Several months have passed since Akame's squad began assassination missions. Leaving the mountains that they grew up in, they now conduct assassinations with the Northern Empire as their base of operations.

Gozuki: "Thanks to Akame and Dairoku, the Sabatini Circus Group has been eliminated." 

He praised the two for their achievement, however neither seemed too happy about it. The Sabatini Group almost treated them like they were family. While Akame slowly rubbed her arm, Dairoku only closed his eyes. Gozuki then held up a drawn photo of the next target. 

Gozuki: "Your next target is Ragiri, Viceroy of Rakurou Castle. He is conspiring with the Northern Nation. He's a big Target. Use the experience that you've gained and eliminate him yourselves!"

>Chapter 6: Challenge! Kill the Viceroy<

Rakurou Castle...
Inner City...

Guy: "Maaaan... Hey, Najasho, this is boring as hell. Why can't we just storm the castle at night?"

Najasho: "Shut up, idiot. It's not that simple."  He said, looking at the book that he always carried with him.

For this part of the mission, the Elite Seven+ were tasked with reconnaissance. The boys of the group, took the Inner City, blending in while gathering anything that could be used as information on their target. While Najasho and Guy were seated at a table outside of a Coffee shop, Green and Dairoku were working inside of it as baristas.

Najasho: "The castle is rigged with traps, since the viceroy is doing something as dangerous as selling out the Empire."  He finished as a slight snicker came from Guy as he looked towards Green, who approached them.

Guy: "Heh... That looks good on you, Green."

Green: "I'm fighting a battle to get my special Coffee on the restaurant's house special menu."  He said with a grin, though a commotion caught all three's attention.

The sounds were of female squeals. Their eyes set on an uncomfortable Dairoku with an expression that looked like he just wanted to disappear. Essentially what happened was, he was delivering an order of three coffees to this table of young ladies. However... fortunately or unfortunately for him, these girls seemed to be completely into him and were trying to get him to go out with them. Much to his dismay, they weren't the only ones...

Guy: "Tch... Lucky bastard..."  He gritted his teeth.

Green: "He really seems popular, haha.."

Najasho: "Hey idiot, don't forget the reason we're here."

Green: "I know. First, we infiltrate the city and gather intel, right?"

Guy: "I wanna do something, too!"

Najasho: "You'd just make a ruckus, so sit still. We'll make you work harder when we actually conduct the mission."

Guy: "Hmph. You're not gonna do anything then, Najasho?"

Najasho: "That's how being a leader works. In return, I'll take full responsibility for the mission."  He simply said. Meanwhile, Green had seemed to space out as he was looking towards the Castle's peak, which was just barely visible over the buildings around.

Green's thoughts: "I wonder if the girls are doing alright... Akame..."

Guy: "He's been lost in thought a lot recently."  He said, while Najasho was just confused.

Meanwhile, the girls of the team were tasked with performing reconnaissance inside the castle itself. As for Poney, she found herself fin the Kitchen, helping out a chef with filleting many types of fish and meat. To say the chef himself was impressed was a massive understatement.

Chef: "Hey! You're a natural at this!!"

Poney: "Yes, sir!"  He then dropped a rare type of aquatic marine life onto the cutting board, causing the girl to squeal in surprise.

Chef: "Alright! Next, gut this incredibly rare Kouga-Tuna!"

Poney's thoughts: "Uuugh! I'm being held up because he's keeping an eye on me, in a different sense!"

As for Cornelia, she was dressed up as a maid and with a duster in hand, she was walking through the halls of the castle, looking and listening out for any information she could obtain about their target. Unfortunately for her, she had no access towards the inner segments of the castle.

Cornelia's thoughts: "Hmm... I guess they wouldn't let a new hire work in the inner area of the castle..."  She peeked from around the corner to spot two guards guarding an entrance to the inner segments. If she was to try and take them out, no doubt that even with her skill of ability, she would blow her cover.  "The Chief told us not to infiltrate recklessly... I have to be patient." 

She thought and turned around before walking away from the area. As she did however, she looked down at herself, inspecting the maid outfit she wore. One thing she noticed is that it seemed to have hugged her body quite a bit and showed off a bit of her curves. A thought came to her mind as a small blush crept up on her face.

Cornelia: "I wonder if Dairoku would like this outfit on me..."

Meanwhile outside, Kuraime, who also wore a maid outfit and this time, had her long hair tied into a ponytail, wiped some sweat from her forehead as she had finished hanging some clothes on the lines from the three large baskets behind her.

Kuraime: "That's my quota completed. Phew."  The black-haired maid that had walked up to her was just dumbfounded on how fast she completed everything.

Maid: "Y-You always work so fast..."

Kuraime: "Fast is my middle name."  She said with a thumbs up before turning to face her.  "Let me help you with that one."  She was about to walk towards her, when a nearby guard approached her.

Guard: "Hey, you."

Kuraime: "Hmm?"  She looked back at him with an eyebrow raised.  "Me?"  He grins, to which the ravenette instantly felt a feeling of discomfort in her chest.

Guard: "Yeah, you. Once you're done, come see me."

The way he spoke instantly put the violet-eyed girl on high alert as she could just tell from his voice, that he reeked of... unwanted intentions, to say the least. As much as she wanted to just ignore him, there was also the possibility she could get some useful information out of him. So after helping the other maid with her duties, she followed the Man per his requests.

But... she wished that she had just decided to ignore him...

Kuraime found herself pinned to a wall in a more secluded area by the Guard himself. Despite the fact that she could probably easily get away, she needed to be as discrete as possible as to not jeopardize the mission.

Kuraime: "How... can I help you, sir...?"  She questioned, her voice wavering slightly from the instance she was put into.

Guard: "Do you want to earn more money?"  The ravenette blinked and sweat dropped slightly as she was opening and closing her fists to keep herself calm. The man's eyes shifted downwards, peeking at her well developed chest, which was like Larger D cup. He licked his lips a bit in delight as he watched the two mounds move up and down slowly with each breath she took.  "You'd make a great concubine. I can talk to the right people. In return, you can service me with that nice body of yours~"

A slight yelp came from Kuraime, feeling the man's hand grope her well developed rear end before he backed away.

Kuraime: "H-Hey!"  He simply waved to her with a satisfied smirk and began to walk away.

Guard: "Once you've made up your mind, let me know. I guarantee that you'll earn Ten times as much as you do now."

>>Later<<

After the day was over, the team reunited in their base of operations, with them meeting in one of the bedrooms. Kuraime sat on the bed with Cornelia sat next to her as she was relaying what happened during her quota. Poney sat on one chair, with the chair facing backwards while Green, Guy and Dairoku stood around. As for Najasho, he sat in another chair, book in hand.

Kuraime: "... And that's what happened..."  To say the least, Cornelia was disgusted and instantly wrapped an arm around the ravenette to comfort her from that experience. But, a thud was heard as Dairoku punched the wall out of anger.

Dairoku: "That fucker...! Tell me what he looks like and I'll break both his arms after smashing his teeth in."

Green: "C-Calm down, Dairoku..!"

Dairoku: "'Calm down'? That son of a bitch cornered and groped my sister, and you want me to calm down!?"

Najasho: "Lower your voice, Shrimp. You're giving me a headache."  The red-eyed male glared at the blonde and was about to say something, only for Kuraime to speak up.

Kuraime: "It's fine, big brother."  He looked at her, only to see a smile on her face.  "We shouldn't do anything too rash. But.. thank you for worrying about me."  Dairoku stared at her for a while before he sighed and nodded, choosing to ease his emotions a bit.

Guy: "Hey, hey! Maybe it wasn't a good idea to send the girls to infiltrate the castle! If Kuraime gets that kind of attention already, the incredibly good-looking Cornelia will be proposed to by nobles!!!"  He mauled as the blonde Assassin sweat dropped and looked with annoyance.

Dairoku: "You want me to knock you out, you pig-headed idiot?"

Guy: "Oh shut up, pretty boy! I saw all those girls flaunting over you!"  Dairoku scoffed as Cornelia shook her head and sighed.

Cornelia: "Guy, you're overreacting. It'll take time for me to gather information, too."  She said before she looked at Dairoku.  "And is that true?"

Dairoku: "Unfortunately. I barely could get any form of useful information besides girls' invitations to dates... Ugh, it's annoying really."  He said and pinched the bridge of his nose. Cornelia couldn't help but feel some form of sympathy for him, mainly because Guy acts in a similar fashion when he's around her... Though for some reason, she could feel a slight bit of jealousy.

Green: "What about you, Poney?"

Poney: "I didn't get any information, but I've gotten even better at cutting fish!"

Green: "Yeah... That's not something to be proud of."

Najasho: "And that leaves Akame... she's taking a long time."

Cornelia: "She's working in the stables... so she probably has it the hardest."

Poney: *crosses arms* "She brought it upon herself since she got reassigned there for eating all the food in the kitchen..."  In an instant, the door to the room slammed open as an annoyed Akame walked in. 

Akame: "It wasn't ALL of it, Poney. JUST the meat. *mutters* Because it looked delicious..."

Poney: *sweat drops* "What difference does it make...?"

Kuraime: "I didn't even get a chance to sample the meat..."  She pouted, to which the brown-haired girl panicked.

Poney: "That wouldn't have made it any better!"

Dairoku: "Anyways... you found out anything, Strawberry?"

Akame: "I did."  She turned and looked towards Najasho.  "Chief, I've been keeping an eye on the viceroy's horse in the stables. They're about to go hunting."  That instantly caught everyone's attention as now, it would be a perfect opportunity to assassinate the target.

>>Later<<

Outside of the city, viceroy Ragiri, along with some of his men head out deep into the night on a hunting trip with their horses.

Ragiri: "Where are the prey!? Wasn't there supposed to be a herd of Rangurou-Bambi!?"

Guard 1: "My apologies, sir! We're looking for them as hard as we can.."

Hiding in one of the nearby trees was No.2 of the Elite, Dairoku, who had his Shingu, Prometheus Harbinger converted to its revolver form and a dense cloth over the entire weapon, concealing it. Spotting the target, he narrowed his eyes and took aim. Soon, he pulled the trigger, causing for a fiery bullet to launch from barrel, making a whoosh noise that caught their attention. The bullet flew towards a tree before its trajectory changed, causing it to make a 180 degree turn around the tree and struck Ragiri right in the head, killing him. With him blowing away the smoke from his Shingu's barrel, Dairoku quickly retreated from his vantage point as the Guards panicked.

Guard 1: "What!? Lord Ragiri!?"

Guard 2: "Lord Ragiri!!" The first guard turned his head towards the entourage behind them.

Guard 1: You useless scum! You just watched him die!"

Guard 2: "Capturing the assassin is our first priority! The bullet came from that direction!"  He and the other Guard began to ride their horses in that direction, however a person from the entourage was able to smell the gunpowder from Prometheus Harbinger, meaning that the bullet came from the other direction.

Meanwhile, the Elite were already fleeing the scene, with Najasho leading them. Since the target was already taken out, there was no need to deal with the others that were there, so long as they weren't seen, which they weren't.

Guy: "Hah! This was all thanks to me goading the Bambies away from Underground with my suit."

Dairoku: "Blah, blah, blah. I could have killed the fucker either way."  He said, irritating Guy a bit but in an instant, all 8 of them could hear footsteps approaching fast from behind them.

Akame: "By the way, chief... When are we going to take care of them?"

Najasho: "Good. So you all noticed already. I was going to give a lecture to any idiots who didn't."

Poney: "But I wonder why they were able to chase after us? Did we leave a trail?"

Dairoku: "No..."  He muttered as he sniffed his hand.  "Prometheus Harbinger left the smell of gunpowder after firing... Tch."

Najasho: "Turn around. We're going to have to eliminate the pursuers."

In an instant, the team of eight made a 180 while coming to a screeching halt as they gripped onto their respective Shingu. Just afterwards, the entourage had arrived, weapons in hand as the two sides came to a standoff.

Guard 1: "Damn brats... How dare you embarrass us on our guard duty."

Guard 2: "If you have no intentions of leading us to your hideout, then we will get the information by force. We'll grind the mastermind and its whereabouts out of you."  They however, received zero reaction out of the 8 children, who only stared blankly at them.

Najasho: "They're not targets... but you understand already, right?"

Poney: "Yeah. Now that they've seen us, we can't let them live."

Cornelia: "If they were able to pursue up, they must be formidable. Be careful."

Dairoku: "We've dealt with Danger Beasts more dangerous than these shrimps. Let's not inflate their egos with compliments now, Corey."

Guard 1: "Don't get cocky, you damn brats!" 

The entourage all began to charge the group of eight, with a slight grin forming on Dairoku's lips as he rose his left hand into the air while Kuraime's hands glowed a dark purple, with herself and her teammates soon becoming coated in a violet aura.

Dairoku: "Aww, I hurt their feelings. Don't worry, we'll make sure this is quick and painless for you bunch." 

With him clenching his raised hand into a fist, an eruption of flames occurred underneath the Entourage, staggering them and surrounding them in a wall of fire. With them now disoriented and panicked, the attack officially began.

Akame and Cornelia dashed through the wall of flames, with the violet aura from Kuraime surrounding them protecting them from getting burnt, they each took down one guard each with relative ease, with Akame slicing hers in half and Cornelia punching the heart out of hers. The one with the large shield tried to use it to defend himself, only for it to be shattered by Dairoku fired a bullet at it from Prometheus Harbinger. While the guard was distracted by his broken shield, Poney used her superior leg strength to catch him off guard and smash her feet into his ribs, crushing them completely and instantly killing him. As she landed gracefully, a female guard tried to attack her blindside, but was stopped by Najasho, who had stabbed the woman from behind with his Water Dragon Sword.

Najasho: "Where are you looking?"

Just as he said this, Kuraime dashed right past him, before a speedy force of raven feathers before stopping right in front of a Guard, who was already swinging his sword down on her. However, she instandly dashed out of the way at lightspeeds, only leaving a pile of raven feathers before she reappeared, the blade of Kizushinrel hooking around his neck and decapitating him instantly. The last remaining guard looked on in complete horror as along with the burning wall of fire around them, the children all looked like complete beasts, their eyes all being illuminated.

Remaining Guard: "The... They're monsters...! What the hell..."

Soon, the whip of Sidewinder wrapped around his ankle roughly before Green launched him straight into the air just as Guy leaped up, with his Rhea Suit active.

Guy (Rhea): "Are you the last one?"  He questioned before grabbing the man and using his monstrous strength to crush the man into the ground.

With the battle over, Kuraime unleashed a violet wave of energy, extinguishing Dairoku's wall of fire as the auras surrounding everyone faded away. Guy's Rhea Suit disappeared as he fell silent while looking down at the man he just killed.

Poney: "What's wrong, Guy?"

Guy: "When I killed a man for the first time, I had this weird, unsettling feeling. But now, I don't feel anything. I wonder what that weird feeling was."

Poney: *grins* "Oh? So even the stupid Guy has things he thinks about~?"

Dairoku: *deadpans* "You're the last person who should call anyone stupid, period. Even the meat head has more brain cells than the likes of you, Poney."

Poney: "Hey!! I never asked for your opinion!" 

She began to go on a rant while gripping onto the No. 2's shoulders and shaking him repeatedly, to which Dairoku just deadpanned and wasn't really affected. Cornelia couldn't help but let out a few giggles while Green sweat dropped and Najasho remained emotionless. Akame was about to say something, with a slight laugh, only to notice that Kuraime was looking at her hand.

Akame: "Kuraime? Are you alright?"

Kuraime: "I am. It's just... these powers that me and big bro have... I'm still completely clueless on how we even have them."

Akame: "Well, you two were always the special bunch out of us."  She said, with a sly smile on her face as Kuraime blinked, before blushing slightly.

Kuraime: "S-Stop teasing me!"

Akame: "Mmm... Nope~!"

Kuraime: "Akame!"

>>Later<<

After the successful completion of the mission, the group of 8 returned back to Gozuki, who instantly began to praise them with a big grin on his face.

Gozuki: "Great, great Mission complete! Well done! I didn't think you'd finis him this fast!"

Guy: "Bring on the next one! What bad guy do we need to kill next?"  Gozuki's demeanor however, completely took a 180.

Gozuki: "...Don't get so cocky."  This alarmed everyone, aside from Najasho and Dairoku.  "The outside nations and the Revolutionary Armies must know about you by now, and will probably make a counter-move soon. They'll want to do something about 'The Imperial Assassins that lurk in the shadows'."

Najasho: "So even the Hunter will eventually be hunted, huh."

Dairoku: "It's how being an assassin works. Rack up a big enough kill score and suddenly, a target is on your back."

Gozuki: "Yeah. You'll have to fight against those like you. Groups that operate in the shadows are best dealt with by other such groups."

Poney: "Just like those guys that pursued us this time."

Gozuki: "They must've been spies from the Northerners who were sent to protect their information pipeline, Ragiri."

Dairoku: "Makes sense... The two guards that were on horses like Ragiri weren't apart of them, so it didn't seem like they picked up on the Gunpowder like they did..."

Green: "No wonder they were able to follow us."

Gozuki: "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!"

The eight all nodded their heads collectively in understanding. Meanwhile in a different location, a trio of females were seen making their way towards a specific destination.

???: "The next target s the Imperial Assassins near the Borders..."  The auburn girl, took out the lollipop that was in her mouth.

???: "That's pretty far."

???: "Stop complaining, Chelsea. Let's go already."

(Chelsea)

Chelsea: "Okay, instructor!"

Formidable foes move into action to eliminate Akame's group...

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Next Chapter: The Battle as Hakurou River