Author's Note: When you tell your reader to vote, and they actually voted, making your story to be #1 in GamerI won't disappoint you!<><><><><><><><>
You know, when I first saw Alistair and Murdoch, I'd known there's something different about them
It's nothing too outrageous. Just that their frames are not exactly like that of a Beowolf.
Murdoch is a full head taller than me, with a pair of strong, sturdy limbs that can lift the heaviest of rocks, each of them bulged up with unrestrained power. He also had a huge body to coupled with those oversized limbs of his, making him look like some punks having a steroid overdose. If I were to estimate his height, Murdoch would be over 2 meters tall.
In conclusion, he's too buff to be a Beowolf
Alistair is the opposite of him. Her slender frame is just a head shorter than me, making her about 1.7 meters tall if we don't count her ears, which alone is 20 centimeters. Despite not being as strong as Murdoch, she possessed amazing speed and intelligence rivaling, or even surpassing that of a human. In battle, she would always thinking out new strategies to counter me, who is a powerhouse, with impressive efficiency. Often time Alistair would actually pushed me into a corner, forcing me to go full offense on her to win
In conclusion, she's too smart to be a Beowolf
These doubts of mine had been there since the day I meet them, unanswered and under my mind the whole time. I've tried to ignore it, theorizing that maybe they just have some irregular traits and body parts, and that wasn't a big deal
Yesterday though, I couldn't contain my curiosity anymore. The way they fight, it was different down to the very basics of a Beowolf. Their movements were obviously trained and precise, far more effective than the slash n' hack fighting style I often saw in the show. As it is, I decided to enquire them about it
Keep in mind that I had absolutely no ill-intention toward them. It's just mere curiosity, the same kind of curiosity you get when gazing at the pickle slicer and wondered how it works (before putting your penis in it). What I'm trying to say is that no matter what their answers are, I'll just considered it to be a mystery solved and leave it at that
And that's the reason why I was shocked at their reaction. I'd thought Murdoch and Alistair will be annoyed, exasperated, or angry. Hell, I'd even thought they would sock me in the face for asking such a personal question like that
I certainly didn't expect this
Murdoch's eyes widened and his face become noticeably paler, while Alistair's body started to tremble before she broke down into sob
"W-we're so sorry for tricking you!" They both said
What the fuck?
You could probably imagine my expression right now. If not, this is a reference image for you
Back to the topic, I'm currently very surprised at both of their outburst, were they that offended by my question? Deciding to keep my calm, I stayed silent, prompting her to continue while hoping to make head and tail of this
Sensing my silence, Alistair looked down, tears gathered at the edge of her eyes
"It wasn't our intention to do so. We're hungry at the time, we have nowhere to go. It was you that saved us, you took us in and feed us an-and give us food" Several drop of tears fell to the ground "You were practically our savior, we don't want you to abandon us like the others because you were kind, kinder than any of them can. We like you, we thought that as long as you don't know, you'd let us stay with you"
Ok?
I still don't know what's going on, save for the fact that they have a good reason to deceive me, not that I'm upset with that or anything. Right now she seems to be in an unstable state of emotion though, so I need to calm her down
By throwing them a piece of meat
Because apparently that's the only correct way to calm people, just stuff them up with food and they should be relatively happy
"Eat it"
"Huh?"
"We'll continue when you guys finished eating" I simply ordered
The two of them exchanged a look before slowly nibbling on their meal, with far less vigor than usual. It took them several minutes to eat the whole thing. This time, it was Murdoch who spoke
"So how long had you known?" he asked me with a seriousness unbefitting of his character
"Since the beginning" My answer shocked them into silence
No guys, I don't really know shit. I'm just pretending to know to make this situation less awkward, and possibly understand what the fuck you guys are hiding
That was what I'm screaming in my mind. Why did I have to dig my own grave like this? What if they found out?
Murdoch's jaw dropped "You are smart" was what he was able to say
Alistair turned her face down, a sad smile on her lips "As expected of Boss, your perception amazed me to no end"
You guys, could you stop Sasuga-ing me? I'm feeling like Ainz Ooal Gown in one of his wtf moment right now
"Enough" I groaned out of embarrassment "Stop it, the both of you, you annoyed me"
That made them shut up. I intertwined both my hands together, like one of those thing masterminds usually do in movies, and faked a deep breath as a disappointed sigh
"Now, I know what you are lying about, and the reason you lie to me. But just to be sure, I'll need you to tell me everything from the beginning in case I missed some points, okay?"
This is one of those tactics people often use to pry information from others. Just pretend that you know everything and the interrogated would lower their guard, causing them to spill out any little secret they could hide. I truly hope this work out
"Of course" Alistair nodded "As you'd already knew, we're actually not Beowolves"
She waved her hands, and the air around them shattered, revealing their true form
I tried not to blink on reflex
Murdoch's body, if possibly, grew even larger than before, now he was standing at almost 3 meters tall, so that I was barely reaching his neck. I had to craned mine to look at his face, which has... changed
The expression is still similar to before, only replaced with a fiercer look and primitive features like that of a hound. He gazed down at me with an embarrassed face
What the fuck?
Alistair's ears become longer, and so is her tail. She is now taller than me, if her ears are accounted. Several white whiskers also appeared on her cheeks, which honestly remind me of a certain blonde ninja. Her claws extended, her tails elongated, making her look like a vixen
What the actual fuck?
"Let me formally introduce myself" She said and curtsied before me "I'm the Princess of Envy, daughter to The Lord of Envy. I'm a Kumiho, a fox type Grimm whose specialties are detection and illusion-making"
"And me" Murdoch "I'm the Prince of Wrath, my father is, as you can probably guess, the aspect of Wrath in the Seven Deadly Sins. I'm a Baskerville, a hound Grimm, which is a rare variant of the Beowolves. I don't have any specialty, save for my strength"
What the hell is the Seven Deadly Sins?
Murdoch, the way you speak so politely is freaking me out more than this entire ordeal does
"We've been acquaintance with each other in the past, and over the course of time became friends" Alistair took over "One day however, we were suddenly transported to this world, courtesy by a portal that connects this place with the Grimm Underworld"
Wait wait wait, Grimm Underworld? you're telling me there's a whole society that only consists of Grimm like you?
"One moment we were talking with each other, the next we landed face first into this frozen wasteland" She gestured to her surrounding "We tried to find our way back, but to no avail"
"Since then me and Murdoch has been wandering around this place, scavenging what little food we could find. At some point we joined a pack of Beowolves, but they chased us out because of our appearance" She smiled bitterly
Murdoch spoke up beside her "We don't judge them. In the Grimm world, it is considered a taboo to let another type of Grimm joining your pack. They say it brings misfortune"
Sort of like how people don't want to let woman on their ship, huh?
"For a whole year, we ran out of things to eat. We'd seriously thought we're going to die here, without seeing our parents anymore"
"But then we meet you" Alistair turned toward me, her eyes filled with admiration
"We have at that time thought that you would chase us out like the others did, so I intentionally made an illusion that will disguise us as Beowolves. As expected, you took us in"
Guilt flashed in her eyes
"It was as you suspected. We joined you in hope that you can provide us food, but you did more than that, you take us in, you train us, you treated us like family. We soon realized that we like you, and it is hard to accept that you will kick us out"
She looked down
"And now you know, and now you know..." her voice trembled
Oh great she's crying again
And Murdoch, not you too...
Sighing, I pulled both of them into a hug. Murdoch tensed, while Alistair let out a surprised gasp
"Listen" I said "I don't give a damn if you're a fox, a hound, a rabbit, a frog or even a spider, because I hate them and hope that they will extinct one day. Anyway, It's not your race that matters to me, it's your strength"
"In this world of our, might is right. The strong rule, the weak submit. A man chooses, and a slave obeys. The hunter and the hunted. You know what I mean. A strength of a pack depends on a capabilities of it's members, and you guys are far too strong for me to let you go"
"Plus" I continued, ruffling their heads "I myself had also grown quite close to you guys. Saying it as power, but my pack is also my family, and I never abandon my family"
Emperor's Aura has been activated
You have instilled loyalty to your subject
I released my hold on them. Murdoch was grinning ear to ear, while Alistair glanced sideways, a blush on her cheek. It would have looked cuter if she is a human, though
Somehow, I had bullshitted my way out of this mess and earned their complete loyalty at the same time. Is it my natural charisma, or because of the presence of my Aura? If it is the latter, then I feel this isn't even the full extent of it's power
Hazz... If only I can learn more about this new power of mine. Maybe if I was reincarnated as a human, things would have been easier
Suddenly an idea struck me
"Say, Alistair. You can create any illusion you want, right?" I asked the vixen, which somehow startled her
"Huh? Oh! Uh... There are a few limitation, but yes. I believe I can do that" She eyed me curiously "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to create an illusion for us..." I let out an ear-splitting grin "..as humans"
I have a feeling this is going to be fun
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Author's Note: Huh, this takes me longer than I thought...
Anyway, as you can see I've changed several things about this universe of RWBY, effectively making them an AU (but not quite, because Canon's still going to be the same).
I thought it's about high time to try and make a story where the MC just didn't straight up become OP, but instead make his way to power, one step at a time, steady but slowly with determination because it's more fun when you earned something instead of being given that thing. I hope you guys think like me
And warning: The MC is a chaotic-neutral villain here, that means he isn't gonna go around saving people, nor will he kill them unless they proved useful to him. He works on his own side, and no one else's
That's all I want to say, thank you for reading the story (*whisper* and remember to vote)
This chapter's word count: 2139