Covert Investigation

Vampire City (Akame P.O.V.)

Arriving at the city, she noticed that the whole place was surprisingly modern. Marble-white walls with red roofs. Closely spaced buildings were well ordered, lining the streets in rows. The interesting part was the series of channels drawing blood from Sanguine Mountain through the town. There were literally the equivalent of water drinking fountains, but for blood. It was an odd sight.

She used a highly advanced transformation spell that she'd learned years after the empire's destruction to turn herself into a bat. Suddenly, she felt some energy coming through the bond with Rias. A moment later, the method to use her new demonic energy to perform a highly advanced transformation spell appeared in her mind.

'Well, it looks like the knowledge transfer doesn't go just one way.' She'd bet that Rias didn't even know that she did it. She just trusted her enough to where she was subconsciously helping them in their time of need with a combination of her authority and 'vision'. 'I'll have to thank her later.'

Invoking the new transformation spell, her imitation was a near exact replica, from the appearance, to the aura, the temperature drops all pure-blooded vampires were known for, and even the wing flap cadence. Something told her that this spell was drawing from her master's power of prophecy to some extent. These weren't details she was even trying to mimic on the first attempt.

She flew just high enough to see the movements of the bats around the city. She would use her newly heightened processing speed to observe the different rotations the bats were going through. It wouldn't do to stand out by being different.

Once she felt she'd seen enough, her small bat body steady flew into the city. From there, it followed a seemingly erratic flight pattern as she flew around to different points in the city. She chose one of the longer known rotations she'd seen primarily to become 'part of the flock' and build a mental map of the city. Rias would appreciate this.

Actually, she was presently appreciating this. She could feel the same power that transmitted the ability to perform high-level transformations pull images from her of the current scene. Knowing Rias, this would be the standard operating procedure on these types of missions going forward. It was just too useful. Those Gremory devils really had a nice ability.

'From what I can see, a large number of vampire couples seem to be set up with the male at the head. The females walk a couple of feet to the left and behind their significant other. Public displays of abuse toward the fairer sex seems to be socially acceptable. My running guess is that this is a hidden base of the Tepes faction, the male dominated faction.' Akame transmitted through the link. She couldn't receive clear real-time feedback yet; she imagined Rias was still working on that ability, but this is a great start.

'It's actually a great idea, this area is perfect for them. It's a base that most factions have no idea about. It's the perfect location to build up forces. If people saw how many pure-blooded vampires were living here, they'd have to reassess the strength of this faction. From what I'm seeing, it'd be closer to the top. I'm recommending that we make it a point to learn more about this mountain. It may be necessary to cut off this supply of blood, should this faction ever prove to be a threat.'

'Agreed. Our first priority is to find the Graal's bearer through the target. Once we complete that objective, we'll conduct a more thorough investigation on this faction's motives, methods, and weaknesses' Rias responded through the link. She's clearly figured it out. Hopefully, they can learn to use that chain to get Esdeath talking too.

Finally finishing her initial reconnaissance objective, she followed her current flight path until she eventually arrived at the prison.

Once she got there, she flew inside through the windows. 'I guess they never expected someone to copy their bat transformation as well as we have.' That was a very true thought. The Tepes faction has never had a publicized incident where someone managed to infiltrate into their complex through a transformation. The very notion was absurd. There was no way someone could perfectly copy the natural rhythm a pureblooded vampire's aura. In this case, Akame was cheating. She was using Rias's power of prophecy to automatically adjust her aura as was expected from a pure blood. She didn't even notice it was happening.

Looking around, she noticed multiple cells lining the walls. A small team of four was patrolling the area. Clearly, this was just a formality for them.

She found a spot at the top corner of the building with good line of sight. She wouldn't need to be hidden for too long. Once she arrived, the adjusted the transformation to return her to normal, but keep her vampirism traits, then camouflaged herself by casting a simple invisibility spell. She waited till all the guards stood still, all with a good line of sight of herself. Then, in one motion, she sent one needle of concentrated demonic energy towards each of them, each embedded with her curse.

One by one; they fell; one by one, they died. 'No point being subtle about this. Breaking the only non-vampire to be arrested out of prison will draw some noise and I don't really have a guaranteed softer method of dealing with them. Quick and painless is the best I can give them.'

Approaching a lone cell in the back of the complex that housed different signatures from vampires, Akame grew curious.

'I thought there was only one' she felt the connection again.

'The vision didn't say our target was alone or even that we'd find her here, just that she's in the area and is one of the centers of strong Karmic weight.' Rias concluded

"I'm telling you to be patient, help will come." A clearly feminine voice said.

"How do you know that! We need to find a way out ourselves" Another feminine voice. This one seemed more frustrated, likely from being as helpless as they are.

As she approached the cell, she dropped her invisibility cloak and concealment spell. She needed trust and what better way to start the conversation than to prove a common origin.

As her footsteps grew louder to the two females, their conversation stopped.

Once she arrived in front of the cell, she noticed it was different from the others. They had no jail bars. Instead, there was a glass-looking panel blocking their way. Tiny holes can be seen in the cell to provide air to the prisoners. The prisoners were interesting though.

One of them was a young woman with slightly tan white skin you'd expect from those of French decent and long golden-blond hair arrayed in an interesting way. The largest portion of her hair was tied in a long braid that went do her back. The rest was arrayed in a chin-length loose hair style. Her amethyst eyes radiated a strong faith, leading Akame to believe she was a strong believer of some kind. She wore silver armor that exposed the arms and thighs. She also had a curious piece of silver plate framing her face. Based on the aura she's radiating, she's likely the possessor of a Longinus type sacred gear. If the holy aspects and warm feel she detected in the aura was any indication, this woman likely possessed Incineration Anthem.

The other was a lithe back-length black-haired young lady wearing a lavender-colored long-sleeve Kimono top, black pants, and an indigo scarf. Her skin was white with a slight tan that was a half a shade darker than her companion. Her hair was tied with an indigo ribbon. The most striking feature though was her white pupilless eyes. They were just the iris and that was it. It was a little disconcerting. From what she could feel though, there was great power passively flowing in those eyes. If she had to bet money, she would say that those eyes were a key aspect in her combat style. She clearly didn't have a sacred gear, so the most likely scenario is that she is of demonic decent with an eye mutation that she inherited, despite her mostly human appearance.

'Interesting' she heard Rias state over the link.

"I'm here to break you out of here. We can talk later."

Before the two prisoners could say anything, she pulled her right arm back and threw it at the glass.

Suddenly everyone within the city could see an explosion at the prison. Like ants, they all rushed to see the disturbance, but when they got to the prison, all the found were four burning corpses and rubble. Forensic analysis would later conclude that the four of them died without any signs. It's almost as if their bodies just decided to die. Considering the higher ups' plans for the near future, this needed to be understood. They issued their most prestigious research team to head this investigation. These escapees would be found.