9 Crimson Flames

Red was all she saw. After the children's state, she saw red and a hate like no other came over her. She had seen humans at their worst. War didn't just involve killing the enemy and that was it. Enemy and ally alike killed civilians too. Murdered, pillaged and defiled to their hearts content. War brought out the worst in people. Like the depraved animals they were hiding inside broke free in the chaos and let loose on the deserving and undeserving alike. Raven did this too. But she only relished in killing the ones who deserved it. The scientists of those terrible camps. The compliant and supportive civilians who mobbed the people different from them. She killed them mercilessly until she was discharged. The U.S wanted some of those scientists alive.

This was different. One man. It was one man, in his madness who killed and defiled children. Children. Innocent children. She was instantly consumed by hate. Negativity crashed into her from without and within. Thus, she took the form of a monster to punish the animal who did this. She rend his flesh and broke his bones. Ripped off body parts and made him burn to death. It was unbelievably painful but the children suffered worse.

Just thinking about it made her go into a frenzy. She was hardly aware of her actions. The last conscious decision she made was to flee the town. She was getting out of control and didn't want more innocent lives on her hands. When she had gotten far enough away she let loose an enraged and heartbroken wail that echoed through the forest.

-The Capital, days later-

Esdeath was bored. So bored it was grating on the sanity quite a few of her peers said she lacked. One of them being General Najenda, who she was with right now. Najenda was talking about politics, which Esdeath couldn't care less about. She stopped her talk in the middle with a raised finger.

"General Najenda. You know I do not care for the politics of the Empire. I am in this position because of my prowess in battle. If it doesn't concern my army, why should I care? Do you have any actually interesting news to share or shall I go?" Esdeath shot her a bored glare and said.

"Fine.. I should have known better than to think you care about the wellbeing of the Empire's citizens. The only thing I have left for you is some news regarding a Danger Beast" Najenda finished with a huff.

"Oh? What of its class?" Esdeath asked with a tinge of interest.

"Special to Super. Hard to say but it's burned about four hundred kilometers of forest and is endangering the nearby towns and villages" Najenda said as she lit her cigar.

Esdeath was interested at that point. She knew Super Danger Beasts were exceptionally rare. They usually hid if they weren't all dead. This one was openly displaying its power in the Empire. She'd reckon it may be revolutionaries but not even they could create an inferno that massive. Forest fires were a natural disaster and the trees and dry foliage definitely helped fuel that fire. But it was still an impressive feat, to be the originator of such a blaze. Esdeath was inclined to deal with it herself.

"I'll be going to kill the beast myself" Esdeath informed Najenda with a growing smirk.

"What? No. Take your men with you or at least those dogs of yours" Najenda sighed as Esdeath shook her head.

"Bringing a large amount of men would be foolish. The beast has no issues with destruction on a wide scale. That's just asking my army to die. As for those two.. No, this is my prey" Esdeath clasped her hands and declared.

"Fine. Just inform Budo and his Majesty before you run off to fight it" Najenda said while walking away.

Esdeath smiled and proceeded to walk down to the Imperial Palace.

~She truly is a battle maniac.. She's too dangerous~ Najenda thought quietly to herself.

-Southern Forest, Empire-

Akame had been hunting in the Southern area of the Empire with Kurome. She had been hunting Danger Beasts with her sister, Kurome as practice for over two hours today. Being in the Elite Seven they were expected to keep their skills sharp. The way the sisters did so was to hunt Danger Beasts within the borders of the Empire whenever they didn't have a target.

They were finishing off a lower tiered beast when Akame heard Kurome cough. Turning around, she saw Kurome wafting the now smoky air that hadn't been there before.

"What's going on? Is there a forest fire?" Akame pulled Kurome away from the smoke and observed the sky, where thick clouds of smoke was gathering.

"Sister.. what do we do?" Kurome askedz watching the pillars of smoke.

"We should at least scout it out before reporting back" Akame gave her a nod and both of them trekked deeper in the forest.

As they got closer, they saw crimson flames incinerating the environment. It was spreading, fast. Continuing further meant they would walk into the smoky air and suffocate. Akame pulled Kurome down and breathed in the unpolluted air, since the smoke was higher up off the ground. They slowly proceeded to walk ahead and stopped when they saw a black armored beast. It was covered in white plates, spikes and black metal. There was also a set of Raven-like wings on its back that grabbed and crushed tree trunks as it walked. Apart from that, all they saw was a curtain of long black hair that covered the beast's back.

Akame and Kurome quieted, seeing the Danger Beast responsible for the flames. Fire had covered its body and everywhere it went, the flames would spread. Kurome shivered as what looked like two red orbs she figured were eyes had locked onto her and her sister. Akame started backing away quickly while taking her blade out.

Before it could do anything though, a chilling aura invaded the forest. The aura of flames and the sudden intrusion of ice had begun to cover the area with steam. Akame grabbed Kurome's hand and ran while its attention was elsewhere. In walked a woman in a high ranking garb of the Empire. Though Akame did not know her, she knew she was likely a General from her clothing.

"My.. you look fierce, Super Danger Beast" Esdeath commented as she stopped twenty feet from Raven.

The area behind Esdeath was covered completely in ice. It made a stark contrast due to the fact that everything behind Raven was covered in flames. Raven didn't, or rather couldn't retort and flapped her wings before taking off right into Esdeath. Her metal Grimm claws swinging at the General, who had begun to parry with her blade. She was smiling at the monster in front of her. It actually pushed her back.

"Show me what you can do, Danger Beast!" Esdeath smiled and kicked Raven into a tree before swinging at her, though she felt her blade collide with something incredibly hard.

The plate and armor Raven was donned in was thick. It was a fantastic defense but she was moving far slower than normal. Though she was using her increased raw power to make large strides and jumps, it wasn't enough to outspeed Esdeath. Seeing her blade wouldn't be as effective, Esdeath started to use her Teigu.

Pillars of ice threw Raven back and smacked her into a tree before she was blasted through it when a dozen of spiked ice pillars were thrown into her. Her Grimm plate was damaged now but it still mostly held up. Taking the cue to use her own powers, Raven, in her maddened state covered her claws and wings in the flames and started attacking Esdeath. Flames violently exploded forth and sent tree fragments scattering in Esdeath's direction like buckshot.

Raising a tall ice wall, Esdeath blocked the flaming wooden fragments and jumped off the wall before drop kicking Raven, which she blocked with her flaming wings. Smiling, Esdeath decided to take it further and enhance her blade with ice. She moved faster and started hitting far stronger now, dancing around the trees and the slower Raven as she cut through the Grimm plate and armor. She dodged the deadly flames around them and put them out with her ice.

The Grimm simply responded in the best way it knew how. Brute force. It wasn't working, however. Esdeath would dodge or block every explosion, waves of flame, claws and other means Raven was trying to hit her with. She was running on instinct and was simply a mindless beast with no strategic mind present. It was of no surprise when Esdeath incapacitated it within fifteen minutes. Her expression was now bored and looking down on Raven, who was rasping on the forest floor.

"Weak. You barely made me even use half of my power.. Ah, is that a sword on you I see? Hm.. you do look a bit more human. That's too bad. Perhaps you would have given me more of a challenge if you kept your mind" Esdeath then mercilessly stabbed through the armored chest and started to walk away.

That's when Raven woke back up. In a jolt of pain, she twitched. She no longer heard the internal demands and screams for blood that drove her to the deepest recesses of her mind. She had been beaten quite thoroughly and stabbed in the chest. Thankfully, it missed her heart. She slowly picked herself up, armor creaking and Grimm plates falling to the floor and evaporating. The only ones left were her wings and the now two curved horns on her head, protruding from her armor. She could see a woman in a white outfit stop in her tracks, back turned to her.

"Who.. are you?" Raven asked, coughing up a black substance after asking groggily.

"Oh? What's this? You aren't dead? And you have some agency about you. Color me surprised. You asked my name? It's Esdeath. Now shall we conclude our less than ideal duel, now that you seem to have your mind?" She asked with what sounded like a faint trace of hope.

Meanwhile, Raven was cursing in her mind.

~Fuck.. It had to be her, didn't it? I'll die if I refuse and I don't think I'll be able to quickly learn how to fly in this scenario~ Raven decided there the best way to go forward was to grant her request and finish the fight, lest she earn Esdeath's anger.

Raven, though still hurt, unsheathed her katana and held it ready. Taking three seconds to prepare, they began to attack the other.

Raven ducked under, jumped away from and parried Esdeath's terrifyingly fast barrage of strikes while Esdeath did the same. Both locking blades numerous times and adding their opposing elements to their attacks.

Esdeath created a huge ice block above Raven, which Raven jumped back from and blasted at her with a fireball half the size of her body. The ice block destroyed more area of the forest and the two continued. It was clear Raven was disadvantaged though. She was injured and not as familiar with her powers yet. Despite summoning an elemental blade with the maiden power, it was all she could do to keep up with Esdeath.

Esdeath was having a wonderful time though. She had started going almost all out and Raven wasn't dying. Such a thing was incredible for someone injured like she was. They both reared back and struck each other with a flourish of their blades. Esdeath had hit the wound on her chest and slashed Raven's helmet off. Esdeath suffered a hit as well though. A slash spanning from her ribs, to her other shoulder had appeared. A slash she froze quickly as Raven fell to her knees and panted.

"You actually injured me there.. Not an insignificant thing, I tell you. What is your name?" Esdeath asked, panting a bit herself.

"Raven.. Raven Branwen" Raven answered before coughing, her head hitting the forest floor.

"It would be far too much of a shame for you to die here.. Hm.. are you a revolutionary, Raven?" Esdeath asked with a contemplative expression.

"No.. just got here" She began to close her eyes as images of what happened before she took on that Grimm form flashed through her mind.

"Perfect. I'll be taking you with me then" Esdeath smiled to herself and picked Raven up before carrying her away.

Akame and Kurome were still watching in the distance.

"Sister.. that woman looked a lot like us, didn't she?" Kurome asked with a small tinge of worry.

"She did.." Akame answered.

"Do you think she's.. our Mother? Or maybe some older sister?" Kurome asked quietly.

"Mother.." Akame echoed, fingers gripping her blade tightly.