19We were literally standing on top of a pile of dead soldiers. "That was far too easy."
Najenda nodded, "She's not coming out even after we've made this much commotion...Could she have fled?"
"That doesn't sound like something Esdeath would do at all."
Leone, "No, she's still here. I feel a repulsive, murderous aura coming from the cathedral..."
The silver-haired woman confirmed it, "It's definitely Esdeath. She's eager to hunt us down."
Su interrupted, "It's almost time for Akame's group's aerial assault, Najenda."
Me, "I have a 'really' bad feeling about this."
Najenda thought to herself for a moment,"For the assassination to be successful, we have to attract Esdeath's group's attention. There's no other choice!" Then the Boss said, "Change of plans! We'll charge into the cathedral instead!"
Team two came out of hiding for Najenda to give them another order, "Chelsea, Sheele, try and aid Akame's group when they arrive! Ieysayu, you're with us!"
"Roger!" We said in unison, as I went invisible again.
The Boss then turned to her Imperial Arms, "Susanoo, is the Trump Card ready?"
"Yeah. It'll activate as soon as you say the keyword."
Needless to say, we rushed in, "We'll be in the greatest danger right after the assassination is complete. Esdeath will no longer have anyone to guard, and will be able to focus her complete attention on attacking us. If that's the case, the best timing for the Magatama Manifestation is...right after the assassination of Bolic! I'll use it to keep everyone alive after the mission!"
Meanwhile:
Team three was falling out of the air, clinging for dear life, "That attack killed the air-manta! We're gonna crash!"
Ran was already coming back, "I won't let this chance slip by."
He threw more feathers at them. However—as you should already know by now—the more danger the user is in, the deadlier Pumpkin becomes, "And I won't let this danger slip by!"
The blast Mine unleashed barely missed Ran, but it "did" incinerate most of the left side of his clothing. "That Imperial Arms...is far more dangerous than I imagined..." That moment, Ran decided to make a desperate retreat.
"...It just scraped him. Too bad I can't use the cut-down shot all the time."
Then, Ran threw a few more feathers before vanishing. Luckily, Akame deflected them all with Murasame, "That was an impressive shot, Mine. You drove him away."
"Humph. Your follow-up was nice, too!"
Lubbock, "Save the chit chat for later! We'll all die from the crash if we don't do something!" While the three girls were holding onto him, the green-haired man started wrapping the dead danger beast—all passengers still onboard as well—with numerous strings, "This should work as an impromptu cushion." Indeed it did. "Impressive..." They all were off the fallen beast and showed their gratitude, "the air-manta's body absorbed all the force of the impact."
Akame, "Thanks for everything."
Mine, "You saved us in the end."
Akame turned her attention to the cathedral, "We fell before we reached our target. Let's hurry to the cathedral."
"I won't let you." Wave walked towards them, and he was serious, "Your opponent is me."
This came to everyone's alarm, Lubbock in particular, "A jaeger!?"
Mine, "You sure about this?"
Sayo prepared her bow and arrow, "Even if you're not our target, the four of us will show no mercy!"
Wave's response was unsheathing his sword—"Come assassins...You even injured Ran...I'm not going to lose any more comrades...! I won't let you hurt anyone else...!"—and stuck the tip of the blade into the ground, activating his Imperial Arms, "GRAND CHARIOOOOOOOOOT!" They all watched as the armor wrapped itself around Wave's body. Mine shot at him, but the beam missed completely.
Then, Akame tried to slash at Wave with Murasame...nothing. "This armor...won't let the blade penetrate to the skin...The armor doesn't have any...openings...!"
Fight
Akame jumped towards Wave and tried to do a downward aerial kick on him, but the former member of the imperial navy countered it with a high kick, and chained it with Skyfall; Wave backflipped and, in mid-air, launched himself forward, headbutting the dark-haired girl in Chest. Akame then tried slashing him, but Murasame's blade still couldn't pierce through Grand Chariot's armor, though it did knock Wave back. He came back with a Rib Breaker; Wave grabbed Akame, delivered two elbows to the ribs, then flipped the girl to the ground. Wave charged at her, and punched the girl in the abdomen.
Wave Wins
"It doesn't matter how many of you there are!"
That one hit sent Akame flying into three trees, snapping them down, before she hit a fourth and she ended up coughing up some blood. "Gah!"
He would've killed her on the spot, if Lubbock hadn't snared him with strings, "Alright! Got hi..." Before he could finish, Wave broke out of Lub's snare, and charged right at the green bean, who had already set up another string trap, "Come on! Get caught by my trap strings!" Lubbock was shocked when Wave jumped over them, He knew about them already!?"
"I'll destroy every single one of you!" Wave tried to do a dive kick on Lubbock, but missed, because Sayo knocked him out of the air with a stun arrow.
Fight
Wave tried launching "Grand Fall" at Sayo, but the latter managed to dodge, and hit him with her bow's blades three times. She then used another Stun Arrow; Sayo empowers her arrows with a blue stun quiver for about six seconds. If she fires an arrow while this effect is on, it will leave her opponent in a stunned state for a few moments, giving Sayo enough time to hit them even when she's on the other side of the arena. However, Wave blocked it and charged at Sayo with a successful Rib Breaker, followed by a Skyfall. The blue-haired man summoned Grand Chariot's version of Neuntote, and smacked her three times, causing hit-stun, as he then launched an enhanced version of Grand Fall, Great Grand Fall.
Wave Wins
Wave turned his attention back to Lubbock, who was already prepared, "Now now now, don't hurt the ladies!...Try fighting another man instead."
Fight
Wave tried doing a diving kick, but was stopped, and knocked back by Lubbock's Ground Trap;Lubbock summoned more of his string traps to burst out of the ground in a series of three. Wave then launched Force Claws; Wavewound up and then hit the greenbean with a double palm strike. Lubbock then threw a Tri-knife at Wave, causing the latter to stumble some. The Jaeger then launched "Grand Fall" at the green-haired man, causing him to fly back, and chained it with a suplex throw. Wave ended the fight with an X-Ray Move; Wave first kicked dirt/dust to daze the user of Crosstail before sliding in to break both of his ankles. Afterwards, he ran up behind him and slashed the green-haired man in the back with his weapon, causing damage to the shoulder blades, ribs, and spine before slamming Lubbock to the ground, shattering the spine even more.
Wave Wins
Wave kicked Lubbock hard into the trees.
Mine, "Why, you!" To her alarm, the Jaeger dodged the blast from Pumpkin. "What...the hell?"
Sayo, "Was he always this strong?!"
Akame, "He's like a force of nature...If we don't hurry...the distraction team will be annihilated..."
Inside the cathedral:
Esdeath was waiting for us, obviously. "Long time no see, Najenda."
"Esdeath..."
Up on the altar, with Natara and Kurome at his sides, Bolic was watching everyone—or rather watching Leone's breasts—with dirty eyes, "So that's Night Raid...oho. How seductive..." Yeah, that's why Lubbock hates him so much, unfortunately. On the other hand, I was waiting for the opportunity to shoot the bastard's brains out with my pistol—which I prepped with a silencer, and already checked the magazine to see if the bullets were loaded.
The Ice Queen unsheathed her rapier, preparing for one helluva battle, "You went through all the trouble of coming here, so I'll treat you with my Imperial Arms! And let's catch up afterwards, IN THE TORTURE CHAMBER."
Our boss, in her typical badass manner, responded with this comeback, "I'll pass. I don't really wanna talk to you."
"You're so cold." That's ironic because it's Esdeath who said that, "I even prepared aTrump Card for you."
That confused Najenda, "I thought that your Imperial Arms, Demon's Extract, had no such thing as a Trump Card."
"That's right. That's why I invented it on my own. Isn't it amazing?"
I knew what it was already—because I've been through this same exact scenario before—"Mahapadma; the ability to literally freeze time...Better go Shaolin, because speed won't work..."
Su, "Did she just want to brag?"
Leone had a sweatdrop, "A Trump Card isn't something you invent on your own, is it?"
Najenda, "That's just like Esdeath; breaking the limits."
The blue-haired woman pointed her rapier at them, and explained, "But then again, it's a technique that uses a significant amount of energy. I won't use it unless I have to."
"WELL THAT MIGHT BE SOONER THAN YOU THINK!" Ieysayu exclaimed.
Esdeath's response, "I look forward to the fight that forces me to use it." My friend was left dumbfounded.
Najenda, "...Akame's group still isn't here...Then we'll go on the offensive, and divert Esdeath's attention."
"Kurome. Focus on guarding him. We never know where their other members will strike from."
"Roger. If it's my sister, she'll definitely do something."
I was still waiting for an opening while invisible. Now don't go thinking that I would act all cocky; I was actually sweating underneath my armor. Every passing second, I was in greater danger, because the invisibility was slowly reaching its limit. "I have to be patient. My role is to strike down Bolic in the midst of the commotion. I have to focus on that!"
Esdeath snapped her finger and created a giant ball of ice, "Let's go, Night Raid!" The imperial general slammed it down.
"Get behind me!" Luckily, Su used his Wolf Fang Mace(Staff/Club)to smash the ball to pieces before it even reached the ground.
Esdeath then shot numerous shards of ice at him, "Then how about this?"
Su used the hidden blades in the Wolf Fang Mace as a spinning shield, shredding most of the shards, but a couple pierced his abdomen, much to Bolic's pleasure, "OH! Well done!" That pleasure quickly turned to alarm when the human Imperial Arms regenerated, "What!?"
"Are you...The organic Imperial Arms from the reports?" this definitely added to Esdeath's excitement, "This is getting more interesting by the second!"
Su, "Now it's my turn!"
Leone, "Bring it!"
In my head, "That's definitely something Jax would say."
Fight
Susanoo thrusted his Wolf-Fang Mace at Esdeath, but the latter created an ice decoy which was hit instead(The shards alone caused damage), and swung away with her rapier, until Su was low on health. At that point, she unleashed an X-Ray Move; Esdeath charged at Su with a cold shoulder attack and punched into his abdomen, proceeding to freeze and crush the human Imperial Arms' stomach, also cracking his ribs. She recoiled and kicked Su in the side of the head, shattering his skull and jaw.
Esdeath Wins-Flawless Victory
The Ice Queen wasn't finished yet—Su got back up and charged toward her. Esdeath then placed her hand onto the ground, and created a giant ice pillar in front of her, impaling Su, "I'll skewer you."
Leone tried to swipe at Esdeath, only to be impaled from behind by her sword. "What reaction speed! She's even faster than a beast...!"
Esdeath easily avoided Najenda's reel, and saw that Leone had already healed, "Oho. The woman is a human, yet she has such a high recovery rate. Must be the Imperial Arms' ability."
I had moved in closer to Bolic than previously; I was only four yards away from him, "I was able to move this much closer during that exchange...After one or two more like that, I'll...strike him down!"
Najenda was bruised big time, "They're still not here...? Something must have happened to Akame's group. Are they being held up by the Jaegers that aren't here...?!" Ieysayu was still dumbfounded until Najenda smacked him in the head, again, "Get your head in the game!"
Esdeath had a smug look on her face, "I've found some interesting specimens." She placed her hand on the ground again—"I'll capture you all."—and created a sheet of ice lined with jagged spikes that everyone barely dodged. However, that was exactly what the empire's strongest wanted, as she arm-chopped Najenda's spine, "There are many things I want to ask you."
"Guh!" The silver-haired woman was shot to the ground.
Leone leaped at Esdeath, but ended up getting heel-kicked to the floor. Then Sulunged at the Ice Queen again, only to be frozen the moment she touched him, "Freeze..." Within only seconds, Su was trapped in solid ice, "Capture complete." The shockwave produced knocked out Ieysayu.
"Uh..." Leone was struggling to get back up, "ugh..." Esdeath stabbed the blonde in the hand, and then flipped her over, "Ugh!"
"Your recovery powers...are very interesting." Leone couldn't even lift a finger because she was badly injured, "Does the recovery rate differ depending on the part of the body? Let's test it out." With her rapier drawn, Esdeath created the following wounds on Leone. "Gouge out one eye. Open a hole in the cheek. Rip the nails off the hand. Slice the right breast off. Cut off an arm. Stab the tail as well. Cut off the foot. Chop off the toes."
Needless to say, Leone was in a lot of pain—"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...AA...A..."—but still alive, thanks to Lionelle.
Esdeath thought very little of the pain Leone was under, "Oho, still alive, huh?...Impressive vitality. Then I'll...keep giving you what should be fatal wounds. Just how long will you survive...?" She only paused when she sensed something approaching her quickly, "A murderous aura!" That's when I tried to do a flying kick on her(The source of the aura was me, because I saw everything; the anger causing more of my inner demon to break free)and barely missed, but still grazing her abdomen. She didn't even notice it, it was so small, "As I thought, there was another assassin. How naive, getting baited by something like this."
Underneath my helmet, my left eye was glowing red in what was normally green, while my right eye was red with a cross-slit shaped pupil because of Incursio. "How can I stay quiet...while Sis is getting mangled...!?"
"Incursio...! I've always wanted to try fighting you!"
This chapter took a while, because nobody is giving me anything for the guys, send me something useful for once!
Next Chapter's fights are(In Order)Chelsea(Sincere)vs Kano(Commando), Sheele(Scissor)vs Wave(Carnage Incarnate), Susanoo(Magatama Manifestation)vs Esdeath(Ice Queen), and Tatsumi(Edenian)vs Esdeath(Sadist).
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