Chereads / A skeleton's journey / Chapter 51 - Yosif joins the fray

Chapter 51 - Yosif joins the fray

[With Tatsumi and Leone]

Leone and Tatsumi was heading towards by the targeted building here their targets are supposed to be. Hopping on rooftops after rooftops, Leone suddenly stops mid-jump making Tatsumi bump into her nearly causing both of them to fall off.

Tatsumi: Ow! What was that about Leone?

Leone: *sniff* *sniff* Something's wrong...

Tatsumi: What is it?

Leone: It's blood... coming from where our targets are!

They double their pace and charges straight through the door instead of sneaking in. Leone's suspicion was spot on. They were already dead. Mutilated bodies were everywhere inside with guts clinging on the walls painted with blood. All the furniture were smashed to bits with part of the ceiling missing, likely the entry point of the culprits. They check room after room to find no sign of life whatsoever. Leone remembers an important note about this group of drugs dealer and kicks down the basement door where the enslaved girls are supposed to be kept. Tatsumi rubs his eyes at the bizarre scene in front of him. 2 Executioners were down there putting the girls to sleep and tucking them in blankets. Leone turns around and sees an angel of death crashing through the windows carrying a bunch of documents before hearing more noises downstairs as she barely catch sight of the 2 executioners disappearing in flames.

Leone: Tatsumi...do you know what this means?

Tatsumi: Mission complete?

Leone: Our missions are compromised! WE NEED TO FIND MINE AND SHEELE!

[With Mine and Sheele]

Mine and Sheele has already finished dealing with their targets and were heading to the meeting point crossing through the park. Coincidentally, Seryu was also there going out for overtime patrol and spotted the 2. She remembered Yosif's words and tried to yell at them to halt to which Mine freaks out and shot Pumpkin at her. Luckily, Koro transformed in time and blocked the shot which left a lot of hole in it though they regenerate quite quickly. Seryu swiftly draws her tonfa guns and open fire as Mine and Sheele dodge to the sides. Koro then goes for Sheele spinning in the air like a mobile blender but was cut down by Extase. Being an organism-based teigu, that didn't do much to Koro as it merges itself together before growing 2 long muscular arms(gross) and begin pummeling full force. While Sheele was occupied blocking the barrage of punches from Koro, Seryu used the time to call for reinforcements via whistle. Sheele realizes that fighting Koro isn't worth it and dashes straight for Seryu activating Extase's gleam emitting a blinding light. *CLANG* However, the attacked was completely blocked without any effort and Extase was locked in place by a sword. The light dies down revealing someone none of them anticipated. Standing in front of Seryu wearing charred black armor was none other than Yosif(he is wearing the same suit of armor when Mine shot him in his office so they could recognize him)

Me: I'm afraid i can't let you do that.

Seryu/Sheele/Mine: C-C-CAPTAIN YOSIF!

Me: The one and only.

Mine: N-no t-this can't be... I SAW YOU DIED!

Me: Hah! If you think a little lightshow can kill me then you're truly a mighty fool.

Sheele: 2...arms?

Me: It's wonderful how technology has grown, isn't it? SERYU, focus on Mine, i'll take care of Sheele!

With Seryu still having her tonfa guns and Koro barely damaged, Mine has to push herself to the limit just to avoid the attacks. Meanwhile Sheele is locked in a swordfight er... sword and scissors fight with me. Although Sheele is considerably nimble and has a lot of dexterity compared to most people but that doesn't mean shit to me because i'm not "most people". Not to mention how i was trained by Gozuki all those months ago too, Sheele isn't only lacking strength but skills as well. The only real problem here is that my sword, which is made of platinum and was bybretrieved one of my phantom from a bandit hideout, it's nowhere near as durable as a teigu. And i can't reveal Damascus yet so decide to flaunt Spectator instead. Anticipating Sheele's next attack, i purposely break my sword blocking it to make her thinks that she has an opening. Sheele's eyes widen midair as i put Spectator on my helmet and proceed to dodge her attack. It was already easy to dodge Sheele's attacks without Spectator and now with it activated, i'm quite equivalent of "i'm 4 parallel universes ahead of you." Mine was finally overwhelmed by Seryu's assault and got grazed in shoulder with bullets as Koro manages to smack her hard into a tree breaking one of her arms making her unable to use Pumpkin effectively. This has distracted Sheele enough for me to give her a roundhouse kick into a boulder.

Mine: AH! SHEELE!

Me: I'd say we have 4 minutes before reinforcements get here.

Seryu: YES! Justice prevails again *non-maniacal smile* We did it mr Yosif!

Sheele: *cough* Mine *cough* RUN FOR IT! EXTASE!

Sheele activates Extase's trump card again only this time it was much brighter that it even blinded Koro. But with Spectator i wasn't really affected as i walk up to Sheele yanking Extase out of her hands, spin it around before slamming it with all my might into the ground next to her head. I positioned myself so that my back was facing Mine and Seryu so in their perspective, i just killed Sheele where in reality i just knocked her out with a light kick. Turning to where Mine is, i see that she has ran quite a distance during the distraction as she glare daggers at me, gritting her teeth cursing before escaping.

Seryu: She's getting away! We must chase her mr Yosif!

Me: No need for that Seryu, we have already done more than enough. Besides, the rest of Night Raid was probaly waiting for them so it's meaningless either way.

Seryu: Oh...i guess you're right.

Me: Good, now help me carry Extase back to my place, i'll get Sheele.

Seryu: Wait what? *look at Sheele's unconscious form* EEEHHHH! SHE'S STILL ALIVE?

Me: Oi keep it down, we're trying to avoid attention here.

Seryu: But why aren't we killing her?

Me: Did you seriously forget how corrupted the damn empire is and that Night Raid is doing everybody a service getting rid of some of the rotten apples?

Seryu: So Night Raid is representing justice and the empire is the evildoers?

Me: Close but not quite. Night Raid might want to help the people but they're supporting the wrong people being the revolutionary, those bastards can barely govern a city let alone the entirety of the empire, they just desire more power. So that's why you and i along some of my associates are taking things into our own hands.

Seryu: I'll do everything it takes to deliver justice... though if so why did we fight Night Raid?

Me: Just like you and i, they all hold resolve in their ways and can't be easily convinced which is why this is necessary. My house may look ordinary on the outside but it has a hidden base in there which is more than enough to keep captured Night Raid members.

Seryu: Okay then, come on Koro let's go.

[With Night Raid]

Najenda was sorting out paperwork in her office and Bulat was working out new tactics with Lubbock and Akame munching on some late night snacks until they heard violent banging on the door. They all head downstairs and Najenda opens the door to see Leone out of breath panting with Tatsumi on the ground covered in dirt (Leone ran back at maximum overdrive which Tatsumi couldn't keep up with and she forcefully dragged him all the way back)

Leone: *huff* Boss *huff* emergency *huff*

Najenda: Steady yourself Leone, what happened?

Leone: *huff* Mission *huff* compromised *huff* *BIG BREATH* WHERE'S MINE AND SHEELE?

Najenda: They're...not back yet...oh god.

Lubbock: I sense someone! They're on the western side of base!

The group rush there with a slither of hope that Mine and Sheele made it back safely. They were relieved to see Mine but upon closer look, dread overtook each of them. She was bleeding a little bit from her shoulders with a broken arm and another arm dragging Pumpkin with her. Sheele was nowhere to be found.

Bulat: Mine...did Sheele... *Mine silently nods*

Me: Mine, who did this? AND WHERE ARE THEY! *gets bitchslapped by Bulat*

Bulat: Tatsumi revenge won't solve anything!

Mine: He came back...

Najenda: Who?

Mine: Captain Yosif...he's the one who killed her...

Everybody asides from Tatsumi feels a shiver travel down their spine at the mention of the name. They did try to ask around the incident to see if Yosif somehow survived getting shot but it was just ashes left in his office with no signs of his body. Now the grim truth comes out that Yosif has survived and now their mistake has came back to haunt them. However, Akame was surprised for a different reason being that she forgot about Yosif.

Akame: Yosif...I c-can't believe i f-forgot about him.

Najenda: Wait, you knew him Akame?

Akame: Yes...Back when i was still an assassin for the empire, we ran into Yosif while staying in a town called Deng Zhi. Cornelia, one of my former comrades ran into him and back then he claimed to be a "travelling chef". In fact, i learned how to cook from him.

Lubbock: He taught you how to cook!

Akame: If you think my cooking is good then his is on a whole new level. At first our leader Gozuki noticed how unusually skilled he was and suspected him to be a spy so we met him later at a market when he was shopping. It was then that we knew Yosif was by no means an ordinary cook.

Najenda: What did he do?

Akame: Just by taking a glance at us, he could already list all of the shingu we were carrying and even Murasame. Not only that, thanks to him we were able to intercept the assassins sent by the revolutionary back then. He even lost an arm to save Cornelia from their elites.

Bulat: How powerful was he back then?

Akame: I'd say Gozuki would've lost to him if they ever fought. Most of the time he just covered us and played a support role in battles instead of direct conflict. Despite only having one arm, he could singlehandedly take down a squad of trained soldiers. If anything, i can't fight him even now.

Leone: There's no way his swordsmanship is better than yours...right?

Akame: Maybe not but it's because i'm indebted to him.

Najenda: You're...indebted to him?

Akame: You see...my sister Kurome didn't make it in the Elite Seven and was sent to the dark squad instead where she had to take performance enhancing drugs. These drugs have horrible side effects and can harshly shorten the user's lifespan. If not for Yosif then Kurome would be addicted to the wretched thing.

Lubbock: How did he find a cure for something like that?

Akame: He killed an ultra class danger beast for the cure.

Najenda: K-killed an u-ultra class danger beast?

Akame: But his strength still doesn't end there. He had a company of knights with a total of 44 who's nearly as skilled as him. During a mission to fight the gravekeepers who can turn themselves into animals and danger beasts, they wiped the enemies out within even losing one of their own. Not to mention how Yosif controlled the elements just like Esdeath.

Mine: W-what?

Akame: He can bend fire, wind with ice to his will and tortured the leader of the gravekeepers for his heinous crimes. Yosif parted ways with us after that with his company of knights silently protecting us from the shadows. When i left to join the revolutionary there was only 4 left. Never would i have thought that there comes a day where i have to face him.

Najenda: I see... Now with another powerful enemy on the field, i think we will need to recruit more members. News of Esdeath returning has also reached our ears and i frankly don't know what to do at this point.

Akame: Boss...

Najenda: What is it Akame?

Akame: Can i...seek out Yosif?

Leone: WOAH THERE AKAME! I know how powerful Murasame is but you don't need to take him on alone like that.

Tatsumi: Akame we already lost Sheele you need to think straight!

Akame: No i'm not fighting him, i don't think i will ever be able to. Please give me a chance to convince him not to interfere.

Najenda: What makes you think that he will just leave us alone?

Akame: Yosif has stated before that he neither supports the empire or the revolutionary, he only supports the people. I'm sure i can persuade him to focus on the revolutionary instead of us if we only take out targets requested by the people themselves instead of HQ.

Najenda: The stubborn higher ups would never agree to that... But it's not like we have a choice at this point do we? Very well, you may go find Yosif but be careful, we can't afford to lose you.

Leone: Hey boss, why don't we all go?

Najenda: Eh?

Leone: You said it yourself didn't you. We can't afford to lose Akame, she's probaly the only person we have who can fight Esdeath. So why don't we all follow her, worst case scenario is that one of us lose a limb or two but there will be a higher chance of Akame making it out if things do go wrong.

Najenda: We will need to use the underground tunnels then, only Lubbock, Tatsumi and Leone hasn't been wanted yet so i, Bulat and Mine will stay underground nearby. Akame, try to blend in with the crowds, you need to be the one who talk to Yosif so you should stick with the others.

Akame: Yosif...why would you kill Sheele...

Total inventory:

Grenade launcher

Venus Magnum

Ascended Wraith set

Primordial's wrath: Damascus

Almighty Five Sights: Spectator

Diadem of supreme arcane might

15 copper 53 silver 38998 gold

Current familiars:

- Sergei the Armor Demon

- Victor the Soul Of Cinder