Chapter theme is Vicarious Tool

Origins Part 2

A shaved bald headed man with a monocle covering his left eye scrutinised the state that Karasu was in. She lay strapped down and restrained and silenced on a surgical table, completely unable to either move or say a word, but was still capable of glaring at every person around her.

The bald headed man spared a glance at the young Dr. Stylish. He frowned as he observed this new, so called promising scientist who is said to be one of the best new upcoming scientists. The man himself was what he would consider as an oddball, as well as mad.

Stylish is the type of person who favoured in serving in his own interests rather than others. He also would not care if he was ordered to something, as he preferred to do his own thing without the interference of others. Hence, why he was most upset and outraged that the imperials decided to cut off funding for his project because they weren't getting any promising results in return. Any lab rats he had manged to gather were all mutilated from the inside as the serum forced their genetics to evolve and adapt to the augmentation at rates that the body of a normal human just simply couldn't cope with. They were simply unable to cope with the traumatising pain that they had felt throughout the experiment.

He was also suspected to be deceitful, but no one could prove that he was. There had been reports of missing people from certain villages in the countryside, in the capital and even within the ranks of the imperial military. There were even rumours that certain resources have been reported as either missing or stolen.

Stylish also apparently seemed to have another strong obsession aside from his experiments. He was crazy with anything he considered as stylish and tended to overdramatise that fact with his self-absorbed personality.

Although, the thing that put the commander of the rejects off the most, were the rumours that the man was a… homosexual. In truth, it wasn't much of a secret, but nobody dared to find that out. His constant flirting towards the handsome commanders, imperial officers and scientists did make the man uncomfortable being around him. He had nothing against gays, although he didn't really care about them… He just wanted them to know that he is a married man… despite the fact that he hates his wife.

"Are you certain that this will work?" the man with the monocle asked Stylish.

"Tch!... I don't really have a choice with this one. Although I would've preferred her to be a man. This girl is not what I call stylish at all. She is supposed to be from a noble family right? Then why is she so violent and brutish? She lacks elegance, etiquette, style! It's just not fair! My dream! I wanted to create the ultimate specimen of man, but all of the men that I looked for across the land, I thought they looked strong and stylish, but they were all useless in the end. Now they have become ugly and hideous monsters… such a waste!" stylish spun around the room clutching onto his heart and feigning his sorrow through over dramatic movements as he cried out fake tears. The monocle man swore he saw him surrounded by spotlights and rose petals were fluttering around him.

'Oh why?... why am I stuck with him?' he resisted the urge to face palm as his eyebrow was twitching and his monocle was threatening to pop out.

"You are correct in that regard, the scientists and the military generals pointed out a noteworthy specimen. She is 12 years old, but I think you can work with that. She is also picked for this experiment because of two reasons. The first is that she is considered expendable and two she come from that family."

"Yes, the family of crows. How barbaric their family is. This girl is no exception."

"She's also resourceful and is known for her strength and endurance. It was the reason why she was picked. "

Stylish sighed. "I understand, unlike all of the previous specimens, regardless of their age, that I have tried this serum on, none of them could compare to this girl's potential. She could outperform most grown up men. With this serum and the augmentations that come with it… if she survives them, then she will become something of a demon on the battlefield. Are you sure you want me to give her something like this?"

"All I'm doing is following orders in finding a weapon and a capable soldier for the Empire. The military leaders and politicians that still have hold grudge out for the Krähe family see this as some personal enjoyment in seeing a member of that cursed family suffer.

"So I've heard. It seems she is not very well liked in the military."

"She undermines anyone she considers as incompetent. She is always challenging the word of her superior officer if she doesn't like the order or sees no value in it. It's also bad that she also undermines the teachings of the lecturers to the point that most of the recruits don't trust anyone else, but her."

"Quite the character I see... She could make quite the general one day."

"It would never happen, she has too much opposition and they would object to it instantly. The only way for her is to get the acknowledgement and the word of the emperor in order to gain the position."

"Hmm… I see."

"Any progress?" the man asked Stylish.

"I'm just getting to it, we're almost ready. She just gave some of our scientists a bit of trouble at first that we had to restrain the girl after she shoved a scalpel in my colleague's eye. You need to teach that girl discipline someday."

"I plan to, along with a few other valuable lessons she needs to learn." The man frowned before turning towards the window that showed the room where the test subject was in as she was laid restrained on a table and hooked up to heart monitors and IV drip machine that would inject and pump the serum into her body.

Karasu laid on the table naked and covered with a lot of tight leather straps that went down from her head to her feet with the belts covering her lady parts and her developing breasts. Her face was also partially covered as her mouth was silenced due to the strap which muffled her voice. Her eyes peered through the gap between two straps pressing into her forehead and suffocating and crushing the bridge of her nose.

"Inject the serum." The voice of stylish was heard through the speakers as the order was heard by the two scientists and two guards that were on standby in case anything went wrong. The scientists dressed in surgeon's clothing nodded their heads. They began to set up the machine and inspected everything to see if it was in order. When everything was considered to be functioning accurately, they nodded and then turned the machine on.

The tubes on top of the machine that contained six syringes bean filling up with the augmenting serum that would be entering in six different places at once. Among which included her upper torso, her abdomen and her separate limbs. Each of them were injected into each important vein or organ such as the heart or jugular vein.

Karasu was forced to endure the proceedings, she watched all of the scientists that hooked her up to these machines that were containing the strange bright ruby red liquid that they wanted to inject her with.

Then she felt the foreign liquid invade her body through her veins. She started to resist again like she did before, but in that moment of resistance her back arched into a series of spams and her eyes widened in shock and pain as she took in a sharp breath as she felt the rush of adrenaline pumping through her heart. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't as her muffled screams were blocked by the leather strap sealing her mouth shut.

'Gaaahh! Wha-what is this! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!' she tried to scream out to those scientists, but they simply continued to observe without any emotion. The ones nearby were watching in slight apprehension, not for her but for their own safety.

The military leaders and the scientists in the opposite room that were spectating this event were either watching with some twisted sense of either smug satisfaction or sick and twisted pleasure at the sight of her writhing in agony. The rest just watched with indifference and a sense of cold apathy in their eyes.

Stylish on the other hand was sweating bullets. While he never personally cared about the girl, he needed this to succeed in order to gain further support for his future experiments. All he needed was for the girl to pull through.

The feeling of the serum was similar to the feeling of having molten lava being pushed through her veins. Her body was on fire and her muscles were ripping and tearing themselves apart in order to accommodate their accelerated growth and development. Her mind was pulsating with new and enhanced intellect and her instincts and senses were developing faster that she could have ever thought possible.

Everything single fibre in her body was suffering through the agonising biological augmentation. Karasu never felt this much pain before, at first she wanted it to stop… but then... why would she?

'No… accept it… embrace it… harness it… to become stronger… overcome the pain… it will pass… it is why you fight!' The dark voices whispered into her head, just like before.

The whispers had been with her throughout her stay at boot camp and in the 1st exam. The voices of the crows had been a huge beneficial help to her and her survival. Not many would agree with the concept of having voices in your head, but they were the only entities and friends she could turn to. Karasu understood that not everyone would understand and put up with her friends in her head. If anyone else were to know about them, then they would send her into an insane asylum or abandon her to the wolves, so she kept it in the dark.

Karasu heard the voices comforting her, telling her to accept it… so she did. She stopped resisting and tried to relax, but it was easier said than done.

After she stopped resisting the pain, it got a lot worse. Her body convulsed, twitched erratically, shook spontaneously as the tremors in her body skyrocketed. She thrashed into the leather restraints trying to break free, but they held her back tightly onto the table as the belts dug into her skin. However, the sounds of leather stretching and the buckles straining and snapping became noticeable.

The scientists and the guards swallowed nervously as they grew more worried. If she managed to break out now then...

*Snap!*

An arm broke free as Karasu managed to loosen the belts restraining her arm, she used her free arm to break off the other belts.

"She's free!"

"Shit!

"Use the sedative!"

"No! it will interfere with the augmentation, let her burn through her energy." Stylish shouted through the mic.

"But doctor, she could lash out against any of us..."

"Then hold her still!"

"I got this bitch!" a guard with an electric stun baton prepared to jab her with the electric prongs as he approached her.

Karasu had just ripped of the remaining belts on her chest and she sat up with another violent convulsion that left her winded. After she lifted herself up she felt two sharp metal prongs jabbing into her left side and an electric current sparked out of the baton, causing her to tense her muscles and the serum reacted badly to the stress she was in after the electric shock. She flew off the table taking the rest of the restraints with her as she kicked off the reaming restraints after she was shocked.

"Hold her down!" the guard shouted to his colleague.

"What are you doing!? Don't damage my experiment!" Stylish shouted at the guards.

"Just making sure she doesn't do anything stupid." The guard said flippantly before he walked around the table to grab onto the shoulders of Karasu.

Just before he grabbed onto her shoulder he felt a sharp twist in his wrist and he looked back from Stylish to his right wrist to see it dislocated and the fingers crushed.

"My…my hand" he said in shock.

Back with the military leaders, politicians and the scientists they were discussing their disappointments and scepticism on the project.

" Dr Stylish even if this were to be successful, the risks are far too great for even one of the test subjects to survive. We cannot possibly give this to our best infantry soldiers in hopes of a small chance for them to get stronger in a matter of... a few weeks or less. What we just saw in there is just simply assisted suicide, but a slower and more excruciating way to die."

"You have tested at least 89 subjects before her and all of them were failures. What makes this one any different?"

Stylish just sighed and he removed his glasses and cleaned them on his sleeve. "There were some… inconveniences with this project, but through a lot of trial and error and many hours that I have spent on tweaking this serum and acquiring a suitable test subject… She is the only one that fits the requirements, unfortunately."

"Why her specifically?"

"It's more to do with her family's blood and it's past. The house of Krähe, also known as the house of crows, is known for a legend that dates back way before the time of the civil war five centuries ago. This legend dates back to the creation of the Teigu.

It was said that during the search of a Teigu, one of the military generals who was an ancestor of the Krähe family was the one who brought the legend and the curse on the family's name when an innocent tribe was slaughtered under his command. It wasn't until the civil war that they became abhorred by everyone. To this day they still are not favoured by many people in the Empire, as they came to realise what they really were inside…"

"What's this got to do with her?"

"There is… something strange about her… It's difficult to describe it. This is apparent in every generation of the Krähe family. Even the head of the house, Victor Krähe is not exempt from this… Although, he is rather tame compared to the one who led the civil war. It was said that he was obsessed with War and all of the ugly sides to it. He indulged in spoils, pillaging, rape, famine, torture, destruction etc. He was the kind of man who had almost brought the Empire to its knees. IF… he could."

"Why's that?"

"That I cannot tell you… it's classified information and is only known by the emperor, but even then I won't blame him if he forgot the real reason why the tyrant suddenly fell weak. It was if he had lost his power all of a sudden. Vast powerful armies just suddenly… vanished into black smoke. They found him two days later cowering in a well outside of a village next to the western border after the assassins managed to corner him."

"I thought he fell during battle?"

"That's what they wanted us to believe, but I believe it had something to do with his Teigu rejecting him. Which is strange in itself as I have never heard of a Teigu rejecting its owner in a time period of months to years after the user first wielded the Teigu. By norm it should've rejected him the moment he touched it." Stylish continued rambling until the generals got impatient.

"Dr. Stylish please, what is it with her specifically? Why is she needed?"

"Because general, she is descended from the worst men and women in history that have come from that family. I have discovered that she has the potential to be the worst of them all… you wanted a human weapon, then your best shot at it is through her. In her blood is the genes of a true warlord."

"I don't see how thi-"

*Slam!*

They were interrupted when all of a sudden, a body came smashing face first into the bulletproof glass. The force behind the impact was enough to cave in the glass and smother it with the guard's blood.

"What the hell!?" the military leaders and the scientists jumped up in fright from the shocking scene. Stylish turned back to look into the experiment room to see the guards getting brutally taken out with their own weapons as Karasu had pinned one of the guards against a wall, shoving the electrical prongs of his stun baton on the bridge of his nose. The head of the guard sizzled as he violently thrashed about under the vice-like grip Karasu had on him and refused to let go.

What the leaders and the scientists saw was a naked, yet developing 13 thirteen year old Karasu pinning an older and far more muscular man, as if he was just a child. The look in her eyes showed that she was consumed by rage as they glowed with an amber like hue. She snarled with unrivalled fury as she tortured the guard beneath her.

While she was preoccupied, a brave scientist was fumbling around fearfully as he clumsily tried to fill a syringe with a sedative. Once he was done, he rushed over to the enraged Karasu and tried to jab the needle into her shoulder. Unfortunately, she already anticipated his movements as she caught his hand and redirected the syringe into his own face by smashing the whole thing into it. One of the other scientists banged on the shattered bulletproof glass, pleading to the audience on the other side.

"Let me out! The doors are sealed shut! Please don't leave me in here with her!" the skinny man wailed pathetically until Karasu silenced him by smashing his head against the glass.

The military leaders and scientists, despite being intrigued by the results so far, were quickly becoming concerned for their safety.

"Dr. Stylish do something!"

"Calm down good general, this here is bullet proof glass. She will need to do a lot better than have a tantrum to break through that."

He was then proven wrong when an arm burst through the glass covered in blood and made to grab a coat of a nearby scientist who was watching a bit too closely.

"AHHH! GET HER OFF !" the man screamed in terror as she pulled him into the glass, repeatedly slamming his face into it multiple times.

Stylish acted just in time and released the knockout gas into the room. The gas was potent enough to knock out an earth dragon or larger. Fortunately, Karasu was out like a light. Although, she did flail around a bit before collapsing. Unfortunately, the other guards and remaining personnel still alive in the room soon died due to the potency of the gas.

"Are you mad! The gas is leaking into this room!"

"I am well aware of that, but as you can see, everything is under control." He smiled reassuringly to the leaders and was overjoyed that his experiment was a success… despite the casualties and fatalities on the members of his staff.

Stylish turned towards the Monocle man. "I do hope that you are satisfied with your weapon… because I don't want her around anymore. She cramps up my style."

The Monocle man scrutinised the carnage that happened in the room and smiled. "It will have to do. You will receive increased funding if you can find a way to utilize this serum in a way that makes it more efficient with lower risks."

Stylish smirked to himself smugly and walked off in triumph. Whilst the gas cleared, the body of Karasu was reclaimed and relocated into another special facility to train her in her augmented body.

(Karasu POV)

The experiment had proven to be a success for Stylish and it certainly did revive his career as a mad scientist. As a result of this massive boost to his popularity, he became more involved with several notorious and powerful figures in the empire.

Although, he didn't want anything to do with me as his interest in me had long since vanished. Still, I was fine with that… I had no more interest in being his lab rat anymore.

The results of the experiment had made some drastic improvements to my body. I was strong before, but after the experiment my body's growth and development had drastically accelerated and the power and strength output that was going through my muscles was insane. Granted I didn't necessarily need the serum as I was already quite strong myself… but with my current strength, I was actually a match for the Empire's strongest once, before she obtained her infamy, and that Teigu… now she's something else entirely.

A few years after they finished my training, I had finally managed to adapt to my improved and enhanced body. They also managed to once again gather a new group of children for their initiation test. For good measure, they made me do the test again along with some new children to go through the same forest exam. Only this time I was pumped up with that super soldier serum flowing through my veins and my body was beyond peak condition and it only continued to grow stronger. However, they barred me from relying on any tricks that I would've used during the exam. In addition, they had set all of the children off into the forest first so that they could all get a 10 minute head start from me. This method was done to ensure that I wouldn't meddle in their exam. Finally, they would only allow 7 new recruits for their elite assassination squad. I conceded defeat in that moment, but it didn't mean that I was not determined to at least gather a few worthy soldiers for my flock

Once the 10 minute timer was up, I was on my way into the forest. My objective was to find as many people as I could… people that I could trust and who in turn would trust me.

Two girls were seen running through the forest filled with all kinds of dangerous beasts and both toxic and man eating plant life. They were among the 99 children that were set loose into the forest with the sole objective to reach the other end alive. All except one was deliberately held back. The two sisters were confused by this as they saw that the girl was older than they were . If they had to guess, she looked to have more experience and strength in her 15 year old body, than they did in one finger.

The two girls were aged from 10-12 respectively as the younger one followed behind her elder sister, but was determined to help her any way she could. Whilst the older sister was determined to protect her younger sibling by any means necessary. The two sisters had been running through the seemingly endless forest until their legs were numb and they looked as though they would collapse from exhaustion. They couldn't stop now, because if they did then they would either be left behind in the forest or the wildlife in the forest would consume them.

After running away from more of the vicious wild life after it feasted on some unfortunate victims, they came across a pack of wild rabid dog type danger beast called a Gifnora Dog. They ambushed them and one of them almost bit into the younger sister's arm. The older sister, determined to protect her younger sibling from harm, plunged her combat knife into the dog's neck. The younger sister quickly reacted and saved her sister in return when another dog tried to surprise attack her when her back was turned, and likewise plunged her own knife into the other dog's neck.

Both of them were then quickly surrounded by more Gifnora Dogs. They fought tirelessly and arduously through waves of wild dogs, plunging, sinking, slashing and cutting down their opponents, determined to protect and help one another as their sisterly bonds made them fight and survive for each other's sake. That was the scene Karasu came across. She instantly recognised these two girls as sisters in blood. The bonds they shared, the love they have for one another, their faith in one another made them strong and they were definitely proving themselves of the potential she saw in them.

"Onee-Chan!" the younger sister cried out when she stumbled and a dog was about to get the jump on her.

The last thought going through Akame's head in that moment was surprisingly not about her sister. Rather, it was more about that girl from before, who in an instant had appeared with a knife in her hand and a decapitated dog's head in the other. The corpse of the same decapitated dog that was about to attack her was on the floor, its its body twitching slightly as it bled out onto the forest floor.

The girl they saw in front of them was very pretty, as well as tall. She reached a height of 5'6, her hair was of a platinum blonde color that was swept back and and reached her lower neck. She wore the same cloak as everyone else, but she had a look of professionalism, confidence, and the strength and the aura of a leader.

"You OK?" she asked her while dropping the head and holding her hand out for her to take. The red-eyed girl stared at her hand in disbelief for a moment before accepting it. She looked at her savoir for a moment until her eyes widened and she shouted. "Behind you!"

Karasu didn't need to be told as she already sensed the rabid dog that was trying to sneak up on her. She spun on her heel and delivered a devastating haymaker punch to the side of the dog's head, breaking its jaw along with a couple of teeth. The only sound the dog made was a pathetic whimper as it died instantly from its devastating injury.

Karasu shook her hand for a brief moment to shake off the blood that was dripping off of it.

"Who are you?" the elder sister asked the stranger.

"Well, seeing as it's common sense that you should be introducing yourself first before asking a name, I'll let this one go seeing that I was the one who was following you."

"You were following us?... Why?"

"Because I can see a lot of potential in the both of you."

"You're lying… there is something more that you are not telling us." The elder girl questioned her and Karasu raised a brow in surprise and was slightly amazed at her deduction."

"Clever girl… well you are half right, I am telling half of the truth. I wasn't lying that I see great potential in you two sisters… and to be honest, you are my favourites to win."

"Why?"

Karasu looked away and went silent for a moment. She focused on nothing in particular with a far off look and expressions of guilt and cold fury. "Personal reasons..." she said before her personality did a 180 flip. "Well any who… my name is Karasu Krähe and this is my second time on this exam. I was suspended from the first exam due to not following orders. "She said flippantly.

"Why?"

"They don't expect survivors in this forest, nor do they want any more than the seven they want. They only want the strongest of the bunch to survive. I'm thinking that somewhere between the first ten survivors to make it to the end of the forest who will be rewarded with a position among the Empire's elite assassination squad led by Gozuki himself. The rest will either be dead or sent elsewhere. I broke that rule they never specified… and I brought all 99 survivors to the other end safely… they did not like that one bit because I set back their plans drastically and Gozuki does not have the time and patience to train 100 kids. Thus, they purposely held me back in order for me not to interfere with the exam."

"Did you manage to save anyone?"

"Not enough… they trained you and the others well, so they all moved quite far ahead before I was set loose. Well it doesn't matter anyway because I don't intend to become an assassin." She shrugged.

"You don't?"

"Nope, I intend to become a general. A general has the most power over the military besides those slimy politicians and the Emperor… oh, wait I didn't get your names?"

"….Akame…this is my sister Kurome." Akame introduced herself stoically, but with a hint of caution. Kurome was shyly hiding behind her sister's back holding a piece of her ragged clothing.

"So you are both sisters huh? Well you can certainly look after yourselves quite well." she praised.

"Thank you." Akame nodded politely while Kurome blushed at the praise.

"However… that's the problem… Gozuki does not accept siblings within the same unit, so if either of you survive this test, you will be split up." Karasu told them and their eyes widened in shock and Akame and Kurome clung onto each other.

"I won't let them take my Imouto/Onee- chan away!" the sisters said simultaneously and they both looked at each other and then towards a laughing Karasu. Karasu cold not help, but smiled softly at the scene and quickly wiped a tear that ran down her cheek as she was reminded of her painful past and separation from her own sister. She faced them again with a look of seriousness.

"Look, I'm sorry that you have to hear this, but it will happen. There is nothing you can do to change that. Out of the two of you, they will most likely pick you Akame- chan, because they will view Kurome-chan as somebody that is too dependent on you. Therefore they will not allow it."

"Tch!" Akame gritted her teeth in frustration. She hated the idea of not being able to help her sister and was even more upset that she did not know what to do to prevent such a thing from happening.

"However, I want to make a deal with you." Karasu offered and Akame raised her head to look at Karasu.

"What is it you want?"

"Let me take Kurome under my wing, because I will refuse to take the assassination roll, she and I will be sent somewhere else. I made a deal with Gozuki that I can pick out potential recruits for my division out of this batch of fresh recruits, the previous ones that I saved and the ones who took the exam before this. I accepted the deal where he will get the best seven recruits, while I get the rejects.

Also, they heard and experienced that I was a talented instructor and leader. So after this, I will be promoted to Master Sergeant and I will be put under the command of an imperial captain and lieutenant. Kurome will be my subordinate and I will personally train her myself, along with the rest of the squads that I will handpick myself."

Akame frowned and clung onto her sister protectively and glared right at Karasu's eyes.

"Why are you so interested in my sister?"

"Because she reminds me of my own." Karasu said sadly. "I saw the potential in the both of you when you were fighting together… Gozuki thinks that your bonds with each other will make you weak... I believe in the opposite of that belief". Karasu explained with a shrug.

Akame and Kurome looked at each other, they silently convened with one another as though they were having a mental discussion.

Finally, they looked away from one another and with a hesitant look, Akame finally looked back to Karasu, "Will you protect Kurome?"

"You have my word; if I fail her like I did with my sister… then you have my permission to hunt me down." Karasu said with seriousness and conviction.

Akame stared into the amber eyes of the 15 year old Karasu and made here decision, just as Karasu proposed another offer.

"Also… I will try and push for her to have training sessions with you, so that I may get permission to personally train the both of you."

Their eyes suddenly gained a hint of hope and Akame relented. "Ok… just make sure that nothing happens to Kurome."

"I will make her strong, this I swear." Karasu smiled and nodded in return. She held out her hand for Akame to grasp onto. Akame replied by grasping onto her hand firmly and shook it.

"Promise?"

"With my life." Akame nodded at that and smiled.

"let's go." She motioned her head to the direction they were headed and Karasu and Kurome followed.

(1st person POV)

Those two sisters did make it to the other end, I made sure of that… Although, Kurome was exhausted, due to her younger and smaller body and she over exerted herself whilst fighting off those rabid dogs. So Akame had to carry her all the way towards the end to which she insisted on doing. I disagreed on that thoughtful act as it would have only made it look worse for Kurome later on and that it would only prove the proctors' points that Kurome was too dependent on her sister.

Even so, Akame didn't care as she was determined to keep her sister safe. In the end, she still made it to the camp in time to receive the seventh spot on the elite assassination squad. Whereas Kurome was forced to be separated from her sister along with me as I never deserved a spot on Gozuki's dream elite squad. It pained me to see them forcefully separated, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Gozuki was a good teacher, there is no denying that, but his methods were often considered by many to be extremely cruel. The means of how he taught his students was something along the lines of like how he envisioned his students as one big happy family, but he practices a rather severe form of tough love. His students had to earn their 'father's' love and affection and he used that intent to make those children obedient and forged them to become strong, both physically and mentally.

While he considered all 7 of the elite chosen recruits as his own surrogate children, but he imposed severe repercussions if they failed him. The punishments were quite severe, sometimes they would be punished brutally or they were simply discarded like trash… he was a harsh and cruel man, but he taught his students well… even me. Although we never saw eye to eye in some cases.

The Empire at the time was in a desperate state of emergency and were in need of assassins as uprisings, revolts and rebellions were running rampant all over The Empire. It wasn't long before The Empire made a desperate call for a recruitment campaign for deadly assassins in order to quell those rebellions. Even to this day, we still get uprisings that just appear out without warning... like an infestation of rats.

While Gozuki was in charge of the elite seven Akame was in, his colleague, who was present at the time, was in charge of the rejects, namely me and Kurome. However, instead of a team of assassins, the company we were in saw us more as a suicide squad, composed of human cannon fodder. I was considered the leader of the assassin rejects and I personally trained all of them in the arts of warfare such as assassination, tactical espionage, sabotage, infiltration and a variety of other tactics and training exercises. Kurome was one of my best subordinates. She looked up to me as a big sister figure, like she did with Akame. The rest of the squad I was in charge of and the company of assassins that I personally saved and trained myself were like blood brothers and sisters to me. I taught them how to fight… to survive in war… I trained them with what I knew best… War.

Kurome strives to be stronger so she wouldn't let her sister down. She was very eager to prove herself and to me that she was strong, but I knew that she did have her own secret fears of showing weakness. Nonetheless, it was quite refreshing having her around. Although… her condition hasn't been the best these days for some reason… and she has now grown a grudge towards her elder sister to the point where she wants to kill her. I can't help but feel as though I had failed in keeping my promise to the both of them. However, I came to realise that Akame may have been convinced to abandon the empire and i fear that she may join the revolutionaries. I don't particularly blame her… her squad and her friends that were like a family to her had all been killed and Gozuki just suddenly upped and disappeared without a word to anyone. and no one has seen him since, as did Akame.

Regardless of her reasons, I still can't forgive her for abandoning her sister to fight on the side of treachery. However, the matter is out of my hands now… Kurome is now gone and I have not really seen much of her after she had been transferred into a different unit, the Group of Terror I think it was called. I don't know much about it, but from what I do know, it's led by Gozuki's colleague who was also present at the exam. The group also mainly consists of some of the rejects that were not skilled enough to be on the elite seven. However, I find this to be strange because I have seen how some of the members are just as strong as them.

From the moment I was forced to part ways with Kurome, the promise I made to Akame became null and void. I had neither the power nor the means to back up my promises as a lowly sergeant to lieutenant at the time. So, with my fellow comrades from the same company, I set out to look for war. It didn't matter how big or small, what mattered were the results I would be striving to achieve in winning the battles to contribute to our victory at the end of the war. It was the title for the Empire's strongest was what I was looking towards.

During this time, I faced with one of the fiercest and most notorious battles at the time. It was due to a series of unique circumstances during this battle that had gotten me promoted to captain… but it was also the one mission where I was almost court martialled and executed thanks to some snobbish military officers who were mainly from aristocratic families that didn't know shit.

The objective was to reclaim the governor's palace that had been captured by militant rebel forces that was also backed by a foreign western country somewhere on this continent. It was smaller than the Empire, but had a strong military to back up their might and worth on this continent. In response, I along with thousands of men, women and child soldiers on horseback and on foot, were all sent to our deaths just to recapture that bloody palace and the whole intended suicide operation was under the command of this cowardly colonel and his right hand man who was a captain. He had personally lead the charge… from the back, but the rest of my most trusted comrades were following me through the killing fields.

The scene took place in a Saharan city, south west of the Empire's capital where there was a large open road leading towards the governor's palace (Think of a large middle eastern palace design) that was elevated on a row of stairs filled with well entrenched rebels. They were heavily armed to the teeth with scavenged blockades, trenches, barriers, emplacements for MGs, artillery, rockets and snipers. The palace itself was transformed into a makeshift bunker where the windows were smashed through to fit more machine gun emplacements, as well as mortars and cannons for artillery and rockets.

This was their last stand and they were not giving up without a fight. They gathered whatever men, weapon, supplies and they relocated back at their captured base of operations where they entrenched and fortified themselves and transformed their base into a seemingly near impenetrable fortress. A force of over 500 men was the last line of defence that the resistance had, and they were going to use everything they had to throw at their enemy.

The Empire on the other hand didn't necessarily need to throw much of what they have as they could easily destroy the resistance with their small number of Teigu and Shingu wielders, each with the power to destroy a small to large armies. However, during the skirmish of quelling the resistance in the south western parts of the Saharan kingdom, due to the corruption and the depressing state of the once great Saharan kingdom, people got angry and all it took was for a few people to spout out a few powerful words and to use the people's anger as a weapon against the control of the Empire's clutches.

As a result, the resistance gained massive support from the people in the vassal and neighbouring nations that were pushing to secure their independence from the Empire. However, the Empire responded to their cries of anger with a military force to silence them… and so far, the skirmish proved to be a bloody and brutal campaign that tore through the Saharan city and destroyed many homes and businesses. Thus, the Teigu users were called back and were held back behind their own lines and the commanders instead sent a division to soften their defences and exhaust their resources, ammunition and supplies, while the Teigu users rested.

The man in charge of the first suicide charge was a noble man who bribed and cheated his way into a high official rank, due to having friends in high places. All he cared about was to get the prestige and the privileges of a higher ranking officer and was not necessarily required to participate in the battlefield. Unfortunately for him, he could only acquire the rank of captain and his right hand woman… or girl was a 16 year old lieutenant Karasu who he did not want to be paired up with. To him and a lot of the higher ranking officers, Karasu was the most hated person in the military.

For personal reasons, Karasu was a problem child to them. She undermined the authority of a lot of military officers and generals to which she would object to a lot of their orders and strategies that she did not like or found them to be pointless or just plain stupid. She would also mostly do things her way and then modified those orders and plans and then acted them out in ways that were more advantageous and turned the odds in her favour. The worst of part of it all was that she refused to give them any credit they believed that they deserved. Their attempts to bribe her and threaten her were met with either threats of her own or she merely laughed in their faces.

The colonel was livid to have been placed in a regiment of over 2000 cavalry soldiers whose sole objective was to soften the enemy's defences He was forced to be in charge, but it was his close friend and subordinate that would be leading the charge against them. The colonel did not like that, but he brushed it aside and focused his thoughts towards the potential rewards and spoils of war that he would surely obtain. The thorn in his side though was another matter and he would have to address at a later time.

When he was placed in charge of the rejects, he acknowledged that they were strong, formidable soldiers, but their loyalty was questionable. Many of the soldiers in one of the companies and even in several others looked up to Karasu as their leader. Not him or his fellow officer subordinates, but her.

The colonel tried to put up a front and expressed himself sternly on why he was in charge to her… Karasu's response was a silent contemptuous stare into his eyes that made him shiver with uncertainty inside his being before he slowly backed away from her,

"This plan of yours… is not a good one… we're just glorified cannon fodder to be used to soften up their defences in order to allow the main force to go through. What's more, you plan to take all of the credit, while my men and fellow comrades will be left in the dirt" Karasu scowled at the snake's plan to dispose of her.

"That's the plan. You don't like it? Take it up the with higher brass or piss off." The colonel found himself sneering at her.

Karasu scowled at the colonel's attitude but instead she smirked. "While the plan is atrocious, it's not impossible."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm saying… instead of sending wave after wave of our troops into the killzone just to die in order for them to exhaust their resources, and supplies. Send me, my company and several others in first and we will break through their defences on the first wave."

The colonel gaped in disbelief before biting his lips to hold in his mocking laugh before he just belted out a guffawing bellow of mocking laughter along with his nearby subordinates joining him.

"You!...HAHAHA! What can a no Teigu using little bitch like you can do? Offer yourself to them so they can fuck you in return for their surrender? Like that will happen, but sure… why not… amuse me while you're there and I'm here." Karasu seethed at that comment and she clicked her tongue in disgust.

"You're not coming?" she raised her eyebrow at his unwillingness to lead the charge.

"Why should I? I am a noble! I will not sully myself with the likes of common rats! It's my job to command these peasants to fight for the glory of your empire and when I say charge… I mean you charge with your life in one hand and your weapon in the other. Do I make myself clear lieutenant?"

"Yes sir" she said seething at this colonel's cowardice, arrogance and flippant excuses just to make himself look important before walking out of the tent. She needed to prepare for the charge and set up a plan to conquer the palace.

"Useless, all of them…. I'll just have to do this thing my way, again."

(Several hours later in the middle of the night)

Many rebels were on standby and prepared for any threat that would come their way. They had all been equipped with either outdated pieces of equipment, stolen imperial equipment or imported weapons from foreign nations. Their uniforms consisted of cloth like garbs suited for the desert to keep the sun from burning their skin and a shemagh to keep the dust from their faces. Their support weapons varied from water to air cooled mounted machine guns, to mortars and artillery guns of various sizes that could be towed from one location to another using horses. All in all, they were confident that they could repel any incoming threat that the imperials would send their way.

Unfortunately, the threat that they were about to face was far beyond their level of preparation, no matter how much they tried to prepare for it. Many of the rebels that were guarding the trenches at the front of the palace were either acting as lookouts, while others were just sitting down twiddling their thumbs, having their last card game or were drinking with their comrades/friends.

Just as one of the rebels was about to slam down his cards to reveal a straight flush, he noticed that the stone fragments beside his boots were vibrating. With every passing second, the vibration became stronger as the fragments were shaking more and more rapidly. The rebel raised his head out of the trench to took a look outside and noticed a dust cloud forming a fair distance away from the palace. The rebel took out his binoculars and looked down the twin scopes and to his shock and apprehension he spotted a vast army of Imperial soldiers and cavalry riders thundering down the road towards their location.

"Enemy sighted! Prepare the defen- *Boom!*" before the rebel couldn't finish his sentence, his trench blew up from underneath him. This trench was not the only one to explode as the other two behind the 1st lines of defense were also compromised by a great explosion that tore up the road. The rebels within the trenches barely had time to retrieve their bearings before being blown away.

Meanwhile, Karasu was at the front of the charging cavalry making their way towards the palace with binoculars in hand. She smirked at the sight of the flames from the explosions that lit up the night. "That was too easy. For their first line of defense, they were still completely under prepared. Honestly, they were quite lax in their awareness that we could just simply sneak our way up to their rooms and slit their throats while they're asleep."

"Lieutenant! Is this your doing?!" the fat noble captain bellowed in outrage as he spat curses at her.

"Relax chubby, I've solved our dilemma and the way to the palace is now clear." Karasu responded flippantly to the spitting noble commander.

"Are you forgetting? I am the one in charge! I am an imperial captain and you will show me respect!" he bellowed, but his aguments fell on death ears.

Karasu turned her head towards the captain and responded coldly. "... You nobles are not worthy to be considered for respect. We soldiers have always been a resilient people. We toil, while others complain. We persevere when others give up, and when evil stares us in the eyes... We stare right back. THAT is who we are. Your father fought and died for this empire captain and we can do no less!" She responded as she turned around to face the palace. She raised her light support weapon in the air and unleashed her war cry in the air, signalling their charge towards the palace.

The captain froze in terror, unaware that his horse had a mind of its own and it followed the stampede towards the palace as they jumped over the blown up trenches. The last lines of the rebels defences were the elevated platform of stairs and the palace itself where the rebel leader was.

"Here they come!" the leader shouted and was about to give the order to fire, when he was suddenly caught off guard as multiple gun flashes went off and a hail of bullets slammed into their position causing them to dive for cover. At that moment, they lost any chance to counterattack as the heavy suppression of gunfire prevented them from returning fire. The army of a thousand cavalry riders were like a tidal wave of destruction and leading them was the infamous crow of the battlefield changing the tides of war that aimed for a quick and easy finish.

Machine gun nests and the mortar and artillery pits responded with their own payload of vengeance, as they supported the riflemen by preventing the cavalry charge from reaching the palace doors. Karasu tried to weave in and out of the line of fire that was focused on her position, but it proved to be quite difficult as the road could only fit so many horses and riders. It did not help that the aftermath of the explosions had resulted in flaming debris landing all over the area. These obstacles got in the way, making Karasu and her comrades easy targets for the enemy to focus their increased level of fire power.

The horses and the riders next to her were either obliterated by a mortar/ artillery shell and taken out in a gory and charred mess or they were lucky enough to have survived the blast and continued their charge on foot. The flying machine gun and rifle rounds weren't any better as there were so many of them just whizzing past her and almost hitting her head that would've instantly killed her or incapacitated her limbs or torso. Some of the fresher recruits and soldiers not affiliated with her were not as lucky as they had not undergone the same training regiment as Karasu and her forces.

However, as strong as they were, even her comrades and subordinates were not all expected to survive this battle. Many of them had already been incapacitated or had died from the first barrage of bullets and from the mortar and artillery rounds. The situation would have been worse if the enemy had Teigus users with them. What the enemy resistance fighters had was just standard military equipment that any normal and average mortal human being could obtain and use. The Empire's forces, on the other hand, were an entirely different story.

Karasu was trying to focus on her path and directing where her horse should go, while trying to avoid an army of obstacles, bullets and explosions happening all around her. Suddenly, a nearby mortar shell exploded and the shrapnel tore through the horse's neck, causing it to collapse lifelessly on the ground. Karasu took her chances and jumped off the horse and rolled safely onto the ground before taking cover behind another fallen horse. She waited until she saw an opportunity when the focus fire lessened on her area, before moving out. She then spotted the infantry that was backed by the cavalry and led by the captain, who was using the infantry as cover. He was still on his horse in case anything went wrong and he needed to make a quick getaway.

The captain looked to have been bricking himself and his face and hands were trembling like an earthquake further demonstrating is inexperience in fighting on the front lines. He tried to lead to the best of his abilities, but it was not enough. Karasu saw this and just shook her head in disappointment, so she decided to take charge.

She drew in a large amount of air and then bellowed out her orders. " CUT THEM OFF! SURROUND THEM! STORM THEM! DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO DENY THEM THEIR ESCAPE! THEY SHALL NOT BACK OUT OF THIS BATTLE THAT THEY HAVE STARTED! FOR WE HAVE YET TO FINISH IT! GO! MOVE! GO NOW! AND CLEAR OUT THOSE RATS!" she cried out to every soldier within earshot, be it a child soldier, teenager or grown man or woman. Everyone on the battlefield heard her well and they did not disappoint as they all simultaneously unleashed their war cries and they all charged at the palace with an iron will and a keen eye that focused on every part of the palace in front of them.

Karasu smirked as her plan was starting to show some signs of fruition as the soldiers were motivated towards the objective and their morale rose to the point where they ignored the sign of death hovering over the battlefield. She quickly grabbed her light support weapon with a drum magazine in front of the trigger guard and joined in on the charge.

A few moments later another mortar had struck near another horse causing its rider to fly off into a blown up trench. Karasu looked in the trench and her eyes widens and she moved hasty towards the recovering the girl that landed roughly in the trench.

'I told them she wasn't ready yet. What the hell were they thinking sending her here?!' she scowled as she saw the young, now 11 year old, Kurome lying in the trench. With a dazed expression she looked back back at Karasu, who stared at her newly acquired Teigu in her hand, Yatsufusa. Karasu's eyes narrowed as she questioned where and when she could have possibly gotten that Teigu.

"Get up Kurome! The path is clear and our objective is within our reach!"

Kurome quickly shook her head to rid herself of her dazed expression. "H-Hai! Karasu-Sama!" she nodded her head and saluted.

"What are you doing here by the way? I never gave you permission to take part in this battle? You're still in training." Karasu tilted her head and looked at her in scrutiny, but Kurome looked to be more confident than ever.

"Please let me join you! I want to prove myself worthy to you and that I am strong enough to serve you and our Empire."

"That's nice and all, but where did you get that Teigu?" Karasu asked of her.

"It was given to me by the leader of the rejects, Gozuki's right hand man. He's planning to make his own squad to be on par with the elite seven."

"Is that right?... I suspect that he has approached you and offered you something?"

"Hai" Kurome nodded "He's offered me a place and a Teigu in order for me to get stronger and to catch up to my onee-chan. I'm sorry Karasu-sama, but I really want to consider it." She bowed her head in apology.

Karasu sighed and nodded. "Well, it's not my call if you want to join or not. I don't have nearly enough of authority needed to revoke it. I won't stop you, but that does not mean that you will forget about me, nor will it mean something now that you have a Teigu now." She smirked at Kurome in a friendly gesture to which Kurome smiled back.

Karasu frowned to herself, 'At least, until I reclaim back the Teigu that was stolen from me.'

Kurome then noticed something from behind them when she spotted the aristocratic captain was trying to control his warhorse. He pathetically tried to order it around, while also yanking on the reins harshly and whipping it without mercy to try and make it listen to him. It was clear that he wanted to run away, but the horse was bred for combat and was far too focused on the battle to even consider retreating. Furthermore, its loyalty to the soldiers and other warhorses made it stubbornly refuse its riders orders.

"Ah." She pointed with a blank expression on her face at the cowardly captain. Karasu snarled at the captain who dared to even consider abandoning his men to their fates.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" she got up from out of the trench and prepared to dash straight towards the captain before turning to face Kurome.

"Secure a foothold through their defenses and breach through their lines to let our comrades through. Show me what you can do." Kurome nodded and she disappeared with a burst of speed towards the heavily fortified palace. Back behind the 1st line of defense was an already cracked captain who surrendered to his fear and desperation in an attempt to survive. Without much surprise, he chose the flight option and was trying his hardest to make the horse listen, but the stubborn horse refused and it grunted disdainfully back at him.

"Come on! Come on you stupid horse! My life is too important to be wasted here! Don't make me put you down and serve you for dinner!" he shouted angrily at the horse while whipping it and yanking on the reins.

Suddenly, he felt somebody land on the horse's back from behind him. He turned around and was met face to face with the blank look of Karasu whose expression suddenly morphed into a vicious smile.

"Hi!~ " she sang out and the captain's face morphed into an expression of shock and fear. Then without warning, he found himself thrown off of his horse and landed face first into a sandy and dusty trench.

"Need to borrow him for a sec. I'll bring her back once I'm finished... if you survive like a true soldier that is!" she said to him flippantly before she galloped away on the danger beast class war horse to which Karasu took notice of.

"Hmm… an assault class horse danger beast, said to be the world's fastest, rarest and toughest breed of the horse species, the alpha of all horses." She patted the horse on the neck to calm it down as she took in the sight of a magnificent creature with black fur, a dark grey mane that become lighter towards the tip, red eyes and steel armor covering its head, body and legs. The design and the look was too gaudy to have suited the look of a dangerous war horse that was clearly far more suited for the battlefield judging by the sickle like horn on its head that sparked with dark blue lighting as it coiled around it (Like Ixion from Final fantasy 10).

"Whoa! Calm down girl, let's get you back in the fight soldier!" she grinned as the horse understood her and it turned towards where the fighting was and to Karasu's surprise it took off like a rocket. The hooves pounded into the ground as it sprinted to the source of the fighting eagerly.

Karasu held on tightly as she did not expect the intensity behind the sudden burst of speed when it took off. Also, if she was being completely honest with herself... she was very much enjoying it

She the saw another weapon that was propped up by a body and the barrel of the weapon was sticking upwards enough for Karasu to reach out and grab it. After grabbing the weapon and securing it in her left hand with her current weapon in her right. She then looked ahead and saw that her comrades were in a spot of trouble as the rebels were determined to no let them take control of the palace and they were hammering their positions. She could also see some of her men, who were of a larger build, were rushing out of the trenches to grab onto wounded stragglers and then dashed back behind cover while the other soldiers were either pinned down or had gotten themselves wounded and from the enemy's returning fire.

What they didn't expect was for their leader to come rushing by yelling out "FOLLOW MY LEAD!" before she let out a war cry of her own. At that moment she had gained all of their attention as she let out a long burst of incredibly accurate, suppressive machine gun fire that made all of the machine gun crews and the rifle men briefly stop shooting to take cover behind their walls.

What she did not expect was for the horse to suddenly whip its own head towards the trenches and then a crescent shaped lightning blade shot off of the horn and striking the makeshift defensive wall. When the dust cleared, a gaping hole in the defenses was revealed with debris and scrap metal everywhere.

Karasu blinked and then her mouth twitched and then she laughed joyously. "Sugoi! What a magnificent horse you are! I shall name you Ikazuchi" she patted the horse on the neck which the horse neighed in appreciation.

She then spotted something else of interest when she saw random soldiers just rising up from the dead and started attacking the rebels. They were were swarming the artillery pits and the rebels were desperately trying to keep them out. She even saw one of them pulling out all of the pins of the grenades on his vest and he ran and dove into the artillery pit. A moment later, the artillery shells erupted, sending up chunks of rock and debris and kicking up large clouds of dust and sand everywhere.

Karasu covered her eyes with her right arm and then grinned as she looked at the devastation around her. She saw Kurome standing on a nearby watchtower and she saluted over to her with her chest puffed up proudly. Karasu nodded over to her and then turned Ikazuchi around. They ran through the opening of the defenses all the while shouting out "THE ENEMY IS BREAKING! SHOW THEM WHO WE ARE COMRADES! CHARGE!" she cried out loud enough for every person to hear her. Within seconds, all the rebels could hear was the powerful response of her fellow soldiers.

From a birds eye view, it looked as if a flood was pouring in through the cracks of the Palace. In the lead of the flood of soldiers, Karasu broke through the heavily barricaded doors with a burst of highly concentrated lightning and they charged inside. A few moments later, all that was heard were the dying sounds of gunfire, a window exploding and men screaming in agony before dying, as well as out of fear, anger and hate as their weapons clashed with another.

(Karasu's POV)

That was by far one of my best missions so far. I received my promotion to captain, and was rewarded with several medals of honor, bravery and leadership. However, the military leaders in charge of the operation barely got enough recognition and fame from it as I pretty much did all the work whereas they were caught lazing about and being useless.

Kurome of course had been deployed in another squad that mainly consisted of the recruits that were close, but not as skilled as the members of the elite seven. I wasn't really told much of the details behind that squad named the Group of Terror. I only knew that it was under the command of Gozuki's right hand man. Don't bother asking me for his name, because he never introduced himself, not to mention I do not really care about him… let's just call him the Monocle man. After that, I heard that she was reassigned to another one of the Empire's assassination squads. They were known as the dark squad and their primary purpose was to handle the Empire's dirty work in and out of the country, taking out whatever threats that pose a danger to the Empire. Again, I was not able to receive much information as the information was exclusive only to those holding the rank of general.

After Kurome's departure, I had decided to take a personal matter into my own hands and settle it once and for all. It was time for me to face my past and claim my birth right. The soldiers at the barracks I was stationed at woke up in the next morning to discover that an entire company of soldiers and assassins had disappeared along with several weapons, ammunition and supplies missing from the armoury, the medical tent as well as a few hundred horses.

They came to realise where I had gone when the Empire received the shocking news of what I had done during an event that was hosted by my father.

It all happened during my half-brother's 10th birthday and to celebrate it, my bastard father had decided to host a hunting party. They invited the empire's worst of the worst, politicians, ambassadors, noblemen and aristocrats to come and hunt a load of woodland critters and if they were lucky, a danger beast that they could try to capture and tame. These men were the absolute scum of the upper class society. They lived frivolous and wasteful lifestyles living in luxury, ignorance, arrogance, greed and selfishness. They had no sense of purpose or duty to the Empire and just spent their time and the Empire's on nothing, but gaudy purchases beneficial only to themselves. I did not like that. I hated incompetency, laziness and ignorance. At the time I did not care about any consequences as all that mattered to me was to make my father pay.

The scene took place in a meadow surrounded by tall and thick forests where a party of noblemen and several important figures of the government were seen on horseback galloping across the grassland in search of a good hunt.

These noblemen and politicians were considered close friends of Victor Krähe and they were all equally corrupted, with Victor being the worst of them all. What people didn't know, was that he, along with the rest of his friends and a few other people were soon going to be involved in a plot to take over the Empire after the current prime minister took over the position after the former one Chouri had left the capital after his retirement and the late emperor's passing. It was a plot that was considered ingenious and had never been done before and would effectively grant them a huge amount of political power and immunity, as well as the full power of the imperial military to use at their disposal. Many noblemen jumped at the chance to live their lives in pure bliss and ignorance. However, the instigator told them that they must wait first as he had a lot of planning and scheming to do in order to get his choice for the emperor to obtain the position. It involved a lot of underhanded tactics in order to get what he wanted during his reign as the current and newly elected prime minster after he succeeded in the rigged elections which he covered up expertly to throw off any suspicions.

Back in the meadows, the group of twenty aristocrats on horseback were seen galloping into the meadows after they were following after their dogs. All of a sudden the hunting dogs and wolves, many of which consisted of danger beasts, had suddenly veered off course and turned a sharp corner through a passageway in the forest. The sudden action threw the noblemen off slightly after they lost sight of them, but they quickly recovered from their startled state and redirected the horses to follow after them, narrowly dodging and brushing aside tree branches.

They then arrived into a large open clearing where they found themselves at the bottom of a large slope and surrounding them was a large build-up of trees, bushes and foliage that was thick, as well as shady. They expected to find their hunting hounds, attack dogs and trained wolves with their prey cornered in this open area, but to their surprise and confusion… they weren't their and it was quiet... too quiet.

The noblemen looked around in worry as they grew more concerned for their own safety and they became paranoid of the position they were in, thinking that they were being hunted by a wild danger beast or a laid out trap and to one person among the group, he believed it to be the latter.

*Whistle!* (The same whistle and whistles by the survivors in the Walking dead season 6: last day on Earth)

The noblemen jumped up in their seats and looked around completely startled at hearing such an eerie sound.

"What was that!?" a startled noble panicked in his seat.

"Was that a bird?"

"No…" Victor Krähe shook his head. "It's human, a hunter."

*Whistle!*

Another similar whistle was heard again, this time from behind.

*Whistle!* *Whistle!*

Two more whistles were heard again, but from different positions and distance while one sounded rather close and the other further away. After the first few whistles were heard, more whistles resonated throughout the dense forest. The noises were coming from all around the noblemen and it was freaking them out.

"V-victor, wh-what do we do? What are they doing?"

"They're signalling each other… they're getting ready" Victor frowned and his brow started to soak up sweat that accumulated on his forehead.

"What for?"

Victor gulped as he came to realise these hunter's intention, why the dogs and trained wolves ran off, why they led them to a large open spot where they have poor visibility of anything around them, but they were perfectly visible to anyone in the surrounding forest.

*Krack!*

A gun shot was heard echoing in the distance that caught all of the noblemen's attention as they snapped their necks towards the direction of where the gunshot came from.

"That… that sounded like it came from where the second hunting party is at"

Another gunshot and then another and several more loud thunderous gunshots that echoed into the sky and the forest followed by more whistles.

"What the hell!?… What is happening!?" one noble panicked on his horse and was about ready to flee.

"It's a trap." Victor frowned and grew more concerned.

"what!?" the nobles turned to Victor and demanded for him to explain.

"It makes sense now. Those hunters have gained control over the dogs and used them against us. We just walked into their trap and have sprung it."

The nobles shivered in fear in their seats and some looked about ready to lose their minds.

"Damnit! Where are the guards! Why aren't they here!?"

"They are supposed to patrol these lands as they are private property, it just goes to show that your men are incompetent and lazy" a noble accused Victor and he returned his accusation with growl before he was interrupted.

*Krak!* fwip!*

A gunshot echoed and a high calibre round punched through the back of the noble's head and out of the forehead in a shower of gore, blood and bits of bone. The horse whinnied in fear and bucked the noble off before running off down a random path and over a row bushes.

Victor cursed as he realised the threat and danger his life was now in.

"Run!" he yelled to the other nobles and they all took off back the way they came.

Along the way out of the forest, that at least hoped that the path they came in from would lead out of the forest and back into the meadows. Meanwhile, the whistles were becoming louder and more in abundance and all of them had various pitches to them, some high, some lower, some fast and some slow.

Random horses and noblemen were also picked off by accurate sniper fire, causing the horses and the nobles to collapse like rag dolls onto the side of the road. Victor raised his rifle towards the forest and fired at anything that moved, which was difficult for him to as he could not see inside of the dark shadowy forest. Then there was another shock that came from above. Multiple bodies had been dropped from branches with nooses wrapped tightly around their necks. The sudden drop caused their necks to snap loudly and left the dead bodies dangling off of the branches.

Some of the nobles saw the bodies swaying on the ropes and recognised them as part of their own personal guards, their protection detail and even members of their own family be it, wife, father, mother, siblings and even their own offspring that were past their teens and childhood, but were just as evil and corrupted as they were.

Next to them was a sign written in their blood.

"ALL ALONE"

They rode past the sign and Victor noticed that some of the nobles had stopped where they were when they noticed their families and friends hanging by a branch.

"Credo! What are yo doing get back here!"

"Leave him! He falls behind, he's better off dead!" Victor yelled back at the noble.

*Krack!*

Case in point, a gun shot was heard from behind when they turned a corner and they lost sight of the men that fell behind.

They past several more unnerving signs and brutal sights of dead bodies tied to trees by chains and their body parts mutilated. Another sign read…

"NO HOPE"

They rode past it, their fear and their instincts screaming at them to "get to safety, save yourselves!"

By that point they were now losing their sense of direction when they saw a burning cart blocking their path, the cart was filled with dead guards and a massive bonfire was burning the corpses, some of them were even still alive, reaching out to them screaming for help. Another sign was seen on a sign post impaled into the ground, and it read:

"NO HELP"

They panicked and went back the way they came and took another path that led to nowhere. It became apparent when they saw a row of impaled heads on pikes down the path on each side. The heads resembled the heads of family members, friends and more of their own guards.

Once they reached the end of the path, they found themselves in another clearing. They found another sign post and this one read…

"ABANDON ALL"

Victor cursed and was about to turn back, but their way was blocked when two massive trees timbered over and collapsed onto their way out, boxing them in.

Victor and the nobles felt a chill of fear creeping up their spines as they heard the eerie whistling coming closer and they were multiplying. The bushes and numerous shapes of people made themselves known and revealed the people that were hunting them. All of the people that revealed themselves were armed with a variety of weapons ranging from melee weapons, bows, crossbows, rifles, pistols, shotguns and machine guns and all of them were pointed in their direction.

Victor and the nobles relented on committing an irrational action as they knew they were out manned and outgunned.

For the first time in a long time… Victor felt humiliated…

Outsmarted

Tormented

Defeated

Helpless

Screwed

Usually he wins at almost anything, but this time he lost at something… he hated it when he lost at something that he expected to win at… the only time he ever remembered losing was when… he lost the bet that his first born were girls, two of them to be exact.

He had grown so overconfident that he would shake them off of his tail, but they were the ones that led him to where they wanted to go… it was a cunning plan that used their fear to overcome their level of logic, rationality and careful thinking. Their panic and fear had cost them their own safety and they acted irrationally.

Another figure stepped out from behind a large thick tree and into the clearing, the shade of the tree leaves obscured her face along with the woodland camo shemagh that covered the majority of her face as well as the camo paint. She wore a dark grey trench coat along with dark brown combat trousers and black combat boots.

"Good, you made it! Welcome to where we wanted you to go!" a female voice welcomed the nobles with a cheery voice filled with a lace of threat and malice.

"What is this?! Who are you people!? Don't you know who we are!?" one noble ran his mouth off in a show of futile confidence of somebody using political power over a situation where big names meant nothing.

The female ignored the noble and walked forward with her hands pressed on her hips.

" Get off your horses… and we'll take your weapons."

"Who do you think you are in ordering us…"

*Bang!*

The girl whipped out a revolver magnum at the man who dared to interrupt her again and blew his brains out with a single shot.

"Now!" she waved her her gun around, pointing it at the rest of the nobles.

Victor glowered at the audacity of this girl who dared to threaten him and the other nobles because she had them in a well laid out trap. She turned to the other nobles and nodded as he got off his horse first and the rest followed suit.

Victor approached the girl and stood in front of her. The girl seemed reasonably tall for a teenager, at least he assumed it was a teenager due to the tone of voice.

The girl turned her head to the men with guns and other forms of weapons and nodded to them. Victor then felt a force of a boot kicking the back of his knees and he felt himself buckling from the force of the kick before collapsing on to the ground on his knees… how humiliating.

"What do you want?" Victor spat harshly at the impudent girl

The girl responded with a chuckle before. "Revenge… and the liberation of my family."

Victor frowned at what she meant by that.

"Your family!? What about ours? What did they do to you!? Was slaughtering them part of your plan!?"

She turned to the person who spoke and eyed smiled. "Of course!" she said in an upbeat manner. "It was infested with rats who held absolutely no use or worth to me whatsoever and don't give me that bullshit of what they did or didn't do… plenty of people will object to that, I'm just doing them a favour. Besides, they were in the way and I didn't want them to dirty and infect my inheritance with their incompetence and worthless corpses."

Victor froze when he heard the word inheritance and shook his head. "No…" he whispered. "No…nonono… it can't be!"

The girl smirked behind the cloth mask and chuckled and then began laughing mockingly at him before removing the shemagh scarf from her face to reveal a smirking grin smiling cruelly at her deadbeat father.

"Hello father." She said bitterly, but at the same time overjoyed to have finally reunited with her father.

Victor froze in shock, fear… and increasing rage.

"You… you were supposed to be dead! Gozuki promised me that you would!" Victor screamed like a petulant child.

"He lied… even if he could he can't because he sees the potential in me and my potential towards the Empire's benefits and interests."

Victor growled to himself as he glared seethingly at his disowned daughter.

"Now do you acknowledge me father? Do you acknowledge the way I toyed with you and your fellow rats around this forest and played with your fears, controlling them to my whim and led you here? Admit it, you are… I bet my half-brother Clovis hasn't done anything remotely impressive as this… which reminds me, how is he by the way?"

Victor growled and chose to remain silent, which only prompted Karasu to click her tongue at his silence.

"By your silence, I'll take that as a… not well. And I'll tell you why your shoddy attempt of producing and raising an heir failed." She cleared her throat and explained Clovis's life so far.

"The manner on how you envisioned Clovis to be, is anything but a suitable heir. He is dumb, he has showed no progress in his studies and has barely any knowledge regarding military affairs that you have tried to cram into his small and shallow mind. I, on the other hand, successfully managed to memorise many military strategies by the time I was five years old.

He has grown fat, disgusting, cowardly and lazy. I trained at a young age to surpass my limitations and weaknesses by confronting them head on, while he chose to run away from his problems. He has grown cold and cruel, he shows no respect or care for his subordinates and that there is a problem. If you don't show respect, trust or care for your subordinates and comrades then you will find yourself alone and helpless with no one to save you or have your back in the battlefield.

Tell me something, was it worth it?" she looked Victor in the eyes and saw him narrow his eyes and averted his gaze away for a second.

"He's only ten…"

"So was I when you sent me to the military to be part of Gozuki's pet project. Since then, I've grown a lot stronger, smarter and better than when I was his age, face it… your so called plan to produce your heir, it didn't work. He has no power over me, and neither will you."

"What do you mean?"

Karasu smirked as she fished out a will in his (forged) perfect handwriting that stated that he wishes to hand all power, territory, funds and every inherited property over to Karasu as well as the protection of Hikari and Misaki Krähe over to her.

Victor growled at this. "You…bitch. You will never get away with this."

"Hn! I already have… boys!" she turned her head back and called out to some of her own men who came out behind the treeline with multiple dogs, both trained and wild. The nobles quickly noticed that they were the same ones that ran off from them.

Karasu walked up to the dogs and began petting them. "Now… these fellows have been telling me that you were not kind to them, or more specifically your son was a cruel master that took joy in torturing their puppies when offered to him as a gift. He even kicked them when the mothers was unable to move due to labor pains and were chained to the wall, helpless to do anything as they just watched on devastated as their pups were left to die a most unfortunate and cruel death.

Of course, you were no better. You treated your dogs as if they were cattle and broken trophies to be thrown away. You seem to like hunting, and so do they… it's what they're bred to do after all... so I propose a fun and entertainment game for all of us."

One of the nobles gulped at the meaning but decided to ask anyway. "A-and what would that be?"

"Simple… they'll be the hunters… and you are the prey, got it?" she tilted her head at the nobles who all blanched in fear taking several steps back.

"Good… now run." She said but the nobles were all rooted to the spot.

Karasu sighed and took out her revolver and fired a shot into the air

*Bang!*

"I said, RUN!" she screamed out and her furious cry set off the herd of cowards as they all ran into the woods with their tails between their legs. The horses were taken away from them when they got off of so they were forced to run on foot, which to them was currently impossible as not a whole lot of them were physically fit. The majority of them were either fat, scrawny, old, or frail and only a few that had the appropriate muscle definition with Victor being the prime example.

Victor took the chance to run a second time, this time he would succeed and make it back to his manor and find his son before Karasu does, but that will be difficult and next to impossible as he had a lot of attack dogs, hunting hounds and danger beasts on his tail that were out for his blood and were very eager to tear into his flesh. The hunters/ soldiers that were loyal to Karasu were scattered all over the forest, keeping a strict watch over the prey. They were ordered to intercept anyone that was either close to escaping or if they killed or wounded one of her men.

The noblemen that had lost all sense of rationality due to fear, panic and desperation over their very lives, didn't think twice about running away despite what was waiting them in the forest further ahead. There were makeshift traps made from sharp sticks buried into dugout trenches covered with thin branches, grass and leaves. Noose traps where one wrong foot can leave you suspending in the air by your feet and in a bad position to having your face mauled off by hungry danger beasts lurking in the forest.

There were also lookout posts and sniper nests that covered the more open areas and would not hesitate to shoot anyone that came into the centre of the cross-hairs of their sniper rifles.

As soon as the noblemen and Victor ran off, Karasu turned away and began to make her walk towards her family's manor.

"Captain, are you sure you don't want to kill him now?" one of her men asked her.

Karasu turned her towards her subordinate with a tilt and mused to herself. "No… not really, he's not really worth it. You guys can have your fun with him. Just don't let him escape or underestimate him. We Krähe have always be known to be adaptable in any combat scenarios, but you should know that by now as you have been trained by yours truly." She smiled to her subordinate who in return saluted with a swell of pride in his chest.

"Yes mam! Thank you very much!" the soldier saluted before dashing into the forest and went after the nobles via treetops.

Karasu turned around and made a mad dash for the manor, eager to find her family and save them. She just hoped that she wasn't too late.

(10 minutes later)

She arrived at the courtyard of the manor to see that there had been a massacre. Prior to leaving to hunt her father and the nobles, she had ordered a platoon of her own soldiers to raid the manor and purge all of the guests that she deemed unnecessary to keep alive. Through her own intelligence and scout reports, she made a list of the profiles of all of the house guests that had arrived at the manor. There weren't a lot of nobles there at first, as the Krähes were still under a lot of pressure by the aristocratic society as well as the civilian populace.

Karasu ordered the attack and the execution of several noteworthy families in order to acquire their territory, money and resources. All in all, several of the families killed were nobodies in particular and were technically traitors to the Empire.

Karasu arrived at the front door and a group of soldiers led by a sergeant who looked as old as 19 were waiting for her to arrive. As soon as she stood in front of them, they all saluted in unison.

"Mam!"

"At ease. What's your report on the situation here?"

"We've purged anybody capable of inheriting all of the fortune and personal effects of the targeted noble houses except for the children. They have no clue it was us that did it."

"Good, that way we have easy access into their lands and their resources. They must never know it was us who are responsible. If they were to learn any information regarding today's events, then their is the possibility that their deaths may inspire them to become avengers. Due to their young age, they may not understand why we did it. For all intents and purposes, the people we killed were traitors to this nation and were planning to cripple it even further… I will not allow that." Karasu spoke in a tone of conviction.

"We also found this… we thought that it may be of use to you." The sergeant handed over a book with the word 'Journal' on the front cover.

"Well what do you know… Father's journal" she scrutinised the book in her hand and skimmed through a couple of pages worth of entries and also flipped a few pages to the most recent entries. She scoffed at a few of them and also scowled at some of the ones that disgusted her most.

"Who the fuck writes their evil plan in a diary/ journal where just about anyone can find out about it. Every detail of it is explained in here and the people involved." She shook her head and pocketed the book in her inside pocket.

"Did you find them" she spoke with stern haste and concern.

The soldiers almost hesitated in answering her question until the sergeant answered for them. "We have searched every room and we have found nobody matching your description apart from the servants. Most of them were maids that were more used as sex slaves rather than servants. The butlers, on the other hand, were more used for slave labour. Other than that, we're still searching."

Karasu gritted her teeth as she had a feeling that they were somewhere in the house. "I know they are here, there are secret rooms in this house, some of them are used as shelters, secret hiding places, others for…" she went quiet as dark look appeared on her face.

"Come to think of it, Clovis wasn't part of the hunting party and nor was he part of the second one. That means he was here, but he's not been reported dead… so where is he hiding?" she mused to herself in deep thought, until she got an inkling of suspicion of where he might be.

She made her way to her half-brother's bedroom and kicked the door open off of its hinges. Granted, it was totally unnecessary, but she had a lot of tension built up and she needed the release and someone to kill.

She looked all over the room with a keen eye and looked all over for any clues of his whereabouts. The room itself was lavish and filled with everything a ten year old would want. Things like toys, comics, as well as manga which were very popular in the Empire. She also noticed that there was a dried blood stain on the carpet and there was a trail of it leading to the bookcase where the trail ended at. She also noticed that there were scratch marks on the book case, as if someone had been resisting.

A soldier had also noticed and added his own input, "Oh it's one of these. It shouldn't be too hard as the button or lever should be in this ro-"

*Crash*

The soldier was then interrupted by the sound of Karasu kicking the bookcase to splinters. Karasu walked through the dimly lit open stone stairs that led down into a secret room. To the soldier, he just deadpanned and sweat dropped to himself, "Huh, or we could do that. It's not like we've got the time for that… who does anyway?"

When Karasu finally found the door, she reached for the handle and opened it. However, what she find on the other side of the doorway, was what she secretly feared. Inside was a torture room filled with numerous torture devices ranging from the types designed for brutal and humiliating torture and tools such as the Iron maiden, the neck spike ring, the heretic's fork, the lead sprinkler, the thumb screw, the rack, tongue tearer, the rat torture, breast ripper and the donkey (The Spanish donkey).

Karasu saw the horrific sight of men and women both young and old all strapped and restrained into these numerous devices. Some of them were alive, while the rest were either passed out, dead or dying. They winced at the light and at her presence, shivering in fear of her presence.

She approached a young women that was chained to the wall and covered with deep lacerations caused by a whip and her face was equally cut and bruised. She appeared to be in her late teens to early twenties. Karasu's eyes widened as she recognised this young woman as her and her sister's personal maid. She had always liked her personally, as she always possessed the spirit of a fighter and was not afraid of anything... but now she was reduced to this… alone, afraid, in pain and no fight left in her.

"Please… don't hurt me." she whimpered as she pleaded for no more pain. Her eyes were closed and her head facing away from her.

"Chloe...look at me."

Chloe flinched at hearing her name, but she stopped trembling once she realised that the usual torturer that usually comes was not a girl. She opened her eyes and they immediately widened as she recognised her mistresses' daughter.

"Karasu-sama! You're back!" she whimpered, crying tears of joy.

"Where are they? Are they okay?" she crouched down and looked at her straight in the eye, demanding an answer from her.

Chloe didn't answer but motioned her eyes towards two figure's that were chained to the wall in the far corner of the room. Both of them were in rags and the taller and older one was resting her head on the younger ones lap, covered in a ragged and tattered old blanket.

Karasu jumped up and ran straight over to them, skidding to a halt right in front of them. Her breathing hitched in her throat and it swelled up with a myriad of emotions building up within her. Her sister looked worse for wear…hell, she looked downright dreadful. She was pale, suffering from malnutrition, covered in scars and bruises, her eyes were black from numerous bruises and lack of sleep and her long wavy blonde hair had dulled in color. IN short, she was a complete mess.

"Hi-Hikari…" she croaked with tears pouring out of her eyes.

The twin sister cracked open an eye and the first thing she saw was a familiar face she recognised from long ago.

"O…Onee-chan." She smiled softly. "I knew you would… return." She smiled and she lowered her head and looked at the head lovingly as she stroked the mess of blonde hair. "O-Kaa-chan… it's her… Karasu-Onee chan is back." she whispered to the head as Hikari tried and struggled to move the body under the sheets.

Karasu froze as she saw her mother, she looked a lot worse than hikari, her face was covered in dirty bandages and the only thing she could see behind them was the dull emerald/ amber eyes that looked unresponsive.

"Hikari… why isn't she moving?... why isn't she… speaking to me?"

"She's sleeping Onee-chan… she's just tired…"

"You… you don't mean that…"

"No… she is still there, it's just… she can't hear us. The pain… it was too much for her and… I couldn't help her… they took Medicus away from me." Hikari began to sob as she hugged her mother's head as a few droplets of tears dropped onto it.

Karasu's eyes darkened and her fists tightened as a noticeable growl escaped her throat. She lifted her head and looked over to the other tortured people still in the room as they watched the scene with equal sadness. They understood the pain that she was feeling as they were quite fond of the mistress of the house.

"Where is he? Where is that little shit?!" she growled as her right eye shone with a menacing light. The servants didn't answer, but they all looked over at the iron maiden where she noticed an open gap in-between the door. Suddenly, a sharp gasp was heard and the door to the cabinet creaked to a close.

Karasu was no fool and was instantly aware of the little prick's location. In less than a second, she dashed over to the metal torture sarcophagus and kicked it over. The coffin crashed onto the ground with a mighty clang and a scream was heard from the inside, followed by a stream of crimson blood leaking out of the open gaps of the door.

Karasu opened the door to the sight of her sniveling bastard brother, cowering and whimpering inside of the metal coffin with a spike lodged into his arm, leg and hip.

"So… my little half-brother… born from a bastard father and a common street whore. The supposed true heir to the house of Krähe... how disappointing." She shook her head.

"Damn…you. When I get out of here… my dad's going to-..."

"Daddy's not coming back for you I'm afraid. It's just your darling eldest sister right now. So now I'm going to do something that I've always dreamed of doing and should've done all those years ago."

Clovis looked her in the eyes and he wished he hadn't, because he saw all the malice and hatred she had kept bottled up for all those years she had been away. "Wha-what?"

Karasu grinned "Reclaiming my inheritance and rightful place as heiress… something you clearly don't deserve."

Clovis's eye widened and his face morphed into an ugly scowl of resentment as he strongly objected and refused to accept the statement. He began to throw a temper tantrum like a petulant child, all the while blubbering like a screeching baby. "NOOO! You won't take my rightful place away from me! I'll kill you! I'll kill them! I'll make you watch them have their guts torn out from them before I do the same to you… I HATE YOU! I WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!..."

*Slam*

His tantrum was interrupted by Karasu as she kicked the door where the spikes were lodged into his arm, hip and leg, causing them to dig further into his limbs and his hips as the door buckled from the force of Karasu's kick. The force behind the blow, caused a deep dent to form on the door, which resulted in the spikes on the other inside to lodge themselves deeper into those three separate areas as well as scraping along other areas around the previously mentioned parts of his body.

Clovis screeched as the spikes dug deeper into his flesh, tearing through muscles and scraping across his bones. Karasu walked up to Clovis and knelt down to his level and stared coldly into his eyes, "I've had enough of you now… you are weak, fat, lazy, snobbish, petulant, arrogant, ignorant, dumb… and a lot of other things that I find revolting and those were just a few examples. I have no idea what that bastard of a father sees in you… and to be honest, I'd rather not know. Fact is… you have no use here. You are clearly unfit for the position as the head of this house, not because you are only 10 years old… but it's obvious of how you're going to turn out judging by what you just did to my family… and for that reason… I can't let you live." Karasu said to him in a threatening tone before tearing him off of the torture device which caused him to scream further as he felt the spike leaving his open wounds.

The boy kicked and screamed while Karasu roughly dragged him back upstairs, while he made futile attempts to resist her. Unfortunately for him, he was utterly powerless against her strength and steel-like grip. Karasu arrived back in Clovis's room before hoisting him up with one arm and held him at eye level. "Piece of advice for you, never scorn a mother, nor an elder sister like me." she said before throwing the boy out of the window with a crash and the boy screamed as he fell to the ground with a thud.

Karasu walked over to the window and looked down from the second floor window and spotted her half-brother had landed on the semi soft grass. Clovis twitched and whimpered before trying to crawl away.

"Well I'll be… he survived at that height… granted it's only from a two story drop. Still, that is unfortunate for him, because he won't be able to run from them." she smirked before bringing two fingers to her mouth.

*Whistle!*

A long and loud high pitched whistle echoed throughout the acres of forest that surrounded the estate. What replied was a howl that made Clovis freeze with fear as he knew what was coming for him.

"No…Please sister! Please don't let them eat me!" the snivelling boy pleaded desperately for his sister to show mercy.

Karasu with one foot on the window sill peered down and looked indifferently to her brother.

"And why shouldn't they? After all, wasn't it you that has been torturing their family. Just like you did with mine?" she said to him with a cold and unforgiving look in her eyes.

"Please!... I'm sorry! I promise I won't do it again! I… I 'll give you anything!"

"... Nah, I happen to find and clamed just what I wanted back from you. Sooo~... sorry, you don't have anything that will sway me… you could try your luck with them, but… I get the feeling that human sentiment such as pity or mercy doesn't mean shit to them right now." she smiled before pointing over to the treeline where a couple of wild wolves and dog class danger beasts came prowling out of the treeline growling and snarling.

Clovis remained still as he was shaking in his boots and a notable wet stain began forming on his shorts as yellow piss began to drip down his leg as he felt the killing intent from the wild beasts and animals.

Back on the second floor, Karasu grinned with great anticipation as she licked her lips to moisten them before making a signal for them to start their hunt for the little rat. She started off with a slow loud whistle that was loud enough to be heard and set off the pack that could hardly wait to sink their teeth and claws into the rat that dared to harm their pups.

*Whistle!*

With that, they were off with the alpha male of the wolf danger beasts, being the quickest, dashing ahead of the pack towards their prey. Clovis had all but seven seconds to get up and run for it, but by then it was already too late. His eyes widened as he felt the alpha males teeth sink into his clothing and was sent flying into the air by the alpha who threw the corrupt little demon into the air. Clovis watched in fear as the rest of the wild beasts all caught a piece of him by their teeth as he came falling down. The moment he touched the ground, he screamed in agony as they all tore into him.

Karasu leaned over the window sill resting both arms as she watched in silence, not saying a word… instead, she just reveled in watching the little monster die by being ripped apart in such a gory fashion. Her men likewise also watched on in silence, undisturbed by the scene… After all, the little boy was anything but an innocent child… he committed an unforgivable act and such actions would not be pardoned just because he was a child. The punishment was quick, but brutal.

Karasu watched on with vicarious fascination of how the wild beasts and animals just savagely ripped him apart. She knew there was something wrong with that, but she felt content with just watching them kill him when it should've been her who had the honour. She had every right to, but so did they. The thrill experiencing his death filled her with a sense of relief.

However, she wasn't done yet, because another one of her personal targets for her vendetta was coming her way.

*Bang!* a loud whine filled with pain from a hunting dog echoed through the property of the manor as it collapsed onto the ground. It was killed instantly from a round from a high calibre hunting rifle. Karasu looked towards the treeline and saw her father limping out from behind the trees filled with rage and desperation as he fumbled around in his pocket to retrieve a bullet to feed into the rifle's chamber.

"Get… the fuck… off of my son!" he grunted when he finally pushed the round into the chamber and pushing the bolt forward.

*Bang!*

The next round was aimed to hit a danger beast right right in its, but only ended up skimming it, causing it to go blind in its right eye. The danger beast recoiled it's head back and in sheer pain, but it recovered quickly and stared back with its remaining eye with open hostility.

Karasu clicked her tongue "I told them not to underestimate him. Even though he is the head of the House… he is still a military strategist, soldier and general who is resourceful in situations like this." she sighed, but soon shrugged the thought off "well, despite all that…. I'm actually glad he came as I really need to…" she stopped her train of thought as something caught her eye. Hidden underneath Clovis's bed, were two familiar cases. "Hello, what's this?" she mused before she reached over to the cases, which she eagerly opened. Once she did, she smirked to herself.

"Well would you look at that... at least I'll give him my thanks for holding onto these."

Back outside Victor was desperately trying to fight off all of his former hunting danger beasts that he and his son treated cruelly. He used his own rifle as a club as he bashed all of them away as he made his way over to what used to be his son, the body now torn and ripped apart beyond recognition.

He noticed that none of the soldiers nearby didn't make any move to intercept him. At first he was puzzled, but that faded away as he was about to reach his son, but before he could reach him.

*Crack!*

A metallic whip cracked against his chest with an explosive amount of force that would've shattered his sternum. The force of the whip sent him flying at least 5 meters away from his son before crashing onto the ground on his back. He wheezed painfully, as all of the air was forced out of him and a nasty gash began to form on his chest. He shakily lifted his head up to see the person who would dare deny him to reach his son when he needed him.

He looked up and to his absolute horror, and hatred, he saw that the culprit was none other than his daughter, who was wielding the Teigu that was given to him by his father before he passed... Although, technically this wasn't true as it was actually passed on to his eldest brother who had been far more adept, as well as far more suitable for it. Much to his shame and envy, he knew that he could never outdo his bother. But later on, he died due to an assassination attempt that also killed the assassin as well. So, in the end Victor was the one to inherit it, but he could never use it as the whip never accepted him.

To see his heirloom in the hands of his eldest child and to see her use it with great mastery and proficiency, even though she had been separated from it for years, it felt like a mockery towards him. Karasu sauntered over to him in a relaxed, yet threatening manner, twirling the whip Teigu in her left hand as she approached him. Victor tried to reach inside his coat pocket in order to whip out the revolver he once used to shoot Karasu when she was a child. Just as he whipped it out, it was shot out of his hand in an instant by Karasu whose reflexes and accuracy were far superior to his own.

Victor winced in pain and glared at Karasu, in a vain attempt to keep up his tough and defiant image. "H-how did you get… this good…why do you look… strong?"

"I am strong, always have been… unfortunately for you, you sold me off to the wrong people, as they were the reason I got stronger… too strong in some people's words. Where I am at now… I would say I'm a lot stronger than you are right now. As we speak, I continue to grow stronger as I grow older and develop more into an adult. My potential right now… is a mystery, I don't know where my limits will reach, but so long as I fight I will keep growing stronger. The more I grow up, physically and mentally, and the more I train, the more I fight, the more wars I take part in, the stronger I will become." she chuckled as her eyes glinted with their unique amber light.

Victor's eyes widened and choked on his breath, as he started to tremble. With every word she spoke, his mind seemed to be cracking more and more and nearing its limit. "N-no… you can… hear them… you can hear them better than I... Why do they favour you most? Why you and not me ?… I'm the head of this house… it should be me!"

Karasu sneered in response to his whining about the crows. "Those crows as you have mentioned have always favoured the strongest in the family. You have never heard nor have you earned the right to hear them… you're just imagining things… You're just insane and nothing, but a schizophrenic who deluded himself into hearing these so called "Voices of the Crows" where you were purely motivated by greed, anger, and pride that led you insane in the first place. Whether or not it is true, that the Teigu you speak of is truly corrupted just like it did to our ancestors..."

"Prometheus… is the key to world domination and peace… it must be found… so that we can-" Victor hissed out before he was interrupted.

"Prometheus will be found of course, I'll see to that personally. But you won't be around to see it, nor touch it. Such a tool must not be abused for such shallow things like personal pleasures, selfish desires and multiple reasons that only benefit yourself. Pettiness and unreasonable hatred is another long list of reasons why it shouldn't go to you. For you only care for yourself and no one else."

"And what makes you so different!? You're just like me… a crow… you cannot deny it... you love war… you've always took part in it… what makes you any different from me?"

"Unlike you… I am loyal to this Empire and to my family. The Empire is the only place I can call home, despite the state it is coming to. I also don't fear change, whereas you fear that change can possibly affect you more negatively rather than benefit you… you will try and prevent it from happening, therefore you run like a coward and deny anything regarding it until it comes back to bite you." She said before wrapping the whip around her hand. "And that is exactly what is going to happen right here, right now… it is time for your punishment fat-… no... Victor. You lost all right to be my father since you never carried me once. Not even when I was a little child or a baby for that matter. Furthermore, for making my mother and sister suffer… I will enjoy every single bit of this… if you are worth your metal as you say you are… then I hope you do survive this as long as it takes for me to break you." She said to him before she raised the whip in her hand, and the tip sliced through the air as she brought it down, cracking it against Victor's face.

Victor cried out in agony as the pain from the whip was unbearable. He couldn't fathom why though, it shouldn't hurt like this. It felt as though he had been hit with the force of a sledge hammer.

"As you should know, this whip has the ability to intensify pain through multiplying the victim's pain output. So if you were to be slapped around the face by a scorned woman, then that slap will be multiplied to the force of an enraged professional boxer. That was on X2 output by the way… and you don't look so good."

"Fuck ….you." he hissed out through clenched teeth as blood poured all over his face from the scar that had been cut across the bridge of his nose.

"Glad to see that you still have some fight left in you. For that, I'll raise it to the third output." She grinned before she raised the whip and struck him across his chest. The force launched him to his back and he let out a silent shout as the pain became so intense that he began to tremble from the pain as he writhed on the ground.

"Oh…guess not then…" she said in an aloof manner before she scowled and growled out in anger. She wanted him to put up more of a fight, yet here she was rewarded by seeing him in a pathetic position that looked as if he was a cowering child. She didn't like that… he always thought he was the strongest for a reason, and she had always driven herself to be stronger than her father… until she realised that she had always been stronger than him. In reality, it was her father that was the weakest of the family. He had been the one who fell to madness instead of the great man her mother always mentioned.

She found herself, disappointed. "Where is your pride!? Where is your fortitude, your willpower, your strength!? What the fuck am I looking at now!? Who the fuck do you think you are!? You have the audacity to call yourself the strongest!?"

"P-please… don't… hurt me." Victor whimpered and Karasu froze as she saw tears flowing down his cheeks and this made her even more furious.

"I. don't. think. so." She growled, before she started to relentlessly whip her father into a slow agonising death. With each strike, she screamed out her fury against the so-called father that she had always striven to surpass. In the end, all she found was the feeling of pure disappointment. He had let himself go long ago, allowing himself to grow weak and pathetic. Along with avenging her family fuelling her anger, her hatred and her vengeance… she mercilessly continued to whip her father completely unaware that he had long since stopped screaming about five minutes later before his skin and his muscles were torn off of his body.

"Onee-chan!"

Karasu froze in the spot and immediately turned around, her emotions drained instantly as she saw her sister still dressed in her rags clutching the collar of her dress and she looked into her sister's eye with hesitancy, but also resolve as she started begging her "That's enough… he's had enough."

Karasu looked over to the body of her father and saw that he had stopped moving. "Perhaps… the coward's gone… he deserved so much more than that, and he denied me the right, again… fuck it. I don't care anymore… they're gone." She walked away from the body, even ignoring the fact that the danger beasts were prowling near the corpse of her father. She intentionally ignored them just so they could feed off of his corpse.

"Take him… do what you want." She said nonchalantly to the wolves who snatched him away and they all disappeared into the forest with the sound of bestial growling and the ripping and tearing of flesh behind the treeline.

Hikari, although she had a kind and gentle heart… didn't say a word, nor did she bat an eyelash to see her father and half-brother getting brutally killed and tortured. But Hikari had major concerns for her elder sister as she came to warn her.

"Onee- chan! You need to run!" she tried to warn her before it was too late. At that moment a bolt of lightning slammed right next to them and standing in the spot where the lightning had struck was the gigantic form and presence of a tall, muscular man in his late 30s, early 40s with spiky blond hair and blue eyes. The giant of a man wore a dark grey suit of armour that was actually his Teigu, Adramelech, which allowed him to use lightning based attacks with great proficiency.

He moved as fast as a lightning strike, which explained how he had arrived to the scene so fast and caught Karasu by surprise. He arrived onto the scene absolutely furious as he came and witnessed the brutal murder of a noble of the Empire as well as having seen the bodies of several other noteworthy nobles and their families all but wiped out, as Karasu intended to spare a few. The lightning that was arcing around his body, reacted according to his anger and the power he was releasing was oppressive and unnerving towards Karasu's own followers as they held their weapons at the ready. At that moment, multiple men appeared from behind the treeline and surrounded them.

Karasu's brow developed a small droplet of sweat as she did not expect the Great General Budo of all people to come and apprehend her. He was the last person she wanted to face.

"Great general Budo... to what do I owe the pleasure of meeting someone who even bothered to come and apprehend me. I always heard that you never even leave the training grounds" Karasu attempted to lighten the tension but was rewarded with a scowl that made her flinch in the spot.

"This is an exception, you have committed a grave crime and you have abandoned your post. Explain yourself."

"Well…" Karasu attempted to explain her reason, but she found herself cornered against the wall like a petrified kitten up against a Rottweiler baring it's teeth at her.

"Ano!... I can explain that her reasons were justified!" Hikari cut in on their heated discussion just in time before Karasu had the chance to say anything. Karasu's breathing hitched in her throat and looked over at Hikari with a shocked expression.

'What the hell are you doing Hikari-Chan?! Do you know who you just interrupted?'

Budo narrowed his eyes at Hikari who was dressed in rags and looked absolutely famished, weak and beaten. He scrutinized the girl, eyeing her suspiciously. "Speak! Why shouldn't I arrest this girl for multiple offences that could result in her being court marshalled or even executed."

Hikari swallowed nervously, but her brave face remained. "Because…" she fished out the journal that Karasu somehow dropped out of her pocket when she wasn't looking or paying attention to, along with multiple other books that had her father's name on them. "She is a hero that ousted a traitor that had plans to overthrow our Empire along with the other nobles here!" she threw the books over to Budo who caught one but ignored the rest as they landed right by his feet.

He skimmed through all of them in a matter of minutes, before he seethed with even greater rage. He nodded, accepting the facts before him. "Very well. Your actions are justified, but that does not mean that you are off the hook yet! as of now, you work for me, understood!" Budo's eyes narrowed and darkened when they locked onto Karasu's who froze on the spot and gulped.

"Y-yes sir!" she meekly saluted as her head sank as she knew there was going to be a major shitstorm when she returned to the capital. Budo will see to her punishment or whatever fate that will be waiting for her back at the capital.

"... And that's the story of my life!" she smiled as she pointed at the ceiling.

"Huh?... that's it?"

"For now, yes" Karasu nodded.

"But… what happened to you then? What was your punishment."

"I was to be put on probation after I graduated from the officers academy that Budo sent me to." Karasu's head dropped. " I knew it was a necessary step to further my career if I wanted to obtain the rank of general, but that place…" she shuddered. "I'd rather not talk about it."

Naruto likewise shuddered as he was reminded of his own hellish experiences in that kami forsaken academy filled with bullies, fan girls, and sometimes fan boys, corrupted teachers, cheats, intolerance, injustice, arrogance, favouritism, as well as biased and ignorant views on himself and what a shinobi should be. Naruto would most definitely understand her experience if the military academy were similar to the shinobi academy back in Konoha.

"Well… on the bright side, I wasn't alone as I made an arrangement with Budo to have my sister attend with me." she smiled at that.

"Wait… what about your mother?"

"My mother…. she's still asleep… as in she's still in a coma." Karasu smile faltered and she looked away.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

Karasu waved it off. " it's fine. My sister healed most of her wounds and she cured her malnutrition by using her Teigu Medicus to replenish her body's nutritional needs while she was unconcious, as well as her body's water levels. It's an amazing Teigu I'll tell you, but it's main weakness is that it can only cure physical injuries, not mental."

"So what you are trying to say is that...?"

"Yes, my mother is still in a coma because she faced a lot of mental trauma. The strain of losing me, along with her husband's descent into madness and the brutal torture that disfigured her became too much for her. My sister did all that she could to help her, but no matter how strong she was or how long she held out for, my mother had reached her limit. She hasn't woken up since… and despite the fact that Hikari can force people out of a coma, she doesn't want to wake her up yet. She said she must rest peacefully first before waking her up."

"I see." Naruto lowered his gaze as he was reminded of his surrogate mother, Mikoto Uchiha who was in a similar position after the brutal massacre of the Uchiha clan. No doubt she would've been left heartbroken at the fact that her eldest son went mad and massacred her clan and that her youngest son, Sasuke, had been driven mad by revenge and acquired a thirst for power in order to achieve his revenge. Therefore, he became the atypical Madara class of Uchiha, the worst kind of Uchiha, or at least he was getting there at the rate he was going.

"Along with my sister, we spent about 2.5 to 3 years in the academy. As time went by, it wasn't so bad, because I made friends with my best friend Esdeath Partas and an older student, Najenda."

"I have heard mentions of you talking about Esdeath, but I've never heard of a Najenda?"

"We've not really seen each other for some time, mainly because she's also a general as well as Esdeath."

"Why? You've got the qualities and the skills for a general. Why shouldn't they give you the rank of General?"

"Mainly because I'm still under probation, As far as punishments go, I'm still restricted to the rank of Lt. Colonel, which I was promoted to right after the scandal that my father was involved in." She frowned. "But… as you probably already know… it didn't work. There were many more conspirators that were involved and there was not a single bloody mention of their names, Prime Minister Honest's own name or any subtle hints that it was him behind the entire plot. To be quite frank, they dodged a fucking bullet on that one, because not a mention of his name was found in any of my father's journals. If his name had been written down, then that would've solved a lot of problems that the Empire is facing today." Karasu crossed her arms before she shrugged.

"But… there was nothing I can do during that time. Anyways, Najenda had the right qualities to become a commander of an army or of a skilled group of elites into battle. She's a taciturn, sharp-minded and level-headed kind of leader who can lead a group with a surprisingly gentle, but firm sense of authority around her. She also has experience similar to my own from serving in the Empire which have made her a highly capable leader worthy of respect.

Although, at first my sister had a crush on her at some point because she mistook her as a pretty boy, or a bishounen as some people call it. That was an absolutely embarrassing moment for the both of them after she learned that she was actually a tomboyish girl with short messy hair. The look on her face was hilarious after she confessed her feeling to her and Najenda had to explain to her that she was girl." Karasu smirked and chuckled to herself at the memory as well as Naruto who laughed at the story in turn. "Good times." She smiled before bringing up her second best friend.

"Esdeath on the other hand is a different, in terms of both leadership and personality. In a way, we were like two peas in a pod, but with some differences. Like me, she too is a sadist, but she's not masochistic like I am when I get really worked up... you know what I mean." She nodded over to Naruto who sweatdropped at the comment.

"She also lacks empathy for people whom she deems weak. In a way, neither do, but I don't completely disregard an individual because they're weak. Sometimes on my generous days, I will help build up on their weaknesses and make them strong enough to overcome their weaknesses and turn them into a stronger person than what they were before, but that's only IF I saw the potential in them first. Esdeath however, loves to torture her enemies and putting them through great pain, both physically and emotionally… just like me... but she's better at it than I am. Also, just like me, she too has had daddy issues."

"Like what? Naruto questioned with an eyebrow raised.

"Belief issues. She lives by her father's philosophy to a point where she's fanatically focused. She believes that this world is run by the age old quote made by someone whose name I don't know. It goes along the lines, "The strong survive and the weak die". Pretty much, survival of the fittest."

"Does that involve the innocent?"

"Errm… I won't lie, but I suspect that she couldn't give a rat's ass about any innocents. Her rationality is based around her belief that she stands strongly by. Sooo yeah… In a sense, she's not wrong about it, but that doesn't mean that I don't stand by it… I believe that people can stand up on their own two feet if they try hard enough, if given the right motivation of course. If they don't… well then it's on them." Karasu shrugged indifferently.

"Has she ever given you any problems?"

"You mean besides being difficult? Yeah… she has her moments where she can be hard to work with and her habit of doing her own thing, just like me, but I like to stick to some examples of protocol and set a few standards so things don't go to shit because of a few disagreements between the two of us.

She's also shown to be a benevolent leader to her subordinates like me and Najenda. She treats them well and lets them do as they please and in return she gains their fierce loyalty and absolute devotion. Despite being an ice queen, which was my nickname for her back in the academy. She's also shown to be a genuinely caring leader as she doted on my sister, like a loving elder sibling. She never belittled her or looked down on her as if she was weak, which I suspect it was due to her possession of a Teigu and my sister's resolve.

Just like me, she also has a deep love for fighting. She will also show total respect for anyone who manages to impress her in a one on one match, be it sparring or actual combat. If anyone manages to stand toe to toe against her, then you will earn her good graces. I was one of the very few to do so, as well as Najenda, but I was more closer to her level.

Despite her battle thirsty tendencies, she's a great charismatic leader that will inspire just about anyone to fight for her, even those on the opposing side. She's not heartless or cold enough to have her judgement clouded by her thirst for battle as she will not risk her soldiers' lives if the battle proves to be too much for them to handle. So she will pull them out to lessen the chance of heavy losses. Although, she will sometimes not tolerate failure just like me, but she can be merciful depending on how much they fucked up on their assignment, or if they explain their reasons why they failed and it wasn't their fault. Due to those characteristics, she proves to be a reasonable leader, but a resolute one."

"She sounds amazing." Naruto smiled.

"She is… although, many would disagree on that."

Naruto narrowed his eyes I scrutiny. "How come?"

"Esdeath, despite her charisma and caring personality, has shown to be quite cruel and deprived of a moral code. Mostly they're just afraid of what she could do if she were to get any stronger than she already is."

Naruto tilted his head in thought, to which Karasu found honestly cute. "Do you believe that?"

"Personally I don't want to believe that she will go that far, but if she was pushed far enough… there's no telling what she might do." Karasu bit her lower lip. "But, I choose to believe that she is not like what they say she is. She is my friend and I truly believe in her. In fact, I think she could be a massive help to you." Karasu brought her hands together and pressed her fingertips together and as she just had a plausible idea.

"You think so?" Naruto mused at her suggestion.

"Well… not right now as she will mop the floor with you at your current level, but if you can impress and manage to convince her then she just might be convinced enough to join our side against the Empire and the Revolutionary Army. You just need to give her a reason to fight."

"Why the Revolutionary Army?"

"Because they are morally corrupt despite having "Noble intentions" of freeing this country. They shouldn't be trusted as all they would be doing is dividing the country up."

"I… I agree on that, it shouldn't be divided. Isolationism will harbor fear and intolerance for others. Instead we should be united."

"Exactly Naru-kun, that is exactly what we should be aiming for here, a unified nation. We should start with the vassal states and neighboring countries bordering us or further into the mainland of this continent."

"I could find allies back home?" Naruto suggested.

"Do you happen to know anyone that would offer their assistance?" Karasu shot back at Naruto who frowned in thought before sinking his head in defeat.

"No… I was basically not allowed to leave the village."

"Hey, it's not your fault if you were treated like a prisoner. Besides, I bet that the outside was pretty hostile to travel through… you know like, bandits, wild animals, dangerous beasts etc."

"Yeah, something like that. What if I gained their trust somehow?"

"Like what?"

"I do them a massive favor or something like that?" Naruto suggested.

"And how did that turn out for you?" Karasu deadpanned at that thought.

"I don't believe that everyone is that ungrateful… I believe that there are some great people out there that can prove to be beneficial allies and great friends."

"As much as I want to say that is a bit idealistic of you, we do need allies in this, both inside and out… Oh, and by the way, you need to start training in order for this grand plan of yours to work. Don't worry, I will help you out, but you will need to find someone else for your ninja training I'm afraid, sorry."

"No need, I already have someone that will help me, and believe she will be seriously helpful." Naruto smiled

"Humph! You best be grateful that I'm considering this. Normally I don't…" Kayo huffed, but unknown to Naruto she had a bright red blush on her cheeks.

"Ara, ara… You see Naruto-sama, she even speaks tsundere! Kawaii!" Prometheus squalled to herself as she pressed her hands on both cheeks.

"Urusai!" Kayo spluttered indignantly from embarrassment.

Naruto sweat dropped at their antics.

Karasu recollected the comment of the sentient beings that were inside of his conscience. "Their help would be greatly appreciated. I approve of that as I'm not always going to be around to help you."

Naruto nodded before he had another thought. "Who else would you recommend that would be a good ally?"

Karasu pressed the tip of her left hand's index finger onto her lower lip. "Inside the empire, Najenda could be a good contender for that, but you need to give her a good and valid reason for that as her morals are resolute and I suspect that she is having doubts about the empire from the way I saw her acting some time ago. Esdeath is a tough one, but providing her with a good and reasonable justification would be enough to sway her to our side. Then we would not only have a powerful fighter, but a powerful military commander as well. One solution is to give her what she wants. She loves to fight so give her a target and she will do that for you. You could give her freedom and she will have no problems with you, but she may give you some trouble if you don't know how to control her."

"However, there is one person who will no doubt join us."

"What's she like?" Naruto asked.

Karasu deadpanned as she sensed a presence coming in fast with rushed footsteps.

"If I were to describe her in one word, it would be..."

*Slam!*

"Onee-Sama!" a panicked voice cried out as she rushed over to Karasu, slamming the door open in the process. The resulting noise from the door banging against the wall and the presence of a female who wore surgeon's clothing covered in blood waving her arms around like a maniac, made Naruto think that he was at the hospital and was about to be attacked by a syringe wielding lunatic.

"Argh!" Naruto yelped in fright as he jumped up in surprise.

The bloody surgeon tripped on the door step and landed on her face as soon as she tried to run in.

"Kyaa!" she yelped as she landed flat on her face.

Karasu deadpanned and face palmed "Ditzy." She sighed before raising her head to introduce the person who burst into the room in a hurry.

"Naruto-kun, meet my twin sister, Hikari." She motioned her hand to the girl who was the same age as Karasu, but younger.

"Mou!" Hikari sat up in a kneeling position winced as she nursed her red nose. She removed the surgical mask to revel a soft doll like face with bright pink lips and emerald green eyes. She then removed the cloth that contained her wavy golden blonde hair that cascaded down to her lower back and revealing a black hairband on top of her head. She stood at a height of 5'5 ft, making her shorter than both her sister and Naruto by a few inches. Her physical features were what caught Naruto off-guard. Behind her blue surgeon garb were a pair of massive F cups of 93 centimetres, a slim waist, a full toned and shapely, yet cute butt and a smooth pair of legs that were hidden by the surgical dress.

Naruto also caught site of a necklace themed Teigu on her neck. It had a dark blue crystal attached to a small silver link chain that hung off her neck, with the crystal resting just above her sternum and gigantic breasts. The crystal possessed an ethereal glow as it shimmered with great power that Naruto could sense.

Kayo gaped at the sight of the crystal. "What the...! What the hell is that crystal doing here!?... no… are they related somehow?" Kayo cried out in shock.

"?" Naruto and Prometheus wondered what got Kayo so riled up.

Said blonde girl lifted her head and stared at the two in both confusion and childlike curiosity. "mm?" she tilted her head in a cutesy way until she sprang up from the ground as she remembered why she was here.

"Ah! Of course, Onee-Sama!" she yelled loudly as she whipped out a letter from in-between her breasts as she fished her hand down her blood stained surgical dress and handing the letter to Karasu. "This just came in by carrier bird." She brightened up like any good little sister would do after doing a good deed for their elder sibling.

"Hiakri! Don't just put things that may be important in-between your enormous breasts. They've got sweat all over them!" Karasu yelled comically as she picked up the letter and waved it about.

"Ehehe!" she bonked herself on the head and gave out a nervous laugh. "Gomen." She meekly apologised.

"Its fine, I don't blame you if you were in a rush. Looks like the capital has finally responded to my report." She pursed her lips together.

"What does it say?" Naruto leaning forwards eager to hear what they had to say. He was also concerned if the Empire were to react badly to the report.

Karasu opened the letter and she read through the letter. After finishing the letter, her eyes widened and she read the letter again causing her to frown.

"Onee-sama, what did they say?"

"It seems my probation is up. Due to my heroic actions in preventing the revolutionaries from capturing the mine and preventing an international incident with a foreign nation along with my loyalties and support to the Empire with my expertise and skills… I've been promoted to general, as per the recommendation by Great General Budo, General Esdeath, General Najenda and surprisingly... Emperor Makoto who supported my promotion…" she raised her head and looked over to the two gobsmacked expressions of her dear sister and her favourite miner/love interest. "I shit you not!"

(END)