Chapter 65

[|||| =LEVEL 11= ||||]

A whole month passed with little to nothing happening. Kuroka was pregnant, of course, with as much as we had done together that was a given. Ophis was pregnant too, but in a different sense. Her soul had an anomaly in it that was tinted a little red. It was collecting void affinity from her slowly and growing in power but it would take a long, LONG time before it gained enough affinity to form a physical body through sheer presence of magical energy like it's mother. She wasn't pregnant in a physical sense but in a magical sense she was forming a new soul.

I was a little concerned but not particularly much. All I had to do was make a body for the fledgeling soul when we decided it should be born. It was almost more convenient than a normal birth since we could have the baby born as soon as we wanted, which was decided to be when Kuroka had hers.

I was also concerned about Kuroka's baby since I used my enhanced faunus DNA and she had nekoshou DNA but that was easily fixed by feeding the budding soul in her a trickle of life affinity every night. It would also likely give the soul a propensity for life magic if the affinity was assimilated into the soul's structure. That could be nothing but good.

I made sure to study how souls were formed by writing a daily analysis in my journal and using observe to measure how powerful it was and how much affinity it had. The study would help me know how to safely modify other burgeoning souls in the future.

Besides the pregnancy not much had happened. I had watched Harry in the second task, he was perfectly fine and saved Hermione without much trouble. He also saved Fleur's sister, making me very nearly go tease him about making a harem. Thankfully I restrained myself… and Kuroka.

In the teigu-verse Esdeath had been flushing out criminals and searching for Night Raid with the three beasts, though she was having little success. I didn't mind going to slaughter some criminals or bandits with Esdeath, though. It was almost like a date for the two of us, though our actual dates were quite nice too. It seemed to frustrate her that we weren't going very far as a couple but it only made her more determined to flush out Night Raid. I had given her a little card of dyed ice that, when cracked, would send me a signal of void from across dimensions and let me see her deal with the assassins or help out if I had to.

I hadn't gone to any other dimensions in the meantime. I had thought about it but decided to stay idle and spend time with my girlfriends. I had set up my magical workshop, done more to fill the house with things of value to me, tended to my cult, did a lot of reading on DxD's magical knowledge, and did a lot of work on my property making trails to nice points around the estate and making magical anomalies just because it would be amusing to see people discover them. My future kids, for example. I had a feeling that making anomalies would be a long-term project. I had a lot of ground to cover, after all, and I wasn't just throwing around affinity. I put actual effort to create interesting magical effects. That and making deposits of dust here and there. They reminded me of home.

I was just waiting until somebody found the first anomaly. Ophis wasn't interested in walking around but I kind of hoped Kuroka wandered around the wilds at some point.

"OHMYHOLYCRAP! ABYSS I FOUND SOMETHING AWESOME!" I stopped brainstorming how to make a machine that produces dust and spun my chair to turn towards her.

"Could you knock first next time?" I asked. She winced.

"Sorry… Oh! But there's this super cool thing in the woods! Come and see!" I hid a grin, wondering what she had found, and followed after her.

"So I was getting kinda bored, right? I thought about spying on my sister some more or pranking the brigade but I decided not to because I had done both of those too much lately, although little sis kissed that Hyodo kid on the cheek last time I saw her! So I saw that you made some trails here and there and followed one when I saw this cool crystal!" We exited the house and Kuroka started jogging down one of the trail paths I had made. I followed, easily seeing through the darkness of near-midnight.

"Cool crystal?" I asked, already knowing she had found some of the dust I had planted and not one of the more interesting things like the dungeon full of tons of giant spiders made from hard light I had fused life and mind affinity into. Even the floor was made of spiders in that one! If somebody walked in there without a light they were fucked. Not that the spiders would hurt anything, I had made sure that they wouldn't when I designed their minds.

"Yeah! It's super cool! So it's right… there!" She pointed off the trail where the darkness lightened a bit, a soft pale glow lighting the area around a small crystal. Kuroka ran over to it and crouched over it. I came right by her.

"What is it?" she asked. I reached out to poke it but she grabbed my hand. "No, don't touch it. It burns, duh. Don't you feel that?" She released my hand and I looked between her and the dust made of condensed purity. I poked the crystal. She looked between my hand and my utterly un-pained face.

"What?" She sounded confused.

"It doesn't hurt.

"Yeah, I can see that. But… wait a sec." She poked the crystal and her hand started to smoke a little. "Oh! I know this burning! Is this thing holy?! I didn't notice earlier but it burns kinda like one!"

"Oh, so since you're a devil it burns you?"

"Yup!" Kuroka grinned at the crystal, proud of herself but her smile quickly faded. "But… why is this thing here? And why is a crystal holy? And glowing?"

"That's for you to figure out and for me to laugh about," I said, standing back up.

"Huh? What? Why?! Isn't this thing kina cool?"

"Not really. I've littered dust all over my property."

"What?"

"Dust is… you know what? I'm not even going to tell you that."

"Wha-hey!"

"You can look up the magical theory yourself or wait for one of the smart children to figure it out. I mean, little stuff like this though? Easy to figure out."

"Okay, that's great but why did you litter this stuff all over the property?!"

I shrugged. "A bunch of nature is boring. The woods here aren't even magical. Kids should grow up somewhere awesome. So I made the forest magical."

"You… okay, I can't actually fault that."

"Yeah, but this is one of the really common anomalies. If you look around a little bit you'll find the way more interesting ones. I've spent hours on a few of them so far and I'm only going to make more before I expand the property or start making strides underground. It's about time I got an earth or stone affinity."

"So let me get this straight, you wandered around the property littering magical stuff everywhere for fun?"

"And because I want other people to find the stuff and think that it's awesome, specifically the kids when they're born, but that's a ways away. It gives me a headstart, though, so I have a lot of time to make a lot of interesting things. I might make a scoreboard for who found what and give out points they can turn in for rewards or something. I have a lot of time on my hands. Why not devote some more to another hobby? I'm making awesome magical stuff anyways. At this point I just need to study aether to make some really ridiculous things. Maybe I should set up some more flexible affinities too."

Kuroka had zoned out halfway through my talk, probably missing half of that. "I'm going to go find some cool magical stuff." She ran off down the trail again and I shrugged and blinked back to my workshop.

I really needed to find a way to bind affinity more tightly together using aether. But how do you control aether? It's ambient and not naturally controllable like mana or a part of us like aura. Maybe an affinity for it? Should I cultivate a mana affinity in that case to make my mana more potent? An affinity affinity to make a multiplier to my affinities? Ugh, when I looked for more strength there was so much to do. Magic was a never-ending struggle for understanding. I was getting there, though.

… I really hope Kuroka falls in the cave of spiders. I should set up cameras. I'll do that tomorrow. But I have to make a secret chamber to hold all the screens to the cameras and cords for them and I'll need to set up portals to link the cords to my workshop… Ugh. Better do it tomorrow than have to go back over everything. Besides, recording Kuroka's reaction to the spiders and showing it to kids or Esdeath will be priceless!

[|||| =-= ||||]

Esdeath broke the card. I immediately teleported.

"You called?" I asked, not missing a beat. She gestured to a rooftop. I looked and saw nobody so I teleported upwards.

"Yang?!" I asked, shocked. "Oh, wait, you're not Yang… you look familiar, though." I frowned at the woman in a combat stance looking at me warily. She was an animal/human hybrid, like me, with golden lion ears and a tail. But she also had golden fur and paws on her hands. It must make it really inconvenient to do daily chores.

"She is Leone of Night Raid," Esdeath said, jumping up beside me. The Yang lookalike, Leone, narrowed her eyes and ran. I increased the inertia acting on her and she fell down.

"… So did you just call me here so I could watch you kill her?"

"No. I'm going to capture her and use her as bait. Maybe crucify her in a public space?" Esdeath seemed thoughtful.

"Maybe a public execution?" I suggested.

"Oh, that will work," she agreed. "And thank you for dealing with her."

"It wouldn't have been a fight with you. She's clearly not very strong." I looked to Leone, who was very, very slowly running away.

"Clearly," Esdeath agreed. She walked towards her and made some handcuffs out of ice, slipping them onto the lady.

"Huh… Bye, then, unless there's something else?" I tossed another card of dyed ice at her. I had made about five, expecting that Night Raid would take more than one operation.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, referencing our planned date at the docks. I disappeared again as soon as the card was in her hands.

[|||| =-= ||||]

Two hours later the other card broke. "What now?" I growled, in the middle of trying to make a magical creature from scratch. It wasn't going well, but I had time. I wrapped up my work in a few seconds and teleported.

I immediately saw Esdeath in the middle of combat with a man in white armour on the deck of a ship, Liver assisting her. A brown-haired boy was off to the side hesitating. The bodies of Daidara and Nyau, the other two members of the three beasts besides Liver, were beside him.

Suddenly, my skill for sensing danger, instinctual, activated and I warped space around me without real thought behind it. A blast of pure energy curved around me and flew into the distance. It was pretty strong. I could take maybe ten of them before my aura gave out.

I turned to face my attacker and saw a pink-haired girl lowering her rifle, then raising it in surprise as she saw that I was still standing. I waited until her finger squeezed the trigger and teleported behind her. The second shot rang out, a much stronger beam than before passing through my previous position, and she looked once more only to stiffen in shock.

My sword, scabbard still attached, slammed into the back of her right knee. The girl screamed as she fell to the ground and I grabbed her by the neck, my other hand gripping her sniper. "Rude," I chided.

"TATSUMI!" The girl screamed.

"MINE!" I looked to my left to see the brown-haired kid charging me already, a sword in his hands.

"Here." I threw the girl at the charging boy and he skidded his heels on the roof to catch her. I turned invisible before he could ask anything and teleported back to watch Esdeath.

She was viciously beautiful in combat. She pressed every advantage against the armored man, her sword darting past his defenses even as she wove past his strikes with a spear. River took what few openings he had to attack the armored man, making him have to constantly balance between being too close to Esdeath and getting stabbed or too far and getting injured by Liver's teigu. I could easily see that if Esdeath wanted to she could kill him, but she was having too much fun toying with him, slowly cutting away at him and systematically crushing him even without her teigu. She was enjoying that she was strong enough even without it to take the man down.

Beside me the pink haired girl rushed to the edge of the roof and aimed quickly, taking a shot at Esdeath. She stepped aside and dodged the shot easily, making the armored man do the same. Unfortunately, he dodged away from Esdeath, forcing him to immediately defend against Liver. I noticed that his movements were getting slower. Was he getting exhausted?

The pink haired girl shot at Esdeath three more times, clearly panicking. The shots got stronger and stronger each time but Esdeath was gone after the first time and the wall of ice she summoned to block the shots was destroyed.

The ice she summoned behind the sniper and the brown haired kid warped a little as she stepped out of it, having teleported through her ice. Her rapier stabbed through the chest of the sniper, causing the brown haired kid to look to the side in horror at the spray of blood. An icicle was shot down at his knee, breaking off his left leg and throwing him down from the roof to the deck.

"Tatsumi! No!" The armored man, now with half his helmet and an eye missing courtesy of Liver, reached out to grasp at the boy's body desperately, as though it would change something. Liver was looking at the man sadly as he held his hand out. Sharp tendrils of water leapt at the armored man and speared him through the side, causing him to collapse to the deck and cough, blood filling his mouth. He tore his helmet off and looked in hatred and sadness at Liver and then at his fallen companion.

"Bro…" the brown haired kid groaned, looking at the armored man in fear for him.

"Now, now, there's no need for more bloodshed." Esdeath leapt down and put her foot on the back of the injured boy. "Your base… or the boy's life." Her rapier lowered to the back of the boy's neck. The armored man looked torn and terribly angry. He shut his eyes hard and lowered his head to the deck.

"I am so sorry, Tatsumi," he whispered. It was at this point that I intervened, teleporting in front of the armored man and putting my hand on his temple. He opened his eyes a little and then widely in surprise.

"… Ten kilometers west of the capital. In the mountains," I said. The armored man looked surprised again and then hatred entered his gaze. I channeled life affinity and mana into his wounds and they stitched together, healing in a few seconds. He looked down at his wounds and me in confused anger. "There's no need to kill a good person, and you seem decent." I looked to Esdeath.

"Should we spare him?" She shrugged.

"We can imprison him. It's my duty to disband Night Raid, not kill them all. Besides that I don't really care."

"I… please, little bro, Tatsumi." The armored man said. I handed the armored man to Liver and walked to the brown haired kid. I took a short look at his leg and healed it. He immediately tried to lunge up at me and punch me in the gut but Esdeath's rapier's hilt slammed down on his head.

"I thought you weren't going to get involved?" she asked me. I shrugged.

"This is the north all over again. It's just flushing them out and I'm an impatient person when the solution is easily achievable. You'll be doing the fighting, though." She nodded and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. We shared a smile a moment later.

"Mine… you killed Mine." The brown haired kid growled, gripping the deck hard enough that he made grooves in the solid wood. I looked at the corpse of the pink haired girl and teleported it to me.

"Pierced heart. I can heal it. It only happened a few minutes ago. Her soul's still lingering too," I said.

"W… what?" Tatsumi asked, stunned. "You… please! Please, I'll do anythi-" Esdeath's boot settled on his head, pushing his face to the ground.

"We're having a moment," she growled. I pulled her head in and kissed her on the lips. Her anger immediately faded. I looked down at Tatsumi again.

"She's important to you?" He nodded as best her could with Esdeath's boot on his head. I sighed.

"I'm taking her teigu."

"Pumpkin. It grows more powerful based on the emotions of its wielder," Esdeath commented. I teleported away and stored the rifle in my soul space. It didn't have a soul, but it was still a powerful weapon. I could always use more of those. I quickly healed the sniper, Mine, restarted her heart with a jolt of electricity through my storm affinity, and walked to the armored man.

"Teigu," I commanded him. His armor shimmered and a beautiful steel sword with a jeweled hilt came into my view. But I didn't care about its appearance. "It has a soul!" I said in happiness. "Thank you! I've been wanting to study how the greater teigu like Esdeath's demon blood still maintained a soul for a while now, but I can't just take the blood out of her, you see. This will help me immensely in my research." The man looked a little interested that there was a soul in the sword but was rather apathetic as a whole, brooding over his defeat and looking down sadly.

"Knock them out," Esdeath commanded. She stomped on the head of Tatsumi and kicked the head of the sniper, whose eyes were fluttering awake. Liver punched the back of the armored man's head and he slumped to the ground. "Bring them back and put them in a cell. Be very careful with them. Have thirty guards around them at all times. Especially the hundred man slayer. Oh, and don't mention that Abyss can heal to anybody." Judging by Esdeath's look towards the armored man I assumed the title was his.

"Yes, Milady." Liver bowed and put his fist to his chest. Tentacles of water grasped around the members of Night Raid and Liver jumped onto the water off the side of the boat. I looked down to see him riding to the shore on top of the water like it was a surfboard.

"So you want to flush them out or grab somebody to come with you?" I asked. Esdeath rubbed her chin consideringly.

"Would you like to help?" she asked. I shrugged. I was done with the universe at this point. I had even given up on my magic restriction, though I would prefer to stick with it for combat purposes.

"Not really," I replied.

"Well either way the answer is no," she said. I nodded and blinked long-distance several times west. I scanned around with mage-sight and blinked again, going about a kilometer each time. I smiled when I found the base and opened a portal to Esdeath. I pointed it the direction of the base and we started walking the short distance to the tower. I kind of hoped that we wouldn't kill anybody but that seemed like an unreasonable expectation with Esdeath so I lowered it to nobody too kind. I didn't go in with expectations for success. I had been lucky with those last three members. I didn't want to rely on luck, though.

When we came to a tower seemingly squished underneath a cliff I jumped into a tree and watched from afar under invisibility as Esdeath made her way into the tower. She paused at a point, and after a closer look, I saw an array of thin wires stretched between the trees. She sighed and simply took out her rapier to cut them all down before continuing her walk forwards.

It didn't take long before I saw a shape come close to one of the windows of the tower and see Esdeath walking inside. The shape ran away quickly from the window just as Esdeath was beginning to enter. I used a portal shrouded under an illusion to watch her. Before something interesting could happen to her the shape came to the window and opened it quickly. I saw that it was a woman with grey hair and a mechanical arm holding a raven with a note attached to it's leg. She threw it out quickly and closed the window, leaving the bird to fly away. I let it go.

My girlfriend stalked the halls of Night Raid, keeping her rapier naked all the while, occasionally cutting through traps made from the thin wire we had seen before. She seemed bored. I myself used mage sight to locate two aura signatures in the tower, both up in the top of the tower.

"Top of the tower. I don't know what they're doing," I wind whispered to Esdeath. She nodded, taking my word for it, and began moving quicker. It still took her five minutes to get to the top, having to navigate through the traps and the odd structure of the tower. Stairs alternating between opposite ends of the tower was just one of the oddities of the tower. There were a few doors that led to nowhere and even one or two mundane traps. I assumed they were there to dissuade attackers.

Finally, Esdeath made it to the top of the tower, where there was just one door. She kicked it open only for it to splinter down the middle, though wooden furniture could be seen through the cracks. I groaned in tandem with my girlfriend. She drew her sword back and stabbed mightily, a spear of ice forming around it. The spear pierced through the furniture and melted away a moment later.

"Najenda," Esdeath said coolly through the gap. "Barricading yourself in now? Delaying the inevitable?" Her response came as a shot rang out, only to be blocked by Esdeath's sword.

"I expected more, honestly," she admitted. "The three members of yours protecting the boat are still alive for now. The same goes for the lion girl. I had planned on a public execution to lure you out, you realise? But I didn't even have to do that. Now, will you end this farce of an assault and simply let me execute you? I'll even spare your comrade if you do."

Voices whispered behind the door for a solid minute before Esdeath got impatient. "Enough," she said. "Your decision?" I noticed two figures, a black haired girl dressed in red and black and a tired looking green haired boy, sprinting to the base, making giant strides. The green-haired boy said something and stayed outside the tower while the dark haired girl entered, still running.

"I stand with my team," a firm voice said from beyond the door Esdeath stood at.

"So be it," she said. Spears of ice formed inside the room, striking at the occupants. When that was done she used the ice to teleport inside and I got my first glimpse of the members of Night Raid.

There was a purple haired lady holding a giant pair of scissors and an older lady with an eyepatch and a revolver. The first lady managed to block the first of my girlfriend's strikes but then had her throat pierced and torn out by the rapier. She stumbled to the barricades around the door and cut a few off with her scissors for some reason before she bled out. I thought it was an odd last move until I remembered the reinforcements. I teleported her corpse to me and healed her before knocking her out.

"No!" The other lady sounded furious. She aimed her revolver only to have her hand holding it encased in ice.

"Hello again, Najenda," Esdeath said with a smirk. The other lady, apparently Najenda, was silently glaring at her. "… No last words?"

It was at that moment that the black haired girl smashed through the weakened barricades, immediately locking onto Esdeath. Their swords clashed and Najenda fired her revolver, making ice fly from the end of her hand, and aiming once more. But the two swordswomen were already locked in combat. Strangely enough my girlfriend was on the defensive and avoiding even the most minor of injuries. The other teigu user was taking even the smallest of opportunities, holding nothing back. I myself was entranced by the blade she wielded. It was the third teigu I had seen that had a soul, though it was far, far weaker than the other two. But it also had a huge amount of corruption affinity, the same kind that spawned grimm. I wanted to study it.

Eventually my girlfriend finally managed to get a strike in, leaving a gash on the other fighter's shoulder. She barely managed to avoid a counterattack, though, having lost a few strands of hair. The ground was coated with ice at this point and a few small obstacles to hinder the black haired girl had been created.

"Akame… I think this is the end," Najenda said. Akame, the swordswoman apparently, glanced back at her for a second where nobody attacked.

"Let's still try," she decided in a quiet voice. "Outside." With that word Najenda bolted, running through the base.

"Running again? I can't fault you that," my girlfriend said. "But I can't allow it either." She leaped backwards, where a screen of ice collected on the wall, and disappeared into it. She reappeared leaping through the door from the ice on the floor. Akame growled and pursued her through the fort, though she looked grim when she came to a barrier of solid ice blocking the stairway. Without hesitation she leapt out of a window instead, falling down to the ground gracefully.

Inside, Najenda was fleeing Esdeath as fast as she could, sometimes firing a shot behind her just in case. She was catching up, though. Pretty quickly, in fact. She was a lot faster than Najenda, though it was tempered by her knowledge of the base and her desire to flee. It was only a matter of time, though.

Then she jumped out an open window.

"Really?" I muttered in exasperation. "Just really? More of that?" Was it a standard evacuation procedure for them or something?

Najenda was caught by the green haired boy, who I had noticed setting up the wire traps. "Sheele's dead," she groaned, winded by her fall. The boy seemed sad but then he got angry.

"Where's Bulat's team?" Akame asked.

"Esdeath claims she captured them and Leone," she said, reloading her revolver.

"And she's just charging in here? Where's the beasts or… I dunno, her hubby?" the green haired boy asked.

"Abyss Mavros is typically a noncombatant unless provoked. He's also acting as an associate of Esdeath. Not her subordinate. He's likely not here," Najenda said. "Or watching us." She looked into the trees where I was hidden, though not directly at me.

"What does that mean?" Greenie asked.

"It means we can't kill her or we'll have two problems we can't afford instead of just one," Najenda said.

"Great."

Esdeath figured out that Najenda wasn't hiding at that point and looked outside to see the team talking together, weapons ready. She growled in irritation and was about to leap down but she paused and closed her eyes. Making a motion with her hand.

A huge wall of ice rose up around the camp, alarming the members of Night Raid, but it looked like it wore her down a bit. "Ugh… Abyss, the wielder of Masamune… a single cut of that blade can end a life. It's poisonous." I looked at the katana in the hands of Akame and nodded, not that she could see it.

"If you look like you're going to be cut by it sever the limb immediately, of course. I can regrow it. If it's your torso I'll extract your soul from your body and make you a new one," I assured her through wind whisper. She nodded and looked down at Night Raid. Ice spread under their feet once more and she leapt down.

Her sword immediately leapt towards Greenie. Akame tried to intercept her but a thin wall of ice rose to block her. Najenda fired as fast as she could but couldn't hit her. Greenie managed to dodge the first blow somewhat, losing an arm, but he lost his other limbs soon after. At this point I used blink to teleport him to me. I healed his limbs and knocked him out just like the scissors-lady. I just didn't want to kill anybody decent before, but now a plan was starting to form in my head.

My girlfriend wasn't dissuaded by the loss of her prey. Her next target was Najenda and in the open space she could maneuver around Akame, her teigu being far more suited for open spaces than closed rooms. It let her control the battlefield and seperate the two with another wall of ice.

Najenda fired the rest of her bullets but all of them were deflected. "Goodbye, Najenda." Her head was severed from her body, an angry, hateful expression on her face. I repeated the same process I had used with Lubbock, reattaching her head and knocking her out. I made an illusion of her decapitated, though, and left her soul in my soul space to fool Esdeath. It was all part of the plan. Last was Akame. The wall of ice melted down to nothing.

"… I hate you," she said simply. "I truly do." The katana was put to her wrist and for some reason she slit her wrist with the blade. Corruption flowed into her body and the weak soul meshed with hers. Corruption flowed through her soul and her body, leaving the katana just that. A katana. I was shocked at the change and came to a quick conclusion. She was becoming like Salem. Then I saw her eyes. Black sclera. Fuck. Should I stop this?

I resigned to watch very, very closely as black markings crossed over Akame's skin - are those runes made from crystallized corruption affinity like dust - what the fuck is she doing - why had I never thought about runic tattoos made of dust that was genius!

The battle began in earnest while I had a hundred questions about Akame's teigu. Screw the silver sword I got. I wanted that one.

The battle began in earnest again. Akame had gotten faster and stronger, swiftly dodging any projectiles sent at her and moving past any walls of ice or barriers before they rose up. But Esdeath was versatile, having more than just a sword and physical abilities. She teleported through ice, used ice as armor, used small blizzards to block Akame's vision, and tried to collect frost on Akame's body. Unfortunately, it was slow going.

I didn't know for sure but I theorized that her body heat had risen as her performance had increased, making her burn more calories to sustain her movement. The runes on her were designed to make her faster and stronger, after all. What did making them out of corruption do? I hadn't felt so curious since I first discovered void.

As the fight drew on Akame grew more desperate and reckless, taking hits in the chance to land just one. She got very close. I nearly had a heart attack (were that still possible for me) when the flat of her sword skimmed Esdeath's knuckles. A poison I could cure but if the lesser soul entered Esdeath's and tore at it I would have a hell of a time drawing it out. I was almost certain the 'poison' was the captured soul of the beast used to make the teigu at this point. So much corruption in one weapon sorta was a poison, in a way.

The battle finally ended when Akame overextended herself and Esdeath stepped forwards, her sword cutting down through Akame's elbows. She didn't stop there and speared her victim through the side, the rapier going hilt-deep through the assassin's abdomen.

I REALLY didn't want to lose the girl so I teleported her to me and ripped the lesser soul from Akame's before stuffing it back in the sword, which was surprisingly easy. I made sure to mop up every bit of corruption in her, which was an extremely difficult task. Some of the affinity was diffused into her soul, which would linger in the runic tattoos with a few lingering traces of the lesser soul's aura, which would constantly be poisoning her very, very weakly. I had to use void like a scalpel to drag every last bit of that out. Then I had to heal her, which was far easier than surgery on her soul.

"Why do you keep healing everybody?" Esdeath asked from beside me, puzzled.

"Because they're good people," I said simply. That was true. I had been observing them and every member of Night Raid was a purehearted person who did terrible things in the hopes of a better world. Murdering them would be… wrong.

"Hm. At least Najenda is dead. She betrayed me long ago. I had to settle the debt." She kicked the hard light illusion and I had to use a little mind affinity to make her think that it was a genuine corpse.

"Hm. Well let's turn these in and leave quietly. With any luck we can get out of here without having to attend a big party and act sad that we're leaving." She nodded, smiling at me. She kissed me softly, looking lovingly into my eyes.

"And then I can finally begin my life with you… It will be fun." She seemed happy and I mimicked her happy smile, feeling a bit bad that I was going to deceive her.

[|||| =-= ||||]

The members of Night Raid were scheduled for a public execution. They were making a show of it, escalating the execution of Leone, the blonde assassin, to include all of them but Najenda and Akame, who we claimed had died. They had been put in cells watched over by some teigu-users that had been drawn from the other users in the Empire. They weren't important.

Esdeath was at my manor sorting out her place in the master bedroom with Kuroka and Ophis. I only had a few minutes before I had to get back. We had a busy night ahead of us, after all. Ophis and Kuroka had agreed that the first night would be hers alone. It was generous of them and I made a note to thank them later.

I teleported into their cell silently and walked to the one farthest to the right. Leone. She looked up at me and immediately glared, though she didn't say anything. Her eyes widened when I took out a dagger and crouched down to her. I brought it to the manacles on her wrist and used some space magic to make the edge of the dagger nearly monomolecular. I cut through both of her bindings and saw her looking at me in confusion. I opened a portal in her cell and blinked to the next cell.

I repeated the process six times for all the members of Night Raid. It looked like Tatsumi, Mine, and Greenie had been beaten. I felt a bit bad about that and healed them before making the portal out of the cell.

When they had all gone through their portals (the pink haired sniper had been obstinate and I had to push her through) I teleported in front of them, deep in the forest.

"We're five kilometers north of your old base. Here." I took the sniper, scissors, a yellow belt, and some odd claws connected to a spool of wire, all of them teigu.

"Where's Incrusio?" the big man asked curtly.

"The sword? You're not getting that back. Nor are you getting Akame. She cut herself on her sword and got stronger to try and kill Esdeath. She's dead," I lied. I had her in a medical coma at my house. I planned to use her as my new research subject like I used Vera if I could. If not she would be experimented on until I learned everything and then I'd leave her wherever she wanted with heaps of money and the knowledge that her team was safe and the Empire was collapsing, as it surely would collapse without Esdeath. But that was a ways in the future.

"Where's Najenda?!" Tatsumi demanded hostilely. I pointed to my right, where she was leaning against a tree.

"I hate the Empire too, you know? But I care for Esdeath more than others. Good luck," I said shortly.

"Hey! Wai-" I ignored Mine and disappeared. They could figure things out for themselves. I had more important things to worry about. Like what I was going to do now.

[Lemon - The cold doesn't bother me anyways~]

The moment I disappeared from that world Esdeath greeted me with a deep kiss, pressing herself close to me. "Come on. I've waited nearly a month." She pulled me away by the hand to my bedroom. Kuroka wolf whistled as I was dragged away and I chuckled, waving jokingly to her.

"So I have to ask, is this your first time?" I asked while being pulled along. Esdeath stiffened a little, though I wouldn't have noticed it if I wasn't paying attention.

"No." She didn't stop walking.

"It's hardly anything to be ashamed of," I reassured her, inciting a small blush of embarrassment. "I am surprised, though. You're beautiful, especially compared to the women from your world." The blush grew a little. Score one, Abyss.

"It was never a priority."

"Nobody ever pursued you?"

She considered that for a moment, slowing down a little in the process. "Come to think of it, no, nobody ever has." She looked down at her breasts concernedly. "I always thought I looked rather nice."

"… Oh wait, I get it. Most men shy away from women who happen to murder thousands on the monthly." Come to think of it I might have a few screws loose myself. I met the most unhinged woman ever - well Salem might be a bit more crazy - and now I was taking her to bed. I didn't exactly have a good track record for logical and thought out decisions did I?

"Not every man. You, for example." I hoped I was getting the signals right and pulled her shirt off over her head. She helped a little and tossed it down the hallway.

"Why would I shy away from you when you're so sweet to me?" I tossed my own shirt off and opened the door to my bedroom.

"I suppose that being stronger than me-" her legs got a little closer together "-would make me far less intimidating." She smiled and sat down on my, well, our bed and started to pull off her boots.

"Well yes, but I also think that you're not as scary as you like to seem sometimes," I said.

"Oh?" She seemed to take that as a challenge for some reason.

"Well I've got you so vulnerable here." I warped space for a moment to appear right in front of her and push her down onto the bed, both of us still half clothed. She tensed instinctively so I waited a moment before lowering to her, kissing her gently. "You can let your guard down for a moment, you know?" She stared at me before she relaxed and sunk into the bed a bit.

"Fine," she muttered. She didn't wait before taking her skirt off and sitting up, which I let her do. That prompted more kissing and I moved a little quicker, trailing my hands over her, taking her bra off in the process, flicking it somewhere to my right. I didn't pay much attention to it but Esdeath's bust was really, really impressive. Her ass was almost as fantastic, supernaturally so really, and I let my hands wander her body shamelessly while hers did the same, though she was more focused on the kiss we were sharing.

She wasn't a good kisser. She had talent but she clearly hadn't kissed anyone before, which hardly surprised me. I let my tongue caress hers, taking the lead effortlessly. She tasted, a little oddly, like snow. I hadn't noticed it before but her whole body was a little cold. It was just especially noticeable when I kissed her for longer than a few seconds.

I began moving my hands farther downwards, rubbing between her thighs, and Esdeath followed suite, rubbing between my legs. She started pulling off my pants and I slipped a finger under her blue panties, tracing her pussy. She seperated and let out an erotic sigh, clearly practiced. I tried not to laugh at her for that.

"D-don't laugh," she muttered ineffectually. I noticed one of her hands against my chest, explaining how she had noticed my hidden laughter.

"That sigh was terrible," I said in amusement. "Did Kuroka try to teach you that?"

"She told me not to use it." Esdeath's face was at full blush, her blue eyes trailing away. I snickered once audibly and hooked two fingers under her chin, pulling her in for a chaste kiss.

"I've never sighed like that myself… but I'll bet that I can teach you how."

"… Did you practice that?" she asked, her lips turning at the corniness of my line.

"Absolutely. Kuroka loved it. I shouldn't talk about another woman when I'm with you… but she was between my knees when I used that on her. She choked and fell to the floor laughing at me." Esdeath giggled at that and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I relished her breasts against my chest and their pillowy softness. Still, I returned the hug… and managed to grope her a little in the process. This prompted another giggle from her.

"I'll be sure to hold that over her." She kissed me lightly once, flicking my lips with her tongue. "Now let's hurry up a little, shall we?" Her hands pulled down on my boxers and my manhood stood proud. She stared for a moment before putting on a sultry smile, one that seemingly wasn't practiced, and wrapped her hand around me to jerk me up and down.

After a moment to enjoy the handjob I pulled away her panties away and pushed two of my fingers in, working my magic in her. She smiled a little more and her eyes half closed as she looked at me, prompting another quick round of kissing. Her waist kept shifting on the edge of the bed, her legs slowly closing around the new sensation I was giving her. When her knees finally touched I pulled my hand out and pulled her onto my lap facing me, my dick against her.

"Ready?" I asked. She rolled her eyes in an amused way and moved herself over me, spent a second to put me at her entrance, and fell onto me before she winced and her smile became a grimace of discomfort. I tried some more kissing to distract her while I rubbed her back soothingly. I knew she didn't need it, but I liked to think that she appreciated the gesture regardless. In the meantime I enjoyed how her walls felt around me. They, like the rest of her, felt a bit cold, but enjoyably so. SHe was slicker than Kuroka or Ophis, smoother maybe. It made all sorts of ideas of what to try run through my head.

When she finally rocked on my waist she gasped. "Oh!" She sounded surprised and rocked again. "Oh, that's… nice."

"Nice… my poor ego," I teased her while she kept rocking. I got more active, pulling my hands on her ass with her rocking, helping her go a little faster more smoothly.

"Definitely a new hobby," she muttered absently. I held her steady, stopping the rocking, and thrusted upwards, inciting a groan. So I thrusted some more, searching out her sensitive spots. Her pussy clenched around me and her hands gripped my shoulders hard as she took a deep breath. I chuckled at her first orgasm and leaned back, letting her fall on my chest, her pale blue hair splaying out over me while she had a moment of resting. Then I kept thrusting.

She didn't want me to do all the work and I wanted to show her a great first time so we compromised, finding a rhythm between us. I thrusted and she rocked as my hands explored every curve of her body. Hers stayed around my chest and arms, feeling my muscles. Women and muscles, I swear…

We kept the pattern for a few minutes, enjoying the sensations from each other's bodies. But soon enough I had hit my limit. "I'm going to cum," I said breathily to her. Shs shivered.

"Good," she said before leaning in to kiss me, one hand cupping my face. I moved to roll over and she obliged me, my cock slipping out of her with ease. I lowered myself onto her for a kiss as I groped her once more. I thrust into her a bit more suddenly than before and upped the pace while we battled tongues. Her legs raised to wrap around my back and pull me closer. When I finally came I moved my head to her neck and laid on top of her. She groaned as I painted her depths and rested, lowering her legs and enjoying the afterglow.

When she pushed me off her and I landed on my side I didn't expect her to tip me over to my back. She moved down lower, her ass swaying hypnotically in a way I doubted she noticed, and grasped my cock.

"Ophis and Kuroka told me about this. Fellatio," she said, lowering herself to my dick. "I'm not sure how they could find it so pleasurable. They had a hard time explaining it. It isn't like sex, they say, but it's still… sexual. I want to try it."

"You'll have no arguments from me," I said, still languishing in my orgasm. I was looking at her, but only with one eye, half lidded. I wasn't going to fall asleep, I had too much endurance for that, but I liked the moment of rest.

That was why when Esdeath licked my cock from top to bottom my eyes shot open in surprise at how pleasurable it was, like a jolt running up my spine, making me tense up. Her tongue was cold, as I really should have expected, making a huge contrast from my cock, which was hot and hard. The feeling was utterly different from any blowjob I had gotten before, giving me the refreshing experience of something utterly new.

I relaxed into it as Esdeath worked. She explored what she could do, kissing my tip and flicking her tongue over it, fondling my balls as she laid kisses over my shaft, and seeing how far she could deepthroat me, which was only about halfway down. It was her first time so I had low expectations but being out of my depth was exciting.

I was nearly sinking into the bed as Esdeath put her hands on my thighs, spreading my legs apart and pushing them down, giving her complete access to my cock. Her hair was tucked behind her ears as she slowly lowered her head down, seemingly trying to beat her record. Her tongue caressed my tip and went farther down, tracing the veins and seeing if she could wrap around the whole shaft. I wanted to tell her to go faster but when I looked down her eyes locked onto mine.

Her eyes were cool and surprisingly confident with her inexperience. While she kept trying to take me deeper our eyes never left each other's, making a strange few seconds. When she pulled off of me I blinked in confusion but was rewarded when she bent back down and put her right hand on the half she couldn't take. She experimented a little, finding the right pace and keeping it up.

"Dust, you're some sort of natural," I breathed. That encouraged her as she hummed, sending another shock through me. "I'm close." A light chuckle escaped her, making hot breath brush over my cold dick.

"Good," she said throatily. Her hand took up my shaft while her mouth wrapped tightly over my head and she twisted her head while her tongue went wild over me. I growled and laid my head back with closed eyes. I felt when she added another hand to the mix and took her mouth off of me.

"Cum for me. I have to agree with the others. This is wonderful," she purred, the throaty tone still in her voice. She descended once more, her hands wrapping around me a little more tightly and jerking a little harder, and I came. I groaned with Esdeath as she drained me for all I was worth. Her hands stopped jerking me but her mouth went lower. I spent a few seconds coming into her mouth while she waited. When I looked down she was staring at me proudly. She licked her lips and I saw some thin strands of white on her tongue. A finger traced her lips and she swallowed before sucking on the finger once.

It wasn't going to take long for me to get it up again with how sexy that was to see.

"It's the power over you," Esdeath said in explanation to me with a satisfied grin, moving onto my dick once more, her hand caressing it to full mast. "You were helpless before me. Seeing you of all people, somebody who's supposed to be in charge of me, and don't pretend that you aren't at the center of this relationship we have… I think I can go twice more." She dropped onto me, reverse cowgirl this time, and the two of us proved her words wrong. She could go three more times.

[End lemon]

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