Akame ga Kiru

The Imperial Saber

Chapter Thirty Seven

Every inch and fiber within his body caused the young Colonel to wheeze in air through his constricting helm. It seemed like every second felt an eternity as pain seemingly slammed into him on all sides, the forces creating concussive waves to slam into his skeleton. Biting his lips to the point where blood started to trail down his cheeks, Tatsumi dimly looked up in a hazy vision of gray and white to see the world. At first nothing seemed amiss when his arm remained in its thrown position when he couldn't stand by to remain idle to see those who he swore to protect to die. Nothing in this world could, or would make him do anything less in this situation.

So he had mustered all the strength he could to literally force his limb to throw his saber towards his target.

"Akame."

Agony ripped into his arm, thin metallic wires had slipped in through his armor to literally start constricting the flesh underneath. His act of desperation only served to further entrap him with the metal actually cutting through his uniform and flesh in one fluid motion. Tatsumi would rather damn himself to hell now then allow another good person, a friend no less to die right in front of him and to not do anything was disgusting. Bracing whatever impact for his actions were one thing, but to actually realize who would exert those consequences were completely in another sense. The young Colonel had to physically stop himself from screaming at first, but he might as well have been walking into flames.

The horned teigu creature literally start to crush his body into oblivion itself.

Pain.

And it came in spades from it's source.

"How much longer can I bend before breaking? How much longer?"

Standing over his strung up body did the horned teigu's weapon repeatedly slammed into his armored back and sides. Tatsumi felt tears leaking down from his eyes because of his body's natural reaction to that feeling called pain, his mind refused to show any sign of weakness to the enemy. However his body betrayed itself even though his will had remained iron-clad in his resistance to ignore, the young Colonel soon realized just why. He was starting to break physically and nothing could save his damned flesh in being exposed to the torment that rained down around the armor that encased his entirety. Quite simply it made his vision have small flashes of light every time he blinked.

Everything just hurt without any regard to how it moved.

"Monster! You're a monster, you're a monster!"

Tatsumi cried out enraged as those damning whispers came back to crawl into his ears. They were gripping at his spirit, or maybe it was his soul that the dead wanted to consume. He wanted to cry, but it only served to make the voices come back violently as they were clawing into his being. Flesh became an irrelevant issue as finger like phantom manifestations sliced into his face, they were clawing away at him piece by piece.

"Die you bastard! Die!"

Why in the hell did they want him to admit that word over and over again!

"You're nothing! Murderer!"

Drilling sensations crushed into the back of his skull as he continuously cried out seeking an end to the guilt that came from those who were beyond the veil of mortality. Did he truly feel as if he were going mad, or was this just the damned guilt finally peaking over the damn that was his will to continue onwards? Whatever the answer to those questions would ever be decided, Tatsumi just cried out as it consumed all of his senses to send him nearly to the ground.

It never relented the assault in any given warning.

Each of his legs were wobbling dangerously as the cumbersome weight of the darkened armor became all too apparent. He struggled viciously to gain any sort of will to remain upright, but his body couldn't handle the strain that his mind clung too. Every slamming sensation jolted his skeleton to the point in where it hurt to even stand now, the young Imperial seemingly wanted this torment to end. As much as he wished, or begged for this agony to stop he knew for certain it'd only be the beginning.

It hurt so god damned painfully.

Yet it gave him a strength to remain defiant to whatever forces that conspired to end his time among the living!

The armor groaned and strained when another skull jolting hit nearly sent him into a forced unconsciousness. Baring his teeth behind the dented helm, Tatsumi struggled to even life his head. As he did so, his eyes were burning so intently that he felt a hot warmth trickle down his cheeks. Gasping for air while all the surges of rage and utter desperation caused him to screamed to himself. It was a feeble attempt to starve off his body's natural tolerance to shut down because of the trauma his nervous system was experiencing, "Don't you dare! Don't you dare close your eyes, you told yourself this was going to happen if you fought for change Tatsumi! You will not succumb to them! And you will refuse to be helpless again. So don't you fucking dare fall!"

Boiling droplets were leaking past his chin at this point as the ragged breaths were growing louder and louder.

"Murderer! You're no different from the rest of them!"

Damn those voices as they hounded around his inner ears akin to rabid dogs ready to pounce on a meal.

"Die murderer die! Just die!"

If only reality would've given him such a merciful option to end this maddening torment. That maybe would have ended this pain, the unyielding pressurized madness as if infected every pore and inch of his exposed flesh to the metallic prison. As much as he wished for such a mercy, Tatsumi realized a cruel truth in the world as it had been already so clear. No matter how much he denied it, no matter how much it took and no matter what he thought, it boiled down to simply the real face of this world as it spun.

Mercy itself was a lie.

It was never given to anything, or anyone who didn't deserve it.

One of his knees threatened to cave under the weight as his strength started to flee into a gaping drain. It felt like the armor was crushing him literally alive as the metal refused to defend the battered form of his flesh and bone without remorse. Every hit became a boulder seemingly crushing his fading resistance, Tatsumi bit the inside of his cheek to stop the screaming within a moment. Coppery liquid spewed past his lips, the warmth alone creating a bland taste that nearly sent his stomach to revolt. It seemed nearly impossible to move yet alone try to break free, so it essentially became impossible to even remain conscious to combat his enemies.

"What more Strafe?"

What else did this damned teigu want from him?

"What else do you want me to do?"

Just what the fuck did it want him to do?

"WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!"

Shaking his head did the young Colonel bleakly look to the origin of the stabbing impalement inside his arm. The metal on his forearm seemingly became a darkish blend of red and an incomprehensible pit of an abyss, maybe he was dying. Unsurprisingly the young man started to laugh insanely aware of how transparent the armor seemingly became to his gaze, the darkened matter slithering up his arm like an infestation of vines that were making every moment a living hell. In fact his eyes burned as something akin to claws were racking down his very face it seemed, the lines were moving upwards into his shoulders and were crushing his throat.

Another blow nearly sent him to his knees once more.

Immediately he began to gag as convulsions were slamming into what was left of his iron-clad will to remain standing. Bit by bit, Tatsumi felt himself starting to fade as every second to blink seemed to be an eternity. Once his eyes shut, it seemed almost fleeting to lean back as if to sleep. Although his snapped open wide when he shook his head left to right violently, he kept on biting his inner cheek to get whatever fresh pain to remain awake. It seemingly became an oppressive feeling to resist an urge to sleep yet it frightened him to the point in where he'd do anything to stop it! He had to find a way, any way to prevent it and again it seemed nearly impossible.

Ironically enough the young Colonel knew inside his heart, the bitter truth.

It was obvious since day one.

He had set out to achieve the impossible dream of changing his country for the better. It seemed so right to wish for the betterment of his home, his village and to change everything to make anyone seemingly never have to endure a hellish existence. But the reality was he couldn't change it as he was now, Tatsumi wanted to shed the tears for that cursed realization yet there wasn't anything left to shed. Honestly he couldn't have the power nor the strength to move the world in itself, it just wasn't possible for any lone person to shift anything of that magnitude.

It still didn't stop him.

Nothing hadn't deterred him to fight for change within his home.

So what else did a weapon that impaled itself into his very body want? What more did he have to give to achieve power, just what else did it want? Forcing himself to remain rigid despite the forces crushing him into a bleak existence of life, the Imperial soldier refused to die like a pathetic dog as it stood before a firing squad. Tatsumi heaved out a mix of liquids to have spew between the gaps of his helm to hit the ground, the rain water doing little to wash away the potency of how much his body refused to succumb to the agony it was inflicted.

Absently his fists clenched to the point in where his knuckles cracked on the free limb that had saved Bols's life on the battlefield.

The wires were slicing into his flesh for his efforts to save his comrade's life, he had done all he had could and it wasn't changing the fact that the Jaegers were going to die. They were going to die right in front of him and here he was as always, so fucking powerless and damned weak to prevent anything. Was that what the teigu on his arm wanted him to experience? Or was his mind finally just breaking after years and years of suppressing the ominous impossibility of changing anything for the better for the Empire? Did anything he had gone through just amount to literally nothing, or did all of his suffering for a better future suddenly all so worthless in itself?

Questions amounted into his doubts.

"What else must I do? Am I finally done with my dreams?"

Yet that wasn't end of it all.

It was just the start of something much more crueler.

Ever so cruelly these doubts ate away at his will in which started to dim into darkness, his vision flickered yet again. Pulsations were crushing the very organ that struggled to keep his body among the living, his heart lurched as he screamed when knives practically stabbed all over his chest. It was too much for him to handle, the young man desperately wanted to end it all at this moment. He wanted it to end, the pain, the suffering and that terror in knowing he was failing to even uphold what little morals that he vowed to uphold all those years ago. Fingers were going numb as the nerve endings were assaulted under an immense duress that forced him to finally succumb to that weight that filtered across his shoulders.

Tatsumi fell to his knees as the latest blow struck him dead in the center of his spinal column.

"Is this how far I can go? To die here?"

Coughing loudly to stop both eyelids from drooping into a potential fatal darkness, the young man mustered what was left of his ability to remain awake. Every pore on his skin became a like a lead weight, it became a chained prison that made lifting any limb impossible. Breathing was all what he had left to remain defiant to the agony which made his very flesh swarm into an internal coldness. As much as he wanted to laugh at how pathetic he felt, Tatsumi just shook silently unable to force the noises insides his throat to show how much it truly crushed him. It seemed that his dreams were truly a damned myth, nothing seemed to ever go right and nothing in his experiences had ever gone in any way for hope to survive.

Hope had become that mythical dream.

The world would never change for a mere dream.

One word would sum it all up once the Colonel's eyes moved to the heavens. He watched as the storm seemingly ignored the pleas that had been sent through to the one who he had prayed for hope. Tatsumi just looked up blankly to see the lighting flash across the darkened skies, the wind howling past the gaps in his ears to create a mere whipping sound to sting his ears. The world kept on spinning and it ignored anything that relied on it to change, it ignored everything and in return anything had been allowed to flourish under its gaze.

As such for a dream of his own to have been hope.

"Pathetic."

It had truly been impossible to achieve as he was now.

Finally laughter seeped into his throat as the pain lessened during his fall to the ground. Laughter roared past his lips when it finally sunk in that he had been fighting an impossible amount of odds in which the world refused to budge. Tatsumi just laughed completely in earnest, tears were still fresh and the stress his entire being had endured released itself in a fleeting feeling of freedom. He laughed so loudly and utterly fed up that he could control the shaking sensations that rocked his core, the Colonel couldn't believe how much he clung to hope despite the reality of the situation right in front of him. He didn't want to believe that everything seemed so bleak.

Throughout his laughter it seemed the crushing blows had ceased.

"It's pathetic!"

Again Tatsumi just laughed because of the timing as he took in a deep breath to ease himself back into what little sanity he felt he had left. Tears of grief turned into droplets of resignation that sung as the armor seemingly stopped constricting his entire body. It stopped almost as if mocking him in realizing that he honestly had been lying to himself, the cold yet true reality of the world was that it would never change without anyone realizing their truths. The young Colonel allowed the black blade that remained clenched in his hand to let go.

The weapon released itself from his numbed fingers.

His eyes kept track of it's descent only to watch to it fall to the ground with a brief clank, it fell off to te side despite the muddied earth he could see everything in a perfect clarity. As the blades surface reflected his own murky helm on its exterior. Idly he started down at it for a moment before blinking once to return his gaze to stare upwards. Kneeling there defeated in these rain showers did little to hide the fact that his own purpose to atone for all the horror and sin he had committed felt all for naught. Nothing in this world felt even remotely close to the crushing depth of despair that was the hole inside his chest, Tatsumi felt literally nothing but a defeated feeling.

It seemed strange to honestly resign himself, it felt nearly peaceful...

"Boy, where did you find this armor?"

Numbly aware of a baritone voice asking him that question, the young Colonel realized it was from the very being that sent him to the ground. Tilting his head back to see the grayed out face of the horned human like teigu, his vision was impaired by flecks of blackened flashes appearing in the sky. Why did the world seem so full of sickness? It looked almost as if reality were diseased in a way, the bleak and ultimately depressing feel the very air seemingly wafted over the winds. Just why did he feel sick? So sick that even his stomach twisted when he stared around trying to see the world through this accursed teigu.

Absently he cracked his head when the relief surged forward as the weight was lifted briefly.

Even through this reprieve from the pains that were unrelenting, it seemed he was asked a question. A highly amusing and confusing question, but a question that nonetheless required an answer. Dimly smiling did the young man reply to its origin almost bemused, "Funny. Why should you even care for such an answer? Aren't you my enemy, teigu? It's an odd thing for something like yourself to ask, I know your master doesn't give damn since she's so keen on capturing me, alive." If it wasn't the fact that his enemy had asked such a question Tatsumi would've laughed openly at such a curiosity.

Nothing really made sense anymore.

The horned man stared down at his kneeling form with a gaze akin to uneasiness. It seemed to spark an emotion strangely familiar to concern as the man's orbs were tracking ever inch of the metallic carapace. A pulse of pain caused it's owner to grin ever more interested at the sudden demand from his captor. The staff like weapon idly remained in a readied position to crush his skull in yet Tatsumi couldn't imagine the teigu disobeying its master's orders to keep him alive.

Somehow the horned weapon voiced the question on hand, "I'll say it again boy! Just where did you find it? Answer me!"

A smile split across the concealed young Imperial's face, he smiled completely bemused at such an odd interest in his armor. The chuckle slipped past his lips to make it nearly sound warped, the horned adversary took a step pack as the artificial wings shifted briefly to make the wiring strain. Metal started to groan and stress itself as the entrapped Colonel started to laugh ever so more loudly, the helms burning orbs of red were staring directly at the horned teigu's own constructs. Thunder boomed above them loudly enough to create a small tremor due to the sound itself crashing into the earth to rock the very fabric of reality.

More so neither one of the two refused to look away.

The young Colonel flexed all of his fingers while replying all the more agonizingly bemused, "Ha! Why so serious? Aren't you going to gloat or something, teigu? Your masters in that damned revolution should say otherwise, I mean what else would those who preach for a new country say to a prisoner who fights against them?" That sarcasm wasn't lost on the human like weapon, the horned creature's eyes were narrowed as if trying to understand what was in front of him. Tatsumi just laughed while allowing his fingers to idly release the tension inside both hands now.

Susanoo showed no indication of the bite in the younger boy's tone, even so he brought the weapon in his own grip to be at ready. Almost nimbly he prepared the more heavier portion to be aligned to smash into the side of the captive Imperial soldier's skull.

Through the lessened pains that weren't inflicted upon his flesh, the young Colonel looked down to see that those blackened lines weren't receding back to their epicenter on his arm. Oddly enough the lines were slipping into the shoulder and increasing it's pace in crossing over past his chest. A wave of subtle agony made him wince briefly yet he gritted both parts of his jawline to ignore it. The more he seemingly ignored the pains themselves, it became tolerable in a weird sense to somehow be able to convert it into a means to an end. Pain and more pain seemingly built up within his muscles, it became a never ending crushing wave of sensations to force him to gasp out loud.

It never ended, it kept on going and it refused to die!

"I don't understand. I cannot fathom in why I am feeling such a large sense of dread from you boy. It is the first time since I have awakened have I felt such an emotion, one considered to be impossible." This admission caused Tatsumi to tilt his head curiously at the biological weapon as it stared at him intently. Truly it'd be a first to say that he'd ever meet a human like teigu capable of communicating towards any human, so the idea that this thing was feeling anything wasn't remotely far-fetched. The young soldier distantly remembered the eccentric doctor's own words filtering almost playfully into his ears, Dr. Stylish's theory seemingly echoed inside his mind.

His heart painfully beat against within as he thought about those words.

"Do they want us to use them, or do they want us to be used by them?"

An odd thing to consider.

Heat flashed in the back of his skull as he hissed when images of burning crosses crushed themselves onto the forefront of his brain. The faces were screaming horribly at him, they were damning him and yet such a image only served to make him wish to end it all. The past knew let go because of what he had done as such, it'd tear into him over and over until the day he passed onwards into hell. The young Colonel blinked as the question arose in his mind, a haunting prospect that made the fear grow along with the agony that flourished.

Was he being used by the very weapon he desired to use?

"Who is controlling who I wonder, is it you or I, Strafe?"

Glancing down towards the metallic carapace, the young Colonel blinked absently to feel the pressure that his teigu exerted to fade away briefly. A surge of adrenaline caused him to feel light headed to see that the lines were forming into links? Tatsumi couldn't believe in what he was seeing forming at the base of his wrists, links akin to chains were started to form in a muddled mess as those blackened lines were trailing into both of his forearms now. Why was this armor suddenly lifting its weight off his shoulders, so just what the hell triggered it to seemingly entice him now?

The doubts were fleeing consistently into a darkened corner of his mind.

"Does it matter really? As long as my goals are accomplished, why should it matter if one of us is really in control? To accomplish anything impossible, I might as well start trying to defy it and for once I don't give a damn."

And an epiphany arose in this swirling mass of unrestrained release.

Tatsumi finally began to see the enemy.

Lifting his eyes back to the horned teigu did lighting flash brightly above him. Ironically enough there wasn't any feeling dread, or terror coursing inside his veins and to be fair, it felt nearly surreal. This inexplicable sensation really made Tatsumi speechless, he couldn't even say a word to explain in what his body was going through. That crawling sensation reached his neck to traverse down into his back, the subtle movement of muscles and bones making him shudder underneath the helm once again. His silence made the teigu standing over him grip it's weapon ever so tightly, a flicker of frustration and demanding obedience was commanded in that living weapon's gaze.

But it held no power over him.

"I will not bow to those who want me dead, I will not bow to those who declare a war on me and I will not break against those who want to kill innocents."

No enemy was going to force him to reveal anything against his will.

The words spilled out into the night to cause the horned man's expression grow to grow ever more hostile. Alone did the defiance could have made anyone in his position angered, "You seek answers and you shall never hear them. I will never willingly choose to give you answers, as enemies of the Empire and of my own, I shall never see you earn that right." Sussano stared bewilderingly at the kneeling Imperial who seemingly didn't even flinch as his bounds were cutting into him. In fact the young man started to make an effort to stand onto his own two feet, this very action making the earth itself crumble.

Rock and dirt alike started to crack as the young Colonel slowly planted his limbs to stand.

"Where have I felt this sensation? Where?" A whispering series of questions echoed as the horned man watched with a stunned look.

Both of the blackened wings flapped to make the wiring strain, the biological teigu stared at the metallic wiring that originated from another teigu. The strength alone to make metal groan as if in danger of snapping made the horned construct raise his weapon. He had to stop this sensation from growing, he had to stop this madness before it could spawn anew! Sussano flicked the staff like weapon to have the more blunt edge aimed directly over the downed Colonel's skull, here the biological weapon truly felt a wave of nausea form within his own body. Something didn't feel right in the world, the very air split and the earth started to crumble due to something that truly didn't feel remotely natural.

Numbly Tatsumi watched the weapon raise over his head.

Through the slits of the helm taking in all the details as darkened lines were creeping from the edge of his peripherals. Absently he gave them a moment's glance, they were like worms and as such they were squirming to stab into the sides of his eyes. Pain ran fresh throughout the depth of his mind, it hurt to the point where whitish spots were appearing at random to mask the grayed out form of the teigu man in front to deliver his strike. Despite the fresh waves that assaulted all of the senses attuned to his own flesh, the young Colonel didn't feel anxious or remotely afraid to see the sharpened spikes activate on the staff like weapon.

Inch by inch his knees pressed themselves to allow him to stand.

"I will not break to you. No matter what I've become, no matter how far I've tried to change. I will remain absolute in one thing. It is that I choose to never break against those who are my enemies. I choose to stand." These thoughts were swarming into a thunderous mantra that seemingly echoed inside his heart. Each beating second created vibrations as he refused to die like a dog, he refused to die and he'd choose to do whatever it took to achieve an impossibility that seemed like a dream. The young Colonel felt a wave of amusement surge to offer a way out.

He started to laugh out loud completely ready to accept it.

"I get it."

The enemy wasn't just those who stood against him.

As much as he wanted to end it all, he'd have to start anew to reach that reality defying sensation to achieve a dream. Maybe for once he'd acknowledge the truth, he had become insane and that maddening truth alone set him free. His eyes were growing wider and wide as Tatsumi realized in a fit of clarity of freedom. Freedom wasn't a lie, dreams weren't impossible to attain because nothing came to say it'd be as such. The swarms of black lines were starting to eat away at everything he perceived in the world to see the skies turn a disgusting diseased coloration with streaks of light flaking within the depths of it's conception.

Dreams only seemed impossible yet it didn't meant that it was truly unattainable.

An illusion of control.

"Esdeath." The smiling visage of his blue haired fiance fleeted across his mind's eye, he couldn't help but grin at the past conversation she once uttered. It definitely made it all the more ironic that he was heeding her words in the face of overwhelming odds, "Well call me crazy! I guess she wasn't wrong in saying there is an illusion, somewhere and I think it has been holding me back. It's just so fucking odd to understand it."

An ever growing smirk seemingly came to life within his enshrouded helmet.

"The illusion of control, the enemy! It is all made by me."

Tatsumi realized that his dream wasn't impossible and his body twisted as the armor itself started to condense onto his flesh. Metal pressurized anything that wasn't coming into contact, flesh melded into steel and nothing less became apparent as agony ripped through his spine. Screams were meaningless to this painful bond that refused to allow him reprieve, the young soldier gasped as tears trickled down his cheeks to gain the very first of many to attain a forgiveness that wouldn't ever be realized. Every image of many who had died, the many who were slaughtered by his very hands no less and they had marked him as such as a sin stained a man.

The weight of sin itself.

"The real enemy is..."

It had been confined for years to be lying in wait as it ate away within.

"Myself."

Cracks were appearing all around himself, both feet were implanting the epicenter as the earth strained and let loose a dull groan. The wires which were keen on keeping in place were straining as low yet clear twangs were extending all along its lengths. Blackened wings became intent on struggling as they fluttered and strained to spread themselves to test their shackled confinements once more. Nerves were flaring to life as Tatsumi steadied himself as pain remained, it remained to remind him that such moments were indeed a truth in this world. As much as he wanted to admit it, the shame and guilt ate away at his sense of acknowledgment.

It fell upon him to admit it.

He doubted that it'd ever be impossible to achieve what he desired. For nothing had ever been freely given to him for nothing was easily to attain. Nothing would ever be free unless one had to suffer and to inexplicably strive for to become a reality, it hurt to know that he couldn't do such a thing as easily as any other. A smile reflected the bitterness inside his heart which had been releasing its fleeting movements to move liquid through all his own veins. Glancing up to the skies one last time as his fresh sadness washed over him.

He knew what he'd have too do.

Staring forward into the heavens, the young Colonel witnessed the blackened lines swarming over his very eyes. They were creeping and surging into minuscule chained links to conceal everything that he perceived the world itself. Nothing gray, or faded out remained as a deepening darkness encroached with it fore fronting from behind him. A soft caressing wind slyly sided into his face's senses, the soft yet deliberate trails of a colder breeze caused him to merely turn his neck to see something truly out of this world.

Blackened wings which had wafts of blackened mists were fully extended to have their ends curl almost possessively towards the center of his chest.

Chains which appeared to be fading into reality almost like a mirage, they were starting to trickle down from behind him despite the fact the teigu man was staring at him akin to confusion. Tatsumi couldn't show his face due to the fact the helm protected and confined all of his features yet he still smiled. A smile worthy of the fact he felt himself becoming a damned individual who knew that to achieve any sort of forgiveness, he'd have to do something completely impossible. Well it only seemed to be impossible as the pain inside his heart peaked to have him cry out as the armor rigidly kept his spine aligned.

Green glazed orbs turned to see the origins that were impaling onto his wrist.

"I think I understand you, Strafe. Or maybe I'm trying to understand myself, finally."

Lightning like pains were striking him in his back as it arched in response to the agony. Struggling naturally only served to make it worse as the young Imperial exhaled sharply to cope with its intensive existence. Eventually he grew to stare up at the very same image that haunted him since venturing to the Observer's fortress some time ago. His eyes were now trailing hotter droplets that didn't appear to be water that matched the tears. Those tears had fallen to their end and now the only thing left to fall wasn't just merely salty water.

They were weights binding him to the ground.

Strafe's appearance became all too clear as he stared up at the chained creature hovering just mere feet above his helmet.

"So you appear, why?"

Pale skin and hair that seemed to flow in the wind were only the beginning to the entity itself. Sewn shut eyelids were staring down at him with a smile that became more and more lively at it's target. This teigu creature wasn't human as Tatsumi found himself floating in a sensation close to disbelief as the winged entity curled it's massive wingspan to conceal the world from his view. Instinctively his body reacted to struggle when his hands were grasping at nothing yet everything, the bones aligned to keep him standing vertically were trembling as if to break him from within and his face started to tingle when fingers dug into both sides of his face.

This entity's expression became a mere smile.

One so full of sorrow that it made Tatsumi start to cry out even as his flesh was being ripped open.

Both sewn eyelids started to tremble as small strings were unraveling to release droplets of misty like water which dissipated on their descent. The young Colonel didn't want to imagine yet he had to ask what in the name of God could have mankind create this weapon? No, a weapon alone couldn't have identified with what in the hell this creature's identity. Despite these questions that sent his spirit into pieces, Tatsumi refused to look away to see this female like entity descend closer towards him. He started gagging violently when a sense of rot assaulted his senses, so sudden that even the shackles holding him into the earth started to strain when his wings renewed their bid for freedom.

He watched the entities lips morph into a small yet impeccable grin

A trembling voice that bordered onto sheer disbelief and rejection made the glazed orbs move back to the enemy that held his weapon overhead. The normally stoic horned man was staring at the kneeling Colonel with a look of sheer horror. The question that followed barely made any dent in what his body had been going through as the fingers were digging upwards towards his eyes, "No, no, no! This is impossible, I haven't felt a sensation like this since I was created." Really nothing in the world seemed humanely natural anymore to the shackled soldier, hell he honestly didn't give a damn for what this enemy said to him in his imprisoned state.

Sussano looked down at the boy demanding that he answer!

"This can't be right, I've heard this of creature before yet I do not have the present memory to understand it! It's impossible that you can't have found it, it should have been forgotten to time itself! It should have been destroyed! So how in the name of the creators did you find this abomination boy? Answer me!"

No response had been given as the artificial construct gave a stern glaring to the shackled boy who stared back at him. While no teigu could be considered alive, Sussano was a one of a kind creation whose very existence could relate to be a generally acceptable example to mimic in being human. However emotions were always never set in stone for something remarkably designed to be human, the weapon himself clearly felt a surge of dread and clear anxiety at the trembling prisoner. He had not been blind to the environment reacting and changing before his very gaze no less!

He had to end this monstrosity whose very presence had awakened a distant familiarity to an emotion that all humans knew instinctively.

Fear.

That word alone held a meaning to weigh down those who were effected by its presence, but it truly had manifested to the one who knelt in a prison of chains. Links that held no physical form were slithering within his wrists, they were akin to snakes and as all serpents did they have a common feeling to inspire terror at their formidable danger. Coils were slipping around his forearms to traverse near his shoulders, the metal creaking and groaning as it conformed to a constrictors grip to crush any resistance within the lungs. Knuckles bled white when they cracked underneath the metallic gauntlets that seemingly started to reach for the weapon embedded in the soaked earth.

Inch by inch the blade quivered when outstretched fingers gravitated towards the grip.

One foot planted itself into the ground as air started to blow upwards, Tatsumi felt the entity that hovered over his shackled form trace his face. Its fingers were inscribed with numerous Imperial dialect texts that weren't capable of being used in the present, an age far gone did it's origins await in secret and did it reveal itself to be sought. "I know what I have to do, I think I get it now. It's not about trying to resist, it's not about trying to change anything and it's not what I fear. It starts with a simple thing, something so simple that I've forgotten how it all began." The entity spread it's palms whose flesh seemingly wasn't alive with liquid to indicate a mortal being. No warmth could be felt as those palms crushed against his temples as chains formed behind.

Tatsumi jerked sharply as he hissed while getting his other foot planted into the ground.

Nothing was impossible!

It only seemed to be impossible.

Distantly he heard a far away voice shout in a growing alarm, "Master! Fall back! Now!" Almost being suffocated the young soldier groaned as the words washed over him, the wires were straining openly now. Tatsumi nearly started to vomit as that rotting smell entered his nostrils, the entity above him seemingly caressed his face in a manner of someone who was fluently intrigued at what was in front of them.

The ground trembled as it violently started to split apart to have pieces of granite splinter in mid-air all around him.

"Understood!"

Voices of those who were his enemies spilled back to register as his heart rated slowed down, the young Colonel just cracked his neck to ward off a pain within. His eyes flickered to the weapon as it was expertly adjusted to reveal spiked edges spinning rapidly along the staff. Exhaling deeply the helmet around his head started to crack as the staff like weapon of his enemy started to move itself to strike him down. The enemy wanted to kill him, he understood that and he understood that to do anything one had to start at basics.

Metal started to shimmer away into flakes of misty pieces as the world started to become bright once more.

Whatever this entity that ensnared him, whatever it desired or whatever it wanted from him was irrelevant from this point onwards. Tatsumi watched literally in a daze as the helmet started to break away to have rain wash away the tears that were staining his flesh, the tears of suffering and resistance had been eroded into a more simpler form of acknowledgment. If one had to fall to the bottom of what they had feared, then they would fall for a reason to atone knowing that they'd never be forgiven if they simply refused to do what was necessary.

As in the tales of old that were told throughout the Empire, it was when those had fallen to where nothing could be seen then they decided.

For everyone of those who had fallen.

They would have to earn that right to rise up again.

"If have I fallen to where I no longer consider myself anything, then I'll do what I had done since that night in where I killed all of those villager. I'll make my choice here and now, I'll never break but I will accept that I have bent to those who have made my home a sinned existence. I can't ever become what I have dreamed to seek, I can't ever become what I dearly wish. And for that, I'll accept that I'm nothing but a disgrace as a person."

He watched the weapon descend from its position above his head, Tatsumi smiled as he felt the air shift and the ground broke under the weight of his acceptance in what he had done. There was no hope for those who kept denying what they were, that denial ate away at his resolve and it ate away at everything he had stood for at the beginning. But in the end, the guilt had built up far too much as he started to shed tears for those who he had slain on his descent into madness. He had cried for so much and had to yet to earn the right to stand up for those who were dead.

It always hurt to accept the truth, no matter how long he denied it.

"I am nothing but a murderer who has fallen, I am nothing else but a disgusting monster who has killed many upon many. I admit that I have nothing, no rights to be anything less of a good person and I am nothing but a person who kills desperately only to change anything. And so I accept that fact I have forfeited the right that I will never be anything good. I have fallen into my sins, my guilt and I'm a monster who has killed innocents."

And it felt almost liberating to admit it as well.

"As such, my enemy is myself and..."

Tatsumi chuckled one last time as he looked up to face his enemy which appeared right in front him.

"I choose to stand."

A massive explosion rocked him as Sussano was set flying back due to an enraged entity that circled above him as chains hooked into his body to mimic a puppet. Chains linked to his arms, they linked to his legs and they were pulled upwards as Tatsumi felt pain on a level never before imagined. It lasted briefly yet it became an eternity, a penance for one had fallen from the eyes of a world that was marked and bathed in sin. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry out angrily and he wanted to show his enemies that they had provoked his wrath.

Yet he remained silent as a burning fire forced him to clench his eyes shut.

"And as such, I choose to accept your sins."

Agony became nothing more then a natural sensation akin to breathing, the pain became lessened and it had became much more to understand. The young Colonel gasped as metal burned into his skin to have it completely condense any reaming freedom inside the armor, the stabbing of numerous phantom like knives sliced into his back. He refused to scream, he refused too and in doing so he chose to stand by his choices. Something started to cut away at his bonds from the outside, the wires were breaking as they started to snap violently and they slammed into the ground itself.

"Open. Open the eyes of one who has fallen, you have fallen only to see what you've chosen to accept, go forth into this world of Sin and bring forth your path to seek penance!" These words were not of his own, yet they were apart of what he had hidden away for so long. As such the terror had drifted away into a more resigned emotion called despair, or it maybe it was to be considered truth. The helmet completely disintegrated as Tatsumi opened his eyes to view the world in the reality of its own bleak continuation.

"Awaken."

As the being in which had been conceived at the dawn of history to the known Empire, a weapon or perhaps it was more then such, the name given to this long forgotten creation called Strafe. This creation finally arched its neck to the skies to unleash an ear shattering wail that overtook the storm in which its birth was signaled to the world.

"AWAKEN!"

An entity had awakened after so long in the depths of a forgotten era.

But this time...

It had announced it's return to the world it despised.

Seryu fell to her knees while crying out as a screeching noise tore through her head like nails, the young woman couldn't help but have tears leak out. She could never imagine the shock-wave that became the epicenter as the world quaked underneath her very feet. Everything violently skewered as her senses adjusted to the sudden attack, the sound waves echoed off the walls as she cried out painfully. It was futile to cover her ears, both of her arms were occupied as she fell to her knees trying to understand what in the name of god had happened. Her stomach lurched to nearly cause it's contents to spew onto the ground.

Wincing as a headache formed did her eyes glanced around to see the rest of the battlefield and it's occupants have similar effects.

The former Incineration squad member grunted while shaking off the tattered remnants that were strips of flesh on his injured arm, "What the hell was that? My head feels like it just got run through hell and back!" Even beneath the mask that question was directed at her as she gave a clueless response, "I don't know. I almost lost my stomach Bols, I feel like someone just drilled a cluster of nails into my skull and I, uh..." the young Jaeger trailed off uncertainly in what her words had failed to describe. A wave of nausea washed over her body as she wobbled uncontrollably as her knee reflexively caved in on itself to send her to the ground. Hefting her shield up to be wary for an attack, she looked towards the Night-Raid assassins.

Seryu blinked to see a varying range of reactions surging across their faces.

"What's wrong with them?"

The beast teigu girl had literally started to growl, if not outright snarl viciously towards the epicenter of the wailing screech. Her legs were shaking so violently that they were visibly trembling to show how much the sound tore into her mentally, Seryu couldn't believe what she was seeing now. Her eyes went over to the black haired assassin who was staring across the field completely confused, her dominant hand that held the infamous one hit poisonous sword locked in a death grip. Her skin tone had paled as if the screeching caused a sickness to manifest within coming into contact with the source alone.

A whimper caused the orange haired girl to look up at one armed hulk of a dog. However when she did it made Seryu just say her friend's name almost completely mystified, "Koro?" As she whispered her friend's name the teigu whimpered while trying to growl almost defiantly across the battlefield. The young woman realized that the source of that wailing sound, it came from Tatsumi's direction! Her heart jumped inside her throat to get herself veered around to spot the Colonel. Rocks and massive amounts of dirt were still collapsing inwards.

Approaching the growing chasm did she gasp out in horror as to what was happening.

"Oh god, Tatsumi!"

The place in where their trapped comrade had been was completely changed, the ground had literally caved in on itself. An entire sinkhole spanning nearly a perfect circular sphere had literally changed the terrain into something out of this world. Water pooled to create miniature waterfalls to fill the depth that was once a flat piece of earth, literally everything seemed to have been crushed or condensed for a better lack of a word. The rain did little to hide the pieces of loose earth, or rock to fall inside the crater as she couldn't believe it.

Ignoring everything she sprinted forward with her superior's saber in her grip, the desperation and sheer disbelief created a frenzy that pushed aside sanity. Seryu panted loudly to come to the edge of the crater but unfortunately a series of groans caused her to stop mid-run. Glancing through the showers of rain did the familiar tint of metallic wiring reveal itself yet they were wrong. "Those wires from the enemy are snapping? No, it's like they're rotting or...oh shit!"

Sharp twangs of air being split made the young Jaeger back up immediately as dirt was sent flying in all directions due to the tension from the serrated metal as they snapped.

Warily she looked back to the stunned assassins who were gauging the same details that her own face held openly, they were all completely stumped as to what had happened. Clenching the blade that belonged to her superior, the young woman absently covered her face from the flicking pieces of loosened rock. Small fragments clanked against the shield of Aegis's surface, she had to ask exactly what was causing these wires to snap when they clearly held their intended prisoner earlier without a problem. Chancing fate once more, Seryu started follow the wires to their origin which were leading towards the opposite end of the valley up onto the cliff face and the varying amount of tree lines.

Her eyes went wide as to what was happening above in the forests, "My god." Those two words didn't do enough credit to indicate how beyond stupefied she'd had become truly.

Sounds of internally distance rumblings were causing her feet to shake inside their boots, literally.

Boulders were falling as the entirety of the cliff face had shifted, the very alignment had caved inwards in contrast to the sudden depth that a sinking hole had provided. Roots of trees were snapping as they broke underneath surface of granite, Seryu watched to see splinters and cracks creaking a sight akin to when a person broke a mirror. Tons of undergrowth and muddied slides slammed into the base of the cliffs to create miniature quakes that shook all to compete with the thunder roaring above. Lighting flashed to highlight the full width of the growing strain, the Jaegers themselves had been given a front row seat to witness an impossible feat.

The very earth had started to crack under the strain of a weight that ruthlessly wanted to break free of its chains.

"What on earth are you doing Tatsumi? Is this really true? Just what is going on here..." The girl whispered as she witnessed something truly unbelievable, the rumors in which teigu ascended people beyond anything were never truly false. Seryu looked down to see her self-imposed shield at her arm, to the sword whose owner had become something truly unreal and nothing made sense. What in the hell was that teigu that the Colonel wielded?

Those questions wouldn't be answered today, nor anytime soon in the immediate future.

Gathering her resolve she called out into the ever deepening hole, "Colonel! Tatsumi can you hear me? I can reach you if you tell me where to cut the rest of these wires!" The lack of any noise was deafened and it made her heart race all the more quickly to imagine if he was hurt. Lowering her guard to peer into the depths of the growing sink hole, both of her weapons eased themselves past her waist line as she leaned over. Desperation clung to her like a second skin all in order to catch a glimpse of the young man, soon enough it became apparent that he wasn't visible. Even so the young woman swore she wouldn't allow herself to not do anything to help him.

Both of her armored boots came to rest at the edge as small rocks rolled into the depths of the darkened sink hole.

"SERYU! BEHIND YOU!"

She didn't even hesitate when Bols's voice came out to cannon as he warned her to move! Quickly hefting the shield upwards, her eyes came up to see the form of a barreling horned man sprinting at her. He looked completely dirtied as pieces of rock were falling behind him, Seryu defiantly raised both of her weaponry while running towards her newest adversary. She couldn't afford to lose her footing next to ever growing sink hole, her heart pounding underneath against her ribs made the effort even more crucial. There wasn't any time to think, or to prepare herself for what she'd be crossing blades with at all.

Her knees braced themselves as the horned man slammed it's own staff like weapon in the shield's exterior.

"What strength! Even Koro doesn't have the brute force this damned guy gives off!"

The amount of pressure immediately sent her to the ground as she reflexively bit down a natural urge to cry out, hell her entire arm went numb from the singular strike alone. Shaking said limb briefly to get some blood circulating, the former Imperial guard raised her superior's saber at the horned adversary who didn't hesitate to press his assault. Grunting fiercely the shield started to dent under the second strike from the spiked staff, the main bulk of the block crushed against the metal that started to wane under its massive duress. Seryu idly knew whenever she got back to the Capital, she'd pay a visit to Stylish to enhance the metal to make it extremely durable in the long run.

Lunging forward to meet the staff weapon in a desperate bid to negate some of the numbness and it worked for a time. Catching herself while kneeling to press the shield above her did the young woman stand her ground against the teigu construct which frowned at her resistance. Using all the will her body had mustered, the orange eyed Jaeger defiantly pushed back against the horned Night-Raid member by stabbing with the saber towards his ribs. It was nimbly avoided as the horned man maneuvered his staff to have it speeding into her unprotected flank.

Steeling her gaze in recognizing the immediate danger, she fell onto the ground to merely catch a glimpse to see the spiked blades skimming the top of her hair. The air wafted past her eyes but a few droplets of rain water forced her to rapidly blink, yet she was alive. As close as she had gotten to death, the young Jaeger realized that the dangerous position had been avoided.

But she traded one for another.

Unfortunately Seryu found out all too quickly how it came to be so.

"You're quick to react, admirable no doubt but I am not going to waste my time with you. I have other priorities I must upkeep and you're a hindrance to me." Susano stated simply when the girl below him tried to stand up again. He denied her that ability as the blunt end of his weapon smashed into the dented and battered shield, the impact caused the orange haired Jaeger to bite her lips screaming. Her back literally sank into the earth by several inches, the horned teigu started to hammer down onto the downed girl. As much as he'd fight this Jaeger on even terms, he didn't have the time to waste at all.

He went for the most efficient kill to end this small delay.

Slamming his weapon into the denting piece of metal separating the girl from her demise, Sussano sent the strongest amount of dedication to kill her, it made Seryu who coughed up blood when the shield came into contact with her chest. The transparent forces crushed her lungs as she gagged briefly, the nape of her neck was covered in mud now and she tried in vain to get herself out of this pinned position. It didn't work as the horned teigu grunted before leaping forward to plant both of his feet directly onto the shield's cracked exterior now, the metal had been giving way as the spiked staff had done its purpose to break the enemy.

Flesh and earth groaned as both absorbed the damage being done to their states.

"He's going to punch my face inwards? Oh god, I can't fail Tatsumi and I can't die here! Damn it all, I can't get up!" Due to the positioning of the shield that once defended her from any harm, her horned enemy had almost all too easily used the angle and size to make it stand against her. Specifically the piece of dented metal had essentially became her crutch to make her liable to be in more danger then ever. It trapped both of her shoulders which blocked off any movement to raise the saber that remained pinned to the ground, her eyes were literally just above the serrated edge that the Aegis shield had been tailored.

Seryu wanted to scream at the indignation that her own weapons of justice were going to be responsible for ending her life. "No! NO! I will not die here, I will not fail Tatsumi or the captain! I want to be stronger, I want to become a better soldier and I will not give up!"Screaming internally all the while struggling to push the shield to at least cover her exposed face, it got a response from her would be killer. The girl realized that the horned man lifted an eyebrow at the herculean effort to gain any sort of leverage from her pinned position, Sussano mentally cleared his mind to ward off the lingering interest in humans as they'd struggle to fight things beyond them.

Behind them Koro gave off a primal howl of rage and a small tremor made the pinned Jaeger look up at a sight to make her skin pale.

"No, Koro."

She whispered heart broken to see the canine teigu fall to the ground as a stump of a leg remained, Akame along with that bladed of hers had diligently sliced off the entirety of the limb just over the kneecap. The canine teigu's massive bulky frame fell to the ground with little resistance plus with a half grown arm that was still regenerating back, Seryu had tears pouring down her eyes to know what was happening. Koro was her friend, her instrument to fight for justice and to have that hope to stand with the people she cherished. People like Tatsumi, Bols, Wave and even the mighty captain that she idolized as one of the many strongest forces among the Empire.

It wasn't fair and reality set in coldly.

"God damn it all!"

She knew it wasn't fair to be this helpless in a war!

Biting her tongue to stop the resignation, she could only stared upwards at the horned enemy who aligned his fist to smash her skull into pieces. Clenching both hands to at least go down resisting, Seryu stared up defiantly at the horned man who only shifted once to get the most accurate strike. A pair of blue eyes with little emotion stared back at her orange orbs that were so full of emotion, he blinked only once at the small hesitation gnawing at the back of his skull. Underneath her back a slight rumble filtered upwards into her body to indicate a tremor growing.

In the end she hissed out words to make the blue haired man tilt his head, "I won't give in to you evil bastards. I won't give in to you Night-Raid!" Rain poured to obscure her vision of her executioner just as thunder boomed overhead once more, the sound alone quaked for miles to have lightning follow up. Sussano pulled his fist back ready to end the life of the young Jaeger who struggled underneath him. It was over and Seryu couldn't help but close her eyes waiting for the darkness to consume her entirely.

Yet chance itself had other ideas.

The distant sound of something zipping through the air said otherwise.

This snapping hiss came searing just over her right ear, the hissing sound became a sharpening crack as flesh was split open. Something struck the horned teigu in the head along with the following sound of a gunshot echoing above on the cliff face!

"Who..."

Before any more words were formed, Seryu felt the ground beneath shift as she opened her heads to witness the blue haired man stumble to the side. His fist crushed inches away from her face, but the sound of metal groaning came up from behind. She watched as a blackened chain came streaking from the depths of the sink to tightly wrap itself around her enemies neck, the horned man grunted as the air got crushed inside his throat. Due to the stumbling positioning from the bullet lodged in the teigu's face, the chain and by extension, it's owner easily sent the ensnared assassin dragging across the ground.

"Now! Move!"

Immediately acting on those thoughts, Seryu rolled away to the opposite side hell intent on getting some distance between her and the blue haired man. Being covered in mud did little to settle the rapid beats her heart had been doing to escape that death trap. Stabbing the saber into the ground, the young Jaeger looked to the cliffs to possibly and hopefully catch a glimpse as to who exactly fired to save her life. Peering up into the treeline Seryu picked out a cloaked individual who was kneeling just right near the edge.

Near the edge of the said cliff.

It appeared that several trees had broken away mid way in between their trunks as they were tipping over off to the right side to crash to the valley below.

Undeniably someone out there had been overlooking the fight between the Jaegers and Night-Raid, but it begged the natural series of questions. "Who the hell was that? An ally? An enemy?" Whoever that person had been, Seryu definitely thanked her chances that her unexpected savior was a good shot. Turning her attention back to the chain to follow it to the source and her heart rate increased at the rising hope to see something walk up from it's depths.

Through the fading dirt and rain she bared witness to the two distinct blackened wings expanding to their full span.

"You will not touch her again. Because I swear to god, if you do..." That was the Colonel's voice, no doubt about it! In fact Seryu nearly let out a small cheer in knowing that she and Bols had indirectly succeeded in getting to him. Panting heavily while wearing a relieved smile she watched Tatsumi walk up the slope the hole yet something seemed off about him. Blinking a bit confused, her gaze trailed to the very ground as it was being pushed like as if something heavy had crushed into it. Indentations were forming in the muddied ground with ease.

Almost too easily did rain water fill the depths that were exposed.

Trying to stand onto her feet, the girl felt a shiver crawl up her back in more so because of what Tatsumi said next. "I will tear you apart limb from fucking limb!" Shivering visibly at the tone of voice because never once went above a hissing yet it carried an intended promise that would be carried out. Anything underneath those armored legs was crushed as rock itself couldn't with stand the weight when the young Colonel walked out of the sink hole with the chain extruding from the junction above his wrist.

Idly blackened chains which were uplifting mists formed just above the armored boots.

Each individual link practically slithered outwards to give an illusion that they were attached to circular shackles. Even so Seryu watched Tatsumi snap his wrist upwards before wrapping the chain around his arm, "And you will not capture me a third time. It's time that I send a real message to that Revolution and I hope this method will certainly give a lasting impression. Because I find it strange, I really can't decide the best method I can give, or maybe not!" His voice dipped over the rains as impression of him smiling came to mind, it lead to that assumption as the blue haired man looked up at him and due to the fact that his back blocked the young woman's view. Seryu watched a stunned, if not, a downright clear expression of terror wash over the artificial man's face. Both eyes were growing wider and wider at every foot that was crossed.

Tatsumi stopped in mid step and began laughing unexpectedly as he waved his hands.

Honestly to Seryu it became extremely reminiscent of a man who clearly found a simple answer to a rather perplexing question. She watched the young Colonel grip the wrapped chain with his free hand to hold onto it tightly, "You know what? I just found out what I could do, so do me a favor assassin and get over here!" With a mighty yank the blue haired man was set railing towards the blackened armor user who cocked his fist back. Barely blinking the orange haired Jaeger witnessed the enemy that seemingly came close to ending her own life get crushed into the ground with a massive boom that shook the valley.

Tatsumi had close lined the Night-Raid member, hard.

He sent him right into the ground and stomped on the horned man's chest who had sank into the saturated mud.

Standing shakily on her feet, Seryu slowly made her way over to the young Colonel who twisted his armored foot to break the artificial man's wrist that held the staff weapon. A dull crack caused a wince from the blue haired man yet nothing more became of the injury, it seemed Tatsumi had taken notice as the pair of black wings folded themselves against his back. He started to viciously punch Sussano dead in the face continuously and he do while laughing hysterically, "Not so fun when someone beats you down repeatedly! You want answer as to how I found Strafe, well fuck you! You hear me, FUCK YOU!"

A frenzied armored teigu user never showed any mercy as he pounded the man's face into deeper and deeper depths of mud to mask him from view.

Within a moment the black blade that remained idly throughout this encounter stabbed itself into the horned man's chest. A loud grunt made its wielder grin all the more happily, "You tried to break me, so I'll offer the same and in return, I'll be breaking you. Even as a teigu you must be human enough to feel pain!" He lighted an armored boot before stomping the horned man further into the ground, the shock wave that came from that alone caused Seryu stumble into the ground. Her shield became a makeshift crutch that prevented her from falling into the muddied terrain.

Eventually he stopped a bit reluctantly to step back to bare witness the results of his unyielding assault, the lack of movement spoke volumes to the half buried teigu man.

For a moment it seemed that the armor user had sated his intentions, but that wasn't the case in what he did next. Watching him grip the ankle of the downed teigu, Tatsumi spoke out clearly not happy with the lack of resistance that the horned individual had shown. Perhaps the silence became an insult, Seryu couldn't imagine what else could it as the young man stood upright. "I know you're not dead, you'd be far more luckier and I'd be less of a man to offer such a mercy to those who are like your comrades." Those words were spat out in a manner when a person had truly found their enemy all the more disgusting and held no remorse in what was sent against them. Really it just appeared the young Colonel truly sounded like he had enough of the assassins and by extension, he had enough of their little Revolution itself.

And yet again the horned man didn't even twitch at the words.

Snorting loudly Tatsumi violently jerked the blue haired teigu out of the ground, the sword slicing through artificial flesh and bone to keep itself planted into the ground. It seemed that the silence was eerily making a feeling called patience to be stagnant. "As much as I'm starting to like having a hands-on approach to delivering messages, sometimes you need to approach things with an off-hand type of deal." The way those words flowed out of the young Imperial's mouth, Seryu had to shudder at how coldly bemused her friend had sounded. A massive intake of air was all that was given as a warning to what came next.

"Have a nice flight!"

The armored teigu user had out roared angrily while spinning around to send the half torn up Night-Raid member speeding towards the nearest rock face at the base of a canyon. An explosion rocked the valley floor as tons of granite and earth collapsed on top of the inflicted enemy, Tatsumi remained hunched over before snorting almost irritated at the time of his brief exchange. Rain obscured the entirety of the bulky debris to show much had fallen onto the horned enemy.

Moments passed inside the battlefield.

Until the Colonel casually yanked his weapon out of the ground with an audible click before looking to the skies exhaling loudly relieved as he flexed his shoulders. Struggling to form words, Seryu tried to say anything to the young man who remained overbearingly silent. Her arm throbbed painfully to the point where she hissed as she tried to straighten her but gravity pull muscles with the Aegis shield's weight. Her chest hurt because of that blue haired man's assault, not to mention she had a lot of mud on her back due to be pinned as well.

Somehow through an act of will the young woman bit down on her tongue to look up at her friend.

"Seryu. You look rather well, more so then that guy." The girl flinched when she witnessed Tatsumi turn his head to address her as he seemed almost unsure in what to say, "Are you badly hurt?"

Giving a grin that showed more relief then discomfort, the young woman spoke smiling beyond belief due to the fact Tatsumi was no longer a prisoner. She was readily determined to beat back Night-Raid and take them to their graves, "I'll be fine Colonel. Hell, I'm more then ready to beat these evil-doers and go home together, we did promise that we'd find a way to get you back with us. As soldiers of hope, I'm not giving up that easily." The armored teigu laughed softly at her enthusiasm even though he palmed the flat side of his blade, it lightly tapped against the armored carapace without a care in the world.

"That's nice to hear."

Coughing lightly did the auburn hair girl make her way over to his side, her heart pounding hard against the confines within her chest. To see him standing after what he had been through, the young woman couldn't help but feel her face burn with an admiration to see him alive and well. It hurt so much yet it felt more naturally blissful then even cutting down evil at its worst, she had to bite down urges to start running to him. He seemingly stared across the destroyed battlefield to see the rest of Night-Raid looking back at him with varying expressions of disbelief.

Seryu noted that they were extremely terrified on level, or another based on their frozen faces.

Eventually the blade stopped tapping against his palm, "I finally see them. I can actually see them all. Damn it all, I never knew they were so restless to get at us all." Pausing mid step did the girl look up at the armored back of the Colonel who seemingly exhaled yet again very loudly. He chuckled as the wings flapped briefly in response to his heightened mood, Seryu tilted her head confused at the way the young man spoke offhandedly here.

It didn't sound exactly wrong in how casual he spoke his own words.

"What's wrong with him? I can feel something isn't right."

Obviously something wasn't right as doubt ate away at her concerns.

Hesitantly her pace stopped just behind the armored carapace yet she asked him, "Tatsumi? Are you okay? You sound a bit strange." Truthful words that slipped out whether she realized it or not, the young Colonel laughed rather bemused at her tone. One of the wings extended to just cover around her back, her eyes watched as the appendages were shaking due to their owner's silent laughter. Her eyes tracked the blade as it feel idly to remain pointed at the ground on his flank.

Small circular motions were made as the blade dug into the ground.

From her position just behind him, the young man turned his head to the ground as if staring intently at it's muddied surface. A large pool of water had formed underneath the small miniature holes that his armored feet had created, "Strange? Normally that word would explain a lot of things, but I think it's not so simple anymore. Everything's become so clear, yet I don't get it." That answer didn't sound relieving in the slightest, both his answers and actions were starting to get the girl worried. She hadn't ever seen the Colonel directly avoid answering anything about his well-being so vaguely.

What was wrong with him?

Apart of her wanted to reach out to him, she wouldn't deny that desire within. No more importantly another apart of her wanted to find out exactly what was making the normally warm and ever so kind man become so distant. Concern etched itself across her features as a wave of nausea washed over her to make her stomach lurch. That sensation grew to the point where she had to bend over and heave out what was within her stomach, Seryu wanted to tear up at how violently rapid this sickness appeared out of nowhere.

Vomit and blood splashed onto the ground as rain water carried it over towards the puddles under Tatsumi's armored limbs.

Disinterestedly enough the armored teigu user tilted his head down at the trail of grime, "I guess we all have some sort of sickened part that we hide. Then again I shouldn't be saying such words, I can see the rotten core that makes me sick to my stomach. At least you can rid yourself of it, Seryu." Unlike beforehand in where his voice sounded warped, the Colonel seemingly had a more resigned one to make her feel like she had failed. It wasn't true as he stood free yet he stood completely restrained as if rooted to the ground.

Lightning skirted across the sky snapping and cracking the reality that which it was conceived.

Coughing heavily she looked up at the larger framed soldier who hadn't even twitched at the emotions beneath.

"Tatsumi?"

Even though she was clutching her stomach, honestly Seryu wanted to catch a glimpse to see what was wrong with him. Truly this sharp feeling of resignation was a direct contrast to the normally warm young man, so again she mentally cried out in what was wrong! Kneeling right next to him even as the wing from his back shielded her from the rain yet the looming presence of something much more alarming remained unseen. It became a pressurized imagination that something lingered around them, the wing which would've shield any had become a looming dome that started to suffocate her ability to think!

The young Imperial paid no attention to his fellow Jaeger's plight, instead he raised his arm to feel the chains which came slithering back into the armor at his wrist. It seemed to be coiling around it and merging as much as that seemed unreal, "No! No wonder it seemed impossible, I was blind to see this world in this black and white dream I once held. It's truly pathetic to know I wanted things to be for the better, yet how far did I fall for even a child once imagined to start to change. I guess it's true that hope seems to be impossible." He spoke to literally no one yet all heard those words as if he were right next to them. Seryu felt tears dripping down her cheeks in how angry and disgusted that the young Colonel sounded mainly about himself.

Why?

Why was he acting like this?

Did that Night-Raid bastard break him or what?

Questions were rising faster then the flickers of disbelief that coursed inside her veins. Something had to have gone wrong for the Colonel, she hadn't ever seen him so thoroughly bitter or angered at nothing but himself. Sickness continuously struck her like a punch to the gut, ironically it centered around that area to cause her to spew out the last of its contents onto the ground. Although more blood then grime had been exposed to make her curl up into a ball.

Struggling to look up at him did her actions force those small droplets of tears hit the ground.

As soon as it made contact with the earth it made Tatsumi address her directly. He took a step back momentarily, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that it stains me yet the world doesn't forgive as easily, it doesn't forgive words and it certainly will never show kindness to those stained in blood. Even so it's opened my eyes clearly at what I can do to move onwards." Both blackened wings folded against his back as Seryu's orange orbs took in every detail as the young Colonel started to turn. She saw the very armor contort as if it were straining against his form but it nonetheless had changed into something truly terrible. And for once she felt honestly...

"No."

She was afraid of him.

All witnessed it all in a painful yet slow motion as time stilled to a crawl.

The armor had changed almost so subtly that one could have missed it, the size seemed to have tightened to it's wielder's body perfectly. Now once before it had been bulky, if not large enough to intimate any soul who stood against it. Although presently it became more stream lined, the slicked scale armor seemingly became more polished despite the mud, or water running down its surface. Chains were wrapped on both arms almost melding into its surface, it looked nearly molted in a way that gave off a heat less mist which made the air shimmer. Everything seemed so refined in a manner to inspire those with a feeling of terror lingering inside their hearts.

But that wasn't the worst of it all.

"Oh my god."

There wasn't a helm to conceal Tatsumi's face at all, it was like a hood of sorts. His hair was visible nearly as bangs idly dropped down past his temples to settle near his cheeks. However Seryu's heart stopped cold to see the young man twist his head. He looked right down at her with a flat expression save for one thing that would've made such a look normal. The young woman shook her head at exactly what she was seeing, it sent her body into a freezing lock as muscles contracted to try to reach out to him.

Something was indeed wrong and she knew why.

"Colonel. Your eyes..."

They were sewn shut.

Both of them were god damned sewn shut to the point where he couldn't have possibly opened them! She shook her head continuously as the damning sight came to strike her hard in the heart, just what the hell did that damned teigu do to him? Small streams of ichor poured at their edges to leave a small tearful yet bone chilling visual of someone crying blood. Several fell to the ground without ever hitting it as the droplets faded into a mist that returned to their origins that leaked out.

Yet without even twitching or showing any sign of pain.

"My eyes have never been more open."

Slightly did the sewn strings break to see a faint pupil retreat back as the eye-lid closed.

Tatsumi just gave off a rather cruel smile at her horrified expression as he turned to face the Night-Raid assassins. He started to laugh once more, so once more the young soldier had fallen from anything but of thought to remain as he once was. It hurt to know that dreams only seemed impossible to those who were unable to realize that the world wouldn't adhere to hope itself, it needed something to weigh it down so that words held that worth to their meaning. A mean that would weigh him down only to serve the ends to the means, the young Imperial exhaled as he looked across the battlefield.

Words were meaningless and they held no value on their own.

And so he'd have to give them meaning.

"Time's up, Night-Raid."

Two wings extended as an entity dashed forward intent on bringing meaning back into the world once again.

On the upper cliffs overlooking the valley below did one of the recently infamous Ghosts smirk. Glancing down from her position with the acquired firearm that had been ever so graciously given to her as a means to it's end, the woman considered this a fine job. Humming softly she checked the exterior the weapon all the while cracking her neck left to right. Even though she detested in using such boring weaponry, they did have their uses and she'd be rather vain to say that they weren't as valued compared to her own methods.

Whatever got the result was fine and to be honest it wasn't too embarrassing.

"It pays to have lessons as a child. Never liked guns, always so loud and very boring, but at least I'm a good shot." Standing up she idly traced a gloved hand over the surface only to watch it rot away at her finger-tips. Rosalina Revington just laughed at the piece of metal starting to decay and it fell into pieces as it disintegrated to the ground within seconds. Easily wiping her hands off the metallic dust and what not, a pair of obsidian orbs trailed behind to overlook her own work. It wasn't sloppy but then again all work required a bit of perfection to make it right.

Such could be said of the curse that many perfectionist endured.

"Always trying to be sneaky. Good thing you lot aren't that smart."

Three rotting bodies of Revolutionary soldiers were gasping. No that word didn't do them any justice, or beautiful truth in any sense of that manner. Rose shrugged to herself as the corpses were technically gurgling as the flesh inside their chests rotted away. Flesh turned into streaks of mold and muscle became nothing more then food for the insects underground. All in all it wasn't as bad of a job, the fun hadn't even started yet.

Humming a small tune to herself the beauty walked by several rotten out trees that were in splinters or falling over the cliff. Absently she took a wire that remained stubborn enough and gave it a dull glare, "Such a nuisance! These Night-Raid people are playing very, very naughty and sneaky, pitiful attempts really. Oh I'd teach them a thing or two about stringing people alone and at least cuff the Colonel to a bed! Sheesh, or something more fun." Her gloved hand held the weapon that revealed anything and everything's limit to endure in the world had a set limit for how long beauty or purpose reigned for those living their lives.

Time itself rotted all before it's gaze.

Or the more fun way.

By her touch alone which was indeed thrilling.

Walking back under the shaded areas of the forest as the rain was negated a bit more then usual, Rose tilted her off to the right. Shouts and screams of agony were well underway in the depths of the forests that had become a hunting ground. Grinning lightly at the chorus of screams did the beauty remove her thick cloak that shielded her from the down pouring rains. It was time to stop messing about and truly let loose the true animals inside this environment, she'd have plenty of time to tease the handsome lieutenant when she got back to the capital.

Ducking a low lying branch on her way towards the screaming both obsidian eyes closed.

Shaking her head she muttered, "Always do they always start to scream. It's like they never saw a beautiful aspiring artist whose trying to come into her own and coming from me that's a worthy compliment." Shedding the cloak onto the ground, Rose adjusted her tailored tuxedo to get her appearance in order while pinning her bangs back with a pair of reddish pins. Stuffing the white undershirt underneath the black collar line, the woman did a quick check and clapped her hands together happily. Apart from the hair pins which were the only objects that had been carried over from an old life.

Now came the more boring part in her journey.

Finding a certain person who liked to hide.

"Alright! if I were playing hard to get and wanted to make anyone have a hell of a time finding me. Where would I hide? Should I go with the obvious, or should I get a bit creative?" Pondering the choices were making her giggle uncontrollably as varying images fleeted across her eyes. They scanned the upper heights of varying trees which were large enough to hide people who liked to hide, if they wanted to disappear then they'd be in for a challenge to get away at all.

Brushing a stray hair out of her eye the woman continued onwards without a care in the world. Even as thunder continuously boomed overhead along by the sickening crack of lightening splitting the sky, she'd peg this storm to be one of the best yet. Everything seemed to be alive and always did the energy in the air just make the entire world seem much more receptive to change as a whole, god damn it all she loved storms! Giggling again the Ghost absently patted herself down while leaping over a downed log as gunfire echoed ahead.

Peering upwards into the canopy as it shook violently, bits and pieces of wood fell onto the ground with muted thuds. Rose commented a bit amused, "So that's where it's happening, I'm shocked they made it this far." Shrugging a bit bored at walking all the way to the location, the dark haired beauty idly scratched her cheek to ward off an itching urge. She would have paid more attention to get herself ready but something interrupted her train of thought.

"No...urk!"

A man's scream pierced the night as the woman looked up with raised eyebrows to see a revolutionary soldier flying through the air to get impaled onto a tree branch."Not bad." He spat up blood within seconds as varied deepened claw marks were all over his face and parts of his back. Plus watching a soon to be corpse twitch as his throat had a branch the size of a canon's barrel in his chest did wonders for the woman's mood. She whistled a bit impressed at how accurate the body had been angled at and so as a result, Rose mentally clapped at the performance.

"Not bad at all."

Stepping over several mangled limbs did she avoid a few twitching bodies gurgling for air. So within moments she came to a small clearing that had been littered with corpses, she mentally did the count at a dozen if not a bit more then that. But really the amount of served limbs made the number a bit skewered to be honest, Rose shrugged again to herself. This time around she scratched the back of her neck to roll both shoulders to feel a bit more relaxed.

As the journey continued, a gurgled gasp of air broke her train of thought again. This was becoming an irritating aspect of her new job and quite frankly Rose ignored it, "..H..lp.." A hand reached out from underneath several bushes and ferns to make the Ghost stare down at the half-dead body. Maybe she could have ignored it, or do something that merciful.

But she asked herself.

Where the hell was the fun in that?

She cooed out almost lovingly, "Oh you poor thing! Here let me help you on your way. What kind of a woman allows such a travesty to endure?" Casually her gloved hand gripped the dying enemy's hand as his eyes went wide at the smile she displayed. He started to scream when a small yet prominent blackened lines ate away into his hand. The flesh dissolved in a sludge like mass and it was akin to a fire being started in dry grass. As much as she loved seeing the beauty in decay, it wasn't too long to enjoy.

And so the man died painfully.

By throwing up the liquefied remains of both his lungs and liver right at the back of the throat.

"Perfect!"

Rosalina hummed happily idly brushing her hands along the side of the pants she swore. Thankfully her search was almost over when she ignored the dying in their pitiful states, her eyes looked up into the trees to find exactly what she had set out for. Crossing her arms calmly and checking her nails, the beauty waited as a series of screams occurred above. Obsidian orbs managed to glimpse more then a few droplets of red staining the bark of the trees. Patiently waiting as the screaming died down abruptly, a sickening crack of bones being crushed echoed above as well.

A headless corpse fell somewhere off to her right hand side with a muffled thump.

She turned around to see the killer come skidding down off a tree, a monstrous danger beast with a wolf like features snarled angrily at her presence. Both ears were pressed flat against its skull as claws sharper then any steel had crushed the skull of the corpse in their grip, the action sent brain and gore splattering over the ground. The beasts jaw unhinged howling briefly to tower over the casually indifferent Rose who wasn't troubled at the carnage. Her eyes waited for a minute as the danger beast finally snarled with slits become literally filled with anger.

Or it was mainly irritation.

Ignoring the amount of severed limbs and what not, the elder woman started to pleasantly speak up to the wolf beast, "My dear sweet and utterly impressive Yumi! Come give your big sister a hug because we have some fun times ahead of us. Did you enjoy the warm up and appetizers?" She clapped her hands together all too happily as the former feral girl snarled at the exuberant tone her fellow Ghost held up in her hunt.

Snapping a muzzle designed for hunting and searching out anything worthy of her attention, the powerful jaws widened so the beast within inhaled deeply all the scents in the clearing. For a minute the nose that could be several thousand times better then any canine, or human came forth by a guttural speech became akin to familiarizing a tone called disappointment.

"Weak...prey is...boring."

Yumi shook herself rapidly to make water droplets come cascading down her fur due to her agitation at how quickly the weak flesh ones went down. Stomping over towards one of the shredded soldiers that dared to strike at her with one of those firearms, the beast girl towered over the raggedly breathing man before stomping down on his throat. Her claws feet easily sliced open the neck region without resistance and he bled out in a moment's notice. She snorted at how easy this prey was compared to a deer, or even the other beasts that tried to rival her territory back in the forests of the ice.

"Boring? It's all practice my sweet little one! Practice is perfect and I'm all for the warm ups until the main courses hits." Rose purred sweetly to make the beast girl grow annoyed as her hands all too easily traced her back. Shrugging off the other Ghost, Yumi raised her muzzle to inhale potentially anymore prey items in the area. Ignoring the nuisance next to her was a trial and error type of approach, her education had proven that the best way to ignore Rose, least in her growing opinion to just shut her mouth and put up with it.

Her ears flickered when the sound of bark being stepped on ever so silently caused her slit eyes to stare over behind them.

"You're...creepy..."

Those two words just added fuel to the fire per say.

Rose prattled onwards without a care in the world to slip herself right next to the larger creature's side. Slipping a hand around the muscle arm of the larger beast girl who ignored the feeling, "You need to learn how to lay with a real man my little one. Honestly you're so uptight and it's rather boring to see the same thing over and over again. Why not indulge because I can provide you front row seats with that handsome lieutenant fellow, if you so wish..." She trailed off happily as the wolf beast just growled loudly while taking back her own limb from the elder woman. Yumi barely paid any attention to the taunting.

She had unfortunately discovered a natural ability that all creatures had.

"Ignoring her is worse then feline beasts."

Adaption.

Somehow she gotten all too used to the woman getting under anyone's skin, including her own fur and that was just the start. Exhaling deeply Yumi narrowed her gaze onto large tree that overlooked the clearing it got her attention, plus due to her natural perception to see in the dark she saw something off. Snarling gleefully as the scent of flesh entered her nostrils, the breeze sent its freshness into her brain and by all rights it made the former feral girl lick her muzzle in smelling prey worthy to be hunted.

Her claw hands were extending their nails and her heart raced with preparation to hunt it down.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" A finger tapped her three times on the muzzle to make the beast girl snarl angrily at the interruption which continued in Rose's chiding tone. "No, no, no bad girl! That one we have to catch alive Yumi, you know this and don't pretend to ignore me on this matter. As much as we have our fun, I have to insist it's work before pleasure in this case." Muscles bulged and tensed as the ability to control herself nearly was ignored to squeeze the life out of the elder woman who smiled all the more innocently.

Crushing any urges to kill became an ungodly battle of will.

"I...hate...you."

The beautiful woman smiled while rubbing the underside of the larger creature's chin almost teasingly. Slits became so narrowed that they seemed to be splitting open, "Oh no, no and no! I dare say you love me. Don't lie to me because you're so bad at it. But to me you're so ready to be shown how to get laid, I must say you really strike me as a submissive one in bed. Am I close?" An enraged Yumi wanted so desperately to cut and slice apart the elder Ghost member without anymore hesitation! Instincts and above she truly wanted to kill the flesh of this nuisance and burn the rest of it somewhere far, far away.

It took a lot of effort to make the former feral girl to ignore the taunting.

"I...understand...somehow."

Rosalina hummed all too happily at the answer before peering up into the trees, absently adjusting her dress pants to make sure nothing was one them. She clearly called out almost friendly, "Either you come out and play with us Night-Raid. Or we play a game that I'll make sure you'll regret to have started." That warning was sent out into the darkness and nothing replied. Waiting a few moments did the woman clap her hands as if resigning herself to the fact that the enemy wanted to play rough, she'd oblige it all too easily to make the night last.

Turning her head back to the larger wolf beast who inhaled again, Rose gave Yumi a wink of encouragement.

"Yumi. We're going to be playing a game! Want to know what it's called?"

She got a deep snarl that flashed the massive canines that were all to eager to cut into live flesh. Eventually standing down as the ever so energetic beautiful woman waited all too patiently, again it took a lot of effort to ignore that taunting smile that made her angered. Slowly but surely she gave a guttural answer that made Rose smile almost proudly, "What...game...now?"

Two words.

Just two words were all what were needed to be said to make Yumi's anticipation grow into a literal wolfish smile.

"Man Hunt."

Both Ghosts smiled at each other despite their banter moments ago, they were out hunting tonight and not a soul would be capable to assist their quarry. Rolling her shoulders did Yumi inhale deeply before howling loudly up into the skies signaling the start of yet another hunt. Rose idly flexed her hands while peeling back her glove to reveal a stone like gauntlet glowing a pale cyan like coloration to illuminate her orbs. They were prepared to enter the war on their own terms now, they were prepared and the enemy was not as fortunate.

A young man released the breath that escaped his lungs in a fearful manner.

Up above in the branches with his back pressed against the main trunk did Lubbock, the normally sly if not effective information dealer cautiously peek around the side to stare wide eyed at the two individuals below. He kept subtly shaking his head as if unable to comprehend exactly what had been declared, he felt it deep within his blood to know that Najenda had to be warned of a new third party joining the fray. They were prepared and they were all too hellishly willing to hunt down those in the Revolution.

The scout felt himself pale when those two wolfish slits narrowed directly at his position. Both of those demonic things wearing female skins were clearly eying him all too easily. Clenching his gloved hands together to start unraveling his wired teigu, the scout didn't have to be a genius to know that the ambush they set was completely becoming nullified. He had to get back to the others and warn them that they had to pull out of this area immediately.

Whoever these damned people, or killers were, they were coming for Night-Raid specifically. It wasn't confusing, nor was it hard to imagine because a familiar cold chill ran up his spine. It was like a front had just opened up and whole new of enemies had just declared war on them. And he knew for sure that it wasn't going to be an ideal fight.

He looked down into the clearing and paled at the lack of movement down on the forest floor. The two individuals were gone as he looked up when a branch snapped behind him!

"Oh shit!"

Lubbock barely had time to avoid the gaping maw of a wolfish muzzle intent on tearing into his neck.

End Chapter Thirty Seven

Author's Note: As always leave a review, because I know many of you really want to do it.

Okay there is plenty of things that went on in this chapter, hell I bet many of you were getting antsy because I took an extra few days to push this out. Why? Well it kind of leads to an interesting take on his specific chapter's conception, I had to rewrite it literally twice due to the fact I had made it so ungodly cliche I practically smacked myself silly. No really, I got side tracked by that and a few other things but the final gist came to me in the past few days. Apart of me wanted to make this fight seemingly drag out yet I have a fun fact coming to you now.

Two separate instances nailed me enough to reply by rewriting this chapter again.

First one was someone PM'd me, I won't mention names about my progress and the person kind of trolled me along to get my ass to up the ante again. Honestly I think I fell for it, but at the same I could care less because people apparently love to read this story. So I guess I'm doing my intended purpose to make people happier, more so when I had to adhere to request that many, I do mean a lot of people, wanted to see Yumi again. And so I had to juggle a very, very difficult picture to make sure that someone this time in the review section called me out on a potential deus ex machina.

Let me be as clear as I can be: I hate deus ex machina.

Those typical scenarios just don't settle well with me by any means and I literally have hoped, that I made sure that I didn't fall into one. Hence the perspective of Tatsumi then right at the end, you all find out it wasn't some magical force that freed him. The support group isn't for shits and giggles, I practically had to bite my tongue and have to clarify to anyone that I don't like random events that just fall into place. Because if you look back on this entire chapter, I initially had this last part or portion of the chapter in the beginning but again I'm very afraid that I would fall into that trap, so I switched it up hopefully for the better.

Hence why the Ghosts perspective was at the end.

Plus I wanted to mess with people truthfully and I can't do it to save my life. Now while I'm typing this out, the Ghosts aren't sitting on their asses and to be fair, I am expanding the size of this initial first contact. It's the first fight of many, the multiple fronts for the battles encompass the area that is set or soon to be full scale war between the Jaegers vs Night-Raid, or the Empire vs Revolution and etc. This was again something in the manga and really the anime that downplays the overall scope, I personally just wanted a more in depth conflict but hey, I'm just doing a 'What-if' type of AU story for all people to enjoy it.

So my opinion doesn't matter at all.

This is where I exhale in relief and pray that my worst fear isn't coming true, I like the fact many of you are naturally confused which makes this story very unpredictable. To me the more I read the reviews in what you're guessing, it's more then enough to satisfy my smile and goal to reach that first thousand marked review story. Man, I really want to see it guys and you all make it possible, my writing be damned and what not. It's getting closer and closer, so I'm psyched to see that first four digit review number.

I don't want to explain much more except I might start doing a Q&A at the end of these chapters, it all depends that I avoid spoiling in reviews but I'm happy nonetheless to see the responses. This chapter was testing myself to show that I had to find a line between supernatural and a touch of realistic sense to show that anyone could feel the same way in a similar situation. It's very hard for me to portray that into a text, I mean trying to describe an actual mental melt down isn't as easy as it looks. I mean I'm just going the distance and saying, play ball.

As always I hope you're all safe and sound.

And have a great day, or night folks.