Kaguya moved through the forest like a phantom, her steps light and graceful. With just a tap of her foot, she danced through the woods, seemingly slow yet incredibly fast, reaching far-off distances in the blink of an eye, almost as if she were teleporting.
She had been traveling for about half a day and should have caught up by now, but there was still no sign of her target, nor of the Imperial Army. The only thing she had encountered were corpses buried in the snow.
Just as Kaguya was beginning to feel puzzled, she suddenly heard the faint sounds of battle coming from a distance. Frowning slightly, she vanished and headed swiftly toward the source of the noise.
When she arrived, she found two groups locked in a fierce battle, and the combatants on both sides surprised her.
One side was Night Raid. Most of the members were present, except for the injured Mine and the missing Leone. Akame, Sheele, Lubbock, and Najenda were there, along with someone Kaguya had never seen before.
This new person had blue hair and a somewhat handsome face, but what was odd were the two horns on his head. He was dressed in black combat gear under a white cloak and wielded a heavy club.
Kaguya paused for a moment upon seeing him, trying to recall if such a person had ever been a part of Night Raid. But then she dismissed the thought, realizing who it might be. No, it wasn't a person—he was a Teigu, specifically Najenda's humanoid biological Teigu, Susanoo.
This Teigu was one of the rare humanoid types, and only two such Teigu had ever been seen: Susanoo, standing before her, and Koro, Seryu's dog-type biological Teigu.
Though these two belonged to different categories, they shared a common trait: immense strength. Koro, for instance, elevated Seryu, who had only second-rate combat skills, into the ranks of elite fighters. Seryu's ability to defeat both Mine and Sheele at the same time was a testament to her Teigu's power.
Susanoo, however, was even more formidable. He was one of the strongest in Akame ga Kill!, despite being just a Teigu. His power was extraordinary, and in his berserk state, he could even contend with Esdeath. Although he was ultimately killed by her, he was still incredibly strong.
But what intrigued Kaguya more was that Susanoo was practically a domestic expert—a househusband of sorts. In addition to his fighting prowess, his abilities in household chores were unparalleled: cooking, cleaning, and laundry were all within his skillset. If Susanoo weren't male, Kaguya might have considered wanting a Teigu like him herself.
On the other side, and unsurprisingly, was the Imperial Army, led by Dr. Stylish and his Stylish Squad—enhanced humans who had undergone modifications. There were over a hundred of these enhanced beings, all of them wearing masks, their muscular upper bodies exposed. They possessed incredible strength and vitality, making them almost impossible to kill unless their heads were severed or their hearts destroyed.
Standing beside Dr. Stylish was a man with a hood over his head, his muscular upper body bare, looking like a bank robber. He carried what appeared to be a flamethrower on his back.
If Kaguya was correct, this man was likely Bols, a member of the Imperial Army.
Bols was not particularly powerful among the Imperial forces. His Teigu, Rubicante, was essentially a flamethrower capable of emitting flames that could not be extinguished with water and could also shoot magma over long distances. His trump card was a large-scale self-destruction attack, essentially a massive area-of-effect skill.
This made him somewhat useful in large-scale battles, especially in wars between armies, but in one-on-one combat against elite fighters, he was at a disadvantage.
However, these factors were not what made Kaguya take notice of him. What truly caught her attention was that this effeminate-looking man had a beautiful wife and an incredibly adorable daughter—a fact that defied Kaguya's expectations and left her speechless.
That said, Bols wasn't truly a bad person. Compared to the other sadistic killers in the Imperial Army, he was one of the better ones.
The other person in the Imperial Army that surprised Kaguya was a handsome man with a strong physique, clad in gleaming armor and wielding a long spear. He looked both heroic and formidable.
He was none other than Prince Syura, the prince of the Northern Tribes whom Kaguya had previously defeated. What was he doing here, fighting on the side of the Imperial Army? Shouldn't he have returned to the North by now?
As Kaguya observed Syura more closely, her brows furrowed. Although he looked almost the same as before, there was something off about him. His expression was blank, his eyes dull, and his movements sluggish—he didn't seem like the man she had first met. Now, he looked less like a person and more like a puppet.
A puppet?
Kaguya felt a shiver run down her spine as a startling thought crossed her mind. Could it be...
Had Syura been mentally controlled, or worse, turned into a puppet?
It wasn't impossible. Considering Dr. Stylish's reputation as a mad scientist, and given that he was also a sadist, it was entirely possible that he had taken advantage of Syura's weakened state after Kaguya's near-fatal blow and turned him into one of his creations. After all, Syura was now nothing more than a defeated prince; his army of forty thousand had already been obliterated by Kaguya.
The more Kaguya thought about it, the more likely it seemed. With her understanding of the madmen in the Imperial Army, it was completely plausible that they would do something like this. And with Syura having lost all value, there would be no reason to hold back.
After watching the battle for a while, Kaguya decided to leave. The two sides were evenly matched, and the fight wouldn't be over anytime soon. She had more important matters to attend to.
But just as Kaguya was about to turn and leave, she noticed a subtle change in the battlefield.
Something seemed to have gone wrong on Night Raid's side. One by one, their members began to falter, their movements sluggish and unsteady, as if they were drunk, before collapsing to the ground. The only one unaffected appeared to be Susanoo.
What was happening?
The situation had developed in a way that Kaguya hadn't anticipated. How could the members of Night Raid suddenly fall like that? Did the Imperial Army have some kind of secret weapon?
Kaguya's brows furrowed deeply as she pondered the situation. Suddenly, a thought struck her. Could it be...