Esdeath's personality was strange, but it could not really be called contradictory.
While she was a sadistic queen with a terrible personality, she also happened to have a very girlish side.
She was not even twenty this year.
When the two of them first met, she had only been twelve.
Although she had spent these years in the army and had seen plenty of places and plenty of things, a small part of her still retained something almost childlike.
For example, she would be happy when eating something delicious, and she would become curious and excited when seeing something new.
Right now, she was looking Black Nightmare over with great interest.
"How does this move through the sky?"
Steel wings, considerable weight—something like this could actually fly? And at such speed?
Seeing that she was starting to dig into the principles behind it, Noah simply stopped arguing with her.
Putting aside the twisted fate between the two of them, Esdeath was a powerful reinforcement.
No, it would be more accurate to say she was the strongest reinforcement.
Once she arrived on the battlefield, no matter what the situation was like, she could probably immediately reverse the tide into victory for their side.
Giving her a ride was also a good thing for old Bill.
Noah raised a hand, signaling Esdeath to be quiet.
He opened Black Nightmare's cockpit, and Esdeath watched with clear amazement.
"Chairs?"
"Are we supposed to sit on this?"
"This glass… you can't see inside from the outside, but from inside, you can see everything outside perfectly. Incredible."
Noah had no interest in explaining too much to a complete layperson.
He directly had her sit in the cockpit, then fastened the safety belt for her.
"What is this?"
"A safety device."
"Heh, there's no need for that." Esdeath said confidently, "No matter what happens, I can handle it with my own strength."
"Are you sitting or not?"
"…"
Esdeath's expression stiffened, and a cold aura seeped from her.
In the end, she snorted and quieted down.
The moment she noticed the horizon beginning to rise, her interest returned, and she leaned forward to look below.
They were floating…
They really were rising through the air!
The ground was getting farther and farther away.
Black Nightmare was different from ordinary civilian aircraft.
With the effects of anti-gravity and its spatial field, it could take off and land vertically.
It did not need a runway, a rolling start, or any thrust-assist process to ascend into the sky.
All controls were operated through the control panel connected to Noah's palm.
Basic operation could be done purely through thought.
The propulsion system activated.
Black Nightmare shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, accelerating from near stillness to its initial cruising speed in one burst.
The acceleration was extremely linear and did not cause any physical discomfort to the passengers inside.
They only felt a slight pressure pushing them back into their seats.
Experiencing acceleration unlike anything she had ever felt before, Esdeath's eyes widened slightly, and an excited smile appeared on her face.
Watching the scenery rapidly retreat, watching the clouds get thrown behind them in the blink of an eye, Esdeath experienced for the first time the pleasure of conquering even the sky beneath her feet.
"Noah, you really are an impressive man! To think you could create something like this."
This version of Esdeath was unusually well-behaved.
Even Noah calmed down.
'When she isn't acting crazy, she's actually a decent woman.'
"Thanks."
"How fast are we moving right now?"
"For now, I'm keeping it under six hundred kilometers per hour."
"Six hundred!" Esdeath exclaimed. "That really is impressive. Even flying-type Danger Beasts would be far inferior, wouldn't they?"
That was only natural.
Even Danger Beasts were still living creatures.
And as long as something was alive, it had biological limits.
The reason El Monda itself could not break past the limit of around two hundred and fifty kilometers per hour came down to its body structure and the limits of being a living organism.
Naturally, it could not be compared to Black Nightmare, which had a sturdy hull capable of dispersing resistance and enduring enormous acceleration.
That was the difference between a body of flesh and blood, and a machine driven by energy.
...
At this moment, in a hidden location roughly forty kilometers from the Putra royal tombs, Bill's brows were tightly furrowed.
He had committed all four enhancement squads to the operation.
He had originally thought he could easily seize this enormous achievement for himself, but he had never expected the tomb guards' combat strength to be so monstrous.
Eighteen dead.
Several missing.
The fighting force under him had nearly been wiped out, yet he had gained nothing.
His pieces had been lost for nothing.
Left with no other choice, he could only request reinforcements from above.
He had heard that the request had been approved, but he did not know when the reinforcements would arrive.
However, the situation on-site could no longer continue waiting.
"So that's why you called me here."
Gozuki sat across from Bill and took a sip of hot tea.
The climate here was dry, and the body lost water far faster than usual. Even moving around here consumed far more stamina than normal.
Part of the reason the enhancement unit had suffered so badly was that the drugs they relied on were consumed at a much faster rate here, making it difficult for them to adapt.
"Of course I don't want to hand over such a great achievement to someone else. I simply had no other choice."
"Heh. I won't take it all for myself. After all, I still need you to share all the intelligence you've collected so far."
"Hmph. I was about to do that."
Bill sounded a little displeased, but he still relayed the information.
Unfortunately, the amount of intelligence was not impressive.
With only this much, Gozuki had no intention of recklessly taking risks.
It seemed they would still have to find a way to gather enough information.
He summoned Nahashu, Akame, and four of the remaining six.
As he explained the current situation, Gozuki kept paying attention to Akame's reaction.
The reason was simple.
Akame's younger sister, Kurome, was also on the missing list.
In other words, she was either dead or captured. Either way, her situation was critical.
Based on Gozuki's understanding of this daughter of his, her younger sister was the person she cared about most.
Kurome's importance stood above the false bond between Akame and the rest of them.
That was also the part of Akame that had always dissatisfied him the most.
She had her own beliefs.
Although she trusted him, she would still give birth to doubts.
As a tool, she was clearly defective.
Sure enough, the moment he finished explaining, the girl immediately stood up in agitation and volunteered to act as the vanguard, break in, capture several enemies, and bring them back for interrogation.
Gozuki flatly rejected her request.
But immediately afterward, Tsukushi and Pony started making a fuss as well, making his brow tighten.
'Damn it.'
'Drawing the snake out of its hole and capturing enemies—Green was the best suited for that kind of work.'
'If it were him, letting Akame act together with him would not be a problem, because he was calm enough to compensate for Akame's weaknesses and bring out both their strengths.'
'Ah.'
'Green.'
'Why did you have to die, you useless brat?'
Gozuki suddenly felt irritated.
Memories of Green surfaced unbidden in his mind.
But he quickly came back to himself.
There was no time right now to brood over a dead man.
He looked at the five people in front of him. Apart from Guy, whom he had sent out to scout, this place should have had six people.
Only Green's figure was missing.
After hesitating briefly, he could only choose Nahashu, who had the greatest overall strength, and Cornelia, who was calm enough and capable of looking at the larger picture.
"I'll leave it to you. Go near the royal tombs and draw the snake out of its hole. Bring back whoever targets you. Once you do, Uncle Bill has countless ways to make them open their mouths and spit out information. The rest of you stand by and wait for Guy to return."
Guy's Shingu, the Hecatoncheir Cloth, allowed him to manipulate earth and move freely through it.
Because of that, he had been sent out early, using his ability to move through the ground to infiltrate the inside of the royal tomb.
When Akame heard she could only stand by, the anxiety in her heart grew even worse.
But she could not disobey orders.
So all she could do was keep praying in her heart that nothing had happened to Kurome.
...
About half an hour later, Nahashu and Cornelia returned together, bringing several dark-skinned foreigners dressed in distinctive clothing.
Those foreigners had all lost consciousness.
The severity of their injuries varied.
Cornelia had also suffered a minor injury, though it had not been caused by an attack.
Rather, she had used her Shingu, Crusher, with too much force and suffered backlash.
The muscles in her right arm had sustained slight damage.
It was not enough to stop her from continuing to fight, but her movements would become slower, and her output would be limited to a considerable degree.
"Good work," Gozuki said to the two of them, then brought the captives to Bill.
For someone like Bill, it did not matter whether they were enemies.
Even if they were allies, he would use truth serum without the slightest hesitation.
After several injections, these people explained the internal situation clearly, regardless of their own will.
During the interrogation, Akame found Cornelia and asked after her arm.
"Cornelia… are you really okay? In the next operation…"
"I won't withdraw!"
Cornelia interrupted Akame with a smile.
She raised her arm. "See? I'm fine. Besides, for your sister's sake, Akame, I won't let a small injury like this hold me back. I'll definitely help you rescue her!"
Akame was moved by Cornelia's words.
"Cornelia… thank you."
Seeing Akame reveal such a vulnerable side, Cornelia thought to herself as the older sister figure that, even for Green's sake—the Green who had loved Akame so much—she had to work even harder.
She absolutely could not let Akame experience the pain of losing family again and again.
Outside the tent, Nahashu silently heard their entire conversation.
He looked at the torn mark on his sleeve and thought to himself that this enemy was far from ordinary.
Even a few patrolling soldiers had been fairly strong.
There had to be even more powerful opponents deeper inside.
If Akame, Pony, and the others faced enemies like that, they would most likely be in danger.
He had to do his best to find those strong enemies first!
Gripping the Water Dragon Sword at his waist, Nahashu looked up and saw Gozuki returning.
He understood that the issue of intelligence had mostly been resolved.
Less than five minutes later, Guy also returned and roughly described the situation inside the royal tomb.
In the end, the two sets of intelligence matched, confirming that the information was reliable.
The royal tomb was filled with countless mechanisms.
If they rushed inside without investigating clearly, then forget ten lives—even three hundred would not be enough.