Day 27: Bloody Ice Cold

Isekai writers: Let's make the MC have a harem of badass bitches

Thienlibra: Le'TS MaKe THe mc HAvE a harEm oF BAdaSs biTCheS

Hello everybody, Thien is here

With more edgy stuff and a bunch of vaccine for autism

Also, this chapter contains some bullshit

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The Grim

Everybody know that name.

Every citizens who lived in Atlas. Their quiet whispers reaching like a hidden wave of scandals among the populace. Some considers him a villain, others a vigilante. But to a few, he is more than that

Every gangsta who lurks in the dark underworld. Skilled assassins and mercenary who had heard of his killing prowess all scrambled for the least bit of information they could find about this rising darkness

Every officers who patrolled the street day and night, their fearful eyes looking desperately for his shadow. The shadow that brought unspeakable death upon their distant comrades, wrecking chaos with each step he takes in this world

A name that brings fear. A title that brings respect. A word synonymously linked with "terror" and "madness"

A 1,000,000,000 Lien bounty on his head...yet, that is too small a price for such an impossible deed

Because...those who have encountered the Grim...they all know just how much of a monster he is. He is unstoppable, unrivaled, undying

That thing is a force of nature in itself

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"LIES!"

His wine glass shattered against the ground, spilling it's content all over the pristine white floor beneath

"DECEPTION!"

The man's face reddened with rage and frustration. It's all he'd been feeling for the past few days, slowly escalating with each burst of emotion that he let out

"BULLSHIT!"

Jacques Schnee screamed to the heaven

"THE GRIM COULDN'D HAVE FORESEEN MY PLAN, HE JUST MERELY DESTROYED IT BY A COMBINATION OF INCREDIBLY STALE CHANCES THAT SOMEHOW HAPPENED DESPITE ALL ODDS"

"I, the Jacques Schnee, couldn't have been outsmarted by such a filthy ruffian like him" He panted, hands on his knees as the SDC chief staggered to the nearest couch. It was ripped and torn in several places: The result of his previous rage when hearing the news

Plopping himself on it, Jacques began to reminiscence about the events that had transpired in the past few days. Cold sweats poured down his forehead, making him look even more pitiful than his usual self

The personal hell that Grim had left for him

His plan has failed. Originally the man sent in his own ship to increase prestige with the military, as well as raising future funds regarding their potential client should the capturing of the Grim proved successful

It was supposed to be a win-win situation. His reputation could have soared to a new height, pushing him to the edge of total global dominance under the name of the one who played a pivotal role in pursuing one of Atlas's most wanted criminal, Grim

However, things have changed. Even when King Jacques the I was sunk, no profits nor merits have came out of it as he had intended

Why?

Firstly, resource problem

The Grim had proven to be a much more capable foe than any of them could have imagined, enough so that the government is now considering putting him into a rare Class-S criminal in the national security database, the most dangerous of individuals to grace this world

The Ambush at Pirate Town resulted in him becoming the Pirate Lord that governed the market trade of every single vessel in Atlas's water. This lead to him dominating 80% of the Kingdom's business sea routes, with many different crime organization backing him up after words about Gangplank's defeat at his hand spread from there

Should they made a single hostile move against Grim, all trades are off. All cards are closed. Over billions of profitable Lien would be lost and resulting in Atlas's economy crashing down like the 9/11 tower. Millions of citizens would suffer of course, but Jacques personally don't care about them

Is it actually that serious?

Against all odds, it is. The kingdom of Atlas's fate now lies in the hand of a single dangerous individual with abundant resources at his hand. Should they even displease him with their action...well, one day is all it takes to bring them down

If the government ever consider giving up the rein of power over Atlas to that monster...no, it is a nightmare not worth thinking about. He will only torture himself more that way

Secondly, another resource problem

With the Headquarter Massacre happening and the fact that their biggest Dust storage are stored there as stated in the report just 6 days ago, the SDC now only has 78% of their total reserve in the market. Worse still, all of them are located in other Kingdoms and small settlement that would take several days to transport to here.

That is the problem. As though he's been aware of that fact all along, the Grim has pulled out another card. A single card that completely turned the table around to his favor

The total massacre of over 200 warships, 25 Bullheads, and over 2,500 military personnel at sea, which had greatly diminished the government's forces, decrease the public's trust in their ruler, at the same time exponentially increase the amount of Dust needed to maintain the Kingdom in this frozen land

And with most of their reserve being located far away, the SDC could not thoroughly satisfy their client, which results in a massive plummet in both fame and interest, creating openings for other smaller, more minor Dust company to fill in the gap

He coughed, the frustration in his chest too intense to contain. Jacques felt as if his life span has been greatly reduced by that one cough

In one night, the corporate shares plummet by several percent. Their total net worth reduced by several hundreds of million and a potential billion if future deals with their most trusted partners are taken into consideration

This...this wouldn't have happened if...

This...

His eyes squeezed shut in pain

How could he have been so blind as to drown in denial? Credits are given when due, and the Grim has clearly warned him in the beginning. As a businessman, Jacques should have seen the sign from the start

The Huntsman Headquarter Massacre, the Pirate Town Ambush, the Naval Clash. Those deliberate events happened for a reason, precautions taken against those who yearned to make use of him. His plan failed because he himself failed. Failed to see the determined outcome and blindly charge in, believing this criminal to be an easy political pawn for him

'Well, no more' He opened his eyes, which were now bloodshot 'Playtime's over'

Geppetto Polendina

Jacques Schnee

James Ironwood

The three most prominent name in Atlas politic. A talented scientist and physicist who won multiple Notbels for his respective fields, also chief of Atlas's National Defense Technology Development sector. The CEO of the most influential company between the four Kingdom with hold of half the planet's Dust reserve. And finally, the Grand General who commanded the army of the most militaristic experienced Kingdom in Remnant

These three men all have different motives, but they ultimately have one goal. One obsession that violently burned at the pit of their stomach, haunting them for every waking moment

The Grim

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"Good" Raven smiled "That Jacques is losing his shit because of our Master"

In the darkness of the night, they stood quietly on top of the Schnee mansion. Their body blending into the shadow due to their nocturnal vampire nature

"How did you know?"

"I'm a vampire like you, remember? Detecting a person's heartbeat is easy cake to me"

"True" Her companion nodded, though she otherwise remained silent

The Spring Maiden curiously eyed the silver-eyed woman, who just recently acquire the power of the Fall Maiden by killing their previous owner

Normally Summer would be praising the shit out him, saying how it's 'all a part of his plan' and 'expected of my master' stuff. She's his first appointed vampire servant, so it is not that surprising she's that much of a fangirl about him

Raven paused

Does that mean the amount of loyalty one held for their master as well as their total strength is determined by his original blood? Does that also mean since she doesn't directly receive receive the blood straight from Him, she is far weaker than Summer?

Her eyes narrowed in slight annoyance, as well as a small amount of jealousy to her former teammate

'I have to suck Master the next time I see him' she decided with a determined look on her face 'I'll make sure every single drop went straight into my body as not to waste them'

But putting that aside, Summer has been rather quiet up until now. What has she been doing?

"A hah!" Her eyes drew up at the sound of the woman's shout "Finally, I have taken a grasp at this power..."

Raven's eyes widened as Summer turned to her. The woman's eyes are glowing silver, but there's a black color at where her sclera is supposed to be. In her hand is a blood red sword, coated in flame....a black flame shroud

"Summer...what is that?"

"Ah, it's just an experiment I've been having" She waved her hand, cancelling the flame out of existence as the blood sword in her hand dematerialized "Ever since I received this power, the power of the Maiden I mean, I've been having non-stop pain"

"What?" She frowned "Are you okay? Is the power of the Fall Maiden affecting you in anyway?"

"Hold up, Raven. Just let me explain" Summer held out her hand in a friendly manner "To be truthful, you're correct. But it is not changing me in a negative way per see"

She grinned

"In fact, the power is working to stabilize my body"

"Stabilize?"

"This is going to take some time to explain"

"Then make it short, you know me Summer"

"Fine. You could say having the Silver eye and a Grimm nature doesn't go that well with each other. I can only use one of them in battle, and every time I did that I can't immediately switch to the other one due to their contradictory nature constantly causing chaos inside my body"

She could sort of understand that

It's like Dio Brando trying to learn Hamon. It's simply impossible for those two power to go with each other

"So I decided to use a neutral source of power to balance between them. One that doesn't lean toward light, but also not affiliated with Darkness, and that is where the Maiden Power came in" She raised a finger

"A Maiden's power is that of nature. It is a part of the world surrounding us. As primordial as the rule that govern this universe and as powerful as our Master. It encompasses Darkness and Order, or in other word, a perfect balance as every creation should be. Using this allow me to strengthen and use both my vampire abilities and silver eyes at the same time"

"So, in short, you have learned to control the three most terrifying power on this planet and managed to combine them with each other?"

"Combining is too far away, I'm still at the experimental stage where I used one of them as the catalyst for the other two to dual wield them" She summoned the sword and the flame for demonstration, before once away casting them aside

'Damn it' Unknown to the woman, her hands were shaking in envy 'Why is it always you who are special, Summer?'

'I am always the stronger one. I train hard, study hard, and bleed hard, but it is you who get the preferential treatment' She smiled bitterly 'Even when we became Master's servants, it is you who he chose first, oh how life is unfair'

Raven shook her head "Well, that's good to hear, Master will be proud of you"

"Un" Summer nodded happily, before her eyes once more turned to their serious look "That aside, you sure we're at the correct position?"

"Positive" She nodded "Her room is just down there, right below us"

"Then what are we waiting for?" With a smile, The silver-eyed Huntress blinked away, into the darkness surrounding her

Raven sighed, before her blade tear through the blank space in front of her. A red portal opened, and the Spring Maiden walked through it

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Willow Schnee blinked

She looked around. The trees stared back, their leaves swaying in the wind of the midnight forest. No matter where she looked, the Manor where she lived in is nowhere in sight

"Oh, I understand now" She muttered "I must be drunk"

She took another sip from the bottle of Vodka in her breast pocket

"Unfortunately, that is not the case" A voice sounded behind her

CRASH

In one swift movement, Willow flung the glass bottle at the source of the sound. It shattered against the tree trunk, spattering the content inside out.

But the person was faster than that. Sidestepping the projectile, she nimbly readjusted her foot, gracefully avoiding the liquid from staining her clothe in the process. A flash of red blazed as she used her sword to divert the stray shard away, leaving the woman completely unscathed

"...You are..." Willow's voice was quiet in shock as she gazed upon the woman who was unsheathing her blade "The Spring maiden..."

"Come on, Willow, I thought we're on a first name basis now " Another teasing voice sounded from her side

"...Summer, what are you doing here?" She shook her head "No, where am I? What did you do?"

While she personally know these two due to her acquaintanceship with Headmaster Ozpin, Willow has barely made any contact with them over the year ever since she married Jacques

Or could it be...

"Are you here for the Winter Maiden?" She knew she was making some few leaps in logic here, but her intuition told her that indeed is the case "Did Ozpin send you here?"

"You're correct, but Incorrect!" Summer cheerily announced "Our Master wants the Maiden's power, and the previous holder of Autumn told us it was you!"

"Wha- Master?"

It was then Raven charged at her from the side, the blunt end of her blade dug into the Schnee's rib with accurate brutality. The woman doubled down, coughing up blood as another kick slammed into her stomach and sending her crashing into a nearby tree trunk

The Spring Maiden followed up with another strike intended to slice the tree in half, but Willow generated a Glyph to absorb the impact before it could touch her

Unfortunately, it shattered upon impact due to the hastiness in which she conjured the magic construct, but Willow managed to slow the blow down enough to duck under it, just in time for the entire upper half of the tree to be blown away above her

She sprung up, weapon in hand as the air split opened. Raven have to raised her sword up and create a portal to absorb the blizzard that followed after, but she is still mostly unharmed

Except another Glyph that opened up underneath. It's gravitational amplification effectively pinned her down. But Raven only sighed as she tilted her neck to one side

Woosh

Just in time for Willow's sabre to pierce through the space that occupy her head just moments ago

'She dodged it? At such an angle?'

The Spring Maiden grabbed the blade and swung it through her shoulder, but she twisted mid-air and slammed her heel into Raven's undefended neck instead. Now that attack would have cancelled out the Glyph that held her down, but it was enough to did some amount of damage to her opponent, Aura or not

Or so she thought

In lieu of that lethal blow, the other woman completely shrugged it off and continued gripping onto Willow's weapon, not letting it go no matter how much she tried to yank it off. With one movement, she evaded the space between them and drove a gauntleted fist through the side of her head

Willow's Ice Clone shattered just moments after, revealing the real woman dashing into the dark forest with blood trailing at her feet

"Tch, slippery bitch" Raven frowned 'But something doesn't make sense'

'I didn't even go all out against Willow and she's already this injured. No matter how far the distance of strength between us is, someone blessed with Ozpin's power like her could not have been taken down that easily'

'Furthermore, she could have used the Winter Maiden's power to completely block my first attack and evaded the next one, completely negating the damage I did to her. But why didn't she?'

"Could it be...Willow Schnee isn't the real one?"

"It seems we have the same conclusion after all" She turned her head to Summer, who was passively watching the blood trail with an unreadable expression on her face "This is rather...troublesome"

Ozpin is even more of a sly coot than they thought

But in retrospect, Raven should have expected this. Giving false information to your ally and deliberately baiting your enemy using a sacrifice. That's what he had told her when she first received the power

'It's for the greater goooooooooooooooooooooooooooood' that's what the old wizard headmaster has told her 'you muuuuuuuuuust listen to me, Raven'

Old Wizard Headmaster, huh? Just like Dumbledore. There's some astounding similarities between them now that she thinks about it

"If Willow isn't the real Maiden, then it is possible that Athena Nikos isn't one either" She gritted her teeth "The previous Fall maiden did mention she'd never met her nor heard about her aside from some basic information, there's a possibility that name is fake"

"Then, should we simply kill her?"

Summer was silent for a moment, before shaking her head

"No, she is too valuable a pawn for that. Not only does Schnee is one of Ozpin's failsafe, she is also the wife to one of the most influential man on the continent"

"Should...say...something were to happened to him and his son" The silver-eyed woman has a cheshire grin on her face "If such an unfortunate thing ever happened, she would be the first in line to inherit the company and it's luxurious share since the eldest daughter chose to make a change in career, and the next youngest one also appears to be nothing more than a puppet for her father"

"Then our Master would hold dominance over the entirety of Remnant's Dust economy" she nodded

Both woman's eyes flashed

One is once the strongest member of team STRQ, the Spring Maiden

The other is the once chosen silver-eyed warrior, the Fall Maiden

Under the moonlight, the hunt for their newest prey began

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CLANG

*pant* *pant*

CLANG

Sparks of fire flashed as she deflected yet another thrown blood dagger from Summer that was aiming for her leg

"Stop chasing me!"

"No!"

"Stop it, you already know I'm not the real Maiden!"

"Never!"

"Seriously?!!"

"Nuh-uh"

"You bloody wankers pisses me off!"

"The feeling's mutual matey! We're trying to make you the Master's new servant, so stop running will ya?"

Gritting her teeth, the pale-skinned woman stopped dead on her track and once again drew her weapon, trying hard to ignore the wound by her side and the broken ribs further in

"Might as well" She closed her eyes in concentration as the temperature around her began to plummet rapidly, approaching absolute zero in a matter of seconds "You asked for it"

"Summer-"

"Don't. Let me take care of it" The woman's eyes glowed silver "I actually want to test my power against this armor"

"Then I'll take care of the woman herself"

She jumped through the air, her white cloaks fluttering in the midnight air as two blood red blade shrouded in black flame materialized in her hand

A giant Glyph formed under Willow as she stabbed her blade into the ground, it's chilly glow coated the wild forest with an ethereal energy

"Erhebe dich, mein Ritter!"

The ghost-like form emerged from inside the Glyph. It towered at the heitght of over 3 meters, clad in a gigantic hunk of steel armor with a long sword in one hand and a shield in the other. Inside the helmet, two blue fire lit up to life at where the eyes are supposed to be

"Beschutze mich, Schlampe" She ordered, at the same time drawing her sword to block against Raven's attack

The will-less creation obeyed it's master, standing guard in front of her like a guardian spirit. It's sword poised forward at Summer who's falling toward it with her weapons drew backward

Summer's and the Armor's shield clashed. Blazing black fire against chilly cold ice. The extreme disparity between temperature is enough to make the air around them sizzled, with steam blown away by the shockwave generated by the clash of strength between them

With it's other hand, the armor thrust it's longsword forward with jet-like speed, intending to impale Summer by the chest. But her other sword moved slightly upward, completely intercepting the strike from hitting it's target

The former twisted her sword mid-air, allowing her to completely avert the impact of the strike while simultaneously sliding along the blade's surface. The sound of sizzling ice intensified as she got closer to it's head

[Magic Blade Generation]

Twin blades materialized from nothingness into the palm of her hand. One was black, the other blood red. Each of them have their own magical property, but they will suffice

With a grin, she slammed both swords into the armor's skull. They began to glow with their respective color. Darkness and blood, a vampire's most powerful magic all concentrated into these blade

The ice summon began shaking violently from side to side, trying to throw her off it's body

Summer's eyes glowed silver in response

[Purgatory. Level One:]

She whispered, releasing her hold of the embedded blade and leaped backward. The blade's aura began to flicker on and off, similar to a bomb just moments before the explosion

[Cleanse]

Like a puppet whose string has been cut, the armor summon ceased moving as it's body began to dematerialized by a silver light coming from it's head. The blue light in it's eyes slowly fading away as the light eventually got brighter, until the space between them was encased in a blinding halo of pure destructive energy

In the end, cracks appeared along the armored structure, , it's gigantic form slumped down in her hand as a white light enveloped them, before it finally shattered into countless pieces that disappeared into the night. The light around them also faded to black, leaving nothing behind bar a puddle of water at where the summon used to stand

"....."

Left alone, Summer smiled widely, even as she began painting lightly from the unexpected burst of strength it took her to execute the attack

This is the true power of the Silver Eye. The power to "restore true Order" to the world as Ozpin had told her before. The power of preservation, the extension of creation and the bane of destruction

Hah...restore order sounds so supernatural and pretentious...to be more precise and logical, the Silver-eyed allow their user to manipulate quantum physics regarding the natural state of quantum particles, working on the principal of the Higgs field in which everything has their own vacuum state to return to

Where unnecessary energy used to maintain this world will be cast away by the light in order for the more beautiful of things to blossom. That is a beauty of it's own. The essence of creation, the purpose of existence as you struggled to preserve your mark upon this world by striving to become better than others

Anything that is deemed "wrong" and "redundant" in the natural order of this world will be "preserved" once came into contact with the silver eyes. At full power, it can completely freeze something in existence for eternity just by the user looking at it for a short amount of time

Summer is not at that level yet. No one ever has aside from the first recorded holder of these eyes

Yes, that is vague, she knows. The only certain thing about these mythical biology of her clan is that they are effective against creatures of darkness like the Grimm, but are far less efficient in combating other foes with different nature

But...combining them with her vampire power along with Maiden's nature magic has resulted in something far different...something far more powerful

Summer stumbled forward as a flash of pain appeared in her eyes

Drip. Drip. Drip

Droplet of blood dropped to the ground, it takes a while for the woman to figure out the bleeding is actually coming from her eyes

'Looks like there's some drawbacks to using this' She noted, calmly wiping the tears of blood from her face with a handkerchief 'Oh well, as long as it get the job done I guess'

CLANG CLANG CLANG

The sound of swords clashing against each other resounded in her ears, making Summer looked toward the other side of the clearing, where Willow and Raven is battling with each other

"Stop moving!"

Or rather, it was Willow who was battling against Raven. The latter look like she wasn't even paying attention to her opponent

Slashing her sword in a windmill-like motion, the Schnee summoned several Nevermore to distract her, while she dashed to the side and created dozens of well-placed Accelerating Glyph, all of which pointed toward Raven in increasingly shortened distances

The Nevermore let out loud caw as they began shooting their sharp feathers at her, but again Raven just opened another portal to divert the strike itself. She rotated Omen's Dust cartridge and changed it to gun form

With her significantly improved vampiric sense, sniping down those little birds are nothing more than a walk in the park

Unsheathing the odachi's blade, Raven easily parried Willow's charge. They began exchanging blows with impossible speed, reduced to only the ripping sound of air and the clang of metals clashing against each other. Both fighters are inhumanely fast even for Huntsman standard, their god-like reflex matched up in the way they wasted minimal effort to counter their opponent's strikes

Using the Glyph underneath her feet, Willow began to accelerate her movement speed, pushing them pass the sound barrier. Several more also opened up with them facing different angles, allowing her to bounce back between them and send out simultaneous attacks at different spots

Meanwhile, Raven shifted her footwork as she went on the defensive, blocking and deflecting every strikes aiming her way. Some managed to slip past her guard and grazed her, it's obvious that Willow is having the advantage of speed when it comes to fighting

But there is a clear disadvantage between them

*pant*, *pant*

Since she is a vampire, Raven never run out of stamina. Her improved physical condition also lessened the strain on her body significantly, which lead to her being able to overpower the other woman by both speed and strength as time went by

All she has to do is play the long game and wait for her inevitable victory

Reducing the momentum by tilting her blade upward at the last second, she let the other woman rammed into her hand which has been waiting there, allowing her to hold Willow in a one-handed neck hold with effortless ease despite the Schnee's struggles

"So this is the extent of your power?" Raven muttered with a disapproving frown as she began choking Willow, her gloved finger slowly tightening around the windpipe "Seems like years of doing booze and self-pity has finally gotten to you"

"Seriously, dealing with depressed alcoholic is such a pain in the ass" The image of a slurring red crow flashed across her mind, and the woman couldn't help but grimace in disgust

"You dare-"

"Let's end this"

Raven's hand blurred forward and stabbed through Willow's chest, effectively killing

"Welcome to the team, Willow Schnee"

She said to the dying woman

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Ding!

Due to the effect of [Blood Bound], you have acquired yet another servant

[Willow Schnee] has become your eternal servant!

[Willow Schnee] has become a [Lesser Vampire]!

"What the fuc- Again!?"

On the island of Menagerie, a scream could be heard echoing in the valley that night

Half-naked and with sweats running down his back, (Y/n) could only stare with shock at the notification message in front of him. His training session has been interrupted in the most distressful way possible, and possibly the worst too

'Damn it, and just when I thought everything's begun to settle down' He sighed, already being partly used to this 'Looks like I'll have to put my vacation on hold then'

'Four Days' I muttered, looking down at the list of powers I'm working on 'Four days to get stronger. Four days to prepare myself. Four days to leave Menagerie behind and continue on with my journey'

'Until Evolution, I have to learn all possible skills and level them up as much as possible' I glanced behind me

There, a large poster with my face is plastered against the wall. There were some scribble on it by some drunk Irish Faunus, but the lines are still clear there

Under the moonlight, my vision swept through the content of the wanted portrait

Dead and Dead and Broken Legs

(Y/n) the Grim

Classification: A+ (Atlas), B- (International)

Bounty: 1,200,000,000 Lien, free Pancakes

It seems Atlas-chan hasn't given up on me yet

'There's not much time left' I smiled reassuringly 'But fortunately, everything is going according to the plan'

"Haaa, this mess will eventually work itself out. I'm sure of it"

By using a combination of available skills, I will create a new identity to myself, one that does not draw attention and will probably let me pass unnoticed by the world government. That way I can watch in content as they hunt for my Grim alter ego without worry

And luckily, I have decided on a temporary new name for now. I've made sure it is easy to remember, since the name itself has been with me for quite a long time ever since I came here

Goodbye (Y/n), hello (L/n)

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Author: ......

Editor:......

Editor: .....Why the hell did you make Willow speaks German?

Author: ......Because I honestly dig the idea of a german-speaking vampire bride, and her name is "Schnee" so....

Editor: Is she going to be like Pandora's Actor?

Author: *remember about the mental struggles Ainz faced* No, I don't think so

Editor: Vampire Brides? Did you come up with that for the story?

Author: Honestly yeah. You remember Yhwach and his Sternritter in Bleach?

Editor: Don't tell me

Author: Yeah