Taken a Fancy to Someone?

"It looks like a fierce battle broke out over by the canal."

Amid the tense atmosphere, Ozneth smiled faintly and said to Budo, "From the looks of it, they must have run into those Night Raid assassins. Perhaps General Esdeath's subordinates will bring us some good news."

Budo narrowed his eyes, then snorted coldly and turned to leave.

No matter what, those civil officials had already been killed, and Night Raid had been drawn out. No matter how angry he was, it was useless now.

Besides, it wasn't just Ozneth—even he wanted to slaughter every last one of those Night Raid vermin!

In his eyes, those rebellious scum of Night Raid who possessed Teigu posed an enormous threat to the Emperor!

"How boring. I thought I'd get to fight the legendary strongest warrior of the Empire."

"Come on, hold yourself back. No matter what, this is the Imperial Capital."

Seeing Esdeath looking like a battle-crazed maniac, Ozneth felt a headache coming on.

Although his interests aligned with Esdeath's, her thirst for battle still frightened Ozneth. He was always worried that she might simply start fighting on the spot in certain situations.

Esdeath paid no heed to Ozneth's concerns. She looked at the canal, which had already calmed down, and a trace of worry flashed through her eyes.

Such an enormous wall of water—forget the Three Beasts, even she had never seen Lilith control that much water.

Could Lilith have encountered a troublesome enemy?

Somewhere along the canal, a battered figure crawled out of the water.

His body was covered in wounds. As he climbed onto the bank, fresh blood seeped through his clothes, dyeing his entire body red in just a short time.

After crawling ashore, Tatsumi, his consciousness hazy, forced himself to stay awake through sheer willpower. But his eyes could no longer make out anything clearly.

He felt as though he could pass out at any moment.

Just then, he vaguely saw a familiar figure running toward him on all fours in a strange posture. Only then did Tatsumi relax and drift into unconsciousness.

"Hey, Tatsumi, wake up! Tatsumi!"

Leona crouched beside Tatsumi. Looking at him, drenched in blood from head to toe, she was utterly shocked. She couldn't imagine what kind of battle Tatsumi had gone through to be wounded so badly.

And where was Bulat, who had been grouped with Tatsumi? Who exactly had they fought?

Just then, Leona noticed the longsword Tatsumi was clutching tightly in his hand—the sword used to summon Incursio.

She couldn't possibly mistake it. This was Incursio's key.

Could it be...

A suspicion arose in Leona's heart, one she couldn't believe.

"No way. Bulat was so strong. How could he have died?"

But the sword in Tatsumi's hand told her that Bulat was likely in grave danger.

Her top priority now was to bring Tatsumi back for treatment!

Inside Night Raid's base.

Nacita sat at the head of the table, a cigarette between her lips.

Nacita exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"A massive pillar of water...?"

Nacita remembered that among Esdeath's Three Beasts, none possessed a water-controlling Teigu.

But during the brief time Tatsumi had been awake, he had told everyone about everything they had encountered aboard the Dragon Ship.

Only then did Nacita remember Lilith.

Had Esdeath's overwhelming strength occupied too much of her attention?

"I never expected Lilith to be that powerful. I miscalculated. I'm sorry, everyone."

Nacita's apology startled Akame and the others.

"This isn't Boss's fault. None of us expected that Lilith to be so powerful—powerful enough to kill Bulat."

Lubbock, who had a crush on Nacita, said that her apology wasn't necessary.

"That's right, Boss. Lubbock's right. You don't need to apologize."

After Shil sacrificed herself to protect Mine, Night Raid was even more grieved by the loss of another companion.

But they were assassins. Dying at any time was simply a normal part of their lives.

Still, when a companion died, how could they ever get used to it?

"No matter what, we need to be more careful with our next actions. Esdeath, Lilith, and the Three Beasts, who are also Teigu users—none of them are simple opponents. We can't afford to lose our combat strength so easily again."

While Tatsumi recovered from his injuries, Nacita led everyone out of the Imperial Capital and into the mountains for special training.

Though they were all powerful Teigu users, facing even stronger enemies like Esdeath and the others, Night Raid's current strength gave them little chance of survival in a direct confrontation.

As for Nacita, she headed to the Rebel Army headquarters to seek reinforcements.

With the loss of two top fighters, Shil and Bulat, Night Raid clearly could no longer divert Esdeath and the others' attention—at least not until Tatsumi recovered and became proficient with Incursio.

Therefore, Night Raid needed fresh blood!

But Nacita was pessimistic about this trip.

If Night Raid wanted to cause trouble for the Imperial Capital, or even kill Esdeath and the others, the new members they recruited could only be Imperial Arms users.

The pressure on the front lines was considerable as well. It would obviously not be easy to transfer an Imperial Arms user away.

The ideal outcome, without question, was for her to find someone suitable for this big-eyed girl at the Rebel Army headquarters, then recruit them into Night Raid.

"Is that so? Killing one member of Night Raid is still not bad."

After Lilith and the others returned, Esdeath asked about what had happened aboard the ship.

When Esdeath learned that the enormous wall of water had not been used against an enemy, but rather to kill an enemy who had dived into the water in an attempt to escape, her brows rose slightly.

She gave Lilith a long, deep look but said nothing more.

"As for the corpse of that Night Raid assassin, I won't touch it. But it must be displayed in the square for three days."

Liva did not dare ask for more. As far as Bulat was concerned, he had already done all he could.

"Alright, you may leave."

After the Three Beasts withdrew, Esdeath looked at Lilith with a faintly amused smile.

"You deliberately let that Night Raid member go, didn't you?"

Esdeath, who often toyed with her enemies, immediately saw that Lilith had deliberately let the enemy escape.

Although she had realized it, Esdeath had not exposed it in front of the Three Beasts. Instead, she waited until Lilith was alone before asking.

"As expected, I still can't hide it from you."

"Why?"

As far as she knew, Lilith did not have a habit of deliberately letting enemies escape.

"Could it be that you took a liking to that boy?"