Chapter 158 : The Victor's Silence and the Birth of an Obsession

My words hung in the hot, steamy air, a quiet rejection of all the natural laws Esdeath adhered to. "No one else has to die today."

I looked at her, my now-unprotected body beginning to scream in pain. Every muscle felt like it was on fire, and an overwhelming exhaustion threatened to swallow me into darkness. I had gambled everything on this one act of mercy. I stood before her, completely defenseless, offering a concept that shouldn't have existed in her dictionary.

Esdeath stared at my outstretched hand, then at my eyes through my now-cracked helmet visor. For the first time, I saw something else in her eyes besides sadistic joy or cold superiority. I saw confusion. A deep, pure confusion from a goddess who had just discovered that one of the pillars of her belief had crumbled.

"Why?" she whispered, her usually commanding voice now sounding hesitant. "You have won. Victory gives you the right to conquer, to destroy. That is the law of nature. The strong prey on the weak."

"Maybe in your world," I replied, my voice hoarse with fatigue. "But that... is not my way."

As I said that, the last remnants of the energy I had absorbed from Endeavor's attack vanished. The incredible power that had made me feel like a fire god now evaporated, leaving a painful emptiness. The Incursio armor all over my body creaked, then shattered into thousands of black and red light fragments, disappearing into the air. I fell to my knees, then slumped forward onto the still-hot volcanic ground, my body refusing to move any further. I was completely at her mercy.

She could have killed me right then and there. With a single thrust of an ice sword, she could have ended her greatest threat. But she didn't. She just stood there, staring at my helpless form, as if I were the most complicated puzzle she had ever encountered. My "weak" act of mercy had paralyzed her more effectively than my strongest blow.

On the other side of the ruined island, Endeavor and Hawks finally landed. They stared at the scene before them in disbelief. The entire center of the island had turned into a smoking crater of obsidian glass, with the ocean boiling at its edges. "For God's sake..." Endeavor muttered, even he, the master of fire, was shocked by this level of destruction.

"The kid... did he succeed?" Hawks asked, his sharp eyes scanning the horizon. They saw two faint heat signatures in the middle of the crater. One cold, one dimming hot. The fight was over. They immediately moved toward us.

Meanwhile, Akame's motorboat finally reached the shore of the scorched island. She leaped ashore, Murasame already in her hand. She could feel the two now very weak and unstable Teigu echoes. She ran, her movements swift and silent over the cracked rocks, toward the center of the battle.

At the U.A. command center, a tense silence had enveloped them for the last few minutes. They had watched on the thermal screen as the two extreme energy points destroyed each other, and then... one of them went out. "Tatsumi-kun's vital signs... are very weak," a technician reported, his voice trembling. Ryukyu gripped the arms of her wheelchair so tightly her knuckles turned white.

I lifted my head with great difficulty. Esdeath was still standing there, looking at me. A faint smile began to form on her face, but this smile was different. Not a sadistic smile. It was a smile of pure fascination, the smile of a scientist who had just discovered an impossible new species.

"You are interesting," she said, her voice calm again. "Very interesting. You have the power to kill a god, yet you have the will to show mercy. A beautiful contradiction."

"What... are you going to do now?" I asked, every word a struggle.

She let out a small laugh, a melodious sound amidst the destruction. "Me? I will do what a victor always does." She walked closer. "I will take my prize."

With a surprisingly gentle movement, she lifted my limp body from the ground. "You are mine now, Tatsumi," she whispered, her cold breath near my ear. "I will study every part of you. I will understand that strange power of yours. And maybe, just maybe, I will teach you what true strength means."

This was even worse than death. To become her new 'project', her most precious toy.

Just as she was about to turn and leave with me, three figures appeared at the edge of the smoking caldera. On one side, Endeavor, his flames blazing with anger. On the other, Hawks, with dozens of sharp feathers raised, ready to launch. And in the middle, stood Akame, her red eyes staring at Esdeath with a cold, ancient hatred.

"Let the boy go, villain!" Endeavor roared, releasing a wave of heat.

Esdeath just smiled, easily creating an ice shield to block the attack. "Oh? The new Number One Hero. His fire is quite warm. But you're a few minutes too late. He's mine now."

"Esdeath," Akame said, her voice as sharp as her sword's blade. "You shouldn't be here."

Esdeath's eyes widened slightly upon seeing Akame. "Akame of Night Raid. So you also made it to this strange world. Incredible! This is like a little reunion!"

A tense standoff ensued. Three pro heroes (if you count Akame) against one exhausted but still very dangerous ice goddess. Esdeath looked at them, then at me in her grasp. She knew she couldn't fight them all in her current condition, especially with Akame there, who knew some of her tricks. She made a tactical decision.

She laughed, a laugh that echoed across the ruined island. "Alright, alright! You can have him back..." She gently placed me on the ground. "...for now."

She looked at me one last time, an unspoken promise in her icy blue eyes. "Consider this a declaration. My war is no longer against this weak world." Her gaze shifted to Akame, then to Endeavor. "My war is now to claim him."

With that, she created an intricate ice sculpture of a giant lotus flower around her. The sculpture then exploded into a blinding storm of ice crystals, forcing everyone to close their eyes. When we could see again, she had vanished. Disappeared without a trace.

I lay on the ground, between the three most powerful figures I had ever known. Endeavor, Hawks, and Akame. They all looked at me, no longer as a student or an asset, but as the center of a new, much larger conflict. The strangest and most unstable alliance in the world had just been accidentally formed around me.

Akame was the first to approach. She knelt beside me, checking my wounds with the gaze of an experienced field medic.

She looked at Endeavor and Hawks coldly.

"You two," she said, her voice calm yet filled with an undeniable authority. "Have no idea what you've just faced."