Author's note: Back after a system shutdown and x-mass and playing online game too much break;) Your reviews and favorites even when I was away reminded me I got awesome story to finish so I'm back bitches!:)

"Chapter 9 – Najenda's decision"

Desert city of Sha'naah the next morning.

Yesterday's celebration was still buzzing in Grazer's head, but this was no time to be taking it easy. Esdese would surely return, seeking revenge and completion of her objective by razing the city to the ground. More over he, Akame and Zenif were on a different mission, saving the city was an unplanned detour.
Now that nearly everyone was asleep as a rock in their houses, with more vine then blood in their veins, he could safely sneak past unwanted attention to the safe house where Akame and Zenif were told to stay for the night.

"Well if isn't Mr drink it and eat it all, gracing us with his gluttonous presence!" ultimate teigu user's welcome was as chilly as the desert morning.
"Scrooge." Akame seconded, with face that expressed far greater grudge then the light insult leaving her lips."
"Hey I can't help some things, all right?
Anyway, fun time's over – what's the status on Esdese?"
"Not good. She already covered one third of the way to capitol. Judging from her speed she must be using a danger beast to ride." he concluded his report.
"Then she'll be here in two days or so. Ok, pack your stuff and meet me 3 miles to east from eastern city gate. Try not to attract any attention."

While the two left the city to the meeting point, Grazer caught few sober higher ups of revolutionary army and ordered resuming evacuation into underground tunnel network surrounding the city. Evacuation which begun in secret right before his fight with Esdese, which was used to buy time for as many escapees as possible. The unexpected victory put that plan on hold, but with Esdese rushing back to the scene, this was no time to be taking it easy.

After passing the orders to his subordinates in the city he too left it and met up with his fellow Night Raiders. Rest of the morning was spent on retrieving the healing teigu for Najenda, which thanks to shambhala and Akame's agility was a cinch. Sadly the commotion of previous day prevented Zenif's energy crystal teigu from getting a proper recharge, and Grazer was forced to "donate" his own energy for their teleportations.
Exhausted, but successful they returned to Night Raid HQ right about lunch time.

Night Raid HQ, lunch time

"Took you long enough! Lemme guess, this bum was procrastinating!" Mine yelled her head off pointing at Zenif.

In reality thanks to shambhala, even with detour to deter Esdese's "happy morning eradication" they took less time then expected. But Mine was on pins and needles from few days, thinking about every second that Tatsumi was in that ice witch's grasp and away from his friends and mostly her.

"Apparently not long enough for you to grow some" he replied with blank stare aimed at her chest.
"Sh-shut up you trashy PERV!" their back and forth once again beat life into Night Raid HQ, which due to certain teigu coming back to life was unnaturally neat, clean an ordered, totally unfitting of secret rebel hideout.

"I see you all made it back in one piece, as expected" Najenda calmly walked down the stairs, taking her seat in dining hall to hear their report.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew who we met on our way to the teigu" Zenif grumbled.
"Huh?" Najenda tilted her head to the side, her single purple eye widening a bit.
"We had a little face to face with Esdese. She decided to pay a visit to our base at Sha'naah, and introduce it's citizens and our forces to imperial depopulation program." Grazer broke the uncertainty.
"Don't tell me you fought her?!" Najenda rose from hair chair shocked at the report.
"Well I fought her..while kid here stole the show by sending her ass across the continent with his little teigu."
"I'm both shocked and relieved to hear that. How great were the casualties over at Sha'naah?" she continued.
"Few brave but stupid souls thinking shooting bows or charging with swords and few like-minded friends could kill her. Fortunately we arrived at scene soon after and they were the only fallen in this battle."
"Given it's Esdese, it's nothing short of miracle" Najenda pondered, resting once again in her chair.

"I on the other hand am bit disappointed it only ended with sending that sadist away" Leone scoffed.
"Well hoping that 3 of us could kill her, may be bit too much, as much as I'd like that" Mine silently accepted the result of battle.

"Well since you mention that...you might get a shot at fixing that the day after tomorrow" Grazer's message shocked them once again with his tone bordering between dead serious and sarcastic.
"What?!"
"Say what?!"
"Can you repeat that?"
"We may get to fight her in two days, if you like." he calmly stated once again.
"Despite hurling her across the continent, she has found some deviously fast danger beast apparently and at this pace will be arriving at the capitol in around 2 days. So sarcasm aside, we have here what's called a golden opportunity.
On one side we have Esdese all alone without her Jaegers nor any other imperial soldier to back her up. Well, given her monstrous power it's not that great of advantage, but I'll take anything I can get.
On the other we have Jaegers, and most importantly your spy Tatsumi without her stalking his every move. A great opportunity to check on his allegiance and possibly take out some stray Jaegers before she returns.
The choice is yours to make, general" Grazer gave Najenda a quick overview of the situation.
"Or we can just sit here, fully heal general Najenda, and not open any of these cans of worms!" Zenif added his option to the mix, right before having a flower pot tossed at his head with sharpshooter precision by certain almost unknown female.
One would never expect him to dodge so quickly, given his under average physique.

"Guess some peop..I mean women, can't take a day without fighting," he muttered annoyed with the sudden exercise.
"You're more retarded then you think if you believe I'll just sit back and leave Tatsumi with that sadist!" she yelled.
"Personal feelings aside it is indeed too great an opportunity to pass by" Najenda concluded.
"Question is do we kill Esdese or get to Tatsumi.." she thought aloud.
"Obviously we're getting Tatsumi outta there!" Mine shouted.
"Grab him and run before he does something stupid, huh," Leone joined the discussion.
"That is a plan I can get behind" she summarized, partly due to memory of her last encounter with Esdese.
"Kill that bitch and majority of our problems end in a split second" Grazer backed the other possibility.
"It's hard, but it is most efficient" Akame seconded the balder plan.

"And is discussed so brazenly, because it involves certain ultimate teigu user, doesn't it?" Zenif added his snarly remark.
"Weren't you the one who said he can make it possible?" Grazer reminded Zenif his former gloating.
"Can does not mean want." he firmly stated his emotions.
"Wait what?!" Mine started to lose it. "You're chickening out cause big scary woman can mince "The great Zenif to ground beef?" she kept mocking him.
"Easy, let's not aggravate him here" Grazer tried to calm her down.

This was a very surprising development to Najenda. Mine's bickering was nothing out of the ordinary, but her superior going the diplomatic route, and trying to calm things down, rather then ordering a critical revolutionary asset to fall in line and help deal with empire's strongest was something she would never expect. Clearly he wasn't telling her something.

"Enough of that bickering. Zenif, I'm sure you realize the importance of taking down Esdese, and what would happen if we failed. Even with your young age and tendency to show off, you're intelligent enough to know all that, so why the refusal?"

"Well I guess Grazer didn't fill you on it so I'll fix that now" the laziest Night Raider fell back on the couch as he got ready to reveal more about himself and his purpose.
"Guess I should start from the start – that is why am I here at all. Don't get the wrong idea – I am not a member of revolution, nor it's supporter. So no one orders me around against my will." he made that part clear with dead serious voice.
"Then why are you here, with us?" Najenda asked the obvious question while biting her tongue to not yell at Grazer what the hell is he thinking bringing a non revolutionary army member straight into heart of most elusive and vital strike force rebels have.
"Zenif. I like my name. However to the imperials I would be known as Arms Master Zenif". His voice got a bit nostalgic.
"Each of ultimate teigu users bears a title appropriate to his role. That and much more. Among that the responsibility to use our teigu wisely. That issue was of no concern to the empire in the past millennium, as, no emperor was mad enough to try to unleash the terrifying power of ultimate teigu upon the land, especially with regular teigu being a sufficient means of maintaining the dominating position in the world.

Weather the emperor is good or bad, that is not a concern of Arms Master. Even if it were to be, the empire had a foolproof method of hand picking the "right" candidates for the role and throwing them out of the position should the emperor and his court decide their choice was ...rather unfortunate. That is also the reason you have not heard about any major revolutions on the past – for starters rebels of the past didn't get their hands on regular teigu, secondly even if they did, the ultimates would be used to wipe them out in a flash.

"I'm not here for history lessons, get to the point!" Mine was getting fed up with lengthy speeches.

"...All was well till Honest appeared on the scene." Something unpredictable then happened, something that made...you...happen." he looked around at all people around him.
"The current emperor has died at a way too young age, leaving only a child in his wake. Child who would be the next emperor regardless of it's age, due to royal blood.
Anyone with large enough brain to assemble a sentence knew who was behind all this. However there was no evidence and no one could formally accuse 2nd in the empire without iron proof, which he of course did not leave behind.
All seemed to be going in pretty gloomy and straightforward direction, but then something even more shocking and surprising happened. That time the current Arms Master has disappeared, or should I say died in unknown circumstances.
On the surface one might think "No big deal, simply need to find a new one". But the few that knew about ultimate teigu knew the deal wasn't just big. It was huge. Huge enough to flush all of Honest's plans down the toilet.

You see, the "foolproof method" for selecting an ultimate teigu user, requires all other's cooperation. If one ultimate teigu user needed to be "set manually" it would require others to use their ultimate teigu status to have the 4th ultimate obey their will and allow manual changing of it's owner. With old emperor dead you had exactly this situation. Three other users alive and well, all on empire's side. While not exactly full of love towards one another , matters of the state would take precedence over any personal quarrels and Honest would be chosen as Emperor's wrath user for the safety of the empire until young emperor would reach age of 16 – the time at which the ultimate attack teigu would recognize him to be of age and of blood to be it's rightful owner.

Of course it was never in Honest's plans to let that happen. Young emperor would contract a mysterious, incurable disease and tragically pass away at a young age...least until my predecessor decided to leave this world.
Without former Arms Master imperial means of controlling access to Ultimate teigu has been lost, and whoever Phoenix Forge would choose next would not be a person they could eject from the position unless killing him directly. But for that they would have to know who it was and find him. Something that without phoenix forge's abilities could not be done so easily and they no longer had any means of using it without it's chosen owner's permission."

"I see...so without you they can't make emperor's wrath accept Honest as it's next user and so they will have to find and force or kill you" Najenda deducted aloud.

"Yes. But there is no guarantee that they will succeed, so prime minster's plans for young emperor's early demise had to be postponed as for now the only sure means of using emperor's wrath was waiting for him to turn 16.

"And just how do you know all that? You're not some old emperor advisor or general so how the hell you know all that?" Mine was still venting her frustration.

"The previous Arms Master told me...or rather left his memories inside the Teigu..sadly along with his corpse" Zenif's face took on a look of gloom never before seen.
Teigu itself contained all the information about it's use and others, that's how I learned all I know on the subject. He added the information about what happened and relations between ultimate teigu users, hoping the next person it chooses will not sell out the the corrupt empire and help prevent Honest.. or anyone with itchy trigger finger for that matter from getting their greedy paws on emperor's wrath. Ensuring that his will is seen through is the reason him here, while his courageous sacrifice – the reason you're here. Had the empire had access to emperor's personal teigu you'd all be burned to ash long ago."

"So your purpose is to ensure ultimate teigu are safe and not to see revolution succeed?" Najenda asked him directly.

"Precisely. But don't get the wrong idea. No matter who would sit here in my place now, the fact they would not side with you would not change."
"Meaning?" Najenda's voice started to get on the angry side at this possible insult.
"Ability to use any teigu without any compatibility issues, replacing destroyed ones at snap of a finger, finding any teigu that exists with ease, as well as getting information about their users. These traits alone would make Phoenix Forge owner the most dangerous of all teigu users. If person like Honest or Esdese were to wield it, it could mean change of world's order, one that even other ultimate teigu users would not be able to stop.
The creators of my teigu knew it well and placed powerful restrictions to prevent such scenario. After all it's purpose is to maintain balance and existence of teigu, not plunging world into chaos.

And so my teigu not only picks a person that meets very specific criteria, but also constantly checks if said person is still meeting them during the time of it's usage, or should I say "has not strayed from it's path".

"What do you mean by path?" Najenda asked, as she started to get more curious about the "rules" of ultimate teigu.

"Simply put Phoenix forge seeks a person who is a "crafter" at heart while fiercely opposing and rejecting a person who is a "warrior" or "ruler" at heart. Unlike most teigu that would seek a physically fit and strong people, Phoenix Forge seeks a person that is of average or below average physical constitution, dislikes combat, is not power hungry and most of all bears no killing intent, for any of these traits could mean attempts at using it's power for personal gain. Succumbing to any of these "temptations" could result in it refusing perform a given task, refusing to perform my commands for a time, or in more severe cases immediately ejecting me from it's owner position and seeking a new user. One that there is no guarantee would not join the imperial side, even seek them out himself.

"And the little smart ass here forgot to add that there's also the case where he himself can trigger the scenario, by willingly giving up his position without the 'need' to break any rules" Grazer added his 3 cents.
"So going forcibly with him might mean the end of whole revolution in a day or two, should things develop unfavorably for us."
"That little..." Mine was barely holding herself back from strangling their "secret weapon" this time for real.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but for me there are greater goals then your revolution, but hey, if we can help each other without getting in one another's way then that's great, and faith in that possibility is why I'm here" he wrapped up his explanation.

"Wait a sec. You said there are four ultimate teigu. Before you said there are just three." Akame pointed at him with serious stare.
"A..haha...busted huh?" he confessed.
"Well I didn't feel like singing the full story about them or myself back then, a guy has a right to have few secrets too, right?"
"Don't push it." Najenda's stare was getting dead serious.
"Relax, this time the number is real. Also the reason I didn't mention the 4th is because it has no combat ability at all, even less so then my Phoenix Forge with all it's restrictions."
'That, and I don't want neither you revolutionaries or Honest getting their paws on it's true secret, some things are best left sealed up and buried 10 miles underground' he thought to himself.

"If it doesn't have combat ability then why is it an ultimate teigu in the first place?" Najenda was not about to let the matter go so easily.
"What is ultimate...depends on the one viewing things. The 4th "ultimate teigu" which I personally don't deem such, is "Sealed Imperial Library", a teigu containing the full and true history of this empire from over one thousand years ago down to this day. History books may be rewritten or burned to hide certain events of the past from future generations for "the sake of empire" or other not so noble reasons. But this teigu is the place where the full, unaltered truth is stored and closely guarded. However in this battle the enemy is not from the past, nor can he make any use of the 4th in combat, therefore I deemed right not to bother anyone with this information. Once the prime minister would be ejected from his position and a sane, responsible emperor elected to the throne I would personally see to it that he is informed of the 4th, and where to find it, to pass it to a responsible owner."

"Fine, fine, who cares!" Leone jumped into the discussion. "But what about you being able to beat Esdese and all that gloating from before?".
"Obviously I was and am telling the truth...just not all of it at times" a slight sneaky grin appeared on his face.
"I am the best counter to her teigu's abilities that I know of, and I am willing to help you take her on, but I told you already – I cannot kill anyone. Killing intent is the most severe of breach of phoenix forge's rules and immediate ejection would follow, most likely before I would even make the kill."
"So what you're saying is that you'll weaken her abilities but we have to deal the last blow?" Akame asked for confirmation of her suspicion.
"Well...technically...yes. However in practice - no. I don't want her dead, not before I give her a chance to join our side".

"Our side? I thought you just made clear we're not on same side!" Mine started going at him again.
"I'm sorry Zenif, but Esdese is a cruel and wicked woman beyond redemption. There is no chance in hell she would join us, even hoping she'd listen to voice of reason, forgetting such things like morality, is still hoping for a bit too much with this woman." Najenda made her position clear.
"I don't know her too well that is true. But you don't know the truth of her teigu, which I do. And that is the truth I'm basing my will on."
"Najenda forget it. If he makes up his mind, nothing in this world can force him to change it." Grazer intervened in this quite lengthy conversation.
"Kid here's the deal. We meet and subdue her with your help. Then we'll offer her to join, you can be the one doing the talking, just to be sure no one is trying to trick you. But if that fails, you will let us do what must be done." he presented his offer to his troublesome protégée.
"That offer is acceptable" the young one concluded.

"To you maybe!" Mine raged once more. "Are you forgetting about Tatsumi already? Who needs to deal with that sadist and her fits, forget all that, let's just get him outta lion's den and snipe us some Jaegers while at it!"
"Yeah, that's my vote too!" Leone reminded the whole room her stance on the subjects.
"Democracy is not how we run things here" Najenda cut the two off with grim stare.
"At least not in this case. However that is a decision I can't make on the spot. For now all retire to your usual daily routines, but make sure to keep your teigu and yourselves in top shape. I will announce my decision this evening at dinner." Najenda concluded the lengthy discussion and headed to her room.

Night Raid HQ evening, Najenda's room

Najenda was not lying. The decision was extremely hard and full of risk no matter which path she would choose.

Leaving Tatsumi in capitol put entire Night Raid at huge risk of being either exposed or at least outclassed by the Jaegers in eyes of the public. And as Grazer many times said, "revolutions are fueled by passion and anger", which Jaegers were stemming with success right now. Another thing which has been touched by her superior was Tatsumi's presence unharmed in enemy ranks after officially defecting which was both costing revolutionary army losses in man and raising the risk that if Night Raid doesn't remove Tatsumi from sight, someone else from the rebel army will. Permanently.
The information about general Budou's hatred of prime minister was worth it's price...given it's not an imperial trap set up using a naive young boy to lure Night Raid out. Even if it's not, she could not just walk in front of entire revolutionary army and happily say "Good news, we've got man on the inside, an imperial general, the most loyal of all, he'll kill Honest if we leave the capitol alone for half a year or so."

On top of that Zenif revealed to Grazer that Budou was the ultimate defense teigu user – the very reason rebel army couldn't just frontally attack the capitol. It was this reason alone that Budou is in the Night Raid's top targets lists along with Esdese and Honest.

On the second hand, the other reason rebel army wasn't planting it's banners in capitol was heading at maximum speed to reunite with her army and Jaegers in capitol. As powerful as she was, the Jaegers were a formidable adversary as well and their strength combined might be something even Night Raid won't be able to handle. Taking her out while she's away from any support is an opportunity one cannot so easily ignore. Also unlike Budou, this matter is simple and without any needless questions to be asked. Both her allegiance, and the danger she poses leave no doubts about the course of action that needs to be taken. Pure and simple elimination. Of course first she would have to let that boy face the reality of Esdese's personality, but her superior is confident in their trump card against her, and given it's Esdese – even an idiot would need no more then 15 seconds of talking to realize what kind of monster she is. And once that's done, it's down to business and off with her head.

That however would leave Tatsumi under empire's influence for longer then she'd like, and on top of that without her protection. Doubtlessly, as much as she hated to admit it, currently Esdese was the boy's guarantee of safety. Somehow it was hard to believe big green eyes and wide smile would win him any favors with Honest and Budou once she's out of the picture. With her gone he might be once again treated as an enemy, dragged into torture chamber and have all information about Night Raid extracted out of him...or what would be left of him anyway.

Both the choices carried great risks in doing, and even greater risks when not undertaken. It was one of the hardest decisions she had to make in her life...

Night Raid HQ, dinner

"Everyone one, eat up well and rest well. Tomorrow we're taking out Esdese...and saving Tatsumi" she declared.
"Whoa, hell yeah" Leone shouted.
"Difficult, are you sure?" Akame asked.
"Aren't you taking this a bit too lightly?" Grazer gave her a stern look.
"Well I'm on Esdese team no matter what the decision is." Zenif made his point clear.
"All right you two timing bastard! Get ready for some Mine justice!" Mine shouted with enthusiasm.
"You better not leave any uneaten piece" Susanooh's remark broke the atmosphere in a flash.

Few minutes and best dishes they ate later...

"So Najenda, plan is bold, but why and how?" her undercover superior asked.
"As for why it's simple. No matter which I would choose, the results of abandoning the other in the long term were too catastrophic to allow. Even if it would mean eradication of Night Raid, leaving any of the two unchecked would result in the same, just delayed a bit. I believe at least here and now we have a shot, that may not be possible in the future."
"Ok then and what about the 'how'?"
"You're the last person who should ask that question, she gave him a stern look. Weren't you two the ones bragging about trump card against Esdese? That's what I'm betting on, sending just you two with Akame to deal with her."
"So the teams are already decided I see" he concluded.
"Yes. You, Zenif and Akame will...deal with Esdese (the word was assassinate, but she recalled the ultimate teigu's user view on the matter and consequences of crossing him, so she had to bite her tongue).

"And we all get to drag Tatsumi back here by his ears!" Mine shouted with excitement. And thank you for not putting me on one team with that loser!" she shouted giving a clear loathing look at certain young member of the Esdese's team.
"Yes, without her our chances of success have increased significantly" he didn't kept her waiting long for his reply.
"*cough* Me, Mine, Leone and Susanooh who will infiltrate the capitol and bring Tatsumi in. Also this will be a covert operation, so this time it's preferred we stay invisible and not kill anyone unless forced to do so. Our goal is to sneak in, grab Tatsumi and sneak out, you got that Mine?" Najenda made sure the hotheaded sniper won't forget the importance of secrecy.
"Hey I'm your sniper, secrecy is my specialty!" she took that as an offense.
"Good, don't forget that."

"Keep your teigu in top shape, yourselves too. Tomorrow night we're going hunting." Najenda closed of the briefing.

Chapter 9 end

Next Chapter – "Empire's strongest vs revolution's smartest"