My name Ozma of House Rose, a simple knight that many consider a great hero, I admit that I have defeated several powerful monsters but I never believed I deserved the fame that I got, I served the King of Vale for many years and fell in love with his daughter, the princess was my first love and the most beautiful woman I have ever met, she also had feelings for me but unfortunately the king did not allow it, I was never worthy for being someone who does not come from royalty, he thought to use the princess to form ties with the kingdom of Atlas, a relationship with the prince would improve the relationship between both kingdoms.
Even so we had a love that we kept hidden, we met discreetly and enjoyed our love, unfortunately the king found out that we disobeyed him, due to all my heroic acts I was not executed but they took away my title and she remained locked in the castle.
After that I dedicated myself completely to hunting monsters, saving people when they needed it but one day I was summoned by the king, I was surprised that he called me after what had happened previously, the princess had been kidnapped by a powerful Grimm who lived in the darkest forest of the kingdom of Vale, it was said that the creature had a castle in that place.
Due to my reputation and strength I was the only one who could save the princess, after what happened I did not like the idea of doing something for the king but she was the love of my life and I could not allow her to die at the hands of a monster, I immediately went to the forest, I remember that I arrived at night and the only company I had was the light of the moon, I easily eliminated the beasts that stood in my way but a different creature appeared in front of me, at first I thought it was a simple Grimm beast but the creature altered its shape and for a moment I thought it was a werewolf.
The monstrous Hound spoke to me in a tetric and rough voice, I had already faced some human Grimms but as far as I knew the beasts did not speak and that made him an anomaly, I was about to attack him but he asked me to calm down, he knew who I was ,he asked me to follow him and after a few minutes walking we ended up in a cabin, apparently it was his home.
However I was surprised by the fact that the creature began to tremble and its body began to creak as if its bones were being broken, he took on the appearance of a thin man, long orange hair, black pants and white shirt, he looked like a ordinary human being, his name was Roman Torchwick, apparently he tried to steal something from the monster that kidnapped my beloved and ended up as her slave, his beast appearance was the result of an experiment, it seemed a sensitive issue so I didn't want to ask him about it.
The name of the Grimm who ruled the entire forest was Tock, Roman told me that she was a ruthless and sadistic Grimm who enjoyed playing with her opponents, she had never been defeated and many warriors who sought fame had fallen, of course I don't think anyone is invincible, I had to save my beloved, I couldn't escape just because my opponent seemed more difficult than normal, Roman's job was to support those who came to the forest to make the game more interesting.
It was obvious that he didn't enjoy being a slave, he warned me that if I wanted to face Tock I had to defeat three powerful monsters that were in various sections of the castle, that would allow me to reach the throne room, that was the place where she was, the princess had been kidnapped specifically to force me to come to this place, that monster wanted to face me, very surely she had heard of my fame and wanted to have a real challenge.
I said goodbye to Roman and thanked him for his help, I remember that he wished me good luck and before we parted he also gave me an enchanted knife, the weapon absorbed magic and would serve me during my mission, I finally managed to get to the castle after a while.
The castle was dark and gloomy like the forest that surrounded it, I took care of some Grimm beasts that protected the entrance, when I entered I realized how huge the place was, according to what Roman told me, Tock was at the top of the castle in the throne room and to get there I had to defeat some monsters, the place was a labyrinth and I remember that I walked a lot looking for the right path, it was curious but there were no human Grimms in that castle.
To reach the top I had to defeat three powerful creatures, a werewolf, a zombie and a lamia, they were difficult fights and all of them told me that their master was stronger, they were right, upon reaching Tock, I demanded that she return my beloved, Tock laughed cruelly and told me that the princess was no longer human, I didn't know whether to believe her or not but if that was the case then I had failed, with anger I faced the monster in front of me, she had a terrifying appearance, apparently she was a Faunus before she became a Grimm.
She had hard scales all over her body like a crocodile and metal teeth that she used during our fight to try to rip off a piece of me, the knife that Roman had given me was particularly useful as I absorbed a lot of magic during my previous fights, I managed to connect a deadly attack on Tock, she had a semblance that made her completely invulnerable for short periods of time and almost killed me but I managed to prevail, I defeated her after a long battle and stuck the enchanted knife in her head, I felt how the knife absorbed her power and finally finished with this matter or so I thought…
I heard applause and I could see Roman approaching me, he had an expression of joy on his face, however something strange happened, the enchanted knife he had given me flew into his hands, he took it and observed it carefully, he revealed that that weapon not only absorbed magic, it also took the souls of its victims and turned them into power, the most shocking thing was to see how someone else appeared next to him, it was my beloved but her appearance was different, she had been turned into a Grimm.
I begged her forgiveness for having failed, I didn't arrive on time and she had paid the consequences, I imagined that she would be furious with me, that she would hate me for ruining her life but it was the opposite, she seemed happy and thanked me for having done my part
My beloved was too cheerful, I remember her exact words completely"You didn't disappoint my beloved Ozma, it was not enough for me to become a Grimm, I needed the power of strong monsters to become something superior"
Roman handed her the magic knife and she put it in her mouth, she swallowed it whole quite calmly, she had used me for something terrible.
"Also our friend Roman and even Tock, all of them fulfilled their role my beloved, everything worked perfectly" I could not understand, I demanded that she tell me how and why she had done this, what had happened to her to make this decision.
"By becoming a Grimm I can gain my freedom, I can escape from my father's clutches and decide my own destiny, I can punish humanity for what they have done to me, you have risked your life for this kingdom and my father took away your title and prestige just for loving me, I thought that the people of Vale would support us when they found out but they still supported my father, they also wanted to force me to marry the prince of Atlas, use me as a tool to buy peace between the kingdoms, and you who did so much for them were not supported, although they continue to respect you, they only see you as a tool that they will discard at the first moment they consider you useless "
I also felt betrayed by the people but I never believed that she had so much hatred inside her "and that was not the worst, when they separated us I had been pregnant but I never told you, my father discovered it and when the triplets were born he ... he killed them because they were impure blood, because they were impure blood my dear ... I thought about committing suicide for a moment but it was not fair, I had to make him pay, him and the beings who supported him, humanity is selfish and cruel , even if I had revealed my father's crime the rest of the kingdom would have been silent, they would have done nothing to help me "
I could not believe what I was hearing, the king had been able to do something so horrible, I felt furious and wanted to kill him, there was no doubt about that but the kingdom was innocent, I didn't share the opinion that everyone else was guilty ,I told her how much I felt her pain because they were also my daughters and I never knew anything about it.
"During my time locked up in the castle I didn't receive much information but fortunately my personal maid was a charming person, she told me everything that happened outside daily and one day she told me about the legend of this place, about the powerful monster that lived here, I sent my maid to the forest although I admit that it cost me to convince her, it was a risk after all but I offered her enough money, the poor thing came here and almost died if not for Roman, he protected her from the other Grimms of the forest and told her Tock's story, when my maid came back to my side and told me everything, I knew it was a great opportunity"
She had organized this journey "with the help of my maid I escaped from the castle and pretended to be kidnapped, I spoke with Roman and promised him that if everything went well he would be free, he took me to Tock and told her that I would be useful to attract a true challenge, you my dear Ozma were the prize, I knew that she would not resist the opportunity to fight with a powerful hero and that is how we got to this moment, I am capable of using magic, I created the knife you used to defeat the monsters of the castle, I knew that only you could achieve this"
I really felt sorry for her, the woman I had loved slowly had turned into something dark and I could not do anything to prevent it, I wasn't able to protect her or my dead daughters, so far it has been my biggest failure "join my Ozma, I can give you the power of the Grimm and together we can punish my father and humanity for their selfishness and cruelty, we can clean this world. Aren't you furious at the injustice we have experienced?"
Of course I was, I would have lied if I denied that but my hatred and fury were only for the king, I have seen the horrible things that the creatures of the night do and I couldn't accept that fate, I was not able to become a monster and I had to reject the request of my beloved.
"I came here to save you but I killed Tock to prevent others from suffering at the hands of her cruel games, prevent others from ending up in the situation that Roman was in, that was enough and although I want to kill the king, all humanity does not deserve to perish with him"
"I used to think like you but I have realized that monsters do a great service to this world, humans deserve to be eaten by the creatures of the night and they deserve to disappear completely, with the power that you gathered for me I will be able to become the strongest Grimm that has ever existed in this world "unfortunately none of my words were able to reach her.
"It seems that our love was not as strong as I thought" but I did not agree with her words "it is my love that prevents me from doing what you ask me, the kind and caring woman I fell in love with no longer exists, to show that my love was real I must stop you "she had mastered magic quite well.
Roman stayed back watching our fight, I was exhausted from having fought continuously, my defeat was imminent but I had a card up my sleeve, I was never skilled with magic but I learned a spell in the past that was useful to me all my life and it was the only spell i knew of, is something only silver-eyed warriors can perform, as the protectors chosen by the god of light, our job is to protect humanity and prevent them from suffering because of monsters, the spell I learned allowed me to suppress the terrible memories of a human being, so that people would forget the tragedies they had lived, it was a way to alleviate the pain that a human could possess.
I used the power of my silver eyes to activate the spell and before being defeated I suppressed the memories of my beloved, the spell made her faint but I was very weak, fortunately Roman helped me "I'm sorry about all this Ozma but she was responsible for everything, even though you killed Tock it is because of your beloved that I am truly free, although I am a thief I have some loyalty and the favor she did for me is huge, you have no idea how much I suffered under Tock's control"
I could understand his point of view, I explained what I did and he accepted it "In that case I will not reveal what you did to her but the negative emotions are stronger than you think Ozma, now that she is a Grimm her hatred is not going to disappear, you only made her forget the tragedy she went through"
That day I escaped from the castle wounded by the fate that my love had suffered, I remember that my desire was to kill the king for what he did but I knew that if I did the kingdom would fall into chaos, my love for humanity would not allow me to do something like that.
If I returned without the princess it was obvious that the king would execute me for failing him, he already hated me and that would only give him one more reason, I decided to escape from Vale and take refuge in Patch, I started a family with a beautiful farm girl and I focused on hunting the creatures of the night that terrorized people, the king died and I stopped fearing for my life, my family gained fame as monster hunters and for many years I didn't know anything about the lost princess.
I lived my life until I was a happy grandfather, however during my last years of life I found out that a powerful monster proclaimed herself ruler of all Grimm, I had no doubt that it was her, I assumed that my spell had worked but she was still a monster and represented a danger to humanity, I trained my children the best I could and told them that their duty was to defeat the strongest monsters that exist in this world, I only hope that someone of my descendants achieves what I could not, please stop Salem.
(…)
"Woah, I wasn't expecting that kind of story." Ruby, Yang and Weiss were on a boat on their way to the town of Siver, where the only port in the entire kingdom of Vale was located, the visit to Patch had been very productive, In Ruby's hands was an old book, it was the diary of the legendary hero Ozma, this was the hidden treasure in the basement of the Rose house, thanks to Hei Xiong she had found it, the diary was protected by a spell that only could be eliminated by silver eyes power, Hei had been very helpful and had given her some advice about her silver eyes, things he had learned thanks to Summer Rose, Ruby's mother.
"I can't believe the king did something so horrible" Yang was shocked by the story, that your babies were killed just for not being pure blood was horrible, Weiss had an angry expression "I can believe it, the members of the Royalty are cruel and ruthless beings for the most part, I have met several like that in Atlas" the girl seemed to speak from experience so they preferred not to ask her about it as it seemed like a delicate subject.
"Human beings are capable of incredible cruelty, I can understand a little why we are so hated by the queen and by your Necromancer friend, however I know that not all of us are like that, a large part of humanity is good and we must save them" Ruby was determined to fulfill her hero role to the end.
"But I don't understand why he didn't try to look for her, I'm sure he could try to defeat her if he faced her again" Weiss found things a bit strange but Yang had the answer "it's for love Weiss, Ozma loved Salem even after what happened, He wasn't able to kill her because he loved her too much, I admit that I would not like to be in his position"
Ruby knew that they had to do the right thing "Ozma's spell must be what protected us for so many years, it is possible that the spell lost its effect and she recovered the memories of that tragedy but it does not matter, we must go to the castle and end this, for Ozma and for my parents, for all humanity we must defeat the queen "
Yang and Weiss knew that it would be a difficult goal to achieve "Weiss I wanted to ask you the favor of letting me drink some of your blood, the last time I fought with Salem she defeated me very easily, if I drink some blood my strength should increase considerably, I would ask Ruby for a this but I think that the blood of someone with silver eyes is not nutritious for monsters"
"That is fine but please control yourself, I would not like to be too weak due to blood loss" Ruby was glad to see that Weiss was beginning to accept Yang quite well, her sister was living proof that not all monsters were wicked "we should get to Siver during the early hours of tomorrow, from there we can prepare"
(…)
"You can not be serious!" Saphron Arc was in the royal castle in the throne room in front of the King of Vale, a rather old and thin man, his white hair was proof of that, he wore a white robe with red edges, he had several gold necklaces and a goldenn crown "Do you want to challenge my authority?"
"I am a Paladin, if the situation warrants it I have the power to order you, several towns have fallen in a few days and yet you refuse to increase protection even after having seen that message in the skies"
"It is for that reason that I made this decision, I will not let that monster destroy my kingdom, as long as the royal capital is still standing Vale will not fall, I must protect the heart of my kingdom at any cost, you should be grateful that I have not removed all the protection of the villages and towns as a sign of how much I care about their welfare"but she knew that those were empty words, this man was a coward that didn't want to lose his place, as long as the capital was still standing,the rest of the world could go to hell.
"Paladins in emergency situations have the authority to give orders to any King but you forget that you are not the only Paladin here Saphron" a female voice attracted Saphron's attention, a tall woman with long red hair was approaching, she had tight white pants, a red shirt, a gold cape with red trim and glass slippers.
That woman was Carissa Winchester, daughter of the king and Paladin of the church "Thank God your brother is not here, two Winchesters are my limit" during her training as a Paladin Saphron met this woman and they never got along "my little brother Cardin is on a diplomatic mission in Atlas, it is a good thing that I stayed to prevent you from doing something crazy, I support the decision to give priority to the protection of the capital and therefore you cannot force my father to do something"
The king had been an intelligent man to put his daughter in the church, that allowed him to have certain freedom and with the protection of his daughter only those who were in a superior position in the church could do something against him.
"People are dying Carissa, what use will it be to keep the capital standing if the rest of the kingdom ends up destroyed?" but her attempts were useless "a necessary sacrifice to protect the kingdom, those people should be proud to die for us, the royal family and the capital are the heart of Vale, I guess someone like you who grew up in a miserable village would not understand "Saphron wanted to beat up this woman but she knew it would not be an easy thing, Carissa Winchester was strong and this was not the time" if I have to protect the people myself so be it "she would do her best to help those who need her.
(…)
"Another village falls before our forces" Pyrrha removed her sword from the head of a knight, Jaune was next to her reviving the dead that were nearby to increase the queen's army, there were several houses on fire and screams of pain resounded all over the place, it was a terrifying landscape and Jaune did not enjoy it, he and Pyrrha had come to help General Cinder "I hope they learned from all this"
"Do not feel sorry for these humans, they are the ones who made you suffer when you were a child and they are the ones who betrayed me and discarded me as garbage, they must die Jaune, that is their punishment" Pyrrha was too blinded by her anger and rage so it was impossible to convince her, he decided not to argue and continue with his work.
"This is weird, I came personally because we expected to find more resistance but we had no problem" after three successful attacks and due to Sienna's encounter with the Paladin woman, more resistance was expected in these attacks, which is why Jaune had come, Pyrrha had a theory "with the message so direct from our queen it is obvious that everyone knows of our intentions, if they didn't take the time to increase the defenses that can only mean that they don't care about these people"
Basically the king had decided to abandon all these poor people to their fate "Would they really be capable of that?" but he felt stupid asking himself that question "of course Jaune, that's how humans are, selfish beings who only care about themselves, it is obvious that the king will only give importance to the capital"
"Jaune I see that you are finished here" Cinder appeared before them, she was mounted on a Grimm horse "I have received a message, it seems that Ren and Nora have already finished destroying the other nearby village, with this there is only one objective left before being able to focus on the capital" things were going well due to the king's selfishness and they were taking advantage of that.
"Pyrrha I need you to go around the whole town, I have to revive all the dead that I can and we cannot be careless, it is still possible that we will be attacked" the girl got on a big Beowolf and left quickly leaving Jaune with the general "now that we are alone I have news dear Jaune" Cinder got off her horse and approached the boy while he used his sword to revive the corpses nearby "I hope it's good news"
"I have requested help from my companions and asked them to send me troops from Mistral, they should arrive in two more days" however that did not say much to the human "What are you planning?" what she was about to say was going to unsettle him "Salem has shown that she doesn't have what it takes to rule over all of us, she is acting carelessly and could lead us to our own destruction, that is why I think we should remove her from her position as Queen"
"You want to betray the queen?!" Jaune's idea was to stop the queen from exterminating everyone but what Cinder suggested was dangerous, he didn't want to hurt Salem, she was his savior "I'm not going to do that, I could never hurt the queen!"
Even after being deceived the poor boy had a very pure heart, Cinder smiled satisfied as she expected an answer like that"my dear Jaune, we are doing this for her. What do you think will happen if the attack on Vale is successful? We will have in our hands a great war against humanity"
"Not only you and your friends, the queen will fall before the combined forces of humanity, she will die and you don't want that right?" she was playing with his feelings "my idea is not to kill her, only to remove her from her position, thus avoid this disaster, with your zombies and my troops we will have enough strength to force her to yield to us and we can all be saved"
His loyalty made him doubt for a moment but Cinder's words seemed to make sense to him, the queen was a strong being and to stop someone like that it was necessary to match that force in some way "we will talk more about this in the castle, it is dangerous follow this topic here"after all, there were knights loyal to the queen in the area, Cinder smiled happily because the boy was being so adorably simple.
(…)
"Welcome back Hei Xiong, I am glad to see that you are well" the great Grimm was on his knees before the queen in the throne room of the castle "I fought the silver-eyed warrior, indeed she is a survivor of the Rose Clan, unfortunately I was not able to eliminate her, her mage friend and Raven Branwen's daughter proved to be a formidable challenge, however I have no doubt that they will be in Vale, it should not be difficult to find them again"
Luckily Salem did not suspect anything strange "very well, I will allow you to rest until the day of the final attack, tomorrow the others will attack the town of Siver which is the last place and humans will not be able to escape by the sea, we will have the capital cornered"
"Thank you for your consideration my queen, I will take my preparations for the promised day" Xei had done his best to help his friend's daughters but defeating the queen depended on them, only a silver-eyed warrior had a good chance, he left the throne room and walked through the corridors of the dark castle while he thought about his next move.
"I was in patch for a short time and the queen has already destroyed several towns and villages, the situation is worse than I thought, at this rate Vale will be destroyed, you better hurry up girls, I'll try to do something around here but I don't think I'll achieve much"
(…)
"You have to understand the importance of this my dear Jaune" Cinder was in Jaune's private room, she was sitting on the boy's big bed while he watched the dark forest from the nearest window, there were some art paintings in the walls "What is your exact idea Cinder?"
"During the final fight Salem will send all her forces to attack the capital, I am very sure that few of her knights will remain in the castle, the defenses that she has will be weakened and my troops and I will attack during that opportunity, I just need you to make sure there are no zombies interfering in my way, it is possible that Ren will leave some so you have to take care of that"
Jaune did not enjoy this but he had to do something to stop the queen and this was his best option "very well, I accept your plan and I will do my part but my loyalty will always be with the queen, I only do this to prevent her from making a mistake, I have no intention of working for you"
She got up from the bed and approached the boy, she had a sweet and kind smile on her face, she placed her hand on the boy's cheek caressing him with affection "everything will work out as it should my dear Jaune, you are doing the right thing for your queen and for yourself, she will thank you for saving her from her horrible fate"
(…)
"How is your new life treating you boy?" the young Grimm Oscar was in the great kitchen of the castle preparing a banquet with the help of the Grimms who served as chef "well being a simple messenger is not enough for me so I decided to learn more things to help and that is why I am here" Grimms do not need food to survive but they were able to enjoy it, the queen personally loved a good plate of food.
"Nora said you were a good boy and I see she was right" the person he was talking to was a man with orange hair, black pants and an elegant white shirt, he had a glass of blackberry juice in his left hand "thank you Mr. Roman "It was rare to see someone who looked like a normal human in the castle, Oscar got used to seeing Grimms and Zombies everywere so Roman was somewhat out of place when he was not in his beast form.
"How long have you been here Mr. Roman?" That question made him remember many things, Roman drew a nostalgic smile "more years than you would think kid, I have served the queen for a long time to pay a debt, she always treated me with kindness and respect, I have enjoyed working for her, which cannot be said of my former boss"that made the young Grimm curious.
"From what you say I imagine that person was not nice" just remembering that woman made his skin crawl, she tortured him for fun, it was a very horrible time for him and Salem had saved him from that, of course he was grateful to Ozma for killing Tock, because of that he never told the queen the memories she had lost, Salem hated humans but never felt she had a valid reason to exterminate them until her confrontation with Summer Rose in Patch.
"Believe me kid, it was hell but now things are better, I don't know if eliminating all humanity is the correct move but I am not able to challenge the queen, in the past I was a simple thief but look at me now, my past self would have made fun of me for how loyal I am"
"Well I can understand that, Miss Nora saved me from the streets and I owe her a lot, I would not be able to do something against her" hurting someone who had helped you so much was difficult, it was not a pleasant situation to be in.
"You know at first I hated being a monster but over the years I have come to enjoy it, believe me kid you will understand what I am talking about in the future, the weakness that human beings have can be very frustrating" Roman was a simple thief who did what was necessary to survive, searching for treasures in the castle, he ended up at Tock's mercy and she used him as a experiment to calm her boredom, the result was a creature that could become a Grimm but retained its humanity.
"At least you ended up like that in a kind way, I would have preferred to drink blood to suffer what made me what I am, normally when Grimms die they completely disintegrate without leaving a trace but she tore pieces of them and forced me to constantly eat Grimm meat, she also injected Grimm blood directly into my veins, that huge infusion of Grimm essence altered my body and turned me into a monster different from the others, the change was painful and even today when I transform it hurts a lot"
That sounded pretty horrible "unlike other Grimms I can regenerate the limbs that I lose, I would say that I have better regeneration than other monsters that are powerful because of that and I can return to my human appearance whenever I want, In the end it is better than I thought and because of that is very easy for me to infiltrate among humans, according to my former boss I was the only one who survived that procedure, although at that time I wished I had died, torture was not something I enjoyed "
"Oh, I must admit that I thought I had a terrible life but that sounds much worse than someone who lived on the streets" the castle was full of miserable people who had gone through terrible situations, it was something that everyone had in common even if they did not know it.
(…)
Salem was in her personal break room gazing bored at the fireplace in front of her, nor did the art pictures on the walls attract her attention "my precious daughters, I regret not having the strength to protect you, because of Ozma I was not able to get revenge on my father, I would have liked to make him suffer twice as much as I did"Just remembering the old king made her blood boil.
"However my beloved fulfilled his goal and bought humanity enough time, I always believed that my hatred was irrational and I never acted as I should, but it seems that the spell lost strength over time, I don't know the exact reason but during my fight with Summer Rose I recovered the memories of that tragedy, I suppose that killing her was not an appropriate way to thank her but it was for the best, she would have interfered in this plan if she was still alive"
Even Roman had lied to her "I remember that fool told me that he didn't know the reason why i hated humans but I remembered telling him, I can't blame him, he sure did it for Ozma, after all he was the one who killed Tock" she was not particularly angry with her servant, after all he had been loyal to her all this time and she was able to forgive him for that detail "I really miss you Ozma, I would like to have you by my side again"