Chapter 73: Elite Seven

~Third POV~

The Elite Seven was one of several squads of killers who were recruited as children.

The Empire began to form these elite squads when rebellions began to rise due to the Empire's corruption, and the need to quell these rebellions became vital to the Empire's survival.

The Empire acquired an estimated 100 children to take part in a cruel exam in which the participants were dropped into a forest full of Danger Beasts and challenged to survive. The first 7 survivors were then recruited into a group and the remaining survivors into another group.

The Elite Seven is led and coached by Gozuki, who took the strongest seven of the survivors of the forest exam as his proteges and trained them in the assassin's trade, having them refer to him as "father" and considering them his children in return, but will discard them should they fail him.

…

…

*BAM*

As the last of the assassins were killed off my Gai one of the Elite Seven members he looked at his hand feeling confused as another member Poney asked in concern, "What's wrong Gai?"

Gai is a tall, young man with a sturdy and muscular build. He has short brown hair and a scar on his left cheek. He wears a brown vest with white sleeves and a white-collar. His pants are also white.

Poney is a young girl with green eyes and long, auburn hair worn in a ponytail and decorated with a few hairpins. She is usually seen wearing a tank top along with Yocto-bottoms, which take the form of leggings with a belt and ankle bands. She also walks barefoot.

Gai looks at his hand again as he replies to his family member in a confused tone to her feeling weird of feeling nothing, "…when I killed a man for the first time, I had this weird, unsettling feeling. I wonder what that feeling was?"

That was when Poney began to act smugly having her arms raised behind her head as she talked down to Gai, "Oh? So even the stupid Gai has things he thinks about huh?"

That was when Gai reacted in anime shock fashion and the gull of her to even be the one to lecture about this to him, "I don't want to be called stupid by the likes of you!!"

…

…

Later back at a secluded location inside a rocky forest providing shelter for the Elite Seven their leader General Level Gozuki responded happily as he patted his kid's heads, "Great, great! Mission complete! Well done! I didn't think you'd finish him this fast!"

Gozuki is a middle-aged man with blond hair and green eyes. He had a small beard. He wore a white shirt with black pants and a red scarf.

At this Gai gets himself pump up for the next mission excitedly as he asked his father what is their next one is like a child receiving candy, "Bring on the next one! What bad guy do we need to kill next?"

That was when Gozuki cuts him off with a sinister glare catching Gai off guard as he stood there in shock listening to his father's words, "… Don't get so cocky Gai. The outside nations and the Revolutionary Armies must know about you by now and will make a countermove soon. They'll want to do something about the imperial assassins that lurk in the shadows."

That was when their team leader of the squad below Gozuki Najasho began to speak agreeing with his father's words, "So even the hunters will be eventually be hunted, huh father?"

Najasho is a short, young man with spiky, blond hair and golden eyes. He usually wears an outfit resembling a military uniform consisting of a long trench coat with golden epaulets and a suit underneath; on some occasions, he was also seen without the coat.

Gozuki then agrees with his son with a nod as he begins to explain the reality of the situation to them as truthfully as he could, "Yeah. You'll soon have to fight against those like you. Groups that operate in the shadows are best dealt with by other such groups."

That was when Poney spoke next in a serious tone of voice getting used to the idea of what they're soon to be up against, "Just like those guys that pursed us this time father?"

Gozuki nods at this glancing at his daughter keeping the serious tone of voice to them as he continues speaking, "They must've been spies from the Northerners who were sent to protect their information pipeline, Ragiri."

Green was next to speak keeping the seriousness of the situation of what they encountered from the other assassins like them, "No wonder they were able to follow us."

Green is a young man with black hair and green eyes. He wears a green jacket with a black T-shirt and black pants. His shoes are also black, and he wears glasses. He wears a necklace with a gem around his neck.

That was when Gozuki finally says to the group of the Elite Seven to listen very carefully to his words as all eyes were on him to listen to the wisdom he has to offer, "So you understand right? Realize that the difficulties of your jobs will jump dramatically. The target itself could be a trap. Keep your focus, and don't let your guard down until the mission is completely over!"

They all nodded their heads as the remaining members finally revealed themselves.

Tsukushi is a young girl with amber eyes and short light brown hair. She also has a curvaceous figure. She usually wears brown and white dresses and brown boots.

Cornelia is a young girl with long, blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore a long, white shirt with black pants and shoes. She also wore silver hoop earrings.

And finally, the last member Akame is a pretty young girl with long black hair that reaches down to her knees and red eyes. She wears a white sleeveless dress with a red collar and wears a red belt that has a red side skirt cover over a white, pleated skirt. She wears it with long black socks and black shoes.

As they were getting serious a messenger owl was sent near to Gozuki as he sees the Imperial Army Emblem on it as he took the letter and read the contents as the Elite Seven was there seeing another new mission popped up for them thinking they are doing good.

Reading the contents of the letter Gozuki raised his eyebrow summarizing what the next mission was he thinks to himself in a serious tone, 'Ok looks like we're not done in the Northern Region of the Empire just yet. The first one seems to be about an international trade route used by the Revolutionary Army to obtain income has been discovered and we were tasked to eliminate the rebels… what?'

Reading the first part of the mission of eliminating the rebels Revolutionary Army to obtain income was easy enough for him to understand but reading the notice from the Empire on the second half of the letter surprised him a bit.

Rereading the second half of the mission from the Empire he made sure that what he was reading was correct as he thought to himself, 'Also due note the attack on Tensui Village was a failure as they caught some remaining witnesses to discuss what happened in the area as the whole new assassin unit of the Group of Terror was eliminated or gone rogue along with Bill and no bodies found of them except for two as the five were fake.'

Narrowing his eyes at this he continues to read more on who could've done such a job as well as have time to create the fake bodies, 'The Imperial Soldiers that were listed under General Nouken the Cutter were completely wiped out except for the sole remaining survivor to tell the details of what transpired. The mission was deemed a failure since they lost two Teigu's [Extase] and [Yatsufusa]. Beware of a man wearing a mask that has a subtle smile with a lightning bolt on it?'

After reading the reports they decided to give the nickname of the person as well as a drawn picture of the photograph of the person now being wanted poster on it, 'Wanted dead or alive the 'Walking Calamity' noteworthy abilities: Use of blue fire, lightning bolts, ice generation, erosion, and well versed in CQC. If you see this person capture or kill on sight. Last seen Western Region crimes for killing off the Tensui Village and murder charges as sadistic and cruel.'

Gozuki for his part smirked at the wanted poster of the so-called 'Walking Calamity' as he laughed a bit inside his head as he read the wanted poster with amusement, 'Once again the Empire finds a way to shove their problems to someone else by falsifying the mission to framing the guy. But still, they did say he was last seen in the Western Region so he could go three ways out of that village the North, South, or Central…'

As Gozuki was thinking about what to do with the new wanted man he shoved those thoughts away for the time being as he handed the wanted poster to his kids as they all have a look of disgust at a person like that wandering around.

Gozuki sometimes wonders how good he is at manipulating his kids to show how 'righteous' the Empire is and how useful propaganda is making his kids eat it all up as he groomed them up to be.

But that was when Gozuki talked to Akame in a private location to her as she followed confused why for the sudden talk as he explains to her the hard truth to swallow even though there were no signs of it but thought the most likely conclusion after their uses, "Sigh… Akame there is no other way to say this but… your sister Kurome along with the Group of Terror unit's first mission… have been wiped out by the 'Walking Calamity' as their first mission was there… I'm sorry…"

At that Akame's voice broke hearing the news as Gozuki acted sad at the loss of the group as she asked hopeful at him, "Father you can't be serious right? I mean it has to be a joke that my sister isn't…"

But the expression that Gozuki expressed told her more than enough as she breaks down of the loss of her sister hugging her father as she swore to him, "No! No, no, no, no! Not Kurome please why…"

Hugging her tightly while acting in concern while he thought to himself in a surprised tone of voice, 'Huh? That went better than I expected. Got to thank the 'Walking Calamity' for his useful appearance made Akame much easier to control and loyal to our cause.'

As she was hugging her father letting out her grief, she made a promise to herself in a vengeful tone, 'Walking Calamity… I swear I will take your life for killing my only family member alive! I SWEAR TO KUROME!!'

…

…

Elsewhere near the border of Hakuro River away from Toushi Town Tatsumi had a sudden urge to sneeze as the Horn Bun led him around a rocky forest as he spoke unconcern, "Achoo! Ugh… what the hell… who the heck is talking to me behind my back!"

That was when the Horn Bun showed him to the location of where a powerful Danger Beast was as he asked seeing a large valley as he asked with doubt, "You sure this is right place Horn Bun that I could find a powerful one around these parts?"

The Horn Bun nodded as it began to hide inside Tatsumi's clothes for safety earning him confusion till he heard a sharp roar at a distance.

"RAAAARRHHH!!"

Tatsumi looked up to see as he expressed a deadpan expression at the flying Danger Beast in clear annoyance, "Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me right now!"

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A/N: Yup never underestimates the power of information and propaganda from the Empire as well as Gozuki using every opportunity to ensure his kids stay loyal to the Empire.