Next, Leone and Mine helped themselves to a hearty feast without standing on ceremony, forcing Akame to go back to the kitchen to make more food.
After eating, Leone and Mine experienced the wonders of the visualization image, and both immediately shamelessly pestered Akame to give them special treatment.
Akame agreed. After all, they were close, so of course she could not treat them the same as ordinary Teigu users.
Then Akame took Zi Xing off into the distance to practice swordsmanship, and the little girls followed her example. With a thought, Lin Ran spent five hundred thousand Origin Points to buy fifty weakened Emperor Heart Pills, then bought a set of combined sword arts and handed them to the five little girls.
Bored with nothing to do, Sheele volunteered to teach the children, but she soon discovered that she really was not suited to the job and could only return to the courtyard to begin visualizing.
After finally waiting until evening, Lin Ran sent Akame off to visualize while he quietly took Sheele away. As Sheele looked nervous, Lin Ran slowly soothed her, then gently made her his.
Akame emerged from her visualization and looked toward Sheele's room, her face flushing before she resumed visualizing. What she had not expected, however, was that Sheele would make even more noise than she had.
"Big Sister, is Sister Sheele sick?"
"No, no, your Sister Sheele is practicing. It's very hard work, so you all need to work hard on your visualization too, understand?"
"Yes! I understand, Big Sister!"
After soothing Zi Xing, Akame met Leone's and Mine's teasing gazes.
"What are you two looking at! If you're not going to visualize, go carry out missions! I'm going to bed!" Akame slunk back to her room, deliberately sneaking past Sheele's room on the way. Hearing the blush-inducing panting inside, she covered her face and burrowed under her own covers.
How embarrassing! Divine Abyss and Sheele don't even know to keep it down. Could Divine Abyss and I have sounded like that too? Then wouldn't they have heard everything? No, no, I have to be more careful next time!
Over an hour later, Sheele had passed out from exhaustion. Lin Ran tucked her in and returned to Akame's room. Before long, melodious singing drifted out from within.
The next morning, when Sheele and Akame met, both could not help blushing, then looked in unison toward Divine Abyss, who was still fast asleep to one side.
Over the next few days, Lin Ran, Akame, and Sheele lived shamelessly indulgent lives, until the Revolutionary Army caused more and more trouble, and a trace of impatience crossed Akame's brow.
"Zi Xing, come north with me!" Holding Zi Xing, Akame headed straight north.
Two days later, Akame reached the north and found that it truly was in chaos. She stopped a group of young people dressed as Revolutionary Army soldiers, who were pursuing several ordinary villagers. Such scenes were far from rare.
"So this is what the Revolutionary Army has become?" Akame murmured coldly.
"I remember that the Revolutionary Army's original purpose was to overthrow the corrupt empire and save the people oppressed by it. Since when did the Revolutionary Army become a rabble that slaughters the innocent and bullies the weak?"
"Why do you care so much! These people are unarmed, yet they refuse to let us enslave them. Don't they deserve to die?"
"They certainly deserve to die!" Furious, Akame slashed out with her sword, annihilating hundreds of Revolutionary Army soldiers and leaving a thousand-meter-long trench.
"All combat-type Teigu users, heed my command! Wipe out the entire Revolutionary Army! All subjects of the Divine Dragon Empire, make every effort to search for traces of Revolutionary Army remnants and report any discoveries immediately!" Akame's words spread through the Guardian Temple, and some Teigu users set down their work and headed north.
The next moment, Najenda appeared before Akame. Looking at her former captain, a trace of conflicted feeling flashed through Akame's eyes, but Najenda's failure to resolve the threat of the Revolutionary Army after all this time left her deeply dissatisfied.
"I'm sorry. It was my fault. I kept thinking they could still be saved. Now it seems that the passionate Revolutionary Army we once knew is already dead. All that remains are people who bully the weak and fear the strong, greedy for comfort and pleasure."
"After this battle, go to the Guardian Temple and face the wall for a month. If this happens again, you will be stripped of your right to use a Teigu," Akame said with her back to Najenda, her voice utterly level.
"Yes!"
Akame vanished, and Najenda gave a bitter smile. She knew Akame had shown mercy; otherwise, this incident alone would have been enough to strip her of her right to use a Teigu. Then her expression hardened. Now that she had seen the true nature of these Revolutionary Army soldiers, she would show no more mercy either.
"Spare no effort in eliminating the Revolutionary Army remnants!" Najenda ordered the legion under her command. Every Teigu user had a legion of their own to facilitate the exercise of their authority. Only when enemies appeared that the legion could not defeat would the Teigu user act.
"Zi Xing, did you see that? This world has never lacked people like the Revolutionary Army. In fact, many of them really did begin with justice in their hearts, hoping to build a country like the Divine Dragon Empire. But their sense of justice wasn't pure enough, and the Revolutionary Army's leaders easily snuffed it out. If they had met a good leader, perhaps their dark sides would never have had a chance to show themselves."
"I understand, Brother Divine Abyss. You're trying to tell me that order can restrain the darkness in a person's heart, right?"
"Yes. Human desire is limitless. Left unchecked, it will eventually bring disaster. Take the current Teigu users. They possess great power and are the people most likely to become intoxicated by it, but not every one of them sincerely wants to serve the empire. Some are simply content with the way things are, while others have no alternative. Your Sister Akame is too powerful for them to resist, which is why they're willing to work for the Guardian Temple and the empire."
"If one of them became stronger than your Sister Akame, I suspect he would most likely kill her and take her place."
"That won't happen. I'll protect Big Sister!" Zi Xing clenched her little fists and spoke firmly.
"I believe in you, Zi Xing!" Akame stroked Zi Xing's little head and spoke with a smile. The gloom brought on by the Revolutionary Army dissipated at that moment.
A roar came from the distant mountains, and a Super Danger Beast rose into the air, flying toward them at tremendous speed. Once it drew near, all the Revolutionary Army soldiers were so terrified they pissed and shit themselves, shoving one another as they fled.
"This Danger Beast is no ordinary one. It should be a long-established Super Danger Beast. Now that it's been corrupted by that strange origin power, its strength has probably surpassed the level of a Super Danger Beast."
"Don't make a move. Leave it to Zi Xing and let her get some practice!"
"Okay! Brother Divine Abyss, leave this big monster to me!" Zi Xing summoned the Heavenly Heart Sword and slashed, sending a pure white sword ray over twenty meters long toward the approaching Danger Beast.
The Danger Beast also fanned out blades of wind. The two attacks collided, sending shock waves surging in every direction. With a wave of Akame's hand, all the shock waves were canceled out, while Zi Xing charged in with the Heavenly Heart Sword to fight the Super Danger Beast at close quarters.
The Danger Beast was no fool either. It had just tried to take flight and exploit its aerial advantage when a sword ray swept past, severing its right wing at the root. Holding Divine Abyss, Akame regarded it with perfect composure.
Zi Xing also found her rhythm, swinging the Heavenly Heart Sword without pause and sending sword qi slashing at the Danger Beast in a relentless barrage.
"S-so strong!" One villager even forgot to flee, staring blankly as the Danger Beast and Zi Xing clashed again and again.