Chapter one: Pluto, the Deathless Armor

"Tatsumi, Sayo, Ieyasu…be careful out there. The capital is a dangerous place, so take this to protect you. "

Tatsumi reached out his hand and accepted the idol the elder had in his hand, slipping it into his coat pocket as Ieyasu laughed and spoke beside him, his voice as carefree as ever.

"Sure thing, gramps! We'll use it to make some pocket money when we get to the capita-OUCH!"

As the elder whacked him on the head, a vein bulging in his head, the elder sighed as he continued.

"No! It is an idol meant to protect you! Now go you three… be safe."

XXXXXXX

As Tatsumi opened his eyes after remembering that scene from when him and his two friends had left the village not barely a week ago, he sighed as he looked up at the imperial palace on the hill in the center of the city as he thought to himself.

It's too bad we got separated…..Oh well. I'm sure once I get into the army and make a name for myself, I'll meet up with them eventually!

Nodding to himself proudly as he thought briefly about all the money he would eventually make in the army since he was so good, he rubbed his chin deviously and laughed as he thought of it. Soon, however, he snapped himself out of his delusion and walked into the recruiting office for the army, making his way to the counter and slamming his hand onto the counter as he spoke to the man behind it.

"I'd like to join the army, please! Any place will do!"

Holding up the head of the danger beast he had killed on his way here for just this purpose, everyone around him guffawed and stepped back as the man behind the counter, clearly impressed, sized up the head and nodded slowly.

"I see…We may be overloaded with applicants due to the economic situation, but I think you at least deserve some sort of chance….Especially with this Suicide missi-"

Stopping himself, the man behind the counter rubbed his head awkwardly before speaking once more, stamping something onto a stack of papers before him, then sliding them towards Tatsumi as he spoke.

"Nevermind. Report to the camp outside the city, recruit! And welcome to the army!"

As Tatsumi walked out of the recruiters office with a shit eating grin that went from ear to ear, as he turned and briefly wondered where the hell the gate was he bumped into a woman with yellow hair, dropping his papers and bowing as he knelt down.

"Sorry about that!"

Stopping briefly, the woman bent down as if to try and speak to him, but Tatsumi was too excited to notice as he hurriedly gathered up his papers and ran off, calling out behind him once more as he left with his ruffled black hair flapping in the wind.

"Sorry!"

Despite himself, Tatsumi couldn't help but feel like something about his destiny had just changed.

That woman…if those men in that office hadn't recruited me….we may have hit it off. Oh well.

Just outside the city

After finding the army camp just outside of the city, Tatsumi quickly found himself fitted for a set of generic armor and ushered where to the rest of the troops were training, the commander of the unit standing beside him as they watched on silently. As if trying to get a feel for this new recruit, the man turned to Tatsumi and studied him for a moment before speaking.

"So, boy….I see from your papers you've hunted danger beasts before."

Nodding eagerly, Tatsumi smiled innocently as he spoke, his voice full of youthful pride as he did so.

"Yup! I've hunted lots back home near my village, and as long as I have my trusty sword here, I can kill anything!"

The commander laughed bitterly as he turned back to his troops, his voice monotone and serious.

"I wish I had your confidence, boy…..we're being sent to our deaths."

His face drooping, Tatsumi turned to the commander and spoke questioningly.

"What? What's our mission…er-sir?"

The man sighed again and removed his cap as he rubbed his temples dejectedly, his voice soft as he replied.

"Boy….we're being sent to take out a group of bandits who somehow found one of the lost Teigu somewhere…"

Tatsumi merely cocked his head, clearly having no idea what the man was talking about. As the man noticed the dumbstruck look on his face, he chuckled.

"Good grief….you really are from the boonies, son."

Pausing for a moment, the man continued.

"Just know that if they know how to use this thing, they'll kill us all in a second."

Tatsumi luckily seemed to understand as he tapped his chin, speaking after a moment's thought.

"If the thing's so dangerous, why not send someone else just as dangerous?"

And with that, the commander slipped his cap back on and began to walk away, waving his hand dismissively as he walked off.

"Ain't that the question, boy? Get ready, we leave in five!"

And before he could even ask what training he would get, Tatsumi found himself pushing into the front line of the marching formation as the group set off for a cliff-top fortress the bandits in question had supposedly taken over with the help of the Teigu. Adjusting his breastplate as it began to chafe his neck, Tatsumi turned to the man beside him and nudged him with his elbow as he spoke.

"Hey…..Why did we get almost no training for this? Why stick us in the front the line?"

The man, his face one of pure despair, looked to Tatsumi with dead eyes and sighed as he spoke.

"Because we aren't meant to live, you moron. To the emperor and that bastard of a minister, we're nothing but cannon fodder. Sure, the pay sounds nice until you find out you're getting sent out on a suicide mission…"

Tatsumi clenched his fists as he listened to the man, his teeth gritted as he walked.

That bastard. Any emperor who would do this to his own men…I can't forgive such needless brutality!

But before long, Tatsumi and the other soldiers had arrived at the mountain top fortress, the commander turning around on his horse and pointing his sword towards the fortress as his voice boomed out over the field.

"To battle, men! Fight for that damned paycheck!"

Strangely, those few words of wry encouragement seemed to do wonders for the men as Tatsumi found himself swept up in a literal avalanche of soldiers as they charged the fort! Breaking down the door and following the rest of the troops inside, Tatsumi saw the bandits rushing out to meet them, but his mind quickly shifted to the 'Teigu' the commander had spoken of as a smile crossed his lips as he suddenly came up with an idea.

If I can kill whoever has this 'Teigu' thing…..I'll surely get recognized! Maybe even a pay raise that I can use to save my village!

Rushing to the walls of the fort and managing to avoid the heaviest fighting, Tatsumi managed to sneak around to the central tower at the back of the central courtyard and make his way inside, sword drawn as he cautiously made his way through the dark, damp hallway that led to the command room. As his mind continued to race a million miles an hour, Tatsumi couldn't help but feel sheer excitement as adrenaline raced through his veins.

This is the feeling of combat!

Just as he arrived at the room before the command room, Tatsumi took a deep breath as he stood in front of the door into it to try and calm himself.

Let's do this….for my village, and for Sayo and Ieyasu!

Kicking open the door, Tatsumi raced into the room ready for a fight, but once he had a chance to thoroughly examine the room he saw only a single corpse slumped in a chair behind a table, a glittering black necklace around the rotting, bloody corpse's neck. Tatsumi had no idea, but the corpse of the man before him was the wielder of the lost Teigu the bandits had found, a man stupid enough to try and force a compatibility match with the Teigu only to have it end up taking his life after taking over the fortress. As Tatsumi stood beside the man and looked him over, he seemed to notice the black necklace that was around his neck, looking around and smirking as he rubbed his hands together.

I'll just take this. No harm, right..?

As he gently took the necklace from around the man's neck and put it around his own, the minute the neckless was clipped into place a blinding wave of black light suddenly shone forth from the necklace! As the light found its way out into the courtyard where not soul remained standing and shot miles into the sky, people from all over the empire turned towards the pillar of light as black as a nightmare…

In the capital

As she walked along the streets, sighing happily as she finished off the last of her bottle of alcohol, Leone looked up and saw the pillar of black light coming from the east and narrowed her eyes.

That's not good…

As she raced out of the city and towards the cliff where she had seen the pillar coming from, Leone hoped it wasn't one of the empire's tricks….

Back at the fortress

As Tatsumi stood in the command room of the fortress, he could barely believe what had happened. There he was, only moments before, standing perfectly still after clipping that black necklace on, and now here he was standing in the same spot covered in full-body, demonic looking pitch black armor that made him a full two feet taller, two shields about as tall as him at about ten feet tall in each of his hands!

How the hell am I not being crushed by all this weight?! AND HOW AM I HOLDING THESE SHIELDS?! I think each one weighs about two tons!

Yet somehow, Tatsumi felt almost at home in this armor and holding these two shields than he did back in his village!

Strange…..this armor, these shields…..they feel like a second skin. I think it's a safe assumption to say that this is that 'Teigu' thing the commander spoke of….right? Anyway, it feels like this thing made me stronger, so let's see if I can move.

Taking a few experimental steps toward, Tatsumi groaned under the weight as he barely made it out the door and back into the courtyard after nearly five minutes of walking what had previously taken him a minute at best!

Shit…..this thing's heavy…Fuuuuck. Okay….movement in this thing is…..hooo….not fun. At all.

As he came to a stop in the middle of the courtyard and glanced around, as Tatsumi saw all the bodies strewn about he realized something.

I'm the only one left alive!

Stopping for a moment of silence for the people who had died here, Tatsumi sighed as he trudged his way up to the wall that overlooked the valley floor almost five hundred feet below him, and beyond that….the frozen tundra of the northern lands. Easing his head over the edge of the wall, Tatsumi felt his stomach drop as he glanced at the valley floor so far below him.

Better not fall. Oh, I wonder what I should call this suit of armor….

Before he could even come up with a name that, in all likelihood, would have been pretty lame, Tatsumi suddenly felt a name pop into his head, a name that he whispered as if reciting a mantra.

"Pluto…..the deathless armor…..catchy."

As he glanced out at the valley and the snowy lands beyond, he suddenly heard a female voice from behind him!

"And who might you be?"

Turning around slowly to see the same woman from earlier who he had bumped into outside the recruiting office but with more animal-like characteristics, he gasped and spoke.

"You're those boobs from earlier!"

Before he could catch himself, the woman raised an eyebrow as she suddenly snapped her fingers and chuckled.

"The squirt from the recruiting office! Still…"

Suddenly, her demeanor became much more threatening as she spoke again with a much scarier voice.

"I'm going to need to ask why you're wearing a Teigu."

Tatsumi, feeling the hostility radiating from this woman now, took a step back as he shook his armored head.

"I-I don't know! Pro-WHOA!"

Before he could even finish, he found himself plummeting towards the valley floor below! As Leone walked over to the lip of the wall and watched the armored man falling to the valley below, she sighed and turned to leave.

"Too bad. Thought he could be a useful ally, maybe….."

Currently en route to the valley floor

"SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!"

Those were Tatsumi's thoughts and the only words coming out of his mouth as he fell like a damned rock from the top of the cliff towards the plains below, Tatsumi's only thought was to lock his shields together to shield himself from the impact.

Then, Tatsumi slammed into the ground at about two hundred miles per hour.

A few miles away

Pausing as she rode her horse ahead of her army that was returning to the capital, Esdeath felt a slight tremor run through the ground as she glanced into the distance.

Strange….

She swore she could even see a small plume of dirt shoot into the sky.

Beneath the clifftop fortress

Suprisingly, Tatsumi wasn't dead. He wasn't even scratched! Digging himself out of the crater with a considerable amount of effort, Tatsumi looked down at his armor and smiled inside of it as he looked around the valley he now found himself in.

This armor is tough. Slow, but tough.

Seeing no other option but to head in a direction since he had no idea which direction was which, Tatsumi merely began trudging along in the direction he was facing, each step taking considerable effort as he drug the two massive shields along with him.

After what seemed like hours of walking, Tatsumi came to a stop as he a massive group of people heading his way!

At the speed I can go…I won't be able to avoid them.

As he glanced around and wondered what he should do, he noticed notches in the sides of his shields, and he realized that they fit together puzzle pieces!

So they interlock…interesting. Maybe they get stronger whenever that happens?

Before he could think about it anymore, he could visibly tell the woman who was sitting on the horse in the front of the group approaching him had noticed him and was motioning the army to stop as they approached him cautiously. Turning slowly to face her in his armor as she neared him, he heard her call out to him.

"You there. Explain yourself, or I shall kill you myself!"

While Tatsumi had planned to say 'Just someone passing by', he felt the armor take ahold of his personality as he said something he normally would never have said otherwise.

"Try it."

As she blinked for a moment, as if she couldn't believe someone had just said that to her, Tatsumi sighed internally.

Damn it.

Seeing an array of ice spears appear all around the woman, her expression suddenly turned ice cold as she spoke.

"I think I'll enjoy breaking you, then!"

As she launched the ice spears at him, he merely interlocked the shields together as the spears slammed into the shields, his arms barely feeling anything at all as he peeked out from behind them and spoke.

"Wait, did you attack already? I wasn't ready."

A look even more deadly than before passed over the woman's face as she seemed to be assessing him before speaking.

"Pest."

Gritting his teeth as more ice spears slammed into his shields, Tatsumi felt himself getting a tad angry.

Okay, what's with this woman? What did I even do?

Feeling himself naturally channeling the armor's power, Tatsumi felt power gathering in his legs as he began to speak words that held no meaning to him!

"Pluto's wrath…charge of the minotaur!"

Launching forward at speeds exceeding fifty miles per hour with the power built up in his legs, the woman barely had time to leap off of her horse before Tatsumi slammed into them with the force of a dozen freight trains, the horse literally exploding into tiny bits and pieces as he felt a sword clanging against his armor from behind him! Retrieving his shields from the puddle that was the horse's carcass, he spun around to face the woman in ice as she clicked her tongue in annoyance as she spoke.

"A tough one, eh? But it seems you've sacrificed attack for your defenses!"

As Tatsumi glanced around and saw three more warriors surrounding him, he knew she was right.

This armor may not grant me much attack power….but it's almost invincible. Still…..against four of these people, I can't hold out much longer….it's a miracle I've been surviving as long as I have. But still….can I just give up?

Tatsumi finally glanced around him and spoke.

"If you're simply going to kill me once I remove this armor, I think I'll stay right where I am, thanks. I can turn at least one of you into a puddle beneath my shields before I fall."

Is this armor making me more confident?

The woman chuckled as she pointed her rapier at him.

"A fair point. I merely have one question, then….Are you with night raid?"

Tatsumi cocked his head as he spoke.

"Wait, who?"

Narrowing her eyes for a moment, a silence descended upon them for a moment before sheathing her sword with a sigh as she spoke.

"How annoying. Regardless…."

She smiled so coldly Tatsumi felt a shiver run up his spine as she continued.

"You'll be our prisoner."

Feeling the armor harden his emotions, Tatsumi spoke.

"Like hell I will be!"

A look of utter, cold hatred crossing her face, the woman gripped the hilt of her sword and frowned as she spoke.

"Then there's no pleasing you. Death it is."

As he felt himself suddenly encased in a block of ice, Tatsumi's mind stopped functioning as his last thoughts crossed his mind before the ice encased him completely…..

DAMN IT I'M HUNGRY!

Hey there readers, hope you enjoyed it. I figured since a lot of AKG Stories I've read sent young Tatsumi here either with Esdeath or Night Raid right off the bat, I wanted to switch things up, so he joined the army like he originally wanted to! Anyway, if you liked it drop me or the story a favorite or something, and thanks for reading!