They thought he didn't know he was being watched...
The boy had first noticed the Camera that was recording him sitting in the corner of the room as he first entered the place. Sitting on the chair by the desk, the boy was sowing his uniform after having cleaned his boots and helmet, mask on and standard-issue military fatigues placed over his body. Scrubbing off the dirt and blood that had gotten onto his boots, the contour of light-brown started to take shape yet again. He sighed, setting the other boot of the pair down and finishing the sow of his uniform. Looking at the Trench coat and shirt, he nodded. Good as new.
He nodded, then pulled out his second little booklet. The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer. He started rifling through several pages, then stopped and looked at it with easy eyes, reading its data on fixing laser weapons. Specifically, his Lucius-Pattern Las Gun. He wanted to mod it into a Hellgun, for that rapid-fire strike. While, yes, it took more from the weapon's power packs, it also aided him tremendously if he could make it happen.
He sighed, setting the book back into the pocket of his trench coat, stood up and put his boots on, then started re-equipping everything. Finishing off with his armor and strapping it tightly to his body, he finally put his mask and helmet back on, then inhaled the scent of recycled air he was so used to. That nostalgic smell of metallic air. He slid his weapons pack on his back, then grabbed the 'Scroll' device and said a prayer toward the Omnissiah, for allowing him to use such a device... He opened the item, then saw a message.
I have a target for you. Meet me at the landing pad.
-Ozpin.
The boy nodded, closing and sliding the device in his pocket. He checked his weapons. The two swords were sheathed, one in its scabbard on his belt, the other in its holster on the pack. His rifle's Charge Pack was still good for many more shots and his bolt pistol was at the ready, just in case. He still had eight full clips of ammo for it. He also slid a medical pack in his pocket, then walked out of his room, locking it with a quiet click using his Scroll.
A quick stroll through Beacon's empty campus found the boy walking toward the meeting place as night began to set. He saw Ozpin beside a Bullhead transport that was landed, its bay opened. Ozpin, leaning on his cane, nodded to the boy as he approached, to which the young man hit his right fist onto the left of his chest, then said "Reporting as ordered." calmly. He'd have a talk about surveillance and personal space with the man later. "My target, sir?"
Ozpin nodded, then used his scroll and sent a map toward the boy's own scroll, which he received and opened quickly. He nodded and said "A village a few miles from here has been overtaken by the White Fang, I see." And he nodded to Ozpin again "What is my objective?"
"There's a Lieutenant in the camp you should try and interrogate. It is up to you how you approach this mission, but remember. There's also Civilians in the area." The man briefed him quickly. "The White Fang occupied Axis village because it is less known and has far lesser defenses than many of the others. We need you to get information as to why from the Lieutenant stationed there." And the soldier nodded, then responded "An easy target. Leave it all to me."
Getting inside the vehicle, the boy sat down and nodded to Ozpin, then merely nodded to Ozpin and readied his Las Gun. If he could prove himself here as a good asset for Ozpin and his people, he may be able to find his place here and much later, a way back home, to his world and his war... He'd not gotten to read up on the Grimm yet and by the Emperor, maybe that was what he was sent here for. To deal with these Daemons known as the Grimm... He sighed and said to himself that he'd figure it out, then nodded to Ozpin, who gave the thumbs up to the pilot. The vehicle's engines thrummed and the sudden upward acceleration pinned the Krieger to his seat.
Skimming over some mileage of forest and over a mountainside later, the soldier found himself walking through the Forest, toward his target area. He moved from tree to tree, slowly, holding his las gun close. Tense as hell, the boy swept his gaze across the entire treeline ahead of him. Nothing but darkness came around him as night finally fell... Looking up into the sky, the boy saw a broken moon, with bits hanging off the right in a gravitational anchor lock... He would have to solve the equations to how the hell that was possible later. Right now, he had business to do... That involved killing traitor Abhumans...
Slowing to a crouch-walk as he moved through the thick brush, the boy's bionic eye enhanced his night-time vision tenfold. The mission would've been suicidal without it, considering that, from what he had read about the Faunus, they could see in the dark just as they could in broad daylight. Not shocking. Probably an adaptation mechanism to the world they lived in.
He halted...
The first sight of the enemy came. Two soldiers, carrying strange boxy weapons that resembled assault rifles. A patrol of two on the perimeter... And farther back, a town, with lights on. The boy could see multiple bodies moving about. Soldiers of the Fang... Examining their uniforms, the boy saw it. Over some black hoodies, the soldiers had white vests, with the symbol of a red puma on their backs, slashed across by three claw marks from right to left. He stopped just a bit away from the two troopers, to hear what they were saying.
"Man. This is bollocks. Why've we got to be the ones guarding this damn town?" Asked one of them, a woman from the sound of her voice. Her compatriot sighed, then shrugged and said "I don't know, Rosie. Hell, I've been wondering the same thing. But you know how this damn stuff goes. Adam Taurus says something, that's word around the Vale branch."
"Frackin' Taurus..." The girl growled, sighing. "Damn it, can you keep watch for me too? Nature's calling..."
"Oh, Dust damn it, again? Just how much water did you drink?" Complained her friend. She shrugged, to which the man sighed, nodded and said "Sure, sure. Just be damn quick about it. You know the Lieutenant needs us back to change shifts."
"Don't worry, man." She said, then gave him a thumbs up. He nodded and watched her rush off into the forest... Unbeknownst to him, the Death Trooper sitting behind him had drawn his trench knife. Kohle lashed out from the bush, covered the man's mouth with his left hand and pulled him down, then brought the knife into his throat and sliced clean across his jugular. Blood started to flow from the man's throat down to his white jacket and he was gargling the crimson substance onto the boy's palm. The Krieger let him go once he stopped struggling, then set his head down onto the floor, in a pool of his own blood.
The girl stepped up out of the bush with a relaxed sigh, then stretched, her weapon on her back, and said "Ahh. That was liberating. Let's get back to the Lt, Schwarz." And she stopped, looking at the dropped rifle beside another bush. A bit worried, she said "Uhh, Schwarz? You trying to scare me, pal?" fear creeping up in her voice as she slowly stepped toward the rifle, drawing her own. "Schwarz! Man, come on! this isn't cool!"
She took another step and nearly tripped from... Something... Looking back, she saw Schwarz's black sneakers and, going up, his legs... And blood... She went up further and further until she was forced to drop her rifle and gasp, running off to Schwarz' side with a worried, but quiet shriek. Kneeling beside him, she looked at his slit throat and covered her mouth "Dust... Who did this to you, Schwarz?" And she stood up, looking back to the vilage. "I need to sound the alar-"
The girl got cut off as she felt a cold steel blade go through her back, right between the shoulder blades, severing her spinal cord's connection to the rest of her body. Her arms slumped, dropping the rifle as warm blood trickled to the ground, expanding Schwarz's pool. The girl, still conscious, but in no pain, simply looked back at the Death's head that was staring at her, then asked "What... Are you?" with fear in her eyes...
"Das Sterben." He calmly responded in his thick, heavily modified voice. He pulled the knife out, then turned the girl around and brought it through her heart. "Your purpose in this world was to die... So dictates the Emperor." And he pulled out the knife, leaving the girl to a quick death next to her comrade. The boy knelt and wiped the knife off on her jacket, leaving a trail of blood on it aside from the massive stain that covered the White Fang symbol, from her back, then set the knife back into its sheath. He looked ahead at the village, pulling out his bincoulars and examining the buildings.
Similar to Krieg's old Hive City architecture. Gothic, but with many different twists to it... It made it unbearable to watch, despite the damned style being known to him. He scanned the watchtowers, to see snipers sitting atop them. One of them had some feathers on his hands, that were covered mostly by his uniform's sleeves, while the other had a fox's tail. Below, on the street, there were a dozen soldiers marching through and in the houses, small, cathedral-like buildings, the Civilians watched as the soldiers looted the place. Some civilians were being held hostage in the town hall, a big Cathedral, in which the enemy Lieutenant clearly resided.
Had the soldier an entire regiment, or simply a squad of his fellow Kriegsmen, an artillery piece, small or big, and time, he'd lay siege to this place, starting a war of attrition... But alas, that idea seemed to slip out of his hands right now. He'd have to be a one man siege... Checking his equipment, he still had a single Krak grenade and six Fragmentation ones in his bag. Taking the Frags and strapping them to a belt, then onto his chest, the boy placed a tarp on the ground and started setting up his Las Gun into a Long Las again. Sliding the scope onto the rail and mounting the longer barrel, both clicked into place quickly.
The boy's eyes peered down the scope as he thought 'The Snipers first. They may prove to be a danger.' And he scoped in the avian Faunus' head. Clicking the safety off his Long Las, the boy steadied his breath, then, within seconds, squeezed. The soldier's strange mask parboiled and melted, then his head met a similar fate, exploding in a shower of boiling blood and a nice red mist.
-Play Youjo Senki:Jingo Jungle(English)-
Frack, the other sniper saw this. Kohle snapped his rifle toward the man and fired before he could yell. The shot punched a hole the size of an Ogryn's skull through the fox-creature's chest, boiling his heart and lungs out and making him fall out of the tower with a wet thunk. Krieg-boy quickly disassembled his rifle and reassembled it back to its normal form, set the barrel and scope inside and attached the bayonet. This was no longer a Stealth mission. As three guards turned their heads to see what the noise was and where it came from, Kohle pounced out of the bush, then started running at his top speed(Which was nearly 55 Kilometers per Hour for a Krieger). Before the enemy soldiers knew what was happening, a first one took a bayonet straight up the skull, from the chin right into the brain. Blood spilled on the Krieger's uniform as he yanked out the bayonet, then aimed the rifle and shot two more.
Burnt skin and bursting head, two fates that met the two he shot. A soldier that tried to fire at him had his weapon yanked from his hand via the boy's bayonet and received a rifle butt to the mask, breaking it and his nose, before the Krieger did a 360-degree spin and brought the bayonet down on the man's chest, right through into the heart. The man gasped for air as Kohle spun the bayonet around, shearing his heart and stomach in half, then pulled the blade out of his stomach and aimed his rifle again, toward a running soldier, this one with antlers going through his hoodie. The Krieger shot the man in the shoulder, which spun him 180 degrees and burned his skin as he fell to the ground.
A second shot through the head fried his brains and most of his head, killing him before he had a chance to scream for help. Thirteen more enemy soldiers appeared, raising their rifles and aiming them at the boy. He stared at his assailants with a calm demeanor. His heartbeat hadn't even raised. He spun and shot one of the soldiers with a beam that seared him clean in half diagonally, cauterizing his wounds and spilling his guts out for everyone's sight. The soldiers were too shocked to fire at first, bringing the Krieger a few more seconds to kill many more of them. He locked onto a 45-degree area in which 5 soldiers were, then rushed them with his bayonet glistening a dark, crimson red due to the moonlight. A droplet fell from the blade as he thrust the whole weapon forward, into a soldier's mouth, with the tip of the blade exiting through the other side of the head.
Pulling it out from the girl's mouth, the Krieger sent a low leg sweep to the left, tripping two of the four survivors, then pinning one to the floor with his left boot and firing three las shots into his head. The scent of burning skin got through his mask as he continued his fight, a refreshing smell from home... The man pummeled a soldier that swiveled about behind him right in the chest with the butt of the rifle, cracking his ribs due to the strength of the hit. The man coughed out blood from his open mouth as the boy turned 180 and stabbed him clean through his heart.
He kicked the lifeless corpse into his partner, the kinetic energy knocking his weapon out of his hand and him onto the ground. The other soldiers around the boy recovered from their horrified stupor, then raised their rifles and opened fire, shots which the boy merely dodged as he jumped over them and fired thirteen more las shots. The clip's 'near empty' alarm let out three beeps, to warn him to either recharge or discard the clip and load in a new one. He'd killed twelve enemy soldiers, minus the one that was on the ground, just as more poured out of the buildings.
Bringing his bayonet down on the one on the ground, he split his belly open and, standing up, the boy propped himself onto the rifle, which he left impaled into the soldier's entrails and looked about. He could see the horror in each soldier around him as they surrounded him and aimed their rifles, each movement completed in trembling, horrified twitches. This garrison must've been waiting for something big.
The boy merely pulled out the rifle as one of the other White Fang soldiers, one with a pistol and small sword, yelled "DROP YOUR WEAPONS, YOU FREAK!" his voice cracking, fearful. The Kriegsman regarded him with disgust. And this one had lion's ears and enough hair to mistake him for one such creature. The Krieger shouldered his Lasgun, then pulled two frags off his belt and carelessly pulled the pins, throwing them above the creatures. He snapped his rifle up as the Fangers were to busy staring at their impending doom, then time slowed down around him, including the grenades falling... He saw them wind up millimeters above the Abhuman soldiers, lined up perfectly... He shot one, then snapped toward the other, igniting their explosives early and shattering the enemy line as shrapnel tore through them.
One without an eye, another without an arm, dozens with Shrapnel in their bodies that killed them slowly, making its way to the vital parts of their bodies. Some even died fast, with either the concussive blast shattering their skulls or something else. Walking over some of the corpses and past the pleading ones, the boy walked into a house, to see a bastard of theirs holding five humans, three children and their parents, hostage. The bastard desperately growled and yelled "ANOTHER STEP, YOU FRACK, THEY ALL DIE!"
"Please..." Pleaded a boy from behind his mother, staring at the Krieger with large, fearful, but also hopeful eyes. "Are you here to save us, mister soldier?"
The Krieger stared at the boy through his mask, merely nodding without saying another word, then looked toward the soldier holding them hostage, right behind the woman. The man had an automatic assault rifle much like the ones he had killed earlier, but with a drum magazine and longer barrel. A Squad Automatic Weapon version of their stubbers... He sighed, then looked to the family and said "Move on my mark. I will deal with this insolent abhuman." monotonously.
The family nodded as the man screamed "DON'T YOU DARE!" Behind them.
The Krieger raised his left hand and showed three fingers. Index, middle and ring, while holding the other hand wrapped around the weapon's stock and finger above the trigger, setting the damage to highest. The boy started retracting his fingers, one by one, and the situation became more and more tense as the Faunus behind the family protested in a fairly angry voice and a dialect the Death Korps soldier couldn't bother to understand. Dropping to his index, he yelled "LOS!" And the family, kids included, jumped out of the way. With the quickest reflexes they had ever seen, the boy shouldered the rifle, placed his hand around the handguard and immediately squeezed the trigger, sending the enemy flying through the window and disintegrating him and his weapon.
Nothing but ash and broken glass was left of the enemy, much to the parents' shock. The boy lowered his rifle, then looked to the family's father and said "Get out of this village and head to the forest. I will request a Bullhead to pick all of us up after I am done with my mission here." to which the man nodded, smiled and said "We cannot thank you enough... Please, rescue our neighbors too if you can."
"My prerogative here is to rescue anyone and everyone that isn't carrying a gun." The soldier nodded, then pointed at the door and exited first, covering the family as they left and sweeping the area. He cleared three more houses and allowed the people to leave, all the while going through other houses. None of them had humans in them, but they had plenty of enemy soldiers that were dug in. Four houses, four grenades and four squads of dead traitors. Finally, his target came in sight. The Town Hall. Taking steps toward it, he felt a shot ping off his armor, denting it slightly and looked up, to see a single sniper girl at the top of the Hall, in the broken clocktower. He raised his rifle before she had a chance to reload and fired, blowing her insides apart.
-End OST-
Walking into the town hall, the boy saw twelve dead Civilians, all of them with shots straight to the head. One of them wore a fancy suit, while the others had uniforms and guns on them. The mayor and his guardsmen... The Korpsman growled lowly as he walked from the main foyer, which was filled with blood stains and such, into the Mayor's office, to the sight of a man rifling through some old books. He was tall, muscular and clad in but a White Fang vest with their symbol on his back. His hair was grey and he had a White Fang Grimm mask that covered most of his face on, as well as armor on his arms and legs.
"You are their Lieutenant, I presume..." The boy monotonously said, drawing his Power Sword.
"And you are the fracker that killed my men..." the man said in a thick voice, looking back at him and taking his weapon from beside. What looked like a bleeding drill with a gun attached to it. A power drill for mining... With a gun barrel peering out the front. Rather inventive. The boy twirled his sword and said "I have some questions for you. But by all means, resist... It'll make getting the Information out of you all the more interesting..."
The White Fang Lieutenant let out a growl, then said "You'll die a worse death than you can dream, kid..." And without another word after that, but with a mighty battle cry, he lunged the drill toward the boy, turning it on. Its engine revved and sputtered, then the drill began to spin as it struck the boy's power sword, sending him skidding across the floor and leaving two small trails of blood, from his boots. Damn it, he'd have to clean those again after today.
-Play Los! los! Los! (Full)-
The boy merely watched the man raise the drill, with its sharp edges off to the side, and bring it down upon him. He parried the strike, then sent the drill flying back and up, with the Lieutenant staggering as a result. The boy then proceeded to aptly strike the Lt's open abdomen with three sword slashes, cutting the White Fang claw pattern over his uniform and deeper, into his chest. The man's wounds were slowly healing, but he was forced to back off for a moment and readjust his attack. He swore behind his breath, then yelled "You Fracking brat!"
The boy stood there, undeterred, then said "My turn, Schwein." before dashing and applying a swift kick to the man's shin, another to his chest and a slice on his right arm, which he barely defended using his drill-gun. He was pushed out of the office and into the foyer, with the boy walking toward him, undeterred. He roared, then raised his drill and pressed the trigger, holding it down. A staccato symphony of rounds thundered from the muzzle flash. Shots bounced off his armor, or he simply dodged out of the way, the Krieger did. He ran right toward he man, then applied a punch right into his mask, cracking it and sending him reeling.
The man attempted to counterattack and found purchase. Striking the boy in the chest and slightly damaging the armor, then grabbing him by his head and throwing him out of the door, thus breaking said door, the man walked out, to the sight of his target skidding to a halt, legs spread and right hand planted firmly into the ground, while the left held the Power Sword. Dust had kicked up from the dirt road, but the Krieger was still on his feet, awake and alive, as he stood to his feet. He growled, then drew his second sword, the Chainsword. He pressed the button, revving the engine and its once still teeth of metal growled and spun, waiting for flesh to tear into.
"Neat weapons, kid. They'll make a fine addition to my collection. That mask of yours will do fine too... Just another head to add to the collection." The Abhuman mocked the Krieger, then laughed shortly... That... Was it... You do not mock a servant of the God Emperor. You do not mock a Krieger and most importantly, You. Do. NOT! Mock his mask! The boy lunged ahead with renewed vigor as the man fired at him, dodging bullet after bullet and jumping into the air. He brought the two blades down to bear on the man, whom tried to defend. His cheap weapon found itself cut in two and he lost his right hand, leaving only a stump where the wrist was, from which blood poured. The boy, still in the air, applied a kick right to the man's mask and broke it completely, revealing yellow eyes and very little facial hair.
The man couldn't be any older than 20, from the looks of things...
He grabbed his wrist and screamed in pain, before finding himself pinned to the ground by two strikes from the Krieger, whom amputated his left leg from the knee down, then sliced his right hand's tendon, at the shoulder, severing the connection and leaving whatever was left of the arm limp. The man was on the floor, trying to crawl away and screaming in sheer pain, as he felt a boot full of his friends and comrades' blood pinned against his back, with a snap. He couldn't feel his legs anymore...
And he saw the Chainsword approaching from the left... The boy stopped it right by his neck, then said "You will give me the information I require and your death will be a fast one... Otherwise..." He stuck his power sword into the man's other shoulder, then sent an electric shock through the wound, causing massive pain across whatever parts of his body the man could still feel...
He didn't want this... He was just a fox Faunus who tried to save his people... But this? Facing a Daemon like this was... No...
"I'll talk!" Screamed the man, with tears in his eyes. "I'll fracking talk! What do you want to know?!"
"What was the purpose you took this village for?" The boy authoritatively demanded.
"Orders from the top! From our Branch's officer, Adam Taurus! We were supposed to stay here and keep the Civilians at the mines working for our benefit!" And he nodded his head toward the mines embedded within the mountain wall. The boy growled, then said "What for? What minerals do you hope to recover here?!"
"Dust! Kid, it's the most fracking precious mineral on Remnant! It's our fuel source! It's our ammo, our technology! EVERYTHING TODAY USES DUST!" He painfully said, planting his head onto the ground. The Krieger nodded, then said "And this 'Adam Taurus'... Where can I find him?"
"I don't know..." The man said, then he felt another shock surge through his muscles and nerves. "Wrong answer..." Growled the Krieger.
"I SWEAR I DON'T KNOW! HE NEVER SHOWS HIS FACE AROUND HERE! HE ONLY SENDS MESSENGERS TO GIVE US MISSIONS! IF YOU WANT INFO ON IT ALL, FIND KURO MONOGATARI... SHE'S A LOCAL BOSS AND ONE OF TAURUS' MOST TRUSTED COMMANDERS! SHE MAY'VE MET HIM!"
"And she is... Where?" The Devil Krieger yet again asked. The man looked up with bloodshot eyes, then said "She's commanding a base inside Vale... I don't know the exact location, but I do know there's someone you can ask... A former member of ours! She runs a bar in downtown Vale known as the Alley Cats Pub! It's a really good place for Faunus to meet! PLEASE! LET ME LIVE..."
-End OST-
The Krieger exhaled, then said "In this state, it'd be a dishonor... You'd die worthlessly from mere blood loss." And he sent the chainsword across the man's entire neck, severing his head from his body, then said "This way, you died with a purpose. You have served well, even in your last hour as a traitor. May the Emperor rest your soul, Faunus, and take you under his wing in the realm beyond." calmly. He removed his sword from the man's shoulder, shut down the engine of the Chainsword and put them both back into place, then he pulled out his scroll and monotonously said "I have the information, as requested."
"What of the village?" Ozpin asked. The soldier looked back at the dozens of corpses of White Fang soldiers he left behind, then said "It may need to be emptied of corpses, but the people can still live in it. No major damage sustained."
"Understood... We're sending the Bullhead now, young man. Stand by." Ozpin finished, a bit distraught. Kohle nodded, then said "Verstandt. I shall wait." And he shut off the call, then looked toward the people of the village, who stared at him in fear and awe, with the child he saw before hiding behind his mother. He looked up, then ran past his mother with his sister beside him. She had a flower in her hand as they approached the bloodied, battered warrior, then she extended it toward him and said "Thank you, mister Soldier... You saved mom and dad..."
The man looked at the flower, a Rose, with a bit of awe, then he knelt and took it from her hand and examined it... Holy Emperor... A flower... A real flower... He looked to the girl, then took his left glove off and said "Thank you, young one..." and patted her on the head. He then looked toward her brother and said "You take care of your sister now... Family is a precious thing."
The boy nodded, then saluted with a smile and said "I promise to do so!"
Kohle, even if for a moment, felt happiness swell in his chest. He shook off the feeling, then stood up and put his glove back onto his human hand and started walking toward the forest. He pinged the beacon and instantly heard the hum of the Bullhead's engine. For its credit, it was a bloody fast air vehicle... Even if it was underarmored as hell... Ah, don't look a gift Steed in the mouth, Kohle...
