4 Chapter 3: Cataclysm
"Don't die on me.." He said after suddenly appearing in front of Esdeath, his burning sword aiming for her neck.
"Heh~"
But when the searing flames of the blade were merely inches away from its prey, she smirked.
"Mahapadma"
Time froze again…
"Fufu~ You took some things away from me, it's only fair if I do the same~" Said Esdeath with a sadistic smile as she swung her ice sword to sever his arms.
["Four Beast System: Frozen Ocean"]
But Ryoma, who was supposed to be frozen in time, suddenly faced her direction with glowing blue eyes and struck her chest with a right-handed punch. Fortunately, she managed to react in time by crossing her arms in front of her chest and swiftly transforming the ice bracelets and sword into gauntlets and a buckler.
"Gah!"
Unfortunately the force of the impact still proved too much for her to handle as the ice buckler and gauntlets were shattered from the direct hit along with the bones in her arms and she was sent flying to the smoldering landscape below.
'That felt weird to say the least, it was like having sleep paralysis'.
While his body was frozen, his mind and System weren't, that was why Ryoma was able to activate Zhen Xuan Wu's time freezing ability. But being able to move in frozen time by using another time freezing ability himself was certainly weird, what was even weirder was… it worked….
"As expected, the same trick won't work on you twice. How did you even manage to move?"
Time flowed again as she landed gracefully on the scorched area that she had frozen. Even though the gift from Ryoma gave her an endless supply of energy, she decided that it was best to deactivate Mahapadma as it was useless against him and it made her unable to use her full power as it reserved a portion of her energy capacity. (like a battery that's unable to be charged to 100% even though it's always connected to the power source).
'Ryoma Nagare.. what on earth are you?'
The punch that should've been able to obliterate her torso only caused her broken arms plus cracked some of her ribs, and they already started to regenerate so fast that Living Teigu couldn't even compare….
And it made her interest in him skyrocketed as no one in this world could give something like this. What is he? A god? do they even exist in the first place?
"Sorry, trade secret~ Now let's see how you handle this, [Festival of Fireflies]!"
With a snap of his fingers his wings separated into 64 Blazing feathers and started rushing after her with immense speed.
"Weiss Schnabel!" (White Beak)
In response, thousands of Icicles of varying sizes were swiftly created and launched with a wave of her hand to intercept the incoming feathers and suppress him. But the feathers dodged the barrage of icicles skillfully as if they had minds of their own and the icicles that got near Ryoma were evaporated by the flame waves he unleashed with a swing of his sword.
"The stage has been set~"
She got a bad feeling when the feathers that were fastly approaching as if they wanted to maul her suddenly changed directions and surrounded her. She tried to fly away and break through the encirclement by using her ice power to destroy those feathers but they kept dodging the hails she unleashed at them and continued keeping the formation as they flew faster than her.
"Now dance for me!"
Then true to her premonition, the blazing feathers one by one started to barrage her with flame lasers from various angles, forcing her to dodge desperately so she wouldn't be turned into roasted honeycombs.
Some parts of her body were grazed and burned because the barrages were astonishingly fast, but her regen covered her up and as time passed her evasion was getting smoother because the gift apparently made her able to adapt faster.
"Shit! So he really is toying with me again!"
Then she had a realization. While the barrages were quite relentless, they still left a room for her to move as the feathers didn't shoot all at once to finish her off for good, and the move patterns she had already done to dodge the light show made her livid as they were truly like dance moves!
"Magnificent! Now let's change the pace!"
The laser barrages suddenly went faster and changed their pattern, 3 of her fingers and her left ear were incinerated because she was a little late to adapt to the new pace but regeneration saved the day once again.
"Fuck you!!" She screamed in rage as she once again had to desperately dodge for her life, but deep inside she was strangely grateful to Ryoma as she had never brushed this close against death and got pushed to her limit over and over again.
"You're welcome to do so~"
"Huh?! SHIT!!"
His untimely teasing made her lose focus a little and one laser almost burned her eyes, good thing she managed to dodge in time because of her continuously adapting reflex.
"You'll definitely pay for this!"
And thus she began another "dancing" session.
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"Hahaha~ This is fun!"
Even though he was a little dizzy from controlling 64 separate remote weapons simultaneously to execute those intricate moves, He was still having the best time of his life! He never expected that tormenting her would be this fun.
[You're a sadist, Master…]
No wonder her Master was really interested in that woman, they both are unhinged sadists! What man in their right mind would torture his beloved woman like this?!
["Maybe? But that's even better right? That means we are both meant for each other~ but we are both sadists so who will be the M? Es? me? Or we can take turns? hehehe~"]
(From now on i'll use ["...."] when MC spoke with the system in his mind)
He chuckled while thinking of his "bright" future ahead.
[Master, you need to get mental therapy…]
Her master really needs to go to a psychiatrist, his mental condition is worrying…..
["I'm perfectly sane! Anyway.. how is her progress so far?"]
His expression and voice suddenly turned serious from the previously degenerate one in an instant. It was a Mystery how her Master could do that.
[With the rate of her growth she will reach the power threshold to initiate The "Frozen End" Scenario way sooner than we have planned, rendering the "Sword of Damocles" Scenario inapplicable]
It seemed like the End of the World was near…
Esdeath's most powerful feat in the manga was triggering a Russian Winter throughout the whole continent and that was using her own effort. Now imagine what she will be capable of with an infinite energy source and after being empowered constantly as Getter Emperor's chosen one. Turning the whole planet into a gigantic block of ice is one of the many possibilities!
'Hmm…. I do want to try usurping The Emperor by using The Night Raid, but politics are annoying and Es too wouldn't get along with Night Raid girls if I decided to make a harem with them. So this scenario is not too bad'
He had his own priorities and unnecessary drama among his women wasn't one of them. If he wanted to make a harem then he would choose crazies with matching personalities and deeply obsessed with him….
["How about the "Empty Vault" Scenario?"]
[It should be viable if the Teigus are not completely destroyed. We only need their fragments to extract their complete genetic materials and replicate their abilities.]
["Good.. it's a pity if they're destroyed especially the useful ones like Shambala and Incursio"]
Great additions to his arsenal like spatial marker+teleporter set and armor with reactive evolution are something he won't miss.
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'Annoying, annoying, ANNOYING!!'
While Ryoma's internal conversation was ongoing, Esdeath finally decided that she had enough of his pesky minions and devised a method to take them down.
'Would this work?'
Trying to take them down with ice barrages was useless because they were too nimble, and creating huge ice constructs was dangerous because she needed huge physical motions that would render her vulnerable. She had tried it once and let's say that she was fortunate enough to only lose an arm that was quickly regenerated.
Then how about trying to freeze time again? Even though it was useless against him before, she just noticed an important detail. He was frozen for a moment before being able to move again.
She recognized this a little too late because he displayed that Mahapadma didn't work on him before and her mind was in full alert against the feathers barrages, but now that she had adapted against the barrage's speed, she had some leisure to backtrack the battle progress.
"Let's just do it, Mahapadma!"
Time was frozen again….
'As expected… there's a brief delay before they moved again but, their speed is still problematic'
The feathers surrounding her were frozen for a moment before continuing their assault, but she had already used the brief delay to escape the encirclement.
Realizing that their target was gone, they began another chase against her but this time she flew really close to the ground to avoid being surrounded from all directions again while turning the landscape below into glaciers so it would be easier for her to create huge ice constructs to hinder them.
The wild goose chase went on for a while…
The drones failed to surround her time and time again because of the delay caused by the activation of Mahapadma but she still couldn't fully escape because the swarm was faster than her.
"That's enough!"
The feather drones that relentlessly chased after Esdeath immediately stopped on their tracks and returned to their Master who was descending to the glacier covered ground.
'Has it ended? No, it was just the beginning!'
The ending barrages of lasers didn't bring her relief in the slightest, it only made her even more alert. The sight of Ryoma slowly and menacingly walking towards her with a flaming greatsword in hand only worsened her inner turmoil.
"You have passed the warming up! Now let's begin the-"
"Mahapadma! Grab aus Dornen!" (Grave of Thorns)
Without letting him finish his words, time froze again and then hundreds of gigantic ice thorns erupted from the glaciers he set his feet on to impale him. They successfully hit their target as Ryoma got delayed a little by Mahapadma, but they failed to pierce his durable body and only managed to knock him up to the sky.
"How rude.. I haven't even finish- Holy shit.."
His eyes widened as he saw the colossal iceberg at least the size of Mount Everest already waiting above his head!
"Fall! Umgedrehter Berg!" (Reversed Mountain)
New trump card of hers, it was a variant of her falling iceberg technique, "Hagelsprung" but fueled with much more energy. She could possibly create a much bigger one but it would take too long and time wasn't on her side.
She didn't think that this was enough to defeat Ryoma, but at least it should be able to severely injure him and buy her some time to prepare her next moves.
"Now that's what I'm talking about! [Flames of Duality: Yin]!".
He grinned excitedly and the flames on his sword intensified and its color darkened. But right before he managed to fully unleash his attack…
"Mahapadma!"
He got delayed for a moment again by time freeze, but this slight delay successfully made the fallen ice mountain hit him first before he counterattacked.
"Urgghhh!!"
BOOM!!
A titanic explosion surpassing a few teratons of TNT happened when the falling ice mountain finally brought him down to the ground. Massive amounts of landmasses were ejected to the sky in ground zero, giving birth to a colossal crater that spanned for tens of kilometers. The shockwaves traveled even further, covering the whole continent and causing various scaled destructions on their path. Don't even mention the powerful seismic wave generated from the explosion that caused earthquakes of variable magnitudes throughout the continent.
The people, with their "peaceful" daily life weren't prepared for the disaster….
And the true colors of humans were revealed when fear, trepidation, and chaos spread throughout the lands. People trampled upon each other to save themselves rather than working together for survival and the already sky high crime rates rose further and beyond.
The fragile order kept by the rotting Empire collapsed entirely within a single moment. A thousand years of legacy had fallen just like that. Not because of war or internal conflicts, but because of a single disaster.
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Night Raid Base, 10 Km North of The Imperial Capital…
It was a rare relaxing day for Night Raid's members, no direct tasks from Commander Najenda and no assassinations commissioned for the last few days. Basically they were jobless for today.
"Yawn, Akame.. What's for lunch?"
Mine, the pink twin tails sniper who was still disheveled with her hair down after waking up quite late, asked her friend the black haired samurai girl Akame that was currently stirring a cooking pot while wearing her usual uniform layered with an apron.
"Curry Rice and…. Croquette" Akame answered with her usual flat tone while continuing her cooking.
"Ugh… croquette again? We already ate that last night!" Mine just sulked then sat down on the dinner table. Don't get her wrong, Akame's cooking is always delicious but eating the same food for two meals straight is a no no!
"....Croquettes are good" The chef just glanced at Mine for a little then continued with her cooking.
"Ugh fine…" So she gave up and just rested her head on the table lazily.
"Mngh~ Mine, Akame, good afternoo- AH!"
Then a purple haired girl walked into the dining room while rubbing her eyes but she somehow tripped on something and fell face first to the floor.
"Wah Sheele!"
Mine hurriedly got up from her seat to help her clumsy friend.
"Good afternoon, Sheele" Akame replied to the glasses girl's greeting with her trademark flat tone, but a small smile could be seen on her face.
It was nice seeing her comrades shenanigans like this outside of their depressing assassination jobs.
"Uuu.. Thanks for your help Mine. Akame, where are the others?"
After getting up with Mine's help, she sat down on the dining table while still holding her painful forehead. But she realized that there were only three of them present.
"Bulat is sparring with Leone and Lubbock went out to buy supplies in the capital"
Putting her finger over her chin, Akame tried to recall where her other friends went.
"Ehh? That muscle brain is still training on his day's off? with Leo-nee even? I thought she would just went for drinking in the city like usual"
Said Mine with a hint of surprise, it was rare for that cat-like big sis to train on her own volition especially on her day's off.
"Yes, she said she had nothing else to do and drinking was getting boring so she just went to spar with Bulat"
"Ah… that's very much like her, then how about The Commander?"
"She returned to the Rebel Army HQ to finish some matters"
"Workaholic as always"
Then after chatting for a while their lunch was ready, then Akame prepared the dishes along with Mine because disaster would happen if they let Sheele help them.
"Itadakima-"
But right before they finished their gratification for the food…..
BOOM!! Crash!
"Kyaa!!"
Loud explosion resounded in their ears as all the glass windows of the base shattered, followed by an impact that cracked the walls of the base and knocked the girls off from the dining table. But it all hadn't ended yet as intense earthquakes following the disasters started the collapse of their basecamp.
"Evacuate now!"
Akame with her fast reaction rushed to her trusted teigu "Murasame" that fell from its pedestal on the kitchen table, then she immediately jumped out of the broken glass window followed by Sheele and Mine without their teigus because the intensifying cracking sounds all over the place and The roofs that had started to show the sign of collapsing really made it impossible for the two girls to grab their own teigus in the armory.
Krrtkkrrtk Boom!!
Good thing that they decisively got out of the building because it finally collapsed along with the cliff it was built after all of them jumped out of the broken window.
"Our base…."
"What the hell happened here?!"
Once they landed on the ground safely, they took a look once again at their basecamp and its surroundings. The place that had accompanied them for years, a place for them to rest their weary bones after their depressing but necessary job, a place where their bonds with each other were forged, was no more. The trees surrounding their base too were uprooted and thrown far away, or destroyed as if an extremely powerful hurricane had passed through...
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What remained of the previously mighty city of the Northern people and the majestic mountain range surrounding it after the explosion was a colossal crater spanning over 27 kilometers and 850 meters deep that was still covered by dust clouds.
And lying inside it was Ryoma Nagare, completely unscathed but covered with dust from the explosion.
["This feels nostalgic….. Theresa, damage control"]
Yes, it had been a while since he lied inside a huge crater in this world so he couldn't help but reminisce.
[0% Damage Taken. But I must say that was very reckless of you]
["Sorry, I was limit testing the shared durability and I must say that the result is very satisfactory. The massive increase in my base strength too after I tried to lift back her fallen mountain just added more to our gains, no?]
[Yes…. according to my calculation, now you should be able hold back the previously falling mountain albeit with some difficulties]
["See? It is way better than trying to dodge it and gain nothing! Anyway, do you have the damage calculation if that Ice mountain hit me without SGR shared stats?"]
[Please wait a bit, Master]
[...]
[30% overall damage taken with over 50% for your torso, a considerable amount but could be quickly mended by your regeneration.]
["Neat, I should've done that earlier"]
[Please don't joke around with your safety…]
["Okay~ Now where is she?"]
After getting up and patting the dust all over his body, He stared into the sky. The visibility was horrendous because of the dust clouds all over the crater but he raised his eyebrow as if he noticed something amiss.
[The area outside the crater was covered by Lady Esdeath's energy signature. But it's strange… there's no concentration of them anywhere that signifies an attack.]
["I know, then what has she prepared for me? Only one way to find out.."]
He jumped out of the crater with a powerful stomp that collapsed it even deeper. Once he got out, he took a look around him, and all he could see was white. Ice and snow covered terrains, snow clouds blanketing the sky, and gentle snowfall that had just started.
["Did she use Ice: Commander In-Chief?"]
[I don't think so, Master. If she did then the crater should've been frozen earlier]
["Then…."]
Clack clack clack
Sounds of boots stepping on ice could be heard as the woman he desired so much finally appeared in front of his eyes with all her glory.
'O Lord beyond The Heavens, I thank you from the deepest part of my heart for letting me see the amazing spectacles in front of me'
His eyes widened and his heart stopped for a moment after he saw Esdeaths's new looks. Same as Ryoma, Her looks got refined even further with her evolution. Her silky blue hair turned a shade paler, her already stunning face became even more mesmerizing, he didn't know how it was possible but it happened! And her ravishing body… the proportions became perfect with a slight increase in her bust size, and she grew taller from 1.7 to 1.85 meters.
"Even that wasn't able to hurt you, huh?" Asked her with a slight smile on her face and a dangerous glint in her eyes.
Her trump card once again proved to be useless against him, but it only made Her desire to conquer him burn more intensely!
"Heh~ I actually felt that, albeit a little~"
Though he used this chance to tease her while making a small hand gesture.
"Fufufu~ Is that so?" She just chuckled in response, his cheap insult didn't make her angry in the slightest.
"Then… Ryoma Nagare!"
The snow clouds in the sky, the glaciers covering the landscape, even the cold air breezing through them started to converge into her. Then the tattoo symbolizing her Teigu began to shine brightly in blue as her energy level started to rise through the roof!
"I'm very grateful, truly grateful! You pushed my limits again, again, and again! You brought me the joy of struggling against death that was lost in me for a long time! And as my thanks, with everything I've got and everything you have given to me….."
Her hair turned snow white, her eyes glowed with bluish hue, and her skin became paler as heat fully faded off from her body. But she was alive, even more so than before!
"I WILL DEFEAT YOU!"
[Master, The "Frozen End" Scenario will begin shortly!]
["I know.. then trigger this World's Final Main Quest!"]
[Affirmative! Recite your desire, Master!]
'End of The World'
Once again he focused all his mind and heart into one thing, Destruction of This World!
[WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!! FINAL WORLD'S QUEST HAS BEEN ACTIVATED!]
["End of Both The Corrupt and The Just!"]
[Objective: Destroy Akame ga Kill World!]
[Rewards: World Travel Function Unlocked (3 Destination Selections), Party Function Unlocked, Universal Passport, Rebellio Complete Pack x1, Upgrade Part Gacha Tickets x3]
["Enable all Shin Getter shared stats on my command and send GM Sniper to complete The "Empty Vault" Scenario ASAP because this world won't hold out for much longer!"]
[Affirmative!]
His GM Sniper K-9 that was lurking somewhere in the Empire along with its eight Neo Zeon Bloodhound special ops troopers began their hunt for Teigus, and they would surely obtain all of them no matter what the cost!
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She could feel it, the change in him…
His aura started to suffocate her as if a mountain was pressed on her chest and the playful demeanor of his had completely gone, replaced by an expression that was shown only in a warrior who was ready to give his all against his adversaries.
'Fufufu Hahahaha NOW HE'S FINALLY GETTING SERIOUS!'
But it didn't make her discouraged, It only made her excitement rise through the sky. It would be more rewarding to subdue him if he unleashed his true strength!
"THEN COME! FROST GENERAL OF THE EMPIRE, ESDEATH!"
The planet started to tremble like it was begging for mercy… Because The Seal of The World Ender had been released!
"Ice: Advent of The Empress!"
"CHANGE GETTER!"
Then it began, a cataclysmic battle that destroyed the World… Be it the sinful or the innocent, all of them couldn't escape the grasp of the end…..
