"* Thanks, Kurome. But what about Natala and Gin?*" Green whispered when he came back to Kurome and Akame's side, still with sore hands from the strings.
"*...They lost too much of blood, judging from the size of a puddle under them...*" Akame replied while warily watching the opposite group.
"*They won't make it...*" Kurome added a sentence that neither Akame or Green wanted to say.
Green was thinking about their offer but he couldn't bring himself to accept it right after 2 people from his group got killed. Despite not being big friends with them since they joined only recently, it would leave a bad taste in his mouth, however, if Akame wanted to, he wouldn't hesitate at all.
"*I wanted to take the signal gun from that guy's hand but there wasn't any opportunity to do it.*" Green whispered while gritting himself as if he was blaming himself for his incompetence.
"So? Are we doing it? The match..." The armored guy interrupted their talk once they reassured themselves that Najenda was fine. He stepped forward and his friends took a few steps back to create enough space.
"...I guess we can only trust your word that you will let us go once I win, right?" Kurome also stepped forward with a confident smile but her hand was grabbed by Akame who only looked worriedly at her without saying anything.
"*I have a plan, don't worry about me, just don't do anything stupid in case it will look like I am about to lose. It's not lost until I am truly dead.*" Kurome whispered back to Akame and put Akame's hand that was holding her own hand away.
"About that..." The armored guy instead of replying looked behind him at Najenda.
"You have my word but it's really nice to see how confident you are. I remember the first time we have met, you were also looking confident and strong while standing beside Akashi. However, on the first look, I immediately knew that you were looking so confident and strong only because you were standing beside him. This time...you look the same but for a whole different reason." Najenda said with a small smile.
"..." Kurome didn't reply to her words since she was aware that she was General which isn't the post that just anyone can obtain. Maybe even now she was trying to discover if Akashi isn't anywhere near so she was trying to make her talk about him and let some information slip by.
Kurome's, perhaps biggest weapon and reassurance was their ignorance of Akashi's presence. They weren't sure if he is here or not. Najenda might be even thinking that this is just Kurome's training but she is still being watched by Akashi.
"You know, I didn't have any chance to talk to Akashi ever since I deflected from the Empire. I made an offer to them, I know that all of you aren't happy with the current state of the Empire. Why don't you help us reform this Empire?" Najenda asked with a slightly sad smile while extending her hand towards them. This question was more intended for Kurome than Akame and Green but it also served to say that they can still join.
"Why do you think that we are unhappy with the current Empire? And do you seriously expect us to join you right after killing our comrades?" Kurome deemed that it wouldn't hurt to answer her questions.
"I know it from their eyes...there is so much doubt inside them, I was the same. Although I can't say the same for you, Kurome, I am sure that you aren't a bad person. And I can understand that expecting you to just join after seeing your comrades getting killed by us is just a pipe dream, I still don't want to kill someone who isn't happy with the current Empire and could help us instead." Najenda said her honest thoughts. She truly didn't want to kill someone like Akame who seemed to be growing stronger at an extreme pace. She also didn't want to kill strategist like Green, there aren't many people of his type out there. She was also aware that if both of them had Teigu, they would actually be able to hold their own against 3 of them.
You can't just find strong people who are recruitable every day.
"I don't know, how about them but if you want to talk about politics, it would be better to go talk with Akashi Nii-sama." Kurome said while glancing into the dense forest which didn't go unnoticed by Najenda.
'Is he really here? If yes, why didn't he show up? What's the game he is playing?' Najenda thought for a while before arriving at her answer to this situation.
'Let's just go along with the duel, those two will have enough time to think it through, no need to rush them or we will appear to be forcing them to join us. If Kurome asked for the duel, let's give it to her. However I am still not sure about Akashi's presence...I would actually like to talk to him, we weren't exactly close but he struck me as a reasonable fellow, unlike Esdeath.' Najenda thought while looking down at her metallic arm.
"Alright, let's forget it, for now, you wanted the duel, right? You will have it!" Najenda said with a strong voice and furrowed brows.
"Finally..." Kurome muttered as if she was getting bored by this talk and put her hand on the handle of her sheathed katana.
"Najenda, should I...?" The armored guy turned back at Najenda to ask something.
"No need to hold back, she wanted fair duel, she will have it!" Najenda immediately replied since she knew what he wanted to ask just from his hesitant tone.
'..."no need to hold back", huh? That's not the same as the order "Don't hold back". Does it mean that it's up to me? Haaa...' The armored guy thought with a complicated expression under his helmet.
"You heard her...Kurome, right? If you will be able to injure me, we will no longer pursue you today." The armored guy said with a calmer tone as if he was just about to spar with an acquaintance instead of an enemy.
However this caused Kurome only to narrow her eyes since it looked like he was looking down on her.
"Yes but I guess you won't tell me your name, right?" Kurome said while getting into a position to rush at him at any time. She was still trying to get some additional information from them.
"I am sorry, I know this is very rude out of me but I am unable to tell you." He replied with genuine regret in his voice.
"Then let's get it over with!" Kurome said and bent her knees with her right leg back and left leg forward. She was leaning slightly forward with completely relaxed shoulders while resting her right hand on the handle of her katana.
'Her sister said that she has no chance which usually means that she is weaker than her but her posture is perfect, even better than her sister's...However, posture doesn't make up for speed and strength.' The armored guy wasn't thinking about going all out against someone who looked even younger than the girl he just fought a few minutes ago. However, if the situation required so, he wouldn't hold anything back.
He also got into his defensive position while keeping the shaft of his spear under his right armpit, with the tip of the spear facing the ground behind him while his left arm was stretched out in front of him.
'My biggest chance for a win is in the beginning by surprising him with my speed. He seems to be underestimating me which is good for me. But that doesn't mean I have no chance even after I fail...So be it!' Kurome thought out her first attack and while the atmosphere between those two was getting tense, she stealthily moved her left hand into her pocket while trying to keep eye contact with her enemy, unfortunately, she had no idea if he was looking into her eyes due to his helmet.
He almost got caught up while looking into Kurome's eyes but he still noticed her left hand slowly going into her pocket. But he was still surprised by how she was able to use such creative distraction.
'Now!' Since Kurome was unable to see his eyeballs and where he was looking at, she just imagined herself in front of her and at which moment she would notice her own act. At what moment she would look at her own left hand inside the pocket.
*Whoosh* Kurome kicked off the ground with everything she got and slashed her katana even before she arrived in front of him, aiming at his armpit.
'Wha?!!!' The guy was shocked by her speed and he no longer had time to block her slash with his weapon so he put his left forearm in front of her blade to block it, thinking that her weapon is at the similar level as those others were using.
*Crack*
After their exchange, the armored guy remained standing at his original position without moving a bit while Kurome stood a few meters behind him, both of them were standing to each other with their back first.
Small bits of armor have started falling down from the guy's forearm.
"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed when they saw the result with their wide-open eyes.
"Huh?" This completely took him by surprise but there was only a small nick on his skin, there wasn't even any blood. Now was the question if this could be taken as an injury or not.
'Wasn't that Iaido back then? My former martial arts master was well-versed at laido technique. No...forget about that for now...Was that first attempt to distract me just a bait for me to pay even more attention to the second and real distraction? This girl...her sister has said that she has no chance of taking me on alone, was this also just the attempt to make me drop my guard down?' The armored guy thought while he was glancing behind him at Kurome's back with wide-open eyes under his helmet. He tore his eyes away from Kurome just to glance at others but when he saw Kurome's sister expression, he was shocked once again.
'She...She is shocked?! Even her sister didn't know how strong she is? These sisters are truly talented, we must rope them in. Anyway, recruiting comes later, now I should focus on our duel. Her weapon might even be Teigu, it's definitely sharper than their weapons, to be able to cut through defenses of my Incursio. It could have been also caused by laido technique which is very dangerous in itself.' The guy thought with a much calmer mind this time.
'I knew that Akashi was training her and keeping her always by his side so I knew that she is going to be strong but to this extent!' Najenda thought with an opened mouth in surprise.
'...Is this result of her training under Akashi? ...I hope he didn't use any drugs on her!' Akame was also surprised but she also noticed that the armored guy's reaction time was slightly off. She had to admit that Kurome was fast but she still thought that it wasn't enough to make him hesitate like that.
Everyone was surprised how she was able to crack an opening inside his armor and most of them thought that she just caught him off guard but only he himself stared at Kurome in disbelief because of her well thought out strategy.
However that wasn't everything...
'...Wait, how was she able to distract me and predict when to attack without having sight on my eyeballs?!' This fact shocked him the most!