"Master!" Taeko widened her eyes, completely unable to react to what was happening. Wasn't her master in complete control? Why, in an instant, had everything changed?
Watching Kaede approaching Barbara, Taeko widened her eyes, wanting to save Barbara.
But she was held back by Chelsea.
"What are you doing!" Taeko roared at Chelsea. Wounded, Taeko couldn't even break free from Chelsea's grip.
"It's already too late; that poison is incurable. And..." Chelsea looked at Kaede. Was she a monster? Those footsteps didn't seem to be affected at all by the wounds on her body.
If the two of them continued to stay here, they would definitely be killed afterward, right?
The best plan now was to take advantage of the fact that all of Kaede's attention was on Barbara and escape right now!
Saying and doing, regardless of Taeko's resistance, Chelsea directly transformed into a tiger, carried Taeko on her back, and left toward the distance.
Barbara watched Taeko and Chelsea out of the corner of her eye, and upon seeing Chelsea's actions, she smiled.
She felt no resentment at being left behind; such is the nature of an assassin, but still.
As the eyes of Obergehr, how could This old woman... at least I must make one final contribution!
Watching Kaede approach, Barbara gritted her teeth, summoned every ounce of her remaining strength, and produced an object.
"This is!" Kaede's eyes widened, and she instantly shot backward, for the object in Barbara's hand was a bomb!
It was clear she intended to take her down with her.
"Bang!!"
The deafening roar of the explosion pierced the sky. The running tiger and the girl riding it looked toward the source, and tears welled up in the girl's eyes.
Taeko knew what that sound meant; it was her master's final resort—a means to take the enemy down with her!
"Imperial Assassination Unit!!" At this moment, unlike when she had first accepted the mission, Taeko's eyes were filled with genuine killing intent toward the Imperial Assassination Unit!
"Sigh." Chelsea couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy. She didn't have particularly strong feelings for Barbara, but she marveled at how such a skilled assassin could have the situation turned against her in an instant, losing her life.
Is this what being an assassin is like? You can never let your guard down for a single moment, because the situation can be reversed at any time!
In a place unknown to Kaede, the hearts of the two girls were quietly changing.
The battlefield had been reduced to ruins, with not a soul in sight.
After a long while, a hand suddenly reached out from the ground, and finally, Kaede herself crawled out. Even with her great speed, she had been caught in the blast and buried in the earth without any chance to resist.
Fortunately, she had only been buried and sustained no further injuries.
Kaede's body was in tatters; she had three claw marks on her abdomen and a gaping bloodied hole beside them, deep enough to see the interior of her body...
There was another wound there, caused by her own weapon—a desperate, all-or-nothing strike. Fortunately, her control over her blade was exceptional; otherwise, she would never have been able to exert full force from that angle.
Only now could Kaede finally relax, but as she did, she was flooded with pain. In the heat of the moment, she had completely cast pain aside, but now that she relaxed...
There wasn't an inch of her body that remained intact, and she still had to expend mental energy to keep herself from bleeding out, leaving her without even the luxury of passing out from the pain.
Bandage it, you say? Sword wounds and claw marks, perhaps, but how could she bandage that gaping wound? Even if she did, she would still bleed out!
Kaede gritted her teeth and looked toward where the girl had been standing; it was now empty, buried beneath the ruins.
Had she been caught in the blast's aftermath? Kaede didn't think so; there was only one other possibility: she had escaped.
Besides, in her current state, it was impossible for Kaede to pursue them.
The mental drain was greater than Kaede had anticipated. Before she was injured, she felt that controlling her blood required almost no mental effort, but now, with heavy bleeding across her entire body, the mental effort required to maintain that control was far beyond what she had imagined.
"Am I going to die from blood loss in the end?" Kaede smiled self-deprecatingly, knowing that her injuries wouldn't heal anytime soon. Furthermore, this place was still quite a distance from their nearest stronghold; the current situation could truly be called hopeless.
Enduring the pain, she forced herself to take a step. Even in this state, Kaede didn't want to give up just yet. Kurome and Akame were still waiting for her to return, weren't they?
If she didn't return, they would surely complain, she thought.
Step by step, footprint after footprint, until eventually, even taking a single step became an agonizing struggle. Her mental state had reached its limit, and it felt as though she might pass out at any moment. The consequences of losing consciousness here went without saying; there was only one outcome.
Yet, at that moment, the sound of horse hooves thundering across the earth seemed to come from ahead of her.
Shortly after, a few figures dressed like small-time thugs appeared before her; they looked like bandits.
It was hardly surprising; in such a remote area, there would naturally be no villages, only bandits hiding in the shadows.
The bandits spotted Kaede, but they had little interest in her. After all, in her current state, her original appearance was unrecognizable; she was covered in dust and bore several distinct wounds.
"She's still alive with injuries like that?" one of the bandits remarked, seemingly amazed by Kaede's vitality.
"Well, she doesn't look like she has long to live," another bandit added.
"Hey, do you guys want this one?" one of the bandits asked, licking his lips as he looked at Kaede with interest.
"Hey, hey! We don't want any corpses up on the mountain!"
"No, no, I just want to have some fun. She still seems to have a breath left; I've never tried dragging a living person around before." The bandit licked his lips, trembling with excitement, as if rejoicing over this heaven-sent opportunity.
"Ugh." The bandit next to him remembered that this guy had such peculiar tastes. While they occasionally dragged corpses around, it seemed only he enjoyed this particular activity—what a pervert.
Still, none of them spoke against him; after all, there was no harm in having a little fun.
In her current state, Kaede had no idea what they were saying, nor did she know that they were discussing dragging her around while she was still alive. She didn't even realize there were bandits in front of her; she just kept taking difficult steps, heading toward a destination she didn't know.
The next moment, Kaede felt something. She felt as though something had been tied to her legs, and then, with a massive jolt, she was pulled to the ground, unable to resist.
Her body scraped violently against the ground, and the intense pain seemed to stimulate Kaede once more, forcing her mind to regain some clarity.
After a moment, she realized her situation, and her eyes quietly turned a vivid crimson.
These bandits likely had no idea that the "corpse" they were bringing back to their mountain stronghold was actually a Grim Reaper who would take their lives!
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