Hell everyone! Welcome to Chapter 11 of The Glacial Ones!
As always, we'll start with the reviews!
sinnerlust: Thanks for improving your grammar, it was much easier to figure out what you were saying this time. The only thing that I have to say is that there is very little chance of Esdeath ever seeing them as a threat. Even if, a possible when, Harry were to notice and return their affections he Esdeath is still their superior in the chain of command and Harry is completely devoted to her. I made a note at some point that he was willing to put aside his morals for her. Thanks for reviewing!
Tsunashi777: First, thanks for this review, it was quite helpful. Anyway, for your first question the idea of sending Harry and Esdeath (and possible Air, Fal and Luna) to Naruto was just that, an idea. So far I only have sending them to the Potterverse planned, so after that it's a blank slate. Closer to the time, I'll take suggestions and put up a poll.
Regarding Esdeath being weak, that's not entirely true as she grew up with her tribe and the flashbacks showed she was hunting low level danger beasts at a young age. One the same note, she believes that her tribe was wiped out because it, and so she as well, was too weak. As for stylish, well, he is going to die in the next few chapters, raiding Night Raid. Thanks again for your questions!
Imperial warlord: My most loyal reviewer! Anyway, thanks again for reviewing. All I can say is that as I have only had support for the romance idea I will follow through with it and rely on all of you reviewers to tell me if I am getting unrealistic.
muratira: Firstly, thanks for another informative and useful review. I myself do not mind multi relationships myself but I am forced to agree that anything above five members is getting ridiculous. I don't mind reading large harem stories for entertainment, but they tend to lack proper depth.
This story was initially meant to be exclusively Harry x Esdeath and I was a little leery about doing more than that. Initially I was actually considering Kurome, but I decided that that would be cruel to Wave and since I have had only positive support for this I will be following through with your idea of Air, Fal and Luna having romantic feelings for Harry. I'm relying on you people to tell me if I start getting unrealistic though.
Finally about the three girls becoming mini-Esdeaths? It's actually quite possible considering that they will be desperate to gain power for themselves and for Harry as well as Esdeaths' approval. Harry is powerful but not the greatest role model so chances are they will actually start to take after Esdeath to varying degrees. They'll never be as sadistic or as powerful as her, but they could very well become mini-Esdeaths.
It's simple to funny to not do. Wizarding World, meet Harry Potter, Esdeath, mini-Esdeath 1, mini-Esdeath 2, mini-Esdeath 3. Plus they're all rather possessive. Kneel down and grovel, Wizarding World. Anyway, now that that's out of my system, thanks again for a well written and well thought out review.
Alright, now that that's out of the way, onwards to chapter 11!
I do not own, in any way, shape, or form Akame Ga Kill or Harry Potter.
-T.G.O-
Chapter 11: Hunt, Hounds of Winter
Harry yawned into his right hand as he trudged into the Jaegers kitchen area, sending a half-hearted greeting towards Wave and Kurome who were already up, receiving a nod from Kurome and a smile from Wave.
"Good morning, Harry. Sleep well?"
Harry just blinked blearily at him for a moment before nodding.
"It wasn't too bad. Esdeath hasn't climbed into my bed in her sleep recently."
Wave, having chosen that moment to take a sip of his coffee, did a rather magnificent spit take before descending into a coughing fit.
Recovering, Wave looked over at Harry.
"Wait, what? She sleep walks into your room to climb into your bed at night?"
Harry tilted his head to the side, giving Wave a childishly confused look.
"Of course not. Why would she need to sneak into my room when we sleep in the same room? It's honestly not that much of a problem except that she's a clingy sleeper."
Placing his cup on the table in front of him and coughing again as he choked a little on another sip of coffee, Wave shot Harry an incredulous look.
"You sleep in the same room? And she sneaks into your bed? Why?"
Titling his head to the other side Harry somehow managed to double the look of sheer confusion on his face.
"Why do we sleep in the same room or why does she sneak into my bed? We've always slept in the same room, we even share a tent when she's leading her army. I have no idea why she climbs into my bed though. Neither does she actually, it just kind of happens after we go to sleep. Is that weird?"
Wave's face became suspiciously blank as he peered at Harry.
"Yes, that weird. What…somebody has given you The Talk, right? Please say yes."
"If you want me to then, yes. But what is 'The Talk'? Is it important?"
Wave opened his mouth to respond, realised that he was about to be dragged into giving the thirteen year old companion of Esdeath The Talk, and promptly shut his mouth again, before turning towards Kurome, who was still munching away at her candy, looking vaguely amused as she did.
"Right…let's pretend this conversation never happened. Should you really be eating candy this early in the morning, Kurome?"
Kurome gave him an unamused look at his attempt to change the conversation.
"None of your business. It's much more preferable than eating any of your fish. I don't want to start smelling like a beach like you do."
Wave looked shocked, pulling back the collar of his shirt as he tried to smell himself.
"What?! Seriously?! Do I really smell?!"
Harry grinned as he walked over to sit beside Kurome, nodding at Wave.
"Yes, you smell really, really bad. Haven't you noticed how all the people in the Capital stay away from you?"
Wave looked like he was about to collapse in depression when he saw the grin stretched across Harry's face and the amusement dancing in Kurome's eyes.
"Your joking around with me aren't you? Dammit, do I actually smell or not?"
Harry just grinned and waved a dismissive hand towards him, Kurome ignoring him in favour of nibbling on another piece of her candy.
"Nah, not really. You just have this vaguely fishy smell. Are you sure we can trust you?"
Opening his mouth to respond, Wave was interrupted as Esdeath walked into the room at a brisk pace, straightening her collar as she did.
"Harry! We haven't got anything scheduled so we are going to go hunting at Mt Fake for the next few days. It's not quite what we normally hunt, but it's the best we can do while we're tied down to the Capital."
She pulled on her leggings as she spoke, before glancing up and noticing Wave and Kurome looking at her, Wave looking vaguely shocked at her sudden entry and Kurome just gazing at her blankly.
"Hmm…Wave and Kurome will be coming along as well."
She turned her attention to said two.
"Mt Fake is the perfect place to ambush somebody, so make sure you keep your eyes open for enemies while you are hunting."
The two nodded, Kurome going back to nibbling on her candy as Wave grinned.
"Roger!"
"Good. Until evening we will be hunting Tree man cells. Kurome and I will be searching and clearing out the East side, as I have yet to see a lot of her skills close up, and Harry and Wave will clean out the west side. We will switch at dusk, since Harry has more experience hunting and I want to be able to kill something a little more dangerous than average."
She pulled on her cap as the group nodded, before turning to Wave as a surprised look spread across his face.
"Wait, does that mean you have already confirmed my abilities?"
"You were trained by an excellent teacher and your strength is very near perfect. You should be proud of yourself."
With that she turned to leave, Harry moving to walk beside her as she glanced over her shoulder.
"I want you all ready to leave in half an hour, so you should be moving now."
With her final orders given she strode from the room, Harry a step behind her as she left, both nodding briefly in greeting to Stylish as they passed.
The hunt had begun.
-T.G.O-
Wave looked over at where Harry was walking a few metres in front of him, hands clasped down behind his back, as though he were taking a brief stroll down a street in the Capital, a happy bounce in his step.
"You seem to be in good mood. I thought you would be more upset about not being partnered with Esdeath."
Ahead of him Harry spun around, hands still clasped behind his back and a grin on his face, looking every bit the child he was meant to be.
"Don't get me wrong, I adore Esdeath, but it's nice to be able to do things with someone else for a change. You know, in the last three years since we meet I've been away from Esdeath for a total of less than seventy-two hours, not counting when we were in combat. And most of that time was spent with the Three Beasts, or when she had a meeting she couldn't drag me too and didn't want me waiting outside."
Wave gave him as incredulous look.
"Seriously?! Woah, I've heard of possessive people but…whoa."
Harry just gave him a confused look as he almost skipped backwards. Which was actually quite impressive.
"Possessive? Really?"
Shaking his head Wave decided now might be a good time to change the topic.
"Well, at least she doesn't seem too bad to spend time around."
Harry spun around, facing forwards again as he let out a light laugh.
"Normally that's true, but you haven't seen her other side yet, nor have you done anything to attract her ire. Esdeath is a sadist of the highest degree, and she finds a disturbing amount of pleasure in the torture of others. She also enjoys fighting against powerful foes, as well as large scale slaughter, plus she has absolutely no mercy for her enemies. Make no mistake, Wave, if you get on her bad side it will not be pleasant."
Wave swallowed quietly, not quite sure how he should take such a blunt description of Esdeath's darker side from her closest companion. He decided that maybe it was time for a different topic. Again.
"What kind of danger beasts should we be looking out for? I know all the monsters of the sea, but none of the ones that would live in the mountain tops."
Harry hummed lightly for a moment as they enters a small, barren clearing.
"The ones around here that you will see at day mostly prefer to use camouflage and blend in with the environment. They normally take the form of trees or rocks."
He turned and pointed behind Wave.
"Like the one behind you."
…
"What!"
Wave spun, drawing his sword from its' sheath as he did, just in time to slice of the branch like tentacle that tried to attack him from behind, a spurt of blood splattering the ground as Wave looked at the odd creature before him.
It looked like a dead tree, just like Harry said they could be, with a single eye bigger than his head at the very top of the trunk and a gaping, screeching mouth below it though it was actually more off a jagged hole in the trunk than a mouth.
He heard a laugh behind him as Harry gazed around at the approaching danger beasts.
"There is quite a few isn't there. It helps if you aim for the eye, but they really aren't that dangerous."
Harry drew his two blades off his back as Wave looked around, noting the various trees and rocks circling them, a single large eye in each the only sign that they weren't just ordinary dead trees and boulders.
Normal dead trees and boulders that could move.
Harry pulled himself into a combat stance. Though he still had trouble with more than six or seven well trained soldier at one time without his powers, and didn't have the skill to properly stand against someone like Wave, against brainless, low level danger beasts like these he was practically unstoppable.
It helped that he had long ago learnt that he could use his ability to subtle increase his strength and speed, which put him on the level where he could probable fight Wave without a huge amount of difficulty.
He grinned at the circling danger beasts as he sent pulses of his unique energy into each of his muscles.
"Alright, let's clear this area out so that we can move on."
With a nod that Harry couldn't actually see, Wave charged forward, Harry darting in the other direction, their blades dancing as they entered the ranks of the danger beasts.
Said danger beasts, really didn't have a of a hope in survival as they were cut down in mere minutes by the two as their blades flashed in the sunlight, two people dancing to the tune of death and destruction until there was nothing left to kill.
Wave looked over at Harry as the younger boy flicked the blood off his blades and slid them into their sheaths over his back.
He turned to meet Wave's gaze.
"This is going to take far too long if we do it this way, and Esdeath doesn't like to be kept waiting. How about we slit up?"
He pointed down a small ravine leading from the clearing, speaking over any disagreement from Wave.
"You go that way, and I'll clear out the upper area of the mountain. We'll meet round the other side with Esdeath and Kurome."
Wave opened his mouth to protest and say that they should be sticking together before closing it with a snap. Harry was more than capable of looking after himself, and it was taking a while to cover the mountain side. Plus if what Harry said was true, he probable wasn't getting a lot of time to himself.
Nodding rather reluctantly, he turned towards the ravine he had pointed out.
"Fine. Just don't get yourself injured or something on accident. I would rather not have Esdeath skin me alive."
Harry just grinned as he watched him move away before turning and continuing up the mountain, blades flashing out every now and then as he casually murdered any and every danger beast in sight, leaving a trail of carnage and corpses behind him.
He didn't have to feel bad about massacring danger beasts like he did humans. They had 'danger' in their name for a reason.
Sighing as he finished slaughtering out another clearing full of the things, he turned his attention to the view of the mountains beyond. Not the greatest view, but it was sufficient to keep him amused as he cleaned off his blades.
He had been tempted to just use his powers to kill everything that moved, but he realised he needed to gain a lot more experience and skill in close quarters with his dual swords.
So he restrained himself and massacred the beasts the old fashion way.
The one that involved swords and copious amounts of blood.
-T.G.O-
It was already well into evening when Harry arrived at the camp site were the other two were waiting, the sun already setting as it bathed the world in a crimson glow. He walked over at a leisurely pace, grinning happily as he took his place sitting beside Esdeath, reaching over and nibbling on a piece of bread.
Esdeath turned her gaze down towards him.
"Good timing, Harry."
She looked behind him.
"Where is Wave?"
He shot her a slightly surprised look.
"He hasn't arrived yet? Huh, we split up a few hours ago because it was taking too long to cover the whole mountain side."
Esdeath nodded her understanding. She was well aware that Harry sometimes, rarely, needed time to himself, which is why she had ended up partnering him with Wave while she observed Kurome.
"He has Grand Chariot on him so it is unlikely that he will encounter any trouble. He'll be fine"
She turned her gaze to Kurome.
"You may as well wait here then for Wave and continue hunting once he returns. Harry and I will continue on ahead."
Kurome nodded silently, nibbling on another of the candies from her bag.
Harry could never figure where she was hiding that bag when they were travelling.
Esdeath stood when she noticed that Harry had stopped eating.
"Come on. We will begin now."
She turned her gaze to Kurome once more as Harry stood, checking his weapons.
"Will you be fine waiting for Wave, Kurome?"
She just nodded in response, reaching out and plucking another candy from her bag.
Esdeath walked from the camp without another word, Harry falling in step behind her as they moved off into the ominous shadows cast by the sinking sun.
Not that either of them really noticed what would have freaked most normal people out. Esdeath was fearless and Harry was well aware that the scariest thing on the mountain right now was walking right beside him.
Something the night dwellers of said mountain learnt the hard way.
In their dying moments that is.
Great, scaly lizards, poor dragon imitation's, odd twisted things, they all fell to Harry or Esdeath's blade, though to be honest, Harry only got to kill any at all because Esdeath wanted him to learn from the experience. The danger beasts of Mt Fake held no danger for Esdeath. They were just beasts waiting to die before her blade.
So the sun set behind the horizon, a full, silver moon taking its place gazing down at the carnage below with an uncaring eye.
Beasts of every shape and size rose up as night fell, their days just barely beginning and, in many cases, ending permanently as they had an unfortunate encounter with the two hunters.
Wiping off his blade and looking around, noting Esdeath standing before a pile of corpses of all shapes and sizes, Harry shook off his fatigue and walked towards her, sliding his swords back into their sheaths as he did.
Esdeath turned to look at him.
"Hmm…looks like there isn't anything exciting around after all. I suppose it's to be expected so close to the Capital. Maybe tomorrow night we will find something interesting."
Harry opened his mouth to agree, only to be interrupted by a loud crash as Esdeath's wishes somehow became reality.
Turning to face the latest danger beast, Harry couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
It looked like one of the Tree men, but it was over fifteen metres tall, with its bark cracked and peeling, not even covering most of the large creature, leaving the beasts coarse, pitch black, skin showing. It's single eye was a malevolent red, cracks of the same colour branching out from its eyeball across its skin, glowing ominously in the silver moonlight.
It was a rather terrifying sight.
Or it would have been if it wasn't Harry and Esdeath that were looking at it.
Esdeath just grinned.
"Hoh, a mutated Tree man maybe? Interesting, maybe tonight's hunt will be useful after all. Harry, kill it."
Harry nodded silently, pulling his blades off his back as the groaning creature glared down at him.
Esdeath stood to the side, observing.
Harry prepared himself to attack.
The mutated Tree beast opened its gaping mouth wide.
Harry shot forwards as a hail of black, stick like structure glowing with an ominous crimson light, shot toward him at high speed.
He rolled forwards, just managing to slip under the hail, which pierced the rocks around where he had been standing, the crimson glow seeping into the stone, corroding it like a powerful acid before Esdeath's fascinated eyes.
This was a most interesting beast.
Rolling back to his feet Harry continued running forwards, flipping sideway over a swipe from one of the danger beasts black branches, landing and darting forward as the branch crushed a boulder off to his left.
Darting to the side, he dodged another, overhead swing from the beast which shattered the ground, a third attack slashing down on an angle sending up a wave of stone shards as Harry ducked it.
Harry ignored a fourth attack that crashed into the ground to his right, cratering it, as he placed a foot firmly on the bottom of the creature trunk and pushed up.
The danger beast let out an enraged screech as Harry began to run up its trunk, a desperate attack from one of its flailing branches tearing a gash in its own side as he continued up towards its blazing eye.
Pulling back his right sword, Harry prepared to leap over it mouth and thrust the blade through its eye, aborting the plan at the last moment when he noticed something glimmer in the wide jagged hole it had for a mouth.
Instead he rammed his left blade into the flesh below the mouth, creating a spurt of blackened blood and a screech, before swinging himself around the creature's body just as it released another hail of stick-like objects as close to his direction as the creature could fire.
Stabbing his right blade into the danger beasts back as he pulled his left sword free, Harry sent himself flipping up into its branches, flipping in mid-air as he pumped power into his arms, holding his remaining sword in both hand above his head as he spun, the other still lodges in the beasts back.
The branches around him drew back.
He began to flip in mid-air faster and faster, blade held out above his head like a human buzz saw.
The branches lashed out towards him.
He slashed down as he fell, putting all the momentum of his spinning, combined with the force of his enhanced muscle and the insistent pull of gravity into a single, massive slash.
Harry landed on the ground in a crouch with a thud.
The Tree beast split down the middle with an explosion of black blood and a horrible screech, its two sides slamming to the ground opposite each other.
Flicking the blood off his swords, promising he would clean them properly later, Harry was about to walk back to Esdeath when a crimson glimmer caught his eye.
He leaned down to pick it up from where it lay in between the danger beasts two halves, sitting in the middle of the growing pool of black blood.
Holding it towards the moon he found that it was a small, bloody crimson gemstone with a murky black core, the same colour of the beasts' eye.
Esdeath walked over, curious at what he had found, peering at the gemstone in his hands.
"Hmm, it must be the danger beast heart. It must have been warped by whatever mutation the creature had. How interesting."
She turned her gaze towards Harry as he examined the glowing gemstone.
It glowed brighter for a moment.
"Weird…it seems to be channelling my power."
Esdeath raised an eyebrow before plucking it from his fingers.
She stared at it for a moment.
"No difference for me, but then it could be because you power isn't from this world."
She handed the gemstone back to him and pointed at a nearby boulder.
"Try using it to channel your power towards that boulder. We'll see what happens."
Harry took the glowing gemstone in his fingertips, pointing it at the boulder as he tried to channel his power into it and towards the boulder.
Nothing happened.
Harry tried pushing more power into it as the glow started to intensifying until he stopped adding energy, starting to feel the drain on his core.
The gemstone remained glowing brightly, casting the area in an ominous crimson glow.
Taking it from him again, Esdeath examined it once more.
"It seems to be acting as some kind of storage for your power. We'll have to experiment with it a bit later and see if you can withdraw the power from it."
Handing the gem back to Harry, who stored it securely in one of the inside pockets of his trench coat, she turned back towards the way they had come.
"We should be heading back to meet the others now. Come."
She began to move away, Harry hurrying to catch up, his coat swirling around him as the ominous crimson glow bleed through the white of the coats pocket.
And far away, in a place between all places, something laughed.
-T.G.O-
And we are finished chapter 11!
Firstly, some note, I have a simple idea for the gemstone, however suggestions are all welcome, even if they aren't necessary.
Secondly I intend to give Air, Fal and Luna Teigu at some stage so any and all ideas for either pre-existing or custom Teigu are welcome!
Finally feel free to tell me all your likes, dislikes, constructive criticism, ideas or questions. Also feel free to inform me of any mistakes I've made that need fixing. Any and all reviews are welcome and appreciated.
So please review!
Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed chapter 11 and the rest of the story so far and thank you all for reading.
See you all next time!