Hearing what Eiji said, Akame felt relieved because, even though she didn't want to admit it, their remaining enemies were extremely formidable.
Especially the old man standing before her. His name was Daniel; he had the ability to manipulate his muscles, doubling his strength.
His unarmed combat skills were also formidable. He was able to block every one of Akame's slashes, or dodge them and launch a swift, deadly counterattack.
*Boom! Boom!*
Daniel unleashed a flurry of punches at Akame. From each of his fists, transparent shockwaves shot out like invisible cannonballs.
Akame was forced to use all her agility, leaping and twisting acrobatically through the air to avoid the path of those destructive shockwaves. The stone pillars surrounding the castle's inner courtyard crumbled one by one, collapsing into rubble under the impact of those attacks.
"You possess agility and instincts nearly on par with my lady, Merraid-sama. Your potential is very high. If possible, I'd like to capture you alive for her. She might like you." Daniel said with admiration etched on his wrinkled face.
Akame readjusted her stance and gripped her sword more tightly.
"Sorry, I'm not interested in women."
The people in this organization are strange.
"Speaking of the woman you mentioned. She's most likely already been captured by our other members."
Akame suddenly remembered something and told her opponent to distract her.
However, Daniel merely raised one of his own and retorted, "I doubt Merraid-sama was captured; she must have killed your other members and rushed over here."
Akame wanted to say that one of their members was Esdeath, the Empire's strongest general.
But before she could do so—
*Boom!*
Another explosion rang out.
It came from the location where her younger sister was fighting a blonde-haired maid, Gilberda.
With her extraordinary physical strength, the woman seemed to have thrown Kurome against the wall on the other side.
"Kurome!"
From the wall, which was cracked like a spiderweb, Kurome wiped the blood from her mouth with her hand.
She heard her older sister's worried shout.
While enduring the pain in her body, she walked forward and stared intently at her opponent.
"I'm fine, Nee-san!"
Akame frowned; she wanted to help her younger sister. But Daniel blocked her path.
"Hehehe! You're small, but you've got quite a lot of stamina. You didn't pass out right away because of that."
Gilberda laughed.
An aggressive, bloodthirsty aura radiated from her figure, which was taller than the other maids'.
"Your opponent isn't just her!" The shout came from Poney.
She slipped behind Gilberda and tried to slash at her leg with her dagger.
Even so, Gilberda easily dodged by jumping. As her body maneuvered through the air, she swung her fist toward Poney.
Poney tried to dodge. Shingu, who had boosted her speed to the max, only managed to barely avoid a punch powerful enough to shatter the floor beneath them.
"This woman… Isn't her physical strength a bit excessive?"
Poney complained.
Just as Gilberda was about to lunge toward Poney, the sound of several gunshots rang out. Tsukushi fired controlled rounds from her dual pistols.
Even so, Gilberda's reflexes were superhuman. She dodged the shots aimed at her blind spots. Even as Kurome charged at her from behind, she grabbed both of his wrists and lifted him into the air.
"This is the end." Gilberda grinned, clenched her fist, and prepared to punch Kurome in the stomach.
With the force she was using, her fist would surely pierce her target's body.
Kurome tensed up; panicked, she tried to break free from Gilberda's grip. But she couldn't do it.
"Stop!"
Akame shouted, and given the situation, she certainly couldn't just stand by and watch her younger sister about to be killed.
Even so, Daniel blocked her path. He unleashed a flurry of punches that sent shockwaves toward her.
Poney, Tsukushi, and even Cornelia—who was busy fighting Cassandra—also wanted to stop Gilberda.
Unfortunately, none of them were fast enough to do so!
*BANG!*
It was only a sudden rumble from the sky that caught Gilberda's attention. Since she was standing in an open courtyard with no roof, she looked up and saw dark clouds that had gathered over the castle at some point, and a small speck flying very quickly toward her and the woman in her arms.
The object was small from the perspective of anyone there. Even so, Gilberda's instincts sensed danger from it.
She chose to let go of Kurome and jumped backward. Only when the object touched the floor without making a sound—which should have been impossible—did they realize it was a silvery-white bo staff. Its tip was coated in gold-colored metal, featuring faint, distinctive oriental decorative carvings along its surface.
"Huh? Who—"
Before Gilberda could finish her sentence, the staff standing on the floor, unheld by anyone, suddenly moved. It floated in the air and shifted toward her as if pointing at her.
"Yeoi."
A voice familiar to Akame and the others rang out. However, he wasn't calling out to anyone.
Eiji was actually giving a command to his new weapon.
"Grow taller."
!!!
Instantly, under everyone's gaze, the staff elongated so rapidly that Gilberda was unable to react. Her stomach collided with the tip of the staff and she was propelled forward, her body crashing through the castle walls and continuing to be thrust even further.
Very far.
If I were to calculate it, Yeoi kept extending until it reached a length of millions of kilometers. At one point, it even crossed other countries, oceans, and the world of *Akame Ga Kill* itself!
Luckily, Gilberda didn't hit anything other than the castle walls and a few trees. However, she felt pain in her stomach and other parts of her body from being hurled around the planet at a speed exceeding the speed of sound—specifically, Mach 20.
Her physical strength was immense, but the wind pressure at that speed was tearing her body apart from the inside and out.
Within a few seconds, she had even returned to the castle from the opposite direction. The ends of the staff nearly met, pinning Gilberda's body between them.
"Ughaaackkk!!"
Gilberda's eyes rolled back, and blood gushed not only from her mouth. Her stomach was pierced, and she immediately collapsed in the courtyard.
She was killed.
"Yeoi," Eiji's voice rang out again, "Shrink."
*Slip!*
In an instant, the staff shrank and shortened back to its original size.
""..."" Everyone.
They stared blankly at the scene that had flashed before their eyes for a few seconds.
Especially Kurome—she was standing closest to Gilberda's lifeless body.
She swallowed hard.
At that moment, they wondered if the staff had just extended all the way across the world?
How is that possible!?
Daniel and Cassandra were the ones who found it hardest to believe what they'd just seen.
The scene was just too absurd, okay?
Even if that staff was a legendary Teigu.
For a moment, silence enveloped the castle that had been a battlefield just moments ago. Soon, the sound of footsteps could be heard.
Everyone naturally turned to look at a white-haired man walking in from the gate.
It was Eiji.
But he wasn't alone. Esdeath, Chelsea, and Taeko were also there, with Merraid in tow. As for Gin? Ahem! She's resting inside the Astral Express. She'd been working hard earlier.
[Working hard, huh.]
'Miss System, hold back on the sarcastic comments.'
Eiji scolded one of his wives. Yeoi flew toward him, and he caught it effortlessly.
Actually, that staff could also be called the Ruyi Jingu, one of the three sacred weapons used by the Monkey King.
The Monkey King he was referring to was Jin Mori, the protagonist of the manhwa titled *The God of High School*.
"Eiji!" Kurome and Akame said in unison.
Cornelia, Tsukushi, and Poney breathed a sigh of relief. When the man appeared, they felt they had already won. On the other side, Esdeath gazed at the man's back in awe. That was because, along the way, she had seen for herself how Eiji's staff—I mean, his staff—had actually extended all the way across the planet.
As expected of the man who made her fall in love.
He never ceases to amaze her with his power.
"Hey, everyone. Sorry I'm a little late. I—I mean, we had to capture the enemy leader first."
Eiji pointed at Merraid, who was being carried by Taeko. Chelsea held back from complaining—the only ones who had captured Merraid were her, Esdeath, and Taeko.
Eiji, you were busy having sex with Gin before this! When we got back to the Astral Express, you even saw Gin still grinding her hips on top of you, your penis sliding in and out of her asshole.
Chelsea's cheeks flushed slightly as she recalled that scene. Geez, she felt that the longer she was with Eiji, the dirtier her thoughts became!
"Merraid-sama!" Cassandra and Daniel shouted in unison when they saw their leader.
Before this, they hadn't worried that she'd be caught because they knew just how powerful she was. However, the people sent by the Empire were stronger than they had expected.
Merraid had been defeated!
And judging by her frozen state, the one who put her in that condition was most likely Esdeath.
Daniel and Cassandra were trying to figure out the identity of the Empire's most powerful force. However, they were even more surprised and curious about the man who appeared to be the owner of the staff.
He also seemed to be leading all those women, including Esdeath. Eiji? This was the first time they'd heard his name.
Of course, they were also angry that he had killed Gilberda. What they didn't know was that Eiji had used the Reverse Cursed technique to instantly heal the woman's wounds.
She wasn't dead—she'd just fainted.
"Bastard! Let Merraid-sama go!" Cassandra roared, ignoring Cornelia and running toward Taeko.
However, she also seemed to ignore Esdeath and even Eiji, who was standing not far from the woman carrying their leader as if she were a sack.
"Cassandra, stop!" Daniel panicked and cursed the woman in question for being so impulsive.
Did she think Esdeath and the man who was just as terrifying as she was would just stand by while she tried to save their leader!?
He wanted to stop her. But this time, it was Akame's turn to block his path. She unleashed a slash that sent Daniel flying backward. An incurable gash appeared on his hand.
Akame stared at Daniel with satisfaction, as if she were taking her revenge. Daniel gritted his teeth; all he could see were the moments leading up to Cassandra's murder right before his eyes.
Who killed her?
As if answering the old man's thoughts, Eiji rolled his eyes.
[Who's going to kill these beautiful women? I'll just catch them!]
Miss System: Host, calm down! Your inner voice is way too honest!
I'm perfectly calm, Miss System. And haven't I been completely honest from the very beginning?
Just as Cassandra was only two meters away from Taeko, Eiji instantly appeared in front of her. His expression was very relaxed; even though he was still holding his staff, he wasn't using it anymore. He assumed a low stance with one foot firmly planted on the ground, preparing to use Jin Mori's signature martial arts technique.
Instantly—
*Wusshhhhh!*
Eiji spun his body horizontally, swinging his right leg in a super-fast circular kick. The precision of his leg movement suddenly manipulated the atmosphere around him, forcing the airflow to spin violently, forming a giant, dragon-shaped whirlwind that roared along the path of his kick.
That was the Monkey King's signature kick!
"W-What?!" Cassandra's eyes widened. The vortex created by the kick was so powerful that it trapped all the air around Cassandra's body, leaving her unable to even breathe or change the direction of her movement.
She was sucked into the whirlwind, her body pinned between the dragon's jaws and flung to the other side of the castle.
*BLAAAMRRR!!!*
Hwechook's Dragon Sign kick didn't strike Cassandra's bones fatally, but instead released all the compressed air and vortex energy directly toward her central nervous system. The shockwave instantly shattered Cassandra's mental and physical defenses.
Cassandra's eyes immediately rolled back, she fainted, and lay among the debris surrounding her.
However, Daniel misunderstood. He thought Eiji had also killed the woman. His eyes turned red with rage and hatred.
"You guys... People of the Empire... Even if I'm going to die, I'll at least kill some of you!"
The old man roared, his muscles bulging. He swung at Akame, unleashing a shockwave even greater than before.
Akame was about to dodge because she knew she couldn't block the attack. But at that moment, Eiji suddenly appeared in front of her and spun the staff in his hand.
He blocked the attack with ease.
"Even if you're able to block that with your staff—!"
"It seems you've misunderstood."
Eiji interrupted Daniel's words. He stopped twirling the staff in his hand and let out a sigh.
His blue eyes now contained a plus sign (+) with golden pupils. A band shaped like a white metal ring that resembled a crown—the Loop of Binding—materialized and encircled his head.
The fusion of his Monkey King character card had increased by 3% simply because he had used only a fraction of his full potential. The total was 33%.
Of course, Eiji wasn't serious—the women he had defeated earlier weren't supposed to die. Even if he could bring them back to life. It would be too much trouble to explain to Akame and the others that he could bring the dead back to life.
He didn't want them to ask him to bring Najasho, Guy, and Green back to life. He'd have to wait a little longer for them to truly forget those people.
But when it came to dealing with the old man in front of him...
He wanted to show off a little.
"I don't need Yeoi, or anything else, to block your pathetic attacks. Don't believe me? Go ahead and try everything you've got, old man."
"!" Veins bulged on Daniel's forehead; he took a fighting stance and swung both his arms very quickly. "You didn't ask for this! Young man, you'll die because of your arrogance!"
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Hundreds of shockwaves were unleashed in a matter of seconds, each one flying straight toward Eiji.
Akame and the other women were a little worried. But soon, they realized they were worrying too much.
*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Dust and wind swirled around Eiji, who wasn't injured or pushed back by Daniel's attacks. Every shockwave that hit him merely blew the air apart—or something even harder than anything else.
Daniel watched the scene in disbelief. But the reality was right in front of him: his attacks—and even his full power—were unable to hurt the man in front of him in the slightest.
"Impossible! Impossible!"
He kept punching, unleashing shockwaves from his fists. Even Esdeath couldn't possibly block all those attacks with her body—she'd die if she tried.
But Eiji was different; he didn't need to use anything to boost his defense. His body itself was already incredibly strong, and he was like a mountain that a mere mortal like Daniel could never budge even an inch.
He stretched out one of his hands toward the sky. The dark clouds in the sky grew thicker and swirled around. What no one knew was that the size of that single cloud had expanded to cover half the planet.
As the Monkey King, Eiji could naturally manipulate the weather when using his other sacred weapon, Geundoowun.
Or it could also be called—Kinto-Un.
"Strike endlessly."
When given such a command, the living cloud could unleash a massive, incredibly powerful bolt of lightning.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
Before the horrified gazes of all the women, and even the people in the distance. Gigantic bolts of lightning tore through the sky, striking Daniel relentlessly.
A tremendous and terrifying roar filled the sky as if God were in a rage.
Daniel died, of course.
He could barely even scream for a second before his body was obliterated the very next second.
Even so, the lightning continued to strike his body until it turned to ash and merged with the massive crater below him.
Merraid also witnessed the scene; even though she was still a statue of ice, she watched as Eiji defeated all of his strongest subordinates.
And all the methods he used terrified her!
'No wonder that man was able to subdue Esdeath and make her obey him. He's not human—he must be a god! Only a god possesses such immense power!'
Merraid wasn't saddened by Daniel's death; she was just anxious and wondered what Eiji would do to her next.