Haruto, however, completely ignored the screaming masses and scrambling defense forces.
Hovering effortlessly in his draconic form, he extended a massive, flame-engulfed claw and gently pressed it down against the reinforced stone of the palace wing.
BOOM!
The entire side of the palace structure crumbled into a cloud of dust and rubble in a single, effortless breath.
Caught completely off guard by the cataclysmic tremor, Mine gripped the iron bars of her cell as the wall directly behind her shattered, followed immediately by a suffocating wave of searing, blistering heat rushing into the dark corridor.
!!!
Standing just outside the bars, the usually composed, raven-haired girl Kurome suddenly widened her eyes, her breath catching as if she were staring straight into the face of death itself.
Mine instinctively knew Kurome wasn't looking at her. There was something incomprehensible looming right behind her back...
Her left eyelid twitched violently as she mentally braced herself, slowly turning her head around to face the breach.
HISS!
An enormous, glowing crimson eye—larger than a carriage—was staring directly through the dust, locking its terrifying gaze straight onto her.
Out of all the wild, desperate scenarios Mine had imagined for her rescue, a mythological reptilian leviathan was leagues beyond anything she could have fathomed.
To call it a shock would be a pathetic understatement; it was a primal, soul-crushing terror.
"Hmm?"
Inside the swirling vortex of heat and flame, Haruto instantly recognized the pink-twintailed sniper trapped in the cage.
At the exact same moment, his keen draconic vision caught sight of the pale, dark-haired girl standing right beside her—Kurome, who bore an unmistakable, striking resemblance to Akame.
The massive, burning eye blinked and pulled back slightly, parting the smoke and allowing Mine to finally take in the true, horrific scale of the beast.
"A-a dragon?!"
It wasn't just any ordinary dragon—it was a colossal, god-like Danger Beast of unimaginable proportions.
Oddly enough, her very first emotion wasn't blind panic.
Instead, a grim, vindictive satisfaction flashed through her mind: Serves the corrupt Empire right! They finally brought this upon themselves.
Surely, even with all their supreme arms and Imperial guards, the arrogant Empire had no way to handle a monster of this magnitude.
Before she could finish marveling at the Empire's impending doom, the dragon's massive, clawed hand reached out, gently hooking its talon right toward the iron bars of her cell.
Panicking as the sheer pressure bore down on her, Mine instinctively turned to the frozen assassin beside her and screamed at the top of her lungs:
"Hey, Kurome! Give me back my Teigu right now, or we're both going to be crushed to death!"
Haruto: "..."
This reckless girl really thinks I'm a hostile wild beast coming to eat her.
A deep, resonant mental voice echoed directly inside Mine's consciousness, carrying a hint of wry amusement:
[Stop yelling at the top of your lungs. I'm 'infiltrating' the capital to save you, just like I promised Akame. Can't you even tell the difference?]
Mine froze, her jaw dropping.
"Huh?!"
The dragon... was speaking directly into her mind!
The sudden, resonant voice echoing directly inside her skull left Mine completely stunned.
She watched in absolute bewilderment as the dragon's massive, razor-sharp claw paused right in front of the broken stone wall.
[Jump on.]
"???"
Mine finally registered that the ancient, terrifying beast was speaking directly 'to her'!!!
Furthermore, it was claiming that it had actually come here to rescue her from this imperial prison.
A giant, city-destroying dragon playing the knight in shining armor to rescue a pink-haired sniper? What kind of absurd, feverish daydream was this?
Putting aside the hilariously bizarre imagery of a fairytale dragon rescuing someone, Mine glanced past the crumbling palace walls and saw the entire capital thrown into absolute, fiery chaos with soldiers running around like headless chickens.
Her mouth twitched uncontrollably.
What kind of insane "stealth mission" is blowing up half the palace with a dragon roar?!
[Oh, and bring the little dark-haired girl behind you along as well.]
Realizing she was the target of the dragon's attention, Kurome instinctively snapped out of her stupor, her hand darting to her waist to draw her cursed puppet-master Teigu, March of the Dead: Yatsufusa.
But before she could even channel a fraction of her energy, an unfathomable, suffocating wave of divine pressure crashed down upon her like a falling mountain.
BOOM!
The reinforced iron bars of the cell instantly shattered into twisted toothpicks, and the sheer weight of the aura entirely overwhelmed Kurome.
Already physically strained from her rigorous lifestyle and body-enhancing drugs, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed limp onto the stone floor, instantly knocked unconscious.
"Uh..."
Mine stared down at the fallen assassin, completely dumbfounded by how quickly things had escalated.
[What are you standing around gaping for? Hoist her up and carry her.]
"Oh... right, okay!"
Jolted back to reality, Mine scrambled over and quickly hauled Kurome's limp body onto her back, securing her tight.
She hurried over to the jagged edge of the broken wall, swallowed hard as she looked up at the towering expanse of the red dragon's massive limb, and squeezed her eyes shut.
"Well, screw it! Whatever happens, happens!"
Gathering every ounce of her remaining courage, she leapt right onto Haruto's massive draconic claw.
"Stealth infiltration mission successfully accomplished. Time to head out."
Haruto's voice echoed with a smirk.
With a violent snap of his neck, he heavily flapped his colossal crimson wings, instantly kicking up an apocalyptic, scorching windstorm of fire and ash that blew the surrounding imperial platoons entirely off their feet, sending them tumbling backward into the rubble.
"It's flying straight toward us! Are we really safe?!"
Leone yelled, panic bleeding into her voice.
Reacting purely on survival instinct, she instantly activated her animalistic Teigu, Transformation Art: Lionelle.
Her muscles instantly swelled with explosive power, her eyes turned wild and predatory like a lion's, and sharp, vicious claws sprouted from her fingers.
Even with her enhanced combat senses, the primal pressure radiating from the sky made her skin crawl.
"Demon Armor: Incursio!"
Bulat shouted as well, a brilliant flash of silver light enveloping him as his legendary armor Teigu materialized over his body, taking a solid combat stance.
Beside them, Lubbock was trembling like a leaf, his fingers shaking as he frantically summoned his cross-thread Teigu, Cross Tail, ready to string a defensive barrier.
"Hold! Don't make any sudden moves!"
Najenda barked out the command, raising her mechanical arm to halt her subordinates.
Standing before a colossal, god-class entity, she could feel the crushing weight of death pressing down on her chest, but she forced herself to hold her ground, trusting entirely in Akame's unshakeable conviction and the strange companions standing nearby.
*****
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