"..." There was complete silence except for Aria's whining and most people were looking at Akashi who was trying to look as shocked as he could.
Tatsumi, on the other hand, didn't know how to feel, his sword his pierce the bitch that tortured his friends but it wasn't with his own hand. He also recovered from his confusion and slowly backed away from Akashi since he was unarmed right now and he really thought that Aria is Akashi's future wife.
"Aria!" Akashi suddenly exclaimed while running to her with a "concerned" expression.
Poney and Kurome couldn't help but look at that sight with a blank look in their faces.
"A-Akashi, help me, please! It hurts!" Aria said while tears were constantly pouring down her cheeks.
"Don't worry, I can treat your wound. But I need you to trust me and let me pull that sword out." Akashi said with a reassuring smile.
"I- Won't I bleed out?" Aria asked between her sobbing.
"Don't worry, I won't let you die by bleeding out!" Akashi said with a gentle smile and Aria just nodded her head and relaxed her body.
However, when Akashi took a grip of the hilt, his lips curled up into a slightly ridiculing smile but before Aria was about to even absorb it.
Akashi instead of pulling the sword to his side, he pulled it upwards while the sword was still inside her, making her entire body split in half if it wasn't connected by her waist.
"Huh?" *Splash* Aria was surprised by this but she still didn't get what happened until she stopped feeling her entire body and until she saw blood spray from her all around. Of course, not even a drop of blood has fallen on Akashi who was being protected by his flames.
'Letting blood of your enemies splash on you can also be viewed as some kind of respect but I definitely don't want even a drop of her filthy blood on my clothes' Akashi thought in position with the sword still facing the sky.
"..." No one said anything since the entire series of events was extremely weird to them.
Akashi turned around and saw most people looking at him with either confused expression or blank expression.
"Oops? My hand slipped...a little bit." Akashi said with a completely stoic expression before he threw the sword back to Tatsumi, making it pierce the ground just near his feet, startling him a bit.
'How can your hand slip so badly?!' Everyone wanted to shout at him but even Tatsumi by now knew that there was something very wrong here. Now that he thought about his "fight" with Akashi, he wasn't even trying to injure him and he was constantly positioning so such a situation could be created.
"*sigh* I guess I will need to find a new wife now..." Akashi sighed and muttered with a sad expression while looking at Aria's corpse.
"Can I join the queue~?!" Since it dawned on Leone that Akashi wasn't really standing against them, she decided to play along and shouted while raising her hand.
"Leone?!!" Akame exclaimed with a shocked expression.
'He is handsome and powerful, if I can drag him to our side it would be worth it~. Well, I also didn't really hate our little chase game.' Although Leone was joking, if there was even a speck of chance Akashi agreeing to her proposal, she wouldn't back away.
"Wait...I still have her mother" Akashi completely ignored Leone and continued muttering while holding his chin.
"?!" Everyone's eyes widened in horror when they heard him but Kurome and Poney only glared at him...even usually so obedient Kurome glared at Akashi, this only showed how bad joke it was.
"...Chill out, I was just joking" Akashi said while throwing both Poney and Kurome a weird look.
"*Huff* *Huff* Guys! Ah! Here you are!" Suddenly a new person arrived, completely out of breath while pointing at Akashi with her weapon.
"Sheele?" Everyone from Night Raid muttered while giving her a strange look.
"He took my target and run away with her..." Sheele explained but when she looked around one more time she noticed a weird atmosphere here, no one was exactly hostile but it was full of unknown people who were feeling tense.
'What is happening here?' Sheele dropped the matter of catching Akashi and instead thought.
"A-Akashi? You said that you have her mother...would you be so kind as to give her to us so we can perform our justice?" Leone asked with an embarrassed smile.
"Justice? Don't speak about that after scamming that boy." Akashi said while pointing his sword at Tatsumi who at first looked surprised but after a moment he nodded with a serious expression and glared at Leone.
"Ha-ha, I didn't force him to give me his money...We also need fundings to live as assassins..." Leone released an awkward laugh before explaining while holding both of her hands in front of her, trying to calm Tatsumi.
"Maybe not directly but swinging your chest in front of his face definitely helped a lot and what matters the most is the thought and your goal was to scam him." Akashi said, adding fuel to the fire but Tatsumi who heard him blushed a little, receiving glares from Ieyasu and Sayo, although each had a different reason behind those glares.
"Wha-! How do you know that?! I mean- Why do you think so?" Leone exclaimed with a surprised expression before she regretted it.
"Grrr" Tatsumi began gritting his teeth while clenching his fist but it was apparent that he wasn't truly angry at her since this way, he was at least able to find his friends.
"Anyway, I am not giving her to you and I recommend you to disappear as soon as possible if you don't want to force me to fight you" Akashi said with a fearless smirk while standing in front of 3 Teigu users and 1 cunning tactician.
'Still, his cockiness is a bit annoying...I really wonder if he would be able to take on 4 of us at once...Anyway, we should really return before Imperial Police shows up. The only thing missing is that girl's mother and...What to do with those kids? They need a place to recover from their injuries.' Leone thought while clicking her tongue in frustration.
"What are you planning to do with that girl's mother?" Leone asked with narrowed eyes. She definitely doesn't want to let that woman live.
"That's none of your business but you will probably discover it tomorrow morning or maybe even tonight since I bet you have your own spies among the Imperial Police. However, I can guarantee you that she will die." Akashi replied, unbothered by Leone's slightly aggressive tone.
"...*sigh* Alright, I will trust your word." Leone sill remembered Najenda's warning so they decided to believe his words. She gestured to Sheele to help her pick up Ieyasu and Sayo while she herself caught Tatsumi by his nape and started carrying him like a kitten.
"Wha-! What are you doing?!" Tatsumi immediately started shouting and kicking around with his legs.
"You need a place for your friends to recover, no? Of course, we will also provide you a job since you will no longer be able to leave our side once you know the location of our hideout~" Leone explained with a playful tone but Tatsumi's complaining only strengthened when he heard the restrictions.
"Wait! I need you to leave those 2 with me." Akashi stopped them from leaving while pointing at Ieyasu and Sayo.
"W-What?! No! We got separated once and this has happened, I won't be separated from my friends once aga-!" Tatsumi immediately snapped at Akashi but before he was able to finish, he received karate chop from Akashi and he lost consciousness. Leone who had someone in her care knocked out didn't like it a bit so she looked at Akashi with a look of expecting answers.
"He wouldn't leave them here and explaining everything is annoying. I need them as witnesses. I don't care what you want to do with them but if you want to take care of them, I have to borrow them for a while and then return them to you without any further harm. I swear that on my family's name." Akashi explained and Leone already got the gist of the whole thing Akashi was trying to accomplish so she just nodded and beckoned her friends to retreat while carrying Tatsumi in her hand. Their injuries weren't that bad to begin with it was just continuous tortures left them without any energy and strength.
---
"Poney...Kurome" Akame on the side couldn't say anything to those 2 but she still called out their names.
"Don't worry about me, Akame. I chose this myself, just like yourself. And...I don't blame you for what you have done...you have done whatever was necessary" Poney took the lead and said to Akame.
"...I still haven't forgiven you, big sis. But that also doesn't mean that I hate you." Kurome said with a calm expression and closed eyes while keeping her new weapon close to herself.
"...Thank you, both of you." Akame replied with a genuine smile and soft expression. Those words gave her more strength than one could even imagine. During her training in Night Raid, she kept thinking about those 2 and knowing that what she has been worrying about is alright, she felt like her heart was at peace but there was still one thing on her mind...
"Poney, have you heard anything about Najasho?" Akame asked with a serious expression.
"No...He has been missing for more than a month but The Empire couldn't afford to brand him as a traitor or deserter since their messengers never returned. I doubt Najasho wouldn't return if he could." Poney shook her head with a helpless expression.
"I see...Well, he is strong so I am sure that nothing bad happened to her" Akame said to reassure both herself and Poney before leaving together with her friends.
Akashi didn't forget to send a few Wrigglers after them but they were quite quickly discovered which wasn't that surprising since there were too many Teigu users in one place, not to mention Leone's enhanced senses. However, they had no idea those bug-like Danger Beasts belonged to Akashi.
---
Sayo and Ieyasu talked a bit with Akashi who also helped to treat their other minor injuries. Although they were a bit nervous to be around Akashi since they didn't fully absorb what happened here, they had no other choice but to be obedient. After a few minutes, Imperial Police finally arrived at the scene together with Seryu in lead. Of course, both Kurome and Poney took their leave while Akashi brought Aria's still unconscious mother.
"W-What happened here?! Akashi?!" Seryu asked while looking at the horrified sigh of Aria's corpse, her upper body cut vertical in half with only her waist holding those two parts from falling apart. The others in her team also began looking around but once some of them reached the warehouse, most of them began throwing up.
"...Night Raid...I was just on my way here in the middle of the night since I wanted to discuss our marriage with my future parents-in-law but when I arrived I noticed that they were being targeted by Night Raid. The only one I was able to save was Aria's mother and that was also due to extreme luck." Akashi explained while holding Aria's mother in his hands with a slightly sad expression while glancing at Aria's corpse before he closed his eyes and avoided that sight.
'?! How is he able to act so...shameless?! He is looking at that bitch with such genuine sad expression when he killed her just a few minutes ago!' Both Sayo and Ieyasu thought with a scared expression while looking at Akashi's "sad expression" but for them, it was just a mask for hiding his devilish smile.
"?! Night Raid?!!" Seryu's eyes widened and she took a fighting stance while looking around.
"Calm down...They ran away once their mission was done. Well, not exactly done since they failed to kill Aria's mother" Akashi reassured Seryu and she nodded after a few moments, relaxing her tense body once again.
"I see...But, what is that?" Seryu noticed her colleagues throwing up near the warehouse so she asked while pointing at the warehouse with a slightly trembling finger.
"That's something I have discovered when Night Raid ran away. I was trying to find some clues or tracks just to discover that...slaughterhouse. These two are the only ones who were in the state to be saved, there are still a few people inside but their mind is already shattered and most likely they also contracted countless fatal diseases, they are beyond help. Take a look at it yourself." Akashi explained and stood up while carrying Aria's mother and lead Seryu to the warehouse's entrance.
"?! What the-" Seryu's eyes once again widened in horror once she saw the content of the warehouse.
'...We have to avoid making Akashi our enemy at all costs!' Both Sayo and Ieyasu thought while looking at each other before they nodded their head, discovering that both of them were thinking about the same thing.