Uchiha Hikari had long known that Ornest's "Gem Ornament" could destroy other Teigu.
She wasn't sure about its limits—whether it could affect heavyweights like the "Supreme Throne" or "Demon's Extract," or if it could only destroy one Teigu at a time or all within range. To be safe, she'd preemptively packed her spoils, including "Shangri-La," and uploaded them to the chat group to avoid any irreversible losses.
And now, she was going all out, unleashing a slew of abilities, including Susanoo.
Even when hunting a rabbit, a lion uses its full strength.
For a major villain like Ornest, the big bad of the Akame ga Kill! world, she figured he deserved a bit of respect.
Unfortunately… Ornest didn't quite live up to it.
After his sneak attack failed and Hikari lopped off one of his arms, he could barely struggle to his feet. Hikari's Susanoo casually swatted him, slamming his several-hundred-pound body into the far wall, embedding him in it. Who knew how many ribs he'd broken?
"…Didn't you train at the Imperial Fist Temple?" Hikari tsked. "This is it?"
She tossed a Golden Binding Illusion at Dotya nearby, freezing the alchemist in place, then maintained her Blood Jade Barrier and cast Tsukuyomi on Ornest, diving into his memories.
"…"
After a long while, Hikari blinked, her throat churning with nausea.
Here's the thing…
Peering into Ornest's memories was necessary. As the Empire's top minister, he held a treasure trove of secrets—about the Empire itself and its Teigu. Finding someone else in the Akame ga Kill! world with this much intel would be next to impossible.
But… actually sifting through his memories made Hikari realize just how vile he was. Some of the images that surfaced were so disgusting they made her physically ill.
Compared to Ornest, even scumbags like Danzo from Naruto or Naraku from Inuyasha seemed almost merciful.
And that made sense. The Hidden Leaf Village and the Inuyasha world were small-scale, but the Empire in this world spanned millions of people and vast territories. As the man second only to the Emperor, Ornest had directly or indirectly killed enough people to rival the entire population of the Leaf Village. Danzo couldn't hold a candle to that.
"Phew…" Hikari exhaled softly, glancing at the floor.
Since arriving, she'd caught a faint whiff of blood from the depths of a pit a hundred meters below. After digging through Ornest's memories, that bloody stench became even more vivid in her mind. "A lot of people have died in this pit, haven't they?"
"When you built this place, did you ever think it'd be used on you one day?"
With that, Hikari willed Susanoo to stretch out its massive arm, yanking Ornest from the wall and dangling him over the pit.
"?!"
Ornest seemed to realize something. Driven by a desperate will to survive, he snapped out of his daze, his face contorted in terror as he thrashed wildly.
"Please—"
"Goodbye."
Hikari didn't even bother hearing his final words. She ripped the Gem Ornament Teigu from his head and let go.
Ornest plummeted.
Several seconds later, a dull thud echoed from the bottom.
Then came the sound of something hissing and lunging, followed by sickening chewing noises. The air grew thick with the stench of blood.
"A serpent Dangerous Beast, bred specifically to dispose of bodies?" Hikari lit a match and tossed it into the pit, peering down.
In the flickering light, she saw Ornest's broken body sprawled at the bottom, being torn apart by a three-headed black serpent. Nearby was a small mountain of white bones. Sensing her gaze, the serpent glanced up, locking eyes with her for a few seconds before resuming its feast.
"…"
Hikari covered her nose and stepped away from the pit, turning to Dotya.
"!!"
Dotya's eyes widened, and she started shouting incoherently, "Please, don't kill me! I was forced by Minister Ornest… Even if you kill me, don't throw me in there! I don't want to die like that!!"
Clearly, Dotya had some idea of what lay at the bottom of that pit.
A death like Ornest's was too much, even for a hardened killer like her from the "Wild Hunt."
"Hmph." Hikari let out a cold laugh and cast a second Tsukuyomi.
Moments later…
"…Ugh."
As Cosmia had said, Dotya was an alchemist obsessed with immortality, conducting countless human modification experiments and even altering her own body. Despite looking like a sixteen-year-old girl, she was over sixty. Using her tooth-shaped Teigu, "Blood Harvest," she'd drained hundreds of people into husks to maintain her youth and lifespan.
The images from her memories were just as revolting.
But compared to Ornest's heavyweight atrocities, they seemed slightly less heinous.
"Want to live? Give me one reason not to kill you."
Under Hikari's calm gaze, Dotya blurted out, "I know where Ornest's secret vault is! He has a—"
"Try again."
"Huh?"
"That's not good enough," Hikari said coldly.
Dotya froze, racking her brain. "I'm an alchemist! I can deal with enemies you don't want to face, turning them into Dangerous Beasts—even Super Dangerous Beasts…"
"You know a lot about Dangerous Beasts, huh?"
"Totally! I'm an expert!" Dotya exclaimed.
"…"
Killing Dotya would be as easy as a thought for Hikari. But in the Akame ga Kill! world, people with actual research skills who could study Dangerous Beast materials were rare. Dotya was one, and Dr. Stylish from the "Jaegers" was another. Stylish was also deep into body modification and dreamed of creating gear rivaling Teigu—a sort of upgraded version of Dotya.
Both were rotten, but they had some use.
For people who'd committed such evils, death was too easy. Better to keep them under control and squeeze out every last drop of their value.
"Take me to that vault," Hikari said casually.
Dotya blinked, then lit up with frantic joy. "Yes, Master!"
They returned to the corridor, heading to the far end of the building. Dotya pushed open a hidden door, revealing a passage with descending stairs.
Hikari briefly thought of Cosmia, still outside. But the songstress, stripped of her Teigu, was just a moderately skilled performer now. If she ran, it didn't matter—Hikari's "Yasaka Magatama" could track her to the ends of the earth.
The priority was looting Ornest's treasures before any nuisances showed up…
Ornest's estate was already cordoned off.
A swarm of soldiers had sealed the streets, converging on the mansion to assess the wreckage of the battle.
Among them was General Budo himself.
As the Empire's top general, Budo wasn't exactly chummy with Ornest, but as a protector of the palace and Capital, it was his duty to respond to an attack this close to the palace—a serious failure on his part.
He'd arrived ready for a fight.
"…General, we've questioned the surviving guards. They say the assassin was a black-haired, red-eyed girl matching the description from the recent wanted posters. She can fly and control weapons, likely a user of some powerful Teigu…"
"Also, the attack on the western guard unit this evening might be connected to her…"
"Hm." Budo frowned, listening to his subordinate's report. "Openly attacking Imperial agencies and key figures? This one's got guts. Could she be tied to that assassin group 'Night Raid' the rumors have been buzzing about?"
Before his aide could respond, Budo pressed, "Where's Ornest? Still no sign of him?"
"No…"
Just then, a soldier sprinted from the inner mansion, visibly shaken. "L-Lord Budo, we found a hidden mechanism in the back building. There's a Dangerous Beast down there… eating Minister Ornest's body…"
"?"
Budo exchanged a glance with his aide, then jutted his chin. "Let's go see."
Meanwhile, Hikari was walking through a hidden passage.
She'd just raided Ornest's secret vault, finding a few more chests of high-quality treasures and two items that seemed like Teigu.
One was a set of mechanical torture devices, designed to restrain and brutally interrogate victims, with a minor lie-detection function. Ornest had used it for private executions and intel extraction, but it was useless to Hikari—her "Yasaka Magatama" was far superior.
The other was a thin mask that could conceal one's presence, though even Ornest hadn't fully figured out its capabilities.
As for the passage she was in now…
It led to the palace.
According to Ornest's memories, he'd secretly built this tunnel as an emergency escape route. If his estate was attacked, he'd flee to the palace and manipulate the Little Emperor into using the "Supreme Teigu" to crush any rebels, ensuring his survival.
Too bad for him, in this timeline, he didn't even get the chance to use it.
And that "Supreme Teigu" probably wouldn't see the light of day either.
Hikari was heading to check it out.
"Uh… Master, are you really sneaking into the palace through here?" Dotya asked nervously. "That's a death sentence! Even Orn—that guy—didn't dare use this passage lightly. If the palace guards catch us…"
"Shut up," Hikari said coldly. "You're telling me what to do?"
"…"
Dotya clammed up.
Their footsteps echoed softly as they moved through the passage.
After a while, a low hiss and a massive tremor reverberated through the rock, as if something was fighting in the distance.
"…That's the direction of Ornest's pet Dangerous Beast. It got loose?" Hikari raised an eyebrow but didn't dwell on it.
She kept moving, navigating a few turns and climbing several flights of stairs before pushing aside a panel and stepping into a grand palace.
More precisely, a royal bedchamber.
It was already evening when Hikari arrived at Ornest's estate, and now, the moon hung high in the night sky.
The bedchamber was silent, with faint shadows of patrolling Imperial Guards visible through the gauze curtains.
Dotya stayed huddled in the passage, too scared to come out. As a native of the Akame ga Kill! world, she held a deep reverence for the thousand-year-old Empire's authority.
Hikari had no such reservations. Guided by Ornest's memories, she crossed the bedchamber and found the Little Emperor's quarters.
Naturally, he had personal maids nearby. As Hikari approached, a few noticed her and sprang up, shouting, "Who are you? How dare you trespass in His Majesty's chambers! Guards—"
"Quiet down. Take a nice nap."
Hikari moved like a phantom, appearing beside the maids and knocking them out with precise hand chops, sending them into a deep, baby-like sleep.
Then, she approached the sleeping Little Emperor's bed and tapped his face.
As he jolted awake, his eyes met a pair glowing with dark red light. "Tsukuyomi!"
(End of Chapter)