No one's POV

Several Months have passed since the Elite Seven started undertaking assassination missions, having left the mountain they were raised on and were now currently active in the Empire's northern border.

Gozuki: Thanks to Akame's and Ryu's efforts, the Sabatini Company was exterminated. Your next target isRagiri, the Viceroy of Rakurou Castle who is secretly communicating with barbarians to the north. He's a big shot in the political scene. Use the knowledge you've gained so far to bring him down!

(Timeskip)

Currently at the Rakurou castle inner city, Najasho, Ryu, Gai, and Green were currently outside the town investigating the inner area of the castle to see what kind of traps or some hidden entrance that are nearby as they all wait for the girls. Akame, Cornelia, and Poney were inside the castle spying on their target.

Gai: Maan... Hey, Najasho, Ryu, this is boring as hell. Why can't we just storm the castle at night?

Gai said with a sigh. Two groups were formed for this mission, the girls getting information from within while the boys got more outside information until they had a chance to kill their target at last.

Najasho: Shut up, shrimp. It's not that simple.

Ryu: Are there only meats in that head of yours? The castle is rigged with traps, since the viceroy is doing something as dangerous as selling out the Empire.

Ryu said as he was serving some food as a waiter. Gai let out a groan of annoyance before seeing Green in butler attire moving closer to them.

Gai: That looks good on your, Green.

Green: I'm fighting a battle to get my special coffee on the restaurant's house special menu. Though it seems to be a losing battle...

Najasho, Gai lokked behind them, Ryu was currently being hounded by many patrons, most being girls but some guys being there as well, and darted his eyes around from being unsure of what he should or could even do to get out of this situation.

Ryu: Calm down, ladies. I'll be at your service right at the moment.

Girls: Kyaaaaaaaa! We'll wait forever if we have to!

Gai: Well someone's certainly having fun.

Najasho: Don't forget our original goal here, shrimp.

Green: I know. First, we have to infiltrate the city and gather information, right?

Gai: I wanna do something too!

Najasho: You're only going to cause a scene so pipe down. Save it for when we're on the mission.

Guy: But you're not doing anything either, Najasho.

Najasho: That's what being a leader does, and in exchange I hold all the responsibility.

Still, Green couldn't help but wonder if the girls were doing alright on their side of the mission.

(Elsewhere)

Inside the castle, Poney was hired as a chef as she was currently cutting and filleting many meats and fish.

Chef: Hey! You're a natural for this!!

Poney: Yes sir!

The chef suddenly drop a huge fish around 2 meter in size on the table and had a smirk on his face.

Chef: Alright! Next, gut this incredible Kouga-Tuna!

Poney(mind): Uuugh! I'm being held up because he's keeping an eye on me, in a different sense! Cooking is suppose to be Ryu's job!

On Cornelia's end, the blond hair girl was currently disguising herself as a maid. She was pacing herself around the hall trying to find intel on the Viceroy.

Cornelia(mind): Hmm... I guess they wouldn't let a new hire work in the inner area of the castle...

She slowly glance herself near the other hallway where it was guarded by some guards. The place the guard was guarding was the inner halfway Cornelia thought about where there's a high chance the viceroy might be at.

Cornelia(mind): Chief and Ryu told us not to infiltrate recklessly... I have to be patient.

(Timeskip)

Later that night. After Ryu's shift was over. He returned to the temporary base the Elite Seven were currently using with a tired sigh.

Ryu: How does anyone even deal with that many people, I wouldn't even begin to know.

The others could only look at Ryu with a tired sigh. Najasho was giving him a look of pity. Green was jealous that Ryu's the one that got the special coffee service. While Poney could only laugh awkwardly, and Cornelia was sitting next to him patting his back gently. They were worried as Ryu let out deep breaths in a vain attempt to calm himself down before Gai was the one to step in front of him.

Gai: Did you have fun, you damn womani-

Before Gai could even finished his sentence, he was met by a powerful fist on his face and was sent flying. Ryu just plop himself back next to Cornelia with a tired sigh.

Ryu: Stop comparing me to you, you damned moron. I didn't even do anything so why does so many people are so interested in me...?

Cornelia: Well, I'm sure there was at least someone you were interested in, right?

Cornelia slowly twirl her hair glancing back and forth at Ryu, oblivious as he may be, he didn't even spare her a glance.

Ryu: Sadly for now, no.

Cornelia: O-Oh, I see...

Poney(mind): He is so dense!

Ryu: Why are you glaring at me like that, Poney?

Poney: Nothing.

Ryu: Hmm... Anyway, I couldn't get any intel from any of them. Anyone else?

Poney: No intel, but I've gotten even better at gutting a fish!

Green: That's not something to be proud of. Especially when Ryu is the one who takes care of most of the cooking anyway.

Najasho: All that's left is Akame... she's late again...

Cornelia: That's because she's in the stables, that's probably the hardest job.

Poney: Not like we can do anything about it. Since she got reassigned there after eating all the food in the kitchen...

Akame: It wasn't all of them, Poney! Just the meat.

They all turned to Akame, her resolute eyes aimed at both Ryu and Najasho which immediately told them she got what they needed.

Akame: They were doing a thorough check on the condition of the Viceroy's horse in the stable today. Apparently, he'll be going out hunting in the forest.

Ryu and Najasho nod their head resolutely and Najasho close his book and stood up.

Ryu: What's the plan, Najasho?

Najasho: Your aim better not be off, Ryu.

(Timeskip)

Later that night, Ryu and the other Elite Seven were already in position to take out the Viceroy who were currently hunting in the middle of the forest.

Ragiri: Where are they prey?! Wasn't there supposed to be a herd of Ragurou Bambi?

Attendant: My apologies sir! We're looking for them as hard as we can...

Ryu(mind): In position just as we planned...

Ryu silently adjust Prometheus in his hand and aimed slowly. He fired the silent gun shot, not at the Viceroy but at the nearby tree instead. But his weapon in a Shingu with the ability to change the trajectory of the bullet. And so it did. The bullet did a roundabout at the tree and hit the Viceroy in the head, completely surprising the attendants.

Seeing that he's done with his mission, Ryu jumped back as fast but as quietly as ever and hurriedly meet up with the others.

Gai: How about that?! That's all thanks to my wearing my suit and scattering the bambis from underground.

Ryu: -_- Yeah, congrats. Now stay sharp, we need to take care of those pursuers.

Akame: Or do you think we'll lose 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?

Akame: Perhaps, or maybe it was the smell of gunpowder.

Ryu: They are more competent than we thought.

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

They turned around to see their pursuers, angry glares and weapons ready as Ryu and the others got ready themselves. It was the viceroys entourage. Around a good 15 of them.

Guards: You brats... we were on duty to guard him and you disgraced us. If you're not going to show us the way to your hideout willingly, we'll force it out of you. We'll get you to spit out the name of the one behind the scenes and where you come from while we're crushing you.

Najasho: They're not our targets, but you all understand what we have to do, don't you?

Poney: Yeah, now that they've had a good look at us, we can't let them leave alive.

Cornelia: They're pretty strong if they were able to track us down. Be careful.

Guard: Don't be so cocky you brats.

They blindly charged at the Elite Seven as Ryu let slowly unsheathe his katana and let Prometheus' bullets fly. Cornelia, Poney and Akame were the first to go in to confront the enemies, taking a few by themselves. With her superior strength, Poney decimate her opponent crushing their ribs and kicking their heads off. While Najasho were able to find targets that weren't paying attention.

Najasho: Where are you looking?

He had taken out his own Shingu, the Water Dragon Sword, and sneak up on then, killing them in quick succession. Green fought at a distance, using his whip to fling them around and wrap it around their neck snapping them.

And finally Gai covering for his teammates and take out the guard that was sneaking behind Green, with his armor and brute strength, he crushes his foes, plunging the guard into the ground.

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

Some of them tried to retreat but was intercepted by Ryu. The guard see this and they tried rushing forwards and began to fired their gun at him. But Ryu stay calm and slowly deflect their shot while countering with his own Prometheus gun as the bullet all change their trajectory or hit the enemies bullet so Ryu could get closer.

The moment he did got closer, he rushed at two of the guard and cut them down as swift as possible without glancing at the corpse but focus at the remaining pursuers.

The 4 remaining guards started to shoot at Ryu again, but he deflected the shot as well, using his sheath, thrusting it into the guards stomach, before slicing his head off. He did the same with the other one.

The last remaining guard sees this and ran away terrified but, Ryu only aimed his Prometheus gun and with a single BAM! The sound of a gun being fired and the very bullet itself hit the last target before he fall into the ground dead. The moment he was done Ryu returned to the others who were celebrating their victory.

Poney: What's wrong, Gai?

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

Poney: You're so dumb, Gai, I'm surprised you can actually be worried.

Gai: I don't want to be called dumb by the likes of you!

Ryu: Guilt. That's what you were feeling.

The two of them look back at Ryu as he waved away.

Ryu: In the end, we're still human being. Your heartless if you didn't feel some sort of guilt for ending someone else's life. Don't forget that feeling, but never let that feeling consume you.

Akame: Ryu...

(Timeskip)

After they were done, the Elite Seven returned to their base camp where Gozuki is waiting for them.

Gozuki: Fantastic work completing your mission! I wasn't expecting you to be done so soon.

Gai: Let's keep going! Who's the next bad guy we need to kill?

Ryu: Don't get too cocky.

Guy: Wha-

Gozuki: Ryu's right. The barbarians and rebel army are going to realize they need to take measures against us now. They're thinking to themselves, 'What are we going to do about this assassin unit sent out by the government that's been moving in the shadows?'

Najasho: So even the hunter will eventually be hunted down.

Gozuki: That's right. From now on, there will be more battles against folks in your same profession. It takes a shadow organization to fight a shadow organization.

Poney: The people who were able to track us down last time would be an example.

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

Green: No wonder they were able to follow us.

Gozuki: So you understand, right? Think of this as the difficulty of your jobs taking a sudden jump. Your target may become a trap itself in the near future. Maintain your focus so you don't lose a single person until your mission is completely fulfilled!

Elite Seven:...

The battle of the Elite Seven had only just begun. But by now, Ryu had already started asking himself, "What are we truly fighting for?".

Ryu:...

During the Sabitani Circus Company, they mentioned themselves that they were fighting for justice and trying to take down the corrupted empire. But their adopted father told them that they were all enemies if the empire.

Ryu(mind): Is this to be our fate? To do nothing but kill?

He didn't know the answer to himself. He didn't know which to believed. Some of their targets keep saying, "No, I promised I'll change these corrupted land".   I promised my family I'll bring an end to this time of destruction". Were those words really true? Were they on the right and the Elite Seven were on the wrong? He didn't know. The only thing he could do right now was continue to fight for his current family. The Elite Seven. Hoping one day he could truly find the truth to which he should fight for.

(Elsewhere)

Further away from all of them were three people traveling through the mountains, an old lady, a raven haired girl and an auburn haired girl. All of them were traveling towards their destination.

???: The next target will be the Empire's assassin unit. They're currently situated at the border.

???: That's so far away...

???: Don't complain, Chelsea. We've got to get moving.

Chelsea: Okay, instructor!