Hello again and welcome to Chapter 6 of The Glacial Ones!
From now on I will be putting the reviewers name first, then my response. Just making sure that is understood
Vangran: Thanks for politely pointing out the "cardboard", should be "cupboard".
I had a feeling I had missed something obvious so, again, thanks for pointing it out for me so I could fix it.
Tsunashi777: I'm going to first say that I can't have him go all torturer, sadist mode as that goes against the personality I'm trying to give him, which is ruthless, but not cruel. You did however give me an interesting idea were harry could come across them when they first meet the Enthusiasts and having a Dursley flashback and going into a brief, very violent and bloody version of cold fury. I was then thinking he could train the three as his own, downgraded version of the Three Beasts, who will be dead by then.
Monkeyman9835: First, thanks for giving me my first PM! Secondly, I intend to end The Glacial Ones around the same time as the ending of the manga. I am also however planning to do a sequel at some stage and using either the Goblet of Fire to bring the main characters to the Potterverse or Shamballa. I'll probable use Shamballa though as it also gives me the chance of accidently being redirected into whatever other dimension I feel like sending them. Thanks for asking so I could clear that up.
Froper98: I'm sorry, as it seems I wasn't clear with my intentions. I meant that if I saved Spear she would join Night Raid, not Harry. Harry is completely loyal to Esdeath almost to the same level as Liver. And sorry, but Sheele is already dead, as she died while Esdeath and Harry were in the North. Sorry, and believe me, I was tempted to mess up the timeline for her. And yeah, I don't think I'm going to go to the effort of saving Spear. I like her but… Anyway I think I'll just go with the idea Tsunasi777 gave me. Thanks for giving your honest opinion though!
Marchioly: First, thanks for this review, it is the probable the single most useful one I've had yet. I myself kind of forced myself to finish the anime and didn't particularly like it. Personally I don't mind Tatsumi myself but I will agree his is a bit of a bland character. As for Esdeath, I will be trying to show more of her true nature however, at this point, most of our interaction with her comes through Harry and while he is fully aware of what kind of person she is she shows a far more sane side to him. And finally on Harry's personality I'm rather proud of myself that I managed to get that through. I'm trying to paint him as a kind of confused boy with very little understanding of emotions and a kind heart that he is willing to set aside, along with his morals, for Esdeath. Anyway, thanks again for this rather useful review!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story. You make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
Keep it up!
Now, onwards to Chapter 6 (Chapter 7 if you count the prologue)!
I do not own, in any way, shape, or form Akame Ga Kill or Harry Potter.
-T.G.O-
Chapter 6: The Art of Beast Slaying
"Good, everyone is here."
Six figures, three male and three female, stood arrayed out before a single woman sitting in a throne like chair at the end of the room, her chin resting on a metal right arm.
This was the revolutionary armies best assassination team, Night Raid.
"I have three pieces of bad news to report, so listen up. Firstly, I can no longer contact our local team."
A chill descended on the room. They all knew what that meant. Well, all of them bar the blonde haired boy who was their latest recruit.
"Local team?"
A black haired girl turned to answer his questioning tone.
"The Empire is incredible vast. We do most of the assassinations in the Capital, but there is another team that covers the areas around it so we don't get overworked."
Tatsumi nodded and turned his attention back to their leader, who nodded her thanks to Akame for continuing.
"We are currently investigating what happened to them, but the likelihood is that they are already dead. Due to this I think that we should increase the security around the Hideout for now."
A green haired boy nodded in agreement before speaking up in confirmation.
"Yeah, I'll increase the range of my threads around the base."
Najenda nodded.
"Good. The second bit of bad news… Esdeath has finished her conquest of the North and has now returned to the Capital."
A chill descended on the room.
"That was much faster than anyone thought it would be."
Lubbock nodded in response to Akame's observation and brought a hand up to rub his forehead.
"Seriously, she causes so much trouble!"
Najenda nodded to both their comments before continuing again.
"Thankfully, it seems that her army has remained in the North to keep watch and only the Three Beasts have returned with her."
Bulat looked thoughtful for a moment.
"So we can safely assume that that she wasn't brought back to deal with the Revolutionary army. For now anyway."
"Correct, however even I can't predict what her next move will be. Leone I want you to return to the Capital and observe her movements as much as possible. Do not get caught."
The blonde haired woman grinned.
"Roger, Boss! I've always wanted to know what kind of person she was!"
Najenda gave her a blank look.
"She is a homicidal battle maniac who enjoys mass slaughter and tortures people as a hobby. Do not, under any circumstanced let your guard down around her."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be careful."
And when she gets her guard down I'll kill her, was left unsaid. Najenda didn't need to know that.
"Finally there has been a sudden string of murders in and around the Capital lately. So far a total of four officials and sixty-one guards have been killed. The problem is that these have been found at each location of the attacks."
She held up a poster in her metal hand, showing a picture of the Night Raid symbol and some lettering underneath. Tatsumi shrugged slightly.
"Isn't it kind of obvious that it's fake though? It's not like we have ever claimed responsibility for any of our hits before. Why would we start now?"
Najenda nodded.
"That's what was thought for the first two attacks. Now it's seems that it could actually be us."
Seeing the confused look Tatsumi was giving her she elaborated.
"After each attack the security around the other officials was increased. The last attack left the target, the former Prime Minister Chouri, dead alongside thirty guards and his daughter, who was a disciple of the Imperial Fist temple's master. Public opinion thinks, correctly, that we are the only group capable of this. Only known group that is."
A troubled look swept across Akame's face.
"That means that the criminals are just as powerful as us. Teigu users in other words."
"Either way, all of the officials killed were people who stood against Prime Minister Honest. In other words he is starting to remove his opposition in the government and laying the blame down on us. Those men that died were all competent people who only cared for the country. People like them will become essential for the recreation of the government. In other words we cannot let any more of them die."
She stood from her chair.
"We will teach these fools that use our name the Law of Assassins!"
The room temperature seemed to drop again, though this time it was caused by those within rather than those without.
"So far we have five officials that we suspect are being targeted. Out of those five only two are intending to leave the Capital anytime soon. Those will be the ones we are protecting. Tatsumi and Bulat will guard one while Akame and Lubbock will take the other. We will stop these imposters at all costs!"
-T.G.O-
Harry groaned as he lay back on the ground, sending a wave of his power to soothe the growing bruises and thin cuts that littered his body.
Sometimes Esdeath seemed to take a little too much enjoyment out of slicing him to ribbon.
Glancing up as a shadow fell over him, Harry looked up at said woman as she sheathed her rapier once more and reached down a hand. Reaching up he gratefully took it with a exhausted groan, allowing her to pull him forcefully to his feet.
"Good work, you are improving more every time."
She cast her gaze over him, eyeing the torn and bloodied training clothed he was wearing.
"Go get yourself cleaned up and meet me at the front door. I believe it's been a while since I've had an ice cream in the Capital."
Harry grinned and nodded before bolting off towards their room, ignoring his aching body. He hadn't had time to be able to explore the Capital more since the last time and he had yet to go anywhere with Esdeath.
Ice cream was always good too.
Darting up a series of steps and into their shared room Harry quickly stripped off his torn and bloodied clothes, throwing them in a disposal chute nearby and bolting into the cold shower attached to the room, swiftly washing off as much of the dirt and grim, and blood as he could.
He noted that he was unusually… excited for some reason.
Dismissed the thought, he left the shower and walked into the bedroom once more, towelling himself down carefully as not to aggravate his rapidly healing injuries.
There was nothing wrong with excitement after all, so he saw no problem with feeling it.
Throwing on his clothes a little more carefully than he had removed his training kit, he took a moment to make sure everything was as meticulous as possible.
Hey, let him be a perfectionist if he wants to.
Walking from the room at a much more controlled pace than he had entered Harry began the short trek back through the hallways and down the stairs to the entrance hall, grinning when he saw Esdeath waiting for him.
She waited for him to walk over to him before turning around and moving to leave, Harry falling in step behind her.
"Hmm… I haven't gone for a simple walk in the Capital for a while. Come one, I know a good place for ice cream."
Her grin was oddly lacking in its normal insane bloodlust and endless sadism.
Harry just grinned back up at her silently.
-T.G.O-
"Whoa… This ship really is top if the line."
Taking another sip from the wine glass in his hand, Tatsumi cast his gaze over the crowd as he leaned against the ships railing.
"There is so many people here… and our targets completely surrounded by a meat wall. I suppose this was a miss after all, I can't see how someone would be able to assassinate him like this."
"Deciding that on your own without knowledge of the enemy in negligence, Tatsumi. Negligence kills in our line of work."
Tatsumi flinched slightly as Bulat's voice came out of mid-air.
"My invisibility gives me a massive advantage, what's to say that the fakes don't have something similar? We know they at least have one Teigu after all."
An invisible hand reached out and wacked him over the back of the head as the words were spoken. Reaching up and rubbing the growing bump, Tatsumi turned towards where Bulat's voice originated from.
"That's true. Sorry Aniki. Did you have to hit me though?"
"Just think of it as a love tap."
"A… love tap…"
Tatsumi shuddered slightly and proceeded to bury the thought deep within the darkest recesses of his mind.
Bulat opened his mouth to respond when a small click reached his ears, dragging his gaze down to the Teigu armour he was currently wearing.
"It looks like my invisibility is about to run out of time. I need to take this off."
Tatsumi nodded in understanding.
"They'll recognize you if you take it off here. I'll be fine, you should head somewhere else."
"Yeah, it would suck if I was recognized here. I'll head inside and start patrolling the inside of the boat. You watch out here."
With those last words spoken Bulat turned and walked off into the interior of the ship.
Sighing softly and leaning back against the railing Tatsumi looked up at the sky. It seemed too peaceful for a possible assassination attempt.
Relaxing slightly he looked around again. It didn't look like they would be needed after all.
And so, with that thought, the music began.
-T.G.O-
It was distinctly odd, Harry decided, watching Esdeath interact with the various shop keepers along their path.
She looked almost… normal. Like she wasn't a mass murdering, homicidal battle maniac with a thing for extreme sadism.
Harry honestly didn't know how he felt about it.
It was very, very strange.
Still he decided to ignore it, preferring instead to simple walk beside her, speaking to her every now and then or responding to her comments, all the while ignoring the odd and questioning looks that the people they passed by shot him.
They were to be expected of course, considering who he was walking with. It wasn't every day you saw the Empires Strongest walking down the street with a twelve to thirteen year old who was wearing rather similar clothes and identical colour schemes.
Still, it didn't seem to bother Esdeath and she didn't seem inclined to explain his presence so he just ignored it all and let all the looks slide over and off him as he followed her through the city.
Eventually Esdeath came to a stop in front of a rather small ice cream shop, the shop's owner rushing out to greet her, shifting nervously from foot to foot when he stopped in front of her.
Esdeath looked rather amused, in a rather sadist way, at the man jumping around before her.
"You may relax, I am simple making a few visits while I'm here. I've recently been placed in charge policing the Capital and wish to see what it is that I will be protecting."
The rather mouse-like man nodded his head up and down so rapidly harry was afraid for a moment that he was going to see the first man ever to nod their head off.
"Y-yes, of course! That is most heartening news, Esdeath-sama!"
Reaching into his pockets he pulled out a handful of coins holding them up to her.
"H-here, t-this is just a…"
He never got to finish that sentence. Harry watched with no small amount of amusement as a flash of disgust flew across her face before she reached down and picked up two of the gold coins and, in a sudden burst of movement, rammed them into the man's eyes.
"I don't need bribes. Do it again and I'll make it hurt."
The man yelped, stumbling backwards in pain. Esdeath just wished she had used a bit more force. It would have been amusing watching his eyes burst in their sockets, but that would have left her, and Harry, with no one to serve them. So she restrained herself.
"This shop is famous is it not? I would like to try some of your confections. Some for my companion here too."
She sat down on the bench in front of the store, Harry plopping himself down beside her as the man finally noticed him, nodding his head rapidly as he rushed back into his store.
"Y-yes! Of course! R-right away."
Leone was currently feeling a rather odd set of emotions right now. She was perched on a roof across from the shop Esdeath was sitting in front of, her Teigu, Lionel, active.
And she was scared. The amount of blood lust, of murderous intent that the blue haired woman was projecting was sending a cold sweat down her body.
She was also rather confused.
She knew the stories about Esdeath, knew what kind of things she had done.
Leone was well aware that she was a monster, through and through.
Which is why it was more than a little surprising to see her walking down the street with a young, twelvish looking, boy who apparently knew her rather well.
The fact that she had apparently seen fit to get him an ice cream almost made the scene look like that of a mother and child or brother and sister.
The fact that it was Esdeath and she was currently leaking deadly amounts of murderous intent prevented her from seeing it in that light.
Shaking off her confusion at the events for another time Leone began to back away before gritting her teeth and turning tail, following her enhanced instincts that were screaming at her to flee the apex predator below.
Down on the street, casually licking her ice cream beside Harry, Esdeath noticed the presence above them vanishing.
"Pity, they didn't take the bait. I was hoping to try out some new torture techniques."
Harry grimaced slightly at the reminder of her hobby before taking a bite out of his ice cream and looking up at his companion.
"Do you think that was someone from Night Raid?"
Esdeath gave a sadistic grin.
"Almost certainly. They'd been following us since we first entered this part of the city. If they had attacked I would have been able to use them to find the rest. Shame they ran off."
Turning her attention to the ice cream she was licking, she spoke again.
"These are quite good aren't they? We will have to take the Three Beasts here after their mission."
"That would be fun. Though the owner would probably have a heart attack."
Esdeath laughed lightly.
"Yes, it would be fun, wouldn't it?"
She fell silent and the two sat, nibbling on their ice creams as the comfortable silence grew.
-T.G.O-
Staggering slightly as he felt the will drain from his body, Tatsumi gritted his teeth, fighting the music that was trying to cox him into hopelessness and despair.
Shaking his head violently to clear it, he stood up straight again, looking around for the man he was meant to be protecting.
And then the wall behind him exploded.
Spinning around as fast as his sluggish body would allow he looked on as a massive man stepped through the newest addition to the wall, an equally large double sided axe over his shoulder.
"Hoh, someone who can resist Scream? Either way you might remember after this is finished so… you have to die."
Tatsumi glared at him.
"So you are one of the imposters."
The man grinned back in response.
"That means that you must one of the real Night Raid. This is going to be great!"
The man reached down and picked up one of the guards swords before chucking it to Tatsumi in one surprisingly smooth movement.
Catching the blade in mid-air he cast a wary eye at his opponent.
"What are you doing?"
"I couldn't get enough experience to go up a level if you can't put up a fight. Your part of Night Raid so you bound to give me heaps of the stuff."
Experience? Levels? Tatsumi gritted his teeth in rage. Was death and killing just a game to him?
"I'll give you great experience."
He leapt forward towards the man, dragging the blade in his hand from it's sheathe as he did.
"A trip to Hell!"
The man laughed, raising his massive axe above his head and swinging it sown at Tatsumi in front of him. Tatsumi jumped away at the last moment, just barely dogging the axe as it slammed into the wood below, creating an explosion on impact and splintering the solid wood.
The man grinned.
"You dodge well for someone under the effects of Scream so..."
He grasped the axe and pulled it into two smaller, one bladed axes before pulling his arm back.
"…how about this!"
Swinging his arm forward he hurled one of the axes at Tatsumi.
Tatsumi ducked, the axe spun over his head in a whirlwind of spinning steel and death. Balancing himself on one hand, he leapt back up and prepared to attack.
A whirling buzz behind him was his only warning and he jumped to the side as the axe flew back to its master, slashing him across the side as it went. He staggered, clutching at the wound.
Fighting for his balance Tatsumi looked at the grinning man.
He was going to die at this rate.
Leaping to the side as the other axe whizzed past his head and darting forward with his sword drawn, he began running towards the larger man, the sound of the whizzing blade closing in behind him.
The man prepared his second axe for a powerful kill stroke.
The first axe whirled closer.
Tatsumi ducked into a forward roll, releasing his sword and sending it spinning towards the man as he did, the axe whizzing over his head towards its owner.
The man jerked back in surprise, bringing down the axe in his hand to block the sloppily thrown sword, momentarily forgetting his own axe in his shock at the reckless attack.
Tatsumi planted his feet on the wood below and forced himself backwards in one massive leap.
The man his axe approaching and jumped to the side to avoid it, reaching out a hand to catch it as it whirled past and stumbling slightly as it jerked him back.
Tatsumi landed, standing again, preparing to grab another nearby weapon.
The man regain his balance, preparing to throw again.
A fist slammed into Tatsumi's face, lifting up off the ground as Bulat seemed to materialize before him.
"Don't do such reckless things, idiot!"
Tatsumi landed with a thump, rubbing his jaw.
The man lowered his axes, looking at the duo in a kind of stunned amusement before snapping out of his daze and speaking up.
"You seem fine despite Scream. How did you ignore it?"
Bulat grinned back at him as he hauled Tatsumi back to his feet.
"Nothing can suppress the hot blood flowing through my veins!"
Ignoring the odd comment and noting the hastily wrapped injury on his hip the man raised an eyebrow.
"You stabbed yourself in the leg to clear your mind. You're an interesting person aren't you?"
Bulat smirked as he moved into a combat position.
"I am Bulat of Night Raid. Some people call me handsome. You're not allowed to though."
The man gave him a slightly queer look as he prepared his axes.
"I am one of Esdeath's servants, Daidara of the Three Beasts."
"Alright Tatsumi. Watch this fight carefully. Memorise it."
Bulat slammed his hand down onto the wood planks below.
"Incursio!"
Something rose up behind him, a beast most ancient and terrible, as armour began to knit itself together across his body, a cape flaring out behind him as the helmet enclosed his head.
Daidara's grin reached face splitting proportions as he watched, cackling gleefully.
"This guy's going to be worth tons of experience!"
Bulat went to stand just as Daidara surged forward, Nyau leaping down from above and Liver jumping up from below the railing of the ship, converging on the armoured man.
Tatsumi opened his mouth to shout out a warning.
Bulat jumped.
Nyau only had a second to realise that, yeah, it was going to hurt, a lot, before Incursio's armoured fist slammed into his midsection, knocking the air from his chest and sending him blast though the nearest wall as Bulat spun in mid-air, foot slamming into Liver's back and sending him tumbling back over the railing.
A blood red spear materialized in his hands, slashing downwards as he spun towards his last standing opponent.
Daidara, still charging forward, slammed on the breaks, desperately back peddling as he raised his axe blades to block.
He was moments too slow.
The spear sliced downwards, cutting through flesh and bone with a terrible ease, blood splattering everywhere.
Daidara's two, perfectly bisected, halves collapsed to the ground with two identically wet thumps.
-T.G.O-
And that is Chapter 6 finished.
I really hope people enjoyed it, even though it was pretty much a mirror of canon. I am aware how closely I'm following the canon storyline and promise that that will change as Harry's begins to influence events more.
Also, I will only be showing Night Raid scenes I think are important. This one is because it involves the death of the Three Beasts.
Anyway, just as I've said every other time, all advice, constructive criticism, idea, likes, dislikes or simple mistakes I could fix are all welcome and appreciated.
Once again, I hope you enjoyed this.
Thanks and goodbye!