Inner Voice: All Heroines Hear My Inner Voice Chapter 1043: Esdeath

After the leader of the tomb guardians was killed, Eiji turned his gaze toward Kurome, Gin, and Natala. More precisely, he glanced at the chains and handcuffs holding their hands aloft.

*Snap!*

With a snap of his fingers, he freed the three of them from the restraints holding each of them captive.

"Kurome!"

Akame immediately ran over to her younger sister and hugged her. Kurome returned her older sister's hug.

"Nee-san!"

While the two sisters shared a heartwarming reunion, Gin and Natala approached Eiji and bowed.

"Thank you for saving us!"

They both said the same thing at the same time. Eiji waved one hand casually, "You're part of the Empire. It's only natural for me to save you."

He didn't mention that Bill had originally assigned Gozuki the mission to save them.

"Hmm... Excuse me, but who exactly are you, sir?" Gin asked curiously. Her favorable impression of the man in front of her had already grown significantly after what had happened.

She wanted to get to know him.

Natala didn't notice a transparent green hat appear on his head.

Akame and Kurome had finished their reunion and were walking toward the others. The latter also looked at Eiji with curiosity.

"Me?" Eiji gave a faint smile before answering, "I'm Eiji, one of the heirs to the Empire."

"An heir to the Empire!?"

Kurome, Gin, and Natala were surprised.

Akame thought it was normal. She had the same reaction when she learned Eiji's identity.

"I'm also the current leader of the Elite Seven." Eiji added.

Then, he remembered something. In the original story, after Kurome and the others were rescued, Since many members of the Group of Terror had died, and the Elite Seven had also lost Cornelia, Gozuki brought those three into his group. Bill didn't mind, and decided to look for new recruits to join the Group of Terror.

Eiji wanted to do the same.

Of course, he didn't need Bill's permission. After receiving his genjutsu, he was his puppet.

'Hmm… Why do I suddenly feel like Danzo?'

Anyone who's ever watched Naruto would know who he's referring to.

"By the way, call me Eiji. Setting my status aside, we're actually not that far apart in age."

Hearing what he said, Kurome didn't hesitate to call him by his name. "Eiji, I'm also grateful that you saved us. Nee-san said she and the other members of the Elite Seven wouldn't have made it here so easily without your strength."

"Akame's exaggerating a bit."

Eiji was being modest.

Akame resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She wasn't exaggerating at all—she was telling the truth.

For example, without Eiji's shadow soldiers, who had mapped out the area until they knew the location of every trap, they wouldn't have been able to rescue Kurome and her friends this quickly.

[Is Akame in love with me?]

Eiji, you... You're a narcissist.

Akame thought to herself. And yes, now she was certain she could hear Eiji's inner voice. However, she couldn't tell him.

*!!!*

A sudden tremor shook the tomb.

"This... Don't tell me this place is going to collapse!?" Gin panicked.

The same was true for everyone else, except Eiji. He calmly explained, "After the old man who was the tomb's leader was killed, That seems to have triggered the tomb's final defense mechanism."

"Eiji, we have to get out of here as soon as possible!" Akame said.

Eiji nodded, "Allright. Everyone, except Natala. Come closer to me; I'll get us all out of here."

"???" Everyone.

Akame was the first to stand beside the man, practically pressed up against him. She glanced at her younger sister, "Kurome, hurry over here! Eiji has the ability to teleport. He can transport all of us to another place in the blink of an eye."

Come to think of it, why didn't Eiji just use his teleportation ability to go to Kurome's previous location?

Akame suddenly thought of this, but she figured it didn't matter since her younger sister had already been saved.

"Eiji has that kind of ability!?"

"O-Okay."

Gin exclaimed, and Kurome followed her older sister's lead. Gin awkwardly stood right in front of Eiji. Without hesitation, Eiji pulled the woman's voluptuous body toward him. Her large breasts pressed against his chest.

"You need to get closer," Eiji said.

Gin's cheeks flushed slightly

"Um… Eiji, don't I need to move closer?" Natala asked awkwardly.

Some debris fell around him, and he panicked.

"Ah." Eiji glanced at the blond young man whose aura reminded him of Yuuto. "No need—I can teleport you here with us."

Huh? But why am I the only one being treated differently?

Natala held back from asking.

Immediately, Eiji snapped his fingers.

*Snap!*

The surroundings around them changed. They were all now outside the pyramid-shaped tomb. Not only them—Eiji had transported Cornelia and the other women in his group to this location as well.

They were surprised by the sudden change in their surroundings. But when they looked at Eiji, Cornelia and the others understood.

Eiji used his teleportation ability to move them!

"W-We really did get out of the tomb in the blink of an eye." Kurome stammered, a look of awe on her face.

Gin shyly pulled away from Eiji. She turned toward the tomb, which was slowly collapsing, with horror. "Luckily, we were able to get out of there quickly."

"...." Natala.

He didn't know why, but seeing Kurome and Gin practically glued to Eiji made him feel uneasy.

"Akame! Eiji! Everyone! I'm glad you're all okay." Poney approached their group cheerfully.

Chelsea and Taeko also walked over; their clothes were covered in bloodstains. It wasn't their blood, but that of the tomb guards they had killed earlier.

There was a sense of satisfaction on their beautiful faces.

Of course, they were happy to be reunited with Eiji and the others.

"Eiji, there are still plenty of other tomb guards on watch outside. We'd better get out of here right away." Cornelia said to her leader.

Around the collapsed pyramid, there were actually several other, smaller pyramids. Many guards were stationed there.

For Eiji, that wasn't a problem. Those tomb guards were nothing more than ants. He could kill them all in an instant.

But...

"Wait a second." Eiji said, his gaze fixed on a certain spot.

Cornelia, Akame, Tsukushi, and the others were confused.

What was he waiting for?

This was their chance to escape.

*BOOOMM! BOOOMM!*

The sound of successive, earth-shaking explosions rang out. From the distance, giant, sharp pillars of ice as tall as pyramids suddenly shot up from the ground, piercing the sky and spreading at a terrifying speed, turning most of the sandy ground within a radius of hundreds of meters outside the tomb into an icy wasteland.

"!!!" Akame and the others

They also heard the screams of the tomb guards, filled with pain and fear.

It seemed as though someone was fighting the remaining tomb guards. And the other party's power was immense.

[Of course... How could I have forgotten that she would show up here too? Actually, the other reinforcements from the Empire that Bill was referring to are her.]

Akame and Chelsea: Who??

Eiji, you sound excited.

The camera cuts to the location where the ice pillars appeared.

There, dozens of tomb guards are frozen inside the ice pillars. The remaining tomb guards are stunned; they're panicking and look terrified.

How could they not be?

Amidst the chaos, stands a beautiful woman with waist-length blue hair, wearing an elegant white military uniform with a Teigu emblem tattooed on her ample chest. She was Esdeath, a high-ranking general and the strongest reinforcement sent directly by the Empire.

Her presence caused the bulge in Eiji's pants to grow slightly larger.

[Damn! This woman is so sexy!]

The heroines: "...."

Eiji, you pervert.

How sharp is your eyesight that you can see her appearance from that far away?

"Is that all the legendary ancient tomb guardians are capable of?" Esdeath's beautiful voice sounded as cold as the surrounding temperature.

"Truly disappointing."

She mocked her enemies.

One of the tomb guardians used the Secret Art, transforming his body into that of a roaring bear. "Imperial dog! Don't be so arrogant—you've only frozen the weaker tomb guards. I'll show you just how powerful we are by killing you!"

"Oh? That form of yours... I killed plenty of Danger Beasts like that when I was a ch*ld."

Esdeath said something that was hard for everyone to believe. Except for Eiji—he knew she was telling the truth.

This woman...

I mean, this future wife of his had been trained to kill Danger Beasts since she was a ch*ld. Even before she obtained her Teigu, many Danger Beasts had already died at her hands.

Speaking of her Teigu. It's called Demon's Extract, which allows her to manipulate ice and create it out of nothing.

It's an extremely powerful Teigu; many people go mad when they become its owners. However, Esdeath is the exception.

She and Demon's Extract are a perfect match.

In the future, she'll become incredibly powerful, like a final boss, and only the protagonist, Akame, will be able to kill her.

"Nonsense!" The bear-shaped tomb guardian didn't believe what Esdeath said.

Esdeath casually swung her hand at one of the ice pillars that had frozen several guards. Her casual gesture shattered the ice pillar into pieces, including the people frozen inside it.

"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. I'm not just going to freeze you all—I'm going to kill you all."

Esdeath grinned, a thick, bloodthirsty aura radiating from her.

"Die!"

The bear-like tomb guardian charged toward her. It was massive, but Esdeath didn't flinch. Just as the bear's claws were about to touch her face, she simply shifted her body slightly to the side with a graceful movement.

*BUM!*

The claws slammed into the ground, shattering the ice-covered earth into pieces. Before the tomb guardian could pull his paw back, Esdeath slammed the heel of her shoe down onto the back of his paw. In that very instant, thick ice spread at lightning speed, freezing the tomb guardian's entire leg and torso in the blink of an eye.

"Are you using the Secret Art just to become a weak Danger Beast and make yourselves look big?"

Esdeath sneered and swung her long sword like a whip at the ice statue in front of her. With the sound of shattering ice, the bear-shaped tomb guardian was smashed to pieces.

From the sky, the bat-shaped tomb guardian dove sharply, spewing toxic acid mist from its mouth to melt Esdeath.

Anticipating this, Esdeath raised her right hand into the air. Using her ice elemental manipulation, she created a giant ice shield above her head to block the acid mist.

*Splash!*

At the same time, Esdeath punched the ice shield she had created directly toward the enemy who had just attacked her. The impact created a shockwave that sent shards of ice raining down on the bat-like tomb guardian.

"Aaaahhh!"

He screamed, fell from the sky, and died with numerous large shards of ice piercing his body.

With a casual wave of her hand, Esdeath manipulated the air molecules around her. Thousands of razor-sharp ice shards formed above her head, then shot down like a hail of bullets, tearing apart hundreds of tomb soldiers in a matter of seconds.

The fresh blood that spurted out froze instantly on the icy floor, creating a terrifying yet artistic scene.

"Weak. So weak." Esdeath said wearily, her eyes as blue as ice gazing sharply at the remaining tomb guards within her sight. "You aren't even worthy of being my prey."

The faces of the remaining tomb guards turned pale; they stared at the light-blue-haired woman in horror.

"M-Monster... This woman isn't human! She's a monster!!"

One of the tomb guards screamed before a sharp ice spear shot up from beneath his feet and pierced his body, leaving him suspended in midair.

Esdeath said nothing more; she continued to slaughter the tomb guards. She was getting closer and closer to Eiji and his group.

She could even see them.

Using her ice, she created a curved pillar and slid along it until she reached where they were. She leaped off the ice before asking, "Who are you?"

Her gaze naturally fell on Eiji. That's because he was the most handsome man she'd ever seen in her life.

She was a little curious about him.

"W-We…" Cornelia was about to answer because she thought Esdeath was asking who they were.

However, she had misunderstood. Esdeath actually recognized many of them as members of the Elite Seven and the Group of Terror.

As a general of the Empire, she had access to information about them.

"Not you guys—I'm just asking the man in front of me." Esdeath's gaze remained fixed on Eiji.

"I'm sorry!" Cornelia hurriedly apologized; she was truly afraid of the woman in military uniform standing before her.

How could she not?

She was incredibly strong and radiated a bloodthirsty aura like a Danger Beast. Eiji sighed; Cornelia might not be able to become the leader of his harem in this world if she didn't have the courage to face Esdeath.

"I'm Eiji, and these women... Ah, and this young, blond man who looks a bit feminine is also a member of my group."

"?" Natala.

A young man who looks a bit feminine!?

Isn't he a bit much!?

Kurome and Gin found it a little amusing. They thought Eiji was right. Natala did indeed look less manly than the average guy.

However, they didn't realize that what Eiji said about them—that they were members of his group—was 100% true.

Eiji had no intention of letting them return to the Group of Terror. Reluctantly, he also had to bring Natala into their group before planning his death— Ahem! I mean, an accident during the mission.

[Host, can't you be nice to someone of the same gender as you?]

'Miss System, have you forgotten about Hachiman? He's my best friend.'

[...]

Miss System fell silent.

Esdeath raised an eyebrow, "You said your name is Eiji? I've heard of you."

It seemed Dakki had done her job well. After all, Esdeath knew something about him.

"How is that possible? I'm sure I've been acting quite modest up until now. I didn't expect a beautiful and strong woman like you to recognize me."

Eiji teased the female general in front of him. That was something no man who recognized her would ever do.

That made Esdeath feel amused. Before she set out on this assassination mission, she had heard some intriguing information about the man in front of her from her superior, the Empire's 'Prime Minister'.

He said that Eiji was the Emperor's secret heir to the Empire and that, not long ago, he had replaced Gozuki as the leader of the Elite Seven.

Esdeath had also heard that a mountain in the Empire's territory had been destroyed because of Eiji.

In other words, the handsome man standing before her was very strong!

"I am Esdeath, a high-ranking Imperial general serving under the Prime Minister."

"!!!" This was the first time Akame and the others had met Esdeath in person, and they were taken aback.

Before this, many of them had only ever heard her name. They felt even more intimidated by her.

However, Eiji didn't change his expression. He continued to gaze casually at the woman standing before them.

Esdeath grinned, "You don't seem the least bit afraid now that you know my name, Eiji? Or have you never heard anything about me before now?"

"I know a lot about you. Your reputation in the Empire is also extraordinary. The Empire is lucky to have a general like you."

"Interesting."

Even after finding out who he was, Eiji remained relaxed around him. He even dared to tease her!

Eiji took a step forward, his chest nearly colliding with Esdeath's large breasts. With a faint smile, he leaned down slightly since he was still taller than her.

By the way, Esdeath is 170 cm tall.

Eiji said, "You've caught my attention too, Esdeath."

Cornelia, Tsukushi, Gin, Poney, and Natala were terrified. Eiji was very bold—he kept teasing the woman known as the Empire's greatest power!

Akame, Chelsea, Kurome, and Taeko looked at Eiji in admiration.

"Hahaha!" Esdeath laughed, but her gaze grew sharp. "Are you interested in me, too? Good. I don't care about your identity as the Empire's heir or anything else. Finding a strong opponent is the greatest blessing for me. Eiji, fight me. Show me whether the rumors about your strength are true or just nonsense!"

!!!

Everyone except Eiji panicked.

[Host, is this part of your operation love?]

'Of course, Miss System. Of course...'

The corners of Eiji's lips curled up higher; he grinned.