Esdeath was definitely sure she was (figuratively) fucked. What she wasn't sure of, was jumping out the window. Having an aqueduct right near it was a big coincidence, a coincidence that became a blessing once the aqueduct went into the Great Canal, or more accurately, a sewer leading into the canal.

After a lengthy amount of minutes' worth of a waterslide with stinky sludge, the unfortunate "general" was disposed of into the large-ass canal. Esdeath swam to a nearby pier and struggled as she pulled herself onto the wet wood.

"Agh! Gack!"

She gagged and sputtered as she tried to get the taste of shit out of her mouth. Could her day get any more shitty?

"Shit...that was the worst waterslide I've ever had...I need a fucking soak..."

The sun was almost in the middle of the sky, signaling noon. Esdeath dashed into another alley as people were starting to open up shops and walk on the canalside. It was then she felt a sharp pain in her side.

She looked to her abdomen's left side to see a large shard of glass sticking out. The part of the shirt over it was soaked in blood.

"Fuck! This is...urrgh!" she thought as she dropped the sword Teigu she was holding and forcibly ripped the shard off.

"NGAAAAGHHHH!" she screamed as she slumped to the ground, clutching the wound. She was losing blood, fast.

"D-D-D-Dammit..."

Esdeath tried to stand, but the pain was unbearable at this point. She was one tough cookie, but the lack of her powers and clothing certainly weren't enough to protect her from jumping through a window of stained glass out of desperation to escape. It was also brought to her attention that she had smaller cuts all over her body.

She couldn't...no...WOULDN'T admit it.

She was dying.

She crawled to the sword and tried to use it as a crutch. She managed to get on her knees and looked at the rest of the alley in front of her. A lot of civilians were walking along the street, but so were the Army soldiers.

And to make matters worse, the alley only went straight ahead.

"Keep your eyes peeled, men! Whoever gets that bitch gets a large payout!" a distant, but near voice said. Esdeath quickly crawled with her knees to the side of a dumpster as a large amount of footsteps got closer to the alley.

"Remember: Long-ass blue hair, a nice pair of tits, and - hear this - no pants! She won't be hard to find!" the same voice, who she presumed to be the leader, said before laughing heartily. "If any of you find her, don't her hog her all to yerself or else!"

"Seriously? The rebels are such worthless pigs..." she thought as the soldiers passed the alley by. "Speaking of which...don't they have women in their ranks?! Why don't they just fuck those whores instead?"

Esdeath tried to get up again only to fall down face first into the ground in pain.

"Argghh! Shit...Stylish, you perverted bastard...I could've used your skills right about now..."

Ah Stylish. That perverted motherfucker. She didn't mind anyone's sexual orientation, because what mattered to her was that they did their job and did it excellently. Stylish might have been a crazy, depraved scientist, but he was also a talented doctor and surgeon. Even more so thanks to his Teigu, Perfector.

But he was dead. Having gotten himself killed by the Night Raid assholes thanks to his overconfidence. They even managed to get his Teigu as well.

She had a Teigu herself, some kind of rapier that looked so much like her old rapier. But in her current state, it was useless.

Esdeath laid on her right as she pressed down on the wound to at least slow the bleeding. It was futile.

"No...no no no no NO NO NONONONONONOOOOOO! I can't! Not like this..." she frantically thought. She, the feared General Esdeath, Strongest of the Empire, was about to die slowly and painfully via blood loss, in a dirty alley in the capital city of the country she served, alone.

"Guuuuhh...I...I would've...wanted to at least...see Ta-T-Tat...sumi...one more...time..."

She was starting to lose consciousness.

"I'm sorry...daddy...your...your little girl wasn't...as strong as...you thought..."

She went limp. The last thing she saw was a dark figure as it loomed over her.

"Hello, Death...it would be nice...to fight you..."

Sometime later...

She was sure was dead. She even saw the Grim Reaper stand over her as her body gave out.

But why did it feel like she was in bed?

Esdeath opened her eyes to find herself in an ambiently lit room. On her right was a small wooden table. It was covered with a large amount of medical supplies that looked recently used. The room's source of light was a candle lamp on the bedside drawer. The bed itself was in a corner of the room. In front was an old-looking bookshelf filled with dusty books and some jars filled with...something. It was too dim to see.

After surveying her surroundings, she immediately remembered her wound and pulled off the blanket to check it.

It was gone. As if it never happened at all. There were no sutures or pain either. Her skin looked as immaculate as ever.

Then she realized another thing.

She was butt-naked.

"KYAAAHH!" she screamed as she quickly reached for the blanket and covered herself. A few seconds later, the nearby door opened.

"Ooohh! Darling! You're finally awake! It's a miracle that little rascal found you in time! It would be a shame if a gorgeous woman like you were to-" an effeminate voice said as Esdeath immediately started throwing the medical equipment at the person.

"PERVERT! HOW DARE YOU UNDRESS A WOMAN WITHOUT HER PERMISSION!" she screamed as she threw what she could grab from the table as hard as possible.

"Ouch! Hey! Darling, those cost plenty! That disinfectant was expensive! Not the cotton! That was a premium brand!" the person said as they dropped to the floor and shielded their face with their arms.

"When I get off this I'll-wait a minute..." Esdeath stopped herself from throwing the candle lamp as she noticed something familiar about the man. His hair looked familiar, together with his attire, which was an old-looking, but clean labcoat over an equally-old yellow suit. Even his voice sounded very familiar.

The she saw his hands.

He was wearing Perfector!

"Stylish?! D-Doctor Stylish?!"

Stylish got up and fixed himself.

"Yes darling that's me! The magnificently fabulous Doctor Stylish!" he said as he pirouetted and did a "voila" gesture "I take it you've heard of me from a friend of yours? Well, whoever it is I'm always happy to meet new clients!"

Esdeath was befuddled. Didn't he recognize her?

"Stylish...don't you remember me? At all?"

"What do you mean, darling? Have we met before? I'm very certain that this the first time I've had you as a client, gorgeous," he replied as he put a hand on his hip in the most flamboyant way possible.

"Oh brother...him too, huh? Well, at least you're still alive...somehow," she thought as she sighed.

"Well, anyway. I think it's time you meet your savior, beautiful!" he said as he opened the door and called out. "Makoto, darling! Your damsel is awake!"

"'Makoto'? No...it can't be him..." she thought as the Boy-Emperor was the first thing that came up in her mind. It was probably a kid with the same name.

At that moment, a young boy dressed in a hooded jacket with a sling bag and shorts and sandals meekly walked into the room. He had the exact same hair and face as the Boy-Emperor.

"H-Hi, ma'am," he meekly said as he looked down.

"The Emperor! Wh-What the-?!"

Esdeath looked on in surprise, speechless.

"Prince Charming over here found you in an alley with a nasty puncture on your left abdomen with a lot of unsightly cuts! And just in time too! You were basically swimming in a pool of blood!" Stylish said in a still-upbeat tone. "Luckily my clinic was just nearby!"

"Hmph," Esdeath thought as she smiled. "Looks like it's not today, Death."

"Thank you, Makoto. I owe you a lot."

He blushed. Esdeath might be a fucked-up person, but she couldn't believe that Honest let this young kid be his puppet. Not to deny that it worked since he believed every word he told him, but she believed that he deserved a proper childhood. Although if that was the case, she probably would have never been promoted to general if his parents were the ones in charge.

"Anyway, since you're all fixed up, you can leave if you want. But if you wanna rest then be my guest!" Stylish said cheerfully. "Just tell me, honey. I'm going to check for replacements for the supplies you threw at me."

Before leaving, Stylish knelt down to Makoto and whispered to him. Soon after, Esdeath and him were left together.

"Sooo...ummm...that was awkward..." he said as he slowly walked a little closer to the bed.

"Dr. Stylish is always like that," Esdeath said, trying not to intimidate him. "By the way, Makoto. What were you doing in an alley here in this city? As far as I know there's a lot of scum 'round here."

"I don't think I can tell you why until you've answered my questions first, ma'am."

Esdeath was slightly surprised by his statement.

"Okaaay...ask away, then," she said as she eyed him suspiciously.

Makoto looked at the door and composed himself before turning back to her.

"Why did you break into the Imperial Palace and steal a Teigu?"

Esdeath's eyes widened.

How did he see all that?

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you get dragged out a carriage by some Military Police. You and the driver killed them and hid the bodies..."

Esdeath looked at him with her mouth agape as he continued talking.

"The next time I saw you you scaled a building and tree and jumped the wall. A few minutes after that, that's when I found you in the alley."

Esdeath took a few seconds to process the information.

"I...I wanted to find some answers..."

"Answers to what?"

"To why everything's like this! Nothing here is how I remember it! I was a general in the Imperial Army, the strongest soldier as well. I led a special unit that hunts down a highly-trained rebel assassin group. Stylish was killed by them! And you...you're supposed to be the Emperor!" she said, her voice getting progressively more upset.

Makoto's eyes widened at the last statement.

"I'm sorry. I...I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You reacted to the last thing I said, Makoto..." Esdeath said to him as she leaned closer. "...were you the Emperor before the Revolutionary Army took over?"

He closed his eyes and sighed.

"No, ma'am. But you've answered my question already, even if I didn't get it, so I guess I should answer yours."

Makoto looked to the side.

"I'm...I'm a courier for the Path of Freedom, you see. I pass by the alleys and stuff so I can pass information discreetly between the cells we have here in the Capital."

Esdeath listened in silence.

"They mostly use kids for this kind of job in the cities."

"Oh. That explains the bag...and...well...you."

There was dead air for a moment.

"Umm...ma'am? Can I ask you something?" he said as he looked at her again.

"Yes?"

"Th-That Teigu you stole...do you know how to use it?"

Esdeath pondered. Technically she did, being a master with the rapier and all, but the rapier was a Teigu itself. The only Teigu she knew how to use effectively was Demon's Extract, which she didn't have anymore to her chagrin.

"Well, it's a rapier. I'm good with those. But considering it's a Teigu...no I don't know what it can do."

"Maybe you could..." he said as he twiddled his fingers behind his back and stood on his toes nervously. "...maybe you could join us? The Path is kinda in dire need of members at this point..."

"Join the Path of Freedom?" Esdeath thought. She was expecting the question ever since he mentioned being a member.

"If you...uhhh...don't want to it's fine. Just please don't tell anyone I'm a member. Although they might hunt you down if they found out that you have a Teigu."

"That's not a threat, is it?"

"No! I'm sorry...it's just...word gets around here really quick..." he said, afraid.

Esdeath considered her current status:

- It was evident that no one knew her, as if she never existed

- Her army was nowhere to be found

- The rebels won the war somehow

- She was now a fugitive due to what transpired in the Palace

- She lost her Teigu and is currrently stuck with one that she doesn't know how to use

Bingo.

There was only one option.

Her army might be gone, the Empire might be defeated, but knowing that she survived a near-death scenario convinced her that she still had a duty to do.

Give the New Revolutionary Empire the asskicking it deserved..

"Looks like I'm still getting my big battle. You rebels might have won the war against the Empire, but you haven't won your war with me!"

"You know what, Makoto?" she said to the nervous boy. "I think I'll take you up on that offer."

"Y-You're joining us?"

"Are you deaf, boy? Consider it my way of repaying the debt."

Makoto's eyes lit up.

"Th-Thank you...we really need all the people we can get."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We need to get going. Can you call Stylish over?"

"O-Oh. Yes, of course."