Continuing her battle with Tobi, Akame parries one of his foot blades with Murasame, shoving him off as he was launched back into the air. She then swung her sword upwards, cutting Tobi's left arm off, making him click his tongue in annoyance.
He then lands a few feet away, Akame giving him her usual stoic and emotionless stare.
Akame: "If one blow isn't enough to send to your grave... Then I'll have to cut you down little by little. It's going to hurt an awful lot. So brace yourself!"
Tobi let out a small chuckle, holding the area of where his left arm used to be. A smirk begins to grow on his face as a metal blade then protrudes out of it.
Tobi: "I can't experience that sensation anymore."
Once more, he dashes off towards her, Akame raising Murasame up as she blocks the attack from the blade from his arm. Tobi then opened his mouth, a gun appearing as he fires off a shot. But Akame was quick enough to dodge it, moving her head to the right as the bullet goes past her.
She then took a step back and swung her sword upwards again, cutting off Tobi's other arm. He let out a small "tch" as he swings his body around, on the right side came out another gun. Once more, Tobi fires a shot, but due to Akame's quick reflexes, she was able to dodge the bullet as she ducks downward, the shot going overhead. One of Lubbock's wires was on the ground, Tobi's foot being caught on it and causing him to trip.
Akame then took this chance of an opening, dashing forward and slashing one of Tobi's legs off, blood flying in the air.
Tobi was about to retaliate until Fenrir leaped into the air and spun like a buzzsaw, slashing Tobi multiple times in the chest before he came to stop right next to Akame. A spear then came flying in and stabs Tobi right through his chest.
Stylish's soldier gritted his teeth as he turned his head around, seeing the two guards that accompanied him were now lying dead on the ground. Lubbock had his arm extended out, a grin on his face.
Tobi: "You little... It's rude to interrupt..."
Lubbock: "When the hideout and my friends are in trouble, I'm not about to sit back and just watch."
Tobi: "...Well...even if we had continued one-on-one...it would have been a loss on my end... Akame... Tell me. What did I lack compared to you...?"
Akame: "Your attacks are fierce, but... You left yourself too open, I think..."
Tobi: (light chuckle) "So I was too light on defense... Is it? I suppose not feeling pain is its downside..."
And in swift motion, Akame dashes past Tobi with her Teigu unsheathed. Tobi's head was decapitated off his body, Akame sheathing Murasame as his head could be seen falling in the background.
Lubbock and Akame soon look to each other and nod, both herself, Fenrir, and Lubbock taking off down the hall to head outside to regroup with the rest of their teammates.
---
Outside, Mine, Tatsumi, and Akira stare up at the sky. A giant Air Manta had suddenly appeared.
Tatsumi: "What is that...! A new player!?"
Akira: "An enemy perhaps?"
Mine: "Hold on a sec!"
Digging into a small compartment in Pumpkin, Mine took out a magnifying scope of sorts. She brought up to her eye so she could see in the distance. Upon looking through the magnifying glass, she eyes the person on top of the Air Manta. It was Najenda, along with two hooded figures.
Mine: "It's the boss! She brought reinforcements!"
Tatsumi: "Ooh! Nice timing! ...And no fair!"
Mine: "How?"
Tatsumi: "She's making her entrance riding that awesome beast! I want to ride it too!"
Akira: (sigh) "That's what you're worried about? Dumbass."
The icy blue-eyed teen made a side glance towards the bushes, sensing a presence nearby. In the bushes was Trauma, who was eyeing Mine and breathing heavily. With a cheeky grin, he leapt out of the shadows with his knife in hand, going for the kill.
Akira twirled Harvester in his hands and put it behind his back, preparing to launch himself forward and kill him. But he soon halted himself, him letting out a small chuckle. Before Trauma could reach Mine, from the side, Leone came in, transformed with Lionel. She had a pissed off look, her legs striking Trauma's face as she drop kicked him.
Leone: "You really did it this time! You bastard!"
By now, Tatsumi and Mine noticed the blonde lioness, turning to look at her as they see her pissed off look. Trauma rolls and skids across the grass, not having enough time to recover as Leone picked him up by his neck as he held her wrist, trying to wriggle himself free. Albeit he was struggling to do so.
Trauma: (grunts) "The pain... Spare me..."
Leone: "The thing about me is... I like making sneak attacks, but I hate being snuck up on! You look like you've got some power, but don't think that's going to make dying easier for you."
Tatsumi and Mine only stared at their blonde friend with sweat dropping looks. Trauma on the other hand grinned, thinking he had the upper hand. Thinking Leone was vulnerable, he activated one of his hidden weapons, a knife appearing out from the end of his boot.
He then raises his leg and tries to kick her in the face, attempting to stab her with his knife. But his grin soon disappeared as he gained a shocked look, Leone catching the knife in her mouth. And with all her might, she takes Trauma and slams down into the ground, the force creating an impact under the Stylish soldier.
Leone: "Phew! The blow I took from his sneak attack was pretty effective. ...Oops, I killed him in just one hit."
Akira: "You seem to be having fun."
Leone: "Eh? Uh... Sure, I guess."
Tatsumi: "H-Hey, are you okay?"
Leone: (grin) "I heal quicker when I'm transformed. This ain't nothin'."
Akira then dug into his back pocket, taking out the vial he had looted off from one of Stylish's soldiers. He popped off the cap and drank all of it. Worse case scenario, he'd die if it was poison. But even then, he was resistant, if not, immune to most of them.
Lubbock, Fenrir, and Akame soon appear, the raven-haired girl having changed quickly into her combat attire.
Akame: "Everyone's okay!"
Tatsumi: "Yep!"
Mine: "Now we're altogether."
Akame's gaze then move to Akira, who noticed her gaze onto himself. There was a small brief amount of eye contact before Akame looked away. The interaction from earlier had hurt her still, Akira making note of this. He sighed to himself, making a mental note to speak with her after the battle.
However, the two former Empire assassins soon gaze a hardened look as they readied their weapons, Fenrir moving to it's master's side. Coming out from the treeline once more were more of Stylish's enhanced soldiers.
Tatsumi: "There are still more left."
Lubbock: "At least they're the only ones my threads are picking up on."
Leone: "And I don't smell any others nearby either."
Akira: "The very same with presences, aside from the ones on the cliff a bit away from here. No matter, they'll all die the very same."
Tatsumi: "All right! Now that we're all here, let's knock 'em flat in one go!"
Akame: "Yeah!"
Akame soon paused as her eyes widened. Suddenly, everyone other than Tatsumi and Akira fell to the ground, making the two of them confused as to what happened.
Tatsumi: "Wha...? What's wrong with everybody!?"
Akira: (murmurs) "What the hell...?"
Mine: "My... My body suddenly won't move."
Tatsumi: "Th-This feels like... What happened back on the ship...? Hypnotism!?"
Akame: "No... This is... Poison..."
Akira: (thoughts) 'I see... So that vial I picked up off that corpse earlier must've been the antidote for this poison.'
---
Up on the cliff...
Me: "Apart from Incursio and Harvester's user, it's having an immediate effect, Dr. Stylish."
Dr. Stylish: "Heh heh... It's the first ace up my sleeve: A super powerful paralyzing drug that I stylishly concocted. I didn't think the average poison would work on those assassins. So I unleashed the worst one on them in one spray. It seems Incursio's armor is stifling the effects of the poison, and I'm not sure about the other one. But it's still only a matter of time."
The man with a white mask and two hair braids soon spoke up.
Hana: "Ah! But aren't our men in danger of it as well!?"
Mimi: (deadpan) "We already administered an antidote ahead of time."
Dr. Stylish: "That's right. You're also tolerant of it, Nose."
Hana: "Really? That's my Dr. Stylish! You're the best!"
Dr. Stylish: "I didn't want to use this new drug on those lively and healthy Night Raid guinea pigs... And well... Coming up with this one took so much time, it's really precarious... But I had no choice! They were annihilating my precious pawns!"
Me: "That's our Dr. Stylish."
Mimi: "So kind!"
Hana: "And making it an odorless poison was so considerate of my sensitivity!"
---
Back on the battlefield, Akira and Tatsumi were the only ones unaffected by the poison, the Ice Cold Reaper having taken the antidote seconds before the poison hit. Tatsumi was safe thanks to his armor, Leone and Akame struggled to get up, the paralysis poison having taken effect in their systems.
Tatsumi: (thoughts) 'I can still move more than the others. Akira can, too. We have to protect them!'
Just then, an explosion occurred, something as if seemingly dropped from the sky. A dust cloud had formed as to where the object had fallen, it soon clearing away as it revealed a man standing there.
He has blue hair and blue eyes, horns protruding out of his head. He wore a white, black, and red robe, a distinct red circle on the middle of his chest. In his hand was a stave-like weapon.
The group noticed that the mysterious new man had crushed one of Stylish's soldiers with it's stave-like weapon, as evident by the corpse and the blood stain under him.
Leone: "He's...on our side..."
Najenda: "Now! Drive away all the enemies you see before you! Susanoo!"
Susanoo: (nods) "Roger."
The blue-haired man, now known as Susanoo, brought his stave behind him. The mace end of the weapon then had blades come out of it, the man putting one foot forward as he dashes across the area. The mace end of the weapon then began to spin, Susanoo thrusting the weapon forward as the spinning blades on the weapon were cutting up anything that stood in it's way.
One of Stylish's soldiers tried sneaking up on him from behind, but Susanoo had raised a fist up and smacked the soldier in the face. More of them came from behind, raising their hands up as they were using their sharp nails as weapons. But Susanoo uses his weapon once again, the Wolf Fang Mace, and swung it across sideways, knocking and cutting up those that were in the air. The bodies then fell to the ground, blood riddling the area around Susanoo.
---
Me: "Wha...!? No way! The new guy is mowing down the infantry one after the other!"
Mimi: "If he's a living thing, then there's no way the poison didn't affect him!"
Dr. Stylish: "I don't get it. Perhaps it's a Teigu I'm not familiar with. In that case... I'll give up one more experiment materials with this."
Digging into his coat's pocket, Stylish retrieved a button and pressed it. The bodies that Susanoo had killed began to light up before they began to expand. Seconds later, the bodies exploded, the color orange filling the area and smoke and dust arising into the air. Stylish laughed, thinking he was successful.
Dr. Stylish: "They're specially designed human explosives! Now we're ready to go!"
The dust and smoke soon cleared, Night Raid finding their ally all beaten up, missing some parts of his body. However, they grew shocked as his missing body parts began to regenerate themselves. He was an organic Teigu.
Me: "That man... It's a biological Teigu... A humanoid Teigu!"
Once all of his limbs and sections of his body had regenerated, Susanoo's gaze was now on Mine. She grew confused as to why he was looking at her with a certain gaze, making her grow a bit nervous as he began walking up to her.
Mine: "Wh-What?"
He didn't say anything as once he got close to her, he crouched down. He then puts both of his hands on her hair and stroked them. Due to the explosion earlier, Mine's hair had been ruffled and looked unkempt. But Susanoo had stroked Mine's hair to fix, once done, a somewhat proud look on his face.
Susanoo: "There!"
Mine: (confused) "...What is?"
The former Empire general was still atop the Air Manta, wondering where these soldiers had come from. This was an organized attack and their base wasn't one that could easily be spotted. She took out a pair of binoculars and she began to scan the area, Najenda's gaze then being set on a cliff in the distance.
Najenda: "Susanoo! The enemy is hiding in the woods to the southwest! Don't let him escape ! Crush him!"
Susanoo: "Understood!"
Mimi: (alarmed) "We've been found out!"
Dr. Stylish: "Oh well! No point in futile efforts. We're outta here!"
Stylish and his team turned around began to pull out but were soon cut off. Susanoo had quickly arrived and landed in front of them, Stylish's team then standing in front of the doctor defensively.
Dr. Stylish: (mutters) "That jerk. He's not letting us get away no matter what."
Me: "Don't worry, Dr. Stylish."
Hana: "In the game of chess, we're your most powerful pieces! We will protect you no matter what."
Dr. Stylish: (thoughts) 'No, no. It's impossible in this situation... You guys are only useful for reconnaissance. You can't beat him. After all, even my special poison didn't work on him at all. Humanoid Teigus are bad news... They're not playing fair anymore!' "Now that it's come to this... I'm prepared to do my worst!"
The mad doctor once again dug into his coat's pocket, then taking out a syringe. He then stabs it into his arm, a wicked grin on his face.
Dr. Stylish: "The second ace up my sleeve. A blast of Danger Beast! It's the only way!"
Once all of the substance in the syringe had been deposited into his system, a large bulge then appears on Stylish's back. He then began to expand and grow larger, his clothes being ripped apart and his Teigu dropping to the floor, the gloves of Perfector now on the ground.
Stylish had then become a Danger Beast, looking like a large titan that towered over them.
Dr. Stylish: "It's here, it's here, it's here! This is the ultimate in stylishness! I will become a Danger Beast myself! And blow you all away!"
Hana: (blushes in amazement) "Ooh, how gorgeous...!"
Me: "That's our Dr. Stylish...!"
However, Me and Hana were surprised when Stylish's large hands grasped them both. They were then lifted up to Stylish's stomach level, the two of them sweating as the began to have an idea of what was going to happen.
Dr. Stylish: "You are my precious nutrients! Let us become one!"
The two were then tossed into the large mouth on Stylish's stomach, the mad doctor beginning to eat and digest them as his body began to morph. Mimi saw all of this and fell onto her rear, too terrified to move. It wasn't until she realized her chance of escape was too late, Stylish now grabbing her.
Mimi began to scream in fear as she was tossed into Stylish's stomach mouth as she too was now being devoured, Stylish changing once more.
Dr. Stylish: "That's it! I'll gobble up that flesh and will fuel me and level uuuuup!"
Tatsumi: "Wha-What is that thing!?"
Akira: (thoughts) '...You are one ugly motherfucker.'
Mine: "It's disgusting. It's just like... A monster."
Dr. Stylish: "But I'm still not big enough! I can't reach them yet... And to truly stand at the top, I need to get bigger! So I'll be taking you too!"
Stylish then reaches downward, attempting to pick up Susanoo and digest him as well. He slams his hand onto the ground, Susanoo having jumped upwards to avoid the grab. The organic Teigu then rockets downward and slams his weapon into Stylish's hand, finding himself surprised that his weapon and his own strength wasn't enough to make a dent in it.
Akira eyed the vulnerable spot Stylish was in, him sitting on the forehead of the monster. He needed to kill him in order to finish him off completely. But first things first, he needed to get over there. Akira prepared to slam his foot down onto the ground in order to create an ice pillar to propel himself forward, but was stopped when something grabbed at the bottom of his cloak. He looked down to see Akame grabbing him the end of his cloak.
Akira: "Akame?"
Akame: "If you can move, then take me with you."
Akira: "...Then hold on tight."
The raven-haired girl nodded as Akira picked her up. With her arms wrapped around his neck, Akame was holding onto him tightly so she didn't fall. However, it occurred to her that when she was sitting there, she felt a sense of warm and comfort. But she quickly shook those thoughts out of her head, returning to her usual stoic demeanor.
Akira: "Tatsumi. Clear us a path."
Tatsumi: "Got it!"
The brown-haired teen then went first, Tatsumi propelling himself with an enhanced jump thanks to his armor. Akira stomped his foot, a diagonal ice pillar appearing under him as thrust into the air, traveling at high speeds.
Stylish was currently battling Susanoo, slamming his hand down multiple times in an attempt to crush him. But Susanoo had the superior speed, him dodging and striking his mace at different places in an attempt to make a dent or do some damage somewhere. Stylish kept cackling to himself as Susanoo couldn't really do much but stopped when he heard two impacts below. Landing on the ground were Tatsumi and Akira, with Akame hitched onto his back.
Stylish: "Is that supposed to be a 'helping hands' routine? You guys don't look too steady there. I'll crush you!"
Stylish then lunges his hand forward in an attempt to grab the three, but Stylish stopped when he felt something hit the side of the head of his Danger Beast body. He looked in the direction from where the hit came from, seeing Mine on the Air Manta with Pumpkin in hand, Najenda next to her to help steady her shot.
They then fired another shot, striking Stylish's foot as he was set off balance, him falling on his back. Taking this chance of an opening, Akira jumped onto Stylish's leg and began to travel up towards the main body. The mad doctor sees them and tries to grab them, but his hand was stopped by Susanoo and Tatsumi, the organic Teigu thrusting his mace forward and Tatsumi stopping the blow with his hands.
Akira sent a nod towards them as thanks, him and Akame continuing to head up. But Stylish wasn't done yet, his last line of defense was tendrils coming out from the back. Once he sees they were heading towards him, Akira stopped and once again stomped his foot. A pillar of ice appeared under him as he thrust into the air. He then looked to the red-eyed girl and their eyes met, Akira taking a moment to admire her mesmerizing eyes. He wanted to talk to her about what happened earlier, but now wasn't the time.
Throwing her towards Stylish, Akame readied her Murasame and dodged the tendrils that were aimed towards her. She then drew her blade, cutting his neck as he went past him, his blood flying in the air as the black markings of Murasame's curse appearing on him.
Dr. Stylish: "...But... There were still so many... Human experiments I wanted to do... Why do I have such rotten luck?"
Murasame's curse finally went towards his heart, the poison killing him. The rest of Stylish's body then fell backwards and hit the ground. Akira was the first to land on the ground, the raven-haired then falling into his arms, Akira then gently setting her down onto the ground.
He then looked away from her, scratching his cheek awkwardly with an apologetic look on his face.
Akira: "Akame... About earlier... Um..." (sigh) "I don't really know how to say this, but... Sorry. Sorry for saying such things and... Sorry for not recognizing you sooner..."
Akame's widen temporarily before they relaxed, keeping her straight face. Akira's eyes kept going back and forth to her and to the side, expecting an answer. Her hair was covering her eyes, Akame haven't said anything yet.
A loud crack then filled the air as a red hand print was on Akira's face. But he was unfazed by the action. He deserved this after all. But he wasn't expecting for the tears Akame was shedding, a look of happiness in her eyes.
Akame: "You idiot! Do you know how much it hurt when you said that!? Do you know how much I tried to get you to remember me!? You were close, and yet you also felt so far away from me! ...Do you not know how lonely I felt without you?"
He could only imagine how much she was hurting inside with how he was before. Akira cupped her face with one of his hands and leaned his head forward so their foreheads were touching. He whispered an "I'm sorry." towards her. Akame continued to cry as she tilted her head upwards and captured his lips, closing her eyes as she did so. But Akira didn't do nothing and stand there.
No, this time, he returned it. This was different from the first time they shared one, albeit the first one was quick and rushed. But he could feel it. They could feel it.
The amount of love they were pouring into their kiss as they held it for as long as they could. This was the feeling he longed to desire with her.
Love.