Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Thirteen: The Results

A month has passed since Night Raid went into hiding and started training to get stronger. Minazuki, Tatsumi, Susanoo, Leone, and Akame are all standing in front of a large waterfall. Minazuki has Quake equipped and stands alone on one side of the shallow stream while Tatsumi, with Incursio equipped, Susanoo, with his giant pole ready, Akame with a standard katana drawn, and Leone, in her beast form, stand on the other side. Chelsea and Lubbock watch from up near the top of the waterfall and Chelsea asks, "Is this really a good idea? He's going against all four of them at once." "You'd be surprised by how many times he's done this and won.", Lubbock says with a slight grin. "Quake, let's put these powers of yours to the test.", Minazuki thinks to himself before hearing Quake scoff and say, "Just four of them? This is nothing! Show them my power, Mortal! The power of a GOD!" Power surges through Minazuki's body, forcing even the water from the stream to be pushed away by its overwhelming power. Chelsea is surprised by the sudden surge while everyone below stays calm. "And begin!", Lubbock shouts and Tatsumi rushes in to be the first to attack. He goes to punch Minazuki, but he just catches his attack and slams him into the ground, shattering the earth with his body. "That's one down.", Lubbock says holding up one finger. "It was Tatsumi. It was a given for him basically.", Chelsea thinks to herself. Minazuki suddenly takes the offensive and rushes towards Susanoo. Minazuki throws a plethora of powerful punches at Susanoo, but Susanoo manages to dodge each of them. Susanoo then thinks, "Even if he were to land a single punch, it'd be all over from there." Leone and Akame rush in to assist him as Akame takes to the air while Leone tries to sideswipe him. Minazuki then punches the ground, sending a shockwave that forces them all back. Dust fills the air, lowering visibility to nearly zero. "So, he not only forced us back, but also deployed a smoke screen. That's more resourceful than I thought he'd be.", Susanoo says to himself, slightly impressed by the way Minazuki took advantage of a disadvantageous situation. Suddenly, the dust forms into nearly a thousand small needles that pierce Susanoo all over his body, except for his core. "Oh, I guess this means I'm dead then.", Susanoo says as he suddenly realizes he'd been attacked. "That's two down now.", Lubbock says while raising a second finger. Leone and Akame charge in again, but this time, they charge in and circle him at a rapid speed, waiting for an opening. They suddenly dash in, trying to mixup Minazuki, but he simply catches Leone's fist before she can touch him and throws her away, so he can deal with Akame. Leone lands on her feet and rushes back toward the fight while Akame and Minazuki start to clash. Her slashes have gotten faster since the last time they'd fought. As Leone gets closer, he sees his perfect time to strike and kill two birds with one stone. He catches Akame's sword and turns his body toward Leone while punching down at the base of Akame's blade. The blade shatters instantly, sending fragments of the blade into the air. "W-what?", Akame thinks to herself as a shocked expression comes across her face. With the back of his gauntlets, he sends pieces of the blade flying toward them, both dodge the best they can, but still get nicked slightly by the pieces. "And that's four. And you didn't believe in him.", Lubbock says in a cocky tone. "What do you mean? They only got scraped.", Chelsea says. "Yeah, they got scraped by an average blade this time in training, but since Akame's forced to use an average katana in training, if this were the real deal, they'd both be dead. But who would've thought of shattering Murasame and using its own power against the user?", Lubbock says in a slightly impressed tone. "Yeah.", Chelsea says, impressed by the battle she just watched. Tatsumi manages to pull himself up and asks, "Did we win this time?", before seeing Susanoo's condition and the cuts on Akame's and Leone's cheeks. "It's two-nothin now. You'd think taking him on four on one would make it easier, but it doesn't seem to phase him.", Leone says with a sigh. "I wonder if adding Mine and Sheele to the mix would give us enough power to win?", Tatsumi says as he releases Incursio. Minazuki sighs and says, "The four of you should be more than capable of beating me if you all work together. We should work on team coordination more. You can't beat someone like Esdeath in a simple one on one or two on one fight. We'll need to take her on all together if we want to stand any real chance against her at the level we are now." "From the data that General Najenda provided, Esdeath has to at least be twice as powerful as I currently am along with being more experienced with her Imperial Arm. The only way we can beat that kind of power is overwhelming her with an even stronger power or simply outplaying her.", Minazuki thinks to himself as he looks at the determination on his comrades' faces. "It doesn't matter how strong she is, I'll take her down with one cut from Murasame! That's all I need to win!", Akame says pridefully. Minazuki gives her a cold glare before saying, "And if you were to die by her hand before you could even graze her, what then?" Everyone suddenly goes silent and Minazuki says, "We can not simply bet on your skills alone, Akame. We'll need at least three backup plans incase things don't turn out the way we intended." "Befalla has been a pain in my side since the dawn of time, and even now, in this form, she's causing a scene.", Quake says in a slightly irritated tone. "Befalla?", Minazuki thinks, unsure of what he means by that. "I will tell you the story later, but for now, know that at the dawn of time, there were a few Gods, myself being one of them, that helped form this land into what it is now. Befalla was the one who handled the northern lands, freezing them into her own personal hell. And now, I believe that she is the source of this General Esdeath's power.", Quake explains vaguely. "I see.", Minazuki mumbles to himself, catching everyone's attention. "Hey, Minazuki, you've been mumbling to yourself a lot lately, are you alright?", Tatsumi asks him. This snaps him back into reality and he says, "Yeah, it's alright. I've just been running some scenarios in my head is all.", before removing the needles from Susanoo's body. "We should return to the base. I'll have to start making dinner soon.", Susanoo says, unphased by the giant holes in his body that start to heal themselves. "I guess that does it for training today. Man, I'm pooped.", Lubbock says as he stretches. "You didn't even do anything Lubbock. You just sat up there and watched them fight the whole time.", Chelsea says mockingly. "Hey, you didn't do anything either then! So I don't want to hear you running your mouth!!", Lubbock shouts defensively. "You two, Mine and Sheele are all on your rest days. You aren't supposed to be doing any training.", Akame says bluntly. "We're heading back. But if you two really want to complain so much, I'd be more than willing to spar with you two.", Minazuki says to them, causing a chill to go up their spines. "I think we're good, right Chelsea?", Lubbock says nervously as he holds his hands up defensively. "Yep, we've come to an understanding. No need to spar with us at the moment.", Chelsea adds with a frantic nod. Minazuki turns away from them and starts heading back toward the base. "Man, since Najenda made Minazuki the head of training, he's been super strict about everything. He's even working Suu to his limits.", Lubbock thinks as they all follow Minazuki. "Minazuki's training seems to be working. I feel myself getting stronger and faster each time we battle. Even though I might've been the first to go down this time, I think I've learned a lot in the past month we've been here.", Tatsumi thinks to himself as he looks down at his hand and a smile comes across his face. "I wonder what we'll be having for lunch. I hope we're having meat. That would be nice.", Akame thinks with a bit of drool coming from her mouth as she thinks about the meat.