Fate: Kill

Chapter 18

On one hand Leone could sympathize with the outrage that Mine and Bulat may have been feeling for Akame's behalf, but she also knew that if the two actually took action, things were going to end really badly.
A

flicker of nervousness crossed Leone's features as she not so certainly scanned her surroundings to see various passersby from Calla's street glancing over. She wasn't fooled by their harmless appearances for a second. They were watching, and watching closely at Bulat and Mine's actions.
Leone was promptly reminded that Calla was not a place where even trained assassins and military men could act out rashly. Stepping forward, she put herself between Mine and Bulat while muffling whatever choice words Mine had for Shirou wither abrupt intervention.
"Mine, Bulat," she elbowed both of them in the waist. Hard. "Calm down."
Bulat raised a brow, unaccustomed to seeing Leone so serious when not out on a mission, but he complied since his military instinct warned him of nearby danger. Mine was different. She looked like she'd blow a gasket if she wasn't able to vent her anger.
Leone promptly solved the problem by discreetly putting Mine in an arm bar away from Shirou's view who raised a brow in confusion from Mine's pained grunt.
"Is something wrong?" Shirou asked in concern.
Mine's expression exploded in righteous fury at the gesture, her pink twin tails raising up into the air in her indignation. "I'll tell you what's fucki-!"
Leone smiled stiffly while forcibly muffling Mine's mouth with a hand. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong," Leone replied awkwardly. "We were just worried about Akame was all."
Leone diverted Shirou's suspicious stare by shifting it towards Akame.
Shirou acted as expected. He no longer paid much attention to Leone, Bulat, and Mine, and instead moved to Akame who Leone could only call foolish.
Akame's injuries hadn't even fully healed before she'd opted to run around Calla bare foot and in a white medical gown. The bandages around her arms and legs were coated with a fresh layer of blood, and blisters had begun forming on her feet. At the very least, Akame wasn't able to feel any of the pain that her body must have had been enduring. After all, she'd passed out the very moment she saw Shirou.
Looking at Akame's condition, Shirou moved and crouched over her without hesitation. Bulat tensed, not knowing what Shirou was planning on doing, while Mine all but glared at Leone to let her go so that she could enact righteous punishment for a man taking advantage of an unconscious woman.
Regardless of what Mine and Bulat thought, their minds just utterly blanked at what they saw next. Wound by wound, scar by scar, bruise by bruise, every injury on Akame's body was beginning to heal. From Leone, Mine, and Bulat's view, all that Shirou had done was lay a hand over Akame's shoulder. Their eyes searched for any kind of trick or Teigu that Shirou must have been using, but found nothing in the end.
"What the fuck?" Mine could not help her outburst as Leone's hand slipped away from over her mouth.
Bulat said nothing, yet the astonishment in his gaze said it all.
Leone just looked apologetically towards her shellshocked companions. In her decision to first divulge the information of finding a 'New Emperor,' Najenda had deemed all other information that Leone had as irrelevant and spent more time trying to verify Leone's claim. The intel that Shirou had the ability to heal was left largely overlooked. Now that Leone thought of it, she didn't exactly reveal Shirou's ability to create Teigu either.
Blame Najenda. It was Najenda who'd decided to postpone the briefing after the headache that the information of a new Emperor brought.
Healed but unconscious, Shirou gingerly placed one arm beneath Akame's knees, and the other behind her back to hoist her up and carry her towards a vacant bed in the room. Bulat and Mine watched his every action, but relented in their animosity when it was clear that Shirou did not mean Akame any harm.
"It's a misunderstanding," Leone whispered to Bulat and Mine. "Akame has been working as Shirou's guard as of late, and you know how serious she can be when on duty. She was probably just pushing herself to find him."
Listening to Leone's explanation, Bulat nodded his head before grinning lightly while Mine grudgingly put away her Teigu.
"Shirou, this is Bulat and Mine," Leone stepped forward and introduced. "We are all friends with Akame and followed her here out of concern, not that we're concerned anymore."
Bulat nodded his head towards Shirou in appreciation while Mine walked right up to Shirou with a stern yet bewildered expression. "How did you do that?" She pressed.
"Do what?" Shirou feigned ignorance. It wasn't as if his explanation would even make sense for anyone other than a fellow magus anyway.
"Don't play stupid, that!" Mine pointed at Akame. "You healed her!" She accused.
"I did," Shirou said flatly. "Is that a crime that I'm not aware of in the capital?"
A vein popped over Mine's forehead, her eyes narrowing in provocation because she felt like her intelligence was being belittled. So, what if she grew up in the slums in the streets of the Empire. She learned how to read and act all the same.
Noticing the fire in Mine's eyes, Mine was quickly subdued as Leone forcibly pulled her away. Already, some of the passersby outside weren't taking too well to the way that Mine was treating Shirou. The people of Calla practically adored Shirou. Mine was lucky that Selka wasn't nearby because Leone could already predict what the smitten woman would do to someone disrespecting her future husband in front of her.
Selka's brute strength alone was enough to rival Leone's own when she used a Tiegu, and this wasn't even counting the fact that her strength was the weakest among the Hunters. The people of Heiwa were absurd, but their physical strength was offset by their low numbers, so nature still balanced them out.
Regardless, Leone felt that she, Bulat, and Mine were over staying their welcome. Shirou probably wouldn't mind them staying, but Leone did not feel like taking the risk of Mine carelessly badmouthing Shirou in front of the locals any time soon.
"If Akame's well taken care of, then I suppose it's time I get back to showing my friends around town," Leone smiled while dragging Mine away with one hand, and urging Bulat to follow with the other.
Bulat waved once to Shirou before following Leone out. He knew better than to get on Leone's bad side, and besides, he was more interested in Calla as a whole after Leone's explanation of it.
"Nice meeting you," Shirou called out as Leone left with Bulat and Mine.
"See you around," Leone replied back while continuing to lead Bulat and Mine away until they were out of earshot. The awkward smile on Leone's face disappeared a moment later as she looked at Mine with exasperation.
"This close," Leone placed her index finger and thumb a centimeter apart. "You were this close to picking a fight with the entirety of Calla. Did you already forget what I told you about the people here?"
Mine's expression flushed red, and all she could do in response to Leone's words was stammer out an apology.
"You can make trouble with anyone else in town but not Shirou. He may not have anything against your behaviour, but the women and people around him won't let such behaviour go." Leone huffed indignantly, her hands crossing beneath her chest. "In fact, I have a half-a-mind to believe that Akame's the same." Even me.
Leone shuddered while thinking about Shirou's absent expression. That man was worse than a monster because in all of Leone's years in espionage, she could tell that Shirou wasn't doing anything on purpose. However, she had to admit that the expression and actions that he'd taken in order to just save Akame had moved a deeper part of herself.
The sly bastard was good. Really good.
Leone shook her head to rid her of such thoughts and decided to focus on the bigger picture. "So," she began tentatively. "Now do you both believe that I wasn't lying about Calla?"
Bulat grudgingly let out a breath while Mine shrunk in on herself.
It was all true.
It was honestly the first time that they'd ever seen people actively sharing what little they could of their food and shelter to people with more unfortunate circumstances. The first place in Calla that Mine had tried to visit was the slums.
She'd figured that there would have to be one in a place as populated as Calla presently was but she was mistaken.
Slums? What slums? Apparently, the Lord of Calla himself had opted to help build a large common home for people without housing. Food and even basic education were provided as well.
In their entire time in Calla, Mine and Bulat had yet to spot a single person depressed or uneasy of what the future may bring, instead they were all hopeful. City management was also strictly enforced and maintained by the Buckerfield family administration, and the people of Heiwa's policing of common crime.
It wasn't perfect, but the entire premise was just so bloody fucking novel that neither Mine or Bulat could believe such a place actually existed. It was a breath of fresh air and an example of what the Revolutionary Army should be fighting for.
Sheele would have loved this place if she wasn't already out on a mission in the Empire. Like it or not, all of Night Raid couldn't just abruptly stop completing their mission quotas from the Revolutionary Army, so in Leone's absence at the time, Sheele was sent while Night Raid's main forces investigated Calla.
One by one, Leone, Mine, and Bulat fell to their own inner thoughts as life continued as normal in Calla. They were only interrupted when Tatsumi, one of the people saved by Akame in the battle against Wakoku's coalition, bumped and stumbled overtop Mine who immediately spluttered indignantly.
Then again, it was probably Mine's fault for stopping in the middle of the street where Leone had dragged her and Bulat towards.
"Hey, wait, I said it was accident! Why are you pulling out a gun!? I swear I didn't touch or see anything important!"
Mine wasn't hearing Tatsumi's excuses. She was too enraged due to the compromising position that she and Tatsumi had landed in, and was even more infuriated that Tatsumi didn't even know that he'd coped a feel on her just because her chest was flat.
That was the last straw.
Death. This bastard deserved death for messing with a maiden's heart.
Leone nudged Bulat on the side with her elbow, and the two discreetly left, unwilling to get themselves involved in the crowd Mine was forming around her. Meanwhile, Tatsumi was silently begging his two friends watching in the crowd to bail him out to no effect. Sayo held Ieyasu back because unlike Tatsumi and Ieyasu, she'd noticed Mine's predicament as a fellow flat-chester herself and deigned Tatsumi's circumstances an act of retribution.
"I thought we were friends!" Tatsumi yelled pitifully while dodging energy bullets intent on hitting him where the sun doesn't shine.
Despite Wakoku's intent on invading Calla, a majority of new migrants and people were ignorant of the danger, and that was exactly as it should be. They didn't need to worry about something that they couldn't affect yet anyway.
In the end, normal life resumed on the surface despite the underlying currents sweeping across the country.
Two days later.
Legislation, management, and the ability to garner the appreciation of the people.
He was perfect.
Najenda did not give critical evaluations lightly, but what she'd seen was enough to evoke a reaction. She'd believed that she'd be in for a difficult infiltration mission, yet everything had already gone out of her expectations. Contrary to her thoughts, the Emperor that Leone had found did not loiter within a guarded palace or an estate, but actively mingled with the common masses. It was why she had been having such an easy time observing the cherished leader of Calla from the streets.
She mingled in the crowd, opting to change out of her black business suit and into something less eye catching. However, even though she'd changed into a casual white blouse and grey trouser her prosthetic arm was the real problem. It wasn't exactly common for women to have one, and even then, Najenda's was enhanced with combat features that made it too bulky to be hidden very well. It made her stand out in a crowd which was detrimental while out in a stealth operation.
Najenda as the commander of Night Raid, didn't let such an obvious problem deter her. Instead, she removed her prosthetic arm despite the discomfort that she endured while doing so. People were less likely to suspect a cripple to be the head of an Assassin unit anyway.
Besides, the added effect of only having a single arm meant that she could use the pity of others to her advantage.
Watching Shirou interact with the crowd, Najenda began to review the report that Leone had made about Shirou being an Emperor candidate. His personality, ethic, and compassion were admirable, but as he was right now, Najenda did not believe that Shirou had the steel within him to order the necessary deaths of others. He looked too green. Too sheltered.
In the end, watching him only made the theory of a puppet Emperor that Najenda had envisioned more and more likely. There were people in the world who wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of the kind of kindness that Shirou was capable of.
Therefore, why had Leone sounded so certain of Shirou when she spoke of him?
Why did Lubbock make such an apprehensive expression at Shirou's name?
More and more questions continued to emerge, and she had no answer from just spying at Shirou from the distance. He seemed like a good guy, but a good guy was not what the present world needed. It needed a strong ruler. Someone that could instil order and justice, but at the same time possess compassion and righteousness in his rule.
Shirou had a long way to go.
Najenda shook her head ruefully. She'd decided to start observing Shirou from the distance when all her sources from the Empire and the Revolutionary Army verified Leone's claim of the Emperor's bloodline.
Shirou of Calla was a Bonafede Emperor candidate.
Unsuited to be an Emperor as he was now, he was still far better than the current child Emperor being misled by the Prime Minster, Honest.
Najenda sighed. She had a lot to think about before she could even consider if the option of defection was viable in the current situation. She was interrupted from her musing by a voice from a nearby vendor selling clay tupper-ware.
"You seem like a fighter."
Najenda momentarily froze, recalling what Leone had said about Calla's residents being experienced veterans of sorts. It would seem that bit of information was correct.
She gradually turned her head around to see an old man with wrinkles in his brow, and long and greasy greying hair staring knowingly at her.
"What makes you say that?" She inquired loosely in a bid to stay in character as an ignorant passerby.
The old man wearing a dirtied wifebeater grunted while staring Najenda from head to toe. "Ex-Military too I see."
Najenda maintained her silence despite considering a course of action if her cover was blown.
"Even if I was, I ain't much of one now," she gestured lightly towards her missing arm and eye in hopes of distracting the man, but it was what the old man said next that ended up distracting her instead.
"A shame really, but it's not the worst that I've seen my city lord able to heal. You should visit the town healing cabin and get those injuries treated in a jiffy," the man shrugged and didn't seem to want to start anything major by calling Najenda out in public. "Prosthetic enhancements or not, you can't quite replace the feeling of depth and flesh, now can you?"
No. No Najenda couldn't. Even with the prosthetic arm, she was only capable of displaying forty percent of her original strength.
Her expression twisted into a weary expression as she defensively raised an arm in front of her. She couldn't figure the old man's intentions out despite not feeling any animosity directed towards. In fact, it was weird that she felt admiration instead.
The man answered the unasked question by rummaging through a sack of his belongings and pulling out an old military badge which he tossed over for Najenda to catch. Her eyes widened in recognition, the way she looked at the old man changing.
"There's no way that you'd recognize an old man like me," the old man shrugged. "But I once had the pleasure of working under one of the Empire's two strongest women in my time serving as a lowly infantryman. However, the woman I remember following before she defected was more cheerful and optimistic than the woman that I see now."
Najenda knit her brows together as if to offer an explanation, but the old man did not wish to hear any of it. "Go to the cabin Commander, and once there, I hope you take a better look at the young Lord. He's more than what he seems from afar."
The old man made shooing gesture, and when Najenda tried to press him for more details, the old man just ignored her.
Lips pursing together, Najenda eventually relented after looking at the badge of her former Empire Legion Standard and gripping it tightly in her hand. Bitter memories that she'd thought that she'd overcome once more filled her mind.
Just this once, she'd go against her judgement as an Assassin leader and follow her gut instinct as a former General of the Empire. This could be a trap for all that she knew, but the past Commander that the old man knew was a daring woman who'd often taken risks to prove herself on the battlefield. What was one more to add to her list of impulsive behaviours?
She turned her back on the old man and resolutely asked around for the direction of a healing cabin while fully knowing who she'd meet when she got there.
Minutes turned into an hour before she found her way to the supposed 'healing cabin.' Honestly, she was skeptical about the things that she'd heard about it already from Calla's residents, but the recovery of her injuries wasn't her priority. Understanding Shirou for who he was and engraining into him what he could achieve for the world was more important.
She knocked on the door of the healing cabin before stepping in when called and closing the door behind her when inside.
"Shirou, I presume?" She called out to the red-haired youth that she'd been monitoring for the past day.
Shirou was seated over a set of Danger Beast bones and perusing through his inventory of them when Najenda had stepped into the cabin.
"That would be me," Shirou replied while shifting his attention to Najenda. "And you are?" He inquired.
"You can call me Najenda," Najenda introduced herself while finding a place to sit across from Shirou. The cabin was relatively small and filled with the musty scent of wood. "I was advised to come here on the word that my injuries could be healed?" She didn't immediately reveal her true intentions. It was a rookie mistake to do so because she couldn't just demand answers from someone that she'd just officially met.
Shirou hummed in response before his eyes trailed over Najenda's missing arm and eye. He frowned, but the fact that he didn't say it was impossible for him to heal Najenda caused pause.
"I can help," he admitted, much to Najenda's disbelief. "However, I'm going to need you to close your eye."
Confidentiality? Najenda could see when someone was trying to hide something from her in an instant, but it wouldn't do for her to antagonize someone that may become the future Emperor. Therefore, rather than responding with words, she simply closed her lone eye while contemplating what sort of secret Shirou had to hide.
Could he really heal her? She didn't know.
Suddenly, Najenda began to regret her decision not to force everything out of Leone about Shirou's personal abilities. At the time, she'd been more focused on Shirou's qualifications as an Emperor.
Fidgeting slightly as some kind of object was placed against her body, she merely felt a tingling sensation spread through her before the tingling gave way to itchiness. The urge to scratch became so bad that it caused her to ball her hands into fists and press her eyes tight in order to resist. That was when she abruptly realized it. She'd balled her hands into fists, and pressed her eyes closed tighter.
"Hold on, don't move yet. I'm almost done."
Shirou didn't need to give Najenda the reminder. She was already in so much shock that rather than move, she was worried that a simple nudge would be enough to knock her over.
Impossible. This shouldn't be possible.
"Alright, you should be good to open your eyes."
Najenda's eyes instantly snapped open, but rather than inspect her healed injuries, her sharp gaze trailed to Shirou's hand only to see 'nothing.' The object which she'd thought was a healing Teigu was not in sight and her senses alerted her that Shirou had not moved away from her even once during his treatment to potentially hide it away.
Did he honestly just heal her from a touch?
The implications caused Najenda's mind to blank, and suddenly she realized why Leone had been so tight-lipped on the matter. Slowly, and with her fingers of her healed right arm trembling, she took off the eye patch on her right eye and saw depth again for the first time in years.
For once, the Leader of Night Raid was at a loss. She had no words, her purple coloured eyes blinking back her disbelief. Forty percent? Forty percent of her original strength would no longer be her limit. She opened and closed the fingers of her right hand, the feeling now so foreign that for a moment she actually thought she was dreaming.
She waited for the catch. Some sort of astronomical price that she was now inclined to give for restoring her lost limbs back to her, yet it never came. She could see it from Shirou's expression and body language that he had no intention to charge her anything.
It was just like the locals had said. Shirou charged nothing to heal any injury so long as the injured were saved.
That level of selflessness was unheard of.
Najenda suddenly began eyeing Shirou openly, causing him to frown.
"You aren't making yourself to be much of an Emperor," she said absently. At the same time though, she had a feeling that even if Shirou wasn't much of an Emperor, he would be adored and loved.
The Emperor would not fight for the sake of maintaining his power, but the people instead would fight willingly to keep the Emperor inpower.
It was a mind-boggling notion that nearly caused Najenda to laugh at the ridiculousness of it, but she couldn't because it was reality. Evidently, Shirou himself was aware of it.
His lips thinned into a pout the very moment that she'd called him Emperor. That was what everyone was calling him on the streets nowadays so it wasn't uncalled for, for Najenda to do the same.
Emperor? Shirou didn't believe himself fit for such a position, but everyone else was practically willing to shed blood for such a thing to happen.
Was this the effect of having a single just and selfless leader in a world of vile snakes and corrupt politicians? The people themselves would willingly throw themselves at danger on Shirou's behalf which meant to say that his rule was guaranteed to be stable.
"I'd prefer if you didn't call me that," Shirou answered with a sigh. "I don't think myself qualified to be an Emperor."
Everyone else would disagree. Najenda held her tongue about the opinions of others and instead spoke her own. "I have to agree. You won't make for much of an Emperor."
He was too soft. Too selfless to make the hard decisions from her time observing him. Still,
"You'd make a good leader. And that's exactly what this world needs." Najenda sat herself up and straightened her back to assume a more serious discussion while giving Shirou a few documents from her bag. "Read it over. Like it or not, you are an Emperor candidate, and I for one reckon that the world needs someone like you to make a difference."
Najenda had decided both in her gratitude at being healed, and because of her impression of Shirou, that Night Raid would officially pull out of the Revolutionary Army.
Reading through the documents that Najenda had given him, Shirou's expression gradually shifted into something that made Najenda even more certain of Shirou's qualifications.
So, he did possess a serious side.
It was only for a moment, but Najenda had seen the face of a man who knew that softness and compassion wasn't always the answer to a problem. She was reassured.
"I won't press you into it, but I only ask that you think of it." Najenda stood up to leave the room. Shirou didn't stop her, too lost in his own thoughts. "Many people are dying at the hands of the corrupt, and you have the qualifications to directly make a difference. If you decide to fight to save the lives of the people, then I guarantee you that you won't do so on your own. Don't underestimate the strength of your own influence." You are already the Emperor in the hearts of your people, and that was what truly mattered.
Najenda reached the exit the cabin and opened the door to step out, but not before giving one last personal message. "I'm a friend of Akame, and I hear that you've been taking care of her for these past few months, so you have my gratitude."
With those words said, Najenda left Shirou on his own in order for him to come to his own decision. After all, she'd already made hers.
In the meantime, it was time to see how much of her original strength that she could now display. Running off in search of a remote area to practice, she was surprised to discover that she wasn't alone in the open meadow she'd decided to train at.
Lubbock? Was the only thought in Najenda's mind as she made her presence known.
As a skilled Assassin, Lubbock instantly noticed when someone appeared near him. It was just that when he turned around to verify just who, he suddenly believed that he'd fallen into a dream.
As soon as Lubbock laid eyes on Najenda, he thought he'd seen a ghost as the memory of the smiling Commander he had in his mind had returned to life. It was like a shocking blow to the gut that staggered him and took his breath away.
"Lubbock?"
She called out to him. The idol of his imagination was talking to him in broad daylight. A complete set of matching violet coloured eyes stared at him while a white blouse revealed two arms. Two arms.
He really was dreaming. How else could he explain it?
He was out in middle of nowhere meaning that no one else should have known that he was around. If this were only a dream, was he not allowed to express the feelings he'd felt ever since he'd enlisted under Najenda's service?
"You're beautiful," he called out to her, watching the way red slowly crept its way up Najenda's neck as she looked taken aback at the sudden compliment.
"Lubbock?"
"I've always wanted to say that to you. You were the very reason I gave up everything and joined the army." He looked both wistful and solemn while ogling the idol of his heart.
"If you keep staring at me like that, I'm going to flatten you on the ground and force you to spar with me till I'm satisfied."
She even speaks the same, he began to approach her in a daze, his hands reaching out in order to embrace her.
"Lubbock," his idol began subconsciously backing away. "I'm not joking. Don't test me."
"I love you." Without warning, he directly hugged his arms around the woman in front of him and nuzzled his cheek against hers even as he suddenly felt the ill premonition that he'd just stepped on a landmine.
If this was all a day dream, why did Najenda feel so real? He subconsciously squeezed his hands over her, feeling her body up and down before coming to a terrifying conclusion when he saw the amount of red covering Najenda's face.
She was real.
She was fucking real and, in her daze, he'd just coped a feel, one hand still squeezing her left breast for its pertness.
There was now a chilling cold in her eyes, and that was when Lubbock knew that he was going to experience a training session far worse that dying. Old memories as a trainee in the army surfaced in his mind.
How many fractures was he going to get today? He stared at Najenda's tomato red face and rephrased his internal question as Najenda's arms tightened around his waist and hoisted him up for a Supplex. How many bones was he going to break today?
Regardless, when Lubbock learned of what Shirou had done for Najenda, weary of Shirou or not, Lubbock felt that he owed Shirou a debt that he could not express enough in words.
Another reluctant ally was created.
Yet others liked to say that it was the start of brutal romcom.
Leone approves.
Shirou needed to think. He needed to think alone and away from the voices attempting to persuade him for a just cause, and so he found himself wandering through the woods of a hill near an isolated location of his family house's large backyard.
Akame had stubbornly attempted to shadow him out of some sort of misguided belief that he may 'disappear' if she didn't keep an eye on him, but Leone assured him that she'd keep Akame occupied so that she could actually rest. He'd doubted Leone's claim at first since Akame was a veteran assassin, but the knowing smile and increased pressure that Leone constantly applied on Akame's back to keep her pinned over her bed own was convincing enough to move him into nodding.
Elaine and his two siblings who he realized he'd been neglecting for weeks had attempted to coax him to play, but now really wasn't the time. In fact, just seeing his little brother and sister happily smiling while ignorant to the cruel nature of the world around them was something worth protecting. He actually feared that by associating with them for too long, they'd discover the darker aspects of life that he was enduring the brunt of on their behalf. He was content to do so, but now, now he was being called for more.
The sound of crunching leaves beneath his feet began to echo in the silence of the forest filled with the ambient noise of crickets and hooting owls. The light of the moon shone down from the forest canopy, illuminating small patches of the dark and narrow forest path that he was treading.
One wrong misstep, and he could inadvertently veer off his intended course. The same could be said for his current dilemma.
He was being called to be an Emperor, a revelation regarding his family's true heritage suddenly dropped upon him at the drop of a hat. On one hand, he had his suspicions about the capabilities of Calla's residents, but finding out that his father had blood ties with the Empire's royal family was another.
Left unsaid by a vast majority of those that knew him personally, but he was a legitimate Emperor candidate that was being called to create a better country and future. He could see the hope in Elaine's eyes, and Selka was practically an open book when around him. Moreover, Buckerfield family head, Elaine's grandfather had even arranged for a private meeting regarding the issue sometime later in the week. It didn't help that those ignorant to his actual views of being an Emperor were already calling him 'Emperor.'
He could have no doubts anymore about the legitimacy of his close friends claims, and he couldn't even play ignorant as planned because the Buckerfield family had a record of the Empire's history with his great grandfather's name in it.
What was he supposed to do right? It was the only dilemma in his mind.
Walking within the narrow path of the woods around his family home, he soon came to the apex of the hill where the tree-line receded to reveal luscious hilltop and a nighttime view across Calla.
He stared up at the sky, and took in a calming breath.
One constant that had always been the same between his past and present life was the sight of the moon above hiding amidst the clouds. It helped calm his mind if only slightly as memories of another childhood began to occupy his attention one image at a time, stopping at a single instance. A dear memory.
A child and adopted father sat upon a Japanese-styled porch while calmly drinking tea. The father was dying, and in that one moment in time, the boy had promised to carry on the father's will while holding a hand out as if to grasp at the stars.
An Ally of Justice. That's what the boy would be. That's what he promised that he would be.
Shirou didn't want war. He knew it would happen as disputes between his birthright amidst the corrupt nobility of the Empire would definitely take the spotlight.
He didn't want violence, but at the same time, he understood through a life time of experience that just because he didn't want to do something doesn't mean that he could have that choice.
The people called for Revolution, they yearned for it due to the injustice and atrocious acts performed in the Empire and the world. Calla was the only place that was different, but that was before Calla's population had only been limited to a manageable couple hundred residents. Migrants seeking a better life that had experienced the vile acts of other powers were filled with a resentment that would realistically last a lifetime. The voices of dissent, the voices of the common people, were growing as Calla's population rapidly enlarged. It was no longer accurate to call it a town or village, but an emerging citadel surrounded by steel walls instead.
Should he turn people away then? That wasn't an option either. They were hurt, seeking shelter, and had done no wrong. Often, they themselves were the ones that had been wronged.
…What a dilemma.
A cool breeze began to blow as the seconds turned into minutes while he stood alone on his own. It all led to a single conclusion.
Passivity was no longer an option. People were dying, and he could understand Akame's previous sentiment for going out and risking her life. Ironically, it was something that he himself would have done in the past if not for the tragedies that he'd experienced that broke apart his naivety. Beasts killing man. Monsters killing people. People killing people. People becoming monsters. Monsters of man.
Monsters killing Monsters.
In his past life, he'd seen the best and the worst of others, which was why, he had been trying in his own way to carve out a different path that would still save others. Perhaps he himself had been the one that was truly naïve and hypocritical?
He didn't like death. He didn't want to kill, but at the same, he knew that certain circumstances required hard actions and decisions but had still held off on them on the thin hope that the world would piece itself together somehow. This clearly wasn't the case, and instead, the smoke of conflict was beginning to burn strong with the lives of the innocent as tinder. There was a method to solve everything. One in which, his revealed birth right now compelled him to enact.
He was no longer just the son of a deceased town leader. He no longer had to bid his time in order to draw in more people to create a large enough faction to resist the Empire, Wakoku, or Revolutionary Army- His heritage all but superseded that plan.
What the world needed now was a Hero who could take it upon his or herself to shoulder the sins of justifiably murdering others. Yet, was taking life, no matter how decrepit, ever truly justified?
He looked down at his own hands, visibly clean and free of guilt, but mentally, they were soaked so deeply in blood that he no longer knew how many people that he'd once killed in his past life for the sake of saving others.
In the end, karma had seen him pay for his actions, and perhaps this time would be no different? He smiled depreciatingly at his own sense of dark humour, but he knew that he'd already come to a decision.
So be it.
He would respond to the calling of the masses and activate the potential war machine that was Calla. He would be their Emperor in name, and he'd change the world order upon the completion of a single operation and missive. Slowly, gradually, a plan began to form in mind. One of self-sacrifice, loss, and if necessary, self-retribution for being the catalyst that would allow the world to burn in the fires of war.
Dull magical light in the form of circuit-like patterns hummed over his skin, trailing down towards his hands which formed a black bow in his left and a sword in his right.
He wouldn't wait for the enemies to come nor would he allow those that he cared about to suffer under the constant fear of invasion.
Right here. Right now. He'd give everyone a warning. A Declaration of just what kind of power that they were dealing with.
"Trace. On." The words escaped his mouth as the necklace of Danger Beast bones around his neck began to disintegrate into pieces blown in the wind. The magical energy siphoned from the bones entered his body and thrummed from deep within him, activating the forge of his soul.
"I am the Bone of my Sword."
A pregnant pause; a flurry of wind and the movement of clouds; animals scurrying away in the dark of the forest; an unseeing wave of pressure spanning across the world.
Magic. A substance seemingly lost to humanity, once more appeared within the air of the Empire, Wakoku, and the Revolutionary Army as Danger Beasts began to howl and arise from their slumber.
The beginning, and the end.
The sword in Shirou's right hand was gradually notched onto the steel frame of the black bow in his left. His target was the night sky ahead of him. His muscles grew tense, veins popping over his skin as he began to concentrate and flood his 'arrow' with magical energy until fractures began crawling up and over the sword. Slowly, surely, it began to break, the excess magical energy creating a storm of dust and debris.
The greatest deterrence was not that which was known, but that which was unknown.
He did not need power, lethality, or efficiency, but the weight of presence alone.
A Sword of Dawn.
His fingers loosened around the notched string of his bow, and the arrow was set loose, the entire sword bursting into a radiant orb that shattered at the zenith of its flight and rapidly expanded into a ball of hellfire. It was an attack not focused on a single point, but shot with the intent to expand as far as possible. It was gigantic, the sheer size making it appear as if a sun had descended.
Hot wind and cold air created gales felt for miles upon miles of land, the light itself illuminating the dark nighttime horizon.
It was a beacon in the night. A star for all to see, carrying the message of uncertainty and the promise that not everything in a once remote village was as simple as it seemed.
The residents of Calla looked up and felt the warmth of the light around them, Leone and Akame looking up with their breaths hitched from the glass window pane of a cabin, while Najenda and the rest of Night Raid were no different. Each had their own thoughts, aspirations, and ambitions for a better world, but the light that shone down over them made everyone feel as if they were united, for they knew only of a single person in Calla able to create such a feat.
In the distance, the leaders of Wakoku saw the star above differently. Superstition and ill omens ran high in the minds of many of them engrained in their traditions. To see the emergence of a fiery sun in the midst of a war effort against an adversary meant that some sort of divine providence was on the side of the enemy. It did not bode well, and many were beginning to doubt whether they should reconsider their objectives.
In the Empire, the kingdom and all of its residents, voices began to stir. Generals, politicians, and nobles all felt some sort of vice squeezing at their hearts as if a sign that the duration of their current lifestyle had just been numbered. Honest, the Prime Minister, did not believe in the supernatural, nor was he religious; however, even he felt a stifling sensation within him prompting him to call for an emergency summon from the northern front.
'General Esdeath to immediately return to the Capital.'
Hidden within the forest near Calla, a sole ninja's eyes flickered with apprehension before her figure vanished entirely into the foliage. Despair, grief, doubt, her emotions were apparent in her body language.
For as bright as the star appeared, it was gone an instant later. Regardless, the point had been made.
Back in the forest of his family home, Shirou dismissed his bow and slowly began walking back to his house. His back was straighter than ever before, the steel of a veteran mercenary flickering across his gaze as he resolved himself to do what was necessary for a world in need of a Hero. Yet who would break first? The ideals stubbornly kept within him, or the growing cynicism that things would only play out as they had before in another life.
It didn't matter. He'd already started on the path, so there was no longer any going back.
Smoke spread from the east, growing into embers which would soon give rise to a wildfire.
Steel that knows no loss, and steel that knows no remorse. An unfeeling blade of the people.
Justice in murder.
Let the war begin.