Chapter 18 part 2

Najenda stopped before the tent, taking her lit cigar from between her lips and crushing it on her prosthetic palm before walking in. It was spacious for a medical tent; a few tools were at her right from where she stood on the porch; the bed was right in front of her; and a sink was set up at her left with a few sterilizing items she recognized from her days in the military.

She walked past the physician and took a seat on a chair at the end of the bed.

Glancing from the prone, bare-chested Tatsumi to the doctor, Najenda observed him quietly. The doctor was a tall, middle-aged man with glasses; his black hair was gelled back, and his jaw was lined by a trimmed chinstrap beard. He wore a white shirt, black trousers, a striped tie, and a white lab coat, but what stood out the most were the large white gloves he wore while hovering his hands over Tatsumi's chest.

"As I suspected, it's starting to bond with you. I don't completely know if, at the time of its evolution, you were consumed by the armour or if it fused with you, but what I do know, young man," he said, taking off his gloves, his tone grave, "is that you are becoming Incursio's dragon body."

Najenda and Tatsumi's eyes widened in surprise, the latter breaking into a cold sweat.

"Don't think of this as a normal power-up; in this case, your body can't keep up with Incursio's evolution."

"Doctor, what are you saying?" Najenda's brows furrowed while she asked.

"The young man here forced Incursio to evolve past what his body could handle, so while it will grant him a surge of power as it did against the enemy you fought, having evolved in such a dangerous way will leave him at risk of being devoured by Incursio, or rather Tyrant, the beast living within the imperial arms. The evidence is in your right eye."

The assassin duo went silent, Najenda looking up as Tatsumi asked, "How long do I have left, doc?"

The doctor exhaled tiredly and walked to the cabinet next to the sink, placing the gloves inside them. Leaning on it with his arms crossed, he replied, "It depends. You should be able to wield Incursio safely for some time while we search for a way, if there is one, to reverse your condition. But should you try to evolve past this, you will go past the point of no return, and there will be no saving you."

Najenda inhaled sharply and rose, handing Tatsumi his shirt with an encouraging smile and saying, "Thank you for your help, doctor."

"It's alright. It's a shame that I couldn't give you better news."

"It's fine. Thanks to the information you've given us, we can better deal with the situation, so thank you." She smiled politely and led the clothed Tatsumi out of the tent, raising a brow in surprise at the waiting Akame and Kanae.

"Akame, Kanae-san, what's the problem?" Tatsumi asked, somewhat surprised. While Najenda had notified them that he was to undergo his checkup at the time, he hadn't expected them to come along, and from the looks of it, they had been waiting for quite some time. He glanced at Najenda inquisitively, but it seemed that she was just as surprised at their presence as he was.

Kanae shared a brief look of concern with Akame, "We were worried about you, Tatsumi-kun."

"Mhm, what'd the doctor say?"

It was then Najenda and Tatsumi's turn to share a knowing look, the latter replying to Akame's question, "He said, Incursio's fusing with me; if I push it any further, I'll get consumed by it."

"Consumed?"

"Yeah, I'm guessing I'll cease to be and Tyrant would revive in my body."

The four went quiet; the idea that Tatsumi was drawing dangerously close to his demise made them uncomfortable. They had lost people—friends, colleagues, and family—but that didn't make it any easier; in fact, it had become more difficult to experience loss again, especially when something could be done to prevent it.

Kanae shifted nervously at the awkward silence, her eyes widening as a bright idea came to mind. "Tatsumi-kun," she grabbed his hand suddenly, flustering and surprising him. "When Nii-san gets back, tell him, we might just have a way to help you."

"Really?!" He grabbed her hands, and it was Kanae's turn to be flustered. Her fair skin took on a reddish tint, and she stuttered in her reply, "Y-yes. Though it isn't a surefire way, it might work."

"We'll wait for him then." Najenda smiled reassuringly at the three. Night Raid was in a far more difficult situation than they'd ever been, so it was necessary to keep their spirits up; failure was not an option.

…

"Welcome…Oh, it's just you two." Lubbock rolled his eyes at Hijiri and Mine, his brows furrowing at the water that dripped from their cloaks.

"Would it kill you to be nicer?" Hijiri remarked, hanging his mantle on a coat rack by the door, looking around the comfy bookstore that served as Night Raid's base in the capital. It was just like any bookshop that doubled as a library; a few partitioned tables were at Hijiri's left, with multiple shelves further into the store and the counter where Lubbock stood at his right.

He walked past Hijiri and Mine and flipped the sign on the door to 'closed', turning the knob to lock the door, and gesturing for the two to follow him while he strode to a door behind the counter labelled "Staff".

"We won't be expecting any customers?" Mine asked, scanning the supposed staff room.

"You'd be surprised at the effect of a thunderstorm and a closed sign," Lubbock chortled.

"Works like magic, right?" Hijiri commented with a smirk.

"A simple spell, but quite unbreakable."

The two shared a brief chuckle, much to Mine's surprise. "Since when did you two start to get along?"

"Shh, Mine, you'll ruin the moment," Lubbock teased, holding up his index finger while he crouched to move aside a large mat and open a trap door.

"Yo! Welcome, you guys!" Leone hollered cheerily from the couch where she sat crossed-legged, papers of a huge variety littered all over the coffee table before her.

"You're done already?" Hijiri asked, slumping on the right side of the sofa that Leone sat on.

"Yeah, the capital's a mess now, and thanks to the attack and rebuilding, rumours and information are pretty easy to get." Leone reached for some papers and handed them over to Hijiri, who sat upright to inspect them.

"So? What'd you get for us?" Lubbock asked, and he and Mine took their seats on a sofa opposite Hijiri and Leone.

Hijiri sighed and recounted the information from his meeting to the two, the air in the room growing so thick with tension that his claymore was sure to slice through.

"The last thing I want is to fight more people like that silver-haired bastard," Leone commented, a violent shudder running through her, a reaction Hijiri noted. He had assumed she had gotten over the experience, but it seemed the incident was not simply forgotten. He clasped his palms tightly together while he pondered. Hijiri blamed no one but himself for her state; after all, he felt it was because of his incompetence that Leone, Akame, Tatsumi, and Kanae went through their horrible experiences. He chuckled dryly and sat back, his lips twitching, when he noticed the worried gazes of Mine and Lubbock.

"And you?" Hijiri playfully bumped his shoulder into Leone's, successfully gaining her attention. "What's the news?"

"Well, it matches what you said. The capital was devastated by a terror attack, so it's in a bit of a difficult spot now; from what I heard, even the Yeagers are in no position to mobilize," Leone explained, picking some papers from the bunch she handed to Hijiri and rolling it before placing it in a container.

"Pretty good opportunity to jump them, don't y'all think?" Lubbock questioned, brow raised.

"Not really," Hijiri lifted his right arm and watched the light dance off his obsidian gauntlet. "I'm definitely not in the best condition physically, so if this third party does exist and they've got aces like that Haruma bastard, they could get us while we're attacking the empire and we all die." Hijiri sat up, meeting Lubbock's inquisitive gaze while he relayed his proposition, "So here's what I thought: we use this time to recover, get stronger, and do some digging into these asshats."

…

"That's definitely something we can work with." Najenda sat back, scanning the room and its members while Hijiri updated them on his mission.

"Pssh, you should be happy you've got a genius strategist like me." He shrugged with a simper, a few of the Night Raiders sighing at his antics.

"Glad to see your brooding phase has passed." Hijiri rolled his eyes lightheartedly at her earnest smile, inwardly satisfied at the cheeriness he sensed from the group at his actions. "So what's up with Tatsumi?" His colleagues went quiet, with Najenda and Tatsumi stealing a glance at themselves before the latter spoke up. He explained what the doctor had told him, and unlike Mine, Leone, and Lubbock, who was also just hearing it for the first time, Hijiri betrayed no emotions.

The room went still for some time, Najenda's question cutting through the awkward silence, "I'm guessing this place you want us to go will certainly improve the team?"

"Yes, on an island to the south resides the only other surviving Hono clan member."

"That you know of?"

"...that I know of. She was my teacher."

"Nii-san, you don't mean? How are you sure she's still alive?" Kanae interjected, her tone dripping with concern.

"Yeah, my aunt, and the former candidate to wield this bastard," Hijiri said, lifting his right hand at the end of his statement. Turning to Kanae, he continued, "Call it a hunch. Ain't no way that hag is dying easily."

"Wait, wait, wait, time out," Lubbock waved frantically, "what do you mean by a former candidate?"

His silver-haired companion faced him with a frown, groaning as he covered his face with his hand. He glanced at Kanae, brow quirked, and she nodded quietly, an action he exhaled audibly in response to. "While I can't say everything because of oaths and how stressful it'll be to explain my family's history, I'll just say this; Every generation, a Hono with high affinity is trained to wield the world-class danger beast. The lucky ones have their turn skipped since their predecessor is still kicking, while the not-so-lucky ones get to fuse with him." A humourless laugh escaped him while he eyed the others and sensed the tense atmosphere he had created.

Exhaling audibly, he spoke up in an attempt to ease the tension, "On the bright side, she's probably going to pummel new techniques into us, but we'll be unstoppable then. So Najenda," she raised her brows at him, "field trip time."

"Aren't you going to send a message ahead of your arrival?"

Hijiri stared at Najenda like she had suddenly sprouted a third arm. "Who sends a letter to the family to prepare them?"

"...normal people."