Reaper of the Empire (Akame Ga Kill x Male Reader)

Chapter 31: Weak

After having learned what he can about General Esdeath from the citizens, F/N heads to the ice cream parlor where Esdeath is supposed to be at. He arrives and hides on the top of a roof nearby to observe her. Esdeath is just sitting there enjoying her ice cream. F/N was stunned she was so easy to find, but now understands why. Even with all the skills that he has F/N can tell he would stand next to no chance against her in a fight. She literally is radiating hatred and a love for torture. F/N would love nothing more than to kill her, but knows that it is in his best interest to retreat.

Following finishing her ice cream, Esdeath gets up and heads back to the imperial palace where she is staying. In her mind she is thinking, "I thought for sure that a member of Night Raid would show up if I made myself so easy to find. I did not sense a single person following me the whole day though. I guess that Najenda is being even more cautious than I thought. It does not matter though, before long she will have to move to stop my Three Beats from killing revolution sympathizers. Otherwise there will be no one left to support her and the revolution will crumble."

When F/N gets back to the base, he heads to the command room to give his report to Najenda. He does not find her there. He next tries the dining room and finds Najenda sitting at a table, going through various contracts.

F/N: "I have returned from my surveillance mission."

Najenda: "What did you find?"

F/N: "Esdeath was not trying to hide herself at all. She was eating ice cream right out in the open. An assassin could have easily struck at her. Yet, she did not care. I believe that her reasoning is that she is trying to draw us out. She is so confident in her abilities that she knew if any of us attacked her she would win and then she could capture a member of Night Raid."

Najenda: "Do you think she knew you were there?"

F/N: "I doubt she did. However, had I attacked she would have been able to deflect my arrow using ice, and then I would most likely have died having given my position away. In my life I have never seen someone that powerful. No matter what I did I would lose in a fight against her."

Najenda: "Do you believe that she can be beaten?"

F/N: "As it stands our only chance would be Akame doing it. Since Murasame kills with a single strike, she would only need to hit Esdeath once. I doubt any of us in our current condition could hit her more than once before dying."

Najenda: "I cannot say that I expected much else from her. Did you learn anything else?"

F/N: "All of the people in the Capital seem to love her. She also is loved by her soldiers since she gives all of her reward money to them. It would be next to impossible to turn one of her men against her."

Najenda: "Good work today. Go and get some rest."

F/N: "I apologize boss, but I have somewhere I need to go. To beat General Esdeath I need a power greater than what I currently have. That means that I will need a Teigu. I have an idea where I can find one that will be compatible with me. I will be leaving for a short time to go and see if my idea is correct. I will return as soon as I can."

Najenda: "You are part of Night Raid, you cannot just leave whenever you feel like it."

F/N: "Based on the analysis that I have made, this is the best thing I can do right now to help ensure our success."

Najenda: "Fine, where did you hear about this Teigu?"

F/N: "A while ago I bought a book from a western merchant. It is on the forty-eighth Teigu. The book claims that it was stolen by the western tribes before they were conquered by the Empire."

Najenda: "That agrees with what I have heard as well. No one knows where it is located though. It is called the lost Teigu, because it disappeared before anyone ever used it."

F/N: "You are right. However, this book was written by a descendant of a close friend of King Roden. The western king that stole the Teigu. In the book it mentions that Roden was originally from what is now called Tensui Village. I believe that if there is anywhere in the world Roden would have hidden the Teigu it would be there." I want to go to that village and see if I can find it."

Najenda: "Even if I tell you that you can't go, you are still going to leave aren't you?"

F/N: "Yes I will. I feel like this is our best chance, and I will not waste it. If you have heard about the forty-eighth Teigu, you also know how powerful it is supposed to be."

Najenda: "Yes I do. Make sure that you come back alive from this mission. I trust that you know what you are doing."

Within the hour F/N has left the base headed west in hopes of finding the Teigu. He is not really sure if it will be there. All he can hope is that it is there and that the key he has will allow him to access it. Having seen General Esdeath, F/N now knows just how weak he is. Without a Teigu he knows that he does not stand a chance against her in a fight.

Later that day Akame and Lubbock return from their mission and report to Najenda that their target had left the city and was perfectly fine the whole time. All of the members of Night Raid know that this means that Bulat and Tatsumi were the ones whose target was attacked. All of the members hope for their safe return from the mission. This hope is not realized.

The following day Tatsumi returns to the base carrying Bulat's body. Tatsumi relates the story to the members of Night Raid of how three skilled Teigu users were on the ship and attacked them.

Tatsumi: "They played some type flute Teigu, that I have right here to put everyone to sleep. I managed to stay awake, and so did Bulat. They attacked me and I was forced to fight one of them off. Bulat saved me from getting killed and proceeded to fight and kill two members of their team. One of them was General Lever, a friend of Bulat. During the fight with Lever, Bulat got poisoned and died from it. Before he died, Bulat gave me Incursio. I used Incursio to kill the third member of their team."

Najenda: "So you are compatible with Incursio then. I guess you have finally got your own Teigu. I wish Bulat had not died, but recovering these three Teigu will be a great help to the revolution. We have also managed to kill the Three Beasts, who were Esdeath's personal assistants. This is a major blow to her, even if we also took a casualty."

Akame: "I know you are sad Tatsumi, but we need to move on."

Tatsumi: "I know. I was just too weak to save him. I need to get stronger so that this never happens again."

Akame looks around the base for F/N, to see if he has anything to say to Tatsumi that may help. Since F/N helped before she thinks, he may be able to help again. Akame realizes that F/N is not there.

Akame: "Boss where is F/N? You sent him to tail Esdeath if I remember. Please tell me he is alright."

Najenda: "He is alive, although I cannot say he is alright. F/N followed Esdeath and learned about her. Just seeing her must have scared him quite a bit, because he asked me for some time off. He is not at the base right now. He is doing his own thing on a personal mission of his."

Mine: "So just seeing Esdeath scared him that bad. Honestly, I didn't think that guy could get scared."

Akame: "There is more to it than that. He would not just leave like this. He must have had a reason. Did he say anything to you, boss?"

Najenda: "He believes that he has found the location of the forty-eighth Teigu and has gone to get it, if he is right."

Leone: "He may have found the forty-eighth Teigu? It has been lost for like a thousand years, so how is that possible?"

Najenda: "I don't know. We just need to trust that he will return safely having found that weapon. We could really use it if he is right."