Okay, I have made a decision.
For the next few weeks, I can either choose to revamp my earlier chapters or keep posting new ones. Although posting new ones are my top priority, I kinda feel that there are certain parts of my chapters that are missing. Take for instance, the fight scenes. I didn't elaborate on it. Also, I was trying to make Tatsumi insane. Sorry if that didn't get across. Nonetheless, I will try to get over my indecisiveness and make a firm decision on what I would be doing over the next few weeks. I don't have a team of people helping me out so everything that comes out is straight from the oven. If may try to force one of my friends to help me out, but for the time being, please make do with my horrible grammar and vocabulary.
Also, something important came up. The OTP in this anime. Looking at how things turned out in my story, I would say that AkameXTatsumi is the most certain. But lets just keep this in view.
The next thing I wanna say would be that some of the character's death would be prevented. Sorry for the disappointment.
Lastly, let me just say I added in tons of OCs. Don't worry. The main character would still be Tatsumi and the OCs are there to help Tatsumi. They would eventually retreat to the sidelines or be killed off. * Evil Grin *
To all the people who reviewed my story, Thank You! Your suggestions and encouragements are helpful. I hope I would be able to write better so as to meet your expectations.
Anyways, enough talking, let's start the chapter.
Volume 1: Chapter 10: Armor of Black V
I stared at the abomination before me. Technically, that "abomination" is Tatsumi. Apparently he found an Imperial Arm which went out of control. From its appearance it seems to be one of the Armor-Type Imperial Arm.
"Tatsumi, can you hear me?" I shouted to the thing before me, hoping for Tatsumi to still be conscious underneath that black armor of his. That armor gives me the chills. There are some cracks on the breastplate of the armor, which emanates a blue light from within the armor. The helmet seems to be a close helmet which is also made up of the same black material like with the armor. The only light coming from inside the helmet are two blue lights spaced from each other, resembling eyes.
A loud roar, like one of a Danger Beast, was the only reply that I got. The commotion that Tatsumi transformation had caused is bound to attract attention. I have to take down Tatsumi before people come over to investigate so as to hide our identities.
I jumped into the air and begin to shoot my strings in all directions in an attempt to weave a web. I land on one of the strings and perfectly maintained my balance. Next, I began to run around the Square on the strings I put out, hoping that the black knight would focus his attention on me. While running, I constantly shoot my strings towards Tatsumi. He is still encased within that armor of his and hasn't spoken a word since his transformation. I can assume he is unconscious.
He better be ready to answer my questions for I have a load of it.
Tatsumi still hadn't moved from the spot he had been in, although his helmet did move around to keep his sights on me. The strings I shot towards him harmlessly bounced off the black armor he was wearing. The best that I managed to do was to merely push him back.
With the sword in his hands, the black knight charged towards me. Hoping to take him down faster, I ran around the square, luring him to follow me. As I ran, I weaved the stings I have into a sword. I stopped and proceeded to run towards him. Our blades clashed and sparks were created. His sword was rusty, with some areas having black stains. It is dangerous if that were to cut me. The wounds may become infected.
Try as I might, I am unable to land a single decisive hit on him. His strength is effectively pushing him back. His sword wasn't able to slice through the strings, but I can feel that his sword could be able to sever them anytime.
I moved back slightly. I needed to get him into the spot where I needed him to be in. Jumping a few steps back, I shot more strings towards him. He followed me, hoping to deprive me of a chance to use a different strategy. He moved forwards with one great step, and was held in place.
As I ran around, I weaved strings and set up a trap. The black knight had to be at a certain spot, and since he won't go there willingly, I have to lure him. Strings were effectively halting his movement. I pulled the strings with greater strength and the black knight was lifted off the ground and into mid-air. I held him in this position as I walked closer to him. My hands are in pain. The weight of this things was really heavy. I walked towards him and weaved multiple spikes. I shoved the spike into the cracks on the armor that I can find, hoping to control his mind. If I can get these spikes to pierce his flesh, I can access his mind and get him to call off the Imperial Arm. One went underneath the breastplate, another went underneath his gauntlet. I can feel the strings stab into the flesh. Clearing my mind, I tried to take over control of his mind.
My Imperial Arm allows me to control people, like as if they are puppets. Controlling can be either by manipulating their movements via strings or take over their mind. I can also do a few other stuff with the strings, but it can't do much as this Imperial Arm has limited strings and requires time to make more of it. The more strings that are stabbed into a person, the better the chances of them being controlled by me. I can also use this Imperial Arm to control a group of people, which can be useful.
I tried to control Tatsumi using the strings that I had stabbed into him. Nothing happened.
The black knight just stood there, its armor still equipped. Even when I ordered him to deactivate his Imperial arms, nothing happened.
Don't tell me Tatsumi doesn't know how to deactivate his Imperial Arms.
I removed the strings out of his flesh. I jumped back and released the strings that binds him. My strength isn't infinite and he is heavy.
I really don't want to use my trump card here. It consumes a lot of my physical strength and mental capacity and I won't be able to escape should anything happen. There should be another way.
The black knight, having regained control his body, began to charge at me once more. Without this Imperial Arm, Tatsumi can achieve speed that trumps many of the experienced fighters in the Imperial Guards. His current speed right now in his Imperial Arm is nowhere near his true speed.
The armor must have been really heavy.
I jumped away to avoid the charge. Using some of the strings, I begin to weave shapes of various soldiers. Several soldiers stood beside me when I was done. All were equipped with armor and weapons made from strings.
The black knight continued to charge towards me, this time swinging his sword at anything that got in his way. I danced around the square, jumping from one string to the other to dodge all of the attacks thrown at me. I would make my string soldiers attack at every opening I could find. Soon, the armor of the black knight began to crack even more and parts of the armor fell off. Knowing that the tables have now turned, the black knight retreated to where the dead body of Zank was. He raised his hand over the dead body, allowing some black substance to flow into the body from his palm. The substance entered the body through the opening in the face. Nothing happened for several moments before the body slowly stood up.
As if by magic, the dead body of Zank began to burn with a dark blue flame. Flesh was burnt off. When the flame subsided, only the skeleton of the person remained. It stood up, still having the clothes and weapons of Zank. The skeleton charged at the string soldiers I created. With his minion holding back the string soldiers, the black knight renewed his assaults on me. Instead of moving away, I ducked under the swing of the blade and scored a punch on the breastplate of the black knight. The breastplate cracked, partially revealing the body of Tatsumi.
"I don't know what you saw Tatsumi, but know this. I have been through worse and I don't intend to be taken down by you. Not today, not ever."
Not giving the black knight any chance to recover, I charged forwards, constantly striking him on his breastplate. At the last moment, I swept the ground with my legs, causing him to lose his balance. I moved behind him and using all of my strength, I lifted him into the air and slammed it down onto the ground. He tried to stand up, which was futile. I impaled his body into the ground using the strings which were weaved into spikes. The spikes pierced through his flesh and become firmly lodged into the ground. The black knight before me struggled for some time, before exhausting his strength. The armor faded, turned back into dark blue flames and disappeared. The skeleton of Zank fall onto the concrete and fell apart.
I wasted no time. Removing the spike which was pierced through his stomach, I tried my best to stop the bleeding. Retracted all the strings that was cast out onto the area and wrapped it over my body underneath whatever remaining clothing I was still wearing. I need to get his body out of the area. The Imperial Arm was safely hidden in my pockets. I wasted some time taking down Tatsumi. Using whatever remaining strength I have left, I hauled his body over my shoulders and started walking away. Everything would have been perfect, if not for the two figures which landed before me from who knows where.
I recognize one of them. Raven black hair and blood red eyes. Formerly part of The Elite Seven, an assassination group comprising of seven elite assassins who were trained from young by the Empire's greatest swordsman, Gozuki. Her weapon was the infamous Murasame, rumored to kill any enemy with just one cut. She was trained in the assassin program implemented by one of the nobles. After achieving success for this program, a power struggle between the corrupt nobles broke out and various factions were formed. This event was known only by the upper class citizens (and above) of the Empire and was labelled as "Dark Wars". All of the different factions raced to create more assassins to take down the opposing factions. I was one of the victims of these programs, or rather test subjects of the experiments that aimed to artificially create the perfect soldier through various means. In the end the Prime Minister, which had remained neutral since he was still amassing power stepped in and quelled the tensions. All this occurred before the succession of the throne to the current child Emperor.
The other person had yellow hair and looked more like an humanoid animal than a human. I have not seen her before.
Things aren't looking good.
...
I was still under the effects of Zank's trump card, whatever it was. I was made to witness a nightmare. People impaled on stakes, people tied on crosses, people crucified. These aren't just any people. These are people Tatsumi actually recognize, even though I didn't realise I knew them. The people back at his village. His parents. Sayo and Ieyasu. Hikari.
Ok the last one seems off. Even if he had not seen Hikari in combat, I know that he possesses skills that can rival even the Great General. Just his aura the other day was enough to overwhelm me. I was skeptical that he could be defeated easily. I was shocked, seeing everyone else being tortured and made to die in this way.
They aren't dead. This was done by an Imperial Arm. This is just a nightmare, right? An illusion, nothing more. There is nothing to worry about. Don't let this get to you. The people at the village are still alive and everyone else are dead. I saw them die, so that confirms it. Nothing to worry about.
"Are you sure?"
I was startled and look around for the source of the voice. Yet, I was unable to find anyone. There was a slight movement in the ground I was standing on. A hand reached out from the earth. Then, all around me, the earth was moved apart as hands began reaching out form the ground. It pulled itself from the ground. Corpses. Tons of corpses were moving out from the ground they were buried in.
Of course, I screamed, only for a moment, before realizing how absurd the situation was. This is merely another of the mind games that Zank is putting me through. I chuckled. How absurd.
""Everyone you love will die."" The corpses were talking. They stood up once they were freed from the earth. They slowly began to walk towards me from all directions.
I am now surrounded with nowhere to run. The corpses continuously repeated that same line, as if they something would happen if they keep saying it. This sentence starts ringing in my ear.
It slowly died down as they got even closer to me.
"Eventually, all you love will die. Tatsumi. You can't escape this."
I turned around to see someone I have not met since her demise, she was looking at me with a look of disappointment. Her face was the last thing I saw before my vision was replaced with corpses as I was being buried by corpses.
Mom. Why are you here?
...
I continued to stared at the two women in front of me. Night Raid. The group of assassins which has been causing trouble within the Capital, or so the Imperial Police have been saying. All of its members are highly skilled and equipped with Imperial Arms, making each member a military asset if they were in the Army.
I had wanted to escape before anyone arrive. Luck ran out. Now I have to face Night Raid. Most of my strength was expended on defeating Tatsumi and I may not have much left to combat against these two people from Night raid.
"Say, do you know what happened here?" the blonde asked. "We would appreciate it if you tell us everything you know." She was cracking her knuckles as she spoke and her tone wasn't really implying she was dumb.
I'm at wit's end. I need to get away as far as possible.
"Errr..., my friend got drunk and I came to pick him up." Hoping to stall for time, i answered her rhetorical question.
The reply that came was not what I liked.
"Say, have we met before? You look familiar."
Before I can give any explanation, the yellow haired lady charged towards me. However, she never manage to reach me. Someone stood between us. In his hands were cards, poker cards.
More figures landed around me.
"Fancy seeing you here, Hikari." One of them said.
"Are you okay?"Said another.
"What caused that explosion just now?"
I grinned. Apparently miracles do occur even in such a cruel world. Help has arrived. I haven't seen them around for quite some time and having a reunion in such a situations makes me relieved and depressed at the same time. It really reflects my incompetence as a leader.
"You guys are late!"
Rewrite has completed for this chapter.
Phew, I had so much to do ever since my holidays started. I started to take up a part-time job, giving me less time to write. The good thing is that this job is pretty laid-back sometimes which allows me to have time to daydream about how to further plot for my stories.
Well, this chapter basically showcases some of the abilities Tatsumi's Imperial Arm has and how volatile it is. Well, try to guess the Imperial Ams main ability. I'll give you guys a treat if you can guess correctly. Hehe. Anyways, one more thing to clarify. Why did Tatsumi see his mother in that illusion instead of someone else. I initially wanted to add Sayo or someone else. Don't worry, it doesn't play much significance to plot. I put his mother since it is the person that is closest to him. Why is the mother closest to him? C'mon. There is a period of time where we solely depended on our mothers for support and comfort. Like when we were young, we tend to be generally more close to our mothers than our fathers. I can't really explain it, but we are closer to the person that spends more time with us. It is only after a while where we find other people close to us. People like our lovers or our friends during the course of our lives as we become independent and no longer rely on our parents.
Well, review on this story. Reviews gives me ideas for improvement and a source of motivation for me to do better. I changed my writing style a lot after some advice from my reviewers who PMed me. So remember to review, k?
Well, I'll sign off here. Thank you and have a good day.