"(F/n)... Did you just...?" Najenda's voice was soft and her eyes were wide with surprise. The battlefield froze.
In my arms, Mine's body was fading away; she was turning into glowing blue particles and becoming lighter in my arms. This was my first time watching the process of my trump card being used on someone other than me. It was like she was becoming nothing more than air.
"Hey... What the hell did you just do...?" I heard Benjamin ask.
I turned up, my mind now clear and devoid of the emotions that were cluttering it before. "I revived her," I said.
"You- What-" Benjamin was in shock. I was too, but it didn't show on my face. I was still mentally processing the situation.
"I don't know how this works... but if my hunch is correct, then..." I bent down, Mine's body having disappeared wherever it was off to. I grabbed her Pumpkin in my hand and aimed it at the now injured Budo who was getting jumped by the members of Night Raid.
I pulled the trigger and, with no strain at all, fired Mine's Imperial Arms. The bullet made its mark in Budo's head. The power of the rifle shocked me and seemed to surprise Budo too as his body fell to the ground. He died instantly.
"Is that... it...? The general is dead...?" Tatsumi mumbled.
I stood up straight with Mine's rifle. I turned towards Benjamin, "You're next."
He realized what I was about to do and dodged out of the way as I fired a bullet in his direction. I took aim with the rifle and continued to fire at him. A few of my shots made contact, but I clearly wasn't as good a shot as Mine was, as none of the shots were good enough to slow him down. It certainly didn't help that I could no longer see out of my left eye.
Benjamin drew out an arrow and prepared to fire it at me. I stepped aside and it flew harmlessly past me. However, I knew that there were more invisible arrows coming by. I took a mental note of where his first arrow fired and recalled what it felt like to fire his bow.
I rolled aside and was satisfied to feel the wind of those arrows go by me. I brought up my gun and fired at him again.
"Hey! (F/n)! We need to go!" Najenda shouted at me. "Hurry up an finish him off, or we're leaving!"
I glanced back and saw that Akame, Leone, and Seryu were all having a lot of trouble with Esdeath. Their bodies were frozen in spots and they had all suffered several injuries.
"Damnit, how am I still being outmatched?!?" Benjamin shouted.
I turned back to my other half and continued firing at him. "Najenda. If we have to go, then I have a plan. You guys go on ahead, and I'll keep these two occupied!" I shouted loudly, loud enough that everyone could hear it.
"What?!? We just came here to save you! You're just gonna get captured again!" Najenda said.
"I have a plan for that. I won't get captured." I said, firing more shots towards Benjamin, now turning and firing one at Esdeath.
"....Fine. If you say so. You'd better not get captured, because we're probably not gonna be able to save you a second time!" Najenda said, turning and starting to run. "Everyone, retreat!"
I watched and saw my teammates retreating back to the base. But I stopped Seryu right before she left,
"Give me your cloak. I need to hide my face." I said, while firing off several more shots of Mine's Pumpkin. I could feel it start to heat up a bit.
She nodded and handed me her brown cloak. I quickly slipped it on and pulled it far over my face.
***
"Hey, Boss. Will (f/n) be ok?" Leone asked, clutching her wounds.
"I don't know. We just have to trust him to come back to us. For now, though, we need to run away as fast as we can." Najenda said.
"I sorta want to go back and help him..." Seryu muttered, running alongside them.
"No need." I said.
All of them turned in shock at the sound of my voice. I appeared behind them, pulling my hood off of my head. I held Pumpkin and had its case on my back.
"(F/n)!?!" Seryu said in shock. "What are you- Wha-"
"I thought you were back there fighting. What happened?" Tatsumi asked, approaching me.
"I'm not the one fighting back there. Although, I probably won't be able to return the gun you gave me, Seryu." I said.
She tilted her head a bit.
"Benjamin! You'd better kill him!" Esdeath shouted, rushing the hooded figure in the dirt field; the same dirt field that was filled with several members of Night Raid previously, and now only had three people in it and one dead corpse.
"I already killed the pink-haired girl. Although, it looks like he used his trump card on her..." Benjamin mumbled.
Under the cloak, the hooded figure fired off a few shots towards Esdeath. The ice general swiftly dodged around the shots, before launching off a few sharp shards of ice. They made contact and injured the hooded figure a bit.
Then, she rushed forward and tapped the floor with her rapier, causing a giant mass of ice to form upwards. It trapped the hooded figure's body in a wall of cold.
"I've got you!" Esdeath said with a grin and wide eyes. Then, her expression shifted to a bit of shock as she saw a hint of pink hair under the hood. Using a shard of ice, she flung the hood off of her head and revealed...
"You-!" Benjamin shouted in shock as he saw Mine under the hood. She had a smug look in her pink eyes.
"Looks like you've been had..." She said.
"What! But you were killed!" Esdeath said.
"Oh? Then you haven't been paying attention..." Mine closed her eyes before her body started to glow a gentle light blue. Then, she faded away into blue sparks.
"She- Disappeared...?" Esdeath mumbled.
"What the hell? Is this the power of that Trump Card?" Benjamin said, mostly to himself. "Hey, Esdeath. Are we gonna go after them?"
Esdeath was silent.
"Hey! Ice queen! Are we chasing them or not?"
"No. We aren't." She said. "We need to take care of that bumbling brute's body first." She said, turning to General Budo who was dead on the floor. "Let's take this back; help me lift him." Esdeath moved to pick him up and Benjamin begrudgingly helped.
"What do you mean she's still alive?!?" Sheele said, dashing towards me with an intense look in her eyes.
"She's alive. Although, she's fighting Esdeath and Benjamin right now." I said.
"What! Then we need to go back and save her!" She said.
"Don't worry. She's ok." I said calmly.
"(F/n). You need to tell us what's going on." Najenda said, a stern tone in her voice.
"Ok. I used my Trump Card to revive Mine." I said simply. "Sorry... I'm kinda feeling out of it right now."
We had long since stopped running from the pair. We were confident at this point that we were far enough away that they wouldn't chase us, as we were all at the wooden cabin at the edge of the capital city.
I looked around and soaked in the now familiar sight of the large wooden cabin. Mine, Seryu, and I had been spending the last few days here. It was starting to feel like home.
Then, I felt an odd feeling of someone approaching. I turned and saw Mine suddenly standing there.
"Welcome back." I said plainly.
She pouted a bit and crossed her arms. "So, the first thing you make me do after reviving me is fight the empire's strongest, and your other half?"
"Sorry." I said.
"It's fine." She said with a sigh. "I think you have some explaining to do to the others-" She turned and was interrupted by a certain member rushing up. She felt arms wrap around her gently.
"Sheele?!?" Mine said in surprise as Sheele wrapped her arms around her in a hug.
"I'm glad you're ok..." She mumbled after a second of silence.
Mine opened her mouth to say something, but let out a small sigh a moment later, "Sorry. I'm ok now." She said.
The two stood there in silence for what felt like a while. But eventually, they separated.
"So. (F/n). Would you care to do some explaining? I have some questions about what happened back there." Najenda said.