Something Ends, Something Begins
Chapter 3
A Deadly Crossing
"Of course it would be her. Who else would unleash such devilish aura!?" thought Tatsumi as now the force was getting closer and closer. He never once was this close of a distance to her, resulting in him experiencing mixed emotions at the moment.
His instincts told him that the possessor of such aura needed to be eradicated, a danger to humanity itself.
Despite the initial struggles that have been coursing through him, he eventually let her aura flow past him just like he had done with his former mentor on numerous occasions.
It really felt like it was just a cold morning of the winter season, after you passed through what seemed to be mundane terror of an aura, though still that air of coldness in the atmosphere made the rest shiver in deep coldness.
Soon the huge gold-colored door opened till it couldn't be opened anymore, making Tatsumi take note that whoever did this had super strength.
Despite the obvious hints of the atmosphere, the sudden cold that has been flooding the current place, the menacing aura, he did, hope that it would not be her, for if it was her, then he wouldn't be too sure if now he'll be able to reach his goal or not.
Unfortunately for him, that did not turn out to be the case.
The blue-haired demoness eventually opened the huge door, with the Emperor standing at her right side while the Prime Minister on the left, making Tatsumi take note of how as if she was in charge of the Palace and the Empire and not the child. Her eyes trained at everyone that was in the destination she was looking forward to to arrive at.
Of course, she knew that all the guards and the maids were practically immobilized the moment she herself unleashed her aura. Though their faces that expressed one with mortal fear, and that it did satisfy her a bit of how she stood above them, she was greatly irritated, greatly irritated that she could not just freeze all of those weaklings to break them physically and mentally before they became utterly useless and destroyed by her own hands, hands in which destroyed even the bravest and mightiest of men.
When her eyes landed on the Colonel, she tried to sense if there was any display or hints of fear he tried to conceal. Surprising her, she actually didn't sense any fear he displayed when her presence became known.
A slight sense of disappointment came into her, as she herself couldn't remember the last person besides Budo to have displayed no sign of fear when near her, feeling as if she was being challenged by the Colonel. Later that thought turned into curiosity and excitement. "Well this should be very interesting."
Tatsumi eventually saw all three coming towards him. What irritated him was that Esdeath's eyes were stuck on him the whole time until all three walked to the Colonel, with that smirk on her face being present as well. Tatsumi felt a bit worried about this but mostly he felt vexed just by seeing her. He also saw Honest, who again kept a hand just on his stomach and with a grin present on his face that can rival Esdeath's current smirk, a sight that made the situation all the more worse at the moment. He did however felt a miniscule of relief when he saw the Emperor, who as usual, appeared to be in a happy mood.
The Emperor was apparently unaware that the people in front of him were basically oppressed by the Empire's strongest, making Tatsumi wish that the Emperor at times wasn't naive and an idiot.
"Aaahh! Colonel Tatsumi, you've arrived here before us. Did you wait here for a long time?" asked the Emperor with serious concern.
"No not at all your Majesty. You've arrived just right after I've arrived."
"Okay. Well that is good. For a second I really thought you've been waiting for us for quite some time. Well now that out of the way, I would like for you to greet General Esdeath. I don't ever recall you had the chance to meet up with her directly now have you?"
"No my Emperor, I have never met the General before face to face," said Tatsumi before looking straight at Esdeath. This was the first time he'd ever look at her straight in the eyes at such a close distance. What made this all the more worrying was that aura of hers that he felt suddenly expanded and a force glanced on to him, as if trying to overwhelm him or assert dominance over him.
Such a scene only lasted about five seconds before Tatsumi felt the powerful force deteriorate until it had vanished. He spotted Esdeath's left eye twitch for a fraction of the second.
She was surprised but also disappointed in herself that she couldn't find him displaying any sign of being frightened by her. She quickly took note of how his posture did not change at all, if only a little. His armor with his mask covering his face for an unknown reason infuriated her and an urge arose within her to take them off using brute force, only to turn down those urges...for now.
"Greetings General, I'm Colonel Tatsumi. A pleasure to see you," greeted the Colonel, with the last part obviously being a lie and raising his hand a bit to shake hands with her.
Esdeath stood there for a moment before a smirk appeared on her face with her icy orbs gazing at him, gladly accepting the Colonel's request, knowing very well that he lied and didn't want to see her at all in truth.
"Yes, I know you. No need to identify yourself. You're quite the famous one Colonel; so much so even I was looking forward to this moment," informed him Esdeath. For some reason, Tatsumi felt uneasiness spreading across his body as he heard her last sentence. Only for then after a few moments did the Colonel realize his right hand is suddenly experiencing pain.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! This stupid bitch. What is she trying to do?" spoke Tatsumi to himself when he realized his hand was being crushed by her strong right hand while they were shaking hands. Tatsumi really had to wonder if what she's doing was really that necessary. He had to admit, he was amazed by her unbelievable strength but also worried as he tried to disconnect his hand away from hers, only for his attempt to be futile, and it seemed she was still holding back some of her strength. "God her hand feels like iron. Come on, seriously, Esdeath? This is getting way too long and awkward now."
"Now now, let us not waste anymore time. We have much to discuss plus I need to fill up my stomach," said Honest. "Those delicious foods are just waiting for me to eat them."
Due to him being unable to resist any longer, Honest abruptly went to the rounded table and sat at a seat. Soon his other three companions followed him. It didn't take Tatsumi much longer when he realized even after turning around to go to the rounded table, he could feel Esdeath's intense gaze on his back as both were walking.
Following with a sigh, the Colonel really wondered what this final assignment was all about and just get this dinner over with, even though deep down he was confident enough to acknowledge that time wouldn't be against him.
Having the Emperor sit at one side and opposite to him was the Prime Minister, only Tatsumi and Esdeath were the ones yet to sit. There were two chairs on each side of the rounded table that were available to occupy on. He assumed that he would leave Esdeath sit on one of the two chairs on one side while he sits on the other side that had the two other chairs just to be the fuck away from that demoness.
As if this day couldn't surprise him further, suddenly as he walked, Esdeath was walking right behind him, eventually she sat next to him.
"God, this day just keeps getting worse and worse. Why is she so annoying? What is she trying to do exactly here?"
She could clearly see his annoyed expression he let out, even though he was wearing that mask. Nonetheless, she had to do this if she wanted to learn more about the mysterious Colonel.
A few moments later, Tatsumi put down his thoughts as he saw two maids handing out four plates along with drinks. He could clearly see the worriness present in their faces as soon as they neared to the two monsters.
Both receiving their plates and drinks, Tatsumi denoted how they didn't even thank the maids. Albeit this behaviour was what he had expected from a battle maniac lover and a greedy villain politician, he still felt slightly enraged that they did not even give their thanks to the maids.
Just the servants and maids being here nowadays serving the Emperor is almost like a suicide mission itself.
Although Tatsumi for the most part has been serving the Empire outside the palace, he had heard enough rumors of how some of these unfortunate servants' and maids' lives were shattered or destroyed. It was rare finding someone who was serving the Empire who has shown respect and kindness to those lower in terms of power and position. It made him almost vomit with sheer disgust of how this Empire was flooded with such disgusting men and women.
Tatsumi could make an entire book with about a hundred pages, only filled with names of those that basically showed disrespect to the maids, servants, and soldiers. Syura who has been known to having an obsession in raping women and torturing them at times. Honest who would make those who oppose his plans vanish. And let's not talk about the woman next to him.
This woman's clothes itself was enough evidence to show how sadistic and cruel she truly is.
The worst thing is, she enjoyed fighting against strong opponents, those who would at least handle her brutal and violent torture techiniques for a few moments. She would usually hold back, hoping that they would at least entertain her with their defiances and how they thought they could be broken by her, before she would completely break them physically and mentally. Only a few even passed that checkpoint.
The armor that Tatsumi donned on most occasions, its colors represented hope, order, justice, finding and spreading that happiness to everyone. Yet this woman right here, her uniform's colors carried death, blood, and the endless madness love of battling.
"Ooooohhhh!" yelled the Emperor with a gleeful tone and hands clapping soon followed. "I haven't had a dinner like this in a while. Always eating by myself with no one else at my side. Now I'm eating with the Prime Minister and my two favorite soldiers."
No matter how Tatsumi saw the Emperor as a naive boy, idiot at times, but mostly a child with too much power, he had to admit, he felt sorry for the boy who should instead be playing with people, going out exploring many places; yet here he is "controlling" an entire Empire, not being granted the pleasure to do actions almost every kid did.
Soon all that sorrowness turned into deep indignation towards Honest, one who was granted many powers and craved for more, one who cared only for himself for greed and satisfaction.
Seeing a maid getting closer to him to hand him his plate. He was a bit surprised but also worried that they did not even ask what he wanted to eat. What if he didn't like the food? Knowing that now he didn't want to disappoint the Emperor and cause up a meaningless argument, he dismissed it and agreed to just fill his stomach.
Can't be that bad, right?
He could sense that she was afraid of even looking at him directly. Tatsumi didn't know if that was due to the mask he was wearing along with the white tuxedo that scared her, or the fact that she might've thought he was some other monster similar to Honest and Esdeath.
Deciding to comfort her a bit, giving her a chance to see what the Colonel is like and not how the rumors portray him, he simply replied to her, "Thank you."
Though she was pretty good at hiding it, Tatsumi was able to detect a face of what seemed to be of shock that lasted for about a second. Then that shock turned into a smile, a real happy smile, before bowing down slightly and walking away.
He could tell just by her walking, she was in a rather happy or relieved mood. Perhaps that response from Tatsumi was quite an uncommon one, all the more evident that this place creeped with evil and disgusting people.
Taking a look at what he was about to feed his stomach with, a thought immediately came up, "Huh?"
"What's wrong Colonel. Don't you like the food?" asked the Emperor, once again concerned about the Colonel, a detail Tatsumi couldn't simply miss and that made him all the more reason to like the Emperor. "Honest told me that was your favorite dish."
The slight upward smile that was once there on the Colonel's face soon fell downwards.
"Of course it had to be him. The one food I cannot stand to eat. My stomach despises it so much. Good job you motherfucker, good job."
Now obviously not wanting to erase the smiling face the Emperor has, he had no choice but to eat it.
Tatsumi didn't even have to set his eyes on Honest as he could feel his gaze and smirk onto him, clearly enjoying what he was doing to the Colonel. Him eating the food slowly said it all.
"No your Majesty, it's nothing relating to the food. It's just that I've been thinking about this final assignment. It is truly an honour that you consider me to even be a candidate to become a general for this Empire. You cannot imagine how happy I am as this opportunity will give me a boost to reach my goal sooner," said Tatsumi, making the Emperor's smile appear again while Tatsumi turned his head to look at Honest as he said the last sentence.
"Aaahh. Well it is good to know that you're happy and excited. Believe me, I have full confidence that you'll succeed in this mission. Initially, I fully intended to personally announce your promotion to a General after all the accomplishments and victories you have achieved for the Empire, but General Esdeath and Honest suggested that a final assignment must be completed to ensure you have the capabilities in becoming a General."
"Of course it had to be him. Like who would make this all the more difficult? He probably has something up in his mind."
Silence was present for a while.
The Emperor seemed to really enjoy the food as Tatsumi heard him humming gently and happily to himself.
What made him creep were the intense gazes he's receiving from both Esdeath and Honest. Tatsumi still hadn't taken off his mask and didn't eat anything at all till now. Honest slowly eating his own food, happily, while looking at the Colonel. Meanwhile he would see Esdeath often have glances at the Colonel while eating as well. He wondered what this was all about.
"Aren't you going to remove that mask off of your face and eat the food that I recommended to the Emperor?" asked Honest with a face that seemed to express one of a victorious look.
Tatsumi knew that Honest never had an ounce of careness held for him, so it made Tatsumi surprised by his sudden concern towards him. Suddenly an idea popped up in Tatsumi's mind. Tatsumi now might've realized Honest's intention behind this remarkable manipulation strategy that he seems to be such an expert when dealing with basically anyone. Being the dickhead Tatsumi is at times, he decided to tease Honest a bit and play around with him.
"Actually I might eat it later on. You might've forgotten, but I have no intention of sharing my identity to anyone. Don't worry, I will save for it later on." Tatsumi could see the slight disappointment that began to shape Honest's face while Tatsumi's smirk widened as soon as he assured Honest that he wouldn't be falling for his tricks.
It was no strange to him that him wearing the mask along with the armor made almost everyone take interest in knowing who was behind the famous Colonel.
There were so many events Tatsumi could remember of how people were trying many things to unveil the mask. He can name many of them. Some were just communicating with him, indirectly trying to pull out a hint of who this Colonel truly is. Some were just trying to trap him to force him to leak out such information that seemed to be so valuable to almost everyone.
This scene that was playing at the moment wasn't all that different.
Yet he wondered why Honest would take an interest in knowing his identity now.
In past times, there were numerous opportunities where Honest would take in to know the Colonel's identity.
For instance, there was a time where the Colonel was invited to a meeting full of nobles to plan an attack on a base full of bandits and enemies that were causing the economy to slightly drop due to the enemies intercepting and killing anyone with carts that were headed to the Capital. These carts had many resources, many that were valuable. Honest tried to take this opportunity and was putting pressure on the Colonel, claiming that he needed to reveal himself.
When the Colonel asked what for, Honest struggled for a while to find an answer until he eventually got one; telling him that since they were going to be working together, these nobles needed to know how he looked in case if anything happens. Tatsumi without a single thought refused Honest's request, much to his disappointment.
Soon, those nobles started to involve themselves in and refused to let the Colonel refuse to take away his mask. This argument went on until Budo saved Tatsumi from the situation and told him that it wasn't needed. Soon after they kept their mouths shut and Honest realized his attempt was useless.
Since then, Honest's attempts to know who was behind the mask had all failed and eventually he stopped, until right now where it seemed he was trying to know the Colonel's identity. This made Tatsumi wonder, "Why now? He knows that I won't just reveal my identity to him. He knows that all of his previous attempts were just nothing but failures, so why repeat it again? I thought he'd given up."
"Oh yes, I had forgotten that you don't take your mask off for personal reasons. I understand. If you wish so, then that is fine," declared the Emperor with a sad tone clearly heard from him.
"Oh come on Colonel. We've made this all just for you and now look at what you have done. You've made his Majesty quite depressed at the moment. Is that how a soldier of your caliber makes the Emperor feel? I must say I'm disappointed by your acts. All he wants is for you to eat with us. Is hiding your identity much more important than having dinner with his Majesty? "
In truth, Honest didn't really care much about the Emperor, well except if it meant he'd gain something from him. Clearly Honest was having much fun playing this little game he has set up against the Colonel, putting pressure on the Colonel by making him feel guilty of his own actions.
Again, silence started to flood the area. It looked like Tatsumi was in deep thought, as if having an internal conflict with something.
Few moments later, Tatsumi now realized it was time to reveal his trick that he had been looking forward to presenting to Honest, forming a smirk on Tatsumi's face.
"Fine. You're right. It is a disrespectful act to not eat with his Majesty all because of the mask. If eating with His Majesty is what will cause him to lighten his mood, then I'll be more than glad to comply with it."
That response alone had gotten several reactions, all in which satisfied the Colonel.
The Emperor of course clapped with his hands happily, his eyes widening. Honest paused his eating, setting his eyes on the Colonel for a while. He, in all honesty, did not expect this at all. He was baffled that his initial planning turned out to be more effective than he had anticipated. Esdeath's eyes widened for a second before a smirk that the Colonel found it irritating came upon.
"Well then what are you waiting for Colonel?" asked Esdeath with a curious tone. "Now let's see who's behind the famous mysterious Colonel."
She wasn't going to let such an opportunity pass. Oh how she longed for such a moment, only for the wide grin that was once on her face turned into a wide looking frown.
It turns out Tatsumi pressed onto the side of the neck, only revealing a part of his face. It had opened until it had crossed his mouth. Tatsumi with all his will tried not to burst out a laugh for disappointing the two demons.
It actually made the atmosphere slightly better.
"Woah! I didn't know you could do that with your mask. Well I guess that means that now you may eat with us three, correct?" The Emperor said with a surprised look and glad that he could eat with the Colonel. The Colonel answered with a simple nod.
Esdeath didn't really show much other than the look of disappointment. He wondered why she wanted to find out about his identity that badly.
As for Honest, he was eating his food furiously as he'd expect to finally find out who the Colonel is.
However, Tatsumi was soon taken back when he'd seen Honest's devilish grin grow back up again, making Tatsumi worried and suspicious of Honest as he stated, "Please Colonel, eat the food that is presented to you. It'll be cold if you don't finish it up."
Tatsumi wondered if he'd unintentionally trapped himself again in this situation. Having no choice, he started to eat his food.
"Well Colonel, to waste no time as Honest and I have our daily affairs to get done after this, I will get straightforward with this. Your final mission is to head out to the East. An unidentified enemy organization has started to attack the frontiers we have set up. Not only that, but several files also suggest that many innocents were slaughtered and butchered to death, in a brutal manner. They've been at it for approximately four months now. One of our espionage agents however claimed that their leader obtains a very powerful Teigu, probably ranked amongst the top five. They couldn't identify their leader at all.
Your mission now is to bring justice to these enemies to prevent further chaos. Be warned that this is your very first mission in which you will face an experienced, dangerous, and an enemy Teigu user. Succeeding in killing their leader will not only grant the new position of being a General but will also give you a Teigu to your liking. All clear?"
Tatsumi began to feel uneasy as he heard what his final mission was about.
He understood that his final mission was to be facing a Teigu user that has been causing havoc against the Empire. It wasn't even his first time battling against Teigu users as he had done on numerous occasions in secret.
That he understood, but what he couldn't simply piece together was the enemy he was about to face.
"This is strange. First they claim they couldn't identify the enemy organization, then one of their agents claim they knew their leader's Teigu, yet they couldn't identify their leader at all. Not to mention they've been at it for four months. And how had he not heard of such a thing before until now. This isn't making any sense at all."
Tatsumi had his suspicion that perhaps the Prime Minister was behind all this, so he tried to use telepathy to try and read what's on Honest's mind. Surprised, Tatsumi found himself unable to use his abilities against Honest. It made him angry as he couldn't believe his luck.
Tatsumi was a man of many talents, one of them was that he was considered a master psionic, which is to say that he was capable of telepathy to a high degree; having the ability to read one's mind as well communicating to those who also mastered such abilities.
While this was a major advantage to find out information without having to force the other person to leak out information, it also had its limitations.
One of them was that it often did not work when an area is flooded with loud noises, making the psionic unable to concentrate well. Another major disadvantage was that it was futile against any Teigu user. All teigus were immune to some magic abilities, which one of them is telepathy. Now this made Tatsumi surprised when he first heard of this. It was quite strange considering magic played a key role in creating Teigus. Even if a teigu user's teigu was destroyed, they are still immune to such abilities. However, that does not mean that every person that didn't wield a Teigu was vulnerable to it, as some with strong wills could actually pass through those psionic abilities as well.
This made Tatsumi wonder if the Prime Minister had a teigu that is hidden in his sleeve. He couldn't think of any other explanation to it.
Now clicking on the side of the neck that made his mouth reveal again, it now closed into a full mask once again as it always has. This was obviously done to mask his voice as well, a detail Esdeath and Honest didn't dismiss and were softly irritated. "Well there is one thing that is bugging me your Majesty. Does anyone have any idea what this Teigu is?"
"I don't believe I know, so as our agents claim. They don't know anything."
"Really? None of these men sa-"
"Now now Colonel, let's not waste time by simply asking too many questions. If his Majesty informed you that he has no notion of the Teigu then he has no notion, so stop asking useless questions and let's move on."
A slight urge to kill Honest came upon Tatsumi, only for him to turn it down after a few thoughts. Their relationship shouldn't even be called one. They were never going to be friends or even acquaintances. Honest would try everything to make the Colonel upset, mad, etc, in which Tatsumi had gotten used to and was fine with that as he understood his reasonings.
However, simply interrupting the Colonel while having a chat with the Emperor, and telling him to stop asking questions. Who does this man think he is? "Fine, please speak, Prime Minister."
"Now you will be accompanied with your pets that should come here to the Capital. You will also be teamed up with Esdeath along with her Three Beasts to determine whether or not you will be qualified to become a General."
"Oh you son of a bitch. You claim my soldiers, soldiers that are currently some of the best in the army to be called 'pets'? Be thankful I am currently resisting myself to kill you on the spot. And oh for the love of God no, her three beasts are coming as well. Some of the most bothersome people I've ever seen. Oh no. This is going down as the worst mission I'll ever partake in."
Soon Tatsumi paused his talking to his inner self when he heard that Honest continued to speak, "Now General Esdeath, because we are going to send you to this mission personally, his Majesty and I have agreed that we should grant you something for this. What would you like?"
Esdeath, now forming a grin that showed her white teeth and looking at the Colonel, a sight in which seemed as if a predator was looking at its prey, answered, "Well, if the Colonel fails to do his mission in the applicable way, then he shall be placed as my subordinate along with my Three Beasts."
She saw how the Colonel was about to eat the next food that was on his spoon, only to pause for a second before continuing again.
"What the-? What's her angle? What kind of proposition is this? Does she want me to become her subordinate to break me to her heart's content since I'll be directly under her? Perhaps this is why the food fucker is confident with that pathetic smile on his face."
"I don't understand General Esdeath. If he succeeds then you'll have gained nothing from this."
"Do not worry my Emperor. If he succeeds in his mission, then I will practice sparring with him when he becomes a General. In all of this my hope is to find someone who can keep up with me," replied Esdeath while looking intensely at the Colonel this whole time, which made the Colonel shiver lightly at the mention of him having to spar against her.
He never understood why she'd take such an interest in him. Was he really that intriguing of a person? Is it perhaps because of him being mysterious? He really didn't know the answer to his own questions.
"Very well, you are a very loyal soldier to this Empire. If this is what you desire, so be it. Now, I want both of you to prepare yourselves since this evil organization must be taken down. Take the next week to prepare yourselves. Honest and I will retire to continue our daily affairs in the meantime.
Well today's dinner was very fun. I really hope we all four get to eat with each other in the future."
And with that, the Emperor and Honest left to continue where they left off in their usual daily affairs.
Abruptly, Tatsumi decided to get away from the room to reflect on the latest events with deep thinking and evaluation towards his next mission. To be quite frank, he also wanted to be as far away from the ice queen as possible. Just being next to her vexed him so much so he didn't think he could contain them if she kept getting too close with him.
"My my, so I arrive here personally and you just want to get away from me? That's not a nice way to treat a lady you know, Tatsumi."
"Ah shit!"
Stopping his tracks the now annoyed man released a long, deep sigh. Then turning around to face Esdeath, "General, what do you want?"
Well that's another chapter done! Sorry if anyone expected more interactions between Tatsumi and Esdeath. I promise, there will be much more, but I kind of wanted to get this part done. I was planning on writing more to get to the really exciting part but I didn't want the chapter to exceed 6000+ words.
I'm not sure though if the next chapter will be about them since I might focus more on Tatsumi's past, continuing where the flashback in the previous chapter was left off, because the events in Tatsumi's past will play a significant role in the future.
In case you didn't understand, one of Tatsumi's abilities is telepathy; reading one's mind as well as communicating with others who also share the same skill. While this does serve great advantages for Tatsumi, it also has its limitations. One of them being that all who have Teigus are immune to some magics, telepathy being one of them.
Even if they currently do not own a Teigu, they're still immune to it. Later on, you'll discover how Teigus are related to magic.
And PLEASE review this chapter. I really want to improve my writing as this is all new to me and it would be very helpful if you gave in your feedback. Also PM me if you have ideas or suggestions. It's always good to get ideas from others.