has a tell that shows if they are trying to deceive someone: as for my story I have something that will verify it completely" Ibbin explained, he then opened his bag and pulled out a photograph, the photograph showed a much younger Ibbin and an 8 year old Sheele, clad in clothing that was typical to his custom's and she was hugging him affectionately and he was holding her to him in a father's embrace.

Leone was surprised, but she couldn't question the authenticity of the photograph, that was Sheele, the eyes were the same, her hair, her features, everything screamed Sheele but also her expression showed the same one that Leone herself made when she hugged her mother. "I- I- My apologies, here I'll lead you to Grundewick Manor, the main way" Leone apologized and lead him down the proper route and they arrived at Grundewick Manor in short time.

"Halt" Guarry shouted, as he and the other guards stood at ready.

"Ease off Guarry, he's with me: look do we have the means to care for an elephant and monkey?" Leone replied.

"I- We do, sir who are you? Mrs. Leone trusts you and that is enough for me but I'd like to know your name" Guarry questioned.

"I am Ibbin Al-Hashiim, I have come here to see my daughter Sheele" Ibbin explained.

"Very well you may enter, but watch yourself, the Grundels are nice people and very caring however they aren't so forgiving if you cause problems for them or for the people of this city if you catch my meaning" Guarry explained.

"I understand, I won't do anything to offend my hosts" Ibbin explained, the gate was opened, Leone first led him to the large stables which kept the many horses the Grundels own and was large enough hold an elephant. He was then led inside to the greeting of Aria who had just walked into the entry hall.

"Hey Leone, who's this?" Aria asked surprised by the new arrival.

"I am Ibbin Al-Hashiim, I came here to visit my daughter Sheele" Ibbin explained.

"Sheele? Well she's in her room I'll take her to you if you're genuine" Aria explained, Ibbin showed her the photograph. "I see well I'll lead to her" Aria replied and then led him upstairs.

Shortly… Sheele was busy enjoying the thing that soothed her most apart from Tatsumi, a good book, when she heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Sheele asked.

"Me, Sheele there is a guest wanting to see you specifically" Aria explained, Sheele bookmarked her spot and went to open the door to find the last person she had expected to see.

"DADDY!" Sheele yelled and hugged her father in a tight hug.

"Sheele, it is good to see you again my sweet angel" Ibbin replied holding her tight, Omar the monkey joined in.

"And Omar too, I missed you too" Sheele declared. They broke the embrace and Sheele asked "What are you doing here?"

"It is best we discuss that in private Sheele, we have so much catch up on too; Ms. Grundel could you leave us to talk in private" Ibbin explained.

"Sure, and it is Mrs. Grundel, I'm married, my husband is currently indisposed at the moment due to the fact he's recovering from an injury; speaking of got to check on him" Aria explained and left the two alone.

Sheele shut the door. "So how have you been my dear daughter how have things been going? And your mission how is that progressing?" Ibbin asked.

"Well things have been busy lately, as for the contract, so far I haven't had the best opportunity to eliminate my target, I tried recently and failed however he won't be able to track me or identify me because of my allies" Sheele explained.

"Please dear explain to me, tell me it all, we have all the time we need at the moment" Ibbin replied.

"Alright then; I guess I should start at the beginning, when I arrived at the Capital I spent my first month trying to integrate myself in the city during which time I fell in love, unfortunately we weren't meant to be, the man I love sacrificed himself to save me, though I managed to avenge his death, I was severely injured by other attackers and if it hadn't been for the intervention of the lady of this house and her daughter I would have met my end on the streets due to my wounds" Sheele explained. "That girl who lead you here is Aria Grundel and she's the daughter of Lord Constantine and Lady Angela Grundel, they live here and have accommodated me since they took me in; I joined up with Night Raid, the top assassination unit of the Revolutionary Army as a means to take down my main target as well as other odd jobs; I've been member for about a year now, and well I have no regrets for joining the group they are good and solid people, and I met my friends Mine and my new BFF Seryu; but most importantly I met my husband to be" Sheele explained.

"Husband to be? Sheele who is this lucky man" Ibbin asked.

"His name is Tatsumi, he's well probably the most lucky man on the whole of Eden, he was from the countryside but now he's pretty much taken to the Capital like he was meant to be here, however I don't mean in a bad way, he is probably one of the most influential people in the city if not the whole Empire because the Emperor is well his biggest fan; he's got a tight rope to walk as he has to live a double life as a Night Raid assassin, and a major political and military leader including being the second command and husband of the Empire's finest Esdeath herself. Overall he is lucky and noble by marriage, but he's also handsome, smart, an absolute stallion in bed, as well as being level headed and optimistic, but he's also a person who sees the good in others and does the right thing regardless of whether it is practical or not; we'll be marrying soon, we haven't set a date but I proposed to him and he accepted, but that's not all daddy, I'm going to be a mother in less than a year; hopefully when all this is over and Honest is dead the Empire reformed" Sheele explained.

"My dear daughter; I'm so glad to hear that you have found love, I'm also glad that I'll be having grandchildren soon; Sheele you may not be my child by blood but you are my child in spirit and in law; I'm also glad you will be getting married soon in fact I will stay for the ceremony and hand you off to him myself" Ibbin explained.

"Thank you, father, now what brings you here to Melitine? I'm trusting its personal not guild business" Sheele replied.

"It is personal, rather for you, Sheele I've spent the last two years continuing the investigation into the slavers who took your birth parents and my search has borne fruit, both good and bad fruit, as well as brought me here" Ibbin explained.

"So, what did you find out?" Sheele asked immediately interested.

"Unfortunately I found out that your birth parents died five years ago I'm sorry; I'm even more saddened to learn that those responsible are still at large and the man who cause their deaths is still alive" Ibbin explained, Sheele took off her glasses and wept, this was sad news for her; she had always hoped in her heart they were still alive and the news that they had been killed was extremely painful for her. "I'm sorry Sheele, there wasn't anything that could be done; they died as a result of being tortured by a corrupt noble couple, they were rather sadistic slave masters, both frequently raped their slaves, the woman was the most abusive though, your mother lost the will to live after she was forced to have an abortion by the noble lord to remove his offspring, she committed suicide by flinging herself from the roof of the slave quarters after slashing her wrists" Ibbin explained.

"What happened to my father? I hate to ask but I must know, because the truth makes me stronger" Sheele asked.

"Your father suffered the worst fate; he was left to the lord's wife to do with as she pleased, and what she loved to do most was rape him and feed him the flesh of infants that were those born of her husband to his slave girls, she kept him alive for a long time and he died of Robula's disease that he contracted from the food and water he was fed; the lady lamented the loss of her favorite plaything" Ibbin explained.

"I hope those monsters are dead" Sheele remarked, angry.

"They aren't I gave them worse fate then death, I broke them body and mind; I gelded the nobleman and tore out his eyes; I blinded the woman and raped her and left her broken along with her husband; they then with no purpose to live and having understood the extent of their crimes turned themselves in. They are currently rotting in a prison made for the criminally insane and by this point they likely have died from Immuration; however, they aren't the ones who bare the most responsibility for their deaths that belongs to the slaver who sold them to that rotten couple" Ibbin explained. "That slaver I've had extreme trouble in tracking down until rather recently, I managed to get a lead that nearly resulted in his death along with those loyal to him however I only succeeded in robbing him of power and criminal empire; now the only thing he has is a band of robbers forced to prey on the weak outside this city to survive" Ibbin explained.

"Who's this monster, I'll cut his head off myself" Sheele asked getting pissed.

"Daughter calm you anger, it will lead you into making rash decisions; now the name of this slaver is Tanto, he once ran a rather extensive slaver empire, he had connections across the Empire itself and his paws in every route possible; he had his take from every military campaign, both of the defeated and of the soldiers who didn't perform well; he's been in the business for 20 years Sheele, and is responsible for the enslavement and murder of tens of thousands of innocent people: I managed to destroy his organization thru a matter of assassinations and exposing his top allies in the government; this has left a power vacuum during which he escaped and has taken his most loyal followers and become an outlaw praying on innocents throughout the Empire and most recently near the Capital itself" Ibbin explained.

"I've heard stories of a new group of brigands operating near the city and hitting outlying villages; I had no idea though that the person leading it is responsible for my parents' deaths: I'll lead a team to take him out, I'll get a group together ask for information about him, what he looks like and where his hideout is: and when I find him I'll kill him quickly and apologize as I snuff out his wretched heart" Sheele explained.

"I will go with you on that mission, mainly to keep you level-headed but also to see how this war has shaped you" Ibbin explained.

"I will try and stay level-headed, but it will take some time to put together a team, scout out the base and then plan the attack; I'll have to tell Najenda about this too" Sheele explained.

"Good then, in the meantime though we should spend time together; I'd like to meet that new husband of yours and give him congratulations" Ibbin replied.

Shortly… Tatsumi and Seryu kissed passionately as they continued their love making, Seryu pressed against him and Tatsumi pressed against her, their heat warming each other. The door opened and Seryu dismounted and rolled to the side under the covers. Sheele walked in with Ibbin while Omar the monkey perched on her shoulder. "Sheele? Good to see you what is it? And who is that?" Tatsumi asked surprised.

"I'm sorry for not knocking, Tatsumi I want you to meet someone." Sheele explained.

"I am Ibbin Al-Hashiim and I am Sheele's father" Ibbin explained.

"Ibbin, I've heard about you a lot actually Sheele talked about you a lot when we had time; anyway, I guess you heard the news about our engagement, I've not bought Sheele a ring yet because I've been bedridden as a result of a rather severe injury" Tatsumi explained.

"Indeed, she told me about it, you are a lucky man and brave man, now tell me who wounded you, I've heard about you and know your secrets so you can be honest with me" Ibbin replied.

Tatsumi thought about that then responded. "Alright the source of my wound was none other than Prime Minister Honest himself; I've never fought anyone on his level before, he's extremely strong and fast; I've- never lost that badly before if it weren't for Sheele and Leone I would've died" Tatsumi replied grimacing at his injury.

"I understand, you have indeed underestimated him that means you will need to plan to be better the next time you face him and train as hard as you can" Ibbin replied.

"I plan to, I'll learn every single fighting style, weapon, tactic, strategy and build my bodies endurance to its limits" Tatsumi replied.

"Then you will need to first focus your learning on your mind; the mind is the greatest of weapons and it can never be underestimated" Ibbin explained. "But for now, you must rest recover from your wound and then begin your training" Ibbin concluded then left along with Sheele. Twenty seconds after they left Seryu popped out from under the sheets.

"Boy Sheele really knows how to show up at the wrong time, I remember when she walked in on Mine masturbating once, I laughed my head off" Seryu commented then she and Tatsumi went back to making love.

That Evening… Esdeath walked into Tatsumi's room and was partly enraged and sad to see him in this state; enraged because Honest had not only managed to do this to him but also because Honest was stronger than she gave him credit for, while she was saddened to see her husband injured, for anything to scar his wonderful body was horrid especially because it ruined his record of victory; he was stronger than he looked but Honest was stronger still. So, she pulled out her trusty knife which she got as soon as she learned to walk and threw it at him, Tatsumi dodged. "Just testing your reflexes; making sure all this rest hasn't softened them" Esdeath explained.

"They haven't not remotely, don't do that again" Tatsumi replied and they both laughed, this was a bit of joke they'd developed during his Jaeger training as reflex testing.

"Tatsu-bunny how are you feeling?" Esdeath asked stepping over to his bed.

"Way better than I have been, I'll be back in action tomorrow I feel it" Tatsumi replied.

"That is wonderful news, here let me join you I have to update with the state of court at the moment" Esdeath explained and sat down in a chair next to him and pulled her knife out of the headboard.

"Alright, what's happened over the past week while I've been in this bed?" Tatsumi asked.

"Well pretty much business as usual, though I've noted a few odd things; first off Honest has a new arm which I have no explanation for as you told me Leone ripped it out of the socket, then there is matter I've not seen any signs of his son Satake either almost if he's just vanished, that is never a good sign if anyone goes missing in the palace and though Satake was a scumbag for him to vanish without a trace is completely unusual; especially given the fact that I've caught him sneaking around the Twins' rooms which has sickened me" Esdeath explained.

"Esdeath I'm surprised Seryu hasn't given the full report she's still trying to make sense of it and so am I; but Honest is- dabbling in black magic, he managed to generate a portal to escape along with his son from our encounter, and somehow he's managed to regrow his arm, that's either black magic or scientific knowhow beyond anyone but Dorothea and we both know she'd never give that scumbag a dose of Renewal" Tatsumi replied, Esdeath was genuinely shocked by that news and scared too which was unusual as he thought nothing scare her.

"Demonic magic, I've- seen it before, seven times and each encounter stranger and more terrifying then the last, Tatsumi you know me and to say that I'm not afraid of anything is true, mostly, there is one thing however I fear: that which is not of this world, in fact there are things that have evoke a primal fear present in all human beings as if a natural predator that is designed specifically to hunt us" Esdeath explained.

"Tell me more, if Honest is dabbling in the occult and making pacts with things not of Eden we should know everything we can" Tatsumi replied.

"My tribe has a history of oral tradition passed down from our leader to leader, the leader is a strongest member of my tribal clan and as such we retain and learn the knowledge of the past. In my tribe we passed down many great stories, those of glorious leaders, victories, foes we defeated, records of our possessions amongst other things; but the most important thing beyond our history is our legends, tales of ages long past but we remembered of great things beyond that in the world today, things both amazing and terrifying" Esdeath explained. "Among our legends are stories of great monsters: Wendigo, Shardhoppers, Cun Annun, Mokta, Yawee, the Great Rocs, and so on, but most terrifying were the stories of the Shadow People and the demons of Sheogh. Stories told us of a great civilization, the first great human Empire, ageless and powerful, it ruled a for centuries until it collapsed due to infighting and corruption leaving a great vacuum and dark age of chaos and conflict. During that age a people of the first Empire called in my tribe's language the Sur Dethal or Shadow People rose to power, at first they were noble and good people interested only in restoring peace to a world riddled by chaos, they unified some of the warring tribes and created first a kingdom from which they traded with all the known world and races of the known world; even the Dwarves and Lizardmen paid homage to them. "Esdeath explained

"However as time went on things changed, amongst the leaders they become interested in exploring the unknown during which they discovered things that no human, dwarf, or any other race was meant to discover and which should have stayed buried and things that should be forgotten; dark secrets, forbidden knowledge, things both bizarre and terrifying, but most of all a dark twisted religion" Esdeath explained. "Over time this new faith began to take hold and with it came dark things the crept in from the deep places of the world and from realms beyond reach; the people began to become more twisted, but the most common thing they brought to the world was Sharn Akul which is to say black stone; a dark stone thicker than granite and blacker then obsidian. The Shadow people built great cities and structures out of this rock which came from an unknown place but they had no shortage of it; with this new faith they forsook the gods of their ancestors and of the old Empire and this new faith changed them, their kingdom grew into an Empire, an empire forged in blood and black stone; ruled by two kings and Priest King, their armies were of a kind not seen since the days of the First Empire and which have no like in the world today; those armies went forth and conquered. My people were among those who brought into their Empire and among those who suffered under the rule, they ruled with an iron grip but a fair hand; but they committed abominations beyond those that even the most demented and insane of the Empire today could ever dream of" Esdeath explained further.

"Their Empire spread far and wide into all the known lands and perhaps far beyond, only the Sky Giants, Lizardmen and Dwarves were unconquered, and not by lack of trying on the part of the Shadow people. The Sky Giants' castles were unbreakable by conventional means and those that fled their oppressors took safe haven and refuge with the Giants and their descendants live there to this day. The Dwarves' Mountain halls of stone proved even harder to take, not to mention their warrior prowess, technology and sheer stubbornness were too great to overcome. And the Lizardmen, well they possess artifacts of elder days that make the Teigus of today look like novelties, also their leaders the great Slaan wield magic that no human being could comprehend and are ancient beyond the first Empire, to put it simply one Slaan could destroy the entire Capital with a single spell if they wanted to, however they hibernate for centuries in deep thought. Overtime however the Shadow Empire became more and more dark, men and women of their ruling class bred and married demons and their children became half-demons that lived for centuries at a time and could mask their presence in illusions, their great pyramids became the sights of mass human sacrifice and blood orgies, dark creatures fought in their armies and the stone itself began to taint the lands around it, twisting the minds and the hearts of any that dwelt near them" Esdeath explained.

"Fortunately for the world many of the people oppressed by the Shadow People rose up in great revolts, greater than those of previous generations and allied with the free races and with their might wiped out the Shadow People to the last; casting their cities into ruin and breaking the shackles of oppression that had lasted for centuries and bringing in another age of chaos, humans went back to fighting amongst themselves, among them forgetting the shadow people even existed let alone who they were, my tribe however has never forgotten them or forgiven in fact we strived for generations to keep anything like them returning to the world: If Honest is making pacts and using dark magic he must be stopped and killed otherwise it would be the end of the world" Esdeath concluded.

"So, you've said you've seen creatures like this before tell me where you encountered them and when" Tatsumi replied.

"When I was three years old and stronger than most of my age I often wandered about from our camps in search of things, I got this knife one day as a gift from my father and in my foolishness decided to wander off into one of the old ruins we had encamped near; the ruins were made of Sharn Akul, they were the size of a small town and well preserved, eerily so, and silent; not even birds sung, and life seemed to avoid it, I saw no insects moving about and the forest stayed a great distance from it, there were no plants either" Esdeath explained. "So I went in; it may have been foreboding but I'm a Patras and we don't cower from anything, so I pressed on, explored the buildings, the stone was greasy to touch it was like mud; but the images disturbed me; they depicted many things that were weird to me at the time and now looking back were abominable; but that was nothing towards what I found when I ran inside, I saw a creature twisted, human like but with a distorted face, chittering and bright red eyes, a long tail and claws, I saw it, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I ran like the wind of a hurricane. When I returned to my people I told them what I saw, my father sent some of our warriors to deal with the creature and they slew it, when they returned they told us that it had left no corpse, not even a trace save the smell of Sulphur" Esdeath explained.

"My next encounter with creatures like this didn't happen until years later, at the age of 14 as a young general in the Empire's army, during one of my campaigns we had to encamp in one of those old ruins to keep it from falling into enemy hands; I regret that decision because it cost a lot of lives; the night after we made our camp we began to hear strange sounds, drums pounded in the like of the Southern warrior tribes of the south then came the yelling, shadows grabbed soldiers and yanked them away as portals opened and horned demons charged into the world alongside imps and other vile spawn of Hell itself if not for the power of my Teigu and the sheer resolve of my soldiers we would have been massacred but at the end we are able to fight our way out of that godforsaken ruin we didn't turn or look back, we left behind everything we couldn't carry and everyone who was wounded or couldn't escape; we were desperate for supplies afterwards so I lead a night attack on an enemy position which actually ended up not only resolving our supply problem but turned the entire conflict in our favor" Esdeath continued.

"The most recent encounter I had though was three years ago in the war against the Southern Tribes; this is probably the darkest story I could tell you and I won't think less of you if you don't want to hear it" Esdeath continued.

"No Esdeath, I've got to hear it, you once told me in order to defeat my enemy I must know them, and if Honest is using demons I have to understand how to beat them" Tatsumi replied.

"Alright; but just so you know this very painful to me, I lost a lot of good people in the fight that occurred including someone I had grown close to in fact I even considered him to be the one for me. It was three years ago in the hardest stages of the Southern War, the people of the south were never unified, they were much like my clan as they were tribal, when I say people of the south I mean the far south in the deep jungles of Makulmakhan not people that dwelt in the southern provinces who have a lighter shade of dark skin and are quite civilized and have been part of the Empire for centuries. Anyway that's not the point, my point being the reason why the Southern Lands of Makulmakhan, Bawama and Kretachi were never conquered until recently were due to the many tribes, it wasn't a manner of defeating one ruler like it was when I conquered the North, no it required numerous battles and defeating numerous leaders, against tribes that fought as guerillas and used weaponry and tactics that made them extremely hardy foes" Esdeath explained. "It got even harder when some tribes grouped up, if not for the Lizardmen we would have gotten ourselves hopelessly lost and been picked apart by the natives. Now because we had to take down one tribe at a time we found ourselves taking losses, heavy ones too, also we had to conscript new troops and bring down more reserves, fortunately the Empire was not at war with anyone else at the time so the full might could be brought to bear on the Southern lands; it was like throwing meat into a grinder, people who didn't get used to the conditions died first, then there were the diseases which caused trouble and a good deal of death: Fortunately the Lizardmen priests healed the more serious cases and our medical supplies were kept good, I even went about the process of inoculating myself and my subordinates with the diseases to build up an immunity to them then develop vaccines from the blood of those who'd built up immunity." Esdeath explainded. "The campaign draged on though, it had been months since we first set off from Melitine and gone was the fanfare which I knew was a deceiver to fresh recruits and to even some of newer commanders; but savvier people like myself and Najenda knew it would not be easy and we never realized how much of hell it was. But I'm getting off track again; the encounter began when I took a vanguard of 2000 of my most elite soldiers to southwest, now not all tribes had resisted others submitted to Imperial rule; one of these was the Kandameeki they were a tribe that for centuries had been at war with another tribe, the N'ghai'mavahki, who the Kandameeki requested our aid against" Esdeath explained.

"The N'ghai'mavahki were true savages, now when I say the Southerners were savages, I mean that in the way they chose to fight not in their culture however there were some tribes that were literal savages so savage that the other more civilized tribes feared them. The N'ghai'mavahki were exactly that. they wore light armor made of bronze and bones, they painted their bodies with white woad and had intricate tattoos, their helmets were extremely interesting in design they allowed for full integration of their warmasks which were their most iconic feature: warmasks decorated with imagery that was terrifying to look at; they also wore belts on which they kept the skulls of their enemies. Esdeath explained. "They were extremely brutal, they would raid villages and take captives back to their homes which weren't made of wood like the other tribes no they made their homes inside ruins made of that Black Stone that I found far too familiar, they practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism, their warriors were found of rape, as well as torture of kind they could think of, our first encounters were brief affairs we sent first envoys to request their submission, we found the envoys dead wrapped in thorn bushes their jaws broken open in screams their eyes torn out and flayed alive as well as having their insides cut out and eaten, I've seen many things Tatsumi but having seen soldiers I sent to their deaths tortured like that, it really rivals the loss of my tribe in a way. Then came the fighting, we fought in the jungles as we usually did, their warriors laid ambushes for us I spotted and turn them against them, they blocked paths and scattered booby traps of various and cunning design I send Incineration Squads with Flamethrowers to torch them, as well as the a fair few ambush positions." Esdeath explained

"This lasted for two weeks, Najenda and I did our best to keep the courage up and I rationed our bullets well and kept our baggage trains under 24 hour guards which always rotated; I never slept long and when I woke I found that at least five soldiers had died the night before, and twice that were taken; but we pushed on and arrived at the home of the tribe: the Black City that they called Yeen, it was massive and populated by the tribe, extensively too, it was as if they were the original inhabitants. We didn't bother with a siege because our captives had informed us that anyone they captured was brought back for ritual sacrifice before their bodies were thrown into great thorn bushes after they had been stripped of any choice cuts of meat, if you can consider humans as a food source which they did, and luck was once again on our side as we interrupted a ritual, well I thought luck was on our side as it had all been a trap they wanted us to come so they could offer us all up at once in a bloody battle; well we fought long and hard, things got worst though even though we killed ten of their warriors for every soldier we lost that didn't seem to faze them, above us however on the massive black pyramid their priests sacrificed their remaining captives and summoned demons all of shapes and sizes, those demons attacked us and men and women fighting for me began to lose heart and despair then I heard one scream I wish I hadn't." Esdeath explained. "Najenda was grabbed by one of their savage warriors who began to drag her away, when she resisted and tried to overpower him he cut off her left wrist and hand leaving a stump in its place, I then flung ice shards at him all but one hit their mark killing him but that same attack also hit Najenda with one of those shards in the cross fire; blinding her in one eye" Esdeath explained, Tatsumi frowned and was sullen at this he'd never asked Najenda the specifics of how she had lost her arm and eye and this news hurt him and made him realize how much he had done for Najenda in giving her the Renewal which healed those injuries.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned that, anyway as I killed that warrior and then four demons I was nearly killed by a dart, I say nearly because one of my subordinates jumped and took the hit for me; unfortunately it was coated in a deadly toxin that would kill him in an hour; eventually the tribes warriors broke and ran; leaving their woman and children behind; after that defeat we had broken the N'ghai'mavahki and defeat the demons they had summoned; after the battle I held my mortally wounded protector in my hands: he was Spear's brother; Lucian, as he died I admitted my feelings for him and he admitted his for me and he died in my arms; if not for his last request not to take vengeance on the tribe's people I would have, but I granted it then personally took him back to the Capital alongside Najenda who I had treated for her injuries and acquired a prosthetic; Najenda wasn't as great a fighter afterwards and I knew that, she told though that after that war was over and if she was alive she'd retire from military life and personally I agreed with her; a crippled warrior who survives a war is a warrior who shouldn't have to fight again" Esdeath explained "So that's all I know about demons, and having faced them Tatsumi they are truly terrify-ing agh!" Esdeath explained and collapsed, Tatsumi got out of bed to help her.

"What's wrong?!" Tatsumi asked.

"Nothing, I just had an extreme pain in my side also I think the baby just gave me the first kick" Esdeath explained.

"Alright its ok, I'm here for you" Tatsumi comforted.

"I'm glad to hear it" Esdeath replied and kissed him. "Now that I've told you my stories, I think I'm owed a reward, I need you- need your touch" Esdeath explained with lust in her eyes.

"Of course; I know how much you need it" Tatsumi replied and escorted her back to his bed where they both stripped and made passionate love.

That night… Village of Takara, countryside outskirts of Melitine… The night was usually a time feared by people though not those so close to the Capital which even though corruption was commonplace inside the city itself the countryside villages were kept safe from most external threats by frequent patrols from the city guard who were from the outlying villages which doted the countryside near to the city. However, security could only go so far and the guards protecting Takara weren't professional soldiers, though they were decently armed, so when a well-armed and well-trained group of brigands came into to rob the local inhabitants there was little that could be done except fight them off and hope reinforcements arrive.

Of course, groups of brigands that would outright attack a village this close to Melitine itself usually found themselves on the receiving end of Imperial troops who needed the practice so most stayed away from the hamlets, but that didn't help those who weren't inside their homes at night. Such was the case of one unfortunate older woman and her 17-year old Daughter Nea who happened to have been late getting home due to having to carry a decent amount of food home; Nea's father was a merchant and the mayor of the town, and his wife and daughter frequently went to the city to purchase food that couldn't be found in the village as it was devoted to cash crops and had to rely on Melitine for food.

Then it happened; they had barely gotten far when ten well-armed robbers jumped them; to their surprise both mother and daughter were armed and managed to kill three of the robbers with their swords before they realized their mistake; this didn't stand well for the leader who intended to enslave these women, however because they had put up a fight and killed some of his men, and killed three more before he changed his plan proceeded to attack them himself. The leader was no slouch as a swordsman, he wielded a katana and as the last of his men fell to the woman and daughter he attacked and overpowered them; slicing the daughter across her face and causing her to drop to the ground he then grappled with the woman before disarming and overpowering her knocking her out. The leader then looked at the bodies noted the daughter was down and left leaving the corpses in his wake.

Nea woke from her injury noting it was dark; but extremely so, she placed her hand in front of her eyes and realized the extent of what had happened to her. "I'm blind" Nea thought, she then felt around grabbed what she could before heading off. By dumb luck she bumped into one of the night watchmen who responded with "Hey Nea watch it"

"I can't I've been blinded; brigands attacked me and mother; I don't know what happened I think mom's dead: I couldn't see a thing: get me to my father and send a patrol out!" Nea explained urgently. Nea then was lead home and told her father what happened he sent out the patrols to search and found nothing but the bodies of the robbers.

The following morning… Tatsumi was awakened the following morning by Sheele surprise attacking him, he countered with his own body punches and found himself quickly overpowered. "I'm sorry Tatsumi but you've lost; welcome to the first thing you'll be learning as part of my training, being alert at all times and being ready to overpower an attacker should they catch you asleep: By the way it's time for breakfast" Sheele explained.

"Ok Sheele, thanks for the heads up" Tatsumi replied, Sheele then left the room and he dressed in his uniform knowing full well he'd be getting back to work and have a lot of it to catch up on; he then headed downstairs to find Aria sitting down and next to her food was his breakfast made exactly how he liked it. "Good morning my Capital Angel, thanks for getting my food ready" Tatsumi greeted.

"You're welcome; now dig in you have a busy day ahead of you" Aria replied and smiled.

Tatsumi then smelt his food took in the smell of bacon and scrambled eggs and dug in; then he took a drink and spat it out. "What the!?" Tatsumi exclaimed. "This isn't normal OJ, I feel woozy" Tatsumi stated and began to slump over but he fought it.

"Welcome to survival training Tatsumi; I thought it would be useful for you to start building up an immunity to poisons, the trick is simple small minor doses in your food and drink consume them and you'll be immune to it" Aria explained.

"Great next time a bit of forewarning" Tatsumi stated then left to get a different glass of orange juice and dump the poisoned one out before resuming eating his food, after eating he then left with Seryu to head to Jaeger HQ.

Later… "Tatsumi I've got a mission for you, Mez and Seryu, I want you three to patrol the outlying villages near Melitine for any trouble" Esdeath ordered.

"Alright any particular reason why you're having me do it?" Tatsumi asked.

"Because Tatsumi I have a bit of ulterior motive; there are people in the countryside that are unaware of the corruption inside the city I want you to begin recruitment for a special military force; I've gotten authority from Makoto to create a new reaction force to deal with brigands and danger beasts in the countryside but also as a foundation for our army: so I need you to recruit some likeminded people to our cause and deal with anything troubling them; also let them know who sent you; it will spread my good name; I'm determined to improve my image; some people are afraid of me and I want to let those in the Empire that do know they shouldn't because they aren't my enemies; only our enemies need fear me. Also, you have a repour with the people they care for you" Esdeath explained.

"Alright I'll do it" Tatsumi replied and left with his partners in tow, he didn't get to far out of the city before Mez and Seryu led him off to the side. "What?" Tatsumi asked.

"So, well this is going to be a dull run, you want to have some fun before we do the boring work of recruiting and checking for signs of trouble?" Mez replied suggestively with a smirk.

"By doing what exactly?" Tatsumi asked annoyed by Mez's vagueness.

"Well why don't you show me those hot springs you're found of; we could go for a soak" Mez teased grinning seductively.

"Yeah come on Tatsumi let loose, even Justice needs a break from time to time" Seryu commented, Koro woofed. "I wasn't asking your opinion Koro" Seryu replied.

"I- well- "Tatsumi stammered, then Mez let a boob slip out of her outfit in a tease. "Ok then why not?" Tatsumi agreed, then they went off to the hot springs near Night Raid HQ, they then stripped off their clothing and eased in.

Mez moaned as Tatsumi entered her and took her left nipple into his mouth; Seryu massaged his shoulders with her breasts. "Oh Tatsumi-kun, I needed this; oh, you're so hung, yes drink my milk suck my nips I love you" Mez moaned as Tatsumi began his thrusts.

Koro woofed. "You can go somewhere else Koro! Sheesh privacy please?" Seryu commented.

Koro woofed again. "What do you mean we're being watched?" Seryu replied, then out of the woods she heard footsteps and turned to see Sheele in a bikini and carrying a towel.

"Well I came here to relax in the hot springs and I find all three of you here of all places" Sheele remarked.

"Yeah, well I thought we could have some fun before we (oh) went on our patrol of the countryside EEAGH!" Mez remarked Tatsumi continuing oblivious to Sheele.

"I see, well mind if I join in? I did come here to relax and sex with Tatsumi is quite relaxing especially if friends are involved" Sheele replied smiling seductively and removing her swimsuit before climbing into the water.

"Nope especially since you invited yourself" Seryu remarked and rolled her eyes and wrapped her legs around Tatsumi who came in Mez and pulled out.

"Now who's next, Sheele or Seryu?" Tatsumi questioned, to which Sheele presented her rear to him.

"Me" Sheele replied and leaned against the rim of the spring; Tatsumi obliged entering her rectum and began to ride her, Sheele moaned cute moans while Mez and Seryu came over to his side Tatsumi drank from Seryu's breasts and Mez played with his nipples and grinded against his rear. Tatsumi kept going and going, and going.

He kept going for about an hour and half until all three girls and himself were satisfied and they soaked in the water. "So Tatsumi you mind if I join in on your patrol? I'm looking for whereabouts of Tanto's band of robbers so I can drive Extase thru his skull" Sheele asked.

"Why not? We could always use another patrol partner for the time being it will allow us to cover more ground" Tatsumi replied. They soaked in water for a time then redressed, Sheele went inside HQ and changed into an Imperial Uniform so as to avert suspicion.

"Tatsumi does this uniform make my butt look big?' Sheele asked and turned around, the uniform was tight on her rear and brought out the curves of her big butt even more than usual.

"Not really, it is a bit tight on you but if makes even more beautiful" Tatsumi replied honestly blushing and giving his trademark grin.

"Thanks for your honesty" Sheele replied and turned around and kissed him on the lips.

"Well we should get going: our first stop is the village of Takara; it's the closest to us right now" Tatsumi explained and they left, taking the side paths and getting back onto the main roads without attracting undo attention. Then they proceeded to Takara where there were guards on more alert positions than usual and a patrol walked in, also notable were the severed heads of men, robbers as the signs beneath indicated, the signs said "Robbers stay out or end up like this."

Tatsumi approached one of the soldiers. "Attention! Major General Tatsumi of the Jaeger Corp!" Mez announced, the soldiers stood at attention and saluted.

"At ease, Sergeant I want to know what happened here? I've been sent by General Esdeath to patrol the countryside and recruit for a new army unit; I'd like to know what happened here" Tatsumi asked.

"Last night a mayor's wife and daughter were attacked by brigands, his wife was taken and his daughter was blinded and left for dead, these brigands here were killed by her and her mother" the Sergeant explained.

"Interesting; I'd like to speak with her, in the meantime put out a call to all able bodied recruits I'm establishing a local militia reinforce this village so you and your men can patrol the countryside and guard other villages, inform the locals they'll be a paid a decent wage and decent equipment" Tatsumi ordered.

"Yes sir!" the Sergeant stated and went about letting the local men and woman know about the new orders. Tatsumi then asked another soldier to lead him to the Mayor's house, or rather his shop so he could speak to him and his daughter, which he arrived at in due time.

Tatsumi noted the shop was quite humble and a general goods store, at the counter was the mayor in merchant's garb, he was middle aged man with black hair and grey eyes, on his face was a fine trimmed beard. To his side sitting in a chair was a beautiful young woman about Tatsumi's age. She had long black hair in braided ponytails. Her attire consisted of a purple sleeveless blouse, black pants and leg wraps and sandals, on her left arm was a bracelet made of polished nickel and strune about her arms were purple arm ribbons, she was curvaceous, she wore a blindfold which had dried blood on it a clear sign of her recent blinding.

"Greetings, what is a General doing out here in our humble village?" the Mayor asked.

"I've come here on a patrol I was here looking for recruits for a new army unit that has been started on orders from Grand Marshal Esdeath, anyway I heard about the brigands and I'd like to know what happened" Tatsumi explained.

"Well I'll try and explain best I can I'm Nea by the way; my mother and I were late coming home as we had gone into the city to buy food that can't be bought in the village, on our way back we were ambushed by brigands, my mother and I are and in her case was a good fighter; and we killed most of them save one man, he was tall and swift, he blinded me and knocked me down, I hit my head on a rock and woke up who knows when but I was left for dead. I made my way back to the village and told one of our night watchmen about it and they took a patrol to investigate, they found only the bodies of the robbers and no signs of my mother; I hate to think what happened to her" Nea explained.

"I'll deal with this personally: Don't worry if your mother is still alive, I'll rescue her" Tatsumi explained, he was serious. It didn't matter that he had just met these people he was happy to help people especially people that were fellow countryfolk, also it helped to enhance his image as a political figure who genuinely cared for the people of the Empire which he did.

"Thank you General, I'm glad to hear that, please rescue my wife and if she's dead brought her home" the Mayor explained.

"Don't worry I'll try my hardest" Tatsumi explained.

Tatsumi then went and gave orders to the local troops to do as ordered and that he would return soon, after he was out of earshot of the guards he sighed. "So Sheele you think these robbers are the ones working for that scumbag you're after?" Tatsumi asked.

"Highly likely, I'll have Chelsea and Aria do some scouting and find their base, if we can do that well they'll be on the receiving end of a Night Raid attack" Sheele replied, then grinned at the possibility.

They continued the patrol and recruitment drive; Tatsumi found no shortage of willing recruits to form local militia garrisons especially since the jobs he gave them were things they had been doing for years only now they received a government salary to do so, it wasn't much in terms of pay but it was more than any of the local peasants could hope for in their daily works.

Tatsumi wondered where all the Empire's money was coming from given the current depression, however Constantine Grundel had explained when he asked that it was blood money and tariffs. Tatsumi speculated that most of the money was plunder taken from the Southern Lands and the North, but given that Imperial soldiers had died to acquire that wealth it was only fair game in customs of the laws of war.

The patrols concluded a few hours after it had begun and Tatsumi was barely warmed up as far as his stamina was concerned so he headed back to Night Raid HQ along with the others.

Later at Night Raid HQ… Tatsumi was practicing his Imperial Fist Rings that had been taught to him by Spear and was now working on how introduce the techniques into his fighting style which in his opinion needed to be altered so as when he next faced Honest, he'd have the advantage. One thing that the fight had taught him was Honest's own fighting style and how Honest used his mastery of Imperial Fist to chain power attacks with rapid strikes and hard counters as well as his two-handed style. In order to counter that Tatsumi would have to chain the techniques into his own style and develop a more agile style that allowed him avoid the power attacks and waste Honest's energy while allowing Tatsumi to spend as little energy as possible before capitalizing on the opening offered.

As he practiced, he was joined in his sword work against the practice dummies by Gin of all people. "Hey Tatsumi what's up?" Gin asked.

"I'm practicing, I've got to alter my fighting style, learn all I can and get stronger if I'm going to beat Honest: he's leagues above me right now and I'll need to learn anything and everything I can to get the advantage" Tatsumi replied.

"Well then it sounds like you need both a sparring partner and a teacher I'm willing to provide both" Gin explained.

"Ok, but what can I learn from you?" Tatsumi asked.

"The finer arts of swordplay also the techniques of the Elite Seven, unlike Akame I'm not averse to sharing the fighting techniques of our group and I'm more than capable of teaching you, besides I like you and it would be a shame for you to get killed by a scumbag like Honest because you didn't know how to use techniques that could have saved you" Gin answered.

"Alright then, let's start with the basics get that sword of yours and get ready" Gin explained and picked up a practice blade. Tatsumi turned to face her and charged, Gin sidestepped and attacked Tatsumi barely blocked, then countered with a series of flurries each of which Gin parried before she sidestepped again and struck even harder and faster causing Tatsumi to lose his grip on the blade, Gin pointed the tip of the practice blade against his throat. "Dead" Gin explained. "Or at least you would have been were this and actual fight; Tatsumi I've seen you perform better on other missions but you and I never had the chance to spar which demonstrates you underestimated me; I'm second best as far as our group of former Elite Seven members are concerned, consider what would happen if you sparred with Akame or Kurome who are above me; you suffer against opponents who are either fast or use powerful strikes to overwhelm your guard" Gin explained.

"Ok so what do I do to change that?" Tatsumi replied.

"First you learn how to dodge, I know you wear heavy armor rather frequently but dodging is better than just blocking an attack because you don't have to worry about heavy power attacks overwhelming your guard and wasting energy; just moving out of the way of an opponent's attack causes them to both waste energy and leave them open for a follow up: we'll start with heavy dodge training, go put on a suit of plate armor and then I'll test your skills at dodging" Gin explained.

Tatsumi did exactly as she asked and began the dodge training, he immediately regretted it as Gin had replaced her sword with a hard-wooden club, which when he failed as he did because she attack she did so without warning and hit hard each time knocking him down. This continued over and over again until he began to get the hang of it, granted Gin didn't give him breaks as she told him no enemy would give him one if he got tired so he dodged and dodged until Gin decided he'd done enough for today.

"Alright Tatsumi you're doing good, but nowhere near my level dodge let alone Akame's which you've got to surpass to even have a chance of beating Honest; next thing you'll need to learn is how to ignore pain; which will take more effort: in the Elite seven training program people had to undergo psychological and physical torture in order to be taught to ignore pain, however since I'm sure Najenda and others wouldn't be keen on you having to be tortured to build up a high pain tolerance; in fact I'm sure Suzuka would be a better source learning how to ignore pain but for now I'll train you on the thorns" Gin explained.

"What do mean train me on the thorns?" Tatsumi asked.

"One of the Southern tribes I fought against in the Southern campaign trained their warriors by having them go thru a rather brutal training program which was similar to the Elite Seven training program where if you didn't make the cut for the Group of Terror at least you'd be killed, anyway that's beside the point, one of their routines required them to run an obstacle course barefoot and the ground they had to walk thru was covered in thorns from the aggressive thorn bushes of the Southlands and trust me those are nasty" Gin explained.

"Not looking forward to that" Tatsumi replied and winced.

"Fortunately for you Tatsumi you don't have to worry about those nasty thorns because they don't grow this far north instead, I'll find a suitable substitute, but that will be for the day after tomorrow. It will take me some time to set up the course and find enough thistles to make a course; also, word of warning; if you step out of the course I'll have to beat the shit out of you for failing, just so you know" Gin explained.

"So, you fought in the Southern Campaign?" Tatsumi asked.

"Yes I did, as did the rest of the Elite Seven and some of the members of the Group of Terror, the whole conflict was a nightmare, I still have the scars the worst of which I'd rather not talk about its rather painful for me" Gin explained and frowned rather sullen remembering painful memories.

"Alright we won't talk about it until you feel comfortable about it" Tatsumi replied.

"Good now I'm done with you for today go find something else to do" Gin explained, Tatsumi did exactly that leaving the training center and going back to the city he then headed to the Palace to inform Esdeath of the situation.

Later… Tatsumi noted once again the throne room door was shut then grinned before entering in his usual dramatic fashion interrupting Honest's ranting with a new man Tatsumi had seen before. "I'm certain your opinion on the rebels is an excuse to explain the losses caused on the Western front to maintain a deadlock" Honest shouted.

"How am I expected to come up with a plan to easily destroy Dwarven machinery, I tell you it was bad enough when the Western Armies were the only ones using them but now the rebels are somehow getting their hands on those Dwarven warbots I tell you the conflict on the western border is getting worse" the man responded.

"Then find out how they are getting the machines and stop them I'm not a military genius but I know that if you cut off supply you can eventually whittle down your enemies' numbers" Honest replied.

"Whatever; our guns can't exactly shoot down the Dwarven Zeppelins if we tried, they are extremely armored and any shots we've fired at them are useless, also the unit that tried that had a massive bomb dropped on them, about 3 men of a 200 man unit survived the explosion and two of them died of their injuries afterwards, there certain things our army is capable, fighting the Dwarves isn't one of them" The man replied.

"Which is why you being relieved of command; you have been promoted on his majesty's orders and my personal suggestion to the recently opened rank of Minister of Logistics; I think you are more than qualified for the position General Seigi" Honest explained.

"It's an honor Prime Minister, your Majesty Emperor Makoto I'll live up to expectations" Seigi replied.

"See that you do" Honest replied and Seigi saluted and took his place with the other ministers and advisors, Honest then turned to face Tatsumi who had been watching the whole debate looking for Honest's tell signs and sizing up the new arrival.

"Hello Honest, your majesty; I'm back" Tatsumi greeted walking over to the throne.

"Tatsumi-nii! How have you been? Were you sick what happened?" Makoto asked overly curious.

"Well I took a serious wound in my investigation of random attacks in the city and well I've made a full recovery, bare a scar on my shoulder" Tatsumi explained.

"I'm glad you're ok Tatsumi-nii" Makoto replied. "See I told you Honest-san that Tatsumi-nii was ok and that you were wrong about him being dead, next time don't joke about such things Honest-san" Makoto lectured.

"My apologies your majesty, I was merely suggesting that Tatsumi had been killed in a tragic accident" Honest replied grinning.

"Please I told you Makoto he was full of crap and I was right" Esdeath commented.

"Anyway, Minister Tatsumi have you come here for anything in particular" Honest asked.

"As soon as you are done with this business I'd like to speak with you" Tatsumi replied giving Honest a knowing look of "I know you're working with demons, I don't know how you got your arm back but I know damn well it wasn't thru natural means."

Honest seemed to hurry thru the business as he was clearly eager to debate Tatsumi who was looking forward to the same thing, he enjoyed the fact that he could basically challenge Honest and disrupt his plans without having to worry about Honest being able to really do anything to stop him, the power and influence Tatsumi had in the city and court was deadlock to Honest's own.

Shortly in Honest's office… Tatsumi walked into Honest's office and noted the minister pull out a drumstick of cooked meat which smelled like fried pork, he then took a bite out of it. "Alright! What the hell?! Leone pulled your arm out of your fucking socket and you somehow managed to get a new one; is it a prosthetic? Because if it isn't then you aren't human anymore, you're an abomination" Tatsumi shouted, he noted however Honest's attention wasn't on him.

"She looks nice and beautiful doesn't she even more so next to her half siblings: ah Leone, she isn't a disappointment not at all, she's just disloyal" Honest replied impassively, Tatsumi noted on Honest's desk was a photo of Leone next to a photo of Lillianna and young man who looked like her whom he assumed was Syura. "Children can be both a blessing and a curse, and they require a great amount of patience and attention as well as educating them in the matters of the world: Syura was like this a loyal son who did everything I told him and who shared all my views and I mean all of them, he was like a perfect younger version of myself; until you killed him" Honest stated allowing his expression to change from the caring father to that of the demon.

"I didn't kill Syura, Aria did" Tatsumi replied.

"Does it matter, your group killed him, I don't care who it was that killed him, that Grundel girl, she can be quite deceitful: I'd like to know how he died" Honest replied curious, his expression still demented.

"Only if you tell me how the fuck you got a new arm, I know for a fact that it isn't remotely natural" Tatsumi replied.

"Boy you drive a hard bargain and I'll enlighten you, it's not as if you could kill me if you wanted to; I'm perfectly capable of killing you here and now but that would be dull as I'm actually enjoying this game, you have survived the longest in this game apart from Esdeath and of course Grundel and Chouri. You are correct in assuming my arm isn't natural but you don't know my hand is the same" Honest explained then chomped down on the meat before putting it on a plate and removing his gauntlets.

Tatsumi was shocked by what he was seeing and, on some level, afraid; he thought Honest was evil that he'd do anything he wanted but to know that he'd willing forsake his humanity to become a literal monster was shocking even to him. He was now an abomination, his hands or rather claws were dark burgundy and rough in texture, somewhat rock like, but scaly and demonic. "You see now silly boy that you are dealing with powers beyond your comprehension" Honest explained. "You see Tatsumi you are the first person to see this outside my inner circle of cultist leaders, my chief advisors; this Tatsumi what you consider an abomination to me is a blessing, a boon bestowed on me by my Lord Valtor for sacrifices in his name" Honest explained grinning then took a bite out of the meat once again.

"You're sick; what did you do to get those abominations of arms?" Tatsumi asked fighting back the urge to vomit; he had another thought that had crept into the back of his mind.

"To receive the boons that alter the flesh one must offer a great sacrifice to Lord Valtor, in this case for me an offering of my own blood; and not that within my veins" Honest stated. "Care for bite of this it's quite delicious, it suits my palate perfectly and keeps me strong" Honest offered.

"I'll pass; I get a feeling that whatever your eating is something I don't want to touch, now what did you mean by your own blood? If you aren't sacrificing yourself what are you-"Tatsumi questioned then had a thought that made want to scream in outrage.

"My blood, look behind you sits my Panterra, my new set of armor on a nice armor rack for when I'm not using it" Honest explained Tatsumi looked and saw the black runic breastplate along with the other attachments.

"You killed Satake?" Tatsumi replied.

"No he's become something more: but yes he is as good as dead; I offered him in sacrifice for the new arm: and as to my other hand well; a certain daughter of mine told me how Eugene her older brother recently died from being eaten by a danger beast; no he is very much alive and no longer human he has obtained lesser demon hood thanks to my Lord and master below" Honest replied then finished the meat belched and threw the bone which Tatsumi realized now was a femur. "By the way Tatsumi what I just finished eating is indeed as you suspect human flesh; albeit not my favorite cut; my favorite cut is meat of a woman's womb it has such a great taste that's made even better with saffron and cloves" Honest explained. Tatsumi honestly wanted to vomit and he then looked at Honest right in his venom filled gold eyes.

"You're sick Honest, not just sick you're a monster; a true monster" Tatsumi replied.

"Thank you for your kind words, now that I've told you the story about my arms tell me what happened to Syura" Honest replied.

"Like I said Aria killed him, he was drunk, Aria Sayo and Yami were out shopping and Aria took advantage of his drunkenness to bring him to her house, he thought he was going to get laid, instead he got flayed, and branked, and burned, and quartered and decapitated, Aria then put his head in a basket and carried it back to our base and presented it our boss who then had it put out in the open for the city to see overnight" Tatsumi explained.

"YOU! My son! You assassins! Your group killed him in the prime of his life he had many years ahead of him! He was to be my successor! I loved him! He was a true son unlike his older brother Valdis or that idiot Eugene or any of the bastards I've sired save Saikyuu!" Honest ranted.

"You aren't capable of love, you're heartless, contemptable and have no regard for human life; Syura was a rapist, a liar and a murderer, as well as a cannibal like you! You Honest are the rot that pollutes this city, this Empire no all of Eden is tainted by your evil!" Tatsumi ranted back.

"GET OUT! I'D LOVE TO NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN BUT NO YOU ARE TOO STUBBORN AND SMART TO DIE! I SWEAR THOUGH I WILL MAKE YOU PAY! YOU'LL DIE ALONG WITH EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING YOU LOVE AND CHERISH; I WILL BREAK YOU AND DEVOUR YOU; NOW LEAVE UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO GET ME SOME MEAT! YES, FRESH MEAT, FRESH MEAT NICE AND SWEET! GIVE ME A NICE FRESH PIECE OF MEAT! GIVE ME A NICE FRESH PIECE OF MEAT! GIVE ME A NICE FRESH PIECE OF MEAT!" Honest raved; Tatsumi left.

Later that night… Aria approached the brigand hideout with Pais and Chelsea she then looked the place over. The hideout was more like a fortress then a hideaway and it was crawling with armed brigands who were well armed and equipped, there were also cages in which men sat chained up, no sign of women or children. "Time to get a closer look" Aria replied.

"How this place is a fortress I may be the best scout in the Revolutionary army but I'm not an infiltrator" Pais commented.

"That's where we come in Pais, you keep a lookout here and we'll get the lay of the place after we come back, we run back to HQ put a team together and take them out" Chelsea replied, Aria and Chelsea went forward Aria concealed by Noctis wave.

Chelsea thru a rock at one of the guards, the sentry went out into the dark to investigate; the other guard stayed alert. The guard went towards the destination and noted Chelsea's eyes and before he could shout his throat was cut rather swiftly and silently, a kukri stained in blood as he had been stealth Ariaed. Chelsea then used Gaea foundation to assume the guard's identity before returning to the position, she then reassured the other brigand that nothing was up; Aria then kept her shadow up and silently killed the other sentry before going further in silently dispatching guards as she went and making note of the layout of the base which was built into natural cavern not to different from the one Night Raid built their own in. Aria had noted that the strategy here was simple neutralize as many of the brigands quietly as possible before freeing the captives. During the scouting she and Chelsea noted that there were many more beds then men outside and the place was surprisingly empty of robbers which mean that they had gone out on patrol. That meant they could lay an ambush if they were quick enough, they'd need a lot of Night Raid members but if the plan worked, they could take down the brigands inside their own base;

The exploration then took a dark turn as Aria found where they were keeping the female captives and the children, the state of those captives was straight up horrible, they had been tortured and raped; some killed Aria noted a great number of women, men, children hanging on chains as if they were meat in a locker. "This is horrible!" Aria thought to herself then noted there were a few alive, she then broke the chains of these captives and led them outside she and Chelsea then freed the other captives and let them run off before going to Pais.

"Pais we're going back to HQ we'll need to act fast and strike hard with a very big team if we want to maintain the advantage" Aria explained.

Midnight… the teams had been put together 20 of Night Raids finest lead by Najenda herself with one extra, Ibbin Al-Hashiim. The teams were divided into four groups of five: The Elite Five consisted of all five of Night Raid's former Elite Seven operatives: Akame, Gin, Tsukushi, Poney and Cornelia they would eliminate the elite robbers. The Stealth team consisted of Mine, Sheele, her father, Aria, and Seryu, it would be the hammer to take out the leader of the group. The Assault team consisted of Najenda, Bulat, Susanoo, Tatsumi and Cassandra they would be the main attack. The last team was the ambush team which consisted of Lubbock, Yami, Naomi, Sayo and Clementine they would attack the enemy from the flanks.

They managed to beat the robbers back home to the camp and had time to set up an ambush; during this time Tatsumi and Sheele inspected the hideout and the bodies; they didn't find any signs of Nea's mother and didn't recognize the any of the corpses; they then decided to check the one room Aria and Chelsea hadn't been able to search because of a lock, Tatsumi kicked the door down and inside saw something he didn't want to see.

Inside the room were numerous instruments of torture but there in the middle of the room was woman, naked badly tortured, her breasts gone and her skin flayed; and her eyes gone. "If that's you Tanto finish me; I'm done with this world; you killed my Nea and I don't have any reason. any reas-on to- live" the woman clearly Nea's mother stated before.

"It's not him we're with Night Raid" Sheele explained.

"I don't care I've lost all that- that- was good in -this world Nea! I join you now" Nea's mother groaned out.

"She's alive but she's blind" Tatsumi explained.

"Then tell her for me that I loved her; I don't know who you two are but please let her know how much I loved her; that it was what kept me alive, and she's safe now; I can die in peace" she replied getting weaker with each world as she slumped over.

"I'm sorry" Sheele apologized and drew her dagger Tatsumi stopped her, as Nea's mother stopped moving he felt her neck for pulse and found none.

"We were too late; Damn it! She was only taken captive last night! Why?! I hate this world of ours's I hate it; I swear if I ever find out who did this I'll do what they did to her to them" Tatsumi replied then took a hairband she worn in her hair then hurried out alongside Sheele to arrive just in time, the others had set up and Mine had taken a sniper position above the camp in their watch tower.

With Mine…

"Now what have we here, a whole lot of stupid assholes coming here to die" Mine muttered under her breath then looked at the ranks and spotted the leader; he was tall man in his late 30s, he was in good shape and somewhat attractive clad in spint mail armor, on his head in addition to his helmet he wore a black headband his hair was black, at his side was Katana that was extremely ornate and decorated too much so and it seemed to let of a light of its own. Next to him stood two stoat tall and muscular brutes in black chainmail; behind them were the usual mix of ruffians but also a few elite robbers clad in stolen Imperial armor. "Nice and simple first: starting with the leader he's so obvious" Mine muttered and aligned Pumpkin her scope locked in place; "Dead" she muttered and fired.

Tanto noted the pink orb coming towards him and grabbed one of his grunts and dodged behind the man who was melted by the shot. "Night Raid? Men we're under attack charge!" Tanto yelled the ruffians charged towards with Tanto and his two bulky protectors ducking behind the lines.

"Susanoo give them the horns!" Najenda ordered, her Teigu leapt from his position as she and the assault team charged.

(Song: Another on Bites the dust: Queen) To the rear of the robbers came the Elite Five Akame jumping into the ranks yelling "Eliminate!" a cry in which she was joined by her comrades; Tsukushi began to spray the ranks down from the rear alarming the robbers who weren't used to having to deal with heavy firearms much less Prometheus's homing rounds which always hit their mark from guns that never ran out of bullets. Gin hewed down five robbers from the right side as Cornelia pulverized two more with her power fist, Akame and Poney attacked from the left side Muramase's poison dropping every man she so much as scratched and she wasn't even warmed up. Poney rapidly stabbed her glaive using her reach to disarm robbers before decapitating then with a well-placed thrust.

To either side of the enemy Lubbock and his team of ambushers attacked Sayo flew over the robbers with Gabriel and then unleashed volleys of white arrows from Icarus, Yami disarmed and decapitated robber after robber without even so much as glancing at them, Clementine in her brass armor cackled as she smashed enemies with Starcrusher and sliced them in twain with her Estoc, Naomi unleashed her spinning blades from Remnant and used her double-bladed sword to gruesome effect mowing down brigand after brigand.

But the worst damage was coming from the front where the Stealth team and the Assault team charged in; annihilating enemy after enemy. Tatsumi using this fight to test the new adaptation of his style using both Valruost and Smaug in concert while dodging and weaving before chaining flurried strikes into unready enemies; he also had to move to the side as Susanoo activated the spinning blades of his polemace and charged head first like a raging bull into the enemies goring them with his horns, even going so far as to impale a man in his guts and hurl him up words like a bucking bull and sending the man flying resulting in him crashing down amongst the ranks of the robbers of which there were hundreds.

Najenda joined in fighting back to back with Cassandra who spun two blades in front of her while throwing chakrams at her secondary set of arms, Najenda covered her with fire from her desert eagles, briefly holding her fire when two robbers that were charging towards her had their throats sliced in quick succession by a cloaked Aria.

But amidst the chaos and confusion two people were extremely focused and killing with lightning reflexes, faster than even Akame's own killer instinct, Sheele and her adopted father; they fought with speed and agility that was a blur to the robbers who were killed with calls of "I'm sorry" from both father and daughter who killed swiftly and without mercy. Tatsumi then noticed something as did Sheele, the leader of the group and his two stout Lieutenants were escaping into the woods. "HEY THOSE THREE ARE GETTING AWAY!" Tatsumi yelled of the tumult of battle and cut a path thru the robbers; Sheele had already over powered them; Mine was firing off rapid shots toward the escapees but each fell short impacting into trees sending tall timbers falling over and resulting further chaos as combatants on both sides moved to avoid the collapsing logs; Tatsumi and Sheele pressed on undaunted and eventually came out into a large clearing which backed the three robbers against the cliffs.

(Song End)

"Night Raid, I figured at some point you'd show up" Tanto remarked and took a look at Sheele. "Well looks like Night Raid has some beautiful women in its ranks, you'd fetch a fortune" Tanto commented.

"You're Tanto?" Sheele asked as neutral as possible.

"Yes, indeed I am and you two have got to be quite persistent; now I've got some gold I've acquired recently and I'm willing to pay you two for letting me escape" Tanto replied.

"You killed my parents" Sheele replied coldly.

"I've killed lots of people over the years but I don't remember everyone I've killed; much less anyone that could have produced such a rare beauty; I'd never kill anyone like that they'd be breeding stock I wouldn't sell short of a king's ransom" Tanto replied.

"You sold my parents to monsters who killed them; my mother and father were raped, repeatedly, my mother was raped so bad that at one point she produced a child with her owner who cut that baby out from her womb and killed it right in front of her! She killed herself because of that, but my father no he had endured days of repeated rape by the mistress of the house who fed him the flesh of infants as food! Then he died of Rubola! You sold them to those monsters! You took them from me when I was only five years old! You find me because my parents had the foresight to hide me in a secret hideaway; I was then sent to horrid orphanage where I spent a year until my adopted father killed the awful head of the Orphanage and took me in; I was trained in the art of assassination from a young age and I am a master of every technique my Order knows! In fact, I haven't even told you who I am! I am Sheele Grandmaster of the Order of the Sorrowful Ones and wielder of Extase and bearer of the Shrouded armor; I've spent the past two years in the Capital trying to kill root of this corruption Prime Minister Honest; I joined Night Raid and all my life I wondered if I'd ever see my parents again. But no, I didn't and won't ever because they were murdered! Murdered because of you: I will kill you and it won't be swift I'm going to make this slow and painful!" Sheele replied and extended Extase in front of her towards him in challenge.

"So that Guildmaster of the Sorrowful Ones; were it not for Extase I wouldn't believe you but I'm humbled to be in your presence Grandmaster or I would be where I still part of the guild: Tanto isn't my real name it's alias I took when first started in the slave trade which I did as soon as the guild threw me out for killing a fellow member! My real name Marshan Zaxos: I'm sure its familiar to you as the name is one of many on the Wall of the Scorned: but I made my fortune; I don't need Extase who needs it: I've found a Teigu that's far more potent and powerful" Tanto now Marshan explained and drew his blade which had a pearl-blue hew to the shine and glew brighter in the light of three moons. "Behold Yue: Moonblade! I stole it from some old merchant I have no idea how he managed to obtain it and I don't care this baby made me my fortune; I've killed plenty of men and woman with this sword both slave and free! But this baby has a potent speed it's even faster of then Extase makes you!" Marshan explained. "But I've grown tired of this Guildmaster let us settle this in the old way: Takar Makar: the duel of the blades; one on one to the death!" Marshen concluded drawing his sword with a flourish; Sheele readied Extase; the two bodyguards attacked Tatsumi who dispatched both with ease as he vaulted over them as they charged and decapitated them as he jumped and landed behind.

"Tatsumi! Stay out of this! This is my battle" Sheele explained.

(Song start: Sleeping Sun: Night Wish)

Sheele and Marshan faced each other waiting for one to make the first move, Marshen then swung Esdeath brought Extase up to counter. "Yue: Speed of Light!" Marshen declared and begin moving at extreme speed and attacking with swift attacks.

"Exstase: Shadow step!" Sheele declared and her movements matched his as she blocked and countered his blows.

"Yue: Moonlight blast" Marshen declared and a blast of energy came from blade which Sheele countered with Exstase, the blade of the scissors deflects the energy harmlessly, but this was a distraction as he launched a series of swift counters.

"This guy is good but I'm better, this is actually quite fun; I've never had the opportunity to fight a fellow guild member in battle before but that is because we don't kill other guild members except for traitors like Marshen here" Sheele thought then used her trump card. "Exstase! Obfuscating Light!" Sheele yelled and Exstase glew a bright light brighter the both suns; Tatsumi averted his eyes however Marshen wasn't remotely lucky, being this close to the light which was magnified by his own Teigu and the three moons was blinded and not temporary his retinas were completely fried and he was just as blind as Nea, then came the follow up as Sheele opened Exstase and snapped off both of Marshen's hands causing his Teigu to fly from the limp hands as he screamed. "It's over" Sheele stated passively and caught Yue with one hand without looking, Marshen fell to the ground yelling.

"I'm Blind! Blind! And my Hands! NO!" Marshen yelled, Sheele drove Exstase into the ground next to her and then drew both of the daggers.

"I'm not one who's fan of torture; that's Aria's specialty and passion when it comes to scum like you: however in this case I think I've already deprived you of the three things you valued most, your hands which used for the whip, your sight and just about now: Your manhood" Sheele replied and gelded him to screams she then stripped him of his clothing especially the sheath for Yue. "Tatsumi hold him in place for me" Sheele instructed. "Take him to the edge of the cliff" she added, Tatsumi picked up Marshen and carried him to the edge and held him to it, Sheele then stepped up and relieve him of his duty.

"Now what are you going to do?" Tatsumi asked.

"Something that should have been done years ago, kill him: but in this case since he's responsible for the deaths of both of my parents I've got something special: tell Marshen how do you think about learning to fly" Sheele replied, she then slashed his hamstrings and kicked him off the cliff.

"(Wilhelm yell)" Marshan screamed as he plummeted to an audible splat in the valley below.

Tatsumi stood next to Sheele. "I've always thought the moons were so beautiful and to have all three be full at the same time and to witness them from this cliffside it's quite romantic don't you think Tatsumi" Sheele remarked.

"I can agree Sheele, let's go back to the others hopefully the other robbers have been cleaned up" Tatsumi replied.

"Indeed, they probably have, but when we head back how do you feel about a late night swim in the hot springs?" Sheele replied.

"Not tonight; this fight wore me out, when we get back to HQ, I'm coming down hard on my bed: though I'll be happy to have you with me there" Tatsumi replied.

"I'll be there with you and we'll snuggle" Sheele commented.

Takara Village the Following day…

That night at HQ Tatsumi slept soundly with Sheele pressed up against him and held close; before heading back they had checked the valley below the cliffside and found Marshen's corpse with a notable large hole in his head: Tatsumi had that wrapped in a sack which now rested at the head of his bed. Tatsumi picked up the head and went with Sheele to the village and arrived at the shop.

"You're back General, any news?" the Mayor asked, Nea got up from her seat eager to hear it.

"Yes, both good and bad; the good news is the man who led this robbers is dead along with his men, his head is in this sack; the bad news we were too late to save your wife; he tortured her to death" Tatsumi explained.

"I've never had to feel this way before; you weren't able to save my wife but you did avenge her and the harm he did to my daughter: you also stopped those robbers from continuing to threaten our village and on top of that you killed them all; what you've done for our village is a debt I cannot easily repay, and can only do so with the one thing that I have left that is truly worth to give" The Mayor explained then looked at Nea. "Nea I'd what do you think of him?" the Mayor replied.

"I'm grateful for him that he was willing to personally deal with a matter that other people would think would be beneath him to do, he sounds overall like a selfless and caring person, overall the kind of person anybody could care deeply for" Nea replied.

"Then I give to you General Tatsumi my most prized treasure, my Daughter Nea's hand in marriage if you'll accept and she'll agree" The mayor explained.

"I'll agree father: he sounds like a reasonable guy and you'd be hard pressed to find someone that is that, also a good guy which is also important because I don't want to end up in the hands of some scumbag, now my only question is he hot?" Nea commented.

"He is handsome as can be and the most handsome man in the world" Sheele commented.

Tatsumi thought about it, it was a bit rushed but then he realized that as marriage candidate he was one of the best options in the Empire; especially given his recent engagement to Lila who he'd saved from a terrible fate at Honest's hands, he honestly thought she'd likely not have a better choice in the future. "I'm humbled, I'll accept" Tatsumi replied honestly, then thought "What is it with ladies falling for me, am I that much of a girl magnet?"

"Then we'll arrange the ceremony soon when will you be available?" the Mayor asked.

"Interestingly enough I have set up a ceremony for Tatsumi and myself to marry; we can both marry him at the same time" Sheele suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea" Nea chimed.

"Yes, now we've got to get you a dress Nea; you and I will go shopping for one, Tatsumi you think you can go get a ring for her?" Sheele explained.

"Sure" Tatsumi stated and all three left the village.

Later… Tatsumi had gone to the best jeweler in the city to shop for a ring; or rather two; one for Nea and one for Sheele, for Nea he bought a nice silver ring with sapphires studded on it, it was wire like, for Sheele he bought a gold ring set with amethysts that sparkled like her eyes. "How much for these?" Tatsumi asked the shopkeeper.

"About 20,000 gold pieces for both" the shopkeeper replied, Tatsumi replied by pulling out a rather large bag of gold.

"Will this cover it?" Tatsumi asked, then noted his bracelet, he rarely wore his good luck charm but because he'd be getting married soon, he decided that it would be a good idea to flaunt it. "Hey I'd like you to take a look at this for me, I'm not selling it but it I'd like to have it looked at" Tatsumi added, then took off the bracelet and handed it to the shopkeeper who took one look the bracelet and jolted causing his glasses to jump and he caught them quickly.

"Are you sure you don't want to sell this, never mind, this bracelet is ancient; dwarven made about at least a thousand years old, look at the runes one the intricate wire work and the amazing gem placement, these emeralds are not normal emeralds they are deepstar emeralds, some of the finest stones of dwarven craftsmanship, it's a masterwork of jewelry" the Shopkeeper stated. "Almost as if it's a royal artifact" he added. "Where did you get it?" he asked curious.

"From my village elder, he told me it would bring me good luck, so far it has; I met and married the most beautiful woman in the Empire" Tatsumi replied.

"I've no idea how your elder came by this but this something you should be careful with; it's extremely valuable and some people might mistake it as a stolen royal treasure" the Shopkeeper explained.

"I'll be careful with this, funny thing before I met my wife for the first time I was down on my luck and conned out of my money all I had was this bracelet and I was going to sell it the following morning to make ends meet, but Aria came along and took me in, we fell in love and got married, she's pregnant with our first child, if not for this bracelet's good luck I don't think I'd have survived the night let alone met my Capital Angel" Tatsumi replied then smiled thinking of Aria's smiling face and her in lovely blue dress.

"Well I'm glad that it has brought you good luck, now take your purchases and I wish you good luck on your future endeavors" The Shopkeeper replied, Tatsumi left with the rings in hand, noted his fingers.

"Tenth ring, now which finger am I going to put Nea's on" Tatsumi thought

Later that evening… Tatsumi had gone to the hot springs as planned and was waiting for Sheele, she showed up dressed in a swimsuit and carrying a towel, wordlessly she stripped and joined him in the water. "I'm glad to have this midnight session just like you promised" Sheele commented swimming over to him.

"Anything for you Sheele" Tatsumi stated and hugged her. They kissed a sweet kind loving kiss letting their lips become one for a time, then they broke it. "Sheele before we start, I've got something for you" Tatsumi stated then moved to where his clothes were and opened a box to show her the ring he selected for her.

"Tatsumi- it's wonderful; the gems they match my eyes and my hair" Sheele commented.

"I thought you'd like it: I always get the best for my girls, and you are no exception" Tatsumi replied and put the box next his clothes, they kissed again much more passionately then the first, Sheele's breasts pressed against his chest, they wrapped their arms around each other and kissed passionately for a few moments, then they melded; Tatsumi's length entering her loins. He broke the kiss and took her right nipple in his mouth and drank from it slowly savoring her milk, Sheele moaned as he did so she ran a hand thru his hair stroking his cowlick as he thrusted nice and slow at a comfortable pace his hands caressing her rear as he did so.

"Tatsumi" Sheele moaned and kissed his forehead as he kept drinking, he then stopped and switched to her other nipple and drank not wanting to neglect it. Sheele's milk was so sweet and Tatsumi happily drank the warm milk as Sheele kissed his forehead and caressed his hair with one hand and his back with the other. The light of the three moons now full and at their closest shined on their lovemaking the stars sparkling bright and they were the only witnesses to Tatsumi and Sheele's love that they could see. Sheele looked at the stars and spotted the constellations: The Giant, the Dragon, the Gryphon, and the Hammer, but she searched for one group of stars and found them: the lovers in the outline she saw herself and Tatsumi.

Granted however the stars weren't the only witness to their romance, Ibbin watched from afar and observed with Omar the love Sheele had for Tatsumi. "Omar it reminds me of Khana; the same passion we had for each other, on a night like this, I'm so happy for my Sheele, my little girl has finally grown up and found happiness" Ibbin commented to his monkey who ooked in replied. "Maybe you will find love someday to Omar, I think I could arrange that if you want" Ibbin commented, then left the two to make love in peace.

Momentarily… Tatsumi had come inside Sheele and they had changed positions, he sat on the ridge of springs allowing Sheele to wrap her breasts around his length and massage them, she also took the tip in her mouth and gave him head; she was nice and sweet Tatsumi took a look at her then at the stars and spotted the Lovers constellation and smiled, he then looked at another set of stars and looked at them and saw Sheele's face in them, then another and saw Aria, and another seeing Esdeath, he looked at each set of stars each one he saw the women he loved and not just as stars their faces in his mind's eye. He just let those thoughts relax him as he let Sheele please him to the best of her ability he was so relaxed that when he finally came, he didn't notice, he let out a lot enough that Sheele wasn't able to swallow it all and it bukkaked her breasts and face. "Tatsumi" Sheele commented breaking him out his daze and causing him to realize the mess he made.

"Sheele, I'm sorry I was so relaxed I didn't even realize I came" Tatsumi apologized.

"Don't be; I actually like this; your seed is both sweet and salty making it yummy" Sheele replied. "So, what are you going to do now?" Sheele replied.

"Give you what you love most" Tatsumi replied then moved her over and took her in her ass; Sheele moaned as he pulled her against his chest as he thrust inside her extremely tight cavity, doing so at the same relaxed pace she loved, she turned and kissed him as they passionately made love; the warm water covering them to their shoulders as they loved each other.

Their lovemaking continued for another hour before they dried off and returned to HQ, waving to Gin who had replaced Merraid for the first Night Watch, before retiring to Tatsumi's room for more lovemaking. The following morning, they woke in warm sheets and each other's arms their genitals still merged, they then made love for another half hour before dressing for the day.

That day was big day Tatsumi and Sheele were going to be married, Nea was also going to be married to Tatsumi. That Afternoon in the temple of the Gods Tatsumi waited at the alter next to Ieyasu, Lubbock and Bulat in their best suits. "Bro you are lucky I never thought I'd see the day Sheele got married, didn't think we'd live that long" Bulat commented.

"Don't worry Bro I'm glad this a good day, I'm not going to worry about the war or politics or any problems; today is a special day; I'm getting married to my tenth and eleventh wives and I'm happy about it" Tatsumi replied.

"I'm glad for you too, granted ladies aren't my type but I'm happy all the same that you've found love" Bulat added.

"Yeah today's good day Tatsumi, this is a great occasion" Ieyasu commented.

"Yeah it is, and to think none of this would have happened if you hadn't gotten the idea to try and strike it rich in the Capital" Tatsumi replied.

"Hey it may have been a dangerous journey to get here and we have to fight to keep the happiness and wealth we've earned but I have no regrets for making that decision" Ieyesu agreed.

"I'm happy for you all the same Tatsumi, granted I've got my Yami and I don't think any other woman apart from her and Najenda could fill my heart and I'm happy for you and Najenda" Lubbock commented.

The Organ then played here comes the bride as two brides stepped forward. Sheele wore a lovely purple gown which was a mixture of the Chong-san she usually wore and a gown in the southern style, the purples were shades of deep royal purple, lavender, lilac and fuchsia, she wore a fine vail which was also in the southern style and wore her hair in fine bun. Nea on the other hand wore a dark indigo and lime green gown that was decorated with dragonflies, she also wore a set of dragonfly wings and a dragonfly headdress, the gown made her look radiant her hair was still as it normally was and Tatsumi noted her pale eyes, she may have been blind and probably would be that way unless Dorothea could come up with some brilliant science, bar that happening though she'd probably never see his face; he hoped that in the next life they'd meet again and she could see him. Their coat tails were carried by three bridesmaids each, Sheele's being carried by Mine Seryu and Cosmina, while three of Tatsumi's concubines carried Nea's. Air, Fal and Luna thru flowers in their path before taking their seats next to Aria, Angela and Constantine, Tatsumi was happy to see them as a happy family, he noted also his other friends, his teammates from Night Raid who still had concealed identities, the Jaegers, Esdeath, his concubines, and a number of other people he'd helped over his time in the Capital.

Tatsumi was glad to see Sayo and Clementine among them, in fact he was amazed at how many people he could call either friends or family, the diverse mix of people from various walks of life and families all here to witness a ceremony that would grow his large family even bigger. "I've always wanted to have a family, a real one, I never knew my parents but I hope they are happy looking down on this from heaven" Tatsumi thought as Sheele and Nea arrived next to him, the Bridesmaids and Men of honor moved aside to allow Tatsumi to take his place, Tatsumi then put the rings on both of their fingers and they put theirs on his pinky which was unadorned, the priest then recited the prayers and then the vows for them Tatsumi and his brides recited them, then said "I do" and then Tatsumi found himself bombarded by Kisses from both Nea and Sheele, he had to admit for someone who'd never kissed someone before Nea was a good kisser and Sheele; well she was Sheele the Grandmaster of the Guild of the Sorrowful Ones, member of Night Raid, his mentor and lover, and now his wife.

That Night came the honeymoon… Tatsumi let Sheele and Nea remove his clothes then they removed their underwear, it was the first time he'd seen Nea naked and her figure showed ample D-cups and a small but cute rear; Sheele let her go first. "Tatsumi be gentle" Nea requested

"Don't worry I will, this will hurt at first but after it's an amazing experience, and even better when we do it in the future it won't hurt" Tatsumi explained, Nea came forward to him, she looked at his length, remembered she couldn't see and touched it and felt it.

"It's so big I'm not sure it will fit" Nea replied after examining the length and noting it felt rather long.

"Don't worry, you won't know unless you try" Tatsumi replied, Nea hesitated then crawled over to him, Sheele then held it in place for her and Nea put it in; it went halfway in before arriving at her barrier, she then closed her eyes even though she couldn't see then allowed herself to come all the way down, shattering the barrier, blood flowed as she began to go up and down, Tatsumi sat up and pulled her back and kissed her; Nea moaned into the kiss, he caressed her rear with his hands, then broke the kiss and laid back to allow Sheele to set on him so he could please her too with his tongue, Nea bounced up and down moaning cute moans Sheele moaned then kissed Nea to her surprise and held her tight.

"Don't worry Nea, it hurt me too at first (ugh) but it gets better Tatsumi knows where to find your happy spots" Sheele comforted and hugged her as they continued to enjoy Tatsumi's tongue and dick; both finding and giving their special places in their womanhoods absolute bliss. Tatsumi kept going for about 10 minutes before he came filling Nea with his seed, not knowing he had gotten her pregnant. She climbed off, Tatsumi then held it in front of Nea's face. "Suck it, it's amazing" Sheele commented, Nea felt it and then took his whole length in her mouth without thinking, it pushed pretty far back too ignoring her gag-reflex, she then sucked it and licked it, Tatsumi leaned back and she continued then taking it inside her going up and down, she then pulled out and wrapped her breasts around it before continuing, Sheele returned to Tatsumi's face and kissed him before letting him drink from her breasts.

Nea kept stimulating him and soon Tatsumi came again, she swallowed the whole load without even tasting it because it she had completely deepthroated him at the time she then pulled out, Tatsumi then took her anally and Nea moaned as her black cherry was popped, he held her pigtails as he did so, gently though as he felt her blue-black hair and kept riding her, Sheele kissed him as he did so, eventually coming inside her. Nea passed out from a lack of stamina.

Tatsumi then took Sheele and the two kissed after wrapping Nea in a blanket, which they themselves rolled under, they were sweaty but that didn't matter Tatsumi drank once more from Sheele's breasts as he entered her. "Tatsumi-kun; you are the only man for me and I don't think I'd ever find anyone better; you are my green eyed Angel and I'm your purple eyed goddess; I'm not sorry for this; no regrets; though I wish Mine hadn't cried her eyes out after the ceremony because I beat her to him, well I think we can fix that; and I'll let her wear as much pink as she wants" Sheele thought as they kept banging.

Meanwhile… A noble man loyal to Honest named Karl Figanhof was enjoying his favorite hobby; making a young ten-year-old girl his plaything as he sheathed himself in her, he also watched as his servents raped three woman he'd gotten off the streets as payment for them providing the girl. His thoughts were interrupted as something appeared, a portal, out of which stepped a figure in polished white armor made of an alloy he'd never seen before or would ever see again, for this was one of the last things he saw as a white bladed sword was drawn, the knight as his armor suggested moved quick and ruthlessly dispatched the 20 men who were busy raping the woman before turning to Karl who used the girl as a shield, hoping that would protect him, it didn't the Knight vanished and appeared behind him and decapitated him, the girl looked at him in awe.

"You're free now little girl you and the others, you won't have to undergo this horrible man's actions ever again, I've killed all his guards and I will take you and the women somewhere safe" The Knight explained then handed clothes to the girl and women, and escorted them thru the portal leaving the bodies in his wake.

Akame then arrived with her mission team at the manor of Figanhof only to find the entire place strewn with Corpses.