Falling to the ground, Butch lost consciousness while numerous wounds were visible on his body. Next to him, Rosa's body was in the same state as her own, while her daggers had been broken. Feeling blood running down his face, Larok had one eye closed as he had a wound on his forehead, as well as on his left arm.
In front of him, he saw Esdeath display a big smile, while she didn't have the slightest scratch. Seeing the state her opponent was in, she began to congratulate him.
"You're very resilient! To be honest, I think I'm having more fun fighting you than I had conquering the Northern Kingdom."
Not even having the strength to answer her, Larok tried to point his sword at her, before rushing forward to attack her. He had no idea if he had allowed Sayo to evacuate the last prisoners. And that was why he kept fighting, despite wanting to beg Esdeath to finish him off, while the pain he felt was just a sting, compare to what was to come to him. .
The power of his opponent was mind-blowing. For several weeks, Larok had enlisted in the army of Nazarick and had obtained powerful weapons, the quality of which was superior to that of a normal soldier of the Empire. Yet even fighting, along with Rosa and Butch, the man had not managed, for a single moment, to put Esdeath in danger. Parrying his attacks, or dodging his sword, without feeling the slightest danger, Esdeath then counterattacked, enjoying lightly wounding Larok, torturing him slowly. The fight had lasted a few minutes. However, a single minute had made Larok realize that he wouldn't even have the chance to hurt Esdeath. Losing hope of being able to defeat her, he charged without the slightest strategy.
However, a fist came in front of his face and hit him so hard that his incisors shattered, while his body flipped backwards, before landing on the ground.
"Huh?" Esdeath said, as someone dared to interrupt her entertainment. "Do you want me to kill you?"
"Idiot." Budo roared. "Do you really think we have time to waste?"
Looking at the other guards, he ordered.
"Rebels must have entered here through a secret passage! Find it and catch them! They must not run away."
"AYE!" shouted the soldiers.
However, it was already too late. Having passed inside the teleportation portal, at moment Larok had fallen to the ground, Sayo had a look betraying her guilt, as she returned to Nazarick. Then, finally, knowing there was no further initiative, she ordered.
"Close the portal."
Immediately, the teleport portal disappeared, just as soldiers of the empire began to survey the area, hoping to find a secret passage, leading them to the mercenaries. However, only Cocytus knew that their efforts were useless, since it was already too late to find them. And, anyway, if they had found the teleportation portal, and they had decided to use it to invade Nazarick, it would have only caused their death.
Then, lowering his gaze, he stared at the three mercenaries on the ground. He remembered their faces and the fact that they were fanatical mercenaries, regarding Galadriel as a goddess. Just like Ieyasu and the others, they had sworn to fight to the death, for Nazarick. And that was what they had done. They had proven to Cocytus that they had become respectable warriors who, despite being mere humans, had shown their courage and strength.
"You fought five elite soldiers of Esdeath?"
"Indeed, my Lady." Pandora agreed.
Reporting to Galadriel, the doppelganger had confessed to her about attacking Esdeath's elite group, as well as giving Cz permission to kill one of them. He had taken this initiative without her agreement and expected to be reprimanded. However, Galadirel affirmed.
"Excellent work, Pandora."
"Sorry, mom? I... I ordered this attack, without your permission."
"Yes! But you did exactly the right thing! And this attack will have granted us many advantages! First of all, we know the powers of the elite soldiers of Esdeath and we will know who to send to fight them, to to limit any risk of unpleasant surprises! Moreover, since you left them alive, we are sure that Esdeath will be aware of the existence of the witch queen and the fact that her soldiers were beaten by one of her generals will go to the ears of many people! If they understand that Esdeath is much weaker than me, they will do nothing to help her, the day I get rid of her, which will make it easier for me to take power ! And finally, you saved the life of a wonderful pawn."
Referring to Chouri, she affirmed.
"A former minister, who was appreciated by the people...I am sure that many people still trust him and will decide to fight with us, if I let him talk to them! With him, I could finally start to create a gigantic army of humans, and possibly even amassing teigus spread all over this empire."
"In that case, what should we do?"
"For the moment, nothing at all! Before taking any decision on our next action, I prefer to wait to know how the invasion of the palace took place! I want to know its defenses, as well as to know if any mercenaries succeeded to come back."
At that moment, she heard a request for a message arise in her mind. Immediately, she accepted it.
" MESSAGE ! Yes, Pestonya ? "
" Galadriel-sama ~ woof! I just let you know that the mercenaries have returned to Nazarick! "
"Huh? How many came back alive?"
"Of the fifty-eight mercenaries, only three were lost during this mission! And, according to Sayo, the captain of the group of archers, they managed to free all the prisoners held in the basement of the palace. "
Hearing this, Galadirel remained motionless. Then, finally, she says.
"Please let me know, Pestonya! I'm coming."
Then she stopped the communication. Standing still, Pandora saw Galadriel rise to her feet before taking a few steps into her office. Finally, stopping, she couldn't help laughing. She knew that Nazarick was more powerful than the Empire. However, if mere human mercenaries had managed to accomplish a mission she thought was suicidal for them, then that meant the Empire's palace defenses were even more pitiful than she thought.
Continuing to laugh, she understood that conquering this world was going to be much easier than expected. In a few months, his name would be adored by people all over the world.
"Galadriel-sama?"
Stopping laughing, Galadriel turned back to Pandora, before affirming.
"I propose that we take a break from our conquest plans."
" Sorry ? "
"I will verify this information but, it seems obvious to me now that no danger threatens Nazarick, concerning the power of the Empire! Therefore, I want to have fun with these humans and do some experiments before Dominate them! Before I crush the empire, I want to show them that the witch queen can be a deity with a big heart, and become, in the snap of a finger, the most nightmare that humanity has ever known. . "
Then she declared.
"I'll start with Night Raid and see if they've improved! Notify Aura and Mare! I'll stage an attack on Night Raid's base."
" An attack ? "
Being still, Pestonya looked at the many humans in front of her. Trying to organize themselves, many mercenaries from Nazarick carried the bodies of many prisoners, who were unable to walk on their own. Many were injured, others had their limbs amputated. Some had their noses or ears cut off, and many had their fingernails pulled out or their eyes gouged out. There were men, women and even some old people and children. Looking around, to see nothing that might look like a torture chamber, prisoners stood motionless and only cried. Others were on their knees, praying.
Passing by Pestonya, a mercenary began to shout.
"Let us bring right away, the healing potions that Galadriel provided us! We must heal them immediately."
At that moment, an old man, bare-chested and with horrible chest wounds, took slow, clumsy steps towards him, while his whole body looked like a real skeleton, simply covered with a layer of skin.
The old man did not know the mercenary. However, stretching out his arms towards him, he ends up hugging him. Then, the mercenary heard him sobbing. Not really knowing what to do, the mercenary ends up passing a hand in his back, before ensuring.
"It's over! It's over."
Further on, Pestonya saw a woman holding the body of a boy, appearing to be under ten years old. Still alive, he seemed unable to make the slightest movement, while what looked like the tip of a spear went through his abdomen, as if one of the executioners had amused himself by skewering him. Seizing the child, two mercenaries began to shout orders to other people, to go get the healing potions they needed.
Then, using her keen sense of hearing, she overheard a discussion between a mercenary and a prisoner, who seemed to be able-bodied enough to postpone his healing.
"Just answer one question." The mercenary implored, looking at the many prisoners around them. "Are…Are you criminals and is that why the Empire decided to torture you?"
Hearing this, the man smirked, before simply shaking his head.
"Criminals? No! Some of us are just merchants, teachers, writers, journalists... just civilians."
" So why ? "
Feeling a tear running down his cheek, hearing this simple question, the prisoner answered.
"We voiced our displeasure against the Empire and we were punished for it."
Hearing this, Pestonya continued to stand still. Despite being a follower of Nazarick, she was one of the few who was shown to be friendly with humans. Unlike the other demons, she saw them as living beings with whom living in peace could be possible.
Yet right now she was angry. For the first time in her life, she would have been happy to see Galadriel slaughter the humans who were able to commit such atrocities on their fellow human beings and cause them to experience the same suffering as their victims.
Finally, she decided to help the wounded.
Being in the meeting room, the members of Night Raid had been gathered by Najenda. It was the first time the ten members of the group had been reunited since their battle against Seryu and Rubedo. However, while Aura seemed to be sleeping upright, Scheele remained seated in the corner of the room, looking brooding. Despite the fact that her body was healed, her defeat and the loss of her teigu prevented her from regaining her former vigor, which she showed during her missions.
Staring at her, Mine felt angry, despite knowing full well who was at fault. Since the day of her defeat, she had promised herself to train to surpass Seryu and Rubedo.
"Is everyone there?" Najenda asked, arriving in the room.
Seeing her sit down on her seat, Mare hastened to wake up her sister, so that she could concentrate on the discussion that was about to take place.
"I have three bad news for you." Najenda announced. "First, I am no longer able to contact the local teams.
Immediately, the eyes of the assassins, apart from Tatsumi and the two dark elves changed, showing that this news was by no means an insignificant detail.
"Local teams?" Tatsumi repeated.
"The empire is vast." Akame told him. "We specialize in assassination inside the capital, but there are other teams that deal with areas around it."
"They are still being investigated, but the chances that they are dead are high! So that means an assault took place."
"The Empire...or Jaldabaoth?" Leone asked.
"No idea! But, either way, it will pose a huge problem for the rest of our missions! So, I advise you to be on your guard! This place could also be attacked. "
"In that case, I will increase the number of my threads, around the camp." Lubbock announced.
Wanting to yawn, Aura found no interest in listening to this discussion. Galadriel had already briefed her subordinates on the empire's actions. And even if soldiers managed to attack the Night Raid base, by surprise, they would have no chance of hurting her and her brother.
"Second…" Esdeath continued. "As you know, Esdeath and his troops confronted Jaldabaoth and he forced them to cease fighting at the northern kingdom! Because of this, Esdeath has already returned to the capital."
"Shit!" Mine growled. "It was not expected that she would come back so quickly."
"Even though Jaldabaoth is Esdeath's enemy, he has done us a disservice by bringing her back here." Bulat asserted.
"The only good point is that the demon killed some of her troops, before allowing him to leave." Najenda stated. "As a result, the armies of the Empire have been greatly weakened because of this."
"What are we going to do with her?" Akame asked.
"For now, we'll just watch her! Leone, you take care of her."
"Okay ! "
"And last thing..."
This time, she showed a poster with a design resembling the Night Raid symbol.
"...nobles and other officers were slaughtered by a group of killers and this was found near the corpses;"
"Someone is trying to frame us?" Bulat wondered. "Tsss! He's got a lot of nerve."
"What problem can that cause?" Tatsumi asked. "I mean our targets are nobles and officers of the Empire! So whether or not it was us who killed them, it wouldn't matter."
"The people who got killed are different from our targets." Najenda retorted. "They were people in high places, who were against Honest's decisions! Clearly, they were his enemies in politics."
"Really?" Mare asked. "So the killers are Honest men."
"Quite possible."
"Why accused us?" Tatsumi asked.
"A trap?" Bulat asserted. "Honest wants to force us to investigate these murders and take advantage of them to attack us."
"It must be a trap." Najenda agreed. "Furthermore, sixty-one bodyguards were killed in these attacks, proving that the killers weren't amateurs! In fact, I think they were people with teigus."
"Are we going to respond to their provocations and fight them?" Aura asked, eager to fight against opponents, who could potentially offer her a decent fight.
However, before she could respond, Najenda heard an explosion that shook the entire Night Raid base.
" What ... ? "
"So Budo and his men haven't found any trace of the people who carried out this invasion?" Esdeath repeated.
"Huh, yes!" confessed a soldier. "It's unbelievable! The rebels and the prisoners vanished, as if by magic."
"Tsss! Bunches of incompetents."
Hearing this, the soldier began to tremble with fear, while fearing to suffer her wrath. However, Esdeath preferred to turn to a table, where Larok lay. Chained to the table, the man had numerous wounds on his abdomen, while Esdeath had started to amuse herself by torturing him.
"Did you hear? Whether you like it or not, you and your friends are the only way we can track down your comrades! So what's next is up to you! Do you want to talk or will you let me try new tortures on you?"
Larok just stared at Esdeath, gritting his teeth. In truth, he wanted to beg her to finish him off, the pain was so excruciating. Nevertheless, he refused to grant her this pleasure. So he preferred to keep silent.
"As you wish." Esdeath said, struggling to hide her joy, imagining all that she was going to do to him.
However, she turned around when she heard footsteps. Entering the torture chamber, Liver and the others faced their superior. Looking around, Liver was surprised to see all of the cells in the hall wide open, and devoid of any trace of the prisoners. Then, he saw a pile of bodies, gathering the corpses of the executioners who were killed during the massacre.
"But what the...?"
"It's nothing." Esdeath affirmed. "I will personally take care of this problem."
Then she stared at her elite soldiers.
"How was Chouri's execution?"
Immediately, she was surprised to see Liver and the others lower their gazes. Then noticing that one person was missing, she asked.
"Where is Nosca?"
Again, her soldiers did not know what to answer. Realizing something had happened, Esdeath said authoritatively.
"Liver...who attacked you?"
Trembling, hearing her tone, the man finally affirms.
"A general of the Witch Queen's army."
"The Witch Queen?"
Watching the fight that had taken place in the imperial palace, using a magic crystal, Galadriel said not a word. Finally, when the video ended, she said in a bored tone.
" I'm disappointed. "
Standing in front of her desk, Pandora scratched the top of her head, before asking.
"Excuse me, my lady, but... what did your mercenaries do to disappoint you?"
" Huh? You misunderstood me! To tell the truth, they accomplished their mission in an exemplary way! Sayo organized the attack very well, starting the attack with his archers, and having the idea of blocking all the exits from the basements of the palace! Then, taking advantage of the element of surprise, Ieyasu and his men did not hesitate for a moment to massacre their enemies, because they knew that they should not leave them alive, at the risk of giving them the opportunity to warn all the soldiers of the palace! The fact that the alarm was triggered was only due to bad luck! to tell the truth, I never would have thought that only three of them would be killed and that the others would free all the prisoners in the basement! Their organization and their rise to power surprised me a lot! Cocytus did a very good job with them. "
"Then what disappointed you? Was it the palace defenses?"
"Exactly! It is true that I forget that this world does not contain magic, preventing humans from using it to create traps! Nevertheless, I sincerely thought that the Empire would have had the good idea to create means of defenses to prevent any form of invasion of the palace!"
"This is explained by Honest relying on Budo and Esdeath to defend the palace." Affirmed Pandora. "They are the strongest people in this world and this simple title allows the palace to be protected from any potential invasion! Moreover, no one would have thought that we can attack them using a portal of To open it, all we had to do was let one of Demiurge's demons sneak into the palace and use a magic item to let you locate where you needed to focus your magic . "
Still wearing a bored face, Galadriel tapped her fingers against the desk.
"Honestly, I really thought invading the Empire might prove to be a real challenge! However, it won't! The moment Budo and Esdeath get killed, even our mercenaries will be more than enough to overthrow the Empire! This time, it's confirmed, the Empire poses no threat to us."
"What about the man who attacked Lupusregina?" Pandora asked.
"His capture has become our priority," Galadriel affirmed. "The Empire's attack can wait! Truth be told, even if I gave them a century to prepare for our assault, it wouldn't make any difference! As such, I prefer to focus on knowing who is that famous Dijon."
Then she gave a sadistic smile.
"And we're going to take advantage of the Empire's weakness to clean things up."
"Household ? "
"Yes! Now that Cocytus, Cixious, and Tuare are spying on the actions of the Emperor and Aria, we know exactly what the nobles and higher-ups are thinking and wanting to do! If we decide to attack the palace now, several accomplices of Honest, living throughout the Empire, will escape our vigilance and killers will not be punished for their crimes! help him fight us! As soon as we have a list of all his accomplices, we can launch the final attack! There's no way my future empire will contain people like them."
"What about Night Raid? Are we going to ask for their help?"
"At the moment, I am giving them a test, to find out whether or not they deserve my interest in them."
Having left their bases, the members of Night Raid had frozen, seeing an army in front of them, composed of skeletons, wearing ares and armors.
" What ... ? "
"Humans..." a voice roared.
At that moment, as the skeletons strayed from their paths, three ghouls floated towards the assassins, while asserting themselves.
"We are here to kill you, in the name of Jaldabaoth."