Just to point out of the criticism, I am very aware that they don't know about human evolution, but it's just me wanting to have more reactions from and not blatant ones since hey, this sequel needs to be realistic as it should be. So, that's something that could shock them to their core. You may know that some of them were educated right? One more thing, I was going to originally have a plot twist but then decided against it since I lack in confidence in plot twists.
I also want to thank ExcaliberShooter, which he helped in writing this episode almost three years ago. I thank you for being helpful and for being awesome too, dude.
Disclaimer: I do not own Akame Ga Kiru and Halo. They belong to their rightful and respectful owners.
Delta just finished ordering the pizzas, which would come within an hour. Before she ordered the food via contacting her sentinels indirectly, she explained to them what pizza is, which they already knew and explained that it is said to be the most popular food on Earth. Akame and Kurome were already drooling a lot and they "told" Delta to order pizza, which she couldn't since they were getting a bit close and were shaking her violently.
With the help of Queue Fives and Leone, Mine, Tatsumi, Wave and Chelsea made the sisters calm down, which then allowed Delta to ordered each boxes of every toppings of pizza (except meat lovers for the two sisters), which was large. However, Delta did not include pineapple since she knew how the Italians will react to it and also sausage because… well, let's just say it was a dirty thought she had in her mind.
Unfortunately, they have to wait for an hour to wait until the pizza arrives, which annoyed both Akame and Kurome, so Kurome had to nibble on freshly cooked Cookies while Akame just nibbled on freshly cooked meat.
Delta sighed at this, but didn't complain since she was aware that she has a huge appetite like her big sister. "Yeah, cookies wouldn't make her full." She turns to Wave and was giving her an 'not to worry look'.
The monitor did not make a comment and looked at the time, which was only thirty minutes away. Then, an idea popped into her head and soon puts on the next episode of Halo Legends, which caught everyone's attention.
Delta was about to play the next episode, but she then decided to explain to them first of what the history of Earth was like and how their long distant human cousins had lived in their planet.
"I will let you know Reclaimers that your distant Earth cousins have had a long LONG history in their world. Although they didn't have Danger Beasts, Imperial Arms, or other such things that this planet contains that the Earth doesn't, they have had a lot more of Major Wars and a lot more nations formed on their planet in the last 6,000 years of their recorded history then your world has in its entirety." She informed Night Raid.
Night Raid were left shocked that the humans of Earth that although they didn't have Imperial Arms that could give an individual the power to wipe out entire armies and danger beasts that could destroy villages, their cousins, who had lived on their birth realm still had conflicts and in fact have had more wars fought in their land then they have had in their entire history.
Run wondered, "What have they went through to get to where they are now to journey across the stars that we have not that we still crawl on the ground of our little world?" he said in his head as Sheele pulls him closer towards her on the couch with a happy smile.
Esdeath only thoughts were that of the wars and the conflicts, and desires to see them so she could pick up notes for her supposive wars that she wanted to start in the future. But deep down something new was beginning to slowly sprout in her soul. A sense of doubt and guilt of the sins she committed and that she was unworthy of the power she stole just to prove a useless point that she was not weak. She wasn't aware of it though because it was on a subconscious level. It was a young consciousness of right and wrong.
Dorothea and Stylish had started to become more and more interested into the history of Earth as Delta during her private times had conversations with them talking about short summaries of the different periods of Earth's history and the humans' technological achievements and inventions and they happened.
The video then begins and the tale of the newly born humans of Earth had begun.
(Insert – Halo Legends OST: Unforgotten)
The black screen slowly fades away as the camera zooms in on the birthplace of humanity a familiar site appears, Earth along with it's moon in orbit.
"It looks beautiful." Sheele said, though she was an airhead and she was memorized at the beauty and wonder of Earth's appearance.
"I wish we could go there." Wave said as Kurome had stop eating her cookies along with Akame as they looked at the screen of the Earth in its entirety.
"It could have been more stylish though." Stylish said a bit disappointed. He got immediately smacked on the head by Seryu, Leone, and Dorothea who didn't like the statement with three lumps growing on his head.
"Shhhh!" the three girls replied with glaring daggers at the Mad Scientists.
Cortana: "Peace settled on the galaxy."
"Thanks to the sacrifice of my creators however…" Delta began.
The Nazca Lines are shown.
Cortana: "But it would be a fleeting peace. For the great sacrifice was in vain."
A scene is shown of the portal of the Ark not yet sealed by the Earth's crust and multiple prehistoric humans are shown looking at it.
Cortana: "The end to one war did not signal an end to all wars."
"...It was only temporary..." Delta said sadly as she was looking down and her green orb then dimmed in brightness a bit. Night Raid heard the sadness within her voice and felt sorry for her since she was one of the last survivors of her civilization left behind. Dorothea patted the monitor in pity. Esdeath however just simply ignored it.
The scene changes to a rocky landscape with two human men fighting each other which may or may not be a reference to Cain and Abel.
The Pyramids of the Mayans appear with the Mayans watching some sort of practice.
Cortana: "It is a great irony that the nature of war always reveals the true nature of those who fight."
Ancient Egypt is shown with the Great Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza behind it with a crowd of Egyptians in front of it watching a sermon.
Almost all of Night Raid, the Jaegers, and the former members of Wild Hunt, and the Rakshasa Demons were amazed at what they were seeing. What they were seeing were the ancient civilizations of Earth and they could tell that they were far older then the Empire ever was and though they were not as advance as the Empire they were still able build such massive structures like the Pyramids by themselves. Though what they didn't realize however was that during the Bronze Age of Earth, life was brutal and perhaps worse than the life of the current Empire in some areas. Especially the much harsher laws, slavery, and often tyrannical rulers they would be forced to worship as gods.
Esdeath however was mostly interested in hearing the wars not really caring much about civilizations from a bygone era. Although somewhere deep in her blackened groomed heart a small piece of her did wish to hear more about history other than war. A much younger version of herself.
Najenda, on the other hand, frowned at what Cortana was implying.
Cortana: "And from their earliest days humanity began to fight. War after war..."
Some in Night Raid and the Jaegers began frowning when they heard that.
Cortana: "It swarmed over the Earth and there was no ending in sight."
Esdeath smirked at that comment. Which Delta then notices and sighed in disappointment.
"Dang... even in their world where they don't have to deal with Danger Beasts and can't craft Imperial Arms, they still have the same problems as us." Lubbock said as the frames of the burning cities passed.
"Unfortunately, Reclaimer, they had to deal with more than just mere simple corruption on their world. There were more factors and circumstances throughout their history that led to their future conflicts." Delta replied mournfully.
Cortana: "In the midst of the desire to shed blood, you accidentally stumbled upon the seeds of your salvation."
The scene changes to a familiar group of warriors who would go on to inspire the future super soldiers that saved humanity thousands of years later, the legendary 300 Spartans of the battle of Thermopylae.
"Woah, those guys look tough." Tatsumi said when he saw the battle hardened armoured warriors with bronze shields.
"They seem quite strong." Esdeath observed with interest as she can tell these men came from a warrior like people similar to that of the Partas Clan.
"These warriors that you see here Reclaimers, are the ones that inspired the whole Spartan program that ONI began. They were the original Ancient Spartans of the Ancient World of a land known as Greece." Delta revealed.
Many rose their eyebrows and grew interested in the Spartans of old that inspired ONI's Spartan Program.
"I'll make it brief Reclaimers, but the Spartans were a warrior culture society, they were extremely war like and the training was almost unbearable. Spartan boys up to the age of 7 would be separated from their parents and sent to train for years and it was some of the most brutal and most unforgiving ways of life even during the Ancient world. At their peak, they had at most about 10,000 active Spartans mostly because most of those forced into service died during the training. They were so harsh that it would make Pastas Clan where Esdeath grew up look comfortable and generous in comparison and almost any Imperial Soldier from this Empire even the most hardened Elite soldiers that would most likely die horribly from exhaustion, broken bones, blood loss, and pain from the intense training… literally." She said while silvering up a bit.
"They were born to serve and die for the state of Sparta and almost nothing else." Queue Fives summarized and feeling sad for those Spartans who had to go through hell. Both knowing how terrible it was that it rivalled the intense assassin program Akame and Kurome were forced into.
Many were shocked about what the Ancient Spartans were like and how brutal life was. Akame and Kurome felt sorry for the young boys who were forced into such a life similar to their own and the Future Super Soldiers of the Spartan Program. The fact that it was a common occurrence made all the more shocking for them. At least there wasn't thousands upon thousands of kids like them that had to go through like they did in the Empire compared to Sparta.
"Damn talk about terrible…" Leone said while shocked at this culture's practice "They sound worse than the Empire…"
"That was how most civilizations were like during the Ancient Times on Earth unfortunately Reclaimers. In some regards the acts that the Empire on this planet commits would be seen as normal to those Ancient nations and what made life harder for the people in those kingdoms so much harder was the fact that most of them were Caste base societies that were heavily strict in life styles and occupations for a citizen in them. Back then on Earth it was truly the 'strongest sit at the top and those they deemed weak serve' back then on their planet." Delta said.
"At least those days started to vanish and fade away slowly over time, though it would take centuries and would sometimes occur again." Queue Fives replied.
Many of the audience were glad that they weren't born on Earth during those times as it sounded like complete hell. Tatsumi was glad his village wasn't in a place like ancient Greece during the time of the Spartans, and he had a feeling that it wouldn't even exist in a place like that.
Even Esdeath, who thrived on the ideals of the Partas Clan and her father got a little unnerved when she heard the details about what Earth was like during those times. Would she have even survived in such a place? They didn't have the capacity to build Imperial Arms to become stronger, they didn't have Danger Beasts, and almost every kingdom had what the Partas had, but were far far more experience in almost every way.
"Perhaps life could have been way worse for them then they originally thought." many of them said in their heads.
"What the Spartans were best known for and remembered by even thousands of years later was for the Battle of Thermopylae where 300 Spartans along with 7,000 Greeks defending the Thermopylae pass, which they stood against a massive invading force of 300,000 Persians." Delta revealed, knowing how they will react to this statement.
"WHAT?!" Mine yelled when she heard that.
"Only 7,000 against 300,000! How is that possible?!" Najenda asked as she was shocked at those odds. Even the revolt of the Southern tribes had better odds then that.
"Well these warriors have instantly gained my respect." Esdeath said while smiling.
"Remind us later to show you a 2007 documentary called; 'Last Stand Of The 300' and a very graphic mythological action movie called; '300.' Queue Fives said. "You guys may end up finding them interesting."
They nodded at Queue Fives in acknowledgement.
A spear hits the shield which depicts a bird with it's wings spread out in the air
Cortana: "A great hope."
A new scene depicts the discovery of penicillin
Dorothea took some notes on the appearance of the unknown substance that appeared for a brief moment in a petri dish.
Cortana: "But you found something else as well."
The scene shifts to another laboratory, where scientists craft the first sticks of dynamite then to the test of the very first atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project.
Cortana: "The seeds of your destruction."
The audience frowned at that statement and wondered what she meant by "the seed of your destruction" exactly but for some old enough to understand the meaning like Najenda and Run, they knew what it meant but...in what form which they didn't know.
A V2 Rocket constructed by Nazi Germany is shown being launched.
Stylish begins drawing drafts and designs for the two weapons shown.
The scene shifts to the atomic bombs falling upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Cortana: "There were many sacrifices…"
Many of the audience's eyes widen as they saw the bombs fall from the sky.
A muffled explosion occurs consuming the screen into bright white light for a second before the mushroom cloud became visible rising towards the sky.
"My... God..." That was a response that came from Wave. Kurome leaned her head on his right arm for comfort.
"All those people…" Sheele covered her mouth with her hand.
"An entire city gone… in seconds…" Tatsumi said as he witnessed the explosion. Mine and Chelsea then scoops up towards him and gently grabbed his hands to comfort him.
Najenda just closed her eye as it happened while bowing her head feeling sorry for those who were caught in the blast. Susanoo, her Imperial Arms just watched calmly.
Esdeath though she wanted to enjoy it but for some strange reason she didn't feel like she was happy about such destruction like she normally would. She just felt like frowning instead of grinning like she would normally.
Akame didn't feel like eating at all after that and soon she was quiet, with Tatsumi and Kurome noticing it.
Cortana: "Humankind was mired in horrific conflict, meaningless bloodshed, leaving the great Earth eternally scarred."
Some of the more sympathetic girls like Sheele, Seryu, and Cosmina of the audience felt tears coming out their eyes while the men like Bols and Run watched sadly.
Delta decided to elaborate here of what was going on. "Many nations and eras had risen and passed on the world of your cousins, Reclaimers. With the passing of the ancient days with the Fall of Western Rome, the coming and passing of the Dark, Medieval, Renaissance Ages, the Emergences of the Colonial empires, to the technological discoveries and innovation of the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. But it was during the 20th century to the mid-22nd century that your cousins met their greatest crucibles."
"Like what?" Mez asked questionably.
Delta turned to Queue Fives and nodded to which the engineer took her nonverbal message and nodded as well in response.
"Many things would happen during this time where tyrannical and totalitarian governments much worse than this one began to rise; many of them spewed forth by violent and manipulating political ideological practices that began during the mid and late 19th century. They spread like wildfire to nation to nation and began to truly stir during and after one of mankind's most devastating historical wars known as World War I the conclusion of which would end up as the stepping stones to its more bloodier successor World War II." Queue Fives said and shivering at the images of the horrors of the crimes that was committed during that time.
"Out of these governments, two would then live in infamy, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. There were other authoritarian governments like them but those two were the most infamous and remembered of them all. Remind us later as well to show you documentaries of World War II and the Cold War. You would be shocked to know how many times your Earth cousins almost destroyed themselves by nuclear Armageddon in the span of 45 years." Night Raid were left speechless that so much would happen on a world far from their own home.
Another scene depicts two soldiers looking to the sky.
Cortana: "But finally, you looked up from the blood and from the dirt and from the dying to the stars."
followed the launch of Sputnik, the Saturn V rocket and the Space Shuttle, and finally, to the modern day International Space Station.
"It was here that Earth finally began to enter it's golden age and worked technological wonders." Delta's voice begun to brighten up
Cortana: "You had not given up on the idea of reaching out, yearning, seeking a new horizon. And finding a new space to grow and prosper."
The scene changes, showing an astronaut looking down upon the Earth from orbit.
Cortana: "For the first time, all of humankind was united in a shared vision. A common goal."
Esdeath cringed at the thought of a so called; "United Humanity." The thought was just an absurd naïve fantasy to her. There would always be war in some shape or fashion. You can't just be rid of it through 'diplomacy and cooperation.'
"Ridiculous." She said unintendedly out loud.
A few heads turned on her with Delta deciding to be condescending towards the blue haired sadist.
"Excuse me what was that?" Delta asked pressingly to rebuke any claim the ice general would try to use.
The general ignored her with a noticeable frown. Night Raid continues to settle back watching the screen.
Cortana: "You realized that this once-great planet was too small for you. There were too many souls and too little a world..."
The scene shifts again, showing a meeting of the United Nations, precursor to the UNSC, attended by Tobias Shaw and Wallace Fujikawa, who have unveiled the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, allowing Faster-Than-Light travel. They receive a standing ovation from the UN.
"And so this is where it began. When humanity had finally began expanding to other planets. The new human nation was called; the Unified Earth Government." Delta explained.
"At first things had a rocky start. You see at this time, which is before the formation of the UNSC navy, slipspace technology hadn't been discovered yet so the only worlds that were being colonized at the time were all in the Sol system which is where Earth is located. Space travel used to take a lot longer back then often weeks and sometimes months depending how far you were going in the sol system." Delta then turned to Queue Fives "May you explain the rest please." to which the engineer responded with a nod.
"Not only that but… there was a small resurgence of those very bad ideologies that Delta mentioned earlier which caused two rebel factions to rise. The Communist Koslovics who were extremely brutal like their Bolshevik counterparts over a century before them and the Frieden, who were a retaliatory force to the rise of the Koslovics. They followed an ideology that was similar to syndicalism and fascism which all derived from the now redundant and forgotten political ideology known as socialism. This war was also when the ODSTs were formed and they saw massive combat use during the siege of Mars. Eventually both groups were defeated during the Interplanetary Wars which technically lasted from 2160 – 2170 ending with the Callisto Treaty." Queue Five simplified. All the members were taking mental notes and were interested in the history of the ODSTs.
"Sounds like that war would been very enjoyable for me." Esdeath said with a sadistic smile.
"Fortunately for everybody including you, there wouldn't be another major war for the next 300 years." Delta replied which made Esdeath's expression change to a frowning disappointment.
"I really need to change herself destructive mindset somehow…. Before she becomes even more like how Mendicant Bias was." The monitor said to herself quietly.
"I don't know about you but that war must have had some exciting action. I wonder how I would fair." Leone said with smirk while tightening her fists in a playful manner she scooted next to Tatsumi and whispered, "I would sure love to see you fight." With seductive voice making him blush. She also gives the teenage brunette a playful punch to the shoulder. Esdeath, Mine, and Chelsea dragged him from her with staring glares.
"Really, they didn't have another war for over 300 years?" Run asked with surprise along with the rest of everyone else.
"Affirmative. About a century later it would lead to a golden age of stability, expansion, and prosperity." Responded the monitor.
"Sounds almost like a true paradise the Empire originally wanted to be." Seryu said petting Kuro's head which the Imperial Arms happily wags his tail.
"It actually almost was. Almost…"
Cortana: "So you sought other worlds."
Newly created ships mounted with slipspace drives venture off into a world unknown.
Cortana: "Worlds where you could escape your addiction to destruction."
"Ha, like colonizing other worlds would ever prevent war. What a ridiculous notion." Esdeath thought.
Stylish and Dorothea were trying to frantically draw sketches of all the ships and satellites but the scenes were changing too fast for them to properly make their elegant designs.
"Why can't these clips just last a little longer please!" Dorothea asked herself mentally while trying to draw faster generating some smoke from the worn out daft paper itself. Which Delta noticed and mentally smiled.
The commander of one ship observes another exiting slipspace. Sometime after the UNSC was formed.
"By the 2362 Humanity with the discovery of slip space sixty years prior, begins colonizing worlds outside the Sol system and by 2390 less than thirty years later the inner colonies would be established numbering at 210 colonies." Delta informed them. And soon everyone's mouths dropped.
In less than thirty years the Unified Earth Government with more than 200 worlds were fully established. This made everyone realize that the Empire was incredibly insignificant in size in comparison to their Earth cousins' nation.
The scene once again changes. In orbit around Jupiter, the Phoenix-class colony ships are being assembled. The Phoenix-classes settle on the idyllic colony world of Arcadia, which is quickly built up.
The sheets of paper that Dorothea and Stylish were using then shredded as they felt their hands cramping from overuse with them whining in pain. "Ouch…" Dorothea said with a small cartoonish tear.
"I'll give you drafts for those ships later reclaimers so you don't over exhaust your limbs." Delta said nicely.
"Thank you Delta." Thanked Dorothea to her metallic friend. Which Delta nodded happily.
"Wow they sure do build their cities quickly, perhaps even faster than my Imperial Arms Susanno here." Najenda joked , much to the Teigu's slight annoyance. Which kinda got her team to giggle a bit. With Lubbock, of course, praising her.
"She actually said something funny for once." Tatsumi whispered to Chelsea, Mine, and Leone.
"Yeah I know… and it feel so wrong for some reason." Mine whispered back.
"Wait for it in 3...2...1-" Leone began.
"What can I say? I think gotten quite a hand on this. Ha...ha?" Soon, groans and moans were then heard.
"And there we go." Mine groaned.
"I think I should've cut the tip of her tongue instead of her arm…" Esdeath groaned.
Cortana: "But the worlds you found were never enough. Never enough to satisfy the age-old instincts."
"Wait what does that mean?" Seryu asked with a frown.
As it was the theme slowly turned more foreboding. Foreshadowing of the rise of the coming conflict.
Cortana: "Speed and distance did nothing to separate you from your nature."
A scene changes to a highway on a UEG colony being hit by a missile.
Everyone flinched in surprise of the sudden explosion.
A man is seen giving a rising speech to the populous of what was likely a outer colony world
Cortana: "Old resentments, ancient squabbles re-emerged."
In a population center on some colony planet crowds of ordinary people are seen going about their day until all of a sudden the area was bombarded by missiles. The war with the rising Insurrection was beginning.
"What the hell?" Leone said.
"What is happening?!" Mine exclaimed.
"Who and why are they attacking civilians!" Seryu exclaimed.
Cortana: "History began its terrible repetition and once again... man fought man."
Scorpion tanks are seen advancing across a city lane. The camera pulls out revealing dozens of pelicans and hornets attacking a large building which is implied to be in the control of the Insurrection as it exploded.
A group of UNSC marines is shown being in heavy urban combat with smoke blurring the background as bullets are being fired by the unseen Insurrectionist forces.
Cortana: "Like a virus, war was always lurking inside you. No matter how hard you tried to suppress it. It just fought harder to get out. It ALWAYS got out."
Esdeath smirked. "Looks like what I said was right."
Five UNSC Longswords are seen in formation releasing payloads of bombs upon a city then showing a now destroyed city with a large crater in middle glowing from the immense heat.
"So much destruction…" Najenda was shocked. She knew this had to be a rebellion of some kind happening based on what Delta and Queue Fives told her and her team. Maybe the UEG might change into something undesirable and a bit repulsive based on the timeline they said and the act the UNSC just did on screen. But what she couldn't understand was why were these rebels attacking civilians? How could they?!
The scene fades to a all too familiar helmet the camera pulls out to reveal a Spartan ll helmet which is picked by a Spartan who puts it on just off screen leaving his face ambiguous as he accompanies his squad of fellow Spartan lls.
This gains Akame and Kurome's attention the most since they and the Spartan lls aren't that too dissimilar from one another and have very similar pasts.
Cortana: "Humankind had always looked to the stars, to the heavens, for answers. Sometimes you didn't like what you found there."
As the team of Spartans move out one Spartan continues staring from the rocky cliff they were on at a massive Forerunner building as the camera pulls out towards the night sky where an orbiting moon is at.
Cortana: "And while the galaxy revealed few answers, it was more than willing to confront you with new questions..."
This got Night Raid thinking deeply because of what they just saw. Will there ever be true peace for humanity?
"Just what was that Delta who were those guys fighting the UNSC and why?" Dorothea asked.
Delta sign almost in disappointment before speaking. "Those were the events from the Insurrection. An undeclared civil war between the UNSC and the Insurrectionists of the Outer Colonies, a rebel separatist faction the group you guys were hearing of back in Halo Reach. If I were to best compare the Insurrectionists to any faction even amongst other rebel organizations it would have to be the Revolutionary Army that they are most similar too.
This comparison just dumbstruck Night Raid. Why is she comparing the Revolutionary Army to a band of petty terrorists who attacked innocent civilian?
"They are nothing like us we work to protect the innocent, to destroy the corruption plagues the Empire, and save the country. We are not terrorists who harm the innocent only the guilty and the sadistic." Najenda said with hinted anger as she doesn't like the idea of the Revolution being compared to an uncaring killers without cause.
"Yeah we're not like those trash who harm innocent people." Tatsumi protested
"Please notice I said mostly." Delta responded. "I should let you know the Insurrection wasn't always like the pointless violent groups they are now. They too were once like the Revolution during their earliest days. Though their circumstances were different from that of the Empire and what they wanted was independence not overthrowing the government, they still had noble goals once…. Though now a lot of them are no longer the freedom fighters they once were."
"How could they be like anything like us? After everything they've done?" Chelsea asked with a judging tone.
"Yeah those criminals should face justice right Koro?" Seyru asked the her Imperial Arms.
"Woof!" Koro barked in agreement.
"No Reclaimers, you must understand the details before you judge them all guilty. The Insurrection isn't a single group, there are hundreds of them across the UNSC space. Not all of them follow the same violent practices that a lot of them did. I should let you know that the UEG and the UNSC were wrong with the way they went about it because they only caused the Insurrection movement to happen. What they did would be considered by your cousins as a fool's gambit, a poor structured strategy that caused the war. The way they treated the Outer Colonies were wrong because they looked down on them and relied too heavily upon them as resources while all of sudden becoming extremely oppressive upon them. Though they weren't anything near like the Empire, what they did was most unwise. Reclaimers you most know the details and the facts before you come to an absolute conclusion. I told you this before with Thel' Vadam and you'll doing it again with the entirety of the Insurrection. Were they bad people in their cause yes, yes there were. But not all of them were evil. They were just misguided and blinded by fanaticism." Delta addressed.
However some of Night Raid's members were less focus on the war and were noticing a pattern with most of these mentioned revolutionary and rebel organizations.
"What's with all these rebellions on Earth giving rise to something you guys would call worse than the Empire?" Akame questioned while using her hands to rub her eyes.
"Yeah, what's up with that. I would naturally assume they would rebel against their governments because they were just as evil as the Empire at least in some ways and make it better for their people just like the Revolutionary Army does." Najenda questioned after taking a smoke.
Delta just signed. "Unfortunately, Reclaimers, on Earth there are a lot of bad people who are the ones controlling these rebel forces often with shadowy backers behind them who finance their forces and give them information from behind the scenes. Rebel forces like the Revolutionary Army are very hard to come by these days. Especially after WW1 occurred. I want to teach you guys to be wary of those kinds of people that could have influence over the Revolutionary Army especially after I show you information regarding the backers of the Bolshevik Revolution sometime later." Najenda and Akame nodded with uncertain worry in their minds before resuming back to the screen.
Deep down Delta knew that the knowledge of the Insurrection will start to make them more cautious about fanaticism. Which on its own can breed its own version of corruption within the Revolutionary Army.
"You can't be get rid of war and have a true united humankind as Cortana says it. That's a complete immature fantasy made by weak people who can't accept the established order. It's simply 'the strong kill the weak'." Esdeath replied coldly.
"Esdeath!" Tatsumi said out loud.
Najenda and the rest of Night Raid glared at her for the statement she made as absolute fact with the Jaegers looking at her with disapproval looks.
"Uhh… commander…" Wave said nervously. "I don't think it was now a good time to say that."
Esdeath looked at him threateningly. "My word is final." She said.
"You couldn't have been more wrong if you tried."
Esdeath looked back to where the direction of that sentence was from with Delta in front of her while levitating.
"Do you really think you and the sadists of this Empire were the only ones who assumed the same? That they could do as they pleased because of so called meaningless strength and always be at the top immune to all forms of justice as they kept committing the deeds they done? Delta said scolding the General.
Esdeath narrowed her blue eyes on the green colored orb. "Don't you dare try to lecture me about the way the world works my father already taught me how the world- "
"Well then I'm sorry dear but your father was terribly wrong." Delta interrupted. "Being in a tribe in a barren icy wasteland forced to hunt and scavenge for food in constant desperate times is one thing. It's another thing to constantly force the lives of those who did no wrong or ill will towards you into misery so you can posture yourself with this sense of superiority above all others to make yourself feel better." Delta rebukely said.
Esdeath then glared at her with cold fury like a blizzard.
"He already proved his philosophy to me when he died along with the rest of my tribe. They died because they were weak thus they didn't deserve to live in the world. My father knew that in his dying breaths and told me not to shed tears for the weak like him. It's natural selection" the blue ex general said without flinching or hesitating. Tatsumi heard this story before while the others looked at her in confusion.
"Tell me have you ever considered the reasons why your tribe failed and was attacked by your rivals in the first place." the monitor then questioned. "Has it ever occur to you it was because your father's hostile ideology that caused your clan to fall and be the prime target for retaliation by the surrounding clans?" Delta pressed further without any wavering motivation. Najenda was soon non-verbally signalling her team to jump in if the Empire's strongest made a move to attack Delta. Tatsumi then whispered to Wave to tell the Jaegers something bad may happen if this ordeal between Delta and Esdeath got any hotter or colder considering the monitor's opponent.
"Well yes I have, you incompetent soulless machine. My tribe needed their resources and if they perished in the process then that was their fault for being too weak to live. So much the better." Esdeath rebutted.
"So you plainly admit that the Partas Clan had openly attacked the other northern tribes and raided their resources. Tell me why your father didn't simply negotiate and corporate with the other clans and come to some agreement that would benefited everybody or even move from the North and migrate to far more fruitful lands where the clan didn't have to constantly hunt for food in barren snowy plains?" Delta countered. This time with irritation was then hinted in her voice.
"Our clan didn't need such help from the weak and like hell we would ever move from our sacred homeland out of our own volition. We survive because of our own strength we didn't need them." Esdeath replied.
"Yet your father decided to raid them." Delta retorted back.
"To survive!" Esdeath's voice rose up.
"What did your father think would happen that the other Northern tribes would sit back and let that happen to them! NO!" Delta for the first time yelled back as her green orb momentarily turned red before going back to green.
"He of course knew what would happen thus he had paid the price for it along with the rest of my clan!"
"He didn't know anything about how life works and worst part of it all he groomed you his own daughter in his final breaths to not learn from his fatal mistakes and the wrongness of his philosophy but instead follow through with it and continue to make the same mistake over and over again before you are left with nothing in life to live for except alone for the rest of your days until you grow old and your bones crack and then only to realize on your death bed or on the dirt you wasted your life away and ruined your future of ever having a true loving family with a normal life!" Delta responded with equal anger.
"I feel almost bad for you dear because in the end you only used and groomed into set of thinking by a father who's immoral pride, blindness, and deafness emotionlessly closed himself off from his own daughter and saw her as only a progenitor to further a corrupt teaching that doesn't give a damn about the wellbeing of him or his family and clan hood who are all dead because of it and has left you with nothing in return except a drive for power that can only destroy until nothing is left! You know what that fits that classification? A parasite is what that is, it only leeches off its host until there's nothing left but itself and it dies with nothing!" Delta yelled out leaving the Ice General and the rest of Night Raid completely speechless at her statement.
"And you want to know what the worst part of this is…" Delta said as he was staring at Esdeath unflinchingly. "I pity you for it." she finished.
With anger never felt in her heart before, Esdeath stood up the air around her colder than ever as the team tried to restrain her. It was here she soon muttered….
"Mahapdama."
The space around them then froze and she moved in to attack but she was about to…
"Oh I don't think so." And like that, space and time soon returned to normal in an instant and Delta fired a red beam that blew Esdeath across the room, not enough to harm her in any permanent way of course, but enough to incapacitate her. Night Raid were beyond shocked with what just happened. That this floating metal ball not only stood up and verbally defeated the sadistic general, but also hold her off while normally entire cities would tremble before her.
With her temporarily incapacitated, Delta summoned a Sentinel to bind the former General so she wouldn't attack again. Dorothea spoke up, breaking the silence with sweat drops. "That, was very bold of you to say such a thing…."
Delta went silent for a minute calm herself down before she turned to the former Blood-Sucker. "Well, like I said before, someone needed to stop her ego and her belief from destroying herself, Reclaimer. Which reminds me of something…" She then turns to everyone. "I did some research about herImperial Arm, and found out that it had similarities of a parasite that subconsciously influences her mind, which makes her more bloodthirsty and violent. This is very dangerous so this means that the negative effects needs to be eradicated."
"Wait, does that mean that her Imperial Arm is going to be destroyed?" Najenda asked the monitor.
"In a way. Fortunately, she will still have that Demon's Extract except it will not have any blood lusted and destructive traits." Delta answered her question. "Now then, shall we resume the episode, Reclaimers?" She went back to her spot where Dorothea was.
Everyone excluding Esdeath, who was still feeling the pain done by Delta and went silent, nodded and soon they all turned back to the screen and Akame picked up the remote to unpause it to continue watching the episode.
The scene changes to a high-vaulted ceiling, then pans down to a more recognizable sight: the High Council Chambers in High Charity. There, the Prophet of Truth conducts a sermon, showing a hologram of Earth.
"Now, this is getting interesting." Esdeath smirked feeling the pressure from earlier lowering.
Cortana: But there has always been one truly unifying force in human history. One call that would always unite you. The emergence of a common enemy.
"The Covenant." Everyone answered the obvious.
The Covenant's fleet holds its position around the shattered remains of Installation 04. A CCS-class battlecruiser activates its slipspace drive, emerging in an asteroid field behind a Halcyon-class light cruiser. The Halcyon fights the cruiser's Seraph formations with its cannons. The scene changes to two Covenant Destroyers glassing a world.
Everyone had their eyes wide open upon seeing the fleet glassing that world while Esdeath had a small smile in her face, not wanting to be lasered by Delta again. She's definitely going to cleave the machine in half once day for humiliating her in such a weak and repulsive way.
Cortana: That enemy was the Covenant.
A massive fleet moves into orbit around a UEG colony.
Cortana: When this new foe emerged and declared war against humanity, you finally united under a single banner. And the weapons you so carefully constructed to control your own baser instincts were now aimed not at yourselves, but against a deadly opponent. In our pursuit of a shared goal. The very survival of your species.
Esdeath groaned quietly, not wanting to piss off anyone, especially Delta upon hearing that humanity was "united" again. It was all about the strong surviving and the weak dying after all. But deep down, what Delta said earlier really cut her deep down, like sharp objects piercing her heart to shed some light within it. She then frowned at that thought.
Delta saw the attitude change within her and was kinda happy about it. This that there's still a chance for her to change her violent and destructive attitude.
The UNSC deploys Pelicans to fight off an impending Covenant attack. The Human-Covenant war begins. The UNSC suffers heavy losses to the Covenant's superior technology as their worlds are glassed. Arcadia is taken by the Covenant while the UNSC fights to fend of Scarab tanks and Banshees. The UNSC sends in its SPARTAN supersoldiers.
"Damn, our Earth cousins and its colony really suffered heavily." Leone said while watching the battle between the Covenant and the UNSC.
"That was unfortunate for them, Reclaimers. But with that war going, a familiar old enemy also appeared to join in the late stages of the war." Queue Fives informed them.
Night Raid had an obvious guess who this old enemy were, and they were waiting for their arrival.
Cortana: Then, as if awakened by the arrival of the Covenant, a darker, far more ancient threat emerged from its slumber.
A Phantom crash-lands in High Charity. The Flood emerge and quickly overwhelm the unsuspecting Covenant troops. The Grunts are quickly brought down by the swarm of Infection Forms, while the Elites and the Hunters fight the flood in the reactor room.
"Oh shit!" Leone jumped from her seat.
"The Flood…" Tatsumi murmured upon seeing the Flood overwhelming High Charity.
"Well, I guess it was karma for the Covenant since they excavated Forerunner sites with Flood sample." Najenda said.
In the face of this new threat, the Covenant looks to a single Elite: the Arbiter.
"Wait, the Arbiter was in…. High Charity? I don't remember him being there." Mine pointed out, clearly remembering the events of Halo 2 and the Great Schism.
"Yeah, wasn't he in Delta Halo?" Seyru asked the Monitor, and slightly confused by this.
"I….. presume that the Arbiter was present in High Charity when Chief left for Earth aboard Truth's Forerunner Ship to pick up any survivors." Delta answered their question.
Cortana: Darkness born in eons past became a threat to all life once again. And humankind and the Covenant, who had drowned for so long in each other's blood, were united, if only for the briefest moment, against a terrible enemy they both shared.
The scene changes to Crow's Nest, where Lord Hood and Miranda Keyes mobilize their forces during Truth's speech.
"Wait, Lord Hood wasn't present in Crow's Nest! Just…." The pinkette looked at the monitor, " Is this some, what do you call that in your world Delta, where there was something there where something occurred differently than how other people remember?"
"You mean the Mandela effect, right?" Delta answered, earning a nod from the Genius Sniper. "Well, I see where you're going, but this is from what I presume is Cortana's perspective of human's history up to now."
This made everyone including Esdeath interested on this Mandela effect and they wished to know about this. For now, they're going to enjoy this episode.
Sergeant Johnson and his Marines move to destroy the Flood, as does John-117. The UNSC and the Covenant use their resources against the Flood.
"And that's another Pandela Effect." Leone pointed out, remembering the Chief fighting with the Arbiter and their Allies against the Flood on Voi and the Ark.
"It's Mandela, Leone." Akame corrected her friend again, causing her to groan.
Cortana: Righteous souls continued to fight, believing they could defeat the darkness.
UNSC ships mix with Separatist battlecruisers against the infection. The Marines and the Master Chief watch as their former foes fight alongside them.
Cortana: And as they fought together, they stumbled together into peace.
Esdeath silently scoffed at the "together" part, but she knew that Cortana had a point since the Flood were a very powerful force to deal with. Perhaps, the strong purge the weak doesn't apply to here.
"That was quite the reaction to see from her….. but perhaps her mind is changing from that belief." Deltathought after quickly glancing at her.
The forces fight the Flood on the ground. The mixed alliance of the Covenant and the UNSC fight together to turn the tide on the Flood. The Arbiter and the Master Chief are seen fighting side by side.
"Ah, there's that scene." Najenda pointed out, where Chief and the Arbiter's poses back from Halo 3.
"That's a good thing that they put their differences aside to contain the Flood." Tatsumi added.
"And I guess that-" Queue Fives was about to say to Esdeath about her belief.
"Please do not push this further." Delta warned her friend/pet, not wanting to anger the Ice General.
"Okay."
The scene changes to various images of the galaxy.
Cortana: This galaxy is vast. Its wonders and beauty are almost unfathomable. But the galaxy also hides dark secrets, some of which have lain dormant since the beginning of time itself.
"Yeah… there are so many secrets that are meant to be kept to ourselves." Kurome said with everyone agreeing with her.
Speaking about secrets, Akame thought of something when she was kidnapped back as her time as an assassin for the Empire. "I wonder what would happen to me if Merraid and the Oarburgh clan didn't show me the true nature of the Empire?" She thought to herself before shaking that thought off before she looked back to the screen.
An ancient Forerunner temple is seen. Inside, an Infection Form can be seen emerging from inside a Forerunner helmet.
Cortana: There is a danger in secrets, both in seeking and in knowing. Some things are meant to be hidden from view. Some mysteries defy understanding, and sometimes even the things we think we know are untrue.
The Master Chief is seen inside a Flood infested facility. The Gravemind hands him a crystal data ship, identical to that of Cortana's.
"Okay, that never happened when we play the Halo games." Mine pointed out another Mandela effect to the others.
"Yeah, what gives? Is it giving us a clue that Cortana is infected by the Flood?" Lubbock guessed as he looked at the chip.
"I…. guess so. But we need to play more of these Halo games to find out more." Najenda answered her subordinate's question.
343 Guilty Spark then teleports the Chief onto the surface of a Halo Ring above the Ark.
Cortana: Some secrets should remain untouched. Secrets can tempt your primal instinct, and lead you again into war. The Halos were one such secret.
Many agreed with Cortana's statement for how many time today, especially Akame, in keeping such secrets in order to achieve peace. And that would apply to Night Raid in general.
The scene returns to the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, where Cortana is curled up in a fetal position on her pedestal.
Cortana: Chief? Can you hear me?
"Uhh…" Leone was about to say her statement once again.
"She already knows." Mine bluntly stated as she and everyone knows Cortana's acknowledgement of Chief still being in Cyro-sleep.
Cortana's avatar gets up off the pedestal and grows to the size of a human.
Dorothea and Stylish soon jumped from their seats when they saw Cortana increase her size to that of a human. "Ais can do that?!" Dorothea asked Delta.
"Affirmative and it's not only just her. It applies to intelligent Ais." Delta answered.
Speaking about sizes….. "Damn, I thought she would be….. bigger." Lubbock uttered, earning him a punch from Leone to shut up.
Mine just scowled as she knows what Lubbock was implying.
Her avatar flickers from blue to red as Cortana walks over to the Chief's cryotube and clears away the ice on its surface, then kisses the glass.
"Wait, is she in…. love with him?" Wave asked Delta when he saw the AI kissing the glass of Chief's cyro-tube.
"Okay, that's just grossed." Leone said and soon had a thought of a female AI and a male human making love…
"Ugh, WE DON'T NEED TO KNOW THAT LEONE!" Mine shouted as she and everyone had the same thoughts as Leone.
"Good God, now I can't get that imagination out of my head." Tatsumi said.
"I need to eat something to get my mind off from that." Chelsea commented.
Najenda wasn't bothered by this and soon remembered that Delta had the same flicker to red as Cortana. Does this mean that she is in the early stage of Rampancy? This was a problem that she needs to solve.
Cortana: I wonder why humans must continue to fight. I wonder if warriors will ever disappear from this world.
Esdeath scoffed at this statement. "There will be always a war and never-ending warriors, Cortana." This earned a sigh from Delta, which she ignored and wasn't bothered by this.
Cortana's avatar begins to flicker again, indicating her rampancy.
Dorothea had her eyes wide open upon seeing this and had the same feeling as Najenda. She soon turned to Dela with a worried expression. "Delta, I think you…."
"I am aware, reclaimer." Delta interrupted. "We will discuss my rampancy as soon as possible." The former blood sucker nodded at her and then looked at the screen to finish watching the episode.
Her eye flashes with the Forerunner Iris symbol.
Cortana: Never. There will always be warriors. And there will always be war.
Esdeath smiled again. "Looks like I was right for the second time."
Delta had to agree with her, but not in the say way of thinking. "If only humans could change their way, dear."
"Please, settle down you two." Bols said, not wanting himself and the others to witness another argument between the two.
"Relax Bols. I'm sure that one argument is enough." Wave assured the masked man.
Cortana's symbol coincides with energy running across the skin of a Halo ring. The ring shatters into pieces and the screen fades to black.
As the episode ended, everyone including Esdeath, who had her bindings off by Delta, got out from their seats and began stretching.
"Man, that was one hell of an episode." Leone exclaimed while stretching.
"Yeah. I never knew that our Earth cousins would conquer 210 worlds." Lubbock added.
"It's actually numbers is 800 colonized worlds by 2490, Reclaimer, of which 500 of them were Outer Colonies." Delta corrected the string user.
"WHAT?!" Mine shouted in shock.
"Wow, I guess the UEG did colonised a lot of planets." Run said in awe.
"Speaking about Earth, I'd never knew that they had more history than the Empire." Tatsumi also added in.
"Commander, are you alright?" Wave asked his superior.
"Yes, I am Wave. It just….." Esdeath said calmly before looking at the monitor with glaring daggers." If you said that again, I won't hesitate to cut you to pieces."
"I will keep that in mind. But you're not so different from those from Babylon to Rome, from Rome to the Mongols, to the empires of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and eventually the authoritarian powers that risen from the 20th century with the help of their backers they all thought they were the strongest and that all that opposed them would fall under their heel had failed." Delta said, earning a low growl from her.
"Now then…" Everyone saw a Sentinel carrying a lot of boxes of what they assume is pizzas. "I would want to speak to you Reclaimer in private while all you can have a rest for about an hour." She informed them before looking at Dorothea, who then realised at what she was implying to. She then got out from her seat and soon followed the Monitor in a private part within the base.
With the two leaving the room to discuss something, everyone soon looked at the stacks of pizza boxes. "Well, I guess we….." Wave was about to say but saw Akame and Kurome digging a pile of sliced pizza. He then sighed. "I guess we eat this Pizza then?"
"Yep/ uh-huh." Everyone answered while Najenda, Esdeath and Susanoo nodded in agreement before they got their own plate and started eating.
Well, there you go, another chapter of Night Raid Watch Halo Legends complete.
Next up: The Duel