The next day, Garou stood at one of the city gates with Rin and Wave.
"Why don't you stay with us? We can all head back to the capital together," Wave suggested.
"No reason for me to stay here. I tagged along in the first place to see these so-called assassins. Now that I've seen how pathetic they were, I have no reason to stick around," Garou replied.
"What about taking a horse?" Rin offered.
"Nah, I prefer using my legs. It's faster and more reliable. Plus, it makes for a good warm-up," Garou said.
Wave and Rin exchanged glances, both clearly thinking the same thing. Only Garou would say his legs were faster and more reliable than a horse—and consider a journey of this length just a warm-up.
Garou noticed their reactions but ignored them. He didn't care what they thought. Turning away, he waved a hand. "See ya."
"Bye, have a safe journey," Rin and Wave said in unison.
Garou took off toward the capital, and in mere moments, his figure became nothing more than a dot in the distance.
"Damn it, he's really too fast. No wonder he caught up with us yesterday," Wave muttered, and Rin nodded in agreement.
"By the way, did you notice he seemed less volatile than usual?" Wave asked.
"I think it's because the general isn't here. She's the main reason he gets pissed off most of the time," Rin replied.
Wave nodded, then suddenly stiffened. "Hey, Rin… The commander won't punish us for not telling her about Garou leaving, right?"
It was Rin's turn to freeze. He looked at Wave in silence before speaking seriously. "We should start praying. Hopefully, we'll go to heaven."
Wave's face paled, and tears welled up in his eyes. Rin, meanwhile, smirked slyly. Their general might get a little angry, but she probably wouldn't punish them… Probably. But that didn't mean he'd pass up the chance to mess with Wave.
As Wave desperately started praying, Rin glanced up at the sky. Dark clouds were rolling in.
"Hmm… looks like it's going to rain soon," he murmured to himself. "Maybe we should've convinced him to stay a little longer… Nah, he'll be fine."
_______________________
In the middle of the mountains, Akame walked alone, heading toward the Revolutionary Army headquarters on Najenda's behalf. With Najenda wounded, she was unable to report on the events of the battle herself—especially how Garou had completely ruined her plans. Sending a message via birds was too risky, as they could be intercepted, and such a massive failure was best explained in person. Therefore, she had sent Akame, ordering her to take the mountain path to avoid being tracked by Imperial spies or, worse, attacked by the Jaegers.
Akame had left Night Raid's temporary base at sunrise. The headquarters were far away, and she couldn't use a horse, as the mountain paths were too treacherous, nor a flying beast, as that would risk being spotted. She didn't mind the distance or the hardships, but her heart felt heavy after the events of the previous day. Four of her comrades—friends she had only recently met but had quickly grown close to—were dead. Najenda and Lubbock were injured, and Mine... Mine had been crippled.
The thought of her pink-haired friend, once the loudest and most energetic among them, now utterly silent, her eyes hollow with despair, made Akame's chest tighten. The loss of her arm and weapon had broken her. And then there was Chelsea… she hadn't returned. No one spoke of it, but deep down, they all knew the truth—she wasn't coming back.
A cold sensation brushed against her cheek. Snapped from her thoughts, Akame looked up and saw the sky had darkened. Rain was coming. She sighed heavily, realizing she'd been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed the approaching storm. She started searching for shelter when—
"Heh... you again."
The voice was familiar. Not too loud, not too quiet—just a normal tone. But to Akame, it may as well have been a thunderclap.
Her entire body stiffened as she slowly turned around. There he was—the one person she least wanted to see.
Garou.
"I didn't expect to see you again this soon," he said casually.
Akame tensed, gripping her katana. "Why are you here? Were you following me?" she asked, keeping her voice steady, though her mind raced. How long had he been following her? Did he know where her friends were?
Completely unaware of her thoughts, Garou shrugged. "You're overestimating your importance. I'm heading back to the capital, and this is the shortest route."
Akame let out an internal sigh of relief. Her friends were safe—for now. But she still cursed her luck. Of all the people in the world, why did she have to run into him?
Her expression hardened, and she unsheathed her katana, her gaze steely with resolve. If she had to die, she would rather go down fighting this monster.
Garou raised a brow. "You wanna fight me? Didn't you learn your lesson?"
Akame clenched her grip tighter, memories of her fallen friends flashing through her mind. She knew she couldn't win. But if she could just land one cut—just one—she would take him down with her.
Taking a deep breath, she raised her blade—
And pointed it at her own neck.
Garou's sharp eyes narrowed in confusion. His first thought was another assassin is going to commit a suicide, but something about this felt odd.
Then, she slashed.
Akame collapsed to her knees, using her sword for support as she let out a scream. Black smoke began to swirl around her, her voice changing, deepening. Red markings spread across her body, and as she lifted her head, her eyes changed, they were demonic with rotating symbols inside her pupils.
Garou's expression shifted slightly—mildly intrigued. He silently observed the transformation, noting the shift in her presence, the way her body and eyes had changed. It was familiar. Too familiar.
It reminded him of the monsters from his world.
Even more than that—it reminded him of his own transformation. The markings on the body, the demonic eyes and the overwhelming evil aura…
"Are you still human?" Garou asked, his curiosity piqued.
"This is my Teigu's trump card," Akame answered, her voice now carrying an eerie edge. "By accepting my sins and embracing them, I cast away my humanity."
"So your sword can turn people into monsters?" Garou smirked. "Interesting."
The two stared at each other as the sky started raining heavily on top of them. Akame took her stance preparing for the battle, while Garou kept his relaxed posture. Akame narrowed her eyes, and to Garou's surprise, in an instant, she was in front of him with her blade in slashing motion crepting closer to his throat.
Garou was shocked by the speed, it was slightly below his. Although he was shocked by it, he still easily deflected the sword away. However, Akame was not done yet, the moment Garou deflected her blade, she immediately kicked with her leg. But Garou blocked it and sent a punch of his own, which she dodged.
The two separated from each other, Akame retook her stance while Garou took his this time. Garou was smiling, Akame's display was beyond his expectation, he had no doubt the current Akame is stronger than Esdeath.
Akame didn't attack him head-on again, but she started running around him at full speed then attempted to slash his blind spots. Garou countered every attack from Akame, as he continued to analyse her movements.
She was nearly as fast as him when moving in straight lines. Still, during the close combat, her speed drops significantly, probably because of the sudden increase of her strength and speed, she needs time to get used to it.
Regardless of that, she was still putting up a fight better than Esdeath, which impressed him. He kept defending without taking the initiative to attack, he was waiting for Akame to get used to her new physical capabilities before fighting back.
Moments later, Akame made distance from him again and stared silently at him. Deep inside, she was getting depressed, her trump card gave her a huge boost, but she was still not able to touch him. In addition, with every passing moment, she gets more used to it and becomes slightly faster and stronger, but it was still not enough to make him break a sweat.
"Not bad, I hope you still have more to show me" Garou smirked arrogantly.
Akame bit her lips as she raised her sword and took a new stance, similar to samurais, her sword pointed to the sky as she took a step forward slowly. She was planning to put all of her strength and speed in a single slash hoping Garou's arrogance will make him try to block the strike. As long as she managed to land a single scratch, then it would be worth it, even if she died here.
Naturally, Garou took his stance intending to deflect it. Back in his world, he managed to deflect the S-class hero, Metal-Bat, what of her? He was confident in deflecting the blade.
Akame took a breath hoping it won't be her last as her eyes narrowed, while Garou smirk widened in anticipation. Suddenly, The sky filled with light and thunder roared in the mountains. The next moment, Garou's face changed to a shocked one. He relaxed his stance and stood straight looking dumbly at the sky.
In front of him, Akame was lying on the ground, her body had thin lines of black smoke coming out. When she pointed her sword to the sky, she attracted lightning. In the end, Garou didn't land a single hit on her, but he still won.
" WHAT THE ...." All he could say as he stared at the dark clouds.