The rest of the Elite Seven had traveled to where Cornelia had perished, and found Akira leaning against a wall, aimlessly looking at the sky. When Akame glanced at his icy blue eyes, she noticed they didn't have the familiar glow they always had.

Though it wasn't surprising, considering he was the first to witness their comrade's death. Najasho kept his stern look, but looked down. He never showed it, but he did care for his teammates. Green, Guy, Akame, and Poney were doing their best to hold back their tears. They covered the blonde girl's body with flowers, however, Guy kept staring at the grave.

Gozuki: "...Guy. Time to leave."

Guy: "Those flowers are not enough, Father. I must find more..."

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

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

Poney: "Guy..."

Gozuki: (sigh) "Yes. Because she is dead."

Guy: "The ones who killed her were the Oarburgh? I will make those bastards pay! Tell me who the fuck they are!"

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

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

Guy: (grits teeth angrily) "Oarburgh..."

Akame: "Let's go, Guy." (sad smile) "If we stay here and get ambushed, Cornelia will surely feel sad. Because she must believe that it was her fault that...everybody..." (begins to let tears out) "Because Cornelia cares about others more than anybody else here...ah...what am I saying..."

Guy: (disbelief) "Akame..."

Akira never once looked up. He thought of the blonde girl. Her laugh, her smile, her shining blue eyes that would brighten up every time she saw him. He remembered how mesmerizing they were. And now, he'll wake up, never to see them again.

And it was only just now that Akira realized how Cornelia felt about him. He hadn't given her a chance. A chance was all she wanted. He clenches his fists in anger and the group began to head out of town. Getting a considerable amount of distance away from the town, they stopped on top a grassy hill, Gozuki facing his adopted 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're deep in the mountains, we don't have to be worried 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."

Gozuki then leaves his children, leaving them to do what they needed to do to reflect. But some of them weren't sure how to reflect.

Poney: "Father told us to get our heads right. It really is hard to understand."

Najasho: (walking away) "Reflect properly. Otherwise death is the only thing waiting for you."

Poney: "Where are you going?"

Najasho: "Swinging swords. I need to train more."

Poney: (thoughts) 'Exercise better than sitting here and doing nothing...' "I'll go with you--"

Najasho: "Don't follow, Poney."

Poney: "That was over the top!"

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

Akame: "Are you going to be alright?"

Guy: "I'm fine. I'll probably just force myself to cry."

Akame then looks to her partner, the icy blue-eyed boy looking towards the forested mountain. She caught a glimpse of his eyes, all devoid of emotion. They looked dead.

Akira caught her staring, but he simply shrugs it off. Akame calls out to him, asking where he was going. But he didn't respond. He continued to wander into the forest some more, the only thing in his hand was an ice sword, conjuring it for defense. A Danger Beast had leaped out from the side, biting down on his arm. But Akira didn't react in pain. The pain he felt hurt more than physical pain.

He glances down to his arm to see that it was pooling blood out slowly from, the Danger Beast not letting go. All he thought, was that the Danger Beast was being annoying. He simply puts his other hand on the beast's head, letting his ice entirely freeze the beast. Before, he had to hold his power back because he didn't necessarily know how to control it. But now, it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was him to get stronger, needed something to vent his anger out.

After the whole entire beast is frozen, he smashes it with as much force as he could with his fist, shattering the beast. He dusts himself off before he looked back up. Deeper into the forest, all he could see was deep red eyes, looking at him. Growls from the Danger Beasts that lurked within could be heard, only growing louder. The boy scoffed as he conjures another ice sword in his hand. Slowly, he crept his way deeper, the sounds of slashing heard and the howls of pain coming from the Danger Beasts.

With the others, Guy remained where he was, lying down on the grass. Poney was relentlessly practicing her kicks and Najasho swinging his sword, both of them training as hard as they could. They needed to ingrain this experience into their heads. From this day forward, any of them could die. Akame had went to a nearby river to wash away her tears, the red eyed girl discarding her clothes as she enters the cool waters.

But every time she tried to think of something else, her mind would always drift off to those eyes of his. How they looked emotional and devoid of life.

Everyone had their own way of dealing with this. It's whether a matter they could recover from it.

Two Weeks Later...

After their brief recover, Gozuki sat on a stone with his adopted children in front of him.

Gozuki: "Your new mission has arrived. This time you are going out of the Empire. To 'Potulu.'"

Potulu had been a place for trading and for resupplies throughout history. Lies in the Northwest region of the Empire, it was often occupied by the Northern tribes, and held many unique cultures. This is where the Elite Seven was heading next.

Gozuki: "Potolus is an arid region. Unsustainable for farming, it's simply a land not worth having. But that place is full of history. The tombs of the past emperor is 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 luck the graves haven't been robbed..."

Gozuki: "There are 'Gravekeepers' there."

Akira: "Gravekeepers?"

Gozuki: "Death comes to those who strays near the tomb of the emperor. Gravekeepers are those who use strange magics. 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 they hold sentiment in higher value than gold."

Najasho: "The great first emperor must have commanded great respect among those who lived 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."

This causes the Elite Seven's eyes to widen temporarily. This was the foe they were dealing with.

Gozuki: "Stealing the treasures of others, and stopping them from coming to the tombs...they really are over their heads, aren't they? All members of the team are to head to Potulu to deal with the Gravekeepers. 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 job."

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

Gozuki: "Speaking of which, this job was initially not handed out to you. It was given to another assassination squad that headed there already."

Akame: (wide eyes) "Kurome!"

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

Akame: (thoughts) 'SOS...!? Kurome...!'

Akira's eyes darken. If it was another difficult mission, he couldn't lose anyone else. Not after what happened to her.

Akira: (thoughts) 'Those two weeks of training...I won't let them go to waste.'

His eyes were filled with resolute. Akira was determined to bring everyone back alive. Even if it meant he had to stay behind and buy them time when the mission commenced.