Kill the Other World

by dragonliege242

Two years ago, two worlds connected, sending a boy from one to the other. Two years later, they connected again, bringing people who were in search of that boy to bring him home.

1. Prologue: Worlds Collide

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

Lubbock, a young man with green hair and green eyes, started when his Teigu, Cross Tail, started to rapidly wind, relaying a message to him in a way that only he, its user, could understand.

"Uh, Najenda-san, I think we have a problem." He spoke up, even at the risk of disrupting the meeting.

"What is it, Lubbock?" Najenda, a buxom woman with short silver hair, a purple left eye, the right covered by an eyepatch, and a prosthetic right arm, asked, not reacting at being interrupted as she briefed the group on their next mission.

"My barrier has detected an intruder nearby. And whoever it is is getting closer to the base."

Najenda frowned.

Night Raid was a subsidiary of the Revolutionary Army, currently the largest group in the country that was opposing the current regime.

A gathering of the strongest assassins within the Revolutionary Army, armed with Teigu, with Najenda at its helm, tasked with eliminating the corrupt within the Empire's echelons.

And as assassins, it was imperative that they kept their base of operations hidden from their enemies.

Which was why it was a concern that someone was approaching them.

Normally, she would have assumed that it was a group of reasonably skilled mercenaries that the Empire hired to track them down, much like the one from just a few weeks ago, when their newest member, Tatsumi had just joined, but…

"Just one?"

There was no way anyone sane would attack Night Raid by themselves, not when its ranks were filled with infamous killers like '100 Men Slayer' Bulat and 'One Cut Killer' Akame.

So, not a mercenary group.

Najenda feared for a moment that it was the Empire's Strongest Soldier, Esdeath herself, who was coming after returning from subjugating the rebellious Northern Tribes, but she dismissed the thought.

As monstrously skilled as Esdeath was, even she couldn't get from northern lands of a continent spanning more than tens of thousands of kilometers to its center in less than a day.

So, an unknown then?

"Yeah, and…I think they're injured. The threads they're passing are getting weighed down by some sticky liquid, so they're either covered from head to toe in oil, or they're bleeding."

Cross Tail whirled again.

"And they just collapsed."

Najenda's frown deepened, as did the rest of the group's.

"Could be a civilian who was attacked by a Danger Beast." Bulat, a tall and heavily built man with blue eyes and black hair styled into a pompadour, reasoned.

"Didn't we chase most of them out when we got the base?" Leone, a scantily clad woman with yellow eyes, blond hair and a curvaceous body, commented.

"Some are still hanging around. Otherwise, we would have a shortage of food."

As one, all eyes shifted to a teenage girl with straight waist length black hair and red eyes.

Akame frowned lightly, which was not really much of a change from her usual blank expression.

"…What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, what should we do? This could be a trap, for all we know. The intruder could be a member of some mercenary group, or they're being used as bait for us." Mine, a petite teenage girl with pink eyes and pink hair tied into twin tails, her head and limbs wrapped in bandages, replied just a little too quickly as she turned to look back at their leader.

"Hm…" Najenda let out a hum as she considered their options.

Mine was indeed correct.

It was certainly possible that there were others who had coincidentally stopped outside the thread barrier Lubbock had set up.

Should they ignore it?

If they did, they might give up and leave…

…No, if it was hostiles, it was better to deal with them now.

"Akame, Leone, circle around the forest and approach from the other direction. If there are hostiles around, take care of them. Tatsumi, Lubbock, you two spring the trap, if there is one. Bulat, you're with Tatsumi and Lubbock, but use Incursio's invisibility to stay hidden. Mine, you're still injured, so you're staying here with me…"

"Wait, boss, if there are enemies, they might have snipers too! I should go along…"

"Out of the question. You aren't in any condition to be running around. And you can't fire Pumpkin with your arms like that." Najenda cut Mine off immediately.

"But…"

"No buts. You're staying here. The rest of you, go. Now." The former general said with a tone of finality that left no room for argument.

"Don't worry, Mine. You just stay here and relax. We'll do your job for you." Tatsumi, a teenage boy with brown hair and green eyes, said with a grin as he patronizingly pat Mine's head, payback for all the times she had made fun of him since he joined.

She immediately retaliated by kicking him in his chin.

"Buwagh!?"

"Shut up and go already, newbie! Ow, ow, ow…" Mine roared before she grimaced, her body aching from the sudden movement.

A grumbling Tatsumi, still gingerly rubbing his bruised chin, found himself walking through the forest surrounding the base, with Lubbock and Bulat, the latter clad in his armor-type Teigu and invisible, beside him.

"That damn imp…"

"You two just love pushing each other's buttons, huh?" Lubbock commented with a wide grin.

"She makes fun of me, and it's all fun and games. I return the favor one time and almost get a concussion for it." The country boy grumbled.

"The whole 'doing her job for her' shtick was kind of a low blow though." Bulat noted.

Tatsumi grimaced, a bit of regret tinging his expression.

Considering the circumstances under which she had gotten her injuries, he admitted that he might have gone too far.

"Yeah…I'll apologize to her when we get back." He conceded.

"Good kid. Now, how about I kiss that boo boo of yours better?"

A chill ran down Tatsumi's spine at Bulat's offer.

Leone had told him when he first joined that Bulat was gay, but he himself had neither confirmed nor denied it.

And he could never tell whether any of his advances were serious or just to mess with him.

He had nothing against homosexuals, but he was straight himself.

"Look sharp. We're almost there." Lubbock said as he straightened.

Tatsumi and Bulat did the same, the light atmosphere rapidly dissipating and replaced with a much more serious one.

Tatsumi kept a hand on the hilt of his short sword and Bulat brought out Incursio's spear auxiliary armament, Neuntote.

They kept moving forward and soon came across a prone figure on the ground, blood pooling beneath him.

Some of the nearby threads that Lubbock had spun as part of the detection barrier were covered in the red life fluid as well, slackening from the weight of the liquid.

It looked like the aftermath of one of their messier missions to be honest.

They stopped a distance away from the body, just far enough to not be able to make out any features.

They tensed, waiting for the other shoe to drop and bullets to start flying.

They waited…and waited…and waited…

Tatsumi's grip on his sword loosened just a little.

"…Lubbock, your barrier picking up anything?" Bulat asked.

"Nothing other than us and the guy lying there."

"Tatsumi, what about you?"

"…Nope. I can't sense anyone around us." Tatsumi said.

"Me neither." Bulat said as he dropped his invisibility, but kept Incursio activated.

"Akame! Leone! How about you two!?" He called out into the forest.

The two girls landed in front of them, Leone's hair lengthened and messy, with two golden-furred feline ears atop her head and a tail growing out from behind her.

The effects of her transformation type Teigu, Lionelle, which gave her beastlike capabilities and an appearance to match.

Akame was holding onto a red-hilted katana that gave off an ominous aura.

The Teigu that inspired her title.

Sword type Teigu, Ichizan Hisatsu, Death in One Cut: Murasame.

It was a deadly katana that released a cursed poison with no countermeasures into the opponent's body through even the smallest cut.

It made its way to the heart in seconds and stopped the vital organ, resulting in the opponent's death.

It, and her, was Night Raid's trump card against the Empire.

"Nope, didn't find anyone either. So, I think we can safely say that this isn't a trap of some kind?"

"…Maybe. Let's check the body before we rush to conclusions."

They moved cautiously towards the prone figure on the ground, keeping an eye out for any possible traps.

It wouldn't be funny for seasoned assassins to get caught by a simple pitfall.

Especially if said pitfall was filled with sharp objects at the bottom.

They inched closer and closer, until they could properly make out the person lying on the ground bleeding to death.

"…What is he wearing?" Tatsumi voiced the question that was on everyone's minds.

It wasn't that the one lying on the ground appeared to be a teenage boy no older than Tatsumi, possibly younger.

Or that he had blue hair, which was matted with coagulated blood.

It was his odd attire, which consisted of a vest filled with pouches over a shirt and a pair of pants with a roughly equal ratio of shades of green to brown.

It was unlike anything they had ever seen.

"…Bulat." Akame spoke, prompting the armored man to move forward and check the body.

Donned in adaptive armor, he was the best one to check the possibly booby-trapped body.

Bulat looked him over.

The boy was covered in wounds, both cuts and bullet holes.

It was frankly amazing that he was still alive.

He didn't think he would see tenacity like this outside of Night Raid or the Empire's strongest.

And judging by the considerable muscle development at such a young age…he didn't seem to be a mere civilian.

The items he found on him supported that theory too.

"…No traps, as far as I can tell. But, I did find these in the pouches." Bulat said as he showed them several box-shaped and cylindrical objects.

"Are those…magazines for firearms and bombs?"

"Looks like it. But, I've never seen bullets like this before. Nor bombs like this."

Bulat extracted a bullet from the magazine and looked it over before doing the same with the bombs(?).

Assuming they were what they thought they were, they sure as hell didn't look like the ones the Empire used.

"This is looking more and more suspicious. Think this guy is a soldier?"

His attire was vaguely reminiscent of a soldier's uniform, though the design and the vest itself were unfamiliar to them.

"If he is, I don't think he's from the Empire. Our spies never reported anything like this. And even if they missed something, I think we would know of someone important enough to get their hands on the Empire's new threads."

"…So, what should we do with him?"

"…Wait for him to wake up and interrogate him?"

"At the rate that he's losing blood, I think he would die before waking up."

"What do you want to do, bring him back to headquarters? Boss would lose her shit. She got pissed at us for bringing you back and you were just a country bumpkin, not a possible soldier loaded with brand spanking new shit that we don't even know about."

Tatsumi looked offended at being called a country bumpkin for a moment, but no one really paid attention.

"So, what? We kill him now? We don't know if he's our enemy or not."

"The fact that he's even here is suspicious as hell. What are the odds that a possible soldier just happened to stumble into our territory?"

They went back and forth among themselves like this for a bit, and then Tatsumi noticed that Akame, who had not said anything on the matter, looked like she was itching to, but was holding back.

"Something wrong, Akame?"

"…It's nothing. It's just that…if Sheele were here, she would want to help him unless he had proven himself an enemy."

The mood visibly dropped when she spoke that name.

Sheele was a member of Night Raid, but had lost her life to save Mine from an enemy Teigu user while returning from a mission, the same incident that gave the latter her injuries.

She was clumsy, airheaded and untalented at anything aside from killing, but she was one of them and they missed her dearly.

They acknowledged that deaths were inevitable in their line of work, and that they probably deserved it for what they did, but it didn't stop them from mourning.

And if she were here now…Akame was right, she would want to help the dying boy.

She was gentle that way, only unforgiving to those who had proven themselves to be beyond salvation.

She was gone, but…they could still keep her memory alive.

"…Alright. We'll take him back to base and treat him. If he is an enemy, we'll deal with him then, but not before."

Bulat picked the boy up in his arms.

Najenda was definitely going to be pissed, but she would understand.

She was strict but not unkind.

Akame and Leone did another sweep of the area to make sure that there was really no one else around, and once they were done, they began the trek back to base.

They did not know it then, but that choice that day would earn them a fiercely loyal and valued member of the group.

---

"Uwooooooooooooh!" Tatsumi roared as he tore through the Ice Cavalry that Esdeath had created and deployed against the Revolutionary Army.

Neuntote was a streak of pitch black as it smashed one frozen horseman after another.

His entire body ached and protested under the strain that the evolved Incursio was putting it under, but he paid it no mind.

This was the last mission.

They had gone through so much, lost so many to get to this point

This was the last push needed to topple the corrupt Empire once and for all.

Holding back was not an option, not when they were so close.

He scoured the battlefield, searching for his target…

…Found her.

Esdeath, a devastatingly beautiful woman with light blue hair and eyes of a darker shade, atop a horse of ice, charging through the ranks.

There wasn't a single member of the Revolutionary Army who was enthralled by her beauty, for they all knew that beneath that façade was a ruthless, relentless, immoral mass murderer and warmonger.

The natural born killer was charging straight towards where the commander of the Revolutionary Army had set up his command post.

Tatsumi would not let her get there.

He crossed the distance between them in an instant and smashed right through her frozen steed.

A look of surprise crossed her features for a moment before she grinned widely as she realized who her opponent was.

"So, finally come out to play, Tatsumi!? I've been dreaming for this moment for a long time!" She declared as she leapt towards him with her rapier in hand.

She thrust her blade towards him, which he deflected with a swing of his black spear.

However, just as quickly as he had deflected it, she was attacking again, forcing him on the defensive, deflecting all of the thrusts she sent his way.

Unreal.

Even with the power that the evolved Incursio was giving him, he was still just barely keeping up with her.

Damn monster…!

But, that was fine.

He was on the verge of losing his humanity too, after all.

His hand shot out between the barrage of attacks and gripped Esdeath's other arm tightly.

The grin on her face vanished.

"I've got you!" Tatsumi roared as he thrust Neuntote towards her eyes.

"Foolish boy. Do you even understand what it means to come in contact with me?"

"!?"

Before Tatsumi could move back, she had already tapped a finger on the hand holding her in place.

Immediately, he was frozen in a block of ice.

Not that it did much, considering Incursio had already adapted to her ice.

He smashed out of it in the next moment and moved backwards, breathing heavily.

The sudden stop to his assault had cut the adrenaline rush, and his accumulated fatigue began to catch up to him.

"What's wrong, Tatsumi!? It's too soon for you to be tired out! I'm not even warmed up yet!" Esdeath declared as she stalked towards him with a predatory grin plastered on her face.

Tatsumi clicked his tongue and prepared to engage her again.

He held no illusions that he could defeat her, but that wasn't the point.

As long as Akame and Leone were able to finish up on their end, this war was as good as theirs.

He just had to hold out until then.

Even if it was Esdeath, surely even she couldn't hold her own against an army of more than 100000, along with a squad of more than 10 Teigu users.

"Here I come, Tatsumi!" Esdeath shouted as she charged at him.

Tatsumi braced himself, and paused when a bolt of lightning crashed into Esdeath's side.

The Empire's Strongest had barely enough time to put a layer of ice in between to protect herself.

"The hell took you so long?" Tatsumi halfheartedly complained to the person who landed beside him.

"Sorry, those Ice Cavalry of hers are a pain in the ass when they attack in droves and keep regenerating without end."

Tatsumi turned to look at his comrade.

A well-built young man around his age with white hair and glowing blue eyes, his upper clothes torn apart to reveal his sculpted body and the 9-shaped jewel embedded in his chest, wielding a massive transparent sword in one hand, with an equally large metal discus floating behind him.

It was hard to believe that just a few months ago, he was only slightly taller than Mine was, and not much larger in build.

This war had truly taken its toll on all of them.

"It's time to put an end to this, Tatsumi."

"Yeah. Let's go, Yuu!"

The Dragon and the War God charged at the Ice Demon.

---

It was a true testament to Esdeath's monstrous power that the only signs that she was in a fierce battle with Night Raid's physically strongest were her damaged uniform and the dirt covering parts of her skin in small patches.

Yuu and Tatsumi did not have any wounds either, but they were visibly more worn out than she was.

"How long has it been since I last felt a rush like this!? As expected of the man I chose and the only one who has ever drawn blood from me! I'll enjoy taking the two of you apart!" Esdeath gleefully declared as she brandished her rapier once more.

The two Night Raid members scowled as they prepared to engage once more.

*GONG*

A loud sound reverberated throughout the battlefield, causing all movement to halt.

Esdeath herself had turned back to look at the capital in surprise.

"The signal to withdraw!?"

Yuu and Tatsumi both started when they heard her.

The Empire was ordering their troops to withdraw from the frontlines?

Why?

Was it because the troops that had broken through the northern side had caused so much damage?

Yuu had a bad feeling about this.

Esdeath laughed as she created another ice horse and mounted it.

"Well done, you two! You managed to stall me! Let us meet again soon!"

And on that note, she rode off back to the capital.

The troops behind them let out collective sounds of triumph at the sight of the Empire's Strongest retreating.

Yuu did not share their celebratory mood.

Something was off.

He could feel it.

"Good work, you two. Thanks to you distracting Esdeath, we were able to destroy the citadel's gates." Najenda said as she rode up to them.

"Yeah…we did it…though it's taken a bit of a toll on me…" Tatsumi said between heavy breaths.

Both Yuu and Najenda looked at him with worried expressions.

"Oi, are you really alright keeping Incursio on like that?"

"Yeah…if anything…it actually feels easier…to keep it on…so much more…comfortable…"

They silently cursed.

His condition was worsening.

Incursio's fusion with his body was advancing further and further.

"I have no doubt that my body will be broken after this, but…if it means bringing about an era of peace, that's a small price to pay. All I need is a little bit of strength left to continue protecting Mine. I'll see this through to the very end, so that we cry shouts of victory!"

Yuu and Najenda directed sorrowful looks at him.

"…Don't worry. This war is as good as over. Even if their forces rush to protect the palace now, it's already…too…late…"

Najenda and Yuu hit a realization at the same time.

That's right.

It was already too late.

There was no point in protecting the palace when it was already this far gone.

Esdeath, being the warmonger she was, should know better than anyone else.

So why did she so easily obey the order to retreat?

"O-Oi, what is that…?"

"That strange looking thing over there…"

The troops closest to them pointed towards the capital.

The three Night Raid members looked in that direction…and gaped at what they saw.

A massive armored humanoid figure towering over the rest of the capital, unimaginably massive.

"What the hell is that…!?"

The chest plate of the giant opened up, and revealed an eye embedded in its sternum.

It flashed for a moment, and then a massive beam of light shot out and soared right past them before they could react.

They turned and were horrified by the scene before them.

Where hundreds of troops once stood was now only a massive groove in the ground, everything unfortunate enough to have been caught in the beam vaporized instantly.

They did not have time to gape in horror for much longer, because the massive humanoid started launching salvos of missiles at them, devastating their ranks.

Allies fell on after another.

The lucky ones were killed instantly.

The unlucky ones had to endure excruciating wounds, or had to bear witness as their loved ones died.

Yuu scowled, dark fury rising to the surface.

This…this was no way for anyone to meet their maker.

Both he and Tatsumi kicked off the ground at the same time, heading straight towards the monster annihilating them.

He only hoped they would make it in time.

---

Yuu swung Ame-no-Murakumo at the same time that Tatsumi punched the Supreme Teigu.

The combined assault knocked the massive secret weapon of the Empire backwards.

It was working.

It was a slow process, but they were wearing it down.

As long as they kept pressing it and stopped it from retaliating, victory was theirs…

"Shikoutazer! Activate your Trump Card!"

Yuu and Tatsumi, and even the Emperor, piloting the Supreme Teigu, stopped when they heard the Prime Minister, the source of all the evil that plagued the Empire, called out.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The massive Teigu let out a horrendous sound as its body parts shifted, bubbled and twisted.

"What is this!? What's going here, Honest!?" The Emperor screamed.

It seemed even he had no idea what was going on.

The massive Teigu finally stopped moving and revealed its new, gruesome form.

Gone were most of the metal plates covering its body, replaced by massive muscles and sinew.

Eyes had appeared on its shoulders and knees as well as on its face.

And its mouthpiece was gone, revealing a mouth and teeth not unlike a lamprey's.

It was something straight out of a nightmare.

"…You fools who dare to oppose my great Empire…I shall rain judgement down upon all of you!" The Emperor roared in a manic voice, a far cry from its formerly meek and unsure state.

Lasers and missiles shot out from all over Shikoutazer's now mostly organic body and bombarded everything in sight.

It wasn't just the Revolutionary Army that had been struck.

The rest of the capital…even his own citizens and soldiers had not been spared by the indiscriminate barrage.

But, he was not done yet.

"Behold, the light that shall shine down upon the Empire's new age!"

A ball of black mass began to gather at the eye embedded in the massive Teigu's chest.

Yuu could immediately tell that it was dangerous unlike anything else he had ever seen.

Knowing that, he leapt in front of it just as it was fired.

"Yata-no-Kagami!"

The metal discus that had been behind him shifted in front of him, and a circle of light appeared in the hole in the middle.

The shield of absolute reflection.

If he could throw this back at Shikoutazer, it would be over in an instant.

But, the moment the black mass hit the mirror and the sheer gravity it exuded began to pull him in, he realized he had miscalculated.

Yata-no-Kagami immediately began to absorb it, but it had too much power behind it.

He wasn't sure if he could reflect this.

But at the very least, he couldn't let it hit anyone…

He angled himself upwards, trying to keep it from pushing him towards their allies.

He was pushed further and further back by the supergravitational singularity, until he felt his back hit the ground.

He was in one of the palace's many courtyards.

And he was getting crushed into the ground.

Yuu poured more and more effort into pushing back against the attack, but if it was doing anything, it was too miniscule for it to be noticeable.

And then the ground started to glow.

"What the fu-!?"

Unbeknownst to him, the courtyard he had landed in just happened to be where Shura, the now deceased son of the Prime Minister, had used his space-manipulating Teigu, Shambala, to teleport Tatsumi and Lubbock straight into the palace for capturing.

The teleportation circle was still engraved in the ground.

Shambala was destroyed, so it was no longer active.

Not until the massive energy pouring out from the clash between him and the singularity gave it enough juice to reactivate.

But that was not all that was happening.

The sheer gravity of the mass was distorting the local spacetime.

And with the teleportation circle already weakening the local dimension, a distortion in the fabric of space and time began to rip itself open right beneath him.

And seemlessly, both Yuu and the singularity fell through it, disappearing from sight.

Much to Tatsumi's horror.

"Yuu!"

But there was no answer.

All that remained of his comrade was the tear in reality that was slowly shrinking.

"Well, that was unexpected. No matter. Your Majesty, fire again!"

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

It was too late.

Another supergravitional singularity shot out, and this time, Yuu wasn't around to stop it.

It landed right outside the northern end of the capital, creating a black hole that drew everything around it in before detonating, generating an explosion far more massive than this world had ever seen.

Despite himself, Tatsumi could feel despair seeping into his bones.

---

Mononobe Mitsuki was nervous.

Scratch that, she was terrified.

As a member of the Dragon Subjugation Squad, she had naturally gone through multiple training sessions and simulations to prepare for exactly this kind of scenario.

But there was a pretty big difference between fighting a Dragon that you knew was a hologram and couldn't actually hurt you, and fighting an actual Dragon that had been plaguing humanity for two and a half decades.

It didn't help that her best friend, Shinomiya Miyako, a pretty black haired, hazel eyed girl, was out of sorts, staring blankly off into the distance, in the direction that Purple Kraken was approaching from.

She was normally confident and upbeat, so seeing her like this really didn't do much to reassure her.

Especially since the Dragon they were facing wielded the 'Absolute Defense' and 'Absolute Offense', Mithril and Antimatter.

"All personnel, battle stations! Purple Kraken is approaching! ETA is 2 minutes!" Shinomiya Haruka, the Captain of the Dragon Subjugation Squad and Miyako's older sister, announced through their communications network.

She could see it, even in the darkness of night.

A purple mass, rapidly moving across the ocean surface towards them, just a few kilometers away and closing in fast.

Her Fictional Armament, Brionac, an ornate bow, appeared in her hands as they prepared to engage the Purple Dragon.

At least, that was the plan.

But then, the sky split open, just above the Dragon.

It was so sudden that even the Kraken stopped, its single eye rolling upwards to look at the abnormality.

A prismatic…rift…of some sort had torn open in the skies above.

And from it, a humanoid figure fell, followed by a huge disc and a giant ball of pitch black.

Mitsuki blinked.

What was going on?

The humanoid figure and the disc were pressed downwards by the ball, inching closer and closer to the Kraken.

And to them as well.

And just as they were just a few meters above sea level, the disc shattered resoundingly, and the ball exploded spectacularly.

The force of the explosion blew all of them back, even though they were far away enough to not get caught in the actual explosion.

Mitsuki tumbled through the air before she was thrown clear far enough that it didn't interfere with her air generation and resulting flight.

The Kraken screamed in agony, its prided mithril tentacles annihilated by the near point blank explosion, and its eye bleeding profusely.

The 'Absolute Defense' was gone, and the 'Absolute Offence' was damaged.

"All personnel, attack the Kraken immediately! Don't let this chance go to waste!"

Haruka's voice came over her earpiece, which had somehow remained intact even after that cataclysmic explosion.

As one, the Dragon Subjugation Squad fired their most powerful attacks at the heavily injured Purple Dragon, not allowing it any room to retaliate or even escape.

It wasn't long before one of the 7 Dragons plaguing the world let out its death cry, and without much fanfare, its maimed carcass sank below the surface.

Mitsuki continued to keep her bow raised, ready to be proven wrong and for the Kraken to come bursting out of the water with a vengeance.

Nothing happened.

"…The Kraken is dead! I repeat, the Kraken is dead!"

Cheers erupted from the members of the Dragon Subjugation Squad, relishing in the success of their very first sortie.

Beside her, Miyako finally seemed to snap out of whatever daze she had been in.

"Well, that was anticlimactic, huh?"

Mitsuki did not reply immediately.

Ever since that tear had opened up in the sky, her heart had been aching, and she didn't know why.

It wasn't a physical pain, but an emotional one.

What was going on with her?

"Shinomiya-senpai, report!"

"What is it?"

"A-A body just washed on Midgard's shores. It's…ugh…! It's really bad!"

"What!?"

Chatter came across the earpiece, almost deafening her with the sheer noise before she muted it.

A body had washed up on Midgard?

How?

Who?

No member of the Dragon Subjugation Squad had been killed, or even wounded, aside from whatever injuries they might have gotten from the explosion…

…The explosion!

That's right, that ball had not been the only thing that had come through the tear.

Someone had come through it as well.

Someone who seemed to have tried and failed to stop the ball from detonating.

That body must be theirs.

"All personnel, stay where you are. No one is to move until I'm done investigating this." Haruka ordered the rest of the squad before flying back towards the fortified island.

"Hey, Mitsuki, let's go check it out!" Miyako said with a grin.

"What!? But, Haruka-san said…"

"It's fine, it's fine. At worst, she'll just make us write reflection essays as punishment as usual."

"You know that most of us hate doing that, right?"

"Oh, quit bellyaching and let's go already!" Miyako said as she seized Mitsuki's hand and dragged her along.

"Hey, wait-I can fly on my own!"

The two of them quickly made their way to the island.

Despite Haruka's orders, several overly curious members of the Squad had gotten the same idea as them and were now being yelled at for their troubles.

A fate that they would soon share.

They landed near the body, and immediately, Haruka, an older and taller girl who bore a strong resemblance to Miyako, rounded on them to start delivering a tirade.

"You two too!? I already expected as much from Miyako, but Mononobe Mitsuki, I'm very disappointed!"

"Oh, lay off, Onee-chan. Half the Squad is already here, and the other half is probably already on their way."

"Oh, for the love of…!"

As more and more members of the Squad disobeyed orders and landed on the beach, Haruka delivered a tongue lashing to all of them.

But, Mitsuki was not paying attention.

She had completely frozen upon seeing the bloodied, broken body lying on the sandy shores of Midgard.

A teenage boy with a well-built body, what remained of his clothes burnt and in tatters.

But what had caught her attention was his blue hair.

His very familiar blue hair.

Mitsuki's hands clapped over her mouth in an effort to suppress the bile trying to make its way out of her throat.

"Mitsuki? What's wrong?" Miyako asked, concerned at her best friend's reaction.

Mitsuki could barely hear her.

She could not tear her eyes away from the body.

"…Nii-san?"

Murmurs ran through the gathered crowd.

"Nii-san? You have a brother?" Miyako repeated in confusion.

"Mononobe Mitsuki, are you sure this is your brother?" Haruka asked sharply.

No, she wasn't.

He was taller, he had a broader build, his muscles were more toned and defined, and his hair was longer, just past shoulder-length.

He looked completely different from the Mononobe Yuu she remembered, but it had been almost a full year since she last saw him.

It was possible for him to have had a growth spurt in that time.

There was one way to be absolutely certain.

"The back…the back of his left hand. Please check it." She requested shakily.

She would do it herself, but if she got any closer to that mangled body, she might just throw up.

Haruka moved forward and gingerly turned the body's left hand over so that the back faced them.

It took some time for her to locate even though she knew exactly where it was, mostly because it was obscured by burns and wounds, but there it was.

"This is…I see. There is no doubt about it, Mononobe Mitsuki. This is your brother, Mononobe Yuu." Haruka said, locating the same mark that Mitsuki had.

Miyako leaned over to take a closer look, cringing at the smell of burnt flesh.

"Is that…a Ryumon?"

"Dammit, Miyako!" Mitsuki cursed mentally as the murmurs around them escalated into shocked chatter.

It was a natural response.

A Ryumon was the mark of a D, a human who possessed the same power as the Black Dragon, Black Vritra, Dark Matter Generation.

However, only girls could be Ds.

This was a fact supported by more than 2 decades worth of evidence and observations.

A male D was completely unprecedented.

The only ones who were aware of Yuu's status as a D were Mitsuki, their parents, the family doctor, Haruka, the Principal of Midgard, Charlotte B. Lord, and her assistant, Mica Stuart.

The principal had declared a gag order on this information, because if word got out, there would be panic.

The age when Ds were treated as monsters had passed, but some still believed in the supposition, mostly violent, anti-Dragon extremists.

If they got word that it was possible for males to become Ds as well, who knew how they would react?

Well, it looked like the cat was out of the bag now, at least as far as Midgard was concerned.

Hopefully, the principal could put a plug on things before news spread outside.

Under normal circumstances, Mitsuki would be elated beyond belief that her brother was here.

She had been looking for him for so long, since the day he had been taken by NIFL following his defeat of Blue Hekatonkheir.

And she was happy even now.

But that happiness was overshadowed by the horror at the extent of the injuries on his person.

Wounds of that severity would have killed an ordinary human.

The only sign that he was still alive was the irregular movement of his torso, signifying breathing, which was a miracle in itself.

"Someone bring a stretcher! He's in serious need of medical attention!" Haruka called out to the stunned group.

Not a single soul moved.

Not until she barked the order again at a much greater volume.

Several people ran towards the school while other hovered around, staring at her brother like he was an exotic animal.

In a sense, she supposed that was true.

"…Ma…"

It was so faint that Mitsuki had barely heard it.

But she did.

Yuu had just murmured something.

Gathering up her courage and suppressing her bile, she moved forward and knelt by his side.

"Nii-san?" She called out to him.

She didn't want him to respond.

She hoped he was still unconscious.

If he was lucid, she couldn't even imagine how much agony he was in.

Unfortunately, she didn't get her wish.

His hand clenched in the sand, balling into a fist.

Unbelievably, he began to push himself upwards.

"…Ma…ga…"

"Nii-san, stop! You need to stay still, or you'll aggravate your wounds!"

For a moment, she contemplated creating a sedative and using it on him, but she wasn't sure how to make one.

A limitation of Dark Matter Generation and Transmutation was that if a D wanted to create something, they needed a clear image of it.

"…Maga…tama…2nd…Manifest…ation…!"

A great force vented itself from her brother's broken body, blowing the crowd backwards as a dense aura of white energy manifested around him.

Mitsuki just gawked at the sight.

His hair bleached out and turned white, his blue eyes started glowing, and his muscles…well, they didn't change, but they were very, very nice to look at…

…What!? He had filled out nicely in the time she hadn't seen him!

She wasn't ashamed to admit it, as evidenced by the huge blush on her cheeks.

At least until she caught sight of that thing that was embedded into his chest.

Then her admiration turned to horror once more.

And perhaps most shockingly of all, all of his injuries healed, vanishing as though they were never there to begin with.

Soon, a completely unscathed Mononobe Yuu stood tall on the beach.

Mitsuki absentmindedly noted that she barely reached up to his sternum anymore when just little less than a year ago, they were roughly the same height.

She also noticed that she was not the only one who had turned bright red.

All of the girls present had as well.

Midgard was basically an isolation zone, so most of the girls here did not have much experience with males their age.

And now, there was one almost naked and, in her opinion, strikingly handsome, male standing amongst them.

She would have been surprised if they hadn't blushed.

Not that that knowledge did anything to assuage the spike of jealousy she felt.

She was about to round on them and proclaim her territory, when her brother hunched over, as though he was about to fall over.

"Nii-san!"

She moved forward to try and catch him, but at that moment, a golden light appeared in his hand and instantly solidified into a massive sword that looked like it was made of stained glass, using it as a crutch to keep himself upright even as he breathed raggedly.

What was that?

As a D, she knew exactly what Dark Matter Generation and Transmutation was, and that had not been it.

The sword had literally come out of nowhere.

Yuu turned around and looked up at the slowly shrinking tear in the sky.

"Hold on…a little longer, guys…I'm heading back now…"

Realizing that he was leaving, Mitsuki rushed forward, trying to stop him, but…

"Raijin Shorai!"

In addition to the dense energy already surrounding him, an additional coating of electricity had appeared around his person, causing the sand he was standing on to turn into glass from the sheer heat.

She couldn't get close without getting shocked.

He kicked off the ground and ascended rapidly into the air, towards the tear.

She quickly chased after him, but he was much faster than she was.

"Wait, Nii-san…!" She called out, stretching a hand out in an effort to reach him.

It was too late.

He already went through the tear, which shut before she could get to it.

She stared listlessly at the spot where it had been, tears beginning to well up.

It happened again.

Once again, she had failed to reach him.

And now she was back to square one, without the slightest inkling as to where he was now.

She could not stop the heartbroken wail that tore its way out of her throat.

---

"What's wrong? Tired out already? Even with that instant death blade in your hands?" Esdeath asked Akame mockingly.

Night Raid's trump card was panting heavily, covered in cuts all over her body, whereas Esdeath had yet to receive a single wound.

Even with the powerful performance enhancing drugs she had taken just before engaging her, she was still barely able to match Esdeath blow for blow.

"I supposed you did manage to entertain me. Well then, what should I do once I have quelled this little rebellion of yours? Shall I head over to another land in search of a war? Or perhaps…I'll just start one myself."

It was an obvious attempt at provocation.

And a very effective one, considering who it was coming from.

Akame snarled.

"You're not going anywhere. I'll see dead right here and now…!" She declared as she assumed another stance, directing all of her murderous intent at the Empire's Strongest.

Esdeath wasn't even fazed.

"And exactly how do you plan on doing that? I don't see Tatsumi or Yuu anywhere. Do you think you can win without them?"

"Don't worry, Esdeath! I think you'll find that we've managed to make up for their absence!"

The Empire's Strongest turned to regard Najenda, who had arrived with the bulk of the Revolutionary Army and every Teigu user they had in their ranks.

"So, Najenda, I hear you have some sort of secret Teigu to counter me?" Esdeath asked casually, as though she was inquiring about something as mundane as the weather.

"Tch, you already know about that…?"

"Of course, you shouldn't underestimate the Empire's spy network. Now, where is this Teigu of yours?"

"The way I see it, I don't think there's a need to bring it out yet."

Because there wasn't one.

There was no secret Teigu that the Revolutionary Army had been keeping up their sleeves to use against Esdeath.

If such a thing really did exist and was in their possession, they would have already used it.

It was a bluff, a carefully devised one, having taken an entire month to carry out by slowly leaking information here and there and let it make its way back to the Empire to divert their attention to something that didn't really exist.

Their secret weapon, from the very beginning, had always been Akame and Murasame.

By now, she had already blended in with the rest of the troops, circling the formation and waiting for the opportunity to strike Esdeath down once and for all.

And with the presence of over 100000 soldiers and more than 10 Teigu users, including Akame, they now had a military force equivalent to a million soldiers.

"Ho, that's some confidence there, Najenda. I can't wait to watch it turn into despair."

"Big talk coming from someone who's fighting alone. The Supreme Teigu has fallen, the Empire's soldiers have surrendered, the key players are dead or dying and your Jaegars are gone. Even your only remaining allies, your own Ice Cavalry have been surrounded and won't be coming to help you anytime soon. We will outlast you in a battle of attrition and crush you with the weight of a million soldiers! It's over, Esdeath! First wave, attack! Second wave, standby! We'll attack in shifts!"

The troops roared and charged at Esdeath, their morale higher than ever before now that victory was right before them.

Esdeath greeted them with a chilling smile.

"Fool. Do you really believe a measly million men is enough to defeat me?"

"What!?"

Esdeath raised a hand and snapped her fingers.

"How about I show my other, anti-army Trump Card? You could say it's a Trump Card I can only use precisely because I stand alone on this battlefield!"

Massive streams of ice flowed through the air from all over the capital to Esdeath.

It didn't take long for Akame to where they were coming from.

All of the power she had distributed to create her Ice Cavalry was now returning to her.

"I meticulously created my Ice Cavalry one by one for the past few days. In other words, they collectively hold several days' worth of power, and every last bit of it is now returning to me! Hyoran Daishogun!"

A pillar of ice erupted into the sky, generating an icy gale that forced everyone else to shut their eyes.

And when they opened them, it was to find a scene straight out of a nightmare.

Massive storm clouds had appeared in the sky, stretching further than they could see in all directions, causing a harsh blizzard to consume the capital and who knows how much else.

The only thing they could do was gape at the frozen hell that had appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm not sure who coined it, but I think you're all familiar with the term 'General Winter'? That is exactly what this is. I have covered a massive portion of this country in ice and snow. It won't just be killing all of you here. Every single one of your allies hiding out somewhere in this country, I will freeze every single one of them to death. So don't think you can drag this out into a battle of attrition. If you all don't attack me like your lives depend on it, you'll freeze to death first!"

"Your direct subordinates are still defending the western borders!? Are you going to just let them get swept up in this!?" Najenda roared in disbelief.

"No need to worry, this storm doesn't reach out that far. I am a little concerned about their friends and family who are closer…but, only just a little." Esdeath said with a serene expression on her face.

That was when they realized it.

They thought that the greatest threat came from Shikoutazer, a weapon capable of attacking the entire capital at once.

But, that was wrong.

The greatest threat had always been Esdeath, who was capable of attacking the world itself.

There was no better description for her than 'natural born killer'.

"The strong will survive this storm and the weak will die. That's all there is to it. I look forward to fighting those who can survive this culling. If you think you are one of them, try proving it to me right now!" Esdeath declared gleefully as she strode purposefully towards them.

"Everyone attack! If we defeat her, we can stop the storm!"

The troops charged recklessly at Esdeath, fueled by desperation.

The first to reach her was one of the Teigu users, a dark-skinned woman with white hair, wielding the Double-Bladed Axe: Belvaac, an immensely heavy battle axe that could only be wielded by someone with considerable physical strength, capable of splitting into two smaller axes that could be thrown and would not stop until they hit their target.

It was once wielded by one of Esdeath's direct subordinates, Daidara of the Three Beastsm until his death at the hands of Bulat.

A normal person would have flinched at the sight of their ally's weapon now in enemy hands, but Esdeath didn't even flinch.

"Just to warn you, with this much ice around me, I can use my abilities to their fullest."

Then, as though to substantiate her statement, Belvaac and its wielder, as well as the troops closest to them, were all immediately frozen in a block of ice mid attack with just a tap of Esdeath's finger.

The rest of the troops stopped in their charge and looked at their frozen comrades, utterly horrified.

Esdeath's power and speed were already monstrous enough before, but now, they had elevated to levels that not even the most skilled amongst them could keep up with.

"Now those are expressions I will savor for a long time. You defeated the Empire. Even if you are not able to achieve victory against me here, your mission is still a success. However…if you don't stop me right here and right now, I can assure you, your fight will never end! So, use every last bit of power at your disposal, or you won't stand even a ghost of a chance!"

Esdeath slapped her palm on the ground, and a tree of ice sprouted upwards, unleash barrages of ice shards in every direction.

"Don't fall back! Hold your ground! Defend yourselves with everything you got!" One of the commanding officers shouted to rally the troops.

However, their mundane shields stood no chance against the power of a Teigu, and one by one, soldiers dropped like flies.

Until a massive dragon appeared and smashed Esdeath's ice tree.

Everyone recognized it in an instant, but it was Esdeath who voiced it.

"Tatsumi…! I see, so this is the price you paid for your transformation! You've turned into an actual dragon!"

Tatsumi responded by breathing a massive stream of fire at her.

She blocked with a thick layer of ice.

Normally, it would have melted instantly under the intense heat, but the blizzard around them had enhanced her ice to the point where even flames of that degree were more of a nuisance than anything else.

"How splendid! This burning love we have will never die out! And now…you will fall by my hands!"

*CRACKLE*

Esdeath's eyes widened for a moment before she threw herself forward, just in time to avoid a brutal stab from Ame-no-Murakumo going at the speed of lightning.

Yuu had rejoined the fight.

Akame shivered slightly as her instincts registered him as a great threat to her life.

That was Yuu's uncanny ability, the ability to seek out the most effective way to kill a human opponent in a fight.

An ability that put him on par with more experienced members of Night Raid, even before he obtained the power he had now, and one that Esdeath had once almost fallen to.

Esdeath had reacted quickly enough to dodge the fatal blow aimed for her spine, but even she was not able to avoid the following kick driven upwards into her gut, causing her to soar into the air.

The first clean blow that anyone had landed on her since the beginning of this final war.

Akame seized the opening and leapt into the air after the warmonger, intending to end the battle with Murasame, but Esdeath had created a sword of ice and parried her blow, forcing her back down.

Esdeath grinned widely as she landed on the ground, blood dribbling from the corners of her mouth.

"Ah, there you are, Yuu! I was wondering where you had gone. Now I have the whole set!"

"Shut the hell up!" Yuu roared as he rained bolts of lightning down on her.

The Empire's Strongest countered by firing frozen spikes of the same size, intercepting them as they fell.

"Stand down, Tatsumi! You've already done enough! Leave the rest to me and Akame!" Yuu shouted to his mutated comrade, taking the words right out of Akame's mouth.

"NOT…YET…I'M NOT…DONE YET…I HAVE TO…STOP THIS STORM…MINE…MUST BE COLD…"

Yuu's expression twisted into one of sorrow, and Akame knew that her own mirrored it.

Even now, at this critical moment, Mine was still all Tatsumi could think of.

"BEFORE MY CONSCIOUSNESS…COMPLETELY VANISHES…BEFORE IT…TAKES OVER…I WANT TO…BE OF USE!"

Tatsumi leapt at Esdeath, who was flawlessly countering the coordinated attacks of four Teigu users.

He slammed a claw downwards, crushing the ground as Esdeath leapt to the side to dodge.

Immediately, the user of Omnipotent Five Senses: Spectator, used his Trump Card, trapping Esdeath in an illusion of the person she loved most as the user of Power Surging: Belzac used the disguise to attack.

Esdeath didn't hesitate for a moment to attack the illusion of Tatsumi, cutting Belzac's user in half, killing him instantly.

She proceeded to let out a battle cry, shattering the illusion completely.

"I've already set my heart on taking Tatsumi's life with my own two hands, so that little parlor trick of yours ended up having the opposite effect."

And with the declaration, she continued carving her way through the Revolutionary Army, even with Tatsumi and Yuu doing their best to stop her.

When a Teigu user brought forth an army of massive Danger Beasts, she simply froze them solid.

When the troops seized the opportunity to attack her, she ripped them apart with a long spiked rod of ice, calling it her personal blender.

When Tatsumi caught it and Ace Solution: Die Leaguer's user attacked, she dodged and stabbed that latter through the brain with her heel.

When Cutter of Creation: Extase's user used her Trump Card to blind her, allowing an opening for the former and three other Teigu users to attack, she dismantled them without even looking at them.

She was just too overwhelming.

There was a certain irony that the only real opening she showed was not due to any of their attacks, but because of her own pride, complacency and overindulgence in bloodshed.

She raised a hand into the air, in the opening stages of a monologue as she prepared to deal a killing blow to the four Teigu users.

And Akame dashed in, her presence suppressed, swiping Murasame across that raised arm, causing an arc of blood to spray out of the cut.

"Wha-!?" Esdeath cried out in shock as black markings began to race from the wound across the rest of her arm.

"I saw an opening and took it. Because that is my mission."

The rest of the troops adopted looks of elation when they saw Akame finally land a blow on Esdeath.

Yuu and Tatsumi dashed in, a lightning-cloaked fist and a massive claw ready as they prepared to be thorough and annihilate Esdeath from the physical-

"Tch…! Mahapadma!"

-plane…Wait.

Akame stared in horror as her two comrades were sent flying past her, their abdomens split open for the whole world to see.

She looked back at Esdeath, to find that the Empire's Strongest had somehow cheated death by severing her own arm below the elbow before the poison could spread any further and was now holding a bloodstained broadsword of ice in her remaining hand.

This was the power of her first Trump Card, Mahapadma, which applied the concept of 'freezing' on the space and time of the area.

By her own admission, even someone as monstrously powerful as Esdeath could not sustain this for any longer than a few seconds, and could only use it once a day, but that scant few seconds was enough to turn the tables.

Tatsumi's Incursio had already developed resistance against her ice, allowing him to ignore the frozen dimension around him.

And under normal circumstances, Yuu would also be able to circumvent it with the heat that his electricity produced, though his lightning speed would be greatly hampered.

However, this time, her Mahapadma was further enhanced by the blizzard that had been blowing, causing the latter to freeze completely and the former to move at a painfully slow pace.

Tatsumi's new bulky body did not help much in that regard either.

The troops quickly charged at her, trying to take advantage of her loss of a limb.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the difference in our powers is still as massive as ever!" Esdeath laughed as she tore into them with renewed vigor.

Akame rushed over to her two fallen comrades.

"Tatsumi, Yuu, hang in there!"

She placed a hand on Tatsumi's organic armored body and froze.

Because she felt something that should not be possible.

She was forced to leap back when Tatsumi suddenly surged back to life and attacked her out of the blue.

No, it wasn't Tatsumi.

It was the Tyrant, the Ultra-Class Danger Beast that Incursio was made out of, still alive even in its current state and trying to use Tatsumi's body as a catalyst to revive itself.

It was what had turned Tatsumi into this beastly form and was now seizing control over it.

It made to grab her, but suddenly stopped short.

"…AKA…ME…KILL…ME…I CAN'T…HOLD ON…ANY…LONGER…! YOU…PRO…MISED…!"

Akame stared at him with a look of grief, thinking back on the moment when she had promised to kill him if he ever lost control of his body to the Tyrant.

She had hoped that it would never come down to this.

But, it had and she was left with no other option.

She had promised him after all.

She schooled her expression back into one of pure neutrality.

"…Very well. I will kill you."

She walked towards Tatsumi's torso and plunged Murasame into his heart.

The human turned dragon collapsed as black markings ran across his massive form.

His eyes closed and his breathing slowly came to a halt.

Akame silently stood over her comrade's body.

She did it again.

Akame had once told Tatsumi that in order for her to activate Murasame's Trump Card, she had to 'discard her humanity'.

For a weapon as bloodthirsty as the One Cut Killing Sword, even the countless lives she had taken, the blood she had shed, was not enough to satisfy it.

However, even then, it had acknowledged her as its wielder.

When she had first laid her hands on Murasame, she had to kill her own friend to do it.

And when left with no other option, she had resolved to kill the little sister she loved so very dearly.

That absolute conviction to 'kill' was exactly why Murasame had chosen her.

And now, once again, she had killed a friend.

And thus, Murasame sang.

A black aura poured out of the blade and soaked into Akame's body.

An explosion of sheer power caught Esdeath's attention, causing her to drop Spectator's user, who she had been about to kill, to face the new threat.

Akame emerged from the storm of power, her skin covered in black markings reminiscent to those left on the bodies of Murasame's victims.

However, unlike them, she was not dying.

Instead, it had elevated her power to a level where even Esdeath had to regard her seriously.

And she was not the only one.

"Magatama…3rd Manifestation!"

A second maelstrom of power appeared not too far away, causing Esdeath to split her focus between Akame and the new arrival.

Yuu stepped forward, his wounds all healed and his power greater than ever, to confront Esdeath alongside Akame.

But, Akame did not think that that was the reason why he warranted so much attention.

His power had increased, yes, but much like his predecessor, activating his Trump Card for a 3rd time only raised his capabilities marginally.

It was substantial enough for Esdeath to recognized him as a threat, but not so much that he would setting off alarms in her head.

No, the real reason why he had caught her attention was probably because of the ice blue aura that had appeared around him, replacing the lightning.

An aura that felt disturbingly similar to Esdeath's.

"Allow me to thank you, Esdeath. I could not have done this if you hadn't so carelessly thrown your immense power all over the place. As thanks, allow me to show you what it's like…to see things from the perspectives of others."

Yuu clasped his hands together, the ice blue aura flaring greatly.

"Hyojin Shorai!"

A chill even colder than the blizzard blowing around them swept through the area.

Everyone, including Akame and Esdeath shivered.

But for the latter two, it was not from the cold, but from the threat that Yuu now presented.

Both his eyes and the magatama embedded in his chest were glowing ice blue, emanating chilling power.

"Thanks to both of your Trump Cards and that last blow you hit me with, I finally absorbed enough of your power. Do you hear it, Esdeath? It's the sound of the tides finally turning in our favor!"

---

Esdeath could safely say this was a first.

Through her actions and machinations, she had gained a monumental number of enemies along the way.

And while they tried many means and measures in an effort to counter her, none of them had fought fire with fire before.

She did not mean that in the literal sense, of course.

Using fire against an ice user was the sensible thing to do, not that it worked against her.

To the Revolutionary Army's credit, it had only taken a few hundred casualties before they figured out that mere flames stood no chance against her ice.

She meant that no one had ever tried to use her own power against her before.

But that was exactly what was happening to her right now.

Before, she could call forth and manipulate absurd quantities of ice effortlessly, and the blizzard born from her Trump Card only further expedited the process.

Now, she actually had to put conscious effort into the manipulation of ice.

Because there was now another ice user on the battlefield with power and skill that could rival hers.

Her once almost unconscious manipulation of ice had now turned into a mental tug of war with Yuu, each vying for control of the ice around them.

His manipulation speed was slower than hers, which was to be expected, since he had only replicated what he could of her powers rather than directly imbibing Demon's Extract like she had, but the fact that he was able to take control of her ice was already enough to warrant her attention.

She focused most of her mental power to maintain control of the storm clouds above them, even at the price of having less power to war with Yuu over the rest.

She had no idea if he could take control of her Trump Card, but when surrounded by a military force equivalent to a million soldiers and Akame with her Trump Card, a drop in her power was not a risk she could afford to take.

Which made this fight a lot more interesting, if slightly irritating, considering that she now actually had to try.

By switching from lightning to ice, Yuu had sacrificed a good deal of his speed and some of his power, but he was now capable of directly interfering with her powers, which actually made him more challenging to fight than one would think.

And then there was Akame, whose power and speed had risen to the level where even she had trouble keeping up with and still possessed the threat of instant death, which she no longer had Mahapadma to counter.

Fighting both of them at the same time brought her to an all new high.

Now if only the other nuisances weren't around to ruin it…

What was she talking about?

If she didn't want them to interfere, all she had to do was this…!

Esdeath slapped a hand on the ground.

Massive pillars of ice shot out of the ground and fused together, forming a wall that surrounded and separated the three of them from everyone else.

Yuu immediately tried to take control and remove them, but she quickly intercepted him, forcing him on the defensive.

Akame appeared on her right, slashing at her.

Esdeath created an ice prosthetic in place of her severed arm and used it to deflect the cursed blade.

Yuu took advantage of the shift in her attention and attacked with his sword.

She clashed with both of them again and again, and with each crushing blow that would have killed an ordinary human several times over, she found herself being pushed further and further back.

Her predatory grin threatened to split her face in half.

This was so much fun…!

She created a swarm of icicles, raining it down on the two of them.

Even with them numbering in the thousands, Akame and Yuu easily shattered all of them.

Esdeath found it a little surprising that they were still able to move so well, especially considering that she was lowering the temperature within the wall.

It was more of a countermeasure against Akame than Yuu, since the latter now also possessed the ability to manipulate ice.

He must have figured out what she was doing and was stopping her by raising the temperature.

The gulf in their skill and power, however small it might be, was enough to ensure that the temperature was still dropping, but it was much slower than she had intended.

She was originally intending to deal with Akame first, since the latter's power up was unlikely to last for much longer with how powerful it was, but at this rate, she would lose that power before Esdeath could personally kill her.

Well then, she supposed there was no other option.

It would hardly be the satisfying fight she wanted, but she had to kill Yuu first and quickly.

She kicked Akame away and focused her attention on him.

"You bad boy, taking my things without my permission…I'll have to punish you for that!"

The two clashed blades multiple times in an instant, with Esdeath faster than him, but Yuu stronger than her.

She had to constantly mend her frozen broadsword, and a single clean blow to a vital would likely kill her.

Which only made this even more enjoyable.

Ice gathered in his hand and molded into a knife, which he stabbed towards her eye.

She shifted out of the way, but not quickly enough.

The knife grazed her cheek, causing blood to spray out of the cut.

She grinned madly.

That was the third time he had drawn blood from her.

The first time was when they met and she had first taken an interest in him.

The second was just a few minutes ago, when he kicked her in the gut and cracked her bottom ribs.

And now too…!

His talent as a killer was on par with hers!

Perhaps it was even greater, considering his age!

If she had met him first, she wondered if she would have chosen him as her lover rather than Tatsumi.

It was too bad that he had to die by her hands right here and now.

Taking a leaf out of his book, she created another sword in her false hand and stabbed him through the foot, a move he did not expect.

Yuu twitched, a show of his impressive self-control, but now she had him right where she wanted him.

She slashed his gut open with her broadsword, just barely missing his spine.

"Gah…!"

This time, he could not stifle a cry of pain as his insides threatened to spill out of the gaping wound.

She withdrew the sword and kicked him hard, causing him to fly backwards and slam into the wall.

And while he was recovering, she rained as many icicles down on him as she could, only stopping when she felt his threatening presence finally disappear.

She could not see him under the frozen rubble he had been buried by, but she knew he was either dead or dying.

Such a pity, that someone so talented had to die so soon.

"Esdeath…!" Akame roared in rage as she dashed towards her once more.

"It's just us now, Akame!"

The ice demon clashed with the strongest assassin over and over, and with each blow, she gained more and more ground against her.

With Yuu down, the surrounding temperature was dropping rapidly, and so was Akame's ability to move.

While she could just barely see her before, Akame was now completely visible even at her highest speed.

"What's wrong!? Is this the best you can do!? Is this all I sacrificed a proper fight with Yuu for!?" Esdeath roared as she kicked Akame in the gut.

Night Raid's trump card snarled as she assumed a stance.

Esdeath could tell by her eyes.

She knew she couldn't keep this up for much longer and was going to settle this with one last attack.

Esdeath would gladly reciprocate.

"Let us end this!"

Esdeath generated a massive amount of ice and created a frozen golem, with her acting as its core and pilot.

"With this, your blade can no longer reach me!"

Akame's response was to dash past her, kicking off the wall at an angle to kick off another part.

Repeating this again and again, she slowly built up momentum.

And with a final kick, she ascended into the air high above the walls.

At the peak of her flight, she raised Murasame above her head and as she began to fall back down towards Esdeath, she swung it down.

With the power of her Trump Card and the sheer momentum backing the attack, there was a very good chance that she would cleave all the way through her ice and strike her down.

Just as she wanted.

A powerful attack like that would be child's play to read.

She would stop her in her tracks and take care of that troublesome katana once and for all.

And then Akame herself.

With the only three in the Revolutionary Army who even stood a chance of killing her dead, she would easily crush the rest of them like the ants they were.

And then, she would be free to rain chaos down upon the world.

Just the thought of it excited her so much that she was practically trembling.

Akame was almost there.

Esdeath's grin grew wider and wider.

It was ov-

"Mahapadma!"

-er…

Pain blossomed in her chest out of nowhere.

She looked down, to find that she had been cut down, her ice golem crumbling around her, and the black marking of Murasame's poison racing across her body from the wound.

The cursed poison constricted and attacked her heart, and Esdeath knew it was too late to save herself.

She had lost.

But how?

"It's over, Esdeath."

She turned to find Yuu standing behind her, his auras of energy and ice compressed so tightly against his body that they looked as though they strained to break free and flare fully.

She was looking directly at him, yet she could not detect his presence at all.

No, that wasn't quite accurate.

He had suppressed his presence so greatly that if she hadn't known what to look for, she would not have been able to find it, especially not in the presence of Akame's overwhelming murderous aura.

Any person with lesser abilities than hers would not have been able to do so.

It was just like back then, when they had first met face to face and he had first drawn blood from her.

And in an instant, she knew what had happened.

"Haha…hahahaha…!"

She could not help but laugh.

The mighty Esdeath, hoisted on her own petard!

Who would have thought that of all things, it would be her own Trump Card that would lead to her defeat?

A strategy like this…could not have been thought up on the fly.

"…How long have you been planning for this?"

"Ever since I learned that I could replicate the powers of other Teigu. Mahapadma, the Trump Card capable of stopping time…it was truly incredible, and that was exactly why we thought that we might be able to turn it against you. The first step was forcing you to use enough ice for me to assimilate. We didn't really do much in that regard. Convinced that this would be the last battle you would have with us, you were only all too happy to provide all the ice I could wish for. Of course, even if I were able to use it, I could not simply do so at any moment I wished. If I even gave you an inkling as to what we were planning, you would easily turn the tables on us. That was why we planned and planned for every scenario. In this case, we knew that we could whittle you down by attacking with as many people as we could muster. We knew that your obsession with Tatsumi combined with his power and immunity to your ice would lead you to dealing with him first. Then, if we were able to force you to fight the two of us seriously, we knew that your love of battle would lead you to separate us from every other combatant. If you thought that you had killed me, you would not be consciously searching for my presence. If Akame performed an over the top, powerful final blow, you would lay a trap for her. And it was in that moment that you would be most vulnerable."

Esdeath chuckled.

"And you even altered Mahapadma to ensure that Akame would not get caught up in it." She noted

"I wouldn't say I altered it. My ice is a little more limited than yours, so I just used it in a much simpler way than yours. It's easier to stop a single target than an entire area. And it grants the boon of additional duration as well."

"Do you understand now, Esdeath? Our victory was brought about through everyone's efforts and sacrifices. Power by itself, no matter how great, cannot bring victory."

Wind billowed overhead, and Esdeath looked upwards to find a massive draconic form flying over the wall.

"Tatsumi…you're alive?"

"Of course he is. There're a lot of people who would be pissed at him if he didn't come back alive."

"…Ha..hahaha…" Esdeath laughed one last time.

It was incredible she was still alive.

Anyone else would have died within a second of having Murasame's poison introduced into their body so close to the heart.

But even her incredible vitality would not hold out forever.

And if she was going to die…she would do so on her own terms.

Esdeath hoisted herself to her feet, causing Yuu and Akame to tense, thinking that she still intended to fight, even in her current condition.

"I have lost. And now, I die."

Esdeath encased herself within a block of ice.

She willed it to crumble away, and take her with it.

As the ice and her body slowly turned into diamond dust in the wind, she looked at her chosen lover one last time.

She had spent her entire life simply taking whatever she wanted.

But, in the end, she was never able to steal Tatsumi's heart.

And that was her one and only regret.

Esdeath's body disintegrated, and with her gone, so too did the ice she had created disappear.

The storm clouds dissipated, making way for the sun to shine down on a new age.

Yuu and Akame said just two words.

"Mission complete."

And the Revolutionary Army cheered with all of their might.

The hellish age, where lives were so meaningless, was finally over.

---

Akame's long hair billowed in the wind as she stood at the bow of the ship she was on, heading for the secluded Eastern Territories.

Esdeath's demise had all but ensured that the Empire would fall, but there had still been other loose ends to take care of.

Prime Minister Honest, the source of the evil himself, was captured by Leone and dealt with in a fitting manner, his body chopped up so that his substantial bounty could be collected by as many people as possible.

Priority went to the people he had personally wronged, or to their kin.

He screamed for mercy the entire time, and only died when every last bit of flesh had been stripped from his bones.

A most fitting end for that scumbag.

Unfortunately, his capture came at a price.

Leone had been fatally wounded by him, and it was only because of Lionelle's fusion with her body that she was still able to keep moving even after she had already gone cold.

Once it wore off…

They found her body the day after the fall of the Empire, lying in the streets, just in front of the Imperial Army recruitment center where she and Tatsumi had first met.

She had died with a smile on her face.

Any successors that he had were all found and disposed of as well, finally rooting out the evil that had plagued the old Empire.

The Emperor, freed from whatever mental influence Purge Mode had placed him under, was publicly executed, paving the way for a new Empire to take the place of the old.

Unlike the Prime Minister, he remained firm and resolute until the very moment his head was separated from the rest of his body.

Suzuka, the last of the Four Rakshasa, four incredibly powerful warriors on par with Teigu users who were under the employ of the old Empire, had vanished along with Esdeath's severed hand.

What she intended to do with it, no one knew and no one wanted to know.

All they knew was that even with alchemy, it was impossible for Esdeath to be revived from just a hand, and that was enough for them, and perhaps for her too.

Tatsumi, who had survived Murasame's curse, because Akame had targeted the Tyrant rather than him, had his draconic body stabilized as best as the Revolutionary Army's doctor could with Perfector, and returned to Mine's side.

Mine recovered from her catatonic state and left with Tatsumi for his home village, new life growing in her womb.

Speaking of the village, Najenda had arranged for them to receive a regular allowance from the new Empire, ensuring that no one ever went hungry again.

They got a shock when Tatsumi returned, without his friends Ieyasu and Sayo and in his current state, but happily welcomed him back nonetheless.

Wave and Kurome, who had defected from the Jaegers and the Empire right before the final battle, had retreated to a mountain villa.

Wave was still suffering from the aftereffects of wielding two Teigu at once, a taboo that not even Esdeath herself broke, one of his kidneys damaged beyond recovery and the rest of his body needing regular treatment every few years.

Kurome suffered mentally and emotionally, the effects of the drugs she had been constantly taking while in the old Empire's service finally wearing off, which meant that she recalled every single atrocity she had committed, the faces of every person she had killed haunting her day and night.

But with Wave's love and Akame's constant visits, she was finally on the road to recovery.

The Revolutionary Army threw themselves into their work to establish the new Empire, working together with members of the old Empire who wanted only prosperity throughout the land.

The Path of Peace settled down as well, becoming a source of inspiration and hope for the people.

The Northern and Western Tribes had their numbers decimated by Esdeath and her mighty army, and were thus no longer in any position to threaten the new Empire.

They had opened diplomatic relations with each other and with the new Empire, striving for peace.

Esdeath's army itself had fallen into a slump with the death of their commanding officer, and while the more fanatic of the bunch committed suicide to follow their commander in death, those who remained were recruited into the new Empire's border guard.

And of course, there were those who would take advantage of the chaos from the Empire's fall for profit.

Tatsumi and Mine, Wave and Kurome…they all bore scars from the battle and had retired.

And thus, in their place, she and Yuu had taken care of the new targets, making their deaths look like accidents.

The birth of the new Empire did not need to be marred by any more unpleasantness.

And that was exactly why she was on this boat.

In order to ensure that peace would finally come, there could be no evidence that the Empire had done anything as heinous as employing assassins to do their dirty work.

Even if Akame had not chosen to leave herself, Najenda would eventually have been forced to ask her to do so.

Not wanting to burden her with that role, Akame had departed willingly, leaving nothing but a note at their old base for Najenda to find.

She also had her own reasons for wanting to go to the Eastern Territories.

It was where the materials for both Murasame and its cursed poison had originated.

Even now, her body was still wracked with pain from the poison she had taken into herself to use her Trump Card.

She hoped to find a way to cure it, or at least alleviate the effects.

Akame turned back, looking towards her homeland, slowly disappearing over the horizon.

And then she looked at the ship itself.

Before the final battle, she had told her comrades that she hoped that once the Empire had fallen, they could depart for lands unknown together.

She had also hoped that Wave and Kurome would come with them.

Now, out of those 7 companions, 6 were not around.

Hot tears welled up in her eyes as she regarded the ship forlornly.

A broad hand patted her head.

"Quit mopping already. If everyone could see you now, they would laugh their asses off at you."

Akame looked at Yuu, the only one to accompany her on this trip.

He was dressed in a simple buttoned shirt and long pant, along with a black trench coat and a blue scarf.

Along with the black headphones Chelsea, one of their former comrades, once wore and had given to him before her death.

He too had suffered in the war.

He had used Magatama Manifestation three times, in the span of just one day no less.

It should have killed him, like it had most of Susanoo's previous users.

Najenda had been the only exception, and she had been left on the verge of death until she recovered.

Yuu's vitality was even greater than hers, and he was aided by enhanced regeneration.

But even he was left greatly weakened, looking frailer than before as a result.

He would recover, but it would take time.

He had his reasons for leaving as well.

Other than the fact that he was one of the two remaining Night Raid assassins who was still active, he had replicated Esdeath's powers, and no matter how much others were aware that they were two very different people, just the sight of it alone would bring painful memories to the surface, and thus for their peace of mind, he had left.

He was accompanying her for two reasons.

Yata-no-Kagami had shattered under the power of Shikoutazer's attack.

Like Murasame, the roots of Susanoo's weapons lay in the Eastern Territories.

He intended to find them and reforge the reflective mirror from scratch.

That, and he could not let her go on her own.

She wiped her tears and gazed forward resolutely.

He was right.

They had survived.

That was why, in place of everyone who did not, they had to continue living.

And even if they were incapable of anything but killing, there was surely a road for them to walk from here on out.

They just had to find it.

---

Mononobe Mitsuki strode purposefully through the woods.

It had been three years since her brother had been taken by NIFL, two since his sudden reappearance and subsequent disappearance.

She had not stopped looking for him in all that time.

Her persistence paid off, for it was just a few days ago that Charlotte B. Lord had informed her that she had located her brother.

Forcefully recruited into one of NIFL's unofficial, covert units and made its Captain.

The principal used every bit of influence she had with Asgard, a global organization that strove to fight back against the Dragons, and also the administrative body that governed both Midgard and NIFL, to have him transferred, but Loki Jotunheim, her brother's commanding officer, had so glibly informed them that he had gone MIA on a mission in Spain over two years before, and had not been seen since.

It was his opinion that he was likely dead.

Not quite ready to believe him, the principal had arranged for her to go to the place her brother had gone missing to investigate for herself.

Which was why she was in the middle of nowhere in Spain at the moment, searching for any trace of her brother.

"Mitsuki, it's getting dark. Let's stop here for today and continue tomorrow."

Accompanying her was the rest of Brynhildr Class.

In addition to her, Miyako, Lisa Highwalker, a blonde, reddish-purple eyed British girl from a noble family, Firill Crest, a purplish-silver haired and light green eyed girl, the 3rd princess of the Principality of Erlia, and Haruka, who had graduated from Midgard, meaning that she had lost her ability to create Dark Matter, and was now their homeroom teacher, the original five of the Brynhildr Class, three new classmates had joined their ranks.

Ariella Lu, a 15 year old tomboyish brunette of Middle-Eastern origins, and Miyazawa Ren, a shy 13 year old redheaded genius, foster sisters, had joined six months after the battle with the Kraken

Iris Freyja, a 16 year old silver haired, red eyed clumsy girl had joined six months after that.

Apart from Ariella, the most athletic of them, and Mitsuki herself, fueled by desperation and adrenaline, the girls looked completely exhausted.

They had spent the better part of the day searching.

They should, by all means, be resting right now, but…

"If you're all really that exhausted, you can return to the hotel first. I will keep searching myself."

"Are you crazy!? Going into the forest by yourself!? That's like the opening plot of every serial killer movie!"

Mitsuki shot Miyako a deadpan look.

"This is reality, not fiction. If there really was a serial killer around, we would have heard about it."

"Miyako's overactive imagination aside, she is correct. It is getting rather late. It would be dangerous to keep looking when it's pitch black. As the Captain of the Dragon Subjugation Squad, you must set a proper example for your classmates." Haruka said.

"But…"

"I don't claim to know your brother, but I'm sure he would not want you to hurt yourself on his account."

"…"

She was right.

But even so…

"…Haaaa…Very well, we can search one more area. But after that, we have to return to the hotel." She compromised.

Mitsuki wasn't very happy about it, but she had to consider the others too.

"…Understood."

The group ventured deeper into the forest, intent on getting this over with.

There was one last area Mitsuki wanted to check.

The clearing where Yuu had last communicated with Loki before going missing.

However, night settled far more quickly than they had expected, plunging them into darkness.

They soon started tripping other roots and small rocks, greatly inconveniencing them.

"Everyone, please create light sources. Ah, Iris-san, you don't have to do it." Mitsuki told them.

Everyone except Haruka, who was no longer a D, and Iris, who possessed the strange ability to cause any transmutation she attempted to end in a spectacular explosion, generated a baseball-sized sphere of Dark Matter.

However, before they could begin transmutation, the ground beneath them started to glow.

"Eh!? What is this!?"

"Everyone, get away quickly!"

But before they could move, the light had already become blinding.

In the next moment, they experienced a feeling of weightlessness as though gravity had suddenly decided to stop working.

When they opened their eyes, it was to find themselves in a forest clearing.

However, it was clearly not the same place they had been earlier.

For one, the air here was just too clean to be anywhere near a country with an industry-based economy.

But even more telling, it was suddenly daytime.

They got the feeling that they weren't in Kansas anymore.

---

Najenda stood silently before the 6 unmarked graves of the fallen Night Raid members.

To ensure that peace would perpetuate in the new Empire, all traces of their group had to be completely erased.

6 were dead, Tatsumi and Mine were retired and living on the outskirts of the Empire's territory, and Akame and Yuu were no longer even in the country.

Najenda herself was the only remaining proof that Night Raid even existed, and with her position in the new Empire, she could easily cover it up.

But even so, her fallen comrades did not deserve to be forgotten.

They had only managed to achieve this peace because of their efforts.

So, she had memorialized them near their old base, leaving their graves unmarked in case anyone happened upon this place, visiting frequently and bringing flowers to lay there.

Tatsumi and Mine occasionally came here as well, obviously with Tatsumi using invisibility, and Yuu and Akame sent flowers to her to help them place every month.

It was nothing special, perhaps even not enough to reward their efforts, but it was the only solace she could offer them now.

Perhaps, once the new Empire had achieved true stability, then…

The last ashes fell from her cigarette, which she crushed under her foot.

It was about time for her to return to the capital.

It had been two years since the establishment of the new Empire, but there was still plenty of work to do before it could be called stable.

Her guards, consisting of Teigu users formerly from the Revolutionary Army, were waiting for her at the entrance of the base.

She should be getting back to them.

She mounted her horse, preparing to ride back, but paused when a flash of light from inside the forest, just barely visible under the sunlight, caught her attention.

"What the…?"

"Najenda-san!"

One of her guards rode up to her with a worried expression.

"I assume you saw that too?"

"All of us did. What should we do? It might be enemy agents…"

"Check it out, of course. If it is enemy agents, we wipe them out before they get anywhere close to the capital."

"Understood!"

They met up with the rest of the guards and rode towards the spot where the flash had come from.

As they got closer, Najenda began to recall.

This was the clearing where they had found Yuu two years ago.

Coincidence?

They burst through the shrubbery, expecting a squad of enemies…but came across a group of similarly-aged girls, all wearing the same uniform, led by an older woman in a more formal looking attire instead.

Najenda and her guards stared at them.

They stared right back, looking just as confused.

Then, one of them waved.

"Um…hi?"

---

…I hate myself for doing this.

But, I literally cannot write for any of my other stories.

I'm just not feeling any inspiration for them.

But, I did for this idea.

Want to know how long it took me to write this?

6 days.

I typed this in 6 days, averaging about 2.5k words a day.

I have not typed this fast in a very long time.

On the other hand, for my other stories, I can barely manage 500 words on a day where I actually feel like working on them.

That is how much difference inspiration makes.

Anyway, Akame ga Kill is one of my favorite manga series, and Unlimited Fafnir is my favorite light novel series, so I thought, why not cross these two over?

The chapter kinda jumps all over the place, but let's face it, if I described every detail in the last battle of Akame ga Kill, this chapter would probably be twice as long.

Esdeath is actually one of my favorite characters, which is why I felt kinda bad I killed her off at the start.

She's an example of a Mary Sue I feel is actually done right.

Her power isn't one that is stupidly broken from the beginning.

Ice manipulation is actually a very simple power that anyone can use, but it's because Esdeath is so creative with its usage that she is so powerful.

Not to mention, she does have an actual background in the story, one that explains why she's so fucked in the head.

And has actual weaknesses that everyone has noticed from the start, just not ones they could immediately take advantage of.

On the other hand, a character like Yhwach is one that is portrayed so badly that it's not even funny.

His Almighty is all kinds of bullshit, his character isn't even explained properly (seriously, why did he even want to kill the Soul King?) and his only weakness is a magical metal asspull that isn't even revealed until like, the last 4 or 5 chapters.

I get that Jump forced Kubo to rush the ending, but seriously.

Just like how I like Esdeath among others, there is one character in Akame ga Kill that I absolutely hate.

Not because they're poorly written.

They aren't described in detail as much as say, Night Raid or the Jaegars, and they're really just a step away from being Yhwach-level asspull, but that's not the reason I hate them.

I hate them for what they did, or rather what they didn't do in the story.

Can you guess who it is?

Hint: It's not Honest, though he is second on my list, with the Emperor third.

The answer will eventually be revealed in later chapters, which will be written in a similar manner as Hellfire, a 'past' segment detailing Yuu's time in Night Raid, where questions like 'why does Yuu have Susanoo's powers?' and 'what is Esdeath talking about when she said Yuu was the first person to ever wound her?' will be answered, and a 'present' segment, whre the story following the end of this prologue continues.

I think that's about it.

As always, please read and review.