Fate: Kill

Chapter 10

Information travelled fast.
Even without thorough or accurate reports, there was no way that either the Empire or the Revolutionary Army would fail to notice the emergence of a towering and sturdy steel wall within the borders of the country.
The problem lay in the fact that neither of the two forces were aware of how such a monumental landmark could have had been made while the other side was unaware.
W

as it a part of the Revolutionary Army's forces? Or was it a faction of the Empire's?
Both of these questions had no answers simply because no one could verify.
Strictly speaking, the truth was hidden within the deceit.
Neither the Empire or the Revolutionary Army wanted to admit anything to one another and both were more inclined to disbelieve anything that the other side said. After all, other than the military resources of the Empire and the Revolutionary Army, there was no other power within the country that could construct such a large megastructure.
The Tribes of Wakoku themselves that bordered the Empire's dividing line were even more unlikely to provide funding for a steel wall when Wakoku itself was caught in civil strife.
With these options in mind, the only forces that could have had possibly built the steel walls were just the Empire and the Revolutionary Army alone.
Both sides came to the same assumption, and therefore, no matter how many times either side denied involvement on the matter, both remained skeptical and weary.
The civil war had been lasting for too long.
There was hardly anyone within the Empire who hadn't been influenced by the war's all-encompassing effects.
Corruption.
Famine.
Death.
That was how the Empire was, decaying from its past golden era with the death of the First Emperor.
There were too many things that needed to be done in order to save such a country, the first of which was to remove the filth that was pulling the strings behind the scenes. It wasn't the Child Emperor, but the Advisor by the Child Emperor's side, a man by the name of Honest.
Najenda flicked open the latch of a lighter, hesitated, then promptly closed it before shaking her head.
She was a pale-skinned woman with short silver hair that only reached up to her ears. She had been a reserved individual in the past as a former General of the Empire, but had now grown more hardened. Quick wits, and a keen eye for strategy was what made her stand out from the rest, but she wasn't exactly weak either.
She was a strong fighter. Strong enough that not many could be considered her equal in battle and this was considering the fact that her previous primary Teigu was a long-range weapon.
A pity then.
Looking at her now, she had lost both an eye and a right arm. Her arm itself was replaced by a steel prosthetic with differing functions to enable her to combat against enemies, but there was no replacing the vision of her eye. An eye patch was kept over it.
Her fighting capabilities had become severely crippled, drastically decreasing her overall strength to a little over forty percent of her prime.
Subsequently, she spent most of her days at the base camp as the Leader of the Assassination Group, Night Raid.
"Hmmm," she hummed to herself before grunting. "It doesn't make sense."
She sat up and slouched into the chair that she was sitting one while looking over the files on her desk, a sheen of sweat over her forehead. It had been hot lately, and it wasn't doing her any good that she remained adamant about wearing an entire black dress-suit. Her only saving grace from the heat, was by exposing a large portion of her cleavage behind the lacing of her inner garments. Even then, it hardly did much good.
Wiping the sweat of her brow, she continued frowning as her eye narrowed in consternation.
The experience that she had as a former General was warning her about some sort of danger, but about what kind, even she didn't know.
Should she pull Leone out?
She sighed before taking in a breath.
Both of the Empire and the Revolutionary Army have been sending in small teams of scouts towards the landmark of the steel wall.
She herself, as part of the Revolutionary Army was no exception.
Her superiors had asked her to officially send a reconnaissance group as well and she had only yet to do so simply because she'd already sent a capable individual to investigate months before the wall even existed.
Akame.
Despite how well Najenda thought of Akame's capabilities, after months of no contact, Najenda's confidence was wavering. It showed in the fact that she had scent Leone even before the official statement from the Revolutionary Army arrived ordering Night Raid to investigate the disturbance.
The only problem that was causing her to second guess herself was one glaring issue reported by the most recent infiltration attempts by the Revolutionary Army.
Of the total number of scouting parties that the Revolutionary Army had sent, hardly any returned, and even the survivors could not understand what had happened to them.
Many were rendered speechless, and the only real information that they were able to coax out was a single word that no one could take seriously.
Magic.
That superstitious power beyond common understanding.
It wasn't real. It couldn't be.
Although it was implied that all Teigu had been made with a kind of magic, there was no way that the manufacturing process could be verified. Besides, a few renowned blacksmiths from Wakoku were said to be able to create Teigu known as Meihou in the tongue of Wakoku.
Magic wasn't real.
At the very least, no one has been able to use such a thing in the Empire's recorded history other than the creators of the Teigu which only implied that they 'used' magic.
The situation was heavily disconcerting.
There wasn't much time to wait, and in the worst-case scenario, she had to prepare for the chance that even Leone might not be able to send back any reports to shed light on the situation.
For the first time in many years, Najenda was starting to feel out of her depth.
Something was going on beyond her level of understanding, and her intuition was warning her that a storm was brewing.
She shut her eyes, and leaned her cheek over the back of her hand.
Two weeks.
She tapped a finger absently over her desk, her expression growing somber.
Don't you two dare die on me.
"Bulat," she called out. "Begin preparations."
Calla was always quiet in the early mornings. Aside from the patrols done by the Hunters, most of the people were generally asleep, and this made it the best time for Shirou to think.
Many changes had been happening rapidly in the town, rather, it would be more accurate to call it a growing community at this point. Migrants were coming from all over, and the population was starting to reach a point where expansion was necessary. Moreover, most of the migrants were people seeking refuge from famine or running away from wars and violence. Hardly any could contribute any material goods to Calla's economy, instead they were like an investment.
Many people of skilled jobs and trades work were among Calla's new residents. The problem was that they had no coin or food to speak of which in turn meant that the heavy burden was placed on Calla itself.
Shirou did not wish to turn away either, but the meat from the Danger Beasts was still a limited resource. Furthermore, the new farmlands he had helped till with Akame after setting up an irrigation system would not bear crop until the following spring.
Calla had already had trouble in regards to money and food even before the incident involving the people of Wakoku. It was still fine as it was now, since the spoils of battle were keeping everything afloat, but once funds and provisions begin to thin, problems were bound to occur.
He did not administer strict profiling of new migrants, and even when he was informed that a few had rather dubious origins, Elaine had assured him that taking them in would not be a problem. Yet how could it not be a problem?
The moment food and resources began to dry, crime rates and policy failures were bound to increase.
What he didn't know was that Calla was already a town with highly advanced personnel. Common thieves and thugs could not even be considered a threat at this point, and this was why Elaine couldn't help but scoff when he had brought up the issue.
As much trust as he had in Elaine, he still couldn't just do nothing though.
Food and resources were being solved by the recruitment of more Hunting teams led by the people of Heiwa which he quickly approved of to help last the year. Once the new farmland bore crops next spring, food itself would no longer be an issue.
And now came the most relevant problem.
Defence.
He was all too aware of how conspicuous the steel walls that surrounded Calla were. The Empire, Wakoku, and the Revolutionary Army would have to be fools not to notice. Given the brief summary of what Akame had told him of each major power, any one of them would jump at the chance to subjugate Calla and make it their own.
He couldn't allow that to happen.
Not only was Calla a veritable fortress, but the lands within it were fertile and could soon support a large population. What was even better for Wakoku and the Revolutionary Army was that Calla was located several thousand kilometers away from the Empire's capital. It was a prime location both to start as a border nation for Wakoku, and a Headquarters for the Revolutionary Army.
Over the months that had passed, Shirou had started thinking about the future.
Even if he himself was strong, what did it matter if there was a limit to the number of people he could save?
He couldn't be in Calla all the time, and what would happen when he eventually grew old and died?
If the strength of one man could save two, three, or more people, then by making others strong, they in turn could save more people to foster the next generation.
He'd privately discussed with Selka and Akame about training a specialized group of combat-oriented individuals. Elaine herself decided to contribute by tutoring a growing number of economists and merchants to keep the commerce area of Calla flourishing.
Of course, there would always be those with ulterior motives who could apply to the specialized group, but that was why he'd only be training a selected few that passed a certain criterion.
Akame herself was utilized at the end of the process to scrutinize the applicant. As a woman who had once acted as an assassin, she had seen the darker side of individuals and could tell at a glance whether someone was really who they appeared to be, or was just putting on a false guise.
Speaking of Akame, she'd been acting more reserved lately.
She may believe that he hadn't noticed, but he'd seen the way that she was unable to keep still. She'd often fidget in place, her hands rubbing against her knees whenever she sat down to rest seemingly hesitating on whether or not to act on whatever it was that she was thinking about.
The present situation was the same.
He wasn't the only one who got up early to work.
He was sitting in his office chair overlooking some of the official documentations that Elaine had provided him, while both Akame and Elaine sat off at the side.
Elaine had her own desk which she was furiously working over due to the increase in workload from technicalities involving the new migrants.
Although Akame was in the room, her mind just seemed to be elsewhere.
Even the fact that his little brother Artus was climbing onto her while Anna pulled on her hair didn't seem to affect her in the slightest. She just looked dazed if anything.
"Are you really aright?" he couldn't help but ask.
"…" Akame didn't answer. It was more like she didn't hear him until Artus climbed too far up her chest and caused her to react by instinct, dangling the brat by the leg in front of her.
Akame's lip twitched as she looked down at Anna who was still holding onto her hair and smiling at her.
These two were going to be the death of her. They had too much energy and it wasn't even time for them to begin their daily training.
Akame herself was no fool. She glanced at Elaine who pretended that she didn't notice.
However, it was clear that it was Elaine that had somehow coaxed Artus and Anna to play with Akame when she was too busy thinking to herself to notice.
She was glowering, but her expression was too stiff for anyone to notice.
"I'm fine," Akame soon answered Shirou's question after placing herself away from Artus and Anna. By 'placing,' she meant directly depositing them onto Elaine who looked utterly horrified.
"P-Permission to call Lord Edwin," Elaine stuttered while calling out to Shirou. She was making a dejected face as she felt helpless when Anna knocked over an entire stack of documents that she'd have to sort through again. "E-Early training is the best for children of this age." She insisted.
Shirou could only smile wryly and soon just pointed out the window.
Elaine's countenance visibly brightened.
There, walking up to the doorstep of the building was Edwin Pollus, the man who had taken it upon himself to tutor Artus and Anna in the way of the sword.
"A-Artus, A-Anna look!" Elaine pried both of the children off of her. "It's time for practice!"
"But we wanna pla-"
Not waiting for either Artus or Anna to reply, Elaine directly picked the two up and ran them out of the room. She returned moments later with a relieved expression.
"Why can't those two just grow up faster?" Elaine muttered under her breath.
She blinked moments later.
The room that Shirou and Akame had been in just before was now entirely empty.
Damn it. They did it again.
She sighed before composing herself and walking up to a small drawer located by her work desk. Opening it, she pulled out a small key which she used to open a compartment in another area of Shirou's house. Inside was a small carrier pigeon that she used to filter through messages from her father and other contacts.
'Shirou left early this morning again.'
The message she tied to the leg of the bird was short. Thereafter, she took the bird into her hands and set it loose into the sky to fly to the Bukerfield family house.
She was far from pleased, but there was nothing that she could really do.
Why doesn't he just ask for help?
That was the only condition needed for her to reveal the true capabilities of the people of Calla to Shirou. Ignorance was bliss. It was Shirou's father's dying wish to prevent his children from getting caught up in anymore wars and violence for as long as possible, but right now it was having the opposite effect.
"This is bullshit." Elaine balled her hands into fists.
She already knew what Shirou was doing, much like everyone else in Calla.
The town's development was going well, and it even had several teams of Hunters to provide food until the crops could be harvested in spring. However, success would always breed envy.
The better Calla was doing, the more valuable a target it became to those outside.
Shirou thought of everyone in the town as normal residents, therefore, he must have had felt that it fell upon himself to handle the entirety of the burden to defend against enemies.
He was doing it again.
Her earlies memories of him had always been of him taking care of her. Like the time her brothers had forgotten about her when they went drinking and left her at the bar all alone. It was Shirou who had taken her back home. There was also that time in the fields, that other time at aunt May's house, and even that time at the small creak, he'd always been there for her.
She'd made a promise to herself that when she grew older, she would be the one to protect him. Therefore, she'd undergone her father's strict training in order to become stronger.
She was no longer just a helpless girl, and yet, she was being shackled by the rules that every member of the town followed in honour of Shirou's late father.
Those damn old geezers.
Elaine pursed her lips. She'd tried to argue against her grandfather several times already, but the dumb fart was adamant in refusing to reveal the secret to Shirou until it was necessary.
Necessary?
How could they not understand what was going on right now?
For the past few months, forces from the major factions of the Empire, Revolutionary Army, and people from Wakoku had been appearing in bulk outside of the steel walls.
The fact that the new migrants were unaware of these dangers was due entirely to Shirou's contribution. He went to patrol Calla's steel walls almost every morning and would stay there for a good part of the day with the excuse that he was out hunting.
Today was another such instance.
Whatever Teigu Shirou possessed, he was definitely starting to use it excessively.
Teigu themselves always possessed some sort of harm to the user. One as powerful as Shirou's had to possess severe repercussions that he just wasn't showing to anyone on the surface.
Truthfully, Elaine was starting to grow worried.
She waited anxiously for the carrier pigeons reply from her family home, but grew depressed when the message eventually came attached to the bird's leg with no red marking indicating for her to move out.
She read the message, but quickly crumpled it into a ball which she threw onto the floor and stepped on.
'Remain on stand by,' the note had said.
Her lips quivered, a hand pushing up her bangs over her head.
She was a grown woman at this point, and not once had she ever disobeyed her family, but this time she really couldn't keep it up much longer.
Screw the rules.
As the next heiress of the Bukerfield family with no real male intellectual leader of her current generation.
She was the rules, or at least in the coming future, but that wasn't important right now.
She took off her glasses, and narrowed her blue coloured eyes.
Enough with economics and commerce, it was her turn to stay by Shirou's side.
In no way was she jealous of Akame's position as Shirou's acting body guard.
It was time to start her own plans.
She would show Shirou just how useful she could be.
Mission log, day six.
To be a Hunter, one had to be both fast and strong, and fierce when one needed to be. The act of Hunting itself was not a sport, but a way of living. People depended on the food and meat brought back from the hunt, therefore, Hunters could never allow themselves to grow careless or lax.
Of course, Leone was hardly paying attention to what Selka was telling her after days of going over the same thing over and over again.
In her mind, the occupation of Hunter itself was the same as a Warrior or military force in regards to the structure of Calla.
As it would turn out, Leone had been mistaken as one of the new recruits for the Hunting teams headed by the people of Heiwa who made up a majority of the manpower. This was entirely because of three reasons: Her attire, the time and place, and the notion that she was lost.
All of it, had thoroughly sealed off anything that she could say to convince Selka otherwise.
"Do you understand what I'm saying?" Selka was speaking in a formal tone, like a senior to a junior.
Presently, both Selka and Leone were in a guest house located within a training ground in the area that the people of Heiwa had settled on.
It really was surprising. Each new Hunter was given their own housing to stay within during the process of recruitment, and Leone was no exception. The only problem Leone was having was that she seemed to come off as someone who needed special care and motivation in order to take her new role as a 'Hunter' seriously.
The people of Heiwa would not send a man into an unmarried woman's house, therefore, Selka became the only one available to lecture and motivate.
The people of Heiwa really were dressed loosely though, Leone observed.
Compared to herself who was fairly revealing in her attire, Selka wore nothing more than thin furs that covered all that needed to be covered. To be frank, it was like Selka was just wearing fur underwear with threaded accessories worn like bracelets over her wrists and ankles. Some bracelets had feathers attacked, while others had Danger Beast teeth.
Perhaps due to a lack of covering, most of the people of Heiwa including Selka herself were tanned, but that was besides the point.
Leone's brow twitched when she looked at the clothing put away for her which Selka had proudly claimed to be a female Hunter's attire.
"Are you not satisfied?" Selka noticed the direction of Leone's gaze and directly spoke up to speak for the armour. "I was already of the opinion that there was too much fabric which limits movement, but Shirou insisted that it was better to have a little more covering. If you don't like it, I can cut off more of the fabrics."
Selka pulled up her silver hair, while holding on to a pin in her mouth which she then used to hold up her hair into a bun. "Pass it over," she called while reaching a hand out. "I'll get it done quickly."
Leone balked.
The attire was revealing enough. How thin was Selka planning on making it?
"N-No it's fine really." Leone refused right away. She was a fairly open individual, but there was a limit to being too open that Selka and the people of Heiwa didn't seem to understand. Then again, the people of Heiwa had always lived in a remote region before coming to Calla.
Selka frowned, but relented, moving back to the topic that she was speaking about earlier.
"Those who contribute more to the Hunt get a larger share of the prey. Therefore, even though a small portion of the food and earnings go to a 'Charity Union,' and 'Hunter Compensation,' a successful Hunter can still amass a fortune," Selka patiently explained. She'd come a long way from the girl whose thoughts had once been filled only with vengeance.
Looking at Leone, Selka couldn't help but feel that part of what she was saying was being ignored. "Do you remember what I just said?" Selka asked to make sure.
"Yup, yeah I remember everything," Leone replied absently. Her eyes though were more focused on her surroundings.
Like every other time, Leone was constantly looking for any opportunity to escape, but it was almost impossible to get anytime alone with all the other aspiring recruits in the area.
Seeing absolutely no openings that she could exploit to get away, Leone finally relented and resigned herself to whatever fate awaited her. Besides, if she was undergoing a recruitment of sorts, it probably wouldn't last forever anyway.
Selka looked at Leone suspiciously, but didn't say anything else.
"Right then, speaking of which, what's this 'charity' thing that you were talking about?" Leone asked after mulling over what Selka had said.
The word 'Charity' itself was not something widely known throughout the Empire or the other warring regions. The action of giving alms in and out of itself was also a bizarre and extremely uncommon sight to the point that it wasn't officially defined.
Leone's brows pinched together. "Also, what do you mean by 'Hunter Compensation?'"
Now there was a word that she was familiar with. 'Compensation,' to award an individual as a recompense for any troubles. Usually it was used in times of war. She vaguely recalled that the Empire might of have had had something similar in the past, but nothing too luxurious.
"The Charity thing and Hunter Compensation is quite simple. Shirou though of it." Selka's expression only ever broke away from her neutrality when she spoke of Shirou.
"You've seen the new migrants in town, right? Most of them are penniless and a few even come from the Empire's slums as escaped slaves." Selka crossed her arms and leaned her back on a wall. "'The Charity fund is meant to provide them food for free, and in turn, allow them to start a new life in which they could benefit Calla in their own way,' based on what Shirou said. A good policy, right?"
"…Uhm, ah yeah," Leone did her best to stop her expression from flickering, but it was starting to get too damn hard.
She'd literally stayed in Calla for several days now, and everything that she had been skeptical of had been proven false. T-This was basically the kind of place that many could only dream of within the Empire. Moreover, its inhabitants were strong.
Makes on wonder what kind of response the Empire or Revolutionary Army would have?
A darker and more bitter part of herself was screaming at the unfairness of it all, but she quelled such emotions. After all, the realization that such a place actually existed was far too surreal.
Selka raised a finger to continue her explanation as Leone fell into a daze.
"The Hunter Compensation is simple. If a Hunter dies or is permanently injured in duty, their families will be fully taken care of by Calla's Administrative Union. I don't know much of the details or logistics regarding this topic myself so don't expect anything thorough or detailed. For that you'd have to ask the secretary lady named Elaine in the head commerce building at the market place."
Oh, was that so?
Leone was beginning to grow numb to everything. The disparity between Calla and the world outside the walls was just too vast.
In fact, she was scared that if she stayed long enough, she may end up not wanting to leave.
Shit. Focus.
Leone shut her eyes and took in a deep breath.
Find Akame, and get out.
Those were the only objectives that she needed to complete. As for Calla, there was no way that she couldn't just not report what she had found here. Maybe the Revolutionary Army and Night Raid might even be able to ally with the town?
You're being Naïve.
She knew how the world outside worked. It didn't change the fact that she had a job and a duty.
"Can I be excused for a bit? I want to look around the town a bit more since I just recently arrived." She asked her request to Selka after some consideration. Rather than try to sneak out, it was far better if she were 'allowed' out and then disappeared afterwards.
This approach appeared to be the best choice, as Selka simply nodded. "You wouldn't be the first to ask, but remember to be back by the afternoon. The Hunt will begin by then."
"Right," Leone nodded her head, and waited until Selka left before preparing her belongings.
In the six days that she'd spent learning to be a Hunter of Calla, she'd gotten a basic understanding of the town's layout. There was a small penitentiary set up to hold miscreants so she decided that it would be the second place she could visit to look for Akame.
Gathering all her belonging into a sack, she moved to walk out of the house that she'd been staying in for six days but hesitated at the door. Her gaze shifted back behind her, and she craned her neck to stare at the Hunter's garments laid out on the bed.
Her brows furrowed, but by the time that she left, the Hunter's garbs were nowhere to be seen.
It was safe to say that she ended up packing it into her bag.
No matter what she felt about Calla, the days that she'd spent in reconnaissance while being mistaken as a Hunter recruit would never be forgotten.
Kindness.
A stranger was shown kindness rather than doubt.
She sighed once again.
It was the first time that she began to question her current choices in life as an abandoned child that had grown up in the Empire's slums.
After leaving the area settled by the people of Heiwa, Leone resolved herself to get her mission done and over with. She walked with purpose. With a destination in mind, there was no need to hesitate any longer. Besides, all that she'd gotten from Selka when she had asked about a 'sword whose poison could kill in a single cut,' was a simple answer.
"If you want to fight her too, then that woman should be around the food stalls."
That was exactly where Leone was going first.
If she recalled, the food stalls were definitely inside the market place.
However, before she even reached her destination, she froze in place after sighting someone jumping across the roofs of Calla's houses in the direction of the forest.
A-Akame?
Her eyes dilated in an instant. There was no way that she could mistake the figure and bearings of a fellow comrade. As it was now, Akame didn't seem to have had noticed her.
Leone wasn't even thinking at this point. She bolted forward on the streets, even running through the yards of houses.
All that mattered was keeping up and making sure that Akame didn't get out of sight.
She'd learned her lesson the previous day regarding the security of Calla. There were many people with the ability to notice her if she wasn't being careful, therefore, as she chased after Akame she displayed utmost prudence. Even though she was trespassing over other people's property, she made sure to remain in the shadows of the buildings, and then the trees when she eventually reached the forest.
Akame was heading for the top of the steel walls.
Leone was hot in pursuit, and kept herself hidden by finding a vantage point atop a tree and peering out at Akame in the distance.
Rather than just finding Akame alone, Akame ended up arriving atop the steel wall with another individual.
Leone squinted her eyes.
Wasn't that the guy that she'd bumped into several days earlier? Shirou wasn't it? Of course, she'd already memorized the name. It was practically all that she could get Selka to talk about due to her uptight attitude. Selka wasn't the type to trust strangers, Leone herself could understand why considering just how treacherous the world truly was.
Caution was an essential skill.
She could respect that.
But what she couldn't understand was what some sheltered Young Lord of Calla would possibly be out doing on his own with Akame?
Damn it. She had enough waiting.
She was going to go right up there and demand answers.
Akame wasn't the type for desertion, there had to be something more about the situation that she was not privy about.
She evened her breath, and readied the muscles of her thighs to push off of the tree that she was perched on to make a dash to the top of the wall.
However, she balked almost instantly.
A pressure unlike anything she'd felt before assailed her senses. Her Teigu, Lionelle was reacting to whatever energy was being released, and it was trembling.
She looked up at the figure in front of her whose very disposition seemed to shift.
The scent of casted Wrought Iron permeated through the air.
Danger.
Danger.
Her instincts were practically screaming at her.
She couldn't understand what was going on.
Her breath hitched, her hands growing clammy as her legs soon gave out on her, causing her to fall onto her bottom.
She didn't even notice that she'd fallen.
W-What in the world was she looking at right now?
Shirou already knew that conflict was inevitable.
Experience told him so.
And that was why he found himself standing atop the steel wall while overlooking the oncoming groups of people in the distance. Those who would seek to do Calla and its residents harm. They'd been coming back day after day, and he knew the frequency would only continue to increase with time.
Different from his last life, there were now many things that he still had left to protect, and this time it would be different.
It was never wrong to save others.
A life of saving everyone was one that he'd already lived and fulfilled. However, it was only in the end when he looked back at the road that he'd taken that he realized that he was entirely alone.
A fool's dream.
A path to hell.
Maybe it could have had been different.
Maybe it was inevitable, but there was no longer any turning back.
Only this time, perhaps he didn't have to be alone.
He looked back at the prospering town on the opposite side of the steel walls that he stood upon and felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and duty. He was saving many. Everyone was relying on him.
It was like the walls were shielding the inhabitants from the true cruelty of the realties outside, and he was perfectly fine with that. In fact, he thought himself as Calla's greatest shield.
Sooner or later, Calla would grow into a nation.
And it was his job to protect it until then. That was his way of changing the world.
The signs were already beginning to show.
The Empire and the higher brass of the Revolutionary Army may be unaware of it, but the people of the slums, the vagrants, and the slaves were beginning to talk of a haven beyond the reach of outside influence. A land of rich pastures, wheat, and freedom.
It was never truly the people in power that controlled everything in a country, but the populace as a whole. This was a universal truth.
The masses themselves would speak.
The masses themselves would show.
Everyday Calla's migration rate continued to soar, until eventually, those living in hardship in the Capital would hear of it. The people of the slums, the oppressed, the slaves, the refuges, Calla would take them all and grant them a chance at a better life.
The world didn't have to be cruel or full of lies.
It was greedy and ambitions humans themselves that were making the world as it was.
He sought to change that by giving the people a place to live and choose their own paths. That was Calla.
That was his reason for fighting.
Different from the world that he had once lived in, the new world that he found himself within was truly in need of saving. Not just for himself, but for the people relying on him.
He'd walked this road once.
He could walk it again.
A body of steel, blood of fire, but a heart of glass.
He didn't like killing. He never did, but he was no longer as naïve as he used to be.
His lips thinned, there was no longer any other decision to make.
Lately, the people of Wakoku had taken notice of the migration of several of its tribes, moreover, the Empire and the Revolutionary Army were starting to show signs of involvement.
This wasn't even the first time.
Run. Please. Just Run.
Why couldn't they understand?
Were lives really worth nothing in the eyes of those in power?
He could see the clouds of dust rising into the air from the marching of an armed convoy from Wakoku. Even further away, were several groups of Empire scouts on the side outside of the wall.
Run. Run Away. Before it was too late.
Magical energy began to course through his body, physically appearing over his skin in the form of a dull cyan coloured interface pattern. Akame backed away from him, sitting on the side while taking out a piece of dried jerky and chewing on it. She already knew what was bound to happen.
Don't make me do this.
No matter how much he hoped that the enemies before him would understand the situation that they were walking towards, they could not hope to image what was truly awaiting them.
Two thousand meters.
Fifteen hundred.
They looked no more than the size of ants from his view atop the wall, yet he could see them clearly. There was a limit to how close he could allow them to get.
Stop. Stop now.
His muscles tensed in preparation, an eerie silence descending along with a buffeting wind produced from the congregation of magic shooting forth into the mana-dry air.
Nothing was changing.
In fact, the speed of the approaching enemies increased.
He closed his eyes.
There were people that he had to protect.
Family and Friends.
If conflict was inevitable, then so be it.
Come.
"I am the Bone of my Sword."