This chapter is much shorter than the previous ones as this chapter's beginning section was mostly about Tatsumi and him learning about Sheele's past. If you've read the manga and watched the anime, then that section shouldn't be a surprise.

So because there wasn't much to include Akira in, I decided I'll continue onward with the rest of the manga chapter for this chapter here. Anyway, hope you all enjoy it.

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Moments After Zanku's Death...

Just after he killed Zanku, Akira had turned around and lunged his arm forward, grabbing Akame's neck. Akame could feel her air pipe being cut off, oxygen no longer being supplied into her lungs.

She looked shocked as Akira glared at her, his grip on her neck being tightened.

Akira: "Why did you stop me?"

Akame: "I-I..."

Akira: "Don't act like you know me. I don't know you. Stand in my way again, I'll kill you. Got it?"

The red-eyed girl nodded, Akira letting go of her neck as he began to walk back in the direction of Night Raid's base. As Akira called his wolf over to him, he failed to see the tears prickling in Akame's eyes.

Never has she seen him snap at him like that. At this point, she shouldn't be surprised. He doesn't have any recollection of who he once was, so in his view, he was right. He didn't know her. But it didn't change the fact that the words that left his mouth are what hurt her the most.

Present Day, Few Days After Zanku's Death...

A few days after Zanku's death, they had retrieved his Teigu, Spectator. And during this time, Najenda had Akira explain the functions of his Teigu and what's it's abilities. Considering he's employed to Night Raid at the moment, he complied, writing all the information of Harvester into their codex filled with Teigu information.

At the current moment, all of Night Raid were in the meeting room. As per usual, Najenda sat in her chair and Akira was at his normal spot by the wall, leaning up against it. Fenrir sat next to his master, happily panting and wagging it's tail. While everyone was in their normal spots for the most part, Akame was a bit further away from her former partner. The words he told her that night had still affected her.

Najenda: "Tatsumi. Your wounds should be healed by now. So that Teigu we seized from Zanku, we're going to give it to you."

Tatsumi: (grins excitedly) "Wow! You sure!? What about everyone else!?"

Bulat: "One Teigu per person."

Lubbock: "Because they take so much physical and psychological strength."

Akira: "You should know that a Teigu's first impressions is what also affects the compatibility with the user. Keep that in mind."

Tatsumi: "Got it!" (thoughts) 'It's not very good looking, but... This eye... Is powerful...'

Najenda: "Since this Teigu wasn't written about in the records, it's still very mysterious..."

Akame: (eyes sparkle) "It has the power to read minds, right? So try it on me."

Tatsumi: "Tonight... You want to eat meat... Is what you're thinking."

Akame: (gasps) "Perfect."

Leone: (sweat drops) "That really doesn't demonstrate it's ability."

Akira: "That, and the Teigu hasn't been activated. The eye didn't open."

Mine: "I wouldn't want my mind read. If it's got five senses, then test out one of the other ones."

Tatsumi: (mutters) "Tch. Whiners. Fine." (thoughts) 'The last power I don't know about... Clearsight!'

He closed his eyes, the Teigu now activating as the eye opened. Then, Tatsumi opened his own eyes, him blushing profusely. He activated Clearsight, the ability to see through solid objects. And in this case, he was able to look through the girls clothing and was able to see the underwear they were wearing.

For some reason, Akira felt some sort of feeling welling up within him. He couldn't exactly figure it out himself, but he did note that it felt irritating and annoying. He wanted to badly cut up the brown-haired teen.

Tatsumi: "Wha!?"

Mine: (confused) "What's the matter?"

Tatsumi: "Wawawawaaaaaah!?" (thoughts) 'What a spectacular power...! Teigus are awesome...'

Mine, Sheele, and Akame continued to look at Tatsumi confused, the raven-haired girl tilting her head in confusion. The others didn't seem to notice the dark aura surrounding Akira, the only one, or rather, thing, noticing was his wolf companion. Fenrir looked up at it's master with it's adorable looking wolf face, it's tongue hanging out as it tilted it's head.

A surge of power then went through Tatsumi's head, making it feel like it he had a headache. The others noticed it, seeing Tatsumi's face scrunching up in slight pain.

Lubbock: "Uh-oh! It's rejecting him!"

Akame: "Hurry and take it off!"

Tatsumi: (takes off Teigu) "I suddenly feel really tired."

Najenda: "It's the compatibility. It didn't fit you."

Akira: (sigh) "One reasoning is that he must've thought it wasn't that impressive looking. You thought that, didn't?"

Tatsumi: "Y-Yeah..."

Akira: "I told you. The Teigu's compatibility is also affected by the person's first impressions. You probably didn't think too highly of it."

Mine: "He's right. A Teigu is sensitive to their user's initial impression."

Tatsumi: "Oops."

Najenda: "We'll send this to the Revolutionary Army's HQ. Once they've analyzed it, it's sure to be a valuable fighting force for them."

Akame: "Our team mainly deals with assassinations, but collecting Teigus is also a sub-mission of ours. In a case like Zanku's, where an enemy was in possession of a Teigu, we confiscate it...or at the very least destroy it..."

Tatsumi: (scratches head) "Anything to put the Revolutionary Army in the advantage, then."

Najenda: "That's right... You ought to read these records on the Teigu."

Najenda then hands him a book, which was the codex filled with information on various Teigu Night Raid had come across. It had detailed information on Pumpkin, Murasame, Extase, including the recently added Harvester. It contained all kinds of information. Tatsumi was ecstatic and amazed.

Tatsumi: "Wow... There's so many kinds... And this is only some of them?"

Najenda: "Memorize at least all the Teigu listed here."

Tatsumi: "By the way, what's the strongest Teigu out there?"

Najenda: "It depends on it's use and compatibility... But..." (leans hand on metal arm, eyes darken) "It's the Teigu that manipulates ice... In my opinion. Thankfully, it's wielder is currently on a conquest of the Northern Tribe."

Akira: (murmurs) "Teigu that manipulates ice...?"

Silently, Akira began to remember a memory from his past.

Flashback

Blue-haired Woman: "Hmm...it seems that conjuring ten ice swords is your limit, and erupting those ice spikes to attack me from the front seems to be how much you can use those. Tell me, are you able to control your output?"

Akira: (breathing heavily) "No...I can't necessarily control how much I can output."

Blue-haired Woman: "Then before I can properly train you, you need to extend your limit on how much ice you can produce. And increase your stamina. Erupting those ice spikes and ice blasts severely decrease your stamina, hence making you a hindrance on the battlefield. Yes, your ice makes for a versatile weapon, but from what I've noticed, you tend to put too much power in all of your ice that you end up depleting your stamina quite frequently. The stamina you have now is quite suitable for an assassin, but for the scale of your ice attacks of that caliber to be quite strong, you'll need to increase it."

Akira: "And how would I do that?"

Blue-haired Woman: "There are many ways to increase stamina. But, what most people tend to do are training and exercise. Those two things are what you do everyday with that I can assume of your profession."

Akira: "Right..."

Flashback End

The Ice Cold Reaper hummed to himself, only being noticed by Najenda and Akame. There was no doubt. Najenda knew that Akira had ties, or most certainly knew, a certain icy general of the Empire.

Lubbock: "That's because the Tribe of the North is so strong."

Tatsumi: "Ah! I've heard about him too!"

Lubbock: (looks to Najenda) "Don't worry. Even for her, it'll take a year to complete the conquest."

Najenda: "...Indeed..."

Tatsumi: (chuckles with grin) "The stronger the enemy, the better! Let's keep collecting Teigus!"

Leone: "You're awfully gungho. What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

Tatsumi: "There's still tons of Teigus that we don't know what they're capable of, right? That's when it came to mind... With all those different abilities... Maybe...just maybe... There's a Teigu that can bring back the dead. Right!?"

Upon hearing his conclusion, the room went silent. Everyone's eyes darken, the brown-haired teen not paying any attention to the serious expressions they were now bearing.

Tatsumi: "Then Sayo and Ieyasu could be alive again. So I'm gonna collect all those Teigus and--"

Bulat: "There isn't."

Tatsumi: "...Aniki...?"

Bulat: "Even Teigus can't bring back the dead."

Akira: "In this world, Tatsumi. You only live once."

Tatsumi: (in denial) "We... We don't know that! We have to look!"

Akame: "The First Emperor is proof enough. If there were such a Teigu, he would still be alive."

Bulat: "He knew that immortality is impossible. That's why he left behind the Teigus."

Tatsumi: "Y-You don't know that...!" (looks to Akira) "Harvester can bring them back, right!? They have to!"

Akira: "...You've misread the information I put, Tatsumi. They are brought back as a specter, not a whole living being. And after they've been used, I can never use them again. And you're forgetting the most important detail. In order to bring back someone as my servant, I must have extracted their soul. Which means... I would've killed them. But either way, it wouldn't have mattered on how they died. It's either they suffered their current fates that took their lives, or I killed them myself."

Tatsumi's eyes widen. He was still in disbelief, still holding on to the hope that there was such a Teigu that can bring back the dead, but there wasn't. You only get one life in this world.

Akame: "Give it up. Otherwise, the enemy will take the advantage of your fantasy. And you'll die."

Akira: "It's the truth, Tatsumi. You have to accept it. ...Even if it always hurts."

That's right. You have to accept the truth. Even if it does hurt. And the truth was that there is no Teigu that can bring back the dead. You only live once.

---

In the North...

North of the Capital was the Northern Tribe. Deep in the back was it's capital fortress. Throughout it's streets were many deceased bodies. The bodies were either missing their lower bodies, upper bodies, limbs, eyes, many things. Heads and bodies were held on pikes. Women, men, children, elderly. Innocent or not, they were all killed.

Right at the very back, a woman with icy blue hair was sitting upon a throne, her soldiers right in front of her. Hunched over in front of her was a long black-haired man. He was completely in the nude, a pleasant smile on his face as he was licking the woman's boot.

Imperial Soldier: "The Northern Tribe was defeated in no time. Just as I'd expected from the general!"

Blue-haired Woman: (unamused) "...The soldiers' and civilians' pride has been shattered... This is what they call the Hero of the North...? What a bore. Die. You dog."

The blue-haired woman brought her leg up and kicked the North's hero, Numa Seika. The force she put into her kick was so powerful, it cracked the bones in his neck and head, killing him instantly. Blood was splattered onto her boot and some of the faces of her soldiers.

She then stood up, standing tall with a sadistic grin on her face.

Blue-haired Woman: "Is there no one out there... Who can satisfy me as my enemy...?"

The woman who had ended the rebellion of the Northern Tribe was one of the top generals of the Empire.

It wasn't just any general. It was the "Empire's Strongest."

General Esdeath.