Your Excellency Is Strong, but My Art Style Is Above Yours!

The shards of light locked Kurome's arms against her waist like shackles. Though made of energy, they had physical form, leaving the girl unable to break free. She then lost her balance like a rocket running out of thrust and went into free fall toward the ground.

Bakudō #4: Hainawa

With a swipe of one hand, Iori left a twisting trail of yellow spiritual light in the air. It then solidified into a long rope that shot out, bound the falling Kurome, and yanked her over in one pull.

"What Teigu is this?!"

Kurome was utterly shocked. She had never imagined she would be defeated so quickly, and Iori's methods seemed unbelievable to her.

There were Teigu capable of using energy for offense or defense, but if she had seen correctly, Iori had clearly unleashed that attack barehanded!

Could it be... a Teigu residing inside his body?

"Let me go!"

"This is Kidō."

Iori could not be bothered to explain. Using the kendo technique Muto Dori, he casually snatched away the katana Kurome was gripping tightly and carelessly plunged it into the ground.

"My Yatsufusa! Give it back!"

"Tch~"

Since Kurome kept struggling and refusing to behave, he frowned in annoyance. Ignoring Akame's hesitant expression nearby, he lifted Kurome by the Bakudō rope in his hand, leaped onto a branch, then jumped again to the very top of the tree canopy.

Seeing that there were no more obstacles around them, Iori gave Kurome one final warning.

"Scram. Let go of me now, or else—"

"Then I have no choice."

The boy weighed Kurome in his hand. Once he had a sense of her weight, he slowly extended the light rope, stopping once it reached roughly five or six meters.

"Y-you, what are you trying to do?"

"This..."

On the ground, Akame looked up at her sister hanging in midair and fell into confusion as well. But as her older sister, she instinctively did not want Kurome to suffer too much. If Iori intended to interrogate Kurome, she could never agree to it.

"Iori... Faceless One, what does this mean?"

"Nothing. I just want to play a little game with you."

Iori asked faintly, "Have you ever played with a yo-yo?"

"A yo-wh—ah!"

Before she could finish, a tremendous force suddenly surged through the light rope, rapidly pulling Kurome's slender body upward.

What was interesting was that the force was highly controlled. It did not merely pull her straight up and down; it also carried a rotational force that "wound" the light rope around Kurome's waist. The girl spun and cried out several times before returning to Iori's hand.

But it was not over yet. Before Kurome or Akame could say anything, Iori whipped the light rope again—

"Vortex of Force!"

"What are you doing? Yamete—mmph!"

"Whirlwind Sweeping Leaves!"

"Mmph, mmph—"

"Rocket!"

"Aaah—"

"Elevator, Around the World, Lightning Fast Strike!"

Caught up in the moment, Iori even hummed a catchy melody from his previous life.

"Silver Dragon from Beyond the Heavens!"

"AAAAAAAHHH!!!"

The girl's wails went on and on. Akame stood frozen on the ground, wanting to stop Iori but not knowing how to speak up. At the same time, hearing her sister's mouth—which had been more stubborn than a dead duck's—now making such pitiful sounds... why did she feel a strange sense of pleasure?

At last, Kurome's voice gradually weakened until it disappeared. Just as Akame began worrying whether something had happened to her, Iori jumped down with the short-haired girl.

This time, he did not use any advanced Bakudō. He only used Bakudō #1: Seize to bind the girl's wrists.

Kurome no longer had any desire to struggle. In fact, it was already a miracle that she had not passed out, perhaps due to her unusual constitution.

Now, the stubborn girl leaned blankly against the tree trunk, a trace of clear liquid hanging from the corner of her mouth. Every now and then, she muttered incomprehensible lines like "Spinning and Spinning Non-stop" and "Bloom the Spark of Life," looking completely broken from being played with.

"Kurome!"

Akame hurried over to examine her. Only after confirming that Kurome was merely dazed and had no obvious external injuries did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"You went a little too far, Iori."

"What I can't stand most are arrogant little brats. I spared her this time only for your sake. Besides, you should thank me. She won't resist now."

Iori raised his chin in indication. "Take her with you."

"What? Take her with me?" Akame was utterly astonished.

"Isn't she your younger sister?"

Iori's expression remained indifferent. "Looking at you, you definitely can't bear to kill her, right? Then taking her with you is the only option."

"...Kurome is the person I cherish most in this world. I want to take her away too, but... she won't betray the Empire." Akame said painfully, "I-I can't—"

"Naive! Too naive, Akame!

You actually think this is something where you need to respect her personal wishes? How could you have such weak thoughts?"

"Huh?" Facing Iori's unprovoked accusation, the girl raised her head in confusion. "I'm naive?"

"Of course."

Iori said matter-of-factly, "What kindness has the Empire shown her that makes her willing to turn against her own sister rather than betray it?

It is nothing more than long-term brainwashing and mental PUA... in other words, psychological enslavement. They planted thought imprints in her mind like 'the Empire is invincible' and 'traitors will certainly die.'

Aside from mental manipulation, there may also be methods such as drug control. Something like the Three Corpses God-Brain Pill, for instance.

Don't understand? That's fine. You only need to do as I say!"

"B-but precisely because she has been brainwashed, once she comes to her senses, she'll still resist, won't she?"

"Then overwrite it with even stronger brainwashing!"

"—!"

"I know a scientist with a strong sense of justice. Mere brainwashing techniques and drug control are absolutely no problem for him. While we're at it, he can make Kurome even more docile.

Replace the Empire's thought imprints with 'I cannot disobey Big Sister' and 'I listen to Big Sister the most'!

Don't think it's extreme. If you don't steel yourself now, are you going to wait until you have to kill your own little sister someday?

In short, make up your mind. Even if you have to brainwash her, drug her, lock her in a basement, you must properly turn her into a 'little sister slave' who can't live without you!"

I Did It on Purpose.jpg!

After hearing Iori's words, Akame's mind practically crashed. But upon careful thought, they did not seem entirely unreasonable...

"Since she is currently brainwashed by the Empire anyway, if you give up now, she will forever remain under the Empire's control. She will eliminate their enemies, slaughter innocents, and stain her hands with blood and sin. For someone like you, who is determined to overthrow the Empire, Kurome, as their hound, will sooner or later become someone you must kill.

Continuing like this will only lead to an even greater tragedy!

Since that is the case, why can't you pull her to your side and make her follow your commands?

Depending on the illness, poisonous herbs can sometimes become good medicine. Just like you and Kurome now.

Don't be afraid to impose your will on her. After all, she never had free will to begin with. Besides, do you really think you would be worse than the Empire?

This would be a kind of salvation for Kurome too~"

Iori guided her patiently. "This is only a temporary measure. Once the Empire is overthrown in the future, or once we find a solution, you can free Kurome from her restraints. Then you sisters can stay together forever."

"...I have to admit, that is a very tempting future."

Akame felt her throat go dry as she said with difficulty, "But Kurome's problem isn't only mental. As far as I know, aside from the Elite Seven I belonged to, the other Imperial Assassination Units use drugs to enhance their members' physical abilities, creating an extreme dependency on them.

Only the Empire can supply those drugs. If she goes too long without them, Kurome won't be able to endure it..."

"Didn't you hear what I just said?"

Iori became dissatisfied. Was she looking down on his dear teacher Kurotsuchi Mayuri?

"As long as my friend has a blood sample, let alone an antidote, even enhancement drugs with stronger effects are no issue. If you find your little sister annoying, he can even make gender-swapping medicine!"

"N-no, an antidote is enough. Let's skip the enhancement drugs and that gender-whatever."

Akame felt as though she was about to break into a sweat. "Just what kind of people do you know?"

"I merely have a few connections."

Iori pondered for a moment. "There's one small problem. It may take some time to obtain the antidote. But since Kurome came out to carry out a mission, she should have brought some medicine with her. Let her hold on with that for now. I'll return as quickly as possible with brainwashing equipment and the antidote.

When that time comes, how should I contact you?"

"How long will you need?"

"...Five to ten days?"

Iori calculated seriously. The brainwashing equipment would not be a problem for Kurotsuchi Mayuri, but for the antidote, he needed to bring either Kurome's blood sample or the enhancement drug itself back to the Soul Society.

To do that, he had to convert the blood sample from Material Form into Reishi Form. That involved a technical issue with Two-State Conversion.

In order to smoothly transport supplies between the two worlds, Iori had commissioned Kurotsuchi Mayuri long ago. That mad scientist did not yet possess the immense technological reserves he would have in the future, so he had spent quite some time overcoming the difficulties one by one. He was now at the final stage.

However, according to Mayuri himself, the technical issues were no longer significant. He simply lacked the resources to build a large conversion device—he was probably hinting that Iori should give him more money.

If Mayuri made a small conversion device and was given a few days to analyze the blood and formulate an antidote, ten days should be enough, right?

After all, in the future, when that guy fought a certain Espada, he copied all his internal organs in the time it took to eat a meal and let his opponent destroy them at will...

"Ten days? That should be fine."

Akame nodded in relief. She knew Kurome always had the habit of carrying extra candy—medicine. If she rationed it carefully, she could at least hold out for ten days.

After all, the medicine altered the body. It was not as though she would immediately die after missing it for a day.

"Eight days from now, I'll bring Kurome to the town where we first met. I'll wait for you at the Hat House inn."

"..."

"Have you forgotten how we met?"

"No, how could I?" Iori smiled faintly. "I remember. Hat House in Rogue Town, right?"

"...It's Glow Town." Akame felt slightly displeased, then became surprised. Why did she care about such a trivial matter?

"Fine, then it's decided."

Iori borrowed Akame's bamboo water tube, poured out the water, drew a small blood sample from the vein on the back of Kurome's hand, then took a piece of candy—medicine—from Kurome's snack pouch. The materials had now been collected.

"I'll be taking this sword."

Iori pointed at Teigu: Yatsufusa, which was stuck in the ground, and declared righteously, "This cursed blade that toys with the dead is not good for Kurome to keep. For the sake of her mental state, I'll hold onto it for her."

"...Just take the sword." Akame had no objections to that. She too felt that Yatsufusa was too sinister. Even compared with a cursed blade like Murasame, it seemed far more unsettling.

Teigu acquired!

Iori raised an eyebrow, pleased with himself.

"Come to think of it, Kurome will probably resist once she wakes up, right?"

"She has no weapon, I have her medicine, and you played with her until she's exhausted. If I can't subdue Kurome even in that state, what would be the point of joining the Revolutionary Army? To drag everyone down?"

"You're right. Then this is farewell."

"No... wait! I have a question."

"Hmm?"

This trip had earned him both a Teigu and an Imperial Arms. Iori had been happily preparing to go home when Akame called him back.

"Is there anything else wrong?" Iori thought about it but felt there was nothing left to discuss.

Akame hesitated unusually. This female assassin, who was always decisive in her actions, seemed somewhat... uneasy at this moment.

"I just don't understand... why... why are you helping me?"

"Huh?" Iori froze for a moment, then suddenly understood.