Saikō no Chitsujo

Chapter 18 part 2

Najenda stopped before the tent, taking her lit cigar from between her lips and crushing it on her prosthetic palm before walking in. It was spacious for a medical tent; a few tools were at her right from where she stood on the porch; the bed was right in front of her; and a sink was set up at her left with a few sterilizing items she recognized from her days in the military.

She walked past the physician and took a seat on a chair at the end of the bed.
Glancing from the prone, bare-chested Tatsumi to the doctor, Najenda observed him quietly. The doctor was a tall, middle-aged man with glasses; his black hair was gelled back, and his jaw was lined by a trimmed chinstrap beard. He wore a white shirt, black trousers, a striped tie, and a white lab coat, but what stood out the most were the large white gloves he wore while hovering his hands over Tatsumi’s chest.
"As I suspected, it’s starting to bond with you. I don’t completely know if, at the time of its evolution, you were consumed by the armour or if it fused with you, but what I do know, young man," he said, taking off his gloves, his tone grave, "is that you are becoming Incursio’s dragon body."

Najenda and Tatsumi’s eyes widened in surprise, the latter breaking into a cold sweat.
"Don’t think of this as a normal power-up; in this case, your body can’t keep up with Incursio’s evolution."
"Doctor, what are you saying?" Najenda’s brows furrowed while she asked.
"The young man here forced Incursio to evolve past what his body could handle, so while it will grant him a surge of power as it did against the enemy you fought, having evolved in such a dangerous way will leave him at risk of being devoured by Incursio, or rather Tyrant, the beast living within the imperial arms. The evidence is in your right eye."
The assassin duo went silent, Najenda looking up as Tatsumi asked, "How long do I have left, doc?"
The doctor exhaled tiredly and walked to the cabinet next to the sink, placing the gloves inside them. Leaning on it with his arms crossed, he replied, "It depends. You should be able to wield Incursio safely for some time while we search for a way, if there is one, to reverse your condition. But should you try to evolve past this, you will go past the point of no return, and there will be no saving you."

Najenda inhaled sharply and rose, handing Tatsumi his shirt with an encouraging smile and saying, "Thank you for your help, doctor."
"It’s alright. It’s a shame that I couldn’t give you better news."

"It’s fine. Thanks to the information you’ve given us, we can better deal with the situation, so thank you." She smiled politely and led the clothed Tatsumi out of the tent, raising a brow in surprise at the waiting Akame and Kanae.
"Akame, Kanae-san, what’s the problem?" Tatsumi asked, somewhat surprised. While Najenda had notified them that he was to undergo his checkup at the time, he hadn’t expected them to come along, and from the looks of it, they had been waiting for quite some time. He glanced at Najenda inquisitively, but it seemed that she was just as surprised at their presence as he was.

Kanae shared a brief look of concern with Akame, "We were worried about you, Tatsumi-kun."
"Mhm, what’d the doctor say?"
It was then Najenda and Tatsumi’s turn to share a knowing look, the latter replying to Akame’s question, "He said, Incursio’s fusing with me; if I push it any further, I’ll get consumed by it."
"Consumed?"
"Yeah, I'm guessing I'll cease to be and Tyrant would revive in my body."

The four went quiet; the idea that Tatsumi was drawing dangerously close to his demise made them uncomfortable. They had lost people—friends, colleagues, and family—but that didn’t make it any easier; in fact, it had become more difficult to experience loss again, especially when something could be done to prevent it.
Kanae shifted nervously at the awkward silence, her eyes widening as a bright idea came to mind. "Tatsumi-kun," she grabbed his hand suddenly, flustering and surprising him. "When Nii-san gets back, tell him, we might just have a way to help you."
"Really?!" He grabbed her hands, and it was Kanae’s turn to be flustered. Her fair skin took on a reddish tint, and she stuttered in her reply, "Y-yes. Though it isn’t a surefire way, it might work."
"We’ll wait for him then." Najenda smiled reassuringly at the three. Night Raid was in a far more difficult situation than they’d ever been, so it was necessary to keep their spirits up; failure was not an option.
                              …
"Welcome…Oh, it’s just you two." Lubbock rolled his eyes at Hijiri and Mine, his brows furrowing at the water that dripped from their cloaks.
"Would it kill you to be nicer?" Hijiri remarked, hanging his mantle on a coat rack by the door, looking around the comfy bookstore that served as Night Raid’s base in the capital. It was just like any bookshop that doubled as a library; a few partitioned tables were at Hijiri’s left, with multiple shelves further into the store and the counter where Lubbock stood at his right.
He walked past Hijiri and Mine and flipped the sign on the door to ‘closed’, turning the knob to lock the door, and gesturing for the two to follow him while he strode to a door behind the counter labelled "Staff".