Cornelia was dead.

The truth was cold and brutal and no one wanted to believe it. Unfortunately, denying it would only serve to haunt them in the future. But even then, the thought of them losing their fourth strongest member so early on forced the Elite into a somber silence to not only pay their respects for their fallen ally, but to also reflect on the moment and learn from it.

After they had buried Cornelia next to the tree outside of the building where her battle against Taeko took place, Guy and Kuaime would place many flowers around her grave. All the team of eight, now seven could do was lower their heads. Poney had gotten done with crying her eyes out, while Green and Kuraime were doing their best to keep it together, the latter having tears in the corners of her eyes and Najasho only handled the situation with silence. Guy on the other hand, said nothing, not in character for him as he usually loved to talk. But now, was there really any drive to anymore? Cornelia was the heart of their group, the big sister. She was always the one to look out for them whenever Gozuki wasn't around. She was the kindest of them all, the loveliest... yet, she was the first to suffer such a cruel fate. Losing her life to someone she thought she could call a friend.

Gozuki: "Guy, time to leave."

Guy: "These flowers are not enough, Father... I must find more..." His tone was quiet, filled with nothing but absolute sorrow. He slowly rose to his feet and began to walk away to look for more flowers, only for Gozuki to stop him with a hand on his shoulder.

Gozuki: "There's no time. There will be danger if we stay any longer."

Guy: "Are we going to leave Cornelia here by herself...?"

Poney: "Guy..." Her voice wavered, tears staining the corners of her eyes. The blonde man merely sighed and closed his eyes.

Gozuki: "Yes, because she is dead." An unsettling silence washed over the group before a yell of rage came from Guy.

Guy: "The ones who killed her were Oarburgh! I will make those bastards pay!" He yelled, his anger rising as he tossed the sack he had in his hands to the ground. "Tell me who the fuck they are!" The one to answer him was Najasho, his voice as indifferent as always.

Najasho: "They are an assassination group named after 'Oarburgh', the God of Death from legend. It was said that many assassinations throughout history holds connections to them."

Gozuki: "Because of that, those bastards are sure to send other assassins after us in order to save their pride."

Kuraime: "And... Taeko was one of them..." A few eyes glanced over to the ravenette, who stared aimlessly at Cornelia's grave. "She seemed like such a kind girl... and Corey was so happy to meet her too... What are the chances..." She mumbled, her right arm trembling as she held onto it while Poney placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Gozuki: "That is why you are to never let your guard down around anyone other than your own. Otherwise, our enemies will continue to pick us all off, one by one." The silence returned once again, with Guy gritting his teeth, growling in his ever growing anger and frustration before an unexpecting voice caught his attention.

Akame: "Let's go, Guy." he looked towards the scarlet-eyed ravenette, his eyes widening as he saw her look at him. Her face was stained with dried tears and she gave her best smile, despite it being heavily forced. "If we stay here and get ambushed, Cornelia will surely feel sad, because she must believe that it was her fault that everybody..." Slowly, her voice began to break as the tears came once again. "B-Because, Cornelia cares about others more than anyone else here... Ah... What am I saying..."

Guy: "Akame..."

The ravenette continued to break down into sobs, with Kuraime instantly going to her side to comfort her. Green watched in both surprise and worry for the scarlet-eyed girl before the only one who hadn't spoken up, suddenly did. That being Dairoku, the one who had found Cornelia first before everyone.

Dairoku: "... She's right." His voice triggered many to look at him. He was standing on the opposite side of the rest of the Elite, merely staring aimlessly at the grave of his now former girlfriend. "Corey would be sad to know we died because we remained here for too long... We need to move and live for another day..."

The tone he spoke in was unlike any tone anyone has heard him use before. It was void of all life and emotion, as if he was just a walking corpse now. His expression reflected that with darkened crimson eyes that had lost their flame. Even if nobody there knew of the brief relationship Cornelia and Dairoku had before her passing, they all knew how close the two were. Even if Guy hated to admit it, it wouldn't be difficult to mistake the two for an actual couple.

Dairoku looked into his left palm, spotting a familiar silver ringed earring that had once belonged to Cornelia. To him, it was a sign of Cornelia's trend of keeping up her beautiful appearance. But now, it merely was a sign to him... yes, a sign that he couldn't save her...

(Flashback)

Cornelia: "U-Um Dai!" He paused and turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

Dairoku: "What's up?"

Cornelia: "U-Um..." She blushed and tapped her fingers together. "After this mission... do you... want to go out on a date with me?" The black-haired male's eyes widened for a brief moment but he soon chuckled and smiled at her before giving her a gentle nod.

Dairoku: "Did you even need to ask, Corey? Well for your sake, the answer's of course yes. " In an instant, her face lit up with excitement, stars present in her beautiful blue eyes.

Cornelia: "T-Then it's a date then! I love you Dai!"

(Flashback End)

As that singular memory flashed through his mind, along with the excited and overly happy expression Cornelia gave him, Dairoku remained silent as he slowly clutched onto the earring, with him discreetly grinding his teeth together out of anger behind his closed lips.

>Chapter 11: The First Casualty<

After saying their goodbyes to Cornelia, the Elite had moved swiftly to get as far from the town as possible, seeing as it was no longer safe for them to stay there. They ended up stopping on a grassy hill, which was far enough from the town. Gozuki turned to face his children.

Gozuki: "Because of your recent activity, many rebel spies and revolutionaries have been taken care of, but their response was more fierce than we expected. Now that we are deep in the mountains, we don't have to worry about being found. Now, take a good break. We'll get more jobs around towns soon enough. Use this time to reflect and get your head back in the game."

He specifically glanced towards Guy and Dairoku, the former merely looking away while the latter didn't react and was just staring out into the distance, over the edge of the hill. With his words settling, Gozuki left the children on their own as he took a small walk, with him too beginning to reminisce about Cornelia.

Gozuki's thoughts: "Eh... Cornelia really was a useless brat." He paused his train of thought, thinking back to when a much younger Cornelia ran up to him with the most adorable smile on her face. "But it really is a bit heartbreaking. She was a good kid after all... Really is a bit hard to bear..."

Even though Gozuki had instructed the children to reflect about what had happen, some of them weren't really sure how to, like Poney, who was sitting on the grass on her lonesome, while hugging her knees. She took a glance around, spotting Kuraime who was just staring at Dairoku who haven't moved from his spot yet. Then she glanced back at Poney, locking eyes with the auburn-haired girl before forcing out a faint, sad smile to her.

Poney: "K-Kuraime..."

Kuraime: "S-Sorry... It must be hard, seeing me like this huh."

Poney: "N-No, it's not hard, really!" She quickly denied. The purple-eyed ravenette couldn't help but smile a bit more at her.

Kuraime: "You're so kind, Poney."

Poney: "E-Eh?? Am I?" She questioned, scratching the back of her head. Though Poney hadn't noticed it yet, this was Kuraime's way of coping with what happened. Giving out small compliments to others to make them feel better so that she could feel better as well. However, the two girls' attention would be caught by a certain blonde walking away from them.

Najasho: "Don't think about it too much. Reflect properly. Otherwise, Death is the only thing waiting for you." he spoke, his tone as cold as always.

Poney: "Where are you going?"

Najasho: "Swinging swords. I need to train more." Kuraime remained silent as she watched him walk off. She could tell... even though he was just the same on the outside, Najasho, like anyone else, was too grieving and this was his way to cope with it. Train.

Kuraime: "Najasho..." She mumbled under her breath. Slowly, she was about to reach for her scythe that was on her back as she had full intentions of following after him, but Poney beat her to the punch.

Poney: "I'll go with you–!"

Najasho: "Don't follow me, Poney. You too, Kuraime."

Kuraime: "G-Geh!?"

Poney: "That was over the top!"

While that was happening, Guy was laying down on the grass, silently staring up to the sky with an aimless expression. Green noticed him and decided to approach him.

Guy: "No matter what I do, I probably won't be able to react like them..."

Green: "Are you going to be alright?"

Guy: "I'll be fine, I'll probably just force myself to cry." The glasses-wearing male stared at his comrade silently as he turned onto his side. "I'm going to start crying now. You go... I don't know, hang with Akame or something. Once I'm done crying tonight, I should be better tomorrow. It's not in my nature to stay depressed forever. Akame and Dairoku are right after all... Cornelia will get angry at me if I go on like this."

Green: "Yeah..." He said, a small smile on his face now before he glanced behind him, watching Akame, who was staring at Dairoku. The male had finally begun to move, walking away from the group with him staring at the earring in his hand.

Akame: "Dairoku?"

The black-haired male paused for a brief moment but didn't look back at her. The ravenette was going to ask him something but for whatever reason, she couldn't speak. It was as if her own words got stuck in her throat. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't bring herself to talk to him at this moment. Not hearing her voice anymore, Dairoku just continued walking silently, leaving the ravenette to just watch silently.

Kuraime: "So..." The scarlet-eyed assassin slightly jumped and glanced behind her, seeing her best friend approach her with her hands behind her back. "You wanna... walk together?" She offered her a small faint smile. Akame was a bit surprised but even despite everything, couldn't help but return the smile.

Akame: "Sure." With that, the two ravenettes began to journey into the forest, walking side by side in silence. But the scarlet-eyed ravenette soon broke that silence with a question. "Are you alright?"

Kuraime: "... Hard to say, really. It's... really hard to bear you know?" Akame merely hummed and gave a small nod. "But in reality, I'm... scared..." She began to slow down slightly as Akame's eyes slightly widened. "I have the lowest kill count of everyone, meaning I'm the weakest... If I don't put my head into the game and try to understand these strange powers of mind, I'll end up dead too and... I don't wanna die yet, Akame... I-I really don't want to die..." She mumbled, clutching her hands together.

Akame: "Kuraime..." The red-eyed female was initially surprised about this to hear that Kuraime had such doubts about herself till now and was even starting to grow a bit afraid, especially after witnessing Cornelia's demise. Kuraime continued to stare down at her hands before, being surprised by Akame gently holding her hands. Her violet eyes looked up to match hers, with her being caught off guard by the gentle smile Akame had on now. "Don't worry. I know it's scary... but you're already strong enough, Kuraime. Besides, it's not just you, we're all here."

The scythe-wielder was surprised by her words for a moment, with her eyes widening before she slowly squeezed her fellow ravenette's hands, a softer smile stretching across her lips now.

Kuraime: "Thanks, Akame."

Akame: "Anytime." The two continued to walk a bit more, this time with their hands intertwined before they stopped before a river.

Kuraime: "A river?"

Akame: "As sad as tears are..." She said, letting go of Kuraime's hand before she began to strip herself of her clothing. "Let's use the river waters to wash them away. Once we're out of the waters, they'll be all gone." Kuraime was a bit surprised for a moment before smiling and nodding.

Kuraime: "You're right. Besides, it's been a while since the two of us have taken a bath together by ourselves." She said before she too began to strip herself of her clothing. Akame smiled and nodded, with the fond memories filling her mind.

Akame: "Yeah, you're right."

Kuraime: "I just hope Big bro's handling this well..." She frowned and stared down at her reflection in the water. "The last time I've seen him like this was when Tsukushi died..."

Upon hearing that name of the girl she got to know briefly before her unfortunate demise caused Akame to frown. She too remembered how Dairoku was during that time and how he was now, was eerily similar to that time. All she could do was sigh sadly, her heart being filled with worry for the guy she considered her partner.

Akame: "Yeah..."

>>Meanwhile<<

Deep into another part of the forest, Dairoku sat down on the ground, his back pressed against a large tree as Prometheus Harbinger in its sword form was planted into the ground next to him. As usual, his eyes were fully trained on the shiny, silver earring in his palm. Not a single word exited his mouth as he remained deep in thought. As he continued to stare however, he felt the world around him come to a stand still before he froze, feeling a warmth on his back, followed by a pair of arms wrapping around him. Then, he heard her voice... It was as soothing, kind and lovable as he remembered it being.

Cornelia: "Dairoku... I love you, with everything I have."

He didn't say anything as his eyes were hidden behind his hair. A roar broke him out of this little world as a large Bear-like Danger Beast stood before him.

Dairoku: "Cornelia..."

Without looking up at it, he slowly stood up as it began to charge at him, with him slowly picking up Prometheus Harbinger. Once getting close, the Bear tried to swipe at him with its claws, but he narrowly dodged, only suffering a scratch on his cheek that drew blood. With him gritting his teeth, he released a yell of sheer rage and charged forwards.

Two Weeks Later...

With two weeks going pass, everyone had time to mourn and reflect and were now all gathered in front of Gozuki, who sat in front of the children while sitting on a rock.

Gozuki: "Your new mission has arrived. This time, you are going out of the Empire. To 'Potulu'." That took some of them by surprise.

Throughout history, it has been a place for traders to resupply during their journey. It lies in the north-west regions of the Empire. It was once occupied by the Northern Tribes, and holds many unique cultures.

Gozuki: "Potulu is an arid region. Unsuitable for farming, it's simply a land not worth having, but that place is full of history. The tombs of the past Emperor are located there. The residents of the area hold great reverence to that Emperor, and willingly offer up gold and jewelry hard earned by themselves."

Green: "It's lucky the graves haven't been robbed..."

Gozuki: "There are 'Gravekeepers' there." Dairoku raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms.

Dairoku: "Gravekeepers you say?"

Gozuki: "Death comes to those who stray near the tomb of the Emperor. Gravekeepers are those who use strange magic." he said, causing Kuraime's eyes to widen.

Kuraime: "Magic...? You mean..." She slowly looked at her hands, which pulsed in that signature deep purple energy. Gozuki merely hummed before continuing.

Gozuki: "This is the important bit. There have been rumors that the gold and jewelry located in those tombs were stolen from the Empire; a Teigu is also included."

Akame: "Were they specifically stolen?"

Gozuki: "The money and gold they earned themselves have probably been used up already. They don't seem like the type to be after riches."

Poney: "It seems to be that they hold sentient in higher value than gold."

Gozuki: "The first great Emperor must have commanded great respect among those that live there..."

Gozuki: "The Empire sent an investigation team to verify the rumors but they were all horrifically killed. The corpses were left with a warning, 'Stay away from the Tombs'. And that's not all. A few weeks later, the families of the investigators were also killed in the same manner within the Empire." The group's eyes widened briefly as the type of opponent they'd be dealing with was slowly starting to settle. This was for sure an opponent they couldn't be lax with. "Stealing the treasures of others, and stopping them from coming to the tombs... they really are over their heads, aren't they?"

Dairoku: "That's an understatement..." He mumbled before glancing briefly at Kuraime, who continued to stare at her glowing hands before clenching them.

Gozuki: "All members of the team are to head over to Potulu to deal with the Gravekeepers and take back all the treasures while you're at it. This is your mission. Another step in improving the Empire's state, this is a very important job."

Green: "We're going out of the empire... Seems like another difficult mission."

Guy: "It matters not. I'll redouble my efforts in the place of Cornelia."

Gozuki: "Speaking of which..." His voice caught their attention again. "This job was not initially handed out to you. It was given to another assassination squad that headed there already." The moment that left his mouth caused Akame and Kuraime's eyes to widen in shock, with Dairoku slowly gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as he picked up on what the two were thinking.

Dairoku: "Shit..."

Akame: "Kurome!"

Kuraime: "Akaruime!"

Gozuki: "We got an S.O.S signal soon afterwards. This is why we're being sent out after them. That old hag can't hold it in anymore and is after our help. I don't think the situation is too bright for them."

Akame and Kuraime felt their hearts drop. The moment the acronym, 'S.O.S' left his mouth, their minds instantly wandered. If this assassination group was really the one their sisters were a part of, then that meant they were in deep trouble.

Potulu...

Against a few rocks, the Group of Terror were all sat down, breathing heavily after they were forced to retreat. Before them, was their fallen comrade, Balluck, who was completely speared to death.

Natala: "Natsu, Gin, you two alright?" He asked. The only response he got however were breaths of exhaustion from Gin as she leaned her head against Natsu's back, the red-haired male remaining silent while glancing at the dead girl before them.

Kurome: "It's over, Balluck is dead..." She mumbled, with Akaruime seated next to her, clutching and rubbing her arm to comfort herself as she gritted her teeth.

Natala: "I can't believe those Gravekeepers have such superhuman powers..."

Natsu: "Tch... We weren't ready for this..." He muttered, his voice sounding surprisingly serious. "We need to focus on getting out of here. Screw the punishments we'll get... We can't afford to lose anyone else."

Natala: "R-Right..." The red-head glanced back at Gin, who just silently glanced up at him, then he looked back to the two black-haired girls, watching Akaruime slowly clench onto Kurome.

Akaruime: "I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die..." She continued to mutter in fear as Kuraime's face appeared in her mind. *thoughts* "Big sis..."

Kurome remained silent, gritting her teeth as tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she was clutching onto her best friend in return, with Akame's face appearing in her mind now.

Kurome's thoughts: "Akame...!"

________________________________________________

Next Chapter: Mysteries