#120 Beginning of the Darkness

After Kurome's duel was over, the armored guy helped her to trash the surroundings a bit, create a few pits with his spear and other signs of a battle.

"Thanks but that won't change my mind about joining." Kurome said with a small smile while looking towards her previous opponent.

"Stubborn, I already like you!" The armored guy said with a laid back voice while resting his spear on his shoulders.

"Is that guy named Akashi deciding everything for you? Why can't you decide for yourself?" The cloaked guy asked with a slightly irritated tone.

"I can decide for myself but not something like this, I have no reason to leave Akashi Nii-sama's side. Tell me one reason why I should abandon someone dear to me for joining your group." Kurome replied with a calm tone.

"Of course because it is righ-" The cloaked guy took a step forward and started speaking with a strong voice but he was stopped by Najenda.

"Stop, words won't change her mind. Kurome, can you relay a message to Akashi for me? I would like to meet him somewhere. If he will agree to meet me, tell him to come 10 kilometers south of the Capital at night. He can start a fire there and I will come in an hour." Najenda said while gesturing for the cloaked guy to back off, or more like she was shooing him away.

"...I will relay your message, I just hope it won't be a trap." Kurome said while taking a few things out of her pocket and gathering dry wood and grass to start a fire.

"I just want to talk to him, I promise I won't try anything against him." Najenda replied with a grateful smile and nod.

"Nah, I am hoping for your sake, Akashi Nii-sama doesn't like traps so if you truly just want to talk, I advise you not to create any backup plan because it will only be your downfall. And I don't want him to be angry at me for leading him into a trap." Kurome said while crunching down, trying to start a fire, it took her a few more tries before she created a spark and turned it into the fire.

"I know that you have just won the duel but don't you think it's too arrogant from-" The cloaked guy mumbled with an annoyed tone but he was once again stopped by Najenda.

"Don't...if possible, even I don't want to fight him. Anyway, that should be everything I wanted to tell you. We should move out before your spies arrive and see you talking with us." Najenda said and beckoned both her allies to retreat with her.

Najenda waved at Kurome before leaving first and the cloaked guy just took a look at Kurome before following after Najenda while the armored guy remained for a while just to give her thumb up before following after his allies.

---

"Why was she starting a fire? Was she trying to signal her position to her allies?" The cloaked guy asked while they were running away from there.

"I think you are too wary of her, she isn't like the others, Lubbock" The armored guy said to the cloaked guy named Lubbock.

"And how can you be so sure?! You are always like that, Bulat!" Lubbock got rid of his hood just to reveal his shoulder-length green hair. He shook his head with a helpless smile while he was talking to the armored guy named Bulat.

Bulat undid his armor and only a sword with a chain attached to the handle remained in his hand.

"I fought her, there is no better way to get to know someone's heart other than a fair clash of weapons. Maybe you were unable to feel that black-haired guy's heart and true intentions but that's because you aren't a true warrior. It's just unfortunate that we had to kill even those 2, their hearts also weren't bad..." Bulat said with a slight regret in his voice.

"Maybe their nature wasn't bad but they were stuffing themselves with drugs and I know units full of people like them. The Empire brainwash soldiers like them so we wouldn't be able to get them to fight for us even if they felt that it is the right thing to do. Plus we wouldn't even be able to cure them, their life span was already small thanks to those drugs." Najenda finally spoke out. She was once general of this corrupted Empire so she knew very well the things happening behind the curtain of the dark side.

Both Bulat and Lubbock looked at each other with a slightly surprised look before looking down with a pity visible in their expression.

"Maybe it was better that you killed them and let them leave this world as brave fighters even if they were fighting on the opposite side. As for Kurome's actions...I have an idea but I am not sure so let's forget it for now. This mission can be called success but not because we killed those two but because we were able to meet Kurome's sister and that strategist guy. Both of them might join us in the future and I also hope so." Najenda continued with a smile while looking forward with a determination in her eyes.

'Maybe he wasn't truly there...Kurome...she has become really strong and her usage of strategies in battle, her usage of our worries against us...she is unfathomable.' Najenda thought with a mysterious smile across her face.

---

'That should do!' Kurome thought and nodded with a smile while looking around the clearing that was covered by scorched ground and ashes of burned things.

'I am sorry for borrowing your name in this way, Akashi Nii-sama. In the end, I still have to depend on you.' Kurome thought with a slightly sad smile but she quickly recovered from it.

---(Around 20 minutes ago)---

Akashi and Kiyomi were on their way when Kiyomi reported seeing 3 people walking alone in the forest.

Akashi asked for their description since he didn't want to take his blindfold off and stop his training. Kiyomi immediately described those people.

'Gravekeeper, perhaps? And that blonde woman with metallic gauntlet...is that Cornelia? There is no evidence of her death so it's possible but right now we have no time to deal with them, plus I have no reason to meddle with them.' Akashi thought while holding his chin.

"Ignore them, continue flying towards the place I mentioned before. It is only around 20 kilometers away from here. Also, don't forget to maintain our current altitude so no one can detect us, you have sharp eyes enough to see what's going on the ground but not all humans are able to notice us." Akashi instructed and Kiyomi just chippered before picking up her speed.

'It's really weird how she can release cute sounds of normal birds despite her size and even fearsome appearance, of course, that doesn't mean that she is ugly, quite contrary.' Akashi thought with a weird expression on his face.

After a few minutes of flying, Kiyomi reported that she sees 4 humans and one of them is Kurome.

Akashi once again asked for the situation and their descriptions.

*chirp* *chirp*

'I see, that must be Najenda, she knows about Kurome so she wouldn't dare to kill her without any good reason. By what Kiyomi described to me, it looks like they just ended their fight but only Kurome and that armored guy participated in it. By the way...that armored guy might be that imperial officer who ran away from the Capital with the help of Teigu.' Akashi thought and didn't take any action of interfering since he couldn't feel any killing intent in the air, despite them being really high in the sky, his senses were strengthened like never before so he would be able to feel something potent like killing intent. Not to mention that his senses were already good to begin with.

Kiyomi continued describing what's happening while flying in the circles.

'Looks like they have some kind of deal but...according to Kiyomi's intel, Gin and Natala who we rescued in those tombs already died and are now lying down there. I was already expecting Najenda to take action since Mera said that their deal is over. She had to reduce numbers of that fearsome assassination unit.'

*Sniff* *Sniff* "Is that a fire?" Akashi muttered and Kiyomi immediately explained what Kurome was doing.

"Haha, this girl, I am really proud of her but at the same time I am a little angry at her using me this way." Akashi laughed a bit before calming down. He wasn't aware of what everything happened here but he saw through Kurome's intentions.

'Anyway, judging from her expression, she is quite proud of herself. Maybe she thinks that this is her first major problem she solved herself without my or Ichika's protection. I should definitely not let her see me because even if I said that I just arrived, she wouldn't believe me.' Akashi thought and decided to trust Kurome with her actions and ordered Kiyomi to fly towards the city.

She instantly complained since they have just arrived for them to leave again.

*chirrup!* *chirrup!* Kiyomi released angry and revolting sounds from her beak but despite it, she still followed Akashi's instructions.

"Calm down, you will get your reward regardless." Akashi said and Kiyomi immediately started happily chippering.

However, after a few minutes of flying towards the city, when it was finally in their sight or more like in Kiyomi's sight, there was a lot of smoke coming out of there.

"?! What's going on, Kiyomi?" Even Akashi sensed the change of atmosphere when they got nearer the city. He was able to sense unusual amount of death in the vicinity and mainly he was also able to sniff once again fire but this time it was much stronger.

*Chirp!* *Chirp!* Kiyomi hurriedly explained the situation in front of them.

'What?! These idiots...it must be doing of The Incineration Squad! What the hell are they thinking? They are killing more than 70% of people who have no idea about Rebels or bandits. They are just hurting themselves by doing this...they are really stupid.' Akashi thought while Kiyomi got them above the city.

"AAAAAH!" The screams of people being burned alive were heard in every direction.

*sigh* "What should I do?" Akashi sighed and then muttered while listening to those screams with a calm expression, occasionally, his lips twitched a bit when he heard the screams of children.