A/N: AND I MANAGED TO GET THIS OUT BEFORE THE YEAR ENDS! And I'm kinda starting to see a pattern of whenever I get to an important fight, it's put on hold for a majorly, majorly, MAJORLY, long time. Also, I like to thank you all of you for putting up with me taking a ridiculously long time in updating my stories. When it comes down to it, I just really refuse to be one of those people who just stop working on their stories altogether. Yes, I'm aware I have some stories that I haven't updated in a very, very, very long time, but I still plan on working on them. It's just that this, and A New Beginning take up a LOT of my time. In short, thank you all and I still plan on updating and putting out new stories. With that out of the way, hell yeah, forty chapters! Well, technically, it's forty-one if you include the prologue. Also, we've now arrived at the third moment.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and/or Akame Ga Kill. They belong to their original owners.

The Assassins of Fairy Tail

Job Forty: Chelsea's Checkmate

As every guild member was still celebrating their victory over Alverez taking back Hargeon, not everyone shared the same sentiment. From within the infirmary, Carla was sitting on a chair overlooking Wendy. It was obvious from her expression that she was deeply worried about the state of her friend's condition. The only other time Carla was this worried about the young dragon slayer is when she and Leone found her unconscious after her fight with Esdeath back at the Capital. However, Wendy was in a much more serious condition this time due to the number of injuries she sustained. Carla remembered the words she said to the young dragon slayer when she and Chelia were racing toward her to help. "When you can't walk, I'll be your legs! If you can't fly on your own, I'll be your wings! THE TWO OF US WILL ALWAYS BE TOGETHER FOREVER!" Now, those words just bring pain to Carla's heart every time she sees Wendy's current condition.

"Hey, you're awake now."

Carla's attention was broken and looked back to see Leone walking up to her. "Leone." She quickly noticed the cast the other girl was wearing and already had questions. "What happened to your arm?"

Leone approached Carla still in her beast form and smiled at the Exceed. "Eh, my arm got cut off during a fight but Araña managed to stitch it back on."

Carla couldn't help but close her eyes and chuckle lightly at Leone's explanation. "Of course, you would say that so casually." She opened her eyes and looked back at Wendy. "Have you heard of what happened to Wendy?"

Leone looked at the younger girl as well and her eyes softened with regret. "Yeah, I did, and…" She hesitated to tell Carla that Wendy's chances of survival were close to none. The blonde decided to change the subject. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

Carla appreciated Leone's sentiment for her. "I'm fine, thank you, but Wendy, she's…this is the worst I've ever seen of her. I'm worried that…" She couldn't finish her sentence because Carla feared the worst of her best friend's fate. It seemed to Leone that Carla quickly figured out how bad Wendy's condition was. "What of the others? What are they doing?"

Leone closed her eyes sighed and took this moment to change the subject before opening them again. "We decided we're going back to the guild now that everyone else here can look after Hargeon."

That made the most sense to Carla since Alvarez was no more here. "And you're going with them?"

"Someone has to break the news to Akame and the others." Leone replied. "Although, I do hate it I'm leaving Wendy like this. And I'm guessing you'll be staying behind?"

Carla nodded at Leone's question. "Yes. I want to spend as much time as I can with Wendy. Maybe, she'll wake up and I'll be there to greet her."

All Leone could do was smile sadly at Carla's idea and petted the Exceed's head lightly several times. "I'm sure Wendy will be happy to see you too." She removed her hand from Carla's head. "Right, I'll be giving you two some alone time now." Carla didn't say anything back and Leone took that as her cue to leave. While heading out, Leone thought about what Carla said about Wendy waking up and had a dreadful feeling dwelling inside of her. Leone knew what Carla said about Wendy waking up was a lie to herself. Probably because she wanted to believe it was true, but Leone knew the truth. In Wendy's current condition, there was a high chance that…Leone smacked both of her cheeks to snap out of it when she finally reached outside. "Don't think about that. Wendy's going to survive. She'll make it through. I know it. She…has to." Leone sighed and had to admit the truth herself. As Kagura said before, there was a strong possibility that Wendy might not make it through. That was the truth Leone might have to face when that time comes. And she wouldn't be the only one having to face that fact. She looked up at the moon and envisioned both Akame and Chelsea in the night sky. Leone would have to tell them what happened to Wendy and could only imagine how they'd react. She continued looking at the sky with a worried expression. "Hope you two are doing alright during all this."

B

Back at Northern Fiore, the fight between Blue Pegasus, Sabertooth, Fairy Tail, and Alverez raged on. Joining them in the fight were the rest of the guild members of Crime Sorcière joined in the fight riding the Flying Olympia. Sorano fired several cannon shots at the battlefield where a large number of the enemy was. Multiple explosions occurred when the cannon fire struck their targets. Sorano laughed and cheered at their successful hits. "And that's more out of the way. Let's keep it up!" The Olympia fired more cannon shots at the battlefield and more explosions occurred blasting the enemy forces away.

The Olympia firing upon the enemy didn't go unnoticed by the other guild members. "Really glad whoever's firing those cannon blasts on our side."

"Same here."

"Let's keep pushing the enemy back!"

Yukino kept looking in the direction where the cannon fire was coming from. Ever since that weird walking building appeared on the battlefield, she felt a strange feeling that wouldn't go away. Like she could sense something coming from the building but couldn't figure out what it was. Rouge appeared near her from his shadow and noticed Yukino was distracted. "Is something the matter? You're not injured, are you?"

Yukino glanced over at the Shadow Dragon Slayer. "No, it's nothing. I'm fine." She looked back for a brief second before continuing to fight the enemy all while having that same strange feeling.

Meanwhile, Chelsea and Lisanna were fighting against Juliet and Heine of the Irene Squad. Normally, Chelsea would avoid fighting enemies as strong as them, but she didn't have much of a choice in this matter. She was still grateful for Lisanna for appearing to help, but the fight ahead wasn't becoming any easier for both of them. Chelsea placed her right hand in front of her and pointing at Juliet. "Shower Needle Spray!" She sent countless needles toward her enemy, but Juliet just smirked. She waved her arm upward and a mucus-like substance appeared and followed her arms path. The substance caught Chelsea's attack and successfully blocked it. After that, the substance dropped to the ground.

Chelsea became severally worried while Juliet grinned smugly at the other girl. "So, not only you're weak, your magic's pathetic too." She slightly leaned forward before dashing toward where Chelsea was and delivered a powerful kick to Chelsea's midsection. Chelsea let out a pained gasp before tumbling across the ground. Since Chelsea wasn't used to fighting, the pain she felt was greater than usual. She stopped and groaned while trying to push herself off the ground. However, Juliet had other ideas as she jumped into the air and was above Chelsea. "Don't think I'm done with you yet!" She put her arms up over her and gathered her mucus magic between her hands. Juliet swung her arms down and her magic followed suit. Juliet's magic struck Chelsea and covered her entire body. Not only it was disgustedly sticky, but it was also scalding hot and she screamed in pain.

Lisanna heard Chelsea's scream and momentarily took her eyes off her opponent to look at where she heard the other girl's scream. "Chelsea!"

Heine saw the opportunity and didn't waste any time taking it. "You should be more worried about yourself!" She flung her right arm at Lisanna and the band stretched out from her arm and headed toward Lisanna. The band wrapped around Lisanna's body which surprised her and Heine lifted her arm with the band and Lisanna followed shortly after. Heine swung her arm down and a band wrapped around Lisanna carried the momentum and Lisanna was slammed into the ground. Heine wasn't finished as she sent lightning magic through her band and shocked Lisanna while she was down.

Lisanna screamed loudly in pain which caught Chelsea's attention as she weakly turned her head over in Lisanna's direction while lying on the ground. "Lisanna..." She felt another powerful kick to her side and flew a little away from Juliet.

Juliet continued to smirk at the state her enemy was in. "You're so weeeak, it's actually kinda disappointing. How does someone as weak as you are made it this far?" Chelsea groaned in pain as she slowly stood up. "You should know by now that you and your little friend can't beat Heine and me. We serve under Lady Irene, the Scarlet Despair. The moment you two tried to fight us is the moment you two lost."

Chelsea growled angrily at the other girl and gritted her teeth. She brought both her arms and crossed them in front of her. "Shut...UP!" Chelsea quickly uncrossed her arms and numerous large needles erupted from the ground headed toward Juliet. Juliet just chuckled and disappeared from Chelsea's line of sight.

The attack missed and Chelsea felt another powerful kick to her back. Chelsea was flung forward and landed on the ground with Juliet laughing at her in a mocking tone. "See? You're weak. You can't beat me and you're going to find that out the hard way. But that doesn't mean I still can't have fun with you." She spread her arms apart with her mucus magic building up around her arms. She flung her mucus magic at Chelsea rapidly and it clung onto the other girl. Like before, the mucus was burning Chelsea, and continued to scream. "Let's see how long you can last before you can't scream anymore!"

While Chelsea felt the intense burning sensation, Juliet's words about her being weak echoed throughout her mind, and remembered something Wendy told her long ago.

F

"Hey, guys? Can we rest for a minute?"

Wendy, Carla, Chelia, Akame, and Leone stopped and looked back seeing Chelsea out of breath. They were all doing their daily morning exercise. They were only up to their second lap around Margrett Town out of their five. They had to decrease it a little because Chelsea wasn't as physically fit as the rest. Wendy looked at the rest of the group and smiled. "Sure. Let's rest for a bit." While Carla and the others were talking amongst each other, Chelsea was by herself sitting against a tree. She couldn't help but sigh at the little progress she made. "Here you go, Chelsea."

Chelsea looked up and saw Wendy handing her a water bottle. The older girl graciously accepted the offer. "Thanks, Wendy." She unscrewed the cap and took several gulps. Chelsea finished with a refreshed gasp. That refreshed expression didn't last long as it was replaced with a somber expression. "You guys should just go on ahead and leave me behind. I'll catch up. Eventually."

This wasn't the first time Wendy had noticed this kind of look from Chelsea ever since they all started working out together. Throughout their entire routine in the past month, Chelsea has always fallen behind the others even with the shortened routines. "Is everything alright with you, Chelsea? You've been acting like this for a while now."

Chelsea sighed and looked over at Akame and the others. "It's just...I've really noticed the stark difference between me and the rest of you. Akame and Leone can do this no problem while I'm just struggling to keep up. I'm not as strong nor experienced as those two. My specialty was covert assassinations and while I might've racked up as many kills as Akame, she's definitely more used to fighting in the front lines. She and Leone." She looked away from the group and looked at the ground. "I doubt I can be ever as strong as them, even with my magic." She turned her attention to her right and opened it to summon a small needle.

Wendy saw the problem now. Chelsea felt like she could never catch up to the likes of Akame and Leone in terms of strength. Chelsea chose Needle Magic because it was the closest thing she could use as a weapon as she did use needles to kill her targets. And at that moment, an idea struck Wendy. "You say you've had just as many kills as Akame, right?"

Chelsea looked up at the young dragon slayer. "Well, yeah, but I'm not as strong as her."

Wendy smiled at the older despite what she said earlier. "It's true Akame is stronger, but that doesn't mean you have strengths of your own."

Chelsea now had a confused expression as she didn't know what Wendy was talking about. "And what would that be?"

The younger girl continued to smile brightly at Chelsea. "Take Leone's magic for example. Her Take-Over compliments Lionel. Maybe you can find a magic that compliments Gaea Foundation. You know your own Imperial Arms better than anyone else. After all, stealth and impersonations are your strongest points. Try to find a way to make them stronger. Who knows, maybe you'll surprise yourself how fast you can catch up with the others when you finally find it."

A magic that compliments her Imperial Arms. That actually gave Chelsa some thought and stood up. "That's actually a good idea." She smiled at Wendy and gave her a head pat. "Thank you for that, Wendy." Wendy couldn't help but laugh happily as she was glad to help out Chelsea in some way.

F

Chelsea stopped screaming when she remembered what Wendy told her about being strong in her own way. Perhaps now was the time to finally utilize her Imperial Arms Magic. While lying on the ground, she noticed a large forest not too far from their location. A plan was formed quickly. All of this went unnoticed by Juliet. "Aw, is she dead already? I was hoping to have a little more fun with her." She just shrugged at the perceived result. "Oh, well. I guess I'll head over to Heine and help her finish off that other girl."

Chelsea moved her fingers a little and they were still stuck to the mucus. That wouldn't be a problem anymore as fire appeared around her body. Juliet was about to move when off the corner of her eye, she saw Chelsea suddenly stand up and turned around to toss something her way. Juliet waved her hand up and created a wall of mucus to block whatever it was Chelsea threw at her, but it wasn't what she thought it was. What Chelsea threw wasn't her needles, but several smoke balls, and they exploded when they hit the ground near Juliet's mucus shield. Smoke surrounded Juliet and she coughed while Chelsea suddenly vanished. Lisanna was panting as she was heavily injured. Not once she had gotten a hit on Heine and noticed the drastic difference in their strength. Heine was about to attack again when Chelsea appeared in front of Lisanna. Lisanna was surprised to see Chelsea as the other girl toss more smoke balls at Heine. The smoke balls exploded when they hit the ground Heine and coughed when she was enveloped by the smoke. While their enemy was distracted, Chelsea grabbed Lisanna's hand. "LISANNA, LET'S HEAD TO THE FOREST! WE'LL LOSE THEM IN THERE!" Both girls then disappeared as soon as the smoke cleared.

Heine let out a few more coughs before growling angrily. "Don't think you can get away from us that easily!"

In the forest, Chelsea and Lisanna appeared on one of the large branches. Lisanna was actually surprised how fast Chelsea was. Her speed reminded her of Jet's. But that thought had to be put on hold for now since she was confused about what Chelsea had done before. "Why'd you yell out what you're going to do? They'll obviously follow us."

"And that's what I'm counting on." Lisanna became more confused now. Chelsea looked over at the other girl. "Listen, Lisanna. It's obvious those two are way above us in terms of strength. If our fights against them have shown us anything, we're no match for them."

Lisanna became slightly worried at Chelsea's words. "So, you're saying we can't beat them?"

To her surprise, Chelsea smiled at her. "Not exactly. Those two are indeed stronger than us, but they also look down at us. They view us as weak and we can use their own egos against them and I have just the strategy to beat them. And I need your help with it."

If Chelsea has a plan to beat their opponents, Lisanna was more than happy to help. "Okay, I trust you. So, what's this plan of yours?" Chelsea continued to smile as she brought out Gaea Foundation. With one quick move, Chelsea's appearance changed to that of Lisanna's current one. At first, Lisanna didn't know what the other girl was planning until she sensed something very familiar coming from her, and then her eyes widened when she realized something important about Chelsea and explained why she was so fast from before.

Meanwhile, Heine and Juliet were running through the forest trying to catch up. Heine was still mad that their enemies managed to get away. "This is all your fault, Juliet. If you hadn't wasted time playing around with your enemy, this wouldn't have happened."

Juliet pouted at her teammate. "I got it, I got it, but I did think she was down for the count. I still don't know how she escaped my magic. Well, I guess that won't matter in a bit once we find them and finally take them out. Speaking of which..." Both girls sensed Lisanna's magic power and only hers. While strange, that didn't bother Juliet in the slightest. "Huh, I guess that other girl must've abandoned her teammate. Didn't think she was that kind of person after running away with her."

Fortunately, Heine was a little smarter than her blonde teammate. "You idiot, she could be hiding her magic power and is waiting to attack us." Despite that, Heine wasn't worried in the slightest. "But even if she did, they're weaker than us. They can pull out all their little tricks and it still wouldn't against us." Juliet giggled in agreement. Soon, they came closer to where they sensed Lisanna's magic power. After traveling a little more, they arrived in a large circular clearing in the forest and they saw Lisanna standing in the middle. Lisanna turned around and gasped in shock when she saw Heine and Juliet. Heine smirked at their only foe. "Well, look who it is. Seems like you're all on your own, little girl."

Lisanna didn't say anything back to them and shifted her right foot back slightly. Juliet easily noticed it and smiled at the other girl. "Not thinking about running away again, are we? We won't let you escape and as soon as we're done with you, your little friend is next." They were both ready to attack when numerous smoke balls were dropped from above and hit the ground around the surrounding girls.

Smoke filled the area quickly and Heine and Juliet coughed. Before either of them could react, they were attacked almost simultaneously. They recovered but were quickly attacked again. This process repeated several times and it infuriated Heine to no end. It certainly didn't help when she was struck hot, sticky mucus and growled angrily at Juliet. "Juliet, you idiot! You're attacking me!"

Juliet was struck again and was now confused. "I didn't do anything!"

Heine was attacked once again and became just as confused. "How the hell is this girl attacking us so quickly?! There's only one of her! Where's the other? She's gotta be here!"

Juliet was wondering the same thing when she was attacked once again. "I don't know! I'm only sensing that white-haired girl's magic!"

The two girls knew something wasn't adding up. They were being attacked almost too constantly for one person to be attacking them. Their other enemy had to be in the smoke cloud with them, but they were only sensing Lisanna's magic. It's possible Chelsea was still hiding her magic and attacking them, but from what Juliet has seen so far from fighting her, there was no way she could pull off something like this.

Heine took another hit and had just about enough. "That's it! Juliet, Let's jump out of the cloud now!" Both girls jumped into the air and out of the smoke cloud. They landed on one of the large branches and Juliet pulled both her arms back. She flung them down several times straight at the smoke cloud in hopes her mucus magic would catch either of their opponents. Once they heard a scream, they knew they got one. The smoke finally clear and revealed Lisanna still standing and covered in Juliet's mucus magic. They both grinned as Lisanna just became an easy target for them to get rid of. They saw no sign of their other enemy, but they'll deal with her later. As of now, this was a quick and easy win. "Let's finish her off now!" They jumped off the branch together and were ready to end one of their opponents.

Lisanna looked up and saw Juliet and Heine coming down towards her. Strangely enough, Lisanna smirked and extended her right arm to the side. "Needle Spire!"

Countless large needles emerged from the ground and the trees and pierced through Juliet and Heine all over their bodies. However, they managed to survive but were now bewildered at what happened to them. Pain was rampant through their bodies and Juliet could only stare in disbelief at the girl below. "This magic...it can't be. You can't..."

Heine was in the same state of mind as she couldn't figure out what was happening. "How? Her magic power...it's..."

"Lisanna" smiled at the two girls above her and pulled out a familiar cosmetic case and make-up brushes and crossed her arms one over the other.

Insert Akame Ga Kill OST 27: Susanoo

"Lisanna's" appearance changed and was revealed to be Chelsea. "Imperial Arms Magic: Gaea Mimicry" Chelsea reveled in the shocked expressions her opponents had. "I'm sure you're wondering how I pulled this off. To start..." She presented Gaea Foundation to them. "My Imperial Arms, Gaea Foundation, allows me to take the appearance of whatever I want. However, the one weakness of it is that whenever I take the appearance of a person, I can't do what that person can do. Gaea Foundation can't do that, but I found something that made up for that. It's known as Mimic Magic." Juliet and Heine still weren't able to speak which suited Chelsea just fine. "With Mimic Magic, not only I can copy my target's magic, but I can also mimic their movements and even their magic power. Earlier, I'm sure you two only thought it was Lisanna because of her magic power. However, it was both of us attacking you. Not only I took Lisanna's appearance, but I also mimicked her magic power." She lowered Gaea Foundation. "And now I'm sure you're asking yourself how did you two get in the situation you're in now? The answer's simple. I admit you two are stronger, but sometimes it takes more than strength to win a fight. You constantly looked down at us, thought of us as weak, so I used that against you. I knew you wouldn't resist following us when I shouted we were headed to the forest and I knew you two would jump out of the smoke cloud and attack together when you saw the chance. And that's how you ended up like this. In short, your own stupidity and underestimation of us led to your downfall. And now..." She put Gaea Foundation away and brought her right hand up. She summoned more needles surrounding Juliet and Heine. "This is...checkmate." Chelsea snapped her fingers and the needles began to glow brightly. "Needle Explosion."

Panic quickly overcame Juliet and Heine as they knew how this'll end for them. Juliet screamed in terror while Heine roared angrily at Chelsea."NOOOOOOO!"

"DAMN YOU, BIIIITCH!" The needles glowed at their brightest and a large, powerful explosion occurred.

End OST

When it subsided, all that was left was a destroyed area of the forest and the burnt bodies of Juliet and Heine lying on the ground. A feeling of euphoria washed over Chelsea when she saw her defeated enemies and let out a shaky breath. She felt her legs giving out and would've dropped if Lisanna didn't appear and catch you. "I got you."

Chelsea let out an unsteady sigh. "Thanks." She quickly got over her current feeling and managed to stand up straight again. She continued to stare at the remains of the area and their enemy. "I can't believe that actually happened."

Lisanna smiled and giggled. "I can. That was a really smart strategy you had, Chelsea."

The other girl chuckled embarrassedly. "Well, I couldn't have done it without you."

Lisanna was happy to hear that, but she did have one question. "So, if had something like that all along, why didn't you use it in the first place?"

It was a good question and Chelsea had the answer to that. "Call it my assassin's pride. I'm not used to using Gaea Foundation in the middle of the battlefield and in front of my enemy. Plus, as an assassin, you don't usually use your trump card right off the bat. That's why I like to mostly use my Needle Magic because my opponent will know that's the only magic I can use. Also, I feel like it's more natural to me to take on the appearance of the person and use their magic."

It makes sense from Chelsea's point of view. She was an assassin first after all. Still, Lisanna would like to give her own two cents on it. "I think you should use it more. Gaea Foundation with your Mimic Magic sounds like a powerful combination." That wasn't the first time Chelsea heard of that. Once she showed her Gaea Mimicry magic to Wendy and the others, they were impressed as well. They even mentioned Chelsea was the most well-rounded member of the group with how much magic she must've obtained. That led to Lisanna's next question. "So, if you can use Mimic Magic, how many do you have?"

That was a fun question for Chelsea to answer. "Some from Lamia Scale and most from Fairy Tail. However, I can only mimic Caster-Type magic." That'd explained why Chelsea was so fast before. She must've used Jet's speed magic earlier. Chelsea began to walk away from Lisanna. "Come on, we may've beaten those two, but we still have the rest of Alverez's army and the rest of the Spriggan Twelve." Chelsea was not looking forward to fighting one of them. Lisanna quickly followed, but both girls stopped when they heard a strange noise. They stopped and turned in the direction where they heard the noise. What they saw was smoke coming out of Juliet's and Heine's bodies. The smoke covered their entire bodies and when it subsided, all that remained were a pair of white and black swords. Chelsea was both baffled and explained something strange about them earlier. "Swords? They were swords this entire time? That explains why I couldn't sense their aura. They weren't even living to begin with."

"It's just not that." Chelsea looked over at Lisanna. "They were swords that a personality enchanted onto them. That's just not something anyone can do." Chelsea guessed it was something advanced. Far advanced. And this person was among the Alverez Empire. Now Chelsea was less than enthusiastic about fighting against one of the Spriggan Twelve.

B

Far away from Northen Fiore, Irene sensed something and slightly shifted away from Achnologia himself. "Heine and Juliet were defeated?"

"You seem distracted."

Irene turned her attention back to Achnologia "It's nothing to be concerned about." She would like to locate the one responsible who defeated her squad and teach them a very painful lesson. However, Achnologia came first and she would show him just how powerful her magic is.

B

Back to Natsu and the others, Brandish was still not giving up in convincing August to stand down. "Please, August...listen to me. What his majesty is attempting to achieve is absolute genocide, and nothing less. The Dragon King Festival, Ragnarok, call it whatever you'd like, but in the end, it amounts to nothing but a one-sided massacre. This war is nothing but murder. It's not a clash of noble ideals between our two countries. Surely, you can tell that much." August said nothing back, so Brandish continued to talk and hoped to persuade him. "I know that among the Twelve, none are wiser than you. That is why you must realize that a the end of this fight, there will be no future. All that awaits us is an empty abyss."

August had to slightly disagree with Brandish's words. "Where we are headed at the conclusion of this battle is decided by his maj-"

"Think for yourself!" Brandish knew August was smarter than this. She wouldn't give up as long as she knew there was a chance.

Her outburst did slightly scare Lucy as she hid behind Natsu. "M-Maybe you shouldn't be coming on so strongly. Just a thought."

Despite that, Brandish was dead set on her resolve. "This is what I have decided to do. I have reached the conclusion that these people are not evil. Far from it." Lucy was grateful for Brandish's words for them.

August turned his attention to Natsu and noticed something about him. "This child..."

Natsu glared angrily at August which Lucy didn't like. "Natsu, stop burning a hole through his body."

Brandish continued trying to convince August. "August, I beg of you. At least try talking to them."

August let out a soft grunt. "Hrmph. Well, I suppose I would sooner listen to what they say than make a fool out of you, Brandish."

Brandish's face beamed with happiness at August's reply. "You're the best, Grandpa!"

August was slightly confused by what Brandish called him. "I have no recollection of you being my granddaughter."

Brandish just laughed at his response. "But to me, you've always been my grandpa." Lucy was just happy this tense situation was over and found this moment a little cute. Akame also breathed a sigh of relief as things seemed they won't escalate.

While Brandish was happy August would give Natsu and the others a chance, her eyes were strangely beginning to darken. "Grand...pa..." August noticed something was wrong with Brandish as she suddenly pulled out a knife from her coat. What happened next was she stabbed August and enlarged the knife and August was stabbed through the body. Natsu, Lucy, and Akame were horrified at what Brandish had done. "Ha...the one I must kill...stands before me now..."She pulled the knife back and it returned to its original size while August fell to his knees.

Natsu turned to Mest and noticed a dark expression coming from him. The fire dragon slayer grabbed Mest by the collar and was furious at him. "Mest! What the hell have you done!?"

Mest just laughed and smiled at what he did. "I altered her memories, of course. I implanted the sentiment of 'I must kill August, no matter what the cost' in her mind."

Hearing that made Natsu madder. "You son of a-"

"I did it to protect the guild!" Mest turned his attention to Akame. "Now, Akame, use that sword of yours and make sure August dies!"

Like Natsu, Akame was furious at what Mest had done. "This isn't what I agreed upon, Mest!" She may have no choice now and reached for Murasame's handle. That was when she felt a massively, overwhelmingly powerful aura that completely enveloped her. It was coming from August and it was much, much stronger than before.

Akame and the others saw August's form change. His body became darker, red lines appeared on his skin, and his hair began to float. "It's all...crystal clear to me now, Brandish." August turned to the group and he was beyond furious. "This...This is their way of resolving things!"