What's shakin folks?

Long update, I know. A lot of thing going on in my life like studying for my driver's test.

Review time!

SulliMike23: That pretty much sums up the next chapter!

Thaqif: Really like your scenario! It really amped up the fear factor! Also, you're right about the Emperor. If you refer to my explanation of the story in my first chapter I did state that the Jeagers were already formed at an earlier point in the series.

You do bring up very good points about most of the unexplained elements in Akame ga Kill

1. I really think Numa was a very proficient spearman who would do anything to protect his people. He didn't really strike me an egotist. As for the whole insanity thing, he was WAY out of his league against Esdeath.

2. I think Seryu's father was a good man committed to justice and Seryu is afraid if she strays from it, she might be disgracing her father's memory and Ogre warped her thinking.

3. I honestly don't know why he wears that mask. How does he not scare his wife and child? Im planning on looking into that.

4. I think it's safe to say he was evil the moment he was born.

5. I speak for all of us when I say were better off not knowing who or how.

6. It's obvious that Esdeath has more battle experience than him.

7. Yeah, who was that? A steroid abuser? A super soldier reject? Some random bodybuilder Esdeath recruited on a whim? That guy could've had a lot of potential but was unfortunately regulated to "Background Mook."

8. Honestly, I think they're just a part of the world and everyone just runs with it.

Guest #1: You're right, but that remains to be seen.

VentXekart: Down low! Glad to surprise you!

VIP: It actually is necessary because it shows that this is an AU of Akame ga Kill and a reminder of what Tatsumi is fighting for. It also shows how a simple, ordinary day can suddenly go total f***ing shitstorm the next day.

Junior VB and Guest #2 : Muchas gracias!

Guest #3: You have some interesting ideas there! Regarding your question about Seryu, I'm thinking about it.

Akame ga Kill and Samurai Jack belong to their respective owners. I do not own either of them.

Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Heart of the Empire

THE CAPITAL-NOBILITY DISTRICT GATES

Night Raid traveled up the rubble littered stairway that lead up to the wealthy district of the Capital. Their main focus however, was the imperial palace. They needed to know if Prime Minister Honest was dead and find out if Emperor Makoto was alive. They finally came up to the large, imposing metal doors that lead into the very heart of the once prosperous Empire. It looked like it had been ripped open by some fearsome Danger Beast.

Before entering, Night Raid looked behind them to view the demolished Capital from afar. It was still just as every bit was horrible when they first saw it.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to get this sight out my head…" Lubbock muttered.

"How many people do you guys think lived here?" Tatsumi asked. In his time working with Night Raid he had always wondered what the total population was. He guessed that there was probably at least a hundred thousand but as he saw the scope of the destruction as well as how big the Capital truly was, he wondered just how many people, be it good or bad, met their end.

"Offhand, I'd say at least 5 million." Chelsea grimly conformed.

Everyone let that fact sink in…5 million lives, maybe even more, snuffed out like a candle in just 3 ½ days. There might have been some survivors that escaped as Bulat previously pointed out but it still didn't make the situation any better. Najenda mentally cursed her inability to prevent whatever happed. But the sooner they got answers, the better.

"Let's keep moving." She said, snapping everyone out of their thoughts. As they came closer to the wrenched open door, Najenda suddenly signaled them to stop. She looked down at her feet to see numerous blood stained footprints leaving whatever was beyond the door and branching off into different parts of the Capital. One thing she noticed is that they seemed to match the description of the strange rectangular footprints Susanoo discovered.

"Get your weapons ready. We don't know if whoever did this is still here." She cautioned. Everyone got into a combative stance with their weapons/Teigus drawn out and slowly made their way to the doors. When they got inside, they all paled.

THE CAPITAL-NOBILITY DISTRICT

(Resident Evil 2 soundtrack-Police Station, First Floor loop)

It was an utter bloodbath.

Mansions were reduced to blazing husks while the bodies of noblemen and other wealthy families were horribly butchered. Makeshift barricades and cannons were completely smashed. The whole area was stained with dried blood. Imperial soldiers had obviously mounted some kind of offensive against whoever decimated the palace, but failed miserably. Their bodies were added to the attackers' gruesome tally.

Speaking of which, the imperial palace had been absolutely obliterated. The massive, glistening castle that the whole Capital could see and had been a monument to the Empire's power was reduced to smoldering wreckage. However, something didn't sit well with Akame.

"Something isn't right here…" She said.

"What do you mean?" Sheele inquired.

"Look around you. Doesn't any of this feel off to you guys?" Akame said, gesturing around her.

Everyone looked around and couldn't really see anything, besides the destroyed mansions and dead bodies lying around them, out of the ordinary. Since nobody could understand what she was getting at, Akame decided to fill in the blanks.

"For one thing, the doors have been forced open outwards. If someone was assaulting the imperial palace, the doors would have been forced open inwards. Another thing is that most of the defenses and cannons are positioned towards the palace. I should also point out that the palace it looks like it collapsed in on itself and if you look around, most of the rubble here looks like it came from the palace. It was most likely caused by a very strong explosive force." She explained in great detail.

The team began to understand what she was getting at. "That must have been that first explosion we heard days ago!" Bulat figured out.

"Are you saying that all of this began inside the palace?" Mine questioned incredulously.

"That's pretty much the size of it." Akame deduced.

"Then that has to be that source of all this. Let's head up to the palace and see what we can find." Najenda ordered as she walked over to the wrenched open main gates.

"But shouldn't we look for survivors?" Tatsumi asked, looking at the dead bodies of the rich.

"No need. Most of these sickos were on our hit list."

IMPERIAL PALACE-COURTYARD ENTRANCE

The courtyard was meant to be a symbol of peace and prosperity. It had everything. Majestic statues of kings and angels, intricately designed fountains flowing with crystal clear water, elegant hedgerows cut into different shapes and gardens having flowers of every kind.

In the past, it was a vision of beauty and represented the proud ideals the Empire represented. But when Honest came into power, it served as an elaborate cover to hide the evil that lurked underneath.

Now it was a warzone. Statues and fountains had been smashed to pieces while the hedges and gardens were reduced to cinders. Craters, rubble and ripped up pieces of earth dotted the whole courtyard. Bloodstains marred the spotless tiles. The entire area was most likely host to an incredibly destructive fight between the destroyers of the Empire and a group of Teigu users.

"Well…something big definitely happened here." Leone said, clearly stating the obvious.

"When your right you're right…this really did start here." Mine said, looking at Akame.

One thing that the group noticed was that some of the bodies present in the area didn't look like imperial soldiers. They wore different styles of clothing and one very important detail about them was that they all had destroyed Teigus lying near them.

Najenda was the first one to notice this.

"Gather the bodies and what's left of their Teigus. We might be able to identify some of them."

40 MINUETS LATER

(Return to Castle Wolfenstein soundtrack-Main Menu theme loop)

Nightfall had come to the Capital. The clouds had parted revealing the moon which cast a pale glow around the area. Night Raid had brought the bodies and lined them up on the ground as sort of a macabre police lineup with their broken Teigus lying in front of them. They searched their persons and found some interesting clues. They all held badges that had their names but they had a different symbol on some of them. One symbol was the head of a snarling wolf and the other symbol was a three pronged crest. Najenda identified it as Esdeath's signature tattoo. But they got the surprise of their lives when they found out the group's names listed under the symbols.

Wild Hunt and The Jaegers.

So far, 5 of the bodies belonged to Wild Hunt while only one body belonged to the Jaegers.

"Alright. Who do we have first?" Najenda asked, starting the investigation.

Chelsea took out the first bage. "Let's see...first we have Dorothea. Not much left of her unfortunately."

The girl wore a turquoise dress, white apron and striped stockings. Most of her limbs had been broken and the top half of her head was reduced to pulpy mess, making it impossible to see what she looked like.

Susanoo held out a bloodied, broken pair of teeth. The big difference was that its canines were long, razor sharp fangs. "This is Blood Collection: Absordex. It allows the user to drain blood from a person's body and enhances their strength and regenerative abilities, essentially turning the user into a vampire."

Sheele looked very worried. "Should we find some garlic and stakes? Just to make sure she's really dead?"

"She's not an actual vampire ya twit." Mine scolded, rolling her eyes.

"Next up we have Enshin. I've heard about of him a long time ago back in my imperial army days. Known as the Scourge of the Eastern Seas, he was an extremely violent misogynist who relished in bloodshed and carnage." Bulat informed as he looked at the body.

Enshin was a muscular yet lean man with a triangular, bob-like haircut. He wore a black outfit which revealed his chest and light colored pants with a sash. His lower body was apparently frozen solid and then shattered into a hundred pieces. A large, cannonball sized hole and been blown through his chest.

"One less asshole in the world." Lubbock remarked. If there was one thing he absolutely hated, it was men who disrespected women for fun. "What was his Teigu?"

Susanoo held up a curved blade that had been broken in half. "Moonlight Sword Dance: Shamshir. It's capable of unleashing aerial blades but it's entirely dependent on the lunar cycle. It becomes especially powerful when it's a full moon." Susanoo explained.

"What's the story with Chunky the Clown over here?" Leone asked as she thumbed at the body. The body in question was a large, morbidly obese, dark skinned man with disturbing clown makeup complete with a red squeaky nose and wore an olive green clown suit along with a tiny baseball cap. Both of his arms had been lopped off and had apparently been stabbed multiple times all over his body with a sharp implement.

Chelsea took out the man's badge. "His name is…Champ!?" She recoiled in disgust.

"They let someone like him in the Capital!?" Sheele gasped.

"You've heard of him?" Najenda inquired.

"Yeah…the guy is a sociopathic rapist. The things he's done to his victims are something I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy." Chelsea said venomously.

"What a monster…" Tatsumi breathed, his body instinctively moving away from the corpse.

"It gets worse…he only targets children." Sheele said vehemently, which was really rare for her to show that level of hatred.

"HE'S A F***ING PEDO!?" Mine shrieked.

"Yes, he's the worst kind. After he's done violating them, he butchers them afterwards." Sheele said, her eyes downcast.

"What kind of demons has the Empire been recruiting!?" Tatsumi angrily demanded as his fists shook with rage. How long had this sort of thing been going on?

"The kind that only Honest would approve of." Najenda growled, remembering the unpleasant memory of the woman who took her eye and arm.

Akame held out her hand to Susanoo which held several broken marble-like objects. They were roughly the size of a baseball and had a different symbol on each one. "These were located near his body. Are they part of a Teigu?"

Susanoo inspected it closely. "Yes. That's Ace Solution: Die Leaguer. Each orb is imbued with an element that activates once thrown. The elements are storm, explosion, flame, ice, lightning and rot."

"You do know where that's been, right?" Lubbock pointed out, a disgusted look on his face. "I really hope you're planning on washing your hands afterwards."

Akame looked at her hands and then threw a glance towards Champ's body. She went pale.

"I have some hand sanitizer if you need it." Susanoo offered as he pulled out a bottle from his person. Akame instantly dropped the orbs, swiped the sanitizer out of Susanoo's hands and began applying a copious amount of gel into her palms.

Tatsumi threw Bulat a confused look. The man simply smiled. "Susanoo can be a bit of a neat freak sometimes. You should see what he does to our laundry."

"What about this one? Are we sure she's a part of Wild Hunt? She certainly doesn't fit the picture." Najenda questioned as she looked at the next body. It was a young girl with short, orange hair and wearing a skimpy red mini dress complete with a bunny ear head accessory. Out of all of the bodies, hers was the least butchered but there was a gaping hole in her throat. Someone or something had torn out her larynx. Barehanded.

Chelsea studied the girl's badge. "Everything certainly checks out. She's a part of Wild Hunt. Says here her name is Cosmina."

Mine walked over and picked up a shattered microphone that was lying in front of her. "Was she some kind of singer? This doesn't really look like a Teigu to me."

"Actually, it is." Susanoo revealed. "That is Great Tremor: Heavy Pressure. It can amplify the user's voice and turn it into ultrasonic waves capable of pulverizing the enemy by shattering their bones."

"I think I recall hearing a high pitched scream when we were stuck at our base..." Leone remembered.

"You sure seem to know a lot about Teigu's, Mr. Su." Tatsumi noticed.

"Since I myself am a Teigu, I have extensive knowledge of most of the known Teigus." Susanoo said, a proud smile on his face." My previous master also told me of the other ones that were lost."

"Is this sword a Teigu as well? This one isn't destroyed like the rest." Sheele asked as she held up an undamaged sword. Susanoo took it and carefully examined it. "This isn't a Teigu. It's just a regular sword. A very finely made one if I say so myself. Who did it belong to?"

Sheele pointed over to the body of a tall man dressed in light green samurai garbs. He had black hair worn in a top ponytail and his most noticeable feature was that his eyes were shown to have black sclera and red irises. He had been bisected and decapitated.

Chelsea checked his badge. "His name's Izou. I wonder why he's in this group when he doesn't have a Teigu…" Chelsea wondered.

"Maybe he was so skilled he didn't really want nor need one." Bulat guessed.

"Wait, didn't the intel we received days ago said that the groups would all be Teigu users?" Lubbock wondered.

"Guess it was off." Najenda shrugged. It was common for spies within the Capital to get their info 70% right and 30% wrong most of the time due to increased patrols around and within highly important places with informational value. They usually had to bug out quick if they were close to being caught.

Mine seemed to notice that there was something more to the chopped up samurai. She knelt down and took a closer look. "Well, this guy is definitely far away from home. Judging from his attire and ethnicity he's probably from the western nation of Iwadomoto. The country prides itself in its fighting force but all of their trained warriors fight for honor and the protection of their country. This one here must have been a bad egg. But if you think about it, Iwadomoto is halfway across the world. That's way out of the Empire's reach so I think he must've come here by chance."

"How do you know all that?" Chelsea asked, impressed by her knowledge.

"Beneath this adorably cute exterior beats the heart of an expert in all known races and cultures!" Mine boasted, remembering her oath to improve diplomatic relations with the Empire and abolish racial discrimination.

"So that only just leaves their leader Syura, right? I don't think there are any more members of Wild Hunt and he's the only one that's not here." Tatsumi said.

"Good observation. Do you think he is dead as well?" Akame questioned.

"I actually don't think so." Leone cut in. "While I was gathering the bodies I came across this hefty looking Teigu next to a severed arm and leg. I picked up a scent on the limbs and they both smell like a younger version of the Prime Minister. There's no doubt. It's got to be him. Also, I think I've seen this Teigu before in that encyclopedia we have but I forgot what it was." Leone explained as she showed the group a large, purple colored, pendent like Teigu that had been completely crushed like an egg.

"I know what that is!" Lubbock suddenly called out. "That's Dimensional Formation: Shambhala. Its user is granted the ability to teleport people and objects over large distances, using markers placed at the target of the teleportation."

"He must've used it to make his escape when most of his team was killed off." Akame surmised.

"But he didn't escape unscathed." Bulat said, reminded of Leone's discovery of severed limbs near the Teigu.

"I doubt he could survive with such injuries." Sheele said bluntly.

"Same here. Probably died from shock and blood loss." Mine agreed.

Najenda mulled this over. She had a point. If their leader was dead and this was all of their members, then Wild Hunt was officially out of the picture. "Alright then. That's one team down. All that's left now are The Jaegers." She started. She directed her attention to the corpse of what appeared to be a doctor. The bespectacled man wore a white lab coat over his yellow suit with a blue, spotted shirt. He had black, spiky hair with a white patch. His arms and legs were riddled with bullets and his throat had been slit.

Chelsea got out the man's badge and inspected it. "Dr. Stylish." She barely suppressed a giggle. "No, really. That's his name!"

"Dr. Stylish? What kind of parent names their kid Stylish?" Tatsumi questioned incredulously.

"Kinda sounds like something Bulat here would name his next of kin!" Leone chuckled as she playfully nudged him. Bulat shot her an unamused look.

"If he was part of a team handpicked by Esdeath herself, then I doubt that any of his medical practices were anything but stylish." Akame noted.

Najenda knelt down and picked up a pair of shredded purple gloves that were near his body. "I've read about this particular Teigu. Glorious Hands of God: Perfector increases the speed and precision of the user's fingers dramatically. It's been used by countless doctors in the past, allowing them to perform their surgeries quickly and flawlessly. This also enabled them to basically heal any injury short of death. I know of a talented doctor in the Revolutionary Army that could've saved so many lives with this. A real shame."

"It's a shame we couldn't use any of these Teigus. They would've helped us out in a pinch." Tatsumi lamented. He had been hoping that he might be able to use a Teigu at some point in the future after Spectator rejected him. Shamshir really could've come in handy if it wasn't broken.

"You do know that one of them belonged to a pedophile, right?" Mine reminded him while eyeing him suspiciously. Tatsumi shuddered at that. "Well, we obviously wouldn't use his!" Tatsumi quickly said.

Najenda rubbed her temples. They answers they were seeking in the epicenter of this unprecedented disaster only gave them more questions. Who really did all of this? What kind of Teigus did they possess to cause this much destruction? Why kill nearly 5 million people?

But the bigger question was why destroy the Teigus? They offered a tremendous tactical advantage on the field of battle and every effort would be made to obtain them from the enemy. They would only have to be destroyed if all other options had been exhausted. Yet whoever did this wanted to make sure that no one could ever use them. But why?

"Okay…we've gathered as much information as we could from the bodies but so far we aren't getting the answers we want. We obviously can't search the castle since most of the entrances are completely caved in but there are still the northern, western, and eastern parts of the courtyard we haven't searched yet. Well' split up to cover more ground. Tatsumi, Akame, Susanoo and Leone will search the eastern part. Sheele, Bulat, Mine, Lubbock, Chelsea and I will look in the western courtyard. We'll meet up at the northern part of the courtyard and see if we can think up of a plan of what to do next."

IMPERIAL COURTYARD-NORTHERN SIDE

Team 1 arrived at the northern courtyard sooner than expected. The reason why was because there was nothing of importance to search for in the eastern courtyard. The whole area had been burnt to a blackened husk and there were numerous bodies that had been burnt down to the bone.

One thing they did notice was that some of the bodies wore bizarre clothing and had enlarged body parts, most notably a nose and a pair of ears. Since they couldn't find or learn anything useful, they decided to go on ahead to the northern district.

What they saw was just like the first courtyard: a massive, terribly destructive battle. There were 5 dead bodies and, to their surprise, 3 dead Danger Beasts.

Tatsumi's jaw fell open. "Woah! I didn't think I'd see Danger Beasts here in the Capital! How do you think they got here?"

"Well, they certainly didn't want to file an income." Leone joked.

Tatsumi looked at the remains of the dead creatures carefully. One of them was a large, grotesque looking toad and the other one was a bulky, heavily muscled gorilla-like beast. The frog had been frozen solid and then shattered while the gorilla had been diced into confetti. His eyes drifted over to the gargantuan cadaver of a skeletal, reptilian monster. Massive holes had been blown throughout its body while its dinosaur-like skull was split straight down the middle. "I recognize the first two in a Danger Beast bestiary back at my village but I don't think I recognize this giant skeleton looking one."

"That is Desta-Ghoul: an ultra-class Danger Beast." Susanoo confirmed.

"Ultra-class!?"

"Yes. A single energy shot from this monstrosity can level entire landscapes."

"Yikes…how the hell did the empire manage to tame this thing?" Leone wondered, eyeing the creature from top to bottom.

"Im not exactly sure…taming a DangerBeast of such ferocity is near impossible." Susanoo mused.

While her friends were talking about the skeletal Danger Beast, Akame went off on her own to examine the bodies. She walked over to them only to step on something. She looked down and lifted up her foot to see a bag of crushed cookies.

Akame's eyes widened. They looked familiar.

Too familiar.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and her hands shook. It couldn't be.

"Hey guys! I think I found another Teigu!" Tatsumi called out. Akame instantly whipped her head around. She quietly gasped. Tatsumi was holding a broken katana that bore a striking resemblance to her Teigu, Murasame. The only difference is that while her hilt was colored red…this one was colored black.

A bead of sweat rand down her forehead. Her heartbeat quickened. There was no point in denying it now.

Her sister was here the night the Capital was attacked by the unknown assailants.

Susanoo and Leone walked over and looked at the Teigu, unaware of Akame's inner turmoil. Susanoo studied it carefully. "Hmm…this is a very dangerous Teigu. It's known as-"

"March of the Dead: Yatsufusa" Akame cut in. Everyone turned to Akame who was looking at the body of a man wearing a long, white trench coat, knee high boots and a green and blue scarf. The man also wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face. He had been cut in half and then impaled with his own weapon, a massive Naginata.

"Anyone who is killed by it is resurrected as a corpse puppet. The user can control up to a maximum of 8 corpses and could also manipulate any skills or abilities they had in life. However the puppets completely lose their emotions and free will." She explained. Her voice was hollow and her eyes were completely shadowed by her hair.

Tatsumi and Leone were mortified that a Teigu like that could exist, let alone be created. Tatsumi's mind was assaulted with various images of Sayo and Ieyasu meeting an even harsher fate: his closest friends being turned into mindless zombies. And not just several days ago…he actually hoped that there was a Teigu that could bring back the dead. He instantly dropped the sword on the ground like it was made out of acid.

Susanoo went over to the bodies an inspected them. There was a woman dressed in cowboy attire, a cloaked man with a red mask, a red haired man wearing a vest/robe combo and a bald, sunglasses wearing man with a white suit. Each of them had been horribly slaughtered.

"They are definitely the user's puppets. They've been in the late stages of rigor mortis for a very long time and their blood is heavily coagulated." Susanoo said. He turned to the red haired man's body and something clicked in his mind. "I know that man! That's Rokugou! My master and I met him before; he was an imperial general who attempted to defect from the Empire. It would appear that he was assassinated before he could do so."

"Damn…he would've been great to have on our side." Leone sighed. She took at gander at the cowgirl and noticed some parts of her body were frozen just like the giant frog. "Is Najenda completely, 100% sure Esdeath didn't screw over the Empire?"

"I trust my master's words." Susanoo said sternly. "I suspect that one of the perpetrators behind this has a Teigu that can copy the abilities of other Teigus." That made Leone a little bit uneasy. Going up against someone who could copy Lionelle would make fighting him or her difficult.

Tatsumi walked over to Akame who was skill staring at the corpse of the impaled man. She seemed listless and more brooding than usual. He tapped her shoulder, causing her to flinch a little.

"Akame? Do you know who this man is?"

"…That's not important right now."

"Not important? Akame are you okay? You don't sound like yourself. Is something bothering you?"

"No. It's nothing."

Tatsumi didn't buy that. There was something clearly distressing her.

"Akame-"

"I SAID IT'S NOTHING!" She snapped.

Tatsumi stepped away from her in shock while Leone and Susanoo looked at her with surprise and confusion. Realizing her outburst Akame calmed herself, turned away and slowly distanced herself from her friends. Tatsumi was rooted where he stood, completely stunned. He never thought she could suddenly express that much anger at the drop the hat. Susanoo and Leone walked over to Tatsumi, the both of them wearing the same expression he had.

"I-I've never seen her act like that…" Tatsumi breathed.

"No one has seen her act like that." Leone said in disbelief.

They heard footsteps and turned around to see Lubbock running towards them. "Hey guys! Did you find any more clues?"

"Nope. Just more dead bodies and another wrecked Teigu. The eastern courtyard we were told to scout didn't have anything. We didn't find squat." Leone informed him.

"We certainly did. The boss sent me over to get you guys. She said that everyone needs to see this." Lubbock told them.

The group nodded and followed Lubbock to the western courtyard. Akame followed them, but not before giving one last look at the impaled man.

"Rest in peace…Natala."

IMPERIAL COURTYARD-WESTERN SIDE

(Back to the Future 2 Soundtrack-Alternate 1985)

The rest of the team arrived at the western courtyard where they met up with Najenda, Bulat, Sheele, Mine and Chelsea. The leader of Night Raid had a serious look on her face. She was gazing at a horribly charred skeleton that was missing an arm and was wearing an odd looking crown.

"What's wrong with the boss?" Tatsumi asked Bulat.

The man shrugged. "We're not sure. She's been like this ever since we found that skeleton."

Everyone walked over to her and the roasted bones that were sprawled on the ground. Everyone stayed silent, unsure of how to ask her what was troubling her. Then, she spoke. "It's him."

The team looked confused.

She turned to them. "It's Honest."

Their jaws fell open in complete shock. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?"

Akame was just as shocked as the rest of her friends." Boss, I don't mean to question your judgment but are you truly certain that's the Prime Minister?"

Najenda silently bent down and took off the crown that sat atop the Prime Minister's charcoaled skull. She passed it to Bulat as the rest of team began to crowd around him to get a closer look. The center of the crown had a small, purple crystal inside it that had been shattered.

"Look familiar to you guys?" She asked rhetorically. Everyone looked at the object before it all suddenly fell into place. "That's his crown!" Mine exclaimed.

"And it's also a Teigu." Susanoo confirmed. Everyone turned around to the humanoid Teigu. "Absolute Limitation: Erastone. It has the power to destroy a Teigu instantaneously." Their eyes widen when they heard that. The thought of permanently losing their Teigus filled the team with dread.

"So if any one of us managed to corner him… he would destroy our Teigus and kill us somehow!" Chelsea deduced.

"It also would have instantly killed me." Susanoo stated.

"I always knew that pig had a trick up his sleeve." Najenda growled. Everyone looked at the skeleton in silence.

It was over.

Prime Minister Honest was dead. The man responsible for years of pain, misery, hate and bloodshed was gone forever. He could no longer ruin anymore innocent lives and his legacy of corruption had ended with his death.

At long last, the nightmare was finally over.

Tatsumi stared at the still smoldering skeleton of the deranged Prime Minister along with his teammates. He turned towards his friends who all casted a wrathful glare at the remains. He knew that they all suffered because of Honest's actions and now he had finally paid for his atrocities in blood. Deep down, he knew that he should be happy that the Empire was free from his influence but so many people had died during the attack. Sure, there were numerous corrupt officials and other horrible human beings but not every single person in the Capital was evil.

"It should have been us." Lubbock said, breaking the silence. "It was our mission to kill him. We should've been the one to end his life. We should've been the ones to make him suffer. It was our vow…and we couldn't do shit."

Leone patted him on the back. "I feel your pain too, buddy. I would've loved to crush his skull with my bare hands."

"Same here. One good shot was all I ever needed." Mine grumbled as she patted Pumpkin.

"You guys are gonna have to get in line, I think Akame here called dibs way before you ever did." Chelsea smiled as she turned to Akame. She expected Akame to simply brush it off or reply with blunt sarcasm but she got nothing. Akame still stared at the skeleton, completely unmoving. Chelsea, Mine and Lubbock gave Leone a confused look but she quickly shook her head, silently telling them not to bother her right now. They all got the message.

Sheele turned away from the skeleton and gave herself some space. It was finally over but what did the future hold for her? The only thing she was good was killing those that deserved to die but now that Honest was dead and all their targets dead as well, what could she do now? Could she really give up on killing? Did this mean she could finally live a normal life now?

She was brought out of her thoughts when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. There was something hidden in the hedges a few feet away from her friends. She silently made her way over; her teammates not even noticing.

Najenda got out her cigar, let it up and took a long drag. 'Have fun in Hell, fatass. Without you, everyone loyal to you will be disorganized and completely fall apart. She thought. 'But we still don't have a single damn clue who did this. We know it's got to be a group of Teigu users but their tactics make no sense. Killing Honest is one thing but wiping out a majority of the populace is pure overkill. There's got to be some kind of motive or reason behind this…'

Najenda unceremoniously flicked what was left on her cigar on Honest's burnt remains. "At least we know that the Prime Minister won't be causing us anymore trouble. But now we need to find-"

"The Emperor!" Sheele suddenly cried out. Everyone snapped their heads over to see Sheele standing over something near the hedges, her eyes wide in shock and her hands covering her mouth. Everyone quickly rushed over to where she was and gasped.

Lying on the ground in front of them was Emperor Makoto…with his neck bent at a crooked, horribly uneven angle. His royal robes were smattered with blood and his eyes were completely glazed over. His throat looked like it had been squeezed in a vice-like grip, completely breaking his neck like a twig. A small trickle of blood ran down the side of his slightly open mouth.

Night Raid's shock was soon replaced with sadness. They all couldn't help but feel bad for the poor boy. If the Prime Minister hadn't been influencing him, he could've followed in his parents footsteps and made the Empire a safe haven for everybody. But Honest had led him astray and he remained completely oblivious to all of the atrocities committed in the Capital. He didn't deserve to die like this. No child deserved to die like this.

Tatsumi was still hocked at what he was seeing. Not because of the Emperor's grisly death, but at how young he was. The boy had to have been no more than 10 years old!

"This is the Emperor!?"Tatsumi gasped, confused and mortified that a little boy was leading the Empire." But he's just a-"

"A kid?" Chelsea interrupted. "He's always been a kid. How do think the Prime Minister had been manipulating him this whole time? He got this position forced upon him when the king and queen died and he didn't even know how to lead at all. Then Honest comes in and he pretty much tells him how to do his job while in reality he's turning the Empire into a hell on earth. He was probably scared, confused, unsure and probably stressed out of his mind when they crowned him Emperor. That was the perfect opportunity for Honest to goad him into trusting him with fake assurances and bogus acts of kindness. Kids these days will listen to anybody." She explained forlornly.

Tatsumi was at a loss of words. As much as he hated to admit it, she brought up a very good point. Tatsumi was a very gullible child in his youth and so were Sayo and Ieyasu. To fool a child into thinking he was doing the right thing while blind to the horrors his advisor was inflicting on the innocent was beyond low. He felt a surge of hatred course through his body. Honest truly was an unforgivable scumbag and a part of him wished he could bring him back just so he could make him suffer.

Akame felt saddened by Makoto's death as well. It reminded her of how she and her sister were forced into difficult circumstances, just like him. The both of them deserved better childhoods. Out of respect for the fallen Emperor, Akame knelt down next to him and ran her hand across his eyes, closing them.

The rest of the gang was left to their own thoughts. For the first time, they were at a total loss. All of their hard work had been for nothing. The Empire was completely annihilated, a majority of its people was mercilessly butchered, multiple Teigus that could've benefitted the Revolutionary Army were destroyed and to top it all off, the Prime Minister and the Emporer had been killed. But the one thing that still racked their minds was the fact that they still didn't know who the mysterious group was.

Bfoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom

A dull, muffled explosion caught the team's attention as they swiveled their heads over to the northern mountains. They hurried over to an overlook that gave them a good view of the northern part of the Capital.

Out in the distance, from very far away, they could see numerous flashes coming from deep within the snowcapped mountains of the northern territories. They were accompanied by deafened explosions that briefly lit up the mountains. What caught their eyes the most however, were the numerous spires of ice that occasionally popped up every now and then.

Bwaaaaboooooooooooom

Budda budda budda budda budda

Bssshhhhhheeeeeeewwwwwww

Babllaaaaaaaaaammmm

Shraakoooooowwwww

"Wow…Esdeath's really tearing up the north. I wonder if she knows what happened to the Capital." Lubbock pondered.

"No..." Najenda said, her voice rife with fear and realization. "She's fighting them."

Everyone went rigid. They could only image the sheer scale of the battle that was raging within the mountains. Esdeath's unstoppable power over ice versus whatever destructive Teigus the unknown group wielded. But who would win?

"I bet 500 gold on Esdeath." Mine suddenly said out of the blue.

Everyone looked at her.

"What? It's totally friggin obvious who's going to win!"

"Maybe…but it's still too early to decide who will emerge victorious." Bulat said, glancing towards the mountains. Unbeknownst to the group, Mine's joke had given Najenda an idea and she quickly began to formulate a plan in her head.

"We'll never found out if we just keep standing here. Akame, I want you to take Mine, Bulat and Chelsea to look around for any horses, supplies or messenger birds we can use. Susanoo, I also need you to take Tatsumi, Lubbock and Sheele back to the hideout to gather food and other provisions. One other thing I need you to do is get one of my upgraded prosthetics. It should be in my room. Once you have all got everything, we'll all meet at the northern entrance of the Capital." Najenda instructed.

"What about you, boss?" Sheele asked.

"I need to think up a plan. Also…I need to give the Emperor a proper burial." She said solemnly, throwing a glance to the young boy's corpse. The team sadly nodded their heads, acknowledging the fact that Najenda herself used to be a general of the Empire.

IMPERIAL PALACE-ROYAL CEMETARY

(Antz Soundtrack-Death of Barbados)

Due to all of the debris and most of the entrances blocked off, getting to the Royal cemetery was difficult but Najenda had managed to get there while carrying the body of Emperor Makoto in her arms. After some searching, she found herself a shovel from a wrecked toolshed and dug him a grave right next to the tombstones of the late king and queen; his mother and father.

After digging a deep, decently sized hole, Najenda carefully laid the body of the Emperor in the pit and began throwing the dirt she dug up into the whole. After it was done, she patted the dirt down and found a large slab of rubble to use as a makeshift gravestone. She placed it at the top of the grave and looked long and hard at it. The still full moon shone across the cemetery giving it a dreary and somber atmosphere.

Najenda knelt down and gently placed her hand on top of the gravestone. Her mind drifted back to her Imperial days when she was promoted to general by the Emperor. She remembered how young he looked and wondered if a kid should really be in a position to rule the Empire. But when she later found out how corrupted it was and how he couldn't make a decisions without Honest by his side, how was he supposed to know that he was only a figurehead and Honest was really the one in charge? Maybe if he knew beforehand…things could've been different.

"This is all I can do for you, your Majesty…Im sorry you couldn't learn the truth sooner."

THE CAPITAL-NORTHERN ENTRANCE

40 minutes later, the rest of the team had gathered at the northern entrance to the Capital with horses and dozens of backpacks containing food, medical supplies and other essential gear. Lucky, Akame's team had managed to find 6 horses they could ride on as well as a lone and thankfully uninjured messenger bird. Najenda had written a letter to the Revolutionary Army headquarters concerning the situation at the Capital and that Night Raid was going to investigate who was responsible.. She attached the letter to a messenger bird and sent it south, to where HQ was located. Najenda replaced her prosthetic arm with the upgraded one Susanoo had retrieved. This one looked the same as her last one but it was cobalt blue in color and it was equipped with a built in heavy machinegun along with her grappling hook hand the other one had.

Once they had everything in order, everyone gathered their gear and saddled up. Najenda and Susanoo rode on their own horses while the rest had to ride together. The pairs were Akame and Leone, Bulat and Tatsumi, Mine and Chelsea and the last ones to ride together were Sheele and Lubbock.

"Okay guys, here's the score." Najenda started. "As we all know, Honest is dead. However this doesn't mean we can celebrate yet. The ones responsible for all this are still out there and they didn't just want to take out Honest, everyone here was a target. This means that they are not on our side and their intentions here were clearly hostile. We need to stop them before they kill any more innocent people. I know I already said they might be a group of Teigu users but as it stands, we have no exact idea who they really are or what kind of Teigus they have so we need to be on our guard. Another thing I want to tell you all is that while Honest is gone, Esdeath is still at large. As long as she is alive she'll find a way to ignite another war and the whole thing starts all over again. If there is to be any chance of peace, Esdeath and the Teigu users must die." She said seriously.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Luckily, there is a silver lining to all this." She revealed, while looking towards the northern mountains. The battle was still raging on. "We already know that Esdeath is fighting the culprits and their both equal in terms of strength. That means that only one will come out of this alive, but weakened. We can use this opportunity to finish off the victor since they will be in no condition to fight back. There is also a good chance that we might be able to save Prince Numa Seika and his army."

"Hitting two birds with one stone…I like this plan!" Leone said excitedly.

"We also need to be on the lookout for the Three Beasts." Bulat reminded everyone.

"The three who?" Tatsumi asked.

"The Three Beasts are Esdeath's most loyal subordinates and most lethal enforcers. However, as strong as they are, I doubt they would still be alive if they encountered our currently unknown perpetrators." Akame said.

"Very true." Najenda said, agreeing with Akame. "Another thing is that we don't know where the rest of the Jaegers are or if General Budo survived the attack."

"Budo?" Tatsumi asked again.

"He's the Empires strongest general next to Esdeath. But we can worry about him and the Jaegers for another time. It is imperative we get to the north as fast as possible and end this once and for all. Are all of you ready?" Najenda inquired.

"Yes sir!" Everyone said in unison.

Najenda smiled. "Then let's move out!"

Night Raid rode out to the north, leaving the ruins of the Capital behind them. They weren't sure what would await them when they got to the north, but they were ready. The real question was how ready were they?

THE CAPITAL-FRONT GATES

A lone figure silently walked through the gates. He stood like a statue in the middle of the street, taking in the horrific sight for an uncomfortably long time. He looked at the destroyed buildings and dead bodies splayed everywhere. His eyes suddenly locked onto the body of a woman who was trying to shield her daughter from whoever was attacking but to no avail. They died in each other's arms.

The figure fell to his knees and looked down at his trembling, gloved hands.

"My god…" He spoke in a nasally voice. "What have I created!?"

To be continued…

PHEW!

This chapter was a doozy to write because I had to go through a lot of revisions. I really wanted to keep the whole mystery element in the story. I want Night Raid to think that they're going up against a group of Teigu users before I eventually face them off against the Ultrabots, hence why I made them to an investigation of Wild Hunt, Dr. Stylish, Kurome's puppets and Honest.

Speaking of which, what did you guys think of Wild Hunt's deaths? Just right or too lenient?

I made Akame a little bit more sensitive towards the subject of her sister because I always thought that in her head, her sister is her responsibility and she couldn't possibly live with the thought of someone else killing her only blood relative. That's why she snapped at Tatsumi.

One really big change to this chapter is that I originally wanted Stylish, Izou and Makoto live. After giving it some thought, I realized that it may not work out due to the current situation.

For starters, Stylish isn't exactly a team player even when he was on Esdeath's team. Personally I don't think he ever saw Seryu as a friend, just another lab rat he can experiment on. Sure he had that giant mutant baby thing he could transform into but all in all, he wasn't exactly a fighter in terms of offensive combat.

Even though Izou was technically the "lesser evil" of Wild Hunt, it still doesn't change the fact that he was part of quite possibly one of the most deranged groups in manga history and let's not forget that he killed Lubbock. It was clear from the get go that he wasn't getting off easy.

Now for the most controversial part of my decision. Yes, I killed off Makoto but for a very good reason and this pertains to a comment that one of my reviewers, Thaqif, left in my review section.

I understand wholeheartedly that Makoto was just a kid who thought he was doing the right and didn't know any better, but there's being manipulated and then there's being f***ing stupid. I always felt angry when he was around Honest because on multiple occasions the fat turd always had a mile wide slasher grin on his face right next to the freaking Emperor in plain sight. That should be more than enough warning to make Makoto think, "He always seems to have that evil smile on his face…should I really be listening to him, let alone trust him?"

And don't even get me started on when he goes completely power mad while piloting Shikotazer in the manga. The point im trying to get at is if there is any way for the Empire to recover, the slate has to be wiped clean just like in the anime. Cruel? Yes it is. But necessary in the world of Akame ga Kill? Unfortunately yes as well.

Also, the country that Izou came from was my fan made idea and I don't know what the currency in Akame ga Kill is called so I just named it gold. If there is anyone out there who knows what it's really called, let me know and I will edit it.

Don't forget to leave a review but please don't flame.

P.S. if you don't know who the figure was at the end of the chapter, you clearly don't watch Samurai Jack.