Chapter 10: Recollections

Akame's POV

Compared to the previous recollection, it was multifaceted.

She was released into a forest where she would have to survive the Danger Beasts alongside her sister. A harrowing experience. It would lead her to be separated from her sister and then be trained in the Elite Seven for eight years. The group would act as assassins to deal with what was deemed the enemy, unaware she was fighting on the wrong side- being whittled down by their experiences with enemy groups. Kurome's group was also whittled down gradually either through euthanication or by enemies. She used to have a Shingu- an inferior weapon to the Teigu created 400 years ago till she gained her Murasame- the Teigu that hailed from Jinwa, an island under Tenrou's territory. One of its members- heavily implied to be the original user, left the island to join one of 16 countries on the center continent while also dealing with the local Evile Beings. The village despised the traitor and it transferred to his descendants- Rose and Iris while not Enji as he was useful.

She had joined Night Raid while reluctantly turning on her former allies to make the land better.

However, there was one crucial vision that was from a third-person perspective.

Najenda was joining with the other leaders-

including Free.

"Keep up the good work.," said Free as Najenda smiled weerily. It was after the Lubbock incident. Free seemed to almost reach out to her but stopped.

The other leaders left and she was all alone.

Akame saw the shadow of Free and it looked demonic.

Esdeath's POV

Esdeath would travel with this man along with her sister, attacking enemies for funds including one very affectionate Merraid.

Esdeath found it weird that she never would've remembered such people as they had clearly memorable personalities.

Ignis reminded her of Syura- an extremely cruel, ruthless, and sadistic man who liked burning people alive and flaunting his superiority when he could get away with it. He was murderously perverted as he enjoyed brutally raping women even some weird people that had odd traits like animals/wings/multiple arms/third eye/one eye/etc., using them as sex toys for his whims. He had a tendency to lick his lips whenever picking up a woman. He also enjoyed torturing his enemies just for the fun of it. He could be a spoiled brat beneath his facade of a suave charmer, having an over-inflated sense of self-entitlement. As such, he felt entitled to the right to do as he pleased and was quick to anger when things didn't go his way, becoming violent whenever someone got in his way. He made comments of one day exceeding a certain individual and not having to kneel to their whims. However, unlike Syura, he could actually back up his power with his skill. Ignis could be very abrasive and his hand slipped at times whenever Esdeath got too uppity.

A younger Esdeath didn't care because she got her fights and opportunities to do sadism.

Pacifi was the opposite of her in every way. Not confident, queasy when seeing blood, and being genuinely kind to others. She also exhibited odd traits like making the air cold wherever she went and sometimes Esdeath thought she was hallucinating when she saw her fly. These traits for some reason, greatly angered Ignis, leading him to shout why didn't Esdeath with the temperament of a demon get the powers as the weak shouldn't have powers? Still, Esdeath was attached to her like a pitying lost puppy, hoping she'd develop a spine eventually.

At one point, a man came around- along with several others who accompanied him. They were cloaked, but some were far too big to be conventionally human. The man had long brown hair styled in a mullet, wearing square glasses that sometimes obscured his sight ominously, and handsome features. Yet something felt off about him that Esdeath couldn't put her finger on.

"Ignis. You've spent too much time away. Why spend time with these youthful pets? Don't tell me you've had a change of heart?" asked the brunette to Ignis.

"Yes, I took them in after their parents. Rest their souls passed on. They're very skilled-," Ignis said before roots suddenly sprouted out of him as he rolled in agony. The smile the man gave implied he was someone that Ignis answered to.

"Now, now. No lying.," the man said as he stomped on Ignis' head as the latter's bloodshot eyes looked furious at the former.

"What do you have in mind that's better than being assets to the cause?," asked the fiery being.

"Not in a way you'd use them. The Empire project I'm working both sides on will fall because there's no one competent to fight for them. So...," the man said as he eyed Esdeath and Pacifi.

"Wasting them like that? How is that-," asked Ignis.

"Don't let your feelings for that carcass wench blind you. If they win or die, I ultimately win regardless since I'm playing a game by myself.," he whispered as Ignis gave a relenting sigh. The roots went away as Ignis got to his feet.

"Heh. Your scheme failed.," said one of the taller figures, which made Ignis frustrated.

Ignis then turned to Esdeath and Pacifi and said-

"Sorry, but right now, you're going to the Empire."

"Huh? But, I want to-," she said before she was knocked out alongside Pacifi.

The brown-haired man then said to him-

"I'm going to erase their memories of you. Can't have any loose ends. And I'll limit the potential of the other one. Weak shouldn't have power right?"

Ignis relented as he walked away as the man generated roots that seeped into their brains.

The scenery changed to that of the Empire campus. Esdeath and her sister would be treated by the others negatively for their tribal origins. There was one called Najenda that managed to get more of an impression than the rest.

This time it was the brown-haired man that accompanied them. While he wasn't as abusive as Ignis at first glance, she felt like she shouldn't overstep her boundaries with him if she wanted to live. He seemed odd... strangely aroused whenever in the presence of Najenda for some reason. Pacifi was a liability, being very hesitant to kill and being decisive in combat. Esdeath on the other hand, was very brutal, which alienated her from others. Despite this, Esdeath was close to her as she would allow herself to be.

One day- Esdeath asked the sister something as they sat alone-

"Eh? You don't want to lead armies to conquer, but that's so fun."

Pacifi looked at the sky and replied-

"I want to settle down and find a man with a deep well of untapped ability, fearless, not raised near the Capital, younger than me, and with a pure and innocent smile."

This was strange as it was exactly what her own list entailed. What was the reason for it?

"That's weird. I rather be alone. The weak tie you down," Esdeath replied.

"That's a shame.," Pacifi remarked.

As Esdeath began to leave, Pacifi requested-

"You should try and treat the people under you with care. It ensures loyalty and having them in your thoughts is important."

The glass-wearing man watched from the shadows with a look of contempt.

Sometime later, Esdeath was sleeping when the door burst open to reveal a masked monster with a bulging mass of a body. Esdeath without hesitation, dodged its attacks and slashed it down. Curious, she removed the mask and it revealed-

"Sorry, Es. It seems like they don't like me.," said the face of her sister. The sight caused something anathema to her usual nature to well up a sense of sadness and a desire for vengeance. The Empire did experiments in mutations and likely her sister was chosen for it.

"I'm not able to have my dreams done...maybe you do it in my stead...And do try to find a place in your heart for others...," Pacifi said as she slept for the last time.

Esdeath shook as she was about to scream, but was knocked out by a cloaked figure as tendrils entered her brain. Esdeath didn't remember her after this.

"Oh well. It should be commonplace for her at this point. Since I've been doing it since the beginning.," he said.

From there, her life went as normal, becoming a warmonger with a seductive fashion sense, a complex relationship of care and dismal towards others, and a life of intense sin. Honest through some advice from a mysterious backer, took interest in Esdeath, helping to refine her sadism and manners to adjust to the life of the elite.

She saw herself taking the Demon's Extract and shunning the voices of violence due to how depraved she was. And that was that...from her perspective.

But now from the perspective of watching herself, something very odd was happening. That voice was still there, but instead of being bombastic, it decided to take a much subtler approach to coax her into doing what it wanted while it seemed like her own choice.

"Rather than kill him. Having him corrupted is better.," said a demonic voice in her head, a faint subconscious, when she saw Liver.

"Say he fits the list. Take him.," it said again when she saw Tatsumi.

"Since you're cornered. Why bother with scruples? You can get more.," it said as she used Ice Storm Commander-In-Chief.

The other Esdeath- the one witnessing the memories clenched the right side of her face as she for the first time in her life, well life after death, cried and she didn't know why.

Capital- Meeting Room

As the meeting went underway, a man covered in blood, burst into the room panting. Najenda immediately stopped what she was doing.

"We're discussing our next step...what...," she said before seeing that his back had his lungs spread to look like a mockery of bird wings as he fell down.

Najenda then looked reluctantly at Tatsumi who nodded back as he rushed out of the room.

Damnit...Fiend..., thought Free.

Capital

He went outside to see civilians being flayed by having their skin sucked into razor-suction crosses as they were crucified, people being stomped by metallic elephants, people wailing from iron maidens gushing out blood, people being impaled by metallic bamboo/spikes, people being subjected to heretic's fork/rat torture, a person being torn apart on a rack, screaming from a burning brazen bull, someone being subjected to the pear of anguish, a person being crushed by a scavenger's daughter, a person subjected to scaphism, a person being crushed by a head crusher, someone being subjected to garrote, someone being cracked on a breaking wheel, dismembered bodies, and increasingly nightmarishly creative tortures.

Tatsumi then narrowed his gaze at the culprit.

A black ooze that was absorbing the visibly murky energies of hatred, despair, fear, etc. as a skeletal arm burst out from the puddle and another as it hauled out a demonic-looking skeleton before a purple dome engulfed it. It then shattered to reveal a human-looking youth with grayish-purple hair that reaches past his neck and is sectioned off into three large strands with ties at the ends. A set of horns on the sides of his head, silver batlike wings on his back, and a barbed tail. He wore a white segmented shawl that is separated into three pieces on the left sleeve. He also wears matching pants.

His heterochromatic eyes of red iris with black sclera and yellow eyes with interchanging red circles then looked at Tatsumi at it yelled with a manic smile-

"TYRAAAAAANTTT!"

Next Chapter: Understanding- Akame and Esdeath come to an understanding as to what to do next as Tatsumi faces a demon with close ties to Najenda's heritage.

The identity of the creature if you read Esdeath's character will become obvious.

As for the conclusion of the flashback, it was Akame and Esdeath realizing how they've been played from the start.