Kill the Country

FLASHBACK BEGIN

"Let's go out there and find success in the Capital!"

"Let's earn the wealth we need to save our village from poverty!"

"And if we die, we swear we'll die together!"

FLASHBACK END

"To think that we used to tell those things to ourselves..." Tatsumi cried, standing on top of a cliff lush with grass and flowers. "And now... I'm all alone."

The moment he said that his head fell back as it was shoved between Leone's boobs. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!?" He screamed.

"Can't have you stay sulking forever..." Said Leone, whose appearance seemingly shifted back to what she looked like when Tatsumi first met her. "It's been three days since we took you in. Are ya going to become part of Night Raid or not?"

"I DIDN'T EVEN SAY I WAS -"

"I can tell you have a talent for killing..." Said Leone, poking his nose and patting his head. "Big sister guarantees it ❤︎"

"Talent isn't the problem..." Tatsumi muttered.

"At any rate, I should show you around the hideout!" Said Leone, grabbing him with her elbows again and turning around to see a large building that was sculpted out of a mountainside. "We're in the mountains ten kilometres away from the Capital", she casually explained.

"Why leave it so open? Aren't you assassins for hire!?" Tatsumi yelled.

Entering the building, the two were met with a purple-haired woman wearing a purple cheongsam and a pair of glasses, who was sitting next to a table at the meeting room and reading a book. "So, have you made your decision yet?" She asked.

"Not yet, Sheele." Said Leone. "How bout you give him some encouragement?"

"Well..." Sheele thought for a moment. "The base's location is secret, so... If you don't agree to join us, we're gonna have to kill you."

"What kind and encouraging words..." Tatsumi murmured.

He looked over at the book Sheele was reading - the cover was designed like a children's book and read "100 ways to curb stupidity!"

These guys are a bunch of weirdos... Tatsumi thought to himself.

"HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!" Tatsumi heard someone screaming and turned around - it was the pink-haired sniper. "LEONE, WHY ARE YOU LETTING HIM INSIDE THE HIDEOUT!?"

"Cause he's one of us?" Said Leone.

"YOU JUST SAID HE ISN'T ONE OF US YET!" The pink-haired girl yelled. "HE DIDN'T EVEN GET THE BOSS' PERMISSION!" She turned over and examined Tatsumi with her eyes for a few seconds. "Not qualified." She said, turning her head. "Just by looking at his face, I can tell he's nowhere near our level of proficiency."

"SAYS THE FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD WEARING A DRESS!" Tatsumi yelled.

"Don't worry about Mein... She's like that to everyone." Leone said quietly.

Next, Leone led Tatsumi outside, to what appeared to be a training ground where a heavily muscular man with a pompadour and another man wearing a red mask and a hooded cloak covering his body was swinging wooden rods at one another - the one with a pompadour was sweating profusely, but his partner wasn't sweating at all.

"These are the training grounds... Or as I like to call them, the stress release area." Said Leone. "And these two guys reeking with sweat over there, are Brad and Hantarr."

"They both look extremely skilled and powerful!" Tatsumi said to himself.

The muscular man noticed the two observers and pinned his staff to the ground; His partner did the same. "Hey there, Leone! Oh, and that guy from before is with you!"

"Wait, you know who I am?" Asked Tatsumi.

"Oh right, this must be your first time seeing my face." Said the muscular man. "When we first met I was covered head to toe with armour." He held his hand out. "The name's Brad. Nice to meet you!"

"H... Hi?" Said Tatsumi, shaking Brad's hand. "And you must be..." He turned around to see the other man, only to see he wasn't there.

"Careful there..." Leone whispered. "This guy's a fag."

"Come on, don't talk like that about me..." Said Brad, blushing. "He might misunderstand it..."

Oh my Gods, please tell me she's wrong... Tatsumi thought.

Meanwhile, the green-haired man with the coat was out in the forest near some hot springs. "This is where Leone is bathing..." He whispered to himself. "I don't care how long it'll take me, but I swear I'm going to see her breasts!"

"How about I'll break your fingers instead?" Said Leone, appearing right behind him and casually breaking two of his fingers. "When will you learn, Lubbock?"

"Damn you! I can still do this!"

"Then I'll break your arm too." Said Leone, before turning back to Tatsumi standing behind her. "Oh, and this idiot is Lubbock."

"I feel like I had enough already..." Tatsumi grunted.

"Ahahaha..." Leone chuckled. "There's a couple of pretty girls comin' up next, so you should look forward to it~"

Looping back to the base's back yard, the two were met with three people: A man in a white coat and a metal mask covering his mouth, a blonde young woman with a cowboy hat... And in the middle, the same black-haired swordmaster Tatsumi fought, eating candies off a bag she was holding. "These two are Natala and Doya." Said Leone, pointing to the masked man and cowgirl respectively. "And the one eating candies is Kurome, but you already met her."

Hesitantly, Tatsumi tried to approach Kurome, who immediately gave him a cold dead stare and said "You can't have any."

"Kurome may not look like it, but her past's pretty fucked up..." Leone said. "And Natala can't speak, so I think Doya's your safest bet."

"O...Kay? Tatsumi said before looking at the cowgirl. "Uh... Hi?"

"Hoi there, partner!" Said Doya in a distinct foreign accent. "Did ya make your decision yet?"

"Uh... No?" Said Tatsumi.

"Then I'd rather save the welcomes to when you actually earned them," Doya said, turning away from him.

Are these people really expecting me to join them without hesitation? Tatsumi thought to himself. One of them literally tried to kill me just days ago!

Kurome eyed Leone. "Oh, by the way, the Boss is here too."

"Yo." Said someone Tatsumi didn't notice before - a woman with short grey hair, an eyepatch, a black suit and a large mechanical arm.

"Welcome back, Boss!" Said Leone. "Have you brought any souvenirs with you?"

"Didn't you go over your operation time three days ago, Leone?" Said the Boss in a completely calm voice.

"Crap!" Leone whispered and started to run away, only for the Boss to launch her arm as a grappling hook and grab Leone with it.

"Dragging a battle against strong enemies is dangerous, Leone. You have to stop that." Said the Boss as her grappling hook arm was dragging Leone. "By the way, who's this kid?"

"That's right, Boss! I wanted to recommend you on recruiting him!" Said Leone.

"Does he have talent?" Asked the Boss.

"Like hell he does!" Said Leone. "Go ahead and give it a try!"

"YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT IT LIKE IT'S A PART-TIME JOB!" Tatsumi yelled.

"The wage is pretty damn high..." Said Doya.

"Kurome, get everyone in the meeting room." Said the Boss. "I want to hear all the details about your previous operation... Including everything you know about this young boy."

Minutes later, everyone Tatsumi met was back in the meeting room - except, for some reason, Hantarr.

"I see..." Said the Boss, after hearing the team reciting the details of their mission back at Arya's mansion. "I understand what you're saying. So then, Tatsumi... Are you going to join Night Raid or not?"

"Aren't you going to kill me if I decline?" Asked Tatsumi suspiciously.

"Most likely not." Said the Boss. "But we won't let you leave either. We'll probably send you to one of our workshops to do hard labour... But you wouldn't die. Now that it's settled, what do you think?"

"I..." Tatsumi clenched his fist. "I wanted to become successful in the Capital in order to save my village, which is suffering from poverty and hunger. Now I see even the Capital is rotting."

"The countryside is poor and suffering because the centre is rotting." Said Brad. "Don't you want to uproot the problem from its source, like a real man?"

"Brad used to be a skilled Imperial soldier." Said the Boss. "He became one of us because he was made aware of the Empire's corruption."

"Our work is to cleanse the Capital of evil." Said Brad. "I find it much better than working for those rotten people."

"But just killing individual evil people wouldn't change the entire nation!" Tatsumi protested. "That'd do nothing to save remote villages from poverty!"

"In that case, Night Raid actually fits you even more." Said the Boss.

"How come?" Asked Tatsumi.

"Far south of the Capital stands a force whose sole purpose is to destroy the Empire..." Said the Boss. "The Revolutionary Army. It started out as a small resistance movement but has grown into a large-scale military organization. Eventually, they were able to form a small unit made to handle covert jobs such as assassination and information gathering... And that unit is us, Night Raid. Right now we're exterminating the Capital's vermin... But when the Revolutionary Army takes action, we will be the ones to go after the Empire's rulers who are the source of the corruption, and take care of them ourselves."

"Take out the rulers of the Empire?" Tatsumi whispered.

"That's our ultimate goal." Said the Boss. "But we have a long way before we get there. I can't say anything for certain yet, but we have a master plan to ensure our victory. And when the time comes, this country will change for sure."

"And that new country will treat its people well?" Asked Tatsumi.

"That's the idea." Said the Boss.

"So the killing you're doing right now is targeting the trash of society that is evil people..." Said Tatsumi. "You can really say you're assassins of justice!"

For a few seconds, no one said anything... And then, everyone started laughing. "What are you doing? What's so funny!?" Tatsumi screamed.

"Tatsumi..." Leone whispered. "No matter what you call it, what we're doing is murder."

"The purpose doesn't matter. This isn't justice." Said Sheele.

"Any one of us could be killed at any moment for our actions." Said Brad.

"Each person here has their own reasons, but we are all prepared for it." Said the Boss. "Is your opinion still the same?"

"Will I be rewarded in the end?" Tatsumi asked quietly.

"Of course." Said Najenda. "If you play your part properly, we'll be able to save your hometown."

"Then I'll do it!" Said Tatsumi. "I'll join Night Raid! If this is your goal, then I'm sure Sayo and Ieyasu would've done the same!"

"You may not be able to actually return to your village though..." Said Mein.

"As long as everyone there will be able to live in peace because of it, then it doesn't matter," Tatsumi said decisively.

"Then it's decided!" Said Najenda. "Welcome to a path of perpetual carnage, Tatsumi!"

Suddenly, a device Lubbock was wearing on the back of his hand started stirring. "Najenda! We have intruders!" He said.

"Where and how many?" Asked the Boss.

"Based on the reaction from my barrier, there's probably eight of them!" Said Lubbock. "And they're all running closer to the hideout!"

"They're probably mercenaries sent to track us down specifically." Said Najenda. "There's no other way. Don't let a single one of them get out of here alive!"

"Let's go!" Said Mein, taking out her gun and running out of the base.

"Uh... Hehe..." Tatsumi laughed nervously.

"Spacing out already?" Asked Najenda. "This is your first mission. Go out and eliminate them!"

Tatsumi was running fast in the forest outside Night Raid's base. Noticing Brad ahead, he tried to catch up with him. "Hey, Brad!" He yelled out.

"Oh, Tatsumi! You're gonna come with me?" Asked Brad.

"Yeah!" Said Tatsumi.

"In that case, just call me handsome, or bro!" Said Brad.

"Alright, bro!" Said Tatsumi.

"Let me show you something cool in return." Said Brad. "Stand back!"

Tatsumi moved away from Brad, who then slammed his open hand to the ground and screamed "INCURSIO!"

Once he did, Brad's sword opened up and expanded, changing shape and covering Brad's body, before forming into the armour he was wearing when Tatsumi first met him. "THAT'S AWESOME!!" Tatsumi exclaimed.

"I know, right??" Said Brad. "This is my Teigu, Incursio."

"I have no idea what that means, but it sounds amazing!" Said Tatsumi.

"Alright!" Said Brad. "Now I'm going to tell you what your first job is! Listen closely - It's very important!"

In another part of the forest, three dark-skinned bandits were surrounding Kurome. "The fact that she's here means their hideout really is somewhere nearby." Said one of them. "Coming here was worth it after all!"

"I gotta admit, she looks kind of cute." Said one of the others. "Maybe we could have some fun after we kill her. Be careful not to damage her body too -"

Before the bandit could finish the sentence, Kurome was already behind him and his friends. Two of the bandits had their throats slit open, and the third had a gash in his shoulder. "Staying calm in enemy territory? Big mistake." She said to herself.

"She's too fast!" The last remaining bandit grunted. "At least I could take her down with -" Before he could finish the sentence, a naginata blade impaled him through the chest. Natala walked up behind him and pulled it out.

Somewhere else, another bandit was running away as fast as he could. The enemy knows we're here! The bandit thought. But now I know where their hideout is...! I'm sure that information by itself could have immense value...!! I'll just run away and tell the Capital that I found their hideout!!

A large distance away, Mein was aiming her rifle at the running man. "He's very far away..." She muttered. "I can't shoot him down without having to expose myself."

While she was speaking, another bandit jumped up behind Mein with a sword in hand. "I've got you!" He said...

Right before Sheele appeared behind him with a giant pair of scissors and chopped him in half. "Sorry about that..." Sheele murmured.

"Thanks, Sheele." Said Mein. "That's a nice danger. I'm going to reach just fine with it!" She said, firing a beam of energy from her gun which vaporized the bandit who was escaping and burned a trench into the ground between them. "Right on point!" Said Mein. "The more danger I'm in, the more powerful I'll get!"

"That was Mein's Pumpkin just now..." Said Leone, calmly sitting on a bandit's corpse. "I can't believe she uses such a bothersome weapon. All I need to do is turn into a monster and crush people to death. It's not that hard."

In an underground cave, Lubbock was standing in front of a female bandit who was tied up and hanging from the ceiling by wires coming out of his gloves. "Let me go!" She cried. "Please, I'll do anything!"

"Not gonna happen." Said Lubbock. "I know a man who died because he fell for a woman's charms." Saying that he fastened the grip of his wires, cutting the woman into pieces. "What a waste of time..." He grunted. "Being in my position is always such a pain."

Meanwhile, Tatsumi was laying down behind a bush, keeping keen eyes on a rabbit that was hopping on the hill. Listen to your surroundings... Brad told him. If the enemy were to run away, they'd likely get through here. Even just slowing them down will be good enough - just somehow fight back.

"What a total newbie role," Tatsumi grunted. "Is the enemy really going to -"

Before he could finish the sentence, a bandit wearing a tiger mask came out of the woods. "They even stationed someone here, too?" He grunted.

"I can't let you pass!" Said Tatsumi, drawing his sword. I have to kill someone I have no resentment against... He thought. But if I hesitate here, I'll die.

"You're just a little boy..." Said the bandit. "But I'm not going to hold back on you!" He said, drawing his own sword.

In another part of the forest, Mein was balancing herself over a wooden log. "I wonder if that newbie died already..." She said to herself.

"I don't think that'd be an issue." Said Sheele.

"You don't usually evaluate people that way, Sheele." Said Mein.

"He fought Kurome and survived," Sheele remarked.

"Well, that's true..." Said Mein.

"And after Kurome fought him, she said he has immense potential." Sheele continued. "If he keeps training, he might have enough strength to rival a general..."

Tatsumi was standing over the bandit with the tiger mask, which had a large cut on his chest. "How's that..." He said, panting. "These are the techniques I built up along with my friends who died!"

"Let me go, I beg of you!" The bandit cried. "If I die, my village is going to..."

This guy's also fighting for his hometown? Tatsumi stepped back.

However, before the bandit could finish his sentence, his head was hit by a bullet and exploded. Doya appeared behind the corpse, blowing the smoke off her gun. "All in a day's work." She said, smiling.

She shot that guy without even batting an eye... Tatsumi thought, stepping back in fear.

"HIYA!" Said Brad, showing up from between the woods. "The enemy came over here, didn't they? Leave the rest for me!"

"I've already dealt with him, actually." Said Doya.

The night after that, Night Raid once again assembled in their base. "That was great work for your first battle, Tatsumi." Said the Boss. "But as Doya reported, you still have a lot to learn. In order for you to continue to survive, you'll need someone to teach you a few important things. Team up with Kurome and learn from her."

"What!?" Tatsumi gasped.

"Kurome, you copy?" Asked Najenda.

"Yeah." Said Kurome, still munching on her sweets.

"If you think he's gonna get in the way, you can kill him." Said Najenda.

"Okay." Said Kurome, completely calm.

Wait, WHAT!? Tatsumi thought.

"You're lucky to have someone like Kurome train you." Said the Boss. "Do your best and you won't die!"