Such a major thing happened in the imperial capital, and Najenda and the others didn't care whether it was Takumi who did it.
Now they just wanted to go over quickly to understand the situation. If it were true, they would notify the Revolutionary Army immediately.
This was a great opportunity to overthrow the Empire in one fell swoop!
"No problem."
Takumi didn't refuse and controlled the floating island to land slowly.
Then, Najenda left with Akame and the others, but before leaving, she gave Takumi a map.
Their departure was actually a good time for Takumi, because he could finally do what he wanted without any scruples.
"Go and start searching."
With a wave of Takumi's hand, thirty elf girls performed the flying magic he had taught them.
Equipped with communication and recording tools, they flew in different directions and began to collect geographical and ecological data.
The six members of Kanae's group stayed with Takumi.
They couldn't fly as skillfully or as freely as the elf girls.
This was even true for Haruhime and Megumin, the two magic experts.
Haruhime lacked magic power, while Megumin was simply resistant to other spells, being too lazy to practice much.
But even if they could fly, Takumi would not trust them to act alone.
The mages' life-saving abilities were too poor.
As for the three Kocho sisters and Saeko, their magic power was too weak to use flying magic. However, staying behind didn't mean they had nothing to do.
The elf girls sent back reports of Dangerous Species one after another, and Takumi would take Kanae and the others there to hunt them down.
While Takumi was busy, Najenda finally rushed back to the Imperial Capital with Akame and the others.
Before entering the city, they saw many carriages belonging to noblemen.
Some convoys were loaded with luggage and valuables, while some had nothing at all and hurried along with escorts.
Those aristocratic gentlemen who usually pretended to be refined looked nervous, as if they were fleeing a disaster zone.
Najenda and the others ignored them and quickly entered the city.
At this time, the Imperial Capital was a scene of chaos and upheaval.
The news that Honest, the Emperor, and even General Budo were struck dead by lightning had spread everywhere.
The people's pent-up resentment finally found the courage to vent.
After the initial jubilation, many people rushed to the ruins of the palace.
They went to vent their anger or fish in troubled waters.
The surviving remnants of General Budo's forces did not dare to stop them; though they survived by chance, they all suffered varying degrees of injuries.
After seeing the frenzied mob, a relatively sober officer quickly ordered the remnants of the Guards to evacuate the ruins to avoid becoming punching bags.
As it turned out, the officer was right.
The people, unable to find the corpses of the Minister and the Emperor, began to flog other corpses.
There were even unlucky survivors trapped in the ruins who were pulled out by the mob.
They thought they were saved, but they were only greeted by the people's fury.
The situation had developed into a total riot.
What followed was even more out of control.
The success at the palace gave the people confidence, and they turned their attention to the nobles and corrupt officials still alive.
The crowd rushed into the Minister's mansion, and although they encountered some resistance, they succeeded.
Honest's retainers and servants had already started fleeing after hearing the news of his death.
The slight resistance came from those who hadn't managed to loot enough items yet.
But seeing the growing number of rioters, they quickly ran away when the situation turned sour.
After the people smashed and burned the Minister's mansion, the riots spread like wildfire to the entire city.
This was why Najenda and her party saw nobles running for their lives.
When they entered, the capital was already in chaos.
Smashing, looting, and fires were everywhere, with people moving stolen goods home.
Coupled with the palace being in ruins, the Imperial Capital had lost all its former prosperity.
It even made Najenda and the others think they were in the wrong place.
"Why is it so messy? Where are the city guards?"
Najenda looked around in confusion, trying to find the guards who usually dominated the streets.
However, after searching for a long time, she only saw discarded pieces of military uniforms on the road.
With her peripheral vision, she spotted shirtless men in the rioting crowd and realized the truth.
This made Najenda's expression darken.
"Seriously? Are you guys that unscrupulous? You aren't even from here!"
No wonder no one managed the riot. The guards were involved in the looting!
"Boss, what should we do now?"
Mine looked around and asked with a blank expression.
"First, notify the Revolutionary Army to take action. If we miss this opportunity, it will not come again."
Najenda said, quickly heading towards the base outside the city.
Several people followed, but Leone suddenly noticed that Akame was standing still.
"Akame, why are you dazed? Hurry up and follow."
Leone stopped and shouted.
Akame snapped out of it and hurriedly followed.
But in her heart, she was thinking: "She shouldn't be here, and nothing will happen."
Akame was worried about her sister Kurome's situation.
The Empire was ending, but her sister was still loyal to it.
For a moment, Akame didn't know what to do, which was why she was stunned.
But in the end, she could only pray that her sister was safe.
She didn't even know where Kurome was and couldn't save her even if she wanted to.
The group returned to the base.
Najenda didn't wait to explain to Lubbock and Bulat; she called her mount and delivered the message.
Lubbock and Bulat, after learning the situation from Mine and Leone, had the same incredulous expressions.
Then they had the same suspicion: could this be Takumi's doing?
"He is the prime suspect, but he hasn't admitted it and had no obvious reason to do so."
Leone shook her head, unable to understand it.
The most important thing was that Takumi had no reason to intervene.
Takumi and his group had been in their sight since they arrived.
They hadn't even contacted the Empire.
So why would Takumi strike?
And it was such a fatal blow.
How much hatred would he need to kill Honest, the Emperor, and Budo—the three most important figures—and scatter their ashes?
Looking at it that way, apart from Takumi's sudden disappearance, there was no motive.
"Is it really God's will?"
Lubbock was confused and started to believe Takumi's explanation.
Bulat smiled and said: "Whether it is true or not, this does not prevent us from thanking the powerful being who took action, right?"
Everyone nodded.
Indeed.
No matter who did it, they were grateful for the result.
On Najenda's side, she ran for half a day to reach the Revolutionary Army's stronghold.
After she told the news and emphasized its authenticity, there was an uproar among the senior officials.
Immediately, the army gathered to launch a decisive general attack on the Imperial forces.
At first, since the news hadn't spread, the Revolutionary Army just launched a sneak attack.
They surrounded cities before the opposition could react and began persuading them to surrender.
Before long, well-informed city guards received the news and surrendered decisively.
With the leadership wiped out and the capital occupied, the cause was lost.
The Empire was effectively gone; why keep fighting?
They were only able to block the Revolutionary Army before due to logistics.
With the Empire collapsing and supplies cut off, it was over.
As long as the Revolutionary Army besieged the cities, they would be trapped.
Even if the capital stabilized, it would take too much time.
In this case, it was better to surrender early to have a chance at survival.
The Empire was severely corrupted, and few were as loyal as General Budo, so they had no psychological burden in surrendering.
After the first city surrendered, the Revolutionary Army used them to persuade others.
Seeing others take the lead, the rest followed suit.
In this way, the Revolutionary Army captured several cities in one day without shedding blood.
While the Revolutionary Army advanced, Najenda discovered something was wrong.
Where were Takumi and the others?!
It stood to reason that Takumi had set off first. Najenda had already arrived half a day ago, yet Takumi still hadn't appeared.
Since there was no way to contact them and Akame wasn't around to go to the Dimensional City, Najenda could only wait.
And what was Takumi doing?
He was taking the girls to explore and hunt Dangerous Species.
They went wherever they found something new. They were running around and hadn't gone to the Revolutionary Army at all.
He knew that once Najenda passed the news, the fighting would begin immediately.
So he simply stayed away to avoid trouble.
The only problem was...
"Where is this place?"
Takumi looked at the map Najenda had given him. He looked left and right but couldn't tell where they were.
Hand-drawn maps were difficult to identify and required guesswork.
He was lost and couldn't find his position.
The blurry representative patterns were far less clear than modern topographical maps.
Megumin, who was eating a bento, said nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter; we can always go back."
Takumi wordlessly reached out and pinched her puffed-out cheek.
"We want to draw a map for our own use. If we don't know where we are, what's the point?"
"Whatever, I just care about when I can use my magic."
Megumin shook off Takumi's hand and said boredly:
"It's almost dark, and I haven't used Explosion magic today."
The Dangerous Species they encountered were dealt with by Kanae and the others in close combat.
Even for difficult ones, Haruhime provided support, so Megumin never had a chance.
"You're unbelievable."
Takumi waved his hand dismissively:
"We haven't met any high-level Dangerous Species. Just find a place to fire it later. It's not your home, so blow up whatever you want."
"Really?!"
Megumin became excited.
Just as Takumi was about to nod, he heard Lia's voice over the intercom.
"Call Home Base. This is 01. At direction 215, distance 24 kilometers, we encountered troops numbering about 100,000. Please reply."
Takumi picked up the walkie-talkie: "Home Base receiving, what is the situation?"
"They haven't noticed me."
"Describe the military. Are there recognizable signs?"
"It seems they just fought a big battle. There are traces and many corpses nearby. They are not stationed in the army camp yet; another team might be close, but they haven't been found."
"Judging from equipment and discipline, they should be the Imperial Army. The others are poorly dressed and are likely not the Revolutionary Army."
Takumi rubbed his chin: "Could it be Esdeath's army and the northern foreigners? Have we reached the northern border?"
This was outrageous.
The Revolutionary Army was in the south. They had walked south but ended up at the northern border. No wonder the map was useless; they were already off the edge.
"Northern border?"
Lia heard Takumi talking to himself and was stunned.
"It's okay. Just wait there. We'll arrive soon."
Takumi asked Lia to wait and called for the others to return to the floating island.
Soon, the elf girls used teleportation scrolls to come back.
After everyone arrived, Takumi teleported the floating island directly to Lia's location.
Before he could see the troops clearly, he heard a scream.
"It seems we've found the right troops."
Hearing the screams, Takumi was certain this was Esdeath's army.
Only she loved to torture prisoners so much.
Soon, the screams stopped and the army was in a commotion.
They had been discovered.
Lia might have remained unseen due to the height, but a large floating island and the light of teleportation were impossible to miss.
Takumi came to the edge of the island and looked down.
He saw a woman with long blue hair in a white military uniform walking to the front.
They made silent eye contact.
Takumi appraised her. She was charming enough to make fans switch sides.
She was beautiful and had an incredible temperament.
Esdeath was also looking at Takumi, and then... she suddenly blushed.
"Wait, what?"
Takumi was stunned.
That reaction! Seriously?!
Not only Takumi, but the Three Beasts beside Esdeath were stunned.
They had never seen her make that expression.
She looked shy.
Before anyone could react, Esdeath condensed ice under her feet, building a high platform to reach the level of the floating island.
Seeing this, Lia and the others flew out, stopping between them and looking at Esdeath warily.