Natsuki's comment caused Akane to turn her attention back to Kazuya, shooting a menacing glare into his eyes. Any objections the captive would have had to this warped account of events were pre-emptively silenced by a punch from Akane that sent him sprawling onto his back. The angered girl then climbed back to her feet as ordered.
Kazuya slowly sat up from this fresh beating and watched in horror at the events unfolding in front of him. The Pure Heart Malachite GEM, now attached to the base of Akane's pointed left ear, activated seemingly at will. Akane's formal uniform disappeared in a white flash, and her Meister Robe quickly appeared over over her glowing nude form. The Robe had been revised somewhat, with the large stabilizer ribbon completely removed to compensate for Akane's waving tail, and the cat ear hairband replaced by knotted white laces that decorated her natural feline ears. Following the transformation, Kazuya looked down to his hand and glanced at his imperial signet, quickly noticing that Akane's Robe was somehow functioning with no connection to the ring.
"Akane, how did you..."
The determined Otome remained oblivious to Kazuya's questioning as she summoned her familiar tonfa weapons. As the Columns stepped back to a safe distance, Akane pointed her weapons forward, and her target was further horrified when the ends of the tonfa opened to reveal small machine gun barrels. The prisoner quickly jumped to his feet and turned to run out of the courtyard to avoid the oncoming onslaught. However, his response came too late. Akane was determined in killing her prey, and she quickly riddled her target with bullets. As her weapons shot across the courtyard and reduced the Emperor of Chaldea to a bloodied sponge, her mouth curled into a cheerful grin and revealed a set of feline fangs.
While Akane removed the corpse from the courtyard, all she could think of was how she would make Shizuru proud. She was Teacher's pet, Akane told herself, and the most important thing for making Teacher happy was to bring her more pets.
Akane continued to use her refined powers to complete the attack missions her beloved Mistress Shizuru assigned her. Garderobe's medical staff quickly realized the effects of the serum were uncoupling with Akane's genetic code when she reported for her checkups, so the Columns agreed to put her on a treatment schedule to ensure her body and mind stayed in their altered form. Akane never got used to the slight sting of her regular injections, but she suppressed her objections and delighted in the fact she was doing something that would make Shizuru happy.
Through the following months, Akane systematically invaded the countries surrounding the militant state of Windbloom and battled their individual Meisters. When the girls accepted Akane's terms of surrender or were safely worn down by the Column-aligned Pure Heart Malachite's attacks, Akane injected them with the serum on site before carrying them back to Garderobe. Many of the female warriors weren't so complacent, however, and Akane took pleasure in ending their lives so they would be no threat to the Columns.
Garderobe was grateful of the number of new Otome Akane brought to their cause, but the new amount of Meister-level connections being rerouted to their network in the same manner Akane had been was becoming a great burden to their only power source. The loyalty drug worked just as it was designed to keep the captured Meisters on the Columns' side, but there were virtually no physical effects seen within the growing army and they still depended on the use of their GEMs to fight for the Columns. There were two particular patients that reacted to the drug in a way similar to Akane, however: Meister Shiho Huit of Florince, and Meister Haruka Armitage, the former General of the Army of Aries. In her new obedient form, Shiho always sported small black raven wings that resembled the cape of her dark Meister Robe when they were closed. It was soon discovered these allowed her to fly significant distances without the use of her Robe's built-in flight devices. In addition, Haruka now sported two thin, veined transparent white leaves that had grown from the sides of her head. To a casual observer, these features appeared as if she were wearing a short bridal veil in her wavy blonde hair. Although Haruka's new natural abilities took a little longer for the Columns to notice, they ultimately proved to be just as useful as Shiho's. Haruka's fingers were now microscopically tipped with nerve endings that could-even when gloved-interact with plant life and rearrange the flora's molecules to augment them into strong, rope-like tendrils that violently sprouted from their source and quickly wrapped themselves around anything Haruka targeted. Even when not Materialized, Haruka could turn virtually any terrain into a trap, assuming there was abundant healthy plant life nearby.
The Columns carefully agreed that the three unusual girls would be assembled as a new task force within Garderobe's army. As it was her efforts that allowed this project to proceed, Akane was promoted as leader of the trio. She felt an unexplainable familiarity in this role, but her thoughts toward the matter permanently subsided and drifted back to her present loyalty to Shizuru when she was given her latest injection.
The three young women now dressed in new matching uniforms that were closely based on the design of the standard Pearl Trias formal wear, but replaced the grey color of the main dress with a light blue color. To symbolize their chemically-induced obedience, the three also wore thin silver collars cormfortably around their necks. Akane's included a small metal plate on the front that bore a gemstone matching the color of her dress and signified her leadership. The group was taught to fight with short batons that resembled the basic training equipment of Coral Otome, but were tipped with special glowing Robe-piercing blades. These weapons functioned with a small, independent form of Garderobe's Materialization technology, and they could be used by Akane and her team without having to activate their Robes. The blades retracted and were stored in the sashes of the three girls' uniforms when they weren't in use.
The team engaged in various training exercises on Garderobe's grounds to coordinate their unique abilities. As the Columns had hoped, Akane and Shiho formed a natural bond together in their current forms, as this indeed wasn't the first time the two young women worked together in a similar group. Despite some doubts, Haruka also became close to her peers and was always aggressive in protecting her slightly younger colleagues. She brought an air of stoic toughness to the group that balanced with Akane and Shiho's playfulness. She had somewhat of a habit of forgetting Akane was her superior and taking the incentive to decide the group's next move, but her tactics usually worked to the group's benefit and she never brought the three girls at ends if Akane or Shiho had any objections.
When the Columns were confident in Akane and her squad, the three uniformed girls were summoned to Garderobe's administrative office.
Akane stood at the empty Principal's desk patiently with Haruka and Shiho at her sides. When she began to grow bored of waiting for her superiors to enter the room, she mischievously swayed her tail in Shiho's direction and brushed the striped tip against one of the pigtailed girl's compact wings. Shiho fluttered her wings slightly and giggled with ticklishness. This game stopped abruptly when the two shorter Otome peered toward the stalkier Haruka, who was throwing them a silent threatening scowl, and the three again stood politely at attention.
Shizuru and Natsuki soon walked into the room, and Akane's group bowed before Natsuki sat at her desk with her Lieutenant at her side. She placed a folder on the desk and began briefing the three Meisters on their mission.
"As you three probably know, Queen Mashiro and her Meister have been missing since we raided Castle Windbloom. We fear she may be traveling between countries and organizing some sort of insurrection against us, but Meister Arika has proven to be far too powerful to attack head-on. Fortunately, we've found a more manageable target that will greatly impede the queen's attempts once eliminated."
Natsuki suppressed a slight feeling of regret as she struggled with the moral implications of marking one of her childhood friends for death. She opened the folder and emptied the contents to show Akane and her colleagues. They were aerial photos of Earl's Black Valley region.
"Some patrolling Pearls took these for us a few days ago. We know for a fact that a well-respected Meister by the name of Mai Tokiha and her contracted master have been hiding here for some time. Intel tells us there's been no recent contact between her and the missing queen, but I fear it won't be much longer until Mashiro tries to sway Mai to her side."
Natsuki shuffled deeper into the folder's documents and produced a picture of a girl in Buddhist monk robes.
"Mai's partner calls herself 'Mikoto,' and she has somewhat of a natural affinity for sensing active GEM signals. Obviously, you'll be unauthorized to use your Robes in combat, and you'll be divorced from your interim Meister contracts for the time being."
All of these facts had been considered when the Columns designed the mission, and they felt it would be the ideal field test for the unique abilities of Akane and her colleagues. Natsuki collected the papers from the desk and neatly filed them back into the folder.
"Your mission is to kill Mai Tokiha using only your newest training skills."
When Natsuki finished addressing the group, Shizuru spoke with in a courteous tone.
"So, Akane, do your think your team can complete this mission?"
The task sounded like fun, Akane thought, and she was excited to be entrusted with something so important. She gave a polite but energetic nod that caused her short brown hair to gently bob. Shizuru smirked in satisfaction at this response.
"Very good. We'll make the proper preparations for your transport."
The three girls bowed again in unison before leaving the room.
Akane's squad was silently brought to the edges of the Black Valley's woods in a Windbloom airship. They walked out of the craft in their blue uniforms with their short staff weapons elegantly tied at their waists. Earlier that day, they were informed that Mai and Mikoto took a routine walk through a particular path in the woods every night, and the three Otome had a long way to travel before reaching the target point.
Haruka seemed to find a reason to complain about everything during their hike. Akane and Shiho only wanted to joyfully chatter about their excitement for the upcoming battle, and Haruka would abruptly butt in if she thought her two comrades were talking too loudly, or they were marching too slowly, or they were marching too quickly, or they weren't paying enough attention to their surroundings. Akane was somewhat annoyed, but she knew Haruka was only concerned for the younger girls' safety.
The sun was well into setting when the trio reached a large clearing in the woods that was deemed to be the point of attack. When the moon began to fill the sky, Akane's brown eyes glowed with a slight vibrance that the orbs of her two colleagues lacked. Her injections had given her the gift of exceptional vision at night, and the Columns knew this could be a great benefit when they designed the mission. As the sky became darker and it was almost time for Mai and Mikoto to make their pass through the clearing, Haruka insisted on using a guerilla strategy that called for each Otome to take a specific cover spot in the forest before attacking individually. Shiho found the elder Meister's recommendation to be boring, and even a bit unfair. She suggested that they should at least introduce themselves to their target before attacking together. As leader of the Meister troupe, the final decision was made by Akane.
Haruka's plan: Go to Chapter 15
Shiho's plan: Go to Chapter 22