Supreme Danger Beast ch 2
(Night Raid Headquarter, Several Days After Esdeath's Camp Was Attacked)
The assassination group of the Revolutionary Army, Night Raid, was currently meeting right now in the main room. Najenda, a silver haired beauty with an eyepatch and prosthetic arm, former Empire General and leader of Night Raid, was sitting in her usual spot, smoking on a cigar. Around her were the members of Night Raid: Akame, a black haired, red eye young girl and one of their strongest members. Bulat, a tall muscular man with a heart-shaped pompadour and former soldier of the Empire. Leone, a young buxom blonde with revealing clothing. Sheele, a young klutzy but deadly woman with long purple hair and glasses. Mine, a short, petite young girl with long pink hair tied into ponytails on both sides of her head. Lubbock, a young man with green hair and wearing goggles. And finally the most recent member to Night Raid, Tatsumi, a young man with brown hair and green eyes.
"The reason why I called you all here because I have just received some startling news from HQ, regarding General Esdeath." Najenda explained, her wound wincing a bit at the name of the woman who took her eye.
The atmosphere in the room became grim. Any news related to the Empire's strongest was almost never good. Even Tatsumi, who had just learned of this woman, knew that she was bad news. It was Bulat who broke the silence. "What about her? She's head towards the North to subdue the Northern Tribes correct?"
"That's what we learned originally. But according to these reports her army's camp was attacked and promptly destroyed. Both they and Esdeath are currently missing." Najenda explained. And she soon received the reaction she was expecting; her subordinates had shocked looks on their faces followed by voices yelling out at the same time.
"What?! How is that possible? No more importantly, who could be crazy enough to attack Esdeath and her army?" Mine demanded.
"Do we have confirmation of her death?" Akame asked. If Esdeath was dead, this would be a great boost of morale for the Revolutionary Army and greatly demoralize the Empire.
"Unfortunately we neither know if she is dead or alive." Najenda replied. "As for who or more like what, attacked her, was a Danger Beast. And if our scouts are accurate, it was the Supreme-Class Danger Beast, END."
"END?!" Tatsumi cried out in surprise and a hint of fear. "Are you serious? As in the Danger Beast Emperor END? I thought it was just a myth?"
The rest of Night Raid also had surprised looks on their faces…well except for Mine who just appeared confused. "Eh? Who is this END? I never heard of him." She said before looking at Tatsumi. "Probably something only a country bumpkin knows of." She added earning a glare from Tatsumi.
"Actually I heard of it too, back from my time as an Imperial Assassin." Akame commented, earning a surprise look from Mine.
"A lot of the old hags and geezers from the slums tell stories of the thing." Leone said.
"It's mentioned in a lot of books related to the Empire, especially historical ones." Lubbock revealed.
"END is a popular story among the armies, both the Empire and the Revolutionary Army." Bulat explained, a nod from Najenda backing it up.
"Well I never heard of END." Sheele, but everyone knew she probably forgot.
Mine had a depress aura over her head as she realized she was the only one who didn't know (Sheele didn't count). Meanwhile Tatsumi appeared quite smug since it was payback for her comment earlier and from last night when he didn't know about Zank the Executioner after the guy appeared in the Capital.
Deciding to explain the story of END to the members that didn't know, Najenda began. "As you know, Danger Beasts are unique creatures and are usually a danger to society, hence the name. There are classifications for Danger Beasts to represent their threat level, with the weakest to strongest being Delta, Gamma, Beta and Alpha-class respectively. Above Alpha-class is Ultra-class, Danger Beasts so powerful that you would have to be insane to go up against them. Many Teigus were constructed from the bodies of Ultra-class Danger Beasts. There is also supposedly another class above that one called Zenith-Class, with little information on those types except they are stronger than Ultra-class. However legends has it that at the top of the food chain of Danger Beasts is Supreme-Class, Danger Beasts that could be considered the incarnate of natural disasters or even gods. And the only one to occupying that class is END, a gigantic dragon whose flames are so hot it is equal to the sun. It is also theorized that END is the progenitor of all Danger Beasts." Najenda explained.
"Legend also says that 1,000 years ago, when the Empire was still young, END appeared and attacked. It took the combine effort of all original 48 Teigu wielders to simply drive it away. In fact its image is used as the Empire's symbol, as a testament that the Empire reigns over all other nations. There are also many cults that worship END too." Bulat added.
Silence took over the room as everyone digested the information. Finally Tatsumi broke the silence. "So…what will this mean for us? The Revolutionary Army that is?" He asked.
Najenda took out her cigar and let out a sigh. "Well with Esdeath's disappearance, this will allow the Northern Tribes to fully prepare themselves. Their Prince, Numa Seika, will most likely see this as a perfect chance to assault the Empire and if we're lucky, they'll attack the same time as the Western Army and our own forces do, effectively surrounding the Empire's Capital. Plus moral amongst the Empire's forces will probably lower, throwing the capital into chaos and quicken our forces advance with fewer casualties. However we must still remain vigilant as we do not fully know of her fate. Plus we will still be taking in assassination jobs so remain on your toes, understood?" She said.
"Yes boss!" Everyone replied at once.
KA-BOOM!
At the large explosion, everyone literally jumped up in surprise. The ceiling of the room shook a bit from the rumble of the explosion too. "W-what the hell?!" Leone cried as she tried to balance herself.
"Are we under attack?" Tatsumi asked.
Being the quickest to recover, Akame made a dash to the nearest window to check out the action. When she got to one, she saw a large pillar of smoke rising up from the forest, only five miles away from the hideout. "I see the location of the explosion." She reported as the others joined her.
"That's in my security perimeter! How the hell did my wires not pick up on it?" Lubbock asked.
"Do you think its more spies?" Leone asked Najenda.
"Hard to say. If it were spies they wouldn't have much such a noise. Either way we have to confirm. All of you head out to that location to see who or what we're dealing with. Do not engage until you've confirmed whether or not it's a threat. I'll remain here to fire the signal flare in case this is a distraction." Najenda ordered, receiving nods from the others.
(Meanwhile)
Deep within the forest, a certain area was covered in broken trees, deep craters within the ground and multiple scorch spots everywhere. There were also puddles of blood and scratch marks too, a sign that two beings were fighting to the death in this area. However the victor could be seen in the center of the carnage, standing next to a fire place with the corpse of a large wolf-type danger beast held above it.
Said victor was a young man with a lean muscular build with a slight tan skin tone. He had spiky pink hair and onyx eyes. His attire consisted of a simple sleeveless black shirt, white trousers held by a brown belt with a golden buckle and long black boots. Wrapped around his right shoulder was a bandage, wristbands on both arms, and around his neck was a white scale scarf along with a long tattered black cloak with a hood attached. Finally around his neck was a chain that had what appeared to be a broken golden key attached. The young man happily took a chunk of meet from the well-cooked corpse and began chowing down on it. The man quickly finished it off before moving onto the next piece.
In just a few short minutes the man was down to the last bit of meat, leaving nothing but a pile of bones of the wolf. As he was chewing on it, he suddenly paused and his eyes widened before quickly narrowing. Still munching on the meat, the young man slowly stood up and faced the bushes behind him. "Okay I know you're there. I can smell you from here." He said as he took another bite of meat. However before he could sink his teeth into it, Bulat, wearing his Teigu Armor Incursio, suddenly appeared behind him and delivered a powerful punch to the young man's right cheek. The impact caused dust to pick up as the area went silent.
"Heh, I've been greeted a lot worse." Bulat's eyes widened at the pinkette's composed comment. The young man had not even moved an inch from Bulat's punch. Said assassin jumped back a safe distance and analyzed the young man, who was still casually eating the meat.
'That punch had enough force to knock a grown man out cold instantly. Yet this guy barely looks fazed.' Bulat thought as he stared at the young man through his mask. "You're quite tough. Got a name." Bulat asked as he tried to think of how to approach this.
"Natsu. Natsu Dragneel. What's yours?" Natsu asked as he kept chewing on the meat.
"The name is Bulat. Though you can call me handsome." Bulat responded. Underneath his mask, his eyes shifted towards where the others were hiding.
"Uh huh." Natsu said as he finished the meat. Tossing the bone up and down, he then asked, "And what about your friends hiding in the trees and bushes? Are they going to come out and introduce themselves?"
Bulat frowned, now knowing that this Natsu character was quite skilled to be able to detect several experienced assassins. Seeing no more reason to hide, Leone, Akame, Lubbock, Sheele and Tatsumi jumped out of their hiding spots and immediately joined Bulat in surrounding Natsu, all of them minus the latter having their Teigus out and ready. Mine was somewhere further back, perched on top of a cliff, overlooking the scene with her gun Teigu Pumpkin.
"Looks like an interesting person has appeared in our turf." Leone commented as she got into a stance, Lionelle already activated.
"Be careful he's no weakling. He was able to resist one of my punches with ease." Bulat said.
"He might be a spy for the Empire. We should capture him or if nothing else, kill him." Akame suggested. The moment she finished that sentence, Akame was struck head on by a powerful force. She had no time to react as she was sent flying backwards crashing into several trees.
The rest gaped at what just happened. Shifting their gaze from the prone form of Akame, towards Natsu who had a fist raised in the same direction, they tried to make sense of what just happened. Bulat was the first one to realize that Natsu's punch had been so strong and fast, that he fired powerful burst of air pressure, which promptly struck Akame from a distance. To be able to do that, let alone catch someone as skilled as Akame by surprise, this person was no weakling.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to affiliate me with that wretched place." Natsu muttered but still loud enough to hear. Heat could be felt radiating off of him, causing the others to become cautious of what he might do next.
However it was Lubbock who made the first move. Using his Teigu, Cross Tail, unleashed a wave of wires onto Natsu. However the pinkette merely raised his left arm, allowing the wires to wrap around it. "Ha! Looks like you're not very bright are you-AAAAAHHHHH!" Lubbock's sentence was cut off as Natsu pulled on the wires hard, which in turn caused Lubbock to be pulled in as well. The rest of Night Raid watched in surprise, and a bit of embarrassment as Natsu began twirling the green haired youth like a flail.
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! HELP ME!" Lubbock cried. As if answering his pleas, Natsu released Lubbock, causing the wires around his arm to loosen as the wielder went flying. Lubbock flew straight into an unprepared Tatsumi, causing both young men to go tumbling backwards in one large jumbled mess.
"Well that was pretty boring, though entertaining." Natsu commented before facing the last three. "Anyone else?"
Receiving a silent signal from Bulat, Sheele charged in, her scissor-Teigu, Extase, at the ready. Bulat also went in, summoning his spear, Neunote, into his hand. Leone hanged back, waiting for an opportunity to arise while Mine was looking through her scope, waiting for a clear shot to come. At the same time Akame began to recover from the surprise attack, her clothes slightly singed from the pressurized heated air that struck her.
Sheele raised Extase and prepared to cut Natsu in half. However he simply dodged it by jumping into the air, an unimpressed look on his face. He then landed behind her and delivered a devastating kick to the side. The impact caused Sheele to lose her balance and hit the ground hard. "You shouldn't run with scissors. There's a chance you might poke someone's eye out, or even your own." Natsu commented plainly looking at Sheele. He didn't even turn away as he easily caught Neunote with his hand.
"What…" Was all Bulat could say before Natsu delivered a powerful punch to the man's stomach. The punch was strong enough to leave a dent in Incursio and send the man flying, crashing into a rock. Steam could be seen from the area on the armor that Natsu hit. The pinkette quickly dodged another swing from Sheele before delivering a swift chop to the girl's neck, knocking her out cold. "Why don't you take a nap?" Natsu said as he gently laid Sheele's prone form on the ground.
"How dare you do that to Sheele?!" Lubbock cried, having untangled himself from Tatsumi. The green haired young man wrapped his wires around Natsu's leg and pulled on tightly, thus trapping him in his place.
"Nice going Lubbock!" Leone, who was standing on the sidelines, shouted. She swiftly appeared behind Natsu, fists raised. "Now time for this big sis to teach you some manners-"
BA-DUMP
Leone let out a gasp as she saw the brief image of Natsu's eyes turning red, black markings appearing all over his body, and a large dragon made out of flames standing above him. She instinctively jumped back away from Natsu, landing on all fours. Cold sweat could be seen pouring down her face and body as she stared at Natsu with wide eyes, filled with unhidden fear and confusion. 'W-what the hell was that?! For some reason my instincts were screaming that if I tried to attack him, I would be a goner!' Leone thought as she stared at the bored looking face of the pinkette. Despite his non-threatening appearance, Leone's animal instincts were going haywire, telling her, no, yelling at her that the man in front of her was the most dangerous being alive. The fear that was covering Leone was enough to make her oblivious to everything else, even her friends' voices.
She was brought back into reality when Mine fired a beam of energy from Pumpkin straight towards Natsu's head. But he surprised them once again as he deflected the shot with his bare hand. Despite being a concentrated beam of spiritual energy, it appeared to have done nothing more than annoyed Natsu as he located Mine's position. Taking a deep breath, he released a large ball of fire straight towards the sniper.
"What the hell?!" She cried as the large projectile got closer. Unable to think of any better ideas, Mine jumped off the cliff just as the fire projectile struck where she once stood, destroying the cliff edge in an instant. Mine meanwhile managed to slow her fall by shooting multiple energy bullets downwards before crashing into several trees below.
"Well that was interesting." Natsu commented as he burned off the wires around his ankles, much to the surprise of Lubbock. "But I think I will be going now. See ya!" He said to the conscious members of Night Raid.
"You're not going anywhere!" Tatsumi yelled as he charged forward, sword raised. Akame and Bulat had also recovered and joined the brunette in a three prong attack. But just as they were about to reach him, flames appeared beneath Natsu's feet. He propelled himself up into the air, causing the three Night Raid members to crash into each other. They all watched as Natsu flew through the sky and out of sight.
The area was filled with silence for a while until it was broken by a disgruntle Mine, who joined the others while covered with leaves and dirt. "Did that just happened?! Tell me that didn't just fucking happened!" Mine shouted in hysteria while waving Pumpkin wildly.
"Well that was…interesting." Lubbock commented as he rolled up his wires, grimacing at the slight burns on them. "Who or what the hell was that guy?"
"I, I have no idea. All I know is that guy was way out of our league." Leone commented. She had finally calmed down and deactivated her Teigu. "My animal instincts were sending warning messages all over the board that he was someone we did not want to fight."
"I have to agree with you there." Bulat said. He deactivated Incursio and was currently nursing the bruise forming on his stomach, courtesy of Natsu's punch. Meanwhile Tatsumi was trying wake up Sheele while Akame was staring at the sky where Natsu had flown off. "He was definitely not normal. I felt heat around his fists when he punched me. It is possible that he might have a Teigu on him."
"Whatever or whoever he is, I think we can say that he is not with the Empire." Akame stated to the others. "The way he reacted when I mentioned about him being a possible spy for them shows that he is not fond of the Empire at all."
"That doesn't really confirm he's an ally either though." Tatsumi said as he finally managed to awaken Sheele. "So what do we do now?"
"For now we should inform the boss of this and hopefully we won't have to worry about any uninvited guests." Bulat replied, earning nods of agreement from the others as they slowly made their way back to the hideout.
(The Next Day: Empire's Capital)
Just as Najenda had predicted, Esdeath's disappearance did indeed have a negative impact on the capital and its forces. Furthermore the appearance of the legendary Danger Beast, END, only worsen the situation. Many people feared of its wrath and worse, taking its anger out on the capital. Citizens, especially the nobility, were having thoughts of fleeing the capital if END truly did come to destroy them. The Imperial Guards were working overtime of keeping the peace though even some of them were having doubts of staying in the capital.
Meanwhile in the Imperial Palace, the higher ups were conversing with one another in a rather panic style of this current situation. Many of these politics and other officials were aligned with the Prime Minister for their own personal ambitions or merely tried to save their own necks. Currently there was a meeting taking place in the council hall of government officials, with Prime Minister Honest and Emperor Makoto also present.
"Has there still been no word of Esdeath's whereabouts?" One person asked.
"We've dispatched scouts to search possible areas where she might have taken refugee after the destruction of her army. However it's become difficult due to the increasing presence of hostile Northern forces." Another said.
"Many cities in the Empire have also reported multiple riots. However it seems that while most are due to the absence of General Esdeath, others are out of fear of END's wrath." A third government official reported.
"To think that the mythical Supreme Danger Beast actually exists…"
"Enough about worrying about some monster! What matters is that Esdeath has vanished and now nothing is stopping the Northern Tribes from continuing to amass power! The rebels will no doubt use this to their advantage, especially Night Raid! They have killed numerous high ranking officials, both government and military and have retrieved several Teigu and gained an increase of support as well as multiple former officers defecting from the army!"
"We still have Great General Budo and his Imperial Guards here to protect the palace."
"But if the Northern Tribes, Western Nation and Revolutionary Army attack us at the same time…"
As the officials were talking with one another, Makoto could only watch in grim silence at how the situation was developing. Beside him, Honest was stuffing his face with a dish of exotic meat, not giving a care in the world. He paused when he noticed the young Emperor's discontent he decided to speak in order to get the idiots to cease their talking.
"Gentlemen I believe that all this grim talk is upsetting his majesty." Immediately the others shut up, knowing better than to do something that was against what the Prime Minister said was basically signing a death warrant. "Over the matter of General Esdeath, I do not think there is much to fret over. She is not known as the Empire's Strongest for nothing. I have full confidence that she is alive and is most likely making her way back to the capital. Once she returns the morale of the soldiers' will be restored and we'll crush both Night Raid, the Revolutionary Army and anyone else that dares stand against us."
"That's right! We must have faith in General Esdeath! If anyone could survive such a disaster then she surely would." Makoto said, inspired by Honest's words.
While the others did not seem fully convinced, they let the matter concerning Esdeath slide. Though it seemed that there were still concerns towards the other issue. "B-but what about END? Surely the return of the Supreme Danger Beast, who has not been seen since a thousand years ago is a bad omen…" One man said but was cut off by Honest.
"END is just that, a beast, a savage overgrown reptilian animal. While even I have to admit that its existence shocked me, it is after all nothing more than a beast. The chances of it attacking a random settlement of humans, even the Revolutionary Army, is more possible than attacking the capital. I am sure we have nothing to fear from that lizard."
(Elsewhere)
"HACHOO!" Natsu sneezed loudly from his spot above a pile of bandits. After getting away from Night Raid, he had accidentally run into a large group of bandits. When they noticed the broken golden key, the only connection to the Etherious' past life, Natsu made short work of them and left them as charred corpses.
However now with all the sneezing Natsu could only think of one possible explanation. "Someone must be talking about me." He muttered as he made his way towards the Capital, curious to see how much it changed over the past one thousand years.
(Later that Night)
Mine and Sheele were running through the empty park, their respective Teigus strapped over their shoulders after they completed another successful assassination.
"That Chibul guy was way too wary of attacks." Mine complained.
"But in the end, it didn't cause too many problems." Sheele stated.
The two continued running until the warning bells in their heads went off. Immediately they jumped out of the way as someone crashed where the two assassins once stood. Mine and Sheele regrouped as the dust settled, revealing a young girl with long auburn hair tied into a ponytail and wearing the Imperial Guard uniform. Besides her was a small odd looking dog.
'I didn't even detect her presence!' Mine commented with a curse.
'She's clearly different from the other Imperial Guards.' Sheele thought.
The auburn girl pulled out a wanted poster with Sheele's face and studied it. "I knew it…it's the same face as the one on the wanted poster. You are definitely Sheele of Night Raid! And judging from the Teigu in the other girl's hand, she's also a member of Night Raid!" The girl began as a wicked smile formed on her face. "I've finally tracked you down, Night Raid!"
A massive amount of killing intent began to radiate from the girl, causing Sheele and Mine to tense at the bloodlust. The girl pointed a finger towards the two assassins, a demented face forming. Imperial Guard Forces, Seryu Ubiquitous! In the name of justice, I will make you evildoers pay right here and now!" She declared as the dog began to growl, revealing rows of sharp canine teeth.
A few minutes later Natsu could be seen walking through the park with a carefree attitude. However a loud whistling sound, followed by explosions and screams caught his attention. Sniffing the air Natsu frowned as he recognized three out of four scents. Two he had just recently met while one he hadn't smell in a long time. A frown on his face, Natsu dashed towards where the action was coming, just as he heard a female voice shouting, "KORO! BERSERKER!" Followed by a loud roar that nearly caused Natsu to go deaf. But he brushed it off.
When he finally arrived, Natsu assessed the current situation. It was indeed two members of Night Raid facing against an Imperial Guard and a Biological Teigu. The purple haired girl with the Extase was slowly overwhelming the Imperial Guard while the pink haired sniper had just been grabbed by the teigu, which Natsu recognized as Hekatonkheires, or Koro as it was apparently called. Without even thinking about it, Natsu shot forward, body covered in flames and pierced through the teigu's body, leaving a gaping hole in it. The blow did not kill Koro, since Natsu did not hit is core, but it was enough to cause the massive Teigu to release Mine, whom was swiftly grabbed by Natsu and brought a safe distance away.
"Y-you…" Mine stuttered as she recognized her savior as the same guy who fought and soundly defeated her and her teammates yesterday.
"I never expected to see you again mutt." Natsu said, ignoring Mine as he focused on Koro, who had already regenerated. His eyes were hidden by his bangs. "For you to be out right now, I guess the Empire has fallen a lot more than I thought."
Koro growled and let out a roar, preparing to charge towards Natsu and Mine. The latter cursed as she realized she would not be able to reach Pumpkin in time. Plus with her arm broken she would not be able to aim properly. But before Koro could even reach them, it froze as an incredible amount of power began to leak out of Natsu. The pressure was so great it blew out of him like a gust of wind, kicking up dust and causing the leaves to fly and the trees to creak as they tried not to fall under the force. Even Sheele and Seryu, the latter having been prepared to shoot the former, paused as they felt the immense aura of what could only be described of incredible anger.
Koro suffered the worse. The large Biological Teigu was shaking, from what Mine could tell. Its eyes were wide and filled with fear as it stared at Natsu. "Seeing you has made me a bit pissed off." The Dragneel began as he raised his head. Already his body was covered with demonic black markings. And his eyes had changed from onyx to blood red with black slit pupils, glaring at the trembling Koro. A flame-like aura was covering Natsu's body as he continued. "Perhaps I should burn you?"
And that was Koro's cue. The dog-like Teigu, now completely terrified, not only by Natsu's intimidating aura, but memories of seeing him over a thousand years ago, immediately fled, much to a dumbfounded Mine's shock. The large teigu jumped over a confused Sheele, and grabbed Seryu and ran as far away as it could, ignoring Seryu's objections.
"K-Koro, what are you doing?!" Seryu cried as she tried to break free but to no avail. Koro was still absolutely terrified of seeing Natsu. "We haven't killed the evildoers yet! We need to deliver justice! Stop! Koro!"
Once the two were out of sight, Natsu's markings and flame aura vanished, with his eyes returning to normal. Now completely calm he prepared to walk away when a voice stopped him.
"Hold it!" Mine shouted, getting Natsu's attention. The sniper was finally on her legs and was holding Pumpkin with her good arm. "Why the hell did you save me, even after we attacked you yesterday? And how the fuck did you scare away that giant Teigu?! What or who are you?" She kept questioning and demanding as Sheele approached her, in order to help Mine steady herself.
Natsu was silent for a moment, not facing the two Night Raid members. Finally after what felt like an eternity, he spoke. "My name is Natsu Dragneel. As for why I helped you, are reasons you do not need to know. And to answer your last question…I am a monster." And with that he disappeared in a burst of flame, startling Mine and Sheele. Their surprise did not last long though as they remembered that they were not safe at the moment, so they immediately headed back to the base.
(Early Morning)
As the sun rose up into the sky, people were still fast asleep minus a few who had to get up early for work as well as the Imperial Guards. The guards at the palace were still awake, remaining vigilant of any signs of attack. However four figures on horses, trotting through the streets towards the palace, caught their attention.
"Halt! Who goes there?" A guard asked as the four figures continued their approach. The lead figure removed their hood, revealing their long blue hair, matching blue eyes with their sharp gaze and the general hat on their head. In response the guard and his colleagues gasped when they recognized the person before them.
"Inform the Emperor and Prime Minister! General Esdeath has returned!"
And done!