Return to the Akame ga Kill World

"Well, there's nothing much left to do in this world. It's about time we take our leave," Eriri said, lounging comfortably against Shizuka Marikawa's shoulder as she addressed Haruno and the others.

Eriri's announcement brought an unmistakable glimmer of excitement to Kei Karuizawa's face. It had been three days since her arrival in this world, and each day she'd been consumed by worry for her family. Yukino also visibly relaxed, although she wasn't plagued by the same concerns as Kei; a world teeming with corpses was hardly to her taste.

Eriri then turned to the visibly troubled Saya Takagi and reassured her, "Saya-chan, don't worry. Since I'm here, I won't leave this world in ruins. Before I go, I'll take care of things."

"Really? Thank you so much!" Saya's face lit up with joy, and her previous look of worry vanished. While some people might embrace chaos, no one truly wanted their world to become a wasteland overrun with corpses, where survival depended on constant battles.

Shizuka, resting her chin on Eriri's head, pouted unhappily. "Is Eriri-chan really leaving already? I don't know how I'll manage without you around!"

"Why don't you come with me, Shizuka?"

"Eh… I'd love to, but I still need to find my friends here."

"Oh well," Eriri replied with a shrug, unbothered by Shizuka's refusal. She'd only asked as a matter of form; whether Shizuka accepted or not wouldn't make much difference to her.

Unlike Shizuka, Alice held tightly onto Eriri's skirt, her face a picture of worry. "Onee-chan, can I come with you? Please?"

"Of course! And when we get there, I'll introduce you to some friends." Eriri ruffled Alice's hair, smiling. Once she returned to the Saekano world, Alice would be joining Reina and Sakura to form a new little group.

"Mm, yay!" Alice laughed, delighted by Eriri's reply.

Then Eriri turned to Saeko Busujima. "Saeko, would you like to stay in this world or come with me? It's entirely your choice."

"As your loyal follower, I will, of course, follow you, but first, I would like to confirm my father's safety," Saeko said, pledging herself to Eriri as her "most loyal follower."

"Fair enough. Let me help you out with that." Eriri nodded and closed her eyes momentarily. "Saeko, I sense someone with the same life signature as you about ten thousand kilometers from here. That should be your father; he's alive."

In that instant, Eriri scanned the entire planet and quickly found Saeko's father. Relieved, Saeko let out a deep breath, grateful that her father had survived despite the chaos.

"Thank you, Lady Eriri. I'm ready to leave whenever you are."

"You don't want to say goodbye?"

"That won't be necessary. I'm sure my father will understand." Saeko shook her head with a firm expression.

"As you wish." Eriri shrugged indifferently, already having plans in mind for Saeko: she'd be going to the Akame ga Kill world to join Mine and the others in their revolution.

…

The moment Eriri arrived in this world, she had already uncovered the cause of the outbreak. It wasn't due to a leak of some biochemical weapon. Rather, a newly combined strain of several infectious viruses had created this new type of pathogen that could kill a person within minutes. Once the virus infected a body, it took control of their brain, which explained why smashing the head of a corpse rendered it motionless, returning it to a regular corpse.

Of course, regardless of the cause, none of it mattered to Eriri.

She instantly extended her power over the entire planet and wiped out every corpse and trace of the virus. Alongside these, she also eliminated malicious human survivors in the blink of an eye.

In that moment, countless survivors were saved, including many who had just been bitten and would otherwise have died from the virus.

While the world was saved, the global population had dwindled by over ninety-nine percent. The vast loss of highly skilled professionals had also set civilization back several stages, leaving this world far from recovering its pre-disaster status.

After handling everything, Eriri took Kei and Saeko back to the Classroom of the Elite world. Alice, meanwhile, would follow Haruno and Yukino to the Oregairu world. Eriri would pick her up once she'd wrapped up things with Kei and Saeko, and spend a few days there.

Saya and Shizuka were left standing together, looking wistfully at the place where Eriri and the others had disappeared, unable to help feeling a touch of envy mixed with regret.

…

When Eriri, Kei, and Saeko emerged from the world portal, they found themselves in a modestly-sized room.

"This is my dorm room—I'm finally back!" Kei's eyes sparkled with excitement as she took in the room she'd lived in for some time.

They were in Kei's dormitory room at the prestigious Advanced Nurturing High School. She had vanished from here when she was summoned to the Lord God's Dimension.

Advanced Nurturing High was one of the nation's top schools, boasting near-perfect success rates in career and educational advancement. Known for its strict meritocratic system, students' privileges depended entirely on their abilities. Only the best could enjoy the top amenities, yet even those at the bottom of the school's hierarchy were provided with private dorm rooms.

Most importantly, the school enforced strict isolation from the outside world. No contact with family was permitted while enrolled. As a result, though she'd been missing for three days, her family was still unaware of her disappearance.

The school, however, hadn't taken her absence lightly. They'd scoured the grounds in search of her. Every area of the campus, aside from private spaces, was monitored by surveillance cameras. But when she'd seemingly vanished without a trace, the school became intensely curious.

These details had been quickly relayed to Eriri and the others. Though Kei felt reassured that her family didn't know of her disappearance, the school's covert handling of it annoyed her.

"Now the school's sure to think I'm hiding some big secret." Kei sighed.

She worried that the school might have even alerted the government about her disappearance by now, given the three days that had passed. If she were only a few levels stronger, she'd ignore both the school's and the country's surveillance.

Yet she wasn't willing to risk disrupting her current life; she'd only been in high school for just over a week and was looking forward to experiencing it properly.

"Don't worry. I've altered the memories of everyone who knew you, filling in the past three days with memories of you attending class, so no one will think anything's strange." Eriri replied, sitting casually on Kei's bed. Adjusting memories was child's play for her.

"That's perfect!" Kei exhaled in relief, sending Eriri a grateful look, her eyes shining with admiration.

…

With Kei's matters resolved, Eriri and Saeko didn't linger. Since the school year had only just begun, there wasn't much going on. Besides, with this world's coordinates recorded, they could always return for a visit later.

Eriri brought Saeko to the Akame ga Kill world, and pinpointing Mine and the others' location, teleported over instantly.

In the two days since Eriri had left, Cornelia and the others had made tremendous progress after receiving the energy seeds she'd given them. Each of them had reached the superhuman level, making them formidable in this world. Leona and Sheele, in particular, had outpaced Cornelia's five companions. Likely because of their age and their more intense training, Leona and Sheele had quickly caught up to the strongest among them, aside from Mine, Akame, and Kurome.

"Eriri-nee!" Seeing Eriri, Mine immediately dashed over, beaming with excitement.

Akame and Kurome also looked delighted but held back from throwing themselves at her as Mine had.

As Eriri wrapped her arms around Mine, Akame and Kurome each took their place by her sides, gazing up at her with admiration.

"Mine, Akame, Kurome, how have you three been?" Eriri asked, stroking Mine's soft pink hair as she spoke.

"It's been good, though the food here isn't nearly as tasty as what Kujo-nee made for us." Akame and Kurome both swallowed, clearly still thinking of the dishes they'd enjoyed in the Saekano world.

Cornelia and the others also clustered around Eriri, eager to share everything that had happened in her absence. Although it had only been two days, they spent hours each day training, so they were still based in the Imperial Capital.

Currently, they had complete control over the palace, making them the absolute rulers of the Imperial Capital. Not even the most powerful Teigu users were a match for Mine, Akame, or Kurome.

The ten of them—half young girls, half beautiful young women—hadn't drawn much attention individually, but together, they were a rare sight in the capital. It was a sight that quickly attracted trouble.

One large-scale human trafficking ring had targeted them as they wandered the streets. Mistaking them for ordinary girls, the traffickers had underestimated their strength. As expected, Mine and the others had quickly eradicated the entire organization and its base within the capital.

Without relying on outside help, the ten of them had easily handled every threat, asserting their dominance over the city.

Saeko was taken aback by the sight of these delicate young girls, realizing that most of them were stronger than she was. When she had been their age, she could barely lift a training sword, much less fight.

But then again, with someone like Eriri in the picture, it was only natural.

Saeko knew her purpose in this world, as Eriri had explained it in detail before they arrived. While she regretted not being able to stay by Eriri's side, she readily accepted the assignment, excited by the chance to embrace her true self in this world.

With Eriri's introduction, Saeko was seamlessly welcomed into Mine's team as the eldest member of the group.

Leaving the capital, Eriri arrived alone at the Empire's northern border, where she found Esdeath locked in fierce combat with a super danger dragon-type beast.

At this point, Esdeath's aura had reached the peak of the Second- Level, a stark contrast to her power level just two days before. She wielded a beautiful, blue-and-white Western-style sword, attacking the dragon beast with strikes that unleashed huge arcs of ice blades, her face adorned with a wild grin.

The dragon's body was encased in thick layers of ice, as if wearing crystalline armor. Its attack pattern was simple; it used its limbs to strike and released vast beams of ice energy from its mouth.

Eriri stood above, observing the battle without interfering, as neither combatant had sensed her presence.

As time passed, the battle between them intensified, its waves of impact reshaping the land around them. Although Esdeath held an advantage in speed, her body was marked by some serious injuries, though they were nowhere near as severe as the dragon's.

Under Esdeath's relentless assault, the dragon beast was on the verge of collapse, its ice armor shattered in large sections, with fresh red blood spurting from deep wounds.

An hour later, Esdeath finally struck a killing blow, piercing the creature's body with a massive ice spear. The once-living dragon fell still.

Standing atop the enormous corpse, Esdeath panted heavily, her body battered yet her eyes shining with undisguised excitement.

This was her first successful hunt of a super danger beast, and the feeling filled her with joy. Compared to the thrill of hunting this formidable creature, the challenges of hunting low-to-mid-level beasts seemed like child's play.

Watching the battle end, Eriri appeared behind Esdeath, placing her hand on Esdeath's head, playfully ruffling her hair.

The touch startled Esdeath, momentarily pulling her from her post-battle high, but just as she began to adopt a defensive stance, she caught a familiar scent. Her wariness melted into delighted surprise.

Esdeath spun around to face Eriri, her face lighting up in joy as she allowed Eriri to keep ruffling her hair.

"Eriri-nee, I'm so much stronger now!" Esdeath said, like a child showing off an accomplishment.

Two days earlier, Eriri had planted a power seed within Esdeath, focusing it specifically to enhance her ice abilities. Even without her Teigu, "Demon's Extract," Esdeath had developed formidable ice powers, and it would not be long before her strength outstripped that granted by the Teigu.

The weapon in her hand was a beautiful custom-forged sword Eriri had gifted her, far superior in strength and elegance compared to her previous one.

"Yes, you've done well! Looks like you've been training hard these past two days," Eriri praised warmly.

In just two days, Esdeath had transformed from a powerful ordinary fighter to a Level 2, Stage 9 extraordinary, an impressive leap. By comparison, Cornelia and the others had only reached the second or third stage.

"Yes! For the past two days, I've been hunting danger beasts almost nonstop," Esdeath replied proudly. "Including this dragon, I've taken down thirty-five in total!"

However, her blood-spattered face made her prideful expression slightly amusing.

Eriri sent a stream of healing energy into Esdeath, instantly mending her wounds. Even the dried blood and dirt coating her body vanished, leaving her looking fresh and unblemished.

Esdeath, clean and pristine once more, gave off an irresistible charm. Though she was only twelve, she already stood just a few centimeters shorter than Eriri, and her slender, white legs were a striking feature.

"Thank you, Eriri-nee," Esdeath said gratefully, her face alight with joy.

As she tested her newly enhanced strength, she estimated she could now dispatch a dragon-type creature far faster than before, though there were no other beasts of equal strength left in this area. While she still wished to spar with Eriri, she recalled their previous encounter, when Eriri had easily bested her and then toyed with her like a doll.

Despite her warrior nature, Esdeath was no fool, so she had since abandoned the idea of challenging Eriri. However, the memory of their last encounter had stirred an unusual feeling within her, a strange sense of excitement entirely different from the pleasure she felt in battle.

"Eriri-nee, how strong would you say I am now?" Esdeath asked eagerly.

"Well...during that fight with the dragon, you reached the peak of the Second Level. And now, I'd say you're in the Second Level, Ninth Stage."

"Second Level, Ninth Stage…" Esdeath nodded thoughtfully, satisfied with her growth.

She had learned from Eriri about the levels and ranks of power, so she knew this was only the beginning of true extraordinary strength and that she had much more training ahead of her.

When they returned to Esdeath's quarters, she immediately removed her tattered clothes in Eriri's presence, unashamed as she stood before her sister-like figure, which Eriri gladly took in.

Without feeling the need for a bath, Esdeath slipped into a fresh set of clothing identical to her previous outfit.

Eriri, seated on Esdeath's bed with Esdeath sitting on her lap, holding her like a large doll, said, "Esdeath, let me introduce you to some friends of mine. They've also been gifted powers like yours."

Eriri's suggestion piqued Esdeath's curiosity, and she turned, looking up at Eriri, "Are they strong?"

"Most of them aren't quite as strong as you, but a few might even be stronger," Eriri replied, pinching Esdeath's smooth cheeks.

Both Mine and the sisters Akame and Kurome had reached the Third Level, surpassing the newly advanced Esdeath. Mine had millions of group points available, enough to reach the Fifth Level if she focused solely on leveling up.

Akame and Kurome were just a step behind Mine, with Kurome recently achieving Third Level first rank. Although Esdeath was unlikely to outdo Mine soon, her skills would allow her to surpass the others if she worked hard.

"Great! Eriri-nee, please take me to meet them! I can't wait," Esdeath replied eagerly, her eyes alight with the thrill of a potential challenge.

"Alright then, let's go," Eriri said, standing up and carrying Esdeath, teleporting them both back to the Imperial capital.

The child Esdeath looked strikingly similar to her future self, and her trademark long, blue-silver hair immediately caught the attention of Mine, Akame, and Kurome. The three recognized her instantly, but rather than feel wary, they were indifferent to her past actions.

To Kurome, Esdeath had always been a well-regarded superior officer. As Esdeath took note of the youthful group before her, she zeroed in on Mine, Akame, and Kurome, sensing that these three posed a real threat.

Without hesitation, she issued a challenge. "Hey, let's fight!" she called out excitedly to Mine, Akame, and Kurome.

Seeing her intense desire for a fight, Eriri gave Esdeath's head a little pat. "Esdeath, you're comrades now! Remember, it's called 'sparring,' not fighting," she corrected with a playful smile.

Turning to the group, Eriri introduced her, "Everyone, this is Esdeath. From now on, she's part of your revolutionary team, so make sure to get along well!"

The others welcomed Esdeath, and Cornelia and the others, who hadn't known her, also quickly warmed up to her. Seeing Eriri's endorsement, they trusted Esdeath.

After the introductions, Esdeath stepped up to Mine, Akame, and Kurome. "Let's spar!" she challenged again.

After a glance at Eriri for approval, the trio accepted the challenge. Unsurprisingly, the battle was quick, with each of them defeating Esdeath with ease.

Despite being defeated, Esdeath's pride wasn't shaken; instead, her passion for strength only burned hotter.