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I know
Author's Note: Every time I tried to make a nice little chapter with 2,000 words or so, more ideas would just keep popping into my head as I write. As a result, I have to greatly altered this chapter's plot because damn, I just have too much idea in my head right now, and I couldn't even use half of it
...I am a terrible writer
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"So what you're saying is..." Salem pinched the bridge of her nose "...You know what? I don't even know where to start right now"
The trio looked at each other, unsure of what to do. After telling the Sin of Pride about their story, she'd seems to be more exasperated than angry
Contrary to their expectation, the mistress of Pride's first impression struck the trio as being a level-headed person rather than an arrogant individual with a constant sneer on their face
They were surprised, and disappointed in Murdoch's case
'I really thought it's going to be a muscly blonde man with a great mustache wielding a giant axe or something...' he brooded
As for Salem part, she didn't know if she should be impressed about the fact that her son managed to bypass the castle's defenses in order to get out, or angry that he dares to do that in the first place, even though she'd explicitly told him not to
"Oh well, I'll just have to scold little (Y/n) when I met him again" She swung her hand, at the same time two portals appearing before them. The woman then turned to them
"The one on the left leads you to Envy's fortress, while the other lead you to Wrath's place. Now hurry up, I have to find my son before he gets himself killed"
Alistair and Murdoch secretly exchanged amused glances 'Well, she'll be in for a surprise'
They had, of course, purposefully left out the fact that their Lord has planned this from the start, thus making Mistress Pride being unaware of her son's unmatched intelligence. As such, it would only be right of her to worry about him, being a mother and all
"Well, see you again at a later time" Alistair politely bowed to her friend
"You too" He waved his arm back
And with that said, they walked into the portals, returning to their respective homes. That leaves two people behind, Salem and Helen. The latter turned to her with a serious expression
"Your bastard of a father said you have learned of the secret about our kind" Salem stated "Is he telling the truth?"
"Yes"
"What are you going to do about it?" She asked, already knowing the little girl's answer
After a moment of thinking, Helen replied in a thoughtful tone, appearing to be thinking hard about something
"For now, nothing. I'm going to have to ask you some question, though"
The older woman sighed. Somehow, she feels as if today's going to be a long one
"Spill"
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Inside the darkness of the van, I felt the truck I'm currently on came to a stop, followed by the sound of a gate being closed outside
Having just woken up from my sleep, I felt surprisingly refreshed and energized, enough so that I didn't feel the need to sleep anymore. It was a strange feeling for someone like me, who has to drink coffee 24/7 to stay awake in my past life
Yawning, I stretched myself, feeling the bones inside my body popped in a satisfying manner. I didn't have that drowsy feeling of a night slumber, so it must have been a short nap, about 2-3 hours or so since I get inside this truck
"Hey, wake up you guys, it's time for us to continue on our journey"
There was no answer
"You guys?"
I turned and looked behind me, but stopped myself as I realized my subordinates are no longer there. It's just me and my lonely self in this truck. The realization made me go silence for several seconds
"...*sigh* ...So it really happened huh? Well, at least they'll find a better leader than me" I thought.
I'm not that much of a charismatic person in my past life anyway, always preferring the company of manga and anime than real human contact, not to the point of becoming a pathetic shut-in, but enough so that I always avoid meeting other people, even one I know
In fact, if you were to look at it from a normal person's view, I would probably strike them as being at the other tail of society. My intelligence are slightly above average at best, and my management skill....is abysmal, let's just leave it at that
At best, I'll just be a nuisance to them once they grow up. I convinced myself that it was the correct decision that I made
But now that I left them alone, there's just this indescribable feeling in my stomach. A hollow, cold, empty and uncomfortable feeling, like I've lost something important to me...I wonder....Is this hunger I am feeling?
*Rumble*
...Yes, yes it is
The fact that I haven't ate anything in several days, despite not needing to, hurts my stomach more than it should. Being a Grimm means I can stay alive with an empty stomach, but it doesn't mean that I want to...
Wait, now that I thought about it. My new job class as an [Origin Vampire] should technically turn me into an undead, thus making me immune to starvation, choking and drowning right? If so why am I still feeling hungry?
Shit, I need to make further tests about this
But for now, let's just chalk it down to human instinct. It's easy to think that your lungs still needs air to survive when it actually doesn't. Just like the saying goes "old habit dies hard", the habits in this case are instinct drilled inside our brain for millions of years when we're nothing more than mindless apes, enhanced by a lifetime of doing it and you've got something that can't be easily removed any time soon
Ahh, I'm overthinking this again! Let's just get out of this truck here first and we can contemplate the problem at another time
Holding my finger out, I pressed it against the steel cover of the truck's side, or what I'm assuming it is. Now, let's try to use one of out newly learned skill
[Hardening]
[Armor Penetration]
There was a 'pop' as my hardened finger pierced through the metallic layer like a knife through paper. It required almost no effort from my part, just a gentle push and it went through smoothly without any problem
I have wondered several time about how strong Helen actually is. Given that a few abilities learned from her could actually do this, it makes me don't want to find out
Uhm, let's just hope she really forgive me about that incident, or my ass will be as good as fucked. The last thing I want right now is for the slime to get in and hardened herself inside my stomach, it will be a most painful death on my part
I set my eye before the newly-made hole and looked through it. Seeing that everything was clear, I sighed in relief. While it would be good to have an EXP session, I'm just not currently in the mood right now to fight
[Liquify]
I used the second skill I learned from the Shoggoth and slipped through the hole I made. As I got out, I noticed the peculiarity of the scenery around me
"Weird, this doesn't look like a storehouse"
Don't tell me AHA wasn't a trading company....
Last time I remember, trading companies don't have firms with futuristic-looking warship, nor do they have anti-tank guns and mortals situated next to the entrance, nor do they have inactive androids standing menacingly by the side with their guns hoisted in their arms
With as much confidence as Ruby saying she drinks milk, I say this definitely isn't a consumer-friendly trading company in any way, shape or form. Unless this is a weapon company, in which case I can still sneaked my way out by pretending to be a lost customer, things are going to get quite troublesome if I get caught
A nearby sound drew my attention. I quickly hid behind one of the nearby unboxed crates, peeping behind the gaps between them to see who it is
It was an Atlesian soldier, or that's who I think he is. It literally say "Atlas Special Force" on his uniform after all. That rules out the possibility that this place belong to any companies. If anything, it probably belongs to the government themselves
Lady Luck, what personal vendettas do you have against me to suffer these terrible misfortunes? If that's because of a certain incident then I'm sorry with all my heart and promise to never do that again
It was then that I noticed another truck approaching from afar by looking at the front door camera. The soldier switched a lever and the gates in front of him opened, allowing the vehicle to get in
It stopped beside the truck which I just escaped from, releasing mechanical sounds as it did so. The soldier flicked the switch back on and the gates shut back again. A buzz sounded out across the room, signaling the opening of the door
"Halt there" The nameless soldier said and readied his rifle as he walked toward the truck "What have you got inside the van?"
"Oh you know, just some test subject for the headquarter's scientist" Said the driver as he got out of the truck "I think it's name is Cinder Fall or something"
Huh, that name sounds like the female antagonist of RWBY season 3. I wonder how many people on this planet must have had the same name, considering they have to be named after something that is related to color or animal in some way
I continued observing the conversation from afar, trying to ignore the feeling that I just missed something very important
"It?" Asked the puzzled soldier as he opened the van "Holy fucking shit! Why is there a little girl in there? Why is she chained like that?!"
"You mean it" Corrected the driver, unlocking his van and pulled out someone, but I can't see shit because of the angle "This thing is the result of when a whore and a monster fucked each other. It's a Grimm hybrid, man!"
The person finally came into view. It's a little girl with raven black hair, one eye is a burning ember, while the other is blood red, with cracked marks under her eyes that resembles Salem in the show.
The girl's hands were chained together, while she is being held by a gag in her mouth. Despite that, there's a look of defiance on her eye, as if she won't submit herself to their mercy. Her burning ember eye is the proof of that
But I must say...Wow. If it wasn't for the red eye, I would have definitely mistook her for Cinder Fall!
Wait....She looks like Cinder Fall, and her name is also Cinder Fall....I think she's Cinder Fall....Oh right...Nevermind
Well, at least I don't have to face her now. I don't have any plan of being incinerated to ashes be her like a certain red-haired spartan girl soon. I mean I enjoyed seeing Pyrrha getting killed like that, but I don't want to experienced that same feeling myself, you know what I mean?
Deciding to just ignored what I said. I waited behind the boxes, wanting to know what happened next
The new soldier is still in shock when a squad of troops came down the hallway, they took a look at the girl then at the driver
"Is she the one?"
"Y'all said a girl who looks like a fucking Grimm. I don't know who that is if it isn't this thing"
The leader nodded "Good, we'll bring her to the researcher right away. Thank you for doing this by the way, you've just done humanity a great favor by catching this monster in human form"
"It's my pleasure" The man grinned "Now where's the damn bounty?"
"Just wait for some minute. We've ordered one of us to bring it to you, they should be here soon" the man got closer to Cinder "Now, men!"
Two of the guards grabbed her by the arm, despite her struggle, and dragged her up to him
"What a horrible little creature you are" The man looked at her with cold eyes "Abominations like you should never have existed on this planet in the first place
She still glared at him with that same expression of stubbornness in her eyes. The two have a minor glaring contest, after which the leader averted his eyes and turned to the remaining troops
"Bring her to doctor Evil. Just lock this thing in with the others of her kind" With a dismissive gesture, the girl was forcefully dragged into one of the many gates there are behind them
"I..," The soldier was stunned after witnessing the events that just transpired "What just happened?"
"You new here, sonny?" The driver smiled "Don't worry about it, things like these happened everyday. You're fine as long as you ignore it"
"It's the first time I've ever heard of Grimm hybrid before. How come nobody knows about this?" All he got was a shrug in response
"Hell if I know. These fucking monsters just appeared in Atlas one day and we have to hunt em down, so as not to let them harm human" He growled "I tell you, either there exist bitches crazy enough to have sex with Grimm, or there are some really strange shit going on that we don't know of. Thankfully there's doctor Evil with us"
"Doctor Evil?"
The driver's attitude immediately did a 180 and he smiled in clear reverence
"Of course, don't tell me you didn't know him" The driver grinned "That dude's a legend in the Huntsman community, having created over 400 anti-Grimm weapons himself. It's thank to him that humanity can be safe like today"
"Wow, he sounds like a really good person!"
"He is" a soldier walked out from behind the door, carrying a folder with him
"Here you go, 30,000 Liens just as promised"
"Thanks" he pocketed the money "Now if you will excuse me, I'm off hunting another one of them. Wish me luck, boys"
It was then that I decided I have seen enough. Jumping off from my hiding place, I used [Ambush], [Sharper Claw] and [Blood Claw] to take down the driver
"Wait, behind you!" the soldier screamed out as he saw me standing behind the driver, but it was already too late
My hands went through his heart, leaving him gaping for a moment before retracting my claw and letting the body fell to the ground, a surprised look etched on his face
"What the fu-" The soldier which gave the money quickly raised his gun to shoot me, but I was faster
[Acid Spit]
The man screamed as his face melted off under the poisonous substance on his face. He dropped his gun to the ground in order to cover his face, not that it would do anything much. Just as I thought, the soldier's hands were now burning due to touching the acid without protection
Can he possibly get any stupider?
In a swift motion, I dashed up to him, pulling out his knife in his pocket and stabbed him in the gut. The man bent over and collapsed, a pool of blood poured out from under his belly
[Web Generation]
I shot out spiderwebs from my hands, which hit the last soldier on his arm and sticking it to the wall, enabling him to use his rifle
This one seems to got some brain as he let go of the rifle and took out his pistol instead. Before he could shoot me however, I already closed in on him and slapped the gun out of his hand. He tried to retaliate with his other arm, but I sticked it up with webs too
Putting a knife to his throat, I tried to asked in a non-threatening, friendly voice
"Hello there, it's a nice day outside huh?" I grinned as wide as possible to ease him "Would you mind telling me where I am?"
It is written somewhere in a book I've read that when speaking with somebody, it is best if you takes the initiative and be open with other people. That's what I'm trying to do now, to make him relax so he can answer my questions easier
Yet why is it that he was shaking so badly?
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A monster
That's the only thing that the young soldier could think of that can describe this thing in front of him
Not only had it killed two people with minimum effort, it also had him immobilized and disarmed, leaving him in it's complete mercy
He tried to retaliate back, oh he tried, but it was nothing but futile effort on his part. The monster completely destroyed any hope of escaping from it
"Hello there, it's a nice day outside huh?" It grinned, a grin full of sharp teeth, one that can scares any men shitless and make babies die from fear "Would you mind telling me where I am?"
It sounds so innocent, so friendly that he would have been inclined to answer it. That is, if it isn't for the fact that the monster just killed two men without batting an eyelash, and now it's looking at him expectantly, waiting or an answer
"Y-you're in the Atlas Huntsman Association's Headquarter, located on the West side of Atlas" he trembled out of fear "Please...please spare me. Don't kill me!"
"Shhhhhhh" It put a finger on his lip, silencing him "Do you know how I got these scars?"
He looked at it, but see nothing since it's wearing a black cloak that hides it's face and body from view "N-no. I don't see any s-"
"EEEK!" He screeched as the monster pressed harder on his face
"Shhhhh" The monster laughed "Why so serious? It's only a joke! A joke wouldn't kill you, would it?"
"Now..." It continued "Is there any exit to this place?"
"Yes sir, there is!" He practically jumped at the chance to prove himself useful, just so he wouldn't get killed by this thing in front of him.There's a backdoor that lead outside just down the hallway, I'll show you where it is. Please let me guide you!"
"Haha, no need" It laughed "You have been a great help, my friend. Now, sweet dream!"
Before the young soldier could say anything more, a sharp pain flashed across his head, and the next thing he know is darkness
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You have learned [Job: Soldier]: Allow you to use Soldier's skills! +20% Damage when using guns
You can now equip yourself with [Gun] items!
You have learned [Skill: Greater Precision]: Temporarily increases the chance of you hitting your target by 15%
You have learned [Skill: Beginner Gun Mastery]: Allows you to use basic ranged weapons, decrease reloading time for your guns
You have learned [Skill: Grenade Throw]: Exterminate all your enemies with a holy hand grenade!
After my questioning session with the young soldier, in which he kept trembling and stuttering, must be because he's shy when talking with stranger or something, I decided to eat the other two people in the room since I've accidentally killed them before
I figured it would probably eased him not to see his kin's corpses being tore apart pieces by pieces in front of him, so I just knocked him out before feasting myself upon the humans. See, I can be polite when I want to!
Speaking about eating, I've officially become a cannibal by now, the taste of human meat inside my mouth doesn't feel as strange as when I first ate it anymore. I don't know if I should feel disgusted with myself or not about this fact
Anyway, the driver didn't give me any abilities, but the other soldier got me some pretty interesting one. Grenade Throw as an active ability could deal some serious wide area damage, something which I've been lacking until now
And now alone in the hallway, I started thinking about my next courses of action
To be honest, I didn't think Cinder Fall of all people would be here, and that she's a half-Grimm at that. What are the odds of that happening?
No, I mustn't get excited about this, what should I really do? In this situation, it would probably be best to get out using the back door, but there's a chance they might find out.
Going through a backdoor doesn't mean there's nobody to stop you. In fact, it could be the more fortified between this and the entrance since they'd think better than to leave such a place unguarded, especially since it's the Huntsman's Headquarter
Killing everyone in this building is a no-no too. Remember that this is the Huntsman Headquarter. One wrong move and I could ended up being killed, or worse, caught alive and be experimented on
Ahh, what should I really do? Just why did I have to get in that truck in the first place? Just why!? Why did trouble has to find me and fuck me up in every way possible!?
As I was in the middle of a panic attack, an idea suddenly popped in my head. Calming down, I started sorting through my thoughts, trying to see how I'm going to get out of this place
What if I used something to distract the Huntsman and sneaked out while they are busy solving it? Preferably something violent and is ready to get revenge on them, no matter the cost?
'Hmm....that could work...'
A smile grew on my face, a smile which only a certain clown would make before initiating one of his schemes against his arch enemy
"And I know just what will be the perfect factor for this"
With that same smile still on my face, I turned toward the door that Cinder was dragged in and started walking toward it, leaving the unconscious soldier behind
If I remember right, that's where she and the other Grimm Hybrid is being experimented on
Now, if I can only I can set them free....
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A chill went through his spine, making general James Ironwood looked up from his desk in wariness and paranoia
He had only felt this way ever since the last war, and now that feeling has returned, the General knew that something catastrophic is about to happen
The question is, just what the hell in the world could make him feel this much fear, Something that he hadn't experienced in a long time?
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Author's Note: As of now, this chapter had passed the 4,000 words limit I placed on this story, nearly doubled the amount of words intended when I start writing it. But then I figured "Hey, if this is supposed to be an end to the Atlas arc, I better make it long, right?"
And then I'm okay with it, since it means my readers could enjoy a little this chapter a little bit longer
Anyway, I'm starting to get off-track. The next chapter will mark an end to our journey here in Atlas, or the next after the next one if it's too long. After that we will move on to Menagerie with several interludes in between. But don't expect too much, you may be disappointed
"What can I say? I like to surprise my reader after all~"
Cough
You probably know what the next chapter will be like. But if you don't, just look at the picture below and imagine him as (Y/n)
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