*Chirp* *Chrip* Kiyomi reported what she saw some distance away from the burning city.
'A battlefield? ...Did they burn the entire city just to force those Rebels out of their fortress? They are nuts and incompetent, so much for the so-called "glorious and strong Empire". Just a bunch of good for nothings who can't even penetrate one fortress. ' Akashi thought with furrowed brows.
'I just hope Kurome won't do anything stupid but the way she went after she was done indicated that she won't have time to come here, not until everyone else is dead.' Akashi looked towards the direction where Kurome should be.
His first day and sleep with the blindfold on were the worst since when he woke up he had no sense of direction but after a few days with it, he already got used to it and it wouldn't take long before he would even be able to "see" without his eyes open. Unfortunately, he can't disturb his training or everything will be for nothing, of course, that doesn't mean that he can't fight with his eyes closed. "See" refers to actually being able to see everything in its full colors, right now, he can only make outlines of the things around him.
"Kiyomi, find a good spot to land at, you should be able to resist the heat of these flames, right?" Akashi said and Kiyomi instantly followed without any complaints since she knew very well the intensity of the situation.
When they landed, Kiyomi quickly hid inside Akashi's shadow, despite having smoke and flames as a good curtain to hide behind, she was still quite large and someone could see her outlines through the flames.
'This...even if they wanted to massacre everyone, didn't they go a little bit overboard?' Akashi thought while looking around and he couldn't find anything else other than flames and running people who were on fire, constantly screaming in pain.
'Saving everyone or those who can still be saved is out of the question since it will look too suspicious. Plus, like they have a place to go and even if they have, the Empire might even catch them so saving only a few of them is safer for both me and them. Once Akame sees this, she will most likely defect or it will at least leave her on the edge.' Akashi thought while walking through the flames as if it was a walk through the park.
On the street, he stopped flames from eating one of the black cloaks, and then he put it on while putting on the hood just in case someone saw him.
Everywhere he passed by, the flames got weaker but none of them got extinguished.
"Look for survivors! We have our orders, don't let anyone leave this city!" Akashi heard shouting and it was apparent that they belonged to The Incineration Squad.
What he found interesting that he could control those flames and make them move out of his way or slow-burning but there were some flames he couldn't completely extinguish even if he wanted to. Of course, after using his other ability to drain something's temperature, he was able to put it out but he was unable to put it out with only his flame control alone.
'Those aren't ordinary flames at least some of them aren't. Anyway, looks like I have a company running around the burning town...definitely The Incineration Squad since they have flame resistance training. It's time for the distraction.' Akashi thought with a small smirk and summoned his other 2 bigger danger beasts.
"Isuku, Orochi, I want you to cause even bigger chaos by attacking those guys that are running around and burning everything. You also don't have to directly attack them, you can also just keep making a lot of noise for them to come after you and you can also attack them from afar. But don't go overboard, I just need a distraction, try to act as wild as you can so they think that you are just normal Danger Beasts, alright? Therefore you can't be too close to each other." Akashi explained to a Python-like Danger Beast of violet color with black stripes over its entire body and Gorilla-like Danger Beast with an unusual dark black fur with a few red strange markings over its face.
They quickly take a look around before turning at me and with a small nod, they both dashed in the opposite direction.
"Dad! Dad! Come on!"
"Brother! We can't move it, it's too heavy! Aaah~"
Just when Akashi was planning to go look into another area of the town, he heard a few screams of 2 children. The first one belonged to a boy that was shouting only out of desperation while the second one belonged to a girl who already started crying.
'Well, I need to start somewhere...' Akashi thought and made his way towards the small house but the entrance was barricaded by the flames and fallen wooden pillars.
"*sigh* Ready or not here I come..." Akashi approached the barricaded entrance with his hands in the pockets and said in a low voice before kicking out while hoping that no one is right behind the entrance.
*Bang*
"Wha-?!" The boy got a big scare when the entrance that was blocked until now suddenly got opened while wooden remains flew through the house.
"Please help us!!" The girl immediately ran up to cloaked Akashi who just came in and she hugged his waist.
"Kana! Get back here!" The boy quickly shouted at the girl with tears in his eyes.
Akashi ignored the girl and let her keep hugging him while he approached the boy while dragging the girl with him. He looked at what was the boy doing and he saw the outlines of what's happening.
"...He won't make it, the entire pillar went through his body, his bones are crushed and the only reason why he didn't bleed out yet is that pillar is still inside his body, preventing rapid bleeding." Akashi said while taking off his hood for the kids to see his blindfold.
"?! Waaah! *sob* *sob*" The girl began crying even more when she heard his words.
"?! How can you say that when you are blind!" On the contrary to the girl, the boy started shouting at Akashi with an angered expression.
"S-Stop Tetsu...H-He is right...I can't feel my...entire body. I love both of you, Tetsu, Kana." The man pierced by the pillar managed to say a few weak words while looking at the ceiling with an absent look in his eyes.
Both kids started crying when they heard their father's words.
The slowly dying man who suddenly heard his kids cry suddenly lost his absent look in his eyes and managed to look towards Akashi.
Akashi looked back at the man right at the same time, shocking the man but what shocked him, even more, was his next words.
"I don't promise anything. They will get a choice." Akashi said while looking at the man.
'...He knew what I wanted to say. And it doesn't feel like he is blind...maybe he is some kind of sage as the one in those stories for the kids, haha. Anyway, at least I know that he will try to save them, that's all that matters.' The man thought and with that, he breathed his last breath.
"Dad?! Daaad!!" The boy immediately started shaking with the body of his dead father, trying to wake him up.
*Steps* "Survivo-!" A man dashed inside the house and when he saw 3 people still alive, he wanted to shout to alarm others, however before he was able to finish it, a dagger pierced his throat which extremely scared the kids but after a while, they once again only focused on their father.
"Let's go." Akashi said but none of the kids moved away from their father.
"...No, not until dad wakes up." The boy said with a resolute voice while tears were pouring down his cheek.
"It wasn't a question." They could only hear Akashi's words before they collapsed on the ground, unconscious.
Before taking them out of the burning house, Akashi burned the father of those kids to the ashes and gathered them into a small battle.
When he was done, Akashi took each kid under his arms and when he was outside, he summoned Kiyomi.
"Take them somewhere safe for now, then quickly come back here." Akashi said while putting both kids onto Kiyomi's back.
*Chirp* Kiyomi nodded her head and tried to stealthily fly from the city under the curtain of smoke.
'That man had clothes belonging to the Dark Squad, Bill's special assassination unit enhanced by the drugs. So they are working together, The Incineration Squad is burning the city while Dark Squad is looking for the survivors. Let's hurry up and see if there are other people I can secretly save, although, it could also backfire me if I save them...Well, worries come later, for now, I should take care of that dead man.' Akashi thought and went back to the house where he killed the man belonging to the Dark Squad and burned him so no one can find him.
-------
Kurome met up with Akame and Green since both of them weren't going fast.
"Kurome, are you alright?" Akame asked while looking at Kurome's tattered clothes.
"Yeah, just a few scratches, nothing new. Anyway, I took care of the problem so no one will suspect you two or me. Are you both going towards the city?" Kurome replied while they were slowly traveling in one direction. She asked with a curious expression since she thought that their friends were inside the forest and not inside the city.
"Thanks once again, Kurome. And yes, we are going towards the city since it can be said to be our safe point." Green said with a grateful expression while looking at Kurome who just nodded her head to acknowledge it.
"Since when were you so strong? Did he stuff you with something...unpleasant?" Akame asked with a worried expression while looking straight into Kurome's black eyes.
"Please, have more confidence in me, big sis. And Akashi Nii-sama never forced me into anything and I am not using any drugs to enhance my strength either." Kurome replied with a gentle smile.
"Instead of strength...I think that your strategy was even better than your strength, without any offense of course." Green added with an impressed smile.
'This guy...I noticed how he looks at big sis...Does he love her? Is this also the reason why he is helping her despite knowing that she is suspect in the eyes of the Empire?' Kurome thought while examining a guy named Green more closely but her thoughts were interrupted when they finally exited the forest.
"Wha-! Why is the city...on fire?" Akame muttered with an absent-minded expression while looking at the burning city in the distance.
Her voice made both Green and Kurome wake up from their own thoughts and both looked in front of them just to be shocked by the burning city in the distance.
"A-" Green opened his mouth but nothing came out as he only stared in confusion.
"Akame, Green, you are finally here. We already thought that you are dead, your unit isn't inside the city anymore so you don't have to go there. I will give you directions on where your unit is instead." A man with black hair, wearing a standard Dark Squad uniform approached three of them and explained with a stoic expression. He threw a curious look at Kurome and then back at Akame but he didn't say anything more.
"Kylie? What is going on? Why is the entire city covered in flames?" Akame asked the newcomer named Kylie who was the current leader of the Dark Squad.
"That was the point of our operation, our goal was to eliminate everyone affiliated with the Rebels. This way we were also able to make their army leave their fortress and meet us head-on" He said with his stoic expression while looking at the horizon on the burning city.
"So you burned the entire city?! What about civilians?!" Akame turned at him and almost shouted at him with a shocked expression.
"...It seems that The Incineration Squad took it a bit too far. They massacred everyone to make an example out of them." He answered with narrowed eyes.
'...Kana, Tetsu' Akame thought about two kids she met not a few days ago, while she was looking at the city with a defeated look in her face.