JSDF Report: The Hound

Over a week ago, a strange energy was being detected by some of our own scientists, where during it a slight uprising in Grimm activity has been seen in the forest. After sending in a team of soldiers and Huntsmen, it was there the group discovered a [RECATED] to their surprise.

However, it wasn't long until numerous Grimm surged and began attacking them. Where the team has discovered a new type of Grimm. It takes the form of a large canine and lacks any eyes like most Grimm have, and is theorized to be an Alpha Grimm. It's abilities and nature is completely unexpected, and shown to have abilities that were thought to be limited to other Grimm. Showing an unkeenly amount of intelligence and tactical awareness. Those who chased after it not returning back, where teams sent after discover their corpses under the earth yet missing their belongings.

As of two hours ago, the SkyWeb has changed its threat level and only Rank Three or above may be allowed to hunt after it. Due to its appearance, the military has decided to name this Grimm the 'Hound'.

"So you are hunting this new Grimm I see." It was early morning, and after sending their daughters off for school, Genki is speaking to her husband who was reading an article on a tablet. The wife of the hidden hero nodding.

"Correct." She washes a few plates, courtesy of her daughters. "While the military and Huntsmen think it a new type, considering how it appears to be the first of its kind and unnaturally intelligent, I believe you know its true identity."

"Sammael." Kani frowns. It made sense. The Fallen has been known to make new Grimm, so undoubtedly this must be his latest toy. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"You worry too much." Genki giggled. "This Grimm is dangerous, but not so dangerous as it needs a man of your level to deal with it. Besides, I have a small group coming with me, so we can deal with it."

"Alright." Kani relented, and knew that his wife could take care of herself. Besides, he could use this time to read up the location where Van Kleiss is at. To prepare himself for what will be a deadly battle against that mad man. "Just be careful." He adds on. "We have no idea just what Grimm Sammael has made now."

"I will." Genki reassured him. "I just want to see if maybe I can get some...answers from it. Along with those kids that's been seen with it." They must be Sammael's latest pawns. Otherwise why else would this Grimm not kill them. Still, Genki did wonder one thing.

Just what is Sammael up to now?

Sammael watched the mass of wood growing from the ground before him, right outside his fortress and on a beach near the dark lake that made up the Black Maw. The dark wood bulged and grew slowly with something moving inside it.

"The soul inside is ready. It has long since surrendered to despair and thus the heart has eroded." Moloch stated.

Sammael nodded as the growing tree began to pulse and crack until it broke apart, leaving the body of a little girl about the age of twelve to fall out. She had short black hair, just stopping above the nape of her neck, pale skin but not as inhumanly pale as that of Sammael and the other Fallen and her eyes were black without any trace of one could say was human by looking at them. Sammael held out his hand and conjured a white orb that floated to the girl and spread across her body, creating an ankle length white dress that was slightly torn.

"Why conjure up a lost soul from the Unknown?" Moloch questioned. "She's barely of any use outside of being a tree."

"So far this unknown Fallen and her cohorts have eliminated any agents sent to track them so we have to alter our strategy. This one will be able to move freely through the Darklands, thanks to the fact that she harbours no presence and no emotions. The Grimm will not be able to see or smell her. She will be completely undetectable except by sight alone." Sammael remarked as he conjured one final gift to the girl.

It was a black pearl that fit perfectly in her arms.

"Little one, you have been reborn to serve a great purpose. You will seek out the unknown visitors that have entered our world, seek them out but do not reveal your intentions or allow them to believe you were sent." Sammael instructed the girl who stared blankly at him. "This pearl you hold is a gift. It will protect you and make a valuable asset to the unknown visitors. Keep it with you at all times for whatever it sees we will see. Go and unravel the mystery of our guests."

The girl turned around and began walking, no acknowledgment of her orders shown on her face.

"The soul provides Aura and Semblance but the Heart is what guides those powers. With the heart wiped clean she has no will of her own. No fear, no anger, no ambition, no memory." Moloch stated. "The child she once was surrendered to the fear and slowly everything tying her down to the life she once had was gone. The perfect pawn that can be sacrificed if she is of no use..."

"Or to remain hidden until the endgame." Sammael finished with a cunning smile. "In the meantime, let us get ready for the battle that is to come. Time to see if we can gain our prize at the end of it all."

It wasn't unusual for bandits to be celebrating. Heck, if anything, it happens all the time. Be it when they made a successful raid. Getting a good kill. Or even just finding some very neat goods they can use. So yes, celebrations among bandits of any kind if actually normal.

What was unusual is the fact that these bandits were celebrating in the Wilds themselves. No Grimm were attacking them, animals not as territorial as before, and so on. The Wilds is one of the worst places in the world, and yet these criminals were partying like no tomorrow. After all, it wasn't everyday someone can successfully make a base here with no casualties or problems.

"We did it! We did it!"

"In fate's face!"

"I call that building!"

"Well that gun is mine!"

"Then that crate of Dust is mine!"

"Hot damn! This vending machine still works!"

"There's wi-fi here! I can finally read my favorite stories!"

"Wahoo!"

Sitting on the edge of one building is Bandit Princess herself who gladly drank a nice bottle of beer. She then burped and cheered while throwing the empty glass bottle away. Ignoring a 'Ow!' and just watched her tribe celebrate.

'Man. To think I'd come back here after all these years. And actually get a home!' It was supposed to be impossible to live here, yet look at her now. Even better, this place was loaded with all sorts of goodies. Dust. Weapons. Vehicles. Even food and an internet connection. Granted some things were broken, needed maintenance and replacement, but who cares. This had to be her best score yet. All which cost a few fingers, her legs, and being forced into servitude.

'Can't say I like the last part, but eh, what can you do.' She still got a lot of freedom, and didn't mind her situation. While she might serve that creepy Grimm woman, Bandit Princess still got to do what she liked. As the feared criminal then looked at the building where Salem and the others resided, she wondered what they were doing now. She then shivered as some cold air hit her.

For some reason it's been getting a bit colder lately, Not by much, but she can tell. If she read on her phone properly, something about a huge storm somewhere. Eh, probably no big deal. I mean, what could it be other than some freak weather?

Meanwhile, in the very building commandeered by Cinder, Salem herself looked out and saw the bandits celebrating, while her newly controlled Grimm were overlooking the mid-size town they were in. With Tyrian and Hazel having reported of discovering more goods outside their current location from past expenditures. Watts also has tuned up the internet connection here, and has since been reading all he can of this new world.

'In a way, it will almost be a shame to leave here.' Things were going relatively fine at the moment. With Salem finding this new world to be rather interesting. In fact, she has already gotten new ideas for her plans against Ozma back home, so this trip isn't a complete waste of time. Actually, it had been rather fun in some ways.

Still, she couldn't stay here.

She had her own plans, plans for Remnant. Not some world named after dirt and goals to finally end her own curse. All while causing as much devastation as possible to the world and the final middle finger to Ozma. Something she can't do here until Watts gets his portal ready, meaning later they might make a trip to this Nowhere when they can to check out this Dimensional Portal, they're only led to leave and go back home.

Turning around, Salem then sat on a makeshift throne she created and sat down where she then held a small device called a phone. The very same stolen by Living Bullet where some information was all there. Not everything of course, as she soon discovered this was actually a 'work phone' as Cinder told her.

So while it had some numbers, notes, and a few pictures, it didn't hold any special information like the man's identity and whatnot. Shame. Still, it did hold good information like the location of Nowhere, and details of many names who were about to face this 'Van Kleiss' person along with pictures of the heroes going. Some of which were these Justice Friends and others she didn't recognize.

Whoever this Van Kleiss is, must have done some very bad things to get the attention of this many. While not much, the small notes here did mention something about how Van Kleiss was messing with space, and is in league with a man named Sammael.

Sammael.

If Salem's being honest, she didn't think too much of the name. Why would she? It wasn't as if she knew this person, let aside who they were. So she didn't pay much mind to the name and decided to ignore it for now. Instead, more interested in two things. The details of this battle about to occur against Van Kleiss, and how she can get what she needed. She already sent a Nevermore to check out Nowhere, but it'll take a few days to over a week to get there then take the same amount of time and back. Maybe she needed another method to travel there.

"Salem." Suddenly Cinder came out and looked rather clean. It seems the showers here still worked.

"Yes Cinder."

"I had been reading up on this worlds….'heroes'," Cinder said the word with slight disdain. "And I found something of interest." She then showed her Scroll where it revealed none other than Miss Spell. "According to this, she's a magic user."

"What about it?"

"Well, it made me wonder." Cinder put the Scroll away. "if maybe, just maybe, if she uses magic, then…"

"If there are others who have magic." Salem can already see what Cinder wanted. Due to her past, Cinder has become rather...obsessed, with gaining power. While this served as good motivation, Salem also knew it blinded her at times and cost her in battle.

While Salem pondered if she should just ignore this, she decided against it. While Cinder looked calm, she could sense the emotions of unrest and desire in her. Put those aside for too long, and she'd likely cost them later. So she made her decision.

"Very well," Salem told her subordinate. "If you can find a magic user here and ensure it doesn't cost us anything, then you may go after them." From Salem's sleeve, a small Beetle Grimm came out and chittered. It then flew toward Cinder where it then landed on the palm she held out. A dash of hope seen in her eyes. "But remember Cinder," Salem then told her. "This world is big, and I have no interest in seeking out those with the power of magic. So this task will fall to you and you alone."

"Of course." Cinder kneeled as the Grimm then entered Cinder's own sleeve. "I will find a magic user in my spare time, and gain the power to help your goals." Then like that, Cinder left with a smile on her face. Salem, having the urge to roll her eyes. Help her goals huh. As if she, or her other members, sans Tyrian, wanted to.

While there are those who were loyal to her in the past, she knew many who also seeked her out for their own goals. Something she didn't mind, as she knows no matter where or when, nobody ever swears true loyalty and only joins if there's something for them. Still, so long as their goals are aligned, then it's no problem for the time being.

In the meantime, Salem decided to focus her powers in anything of interest here in the Wilds. Bandit Princess already told her that this town was far from the only place that humans and others have tried staking their flags on. Many from this country called America and even outside of it like Japan or Germany tried doing the same, and each left a little of something behind for every failure. Maybe she can find something good using both her Grimm and clairvoyance.

So for the next few hours she did just that.

While others slept, drank, or were busy throughout the night, Salem kept herself busy and spent her time searching for anything interesting. Of course it ended up being pointless as it's quite difficult to find anything with all the overgrown trees and plants around. Anything she did find being ultimately useless and not worth the effort in bringing back to the town.

However, it was then her Clairvoyance picked something up. Or should she say a couple of someones' instead. Narrowing her eyes, Salem looked closer and saw it was a small group of people in uniform. Particularly that of the Satyra standards she had read and been told about. How pathetic the grunts of the organization claimed they were for equality, when even she herself can tell that isn't even the case. They should just admit they're wanting to rule instead of stubbornly insisting they want to be friends with all.

'Though they do seem to be more competent than Adam when he started ruling the White Fang.' Under Sienna the White Fang were a group to be feared. Under Adam on the other hand, while still dangerous, Adam was always a fighter and a leader secondary. Unlike Sienna, he lacked true leadership skills in controlling the entity of the White Fang, so it started degrading.

But that is beside the point. Right now a small scout team is here, likely from what Bandit Princess mentioned earlier. From her side came a Seer where she then spoke to it. "Find Hazel, Tyrian, and Cinder. Tell them to deal with them while Bandit Princess starts preparing the security."

The Seer then left and Salem once more used her power to focus on the group. She may as well see where this goes.

"..." She was a few days away from the location she was told to go. Normally it would take weeks, maybe even a month for a regular person to do so. But thanks to the fact that she lacked human fatigue and hunger, she could keep on going day and night without even taking a break. She then turned and saw a massive Grimm looking over her...which then grunted and left her, revealing her nature of something that wasn't human.

Then like so, she kept on moving to meet the visitors the man in black told her about. A pearl in her hands as she kept going.

I thank Lord Maximus for providing the second scene involving Sammael and a new character that comes from Adventure Time. She`ll play her role soon enough, and next we see Satyra in action.