Chapter 20

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"(F/n). Wake up. It's morning." Mine's voice was the first thing I heard. I opened my eyes slowly and saw the pink-haired girl above me, tapping my shoulder. 

I sat up, feeling a bit groggy and sluggish. "Good morning..." I mumbled, waking myself up slowly. "How are you?" 

"I'm doing good, still pretty tired from sleeping in shifts..." She said. 

"Right. Yeah, I feel tired..." I said, sitting up off the couch. "I'll wake up Seryu," I said, getting up and walking over to the bed. "Seryu? Wake up." 

Seryu's eyes slowly opened. Unlike us, she had gotten a full eight hours or so of sleep, and seemed to wake up just fine. Oh, is it...?" She said, getting up and stretching her shoulders. "Good... Good morning, (f/n)." She said. 

"Morning..." I said. "We'll probably be getting a mission soon. Make sure you and your Imperial Arms are ready." 

"Oh, right." She said. 

"You might also be meeting another member of Night Raid," Mine said. 

The cabin grew busy as we began to get ready for the upcoming mission. Mine was tuning up her rifle and Seryu was toying around with Koro. I was simply trying to wake myself up at the time. 

After a few minutes, we heard approaching footsteps outside of the cabin. "Is that them?" Mine asked. "About time they got here." 

"Wait, I don't think that's one of us..." I looked out one of the windows in the cabin and saw a large menacing shadow. "...It's a danger beast." 

I stood up and moved outside of the door. "A danger beast?!?" Mine shouted, getting her rifle out. 

"I think. Cover me, Mine" I said. "At the cost of my spirit, I summon thee." My blade of creation appeared in my hand. 

I rushed outside with Mine and saw what was making so much noise outside: a large, lion-like danger beast with horns. It prowled on all-fours as it spotted us. In the next moment, it charged. 

I brought up my blade to block the beast and pushed off, sending it flying back. It growled at me and came dashing back. I sidestepped it and bring my blade cutting along its side. The beast cried out in pain. 

Mine was next and fired off a shot towards the animal. It hit its leg and the beast fell to the floor. However, a moment later, it stumbled back to a standing position and came at me. 

"I won't let you attack me," I mumbled. "At the cost of my soul, I summon thee." I reached out my hand to receive my blade. But when I looked down, my hand remained empty. "...Huh?" 

The danger beast in front of me was leaping at me now. I saw its claws rearing back to scratch me. I brought up my arms reflexively to block it. 

Luckily, I wouldn't need to block anything. The next thing I knew the danger beast was, itself, getting clawed apart. The beast was quickly killed by something, but I couldn't quite tell at first. 

Then, I saw a pair of yellow ears standing above it. "Yo~!" Leone said. 

The door behind Mine and I opened up and I heard light footsteps behind me. "(F/n)! Are you alright?" Seryu asked, moving close to me. 

"Yeah... I'm fine," I said. "Thanks to Leone, that is..." 

"Oh! So you're the new one, eh?" Leone said. She moved over to Seryu and stood up next to her, almost sizing her up like an opponent. "Well, if we can find a way to fix those arms of yours, you might indeed be helpful to us!" 

Seryu was surprised by the whole interaction as it was happening. Eventually, she said, "C-Certainly! I hope that I can be of some help..." 

Mine came close to me as well, "Leone. What's the status?"  

"Oh! Right, there's a lot that I need to tell you. Let's go inside this cabin of yours!" Leone said excitedly. 

The four of us all made our way into the wood cabin. Leone wasted no time in making herself at home. 

"Woo! Nice place you got here!" She said before excitedly jumping onto the couch and propping her feet up on the coffee table. I went and sat down at a nearby table, and Mine did the same next to me. Seryu simply stood up against a wall. 

"So, Leone. What's the status?" Mine asked. 

"Well, for one thing, Bulat no longer has his Imperial Arms." She said in a slightly quiet voice. 

"What?!? What happened to it?" Mine asked. 

"Well, it's not so much that he doesn't have it. It's just that he's no longer the owner of it. You see, during the assignment, Bulat, Tatsumi, and Lubbock encountered three Imperial Arms users. But it came down to the wire, and both Bulat and Lubbock were too exhausted to take out the third one." 

"So... Bulat gave Incursio to Tatsumi to use." Leone said. 

"I see... Incursio is the armor Imperial Arms, correct?" I asked. 

"Right. The one made from the superclass danger beast, Tyrant. It's been with Bulat for a long time now..." Mine said. "Why Tatsumi? Just because he was the only one left standing?" 

"Supposedly, that's how it went." Leone said. "Luckily, no one on our side died in the battle, and we recovered three Imperial Arms from the enemy. But now, Bulat is left without an Imperial Arms, and he's left Incursio to Tatsumi." 

"I see... so should we consider him out of commission for the time being?" Mine asked. 

Leone nodded, "For now, yeah. Not only is Incursio not technically his any longer, but he's also sustained some heavy injuries." 

Mine sighed a bit, "Right. That makes sense." Mine leaned back in her seat. "Past that, are there any other status updates?" 

"Oh, well. Najenda said that she's fine with Seryu joining us, but only when we're sure we can trust her. So basically, Akame's idea was a good one." Leone explained. "And also, we have a new mission from Boss." She reached pulled out a piece of rolled-up paper for us, dropping it out on the table. 

"So it's another simple assassination then?" I asked, looking down at the paper. 

"Somewhat. We have to assassinate some rich guy near the capital who's been embezzling funds and doing some shady stuff. The catch is that he has Imperial guards with him." Leone explained. It was apparent to us immediately that this was a test from Najenda; a test on Seryu's loyalty at this point in time. 

"This seems like a small mission. Since Mine and I are on the wanted posters, shouldn't this be for others?" I asked. 

"Normally, yes, this would be left to people like Tatsumi or Lubbock. However, as you may know, this is a special case." Leone said, looking to Seryu. "Najenda said we should all move in a group to keep an eye on Seryu." 

"Speaking of, how do you intend to fight, Seryu?" Mine asked suddenly, looking to Seryu standing at the wall. 

"Huh? Oh. I mean, I was just going to use Koro..." She responded. 

"And if someone gets close to you?" Mine said. 

"I... don't know..." Seryu said. 

"Well, you're in luck, Seryu!" Leone said suddenly, standing up and walking over to her. "The guy that we're assassinating is actually a scientist who experiments with weapons! You might find something that you can use." She suddenly slung her arm over the girl's shoulder. 

Seryu looked surprised, almost frightened, by the sudden gesture by Leone. "Ah! Umm...! Right!" She said, shifting a bit further away from Leone. "T-Thank you..." 

"Sure thing! We'll do some searching for something you might be able to use." Leone took her hand off of Seryu and moved over to the table Mine and I were sitting at. "This will be our first mission as this temporary second branch of Night Raid. I'm looking forward to it!" 

Mine x reader. Akame ga kill, Alternative.Where stories live. Discover now