Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Twenty Six: Wild Hunt

Roughly three months after Bolic's assassination, the Empire found itself with many problems on it's front porch. First, there's The Path of Peace religious group, who shortly after Bolic's influence vanished, formed an armed uprising. They assaulted government offices that imposed the Emperor's heavy taxes and the storehouses of corrupt landlords. Though, the Great Lord who wanted to avoid bloodshed as much as humanly possible, he understood that some blood would have to be spilled in order to help sustain the massive number of followers they had. Second, there are the many citizens who were oppressed by the Empire. They too rose up in revolt shortly after the Path of Peace's armed uprising began. This lead to rioting in small towns and even some cities in the Empire. And third, there is the Western Nation, who's army started to invade just as these revolts started to begin, almost as if they were waiting for this exact opening to strike. Due to its military lacking enough experience to defeat such an enemy, they suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the Western Army. This allowed their army to reach far into the Empire's territory. Thus, the Empire found itself in a small state of chaos.

In the Capital's Palace, The Emperor sits in front of a pond, nearly frozen over by the cold of the winter air. To his right, his 'trusty' Prime Minister, Prime Minister Honest, standing with his hands behind his back and his usual jolly smile on his face. "Minister, I've heard that our army lost against the Western Nation again... Will we truly be alright? It seems as if we're surrounded by all kinds of problems as of late.", The Emperor says as he looks down at the pond, his small face in his child sized hands. Honest lets off a slight chuckle before asking, "My, my, where did you hear something like that, my Lord?" "Seigi, the Secretary of Domestic Affairs.", he replies coldly as he continues to focus on the pond. Honest just sighs and says, "I see Seigi has always been a crafty one. It seems like he's running away from his responsibilities again." "How so?", The Emperor asks as he turns to Honest with a confused look. "The uprising across the Empire is The Secretary of Domestic Affairs' responsibility, my Lord. It seems Seigi is trying to take the heat off his own back by distracting us with news of the Western Nation. Please do not worry yourself over these things. We've sent both General Esdeath and Great General Hitzugaea to deal with this matter personally.", Honest says as he glances down at the boy. A bright smile comes across the boy Emperor's face as he happily says, "Then that means...", but before he can finish, Honest smiles down at him and says, "Yes, they will without a doubt be able to rout this invading army. Their numbers is no longer of any importance. We've sent two of the strongest Generals in our army to deal with the issue." The boy just smiles up at him before Honest continues, saying, "A Thousand-Year-Old Empire will run into issues like this from time to time. It was inevitable, but please do not worry, my Lord. Please remain calm and collected, and remain as the pillar that supports the people." Honest helps the boy to his feet, who then passionately shouts, "I understand! If the Emperor is weak-minded, the Empire won't be able to stand strong! Thank you, Minister!" He then turns to Honest with a genuine smile and says, "You always have my back, don't you Minister?" Honest just nods with a fake smile on his face, hiding his true evil intentions.

 Later, Prime Minister Honest is eating many kinds of meat at a long dinner table in the Palace, with Syura sitting across from him and an ominous man standing off to his right, leaning with his back against the wall. "My, my, rebellions, riots, and now invasions, it's been so stressful lately, Syura. I'm going to gain weight from all this stress!", Honest says as he bites off half the leg of a giant roasted chicken. "You're eating too much, Pops! You need to slow down at least!!", Syura shouts as he watches him eat so much meat all at once. "Well, your souvenirs are just so delicious~ I wanted to let my beloved child go on a journey, so I let you outside the Empire. And you've come back more impressive than ever, Syura. You've made me proud to call you my son.", Honest replies with a smile. "I saw a lot of interesting things around the world, Pops. But in the end, this Empire is still the most developed nation by far. The southern islands and the northern tundra were so rural. They didn't even know what a gun was.", Syura says as he looks out the window. "So it's just as I guessed. The only civilization that can match us blow for blow is The Western Kingdom.", the ominous man says with a gravely voice and an evil smile. "Yeah... Pops...", Syura begins to say before Honest sets his food down to hear what his son has to say. "What is it, Syura?", Honest asks. "When I was here last, you had those Rakshasa Demons with you. Who's this guy?", Syura says as he points to the ominous man. "Oh, him? I've had him for a while. He's an experiment of Dr.Stylish's own design. He's quite the interesting character if I do say so myself.", Honest replies as he glances over to the man. "I see, so he's a slave then?", Syura asks with a grin, causing the man to growl. "We're more like, partners in crime so to speak. We share the same ideals and desires. He also dislikes being called a slave, so if you value your life, you'd best avoid calling him by that term.", Honest explains. "What's he gonna d-", Syura begins to ask before he finds the man's arm has turned into a red glowing blade. His dark black aura seems to fill the room, frightening Syura as Honest just sits there calmly eating his meat. "He has permission to kill whoever or whatever he wants in the entire Empire, so you'd best avoid angering him.", Honest suggests as he gently wipes off the grease from his face with a napkin. Honest seems to signal to the ominous man and he reverts his arms back to normal as he returns to a more laid-back position, leaning against one of the walls. "Well, I finished the homework you gave me to do over my journey: Find people with useful talents. Right, Pops?", Syura says as he leans forward in his chair and returns to the topic at hand. "Ohoho. Let's take a look then.", Honest says before they head off to observe Syura's group. The three are now in a large coliseum in the Empire used as the military's training grounds, sitting in the highest point in the stadium watching over the battle to come, and armed prisoners are standing in the middle of the arena, waiting for their fate. Syura puts one foot up on the railing and shouts down to the prisoners, "Hey, you!!! Since you all are going to be executed anyway, how about this? Why don't we play a little game!?" Suddenly, gates open in the arena and his five cloaked associates walk out. "If you defeat all five of them, you all will be acquitted of your crimes and receive prize money! And you can even attack all at once!!", Syura adds before the prisoner begin to make their move. "Of course we'll do it, right?", one of the prisoners shouts to another. The other nods and says, "If we don't we'll die anyways, so what does it matter?" "This was a great idea, Pops! Looks like they'll do it. Making the death row inmates fight by using freedom and money as bait is quite smart.", Syura says, praising his father as he continues to fill his face with meat. "It's a common technique in training assassins. Nothing beats hands-on experience.", Honest says with a smile. One of the cloaked members tosses aside their cloak and while saying, "As we decided earlier in rock-paper-scissors, I shall be first." He's a man wearing a swordsman's uniform with long black hair done up in the back in traditional swordsman fashion. His katana is sheathed on his right side and a long weed hangs out of his mouth. The others nod and the man reaches for the handle on his blade as the prisoners rush at them. "Oh, my beloved Kousetsu, I will feed you now.", the man says as he rushes toward the group. He seems to step right through the group, with his blade drawn, and as he sheaths it, blood goes everywhere and the group of prisoners rushing them falls to pieces. "That's Izou, he loves his sword more than anything else, and always makes blood rain.", Syura explains with a grin on his face. The sight of the other prisoners being cut down so quickly cause the remaining prisoners to scream in fear before one of them shouts, "He's a demon! A DEMON!!!" Another one of the cloaked members disrobes to reveal they're a girl wearing a rabbit like suit. She has bunny ears on her head, black frame glasses, a black frilly choker collar, a one piece sleeveless dress with a miniskirt that reveals part of her underwear, black thigh high socks, and stalleto boots that match her dress. "There's nowhere for you to run~ Here, I'll sing you a farewell song for your journey to hell~", she says lovingly as she shouts into the microphone in her hand, sending a strong sound-wave through the air that shatters most of the remaining prisoners' bones, killing most if not all of them. As they all fall to the ground coughing up blood, Syura says, "That one's Cosmina. She's a singer who was convicted of being a witch in the Western Kingdom." Cosmina giggles before saying, "Got em all~" She's quickly kicked in the ass by one of the cloaked individuals, knocking her to the ground as he shouts, "What do ya mean 'Got them all' you dumb bitch!? The hell are you doin killin them all in one go like that!? What about my fun!?!" As she gets on her hands and knees, she turns to him with a smile before saying, "Don't worry, we can have some fun together later~" He just growls and shouts, "You're not good enough!!" One of the cloaked members walks over to the pile of bodies to investigate while saying, "What a bunch of useless nobodies.", before noticing one of them is still alive. "Hey, this one's still breathing.", they say with a bit of surprise in their voice. The man screams out in fear causing the cloaked individual to get irritated. They quickly grab the man by his shirt and toss him in the air with unimaginable strength. "Why won't you calm down!?!", they shout before tossing their cloak off and jumping into the air after the man. They look like a small girl with a ribbon like hairband in their short blonde hair, a blue childish dress on, stripped thigh high socks that go up under her dress, and matching blue shoes. "If you're going to die, then my way is best for both of us.", she says happily before grabbing a hold of him from behind. She bites down into the man's flesh and he seems to shrivel up like a raisin before falling to the ground dead. "That one's Dorothea. She's an alchemist with many modifications to her body.", Syura explains as he points to the little girl like member of his team. "And over there is Enshin. He's a pirate I found rampaging in the seas to the south.", Syura explains as he points to a man with short black hair, an irritated glare on his face, a shirt that reveals his amazing nipples, a unique looking sword sheathed on the right side of his hip, and the pants and shoes of a pirate. He then points over to the last member of his team, an overweight clown wearing mostly white makeup on his face, with his short bushy black hair and a small comical hat on his head along with a squishy red nose to match the rest of his clown outfit. "That fatass over there that's out of breath is Champ. He's a serial killer entertainer.", Syura explains. "I sense that they all have Imperial Arms. Impressive.", the ominous man says as he looks down at the group with his glowing crimson eyes. As Syura looks at the man, he sees he's wearing a dark black leather jacket with a hood that covers his entire head, hiding his face, only revealing his glowing red eyes, matching leather pants, and dark black boots. "Yeah, I went through all the trouble of fathering these things from all over the world. You don't mind if I use them, do you Pops?", Syura replies. "Not at all. That's actually what I was hoping for. I'll need your little group to focus on hunting down a group of Imperial Arms users, so they'd need to be equipped with them as well to hope to stand a chance against them.", Honest replies with a grin on his face. Syura just lets out a chuckle before saying, "No problem Pops. These guys have world-class talents. They'll leave those Rakshasa Demons you had in the dust. And as for this weirdo, he wouldn't stand a chance." Honest just laughs at his claim before saying, "That's a cute provocation, Son." "It's not a provocation, I can prove it to you by killing that Seigi person who's been giving you problems. That guy's as good as dead. And after that, we'll hunt down that Minazuki guy who beat Generals Esdeath and Hitzugaea and kill him too!", Syura says in a menacing tone. "Oh, that won't be necessary. Times like these, when the nation is in chaos, are the perfect opportunity to determine who is truly loyal. Any fool who opposes me will be driven out of their position and executed! Framing someone for a crime is as simple as snapping my fingers. As for that Minazuki fellow, I believe he's a part of the group I want you to deal with, so be my guest with that one.", Honest replies as his evil, maliscious personality comes to the surface. Syura just smile and thinks, "Like always, Pops is rotten to the core. It's not going to be easy surpassing him. Well, either way, it's playtime. All my toys are finally gathered!"