You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

He changed into the turtleneck shirt and cloak that had been prepared beforehand, put on a white mask with flame patterns, and donned a cowboy hat, black gloves, deerskin boots, a tactical belt, and a steel longsword. Finally, he attached the "Kuroko's Mayuri Microphone," which could transform the words of spirits into actual air vibrations, to his neck...

Once everything was ready, a bounty hunter, whose entire body was shrouded in a trench coat and whose true face was not revealed at all, was born and known to the people of this world as the "Faceless One"!

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In the underground taverns of the red-light district, all sorts of people of dubious origin gather here. Some occupy a table in twos and threes and whisper to each other, while others observe their surroundings like lone wolves. Some sing and drink wildly without any restraint, and flirt with heavily made-up prostitutes.

These people included local gangsters, adventurers and merchants from other places, and even soldiers and military police, including some notorious or famous figures.

Their attire was also quite peculiar; some dressed like wealthy Arab merchants, others in fantastical warrior outfits, bartenders wore fashionable suits underneath, while the military police looked like they were in modern military uniforms.

...This chaotic style of dress creates a strange vitality, seemingly indicating that the world's technology tree is extremely skewed.

But regardless of their origins, these ruthless individuals all subtly avoided a certain corner, leaving a small area empty.

The person occupying that table was a strange man who wore a hat and trench coat even indoors. Despite being in a tavern, he had no intention of taking off his mask to eat; he simply ordered a drink and placed it on the table without touching it.

Logically speaking, there's no shortage of busybodies in a tavern, and such an eye-catching guy should have attracted some shady characters long ago. But he's been sitting here for a while, and no one has dared to cause him any trouble.

The reasons vary from person to person, but the biggest commonality is probably "not daring"!

Their physical features are too distinctive!

In the past three years, this man has risen to prominence in the underworld (appearing intermittently, with a total activity period of only half a year). He doesn't make many moves, but each time he accurately kills his prey, and many big names in the underworld have not escaped his clutches.

The scariest thing isn't that, but that although he calls himself a "bounty hunter," his actions are completely unpredictable. Many underworld bosses who aren't even on the bounty list have been killed, seemingly choosing his targets based solely on personal likes and dislikes!

In this chaotic world, villains are everywhere and murderers are not uncommon, but a guy like "Faceless," whose motives are unknown, whose true identity is unknown, and who kills without hesitation, naturally inspires awe.

Anyone with a modicum of sense wouldn't be foolish enough to go up and strike up a conversation with him.

This delicate atmosphere was slightly broken when an information broker dressed in a gray smock arrived and sat down opposite the "Faceless One".

"I took a huge risk this time; these are all top-secret documents—"

clang!

A bag was tossed onto the table, its obvious weight silencing the information broker.

"Where's what I want?"

"That's all."

The information broker took out a long, narrow bag from his pocket and handed it to Iori, then took the bag and began to carefully count the contents.

Iori opened the small bag, which contained a series of leather wanted posters. Unlike those circulating in the market, these posters had relevant information written in small print on the back, such as the last place where someone was seen.

The boy glanced through it and nodded in satisfaction. Just as he was about to pack it up and take it back to look at it slowly, a familiar face suddenly came into his view.

Snapped!

Iori slammed the wanted poster on the table and asked the astonished information broker in a deep voice, "Do you have any more detailed information about this person?"

The intelligence broker steadied himself and looked at the wanted poster, which depicted a beautiful, long-haired girl who appeared quite aloof.

Below the portrait are the person's characteristics:

Black hair, red eyes, sixteen years old, skilled in using a katana, an excellent assassin, and a user of Imperial Arms.

He escaped from his unit half a month ago; a traitor to the empire, he deserves no mercy!

"Aka...me...Red Eyes?"

Chapter 15: Hey! Akame, what are you doing?!

Iori had long ago confirmed, through gathering information and verifying with various parties, that she was in the world of "Akame ga Kill!", a fairly simple world that can be summarized by a famous quote from the Prime Minister:

In the imperial court, rotten wood holds official positions; between the palace steps, beasts feast on the salaries.

Those with wolfish hearts and dog-like behavior are rampant in power, while sycophants and lackeys hold power in large numbers.

As a result, the country was reduced to ruins and the people suffered terribly.

Darkness and cruelty are the keynotes of "Akatsuki no Akainu" (Red Dead Redemption), and the main characters are an assassination organization under the Revolutionary Army. The main storyline revolves around how to fight against the corrupt, thousand-year-old empire and its henchmen.

In his previous life, Iori lived in China, where similar dark ages had appeared countless times in history books. Therefore, after arriving here, he felt no psychological pressure and sought out bullies, corrupt officials, and decadent nobles to test his skills.

As a result, his practical experience and swordsmanship skills improved rapidly, and he also earned the nickname "Faceless One," as well as a few CG images, which can be considered a modest gain.

His act of testing the sword naturally aroused the empire's dissatisfaction, since many of those who died at his hands were "people of high status and position." As a result, he was quickly put on the wanted list, and the bounty once rose to the same level as that of revolutionary army cadres.

No matter how hard the Empire tried, no matter how much manpower and resources they mobilized, they could not capture Iori, or even find a trace of him. Instead, people were still being beheaded by the "Faceless Ones".

This incident greatly humiliated the Imperial Military Police, and the Chief Minister, who held power in the Empire, even issued a special reprimand to them, resulting in the "Faceless Ones" becoming increasingly well-known...

To be honest, the military police were actually a bit innocent. It wasn't that they were incompetent that they couldn't catch Iori. After all, even if you brought in the Grim Reaper, he still couldn't catch a real "invisible person"!

Given the nature of spirits, who could see Iori if he simply took off his clothes?

In fact, if given just ten seconds, Iori could return to Bleach and disappear from this world completely!

How can we catch them?!

Moreover, Iori is not only good at running away.

Although his spiritual pressure is only around that of a seat commander, with the blessing of the [Perfect Shinigami] talent, his actual combat power is a level higher. He is only one level away from becoming a vice-captain and needs some more refinement.

There aren't many strong individuals in "Akatsuki: Red Alert" who can pose a threat to him, and those are not people you can just encounter on the street.

Thus, Iori came to this world more than ten times, spanning three years, and tormented the Imperial Military Police countless times, finally making them "admit defeat"!

In other words, the wanted poster will still be displayed on the surface, but in reality, no large-scale crackdowns or manhunts will be organized. Instead, the case of the "Faceless One" will be attributed to other wanted criminals to reduce Iori's influence.

He was able to make the entire Imperial Gendarmerie tacitly admit defeat by his own strength. Even though the Gendarmerie was just the Empire's police force, subordinate to the Border Army and the Imperial Guard, such a feat still shocked the entire underworld!

Whether it was the imperial government, the underworld organizations, or even the revolutionary army, they all agreed that:

The Faceless One may not be the strongest assassin, but he is definitely the most troublesome. Don't provoke him unless absolutely necessary!

—This series of events gave Iori approximately four points of art style value.

The reason there are only four points seems to be because the assassination target was not significant enough, and the "escape method" was incorrect.

If, like when Aizen revealed his true colors, leaving all the powerful figures helpless, and then he threw out a couple of sarcastic remarks... then the level of visual appeal would immediately skyrocket!

Iori and Akame's first meeting occurred during one of the Empire's attempts to capture him:

At the time, not only military police were mobilized, but also high-ranking imperial officials who were furious called in a highly professional assassination squad, wanting to pit Iori's "colleagues" against each other.

They even guessed that Iori had a way of hiding her identity, and had scientists specially develop a detector that could capture heat... but unfortunately, they still couldn't do anything about Iori.

The search ended in failure for the Empire once again. Both military police and assassination squad members died at Iori's hands. If he hadn't been concerned about the consumption of spiritual pressure, he would have given everyone an unforgettable lesson!

It was during this incident that Iori encountered the black-haired, red-eyed assassin... He recognized him at first glance as the protagonist of "Akatsuki no Akagi" and one of the future spearheads of the Revolutionary Army.

At that time, Akame had not yet awakened her free will and was still in the Empire's assassination squad.

As an elite assassin trained by the Empire from childhood, she relied on her superhuman sense of killing intent to detect a trace of Iori's aura.

Iori had admired this female assassin since his previous life, and now, as a swordsman, he couldn't help but be eager to try his hand at it. He immediately showed up and had a very enjoyable sword duel with her!

To be honest, Iori's swordsmanship skills should be superior to Akame's, but during the battle, he deeply realized how much the differences in training methods, combat objectives, and offensive and defensive awareness would affect the final outcome...

The Shinigami's "slash" is meant to redeem fallen Hollows, but they also take care to protect themselves, especially when facing groups of Hollows. They try to avoid getting hurt, so they rarely choose a mutually destructive fighting style.

However, Akame's swordsmanship is almost entirely offensive and defensive, completely focused on "killing," and is an extreme sword style that can sacrifice everything to achieve its goal!

Iori was initially even at a disadvantage!

However, when Iori disregarded the depletion of his spiritual pressure and unleashed the full power of his Zanpakuto, he suddenly turned the tide of battle.

Iori didn't kill her. He left before the Empire's reinforcements arrived and hurriedly returned to Soul Society—even though he still had more than half of his spiritual pressure, he wanted to get back to Manlan first.

Since then, it seems that Iori and Akame have some kind of destiny, occasionally meeting in some place and fighting from time to time, but the only time they fought to the death was that one time.

Iori and she became friends after a fight. Although they didn't talk much, Iori could vaguely sense that her mental state was slowly changing.

Having witnessed the cruelty of the world under imperial rule and realized the corruption and darkness within the imperial leadership, she was no longer a "knife" controlled by others, but a "killer" with free will in the truest sense.

The last time the two met was a month ago, when Iori guessed that Akame might have awakened and was going to betray the Empire and join the Revolutionary Army, just like in the original story.

Unexpectedly, perhaps due to the butterfly effect he triggered, Akame's rebellion journey did not go smoothly. Instead of making direct contact with the Revolutionary Army, something went wrong, and he is currently being hunted down!

It would be fine if I didn't know about this, but now that Iori knows, how can I not join in the fun, watch the bond CG, and incidentally cause some trouble for the empire's higher-ups?

He enthusiastically took out his stored gold coins, bribed relevant personnel in the army, obtained the latest intelligence, and then headed to the target area without stopping.

Iori took advantage of her status as a spirit, specifically seeking out the Empire's assassination squads and military to eavesdrop on—no, to brazenly observe—command firsthand information from operational meetings.

Acting alone, he was faster than the assassination squad and arrived at the town where Akame was hiding first.

He was lucky, and soon he saw Akame taking down an opponent in the alley.

To Iori's surprise, despite being exposed, Akame did not leave town to hide. Instead, she stayed in the town, disguised as a traveler, and went to an inn to rest.

Curious, Iori didn't jump out to greet her directly. Instead, she crept to the window to see what she was up to.

Could it be that this is the meeting place she arranged with the Revolutionary Army, and she plans to ambush the Imperial troops here and catch them off guard?

Many possibilities flashed through Iori's mind, but when he peered through the window and saw the girl lying on her side on the bed with her back to him, a scabbard between her legs, seemingly in great discomfort, his pupils still constricted involuntarily.

Ah, Akame! With a formidable enemy at hand, what are you doing, Akame!

Chapter 16: Watch closely, this is what a gentleman is!

Akame has recently encountered some trouble.

Raised by the Empire from a young age, surviving brutal, hellish training to become an excellent assassin, she should have possessed an absolutely calm mind, unaffected by anything in terms of judgment and action. But she never expected to fall into such a predicament...

Here's what happened: During her assassination missions, she encountered all sorts of people, and through her interactions and conversations with them, she gradually realized that the empire's bureaucrats and nobles were the root cause of all the tragedies.

Coincidentally, she encountered Najenda, a traitor to the Empire, during a mission. This heroine successfully dispelled Akame's last bit of hesitation with her words, leading her to decide to join the Revolutionary Army and dedicate herself to breaking the Empire's corrupt rule.

However, the process of turning against them did not go smoothly. Their whereabouts were exposed, attracting a pursuit. Najenda's combat strength was average and she was injured. In order to cover the female general's escape, Akame alone lured away the pursuers. They fought and stopped along the way, shaking off the enemy several times only to be caught up again several times, and finally stopped here.

She originally intended to rest here for a while, replenish her supplies, and leave immediately. Unexpectedly, she encountered a hunter hired by the Empire. The two engaged in a brief but intense battle, in which Akame emerged victorious but also inadvertently fell victim to a trap.

Bounty hunters are essentially a pack of wild dogs, many of them from the underworld. Their fighting style is also full of unpredictability, and even the most experienced swordsman can't guess what a bounty hunter might be hiding on his person.

The hunter that Akame encountered not only earned money through bounties but also occasionally did side jobs. He carried a lot of powders with him, ranging from deadly poisons to hallucinogens that made people drowsy.

They even coated their clothes with powder, so that the seemingly ordinary fur collar would release a misty "dust" with a simple shake, making it impossible to guard against.

Although she killed her opponent and carefully avoided the poisonous fog, she still accidentally got some on herself.

Fortunately, as an assassin, Akame was quite knowledgeable about various poisons and was able to identify that this was not a deadly poison, which put her mind at ease.

The awkward thing is that this poison is also quite deadly from another perspective:

This is a drug that can make people more emotional and accelerate blood flow. It is often used to enhance the mood in certain situations—commonly known as an aphrodisiac!

It's not surprising that a villain would carry this thing; he must have used it to commit many crimes. Presumably, in his haste to die, he threw out all the powder, including this thing... Akame was just unlucky.

Although the girl was somewhat embarrassed after being infected, she didn't end up like in some third-rate novels, desperately seeking out someone for dual cultivation.

First, Akame inhaled a small dose, and she had undergone poison tolerance training since childhood, making her more resistant than the average person, which could weaken the effects of the drug.

Secondly, most of the so-called aphrodisiacs are actually hallucinogens that make people feel dazed and produce a sense of pleasure. After all, the main team that developed these things was the brothel, and the purpose was only to enhance the pleasure of the customers, not to cause death.

The exaggerated medicinal properties of "Yin Yang Harmony Powder" or "I Love a Piece of Wood" from the martial arts world... may exist in this world, but they are definitely not the kind found in Akame ga Kill!

In fact, she just felt a little hot, sweaty under her arms, and unusually thirsty.

If he were to encounter pursuers in this state in the wild, he would likely find it difficult to escape the net. To contend with the Empire's elite forces, he must ensure that he is in good condition.

Considering that the pursuers might arrive at any time and time was running out, Akame found an inn and decided to take care of herself.

However, assassins like Akame are raised from childhood to be tools of killing, living in a cruel world where only the strong prey on the weak. To survive, they must abandon their weakness and live not as girls but as "a knife," thus becoming incredibly pure and sharp.

But because of this, not to mention matters between men and women, she even has a weak sense of gender. For her, a big meal is more attractive than romance.

At this critical juncture, she appeared quite clumsy, lacking both theoretical knowledge and practical experience, and even lacked the refinement expected of a lady—not knowing how to better please herself.

She was merely rubbing her chest haphazardly, based on her own guesses and bodily instincts. But this was clearly just wishful thinking; when she tried to lower her hand, the sensation was like an electric shock, sending shivers down her spine. Although she didn't know the proper technique, even just rubbing made her breathing gradually become erratic and her body temperature slowly rise.

It can only be said that she has a strong spirit of exploration and learning ability. Although she didn't know how to do it at first, she eventually got some skills. Especially after accidentally touching the scabbard, it was as if she had opened up a new world.

She was dressed neatly with her back to the window, so her hands were not visible. If you weren't paying attention, you might think she was taking a nap. But if you looked closely, you would see that the girl's elastic and strong thighs were tightly gripping and rubbing back and forth the black scabbard with red trim. Her fair feet were crossed, and her toes were curled up as if she was enduring something. The suppressed breathing sounds, like a mixture of bitterness and pleasure, echoed in the room...

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