Steel Eyed Faker

Chapter 9: Save The Twisted Part 2

Beta read by Shigiya and Paragon of Awesomeness.

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-The Imperial Palace-

“How boring,” With a goblet of red wine clutched in her hand, she took a sip of the wine, savoring its rich flavor. Esdeath reclined on her ornate chair, looking out over the sprawling view of the Capital below. Her voice dripped with boredom as she muttered to herself, “But I suppose I shouldn't complain too much, the candidates turned out to be better than what I expected… a cut above the average foot soldier with enough raw potential to pique my interest.” 

The short match-up against, or examination of the potential candidates for her next chosen Beast had gone quite smoothly. Many showed plenty of talent in their specific area of expertise; blade work, martial arts, strategy, reflexes, and so on. 

"Kurome has a knack for stealth and assassination-type missions. Her speed and precision with that sword of hers are very high. Wave, on the other hand, has shown a surprising level of endurance… hmm, most likely a byproduct from training with that Teigu of his in a naval setting. Though he’s far too indecisive for his own good, I'll have to change that later down the line," She noted down the profiles of each member she’d personally handpicked for their unique skills and abilities. Alongside the official information from their files, she also included her own observations and insights for each member. 

Bols and Run were two individuals she already had extensive knowledge of, one being a competent soldier who didn't shy away from carrying out any orders regardless of if they went against his personal morals, and the other was in possession of a simple but useful Teigu powered by a finely honed body with a sharp mind.

“Sergeant Ubiquitous is a perfect weapon in the making.” A simple-natured girl with an over-attachment to the desire of ensuring order; naive but easy to control. However, it seemed clear that someone else got to her as soon as she began her career, and even made a few changes to her body. 

Now, she reads the person’s file responsible for these changes.

“Then there is our dear Dr. Stylish… hah, I'll have to keep an eye on him.” 

She intentionally mentioned the details of Emiya's ability in front of that man, knowing full well the kind of reaction it would cause. Useful in the fact it only served as fuel to motivate the man to pinpoint that bastard's location and end this mouse and cat chase. But the chances of him going rogue were high… “Never mind, if he bites more than he can chew then he'll die by his hands anyway. I have no need for the stupid and the weak.” 

She leaned back against her chair, sighing and grabbing a stack of papers before filing through the handful of documents one by one. She may be the most feared General in the Empire, but that doesn’t mean that she is immune to paperwork, no matter how hard she tries to get rid of them. Reports given to her by some of her troops in the field, spies, and scouts spread across the Empire all relayed plenty of information about anything she desired.

"Just how are you planning to draw him out, Stylish?" Esdeath said, curious to see to what extent he would go to get what he wanted. “These so-called secrets to replicating a Teigu or Shinkus are too tantalizing for him to ignore.”

However, upon further consideration, she realized that her confidence in man's ability to find him was lacking.

“A waste of time. If Emiya doesn't want to be found, not even the entirety of the Empire's network of spies will be able to draw him out. The best thing Stylish could do would be to go specifically for Najenda and put that woman in danger, though that would present its own challenges for him." She shook her head in frustration at the weakness the redhead had for as long as she could remember, the reason why she believed that would lead to his downfall sooner rather than later.