AKAME ASSASINATION (45)
Akame's hand shot out—not to strike, but to push. Catherine stumbled backward, nearly losing her grip on Gil, who lay unconscious across her shoulders.
"Hey! What the—"
Before she could finish, the earth where she'd stood erupted. Thick, corded vines surged from the soil, moving with predatory intelligence. They wrapped around the few remaining voids, binding them to the ground before they could flee, then spread outward in search of more. From a distance, a blur of motion—the figure controlling them—seemed to sever the captured voids without ever closing in, cutting them down with botanical precision.
"That's a handy power to have," Akame remarked, more to himself than anyone.
The man in white skidded to a halt beside them, breath coming in controlled gusts. "There are more of them," Koji said, his eyes scanning the horizon. "They're pouring from the observation towers."
"What?" Akame's expression remained unbothered, but his focus sharpened.
"The voids—they're not natural. They're human experiments. Failed ones."
"Seriously?" A faint, grim smile touched Akame's lips. "That's actually pretty cool. In a graphic, horrifying way, of course."
Koji turned, offering a shallow bow. "It's good to see you're alright, Ms. Catherine."
Catherine puffed out her chest, smoothing her soggy dress. "My, my. At least someone here has manners."
"What happened to him?" Koji nodded toward Gil.
"I have no idea."
"You really shouldn't ask her those kinds of questions," Akame said, stepping closer. "Now—human experiments. Explain."
Koji's face tightened. "After Gil and I fought that horde earlier, something felt off. Then you and Catherine were taken while you were unconscious. I left Gil with the girl to investigate what was moving in the tall grass. I didn't expect… this."
"Sounds like you've had one hell of a day."
"You can say that again."
"By the way," Catherine cut in, tilting her head. "Do we know your name? I can't remember if you told us."
"It's Koji, right?" Akame said, his gaze lingering on the hunter-sorcerer. "It's been a while since we last saw each other. And I don't mean recently."
Koji's stern expression softened, just for a moment. "Of course. It has been a very long time."
The atmosphere shifted—a pressure drop, a stillness before rupture.
It arrived.
The creature that emerged was different. Its form was humanoid, sculpted from obsidian flesh streaked with ash-white like corroded marble. It had shed all vestiges of biology—no genitalia, no seams, just a seamless, gleaming surface. This one didn't shamble. It presenced itself.
"Is this one of your friends?" Akame asked, tone dry.
"Sadly, yes. But it's evolved." Koji's hand drifted toward his katana. "It's been herding the other voids. Leading them. I led them away from the villages, but… I don't know what it wants."
Akame stared it down. The void stared back from hollow sockets in a bleached skull-face. An aura rolled off it—thick, intelligent, and deeply evil.
"Koji," Akame said, voice low. "Get them out of here. There are women and children hidden behind the huts. Keep them clear."
"Yeah. Even I'm not dumb enough to fight that thing." Koji drew his katana—Shizen—and offered it hilt-first. "You'll need this if you're going to exorcise it permanently."
Akame could produce fragment energy if pushed, but artifacts like Lynn and Shizen generated it autonomously. He took the blade. It felt balanced, alive with latent power.
"Any restrictions?"
"None. I can use its abilities remotely, but that won't help you here."
"Thanks. I'll stick to the sword part."
Koji nodded once, then turned to usher Catherine and the others back.
Catherine glanced over her shoulder, voice small. "Will he be alright? That thing looks… really strong."
"He'll be fine."
Koji didn't say it lightly. He knew what walked toward that creature wasn't just a man. It was a title. A legacy. A warning scribbled in Vatican archives and whispered in hunter circles.
SAIKYO AKAME
FIRST OF THE FIVE SWORDS
VOTED HEIR TO THE SWORD MASTER
Akame didn't hurry. He walked—steady, deliberate, fearless—toward the evolving void that threatened to erase everything in its path.
The real exorcism was about to begin.
"Do I know your name?" the void asked.
Akame stopped. The voice was a grating scrape of sound—unnatural, but laced with something disturbingly… focused. "You don't," he replied, tone flat. "And I don't know yours."
"You… are just like me." The words dragged out, deep and irritating, like stones grinding in a dry throat. "You are hollow. Just like me."
"So I've been told."
Akame's eyes dropped to the sheathed katana in his hand—Shizen. The curve was pronounced, elegant, a blade meant for fluid, drawn motions. 'Perfect for the Sword-Sheath Style… but I haven't used that in years.'
"Yes," a voice echoed, soft and chilling. "It has been a long time."
Akame's head snapped up. That wasn't the void's distorted rasp. It was his own voice, coming from the creature.
The void's form shimmered, its obsidian surface shifting like molten wax. Half of its skull-face began to fill in—pale skin stretched over bone, a shock of white hair falling across a newly formed brow. One eye socket remained hollow, dark. The other now held an iris of vivid, emerald green. His green.
"I told you," the void said, now with a smoother, eerily familiar cadence. "We are the same."
ORGANIC ALCHEMY: CARBON-BASED RODS!
The attack came from the side—six needle-thin carbon filaments, moving at speeds gravity couldn't touch. They weren't meant to pierce yet; they'd gather mass from the air upon impact, expanding into deadly rods mid-strike.
The void—Akame's reflection—didn't even turn its head. One black hand snapped up and caught all six filaments mid-air before they could thicken, its fingers closing with a sound like cracking stone.
It tilted its half-formed face toward the source of the assault.
"That thing's a monster," Jericho whispered, crouched beside Teddy in the tall grass, her breath ragged.
"Yeah—" Teddy began.
The void vanished.
It reappeared in front of Jericho, a clawed hand already thrusting toward her abdomen.
SLICE!
IAIDO: SWORD-SHEATH STYLE — FLASH CUT!
A blur of motion—Akame, faster than sight. The katana left its sheath for less than a heartbeat, a silver arc in the gloom. The void's legs severed cleanly at the knees. In the same motion, Akame was beside Jericho and Teddy, blade already reset in its scabbard.
'I didn't even sense him,' Jericho realized, her muscles trembling from exhaustion. Even at her best, that speed was… impossible.
'Iman,' Teddy thought grimly, watching the void's legs already reforming from swirling black mist. 'Even at full power… you wouldn't win this.'
The creature lunged again without warning.
Akame's free hand moved—a casual, almost dismissive backhand slap to Jericho's cheek. Her head snapped sideways, just enough. A claw meant for her throat passed through empty air. With the hilt of Shizen, Akame drove a crushing blow into the void's abdomen, knocking it back a step.
Jericho collapsed onto the grass, not from injury, but from sheer delayed shock. Her regeneration was potent, but it couldn't rebuild a missing head or a shredded heart.
"Teddy," Akame said, his voice still calm, almost conversational. "No offense, but you two aren't really helping right now."
"Don't you look down on—!"
The void recovered instantly, charging again. Akame drew the blade just enough—a bare inch of gleaming steel—to parry a slash aimed at his face. The impact resonated with a metallic shriek, and the shockwave blasted Teddy and Jericho backward through the grass.
Akame's sandles skidded in the wet earth. He was holding ground, but it cost him.
"You still haven't given me a name," he said, his emerald eyes locked onto the void's one green eye. "Seems rude."
The transformation completed. Skin finished spreading across the creature's face, mirroring his own features perfectly—sharp jaw, straight nose, the same unsettling calm. It stared back with both green eyes now.
"I am Saikyo Akame," it said, his own voice echoing back at him. "If that helps."
VOL.4 END!