"I'm not interested in women. I'm no longer single, and I have a man I love. Oh, and I'm not a virgin anymore either." Esdeath said that with a proud expression on her face.
"!!!"
Merraid looked shocked; she clenched her fists tightly, and her expression looked a little grim.
"Who… Who's the man who tricked you, Esdeath!?"
Chelsea and Taeko fell silent.
They felt like Merraid was someone with a broken heart. Did she like Esdeath that much?
But Esdeath seemed to have forgotten her or didn't recognize her at all. She looked at Merraid indifferently.
"Eiji didn't tricked me, and you'll meet him later." The implication of Esdeath's words was clear—she was extremely confident she'd capture her opponent alive.
Even so, Merraid focused on something else she had said. "So his name is Eiji. I'll definitely take you away from him, Esdeath."
[This woman really needs to be set straight. She's also naive to think she can take Esdeath away from me.]
[I hope Esdeath also tells her that something like that could never happen. Chelsea and Taeko are actually my women, too—they're members of my harem.]
Eiji indirectly hinted at this to Esdeath. And as expected of one of his prospective wives, she understood what he wanted.
"That's impossible. I love Eiji so much, and I can't live without him. By the way, these two women are also his women. Just like me, they're members of his harem."
[Well said, Esdeath!]
Eiji's inner voice indicated that he was also listening to their conversation.
Chelsea and Taeko's lips twitched.
"Harem!? Esdeath, how could you stoop so low for a man? Chelsea, Taeko, are you two also joining that guy named Eiji's harem!?"
Merraid shot Esdeath a disbelieving glance. She shifted her gaze to the two women who had once been members of her organization. But now? Her beautiful face looked gloomy; she was deeply jealous of Eiji.
Not only did Eiji seduce her first love, Esdeath. That man had also seduced Chelsea and Taeko. He had taken them away from her.
Eiji felt a little satisfied seeing Merraid's reaction.
In the original work, she and Esdeath had actually met at a martial arts tournament when they were still very young. Both of them were able to defeat adults. When they faced each other in the finals, Merraid acknowledged that Esdeath was stronger than her and admitted defeat.
However, she also fell in love with her.
Even though Esdeath was a woman.
She followed her to a forest where she was camping and tried to seduce her. However, Esdeath rejected her and was ready to fight her again if she pressed the issue.
At that moment, Merraid gave up and left. Years later, she founded an organization called Oarburgh and recruited many beautiful women as members.
That's where she is now.
"Merraid, don't talk as if I belonged to you before. I'm just a former member of your organization." Taeko replied irritably.
In the past, she actually often avoided Merraid because she was always trying to seduce her.
However, she always rejected him because she wasn't into women.
"Merraid, I'm sorry. But just like Taeko, I've also fallen in love with Eiji and don't mind being one of his women."
Chelsea said that bluntly.
"You two are truly traitors. I'll kill you both with my own hands."
The smile on Merraid's face vanished, and her expression turned icy. A relentless barrage of attacks flew at her from behind.
Their numbers seemed to be growing.
She was actually summoning more insects from the forest.
*CRASH!*
Without a word, Esdeath launched her attack by stomping her foot. Instantly, hundreds of sharp ice spears materialized out of thin air, streaking horizontally to form a frozen tidal wave ready to tear Merraid apart.
However, Merraid is no ordinary assassin. As the leader of Oarburgh, her power was on an exceptionally high level. With her bare hands, she shattered Esdeath's ice spears into shards of crystal in a matter of seconds.
"That unarmed technique… Now I remember you. You're the woman I rejected in the past."
Esdeath said, without holding back her intent to kill.
"Is that how you remember me? Esdeath, I'll make you regret this!"
From amidst the shattering ice, Merraid counterattacked by manipulating dozens of flying insects capable of firing needles coated in deadly poison; they fired in rapid succession at her three opponents.
"Don't let those attacks hit you!" Esdeath shouted to the two women beside her. At the same time, she also created giant pillars of ice to crush Merraid from above.
Thanks to that, Chelsea and Taeko were able to dodge the poisonous needles attacking them just in time. With their respective swords, they also slashed at the flying insects approaching them.
Esdeath easily dealt with the insects attacking her by freezing them the moment they got close enough.
"Damn it."
Merraid cursed as she dodged each ice pillar falling from the sky by leaping backward.
But at one point, she moved far forward to attack Chelsea and Taeko first.
She was about to stab them in the chest with a hand that was stronger and sharper than an ordinary sword.
*Boom!*
However, Esdeath blocked those attacks with a thick ice shield that immediately shattered into pieces. The air pressure from the impact sent dust flying throughout the area. Under the cover of the remaining ice, Taeko darted up from below, aiming for Merraid's leg tendons, while Chelsea stabbed from the side to restrict her movement.
Merraid dodged the two women's attacks with acrobatic moves, somersaulting repeatedly.
The battle around the Revolutionary Army's salt factory intensified. The person at the greatest disadvantage in that situation was Merraid.
Not because of Chelsea and Taeko. But Esdeath's Teigu was a natural enemy of her Wrigglers—insect-like weapons similar to the Wrigglers' clan's Teigu, created by the very same alchemists who came to the Empire to engineer Teigu a thousand years ago.
A few years ago, Merraid managed to inherit those creatures and control them. Since then, she has been able to kill Danger Beasts or her targets with ease.
But in the face of Esdeath and her ice manipulation, she struggled to attack using her insects and was more often on the defensive.
"Your ice abilities are really a pain, Esdeath!"
Realizing she wouldn't be able to win if she kept defending, Merraid leaped backward dozens of meters until she landed on the factory roof. With her remaining energy, she commanded thousands of Wrigglers—her pet parasitic insect-like creatures—to crawl toward her and quickly swarm her entire body.
[Utaha: That's absolutely horrifying... Those insects are covering her entire body.]
[Eriri: Ugh... My phobia...! (She's afraid of insects)]
[Kaguya: This superpower is a bit...]
[Venelana: Hmm. This ability of our future sister is actually interesting.]
[Lilith (Mother of All Devils): Those insects remind me of Beelzebub's flies.]
The women in the chat group were divided into several groups. Some feel afraid and disgusted by Merraid's insects, while others find them fascinating.
Eiji himself actually finds Merraid's ability unique.
"You forced me to take that form!" Merraid shouted before her face was completely covered by her insects.
In a matter of seconds, billions of silk threads secreted by the Wrigglers wrapped around Merraid's entire slender body, forming a giant, dark gray silk cocoon that pulsed and looked terrifying.
Seeing this, Esdeath and the other two women were stunned.
*CRACK!*
In the blink of an eye, the cocoon cracked and exploded, sending out a shockwave that scattered shards of ice all around.
Merraid stepped out, but her appearance had completely transformed into that of a human-butterfly hybrid—a Wriggler. A pair of giant, intricately patterned butterfly wings spread across her back. Both of her arms were covered in a black layer resembling gloves. All her previous clothing had vanished; she was now practically naked!
From his vantage point, Eiji could clearly see her breasts and the curves of her body. The crease between her legs was no exception.
[Tsk, tsk. How beautiful! I've only ever seen Merraid in that form in the manga, but seeing her in person...]
[I didn't expect her to look so sexy.]
A woman like that—even if she has to sort out her sexual orientation first—Eiji wants her!
"...." The heroines.
They all knew that Eiji was getting excited.
That guy was clearly feasting his eyes on her right now, too.
"What do you all think of my current appearance? Is it beautiful?"
Merraid's voice sounded like a seduction.
Unfortunately, her target wasn't the men, but the women.
"Not bad. But I still prefer my own man's naked body." Esdeath said without a trace of shame.
Chelsea and Taeko blushed.
They couldn't help but recall the sight of Eiji's naked body.
On the Astral Express.
"Yare-yare."
Eiji rubbed his nose. Far from being embarrassed, Gin could see that he looked proud.
By the way, she could also see the battle unfolding on the floating screen in front of her.
Eiji was using his ability, Heroine Monitoring, to do that. So, Gin knew exactly why his penis was getting harder.
'Pervert.'
She grumbled to herself.
But she ran her hands over Eiji's muscular body and sensually stroked his penis.
Just as men are attracted to beautiful women, women are also attracted to handsome men.
Gin was no exception; even though she was still a little tired from the previous rounds, she pleasured Eiji again with her body.
She licked his penis and took it into her mouth while Natala was thinking about her.
[Hehehe.]
Leme laughed.
Back to the battlefield.
"Esdeath, you're blind!"
Merraid was annoyed that the woman she liked still thought a man was better than her. But she was also curious—just how handsome was Eiji?
*Wussh!*
With a single flap of her wings, Merraid shot into the air at double the speed, dodging the barrage of ice spears Esdeath had sent her way.
From the tips of her hybrid fingers, Merraid fired a web of thick, sticky, and strong silk. The webs whipped through the air like a whip, instantly ensnaring the ice pillars and attempting to immobilize Esdeath's arms and legs. At the same time, Merraid flapped her wings constantly, releasing a wave of fine, butterfly-scale-like dust throughout the area around the factory.
"Everyone, don't breathe in that dust!" Chelsea didn't know the effects of the dust Merraid was releasing, but she knew that whatever it was, it must be dangerous.
Her hunch was correct.
The dust released by Merraid could damage vision and crush the lungs if inhaled!
"Hmph! Chelsea, you know me well enough to realize that dust is dangerous!"
Merraid was a little pleased but also annoyed. Amid the dust cloud, she dove sharply from the ceiling at breakneck speed. Her two scythe-like arms glinted sharply in the darkness, heading straight for Esdeath's neck to sever it in a single stroke.
Feeling the web tightening around her legs and arms, Esdeath widened her grin. There was no fear on her face even as she sensed the impending danger.
"Interesting. You've managed to entertain me, Merraid! But do you think I can't use my ice just because you're restraining my hands and feet?"
Merraid was stunned for a moment.
Her flying speed slowed slightly due to her inner hesitation.
*SWISHHH!*
A freezing sound rang out.
Esdeath's blue eyes seemed to glow. The Teigu energy pressure from her chest surged dramatically, releasing a wave of freezing air that no longer traveled through the ground but instead instantly froze the air particles and dust surrounding everyone.
[Gosh, did I just speed up Esdeath's level-up? Wait, with the buff from the Master-Servant contract, she should indeed be able to use her ice manipulation at that level.]
What level are you talking about, Eiji?
Many of the heroines, especially Serafall, were curious.
"Mahapadma." Esdeath named her new technique after the one in the original work.
With that technique, she was able to freeze time around her. Although its range is currently not yet comparable to hers in the original work, it's more than enough to make Merraid feel immense fear and panic.
Right now, suspended in midair, she couldn't move but could still see and process what was happening.
Chelsea and Taeko were also frozen, but since they weren't Esdeath's enemies, they didn't need to panic.
'W-What the hell is this cold?! My body and everything around me are freezing!' Merraid screamed inside her head.
Her eyes widened as she felt her beautiful butterfly wings suddenly become stiff and heavy. A thick layer of light blue ice began to coat her wing membranes, stopping her flapping instantly.
The same thing happened to the air around her.
"Come down from the sky, Insect." Esdeath no longer called Merraid by her name. Her voice was filled with arrogance and mockery toward her opponent.
With a single wave of her hand, shackle-shaped chains of ice shot out of the air, tightly wrapping around both of Merraid's arms and pulling her hybrid body down to slam into the ground with tremendous force.
*BOOM!*
Merraid groaned in pain as the black layer covering her body cracked from the impact. She tried to struggle, but Esdeath's ice chains pinned her body to the ground.
Thick ice continued to spread, encasing her broken pair of wings until she could no longer move at all.
Behind them, perhaps because Esdeath had begun to gain control over the range of her new technique, the cold air enveloping Chelsea and Taeko vanished.
They could move again.
Even so, Taeko shivered slightly from the cold. Chelsea reacted the same way, but she didn't forget to comment.
"Amazing… Esdeath really did defeat Merraid."
Esdeath walked slowly, approaching Merraid, whose hybrid face was now filled with rage and deep fear.
Esdeath looked down on her, sheathing her sword once more. "Eiji ordered us to capture you alive, so be grateful that you're still alive."
"...."
Merraid wanted to retort, "Just kill me! I'd rather die than fall into the hands of a man!"
However, her body remained frozen. She was unable to move or even speak. She was so furious she felt like she was going to vomit blood.
Esdeath's ice powers were truly infuriating.
"One of you, take her away." Esdeath turned around and gave the order to Chelsea or Taeko.
Between the two of them, Chelsea glanced at Taeko. "Taeko, you're physically stronger than I am. Carry our target."
Taeko's lips twitched.
She wanted to complain, but sighed and chose to do as Esdeath ordered.
She carried the frozen Merraid as if she were a sack.
"Before we go..."
Esdeath turned toward the Revolutionary Army's salt factory; the people inside had actually been frozen by her long ago.
*Snap!*
With a snap of her fingers, a giant chunk of ice rose from the ground and destroyed the building and the people inside it.
Another explosion rang out at the site.
Chelsea and Taeko were speechless. As assassins, they had long since lost any empathy for the loss of lives—especially those of people they didn't even know.
Besides, the people working for the Revolutionary Army weren't necessarily good people either. They themselves weren't good people, and it would have been strange if they'd reacted strongly at that moment.
Meanwhile.
On the other side.
Akame and the others are fighting the remaining members of Oarburgh. To be precise, in an abandoned castle-like building not far from the Revolutionary Army's tea factory.
They encountered a group of women in maid uniforms and an elderly man who looked like a butler.
The sounds of battle echoed throughout the castle grounds.
With her sword, Akame had killed many maids who were members of Oarburgh as well as women belonging to Merraid. They charged at her, and she didn't hesitate to slash at them.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Tsukushi fired bullets from her dual pistols, providing support for Akame, Cornelia, and Poney from behind.
However, certain maids and an old man were particularly tough. They blocked, dodged, and counterattacked.
It's hard to say which side has the upper hand right now.
"People of the Empire, how dare you attack Merraid-sama's residence! You deserve to die!"
Among the toughest maids, one of them shouted. She had purple eyes, long purple hair tied into two braids, and what was most unusual about her was—she had four arms.
Her name was Cassandra.
And the one fighting her was Cornelia.
"One of you (Babara) provoked us first, and even killed some of our friends (Najasho, Green, and Guy). If it weren't for your above-average looks, I wouldn't hold back from killing you just like the others!"
With a punch powered by her Shingu, Cornelia struck the floor, shattering the ground beneath the woman in front of her.
Cassandra easily avoided losing her balance by jumping back several meters.
"...?"
However, a question mark appeared above her head. She stared at her opponent with a strange look.
"You... Do you also like women like Merraid-sama? Why don't you join us?"
"Nonsense! I like men!"
Cornelia protested, a slight blush spreading across her cheeks; she was embarrassed by the misunderstanding.
[Cornelia and the others seemed to be having a bit of trouble defeating Merraid's strongest subordinates. Should I help?]
[This is also a good opportunity to test the Monkey King's power.]
Eiji's inner voice rang out.
He seemed to be done having fun with Gin and needed some other form of entertainment.