Author Note: Hello and welcome to the fanfic: The Path of Nemesis. This fanfic will be going following an OC character that I have created over a concept that I have had for a while. It's about the journey of a character that is a rogue element of the war between the fight between light and darkness in Remanent. About a person who's only desire is to see those who have brought him pain to get what has long been coming to them. If you like this and want to see more, please favorite and review accordingly. Enjoy the story.
"Two beings born of great hatred will arise during a time of great calamity. One will have the power to steal from man. One will have the power to steal from that which slays man. These two will hold the fate of all of Remnant on their shoulders."
An old prophecy that has been foretold upon what would be the deciding factor when the dark would begin to return to the world. To anyone who has paid even the slightest amount of attention to current trends would know without a doubt that the dark has began to grow once more. From the increasing number of Grimm, to the many internal strifes with both humans and faunus that has continued to grow worsen over time. To many, it is beyond a shadow of a doubt that the dark times were inbound, assuming of course, that they weren't here already. But for one mysterious cloaked figure that is currently standing on a rooftop of a warehouse within the kingdom of Vale, none of that mattered to him.
He is currently in an all black hooded trench coat with painted black combat boots and gauntlets both made from what could be guessed as the bone plates of Grimm. If you could see his face, all you would see is a white mask also from Grimm plates with menacing red eyes staring back at you. To him, all he cared about is that blood will be spilled tonight. He had gotten word that there was a big supply movement of the White Fang that came here earlier today and he was here to intercept it. Best case scenario, all of the White Fang members here are massacred and the warehouse and its contents are set alight, just like the others prior to this one.
This person managed to sneak into the warehouse via a window. So far, there hasn't been any problems. However, there was something that was odd about the place.
"It's quiet. Too quiet. Not to mention, I can barely see here. Either this place is abandoned or this is a trap."
Underneath the mask, the individual simply smiled gleefully at that prospect.
"I hope they try again with an ambush. It will save me the trouble of finding them. Plus, it will further sink the message of powerlessness once the message makes its way back to Adam and with any luck, it will convince him to come out of hiding."
He eventually managed to make his way towards the center of the darkened warehouse where light was coming through one of the windows. As soon as he stepped within the light…
Multiple spotlights shone right where he was standing. Upon the lights being turned on, there were 25 White Fang members now surrounding him. 15 of them were armed with assault rifles and other guns on the floor above him both in front of him and behind him, the rest were armed with a large variety of melee weapons creating a circle around him. Leading the group was a female fox faunus just above him, complete with a red tail and ears. She was in standard White Fang attire as well. The major difference was that she had a unique mask that was standard for those who were high ranking in the White Fang. She had a mask that covered her entire face and the area where the slits which her eyes would see from were painted black.
"Like a rat caught in a trap. I had a feeling that you would show up." She said confidently. "The self-proclaimed Grimm Reaper, so easily walking into an ambush. I'm surprised so many resources have been wasted to deal with the likes of you."
"Hey. I'm not the one who came up with the name. Those who have witnessed the aftermath of my work are the ones who decided to call me that." The cloaked man spoke out in an annoyed tone.
"But I feel like I should thank you and your subordinates. Having you all gathered here at once makes my job of slaughtering all of you that much easier. To show my appreciation, I shall grant all of you a swift death."
In response to the cloaked man's snarky reply she just simply said two words:
"Kill him."
As soon as those words left her mouth, the faunus above opened fire and the ones on the ground floor began to close in.
The cloaked man moved immediately towards the closest person within melee range. While he wasn't the fastest person around, it was enough to avoid getting shot. As soon as he within range, he unsheathed two weapons within his trench coat. They were a katana and a wakizashi that looked like they were also made from Grimm plates.
In one fluid motion, the cloaked man managed to unsheathe the blades and slashed at the closest White Fang member, bringing him to his knees, the cloaked man pivoted and brought down his blades to the back of the head of his target, with the blood splatter that followed verifying that he was now dead.
Before any of the White Fang members could react, the cloaked man had already jumped onto the floor where the White Fang members with guns were at. Despite them trying to put bullets into him, they looked like they were having little effect.
"This person has an aura as well!? That's not good. He'll kill all of us at this rate.I have no choice but to use the secret weapon." The White Fang Officer thought as she fled from the bloodbath.
One by one, the White Fang members were being cut down. The cloaked man's fluid movements were almost like a dance, albeit instead of flowers and spotlights, blood and body parts were flying all over the place as he continued to mercilessly butcher everyone. After a minute or two had passed, everyone on the second floor was now dead and the Grimm Reaper had jumped down in order to finish off the ones still on the first floor.
Most of the surviving White Fang members were downright terrified of the cloaked man known as the Grimm Reaper. His trench coat was now covered in the blood of their fallen comrades and he easily cut them all down despite being severely outnumbered and outgunned. The message was clear to them. He was too much for them and he wasn't about to let them walk away peacefully.
One of the White Fang member's, overcome with fear, had dropped his weapon and began to run away, crying in terror. His comrades turned their heads as he attempted to hightail it out of the warehouse. Unfortunately for the fleeing faunus, he didn't get far. He got about 3 meters before he briefly felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. Unable to react, he simply fell to the floor and never got up again.
Everyone else saw that a throwing knife that was made of the same material as the Grimm Reaper's swords was thrown at the previously living faunus's head. Seeing as they were was no other way out of this situation, they attempted to surround him again to try and hit him from multiple angles. Sadly for the White Fang, the Grimm Reaper anticipated this and quickly made his was towards the closest faunus and cut him clean in a diagonal half. The female faunus next to him tried to slash the Grimm Reaper with her shortsword, but before she could bring down the blade, her arm holding the weapon was was cut clean off by the katana precisely at the brachial artery point. With the unexpected attack and the heavy blood loss due to cutting of a major artery, the faunus, understandably, quickly went into shock and with a swift kick to the stomach from the Grimm Reaper, she stayed down. The remaining 7 attempted to charge the Grimm Reaper all at once to hopefully hit him. However, the effort was in vain as the rest of the faunus meet the same gruesome end as their comrades.
With the last White Fang member dealt with, the Grimm Reaper began to observe the warehouse that he was in. With the spotlights on, he could now see around him. The warehouse itself looked like the usual when it came to most of the items, from weapons to dust. The only obvious distinction is that their was massive crate that was well beyond the standard size. It had to have been at least 6 meters tall and about 4 meters wide.
"This must be the what the White Fang was getting so riled up about. I'll need to investigate it, but first, where the hell is that lieutenant?"
He did not see the lieutenant who was leading this group of the White Fang not even once ever since she declared the order to kill him. Sure, she saw plenty of corpses he madeand the blood and gore that came with it. But no sign of the lieutenant anywhere, alive or otherwise.
While he was still deciding on his next move, a noise started to come from the giant crate. It sounded like a machine of some kind was activating. Before the Grimm Reaper could react, the crate was busted apart and the battle mech inside it immediately charge forward and punched the Grimm Reaper. He was sent flying across the warehouse and was now bouncing off the floor. Fortunately for him, he was able to recover from that and land on his own feet. Regardless, that attack still hurt and now he had a battle mech to deal with.
"Surprised?" a voice came from. It was the lieutenant's.
"After seeing that you had your aura unlocked, I suspected that the faunus group that I was in charge of wouldn't be enough. So, I decided to make use of this little gift, the Paladin Battlesuit. Not that it will matter to you since you die right now!" The lieutenant declared.
"Damn! That surprise attack, in conjunction with the previous bullets that hit me, took down roughly a quarter of my aura's strength. I'll need to be more cautious."
The Paladin charged forward once more to attempt to strike the Grimm Reaper. Anticipating the move this time, he was better prepared and managed to dodge out of the way of its punch. A swift follow up punch was now incoming, but he was able to jump out of the way just in time. However, that maneuver left him wide open for the next attack. A missile from the Paladin's back was launched at him. With no means to dodge the attack, the Grimm Reaper held out his arms in a cross position to better take the hit. Despite that, it was enough to blow him back, but at least he was able to land on his feet this time.
The Paladin had now gotten its machine guns out and had began to open fire. Moving hastily, he began to circle around the paladin, moving out of the way of the incoming bullets. He was only just able to avoid the bullets, with them missing his body by mere millimeters.
"Most likely, that battlesuit is using an auto-targeting system. As long as I stay on the move and predict where the bullets will land, I should be able to avoid them. But I can't keep this up forever, I need to make an offensive move."
The Grimm Reaper now started to close in on the Paladin, still dodging most of the gunfire and blocking the few that would have hit him.
"I see, he plans to get in close in order to attack me directly. Well, I'm not having any of that!"
The Paladin prepared for another melee strike. The Grimm Reaper managed to move just to the right of the attack and jumped onto the side of the Paladin's arm. In response, the lieutenant attempted to grab the spot the Grimm Reaper was currently on with the Paladin's other arm, but he saw that coming and jumped from one arm side to the other and jumped again, having sheathed the wakizashi and and now holding another throwing knife.
"I wasn't able to get the exact angle necessary to get straight to the cockpit, but this at least gives me an angle to aim directly for the lieutenant."
The Grimm Reaper quickly managed to toss the knife straight at the lieutenant, aiming for a lethal strike. The lieutenant only just managed to move her left arm just in time to avoid a fatal blow. Sadly for her, it meant she could no longer use the left Paladin's arm. Since he was still suspended in the air, the lieutenant used that window to grab the Grimm Reaper and used all of the Paladin's strength to slam him into the ground. The crater that was he was now in was a meter deep.
The Grimm Reaper managed to recover in the nick of time to be able to jump out of the crater and out of avoid another punch that would have further pummeled him into the ground. The lieutenant foresaw this and fired another missile. With him having only an instant to land and move to avoid getting caught in the blast, the Grimm Reaper had no choice but to quickly sidestep the attack. Unfortunately, he was open for another assault. The Paladin had now grabbed hold of him and this time, the lieutenant was planning to crush him.
"Agggghhhh!"
"That's right. I will now crush you! You will pay for your actions against me and the rest of the White Fang!" The lieutenant declared as she began to crush him using the Paladin's arm.
"Dammit it's no good. I can't shake her off and my aura is now at about half strength."
He could feel his bones beginning to crack even with the protection his aura provided him, sure it helped him cushion blows pretty easily, but it wouldn't withstand an onslaught that would assault him from every angle.
"If she keeps his up, I'll be a goner for sure! I don't have a choice. I'll have to use my trump card!"
The lieutenant smiled gleefully as she continued to crush the Grimm Reaper. She knew that it was only a matter of time before his aura would fail him and he would be dead. But then, she noticed that the grip she had on him was weakening.
"What!?" the lieutenant said.
The Grimm Reaper's aura was now visible and radiated a pure black color. His aura continued to darken as he was overpowering the Paladin Battlesuit.
"This is impossible!"
With one last push, the Grimm Reaper had managed to break free and was now in the air once and unlike the previous times, the Paladin Battlesuit was now wide open.
"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!"
In one strike, the titled Grimm Reaper had managed to cut off the Paladin's functioning arm clean off and before the lieutenant could have a chance to make a counterattack, he quickly move to make a horizontal slash at the mid section, successfully cutting the Paladin Battlesuit in two, again with one strike.
"This isn't possible." the lieutenant denied as struggled to get out of the now destroyed Paladin.
Unfortunately for her, she ran out of time. Her assailant was now standing just outside the cockpit, his red eyes now clearly visible and glistening with hatred. He punched his way through the glass and grabbed the defeated lieutenant and threw her out. With her injury now procuring a lot of blood loss and her Paladin now destroyed, she could only now cower in fear as the one who won against stood atop of her with his katana now pointed at her throat.
"Now that your army has been shattered and your mech destroyed, you will tell me everything that you know. About the White Fang and about the mech you brought here today." the Grimm Reaper commanded.
"L-Like hell I'll listen to you!" the lieutenant denied, trying to stay defiant despite her fears beginning to overtake her.
"We can do this one of two ways. You can tell me what you know right now and save me time and yourself a lot of pain. Or I can take you to a secluded area, put you through as much physical and psychological torture as possible and THEN you will tell me. Either way, the end result will be the same. Oh, and I suggest you decide quickly before my patience runs out." the Grimm Reaper said, delivering her his ultimatum.
Her pride now surrendered to her fear, she could only stare in terror as a smirk became visible from her attacker's face as she realized that she was, to put it simply, completely and utterly fucked.
A few days later...
"This is VNN with breaking news. The Grimm Reaper has struck once again, this time within the City of Vale itself. An abandoned warehouse became the scene of a massacre as roughly around , at least 20 confirmed bodies of White Fang members was found, killed in the same brutal fashion that the Grimm Reaper is famous for. Additionally, just like the other incidents he's been involved with, they found larges amount of stolen dust and evidence that a large amount of it was removed from the scene."
"It sounds terrible Lisa, were there any survivors of this tragedy?"
"Unfortunately, no, Cyril. Not a single person made it out alive and the warehouse itself was already in flames by the time the police arrived on the scene just like many of his other crimes. However, there was one major note of interest. Apparently, there were remains of what appears to be a mech of some type within the warehouse and initial investigations that were made available suggest that the mech is of Altesian origins.
"Atlesian origins? Could Atlas be working alongside the Grimm Reaper or perhaps even the White Fang?"
"No one really knows for sure, Cyril, but one thing is for sure. People are curious and are demanding some answers."
"Thank you Lisa. We will continue with the news after this commercial break."
Within Vale''s commercial district, there were a few people having breakfast in a cafe called Dusk's Cafe. It was one of those smaller establishments that was well known by those who actively looked for it, but typically slipped under the radar when compared to the big names. There were quite a few people looking at the TV screen to watch the news report.
Among them was a 176 cm male who was currently wearing a grey sweat shirt and black jeans with matching shoes. He had clear, slightly tan skin with dark brown hair and eyes. As he was finishing up his cup of tea and breakfast sandwich, he beckoned the waitress.
"Perfect. With that little maneuver not only did I manage to learn a lot and resupply on materials, but I also got the attention of many of the big wigs in this city. It will only be a matter of time before one of them exposes themselves whether it would to lure me out or by an error."
"Here is your check. Thank you dining at Dusk's Cafe Mr..." the waitress said as she handed him the guy's check.
"Nemesis." he replied. "My name is Nemesis."
Author Note: That's it for this pilot chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed and I will see you guys on the next part. Author Author signing off!
