Chapter 33: I have become the Child Emperor

"What the hell?!" Captain Ogre shouted in surprise as the explosion caused a strong gust of smoke to spread throughout the entire area.

"Sayo!"

"Sayo!"

While both Tatsumi and Ieyasu closely watched the dust surrounding the position where Sayo stood, both men were angry at themselves for letting Zank move past them. Sayo trusted them to keep her protected while she provided them support, but they had failed. It was something both men thought wasn't possible in the first place. They could only blame themselves if Sayo was hurt due to their complacency and overreliance on their strength.

Suddenly, both men noticed movement from the smoke, and a second later, Zank emerged with one of his katar blades shattered and blood dripping down from it.

"He's injured? How?" Ieyasu questioned in surprise. Due to how quickly everything happened, and their focus being preoccupied with catching up to Zank as he was about to attack Sayo, both Ieyasu and Tatsumi couldn't clearly see the events that transpired. For Ieyasu, he only saw blurs of movement before an explosion occurred. He couldn't understand why Zank was injured in such a short amount of time.

"What is with this night! More people keep arriving and stopping me from killing!" Zank stated, his veins visibly bulging due to anger.

Ieyasu narrowed his brow. Instead of attacking Zank, he was more worried about Sayo. As the dust began to disperse, Ieyasu saw a massive monstrous creature, with gigantic sharp teeth and bulky large arms.

"Sayo!" Ieyasu shouted, fearing the worst.

"Don't worry, your friend is fine," a voice stated from the rooftops, shocking both Ieyasu and Tatsumi.

They both glanced in the direction of the voice and saw Sayo being carried by a person covered in blue armor. He gallantly carried Sayo by supporting her thighs and back.

"Princess Carry!" Tatsumi and Ieyasu thought at the same time. Sayo may be a girl, but she wasn't your typical soft girl. No, Sayo saw herself as a fighter first, and being carried like a princess was something she absolutely hated. But as both men's eyes moved towards Sayo, they noticed a faint blush on her face as she stared at the man's helmet. It was almost as if she was trying to see through his armor. Because of this, the anxious state that the two men were in previously changed to annoyance and jealousy. They remembered all the times they had saved Sayo in the past when they were still training in the village, but neither of them were on the receiving end of such a cute expression.

"Zank the beheader, in the name of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Makoto, we of Jaeger give you one chance: surrender or die!" a voice shouted, snapping everyone's attention towards a blonde man floating in the sky.

"How is that possible?" both Tatsumi and Ieyasu asked themselves. Flying was something neither of them considered possible for an ordinary human being. They both assumed that one could only fly if they tamed an aerial danger beast and used it as a mount, but the man in the sky seemed to be doing it by himself, causing the two of them great surprise.

Seeing the man in the sky, Zank quickly glanced around and noticed that he was completely surrounded. While the blue-armored man quickly positioned himself behind him and the huge danger beast standing at the front, he had nowhere else to go.

Even his teigu wouldn't be able to help him much now. Spectator was a powerful Imperial Arms, but its main weakness was that it wasn't an attack-type Imperial Arms; it was more of a support type. With the arrival of the three powerful combatants, Zank knew it would be a miracle for him to escape now.

Suddenly, a woman shouted while approaching the injured Captain Ogre causing Zank to stop his train of thought, "Captain Ogre!", she said worriedly.

"Seryuu, it's good to see that you are here!" Captain Ogre stated, more relieved than ever.

With Seryu and her team fighting Zank, he was more confident that he would survive the night. Unlike the three previous youngsters that had arrived, he was sure that three Imperial Arms users could defeat Zank easily.

"Don't worry, Captain Ogre. We'll get you to safety after we handle this problem," Seryu stated.

The moment she stood up, her entire demeanor changed like a flip of a switch. At first, she was like a warm, loving girl who showed care for the people around her, but now, she felt cold and dangerous. It was like a sinister aura started enveloping her. Her eyes immediately locked onto Zank, and with venom lacing her voice with anger, she said, "How dare you attack Captain Ogre! How dare you attack the man who taught me what justice is about!"

Seeing this side of her, both Run and Wave were greatly surprised. They had never assumed that Seryu had such a dangerous and dark side to her.

"Run, I would like to fight Zank alone," Seryu shouted, causing Run to raise his eyebrow. For a brief moment, Run glanced at Seryu and began studying her. As the current leader of Jaeger, he had the absolute authority to deny her request. They could work together as a team and make quick work of Zank, but something caught Run's eye in the distance.

Deciding that he wanted to investigate, Run glanced at Zank and stated, "Your silence is hereby declared as defiance to the Empire." He then turned to Seryu and added, "I will allow you to personally fight Zank, while Wave will provide support when needed or when Zank threatens to escape."

Seryu nodded her head in agreement before Run took flight to head to another location. This action confused Zank, but nonetheless, he focused his attention back towards the girl who wanted to fight him personally.

"It doesn't matter how many of you there are. I'm going to take as many of you with me!" Zank stated defiantly. He was aware that the shadow of death loomed over him, but he was undeterred. With a sudden burst of speed, he immediately made his way towards Seryu, aiming to finish her off as quickly as he could.

"Koro! Attack!" Seryu ordered, causing the standing beast to take action and intercept Zank in his tracks.

The massive creature, Koro, lunged at Zank with ferocity, its sharp teeth bared and its bulky arms swinging with incredible force. Zank, a seasoned fighter and with the use of his Imperial Arms, skillfully dodged the beast's initial attack, but Seryu wasn't going to let him off that easily.

As Zank focused on evading Koro's assault, he failed to notice Seryu expertly providing support from a distance with her gun. Her shots were calculated and precise, forcing Zank to constantly shift his attention between the beast and the hail of bullets raining down on him.

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Meanwhile, as the battle continued in the distance, Run floated above both Mine and Akame. The members of Night Raid tightly gripped their weapons, ready for any fight that might arise.

"I didn't come here to battle you," Run clarified, surprising the two women. His calm demeanor and lack of hostile intentions caught them off guard.

"Why are you here, then?" Mine asked, her gun still pointed at Run, though with a hint of curiosity now.

"I've come to bring you a message from His Imperial Majesty," Run replied, reaching into his pocket. This action caused both Mine and Akame to tense up, ready to react if he tried anything suspicious.

To their surprise, Run pulled out an envelope. "This is a letter from His Imperial Majesty himself. He asked me to deliver it to the members of Night Raid. Will you accept it?" Run asked, extending the envelope towards Akame.

Akame remained cautious, but Run quickly added, "You should have already seen it. Emperor Makoto is already working to address the problems within the Empire. This letter contains a very important message for Night Raid."

For a brief moment, Akame locked eyes with Run, searching for any signs of falsehood in his words. After contemplating the situation, she replied, "All right, we will accept Emperor Makoto's letter."

"Thank you," Run stated as one of the feathers of his teigu, Grand Chariot, carried the letter toward Akame. The feather vanished once the letter was in front of her, ensuring it wouldn't touch the ground, Akame swiftly caught it.

Before departing, Run added, "Please consider the contents of the letter carefully." As one of the few people who knew what was inside the letter, Run understood its significant impact. He could only hope that Night Raid would make the right decisions based on its contents.