Hello people and welcome back for chapter 31 of The Glacial Ones!
To start off, as always, review responses!
Plums: I don't intend to have him take anymore prisoners. Mundungus was captured solely for the purpose of being tortured to death by Esdeath and tell her and Harry about the Wizarding World.
Yami-Guy: Thanks for all the support! Most appreciated!
Wildman90: Well, currently, on a purely magical level, Harry could face off Dumbledore or Voldemort and possible win. If you throw in his physical capabilities and Shambhala… Esdeath is still a fair way above Harry, so take that as you wish, and individually Air, Fal and Luna are weaker than Harry, but near his level when they work as a team. And yes, they will be obtaining the Harry Potter Philosophers stone at some point.
For your second review, no they won't be taking Dorothea with them, but they will return for her assistance every now and then. And finally, about sending them to Full Metal Alchemist, it is a definite possibility. Heck, they could start their own collection of Philosophers Stones from different dimensions! Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and support!
Xablanque: Yes, the actual return chapter could be amusing. So far I'm thinking of something along the lines of using Shambhala to appear in the middle of the Hogwarts Hall, through all the schools wards, or doing some kind of smash-the-door-down type event for Harry's official return. Thanks for the support!
Zathol: To start with, Esdeath won't be changing her base equipment, so no guns, but why limit yourself to cars? What about when she discovers tanks? As for One piece, it's possible, but would be difficult to properly mesh, mainly since One Piece still is a rather light hearted show. Akame Ga Kill really isn't. Still, it's something to think about. As for happy endings for Night Raid, what can I say? I'm a soft hearted fool, so most of them probable will. Anyway, thanks for the review!
Dragon27998: That's… actually an interesting idea. Deathly Hallows maybe? Or something original… definitely a thought to hold onto. Thanks for that suggestion!
Exiled Soul Nomad: Thanks for pointing that out for me, I really muddled that chapter. It should be fixed now, so once again, thanks for the support and pointing that out to me!
And a big thanks to Imperial warlord and Drunkle Qrow. You guys, and girls, are all awesome!
Now then, onwards to chapter 31 of The Glacial Ones!
I do not own, in any way, shape, or form Akame Ga Kill or Harry Potter.
-T.G.O-
Chapter 31: As the Wheels of Fate Turn
The man, Mundungus Fletcher according to his own screaming, had died pathetically quickly according to Esdeath. Harry had been there, but he normally avoided torture so didn't know how long it took most people to die. To be honest he would have rather not have had to be there when that man was tortured either, but, since he had captured the man in his home world, he felt it was his duty.
Their little mission back into his home world had ended rather anticlimactically, with Luna using the Book of Lies to get them into the local library, mainly because they didn't want anything to alert whatever group it was that was obviously trying to find Harry of their presence only a few minutes' walk from where he had shown up before. After that, they spent the next six hours, until the sun was rising outside, studying up on Harry's worlds history and technology.
Esdeath was rather amused with the sheer amount of bloodshed they could cause even without things like Teigu.
Upon returning to their world, they had spent the next two days remaining with Esdeaths army and taking a few trips back and forth between worlds for information, until the five had been redeployed back to the Capital and their duties as Jaegers. Well, two of them went back to their duties as Jaegers, anyway. Air, Fal and Luna were never part of the Special Police Force in the first place.
Which lead them to where they were now, with Harry, Esdeath, Air, Fal and Luna all sitting on two couches around the table in the otherwise empty Jaeger common room, reviewing what they had managed to pry out of the man before his rather painful death.
Harry placed an open noted book on the table in front of him from where he was sitting on the couch beside Esdeath.
"Well, the most important thing he told us would be that there is an entire society of people with abilities, magic, similar to mine hidden from the view of the rest of my home world."
The group nodded, Esdeath randomly reaching over and hugging him to her side with an affectionate smile.
"True, but they don't appear to have a portion of your power and have no physical ability whatsoever in comparison to the average soldier."
A flicker of disgust flashed across her face as she spoke. The man they had tortured, Mundungus, had been pathetically weak and, according to him, most wizards and witches as they called themselves, barely bothered with proper physical training.
Harry relaxed into Esdeaths embrace, not fully understanding why she was doing it but deciding that it was comfortable as across the table, Luna spun the note book towards her for a moment before speaking.
"They also appear to need these… 'Wands'. Why?"
She glanced up at Harry, pouting slightly as she watched Esdeath cuddle him, Fal speaking up beside her.
"Yeah, I mean, you have never needed anything like that, and a wand just seems like an easily broken stick to me. It could easily be destroyed or removed in combat, and then they wouldn't be able to fight at all since their physical abilities suck so much."
Esdeath nodded.
"Indeed. It does seem odd, but we'll have to do more study on the subject before we can cast a judgement on them. Next time we return to Harry's world, we will go in search of this 'Diagon Alley' and study more about the Wizarding World. We also have to remember that as a child, Harry managed to tear a hole in reality and end up in our dimension, so I imagine he was significantly more powerful than average even then."
Harry grinned, still held against her side as he piped up.
"What about this Dumbledore person that the man, Mundungus, seemed to think would save him? He seems to be something of a leader to the British Wizarding World, as well as the head of their one school. He must have a bit of pull, and he seems to be targeting me for the whole Boy-Who-Lived crap."
It had been a bit of a shock, and more than a little bit darkly amusing, that he was actually famous in this so called Wizarding World for defeating their apparent 'Dark Lord', and was considered to be the next 'Leader of the Light'. Amusing indeed, considering that he had devoted himself to someone who was possibly worse than their 'Dark Lord'.
Esdeath just smiled down at him.
"If he tries anything, then we will just kill him. He is probably the only wizard or witch in Europe that can provide a threat for us, and even then, he isn't going to be that much of one. He seems to be a hard core pacifist who won't step in until it's too late."
She looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Hmm… Actually considering the whole 'next Leader of the Light' and the fact that he is the current so called 'Leader of the Light' I doubt he will approve of me. We may have to do something drastic if he tries to separate us all."
Harry scowled unconsciously at the idea of someone trying to separating them as Air nodded thoughtfully from her position beside Luna.
"So we really need an unbiased view on this 'Wizarding World' as well as a source of information on Harry's 'magic' next time we head to Harry's world. Do we have any idea when we might get back there?"
Esdeath sighed.
"Not for a while, I'm afraid. With our duties as the Jaegers, we can't just vanish for several hours on end, especially with the Revolutionary Army picking up speed and power."
The three girls nodded grimly.
Sometimes it was easy to forget that they were fighting for an Empire on the brink of self-implosion.
Sometimes it was easy to forget that the Empire was still crumbling around them.
-T.G.O-
"Hey, Dorothea!"
Harry grinned as he walked into the lab reserved for the Jaegers, his hands laced behind his back as he practically bounced along beside Esdeath, who just gave an amused look at his childish antics.
Turning from her work at the other end of the laboratory, Dorothea turned around and gave the two newcomers an oddly pleasant smile.
"Good morning Harry, Esdeath. I was actually just wondering when you two would come down to check on our projects."
Esdeath smirked slightly as she led Harry over to the master alchemist, nodding as she approached.
"Indeed. So, what have you got for us since we left for the West?"
Dorothea gave a grin as Esdeath sat down, Harry peaking over her shoulder to look at what she had been working on, his eyes lighting up as he saw the shell of what looked like a smaller replica of the Eight Span Mirror that Susanoo used.
Motioning for him to sit down, Esdeath nodded for Dorothea to begin. Dorothea gave Harry another amused look before beginning to speak, taking the incomplete Philosophers Stone from its pedestal.
"To start with the Philosophers Stone, I have managed to unravel quite a few layers of its creation and, at this point, the first thing that I must say, is that I cannot complete it."
Harry tilted his head to the side quizzically and Dorothea sighed in disappointment as she stared at the crimson stone.
"The alchemy used in its creation is too different from the alchemy that I use. Without first learning a completely different method of alchemy that was likely lost centuries ago, it is impossible to ever actually fix. On the other had however, while I can't yet create my own Philosophers Stone, this has advanced my own methods of alchemy by decades and, given the right materials, I could create something that could do something similar to its first purpose."
Esdeath gave her a quizzical look before speaking.
"In what way do you mean?"
Dorothea grinned.
"Remember my theory about the stone providing pure life force to the Tree man it was inside, and that's why it mutated?"
Harry and Esdeath both nodded in confirmation.
"Well, with a little more testing and the correct materials, I could create something similar to my Teigu that sucks energy from the area around it and then feeds it into a person it is implanted into as life force. It wouldn't be able to heal wounds like the Philosophers Stone would have been able to but it would be able to at least stop the effects of aging as long as there is energy around for it to convert into life force. It will also be low enough not to mutate someone with sufficient power."
She nodded over towards where Harry was listening attentively.
"I just need you to complete the replica of the Philosophers Stone and finish my testing then start gathering the materials required."
Harry nodded as Esdeath spoke up beside him.
"What kinds of materials are we talking about?"
Dorothea glanced down at a rather long list she had on the desk beside her for a moment before answering.
"Mostly I need various parts of different danger beasts that I can use for my alchemy. Some of them should be relatively easy to buy or hunt but some can only be obtained from upper class danger beasts. Nothing close to what was used for the Teigu, but still not easy to find and obtain."
Esdeath nodded.
"Give me a copy of the list when we leave and I'll see what we can do about."
She gave a bloodthirsty grin as she glanced down at Harry.
"It's been a while since we have had a decent hunt."
Dorothea complemented face palming as she realised that obtaining the danger beast parts she thought would be highly difficult was probably just sport for Esdeath. It was sometimes difficult to remember that Esdeath was the Empire's Strongest for a reason, and Harry was no slouch either.
She shook the thoughts away before turning around and motioning the two over, Harry and Esdeath standing from their seats to look at the mirror on the table before them.
"The mirror project on the other hand has been going far better, especially with the advancements to my own alchemy."
Harry and Esdeath gazed at the smaller replica of the Eight Span Mirror. It was just over a metre in diameter, approximately one metre and twenty centimetres, and was almost an identical replica of the original with a slightly darker colouring due to the materials used in its creation, its only difference being that the four Magatama that where normally positioned around it were missing.
Noting the two observing the mirror, Dorothea began to speak again, turning their attention back to her.
"So far it should, theoretically, be able to work as soon as the Teigu core or the replica you are making is connected to it and sufficient energy is added, but I set it up so that if you can create four or more replicas of the core then you will be able to slot them in where the Magatama were on the original."
Harry gave her a quizzical look.
"Why more than one?"
She grinned.
"To increase its efficiency. With only one Magatama core, it will cost far more energy to power it than the energy being reflected. Currently it works the more energy you add, the more energy you can reflect at one time, but if the energy put in is larger than the energy it can reflect, then it becomes a liability in battle."
Harry nodded his understanding as she continued to speak.
"Having four Magatama implanted should be able to lower the input cost to either equal to the reflected energy or, depending on how the four Magatama react with each other, below the required cost."
Dorothea, turned and started ruffling through some notes next to the mirror as she spoke.
"Unfortunately, I can't be sure until you finish creating the copy of the core."
Harry sighed.
"Yeah, but it will still take a few days. I've almost completed it, but with the replica of the incomplete Philosophers Stone also in the works, there really isn't a lot that I can do to speed it up."
Waving her had dismissively, Dorothea turned away from her notes once more to look at Harry.
"That's fine. It's not like anyone else can create replicas of actual Teigu, so I'm not going to complain."
She grinned again.
"Anyway I…"
She was interrupted as the laboratory door was pushed open, Ran walking in with a slightly hurried step.
"Esdeath, Harry!"
He stopped in front of the group of three, noting Dorothea standing with them and giving her a nod.
"Good morning, Dorothea."
He turned to Esdeath before Dorothea could respond.
"Esdeath, we have successfully captured two members of Night Raid."
Harry's eyes widened slightly at the news as Esdeath gave a sadistic grin before noting that Ran wanted to say something else and giving him a questioning look.
"But?"
Ran sighed, bowing his head slightly in apology.
"I'm sorry, but Great General Budo became aware of it after we took the two down to the dungeons. He has decided that despite Night Raid being the Jaegers responsibility, he wishes to have them publically executed in a few days to draw out the rest. He told me to inform you that we are forbidden access to them and cannot torture them for information. He wants them in their best condition for the execution."
Esdeath scowled darkly before sighing.
"Fine… No point antagonising the Great General at this point. Maybe another day. I suppose I have more interesting things to do than torture someone for information."
Ran gave a slightly relieved sigh at her acceptance of the order. It would not do to have the two of the most powerful people in the Empire trying to rip each other a new one in the middle of the Imperial Palace as the Revolutionary army approached.
"He did say that if either of them willingly gives up the information on the rest of Night Raid without torture, he will rescind the order for their execution, but not to the other member."
Esdeath almost snorted.
"I swear, the old man's getting soft hearted, actually giving them a choice. He should just let me pull the information from them. Either way, I suppose."
She turned to look at Dorothea and Harry.
"Dorothea, you may remain here and continue your work if you wish. Harry, you have a marker in the Jaeger common room, don't you?"
Dorothea nodded, turning back to her notes a moment before Harry echoed he nod, already grasping Shambhala in his hand as Esdeath gave him a small smile.
"Good. Take the three of us back. I want to learn what happened."
Harry nodded again as he activated Shambhala, Ran watching curiously as he say Harry use it for the first time. Then there was a flash of blue light and only Dorothea remained in the room.
-T.G.O-
In another blue flash of light, Harry, Esdeath and Ran appeared in the Jaeger common room, sending Wave leaping up from his spot on one of the couches with a yelp of surprise.
Stepping into the centre of the room as Ran sat down on one of the couches next to Cosmina, Esdeath glanced around, looking at each or the present Jaegers in turn. Izou was leaning against the door frame looking bored with his sword leaning on the wall beside him. Wave, recovering from his fright, was sitting next to Kurome, who was giving her companion an amused look as she nibbled on a piece of candy. Finally, Cosmina was sitting in the couch opposite Kurome, next to where Ran had sat himself down.
Standing in the corner was a familiar looking black haired woman.
Esdeath nodded approvingly before speaking, barely glancing at the newcomer.
"Good, everyone except Dorothea is present. I want a report on what happened. And why is she here?"
She tilted her head towards the woman in the corner as she sat down on the final couch, pulling Harry down to sit beside her as Wave nodded, speaking first.
"Of course. Suzuka over there apparently gave the Prime Minister the description of one of the members of Night Raid we didn't know of, the owner of Incursio."
He placed a 'Wanted' picture on the table, showing a familiar face on it with the name 'Tatsumi' on it.
Harry's eyebrow arched.
"Really? Him? Does that mean we tried to give the Teigu we obtained from Night Raid back to a member of Night Raid when he won our tournament?"
Wave gave an amused snort as he nodded.
"So that's where I recognized him from. Anyway, the Prime Minister sent Suzuka to give us the wanted poster before it was released out onto the streets and when she showed it to me, Cosmina and Izou…"
He nodded towards Cosmina and Izou in turn as he spoke.
"…Cosmina said that she had seen a suspicious looking man who looked similar several times throughout the city over the week, so we decided that we would have a look."
He sighed in exhaustion.
"So we spent the next two hours searching every corner and alley of some of the areas we thought a member of Night Raid would likely be in order to gain information. Eventually we found the guy Suzuka was talking about, who was Tatsumi, and ended up following him for a while."
Across the table on the opposite coach, Cosmina piped up from her spot beside Ran.
"Yeah, he was all dressed up with dark glasses and all that, looking all suspicious like he was trying to find something."
Esdeath gave her a slightly disapproving look for interrupting Wave before turning her gaze back to the black haired teen as he began speaking again.
"Anyway, we ended up following him outside the city a bit where he meet up with this girl."
Cosmina piped in again with a small snigger.
"Who was actually a boy."
Wave nodded.
"Yeah, who was actually a boy. Anyway, they greeted each other and the new arrival called the first one Tatsumi. Izou and Cosmina wanted to capture them then, but I told them to wait for a little longer, and then the girl, boy dressed as a girl, asked him about the Capital. And he commented that there wasn't any new wanted posters up."
Cosmina piped in once more.
"At which point we ambushed them. I used my Teigu to knock them off balance, and them Wave used Grand Chariot to knock out the Tatsumi guy while Izou attacked the other. We didn't actually know that the other was a boy until we did a full body search."
She looked slightly amused as she spoke the last part, Harry mirroring that amusement in his own face.
"Really?! I can understand that crossdressing can be useful if you don't want to be recognized, but seriously, who gets good enough at it that you three wouldn't notice from close up?"
He shook his head in a kind of amused disbelief as Esdeath stood up beside him, pulling him up with her as she spoke.
"And after that?"
Wave winced slightly.
"Yeah, after that we were taking them back to you but Great General Budo ran into us on our way towards the dungeons and had us give them up. I'm pretty sure he had them sent to the execution cells, which makes sense considering his plan."
Esdeath nodded as she began to lead Harry across the room towards the door.
"That's fine. Even if I can't torture them for information, I'll still go have a look."
Harry stopped for a moment, glancing at Suzuka who was watching Esdeath with a slight blush.
"Actually, I just have one question."
Suzuka glanced at him.
"Didn't Night raid, Tatsumi even, drop an ancient temple on you? How the hell are you still alive?"
Suzuka just grinned.
"The Rakshasa Demons aren't that easy to kill."
Harry just shook his head in disbelief as Esdeath strolled from the room, giving the assembled Jaeger a little wave and a grin as he left after her, falling in beside her and travelling down the corridors at a brisk pace, barely keeping up with his shorter legs until Esdeath noticed and slowed a little for him.
He grinned at her before tilting his head to the left as they walked, looking at her.
"You know, I thought you would be more annoyed with the Great General for not letting you torture them. Why aren't you?"
She flashed a grin towards him.
"With the Revolutionary army approaching as well as the two of us needing to find time to get the required materials for Dorothea, as well as learning about your world, I don't have time for smaller pleasures."
Harry's eyes widened a miniscule amount.
"You really want Dorothea to complete that project of hers, don't you?"
She gave an affection grin towards him as they entered the palace dungeons, walking towards the cells specifically made for the soon to be executed.
"But of course. Why wouldn't I?"
Harry never got a chance to answer as they entered the cell district they were searching for, the guards automatically letting them in as the two strolled down the stone corridors before coming to a stop before one of the cells.
It was a simple cell with three stone walls and the front covered by iron bars with a single door in the middle. Sitting in the middle of the room, his back against the wall, was Tatsumi.
He glanced up as he heard the two approaching, scowling as he recognized the Empire's Strongest. Who was also its most accomplished torturer.
"Come to try pry some information out of me now? I won't give you anything."
Esdeath just gave a wicked smile.
"Oh, believe me, many people have said that. They still talked. Anyway, Great General Budo has forbidden me from torturing you for information."
Some form of hope flared within Tatsumi as he almost sagged with relief. Harry almost felt bad for him. Almost. Perk of being emotionally stunted is that you don't have to feel bad for others.
Tatsumi's glare returned as Esdeath continued speaking.
"He wants you to be in your best condition for when he has you executed in front of the world as a sign to the rest of Night raid."
He scowled at her from his position against the wall.
"So why are you here?"
She smirked again.
"To make a deal. You did help Harry at one stage, and Budo already said that if you give up the information we want, then he won't have you executed. Simply tell us what we want."
Tatsumi blinked for a second, just noticing the black and white haired boy beside Esdeath, much to Harry's amusement as he wasn't even veiling himself, before scowling again as the rest of Esdeath sentence caught up with his brain.
He practical growled his next words.
"Never. I would rather die than betray Night Raid."
Esdeath just shrugged.
"So be it. You will die. I'm not going to argue about it."
She turned away.
"Come on, Harry. We'll see if the other one agrees in his place."
Without another word, Esdeath swept away towards one of the other confinement cells, Harry giving Tatsumi one last look before falling into step behind him.
If only Budo knew what his decision to forbid Esdeath from torturing them would do.
Unfortunately, he would learn far, far too late.
-T.G.O-
And that is chapter 31!
It was, I admit, rather tedious to right.
For Budo, I actually really wanted him to survive, but then I realised that this was Akame Ga Kill as was kind of like "the hell and I doing! I can't save everyone just because I like them!" Plus, it was Budo's death that allowed the Revolutionary army to finally lay siege to the Capital. Rest in peace, Budo. And is he perhaps helping Night Raid by making sure that Esdeath can't get to them. Or is he just getting soft?
Anyway, as I always say, any and all ideas, likes, dislikes, constructive criticism, advice or simple encouragement are all welcome and appreciated! So please review!
Finally, I hope you enjoyed chapter 31 of The Glacial Ones, and goodbye until next time!