Esdeath (A Different Path)

**Esdeath** is a former high-ranking General of the Empire whose military exploits and prowess on the battlefield had earned her the nickname "Empire's Strongest General". Eventually, due to the effectiveness of Night Raid as an assassination unit, under orders from the Prime Minister she becomes the leader of the Jaegers, a special police squad made entirely out of Teigu wielders. She is the only wielder of **Demon God Manifestation: Demon's Extract**, temporarily wielded **Demon Dragon's Flesh: Tyrannus** as well as **Demonic Phoenix God's Will: Vile Blood Curse** for a short amount of time after using Tyrannus to fuse Demon's Extract and Vile Blood Curse to it during the fight against Jacqueline.

When she manages to catch Tatsumi as he was spying on her while on a mission from Night Raid she gets him to reveal his true affiliation and threatens to kill him. He however manages to change her mind when he reveals to her his own hidden feelings, which later led to the two beginning a relationship the next day after they have sex.

However their bond is put to the test when Tatsumi, who was wanting to say hello to her while she was at the Reconditioning Department, saw for himself her sadistic and torturous side and quickly left the building, forcing her to chase after him across the capital until arriving at an estate she had never been to before. She learns from him that this was where his best friends, whom he had told her about, had been murdered after showing her the shed where their corpses had been locked inside. Confronted with the horrors that were inside, she was given a choice to either leave without Tatsumi or to give up her sadistic tendencies. After fighting with herself over which side of her she cared most about, she eventually decided to stay with him. As a result of this encounter, she never returns to the torture chambers and loses her sadistic personality, instead becoming a more cheerful and loving person that cares only for Tatsumi and, of course, the thrill of battle.

They grow closer and closer as a couple, but when Seryu accuses Tatsumi of still being a member of Night Raid when she sees him talking with Chelsea, instead of siding with her she showcases her love for him and defends his credibility by taking his side and fighting the deranged Jaeger and her Teigu until he kills her. When he collapses due to his Teigu rejecting him, she and Chelsea carry him inside and watch over his comatose body until the rest of Night Raid where in her thoughts she makes a promise to him to tell him her answer about eliminating the Prime Minister and freeing the Empire from his reign. After the fight, she informs Tatsumi of her decision to help him in his endeavor and from there they work to figure out the guard rotations of the Imperial Palace to plan on how to kill the Prime Minister.

Their plans however are put at risk when Esdeath receives an order to meet up with her army in a week's time to fight the fast approaching Western Nations' Army. So, to compensate, they plan to kill the Prime Minister the night before she has to leave, but they both are encountered with a problem. They had no idea what to say to the other Jaegers and if they would even help them. On the fourth day, they decided to finally tell their friends of their plan and, with some persuasion, she and Tatsumi were able to gain their assistance. What she hadn't seen coming however was that after they had finished talking, Tatsumi surprised the General by proposing to her. She tearfully accepted and they were married the next day, solidifying their bond and uniting them in holy matrimony.

The very next night, Esdeath, Tatsumi and the Jaegers commence their attack on the Imperial Palace and eliminate the Imperial Guards patrolling the outside and on top of the protective wall. From there, Esdeath wished him good luck and returned to the ground with the other Jaegers to await for Tatsumi's return. Instead, however, she was shocked when they spotted Tatsumi quickly running out of the Imperial Palace while being pursued by Great General Budo, whom they had thought had left earlier in the day. When she makes eye contact with him, silently pleading for him to let her help, he dissuades her from doing so and she escapes with the rest of the Jaegers so there would be no suspicion thrown in their direction.

She later went to meet Tatsumi before the time of his public execution and tearfully embraced him, telling him that she could clear his charges and save him from being killed, but he told her not too since it could make people start to suspect something was up. They share a moment, where she tells him not to apologize for his actions and that if she had to go through everything that had occurred up till that point, she would. Before leaving, he tells her that if and when their daughter is born, she needs to name her Lucena, to which she agrees to before leaving. As she returns to the surface she is confronted by Budo, who holds a firm belief that Tatsumi wasn't the only one to attack the Imperial Palace and that he questions her loyalty to the Empire, since they had just been married the day before. Esdeath states that she remains loyal, but in order to prove it to Budo, the Great General hands over her rapier to her and tells her to execute Tatsumi.

Later, at the time of Tatsumi's public execution, conflicted and on the verge of tears, she waits with Budo in utter silence as her husband is risen up into the coliseum arena strapped to a cross. She approaches him and pulls her blade, but before she can strike she notices the cross she had given him hanging around his neck was flipped, giving her a clear view to the tiny heart of ice she had engraved into it to symbolize her love for him. Unable to kill him, she instead cuts his bonds and returns his Teigu to him, telling him that she would rather their daughter have both of her parents. Budo, enraged by her betrayal, is suddenly attacked by Wave and both she and Tatsumi are surprised by he and the other Jaegers coming to their aid, but they are quickly separated when traps built into the arena floor caused a hole to form underneath them, leaving only Esdeath and Tatsumi to fight the Great General. Excited by the prospect of fighting Budo she goes at him with some of her strongest attacks alongside Tatsumi until they are able to distract him long enough to escape from the coliseum with the other Jaegers and make their way towards the capital defensive wall to leave. However the Great General catches up to them and instigates another fight, with Esdeath fighting him again but easily getting blown away by Budo due to her exhaustion catching up to her. Regardless she was about to continue to engagement until Tatsumi stepped in between them and told her to rest while giving her his warm-hearted smile, the very same one that had caused her to fall in love with him.

Esdeath watches her husband fight the gravely injured Budo with the other Jaegers until the Great General decides to wipe them out with his Trump Card, which Tatsumi counters by creating a very durable barrier to protect them all against it. When the barrier falls after Budo's Trump Card dissipates she catches the bloody, battered and exhausted Tatsumi before he hits the ground and tells him not to scare her like that again. From there, when Bols offers himself to act as a diversion for them to get away, she flees the capital with the rest of the Jaegers, leaving her previous life behind and becoming a traitor to the Empire she once so dutifully served.

## Appearance

Esdeath is a tall, beautiful and slender woman with a porcelain skin color, blue eyes and long light blue hair. She wears a Genera's apparel with long sleeves, a blue scarf around her neck and high heeled boots. She also a tattoo, the sign of her Teigu, on her chest just above her cleavage. After going rogue she let's go of her past and discards her General's cap by throwing it into a fire.

## Personality

Esdeath is a sadist who lacks empathy for people whom she deems week, which stems from her father's philosophy where "The strong will live and the weak die". As a result she enjoys putting her enemies through great pain, both physically and emotionally, and has no qualms with killing people to get what she wants. She's also known to treat her subordinates well, letting them do as they please, which in turn inspires their intense loyalty and devotion.

She does however have another side to her personality in which she only shows to Tatsumi, whom she considers to be the only person for her. According to her, after he left for a few days, she felt alone without him. She genuinely loves Tatsumi and would let nothing happen to him or allow anything to interfere with their relationship, something that Tatsumi also shows.

Her sadistic tendencies eventually vanish however when, after being shown the storehouse where his friends were killed, Tatsumi presented her with the choice of either remaining with him or staying as a person whom he stated "finds joy in torturing people wrongfully sentenced by a corrupted politician". Her personality continues to veer away from her former sadistic one as she becomes a happier and more joyful person, as seen by the rest of the Jaegers and eventually Night Raid as well when the two organizations join together.

## Equipment / Skills

Esdeath is considered the strongest soldier within the Empire, hence her nickname "Empire's Strongest General", thanks to the Teigu she wields named **Demon God Manifestation: Demon's Extract**. It allows her to create ice out of nothing and freely manipulate it, some of her moves consisting of making icicles, freezing people to death, and more. A drawback however is that using Demon's Extract on a wide scale over an extended period of time renders her unable to use it for a time and must rest before she can utilize it again.

Esdeath has been shown to be quite adept at sword fighting, mainly using a long rapier in combat. She's also been shown to be proficient in hand-to-hand combat and possesses impressive physical strength easily beyond that of a normal human being's. She does possess a strong sixth sense as well, being able to sense killer intent even at great distances.

## Trivia

**(Starred Information courtesy of Akame ga Kill Wiki)**

* Esudesu, the Rōmaji for her name, is a play on the phrase "S, desu!", which means "I am a S(sadist)!" \*
* She gave Tatsumi her first kiss\*
* Her army had its own symbol, a trait that her daughter Lucena continued