Esdeath issued a challenge, and Tatsuki accepted it.
Last time, during her challenge against Tatsuki, she had used Mahapdama to freeze space. But once she faced Tatsuki's reflection ability, everything she attempted proved useless. Unable to freeze him, she was instantly defeated.
This time, at least, she was able to exchange a few blows with him. Once her emotions stabilized, Esdeath fought extremely aggressively—but her opponent was still Tatsuki.
She wanted to play the queen?
Tatsuki simply refused to let her.
He used his overwhelming power to crush her, while also setting up additional advances elsewhere.
The Six Powers (Rokushiki).
This technique finally came into its own during the battle.
Level 4 was the limit of this B-rank skill's advancement, meaning fully mastering it.
After perfecting the Six Powers, one could learn the ultimate technique, Life Return, allowing total control over every inch of muscle.
With the rich combat techniques of the Six Powers, paired with the raw energy from Devour, Tatsuki was invincible in this fight.
When a person is fed to their limit, their stomach can bloat under the strain.
During her fight, Esdeath experienced exactly that—causing her to recall the same sense of helplessness she'd felt when Mahapdama was rendered useless.
…
The battle ended with Tatsuki's victory.
The conflict between the two was concluded, but then Kanae appeared. She had been so influenced by Tatsuki that she was lost in her own desires, and only Tatsuki could free her.
That opened the door to a brand-new battle.
…
By the time everything was truly over, it was already the next day, near dusk.
Naturally, Tatsuki was the victor—Esdeath? Heh, too weak!
…
Leaving the palace, Tatsuki mulled over Esdeath's abilities.
He wanted to retract his earlier statements—Esdeath's power was incredible, a perfect ability!
Ice really could be as cold as it gets… and it could be quite the rush.
He also recalled that Yukino, from another world, apparently possessed ice powers? He wondered if it could be perfectly put to use as well. If he really won Yukino over, he definitely wanted to try it out. Though chances were slim—Yukino's convictions were probably too strong to accept sharing the way Megumi had.
Shaking his head to clear it, Tatsuki contacted March 7 and the others in the group chat.
They were now at some abandoned residence. After all, Night Raid members were wanted criminals—dangerous assassins. Even with the capital in chaos, they wouldn't reveal themselves so easily.
Indeed, the Imperial Capital was still in considerable disorder. Many people had died, including nobles. Rumor had it that someone threatened the Little Emperor's safety, and General Budo personally took action to quell the unrest.
Tatsuki followed March 7's directions and jumped inside, only to see a group of people circled around a tightly bound… girl. She had short black hair and black eyes.
Standing in front of her was Akame, gazing at her sorrowfully.
"Tatsuki! You're here."
March 7 was the first to notice his arrival.
"Where's Esdeath?" she asked, glancing around.
"Ahem."
Tatsuki coughed lightly, explaining, "She was seriously injured and is recovering now."
March 7 shook her head. "Sigh. You're obviously on the same side—why did you have to fight so hard that she ended up hurt?"
"She's just too headstrong."
Their conversation made the others feel a little uncomfortable; clearly they were talking about two different things, yet each response matched the other's words.
"What's going on here? Why is someone tied up like this?" Tatsuki asked, sensing the awkward atmosphere and pointing at the girl on the ground.
"They said it's Akame's younger sister. Today, out in the streets, she said she was some sort of Beast Person. But from what I can see, she looks just like a regular human. She doesn't have any animal features like Honghong."
"March 7-neechan, I'm a fox demon, not a beast," Tushan Honghong corrected in a small voice.
'Beast Person… must be a reference to Jaegers? Or the Empire's assassins? Hard to say. Typical March 7…'
At that, Tatsuki knew exactly who she was—Kurome, Akame's younger sister. Sold into the Empire's facilities with her sister in childhood, she underwent the training program for assassins.
"I never expected you'd gather so many dangerous people, Sis. What exactly are you planning?"
Kurome spoke with a sickly squint in her eyes. She didn't recognize Tatsuki or the others, but she certainly knew all the members of Night Raid.
"…"
Seeing her little sister on such a different path left Akame with her head lowered, shadows concealing her face. Her heart twisted in pain.
Najenda patted Akame's shoulder, then led the other members of Night Raid inside, leaving this family matter alone.
"Sigh… why must two sisters come to this?" Nami murmured sadly. If something like this happened between her and Nojiko, she'd probably want to die.
Tushan Honghong, who also had a younger sibling, felt the same.
Tatsuki glanced at Kurome. Her body had been badly eroded by drug injections.
"She's almost at her limit."
"What do you mean?" March 7 tilted her head.
Tatsuki gently tapped her forehead. "In simple terms, she's dying, Little March. You're not so quick on the uptake, are you?"
"Eh?!"
She stared at Kurome for a while. Aside from looking a bit thin, Kurome seemed normal enough. Why would she be dying out of nowhere?
Admittedly, outwardly she looked fine. But the real problem was hidden deep within—the irreversible damage caused by the drugs. Likely because she hadn't been selected as one of the Seven Elite, she'd been forcibly boosted with experimental substances, placing a huge strain on her body. She was dependent on the drugs, needing regular doses to survive.
Kurome eyed the new arrivals warily. They weren't any criminals she knew of, but since they were mingling with Night Raid, they had to be dangerous.
Akame's eyes flickered at Tatsuki's words. She reflexively asked, "Tatsuki… is there a way to save Kurome?"
"There is."
Tatsuki's tone was casual—this wasn't difficult for him. He could directly extract the drugs through vector manipulation. As for healing the body, he had an answer for that, too.
After devouring the evil energy from the Plunderer, he'd purified it into large amounts of raw energy. During his exchanges with Esdeath, he'd further tested the effect of that raw energy:
[Enhancement: Strengthening objects or bodies.]
[Healing: Healing wounds, restoring stamina.]
For someone like Kurome, whose body was in critical condition, healing her wouldn't use much raw energy at all.
Hearing this, Akame was overjoyed. She bowed deeply to Tatsuki. "Would you please save Kurome? I'll do anything you ask!"
"Sis?"
On the ground, Kurome stared in disbelief at her sister. The sister she considered to have chosen a wrong path was now bowing her head to someone else for her sake?
"Anything you ask?"
Nami's expression turned odd. She had a strange sense of déjà vu, remembering when she'd said something similar…
"Alright, I accept."
Another freebie. Tatsuki agreed without hesitation.
Before Akame could respond, Tatsuki strode right up to Kurome.
Smiling gently, his voice was like a soft spring breeze: "If I save you, that means your sister belongs to me, okay?"
"You…"
Kurome started to retort, but a searing pain stabbed through her body. The residual drugs had long since ravaged her—she was extremely fragile. As Tatsuki manipulated the lingering special-energy drugs out of her veins, tissues were inevitably damaged.
"Ahhhhh!"
Kurome howled, body wracked with agony.
"Kurome!"
Akame rushed over, tears glistening in her red eyes. She clasped Kurome's right hand, trying to soothe her.
"What's going on?"
The members of Night Raid, alarmed by the commotion, hurried back outside. No one had the chance to explain—everyone's eyes were on Tatsuki's actions.
"It'll hurt for just a moment. Don't thrash around."
Black drug residue seeped out through Kurome's pores, and Tatsuki casually flung it to the ground. Then he placed his right hand on her abdomen; a faint golden light welled up.
"Ugh!"
The pain on her face was gradually replaced by a sensation of warmth. Eyes shut tight, Kurome felt a soft light shining in her darkness. She'd only ever known icy stabbing pain each time she used the drugs. Now, she experienced warmth, peace, and gentleness—completely new to her.
The golden glow slowly dimmed.
Kurome's eyelashes quivered, and she opened her eyes. The precious warmth seemed to be slipping away.
"Don't go…"
She mumbled, clinging to Tatsuki's hand with reluctance.
"…"
Akame turned to Tatsuki, confusion in her gaze.
"Don't look at me like that. I've healed her already—it's not my fault she won't let go," Tatsuki said with a shrug.
Realizing Kurome had recovered, Akame asked urgently, "Kurome, how do you feel?"
Kurome reflexively assessed her body. "So… light. I've never felt this good before…"
"That's wonderful!"
A dazzling smile spread across Akame's face.
Kurome was momentarily stunned. Her sister's smile was like a clear spring, washing through her entire being. She could feel how genuine Akame's love for her was. It made her wonder if she'd chosen the wrong path.
Tatsuki turned to Najenda and beckoned. "Najenda, it means your Akame is now mine."
"What have you done to Akame?"
At his words, Mine immediately aimed her Pumpkin rifle, unwilling to see her comrade harmed.
"Mine!"
Najenda snapped to stop her. She knew exactly who this was: a man powerful enough to have Esdeath in the palm of his hand!
"…"
Though Mine grit her teeth in frustration, she lowered her Imperial Arms, still glaring daggers at Tatsuki.
Akame stood and apologized softly, "I asked him to do it. In return for healing Kurome's body, from now on, I'll do whatever Tatsuki wants me to do. Everyone… I'm sorry."
"Akame…"
Night Raid stared at her with complicated feelings. They knew she had done this for her sister. It wasn't betrayal—they had to respect Akame's decision.
"Sis…"
Kurome bit her lip. "If it's possible, let me take Sis's place."
Now that her body had adjusted to being healthy again, she spoke with fervent hope. Tatsuki looked at the two sisters, each willing to sacrifice themselves for the other. With a teasing smile, he said, "How about both of you together?"
"I think my place offers decent perks—if you come with me, you'll have good food, nice drinks, everything you need. You'll find a lot of items here you've never seen before in your world."
"I know! This is what they call, When sisters are united, they're invincible!"
March 7 exclaimed excitedly, feeling quite proud of her reference.
"March 7-neechan, I recall the saying is brothers united, right?"
Honghong tilted her head, looking adorably confused.
"Ah—uh, y-you must've remembered wrong, Honghong!"
March 7's eyes darted nervously as she pouted, a faint blush dusting her cheeks.
Akame and Kurome exchanged glances. 'Good food?' No… 'Sisters united!'
They knew one of them had to fulfill the agreement, or else the other's purpose would be lost. Casting aside their old grudges, they both nodded at nearly the same moment.
"Excellent."
Tatsuki grinned in satisfaction. "But I'll need to inconvenience you. Only this way can I take you both from here."
He made a casual gesture, and the ropes around Kurome snapped apart, freeing her. Then he blinked, and his golden star-pupiled eyes reappeared.
Now, his Dominator skill was no longer Level lv 5. He'd used 500,000 apocalypse points to boost it to Level lv 6. Before, he'd assumed achieving lv 5 with Dominator would grant him a bankai, but it turned out it was at lv 6 that he obtained something akin to a bankai. Its effects were downright outrageous.
When in this bankai state, aside from controlling all things, he could even force impossible events to happen.
Why does a bird fly? Because it has wings.
Why can't a rock fly?
No. Under his dominion, a rock must fly!
Of course, it wasn't that he was defying the laws of reality—it was that Dominator would not be commanding the rock itself to fly, but rather controlling every external factor so that the rock was forced to fulfill the fly command.
If the command was something like Resurrect a corpse, then in practice he'd be manipulating life force, vitality, soul phenomena, and so forth to ensure the corpse was revived in line with his dominion.
In simpler terms, when he activated this bankai, he dominated all things. Any command he gave would be realized as the world itself arranged the means to comply.
For now, he couldn't do something as extreme as reviving people from the dead—but it was only a matter of time…