A/N: Merry Christmas and happy New Year everybody! I told myself I was going to get this out by December and it appears I have managed to do just that by the skin of my teeth. I hope you are all doing well int his covid-19 era! As always, thank you for the reviews. They mean a great deal to me! I spend a lot of time on these stories and I am grateful to know that there are people out there willing to put up with a knucklehead writer like myself! I extend the same thanks to those who have not left reviews but have instead simply favorited/followed my work(s). Validation is a great feeling! As long as y'all are interested in putting up with my attempts to give this manga/anime some justice, I will always keep writing. Your support, both constructive/complimentary is much appreciated!


. . . it's lovely, isn't it? . . .


Elsewhere in the dead of a night illuminated only by a crescent moon, a lone horse drawn stagecoach could be seen navigating the empty roads of alongside Bestimmung's vast and expansive tundras. The night sky was littered with snowflakes and serenaded by whirring winds, but neither appeared to be of the concern to the young and fearless red eyed man sitting at the driver's seat. His eyes illuminating red, even the thick night sky did not appear to concern him as he steered the horses ever forward.

Glancing further up ahead with his enhanced vision, Tatsumi noticed what appeared to be a sizable chasm dividing the path alongside the road. As he rode closer, he noticed a long stone bridge structured between the landmass he was on and the landmass up ahead and could hear the sound of a large river flowing beneath the bridge. Uncertain of the bridge's structural integrity, he pulled the reins on both horses just enough to slow them down to a gradual walking pace.

"Problems, my love?", said an otherwise disinterested voice from inside the stagecoach; clearly a response to the sudden change in speed.

"Just being careful", Tatsumi replied while glancing over the bridge up ahead. "Back in my home town, we've got all kinds of stories of raggedy bridges giving out."

"Rural infrastructure maintenance never really ranked high on the previous prime minister's list of priorities; I'm afraid your bridge fears weren't quite as pressing as Saturday afternoon brunch in his eyes", Esdeath remarked.

"I figured as much", he said with the slight shrug of his shoulders. "On the other hand, I don't think I'll ever be able to fully wrap my mind around why you worked for a guy like that for so many years."

"Haven't we' had this discussion before, love?", she asked, her eyes and hands more fixated on the doodles in her prized sketchbook than the actual conversation she was in.

"We have, but it still doesn't explain how even with all of your pride, you could stomach working for a guy like that. Even back when you were still one of the bad guys, I figured you would have tried to take over the Grand Empire yourself as opposed to taking orders from him."

"When I was STILL one of the bad guys?", she asked while giggling aloud "Am I not one of the so-called bad guys even as we speak? Why else would you request that I refrain from harming anyone without your permission?"

The former assassin merely rolled his eyes. "Are you still mad about that? I wasn't even planning on going through with that stupid bet and wouldn't have said anything had you not threatened to go on a rampage with innocent townspeople."

"Do I detect insubordination, Tatsumi?", she asked with a coy smirk curling its way on her lips. "That's no way to speak to the infamous Captain Maria L. Gehrman!"

"Geez", he sighed before stammering. "I was hoping you'd forget about that."

"What was that, first mate?", she asked with an amused yet veneer of authority in her voice.

"Apologies . . . Captain Gehrman", Tatsumi replied while grinding his teeth.

Just as they were within close proximity of the stone, a middle aged man sporting a dark red and black leather garb drew near. "Evening lad!" With a lantern firmly held in his left hand, he walked up to Tatsumi with an otherwise jovial look in his eyes. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with your . . . captain just now! You'll be happy to know that this bridge is absolutely bonifididly one hundred percent in a stage of good repair!"

"Oh really?", the Incursio wielder asked with a polite demeanor.

"Indeed!", the middle aged man replied before standing right in front of the stagecoaches' two horses, as if indicating for Tatsumi to halt. "Our guild has taken it upon themselves to make sure countrysides like these are safe for travelers. From maintenance to danger beast exterminations, we provide a much needed service for our fair country."

"No kidding. Well that's good to know. Your guilds' services are well appreciated I guess", Tatsumi said before reaching his hand out to shake hands with this admirable source of altruism.

"And we're glad you feel that way!", the middle aged man replied while reciprocating the handshake. "Because although our services are diligent and extensive, the time and resources we allocate to these projects regrettably require . . . funding."

With a slight but incredulous look in his eyes, Tatsumi asked, "How much funding are we talking here?"

"Right to business. I like that about you", the middle aged man smirked before walking past the Incursio wielder and taking a closer gander at the stagecoach, the pristine wood it was crafted from and the gold lining around its roof and windows. "That will be 500 gold pieces each plus an additional tax of . . . hmm . . . 750 gold pieces please."

"500 gold pieces each? Each of what?", the former Night Raid member asked, the skepticism in his eyes beginning to glisten."

"Well there's your captain, yourself and your two horses . . . so I'd say 2000 gold pieces on the front end."

Your counting the horses too?", Tatsumi asked with the raise of an eyebrow.

"Yes, it's all part of the national . . . uh . . . Bestimmung horse tax. And we will need to process that payment before you are allowed to cross the bridge."

At that moment, Tatsumi noticed several additional men gathering on the scene, ranging from young to middle aged and all donned in the same similar dark red and black leather garbs. And unlike the initial gentlemen, these men appeared to be armed with various weapons. "You're robbing us, aren't you?"

"No one said anything about robbery", the initial middle aged man said with a knowing smirk on his lips. "My companions here are simply present to make sure the funds get . . . peaceably processed in good faith.

"You're robbing us, aren't you?", Tatsumi asked yet again.

"You may call it whatever you like, but our job is to keep these roads in good condition and we are trying to facilitate that.

"You're robbing us, aren't you?", Tatsumi asked again with a dry and panned look on his face.

"No no no, you have got the wrong idea here, young man. Read my lips: You are not being robbed. We are simply procuring much needed funding in a manner that may . . . end up requiring a few slight physical exertions on our end but otherwise doesn't have to."

With a shrug of his shoulders and a quick sigh, the former assassin replied, "Well I'd love to help your cause, but Captain Gehrman's first official act as captain was commandeering every single gold piece in my pockets and I don't think she herself is too keen on making a donation."

"Nope", Esdeath flippantly remarked, once again more fixated on her sketchbook than what was going on outside the stagecoach.

The initial middle aged man, now clearly the ring leader of his group, gave a knowing glance towards his . . . associates. "Okay then. You heard him boys."

At that moment, a club wielding rogue suddenly ran up to Tatsumi swinging his blunt instrument like a madman. But before it could connect with the former assassin's face, the uncoordinated thug not only found his entire body being hurled several feet away, but quickly losing consciousness before his body even touched the ground. The remaining rogues all looked at the sight of this not just with bewilderment, but their red eyed attempted-victim had disappeared completely.

"Where'd he go?", an axe wielding rogue asked while taking several steps back in slight panic. Upon his third or fourth step back, he felt his back pressing into someone's chest. As he turned around to ascertain who was behind him, he quickly lost consciousness after feeling someone finger flick him on the right side of his head. As he fell to the ground, however, the remaining rogues could see Tatsumi, with one hand held out in a finger flicking pose, standing adjacent to where their other associate had just been standing.

"Holy crap, boys. I think a strategic retreat is in order!", the apparent ringleader said with a horrified look in his eyes before turning away and making a run for it. Although his fellow rogues did the same, the ringleader found himself unable to move more than three steps before feeling a sudden stiffness in his legs. He looked down only to realize that both of his legs had been encased in two solid blocks of ice. Having no idea what brought about his sudden predicament, he looked around the immediate area in a panicking fashion before seeing a tall woman with long and ponytailed cerulean blue hair crouched down nearby with the tip of her finger not only touching the ground, but being perpendicular to the trail of ice that had encapsulated his legs without him realizing.

"You there", Esdeath said before standing up and walking towards this middle aged man. "You were planning on robbing us, right?"

"No ma'am", he shook his head. "As I said, we were simply trying to generate funding for-"

"To be honest, I could not care less what pedantic schemes you employ on a daily basis", the Ice Queen interrupted before poking her finger up against what appeared to be a peculiar t-shaped symbol on the middle aged man's vest. "I'm more interested in why someone like you is wearing that."

Tatsumi, who had been fine with simply letting the rogues run away, began to walk towards the two. "Come to think of it, that symbol does look pretty familiar . . ."

"It's standard issue, ma'am. Every mercenary in the Neo Partas Clan is required to-"

Before this would-be Neo Partas Clan mercenary could utter another word, his entire body had been frozen solid from, much like his two legs had been; right down to each and every strand of hair on his scalp, it had all been encapsulated in a thin sheet of ice.

"What are you doing?!", Tatsumi demanded with an irritated look in his eyes.

With a mischievous smirk on her lips, Esdeath quickly pulled her hand away from the now-frozen mercenary's chest. "Slip of the hand. How clumsy of me."

"Have you forgotten your promise already?", he said while glancing up and down the would-be mercenary's ice frozen body.

"Technically, I have not harmed this man in any way", she laughed. "His circulatory system is completely unhindered. I have merely ended his ability to further sully his flaccid pride."

The former Night Raid member continued to inspect the would-be mercenary's ice encased body. "You gave your word."

To which Ice Queen responded with a loud and disinterested sigh. "Very well, my dear." She gazed upon her frozen victim for several moments; giving him a long and hard look before coming to a startling realization. "Come to think of it . . . I don't believe I've ever . . . unfrozen anyone before."

"So? Can't you just make the ice go away?"

"Believe it or not, Tatsumi, Demon's Extract only seems so simple and straightforward because my impeccable natural talents make it seem so. I can summon ice out of thin air, true. And to a certain extant, I can also manipulate any ice I've summoned. But neither of these abilities are without limitations. You identified one of them during our duel."

"Right, using too much of your power is exhausting. But what does that have to do with unfreezing someone?"

"Whenever I manipulate ice, I am merely shifting it from one space to another. I could certainly try to shift every inch off ice of this poor man's skin and ligaments, but there's no guarantee that he would survive the attempt; it might inadvertently rupture his internal organs or even crush his bones. I'm certainly well versed at all forms of interrogation and torture, but this is not an application I've ever thought of until now. Still, if you'd like for me to give it a shot, I suppose I have no qualms about using this prideless thug as a guinea pig."

"That . . . won't be necessary", Tatsumi replied after rubbing his face against the palm of his hand. He then noticed a glimmering object resting safely next to the would-be mercenary's frozen legs; the thug's lantern. Stroking his chin with his fingers, a lightbulb went off in his head.

With nothing short of diligence and quick thinking, the pair was thereafter able to resume riding across the bridge with their stagecoach while the would-be mercenary remained at the site of his failed ambush. And although he still remained frozen, the newly lit bonefire next to him at least assured him that he wouldn't have to worry about freezing to death. Though whether he knew he had the formidable young man with red eyes to thank for his life was highly doubtful.

Without further delay, Tatsumi and Esdeath had ventured well past the bridge and further down the road for an additional hour before finally deciding to stop and set up camp for the night. Having spent much of the past month on an island, camping outside was almost second nature to them at this point, although camping supplies stowed away in the trunk of their stagecoach made things a little more convenient. Within minutes, they had already set up a tent and a campfire.

Tatsumi had briefly left the campsite to gather some additional wood for the fire. And just as soon as he had returned, he noticed the Ice Queen sitting on a log next to the flames with her tricorne hat resting neatly inside the stagecoach and the ponytail in her hair undone; she had apparently caught two rabbits and was in the process of skinning them with a makeshift ice-blade.

"That was fast", the former assassin noted while tossing the additional wood into the fire.

"It's rather refreshing to be honest", she remarked before cleanly slicing away the last patches of fur on both rabbits. "As a general, I was seldom afforded the time to engage in tasks as mundane as hunting for food. There was always so much administrative work to address between missions and battles that I had grown accustomed to relying on servants to handle such grunt work."

"You doing paperwork all day?", he began to laugh before taking a seat right next to her. " Sorry, but I just can't see it!"

To which the Ice Queen drawled in an almost tiresome fashion, "The reality of running a successful army I'm afraid. Resource management. Records management. Staff management. Requisition requests. Enrollment reviews. The endless bureaucracy. The meetings. The politics. I didn't realize it then, but it was all becoming so tiresome."

Tatsumi rubbed his chin with open contemplation. "Come to think of it, I guess that would explain where you got all of your sophistication despite growing up around mercenaries."

"You find me sophisticated do you?", she said with a smile and a light blush on her cheeks. "Is that a good thing?"

"Um . . .", he stammered, uncertain of how to respond. "I guess?"

"At any rate, I can't help but feel a certain sense of nostalgia", she remarked as she began gutting the two rabbits with absolute surgical precision.

"You . . . don't say", he responded, almost unnerved at how she was able to gut the two deceased creatures while maintaining eye contact with him.

"Just the two of us out here camping like this. I cannot even begin to count the number of nights father and I did it. He'd prepare the campsite as you did just now while I . . .", she said before lopping both rabbits heads off in one swift motion. ". . . would go get the grub, as he we would so often put it."

"He made you get the food?"

"Made me?", she laughed before jamming a stick through both rabbits and using two other sticks to hoist them above the fire. "I volunteered every single time!"

Tatsumi couldn't help but marvel at the pride in her eyes as she told that story. Pride that wasn't accompanied by her usual arrogance, but rather pride in a much purer sense. It made him suddenly recall their earlier encounter with the mercenary/bandits. "By the way, what was that all about earlier? You're usually a lot more composed and that's saying something."

She paused for a few moments and met his gaze with her own; a slightly annoyed expression forming on her face. "Must you always be fixated on hearing me repeat myself? Did I not already tell you that it was a slip of the hand?"

Needless to say, he didn't buy it. "Its taken me a while, but I've gotten pretty good at being able to tell when you're lying."

"Hmph", she muffled in a dismissive fashion. "Tread your words carefully. I've executed lesser men on the spot for voicing that sort of insubordination."

To which Tatsumi indiscreetly covered his mouth to hide his muffled chuckles. Whether that was indicative of his fearlessness or the extent of how comfortable he had become around the Ice Queen, one could not truly say.

Esdeath immediately blushed beat red at the sight of this; not her usual schoolgirl swooning blush, but more along the lines a feeling she was not at all familiar with: Embarrassment. This promptly caused her to shift her gaze towards the ground. "As much as I love you, Tatsumi, you are very annoying."

"Right back at you", he remarked as his chuckles started to fade away.

"What a strange pair we make", she said while casually leaning herself up against her tenacious partner. "On paper, I should despise you and you should despise me. And yet here we are. How curious."

Tatsumi shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant fashion. "As I recall it, you had your mind made up about me the moment you saw me at the colosseum."

"I remember. Without even exchanging words, I knew right then that fate had destined us to be together."

"I'm surprised someone like you believes in stuff like fate and destiny. If anything, I figured you would've chalked them up as nonsense."

"Someone like me, hmm?", she expressed with a slight sense of condescending amusement in her voice. "Is that your way of saying bad guys aren't allowed to believe in fanciful things like fate and destiny? You really don't cut us evil-doers any slack."

Tatsumi merely rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Not going to indulge me in another game of lets tease Tatsumi? How disappointing", she remarked with an overly exaggerated sigh before gazing up towards the night sky. "But perhaps you do have a point just this once."

"Oh yeah?"

But the Ice Queen gave him no answer. For within just a few moments, her attention had become completely encapsulated towards the heavens above. Her demeanor had changed entirely; her eyes almost sparkled with fascination by the countless stars and the crescent moon; even more fascinating to her was the way the star and moon light contrasted with each and every individual snowflake descending to the ground. For some reason, she found herself almost mesmerized by such natural beauty. A complete and stark contrast to the Esdeath that had chastised herself for spending even a few moments on an activity what she had once described as being frivolous.[A/N See AKG anime episode 13].

"It's . . . lovely, isn't it?", she remarked in a calm and simple tone of voice as a light blush appeared on her cheeks.

Surprised by such a seemingly random question, Tatsumi glanced towards his companion, quickly realizing how relaxed she had become and how intrigued her gaze towards the night sky appeared to be. With a soft smile appearing on his lips, he stretched his arm across her back and pulled himself closer to her tall and slender figure. "Yeah. It is."

After spending some additional time together, they eventually retired to their tent and did not appear to mind sharing one blanket and one sleeping roll. Despite having discarded all but their undergarments, their warm bodies more than made up for any deficiency in heat. It didn't take long for either of them to drift off with the Ice Queen nestled and spooned behind her beloved with both of her slender arms draped over his chest.


. . . They called him Rokugou . . .


It was the dead of night on a certain cruise ship hundreds of miles south of Bestimmung; the open sea's waves were ever so clear and immaculate, even at that hour, that one would readily see the full moon reflecting upon them were one to take a gander. Yet it wasn't the lovely sights that appeared to be captivating a great deal of the passengers at that hour, but rather what was occurring on the ships 7th deck; well-to-do high society people, left and right, were enthralled by the ship's casino; of interest were it's slot machines, card tables, its roulette wheels and many more. Enhancing the liveliness of the 7th deck was a full-on classic jazz band practically playing non-stop as gamblers left and right relentlessly partake in games of chance.

And in the center of the casino was a grandiose rectangular craps table and a number of well-to-do people eagerly standing around as one particular individual appeared to be winning game after game after game. There, a clearly confident middle-aged man with red hair and purple eyes appeared to be the center of attention; he was dressed in a black and white vest cladded with a sharp green tie. What's more, multiple high society strumpets were gathered near him, enthused at what was his apparent skill at the game.

"What you will bet this time, Sir Rokugou?", said the man in a tuxedo organizing the table; no doubt the dealer.

"Snake eyes of course", the red haired gambler smirked before being handed a pair of dice.

"And your bet?", the dealer asked, every bit as enamored with the apparent show as the rest of the people around the table.

To which Rokugou replied while moving his large stack of chips into the correct position on the table. "Fifty million gold pieces and nothing less."

The entire crowd gasped the moment they heard this. Even to a wealthy noble, risking that much money in a game of pure chance was the height of foolishness, and yet this Rokugou fellow did not hesitate to place such a bet. And not only did he make the bet, but he made it on what experienced players knew to unequivocally be the hardest roll to land in a craps game.

Despite the odds of the roll he betted upon, there was not a single hint of doubt in the red haired gambler's eyes. With a smirk on his lips, he turned to one of the high society ladies next to him. "I'll need some extra luck for this roll. Do me a favor and blow on this." She blowed just as he asked before swooning with admiration in her eyes.

"Here goes!", Rokugou shouted before tossing the dice onto the table. Everyone around the table quickly scrambled to see whether lady luck frowned or smiled upon the red haired gambler only to roar with excitement the instant they saw where the dice had landed.

"Amazing! Simply amazing!", one elderly noble gentleman cried out.

"How does he do it?!", another high-society fellow shouted.

"Wow! Ten games in a row!", one of the women holding Rokugou's arm exclaimed while jumping up and down.

"How do you do it, Rokugou?", another woman holding his arm swooned.

"What can I say, ladies?", he replied with a lofty expression. "Some people have the gift. Some people don't. It's just the way the world works."

"You're incredible!", another admirer swooned.

As the crowd around this Rokugou fellow continued to be awestricken at his impressive gambling talent, the prodigious gambler himself noticed one particular individual in the crowd who did not appear to be awestricken or impressed. It was a young, curvaceous woman with gold eyes and short blonde curly hair, some of which was combed over her right eye; even her sleeveless white evening gown was a sight to behold. She looked in the gambler's direction with nonchalant disinterest before walking away from the crowd entirely.

"Excuse me, ladies", Rokugou said with the utmost politeness in his voice before beginning to make his way past the crowd himself. "But I've got some other business to attend to tonight."

"Awe, don't go Rokugou", one of the high class strumpet's pleaded. "It's not as fun when you're not around."

To which the red haired man smirked and winked before blowing a kiss. "Maybe some other time."

The illustrious gambler continued navigating his way out of the massive crowd before finally seeing this mysterious woman exit the casino area and walk out onto that floor's deck. Not wanting to lose sight of her, he promptly rushed outside like a schoolboy rushing to the playground. As soon as he made his way outside, he immediately spotted this woman of mystery leaning up against a guard rail, admiring the open sea.

As if wanting to make a good impression, Rokugou quickly straightened the creases out of his clothes before casually walking up to this woman and leaning up against the guardrails alongside her. "We don't get nights like this too often."

The mysterious woman said nothing. She merely continued to observed the scenery.

"A crescent moon. Its reflection on the waves rolling back and forth. The stars above. So much natural beauty in this world."

She again said nothing.

"And yet despite the glory of mother nature's beauty being held before us on full parade, it's utterly outclassed by your own."

"That's some pickup line", the mystery woman finally spoke. "Did you stay up all night rehearsing it?"

To which Rokugou chuckled, not at all offended by the jape that had just been thrown in his direction. "And she finally speaks."

"If I didn't say something, you would've just kept blathering on and on and on", she said in a nonchalant fashion, still gazing towards the open sea.

"Ah, but you did speak. Which not only tells me more about you, but makes me more curious."

"Curious about what?"

"About the woman who has succeeded in enrapturing my very heart and being."

"You should stop with the pickup lines. Unlike those strumpets at the dice table, that won't work on me."

To which Rokugou merely shook his head. "No no, I wouldn't waste something as crude as a 'pickup' line on beauty as enrapturing as yours."

"You don't even know me."

"The more we speak, the more I want to know you; the more I want to see what it is that makes that mind of yours tick."

"I'm flattered", she said with absolute disinterest in her voice. "But you're wasting your time. I'm already engaged."

"And yet on a night as exemplary as this, you're out here alone; a true fiancé of any measure would never allow this."

"It's . . . complicated."

"Is it now?", Rokugou asked with a reassuring grin on his lips as he gently caressed a strand of her hair. "You coming to my dice game . . . was that complicated as well?"

At that very moment, the cruise's ship hourly horn sounded off much like a grandfather clock would chime every time the little hand reached a new hour. This was undoubtedly a means to enable guests to keep track of time just in case they were preoccupied with one of the many available cruise ship activities.

"I have to go", the mystery woman said before getting off the guard the rail.

"To this fiancé of yours, yes?", he laughed.

"Something like that", she said as she began walking away.

Rokugou turned towards her, still with a smile on his face. "Do I at least get a name?"

She turned around with a look of indifference. "It's Leone."

"Leone, huh? Like a lioness perhaps?", he openly mused. "Good night, dear lioness."

"Hmph. Later."

"Ah, so there will be a later?", he asked with a inquiring smirk on his lips.

Without answering the gambler's question, she merely proceeded to leave the deck area and head upstairs with the use of one of the ship's elevators. She ventured eleven flights up before finally making it to her stateroom. As she reached for the door handle, she immediately realized the room was locked.

"Damnit", she muttered under her breath before proceeding to bang on the door.

Within a few moments and some ruffled noises from inside the room, the door casually opened. And the former Jaeger, Run, was on the other side. "What happened to your key?"

"Hell if I know", Leone barged into the room while messily wiping away her makeup with her bare hands. "In case you didn't notice, this getup has no pockets."

Run closed the door behind her. "You could've slipped it in your bra or your heels."

"Bullshit." She marched into the suite's living room area before planting herself on the couch and practically ripping her high heels off her feet and throwing them at the wall. "How the hell do women put up with wearing these things all the time? My feet are killing me."

"More importantly . . .", Run remarked before walking up to his feral subordinate. "How did the first phase in our little operation go?"

"Hmph", she muffled before shifting her gaze away from the christened Night Watch commander. "He took the bait just as you predicted."

Run smiled with satisfaction in his eyes. "As I've long suspected, beneath all of that tomboyish hooliganism and alcoholism is the heart of a charming lady."

"Wow, you're somehow even more delusional than Rokugou", Leone laughed while shaking her hair just enough to retain her usual hairstyle. "Where's the scotch by the way? I sat around just enough snooty snobs in the casino to know that every stateroom on this floor comes stocked with some."

"Feel free to help yourself . . ."

Leone's eyes suddenly beamed with joy. "For real. Awe boss, you shouldn't have!"

". . . to whatever remains you can find down the drain in our bathroom sink."

In that moment, it was as if those words magically sucked all of the joy out of her; all of which was replaced with sheer indignation. "Boss, you REALLY shouldn't have!"

"Gathering intel on Rokugou E. Wolfgang takes priority over your brobdingnagian alcohol addiction. You'll just have to deal with it."

"I still don't get why I need to wear this crap", she said glancing at her dress with disgust. ". . . much less hang out with pretentious snobs. If this Rokugou guy really does have an imperial arm, we should just beat the crap out of him, steal it and be done with it."

"Unlikely", Run remarked with a dismissive yet nonchalant wave of the hand. "Surely you saw the improbable amount of games he won down in the casino. I haven't yet ascertained the exact nature of his power, but if it is truly luck based, engaging him in direct battle at this point with so little information would be a fool's errand. For now, we'll bide our time before we consider a more direct approach."

"You worry too much, boss", she sighed. "I saw him up close myself. He's your typical high society creampuff. Whatever reputation he has in Bestimmung is clearly a pack of lies."

He shook his head in disagreement. "You need a little more than a pack of lies to procure a high ranking in the Neo Partas clan I'm afraid."

"Maybe, but aren't we getting a little too sidetracked here? I say we forget this guy, go find Wave and see whatever answers we can find in Babel's Library."

"If we run across Wave when we get to Bestimmung, I'm happy to compare notes", Run said before taking a seat in the lounge chair directly across his subordinate and picking up what appeared to be a folded newspaper; no doubt what he had been occupying his time with before Leone began banging on the door. "Unfortunately, knowing how brazen he can be, I doubt he did enough research in advance to realize why his plan is doomed for failure. If Mr. Wolfgang's has truly devised a way to increase his luck through an imperial arm and we could somehow harness that power in the right hands, the possibilities are limitless."

"Awww man", Leone openly sulked. "So what you're telling is that you're not only going to indefinitely deprive me of beer and liquor but that I'm going to indefinitely be stuck pretending to be some high society bimbo?"

Run sighed as he began to unfold the newspaper and read it. "The sad part is that you're not a bad looking woman by any means. Quite the opposite in fact. In a different life, you'd have suitors chasing you night and day. Why you diminish your natural gifts in exchange for your constant . . . undignified behavior . . . is beyond me."

"I'll take my undignified behavior", she responded uttering the last two words with air quotes. ". . . over prim and proper hoity-toity noble bull shit any day of the week!"

"Your loss. Just stick to the plan. The sooner you get the information we need, the sooner you can go back to your litany of bad habits . . . within reason of course."

"Yeah yeah, boss", she rolled her eyes. "Not like I've never seduced a man before. I'll just keep playing hard to get and before you know it, he'll be eating outta the palm of my hand."


. . . was history doomed to repeat itself?. . .


Hours passed into the night as Esdeath lied alongside her beloved with nothing but a blissful expression on her face. Whether it was due to sweet dreams or the simple comfort of having her love nestled near her, one could not definitively say. Nevertheless, it was the sort of peace and tranquility most people would never be able to imagine the Ice Queen having longed for despite her long history of blood and mayhem. Ever the walking contradiction the Ice Queen was and yet no one could fully picture all the pieces of her divergent soul. Behind all the sadism, arrogance, tenderness and adoration, who was she really? Did she herself even know?

Dawn was but a few hours away as Esdeath's eyes swiftly peeled away. She couldn't help but hear some slight rummaging outside of the tent; someone was there. A wild animal? A wandering danger beast? Another worthless bandit perhaps? None of which the Ice Queen considered even remotely threatening, but survival instincts driven into her since early childhood remained steadfast. She sat up only to look down towards Tatsumi; she smiled with affection as he still appeared to be sleeping.

Donned in nothing but her undergarments and her unbuttoned navy blue buccaneers jacket, she stepped out of the tent curious to see who was foolish enough to interrupt her slumber while all the ready prepared to dispatch any nuisance with but a snap of her fingers. However, as she looked towards the logs surrounding the campfire, her eyes widened in bewilderment as she could hardly believe who it was that was sitting there.

"Long time no see, my little Es." A tall middle-aged man with light blue hair worn in a mullet-like style, as well as a short beard, and blue eyes appeared to be sitting on one of the logs while basking in the heat from the fire. Not just any man at that; he sported an all too familiar set of tribal clothing consisting of a black short-sleeved turtleneck shirt, a long white kimono and a red vest on top of it, with a sash on his waist and a golden medallion around his neck. Then there was the parchment on wrapped around his head; a black headband with an oversized lower case t symbol on it. To the Ice Queen, there was no mistaking who this man was.

"What?", he said upon glaring in Esdeath's direction with some slight confusion. "Nothing to say to your-"

Before this mysterious middle-aged man could utter even another word, he had become impaled by two dozen razor sharp icicles. "Weissschnabel", the Ice Queen uttered in a cold and murderous tone.

"W-w-why are you d-d-d-doing this?", the man muttered as he fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

"Taking the form of my father is a sin I do not take lightly. Go crawl back into whatever crevice of my soul you've been lingering in . . . Demon's Extract."

"And here I was beginning to think you had gotten weaker", the man remarked with a soft chuckle, only in a deep, dark and malevolent tone. "Very well, my young host. What form shall I take?"

"Take whatever form you like. Just get out of my sight, demon."

"How about . . . this one?", it remarked, having suddenly assumed the form of a handsome young man with long black hair and blue eyes; this one wore a grey suit of armor on top of a purple high-collared shirt as well as a purple cape. "The form of Numa Seika is certainly less offensive, no?"

Within almost an instant, the upper half of it's body was impaled by a large horn of ice. "Grauhorn", Esdeath uttered in a tone just as cold and murderous as she had before. "Perhaps you didn't hear me. Get out of my sight. This is your last warning."

"No, in the end, Numa Seika failed to live up to your expectations and offered you nothing of value. Not even vindication. Then lets try . . ."

Before it could utter another word, Esdeath had already manifested a razor sharp ice spear in her hand and was on the verge of cutting this irritating imitator down. But just before she could commence with the dirty deed, she stopped dead in her tracks, the tip of the spear centimeters short of its intended destination.

". . . the look on your face says it all", it said, now barring the spitting image of Tatsumi. "This form is much more accommodating."

The Ice Queen's cold and murderous expression had quickly been exchanged for one with uncharacteristic hesitation.

"Cat got your tongue, Esdeath?", it said, now speaking with Tatsumi's voice. "No quick comeback? No clever one-liner?"

She continued to remain hesitant, now even going as far as to lower the ice spear she had conjured moments earlier.

"He has no idea, does he?", it smirked with a smug look on his face. "No idea of just how much he means to you. If you cannot strike me down here in the outskirts of your own soul, you most certainly wouldn't have harmed a hair on his head the other day in Port Gavin. You were merely bluffing, weren't you? You would have just as easily backed down without him saying a word about the conditions of that insipid bet you made."

"What do you want, demon?!", she spat, irritation bubbling in her voice..

"Only your best interest."

"Oh really?", she asked with mock-politeness. "And am I to assume that your paltry efforts to drive me insane were also in my best interest?"

"Indeed", it said while taking a gentleman's bow. "If my standards for a permanent host were any less, you would never have been the one to inherit my power and I would have faded from this world long ago. Take that as the highest of compliments."

"You flatter me, demon, but fail to adequately answer my question: What do you want?"

It sighed. "I want you to abandon the boy."

"And why in blue blazes would I do that?", she asked with readily apparent scorn in her eyes.

"He's making you weaker by the day. Taming you. Turning you into a domesticated house cat. It's painful to watch."

"Don't waste my time with such rubbish, demon. Despite your feeble efforts, I crushed you on the day we met and made you my prisoner. You of all beings have no business talking about weakness."

"You forget, my precocious host, it laughed. "I travel through the halls of your soul each and every day. Try to change the subject all you like, but we both know the truth in my words."

"There is no truth in your words, demon", she spat before turning around and walking back towards the tent. "Only the lies of a sore loser who will forever be my prisoner. Bother me again with this rubbish and I'll bury you in an even deeper recess of my mind."

"Still not able to stop time, are we?", it said with the same smug expression on its lips.

Upon hearing these words, the Ice Queen stopped dead in her tracks but without turning away from the tent.

"Ironic when you think about it. You created that technique with the express purpose of protecting Tatsumi. But now that he is part of your life, you are unable to protect him with it.

The Ice Queen had no response; she remained silent with her back still facing her would-be prisoner.

"You weren't even able to save him from that feeble danger beast you fought in Port Gavin. A beast he himself could have easily slain if not for his own recklessness. How terrifying it must be to know that a monster as weak as that is the distance between life and death for your precious Tatsumi. What will happen when he finally faces this legendary omega class danger beast I wonder?"

To which Esdeath replied in a calm and direct tone of voice, her back still turned. "Tatsumi is strong. I've seen it firsthand. He will be fine."

"You've also seen that Tatsumi cares too much about people besides himself. It is the only reason he put himself in danger against that weak chenoo in Port Gavin. Because he cares so much about others, it will be his demise when he faces the omega class danger beast and you won't be able to do anything about it without your power to stop time. He will die."

The Ice Queen sighed. "As long as no bystanders are involved, he won't have to worry about holding back and will concentrate his full efforts on the battle. He will be fine"

"You don't believe he will try and protect you? He will die."

"I don't need protection. He will be fine."

"You might not think you need it, but who is to say Tatsumi doesn't think so? Your father certainly thought so when you disappeared from your village for several days and look how that turned out. He will die."

Esdeath finally turned around and faced her would-be prisoner with a scornful look in her eyes. "And so you're proposing I just abandon him and let him face the omega class danger beast on his own? I will do no such thing. I will be with him every step of the way and he will be fine!"

"No, I'm proposing that you overcome your delusions about companionship and go back to living on your own terms. No matter what you do, he will die!"

'No! He will be fine!"

"Face it, my precocious host. We've already seen this story play out before. The partas clan left you. Your father left you. Your three beasts left you. No matter who they are, they always leave you. In the end, Tatsumi will do the same. It's not too late to keep him from becoming just another anchor on your soul. ACCEPT IT! HE WILL DIE!"

"ENOUGH! BEGONE NOW!", she yelled with sound and fury and their surroundings began to shatter into pieces much like a wine bottle or a vase being smashed into the ground. The ground, the sky, everything around them shattered to the point of there being nothing left.

And just as this happened, Esdeath's eyes streaked wide open and she suddenly felt ample beads of sweat rolling down her brow. She quickly sat up only to realize that she was back in the waking world. Dawn was just around the corner.

"I don't know where you heard about that, Esdeath . . .", Tatsumi half-heartedly mumbled in his sleep. ". . . but I'm definitely not doing that."

One glance at her beloved's face was more than enough to let her know that it would be some time before he woke up. Although she would ordinarily marvel at how 'cute' he appeared to look in his sleep, she could not forget what Demon Extract had said to her; particularly his prediction. Was her would-be prisoner correct, she wondered. Was Tatsumi going to end up just like her father?


. . . What is . . . will? . . .


"Did I . . . do this?"

Elsewhere in the great city of Hertz, the night had gone on without incident and the roosters crowed in the morning like clockwork. Whereas many of the people in the city were just now beginning their daily routine, Wave was not only up and active, but had ridden his horse into the city with Kurome safely strapped and secured to his back. He made his way to Dr. Stylish's clinic, tied his horse to the same post he had tied it to several days prior and walked inside. Upon walking past the entrance, he noticed a young woman with short and curly blond hair as well as a pair of glasses counting the money at the cash register on the front store counter.

"Morning!", he said in a polite and cheerful tone while waving his hand in a greeting fashion.

The young woman looked up in Wave's direction, her cheeks developing a rose colored tint as she made eye contact. "Oh . . um . . . h-h-hi!", she stammered.

"You must be . . . Amelia, right?", he said, reaching his hand out for a handshake.

With a nervous look in her eyes, the young woman hesitantly extended her hand out before shaking Wave's hand; the blush on her cheeks was still as plain as day. "H-h-how d-d-d-did you kn-n-n-now my name?"

"Your voice. It sounds just like the one I heard the other day when your boss was asking if there were any more vaccines. A pleasure meeting you!"

"L-l-l-like wise", Amelia again stammered, her blush becoming more bold by the second.

"Is your boss here?"

"H-h-h-he's in the back. Said for you to head back there as soon as you got here."

The Grand Chariot wielder nodded his head, "Thanks", before walking towards one of the back rooms in the hallway behind the front counter.

Amelia watched him walk away with baited breath before promptly slapping herself across the cheek. "AMELIA . . . GIRL! GET IT TOGETHER!"

Towards the very back of the clinic was a door with the words Dr. Jean Sérieux Stylish carved into a plaque on the door. Seeing no indication that the door was locked, Wave walked right in. He had expected to see an office of sorts, but instead observed what appeared to be a study room. The walls were adorned with numerous bookshelves supplied with thousands of books. And in the center of the room was a single work bench area where one man appeared to be at hard work with a state of the art microscope.

"Dr. Stylish!", Wave exclaimed while walking in his direction.

The good doctor continued what he was doing without interruption, clearly more interested in his work than exchanging simple pleasantries. "You're late."

"Nice to see you too", he said while walking closer. "It's 6' in the morning."

"I see you brought your little friend", the doctor remarked after hearing Kurome let out a loud yawn. "It would seem Charlotte wasn't exaggerating about the extent to which you dote over her."

"You and the professor gossiping? And here I was of the impression that you two couldn't stand each other." He continued walking up towards the doctor's workbench, quickly noticing Grand Chariot in its dormant cutlass state lying plainly on the table and partially under the lens of Dr. Stylish's microscope.

The doctor readjusted the lenses on his microscope. "Most of the time, we cannot. But as the age old adage goes, looks can be deceiving. Take you for example. Who would have thought that beyond that chivalrous and ethical exterior of yours lied the beating and unflinching heart of a murderer."

Within a flash, Wave's demeanor changed dramatically; he went from polite to defensive in the blink of an eye. "What do you mean by that?", he said before forcibly swiveling the doctor's chair in his direction and glaring upon him eye to eye.

"Don't get the wrong idea", Dr. Stylish said, maintaining eye contact without flinching his eyes in the slightest. "By Bestimmung standards, what you did to the younger Wolfgang brother was both easily justified and readily encouraged. However . . ."

"However?", the Grand Chariot former asked, hinting a small glimmer of remorse.

"What I saw you do to the younger Wolfgang brother and his two underlings was . . . barbaric and needlessly gruesome."

Upon hearing these words, Wave's face grew pale and he promptly stepped away from the good doctor.

Dr. Stylish simply glared at the younger man for several moments as if he were gazing upon nothing of significance before swiveling his chair back around and resuming his observations with his microscope. "As I suspected. You have no memory of what transpired. Based on the way you're behaving, would it be correct to say that this isn't the first time that side of you has come out?"

Wave remained silent, simply gazing down towards the palms of his two hands. Beads of sweat began pouring down his face as he was reminded by his reoccurring dream. The one where his armored fist was protruding cleanly through Kurome's chest.

"I figured as much. And given your glum reaction just now, I'd say you have lashed out before and a close friend of yours was on the receiving end of your wrath", the doctor remarked in a tone that was outright condescending.

"You aren't wrong", Wave replied, his voice laced with melancholy. "In fact, you could say that the reason I came all the way up here was for that very reason."

"I see", Dr. Stylish noted while shifting his gaze to Kurome. "So you're the reason this girl has lost just about every trace of sanity?"

"Not exactly", the younger man shook his head. "But she definitely wasn't like this before I . . . lashed out."

"You realize that if you keep traveling with her, there may eventually come a point where you are backed into a corner and forced to 'lash out' once more. What will you do then?"

"I don't know."

"From what I've seen, your will is exceptional, but without a more precise control over it, your imperial arm will be continue to serve as a conduit for your worst impulses."

"Will?", Wave asked, eyes widening; he suddenly recalled his battle the other day. "When I was fighting that Wolfgang guy, he used that word for some reason. He said something about me having promising will, but that I didn't know how to use it."

"Well he wasn't wrong", the doctor replied before standing up and hoisting the former Jaeger's dormant imperial arm over his head. "What's this weapon called?"

"Grand Chariot."

"Grand Chariot, eh? Fascinating." With the ceiling lights as a backdrop, the good doctor continued to gaze upon the mysterious weapon in an absent minded fashion. "Ever since I borrowed 'Grand Chariot', no matter how hard I have tried, I just can't seem to use it the way you did the other day. What with the ebony blue strength enhancing armor and all."

"An imperial arm can only be used by someone who is compatible with it", Wave remarked.

"Compatibility?", the doctor asked before swinging the blade through the air several times. "Interesting. I suspected it had to be something like that. Though I wonder how much one's will has to do with it."

"There you go using that word again. What are you talking about?"

"Hmm." He appeared to be more interested in the imperial arm than the actual conversation he was in; he was actively swinging Grand Chariot around as if hoping to spur some kind of reaction. "To be able to fight the way you did yesterday, your will is certainly impeccable, but you don't appear to have any esoteric control over it. Not like the Wolfgang brothers anyway."

"That precise gust of air he kept creating with his war hammer. Was that . . . will?"

"A rudimentary technique, but yes. Can't say I'm surprised you've never heard of anything like that. Due to limited research, it's not a phenomena most people in this world know about or even understand, but as you saw in Zuerst Valley the other day, it's very much real."

"If the research is limited, how do you know about it?"

"It's simple really." Dr. Stylish stopped what he was doing and glared upon the former Jaeger for several moments, still with the same look of disinterest he had sported earlier. He then proceeded to set Grand Chariot down and sit back in his swiveling chair before swiveling it around to face Wave. "True or false: All men are created equal."

"What kind of question is that?", Wave asked the good doctor.

"A simple one at that. What do you say?"

Without hesitation, Wave retorted, "Everyone is born with the two legs, two arms and a head on their shoulders. Some people might end up born into wealthy families and others might end up being born into poverty, but even that doesn't matter if you're willing to work hard enough. No one is truly better than anyone else. We're all equal."

"Bravo!", Dr. Stylish exclaimed while clapping his hands. "A fine answer. Admirable even. On paper, it is absolutely correct."

"On paper?", the former Jaeger queried.

"On paper, of course. But in reality . . .", the doctor remarked before cryptically narrowing his eyes. "It's absolutely wrong."

"You think so? Sounds like you'd fit right in with the nobles we've got in the Grand Empire."

"No, you're correct to think that mere wealth and familial history do not determine one's status in life."

"Then how am I wrong?", Wave said, his eyes narrowing.

"Between two and three months ago, you suffered a severe case of trauma to your cranium. The trauma was caused by someone who appears to have some form of super human strength. They likely used their bare fists. You have since made a speedy recovery. Am I right?"

Wave immediately recalled his fight with Leone back in Emperor Makoto's palace; he specifically recalled the point of the battle at which the feral night raid assassin had gotten the upper hand against him. "How did you . . . . ?"

"For no apparent reason, I've been able to do it since I was three years old. With slight visual cues, I can decipher any injury someone has or has had within the last ten years just by looking at them. Can you do that?"

"Well no, but . . ."

"What of those Neo Partas clan grunts you dispatched the other day? The one's wielding the rifles? I'd bet that that wasn't the first time you've been able to utterly outclass such riff raft. And yet haven't you ever wondered why you, a mere boy just sort of being 21 years old, is able to perform super human feats such as effortlessly evading gunfire? Whereas armed and hardened soldiers trained in all manners of combat cannot hope to replicate such a feat. Would you consider them your equals?"

The former Jaeger suddenly recalled his former comrade, Bols', young daughter. "People have different gifts. Different skills. Different talents. I, for instance, cannot play the piano for the life of me, but I know a little girl who is a master at it."

"Precisely my point", Dr. Stylish retorted, all the more confident in his argument. "It is these various different gifts, skills, and talents in this world that people are able to excel at morsoe than others without any explanation that definitively proves that there is no such thing as equality amongst humans. I can relentlessly spend the remainder of my days pushing my body to its physical peak, but my skills in battle will never compare to yours. You, on the other hand, could spend the remainder of your days, memorizing every medical textbook known to man and you will still never be able to compete with my intuitive grasp of biology."

"Even if that's true, what difference does it make?"

"If everything I've said is true, then the question becomes 'why." I've autopsied countless bodies, have studied my own and there is no empirical rationale as to why I can discern injuries on sight, but others cannot. And I'm certain that if I were to study your body, even though I might find some hereditary indications as to why your physical strength is well above average, it would not begin to empirically explain how your skills and abilities effortlessly eclipse that of so many others without even using your imperial arm. Nevertheless, there is an explanation. And that explanation is will."

"But . . . what is will? I'm not sure I understand."

"Hmph", the doctor muffled before getting out of his chair and walking up to a chalkboard on an adjacent wall in the office. As he walked towards it, he motioned for Wave to follow him.

"What are we doing?", Wave asked with confusion in his eyes.

Dr. Stylish grabbed a spare piece of chalk from the board and wrote out his full name: Dr. Jean Sérieux Stylish. He then proceeded to hand the former Jaegar a piece of chalk. "Write your name please."

With a quick shrug of his shoulders, he did just that: Wave. "Ok. Now what?"

"Just Wave? No last name? Were your parents lazy perhaps?", the good doctor shook his head before pacing himself back ten feet away from the chalk board. "Stand over here."

Wave shrugged his shoulders once more, not sure what any of this had to do with the conversation they were just having.

"I want to write your name one more time."

To which the younger man rolled his eyes. "If you wanted me to do that, why would you ask me to walk all the way over here?."

But before he could take even one step towards the chalk board, the good doctor blocked him by holding his hand out. "No, you will write your name while standing right here."

"But . . . that's impossible", Wave retorted.

"Is it?", Dr. Stylish smirked before grabbing the chalk out of Wave's hands.

"What the . . . how did you?", the Grand Chariot wielder gasped in disbelief. He could hardly believe what he had just witnessed. Despite standing a full ten feet away from the chalk board, the good doctor wrote his full name directly beneath the space where he wrote his name the first time. Having observed the entire thing, it was as if the doctor had written his name on the thin air before them, only for the chalk writing to be simultaneously projected onto the chalk board somehow.

"This . . . my naive young foreigner, is will."

"So then this is what that Wolfgang guy was doing with his war hammer the other day?"

"Correct", the doctor nodded. "He manifested his intentions to strike you onto the physical world and was able to attack you from a distance."

"His . . . intentions?"

To which the doctor sighed, clearly now growing impatient with having to explain something he considered to be simple in such avid detail. "Think of it like this. Will is the expression of one's soul and is the ultimate expression of one's intentions onto the physical world. The reason you are able to easily dodge bullets is not because you were born with enhanced reflexes or because your physical training was just that effective, but because you unconsciously overrided your human limitations with will alone. Think about it. There are millions of soldiers, mercenaries and bounty hunters in this world, yet a wet-behind-his-ears punk like you is able to eclipse 99% of them without even using his imperial arm. How can that possibly make sense without there being another variable involved?"

Upon hearing this explanation, Wave began to ponder to himself. "He may be right. With the exception of Bols and the other Dr. Stylish, all of the Jaegers were all pretty young. Even General Esdeath was just two years older than me. The same goes for Night Raid. Could what he's saying about this will power actually be true?"

The doctor once again grabbed the dormant Grand Chariot, brandishing it as if to further exemplify his point. "Of all of the talented warriors in the world, why would a child like you be given one of the most powerful weapons known to man? There were only 48 created and you just so happen to be one of the lucky few given the opportunity to wield one? Don't delude yourself. You were given this weapon because 99.999% of the people in this world are simply incapable of using it."

"From what you just did with the chalkboard there, you certainly seem to have this will power you keep talking about? If that's the explanation, then why can't you use Grand Chariot?"

Upon hearing this question, the doctor finally handed the dormant imperial arm back to its rightful owner. "For the exact same reason I cannot effortlessly dodge bullets, much less go toe to toe with the likes of Jason Wolfgang. As strong as will power is, it is not without certain limitations. As I said, people are not born equal; people are born with different attributes. My skills appear to be far better tailored to medicine and biology. If there is an imperial arm suited to that sort of task, I am probably compatible with it. But an imperial arm like Grand Chariot is clearly tailored to the battle field, thus well outside my natural idiosyncrasies."

Wave took several moments to ponder to himself; everything he was hearing was new and certainly a lot to take in. However, as he thought more and more about the matter, a ray of hope sparkled in his eyes all of the sudden. "You said something about me needing more precise control earlier. If I . . . if I could better understand this will power you keep talking about, would I be able to keep myself from losing control over Grand Chariot again?"

To which the doctor rubbed his chin. "Perhaps, but I can't give you any guarantees. As adept as I am at detecting injuries, 10 years appears to be a hard limit for me. And as strong as you would like to be to protect your friends, I doubt you'll ever have the power to do something as outrageous as move mountains. Sheer will alone can only influence the physical world to a certain extent. And from what I've seen, some people are able to influence the physical world with their will power moreso than others. I may be able to write on the chalk from a certain distance, but I could not replicate the feat the younger Wolf gang brother pulled off in a million years."

"But it's possible, right?", Wave asked, hope still beaming in his eyes.

"In theory . . . anything is possible I suppose."

"Then . . . do you think you could teach me how to better control my will?"

Dr. Stylish shrugged his shoulders with indifference before sitting back down in his office chair. "Out of the question."

"But . . . why not?"

"I certainly have a firm grasp of the theory behind the concept", the doctor sighed, almost as if having to swallow his pride. "But even if I felt like it, which I don't by the way, I don't have the slightest clue how I would teach others how to do it."

Somehow, Wave was now even more confused than when the conversation had begun. "B-b-but I saw you do it. You wrote your name on the chalkboard."

"That is true, but to tell you the truth, I do not know how I am doing it. Like you, there was a time when I knew nothing about will, much less how to control it. Then, one day, for reasons I still do not grasp, I woke up one morning and was suddenly able to pull off the feat you just saw. From what I've seen, you certainly have the potential to do it yourself, but it's going to have to be something you figure out on your own."


. . . all within the blink of an eye . . .


Although Tatsumi had always been a diligent early bird when it came to his sleeping habits, he had found himself sleeping a little later than usual. Given that they had been traveling ever since leaving Port Gavin in the middle of the night, one could hardly blame him for sleeping a little longer than usual. He opened his eyes, expecting to see Esdeath's arms still sprawled around him. Though alas . . . as he looked around the tent interior, the Ice Queen was nowhere in sight. He let out a heavy yawn before getting up and dressing himself in his preferred attire.

Immediately upon leaving the tent, he made sure to do some morning stretches, as was his typical routine, only to notice that his cerulean haired girlfriend was nowhere in sight. He took a quick look in the stagecoach to make certain she wasn't merely waiting for him to get a move on, but saw no sign of her. Quickly recalling how she would spend much of her alone time on the second island Syura had sent them to, he shrugged his shoulders. "I guess she decided to get an early morning start on her exercises."

Much like a diligent boy scout, he wasted no time promptly packing up the camping supplies, feeding the horses and making sure they were ready to resume travel. Within no time, everything was spick and span. "As long as I've got some time to kill, I guess I can drum up some breakfast."

Fortunately, Tatsumi had already stumbled across a stream nearby when he had been collecting firewood last night. Upon venturing over there, he walked up to the stream, sat near the bank and patiently waited several minutes for a delicious enough looking morsel or two to swim by. Thanks to all the time he had spent living in the great outdoors throughout his time in Night Raid as well as living with Esdeath, the art of fishing had become second nature to him. With but a deep breath and a relaxed mind, he waited patiently for an opportunity to present itself. And within minutes, not one but two opportunities came soaring through the water.

"Gotcha!", he laughed while admiring the sight of the two freshwater rainbow trouts he had just caught with his bare hands.

He then walked back to the campsite, somewhat surprised to still see no sight of the Ice Queen anywhere. Still thinking nothing of it, he proceeded to debone the two fish before grilling them above the campfire like usual. "I'd love to surprise her with some eggs and bacon, but I suppose this will have to do."

To his surprise, however, multiple hours passed, morning was quickly expiring, the fish was certainly getting cold and Esdeath was nowhere in sight. Of course, Tatsumi did not appear to look the slightest bit worried; he had been resting his chin in his hands. "Geez, what is she up to this time? She'd better not be out hunting some random danger beast."

As he was pontificating on his companion's whereabouts, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps trudging through the woodland area nearby. "For the record, I still get boyfriend points for having breakfast ready hours . . . ago?" Tatsumi's eyes narrowed as he quickly realized that the footsteps he was hearing was coming from multiple people.

He looked in the direction the footsteps were coming from, only to show some surprise at just who was drawing near. "You guys again?"

It was six of the Neo Partas clan members he had engaged on the previous night, including the ringleader he had spared from meeting his untimely demise by being frozen to death. "Didn't you learn your lesson last night? Get lost."

Surprisingly, none of the would-be mercenaries uttered a word. They were all eerily silent and each appeared to have a murderous expression on their faces as they surrounded their lone target.

"Seems some people just don't want to learn", Tatsumi sighed in disappointment before making a quick mental note of his adversaries. One of them appeared to be using a kusarigama; from the look of the way this one was already swinging the blade chain part in a circular fashion, there was no denying that he was rather familiar with the weapon. Two of them appeared to be wielding naginatas; based on the fresh blood stains near the shaft end of this pole weapon, there was no denying that at least a few people had already been slain with them. Another two of the would-be mercenaries appeared to possess massive war clubs; much like the naginata, these weapons were clearly coated with fresh blood stains. The ringleader himself sported a twin pair of revolvers in his hands; and based on the full belt of bullets he had wrapped around his waist, there was no doubt that he had prepared himself for war.

Nevertheless, despite the difference in these would-be mercenaries' equipment this time around, Tatsumi still did not feel the need to draw his blade. Instead, he calmly remained in the exact position he had been standing in; it was almost as if he were inviting them to make the first move.

As if to accept the Incursio wielder's invitation, the apparent ringleader quickly fired multiple rounds with his dual revolvers, but Tatsumi had already ducked out of the way before a single shot had been fired. But just as the former assassin did this, both naginata wielders thrusted their pole-arm blades towards him. Yet even still, Tatsumi proved himself to be too elusive; he backflipped into the air to avoid both thrusts entirely while simultaneously delivering the same finger flicking move to the back of their heads that he had used to dispatch their comrades on the previous night.

"Huh. That's new", he thought; from what he could observe, even though he flicked the back of their skulls hard enough to concussively rattle their brains, his little technique had no apparent affect on them this time.

Before Tatsumi could even land on the ground, the one with the kusarigama had already thrown his chain blade in what was a clear attempt to ensnare the former assassin in midair. But just as the sickle end got within inches of Tatsumi's waste, despite being in midair, his quick reflexes enabled him to grab the chain with his bare hands just in the nick of time. Then, upon hitting the ground, he quickly yanked the chain hard enough to hurl this would-be mercenary towards him. But just as the kusarigama user was hurled within several feet of Tatsumi's clenched fists, both war club users were on the verge of smashing him with their massive blunt weapons.

"That smell", Tatsumi thought, having noticed a distinct odor all of the sudden. In the blink of an eye, he released the chain-sickle he had pulled and leapt over the incoming kusarigama user. As a result, the two war club users not only inadvertently smashed their weapons into their kusarigama wielding associate, but smashed their weapons into each other simultaneously.

As the Incursio wielder swiftly turned around to inspect the friendly fire damage the trio had wrought on each other, he did not look the least bit surprised. The kusarigama user's head looked like it was caved and the two war club users spine's and collarbones looked bent out of shape. Yet despite these injuries which would've certainly meant death for the ordinary person, all three of them had gotten up just fine as if they had never been injured at all. "I know rotting flesh when I smell it. That can only mean one thing . . ."

Before the six would-be mercenaries could initiate any follow-up attacks, a red eyed blur had blown past each them and the former assassin was suddenly standing behind the group with the dormant Incursio unsheathed and at the ready. "Next time . . .", he said before the heads on all six of them cleanly rolled over their shoulders before descending to the ground. That wasn't all, however; after just another moment, their arms and torsos cleanly slipped away and became a pile of human ligaments. ". . . try to make it less obvious that you're not human", he remarked as he began to walk away.

But just as he was about to sheath his sword, he suddenly noticed the sound of something rummaging in the pile of body parts sitting behind him; it sounded as if something was . . . scuttling about. He turned back to observe the pile of body parts only to realize that there were multiple pairs of what would appear to be gray tentacles maneuvering about. "What the hell?"

"He wears the skin of a human, but reeks of us", said a dark and malevolent voice seemingly echoing from within the pile.

Suddenly recalling his encounter in Port Gavin, Tatsumi could not help but recognize this voice. "You're . . . the chenoo? But how?"

"He has the blood and bones of a human, but reeks of us", said another dark and malevolent voice, this one sounding more childish than the last.

"There's two of you?"

"He has the mind of a human, but reeks of us", said another dark and malevolent voice, this one sounding noticeably more intelligent than the last.

"Three of you?"

"He has the smell of a human, but reeks of us", said another dark and malevolent voice, this one sounding noticeably less intelligent than the last.

"That makes four."

"He has the heart of a human, but reeks of us", said another dark and malevolent voice, this one sounding noticeably more feminine than the last.

"Five."

"Come. Let us unite and add him to our collection while we can before he finds strong one", said another dark and malevolent voice, this one speaking with far more authority than the other five.

"And that makes six."

Within moments, the various tentacles in the pile began to . . . assimilate . . . the various body parts into one particular being. With much bizarre crunching of bones and much grotesques sowing of flesh, it quickly formed into a mangled six-armed humanoid flesh monster at least fourteen feet in height. Perhaps equally grotesque and bizarre, the monster's hands comprised of each of the weapons it had used while masquerading as the six Neo Partas clansmen; two naginatas, two massive war clubs, one kusarigama spinning around voluminously faster than it had previously and one arm that had appeared to absorb the two revolvers the ringleader had been using.

As the bizarre beast let out a howl loud enough to scare both horses tied to the stagecoach, Tatsumi remained undaunted, sporting the same calm expression he had become so accustomed to having ever since he had obtained perfect sync with Incursio. The assimilated chenoo wasted no time by immediately swinging one of its war club arms down with the intent of smashing its target.

"Seems combining together makes them stronger", Tatsumi noted as he swiftly sidestepped the swing and observed the six foot crater the impact of the smash had on the ground.

With superb timing, the beast had thrusted its naginata towards him just as he had avoided its last attack, but the Incursio wielder swiftly parried the pole-arm weapon while ducking beneath as if to avoid most of the force generated by this thrust alone. "Faster too."

The assimilated chenoo followed up with a series of thrust and swings using both naginatas and massive war clubs, leaving multiple craters in its wake while constantly causing the two stagecoach horses to neigh in terror as obnoxiously loud whirs could be heard each time these weapons cut through the air.

"Definitely more skilled", Tatsumi thought as he avoided each of these attacks with the same calm battle ready look in his eyes. And just as he dodged this one, the bizarre beast finally hurled its rapidly spinning kurasigama it had been patiently swinging around in a circular fashion up until then. The timing at which it threw the chain scythe was no more than a millisecond after Tatsumi had avoided its last attack.

"Definitely much better at timing its attacks", he pondered while narrowly leaping over the chain scythe before descending towards the beast's hand with his sword hand readily clenched.

Just as Tatsumi was within inches of decapitating the assimilated chenoo, it fired two nearly point blank rounds from its twin revolvers.

"And definitely much smarter", the former assassin thought as he tilted his blade at the last second just enough to block both incoming bullets. But given that he was in midair as he performed this maneuver, he had no means of bracing himself for the impact of both shots and was thus hurled multiple yards away. Like an olympic athlete, however, he was able to safely somersault his way to the ground without losing his balance in the slightest.

Despite being separated by a distance of several yards however, this didn't stop the assimilated chenoo from initiating another follow-up attack; but rather than close the distance, the beast demonstrated another one of its abilities by stretching one of its grotesque arms out like a rubber band. It timed this attack in such a way that Tatsumi was confronted with a naginata on a collision course with his chest the very instant he landed on the ground. "Had we fought three months ago . . ."

At the very next instant, the naginata hand on the arm this beast had fallen on the ground with the sight of severed tentacles writhing out the back of it. ". . . this might have ended differently." The beast had already committed to several prior attacks with the intention of attacking Tatsumi just before he could evade/block the next attack. As the calm and confident glint in the Incursio wielder's crimson eyes indicated, it was a grave tactical error to once again use the same tactic.

The bizarre monster let out another loud howl as if barely able to contains it own fury. With an aura of vicious intent, the assimilated chenoo unleashed a wide fury of blows and attacks with its remaining appendages. Horizontal, vertical and diagonal swings with its war clubs, seemingly random thrusts with its remaining naginata and well timed swipes with its lone kurasigama. It even used its ability to stretch its limbs to great effect; it used its war club arms much like a whip to try and crush its foe with the sheer power and velocity of its blows . . . leaving behind numerous miniature craters in the wake of each attack. But despite its best efforts, Tatsumi evaded each blow, swing and cleave and was inching closer and closer. "But compared to the hell I endured in mastering Incursio . . ."

In one last desperate effort, the assimilated chenoo fired off as many rounds from its revolver as possible while mixing-in attacks from it other weapons. But the very moment Tatsumi got within several feet of striking distance, familiar blur appeared, this time more akin to a miniature red eyed storm unto itself accompanied by the sounds of ample slashes whirring through air. After an additional moment passed, the storm withered away seemingly behind this bizarre monster with the former Night Raid assassin slipping the dormant Incursio back into its sheath. ". . . this is nothing."

With that, the grotesque and bizarre mound of flesh, bones and body parts descended to the grounds in small chunks.

"There", Tatsumi exhaled before turning around and glancing down upon the remains of this uncanny creature. "That should do it."

"Too . . . strong . . . for . . . us", a dark and malevolent voice, this one being the same voice that had spoken with authority previously.

Noting that something within the pile was still alive, Tatsumi bent down in a crouched position to get a closer look. Upon doing this, he noticed the severed remains of numerous tendrils and tentacles. "Why did you come here?"

"It . . . reeks . . . of . . . us."

The former assassin began wading through the disgusting pile of deceased remains; he moved piece by piece, flesh mass by flesh mass and bone and bone out of the way until finally stumbling upon the remains of a unique looking danger beast he had never personally seen before; he uncovered what appeared to be a small gray ebony eyed leathery-scaled-skin cephalopod like creature with pine resin leaking out of its orifices and prickling razor sharp spikes at the tip of each tendril.

"You're a chenoo, I take it?", Tatsumi noted before lifting the rabbit sized danger beast up by its tentacles and looking directly into its eyes. "After the way one of your pals took over a kid's body in Port Gavin, I thought you'd be a little smaller. What do you mean by 'reeks of us?' What are you talking about?"

"Reeks . . . of . . . us", it said, its voicing growing weaker by the moment.

The former assassin narrowed his eyes as he continued to hold the small beast by its tendrils. "You're the only one still talking, so I'm guessing the other ones are dead. Were you the ones who killed those men? Why did you do it?"

"Must . . . not . . . find . . . strong one."

"How is this thing even talking? No lips, no mouth . . . nothing. It's not even moving."

"Must . . . not . . . find . . ."

"No way", Tatsumi pondered, eyes full of realization as he continued looking into the danger beast's liquid black eyes.. "It's speaking . . . directly into my mind."

"Must . . . not . . ."

For reasons he could not understand, the Incursio wielder suddenly felt a shiver go up his spine. "These eyes . . . there's something about these eyes . . ."

"Must . . .", it said, as if having breathed its last breath.

Before another moment could pass, an entire sea of images simultaneously flooded Tatsumi's mind. Stars colliding. Stars exploding. Planets being ripped asunder. Galaxies being swallowed whole. A dark and empty abyss realm of ravenous monsters that defied comprehension.

But that wasn't all. There were also ample images of events or places in time far more . . . local. Dinosaurs roaming the world; a meteor destroying much of the life in the world; primitive cavemen hunting for food, humans living in castles, humans at odds with each other in various wars; humans traveling up and down roads in strange metal box-like structures; humans using some strange box-like metal structure to go to the moon; humans being able to talk to one another across entire continents; humans having the means to access entire libraries full of information on a small box-sized device; humans developing the technology to use these same strange metal box-like structures to fly through the skies; humans setting up places to live on the moon; cities full of concrete and metal buildings one day being ravaged by earthquakes and fires; humans scrambling about in these cities while screaming in terror.

There were further images of the world being barren of human influence for some time. Images of various danger beast roaming the earth. Images of unsophisticated humans hiding from many of these beast. Images of humans forming tribes. Images of humans slowly forming primitives societies. Images of wars being fought amongst these societies. Images of various danger beasts being hunted. Images of the Grand Empire coming to fruition. Images of various people using imperial arms. Images of various people visiting a structure in Bestimmung tall enough to the point where it easily rose through the clouds. Images of an entire city above the clouds. And images of everything in the universe being reduced to a singularity.

All within the blink of an eye, Tatsumi witnessed billions of events and places in space and time. And all within the blink of an eye, Tatsumi felt like his brain was about to explode as he screamed out loud before dropping the lifeless chenoo from his grasp, collapsing on his back and losing consciousness entirely.


A/N:

#1. This chapter contains perhaps my most ambitious attempt at giving this series the world-building it deserves. I have plenty of plot reasons for incorporating will into the story, but I feel like there needs to be an explanation as to why a couple of teenagers and 20 year old people are the ones wielding the most powerful weapons in the world. Lets be real here: Realistically, if such weapons existed and just about anybody could use you, vague notions of compatibility aside, they most certainly would not wind up in the hands of the people who received them in the show. I also feel like there's gotta be a reason as to why these kids are able to easily outclass veteran soldiers aside from the obvious fact that the show is marketed towards kids, lol.

#2. As for the other plot developments, I won't comment on them just yet. Stay tuned for the next chapter (hopefully to be released in January). I'm going to try really hard to start back pumping these out once a month.

#3. Rokugou is technically not an original character. He was used in the manga/anime, only his purpose and character was wasted as merely being one of Kurome's puppets as well as some vague reference to being a former friend of Najenda's. To refresh your memory and see what he looks like, you should google his name and see his pictures for yourselves. Since Down a Different Branch starts before the episode in the anime where "Rokugou" appears, there is no plot hole here! ;)

#3. Did you like what you read? Hate it? Indifferent about it? Lemme know what you think! Feel free to favorite, follow or leave a review! Thanks for the reading and happy new year!