Fate: Kill

Chapter 17

In the dim lit room of an unfurnished cave, Najenda felt a headache coming on as she wordlessly dismissed all members of Night Raid so that she could think properly. Her mind was a mess of thoughts that she knew was going to take a considerable amount of time to sort through. Besides, as the leader of Night Raid, she could tell that her comrades were just as agitated about what Leone had said if not more so then she was.
To be honest, Najenda couldn't bring herself to believe that Calla was as prosperous as Leone had described. Nor did she think to bother stopping Mine and the others from verifying the information with their own eyes. It was already a lost cause when Mine had heard that Calla did not discriminate against anyone and that even mixed-blood people from the Empire's borders were treated fairly. Hell, Leone had even said that it housed people of Wakoku who didn't even belong with the Empire.
M

ine had left with Leone the very instant that Najenda had given the signal for dismissal.
Another member of Night Raid, an individual known as 'the hundred-man slayer, Bulat,' followed closely behind.
Bulat was large and wearing a black shirt with green joint pads beneath silver chest armour. He was equipped with standard white pants, black boots, and a long spear-like teigu that he hefted over his shoulder with one hand. His long hair was styled upwards into a heat-shaped pompadour.
Like Najenda, Bulat was ex-military. A soldier that had once served under the Military Leader Gensei of the Empire known as the strongest of his time.
Najenda didn't know Bulat's reasons for leaving the Empire's service because she and the rest of Night Raid weren't people who would pry into people's pasts. Regardless, she could tell that it had something to do with how the Empire handled bribes and corruption. She'd heard a story once about an army commander falsely accused of a crime in order to cover up some sort of bigger scandal.
Needless to say, justice was not served, and Bulat had never been the same ever since.
Easy going as he appeared, Bulat was probably the least believing of a place free of corruption. The world was a filthy place, and there was no changing that fact. That was why it had to be fought for. Bulat was not tagging along with Leone and Mine out of curiosity, but out of embittered drive to seek out the evil hidden within lies. The greater and more appealing something seemed, the likelier it was that it was keeping an even darker secret.
Bulat grimaced while no one was looking, but Najenda had noticed the shift in his disposition. He was skeptical. Too disillusioned to hope until proven wrong much like Najenda herself. After all, even friends and colleagues meant nothing to the Empire's tainted standards. Her missing eye and arm were proof enough. She'd lost them after a scuffle with a former associate.
Najenda sighed, still waiting to be left entirely alone, her eyes trailing towards the last individual that had yet to leave her sight.
Lubbock was the only one that lingered the longest before eventually leaving. There was something about his expression that was giving Najenda the distinct impression that he wasn't informing her of something. Knowing Lubbock though, it was probably something important that she needed to know, but at the same time, would probably increase her stress load. He'd probably inform her when she'd had enough time to process everything that Leone had divulged.
He was being considerate of her. The guy always was and there wasn't a day that she didn't appreciate his aid. Just that, she couldn't allow her appreciation to show in the face of all the problems plaguing the country.
Although she was an Ex-general, it didn't mean that her faith and devotion to her country were false. No. They were real which was why she was fighting to purge the malfeasance within the Empire's upper government classes. How could she pursue anything more in life when others couldn't even begin to enjoy it under the tyranny of lying politicians and advisors?
Until then, she could not afford to waver. Moreover, a game changing card had fallen into her hands. A reverse card, a wild card, in the form of another Emperor whose lineage qualified him and his existing family to inherit the Empire's throne. Better yet, Leone had described the new Emperor in question as a man of idealistic views with both wisdom and strength to back them.
It was everything that the Revolutionary Army would need to launch a formal war on the topic regarding the right of ascension. No longer would the Revolutionary Army fight under the banner of rebellion, but under the banner of rightful succession. This single shift in detail would change everything.
Could the Empire's armies fight knowing that on either side stood a rightful Emperor?
Najenda felt a chuckle of derision leave her mouth just thinking about what her former colleague, Esdeath would think of the scenario. Then again, Najenda never really knew what Esdeath was thinking. Esdeath was a woman that regarded something as cruel as social Darwinism as a basis of who lives and who dies.
No matter, Esdeath wasn't Najenda's immediate concern. Last she'd heard, Esdeath was still campaigning against the Revolutionary Army's northern front.
Taking a breath, Najenda tilted her head up and deftly pulled out a cigarette whose butt she placed in her mouth while igniting the other end with a lighter tucked in her hand.
Damn it. She was never one to smoke, but admittedly, it helped her focus when it mattered most. Fortunately, Lubbock wasn't around to swipe the offending roll of nicotine from out of her mouth and admonish her to take better care of her health. He already did a good enough job of replacing her emergency cigarettes with lollipops.
Speaking of which, her brow twitched before she pulled back the cigarette in her mouth and spat out the pungent filth.
Her brows began to twitch in frustration. Rather than the general 'good stuff' rolled into a cigarette, Najenda found ground bits of bitter candy pieces instead. Opening the rest of her cigarette pack, every single roll was the same.
Lubbock.
She tossed the pack of cigarette's away and sighed in distaste, and it wasn't because of the bitterness in her mouth.
What to do now?
The revelation of a new Emperor superseded all other information that Leone gave. Other than the political effect that it would cause, Najenda was more concerned of another scenario.
A puppet Emperor.
Najenda knew that many in the Revolutionary Army abhorred the notion of a monarchy and fervently fought to oppose it and place something of a people's government. Many proposed the creation of a democratic legislation while others insisted on a government system that placed all social classes as equal.
It sounded good on paper, but Leone knew that power would inevitably work its way into the minds of new leadership and taint it from within. Rather than a single corrupt leader, a group of corrupt officials seemed far more difficult to put down. Moreover, and most importantly, she didn't fully trust those in charge of the Revolutionary Army. Everyone had their own motives and the notion of a puppet Emperor would allow opportunists to further their own agendas.
If a new Honest was created then damn the whole revolution. What was she even fighting for?
There had to be some kind of insurance in place. Democracy and a people's government was a good idea, but only if those elected were upstanding individuals. A new open-minded Emperor who could help shift the power structure of the Empire was what was truly needed most.
A Third Faction? A rising power.
Perhaps Leone had found gold in a place where Najenda had only expected danger?
The decision was up to her.
Najenda leaned her upper body forward and rested her head into her elbows.
Based on what Leone had said, Night Raid still had the advantage of anonymity regarding the situation. Meaning that no one but Night Raid had a grasp of the fact that another Emperor even existed.
She blew up tufts of her hair while thinking deeply.
The silence was stretching.
She needed definite proof.
She sat up and stretched her back. First and foremost, she'd have to verify if everything was true before doing anything drastic. She'd investigate from the Empire's history, double check every record and book while searching for any missing note. Afterwards, she'd follow Leone and the others example and make a personal visit to Calla. Perhaps Akame would be able to say something to convince her.
Then, and only then would she come to a decision.
A sense of dejavu assailed her, much like the time that she had once been in the Empire's army.
Defect, or not to defect?
The candles dimly lighting the room flickered before blowing out entirely as if the cave had never been used.
Najenda was gone.
Within an herbal smelling hut, Akame woke up with a start, her eyes blinking open before the pain in her body registered in full and jolted her into awareness. It was like electricity was coursing through her, parts of her muscles throughout her body spasming as they sporadically expanded and contracted.
A pitiful whine escaped her lips, but at the very least, the pain let her know that she was alive.
From the softness that she could feel beneath her and the bandages and splints placed over her wounds, she was on a bed and she'd already been treated for her injuries. The fact that she could still move her toes and fingers meant that she hadn't lost a limb in her recklessness.
The healers did a fine job on her, before her mind froze when she realized that Calla didn't have much in the way of healers. Sure, it had traditionalists who relied on herbal medicines as doctors, but nothing close to what the Empire could offer to higher ranked officials. Even then, that didn't mean that all injuries could be treated properly. Last she'd checked, her injuries had been severe enough to prevent her from moving her arms and legs.
In which case, she'd already thought the worst. However, her expectations differed from reality and she immediately understood why. Calla may not have had the best doctors and medical staff, but it did have Shirou.
O God. Shirou.
If he had been the one to treat her than her quick recovery made the most sense. Be that as it may, it also meant that Shirou had put her health above his own again. The damn fool. She could still vividly recall the way he'd swallowed poison on her behalf.
Nervousness made its way into her mind. He was fine. Of course, he was fine. He was a Wizard. He was Shirou.
Her eyes strained against the morning light shining down over her face only to balk when a shadow loomed over her form.
"Finally awake, now are you?"
She blinked, Elaine's solemn features taking shape as the blur in her eyes faded entirely. Elaine had her glasses on and was acting uncharacteristically disheartened. There was a frown on her face and the small smile that she was giving Akame just wasn't quite reaching her eyes as any genuine smile should.
Akame craned her neck and noticed that Elaine wasn't the only one in the room. Selka was nearby as well. She had a few wounds from the previous fight, but over all, she looked fine. She was standing not too far off with her arms crossed over her chest and back leaning against a wall on the adjacent side of the room. She wasn't talking, but rather looked somewhat depressed, her features crestfallen and pensive.
If Akame wasn't sure that something was wrong before, now she was certain. There was only one reason that both Selka and Elaine could look so disheartened in her mind.
"Shirou?" She asked first about someone else's well being rather than her own, a pool of dread forming within her.
The smile that was on Elaine's face stiffened before her lips pursed together. Meanwhile, Selka shook her head without saying anything, causing Akame's breath to hitch in her throat. Those weren't the reactions that she was looking for. Far from it, the unexpectedness of their expressions was causing her no small amount of insecurity. Especially Selka. She'd always been blunt and her present silence was eerie.
"At home?" Akame pressed for an answer, forcing her self up into a seated position despite her body's protests. The dried blood over her bandages began to redden once more as her abrupt action had led to the reopening of a few scab wounds.
She swallowed, waiting for an answer. Any answer.
Again. No reply.
"In the town?" Akame didn't quite notice the strain in her voice, the sound almost chocked as disbelief assailed her like a punch to the gut. They weren't responding. No one was responding, and in the addle-headedness induced by her own injuries, she began to feel faint.
"What happened? Where is he?" Agitation was causing her voice to tremble. The last that she recalled of him, she'd seen him consume poison on her behalf. Deadly poison. With her breath hitching, a realization suddenly dawned on her like a sword stabbing into her psyche.
Her pupils dilated. "I-Is he dead?" The question sent a coldness traveling throughout her body.
Both Selka and Elaine continued to remain silent, their bangs shadowing their features as panic began to fully set into Akame's expression. Her tongue clicked as her hands balled into tight fists.
"Your joking," her voice started quiet at first before growing in volume. "It's not true!"
She tossed off the blanket tucked over her, pushed off her bed, and directly sprang into a hobbling sprint out the door of the hut. She was barefoot and wearing nothing but a clean white gown used for medical patients. She obviously shouldn't have had been on her feet at all in her current state.
Her old clothes were too torn and soaked in her blood for to continue wearing so Elaine and Selka had helped change her into a clean set of clothes, not that Akame even realized her change in attire.
Selka raised an arm in ant attempt to stop Akame, but faltered moments later when Elaine wearily shook her head.
"Let her go," Elaine said in a subdued tone.
Selka shook her head in disapproval, but heeded Elaine's advice while grudgingly scoffing in derision. "I hate lying." Selka had had enough of it. Everywhere was the same both in Wakoku and the Empire. Only Calla was different; a place without a need for lies.
Yet, Elaine had asked her and many others in Calla for a favour. Selka complied out of courtesy due to prior arrangements that she'd already made with Elaine. Honestly, it was mostly because Elaine had promised that she'd be of use to Shirou and that Elaine would help Selka get more time with Shirou at a later date.
Selka hoped to introduce Shirou to her father in order to gain her father's approval. The man had only recently recovered from a coma caused when they'd fled the lands of Heiwa. Humans could be selfish, and it was only now when offered the chance of personal happiness that Selka realized that she could be just as selfish. Regardless, it didn't mean that she had to like it or that she didn't have a guilty conscience in regards to her 'rival.'
Elaine sighed while placing a hand to rub at her temples. "Technically we didn't lie because we never said anything."
"All the same," Selka's expression tightened in discomfort before huffing in self ridicule. "We were tricking her."
Elaine moved to Selka and placed a hand over Selka's shoulder, the two making eye contact from one individual to another.
"We were doing what we thought was best," Elaine explained sternly. "There's no helping it, and no stopping it. People lie to cheat, to benefit, to swindle, and to avoid confrontations, but in the end, everyone lies. Anyone who's naïve enough to say otherwise and unconditionally trust in the words of another is either a fool, or Shirou."
The comparison caused Selka to momentarily balk, but after some thought regarding her own experiences and the memory of her first encounter with Shirou, she could see Elaine's point.
"Then I'd rather be a Shirou," Selka still remained stubborn, a red tint forming on her cheeks as her mind restructured the sentence into 'I'd rather be with Shirou.'
Selka, for all her life experiences was a simple woman to read. She was both blunt and honest, yet knew when to hold a lie for the sake of another. Elaine respected that.
"Listen," Elaine stressed solemnly. "I hate lies too. Everyone in Calla does. However, that doesn't mean that we should stop using them. What I believe matters is the intent behind a lie."
White lies. The term depicted a lie spoken on behalf of another usually to mitigate the emotional and mental pain that the truth of a matter would cause. Sometimes a lie was better than reality. However, in this case, the lie was better used to serve a point.
"Akame is a friend. A stubborn and headstrong sort of friend. Do you really think that a lecture would be enough to convince her never to do something so reckless again if she deluded herself into thinking that it was the best course of action?" Elaine could feel the scolding Shirou was going to give her for coming up with her current rues, but this was more about Akame then Shirou.
Shirou was a person who would risk his very own life for the wellbeing of others close to him. Elaine wanted to give Akame a lesson not to take advantage of that fact or Shirou's soft heartedness.
Hearing Elaine's explanation, Selka could only open then close her mouth before her shoulder's sagged. She'd been beaten in a war of words.
"No," Selka bitterly conceded the point after a short silence.
Elaine nodded before releasing her grip on Selka's shoulder and eyeing Akame's form desperately running to all the nearby resting huts and complexes near the vicinity.
"She has to understand that there are consequences to her actions, and that next time, things may not work out as well as they did previously." Elaine shook her head. "Hopefully there won't be a next time."
Because Elaine swore that she wouldn't fail again.
It was her fault that Akame was captured and Shirou forced to handle the situation on his own. If anything, Elaine was the one who blamed herself the most.
Never again.
Not here.
Akame could hear her heart pounding uncontrollably within her chest as her growing anxiety caused her to push herself further despite the protest of her body. Her muscles were screaming at her to stop and just collapse, but her mental fortitude forced her onward.
Her feet dug into the dirt beneath her toes, mud caking over her skin as she hobbled forward on the wet ground of the morning dew.
She'd had preferential treatment. Out of all the people that must have had been inured in the previous battle, she was the only one with a personal hut to recuperate within. Then what about Shirou?
She pushed herself to walk towards the direction of the nearest building where she forcibly pushed the front door of each accommodation. It didn't matter if it was locked, she was skilled enough to use and shape a few twigs that she'd found on the ground as makeshift lock-picks.
Not here either.
She didn't care if she was startling anyone. All that mattered to her was to search.
Not here.
Not here.
This can't be happening.
Her mind was rattling and gradually settling itself into denial. People stared at her, and in turn, she'd merely glance at them back, all the while feeling more and more desperate.
Why does everyone look so sad?
Everyone looked as if something important had been taken away from them, and that there was no changing the situation. She ignored their expressions despite her own growing doubts. In all the huts and buildings that were around her original resting location, she'd not seen hide nor hair of Shirou. Worse, no matter who she asked, they'd avoided Shirou's subject as if it was a difficult matter to talk about. As if he was already dead.
Shut up. It's not true. Don't even think it.
Her eyes grew bloodshot, and when she couldn't find Shirou anywhere around her, she decided to move directly towards his home. She'd lived in Calla long enough to know the shortest path to her destination and in order to hasten herself, she cut through a forest path leading to the backyard of Shirou's house.
Artus and Ana weren't around, neither was Edwin Pollus, their instructor.
Akame had never seen the house look so empty. Generally, even if the children, Elaine, or Edwin weren't around, there would always be some sort of town hall representative asking Shirou for feedback on various council projects.
Regardless, she didn't allow herself to feel discouraged before even trying.
Laboriously, she climbed up in order to make her way to the window of Shirou's office located on the second floor of the house. Her fingers found purchase on the grooves of the wooden balance beam used as support for the second floor before she hauled herself up with a groan.
As an Assassin, she'd always been athletic, her form lithe and without needless fat. Even injured, she retained her mobility.
With one more leap, she vaulted into Shirou's office through his window.
A part of her had expected to see Shirou working silently on a document or worksheet, but the desk was untouched and unused, papers strewn around and a feather quilt irresponsibly left drying with dried ink dripped from its tip splattered onto a random parchment.
Her experience told her that no one had used the room in almost a full day or two.
Shirou wasn't here.
This can't be happening.
She felt her mouth dry before she shook her head and dashed back from where she came.
Her fault.
She tried searching through Calla next, not even considering just how ludicrous that statement was. How could she possibly search a whole town on her own? She didn't care.
It was her fault.
Shirou was her hope and the hope of many. With him, the world could change. He couldn't be dead. She refused to accept such a conclusion when it was her actions that led to such a result. The final mission wasn't yet over. It had only just begun.
Left unsaid, but to Akame, it wasn't just about the mission. She didn't want to lose anyone else again.
Making her way into Calla, she felt her vision swimming as her actions were slowly catching up to her. She blinked hard to focus her mind and think.
She was walking along the street, the hustle and bustle of the market place doing little to help ease her growing headache. However, she still pressed on. Shirou was a selfless sort of doofus. Rather than manage Calla's policies from within the town hall, he preferred to walk around the town markets in order to help anyone that he saw in need.
It never crossed her mind that poisoned as Shirou was, there was no way he would be in such crowded place to recover. She was just acting frantic at this point like picking at straws.
In her single-mindedness, she really shouldn't have been in a location that was so crowded. Even less so due to her wobbling knees. She inevitably ended up staggering into a person who ended up hoisting her off the ground using two hands that placed themselves beneath her armpits.
"Easy there," it was a familiar voice. She craned her gaze up to meet concerned eyes and a towering body that dwarfed her own by a full head.
"B-Bulat," the name left her mouth before she could even register her actions, prompting the man to smile wryly. However, Bulat seemed far from happy after seeing her present condition.
It wasn't important. Instead, Akame's eyes zoomed in on another figure while simultaneously excluding everyone else.
It was Leone. Behind Bulat was Mine fully in pink shirt, skirt, and jacket, and Leone who looked at her with varying expressions of concern. After all, Akame didn't look right. Not at all.
"What happened to you?" Mine asked, the general bite in her tone replaced by sympathy.
Akame's wounds had started bleeding again as a result of pushing herself too hard. Moreover, blisters were forming on her feet and she looked filthy with dirt and mud clinging onto her clothes and bandages.
Regardless, fresh blood and a panicked expression were two things that did not belong on a healthy individual. It was common sense. Especially when it came to Akame who was generally stringent in revealing any facial expressions.
"Akame? Why are you out of bed?" Leone asked worriedly.
"…Where's Shirou?" Akame rasped out rather than answer.
To Akame's alarm, she noticed Leone's face twisting into a wince, losing much of its exuberance.
It was that same damn expression again. The one that everyone that she'd asked had been making, only that Leone seemed to have an answer for her unlike everyone else.
"Last I remember, I left him at the clinic that he runs at his request after he had finished treating you," Leone spoke with concern. "He looked pretty banged up and too pale to be normal. He looked like he was going to die at any second but he had still insisted to be left alone."
The clinic. Of course, the clinic. Akame hadn't checked there yet. It never crossed her mind because she hadn't associated Shirou, the healer, to be a patient at his own healing house.
Squirming, Akame surprised Bulat enough for the sturdy man to let her out of his grip.
She hobbled off almost as soon as her feet touched the ground, not wasting a single second. It was the most desperate that Leone had ever seen her.
Looking at each other, Leone, Bulat, and Mine decided that they couldn't just leave Akame on her own and soon went to follow behind her.
The trip to Shirou's clinic didn't take Akame long. She knew the path and knew the direction. Besides, her determination was the main driving factor.
It was her fault. It was because of her that he ate poison. Even now, she was still holding the notion that perhaps Shirou had died because of her. It caused a pit of guilt to form in her stomach laced with some other type of emotion that she herself couldn't really explain nor did she want to.
What she wanted was to just make sure that Shirou was alright.
The relief that flood through her as soon as she pushed open the door of the clinic and saw a haggard looking Shirou resting by a wall near the far side of the room was indescribable. He was next to his box of Danger Beast Bones which must have carried some sort of medicinal effect because he looked healthier than she last remembered.
"Akame?" His voice sounded muffled in her ears.
Ah, she couldn't understand why but her vision had also suddenly blurred.
Her legs collapsed from beneath her, bending at the knees, her feet sprawling to either side. He was safe, he was okay. She released a shuddering breath and wiped at her face with the back of her hands. Why was there liquid on her face? Had she been hit by poison too? It was a problem because the liquid just wouldn't stop.
Meanwhile, Shirou was facing a different sort of problem, namely, the glares sent his way by a large towering man whose arms were crossed, and a pinkette beside the man.
A part of him quickly realized that the two may be getting the wrong idea here, the pinkette had even pulled out some sort of gun and leveled it to his head. Vaguely, he heard her whisper 'trash' under her breath while the man leveled a firm glower of disapproval. The spear resting over the man's shoulder suddenly ended up in both of the man's hands, ready to be swung.
Akame wasn't really helping the situation. She was clearly sobbing yet she just didn't know it for what it was yet. The impact towards Bulat and Mine who'd never seen Akame act in such a way was explosive in anger towards someone who must have had taken advantage of Akame as unlikely as the scenario seemed. Still, Akame was a young woman who'd never experienced romance before. Bulat and Mine evidently seemed to understand something that even Akame herself could not.
Shirou realized the situation for what it was too. They were going to try and kill him.
Still, they were the least of his immediate concerns.
There was another matter that he would need to settle first.
"How you doing Mr. Emperor?" Leone said cheerily while butting in between Bulat and Mine.
Ah yes.
To his dismay, people in Calla were starting to call him Emperor.
In the distance outside of Calla's walls, Raiko, the leader of Jinsoku, was rightfully feeling disgruntled with the other leaders around her. She could only bear the brunt of the blame for daring to order a retreat when her allies had required help during the previous battle. The warriors of Hageshi, Raika, and Houju had been either been killed or captured by the enemy.
"This is why the former Lord of Jinsoku should have passed the role of leader towards a more suitable heir. Clearly one not as young and green behind the ears," an older woman, an advisor from the delegation of Soukai said in scorn.
Raiko held her anger inside of her. Now wasn't the time to protest her treatment.
She was seated among a round table with twelve other leaders from Wakoku, some of which had friendly relations to Jinsoku, others of which were enemies. She couldn't allow herself to show weakness.
The current gathering location was deep within the foliage of a forest of thick trees and vegetation. The forest canopy overhead was so dense with leaves and branches that the area beneath was dark despite the overhead sun shining down in the sky.
"If the Lord of Hageshi made his way back to you, where is he now?" A question echoed into the air, clearly targeted at Raiko and causing her expression to darken.
"Dead," how else was she supposed to answer if not to say the truth. There had been too many witnesses that day and the Lord of Hageshi's body was still around for anyone to see in the area that he'd died.
"An evident sign of your ineptitude."
"The people of Jinsoku were said to be able to uphold any obligation for the sake of honour. How shameful that you retreated out of cowardice."
They were all rubbing salt in a wound and her nearby ninjas hiding within the foliage of the tall trees bristled at the comments directed at her. Moreover, she hadn't been the only leader present when the decision to retreat had been called which infuriated the ninjas of Jinsoku all the more. They palmed their kunai and had their fingers sticking into the throwing grips of their shuriken.
Raiko gestured for her warriors to stand down. Starting a fight now would not benefit her or Jinsoku in the least. The current coalition was not made from bonds of comradery, but through necessity. Her enemies within Wakoku would be glad to see her protest and rebel so that the other coalition members could work together and kill her along with her people.
She wouldn't rise to their insults and give them the chance that they desired.
She glanced beside her towards the other men and women who'd ridden alongside her in the previous battle in hope of support, but got none. No one was willing to speak up to ease any of her pressure since they didn't want to feel any of the pressure themselves.
Selfish bastards.
She gritted her teeth from behind the half-mask that she was wearing which only covered up to the bridge of her nose. This was aggravating, yet at the same time she had no choice but to be labeled as a coward. After all, regardless of how much her colleagues insisted on a frontal attack, she always refused the notion along with the other lord who'd seen what she had seen.
It was the Anger of the Gods.
Divine retribution.
It was like the heavens had been roaring and in a sudden strike like lightning, a demonic twisted metal stake pierced through the Lord of Hagehi like a fish harpooned.
Raiko had seen many bloody events in her line of profession and work, however, this time was different. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the phantom image of a snarling blood-soaked hound leering at her from out of her mind. Rather than the twisted metal stake that had pierced the Lord of Hageshi's chest, she was of the impression that it was in fact the hound that she had seen that craved for the Lord of Hageshi's life. It was some kind of curse. It had to be. No matter where one ran or hid, the hound would follow relentlessly until it sunk its teeth into flesh.
The image was haunting. A spirit of a predator and great hunter.
Superstition ran high in the lands of Wakoku where many nations lived closely with nature. Jinsoku was no different: For to be a ninja was to be in tune with the world in order to seamlessly blend into any shadow.
The vengeful curse and spirit of a feral animal was nerve inducing.
It was an ill omen. A sign of coming disaster.
When the great wolf howled to the skies of the east, the hounds of the plains will rise with the savagery of a thousand men hiding in plain sight. It was a famous allusion in Jinsoku portraying the first leader of Jinsoku in the war against the people of Okami. It spoke of the ferocity and tenacity of Jinsoku to relentlessly throw themselves at any opposition, stronger or not until they'd made the enemy bleed.
In this case, rather than the people of Jinsoku being the hounds, they were in fact the great wolf who would eventually perish under pursuit.
It brought a chill to Raiko's heart, superstitions be damned. Before she could get a grasp at what she was really dealing with, she would not carelessly start a battle.
"If you still refuse to attack, then what do you all suggest that we do? Wait and allow our people to all migrate out of our nations?" An annoyed voice questioned.
Raiko's mood plummeted at the reminder. She and many other leaders were only involved in the collation precisely because of this reason. They couldn't wait. Every day, dozens if not hundreds of locals from Wakoku crossed the border with the Empire in order to join the enemy strong hold that intelligence called 'Calla.'
They couldn't afford to wait, but at the same time, they couldn't afford to fight either.
They would have to go about this another way.
Raika pressed her eyes closed before an answer came to mind. She slammed her fist onto the table in order to garner everyone's attention.
"A delegation," she proposed. "Demand that our people be returned while at the same time, threatening them with war."
The older woman from Soukai snorted in derision. "Threaten them with war? Weren't you the one most opposed to fighting?"
"It's a ruse. A bluff," Raiko had no trouble saying. "We say that we'll wage war, but in truth, we'll use the delegation as a probe to see the strength and weaknesses of the enemy. If things go awry, we can strike them from within and maybe grab an important hostage."
"The rest were skeptical. Who would willingly trust in a delegation of enemies enough to let them close to an important individual?"
The answer was already clear. Raiko took a breath and abruptly stood up from her seat.
For a path of least bloodshed and redemption for her failure-
"I and the ninjas of Jinsoku will go," she declared.
Deception was a concept that she and many other residents of Jinsoku were raised to discern and use at a whim. They'd earn Calla's trust as delegates, and from there she could work something out hopefully without drawing the ire of the Gods.
She made up her mind, but inwardly, she could only pray for success.
She had a mother and friends to return back to.
She would not fail.
Thanks for reading and thanks to my newest patrons: Vaendann, Дмитрий Павлович, Marco G, and NoReasonOrSense
Next Update: The Holy Man
P a treon. com (slash) Parcasious