A young Reiji Kamo sat alone in his room in a meditative pose. The chamber was silent, though the walls were adorned with ancient scrolls and paintings that told tales of glorious battles and long-dead heroes. Outwardly, he appeared calm, save for the heavy dark circles beneath his closed eyes.
But within him, a storm raged. His thoughts spiraled violently, conjuring images of self-harm and even suicide. His frail fists clenched until his nails pierced his skin, beads of blood welling up and trickling down his hands. Scenes from his past, moments that had scarred him beyond repair… played again and again in his mind.
He remembered the whispers of servants.
"I heard young master Reiji has been named the next heir to the Kamo clan," one murmured while mopping the floor.
"Eh? How is that possible? Isn't he from a branch family?" another asked, pausing mid-task.
"Yes… but…" the first hesitated. "You do know what happened last winter, right?"
"Hush. Don't speak of such things, especially when the elders went to such lengths to cover it up," an older servant warned sharply.
"Still, only Lord Reiji inherited the hereditary technique among this generation. Not even the clan leader's children did."
"That's true… but do you think he can even manage the role, given his condition?"
The old woman replied solemnly, "What I think is irrelevant." Silence followed.
But the elders of the clan had no such mercy.
He recalled the day he was summoned before their council.
"At last, an heir! We must begin his training immediately!" barked one elder, his voice full of arrogance and no regard for the boy's miserable state.
Another retorted coldly, "He cannot even wield the technique properly. Just because he inherited it does not make him fit to lead."
"I believe he can achieve mastery with rigorous training," a third countered. "Besides... the very fact that Akame has awakened after so long is reason enough to make him the heir."
"Indeed," rasped another, "that cursed object has not stirred since the progenitor wielded it back in the Heian era. This is our chance to harness the relic to its utmost potential."
"Hah! And what if the boy fails to control it? What if Akame becomes a danger to us all? What if it was responsible for the carnage at the branch family estate!?" the mightiest elder voiced his opinion. He cast a piercing glance at Reiji. His eyes were uncanny and sharp, hawk-like even.
His solid frame carried the weight of raw, unshakable authority. "I say we get rid of him right now!"
Those words struck Reiji like blades. Sitting lifeless before the panel, his dull eyes suddenly sharpened with rage and realization. The source of his suffering was no mystery... it had been sealed within him all along.
A wiser elder raised his hand. "We cannot yet be certain. Since Akame has chosen to slumber once more in the boy's eye socket, we do not even know if it will ever awaken again." He paused, then delivered his verdict with a sense of finality. "Let us wait until he comes of age. If he succeeds in awakening Akame and mastering the technique, he shall remain the heir…"
He paused, his manner elegant yet macabre.
"If not… then his existence is a threat to the clan. And he must be executed in secret."
The others nodded grimly in agreement, sealing his fate.
Reiji sat there trembling, his world collapsing.
'Why… why me? What did I do to deserve this?'
His body shook, but all he could do was cry.
He had been born with a single eye. Now he had two. But the second; the ancient relic Akame, lodged deep in the hollow socket of his skull, was no blessing. It was the source of his misery and... his greatest curse.
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Yaga had decided to take the first-years to a hospital for their first official mission. The building itself was fully functional, buzzing with nurses' patients and doctors, except for the surgery ward, that had been sealed off and marked as restricted.
As the group approached the locked corridor, Yaga started with his explanation in a grave tone.
"Listen up. You kids are not ready for a full mission yet, but this one should be simple enough. A section of this hospital has been cut off after a bunch of low-level curses started attacking patients."
The sound of beeping machines and distant chatter from the main ward faded as they reached the sealed corridor. Yaga gestured toward the heavy door that had been closed off.
"Beyond this door lies the restricted ward. You should already know this, but cursed spirits tend to linger at the place of their birth. Since surgery wards are tied to death, pain, and grief, it's natural for them to gather here."
Geto, sharp as always, immediately asked, "But sensei, don't places like this usually keep a cursed object nearby to ward off weak curses?"
Yaga raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed. "Good catch, Geto. Normally, yes. But the cursed object that was placed here was stolen a few days ago."
That revelation immediately made Geto and Reiji exchange uneasy looks.
"But... that means..." Reiji muttered, his tone darkening.
"That means a curse user is involved," Geto finished for him. He glanced at Gojo, who was staring blankly at a gaudy hospital poster with his hands shoved deep in his pockets. "Which is why you should take this seriously, Gojo."
Gojo tilted his head lazily and waved a hand. "If a curse user shows up, I'll just beat them up. Relax, man."
Yaga sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead. "You kids are too smart for your own good. This isn't the first time. Whoever is behind these thefts is smart, they have managed to evade our sorcerers every time. Truth be told, we don't even know why they're taking these cursed objects." His face tightened, irritation showing.
"But that's none of your concern. Your mission is simple: enter the ward and exorcise the curses. Reports say there are a lot of them, but none are stronger than grade 4."
Gojo scowled at that, clearly insulted. For someone branded special grade, cleaning out measly grade 4 spirits felt beneath him. Reiji, meanwhile, looked troubled, silently running through the implications of a curse user stealing cursed objects.
Sensing the morale drop, Yaga raised his voice. "Don't sulk. This isn't about strength... it's a test of teamwork, coordination, and critical thinking."
"Bah," Gojo scoffed, rolling his eyes dramatically.
Yaga's brow twitched, but he pressed on. "Shoko, you'll sit this one out, since you are a support type. The rest of you... get on with it."
"Sensei, is it okay if I have a quick smoke in here?" Shoko asked casually, already reaching into her pocket.
"Absolutely not!" Yaga barked, veins clearly bulging on his forehead, as the other three slipped through the door into the cursed ward.
As the trio of first-years walked toward the surgery ward, the atmosphere grew steadily heavier. Even Geto's usually calm demeanor shifted."We should reveal our techniques to each other," he suggested matter-of-factly. "If this is a team exercise, we need to know what our teammates can do."
Gojo smiled arrogantly.
"Nah. Keep it simple. Curses show up, we beat them down. See? Easy enough, right?"
Reiji spoke up, his tone quieter but tinged with amusement.
"Gojo's right in a way. We don't have time to analyze every technique and plan around them. And if sensei wanted us to, he would've told us earlier. Something tells me he kept us in the dark on purpose."
Geto arched a brow.
"Oh? Why would he do that? Isn't that a little counterintuitive?"
Reiji smiled shook his head lightly.
"He wants to see how we work together… and how we adapt to each other in unexpected situations. That's the real test here."
Geto considered that, then nodded.
"It seems our sensei truly wants to 'test' us."
"Ugh, whatever," Gojo cut in, slicking his hair back with expressive flair. "We've got a bloodsucker, a creepy guy who summons curses, and most importantly... the good-looking guy, Gojo Satoru!"
Geto sighed heavily.
"At least tell us something about your technique."
Gojo shrugged.
"I can throw stuff around, and nothing can hit me. There, happy?"
Neither of his classmates responded. Reiji frowned, trying to decipher what that even meant.
The corridor stretched on, eerily quiet. As they neared the final door, Gojo's eyes trembled with excitement... he had seen something the others couldn't.
"Now this is interesting…" he grinned, and before either teammate could react, he charged forward and kicked the door clean off the hinges.
Inside was a sight so vile that it would have made ordinary people vomit on the spot: nearly forty grotesque curses, each resembling oversized human organs. Misshapen eyes bulged across their fleshy forms, and stubby appendages violently twitched in spasms.
The curses screeched and surged toward the trio of first years. Gojo immediately activated cursed technique lapse blue, pulling several into a crushing vortex.
Reiji's eyes widened.' So that's what he meant by throwing things around.'
Meanwhile, Geto calmly summoned a swarm of low-grade curses, sending them headlong into the organ-beasts. Their shrieks filled the ward as purple blood drenched the floor.
'These two are so strong,' Reiji admired his peers. 'I don't even have to lift a finger.'
But then something caught his eye. Several organ curses were gathering in one spot, their energy resonating unnaturally. His chest tightened. 'That can't be good… must stop it!'
Without hesitation, Reiji hurled a clay orb from his pocket. It shattered near the pile, splattering his own blood across the floor.
"Blood Manipulation: Blood Mist."
The blood evaporated instantly into a red vapor. Reiji twisted his fingers, shaping it into a twister that completely shredded the clustered curses.
Geto's eyes narrowed in appreciation. 'That's precise, almost molecular-level control. Impressive.'
But Gojo was already staring upward, grinning. "Heh. Knew it."
A vent burst open, spilling more organ-curses into the ward. They piled together with unnerving purpose, forming a wall of flesh separating the sorcerers and the growing mass of organs behind it.
"Blood Manipulation: Blood Edge."
Reiji summoned twin daggers in his hands.
'I don't want to fall behind'
Determined, he surged forward alongside his classmates.
"Flowing Red Scale!" His blood vessels flared under his pale skin, fueling his speed and strength as he carved through the meat wall with trained precision.
Geto noted silently, 'He moves well. But Gojo… he's on a completely different level.'
As the wall slowly crumbled, behind it, something monstrous stirred.
"Now this is fun!" Gojo laughed, his eyes locked onto the pulsating cursed energy beyond the dilapidated wall of flesh.
Several organ-curses melted into one another, their cursed energy multiplying exponentially with each fusion. In a matter of seconds, grade-4 fodder had transmuted into 4 grade 1 curses.
Reiji's breath hitched. 'This is bad.'
One of the abominations charged while the other three began merging again.
"What the hell are they doing?" Geto asked, unease flickering across his face.
Gojo's expression hardened, his voice edged with a rare seriousness.
"Each time they merge, their cursed energy spikes. They all share the same energy signature; this was never a grade-4. From the start, this thing was born to combine and evolve."
His grin widened as he lunged at the charging curse.
In the chaos of battle, Reiji failed to notice the subtle shift in his right eye—Akame.
A strange clarity flooded his vision, Gojo's earlier words suddenly made sense to him. The monstrous swell of cursed energy gathering in front of them was now laid bare, with its flow visible to him with extreme clarity.
But then a searing pain stabbed through his eye, as if something inside was ripping itself open. Reiji staggered, clutching his face, his breath sharp and ragged, the pain refusing to fade.
'W-what?... what is going on?!'
Through the haze, the sight still persisted: the three were curses twisting together, their energies were resonating like echoes from the same source. The spirits were in fact fragments of a whole.
His heart pounded as realization finally hit him.
"The second those things finish merging… we'll be standing against a special grade."