Here is the fifty-second chapter in this story released in accordance with the release schedule. As Yami, Asta, Charmy, Akame, and Tatsumi were giving the Black Bulls' report on the Undersea Temple mission and handing over the Magic Stone, Kiten was suddenly attacked by the Diamond Kingdom. It looked like it might be overrun but the Golden Dawn arrived to bolster the defense. However, even that might not be enough but Julius had Yami, Akame, and Tatsumi all willing to go aid, as well as Asta and Charmy willing to help out as best though could even if the latter had an ulterior motive, along with Finral in the Capital to take them so Julius dispatched them as well. Now it's time to defend Kiten and kick the Diamond Kingdom out but why has the Diamond Kingdom chosen to attack now? Is it just to get a foothold and take down a linchpin in Clover's defense or is there more to it? Well let's see as that is all the administrative stuff I have for y'all and there are no questions to to answers or guest reviews that need a response so I will end this here. Do keep them coming as your support is the best motivation for me to keep producing chapters at this kind of rate. That is it for this pre-chapter note so it is time to sit back and enjoy the fifty-second chapter in Akame ga Clover.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to these two great animes.
Chapter 52: Kiten
"Well, aren't you a couple of gorgeous ladies out on the town on this fine day." Finral said smiling at two ladies, one in a blue dress and the other in purple, that he'd just run into as he tried his moves on yet another couple of fair maidens in the Capital as he'd been doing all day while Yami and the others were seeing the Wizard King. "You know, there's a hill nearby where some beautiful flowers grow. They're not as beautiful as you two are, but they are lovely so how about a romantic stroll with me and I'll show you them?"
As Finral was speaking he created a portal with his Spatial Magic to said hill so that they could go there right away. It was one of the perks of his magic and a smooth move, at least in his mind, to woe the ladies by being able to instantly take them to a romantic location though it could come off as creepy, not that Finral realized that. Naturally, he was trying it again but as he finished the ladies suddenly gasped and gave him looks of fear that Finral didn't understand. Disgust and indifference were par for the course with him but not fear.
"Huh, what's wrong?" Finral asked a little worried that he'd done something wrong. "It's just a romantic walk on a hill of beautiful flowers, that's all. Why are you suddenly scared to death?"
What Finral didn't notice was that right behind him was Yami with Charmy hanging from his right shoulder, Asta just behind him and Akame and Tatsumi flanking him with their swords drawn and at their sides. A dark purple aura surrounded them and shaded out their faces with the exception of their eyes which were round and glowing white as they stared at Finral and his latest, failed, attempt at flirting. Even Nero was glaring at him from on top of Asta's head.
As they stood there Yami let out a long, low, exhale of cigarette smoke that he blew down onto the top of Finral's head and that broke the girls who turned and ran away screaming. That caused Finral to cry out to the ladies as he realized what was going on and turned to his squadmates and Captain while Charmy hopped off Yami's back.
"Hey! What was that all about?" Finral exclaimed his frustration overriding any fear that he might have. "You sabotaged my lovely date!"
"Shake it off!" Charmy said smirking, unlike Finral who'd failed she was going to see her Prince of Provisions and finally get to speak to him and show off her worldly sexiness when she successfully flirted with him. "There will be others, there always are."
"You'll live." Yami said bluntly not caring that he'd scared off the women.
"Yeah, not like that would have worked anyway." Akame said as she moved Murasame up to rest it on her shoulder. "When has your flirting ever worked?"
"I don't think it ever has." Tatsumi said grinning at Finral. "Good try though, there're plenty of women out there though so you'll get another shot and you always bounce back. Besides, we got duties to attend to so let's get to it. Those do come first after all."
"What! But I had free time!" Finral complained. "I'm not on duty!"
"Tatsumi's right, quit your bellyaching and make us a portal to Kiten already." Yami said ignoring Finral's complaint. "We've got to get there stat."
"Hold up, I had the day off!" Finral said surprised at the order. "That's what I was told! By you Captain!"
"Did you really just say what I think you just said you little lowlife sleaze?" Yami asked glaring down at Finral who gulped and quivered at his Captain's tone and words. "You can have a day off when you're dead, understand? Until then you're on the clock when I say you're on the clock and I say that you're on the clock now, got it?"
"Whoo, Finral! Let's do this!" Asta shouted in his usual excited tone. "Time to go save Kiten!"
"Don't worry, we'll make sure to let everyone know what a vital role you played in the prevention of a Diamond Kingdom invasion." Tatsumi said. "I'm sure the ladies will love that; they tend to love a hero and even if you're just support, you're going to be a hero after today Finral. We can't save the citizens without you."
"True though there's only one hero for me and I've loved him through two lifetimes." Akame said smiling and restraining herself from looking at Tatsumi as she added a woman's perspective to this though on something like this it was more speculation as love to Akame was not a familiar concept, Tatsumi was special to make her fall in love with him. "But plenty of your usual women will really like that. I'll even help put in a good word if it comes to it."
"Huh, well that does sound nice." Finral said thinking on all the dates he could get for helping rescue citizens from an invading army before it began to hit him. "Wait what do you mean by in…"
"Shut up and open that portal before I open up that thick skull of yours!" Yami said interrupting Finral and getting in his face causing him to quiver once again. "No getting out of it this time. Make us a portal to Kiten. Now!"
"Come on Finral, you're our only hope to save the kingdom!" Asta said also getting in Finral's face stars for eyes. "We need you!"
"Whoa I wouldn't go that far." Finral said before thinking on it. "Though the ladies might like that, yeah I think I'll use that when this is over."
"I only like my Prince of Provisions!" Charmy said. "Take me too him Finral! I must see him!"
"Over exaggeration is useful, for a cheap fling." Tatsumi said. "Not that I need that, I've got the real thing."
"But that's all that Finral has at te moment." Akame said flushing at Tatsumi's words. "Nothing wrong with it, just a bit empty. Hopefully, some woman can tie him down someday though she'd have to be special to do that."
"It's all on you Finral!" Asta said adding to the cacophony that Finral was dealing with. "Let's go!"
"I've got no idea what's going on." Finral complained getting more and more confused by what his squadmates were saying to him. "Slow down alright!"
"Shut up, clock's ticking!" Yami said his voice loud enough that it drowned out his Squad. "Move, now!"
"Alright, alright, one sec!" Finral said raising his hands, his grimoire already up and floating by his side thanks to his attempt to flirt with those two ladies a moment ago. "I'll get that portal open right away!"
With that Finral focused on Kiten and his memory of the place and held out his arm to his side. It was a long way away so it tool a second but soon a portal opened and Yami immediately walked through followed by Charmy and Asta. Finral sighed but as Akame walked through while moving Murasame back down to her side, Tatsumi grabbed Finral's arm.
"Come on, civilians need evacuating and you're the best at that." Tatsumi said as he dragged Finral through the portal before he could complain or try to weasel his way out of it. "Just think of all the damsels in distress who'll be grateful that you got them safely away from a Diamond invasion, there will be a lot of potential dates from this."
That did get to Finral and he saw how useful his magic was in a situation like this so he stopped complaining as he was dragged through to Kiten. A split second later Finral arrived in Kiten, the portal still open behind him, he was just as surprised and confused as the others as he stood on the wall that ringed the town, the side that hadn't been attacked by the Diamond Kingdom, and looked out over it.
"So this is Kiten?" Asta asked as they all took in the town and more importantly the absolutely massive tree that was right in front of them and towering over everything, it's trunk so thick that they couldn't see around it. "Hold on…why the hell is there a giant tree here? It's in the middle of the town, how the hell did they build around it? The roots alone must have been a nightmare to deal with."
"I'll admit, Mine's never mentioned that there was a massive tree that dominated Kiten." Tatsumi mused as he looked up at the tree. "She's from here in this life, mixed blood again this time Clover and Diamond blood, and isn't a fan of Kiten given how she was treated growing up her but with a tree like this as its centerpiece you'd have thought that she'd at least mention that it was here. Kinda hard to miss it."
"Who cares, I bet it grow giant fruit!" Charmy said excitedly. "Let's climb it and find out! I bet it's delicious, juicy, and perfectly ripe!"
"I agree, I can't cut the tree down but I can cut down any fruit that we find growing on it." Akame said distracted by the tree before recalling what Tatsumi had said and realizing that Mine would be really helpful in this situation. "Then I'll reach out to Mine and find out what's the best way to prepare it, she's gotta know all about the fruit here. They have to have some kind of local way of…"
"I've heard enough out of your four idiots." Yami said cutting Akame off by chopping her and Tatsumi on the head followed right away by doing the same to Charmy and Asta who were still gawking at the massive tree before them. "This is clearly magic, no natural tree is like this, at least as far as I know of here, and if you look there are several Diamond grunts wrapped up in roots or vines or branches or whatever's sprouting from it. This has to be Goldiguts's work, no one else has this level of magic power, a plant based attribute, and is in the Golden Dawn."
"Mimosa does." Asta point out helpfully. "She's a Plant Mage, a royal and in the Golden Dawn so she could pull it off, I think, though I've never seen her make something of this size, or a tree for that matter."
"I wasn't asking for your unsolicited opinion." Yami said. "This is a tree, he has World Tree Magic and is a Captain, Captain's should be able to do this much at least."
"Hold up, this is a spell?" Asta asked as it finally clicked. "I thought he was just adding to it or something."
"No, it's a spell and it looks like he's got this battle pretty much covered." Yami mused. "Hard to counter something like this without a lot of fire or maybe a lot of ice. Fuegoleon could but he's taking a nap and those Diamond Generals didn't have any useful magic, not even that Lightning Mage would make more than a dent in this thing though he might be able to ignite it."
"That's good then, we can go back to the Capital, right?" Finral asked hope at being able to avoid danger filling his voice. "If the Golden Dawn's got this covered then that's surely enough."
"Nope, there's still fighting going on so I wanna see how that's unfolding and be around just in case I'm needed." Yami said ending any hope that Finral might have had. "I'm guessing that old Goldiguts is up at the top of the tree, or at least somewhere on it as he's gotta control it, so I'm going to head up there and chat with him Captain to Captain."
"What about us?" Tatsumi asked. "What are your orders, Captain?"
"You and Akame should prepare what you need here and then go down to the streets and take care of any Diamond bastards that have evaded the tree." Yami said not looking at his Squad but knowing that they'd obey his orders. "Likely they'll be officers of some sort of they can avoid this spell, or at least be somewhat intelligent, so they'll be relatively competent. Make it clear that the only things awaiting them if they stay are death or capture. The rest of you, go help the civilians. The tree won't be going after them but this is still an active battle, they need to be found and taken to safety. Oh, and don't die or die again you lot. If you do I'll kill you."
"Huh?" Finral asked.
"Yes, sir!" The other four said with all but Asta saluting Yami as he leapt up and into the tree.
"Hold up!" Finral yelled as Yami left. "How long will this whole thing take?"
"No clue but first I've gotta get some of that fruit!" Charmy said rubbing her mouth as she began to drool at the thought of eating whatever fruit that this tree produced. "Akame, care to help me? I could use your blades to get the fruit off this tree, I think they're the only things that will do that."
"No." Akame said the single word hard and emotionless as she flipped her internal switch and entered her battle mode and sending shivers down Asta, Charmy, and Finral's spines as Akame reminded them of just how deadly she was. "This is a battle and we have our orders. We must do our duty to protect our Kingdom. Afterwards I'll help, but not until then. Tatsumi, are you ready? Best to put on Incursio now."
"True but I'm thinking something else, something I've not used yet in a situation like this." Tatsumi said just as seriously as his grimoire flipped open and to the right page. "There is that arrogant Golden Dawn sand bastard that you held at katana point somewhere, he's the kind I can see holding a grudge and getting in the way if he realizes that we're here. No point in causing more issues with that elitist waste of space and while Incursio would be best, all my armor boosts me so it's not too much of an issue using a different suit. Probably best that you change Murasame to Kiriichimonji as week, just in case. Plus, with its ability it will be really useful right now, especially with Asta here to stop it if need be."
"Right, good point." Akame said as her grimoire floated up as well and opened to the right page before glowing as Akame activated her spell. "Blade Alteration Magic: Kiriichimonji!"
Murasame, which had been in Akame's hand the whole time, shimmered, and changed just like it had in the Underwater Temple so that it became Kiriichimonji. She understood Tatsumi's reasoning for this and agreed that it would be best to use this katana rather than Murasame in this battle.
"Good now let's see how they like this armor." Tatsumi said. "Armor Creation Magic: Gusoku!"
Tatsumi's clothes rippled and changed as he coated himself in armor. This time it was different to what they'd seen before, rather than the whole, closed, suit that was Incursio or the relatively light style that was Hoplite, the armor that formed on him was similar to the set he'd formed over Akame's body in the Underwater Temple.
The difference was that Tatsumi's was a bit more elaborate with canvas similar to Incursio covering his body under it from the neck down and a more flared and fancy skirt part that came down to his knees that might hinder his movements. However that made sense as his style was less acrobatic than Akame's, though he could be acrobatic if he wanted to, and more about his raw strength so it didn't matter.
Additionally, the color was different as Akame's had been red metal on black leather while Tatsumi's was black metal on gold leather with canvas underneath. The same emblems were emblazed on it though with the Black Bull's bulls' head emblem in gold on Tatsumi's chest and the owl of Night Raid in gold on his shoulders. Lastly, Tatsumi's armor came complete with a black metal helm on his head that had a wide banded metal flap down to his shoulders and a pair of golden bulls' horns bursting from the sides in along with an accompanying golden faceplate that covered his face with a scowling mask.
However, that wasn't the final thing. No, that was the weapons for all of Tatsumi's armors came with specific weapons that were associated with that kind of armor like the spear and shield of his Hoplite armor or the spear that came with Incursio. In this case it was a pair of swords that appeared blade up and in a gold sash on his left hip with one on top of the other.
The higher of the two was a short sword, clearly meant to be wielded one handed, and slightly curved like Akame and Yami's katanas with a gold handle and hilt wrapped in black and sheathed in a black scabbard with golden bull and owl designs etched on it. Below it, and in a matching sheath, was a full sized katana showing that the short sword was, in essence, a smaller version of it.
"Woah, what is that?" Asta asked stars in his eyes as he looked at the swords on Tatsumi's waist while a sheath appeared on his back and he sheathed his real, forged, sword there. "The short sword I mean. The armor is like what Akame wore in the Undersea Temple just more detailed I feel but I've got no idea what it is."
"It's armor that you'd find in the Land of the Sun, the Captain's homeland." Akame said recognizing it right away and not just because she'd worn something similar recently. "According to what I learned when I selected a katana as my weapon, and from the Captain in our training since, there's an armor that warriors of his homeland would wear and when they did they carried two swords, a katana and a wakizashi, that's what the short sword is called though it's design can differ from that of a katana. Seems like my love has that armor in his grimoire."
"I had a feeling that it came from the Captain's homeland when I learned that that was where the katana was made in this world." Tatsumi said his voice slightly muffled by the faceplate as he reached to his waist and drew the katana in a single, smooth, motion before moving it through the air with delicate and expert grace that reminded Asta that Tatsumi could actually use that kind of sword as well. "Babe, can you make sure that this is as sharp as possible, don't want to take any chances today."
"Of course." Akame said as Tatsumi held the sword out to her, edge away, and she placed her left hand on the flat of it before sharpening it, the blade glowing with her magic as she improved the sword. "There, she was already sharp to begin with but you're an Armor Mage, you can only do so much compared to me. Now she's as sharp and as durable as I can currently make a blade though as it's made from magic and not forged it's going to be a below what I can do with your normal sword."
"Well yeah, you're a Blade Mage, no one can match you when it comes to sharpness." Tatsumi said as he moved the katana to his right hand and held it to his side before he drew the wakizashi with his left hand and held it in a reverse grip so that Akame could repeat the process with the short sword before he sheathed it again. "Now let's go, we've got some trash to clear up."
Akame nodded and with that, the pair leapt off the wall and into the streets of Kiten running forward and towards the sounds of battle without a moment's hesitation. This was their role in the mission and they would execute it without mercy against those who'd dared to attack their new homeland.
All Finral could do was watch as the pair ran into the battle, Asta was injured, Charmy was being, well, Charmy so without the lethal pair in the Squad things weren't looking good for him as the trio got to work sorting out the civilians. Thankfully, most of the Diamond army had been wiped out with William's spell but there were still a few strong hold out and those were who Akame and Tatsumi were going after as they charged in trusting that Finral, Asta, and Charmy had the civilians taken care of.
For the most part the battle was already over by the time the Black Bulls got there but the civilians were still in danger so helping them out was key. Plus, there were still some holdouts who'd avoided Captain Vangeance's magic so they had to be dealt with as well. Mainly it was either grunts who'd been in the air or too far away to be affected by the tree spell, or the senior officers who could avoid it and they were still fighting targeting both Magic Knights and civilians alike so it was them that Akame and Tatsumi targeted as they rushed through Kiten using ki to locate Diamond soldiers that were still active.
It didn't take the couple long to find them and even less time to deal with them as the pair quickly, effectively, and ruthlessly dispatched any Diamond soldier they found. Most were trying to kill civilians so there was no mercy for them as Tatsumi and Akame rushed pasted them, cutting them down with clean, quick, cuts that took off limbs, bisected, or decapitated the soldiers that they passed.
The few that weren't killed outright died shortly of blood loss or were at least out of the fight if the wound came from Tatsumi. It was brutal but this was a battle and the Diamond Kingdom had started it, they were just ending it, permanently.
At least that was the situation for the most part until finally, as they got a little further away from the tree, they came up against someone who could put up a little more resistance. It happened as they rounded a corner just as a body was blasted through the wall of a house and into the street.
Based on the clothes it was a standard Magic Knight that had been assigned to protect Kiten with no robes indicating Squad affiliation and the way he was limply flopping through the air the pair realized right away that he was dead. His body bounced off the ground and across the street and into the far wall where it smashed through it as well and fell out of sight.
"That's how you do it, pay attention boys! The more Clover blood that you spill today, the more that you will be rewarded once Kiten is ours! General Brocks is dealing with the Golden Dawn Captain while General Lagus is fighting another one in the air. Let's show them that we're just as good as they are!"
The voice was harsh and guttural and Akame and Tatsumi came to a stop as the man finished speaking while the underlings with him cheered at his words. They were aware of the aerial fight, they heard it start a few moments ago but were paying it no heed unaware that the Clover Kingdom Magic Knight in it was Asta's foster brother Yuno and he was on the verge of victory over one of the Eight Shining Generals, though they were unaware of the attack on Captain Vangeance.
Not that that amounted to anything, Brocks had already been defeated and the only real threat was Adjutant General Lotus who could conceal his presence from mana sensing with one of his Smoke Magic spells. However, seeing as Yami was there that wouldn't be an issue as the spell couldn't hide his ki so when Lotus made his move just as the couple halted in the street to face this new threat he was intercepted by Yami up in the tree.
Lotus would get away with only a small would and rescue Brocks and several grunts in the process but that wasn't a concern as he was fleeing. That left Yami and William to have a chat, though neither that nor the fates of Lotus, Brocks, and a handful of grunts were a concern to pair. No, this was about the figure that was emerging from the broken house that he'd thrown a Magic Knight through and was turning to them in the street.
The man towered over them standing an unnatural 9 feet tall at least but the couple could see why. His whole body was swollen with grotesque, unnatural, muscles that had ripped his clothes and caused the band around his head with three diamond jewels to cut into his forehead but that didn't seem to bother him as he stood there grinning at Akame and Tatsumi as they stood there. He clearly had some kind of body magic that he was currently using, his grimoire floating open next to him. As he did, a squad of 5 hooded and robed Diamond grunts followed him out, grimoires at the ready but holding back.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here." The man said with a grin and based on the headband the couple deduced that he had to be an Adjutant General or some other high rank within the Diamond Army so someone who was a bit more of a challenge, not much more though. "Two more Magic Knights and why look at the girl's robe and the emblems on it and the boy's breastplate, they're Black Bulls. You're hardly a challenge to me but I've got my underlings so I'll show them how it's done. If they survive, you can do as you please to them."
"Leave him to me." Tatsumi said as the grunt cheered at their commander's orders, a clear note of lust in some of the cheers. "I'll provide the distraction, take care of the underlings and move on."
"Got it." Akame said with a nod. "Make sure he rests in pieces."
"Will do." Tatsumi said as he set himself, katana up and at the ready.
"Now, now, you've got no chance against me with those blades, my muscles are as strong as steel!" The man said his arrogance clear. "Muscle Magic: Bulk Up!"
At that the man swelled and gained about half a foot as his muscles bulged showing that was how he was so big at the moment but Tatsumi just ignored that as he rushed forward and at the man as fast as he could. He wasn't as fast as he'd be in Incursio but all of his armors boosted his speed, strength, and durability regardless so he closed faster than the man had clearly expected him to do, pulling the katana back to his right hip, left hand on the pommel as he ran before he suddenly thrust it upwards and at the man as he reached him, planting his left foot and twisting his hips to add to the thrust.
The man may not have been able to attack Tatsumi but he was able to get his arms up and cross them over his gut to intercept the blade clearly expecting to block it and either deflect or shatter Tatsumi's sword with his muscles. That was why Tatsumi grinned as the katana sank into and through though the swollen arms, missing his bones in the process, and then up and into his gut as Tatsumi used all his boosted strength to drive the katana to the hilt.
He wasn't able to get the tip up and into anything vital as the man was so bulked up with Muscle Magic that he towered over Tatsumi but he still pinned his arms to his gut and clearly done damage as the man howled in pain. Now it was time to bring the brute down to Tatsumi's height so that he could finish this quickly as he felt Akame's ki closing in behind him using the distraction he was now providing to press on with their mission to clear out the remnants of the Diamond invasion.
"What the hell!" The man roared as Akame used Reinforcement Magic to leap up and over Tatsumi and the man, spinning in the air and sending a Scimitar Slash out of Kiriichimonji that took all 5 grunts in the chest and caused them to stagger back and collapse blood bursting from their wounds, before she landed and continued on without any resistance from the dead or dying grunts. "My muscles should be able to withstand anything!"
"Clearly not and my blades are enhanced by a Blade Mage, there's nothing that my love's magic can't cut through when she puts her mind to it and she's transferred that to my swords!" Tatsumi said though that wasn't really true but the man wouldn't live long enough to learn that as he let go of the katana and raised his right hand to the handle of his normal sword. "Now let's bring you down to my height and end this."
With a quick, smooth, practiced, draw, Tatsumi pulled the sword from over his shoulder and without pause sliced it through the man's knees cutting his legs off there. He let out a howl of pain as the blood spurted from the wound but Tatsumi didn't give him the time to fall as he spun around the man, slashing his sword to clear the blood from it in the process before he sheathed it as he grabbed the man's hair with his free left hand before the man could fall onto his back.
Then, with a heave that required more strength than normal due to his bulk, Tatsumi made sure that the man landed on his stumps as blood began to pool around them. With the man in place, Tatsumi moved his right arm behind the man, he couldn't get it around him, and grabbed the handle of his short sword as the man continued to howl in pain.
"You're right about one thing." Tatsumi said as he drew his wakizashi in his right hand and moved it to the man's throat while kneeing him in the back and yanking his head towards him to give Tatsumi more to work with. "This was hardly a challenge."
With that Tatsumi ripped the blade across the man's thick neck in a swift, savage, clean, slice. Even with the muscles, the man stoop no chance over a blade sharpened by Akame's magic and Tatsumi slit his throat from ear to ear and damn near to the bone. The arterial blood erupted out and spewed over the street as Tatsumi casually watched his eyes cold as the man bled out in seconds, faster than usual though the lack of legs did speed it up, before he went limp in Tatsumi's hand and his grimoire began to vanish.
That was all that Tatsumi needed and he tossed the dead man to the side, wiped the wakizashi on the man's clothes, and then sheathed it. After the he quickly pulled out the katana and kept it in his hand as he turned to see that all the grunts were dead as well.
Akame had done her job and moved on so Tatsumi did that as well as he pressed on in clearing up the remaining Diamond trash. Inadvertently, Tatsumi began to make his way towards where Asta, Charmy, and Finral were evacuating civilians and chatting with Yuno after Yuno's victory that had occurred as Tatsumi had killed the Adjutant General, which devolved into love rivals spat as Charmy and the Wind Spirit that Yuno called Bell getting into it.
While Tatsumi was dealing with the Adjutant General, Akame was continuing on and as she rounded the corner a few streets away from Tatsumi's battle she ran into 10 grunts that had managed to avoid the tree roots and where looking around for civilians to kill while the bodies of 3 Magic Knights, and one of their own, lay around them showing that they'd ganged up on and slain the Magic Knights using their superior numbers to their advantage.
That wouldn't save them against Akame as her eyes hardened, she tensed her legs and then, just as the leader noticed her, she pushed off the ground and at them with enough force to crack it. The moment that Akame had set her eyes on them they were done for, they just didn't realize it as they tried to intercept her.
"Hey, there's…" The leader began as he raised his arm to prepare a spell.
However, before he could finish speaking, let alone get a spell off, Akame had reached, and then passed him in a blur of black and gray, her katana swishing through the air and cutting him in half with a slice that sent the sound of flesh being cut through the air. Akame wasn't done there, though, she'd carried on through the mass and slashed them with several precise and well-honed slashes slices of Kiriichimonji as she moved, all of which hit all 10 of the grunts as she passed them.
It took less than 5 seconds and she was past them, katana down by her left side and dripping blood onto the ground as she leant forward from a final slice that had bisected the last grunt from shoulder to hip, her hair settling around. As she did she heard the bodies hit the ground behind her but at the same time she felt three sources of ki from the group indicating that three of them weren't dead yet.
"Bitch, you'll pay for that." One of the grunts said before he started to cough out blood, at least Akame presumed it was as she heard the splattering of something liquid on the ground, so she turned around, rising to her full height as she did and moving Kiriichimonji to a one handed grip in her right hand as she did. "Once I heal this you're dead, you didn't kill me and that was your mistake you little cunt!"
Akame ignored his words as she confirmed that only 3 were still alive. The rest were dead either from fatal cuts to their throats, bisection, or dismemberment that caused them to bleed out by the time she was done.
The three that weren't dead had been at the edges and were holding wounds. One to his throat, a second to her side that had dropped her to a knee, and the final one, the one who'd spoken and now had his right hand over a slash to his upper left side peck that hadn't reached his heart and which was glowing white as his grimoire floated open over his shoulder indicating that he was likely using Healing Magic on his wound.
Of course Akame knew that that wouldn't work but she showed no emotion on her face as she looked at them as the one with the throat wound gasped and collapsed, the blood loss getting to him. It had been a potentially fatal wound if he went without healing, not that that would have mattered given what he'd been cut with, so he was doomed. The other two weren't fatal, well at least not normally fatal, but as Akame watched the man trying to heal his wound went wide eyed.
"What, why won't it heal!" The man exclaimed his words causing the other survivor to go wide eyed at that as she held her bleeding side. "I'm the unit's healer! I'm one of the best there is! No mere blade should be unhealable by me!"
"Kiriichimonji is no mere blade though, the wounds inflicted by her will never heal, that is the curse of my katana." Akame said holding it up as the man and woman both stared at her while Akame's grimoire flipped to a new page. "You'll bleed out unless you get healed by the one person who I know can stop this curse but he's not here and I'm not cruel, I'll kill you now and quickly. This is a field execution for your invasion of my homeland, please don't try to avoid it or else you will suffer even more. Blade Creation Magic: Guillotine Rain!"
At that the heavy, edged, slanted blades appeared in the air above Akame and fell down on the grunts. They didn't stand a chance as the first one hit the woman in the center of her face as she looked up and cleaved cleanly through her head and throat in a grisly sight that Akame didn't like but at least she was dead almost instantly and before she hit the ground.
The grunt who'd spoken didn't take her advice and dodged one and turned to her, snarling. However, as he opened his mouth to either curse at her or cast a spell with his still open grimoire, another guillotine blade hit him in the center of his back and went in with a sickening sound before the tip of the blade burst from his chest as he dropped to the ground, dead.
Akame didn't show anything as she turned from the sight before her and as she did she slashed a grunt that had been charging at her from behind with a spiked wooden club across the chest sending him sprawling to the side and crashing to the ground his legs twitching as he bled out in seconds. She'd sensed his ki as she'd cast her Guillotine Rain spell and knew that he was there so she was ready for him and took him down with ease.
In addition to the attacker, Akame had sensed a two other people nearby but they were clearly hiding in an alleyway and had no hostile intent towards her so Akame presumed that they were civilians. She could have gone to them but with no Diamond soldiers nearby she knew that they were safe for the moment and would be rescued by other Magic Knights so she left them where they were.
After all, her role was to kill the invaders, that was what Akame was best at and she'd do just that as she protected the Clover Kingdom. With her focus on her mission, Akame jogged off her senses alert as she looked for more surviving and free Diamond Soldiers to deal with. Akame was unaware that the two civilians that she'd sensed were far from it but she was so focused on her mission that she didn't take the time to focus on them after dismissing them as a threat before she ran off but they sure noticed her.
"She's here! It's her, I know it! What's she doing here?"
"What are you on about? Who's here? You're making no sense!"
"Look, that's her, I know it! I'd recognize her anywhere! You will as well!"
"What do you…oh shit it is her! There's no doubt about it! What the hell! When did that happen!"
"I don't know but I've got to go to her! I can't let this chance pass me by!"
"Stop you moron! Think for a moment! Don't blow this for us!"
At that, the second of the two men who was in the alley watching the recent slaughter on the street grabbed the first as he was about to run out of their cover and into the street towards the black haired teen girl wielding a blood stained katana and wearing a Clover Kingdom Magic Knight robe as she casually cute down one of the many faceless grunts in the Diamond Kingdom army that had tried to surprise her from behind as she cast a spell. He then threw his compatriot around and slammed him into the stone wall of house bordering the alley and pinned him there as the soldier fell to the side and bled out.
The second man was larger, stronger, and given their magical attributes had the better one for the current situation so he was easily able to pin the first man long enough for the black haired girl to move away from where they were having deduced that the pair weren't a threat to her. It didn't take long and clearly she didn't notice them, or if she did she didn't register them as a threat, and jogged off leaving 11 dead soldiers in her wake and a statement about the nature of her katana that still hung in the air.
There was no doubt in the man's mind that she was diving further into the battle to push back the Diamond Kingdom forces and force them out of Kiten and back into the Diamond Kingdom. Given the current situation with at least one of the Generals, Lagus, having already been defeated and Yagos apparently wounded things were looking bleak for them.
Add in that World Tree Magic from the Golden Dawn Captain and Brocks was up against a strong foe. In fact he'd already been caught and the Black Bull Captain had repelled an attack from Lotus of the Abyss that might have actually killed William Vangeance before the other two had either fallen or been injured, and the invasion was as good as over.
However, it wouldn't be in vain as there was more to this attack than just an invasion and conquest of Kiten. That would only be successful, though, if the bigger man was able to hold his friend and comrade in check and stop him from doing something asininely stupid that could get both of them captured or worse killed given who that girl was and neither of them doubted that it was who they thought it was.
"Let me go!" The first man said protested as he struggled against the second. "I need to go to her! You know that I have too! She's here! I must see her!"
"Shut up and think for a moment." The second man said his voice low so that they wouldn't draw any attention and hoping that his tone made it clear that the first man had to be quiet as well. "If you do then the mission is fucked, no doubt about it."
"So…" The first man began but the second cut him off.
"Think with your primary head, you're better at that than I am and I'm the one being rational right now which is saying something about how stupid you're being!" The second man snapped. "If you go to her what do you think will happen?"
"Er…" The first man said not thinking about what would happen at all.
"At best there are no issues and she's unaffected but she's still a fucking Clover Kingdom Magic Knight now." The second man explained as it was clear that the first wasn't thinking at all. "She'll see you and you know that there's no way that she'll believe that you're just a resident of Kiten trying to get clear of a Diamond invasion, especially not with our grimoires as we've not had the time to use some kind of Concealment Magic on them. She may let us go but she'll likely alert her superiors about us afterwards and we'll have to fall back home rather than continue on. If that happens you sure as shit will never see her again."
That seemed to get to the first man and he began to calm down. This situation was unique for them, usually he'd be the one reigning in the second man from something stupid with his lower head that could blow their mission and reminding him of what the consequences of his actions would be but this was the one exception to that.
"Good I see that you're now thinking about this." The second man said when the first didn't say anything he continued. "The other scenarios aren't much better. Either she fights us and we're forced to flee, we can't best her if she's got a katana in her hand and you know it, plus you heard what she said about it so one cut and we're done for even if we do manage to flee, or she has a different reaction to seeing us."
The first man blanched at that and the second man gave him a grim smile. It was clear that he was getting through to his friend, all he had to do was drive the point home and he'd pull the first man back from the ledge that he was on.
"If that happens, do you think that our soldiers would hesitate to cut her down?" The second man asked knowing that it was a rhetorical question. "How many of our countrymen and women has she killed today already? We saw her kill 11 just now but I highly doubt that they were the first to taste the edge of her blade. We managed to avoid these damned roots, which was good as if we'd been caught by them then the mission would already be over, so I expect others have avoided them as well. If they got an opening on a Clover Kingdom Magic Knight, especially one as deadly as she is, they'd take it and we'd have to stop them which would have other issues for us on top of everything else we'd have to deal with."
"Y, yeah I get it, that would be the worst case scenario." The first man said his body relaxing a bit as he let his friend's words sink in. "I couldn't handle that, or the other potential scenarios for that matter though I'm sure she wouldn't kill us. I really want to see her though."
"And you will, in the Capital when the time is right and we know that it is safe." The second said. "First, though, we need to get there, set up at the old contact's shop and establish our cover, which for you is essential as you're going to be running the place and planning how we'll gather intel and operate behind enemy lines while I indulge in what I do best and ingratiate myself in that side of the Capital, and wait for the deep cover spy here to make contact. Then we can decide how best to handle approaching her but we can't do that if we're dead, she's dead, or we have to flee back to the Diamond Kingdom and if we do we may as well go on the run because we're dead if we return with nothing."
"Fine, I get it." The first man said with a sigh of resignation as he accepted the situation and how he couldn't do anything about it. "The mission should come first and this is the best way to ensure that I can see her in a controlled environment where she won't be in danger if that happens. This whole invasion was to get a foothold here and to get us into the Clover Kingdom unnoticed so we can set up in the Capital and help spy on them, we've failed the first but we can't fail the second or else this whole thing would be in vain."
"Good and I'm looking forward to this mission's bonuses as we've got a large budget for it and I've heard good things about the quality in this Kingdom, so we'd better not fuck it up." The second said. "Now if I release you, do you think that you'll behave? We need to get to the edge of the city and knowing the Clover Kingdom there might be a Spatial Mage who can send us to the Capital directly, or at least part of the way there, without batting an eye. We have trained for this after all, we can blend right in with the people of Kiten looking for a way out. All they'll think is that we're two refugees seeking a life away from a border town that is almost always under attack by the greedy Diamond Kingdom."
"You're sounding oddly sensible right now, I'm a little worried if I'm being honest." The first man said surprised by how logical his comrade was being which got a grin out of the second man. "But you are right, we've prepped for this so I won't mess it up. Besides, she's gone anyway so you can let me go. Thanks for making sure that I came to my senses."
"No worries bro, you'd do the same for me." The second said grinning as he backed off and slapping him on the shoulder. "Hell, it's not like you won't be getting me out a few jams in the Capital after all so having you owe me one early is a good thing."
"Knowing you, it will be many jams I'm sure." The first said with a smile. "Now let's get moving."
The second man just nodded and the pair, elite members of a special forces squad from the Diamond Kingdom, turned and ran deeper into Kiten looking for Clover Kingdom Magic Knights to help them out of this constantly attacked town. For all intents and purposes the looked as if they were from here and were trying to get out which was the point. This invasion was the perfect cover for their infiltration mission and the long term plans to destabilize, take down, and finally capture the Clover Kingdom once and for all. As they ran, neither knew of the ball that they'd just set in motion.
Akame was of course completely unaware of this as she moved on through Kiten sensing ki and hunting down the remaining Diamond Kingdom soldiers who were neither dead, captured, or had managed to flee from the town and back to their kingdom. She'd managed to find a few stragglers who were either trying to flee but couldn't or so committed that they were still trying to salvage the attack, or at least inflict as much damage as possible on the town and Kingdom before being killed, and she took care of them accordingly.
The former she used either one of her other spells like Dagger Swarm or just raw blades to non-fatally injure and leave to be captured by other Magic Knights as they'd given up the fight. The latter she killed outright without a second's hesitation as they were still a clear and present danger to Kiten and thus had to be taken out permanently.
Some of the latter may have survived but with wounds inflicted by Kiriichimonji there was a good chance that without either Asta's Anti-Magic or a healer who could purify a curse, and as far as Akame knew there wasn't any who could do that, they were done for. Of course, if they surrendered after Akame had left then she'd make sure Asta took care of them but if they didn't, well they'd sealed their fate by attacking Kiten and crossing paths with her.
Still, Akame had a nagging feeling in her gut that there was at least one more threat that had to be fully dealt with before this was over. Yes, the Golden Dawn Captain had singlehandedly turned the tide and all but ended the battle with his massive tree while the actions of Akame and Tatsumi, along with others, were cleaning up the stragglers but she couldn't shake that there was still something that needed to be sorted out to fully end this battle.
She wasn't sure what it was though but as Akame turned down another road and came upon 4 standard grunts surrounding a richly dressed man in a green and brown outfit with a band around his head indicating that he was an officer, or at least some kind of superior as he wasn't in the standard grunt robes. They were standing in front of a building that was right at by the base of the tree, so close in fact that the whole area was shadowed, and looking through a broken door at something inside the building. That feeling in Akame's gut grew as she ran into the road and heard the man speaking.
"Keep the area clear, kill any Clover Kingdom bastard that you see approaching, and let me work." The man, an Adjutant General, said as he seemed to be controlling vines that were sifting through the rubble inside the building as Akame could see that the roof had been caved in. "Stay clear of the roots, they'll capture you if you touch them so if you want to progress in the ranks after our losses today you'll avoid them. Once we get General Lagus out of this mess and to safety we'll be set for life under his command and patronage. That damned wind brat beat him, not even a fucking Captain, but we'll keep the General's shame a secret in exchange for positions of honor under him."
"Sir." One of the grunts said as Akame ran towards them not at all phased by the order to kill anyone approaching seeing as these lowlifes weren't a threat to her at all. "We've got a Magic Knight coming and she looks dangerous."
"So what? Kill the bitch." The man said. "Now!"
The men, well three men and a woman, turned and two rushed Akame as she ran towards them with Kiriichimonji out to her right hand side in a one handed grip. Two of them, both men, held back with one forming javelins of stone and the other what looked like ceramic corkscrews while the man and woman rushed Akame and equipped close combat magic with one opting for a thick set of round wax gloves over his fists and the other formed a pair of studded rubber coshes in her hands. Akame didn't judge any as a threat and already her grimoire was flipping to one of her spells as the two brawlers neared her.
Then, as the page settled on the spell Akame wanted to use, the man reached her and threw a wild, telegraphed, punch at her which Akame ducked as she continued running while slashing her katana at the same time. The slash easily bisecting him at the waist his top half falling back as his legs ran a few extra paces before processing that he was dead.
Akame didn't notice any of this though as she planted her right foot and spun backwards while still crouched easily avoiding a swing from the woman's left hand cosh and slicing back with her longer weapon to slice the woman's back open with Kiriichimonji. The woman screamed as her spine was sliced and she fell forward, unable to walk and now bleeding out but Akame didn't notice that as she finished her spin and got Kiriichimonji up to intercept the ranged attacks as they were sent at her. As she did she cast her spell to counter with her own ranged attack.
"Blade Creation Magic: Spinning Blades!"
Suddenly a series of S shaped curved blades appeared above Akame and shot at the other two grunts and their commander spinning so fast they looked like disks as they flew at Akame's opponents. Some were intercepted by the corkscrews and javelins though only the latter stopped them, but not all and soon one of the men was hit in the chest by two of the blades while the other took one to his throat decapitating him ending the lack of a threat that they'd posed. None of their attacks injured Akame, however, as she cut them down, dodged, or deflected them away with ease.
Alas the same couldn't be said about the commander who'd erected a thick forest of vines that burst up from the ground and intercepted the blades and stuck them fast before they could reach him showing Akame that he'd sensed the attack. That wasn't a concern to Akame though, it just meant that he had more skill than his underlings and so she pushed off the ground and rushed the officer to take the battle to him as he dismissed his vines a look of rage on his face.
"Fucking bitch, you're in my way." The man spat as his grimoire flipped to a new page. "I'll take my time with you now. I'm going to enjoy this. Vine Creation Magic: Entangle Enemy!"
He held out his hand at that and a twisting mass of vines shot out of his palm at Akame as she ran. She wasn't fazed by it though and just moved Kiriichimonji down and across her body, her left hand going to the handle to hold it in a two handed grip while her grimoire flipped to a new page and she activated her spell, the blade gleaming with magic as she did.
"Blade Magic: Scimitar Slice!" Akame said as she slashed her katana up and across her body as the vines approached her.
The razor sharp projection of Blade Magic, as sharp as Kiriichimonji was now, hit the vines and easily sliced through them as if they were paper, cleaving the vines in twain, and opening a path for Akame to run through. It didn't stop there though and a second later the slice reached the man right after his spell ended and hit him in his palm, slicing through it in a diagonal that was between his thumb and forefinger thus taking off the top half of his palm and all his fingers with a spray of blood.
Naturally, the man reacted with a scream of pain and shock as he recoiled from what had happened and had the added benefit of getting his head out of the way of the top half of the slice just before it reached him so rather than cut his head in two diagonally, he only got cut along his right cheek and through the middle of his ear. Not that that would save him, though, as Akame closed the gap as he staggered back and leapt over him, flipping and slicing Kiriichimonji as she did.
Kiriichimonji sliced down and cut through the man's left shoulder and upper chest, cleaving his heart in two in the process, and killing him before he could get his legs under him. He was dead before he hit the ground and Akame finished her flip, his grimoire vanishing as he fell, but Akame didn't notice this as she landed and looked around, her senses on high alert as the body of the Adjutant General hit the ground behind her.
Akame knew that he was dead before she landed and with all five soldiers now dead all she could sense was the general ki of the area and one single living source within 100 meters of her, an unconscious ki in the building that the Adjutant General had been trying to clear. If Akame heard right, the man had said it was General Lagus un there, who if she recalled Mushroom Head was one of the Eight Shinning Generals, and that had to be why she sensed that there was still a threat.
So, with a flick of her wrist to clear Kiriichimonji of blood, she turned the rubble and walked towards it. As she did she was constantly sensing ki so that she wasn't snuck up on while she was busy ensuring that General Lagus was properly dealt with.
That didn't happen though, the Diamond Army was in full retreat at this point, and she easily reached the building to find that the man that she'd just killed had cleared almost all of it out so that an unconscious man with his mouth open and eyes white was visible on his back in the rubble of what looked like a collapsed roof and several collapsed ceilings. The unconscious man looked like an aristocrat with swept back light blue hair held in place by a black headband with dark blue, diamond shaped gems in it.
This was definitely one of the Generals, Akame remembered the focus on him when she'd seen the image of the invasion from Mushroom Head in the Wizard King's office, and now she had a dilemma on her hands. As he was an enemy combatant and one of their commanders to boot she could, and thanks to her prerogative from the Wizard King and the general laws of war, she could kill him right here and now without punishment but the commander aspect stilled her hand.
After all, he was more valuable to them alive and Akame knew it. So she dismissed Kiriichimonji to free her hands, bent down, and grabbed his ankles before she began to drag him out of the rubble.
However, just because she didn't kill him it didn't mean that she had to be gentle with the man and besides, while she was certainly a lot stronger than most women, she'd struggle to lift this much dead weight and her magic wouldn't help her compensate for that so she just dragged him roughly over the rubble and into the street. If he woke up she'd kill him in a second but he didn't so Akame was able to look around as she dragged him and found one of the tree roots, which if it was touched would capture the touched, according to the now dead Adjutant General, which made it perfect.
Akame simply dragged the man over to the root and through the street, and a puddle of the Adjunct General's blood, and to the root. She made sure to step over the root to avoid touching it herself before she dropped the General's legs on it and backed up to be clear if it suddenly lashed up.
That turned out to be a good thing because the moment that she'd dropped the man's legs the root reacted and whipped up and around, binding the General and taking him high into the sky and towards the tree. Akame nodded at that before realizing that there might be some airborne soldiers still active who'd try to rescue the General now that he was visible so hoping that the Captain was still with Goldiguts, she pulled out a communication device that she kept in one of her belt pouches and contacted the Captain with it.
"What is it?" Yami's voice said with a hint of annoyance in it as the crystal at the end of the device glowed when he spoke. "This had better be good, I'm discussing something important right now."
"It is Captain." Akame said into it unaware that at that very moment William had just finished relaying his backstory to Yami after removing his mask and revealing the scars on the upper half of his face that he was born with. "I presume that you're with Goldiguts right now?"
"Goldiguts?" A new, refined, voice said confirming that he was there.
"Yeah I'm with him." Yami said confirming it and not bothering to correct Akame's use of one of his nicknames for Vangeance. "This better be good Akame. If it's not, I'll kill you."
"It is, I wanted to ask him if he can sense when his magic catches a new person." Akame said. "I've got no idea how these roots work but usually magic like this can be sensed by the caster, well it should be when the caster is a Magic Knight Captain."
"Well, does it?" Yami asked though William had heard and was about to answer.
"I can and it was just triggered." William said. "I take it that you had something to do with it miss. I'm sorry if I caught you, I don't know your magic so I can't avoid it."
"No, I'm not dumb enough to be caught by a tree root." Akame said bluntly. "And even if I was, I can cut my way out of it. No, I just dropped the legs of one of those Generals on it, and wanted to report in that he was just grabbed so you can make sure he's brought in. I had to stop some of his underlings from rescuing him and don't want that to have been pointless."
"Good idea, the General that Goldiguts caught was freed by one of his underlings." Yami said before he addressed Vangeance. "Got that?"
"I can hear her Yami." William said though he didn't sound annoyed. "Yes, thank you for that. I am surprised that you defeated him though, he's supposed to be Captain level."
"I didn't, if I did then he'd be dead and I wouldn't have bothered calling my Captain." Akame said without emotion. "No, apparently some Wind Magic user beat him and sent him crashing through a building based on the damage I saw. I just stumbled upon the aftermath and some grunts trying to rescue him."
"Yuno beat him, most impressive." William said and he sounded it. "He's getting better by the day."
"Did you take care of the grunts?" Yami asked clearly not carrying about Willian's Squad member.
"Yes." Akame said and that told Yami all he needed to know; they were all dead. "They said the roots would capture them so I used them on the General."
"Thank you, he'll be taken in as a prisoner of war." William said. "We'll interrogate him and hopefully get some good intel from him."
"Good job Akame." Yami said. "Julius will be pleased that you showed restraint at the end when you had every right to execute the General. This will look good on your next pardon review."
"Thank you." Akame said her tone not expressing how pleased she was at her Captain's praise. "I'm going to go, there's still more work to do before Kiten is safe again."
With that Akame cut the call and put the device back in its pouch on her belt. She then turned, recast Murasame to draw it from her grimoire before altering it into Kiriichimonji again, and rushed back into Kiten hoping that Tatsumi, Asta, Charmy, and Finral were doing well as she continued her work clearing out the last of the trash so that she could rejoin them and finish this mission unaware of how close she was to the others as they were just a street over from where she was.
"She's a character I see." William said to Yami as soon as Akame had disconnected the call and Yami put the communication device away before looking back at Willaim. "Not the most respectful Magic Knight though. Did I hear you correctly at the end by the way? Her pardon review?"
"Akame's not someone who needs to be respectful, and in fact you have to earn her respect for that." Yami said bluntly. "Be grateful that she bothered to ensure that that General was captured, she's allowed to summary execute someone like him if she wanted to. Akame's not someone you want to piss off."
"I see." William said and he did because he knew all about Akame and who exactly she was thanks to Patry and the injuries he'd sustained at her hand though the pardon stuff was new to him hence why he'd asked Yami about it but Yami clearly wasn't going to answer that question. "Well, while other Captains would be pissed at her disrespect I'm not one for that."
"Yes, you've explained your history so it seems like you understand the nature here like I do." Yami said taking a drag on his cigarette. "Well, anyway, it looks like this is wrapping up nicely. Finral's here so we've got a quick path to headquarters for all these prisoners and any citizens who want to leave Kiten. He's going to come in handy and we can work him real hard."
"Ah yes, that explains how you got here so quickly though we shouldn't work him too hard." William said with a chuckle. "Very well, let's wrap this up Yami. I'll contact my Squad and get those with Capture Magic to work while the rest help clear up Kiten. We've routed them, the few survivors will be fleeing."
"Good, there's going to be some nasty cleanup knowing my guys but we'll do what we can to help." Yami said as he turned while William put his mask back on. "Thanks for this chat."
"Anytime, I'm glad that I got to show you who I am." William said as Yami jumped off the tree glad that they'd had the chat but before he could think more he got a call on his communications device. "Yes?"
"Captain." One of his squad members said. "The Diamond Kingdom Army is in full retreat. Kiten has been saved."
"Excellent, right let's…" William began as he started to relay his orders for the cleanup and transport of prisoners.
Yami didn't hear any of this as he descended the tree. His suspicions about William had been mollified for the moment, he'd felt that there was something there after facing that Light Mage but it was clear that he and William weren't the same as there was no way to hide those scars. Still, it was strange but Yami pushed it out of his mind as he descended ready to see what his knuckleheads had gotten up to in his absence, hopefully it wasn't too bad.
Tatsumi heard the massive crash as he turned down a street. He'd sensed a high concentration of malicious ki, at least two sources that were bad enough to merit immediate attention, and figured that they were notable Diamond Kingdom officers so he'd picked up the pace and charged towards the sound.
Since killing that over muscled officer Tatsumi hadn't run into any real opposition. Most were either trying to flee or if they couldn't surrendered without a fight so Tatsumi knocked them out with the butt of his katana and carried on. Of course there were a few holdouts that were truly committed to the Diamond Kingdom but Tatsumi just cut them down before they could do more than get a spell off, often not even that, and carried on as the battle wound down.
As such, things were going well and Tatsumi knew that they'd won the battle and repelled the attempted Diamond invasion. All that was really left was the cleanup and taking care of any remaining officers that might be holding out and still pose a threat.
Given the malice that he was sensing, Tatsumi presumed that at least one of the sources was a Shinning General and without them the battle was truly done so he was going to go and do his part to ensure that they were no longer a threat. That was why he was running towards the crash but as he was doing so he noted that ki at the center of the crash was now unconscious ki so was clear that one of the officers had been taken out. Plus, if he was unconscious then even if his magical power was greater than Tatsumi's, it wouldn't be an issue for his capture spell.
What greeted Tatsumi, however, was not what he expected. He'd been so focused on the two sources of malicious ki that he'd not done more than count the other ki signatures in the general area and make sure that they weren't malicious.
There were about a dozen or so by Tatsumi's count, and one was strange and unlike any that he'd sensed before, but before he could focus on that several of the ki signatures started vanishing as he neared the area and that distracted him because he instantly realized who was there. Sudden vanishing ki meant either death, and he didn't sense conflict, or Spatial Magic so it had to be the latter which meant that Finral was there using his Spatial Magic to help civilians get out of harm's way.
Once he sensed that, Tatsumi quickly picked up on Asta and Charmy's ki as well. It seemed like they'd managed to sort some stuff out while helping the citizens out and as he rounded a corner he saw the three of them talking while a mass of gray hair stuck out of a ball of cotton at the far end of the street from them
The gray hair was one of the sources of malicious ki that Tatsumi had sensed and he knew that if he was in Charmy's cotton then he wasn't going anywhere. Judging by the hair and the ki, Tatsumi was pretty sure that he was the Mucus Mage that was one of the Eight Shinning Generals so that was a really big prisoner to capture and the crater in the wall above him told Tatsumi all he needed to know, the trio had taken down the General and that was going to look really good for them and their Squad.
"…should probably go look for the Captain, Tatsumi, and Akame." Finral was saying as Tatsumi jogged into earshot. "They should be done now that things have quieted down."
"Sounds…oh hey, Tatsumi's here." Asta said as Tatsumi dismissed his armor and slowed to a walk as Asta noticed his ki. "Well that's one of the people we need to find already here."
"Huh, already?" Charmy asked not focused on Tatsumi's arrival at all and more focused on the fact that they had to leave her Prince of Provisions. "Do we have to?"
"Hey guys." Tatsumi said his senses on high alert as he approached his friends and squadmates. "I see that you've taken care of one of the Generals, where's the other one?"
"The other one?" Asta asked. "Oh right, you must mean the one Yuno beat, he was a block or two over, we saw it happen but were kinda ended up over here dealing with the mucus guy. He's not far off though. We should pick him up in a moment I guess."
"Yuno? As in your brother?" Tatsumi asked surprised as he turned to the source of ki nearby and saw the tall raven haired man in full Golden Dawn uniform with a blue cloak under his robe and a floating fairy thing over his right shoulder. "Oh, that explains that ki source and the strange one that I felt, guess that's the Wind Spirit."
"Yes this is Bell." Yuno said looking at the older teen in a Black Bull robe with a sword on his back who he didn't recognize at all. "Who are you?"
"Oh right, this is Tatsumi, he's another senior Black Bull." Asta said realizing that the only time Yuno would have seen Tatsumi was at the reception when he was in his Incursio armor so it was probably best to not mention that and treat this as a first meeting. "I think he's the number two actually."
"I'm more senior." Finral pointed out with a slight note of protest in his voice. "Show some respect, Asta."
"I'm the only non-Junior class so I guess I'm second in that regard but that's not relevant." Tatsumi said still feeling the malicious ki that was nearby and pinpointing it to one of the roofs overlooking them. "And no, I wasn't talking about a few blocks over, the General should be above us and nearby, guess the third is…"
Tatsumi trailed off as he looked around and saw the source of the ki standing on a nearby roof. He was glad he'd not reached for his sword as he was looking because the pers wasn't a Shinning General; no he was a Clover Kingdom Magic Knight with light brown hair and wearing a full Golden Dawn uniform. That was odd, his ki was malicious as fuck to Tatsumi and he narrowed his eyes as he looked up at the man who just coldly stared down at Tatsumi as if Tatsumi was an insignificant insect who was beneath him.
"…up there." Tatsumi finished. "Who's the asshole on the roof?"
"While your assessment about his personality is correct, please try not to call him that." Finral said with a sigh as he really didn't want Tatsumi to get into a fight with the Golden Dawn guy because it would not be pretty. "That's my younger half-brother Langris, the Vice Captain of the Golden Dawn."
"I see." Tatsumi said being as tactful as possible while Langris glared at him, clearly he'd realized that Tatsumi had sussed him out as well, or he was pissed that Tatsumi had called him an asshole as the guy was probably the type to get really pissed off at being called on his bullshit. "Ok, well, good to know. Guess I was wrong about it being one of the other generals."
"Oh that General was nearby." A new, female, voice said and they all turned to see Akame walking towards them her clothes, arms and face splattered with blood but she didn't seem to mind. "Whoever knocked him out did a good job, he was easy to drop off on one of those tree roots and was whisked away by the Golden Dawn Captain, that's probably why you're confused Tatsumi."
"That would be me who beat him." Yuno said looking at the newcomer while Tatsumi turned to his girlfriend unsure if she'd been trying to cover for him or was just picking up the tail end of the conversation and contributing to it. "I see that you're here as well; I should have guessed."
"Huh, Asta's pervert brother is here." Akame said, she'd only been a block over so as soon as she'd had a moment to focus after her call with Yami and William she'd realized how close her love, squadmates, and a few ki signatures that were either unfamiliar but she'd sensed before or were totally new and malicious to her were nearby she'd hurried over and caught the end of the talk about the other General in the area. "Thought I recognized that ki."
"Pervert!" Bell yelled looking over at Yuno. "Since when did you have this side Yuno!"
"I don't, Klaus accidentally barged into a swimsuit store and almost saw that fussy girl who's always following Asta around naked." Yuno said as Akame reached them and stood next to Tatsumi and couldn't help but agree with Yuno's rather accurate assessment of Noelle even if she'd be furious to hear it. "The girl that just arrived, I can't remember her name, burst out of a changing stall in a bikini armed with a sword and threatened to blind Klaus if he had seen her squadmate naked, while holding me and Mimosa at blade point at the same time. I saw nothing and looked away."
"You were still was present." Akame said not bothering to give her name while Bell accosted Yuno for his behavior. "Only one man should see Noelle like that and he's still too dense to realize it."
"Damn babe, you know how to be sexy." Tatsumi said smiling at Akame while Yuno just ignored Bell and Asta completely missed what Akame was implying because, well, he was oblivious to Noelle's feelings and how she was in denial of them. "I wish I'd seen that look. The harpoon and bikini was hot as well but your katana is your weapon so it's more you."
"I'll show you later." Akame said flushing at Tatsumi's praise. "After I have a bath, gotta clean this off."
"Yeah seems like you dealt with plenty of enemies." Tatsumi said turning to her as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. "Here, at least get some off your face. I don't mind it but some might see it as odd and I know how sticky it can get."
"Thanks, and I dealt with a few enemies though I can't feel many more." Akame said blushing redder as Tatsumi cleaned off some of the blood on her face though he didn't get all of it as some had already dried. "I can sense one nearby but after that we should be done as the rest are fleeing."
"About that." Tatsumi said lowering his voice and showing that while he said he was wrong about Langris, he was lying as he got a bad feeling from the Golden Dawn Vice Captain. "That's not an enemy, it's Finral's little brother and he's looking down on us in both senses of the word. Something happened, let's get a debrief afterwards."
"I see." Akame whispered keeping a lock on the ki but not looking towards it before she raised her voice and looked over to Finral. "We're all here, let's fall back to where we arrived and wait for the Captain there. He should be done soon as well so we should be where he can find us."
"Sounds good." Finral agreed. "Let's go."
"Already?" Charmy asked again. "But I want to talk to Yuno some more!"
"Next time." Akame said understanding Charmy's reason, her ki was clear as day at the moment, and wanting to support it but they did need to reunite with their Captain. "And we'll get Vanessa involved, she'll help trust me."
"Fine." Charmy said with a pout.
"Alright well guess that's us done here, see you later Yuno!" Asta said before calling out to Yuno as they finally decided to leave less Akame or Tatsumi set off Langris and things got bloody, again because they wouldn't hold back even if Langris was the Vice Captain of the Golden Dawn. "We're off to find Captain Yami."
"Yeah, see you later Asta." Yuno said. "Oh and don't eat stuff you find on the ground."
"Hey, it's been years since I've done that so no fair!" Asta complained as Charmy moved right up to Yuno. "Stop reminding me of it!"
"Hey Yuno, I was wondering if there was a way that I could get in touch with you sometime." Charmy asked. "I know a few good places to go, and I was wanted to…"
"Hey! Stay away from my Yuno you thieving little raccoon!" Bell yelled flying down and spraying Charmy in the face with her sparkles to shoo her away from Yuno. "He's mine and no one else's! That applies to the other girl here as well!"
"I have a boyfriend who I love deeply, I've got no interest in Asta's brother." Akame said cooly with a glare at the fairy thing as Charmy wailed. "Plus I support Charmy in this so if you try to do anything to get in the way of her love I'll slice those wings clean off and let her do as she pleases with you."
"Gah my eyes! Akame, she's trying to blind me with her sparkles!" Charmy wailed while Bell tried not to let her fear show because she could tell that the black haired girl was deadly serious. "She's an evil insect! Cut those wings off now! Actually no, leave her to me, I want to do it and then fry her up myself! Stay out of this, that little bug is mine!"
"Understood, I'd do the same if a certain Ice Mage revealed that she went through what I did." Akame said though she really hoped that Esdeath had not been reborn like the rest of them while Charmy chased Bell around with a cotton encircled net she produced from who knew where. "You have my support Charmy."
"Let's get out of here before one of you causes an inter-Squad incident that turns really bad." Finral said with a sigh as he opened a portal. "Tatsumi, can you please make sure Akame keeps her blades to herself."
"No promises, she is better with them then I am." Tatsumi said as he turned to the portal and took Akame's hand causing her to smile. "But for now we'll head out peacefully."
"I won't interfere with Charmy showing her superiority to a bug." Akame said. "Don't worry, that's not the incident I'd cause."
"Unfortunately I know what you would cause so please don't." Finral said with a sigh. "Even if it's probably warranted."
"Thank you Akame, now come here you little insect!" Charmy said as she chased Bell but she passed Finral as she did and he grabbed her by the back of her smock and lifted her up as Asta, Akame, and Tatsumi walked through the portal with the latter two interested in why causing an incident with Finral's little brother would be warranted. "You're lucky because next time I see you I'm going to fry you up for dinner! I'm going to come up with so many recipes for you!"
"Let's go." Finral said as they left and the portal closed behind them so no one noticed that Bell had stuck her tongue out at Charmy as she left.
A moment later he and Charmy exited the portal on the top of the wall around Kiten. As they did, Charmy almost immediately began to prepare food and the mission came to an end. All they had to do now was wait for the Captain, finish the cleanup and prisoner transport, and get back to the hideout.
All in all it had been a good, productive mission, which given that it had been unplanned and an emergency was really good. They'd helped defend Kiten, dealt a serious blow to the Diamond Kingdom in both losses and the capture of two of their Eight Shinning Generals, and shown their mettle.
Yes, it had been good but now it was time to take a moment, eat, and watch Finral freak out over what he said to Langris, Asta look forward to swinging a sword again, Charmy to stress heat about not spending enough time with Yuno, and for the three to tell Akame and Tatsumi what had happened when they settled down. They finally did and began to tell the couple of their own actions in capturing Yagos, as well as what Langris had been about to do before they intervened, as the sun set on Kiten.
Well there it is, the battle in Kiten mainly from Tatsumi and Akame's perspectives and how they fared in it and tying them into what went down. Naturally, their presence caused some changes, mainly the end of the chat between William and Yami because of the call Akame had with the latter, but for the most part the battle was pretty standard with the pair mainly focused on ensuring that the Diamond Kingdom fled and showing what they can do in a sanctioned battle. Of course there was a little extra with them on the battlefield but all of that will be revealed in time with the first really clue coming in the 4 chapter side arc that will be part of the general replacement for the Forest of Witches arc as Akame and Tatsumi won't be there so instead I'll be focusing on their mission to heal Asta's arms along with 4 chapters that takes a look at what the other members of Night Raid have been up to lately (or in the time before this so a bit of a look back in time) be it hunting, investigating and unraveling a pair of human trafficking ring, or a personal investigation for the Wizard King so there's a lot to look forward to. Other than that, there's not much to say about this standard chapter so I'll leave it off here. As always, if you like my story then please follow, favorite, review, PM, etc. it is all appreciated and helps me get better and stay motivated to keep producing more content and any questions asked I will do my best to answer both privately and at the start of the next chapter. Until next time.
Stringdog