Deep within the high-security subterranean dungeons of the Imperial Palace, inside a reinforced, damp containment cell.
A young girl with voluminous pink twin-tails and a matching frilly dress sat huddled in the dark corner—Mine, the captured sniper of Night Raid. Her chest heaved with quiet despair.
Captured by the ruthless Imperial forces, Mine had initially clung to a fragile, desperate hope that her comrades would break through the gates to save her.
But she didn't know that the cunning ministers had anticipated every move, laying a massive, inescapable trap to slaughter Night Raid in a web of crossfire.
Worst of all, the seemingly delicate girl casually guarding her cell block was actually a ruthlessly powerful, unhinged Teigu user.
"Hey, prisoner... Night Raid member," the raven-haired girl standing outside the iron bars spoke, her voice chillingly devoid of warmth.
"Tell me, have you seen my older sister lately?"
"...?"
Mine blinked through her exhaustion and confusion.
The slender girl, wearing a dark sailor uniform and carrying a cursed katana at her hip, stared right through her with dead, emotionless eyes.
Realizing the question was directed at her, Mine cautiously raised her head. "Your... sister?"
"Her name is Akame," the black-haired girl stated nonchalantly, dropping a name that made Mine's blood run cold.
!!!
Mine's crimson eyes widened in absolute shock. "You're... Akame's sister?!"
She had never once heard Akame speak of having a sibling.
A chaotic storm of thoughts raced through her mind. Wait—if this girl shares blood with Akame, maybe I can use that connection to buy my life?
Clinging desperately to a sudden flicker of hope, Mine scrambled up from the stone floor and rushed forward, gripping the iron bars tightly.
"If you're really Akame's sister, please... let me go! I can take you straight to her!"
"..."
Kurome remained utterly silent for a long, agonizing moment, her dark eyes narrowing before she whispered,
"Tell me, are you and my dear sister close? Do you truly believe she's foolish enough to come charging into this death trap to rescue you?"
"Yes... Akame will definitely come to save me," Mine replied, her voice trembling with a mix of fierce pride and deep sorrow.
"But it's a trap! It's too dangerous for her, so you have to let me go to keep your sister safe!"
Instead of showing any mercy, a sudden, horrifyingly twisted smile spread across Kurome's pale face.
"Hehe, so my precious sister is actually going to walk right into the slaughterhouse, huh?"
Kurome's grip tightened around her sword hilt, a dark, carnal hunger gleaming in her eyes.
"Splendid. When she arrives, I'll get to cut her down and turn her corpse into one of my beloved puppets with my own hands."
?!
Mine felt her breath catch in her throat, her mind completely dumbfounded by the sheer, psychotic malice radiating from the girl.
This was the exact opposite of any reaction she could have ever anticipated.
Why on earth does Akame's own sister harbor such grotesque, murderous obsession toward her?!
In a single heartbeat, her last shred of hope was violently ripped away.
Plunging from the fleeting illusion of salvation straight down into a living hell, Mine's despair deepened into a suffocating terror.
["Night Raid's Mine, your comrades sent me to rescue you. If you can hear this, shout out your location!"]
The deafening, resonant voice thundered through the imperial dungeons, shaking the very stone foundations of the palace.
"Was that an earthquake?!" Mine gripped the cold iron bars in utter shock, her heart skipping a beat.
That voice—it had called out her exact name! Someone really had come to break her out, but why on earth were they announcing it to the entire city with a loudspeaker?
Weren't they just handing their position over to the enemy on a silver platter?
She whipped her head toward Kurome, narrowing her eyes. "Is this chaotic stunt part of your garrison's plan too?"
She initially assumed it was a crude Imperial psychological ploy designed to lure the rest of Night Raid out of hiding.
However, Kurome merely tilted her head to the side, looking genuinely blank and puzzled by the sudden commotion.
"I have no idea what lunatic you're talking about," Kurome replied flatly.
"Huh?"
Kurome's indifferent expression didn't look fake at all, sending a jolt through Mine's chest as she realized her rescuers might actually be completely unhinged.
Weighing her options in a split second, Mine took a deep breath, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shrieked at the top of her lungs down the dark corridor,
"I'm down here in the lower sub-level! Hurry up!"
High above the palace spires, Haruto smirked as his sensory perception instantly locked onto the sound wave and Mine's exact coordinates.
"Ah, there she is," Haruto muttered with a dark, confident grin.
"Looks like I can complete the trade terms without breaking a sweat. Now, time to begin the 'stealth infiltration.'"
Down in the dark outskirts of the capital, Leone nearly choked on her own breath as she stared up into the night sky, pointing a shaking finger.
"What the absolute hell is that massive thing?!"
In just the blink of an eye—
BOOM!
—a colossal, terrifying beast standing nearly 100 meters tall tore through the upper atmosphere, soaring majestically over the terrified Imperial Capital.
Its vast, sweeping wings blotted out the moonlight entirely, its long, heavily armored tail swayed with destructive momentum, and its razor-sharp claws gleamed with a deadly, bloodthirsty edge.
Its immense, serpentine body was completely armored in glistening, crimson scales that burned like living magma, and with every heavy breath, gales of scorching fire flickered from its maw, turning the dark sky into an infernal sea of red.
Atop this ancient behemoth sat a terrifying dragon's head, snarling fiercely as it exhaled wave after wave of blistering, apocalyptic heat across the city below.
******
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