Ch 294: The Elite Seven.

Noah was displaying a gentle smile, one hand resting on Kasumi's and Ayane's heads, as they both gave him a double blowjob.

After two months inside the Sanctuary, Noah had completed their training, and the two sisters had fully accepted their places as his sex slaves. They now looked up at him lovingly as they strove to give him the best blowjob they could.

The outcome wasn't ever in doubt, but the thing that really made them break, paradoxically, were each other. The shame of being seen doing lewd things by the person they held the most dear had been too much, and after two weeks, they had let go of their pride completely.

After that, they had quickly succumbed to the pleasure, and Noah's many small gestures of affection during and between the training sessions had started nurturing in them feelings of dependence and love.

Now, they wore with pride the outfits Noah selected for them. Today, he had dressed them in matching sleeveless red latex leotards with cutouts for their breasts, and red latex stockings and opera gloves. Black leathers cuffs keeping their hands behind their backs and black leather collars completed the simple but sexy outfits.

Noah's cock twitched. He was getting close now, and the girls increased their efforts further. He came into Ayane's mouth, and she didn't swallow immediately. Instead, she kissed her sister, sharing his load with Kasumi.

Kasumi swallowed, and engulfed his head to suck every last drop, while Ayane licked his shaft, starting to clean him.

"You were great, Kazumi, Ayane." smiled Noah as he rubbed their heads gently.

"Thank you, Master." smiled the girls.

"Alright." said Noah, standing. "Let's take a shower, and then I will make you sign the slave contracts. I trust you have no more objections."

The girls shook their heads.

"And once we are done, I want both of you to meet Aria and start training her. You are rather her type, Kasumi, Ayane, so I'm sure she will like you both."

"Training another woman, master? I am not sure I have enough experience to do it well." said Kasumi as they entered the bathroom.

"Don't worry. Aria had lived there for some time, and she already agreed to become my slave. The only issue is that she's a lesbian. So I want you both to nurture in her a strong taste for sexual submission before I get myself involved. She'll have a safe word she can use if something goes wrong. You will report to me every evening about your progress, and I will give you instructions if needed."

"Understood, Master. Will we have access to all the tools you used on us?" asked Kasumi.

"Yes. You will have one of the dungeon rooms all to yourselves."

"Yes, Master." nodded Ayane. "You showed us all kinds of plays. Which should we do with her, Master? What kind of fetish to you want us to train her toward?"

"Let her choose." said Noah as he started undressing them.

"You are quite generous with her, Master. More than you were with us." said Kasumi.

"Does that make you jealous?" smiled Noah.

"Not really, Master. I now look fondly at my training. All of it."

"I am glad to hear it. Now to answer your question, Aria may have agreed to become my slave for her own reasons, but she's also a fellow Champion. She will still be my equal in some ways even after she's fully trained."

"I understand, Master." nodded Kasumi.

"Good. And while I think we are both happy with how things turned out, I will remind you that I offered you a choice at the beginning. If you had agreed to become my maid back then, your training might have been very different."

"Well, I have no regrets." shrugged Kasumi. Noah finished striping the girls, and they entered the shower together.

…

While the kunoichi siblings searched for Aria, Noah strolled around the island, greeting the many girls he saw in passing and chatting a little with each of them. His destination was one of the palaces added by Lilith with the latest expansion.

"Master? Misaka is happy to see you. Have you come to check on our progress?" asked Misaka 12545, wearing a burgundy latex bodysuit under her maid uniform. She had found him about to enter the palace and used Shunpo to stop near him.

"Yes, Misaka. How are you doing?" smiled Noah.

"Misaka is doing fine. Misaka is being a Good Girl. Please follow Misaka." smiled Misaka.

Noah nodded and followed behind her. As they walked, he ran two of his fingers along her spine, and she shuddered, then turned to him.

"I remember doing that when I played with you that night, you know?" grinned Noah.

"You remember?" asked Misaka, shocked.

"Yes. Just because I had sex with a lot of Sisters, don't mean that I do not remember each of you as individuals. I remember each of your reactions when I played with you. Although I have to thank Lilith for giving me a near perfect memory."

"M-Master!" yelped Misaka, jumping on him and hugging him fiercely.

More bodysuit-wearing Sisters started to teleport near him.

"No! Stop! We're not doing that again." said Noah firmly.

"Misaka will behave herself." nodded Misaka 17423. She still hugged him, as did the other three Sisters, but the others didn't come.

"Good Girls." nodded Noah.

"Misaka will resume the tour." nodded Misaka 12545, and he nodded. Noah walked down to the second basement, escorted by the five Sisters. One of them opened the first room, and Noah saw eight Sisters inside, all dressed in leather or latex bodysuits, corsets and boots. Each of them was hovering around a bound and gagged woman. The bound women all wore a variety of latex outfits and were tied to the room's furniture. Those who weren't blindfolded stared at him with pleading expressions as they were pleasured against their wills, by the Sisters' hands, or by various toys.

The Sisters in the room curtsied to him before resuming their task.

"How many are being trained?" asked Noah, admiring the view.

"Misaka has kept an exact count. Three hundred twelve Electro Cicin. Two hundred sixteen Cryo Cicin. One hundred ninety-three Water Maidens. More are found and subdued each day, but it is starting to become more difficult. Their total number in the Mondstadt and Liyue regions is likely less than a thousand. They are also starting to notice. Some were hiding or trying to return to their homeland." said Misaka 12545.

"Good job." smiled Noah, before noticing something. He walked inside the room to one of the captives. The girl, bound to a Saint-Andrew cross while wearing an ice blue latex bodysuit and chastity belt, trembled.

"Hi." smiled Noah.

"A-Are you…"

"This is your Master, show him due respect, slave." cut in Misaka 19503 with a firm tone.

"G-Greetings, m-master."

"How old are you, exactly? You look a bit young for being in a place like this." said Noah, dreading the answer. The petite girl had a very cute face, with sapphire eyes and a bob of light blue hair, but she looked like she was in her fifteens.

"E-Eighteen… master." said the girl, and Noah breathed in relief.

"Good. And what is your name?" smiled Noah.

"Verona, master."

"Nice to meet you, Verona. When your training is over, ask your trainer to bring you to me, if I am available." said Noah. "And from now on, you are not to pull a hood over your head or wear a mask while you are in this island. Your face is too cute to hide."

Verona nodded, and Noah patted her head once before walking away. he heard Misaka 19503 praise Verona for having gained the Master's notice.

"How far along is everyone's training?" asked Noah when he left the room.

"It varies, Master." said Misaka 12545. "Some have just recently been captured. Even for the first wave of candidates, few have already broken enough for us to present them before Master. Misaka thinks they will require several weeks of training, at least, to be properly submissive and learn sexual techniques to be worthy of Master's time."

"Good. I am not pressing you for time. Since things seem to be doing well in those two regions, I will start on my little scheme to extend our influence to the Inazuma region." said Noah.

"Should Misaka prepare for a hostile takeover?" asked Misaka 12545.

"…Start some discreet information gathering, but do not let the locals suspect we are preparing anything. What I have in mind will not require any military-style action if it succeeds, but there's always the chance it will fail and require a more forceful approach."

"Misaka understands, Master."

"Keep up with our daily routine, and do not overwork yourselves. Take plenty of rest time, girls. I do not want any of you to burn out."

"Yes, Master." smiled the Sisters.

"Good Girls."

Noah gave each of them a sloppy kiss, then teleported back into his own palace, finding an empty room.

…

"Contact, ten-o-clock, Takina." suddenly said Chisato.

"I see them." nodded Takina, spotting two riders far in the distance. They weren't human, and their mounts weren't horses.

"Finally, we can put an end to this farce." sighed Chisato. "Let's shorten the distance with the witches."

"We should wait until the demons start attacking before we reveal ourselves, Chisato. Don't leave them any chance to argue that it's somehow our fault, that we provoked the demons."

"Yes."

As the two riders came closer to the witches, Chisato and Takina saw more details. The mounts were some kind of stout four-legged reptiles, dark gray in color and four-meter longs. They once had wings, but those had been cruelly clipped to keep them to the ground.

The riders were tall, well over two meters, with dark blue skin. Their heads were covered by the skulls of some large animal, and they had a quiver stuffed with crude stone-tipped spears on their backs.

The witches had noticed them to, and most looked intimidated. One of them, a cute girl with orange hair, put her hands on the ground, and the ground in front of her became a swamp, five meters wide and fifteen meters long.

Chisato and Takina deactivated their invisibility. The witches didn't notice them.

Cara stepped forward as she waved her arms, shouting at the demons that they were Witches with an ecstatic expression, and ordering the demons to bring them to their Mistresses.

Her answer was a spear, propelled at the speed of a bullet.

Chisato didn't know what shocked Cara more, the fact that a demon had just tried to kill her, or the translucent golden shield that had appeared in front of her, saving her from impalement.

The witches started to scream in fear, but Nightingale and Wendy quickly took command, restoring some sort of order. A few stepped forward, fireball or water ball or Ice spike in hand, while most huddled together on the back.

The demons obviously saw the swamp and their mounts slowed down, but the demons spurred them and forced them forward anyway. As the mounts jumped into the swamp with reluctant screeches, the demons jumped off their backs, cross the swamp area and landing close enough to the witch that had made it to reach for her.

"Noo!" shouted the terrified witch, falling on her backside in her panic.

Then a beam of light struck the demon's head from the side, piercing through it.

The other demon made a guttural roar as he turned toward Chisato and Takina, his right arm holding another spear. The muscles of his arm bulged abnormally, and when he threw the spear, Takina used a slanted light shield to deflect it away.

Chisato turned her magic gun toward it and fired three shots, aiming at the upper torso just under the neck. On a human being, this area was called the "sniper's triangle", as it was heavily vascularized, all but guaranteeing death even with medical assistance at hand. At least one of the shots must have damaged the demon's spine as it collapsed instantly and didn't move, dark blue blood gushing from the wounds.

"So, do you believe us now?" asked Chisato as they walked closer to the witches.

Most of them nodded, gulping in mixed fear and relief.

"Thank you, Takina, Chisato. Without you, some of us, at least, would be dead." sighed Nightingale.

"Yes, some among you would have died." sighed Chisato, not without sympathy.

Takina created a pair of Light swords and killed the mounts that were tried to get away, then used golden chains to drag them out of the swamp.

"We'll take those to Prince Roland and study the corpses to determine where the demons' vital organs are, and so on. It will be useful information for the upcoming war." said Takina as she transferred the corpses to her spatial ring.

"And now, you guys need to choose." said Chisato. "You can still follow this delusional fool and walk deeper into Demon territory. But the next time they find you, we won't be there to save you. Or you can follow us back in Border Town, and help us create a city, then a nation where witches will be able to live without fear."

"I'll go with you!" declared Lightning, still floating a meter above ground.

"I will, too." nodded Nightingale before turning to the other witches. "Everyone, you know that I can detect lies. Chisato and Takina really are truthful when they say we can live in peace in Border Town. They promised me that they would turn on Prince Roland if he mistreated us, and you have just seen how strong they are. If you trust me at all, please follow us to Border Town. Do not throw your lives away."

The witch that had created the swamp nodded, glanced at Cara for a second, then sighted.

"You could have let our Respected Mentor die from that spear. Why did you save her? If she had died, wouldn't it be easier for you to convince us to follow you?"

"It would have been." acknowledged Takina with a nod. "But you would have soon figured out that we could have saved her and chose not to, and we didn't want that to create resentment between us."

Cara didn't say anything for once. She looked to be still in shock that she almost just died.

The witch who had just asked this question looked at another, and they both nodded.

"We'll follow you."

This started the avalanche, and they all agreed. Cara still didn't say anything. They started walking back toward Border Town. Takina and Chisato both saw Cara join the group, silently walking at its rear, but they didn't say anything about it.

…

"We have a lead! Get ready, everyone!" shouted Gozuki as he called out from downstairs.

"Finally!" exclaimed Cornelia, dropped her cards on the table and standing up. Poney, Akame and Tsukushi had been playing cards with candies as the currency. In seconds, they gathered on the first floor in front of Gozuki with Gai, Najasho and Green.

"Have we found them, Dad?" eagerly asked Poney.

"Yes. There was a commotion in the estate of a noble. A patrol of guards heard it, and they saw the two women in the wanted poster leaving it."

"They are getting pretty reckless, are they not? Hitting targets night after night despite their wanted posters being everywhere…" exclaimed Cornelia.

"It's obvious their ego is getting the better off them. The guards were smart enough to hide rather than confront them, and have followed the women to an abandoned factory in the nineteenth's sector. There should still be there."

"An abandoned factory?" frowned Gai.

"Likely one slotted for dismantling or repurposing. I didn't bother asking." shrugged Gozuki. "Whatever the killers' motives, we need to get there before they notice they have been followed. It's about two kilometers away. Let's go, everyone!"

They nodded and set off, running at an easy jog.

"Father, won't it be an issue if the guards see our faces." frowned Najasho.

"The captain of the patrol was smart enough to not attempt to stake the place. They probably would have been spotted. He gave his superiors the location, and they gave it to us. But the guards themselves have returned to their normal patrol route. They won't see us."

"I understand, Father." nodded Najasho. "But this means there is a chance our targets will be already gone by the time we reach that place."

"It's possible." nodded Gozuki. "It also may be a trap. Maybe they knew they were being followed and are ready to ambush whoever will come after them. My children, we will need to be careful.

"Of course, Father." said Akame.

…

"Thank you. We are going." nodded Babara as the messenger nodded and left discreetly.

With a vigorous stride that contradicted her frail appearance, she entered the house that had been prepared for them by the Revolutionary Army.

"It is time. The Imperial have just found out the location of those women. An abandoned meat factory, four kilometers away. They are about to hit it. I do not know if we'll reach it before or after the Elite Seven."

"Understood." said Bulat, standing along with the other members of Night Raid, as well as Taeko and Chelsea. Moments later, they were jumping from rooftop to rooftop, their training allowing them to minimize the noises they made.

…

"Eight people are coming from the south. Martial artists, not average soldiers." said Okita as she materialized near them.

"Did you identify Akame or Kurome? asked Miwa, standing from the sofa they had installed in the middle of the factory.

"One fits Noah's description of Akame, but none of them can be Kurome. The leader is a middle-aged man, the other seven, four women and three men, are barely adults. Some of them are equipped with strange weapons."

"Alright, let's go meet our guests. They have taken the bait at last." smiled Miwa, and Darkness and Nero nodded. They walked into the factory's courtyard at an unhurried pace, stopping near its center just as some of the group jumped over the factory's fence.

Miwa saw the middle-aged man with semi-long white hair, a katana with a red hilt hanging from its waist. Her eyes trained in the detection of curses, perceived a faint black aura coming from that katana. Noah's information had included a comment about a cursed blade named 'Murasame', although it was supposed to be Akame's weapon.

One step behind him were one blonde man with a sword that had a reptilian eye in between the blade and the hilt, a woman with long wavy blonde hair whose right hand and forearm was covered by a bulky silver gauntlet looking a little like a boxing glove, and a young man with thin glasses wearing another gauntlet tipped with a spear blade.

"It seems we were spotted on our way in. How careless of us." smirked the man as they stopped twenty meters from Miwa and her companions.

"You were." nodded Miwa, a hand resting on the hilt of her own katana, her legs slightly spread in a ready posture. "And your other four companions can show themselves. Before we start, how about we introduce ourselves? I am Miwa Kasumi. Nice to meet you."

"I am Darkness Enfield." Said Darkness proudly, drawing her steel sword from its sheath.

"Okita Souji." said Okita, her eyes scanning her surroundings.

"Umu! I am Nero Claudius!" grinned Nero, materializing her red jagged sword and making a single figure eight with it, producing an intimidating whooshing sound. "I was eagerly waiting for a worthy opponent!"

"Fair enough. You should at least know the names of the ones who are about to torture and kill you. This is basic courtesy." nodded the middle-aged man.

"I am Gozuki. One of the four Rakshasa Demons. And those are my children, Najasho, Cornelia, and Green. The others are a little shy."

"You children, you say?" snorted Darkness, her voice full of disdain. "Or the survivors of over a hundred children that you forcibly sent into a forest full of predators just to see who would survive?"

Gozuki lost his smile, while Cornelia, Najasho and Green stiffened.

"Now where did you hear this, I wonder. I will make sure you tell me before the night is over."

"Well, Gozuki, I have some good news and bad news for you." nodded Miwa. "The good news is that we will not kill any of your 'children'. We will only capture them, then show them the true colors of the empire they fight to protect. The bad news is that you, we will kill. You are simply irredeemable."

"Ah! I want to see you try." laughed Gozuki. Then, let's start." Gozuki made a hand signal, and several things seemed to happen at once.

The ground behind Nero burst open, a tall, fit man covered in a strange suit jumping from the newly formed hole. He tried to slash at Nero's back with his clawed gauntlets, only to receive a kick in the abdomen sending him flying a dozen meters away.

There was a muzzle flash on Darkness's right, and she saw the bullet coming on a trajectory that should have missed them by a large margin. But the bullet's course curved mid-flight, coming at her from an angle that would cause any observer to misjudge the shooter's position. Darkness simply grabbed the bullet when it reached her and threw it on the ground.

A young woman with red eyes and long black hair, emerged from behind a crate and sprinted toward Okita from the right, while another with long brown hair and no visible weapons came from their left, targeting Darkness.

…

Darkness, the only one among the four who had received Noah's shared abilities, activated Augment. Not that she really needed it.

There had been a time when she had been weak. Unable to hit the door of a barn, as Noah once described, and not without reason. But that time was over. In Chaldea, she had been the one to train with Scathach the most. And not only because of how much she 'appreciated' Scathach's strict training.

The trust and affection Akeno and Noah had shown her had lit a fire in her soul, and she had worked hard to overcome her weakness, to prove to them that their feelings hadn't been misplaced. That she wasn't just the woman that Marcus, Loki's Champion, had selected only because he had a slot to fill, not expecting anything of her.

She had trained and trained, earning Scathach's respect, and bought upgrades and skills from her own System store.

In addition to Augment, Darkness activated her Body Strengthening, further boosting her attributes. When the brown-haired girl reached her, delivering a spinning kick to her head with a speed and momentum that would likely decapitate a normal person, Darkness calmly seized the ankle of the incoming leg, stopping the attack cold, and threw the girl on the ground. She grabbed the girl's wrists before she could push herself off the ground and took heavy steel shackles from her inventory, previously created in preparation for the confrontation against the Elite Seven.

It took her less than a second to bind the girl's wrist behind her back, and she swatted away another bullet. She used Shunpo to reappear near the shooter, a young woman with neck-length, light brown hair holding a revolver.

"Whaa!" blurted out the girl, shocked to see her enemy suddenly so close.

Darkness tore the revolver from the girl's hand, seized her wrists and shackled her as well without her being able to fight back effectively. Darkness grabbed the struggling girl and used Shunpo again to return near the first girl, who had just got to her feet and jumped toward Darkness, trying to surprise her with a knee to the face.

Darkness stopped the incoming knee with her free hand, and mere seconds later, the two girls' ankles were shackled as well.

"Behave yourselves, or I will add blindfolds and gags to your bonds." said Darkness.

"You monster! How can you be so fast? And grab bullets with your mere hands?" exclaimed the one with shorter hair.

"Explanations later." replied Darkness, checking with the others, but they didn't seem to be in trouble.

…

Nero leaned to the side to avoid a thrust from the clawed gauntlet of the man wearing the strange suit, seized his wrist, pulling him out of balance, and kicked his stomach again, in an upward swing this time that caused his feet to leave the ground.

The man gasped, some blood escaping from his mouth, and Nero chopped at his neck, knocking him unconscious.

"Gai!" shouted the blonde woman, Cornelia, mixing kicks and thrusts with both hands.

Nero evaded confidently but was still caught by surprise when Cornelia dislocated her elbow joint to gain some reach, and the gauntlet caused a shockwave that hit Nero's chest, propelling her a few meters backward.

"Umu! That was a good punch!" grinned Nero fiercely before closing the distance again. Cornelia, her face distorted in anger and a bit of anxiety, tried the same attack again, this time also dislocating her shoulder, the front part of her silver gauntlet also extending to reach a range of almost three meters, but Nero deflected the blow away with the flat of her sword as she suddenly dashed forward, and sunk her left fist into Cornelia's stomach, paralyzing her for a brief instant. A neck chop later, and she, too, collapsed.

Nero quickly brought Cornelia, then Gai to Darkness, who checked on them to make sure they weren't seriously injured, and put more shackles on them.

"Cora! Gai! If you killed them, I'll…" exclaimed the girl who specialized in kicks.

"They are fine. Just taking a nap." said Darkness.

"You won't get away with this! Father will kill you all!"

"Do you want a gag?" cut in Darkness, shutting her up. "Just observe the rest of the fight. We'll have many opportunities to speak later."

The girl glared at Darkness for a few seconds, then watched the rest of her companions be soundly defeated with a sinking expression.

…

As she slipped once again out of Green's attempt to ensnare her with the strange, five centimeters thick, spear-tipped cable protruding from his gauntlet, Miwa returned in her Iai stance and slashed another time in the same spot in the cable where she already had made a cut.

A third slash, and the cable was completely severed, greatly diminishing Green's combat effectiveness.

"Damn it!" shouted Green in frustration.

Najasho, who has stepped away to not be caught in Green's attempt, gave a quick glance around, and was dismayed to see Poney, Tsukushi, Gai and Cornelia already down and in restraints. With Green's weapon heavily damaged, only himself, Akame, and Gozuki were still fully able to fight. He decided to use his trump card, pressing the hilt's bottom of his sword against his left forearm.

His sword, the Water-Dragon Sword, possessed four fangs at the hilt, and they bit into his flesh, absorbing some of his blood before letting go of his forearm and activating its special ability. Najasho's hair grew past his shoulder blades, and his pupils changed to become like those of a snake or dragon. His strength, speed and perception were drastically improved.

He had to settle the fight quickly, as the boost only lasted three minutes and would leave him drastically weakened once it ran out.

Miwa noted that Najasho had become a lot more dangerous, but she, too, was a Champion, and just like Darkness, she had not spent her time in Chaldea lazing around.

"Domain Expansion." declared Miwa. She became hyperaware of everything happening within thirty meters of her, and as someone who had pushed her Iaijutsu to its limits, she could cut anything within that range nearly instantly.

She made her move, coating the blade of her sword with her mana.

An outside observer would have blinked as he noticed Miwa's right arm move, the sword starting to leave its sheath, but the same move happening in reverse immediately after, so fast that he would have wondered if he had only imagined seeing it move.

At the same time, a dozen bright blue lines appeared around the Water Dragon Sword, all interesting around the same spot on the blade, and the blade shattered. An animal screech escaped the broken sword, but was abruptly cut off, and Najasho's transformation was reversed.

As he glanced down at his broken weapon with dawning despair, Najasho didn't see Miwa suddenly disappear, and the impact of a sheath on his neck brought him to his knees, darkness creeping in. He gritted her teeth, fighting against it, but a second blow claimed his consciousness.

…

Akame was now afraid for her friends and fought desperately. Her companions were quickly falling, and she couldn't defeat her own opponent, despite their Father also participating in the fight. Okita was simply too fast, her fighting style too strange.

She already had a few welts on her arms and legs. Welts that would be bleeding gashes if her opponent wasn't going easy on them and held her sword in reverse to hit her with the blunt side.

Gozuki was getting angry, and had started using his body in ways Akame didn't think was possible. Gozuki's arms lenghtened by several meters, his hair extended like sharp tentacles.

Okita was responding by moving around to force Akame between her and Gozuki, and Akame noticed that Okita was repeatedly striking the same area of her own sword. If this kept up, her weapon would break. This made her more careful, and she deliberately extended or retracted her sword when she felt a counter coming.

"So you noticed." said Okita between her strikes and counters. "You have great potential, Akame. but your style is unrefined, your killing intent too obvious. I wonder how strong you will become, ten years from now."

"How do you know my name?" asked Akame.

"That's a secret. And…"

Gozuki finally managed to land a hit, causing a scratch on Okita's left forearm.

"Finally! Now matter how strong Akame become, you won't be there to see it!" gloated Gozuki.

"What makes you… Oh that cursed sword." frowned Okita as she saw black marks spreading from the wound.

Akame sighed in relief, knowing that there was no cure for the sure-death curse of Murasame. There were now only three enemies to deal with, and…

Okita suddenly reappeared near Darkness, who touched her with a blue glow coming from her hand, and… the black marks disappeared!

Akame's uneasiness grew. It wasn't just because Okita had somehow escaped the curse, but also… she felt like a prey under the gaze of a predator. Following her instinct, she turned her head to her right and up, and saw a group of people observing from a nearby rooftop, looking down at them with varying levels of hostility. She recognized some of them from wanted posters she had seen before.

"Father! Night Raid is here!" warned Akame.

"…It really was an ambush after all." said Gozuki after spotting the watchers.

"Night raid?" said Okita, looking surprised. "Miwa, we need to end this now."

"Understood." replied Miwa, walking closer.

"Domain expansion." said Miwa for the second time.

For the second time, her sword arm became a fleeting blur, and lines of remanent mana appeared all around Gozuki. His body was instantly cut into a dozen pieces, and his expression turned into shock before going slack.

"Father!" shouted Akame in shock just before something hit her nape, and she lost consciousness.

…

"Unbelievable." muttered Mine. They had reached the factory while the fight was already underway, and only four of those she suspected were part of the Elite Seven were still standing. The two young women named Darkness and Miwa, as well as their two allies, had completely dominated the fight despite their assailants clearly being strong.

The white-haired man had turned out to be particularly dangerous and tricky with his strange inhuman moves, to the point that she doubted fighting him at close range would have been safe even for them.

"That… was something." gulped Leone, impressed. "They can move so fast, and…" her words trailed off when the four women, having finished restraining the seven young men and women, had done something, and their captives instantly disappeared!

Then the one with long light blue hair who was apparently named Miwa waved at them in greeting and waited.

"It seems they are willing to talk to us. And we need to inquire about their intentions." said Babara. She wanted more than ever to invite them into her Oarburgh family.

With a few agile steps, she reached the factory's courtyard, her disciples and the members of Night Raid following her cautiously.

"Hello, young ladies. We had come to deal with those people, and possibly help you, but it seems that we didn't have to worry. My name is Babara, of the Oarburgh family."

"Hello." smiled Miwa with a polite nod. "Thank you for your concern and willingness to help. My Name is Miwa Kasumi, and those are my friends, Nero Claudius, Okita Souji, and Darkness Enfield."

Nero, Okita and Darkness nodded in greeting, and each of Babara's companions did the same.

"I couldn't help but notice that you were careful to capture most of those Imperial assassins." said Babara. "May I know what you intend to do with them?"

"Why do you wish to know?" asked Miwa.

"Because my Oarburgh family was hired by the Revolutionary Army to kill them. They have killed a lot of their members and informants over the last few years."

"I see… I am sorry, but I cannot let you kill them." replied Miwa. "According to our information, those seven honestly believe that they work for the good of the people, fighting for peace and so on." said Miwa. "We intend to make them understand exactly how rotten this country is, and then have them join our faction. They will repent for their past crimes by fighting for the right side this time around."

"And what faction do you represent?"

"We do not have an official name." shrugged Miwa. "Our main objective is to find and kill something comparable to a Danger Beast, a very strong one. "While we wait for it to be found, we want to do something about the Empire's corruption, kill prime minister Honest, and capture or kill general Esdeath. I do not want to appear like boasting, but I think that with tonight's event, we made some significant progress in that regard."

"I think you can say that, yes." chuckled Babara. "Regarding those seven, if you manage it, that is an outcome I think my employers can readily accept. But how do you intend to ensure they do not just pretend to switch to your side and then run or stick a knife between your ribs? They are trained assassins."

"We have our ways." shrugged Miwa, looking around. "Would you mind if we relocate between continuing the conversation? We made some noise."

"That would be a good idea. This place will soon crawl with guards." nodded Babara.

Miwa nodded, once again taking the Sanctuary from her inventory. She sent everyone inside but Okita and herself, and quickly picked up the weapons laying on the improvised battlefield.

"Please take it and go to the woods near the capital, Okita." said Miwa, handing her the Sanctuary.

"Understood." smiled Okita before Miwa entered inside.

Darkness was busy telling the members of Oarburgh and Night Raid about the Sanctuary. Air, Fal and Luna were standing near, intensely curious, but not daring coming too close.

"Okita is moving us away." said Miwa. "Darkness, can you make tea for everyone, please? I need to check on the captives and confiscate their special equipment, like that suit the mole guy still wears."

"Yes." nodded Darkness, and Miwa descended into the basement. They had modified it heavily these last few days, transforming it from a BDSM dungeon to a proper prison. All seven prisoners were in the same large cell, now awake, and still shackled. They glared at her hatefully.

"You killed our father!" spat the blonde one, Cornelia.

"I did." nodded Miwa, entering the cell. "Just like you killed many fathers and mothers during your careers as Imperial assassins. You get to taste some of the pain and anguish you have spread around. I am going to remove from your bodies anything that remotely could be used as a weapon. Please do not make this more difficult than it had to be. Let's start with you. Your name is Gai, if I heard correctly?"

"Yes." glared the young man, standing. "What are you going to do with us? Torture us?"

"No." replied Miwa, removing the strange hood covering Gai's head, then searching and finding the fastenings of his suit. "In a while, we will come back and separate you into two cells facing each other, one for the men and one for the girls. You will still be able to check on each other and speak to each other easily. You will get three meals a day and won't be tortured or hurt, as long as you behave yourselves. We'll give you fresh clothes as well."

"What do you want from us?" demanded Akame.

"I will tell you in a few days. But you saw the members of Night Raid and Oarburgh, right?"

"Oarburgh?" gasped Cornelia.

"You know them?" frowned Gai.

"You should remember them, you dunce." sighed Najasho. "They are one of the most feared groups of assassins. And one of the most expensive. Hiring them almost require the target's weight in gold!"

"The Revolutionary Army had hired both Oarburgh and Night Raid to deal with you guys, it seems. You must have been quite the thorn on their sides. They heard that you were after us, and the hunter became the hunted. You guys are actually lucky that we defeated you before they joined the fight."

At some point, Miwa had to remove Gai's wrist shackles, but she kept a firm grip on his thumbs, and he quickly gave up on trying to use the opportunity. Miwa shackled him again, removed the suit completely, stripping him to his underwear, then created some clothes that she could put on him without removing the shackles again. She then removed the remnants of Green's and Cornelia's gauntlets, and quickly patted their bodies for cancelled weapons. She didn't find any.

"Alright, I'm done. I'll be back later." nodded Miwa, leaving the cell and locking the door behind her.

Miwa left the basement and found everyone else in the living room.

"What did I miss?" asked Miwa, sitting on an empty spot near Nero.

"Darkness told them about us being Agents, and the other worlds. She showed off a few videos on her smartphone as proof." replied Nero.

"I see."

"This is all so fascinating, to learn about flying machines and devices allowing to talk with people thousands of kilometers away." smiled Babara. "But it seems that we need to protect you until this Demonic Pillar of yours is found, or our world will be destroyed."

"That isn't quite correct." shrugged Miwa. "If we die, Chaldea will send another team. We will not let this world be destroyed, no matter what happens to us."

"I am relieved to hear it." nodded Babara, who smiled slyly. "And I do not suppose any of you would be willing to join my family, at least while you are here? I think we can learn a lot from each other."

Miwa watched Cheslea's and Taeko's reaction as she considered Babara's offer. Taeko looked eager. Chelsea was more reserved, as is she wanted to object or warn Miwa, but didn't dare to. Some of Night Raid's members shifted on their seats.

"I would like to hear from Night Raid before I give you an answer." said Miwa.

"Great, we get our chance." grinned Leone. "I'll be blunt. We love that you killed corrupt scumbags. Before we met, the more we heard about your actions, the more we wanted to invite you into Night Raid. I also think we'd be a better fit for you guys. The guys from Oarburgh are very skilled, but they accept missions from anyone who can pay regardless of ideology."

"Death comes for all people, young and old, good and evil." nodded Babara, quoting her family's motto.

"Yes. I do not think you would want to work with the Empire as your client." said Bulat.

"And now that we have met? Do you still want for us to join you?" asked Darkness.

"More than ever." nodded Bulat.

Miwa nodded and thought for a few seconds. She wanted to keep Taeko and Chelsea within arms' reach. She was less driven than Akeno and Sakura about adding attractive women to Noah's faction, but she still felt some pressure to do her part and gain his favor, since Noah was such a hot guy. Even more handsome than Gojo-kun! Then she got an idea.

"If your leader agrees to it, we would be glad to join Night Raid temporarily. I will be honest and say that the Gods we work for mentioned Night Raid as a potential allied organization. That being said, I have a suggestion that might benefit everyone."

"Chelsea, Taeko, would you be willing to become our disciples for a while? Before we leave this world, we will give you a choice to come with us and become Agents yourselves or return to Oarburgh. And Babara, I would give you something in compensation for potentially poaching your disciples. Something that only we Agents can obtain by trading some of the favor we accrued by working for deities. A de-aging medicine that would bring you back to your prime."

"Such a thing really exist?" asked Babara.

"The Gods routinely create whole worlds and populate them. They can erase from existence the strongest Danger Beasts with a mere thought. For them, making any miraculous medicine is nothing."

"If the Gods are that strong, why are they tolerating people like Prime Minister Honest?" frowned Mine. "Isn't that cruel of them to do nothing and watch us suffer?"

"They have a policy of not taking direct action, unless something drastic like the destruction of a world is imminent and can't be prevented by the people living there. They want to leave people some free will, which is generally a good thing, but can also lead to excesses, like this rotten empire. And they like to watch us." shrugged Miwa. "After living for millions upon millions of years, I assume they do not have many hobbies left to catch their interest."

Mine nodded reluctantly. She clearly didn't approve, but we willing to let it slide for now.

Chelsea glanced at Babara, searching for signs of refusal of Miwa's offer, and found none. She nodded to Miwa.

"I would be interested, if Babara allows it."

"…I do. Taeko, I think it would also benefit you to learn their techniques."

"As you wish." nodded Taeko.

"I do not mind Taeko and Chelsea temporarily joining us, and I think Najenda would agree, but we will have to switch to a secondary location. We can't have members of Oarburgh know about our main base. I hope you'll understand" said Bulat.

"Of course." smiled Chelsea, and Taeko nodded.

Miwa opened her system store, paid 5000 contribution points, and received the de-aging medicine in her inventory, a glowing green pill inside a little wooden box.

"There." smiled Miwa as she gave the box to Babara. She opened it, took the pill, sniffed it carefully, tentatively ran her tongue over it. After a few seconds, apparently satisfied it didn't seem poisoned, she swallowed it.

And her body started to change. Her deep wrinkles started disappearing, the marks on her skin fading. In less than a minute, she looked in her early twenties, with long blonde hair.

Babara stared in wonder at her hands, now covered in soft, supple skin.

Smiling, Miwa took a mirror from her inventory and lent it to Babara who took it with faintly trembling hands.

"It really worked..." breathed Chelsea, her eyes wide.

"Yes. We have no reason to deceive you." shrugged Miwa, lying with a straight face. She had a reason, and she was already deceiving them to an extent.

Okita returned.

"I have hidden the Sanctuary in the woods, but one of us should remain outside, just in case." said Okita, before blinking at Babara's appearance and raising an eyebrow at Miwa.

"Yes." smiled Miwa. "We have just reached an agreement. Chelsea and Taeko will temporarily stay with us as our disciples, and we will join Night Raid until we find the Demonic Pillar."

"That's good." smiled Okita. "I wish to spar with each of you."

"Ahah, I think you'd be disappointed with me." awkwardly laughed Chelsea. "I specialize in infiltration and reconnaissance, not combat. That is Taeko's thing."

"Hum. I look forward to it, too. The fight I saw earlier was… impressive." smiled Taeko.

On the side, Darkness smiled with satisfaction, pleased with Miwa's scheme and its results. She had called Noah once again to obtain more information, and knew he had a soft spot for Chelsea. There was no way Darkness would let her go.

…

Babara said goodbye to Taeko, Chelsea and the others, then started running through the woods at a speed she hadn't been able to reach in a long time. She had missed this so much.

She would need a few days to reach the Oarburgh's main base and report to Merraid, the current Head, and see a few familiar faces. She looked forward to seeing their reactions. Surely, they would think that the young Babara was in fact Chelsea using her Teigu to change her appearance.

And she didn't doubt for an instant that once Mera heard what she had to say about those four young women, about their talent, beauty, and understated charisma, the raging lesbian and man-hater would take a very keen interest in them. She would surely make her own move.