Hey guys,
Sorry for the late upload, I've been quite busy with other things and if the chapter is a bit short and sloppily written, I'll make up for it in the next chapter.
So I hope y'all enjoy. Got any suggestions or spot any mistakes needing correction, just R&R plz. Thanks.
The next morning, Ryota stirred in his bed, rolling onto his side, facing the window. He could see the morning light through the skin of his eyelids, groaning as he then rolled onto his back, opening his eyes a bit, only to see a blurred shadow face to face with him. He blinked a few more times, eventually beginning to see more clearly. Sure enough, it was the red eyed Akame leaning over him. Ryota blinked again.
"Uh...hi?" he said.
"Good. You're awake." she said in her cold monotone.
"And I wish I really wasn't..." he said. "Plus I kind of didn't want to wake up seeing you hovering over my bed..." he thought.
"You need to get dressed. The boss wants to experiment with your Imperial Arms." Akame said before handing him a set of fresh new clothes.
He sat up and took the folded clothes, rubbing his eye with his right hand as he watched her leave. He shook his head and then proceeded to get dressed.
An hour later...
Ryota and Akame were in the forests not far from the hideout, walking through the brush as they were looking for targets. In this case, Najenda wanted Akame to observe the effects of the Imperial Arms that Ryota had. She had initially theorized that the sword was similar to Akame's sword, Murasame, killing with one cut. But instead of poison being the cause of death, whatever the blade contained would freeze the blood throughout the body of whoever or whatever would be so unfortunate as to be cut by the blade, if not turn the victim's entire body into ice.
Ryota looked around, seeing only trees and hearing nothing but the birds chirping. He looked to Akame, only for her to look back to him with her crimson eyes.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Oh uh...nothing..." he said looking back ahead.
"You seem troubled." she said.
"Yeah, no kidding." he thought to himself, unwittingly not knowing that he had said that out loud.
"Hmm?"
"Oh, nothing." he said. A bit of an awkward silence ensued between them. Not long into their walk, he glanced at her sword, Murasame.
"Is it true that your sword kills with just one cut?" he asked, curious about the power of the Imperial Arm.
"Yes. Its curse will flow into the veins of anyone or anything that is even scratched by the blade. However, wielding such a powerful weapon has its advantages and drawbacks." she said as she walked.
"Drawbacks? Like what?"
"It's almost impossible to clean."
Ryota blinked, nodding a bit. "Easy to understand when it comes to that."
"Yet, I don't know the Trump card of my own weapon." she said.
"Trump card?"
"It's the hidden ability of almost every Imperial Arm. For example, Incursio has the trump card of invisibility." she answered.
Ryota then looked to the weapon on his back, wondering if the sword itself had a trump card. "Interesting..."
All of a sudden, she held her arm out, which was clad in her red gauntlet, stopping him in his tracks. "What is-"
"Listen." she said quietly.
They listened, and sure enough, there were the sounds of voices not far away. Akame then jumped up onto a low hanging tree branch, climbing up to the top with the best view of the area around them. She looked off to a road not far from their location, seeing a group of Imperial soldiers heading to what would be the direction of the compound. She narrowed her eyes slightly, dropping down in front of Ryota. "Imperial soldiers. And it looks like they're looking for the hideout."
"Well, maybe they won't find it." Ryota said, sure enough that they'd probably get lost before they'd ever stumble across the hideout.
"Still. They're too close to it." she said. "Even if they see us, they'll know hey hideout is near."
"And I assume that's a bad thing." he said.
"Very bad." she said, placing a hand on the hilt of her sword.
"Whoa whoa wait." he said. "You're not going to kill them are you?"
"It must be done in order to keep our base location hidden." she said. But before Ryota could speak again, she dashed off to confront the soldiers, with seemingly lightning speed. He immediately went after her, running as quick as he could.
As the soldiers walked along the road in the midst of the trees, a few had a feeling that they were being watched. It was when a shadow dropped down from the trees in front of the group that their suspicions were correct. The long haired being looked up to them, gleaming red eyes stared at them. In its right hand, the long blade of a katana gleamed in the sunlight that shone through the leaves.
"It's her! Akame of Night Raid!" one said.
"She's a pretty thing. Pity she's gotta die." another jeered.
Akame wasn't phased by their words as she stood up, the light completely revealing her.
"Personally, I think we ought to play around with her before taking her head to the Em-" one said stepping forward to her, only to be cut off.
With quick speed, Akame unsheathed her sword and made a slice to the man before her. He only cringed as he felt burning pain in his neck, a spray of red erupting from a deep cut. The other men watched him fall to his knees and then to the ground, his body twitching.
The men watched as she returned to her normal stance, her eyes slightly narrowed. The soldiers armed themselves, but the seasoned assassin was far too quick for them, dashing in between and landing blows on half the group. The ones only cut by the blade cringed as they felt the power of the curse flowing through their body. Markings slowly branched out from the cut and all over their limbs and torso, finally causing their deaths as they all fell to the ground.
The ones that were at the back quickly ran off as they found their chance to escape, only for them to be picked off one by one by Akame, who was sure not to let any of them escape. The men fell one by one as they fell victim to the curse inflicted by the blade, until only one was left. He ran until he couldn't anymore, finding himself alone as he turned around and found no one around him. He was frozen, a sick feeling welled up in his stomach as he heard the wind blow through the trees. All of a sudden, he heard a rustle of leaves, only to look up and see a shadow pounce upon him.
By the time Ryota caught up with her, he only found the bodies of the soldiers. "Holy hell..." he said wide eyed, looking around. He looked ahead and saw her with her blade in the chest of the last unfortunate man. She stood up and quickly drew it from the corpse of the soldier, walking in Ryota's direction. He could only watch, a bit horrified from seeing the bloody mess she left, as she walked closer to him.
"It had to be done. For our sake." she said as she walked past him. "Plus you should've known this would be what would be expected of you since you're a member now."
He turned around, about to say something until he found the entire group of Night Raid appearing from Akame's direction. Lubbock addressed Akame about the situation concerning intruders, but he stopped midsentence as he saw the bunch of bodies.
"Oh...Well. Forgot you made quick work." he said. "However, where there is one group, there's bound to be more. I thought I felt several trips at different areas around here, but it didn't check out when Leone and I scouted out."
"And to think this is about the third time they try finding our hideout." Mine said, shouldering Pumpkin, she had on a pink eyepiece, as per her attire.
"Maybe they got scared off." Leone said, in her new form, courtesy of her Imperial Arms. Her blonde hair was longer and a bit messy, with lion ears sprouting from her head. Her hands were instead large lion like paws with sharp black claws. Ryota only leaned a bit to his side to see a yellow cat like tail waving behind her. He blinked, thinking what the hell kind of assassin group he was in. Whenever it came to the word "assassin", he usually associated it with stealthy warriors and even though Night Raid possessed those qualities considering their reputation, he still found them to be an odd bunch.
"Well, better to be safe than sorry." Lubbock said.
Akame nodded, agreeing with his suggestion.
"Excuse me."
Everyone looked to Ryota. He cleared his throat, looking to them all. "So now I have a good idea of what you all are. Killers who are doing it for the cause of starting a revolution?" he then chuckled a bit sarcastically. "Well, personally, I think you're all nuts. If you're saying the truth then why don't you show me proof? I only agreed to get my weapon back."
Akame looked to the others. "I don't think he's been to the Capital yet."
"Hell no I haven't been to the Capital, that's where I was headed." Ryota said, obviously pointing out that he could hear her.
Mine smirked. "He can come with and help me with shopping."
Ryota blinked. "...Excuse me?"
"That's right. I can be your subordinate for tomorrow." she said as she removed her eyepiece, only to stop as she felt Bulat's hand on her shoulder, looking up to him.
"Mine, I think he needs to see the true nature of the Capital." Bulat said. "I think Akame should take him on a mission whenever one is called to attention."
Akame looked to Bulat. "Alright." she simply said.
"Oh great...I get partnered up with the creepy one for the second time..." he thought with a sick feeling in his stomach. The feeling then left and his stomach rumbled. "Oh man." he said.
"What?" Akame asked, who had somehow appeared a few steps in front of him, which made him jump.
"Oh nothing. Just a bit hungry."
"Well it is about lunch time isn't it?" Bulat asked looking up to see the sun almost perfectly center in the blue sky.
"Well, good thing we have a new guy. He can help Akame with lunch while we go search the perimeters again." Lubbock said.
"..." Ryota was silent.
"Yet again, I say 'oh great'." he thought sarcastically.
As the others left in great speed to check the other areas surrounding the compound, Akame walked ahead of Ryota, leaving him behind with the other bodies. "Whoa! HEY! WAIT UP!" he shouted as he managed to catch up with her. but just midway, he stopped as he saw movement in the trees just above Akame. He saw a glint of what looked like metal as a shadow appeared. He quickly jumped up onto a low hanging branch and climbed up, running across a long branch that led to the tree the shadow was in. He then jumped as he unsheathed his katana, making a quick slice that knocked the person out of the tree and onto the ground.
Akame heard the noise and unsheathed her sword as she saw the figure land and roll right in front of her, revealed to be a soldier who had somehow hid himself in the trees while the others were massacred. She held off attacking due to the fact she saw the man's arm cut, which was beginning to form frost around the wound as he seemed to convulse and shake. Ryota landed beside her with a tumble as his sword stuck into the ground just an few inches away from him.
"Ow...crap." he groaned softly as he coughed up dirt. Akame helped him up, but didn't take her eyes off of the soldier, who seemed to be turning into a statue, spots of bluish white frost appeared on his clothes and mostly on his face as his eyes turned milky white, like a blind man. The man then stopped, frozen in a state of agony as his blood froze internally, stopping his heart.
"Whoa..." he said as he saw the effects, never really watching to see what they did. The only thing he learned about the sword was that it killed with one cut, but he never knew how or what it dealt.
Ryota then used the scabbard of his sword to tap the hand of the corpse, which shattered like glass upon contact. The body had been turned completely into ice.
With witnessing the effects, Akame knew Najenda's hypothesis of the weapon was indeed correct, but this would probably confirm one of the most dreaded thoughts about the sword...
Later on that day, Ryota was put to work in the kitchen with Akame, chopping up vegetables to cook in a stew, though it consisted more of meat than anything. As he was chopping up an onion, he saw Akame picking out of the bowl of chopped carrots. "Well, now I think I know why they won't let you cook." he said
"I don't know what you're talking about." she said in her monotone as she picked out another slice.
He sighed and continued. "You are not at all a very good liar."
"Well, finish up chopping. We're going to do some hunting later."
He looked to her as he finished with a carrot. "Hunting?" he asked. She nodded in response as she walked off.
"Finally, something I'm naturally good at." he thought.
As she left, he couldn't help but think to himself, pausing as he was finishing. "Night Raid...I've been inducted into a group of murderers...But if what they're saying is all true, they're bringing about a revolution..." he then finished cutting the last carrot into slices, tossing them into a bowl.
"But I'll have to be the judge of that." he said softly. "I'll need to see the supposed corruption of the Capital that they're talking about..."