"How disappointing" a serene voice echoed out morosely "it looks like the stories of the Hero of the north were born more of hot air than actual ability" the voice continues looking down at the broken form in front of her.

"I'm just a dog" a hysterical voice chimed out, his voice echoing out his shattered spirit and broken mind "nothing to your majesty hahahe"

"Indeed" the serene voice murmured as its owner lifted her leg "how disappointing, it looks like I was right to send my 3 beasts back to the empire early, else this would have been even more pathetically easy." she brought her leg down.

*crunch*

"A mere bug beneath my feet, just like the rest" the serene voice sighed tiredly "oh well… looks like I'll have to keep waiting for an actual opponent, for now… it's time to return to the Empire"

With these words, Esdeath Partas, a demon-like general born of a slaughtered clan left the squalid ruins that had once been the throne room of the strongest of the northern tribes, leaving the corpse of the north's once revered hero in the shattered remains of his former seat of power alongside the fragmented wreck of his once mighty spear.

"She draws near, false child of mine."

Cold. Endless Ice. A silent grave of thousands spanning for miles.

"She who falsely bears the blood of my rival, just as you bear mine."

Destruction. Bloodshed. Death. The crushed corpses of thousands.

"The two of you are similar, but not the same."

Destruction. Cold. Cracking Ice. Freezing flesh.

"My rival is dead. Sundered first by my hand, then by your ancient kin."

The Ice shatters. The Flesh endures.

"My rival is dead. Yet I am alive. Barely."

Old wounds rip. Ants biting at a mountain.

"Crushed by your ancient kin. Clinging to life by a thread."

Raging defiance. Thousands more fall to Destruction.

"Even in death, I survive."

The body nears death. Torn apart and shaped by the whims of ants.

"I Endure. Fighting without limbs. Breathing without lungs."

Greed. Desire. Arrogance. Reaching into the realm of the divine.

"Existence. Returned to me by those who stole it from me, so long ago."

Euphoria. Life. Living through the eyes of another.

"I live once more. In body, if not mind. In posterity."

A silent cry. Obey. By my right as King.

"In you. False child of mine."

Destroy. Rend. Ruin… Protect. Incarnations of death descend by the thousands.

"It may not be my body to move. To fight with. To Rule with."

Watching. Improving. Weakness ironed out. Strengths honed.

"But for as long as you and the line you will sire survives, I live."

Still young. A mere child in the face of an army.

"Your conquests are my own, as are your failings."

Overwhelming opposition. Should run. Doesn't. Against the odds… Victory.

"So grow stronger, false child of mine."

The child grows. Strange feeling. Pride.

"You already exceed most of your kin. But it is not enough."

A flash of thought. Dull thoughts from a weak fragment.

"The one marked by Death. False bearer of my rival's blood. She is Stronger."

Cold. Endless Ice. The weak fragment shudders.

"Yet for all her strength, she is lesser."

A weapon. Born of my rival. The fragment breaks. Void.

"My rival's blood. Unnatural. Wielded as a weapon."

Weapons born of legends, granting ants the might to oppose gods.

"My own blood. Flowing through your veins, as if by nature."

Weapons of legend. A weakness. A limit. One only.

"My own blood. Part of you, false child of mine."

And so the child bears no weapon. Not yet. Potential.

"Hurry, False child of mine. Sharpen your fangs."

With my blood alone, a god amongst men. With my claws, a god amongst gods.

"My rival's frozen shadow approaches."

Standing above a hundred thousand frozen corpses.

"Do not falter, dear child of mine. Thrive. Evolve."

Movement. A presence. Close.

"Tats-"

Before the word could even be finished I was already out of bed with my blade to someone's throat panting heavily. I froze.

"Akame" I murmured dully as I dropped my blade to the ground, numbly bringing a hand up to my head, backing up a few steps and simply collapsing on the ground against a wall.

Akame stood motionlessly for a moment, looking at me before drawing near and leaning down slightly "are you alright?" she asked.

"Fine… I think" I managed "just a really freaky ass dream"

"Something relating to what Zank showed you?" Akame asked intently.

"What?" I fumbled before blinking "oh, no Zank had nothing to do with it, it was just really weird is all."

"How so?"

"just oddly vivid flashes of... something... it's a bit hard to remember really." I admitted, frowning. I shook myself pushing myself up and standing again "Well it's nothing, I'm fine, sorry for the jump scare".

Akame just nodded "it's fine. I was sent to get you because the boss wanted everyone in the meeting room. Our informants just got some new, rather disturbing information."

"What is it?" I ask opening my drawer and picking out some clothes casually.

"The northern tribe's last resistance has been crushed," Akame spoke bluntly "General Esdeath should be back in the capital by the end of the month."

I blinked at that, frowning "shit"

Akame nodded "The boss wants to step up operations while we can, before Esdeath returns."

"Right" I turned to look at Akame, still standing casually in the middle of my room, giving her a pointed look.

Akame tilted her head "What?"

"Are you going to leave so I can change? Or would you rather watch?" I grinned as I started to remove my shirt casually.

Akame blinked even as her face slowly started reddening as I finished taking my shirt off.

"I mean whatever, it's not like it's that big of a thing" I continued dryly even as I looked away from Akame and moved to start removing my pants.

*slam*

I snorted, glancing back at the now firmly closed door to my now empty room "She really is surprisingly innocent for an assassin." I mused with a short lived grin. I returned my gaze to my dresser even as my expression dropped, my thoughts returning to what I remember of my odd dream "She draws near.…. that's… Esdeath is coming back to the capital…. Endless ice…. Esdeath wields an ice Teigu derived from Danger beast blood" I mumbled "but that would mean she's… and I'm…"

"She who falsely bears the blood of my rival, just as you bear mine."

The words echoed unprompted in my mind as I shivered, my heart pounding.

"what the hell is this? …"

…

"…what the hell am I?"

'He completely got the drop on me' Akame noted clinically, having calmed down from Tatsumi's apparent offer of an impromptu strip show. Although Tatsumi had relaxed the second he recognized her the fact remained that she had been caught completely flatfooted. Normally such a thing would not have happened but Akame was, in a manner of speaking, lost in thought. It totally wasn't because she had gotten distracted watching Tatsumi's sleeping face or anything. Shaking her head as her blush threatened to return, she allowed herself a small smile.

Quite ironically -considering he had held a blade to her throat- this little morning fiasco actually lowered the already small chance that Tatsumi was an infiltrator. Tatsumi had relaxed the exact second he had recognized her, suggesting a reflexive view that she was a trusted ally, something an infiltrator wouldn't have. It wasn't ironclad evidence, but it was a start.

Lost in her thoughts Akame scarcely notices as she passes by a yawning Lubbock in the hallway. A few moments pass and Lubbock freezes in the hallway, turning to look at Akame's retreating back with a poleaxed expression.

"Is she humming?" Lubbock asked, stunned, even as he is forced to notice the slight skip in the normally deadpanned night raider's step.

"We weren't expecting Esdeath to finish subjugating the northern tribes for at least another 3 months, so we have a lot to get done in very little time" Najenda spoke to the entirety of the now fully assembled night raid "we're going to have to divide our forces quite a bit this time, several of you will have to go solo this time. It's a bit risky but it's better than adding the risk of Esdeath showing up into the equation."

"To think she'd finish subjugating the northern tribes that quickly… that woman really is a monster" Mine mumbled.

Najenda sighed "it doesn't matter, even if she's a god or a devil, we have no choice but to take her down, or else this country will never heal." Najenda's eyes flashed over the assembled night raiders before her gaze stopped on Tatsumi "but that's neither here nor now. Tatsumi, you said your village often dealt with harsh winters and that you're fully capable of operating in frozen environments, correct?"

The teenager nodded "yeah, we'd get several feet of snow at a time some years, I'm fully capable of working in intense cold."

"Good, command has a flying danger beast on route to base, you're going to take it and join up with a few members of the revolutionary army up near the northern mountains, you'll receive a full briefing there but the short of it is you're going to assist in sabotaging the fastest return routes to the empire from the north, Esdeath is known to use a flying danger beast but the rest of her army is still stuck on the ground, it only works in our favor to slow down their return. I'm sending you because the revolutionaries in the mountains have reported greatly increased patrols and guards around the various chokepoints within the mountains."

Tatsumi nodded "Got it, when should the danger beast arrive?"

"late tonight or early tomorrow, you'll have to go as soon as it arrives, we are already stretched thin on transportation as it is." Najenda replied.

Tatsumi nodded "I'll get to prepping my stuff then, if you don't mind, I haven't put together a complete arctic set yet so I'll have to rush it slightly."

"Go ahead, and good luck" Najenda replied

"Thanks, later everyone" Tatsumi drawled leaving the command center and heading towards the workshop.

A couple seconds after the boy had left Najenda turned "Mine and Sheele" the two night raiders straightened up "The two of you are to investigate and if possible eliminate an imperial Teigu wielder by the name of Dr. Stylish. He is believed to have been at the center of multiple human experiments over the course of the last decade and a half." Najenda handed Mine a folder "the rest of what our informants have gathered on him is in there, read up and head out as soon as you're ready."

"Is this encrypted?" Sheele asked airily, holding up one of the sheets within the folder as she and Mine made to leave the room.

Mine sweat dropped "No Sheele, you're holding it upside-down."

"ah, so I am" the purple haired night raider agreed cheerily as they walked out the door.

"Akame. Bulat. Lubbock. We've received word that various officials are being attack by an unknown group posing as night raid. To our best guess it might be the empire's assassination squad" Najenda explained "we've managed to narrow down the list of their potential targets to the 2 most likely to be struck next, Akame and Lubbock you two will take one and Bulat will take the other" seeing Akame begin to open her mouth Najenda cut her off "if, and this is a big if, it is indeed the assassination squad the possibility that your sister will be present is considerable, that's why I'm sending Lubbock along with you and not with Bulat."

Akame stiffened slightly "I can handle fighting her, I've already made my resolution."

"*sigh* I know Akame, but you can't deny your sister's Teigu is a very effect counter to your own, you'll need help, especially if there are other members of the assassination squad present." Najenda admonished.

Akame blinked slowly before nodding "of course, sorry boss."

"It's fine" Najenda replied "head out as soon as you're ready, be careful and don't hesitate to retreat if the opposition exceeds what you can handle."

The three veteran night raiders nodded before they began filing out to gather their equipment leaving Najenda alone in the room.

After a few moments Najenda lets out a tired sigh before looking down at her mechanical arm, frowning slightly. It was no small burden, having to remain behind and delegate jobs that could very well lead to the deaths of those under her command. During her time as a General, when she had been Pumpkin's wielder, she had at least been able to stand alongside her soldiers and face death with them, but now… her ability to organize, select, and plan out missions and jobs to the best effect far outweighed her combat prowess.

The mechanical arm -despite what most would think- was far inferior to a regular one. While it may be more durable than flesh and able to exert more force than most humans could, every advantage came with a dozen downsides. Between the fact that it was unlikely to function properly underwater and the fact that it had to be constantly maintained and cleaned to remain functioning it wasn't nearly reliable enough for prolonged combat (as in anything beyond quick skirmishes). But in the end, the worst cost of the mechanical arm was the burden it placed on her body simply by functioning. While it is well known that Teigu put a large amount of strain on their wielders the fact is that that strain was actually relatively low for the power a Teigu allowed its wielder. While the overall strain was lower than a Teigu, the very presence of her mechanical arm made it impossible for her to properly wield Pumpkin and most (if not all) Teigu.

It was completely logical that the revolution had declared that her combat skills were for defensive and evasive use only -disregarding extreme circumstances- until further notice. So all she could do was wait, as she sent others to face danger with no guarantee of survival.

"Please come back alive, all of you" she pleaded helplessly to the empty room.

Unfortunately, her plea would go unanswered, remaining yet another helpless wish crushed under the boot of a heartless and ruined era.

Tatsumi hummed lightly to himself even as he worked at an inhuman pace. With mental processing ability fully capable of coping with his insane movement speed, he was able to work with incredible precision while working at a rate no normal craftsman could hope to match with virtually no drop in the quality of his craftsmanship. If you need someone to sew an entire sweater on the short side of 15 minutes by hand, Tatsumi was the guy for the job. If you needed someone to put together an entire arctic combat outfit and equipment set before sundown, Tatsumi would have it done in time for a (slightly) late lunch.

While it was better to stick to something at least relatively normal while operating in and around the Capital he wasn't exactly going to be blending in with any crowds in the middle of a freezing mountain range. This meant a number of things, most prominently that he could use something a bit more reliable to conceal his face than a simple cloth facemask and, Tatsumi couldn't help but grin at this, all of his equipment didn't have to be completely concealed on his person, meaning he didn't have to skimp on what he brought this time around. Unlike most people, Tatsumi didn't need to consider the weight of what he brought with him, any chance of overburdening himself having died a heinous death through years of having an excess of 2 thousand pounds of weights firmly on his person during his day to day life.

As for other issues normal people might face in mountains, well…

No handhold for climbing a cliff face?

*Impales mountain with bare hand*

Ground giving way beneath you unto a hundred-foot drop?

*Climbs out of human shaped indent, brushing away snow*

The cold?

* "Tatsumi… why are you steaming?" "I went for a quick swim before I started training" "…" "…" "Tatsumi… the river's been frozen for weeks" "I punched the ice apart to get to the water" "oh" "…." "…." "…." "…right" *

Avalanche?

*Glances back at the increasingly distant wall of snow while running down the mountain at a comfortable 'jogging' pace*

Danger beasts?

*Que whimpering of doomed beasts*

Food supplies?

*Whimpering intensifies*

…. Tatsumi had them under control.

Of course the fact that he didn't necessarily need arctic survival gear was not going to stop Tatsumi from going completely overboard on it. Badass gear is a man's romance after all.

Using bone fragments from various danger beasts (carefully cut and shaped to avoid lowering their integrity) and a few other choice ingredients, Tatsumi put together a white face mask with a soft fabric interior and a sturdy harness that would have to be broken in multiple ways for the mask to fall off entirely. With semi-tinted one-way goggles installed on the inside of the mask to hide his (unfortunately) uncommon eye color the mask was made in such a manner that it would only minimally obstruct his vision and sense of smell. The danger beasts Tatsumi had used had considerably high density bone, to the extent that the bone was just as durable (if not more so) than many types of metal.

He had deliberately used multiple different bones so that even if one portion of the mask was pushed to the point that it shattered only a portion of the mask would do so, rather than the whole thing, even the cloth interior was only sturdily attached to a specific bone fragment, meaning it was easy to remove if that part of the mask shattered, and that Tatsumi could easily tear the fabrics out of the way rather than having to worry about it blocking his vision.

Disregarding the fact that they likely wouldn't consider such an odd design, it was nothing a master craftsman in the Imperial capital wasn't capable of making. That said, if any of those craftsmen was to be told that it was made in a bit less than half an hour from start to finish, they would be liable to start coughing up blood.

The remainder of his new equipment set was focused more on not obstructing his mobility while being (or at least looking) warm enough for a freezing mountain range as well as providing as much camouflage as possible. Normally it would raise questions as to why it was alright as long as it 'looked' warm enough, but Tatsumi's general absurdity tended to make the fact he was comfortable going out in sub-zero temperatures in everyday clothes a bit of a side note.

In a matter of hours Tatsumi had finished his gear and finalized its camouflage for his intended destination. Moving to load up his backpack Tatsumi filled it with basic supplies, simple climbing gear, and as many explosives as he could fit without making the pack too bulky. The explosives were important -in Tatsumi's mind- because you never knew when you'd need a manmade avalanche in the mountains. Grabbing the rest of his gear and a musket with some ammunition Tatsumi looked in the mirror and grinned.

"Kickass".

Gazing down at the landscape perhaps a mile or two below him, Tatsumi let out a relaxed sigh as he stood at the front edge of the Air Manta command had allocated for his trip to the mountains, his mask and other equipment firmly in place.

While this was his first time flying upon a danger beast and he had never so much as neared this degree of elevation before he found himself totally at ease, waving off the advice of the Manta's handler to sit in the center and buckle up in favor of standing roughly 6 inches from the edge on a slightly sloped portion of the beast's back to more totally take in the experience.

"You sure this is your first time riding one of these" the beast's handler called out as they reached what Tatsumi guessed to be cruising altitude "Cause I don't think I've ever met someone more relaxed about being 2 and a half miles above the ground, hell I usually keep at least a foot and a half between me and the edge and I've been doing this for 13 years now." The man continued shaking his head.

Tatsumi let out a soft snort before turning his head to face the man "Yes this is a first, although I've climbed some mountains before so heights aren't entirely new to me" he noted "The reason I'm so relaxed is for two reasons; one I just feel really comfortable up here for some reason and two because I've already passed the point of withstanding terminal velocity impacts."

The handler blinked "terminal what now?"

"Terminal velocity, basically it's the fastest you can fall because of air resistance preventing you from going faster once you reach a certain speed." Tatsumi explained "When you fall you reach about half your max falling speed in about 3 seconds, 90 percent in 8 seconds and then more or less reach terminal velocity after around 12 seconds." Tatsumi paused before shrugging "Functionally speaking, if you can survive an 8 or 9 second fall then you can survive a fall from any distance because the increases in speed and therefore impact force beyond that are fairly minimal. With my current physical durability, I could jump off right now and at worst I'd get off with a few broken bones, if that." He explained.

The handler just starred, giving Tatsumi the impression the man was staring dumbly at him from behind his flight mask before the man stuttered "S-seriously? Like really? How does that even…?" he rambled.

Tatsumi just laughed "Well if you orient your body right, terminal velocity is only around 200 miles an hour for a human, and even if you're carrying heavy stuff it's just a matter of using some of the more durable pieces as a kickboard to slow down a bit as you near the ground if you can't handle the full impact." He explained easily "Most combatants Colonel class and up are capable of clocking speeds above 200 miles an hour anyway, which means falling is little different from running full tilt into a wall by accident to them; it'll hurt but it's nothing they can't live through"

"You're kidding right? I mean I know generals and the like can get so crazy strong that it's inconceivable for mundane soldiers like me, but it can't really be that crazy can it?" the man murmured, shaking his head.

Tatsumi laughed "It's not actually as crazy as it sounds, nor does it really make higher level fighters invincible, seeing as the piercing power and relative force concentration of most firearms could still kill someone who could survive a terminal velocity fall." Tatsumi reassured the man "The whole falling thing is mostly just a funny wow fact for the un-initiated."

The man huffed, shaking his head "Still sounds crazy" he mumbled turning his attention back up front as Tatsumi let out a short bark of laughter, prompting the man to grumble slightly "oh ha, ha, ha, sure go and make fun of the nor-" he cut off suddenly with a sharp intake of breath.

Tatsumi was on full alert immediately "What is- Oh" Tatsumi began, spotting the issue before he'd even finished his question "that's…"

"Dragon type danger beast" the manta's handler finished even as he began redirecting the manta away "This is bad, Dragons tend to… what?" he blinked in confusion as the draconic danger beast made a beeline away from them suddenly for no apparent reason.

The two of them remained silent for a minute as it became apparent that the danger beast was not coming back "So…" Tatsumi began "I'm assuming that's not normal behavior?"

"Not in the slightest; Draconic danger beasts are normally as prideful and territorial as they come, if something isn't part of the same nest as it or otherwise openly submissive to it, a draconic danger beast would normally attack on sight." The man noted shaking his head "We were flying a bit above it, so it should've came after us immediately after taking that as a slight."

Tatsumi hummed "That about matches what I've heard, although I can't say I've ever seen proof of it myself" he noted.

"What do you mean by that? Have you not seen any draconic danger beasts before?" the handler asked in surprise.

"See them, yes. Fought them, no." Tatsumi shrugged "They were pretty rare in the area I grew up in, and whenever I saw one I was either too exhausted from training or fighting to risk taking them on or couldn't reach em before they took off, if they weren't already flying and out of my reach in the first place."

The handler hummed at that "Normally they'd have gladly fought you, and certainly they'd not have let you off for being tired regardless of if you challenged them or not; Draconic danger beasts are perceptive enough that I doubt they didn't see you at least a few of those times. I wonder…" the man trailed off.

"What?" Tatsumi prompted curiously.

"Although I can't say for certain, it's possible you had a high affinity -so to speak- for draconic danger beasts, which is pretty rare to say the least." The man explained "While the few taming Teigu that exist are the best at it, its fully possible to tame danger beasts without one and every so often someone pops up that has the ability to easily interact with and tame a certain type or species of danger beast. You might want to try your hand at taming some draconic danger beasts if you ever get the chance, if you aren't too busy with your fancy assassin stuff…" the man joked.

"A high affinity for dragons…" Tatsumi mumbled softly, his eyes widening behind his mask as a chill ran down his spine and vivid images began to race through his mind; the dream he had attempted to push to the corners of his mind suddenly returning in violent fragmented flashes.

A silent cry. Obey. By my right as King.

Destroy. Rend. Ruin… Protect. Incarnations of death descend by the thousands.

"You alright kid?" the manta's handler spoke, breaking Tatsumi out of his trance.

"huh?" he murmured before shaking himself slightly "Oh, yeah, I'm fine, just got lost in thought for a moment."

"You sure you don't want me to drop to a lower elevation? The air being so thin up here is hard if you aren't used to it, might be making your thoughts muddled" the man offered.

Tatsumi shook his head lightly "If I can handle prolonged combat at the top of the average mountain, I can handle resting at higher altitudes… probably... might actually be a good idea to spend a few months training in the highest elevated area I can reach, now that I think of it" he noted with a shrug.

The handler huffed "Whatever you say kid… whatever you say…"

Tatsumi simply shrugged easily in response before the two descended into a comfortable silence.

"Anything else notable you'd like to mention to me about the personnel and equipment present in this region?" Tatsumi asked easily, addressing the man currently organizing the rebel forces within the mountains.

Tatsumi's arrival had been simple and without issue, with his identification code accepted along with little resistance or backlash to his admission that he intended to keep both his face and name a secret from everyone during his time here, with everyone agreeing that lowering the chance of him being identified was worth the mild inconvenience as he was one of the few night raiders who had maintained total anonymity for the time being.

After being given a quick rundown of a notable aspects of the chain of small bases networked around the technical 'main' base of the resistance in this region he had been led to the command room of said main base which -by virtue of being a hidden base- was actually smaller than Night Raid 's, what with the latter being much larger than strictly necessary in order to turn the inside into a veritable labyrinth for intruders, a particularly dangerous thing when the home team -so to speak- was comprised of assassins. While smaller, the mountain base still had a rather comfortable command room that -judging by the couches and handful of tamed wolf species danger beasts resting nearby- also served as a room for rest and relaxation.

So it was that Tatsumi was currently finalizing his temporary transfer before he went to drop off his excess belongings in the room assigned to him.

"Not really" the commander replied with amusement "Why?"

Tatsumi laughed easily "Just wondering, you completely sure though?"

The man looked mildly annoyed at Tatsumi's insistence "I think I know my own base and personnel well enough after 2 years being posted here, kid" he responded somewhat heatedly.

Tatsumi laughed louder this time "You'd think you would" he noted as the commander's face soured further before annoyance shifted to shock as Tatsumi suddenly moved, blurring across the room towards where the wolf-like danger beasts were lazing around. Ignoring all but one of them he wrapped his left hand around one's throat, lifting it up and choke slamming it into a wall solidly.

His seemingly random act of violence was explained as the wolf disappeared with a burst of smoke only to be replaced by a gasping red-haired girl as what appeared to be a lollipop fell to the ground.

"Wait!" the commander called out from behind him even as the other resistance members in the area tensed "Chelsea's one of ours, don't-" he tried to continue.

"God fucking dammit" Tatsumi swore, cutting the man off even as he loosened his grip, catching the girl lightly as she collapsed and shifting her to one of the couches before seamlessly shifting to treating the wounds he'd inflicted in his take down "How exactly does a girl with a transformation Teigu not count as something notable?" Tatsumi asked the region commander harshly as he treated the somewhat dazed girl "That seems to be the first thing you should say to an assassin that's just been posted here; not something you couldn't take a hint about after blatant prodding" Tatsumi continued in a furious yet even tone "What do you expect someone to do when they notice someone concealed in the thrice damned command room that the base's commander apparently has no knowledge of, just let them be?"

"You could've just ask-"

"No" a voice rasped, cutting the commander off and drawing Tatsumi's attention to the redheaded girl beyond his treatment of the bruises on her necks with salve "He did exactly… the right… thing" the girl noted, seeming to recover a bit "You have no idea how many times I've gotten away because people have asked or hesitated…" the girl shifted, sitting up as Tatsumi wordlessly helped her do so, having finished applying the salve to her neck seconds earlier.

"Right response or not," Tatsumi began "Sorry for that, I'll make it up to you later if I can."

"Don't worry about it, its fine" she declined with a small shake of her head "if anything, then thanks for the reality check, it looks like I was getting a bit too confident in my makeup skills" she laughed bitterly.

Tatsumi frowned "still…"

Chelsea seemed to read his emotions despite his mask, letting out a half amused half self-depreciating laugh before speaking again "You probably saved my life actually, seeing as I was thinking of trying my hand at killing Esdeath if she happened through these parts" she ghosted a hand across her bruised neck, her fingers coming away partially stained in the salve Tatsumi had covered the bruises with "It's been so long since someone actually caught on to me that I kind of forgot it could happen, and a chokeslam is a much nicer reminder than whatever that sadist would've done to me."

The base's commander seemed to find his words at this point "What are you talking about? You had no orders to attempt to assassination Esdeath, why would…" he trailed off.

"Cause I figured I could do it" Chelsea stated simply "Though if Marrow over there could pick me out that fast I'd pin a guess Esdeath could too, so it looks like I was wrong in that assumption." She grimaced.

Tatsumi hummed softly "Probably best to assume that" he noted "particularly considering you'd have to deal with masking your killing intent as well" Tatsumi tilted his head "Also Marrow?"

Chelsea smiled slightly "You're keeping your name secret, wearing a mask made of danger beast bones, and names like skull or bone man are unoriginal. We need some way to refer to you while you're here and the resistance rarely has established codenames so, Marrow."

Tatsumi blinked "Ah so bone marrow is the reference you're making around my mask, a bit odd, but whatever, it works I guess." He acquiesced with a shrug before frowning "On a different note, why were you pretending to be a wolf for no apparent reason in the first place?"

"I usually like to mess with or surprise new transfers as a way of revealing my Teigu and to give them a heads up to be more aware" she noted.

Tatsumi stared, remaining silent for a moment before noting "Then this could've ended much, much, worse than it did"

"What do you mean?" the girl asked.

Tatsumi silently moved across the room and grabbed a log from next to the fire place, tossing it up and letting it fall to the ground where it fell apart into multiple cleanly cut pieces.

Most of the room's occupants looked confused "What did you just…" the base commander began before trailing off in shock.

There was the sound of something falling onto a cushion heavily, drawing the room's residents attention back to a now lying down and pale Chelsea "Your hand blurred a bit" she noted shaking "I'm specialized in stealth and all, but… my combat abilities are still roughly mid-captain class and I…" she took a heavy breath "I barely saw your hand blur when you cut that, you could've… if I…"

Tatsumi sighed "While I'm not going to give you an upper limit to avoid giving away the full extent of my abilities, my combat skills are at least into general class" he stated simply "Do not try and startle me, please, it'll either fail immediately or succeed to potentially tragic results. I consciously decided to try and nonlethally disable you this time but if my response had been a reflexive one I likely would not have done so as I would not have known you." Tatsumi turned his attention to the base commander "In terms of what I can do, just think of me as being able to more or less keep up with Akame, minus the insta kill sword that is." He offered, taking advantage of his fellow Night Raider's more known (if out of date) abilities to give his temporary commander an approximation of his own.

The man slowly nodded once, still clearly off balance, before seeming to gather himself a bit before back stepping in the conversation "Right, sorry, this one is my fault, I should've told you about Chelsea but her little hazing prank is a good wakeup call for new recruits and I've let it run for so long that it sort of slipped into the background."

"I figured" Tatsumi noted "I'm pretty good at picking out people lying, and you were -or at least thought you were- telling the truth earlier, which I'm guessing was because you literally forgot that it was something you should mention." Tatsumi shrugged "I'm not going to hold this one against you in terms of judging your abilities as a commander; but know that my capacity as a member of Night Raid does give me the ability to act at my own discretion regardless of the chain of command if I consider it necessary." Tatsumi sighed "I don't mean to be a prick about this, I just want to make it clear that unless I have the relevant information or reasoning behind a situation or orders I may act under my best judgement separate or even in opposition of unsupported orders."

"So basically spec ops shit and you'll chokeslam girls if no one gives you a good reason not to, you're a real charmer, huh Marrow." Chelsea jabs from the couch, having apparently recovered enough from her earlier shock to sit up and adopt a teasing smile.

Tatsumi huffed in faux disbelief "This coming from the girl who thanked me for it?" he drawled.

Chelsea blinked before laughing "Don't get your hopes up Marrow, I ain't into that, I'm just glad you helped me learn that before I went with a blue haired psycho for my first time"

"Fair enough" Tatsumi shrugged "I'm pretty sure she's not nearly as good at aftercare as I am anyway, so you really did get lucky with me."

Chelsea snorted, shaking her head "You really are cool as a cucumber aren't yah," she smiled "somehow that makes me really want to see you get flustered."

"Chelsea! Marrow!" The base commander interjected, apparently trying to assert some form of authority "While I appreciate that you two aren't letting your less than peaceful first interaction cause issues, I need to settle the issue with Marrow considering my slip-up and his unique authority as a night raider before it causes any other problems. Flirt later." He managed firmly.

Like a switch being flipped both Tatsumi and Chelsea dropped their banter and grew serious, with Tatsumi nodding "Good, I was worried you were going to let me get away with that without response."

The base commander blinked in realization before nodding with a rueful expression "How could you follow the orders of someone who can't give them, huh." The man noted.

Tatsumi nodded "While I may enjoy banter there are times for it and times where it has no place occurring, though this time it served a purpose, so I went ahead and followed her lead on it."

"Her…" the commander paused and glanced at Chelsea who smiled lightly at him.

"I'm familiar enough with the noble games to know a few tricks" she admitted simply "this seemed the best way to cut through any bullshit."

"Right…" the commander says tiredly.

Remaining serious Tatsumi nodded "With that out of the way I'm just going to say this straight; I will listen to you and follow your orders barring the presence of a significant oversight or misdirection, in which case I will first attempt to bring that to your attention to be amended and -in the event that fails- I will then clearly communicate my decision to act at my own discretion if the situation reasonably allows for it." He explained clearly "So until such a point comes where I clearly state otherwise, you may consider me entirely under your command." Tatsumi paused "Is that satisfactory?"

The man nodded "It is." He affirmed "I assume you'll want to get settle in your quarters now, Marrow, so I'll have someone take you to them, it's in a bit of an isolated part of the base as per your leader's request for a private area."

"Thank you, sir." Tatsumi replied respectfully "Also I presume Marrow is going to be my official code name for my time here, then?"

The commander nodded "You need one and unless you have a burning desire for a different one it will do."

Nodding simply Tatsumi turned to follow the man the base commander had gestured to lead him to his room, nodding once to Chelsea as he passed her and left.

After watching the night raider that I had temporarily dubbed Marrow leave, I softly ran my fingers over the bumps that now covered my neck, counting the bruises with a methodical attentiveness as I burned the number into my mind. I did so with the awareness that in any other situation the bruises would've likely been substituted with me losing my head. "How bad does it look?" I asked softly.

"Better than it did a few minutes ago but still pretty bad, do you need any painkillers?" the base commander offered.

"No, surprisingly" I admit softly "Whatever salve Marrow used is good stuff, my neck's not even aching at this point."

"Really?" the commander mused softly "Well" his tone changed "What did you get?"

"Other than a complete understanding that he could overpower everyone here at the same time with almost hilarious ease?" I asked rhetorically before sighing "He's really dangerous. His comment on being at least general class was probably low balling it substantially and he's crazy hard to read. Y'know when he was helping me sit up? For that entire time I could not find one opening where I thought I'd stand even a miniscule chance of harming him even superficially. He was literally inches away without a drawn weapon and I stood no chance whatsoever at killing him." I exhaled heavily "in summation, well…."

"Well what?" the commander asked after I trailed off.

I huff softly "It is a damn good thing he's on our side."

The commander simply dipped his head tiredly in response "I guess so"

I paused, remembering something "You didn't question it earlier, so I didn't ask, but is it true the night raiders can basically disregard the chain of command whenever they want?"

"More or less" The commander admitted "While they can they still be held accountable for things in the form of high command reviewing the validity of their actions afterwards, outside of that it's forbidden for anyone to take immediate action against them by declaring them a traitor or deserter or something." The man shrugged "It's mostly because by their nature as assassins and special forces units they often come across information or vulnerable points in the empire's forces that are time limited enough that immediate action is necessary, with the ability to act outside the chain of command allowing them to capitalize on this without backlash so long as the result is deemed worthwhile. The only people they are beholden to unfailingly are other night raiders of higher rank, as the aforementioned reasoning doesn't really hold up in that case."

"That seems…" I trailed off "kind of risky honestly, if a night raider went traitor it feels like they could easily work against the revolution so long as they appeared to be helping."

The commander shrugged "I don't know what the normal selection method is, but there hasn't been a single member of night raid ousted as a traitor since it was formed, so it's probably an extremely thorough and rigorous process." The man huffed in amusement "It's not like they just pick up random people who look interesting or something and just happen to get lucky about it, right?" he joked.

"Yeah you're probably right…" I admitted with a small smile before standing "well unless you need me for anything else, I'm going to go to sleep now."

"Go ahead, this little fiasco was probably more than a little exhausting for you, after all" the commander agreed.

Giving him one last respectful nod, I meandered off toward my room.

A/N: Wow it's been a long time. My muse is being an increasingly mean entity that seems to take pleasure in either disappearing or only functioning for certain stories or plot bunnies before switching without warning before I manage to complete anything.

Regarding the apparent contradiction between him saying he might've reflexively killed Chelsea if she'd surprised him and him not doing so with Akame, that's mainly a matter of his familiarity with the latter being down to a more subconscious thing; like how you wouldn't freak out seeing a family member in the kitchen at midnight even if you were half asleep but would if you saw a stranger instead.

Switching topics -and holy crap I wrote this a year ago when I first started attempting to write the chapter- someone mentioned how Esdeath wouldn't easily fit at the level of High general class and that is correct, she's considered Peak General Class, and even then the classification doesn't fully represent her overall combat prowess very well. In this story She's been jokingly (and not so Jokingly) called an Ultimate class general, referring to how she seems to be just as monstrous as the legendary Ultimate class danger beasts of old, the ones that put current era Ultimate class danger beasts to shame.

Also regarding power rankings, they have NO relation to compatibilities. Bulat with his Incursio would beat Akame due to Murasame's terrible compatibility with heavy armor, but Akame would do better against Esdeath than Bulat would due to the fact that Esdeath is vulnerable to the effects of Murasame.