Inner Voice: All Heroines Hear My Inner Voice Chapter 1037: The deaths of the allies were unavoidable

*Whoosh!*

In an instant, the space around them warped and transformed into a forest. They were now atop a mountain.

Akame, Cornelia Poney, Tsukushi, and Taeko were startled.

"W-We've gone from the city to the top of a mountain in the blink of an eye?"

"Eiji, you never cease to amaze us! Is this your Teigu ability?"

Tsukushi asked, bewildered.

Poney thought Eiji had a Teigu that allowed him to shoot beams of light with incredible destructive power and was capable of teleporting people to other places.

That made sense.

In the world of Akame Ga Kill, people with supernatural or superhuman abilities are often associated with Teigu users, Shingu, or those who have undergone rigorous training for years, like Taeko.

Many of them thought Eiji's abilities were related to a Teigu.

However, Eiji denied it. "Yes, we should be on the mountain where Najasho and the others are right now. But I'm not a Teigu user."

How is that possible!?

That's what Akame and the other women were thinking.

If Eiji isn't a Teigu user, how can he use supernatural abilities?

"Forget about that. We have to head to the battle site immediately before it's too late." Eiji said.

He was being modest by not rushing to reveal his true identity.

"Ah, that's right!"

Poney's expression turned anxious; she was worried about Najasho and the other two young men in their group.

After all, according to Taeko, her master was very strong. Those three would most likely not be able to defeat her.

"Still, which way should we go? This mountain is vast." Tsukushi asked.

"I think I hear the sounds of a fight in the distance. Follow me!" Akame immediately ran in a certain direction.

Eiji, of course, heard what Akame meant. He said nothing and followed right behind her, just like the others.

He didn't need to stop them from finding Najasho and the other two men because, by then, Babara had already ended the fight.

Not long after.

As soon as their feet touched the rocky ground, the pungent, thick smell of blood immediately assaulted their sense of smell.

Eiji and the women were too late. In the middle of the devastated open field, the bodies of Najasho, Guy, and Green lay stiff and lifeless, covered in horrifying wounds. Standing amidst their corpses was an elderly woman with a cruel gaze—Babara.

"No… W-We're too late?" Poney stared at the scene with a blank expression.

Shadows fell over the faces of Akame, Cornelia, and Tsukushi. They were grieving the deaths of Najasho and the others. After all, they'd known each other for years and considered one another family.

The four women looked at Babara with murder in their eyes.

Eiji put on an indifferent expression, while Taeko looked at her master with a hint of fear.

Ahem! Let's take a quick flashback.

A few minutes before Eiji and the women arrived, the battle between the three young men from the Elite Seven and Babara was raging with brutal intensity.

Najasho led the charge, swinging his Shingu: his Water Dragon Sword to deliver sharp slashes. At his side, Guy moved swiftly using the Rare Suit, a suit of armor that allowed him to manipulate the earth, while Green manipulated his whip-shaped Shingu, the Sidewinder, from a safe distance to lock down their opponent's movements.

"The three of you are ten years too young to kill me! Even if you work together!" Babara said with arrogance in her voice.

She moved with inhuman speed and strength. With decades of combat experience, she easily read all the attack patterns of the three Elite Seven members. When Green tried to wrap his whip around her leg, Babara simply grabbed the whip with her bare hands, then pulled Green's body toward her with monstrous strength.

"Green! Watch out!" Guy shouted.

Guy darted forward to cut the whip's cord, but Babara was far faster. With a single stomp that shattered the ground, she unleashed a punch imbued with internal energy straight into Guy's chest.

*BRAAAK!*

The blow instantly shattered Guy's ribs and heart, sending him flying and killing him before he even hit the ground.

"Guy!!" Green screamed in panic. That momentary lapse in focus proved fatal. Babara was already in front of him, gripping Green's head and smashing it against the mountain rock until it shattered into pieces.

Now, only Najasho remained. As the leader of Guy and Green, Najasho gritted his teeth until they bled. He channeled all his remaining energy, unleashing the full power of his Shingu—causing his hair to grow long and his eyes to take on a dragon-like sclera.

In that form, he became incredibly powerful for three minutes, but at a cost; he became utterly exhausted once that time limit expired.

With speed surpassing what Babara had demonstrated, he charged toward her.

"Die!" Najasho shouted coldly.

"Hoho! You've suddenly gotten stronger—what an interesting ability! Unfortunately..."

Babara laughed and grinned cruelly. She didn't try to dodge, and deliberately let her body get slashed so she could close in on Najasho. With bare hands as strong as Shingu's, she caught the Water Dragon Sword that was swung at her.

"...!"

Before Najasho could pull his sword back, Babara's other hand moved so fast it pierced his left chest; she grabbed and crushed his heart in one clean motion.

"Ugh!" Najasho coughed up fresh blood; his eyes slowly dimmed and his hair shortened again as his body collapsed to the ground, joining his two fallen comrades.

Babara stood among the three corpses, slightly out of breath but with a satisfied smile on his face.

"It's been a long time since I've used my power to this extent. You young men are talented, but you were unlucky enough to become my targets."

Back to the present.

Babara noticed Eiji and the others approaching; she slowly turned around, glaring sharply at the group that had just appeared.

However, what surprised her was seeing her disciple, Taeko, among them!

The man who was supposed to be Taeko's target was also still alive.

"Did Taeko fail? But how come Eiji and those women didn't suspect her? They seemed to be part of the same group.'

Noticing her master's questioning gaze, Taeko turned her face away.

She felt guilty, but she didn't back down. She took a deep breath before mustering the courage to look at Babara and said, "Master, I'm sorry! I failed to kill Eiji, and for certain reasons… I-I chose to join his group."

"Huh?" Babara wondered if she'd heard wrong.

But there was no way she'd misheard!

Taeko, whom she had raised and trained since childhood, had...

"So, you've betrayed your master and become that young man's subordinate!?" Babara narrowed her eyes as she watched Taeko standing obediently beside Eiji.

She was angry, disappointed, and sad.

Her best disciple had betrayed her for the sake of a young man.

Is it because that young man is so handsome?

Taeko, have you really fallen in love with your target!?

In the distance, Chelsea was also surprised by the unexpected turn of events. Through her binoculars, she could see that Taeko was standing on the enemy's side, facing their master.

"Has Taeko gone crazy?"

She wondered.

And was it just her imagination, or did Eiji's gaze linger on her for a split second?

"That must just be my imagination."

[Chelsea is younger than I remember her from the original work, but she's still beautiful and her figure has developed nicely.]

[Should I go say hello to her now? Hmm... Forget it, I'll do it later.]

Chelsea and the other heroines in this world can't hear Eiji's inner voice yet.

That's on purpose.

Only the heroines in other worlds know that Eiji is playing a game.

Back to Akame and the others. Taeko answered her master's question firmly, "Yes, master."

"Don't call me 'master' anymore! You're a traitorous disciple—I'll kill you myself."

Babara said coldly.

Taeko said nothing more.

Akame spoke up, "You don't really think you're just going to fight your former student, do you?"

"We're going to kill you and avenge the deaths of our friends, old woman!" Poney had tears in the corners of her eyes, but her expression was cold.

Just like those two women, Cornelia and Tsukushi had also drawn their respective Shingu.

Taeko even drew her sword against her master.

That scene definitely didn't appear in the original work! It happened because someone had messed with the future.

Who was it?

Eiji didn't know.

[It's you, host.]

'Misa System, I didn't do it on purpose.'

[You're a natural-born liar.]

Hearing what Miss System said, Eiji pretended not to hear her.

"Hahahaha! Of course, you can all team up against me! I'll kill you all."

Babara laughed and uttered those cruel words.

Eiji didn't try to stop Akame and the other women from attacking the old woman.

*Swosh!*

Akame darted forward and swung her sword at Babara. However, her attack was easily dodged.

Vaguely, Babara also sensed that the sword Akame was wielding was dangerous; she preferred to dodge it rather than block it with her hands.

Cornelia unleashed a barrage of blows with her Shingu: her Crushing King. Shingu resembled a pair of gloves. Each punch created a powerful air pressure. Babara parried the blows with her arm, but at the same time, Pony darted out from beneath Cornelia's feet, swinging her Shingu—Yocto-bottoms—to move extremely fast and target the artery in Babara's leg with her blade.

"Tsk, you Imperial rats sure have some interesting toys!" Babara clicked her tongue and leaped backward to dodge Pony's slash.

However, in midair, Tsukushi was already waiting. From her dual-pistol-shaped Shingu, Prometheus, a barrage of bullets flew as fast as rain and maneuvered through the air, restricting Babara's movement and forcing her to keep parrying with her body. Using her body manipulation technique, she increased the hardness of her skin and flesh.

Even so, the relentless barrage began to overwhelm the already exhausted Babara. Her defense began to falter, creating a fatal opening that was immediately exploited by the two assassins in the group.

*Wussh!*

Taeko moved like a shadow, darting from Babara's blind spot at full speed. Her sword danced through the air, aiming for the opening beneath her former master's armpit. Realizing the attack, Babara tried to spin to parry it, but her movement instead directed her body straight into the path of Akame's slash.

*Slash!*

Two clean, crossing slashes landed on Babara's body almost simultaneously.

Taeko's sword managed to slice deep into Babara's thigh, severing a muscle so that she dropped to one knee. At the same time, Akame's Kiriichimonji katana sliced diagonally across Babara's chest, leaving a long gash that gushed massive amounts of fresh blood.

Eiji whistled as he folded his arms, and he said, "Nice combo."

He simply watched from the sidelines because he knew these women were powerful enough to defeat Babara. Not only that, but he was also giving Akame and the remaining members of the Elite Seven a chance to vent their anger on the old woman.

Still, according to the original work, Babara might do something unexpected to everyone else when she realized she couldn't win.

"Ughaaaakh!" Babara howled in pain; she leaped back several meters while clutching her chest, which continued to bleed uncontrollably due to Kiriichimonji's ability.

She was gasping for breath, her body now trembling from the sudden loss of so much blood. Her eyes stared at Taeko and Akame in utter disbelief. The young women's combined attack had completely shattered her reputation as a renowned assassin of the Oarburgh Clan.

"Don't give her a moment to breathe!" Cornelia shouted, activating her Shingu once more to unleash a shockwave from her punch.

The battle raged on. Babara, though severely wounded and with blood still gushing from her chest due to Akame's Kiriichimonji curse, refused to give up so easily.

With the last of her strength, she lashed out. She swung her fist, infused with internal energy, to shatter the ground beneath Pony's feet, forcing the young woman to roll backward to avoid the giant shards of rock.

*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

From a distance, Tsukushi continued to fire guided bullets from her dual pistols, creating small explosions around Babara's feet to pin her in place.

However, Babara burst through the smoke of the explosions at an unbelievable speed, targeting Tsukushi.

"Don't ignore me, Master!" Taeko suddenly emerged from the shadows, cutting off Babara's path. Her sword moved as fast as the flutter of a bee's wings, targeting the pressure points on her former master's neck and wrists.

Babara was forced to parry the attack with her dagger.

*Clang! Clang! Clang!*

Sparks filled the night air as their weapons clashed at high speed. Deep down, Babara cursed her former student.

'Taeko, you've truly been blinded by love! You don't hesitate to kill the very person who taught you all those techniques!'

Taeko managed to push Babara back. From behind, Akame darted forward silently, like a ghost.

*Slash!*

Akame's katana slashed across Babara's back again, tearing through her flesh horizontally. A second wound was created. Blood gushed out even more violently, causing Babara's face to turn drastically pale due to excessive blood loss.

"Damn it... damn all of you!!" Babara screamed, her eyes bloodshot with madness.

And just as Eiji had expected, she decided to do it.

Babara stopped moving. She concentrated all her remaining internal energy—her life energy—and reversed the flow of her blood to create an unstable compression of energy within her heart.

Babara's body began to swell; the blood vessels all over her skin bulged out and emitted an unstable, deep red glow.

"If I have to die here… I'll drag all of you, along with my traitorous disciple, down to hell with me!"

Babara intended to blow herself up on a massive scale capable of leveling a vast area.

Eiji didn't know just how vast that area would be. But he thought it was time for him to step in.

"Everyone, fall back—!" Akame realized the immense danger posed by Babara.

She shouted a warning to Cornelia and the others.

Amid the women's panic, a silhouette moved at a speed beyond human comprehension.

Eiji, who had been calmly watching from the start, suddenly found himself standing right in front of Babara, whose body was about to explode.

He had teleported.

Eiji's expression was impassive, completely undisturbed by the heat and the pressure of energy radiating from his enemy's body.

"You know what? You remind me of someone who once said that art is an explosion."

Eiji was referring to Deidara from Naruto.

"So, I'm going to turn your explosion into a work of art."

"What are you doing!?" Babara panicked as Eiji boldly placed his hand on her body, which was about to explode.

She sensed evil intent from him.

In that very instant, the space around Babara's body distorted, forming a vertical black vortex. In the blink of an eye, Babara's body vanished from the mountaintop, teleporting several kilometers straight up into the sky.

A few milliseconds after that instant teleportation occurred, Babara's body—which had reached the limit of its energy compression—finally exploded completely in the upper atmosphere.

*BOOOOOOMM!!!*

A rather spectacular explosion shook the sky. However, because it occurred so high up, the explosion caused no damage on the ground. Its energy ripples spread out, forming a beautiful, blood-red circle of light that looked like fireworks.

Akame, Taeko, and the other women stood transfixed, staring upward. Then, they glanced at Eiji with admiration in their eyes.

"Target eliminated. Let's retrieve the bodies of Najasho and the other two."

Eiji said this as if he truly cared about the young men who had died. Hmm... Actually, he thought he could turn them into ghosts.

They could do something for him, or maybe watch him have fun with Akame and the other women behind the slightly transparent curtain.

[Host, you're so evil.]

'Miss System, I was just joking with them.'

[You call something that cruel a joke?]

Eiji ignored Miss System and used Kamui to send the bodies of Najasho, Guy, and Green into another dimension.

He, of course, told Akame and the others about it. The women were numb to the various abilities he possessed.

That way, at least they wouldn't have to carry the bodies of those three young men. None of them knew Eiji did it because he was possessive.

In the distance.

Specifically, the city wall.

Chelsea dropped the candy from her mouth and set aside her telescope. She felt sad about her master's death and angry at Taeko for betraying them.

"What should I do next? Avenge my master? No way."

She didn't have the confidence to defeat Taeko and the other women in Eiji's group. Since her specialty was gathering information, she had only one option left.

"I have to escape from this place."

Chelsea suddenly felt a bad premonition telling her to leave immediately. As proof, her butt felt a little cold.