"Come to think of it, we don't need to go over and confirm, right? A single person facing a tribe that isn't small must be dead for sure." One of the few Soldiers on the road couldn't help but say.
"Even so, it would be good to go over and see how that person died," the person next to him said with a widening grin. "I heard that person's strength was quite strong."
"Hey, hey! Stop talking!!" At this moment, a companion next to him nudged him and pointed at a young girl walking towards them. Seeing the girl's appearance, they knew this was the person who went to do the mission.
"You wouldn't have skipped the mission and run away, would you?" The Soldier who had been nudged laughed.
Kaede didn't know how she had arrived here; her whole being felt a bit dazed. Although she heard their conversation, she couldn't be bothered to care.
However, since they asked about the mission, it was still necessary to answer. So, Kaede raised her head and said, "The mission is complete."
Then, Kaede continued walking past. Halfway through, for some reason, those few Soldiers were stunned where they stood, unable to even move out of the way.
"Gulp!" After Kaede had been gone for a long time, one Soldier couldn't help but swallow hard.
"That... was a devil, right?" the Soldier asked.
"Ah, simply a demon..." Another Soldier also came to his senses, cold sweat breaking out on his head. The moment she looked up at them, they felt as if endless demons were tearing at their bodies, bone-chillingly cold.
It felt as if their lives would no longer belong to them the next moment. It was too terrifying.
"However, she seemed to say the mission was complete." At this moment, another Soldier opened his eyes wide and said to his companion.
"That can't be true, right?" The surrounding Soldiers all opened their eyes wide, and then headed towards the tribal territory over there.
"Look at your feet..." one Soldier said with a tone of fear.
"Hmm?" After hearing his words, the other Soldiers looked down and saw that the continuously flowing stream of water had actually been dyed a pale red.
The further they walked, the more alarmed they became; the red in the flowing water grew thicker and thicker. Then, they arrived at the place where the target tribe was located, and they were completely stunned. What kind of situation was this?
Corpses were everywhere, even piled into a small hill.
A long time passed.
"The mission really was completed." One Soldier said, and then he could no longer help but vomit. Even though he had seen the darkest situations in the Empire, he had never seen a scene that shocked him like this.
They looked at each other, their eyes revealing a sense of relief. Fortunately, she hadn't paid attention to their conversation earlier, otherwise, even if they had died, there would have been no one to speak for them.
They now understood this kind of strength. They knew that there were only a few people in the Empire capable of achieving this step; it seemed they had only heard of Imperial General Esdeath having such a battle record.
And who was Esdeath? She was the empires strongest. At this moment, they all felt as if they had witnessed the rise of another the empires strongest!
As for Kaede at this time, she was just walking step by step, the look in her eyes a bit dim.
She didn't know how long she had been walking before she finally returned to the stronghold and was seen by Kurome, who had been staying there the whole time.
"Sister!!" Kurome had been staying here recently, looking into the distance, waiting expectantly. Finally, finally, she saw her. Tears welled up in Kurome's eyes, and she rushed over and leaped up.
"Bang!!" But to Kurome's surprise, her leap actually knocked Kaede straight over. "Sister!!"
Kurome quickly sat up, thinking Kaede had suffered some injury, only to discover that Kaede had merely fainted. "Sister..."
Discovering this, Kurome breathed a sigh of relief, then stroked her sister's face and giggled foolishly. Sister was back, which meant the mission was complete, right? Once the mission was complete, they could be together, right!
...
Before her eyes was her own body, dyed blood-red. And then, what was before her? Weren't those the people she had killed?
She saw those people walking slowly towards her, each of their faces filled with pain, resentment, and murderous intent towards her, and then they pounced on her.
Kaede instinctively wanted to dodge, but at this moment, she discovered that the blood on her body was like a chain, imprisoning her there.
She wanted to move, wanted to dodge, but couldn't escape.
Slowly, those guys approached her and opened their bloodthirsty maws...
"Haa! Haa!!" Kaede suddenly opened her eyes and sat straight up, cold sweat pouring down her body.
Gasping for breath, Kaede looked at herself lying on her own bed. Next to her, sleeping, was Akame. It seemed she had returned to the base.
To be honest, she only knew the general direction at the time, and then she felt nothing. She didn't know where she had walked to. It seemed things weren't too bad; she had walked back to the base.
"But..." Kaede looked at her somewhat delicate, snow-white, slender fingers. Strangely, despite constantly practicing with her sword, not a single rough callus had formed on them. Yet, it was these very hands that were now stained with blood.
"But, even so, what does it matter?" A firm resolve flashed in Kaede's eyes. What if she had become a devil?
As long as the people she wanted to protect were safe, that was all that mattered.
Nightmares? Blood? Kaede knew that from this moment on, these two things might accompany her forever. But so what? Kaede never regretted her actions.
Holding Akame in her arms, resting her forehead against Akame's, Kaede closed her eyes once more. No matter what, necessary rest was still required.
Without any surprise, Kaede had a nightmare again. But this time, no matter how she was torn and bitten, even to the point of being rendered unrecognizable by the end, she was not jolted awake again.
However, one side effect still manifested. The next day, during breakfast, Kaede was eating when she looked at the crimson-red color of the food and directly vomited.
This made Chikushi seriously doubt her own cooking skills. After all, Kaede was a big eater who could accept any kind of food. Yet now, she had vomited from eating the meal she made!
"It's nothing. It's not that your cooking is bad; it's my own problem," Kaede comforted from the side. "Are there any nutritional solutions and syringes at the base?"
Feeling as though she probably couldn't eat anything more, Kaede asked.
"There are." Chikushi nodded, seeming to sense something. She looked at Kaede with a bit of worry before trotting off to fetch those two items for her.
"..." Nahash looked at Kaede and sighed, his eyes revealing admiration. She had actually completed that mission. Although it seemed the cost was not small, wasn't surviving the best possible outcome?
...
"Not bad Kaede, you're getting more and more interesting" Upon learning that Kaede had accomplished this, Esdeath revealed a smile at the corner of her mouth, her eyes narrowing.
After receiving the news, the serious expression on Grand General Budo's face also showed an ineffable meaning. Then, the Grand General decided on one thing: he would go to meet the Emperor.
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