The light shards were like shackles, pinning Kurome's arms against her waist. Though they were energy, they had physical form, leaving the girl unable to break free. She then lost her balance like a rocket that had run out of thrust and fell freely toward the ground.
[Binding Art No. 4 · This Rope]
With a one-handed slash, Iori traced a crooked path of yellow spiritual light through the air. It quickly solidified into a long rope that flew out, binding the falling Kurome and yanking her back in one swift pull.
'What kind of Imperial Tool is this?!'
Kurome was utterly shocked. She had never imagined she would be defeated so quickly, and Iori's methods were completely beyond her understanding.
There were Imperial Tools that used energy for offense or defense, but if she hadn't misseen it, Iori had clearly released that attack with his bare hands.
'Could it be… an Imperial Tool residing inside his body?'
"Let me go!"
"This is kido."
Iori couldn't be bothered to explain further. Using the swordsmanship technique known as "disarming barehanded," he casually snatched the katana Kurome was gripping tightly and indifferently stabbed it into the ground.
"My Yatsufusa! Give it back!"
"Tsk~"
Because Kurome kept struggling and wouldn't behave, he frowned in annoyance. Ignoring Akame's hesitant expression nearby, he lifted Kurome with the binding rope, leapt onto a branch, and then jumped again to the top of the tree canopy.
Seeing there were no more obstacles around, Iori issued Kurome a final warning.
"Get lost, let me go, or else..."
"Then there's no helping it."
The boy weighed Kurome in his hand, and after gauging it, he slowly extended the light rope. When it reached about five or six meters, he stopped.
"You, you… what are you trying to do?"
"This…"
On the ground, Akame looked up at her sister suspended in midair, equally confused. But as her sister, she instinctively didn't want Kurome to suffer too much. If Iori intended to interrogate Kurome, she absolutely couldn't allow it.
"Io... Faceless One, what does this mean?"
"Nothing much. I just want to play a little game with you."
Iori asked quietly, "Have you ever played with a yo-yo?"
"Yo wh... ah!"
Before the words even finished, a powerful force suddenly surged along the light rope, rapidly yanking Kurome's slender body upward.
What made it worse was that the force was applied with great technique. It wasn't just straight up and down, it carried a rotational pull, causing the rope to wind around Kurome's waist. The girl spun and screamed several times before being pulled back to Iori's hand.
But that wasn't the end.
Before either Kurome or Akame could speak, Iori swung the light rope again, "Power Whirlwind!"
"What are you doing, mmph!"
"Whirlwind Sweeping Fallen Leaves!"
"Mm-mm..."
"Rocket!"
"Aaaah!"
"Elevator, Around the World, Lightning Fast Strike!"
Carried away by the moment, Iori even started humming a familiar tune from his previous life.
"Silver Dragon from Beyond the Heavens!"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
———
The girl's screams went on and on. Akame stood on the ground, completely stunned. She wanted to stop Iori, but didn't know how to even begin. At the same time, hearing her sister, whose mouth had always been tougher than a dead duck, now making such pitiful sounds… why did it feel strangely satisfying?
Finally, Kurome's voice gradually weakened until it disappeared altogether. Just as Akame began to worry something had happened, Iori jumped down with the short-haired girl in tow.
This time, he didn't use high-level binding arts, only [Binding Art No. 1 · Sai], binding the girl's wrists.
Kurome no longer had any will to struggle. In fact, the fact that she hadn't passed out was already a miracle, probably thanks to her special constitution.
Now, the once-stubborn girl leaned against the tree trunk with lifeless eyes. A thin line of clear liquid dripped from the corner of her mouth, and from time to time she muttered meaningless phrases like "spinning round and round nonstop" and "blooming sparks of life," giving off a strong "completely broken" vibe.
"Kurome!"
Akame hurried over to check her. Only after confirming that Kurome was merely dazed and had no obvious injuries did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"You went a bit too far, Iori."
"I can't stand brats who act so high and mighty. I only let her off because of you. And you should thank me, she won't resist now."
Iori tilted his chin toward Kurome. "Take her and go."
"What? Take her?" Akame was completely stunned.
"Isn't she your sister?"
Iori spoke calmly. "From the look of you, you obviously can't bring yourself to kill her. In that case, taking her with you is the only option."
"...Kurome is the person I treasure most in this world. I want to take her with me too, but… she won't betray the Empire." Akame said painfully. "I... I can't..."
"Naive! Too naive, Akame!"
"You're actually thinking about respecting her personal wishes in a situation like this? How could you have such a weak idea!"
"Huh?" Faced with Iori's sudden scolding, the girl looked up blankly. "I'm naive?"
"Yes."
Iori said matter-of-factly. "What kindness has the Empire ever shown her, that she'd rather fight her own sister than betray it?"
"It's nothing more than long-term brainwashing plus psychological manipulation, mental enslavement, planting ideas like 'the Empire is invincible' and 'traitors will surely die' into her mind."
"Beyond the mental aspect, there may also be drug control methods involved, like those Three Corpse Brain God Pills or something similar."
"Don't understand? That's fine. Just do what I say!"
"B-but precisely because she's been brainwashed, once she wakes up she'll still resist!"
"Then overwrite it with even stronger brainwashing!"
"!!!"
"I know a very justice-minded scientist. Brainwashing techniques and drug control are nothing to him. He can even make Kurome more docile while he's at it."
"Replace the Empire's mental imprint with things like 'I must not disobey Big Sister' and 'I listen to Big Sister the most'!"
"Don't think it's extreme. If you don't harden your heart now, are you going to wait until the day you have to kill your own sister?"
"In short, you need to be prepared. Even if it means brainwashing her, drugging her, locking her in a basement, you have to thoroughly remodel her into a 'sister slave' who can't live without you, got it?!"
After hearing Iori's words, Akame's brain practically shut down. But thinking it over carefully, his words didn't seem entirely unreasonable…
"She's already under the Empire's brainwashing anyway. If you give up now, she'll remain under the Empire's control forever, eliminating dissidents and slaughtering the innocent, her hands soaked in blood and sin."
"For someone like you who wants to overthrow the Empire, Kurome as an imperial hound is someone you'll have to kill sooner or later."
"If this continues, it will only lead to an even greater tragedy!"
"Since that's the case, why can't you pull her to your side and have her follow your orders?"
"Depending on the condition, poison weeds can sometimes become medicine, just like you and Kurome right now."
"Don't be afraid to impose your will on her. She never had free will to begin with. Besides, do you really think you'd be worse than the Empire?"
"For Kurome, this is also a form of liberation~"
Iori continued coaxing her patiently. "This is only a temporary measure. Once the Empire is overthrown, or a solution is found, you can free Kurome from her restraints, and you sisters can be together forever."
"…I have to admit, that future is extremely tempting."
Akame felt her throat go dry and said with difficulty, "But Kurome's problem isn't only mental. As far as I know, aside from the 'Elite Seven' I was part of, other Imperial assassination units use physical enhancement drugs to increase combat power, creating strong dependency."
"Only the Empire can supply those drugs. If she goes too long without them, Kurome won't be able to hold on…"
"Didn't you hear what I just said?"
Iori grew dissatisfied. Was this looking down on his dear teacher Mayuri?
"To my friend, as long as he has a blood sample, not only can he make an antidote, he can even make stronger modification drugs. If you find your sister annoying, a s*x-change drug isn't impossible either!"
"N-no no no, the antidote is enough. Let's skip the modification drugs and that change thing."
Akame felt like she was about to start sweating. "Just who do you know?"
"I just have some connections."
Iori thought for a moment. "There's a small issue right now, it may take some time to get the antidote. But since Kurome came out on a mission, she probably brought some drugs with her. Let her hold on with those for now. I'll bring the brainwashing equipment and the antidote back as soon as possible."
"When the time comes, how should I contact you?"
"How long do you need?"
"…Five to ten days?"
Iori calculated carefully. Brainwashing equipment was no problem for Mayuri, but the antidote required bringing Kurome's blood sample, or the enhancement drug itself, back to the Soul Society.
To do that, the sample would have to be converted from material form into reishi form, which involved a tricky dual-state conversion issue.
Iori had commissioned Mayuri long ago to solve this problem so he could transport goods between worlds. This mad scientist wasn't as technologically advanced as his later self, and it took considerable time to gradually overcome the challenges. They were now at the final step.
According to Mayuri, the technical hurdle was mostly solved, the only problem was lacking resources to build a large-scale conversion device, which was probably a hint for funding.
Have Mayuri make a small-scale converter, then give him a few days to analyze the blood and produce the antidote, ten days should be enough, right?
After all, in the future, this guy would replicate all of his internal organs in the time it took to eat a meal while fighting an Espada, letting them be destroyed at will…
"Ten days? That should be fine."
Akame nodded in relief. She knew Kurome always carried extra candy (drugs). If she used them sparingly, she could last at least ten days.
After all, the drug modified the body, it wasn't something that would kill her immediately if she missed a day.
"In eight days, I'll bring Kurome to the town where we first met and wait for you at the 'Hat Pavilion' inn."
"..."
"Did you forget how we met?"
"No, of course not." Iori smiled faintly. "I remember, Loguetown Hat Pavilion, right?"
"…It's Guro Town." Akame felt slightly annoyed, then puzzled at why such a small detail bothered her.
"Alright, then it's settled."
Iori borrowed Akame's bamboo water tube, emptied it, and drew a small amount of blood from the vein on the back of Kurome's hand. He also took one piece of candy (drug) from Kurome's snack pouch, completing the material collection.
"This sword is mine now."
Iori pointed to the Imperial Tool Yatsufusa stuck in the ground and said righteously, "A cursed blade that toys with the dead isn't good for Kurome to keep. For the sake of her mental health, I'll hold onto it for her."
"…You can take the sword." Akame didn't object. She also felt Yatsufusa was far too sinister, Murasame seemed gentle by comparison.
'Imperial Tool acquired!' Iori raised an eyebrow, in a great mood.
"By the way, won't Kurome resist once she wakes up?"
"With no weapon, the drugs in my possession, and being utterly exhausted after what you did to her, if I can't subdue Kurome in this state, what's the point of joining the Revolutionary Army? To drag them down?"
"That's true. Then this is where we part."
"No… wait! I have a question."
"Hm?"
After gaining both an Imperial Tool and a Ministerial Tool, Iori was happily ready to head home, only to be stopped by Akame.
"Is there something wrong?" Iori thought about it and couldn't think of anything left to discuss.
Akame hesitated, rare for the usually decisive assassin. At this moment, she seemed… uneasy.
"I just don't understand… why… why are you helping me?"
"Huh?" Iori froze for a moment, then suddenly understood.
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