CHAPTER 21: ARMY OF THE DEAD
Though it had been quite a tussle, the members of Night Raid dealt with all the enemy soldiers. At least, all the ones still living.
Everyone regrouped and confronted Minister Dorin, who now had every single dead soldier under the control of his Imperial Arms. He even reanimated Minister Carter and Minister Haymer. Anyone who had fallen while around his presence became one of his zombies.
Najenda boldly stepped forward. "Surrender, Dorin. This is the end of your little operation. You cannot overcome us at this point. No need to prolong things."
Despite the firm words, Dorin was glowing with an aura of power, as well as a supreme belief that he had already won. "You're nothing but lowly assassins. You spent your entire lives honing your skills, preparing for glory. But tonight, there is no glory to be found. You've all come here to die young. Do so with pride."
The zombie soldiers began to converge on Night Raid, armed with a variety of weapons.
"Spread out," Najenda instructed. "We need to prevent them from being in a position to surround any one of us."
"Roger!" Akame declared, commencing with her attack. She struck the nearest soldier, then darted past it to the next few. They swiped their blades, but she was too fast. The sea of zombies shifted, trying to pursue her, but then Sanfred came in next. He went in a different direction, pulling their attention off as well.
Meanwhile, Sheele used her Teigu Extase to slice one of the zombie soldiers down the middle. To assist her, Lubbock came in with a net of threads, capturing the two halves of the zombie and keeping them separated. The undead being growled in apparent anger, but it could not restore its body with the two halves being kept apart.
"Let's keep at it!" Lubbock suggested.
The others saw it and joined in. Bulat and Tatsumi herded the zombie soldiers in organized fashion, while Akame and Sheele handled the cutting. From there, Lubbock was able to set up snares to catch the mangled body parts of the fallen soldiers.
Minister Dorin was angry to see what was occurring. "Time to take things a step further." He held his hands up, causing the reanimated corpses of Minister Carter and Minister Haymer to approach him. Once they reached him, he picked up and handed them the Imperial Arms cane and the Imperial Arms coat respectively. "Even as zombies, you should be more than capable of wielding these Imperial Arms!"
Sure enough, the weapons activated, even with the undead soldiers possessing them. Minister Carter's cane morphed into some sort of serpent beast, which grew in both size and length. Minister Haymer's coat extended into two long scorpion claws, and even grew a long stinger from his lower back.
"Things just got really crazy," Sanfred mentioned, hoping that all his teammates managed to witness it.
Mine stared in disbelief for a moment, but then she aimed her rifle. "You think they'll still respawn?"
Sanfred took another glance at Dorin. "He's got a whole circus covering him now. Best we can do is spread it thin so that he'll be more vulnerable."
"Leave that to us then," Bulat declared, raising his spear high.
Akame returned to Mine and Sanfred. "I think we may be fast enough to deal with his closest bodyguards," Akame explained to Sanfred. "Mine, we need you to get a kill shot on Dorin."
She flinched in surprise. "Me? I've tried numerous times, but he always uses his pawns to block it."
"We'll give you an opening," Akame assured her. "Just be ready for it."
Mine turned to Sanfred, eager to see his thoughts as usual. But he nodded in approval of the plan. "All right," she said, "I won't miss."
From there, Sanfred and Akame confronted Dorin again. As they approached, so did Carter and Haymer, the two new beasts that had just entered the battlefield. Carter's serpent cane lashed out, revealing four long venomous fangs. Akame swiped her katana, issuing a strike against the fanged beast, removing its head. Once that happened, two heads grew in its place, just like a hydra.
Meanwhile, Sanfred confronted Haymer. The minister now had the parts of a scorpion, and he extended both claws toward Sanfred. The matador dodged each blow, doing his best to anticipate what would be next. With a foe like this, however, he was inexperienced, considering this was something otherworldly he was up against.
As Mine watched closely with her rifle in hand, she realized just how perilous this battle was. That was the power of Imperial Arms. There was only one enemy left alive, yet he was holding his own against all of Night Raid. "I'm gonna shoot him," she told herself, gritting her teeth. "I won't miss. Next one's gonna kill him."
With a good amount of the zombie soldiers tied down, the other assassins hurried over to assist with pinning down Dorin. By now, they were more confident, although the two new additions to the battle made things difficult.
And Dorin wasn't done yet. "Time to give General Nodham a promotion." He raised his hand up, and the corpse of the general began to reanimate as well.
This time, Sanfred knew that the Imperial Arm sword that Nodham had been wielding was out of his range. "Let's try one of these things out." He dodged a strike from Haymer's scorpion sting, then rushed over to retrieve the shape-shifting sword. It glowed with a pale light, and Sanfred noticed that the reanimated Nodham was limping toward it, as if eager to reacquire his former weapon. "Finders keepers," Sanfred said with a laugh. He held the sword, concentrated on its aura, and then shifted the blade into a heavy lance spear. With a small grunt, he chucked the spear with all his might, sending it straight into Nodham's chest. The impact sent the fallen general flying across the room, landing against a wooden rack, where he was skewered and stuck in place.
Dorin just shook his head in disappointment. "That general has been a failure in life, as well as death."
Minister Carter's serpent head launched a spray of venom at Akame. She leaped away from the blast, managing to avoid getting touched. The serpent launched the venom sprays at the others as well, although they were dodging the blasts well. Moments later, however, there was some sort of gas in the air around them.
"What is that smell?" Tatsumi asked in confusion.
"It must be toxic!" Sheele warned them.
Even then, it was too late. One by one, the assassins grew dizzy and started losing their senses. Despite avoiding being struck by the venom spray, the odor it released had toxic properties, which was beginning to knock them all out.
Sanfred saw what was happening, and he rushed over to Mine, wrapping his arm around her and covering her nose and mouth. "Do not breathe it," he instructed.
Her eyes were wide with fear, but she nodded. The two of them retreated, headed for the edge of the warehouse, close to the entrance that Mine had crafted for them earlier. At least there, they could avoid the worst of the toxic odor.
Up near the ceiling, Akame had avoided the fumes as well. She looked down and surveyed the scene, trying to determine what to do next to save the lives of her friends. This battle had become overwhelmingly perilous.
"You've lost already," Dorin called out to Akame. "Come down and quietly accept your fate. Being reanimated zombies under my command is a far more glorious role than you could ever hope to assume in your regular life!"
Despite the danger, Akame was unflinching. "In time, you will understand just how pitiful a person you have become. Unfitting to call yourself a human being. You are lower than scum."
"No matter what you say, I'm still far above yourself!"
Carter and Haymer both turned their attention to Akame now. Carter unleashed more sprays of venom, while Haymer used his scorpion claws to climb up the steel racks against the walls of the warehouse.
Fortunately, Akame was still able to jump to different shelves, avoiding the venom. And since it was falling to the floor, the toxic gas was out of range from her, so long as she remained close to the ceiling. Still, this was a short-term solution, since eventually the toxic gas would rise until it reached her.
Something had to be done. Sanfred pointed toward Haymer, noticing the monstrosity was busy climbing the shelves. "Take a shot at the base of the shelf. He'll fall over."
Mine still had her nose and mouth covered, but she had her eyes available to examine the situation. If Haymer fell over with the shelf, he would land directly on Minister Dorin. Sure, he'd probably have enough time to defend the move, but that would leave him vulnerable.
Suddenly, Sanfred gave a tap to Mine's shoulder with his free hand. "We both need to go for it at the same time. Once Dorin is reacting to the falling monster, I'll go in for a killing blow." However, he placed his hand on Mine's rifle. "But you are going to be the one to put him down."
She realized that since the situation was truly perilous, her shot would be extremely powerful. However, there would only be a matter of seconds before the toxins reached her.
Then she thought about Sanfred, wondering why he wasn't affected. Before they separated, she pressed her hand against his face, hoping he'd understand the inquiry.
"No sense of smell," he reminded her. "I've also got immunity to poison." Even so, he knew what was about to happen. He reached in his pocket and found a small cloth, and he wrapped it over her nose and mouth, tying it behind her head. "This will only serve temporarily. After you make your shot, pull back."
Now that she had the cloth on, Mine knew she had to get out one last thing. "I love you."
Sanfred smiled at her. "I love you, Rosa. Let's take care of this."
He turned and bolted inside, quickly meeting some of the zombies. He defended their sword strikes, all while staying on his path.
Meanwhile, Mine quickly took aim and unleashed a blast. It collided against the base of the shelf, just as Haymer was reaching the top. The monstrosity screeched in anger as the shelf began to topple over.
Once that was underway, Minister Dorin turned and saw the impending danger. "No, no, no… minions! Defend it!"
Right away, his few remaining zombie servants rushed to create a body barrier against the falling giant. The impact sounded like a bomb exploding.
There wasn't time to wait and see how things turned out. Sanfred launched himself in the direction of Minister Dorin, scimitar in hand, ready to make the kill. From the dust, he saw his target, and then he advanced.
Just before he made it, Carter's serpent head lunged at him. There were two heads now, and their fangs went down into Sanfred's left shoulder viciously, unleashing a burst of blood.
Once he saw that, Minister Dorin laughed maniacally. "Some matador you turned out to be, Sanfred. The day you came to work for me, I told you that you should just follow my orders. Your life could have amounted to something. Instead, you chose to throw it away for a bunch of low-lives."
A single blast echoed from the distance. Mine had taken her shot, and the bullet landed right between Dorin's eyes. He was staring forward, his eyes quickly turning pale, and then he fell. This time, he went down for good, his hat bouncing off across the floor, once again showing his bald head, although this time it was red with blood.
A storm of pale light swirled throughout the warehouse, and the lifeforms under Dorin's supervision lost the influence to remain animated. They returned to their true forms, corpses, and that was the end of that.
Even with the successful shot, Mine paid it no mind. She tossed her rifle to the floor and ignored the toxic fumes as she raced over to Sanfred, who was lying on the ground, bleeding to death. "Sanfred," she said desperately. "Baby. You got hurt bad."
"Whoa," he replied, his voice severely lacking in his usual composure.
Akame came down gracefully from the roof, then hurried over as well. She helped rip off a piece of Mine's dress to cover the wound on Sanfred's shoulder. But as soon as she did, she noticed that his back was bleeding profusely as well, since that serpent hydra monster bit him with two sets of fangs.
"You'll be fine," Mine assured him. "Just more scars to your collection."
Sanfred nodded weakly, the color beginning to leave his face. "I think it's about time I declared my collection complete."
Najenda managed to return to her feet, although she was still dizzy from the toxic gas. At least, now that Dorin was dead, the fumes were quickly fading from the air. The others were still sick from the poison, but Najenda moved with all her energy to go and tend to them. She wasn't sure if the venom would be fatal, but hopefully they would be able to recover now that the beasts were dead.
Although he was in bad shape, Sanfred glanced over at Najenda, then began to survey the scene. "They're in trouble."
Mine and Akame looked over as well, the situation really starting to sink in. "Will they be all right?" Akame asked, her eyes growing moist.
"I have something for them in my bag," Sanfred explained. "They all need it. There's needles there, too."
Mine recalled the painkiller that Sanfred gave her before. "Your stash?"
"My stash. Hurry now."
Since Mine knew what he meant, she stood up. "I have to go get it."
Akame nodded intently. "I'll keep Sanfred's wounds covered."
Knowing that she didn't have much time, Mine ran as fast as possible. Sanfred's bag was just outside the warehouse, and she quickly fetched it. Once she made it back, she ran over to Najenda, who was with Sheele. Mine found a syringe and filled it with the drug, then delivered it to her left arm. Although she still looked like she was doing bad, Sheele's breathing did suddenly return to a steady pace, indicating that the drug had an effect.
By now, Najenda sensed the urgency as well. "You get Tatsumi while I get Lubbock." They took their own needles and handled their patients. One by one, they treated everyone in the warehouse. Finally, Mine gave a dose to Najenda as well since she was still barely holding on after being poisoned.
Eventually, Mine made it back to Sanfred, ready to give him a dose as well. However, he held a hand up to her in protest. "No need."
"Don't argue," she said firmly.
His blue eyes were suddenly sinking. "Too late for me."
"No, it's not," Mine argued.
Even so, Sanfred wasn't budging. "I wish to give you my final words clearly. Do not drug me up."
"What?" Mine froze, not processing what was happening, or at least not yet accepting it.
But Sanfred already knew it. "The bull got me good. Just like the rest of my family. I figured I wouldn't escape my fate. Still, it was good fun dodging it for a while."
Akame was still holding the pieces of cloth to the wounds on Sanfred, but they were now soaked in blood. She gazed at Mine and made sure she understood what was happening.
"I promised I would protect you," Sanfred reminded her. "And I also promised I would do anything I could to support your way of life. Your family will all be fine now. This is a victory."
"We're sharing in that victory together," Mine insisted, breaking down from the cold reality. "We still have to talk about our future."
"Yes, you're right." He smiled faintly and watched her intently. "State your terms, Rosa."
Mine squeezed Sanfred's right hand, even while there was fresh blood on it from the battle before. "I was thinking we'd get married. Probably at a palace. Then we would go on our honeymoon. Probably to the Caribbean. After that, we'd join the revolution against the Empire."
"A beautiful plan," Sanfred admitted with a weak cough. "I know this is unexpected, but… I would love to take you to Spain."
She smiled, even while her eyes were leaking tears. "You're right. I wasn't expecting that. But I'll go anywhere with you."
"Then we can surely do no wrong," he said, relief in his words as he shut his eyes. "Exploring the world with the woman I love."
As Mine cried, she leaned down and kissed Sanfred's hand. Then she moved her face close to his and planted a kiss on his lips.
When Mine moved her head back, the blue eyes of her man went pale, and his breathing came to an end. Mine sat there, unable to even think about moving away. Her stubbornness was there in a heartbeat, and she wanted to will his spirit back to life. But this time, her heart and her mind agreed that Sanfred truly was dead. Nothing she could do would change that now.
"I'm sorry," Akame said softly, bringing her arms around Mine for a tight hug.
Mine nodded, watching Sanfred through tear-filled eyes. The dream in the arena had been a warning. She had been warned that Sanfred would die in battle, but she had chosen to ignore it. If only she'd told him about her dream. Maybe she could have saved his life.
Instead, he came to her world, and lost his life for it.