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

"Croak!!!"

"Serves you right! You scumbag!"

Chapter 32: It's Never Been One-on-One

Logically speaking, someone who possesses a spatial Teigu, is skilled in physical combat, and has three Teigu users or equivalent subordinates—the minister's son, Sheila—should be a very troublesome individual.

In fact, in the original work, the "Wild Hounds" he formed replaced the "Hunters" as villains in the later stages. However, Esdeath's prestige was too high, and no one could overshadow her. Therefore, the villain was ultimately played by the Ice Queen.

Putting aside his character, Sheila's abilities are indeed abnormal. His space-type Imperial Arms allows him to fear no one and come and go as he pleases!

If "Yafusa" is a cheap version of Edo Tensei, then "Dimensional Array" can be described as a low-budget, scaled-down version of Flying Thunder God.

but!

No matter how good a Teigu is, it all depends on how the user uses it, and Sheila has a major flaw in her personality, or rather, a common weakness of villains:

He died from talking too much!

Perhaps due to his upbringing, this guy not only acts maliciously, but also enjoys being arrogant when he has the upper hand, with an astonishingly strong desire to perform.

In both the manga and anime, this guy always manages to wreak havoc when he has an absolute advantage, only to be killed by someone with a sliver of health left...

This is why, despite his decent "configuration," he couldn't live up to the final boss's aura—it's like a bronze player playing a high-level account.

Iori never really took this person seriously from the beginning. Even with a low-level Flying Thunder God Technique, Sheila didn't have the same reflexes as the Fourth Hokage. If she used Shunpo to launch a surprise attack, Iori was more than 80% sure of success.

However, the revolutionary army responsible for providing intelligence did not think so, because Sheila was the only son of Minister Ernest, who already wielded immense power. After the old emperor suddenly died at the beginning of the year, he supported the current young emperor to ascend the throne. He was essentially holding the emperor hostage to command the princes, and now he had the power of the most powerful person in the entire empire.

Sheila's value rose accordingly, making her a very important bargaining chip for the Revolutionary Army. They were unwilling to place all their hopes for success on Iori, or rather, they needed to keep Sheila under their own control, so they sent their assassin—Chelsy.

This is the girl who disguised herself as a village girl. She possesses the Imperial Arms [Gaia Foundation]. Although she is not strong in direct combat, she can transform into the appearance of anyone and perfectly replicate their words and actions with superb acting skills.

Her assassination success rate was close to 100%, making her a trump card for the revolutionary army.

And she lived up to expectations, successfully obtaining Sheila's Teigu and capturing this notorious villain alive.

This way, they could extract more information from Sheila and use it to threaten the ministers to release their imprisoned comrades. Their efforts in setting a trap for Sheila were worthwhile.

Iori merely watched coldly, ignoring Sheila's screams.

He suggested killing Sheila directly, but the Revolutionary Army felt that living people were more valuable, and Iori needed information about the Revolutionary Army, so they made concessions on this point.

But the revolutionaries who were hoping to bargain would probably be disappointed... because Minister Ernest would never be blackmailed because of his son!

For the ministers, it simply meant having another child.

If Ernest were in her father's shoes, Sheila probably wouldn't care about his life or death; she would only be thinking about how to take his place.

The revolutionaries were too naive. How could they use normal people's moral standards to judge the behavior of such a beastly father and son?

In the end, the revolutionary army, unable to get what they wanted, could only kill Sheila to demonstrate their justice and boost their popularity among the people; all other efforts were in vain.

However, this has nothing to do with Iori anymore.

It's just a collaboration between the two sides. I'm not the revolutionary army's babysitter. Giving a reminder is already more than enough.

With a casual kick, Iori kicked Yanxin's head away, picked up the curved katana-shaped Imperial Arm from the ground, weighed it in his hand, and then tossed it aside.

As an Imperial Arm, its power is average. Moreover, he had an agreement with the Revolutionary Army that he would only take one Imperial Arm first, and the rest of the spoils of war would belong to the Revolutionary Army.

"All that's left is... do you still want to continue fighting?"

Iori turned her gaze to the last two: the alluring witch Kosmia and the ronin samurai Izo.

Kosmia was empty-handed, seemingly unarmed, and hesitated before glancing at Yanxin's corpse and the tortured Shira.

She was born in the Western Kingdom and was not a born villain. She was not in the same league as the pirate Yan Xin, the murderer Yi Zang, or the beast Sheila. In short, her story is about her becoming evil and taking revenge on society after being persecuted.

Compared to her companions, Kosmia still retained a sliver of "humanity." Given the overwhelmingly unfavorable situation, after weighing the pros and cons, she forced a smile and said, "It seems that Lord Shira is doomed no matter what. I don't expect to be able to save him, but if I release my Imperial Arms in such a confined space, it will result in mutual destruction... and you will not be able to escape unscathed either."

Want to negotiate?

Two cloaked figures and Iori brought up the situation from both sides. One of them tore off her disguise, revealing a handsome and spirited face—it was Najenda.

The other person should be Akame, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

"We can negotiate terms, but put down your Imperial Arms and come with us back to the Revolutionary Army headquarters for investigation."

"Stop joking, miss!"

Kosmia took a deep breath, her expression unchanged: "Even if I were willing, Mr. Izo wouldn't agree... He's not like me; he's a veteran of countless battles and a ruthless killer."

"Hmph!" Izo chuckled smugly. Despite being in dire straits, he seemed full of confidence and showed no sign of panic.

However, this is to be expected, because unlike Sheila, he did evil to indulge his desires, but was purely bloodthirsty. He thirsted for the blood of all living beings in order to sacrifice the famous sword "Jiang Xue" in his hand.

Whether old or young, man or woman, this knife is impartial in its use of force, regardless of good or evil, and can quench its thirst.

Izo, who regards the sword as his soul, has committed countless sins for the sake of blood sacrifice, and his mind has long been twisted beyond recognition... so naturally he will not be intimidated by the scene before him.

Just as everyone's attention was focused on Izo's right hand holding the hilt of his sword, Kosmia suddenly opened her bra and pulled out a long, round-ended Imperial Arm—a microphone—from a moderately sized but deep and narrow valley!

"Ah~!!!"

The strange timbre, amplified by the Imperial Arms, transformed into an invisible ultrasonic wave with astonishing penetrating power. The atmosphere rippled like the surface of water being blown up, and tables and chairs were instantly blown away and shattered. A tornado, like a blade, attacked Iori!

This direction only has enemies, so it won't endanger Kosmia's companions, and there's no room to hide in this small room!

No matter how skilled you are, what can you do against a wide range of invisible sound waves?

"Duan Kong!"

Iori uttered two words briefly, and his solid spiritual pressure instantly formed a transparent wall in front of him, separating everything.

boom!

The ultrasound waves were like encountering a thick city wall, or like a flood being held back by a dam. Instead of blowing Iori away, they were swept back with wood chips and iron scraps!

Kosmia never expected her attack to be neutralized in this way. Before she could dodge or defend, her body, struck head-on, flew out like a broken doll. Countless splinters of wood grazed her beautiful body, causing bright red blood to spread freely across her fair skin.

Bang!

The witch songstress crashed into the wall and lost consciousness, while the others caught in the shockwave had no choice but to dodge and retreat.

Najeta sat behind a pillar, lowering her center of gravity and using a metal prosthetic to cover her head and face.

But Akame drew her sword and cleaved through the oncoming gust of wind—

"bring it on!"

Driven by the gale, the black-haired ronin samurai charged toward Kuroto, his famous sword "Kousetsu" flashing with a momentary brilliance as it was drawn from its sheath.

Clang!

The clash between the demon sword and the famous sword sparked brilliant sparks. Musashi's long sword was not an Imperial Arms, but its material seemed to be very special, as it was undamaged even when it clashed head-on with Murasame.

Sensing the overwhelming killing intent, Akame couldn't help but feel a chill:

Putting aside the difference in skill level, the murderous aura of this person in front of her even surpasses that of her!

This is not something that can be accumulated through cultivation alone; the number of lives Zang has probably been several times that of hers!

Clang, Clang, Clang!

The blades clashed at a rapid, continuous speed that was difficult to discern with the naked eye. The agile Akame changed her position constantly, launching attacks from all directions. Izo was not at a disadvantage either. His superb swordsmanship allowed him to steadily receive every attack from Akame and even counterattack, clearly gaining the upper hand.

"it is good!"

Izang became excited and opened his eyes wide, his eyes almost entirely black with no whites.

"Just from these few exchanges, it's clear that you're a first-rate swordsman. For my 'Jiang Xue' sword to be successfully blood sacrificed, what I need most is the life of someone like you!"

"Let me see your true skills! Let's have a swordsman's duel to the death!"

"..."

Akame remained silent, responding only with fierce slashes. In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged seven or eight blows, fraught with danger. Both were truly dancing on the edge of a blade, and a single misstep could cost them their lives.

Just as the murderer Izo was getting more and more excited and lost in his own world, Akame suddenly moved and unnaturally took half a step to the side, deliberately revealing a flaw!

Although Izo was puzzled, his body had already moved first, aiming straight for Akame's head—

At that very moment, a bone-chilling cold came from the blind spot in his vision.

It's Iori!

Akame diverted Izou's attention, and he, in perfect coordination, suddenly attacked from the diagonal rear!

The two men moved differently but had a similar aura, like venomous snakes that had been lying in wait for a long time suddenly extending their deadly fangs!

Clang!

laugh!

Almost simultaneously, with a crisp impact and the sound of blood splattering, Iori ripped open half of Izou's abdomen from behind, exposing his hot internal organs to the cold air, where they rose in wisps of steam...

Pfft!

The murderer collapsed to the ground, still gripping his long knife, but his eyes gradually returned to those of a normal person.

"I...uh...cough..."

"You seem to have misunderstood. I am just an assassin, not a swordsman."

Akame glanced at Iori, who had cooperated perfectly with her just now and whose attack style was extremely similar to hers, suppressed her doubts, looked down at Izou and said, "This battle has never been one-on-one."

Chapter 33: Akame, I didn't spoil you for nothing!

"Well……"

Izo didn't hear what Akame said. At the moment when his life was coming to an end, not only did his eyes become clear, but a dazed look appeared on his face as if he had just woken up from a dream.

As memories of the past surfaced, he suddenly realized that he had accomplished nothing in his life and had left nothing behind. Even the "Jiang Xue" he had sacrificed to become a murderer was ultimately just an ordinary piece of iron.

Of course, this doesn't mean he suddenly repented; he simply regretted not being able to complete the blood sacrifice for his beloved sword.

"Jiang... Jiang Xue will be left to..."

"Interesting. It's clearly not an Imperial Arms, but it hasn't suffered any obvious damage after so many head-on clashes with Murasame. Is it made of the same level of material?"

Iori bent down and picked up Jiang Xue, who had killed countless people. The dying Izo was unable to put up any resistance. His powerless hands could not hold on to anything, and he suddenly felt an emptiness as if he were falling...

For no reason, he, who had long since stopped caring about life and death, suddenly felt a fear of death.

However, driven by an unwavering conviction, he forced himself to speak, "It has the potential to become... to become an unparalleled sword... Don't... don't let it be tarnished..."

"this?"

Iori examined it for a moment and admitted that it was a high-quality weapon, which could indeed be used as a vessel for a Zanpakuto, but he had little interest in it.

For a Shinigami, a Zanpakuto is a more intimate existence than a partner, and Iori is somewhat of a perfectionist. It's not that he can't use swords like Yatsufusa or Kousetsu, but if he had a choice, he would still want a new sword.

At that moment, he thought of Izo's ronin appearance and a thought suddenly struck him.

"Is its name 'Jiang Xue' (River Snow) based on any particular origin?"

"...My hometown...a distant island nation in the East..."

really!

Iori squinted, feeling that she had found the right path.

"...A family of swordsmiths passed down through generations...a renowned sword forged from Orichalcos...sacrificed countless lives...only one more... um..."

"Orichalcum?"

Upon hearing this word, Najenda perked up: "That's the main material for Imperial Arms. The alchemy formula and forging techniques have been lost, and almost all existing Orichalcos creations are remnants of the previous era... Could there be some other place where it's passed down?"

She wanted to go forward and ask Izang, but the murderer had already breathed his last with his eyes open, and Najenda could only shake her head and sigh.

"An island nation in the East... we can't go to such a remote place now."

While also an island, unlike the scattered archipelagos of the south, this eastern island nation is a single large island, historically isolated overseas with very little interaction with the mainland. It is said that shipping routes are often shrouded in dense fog, making it a very mysterious place.

While the recipe for Orichalcos is important, we don't know how to obtain it, and we can't convert it into combat power in a short time. At this critical juncture when the empire is about to undergo changes, we can't afford to spend our energy on something like this.

'An eastern island nation...that seems interesting.'

Unlike Najenda, Iori had already started making plans in his mind, because he intuitively felt that a trip to the East would definitely be rewarding.

It's not that there's any information in the original work, but rather that as a comic, the original work certainly can't cover every detail in shaping its worldview.

But Iori has arrived in a "real" world, where even places that were only mentioned briefly in the manga actually exist.

The settings of "Eastern island nation", "home of samurai" or "Far East" really make it easy to imagine!