Emerald Forest, outskirts of Mountain Glen…
The Warband of Chaos Undivided made much progress in the first day they arrived on this planet, the Lesser Daemon Igor had created a map for Montresor Amontillado de Caskius, the psyker guardsman that served Tzeentch, with details of a cave system that the band of traitor guardsmen could set their base of operations in.
Mountain Glen as it was called, one of the only land marks the Daemon could make before it had to flee from the beasts created by the Outcast God; these 'Grimm' were apparently able to sense negative emotions in human beings and these Faunus abhumans he kept babbling about.
It was displeasing to hear that the Outcast God's monsters still exist; they are truly the greatest achievement this being of the Warp has made, they are designed to hunt everything the Chaos deities stood for.
Thankfully he had a masking spell to hide the Warband otherwise they'd be up to their necks in those beasts.
Montresor stopped the Warband and brought up a pair of binoculars to his mask's metal eye holes. An evil smile made its way across his face, "Khan Iron Soul, come, see what I see."
The Khornate warrior standing six foot six snarl lowly peering through his Daemonic styled horned helmet's eye holes, he began licking his lips with his Chaos branded tongue uttering one word.
"Sacrifices."
From their perch on top of a cliff shrouded by trees they could see plain as day the nine individuals wearing white and black uniform with Grimm masks patrolling a perimeter, on a path leading straight towards the warband.
Originally from the reports of Igor, he initially thought that they were worshippers of the Outcast God, but he was wrong. They were dressing up as monster for blablabla… humans...blabla… civil rights, trivial things Montresor didn't care for.
All that mattered is that they were two things that Montresor wanted; information and sacrifices. They would need more to open up Warp portals grand enough to summon men, vehicles, Traitor Marines, and possibly a Blood Thrister Daeon… yes that would do.
"Khan, I just want three alive, the rest are yours." Montresor said his eyes glowing purple as he was about to begin a spell.
"Blllllllooooooooooooooddddddddd…" He muttered waving over seven other Bloodpact guardsmen.
The White Fang scouts were making their daily routes on the outskirts of their base hidden within Mountain Glen, usually this patrols would go with one or two Grimm sightings, Goliaths mostly, a lower level Beowulve on the 'hectic' days.
A boring assignment.
But today the lead Faunus, a rabbit eared soldier, heard the distinct sounds of shuffled walking and heavy breathing. He ordered his men to lower and hide themselves in the bushes with a swift hand gesture. He waited with the sights of his machine gun pointed towards the road.
Several seconds pass before an elderly man with a walking staff ventures down the road walking slower than a snail's pace.
The lead scout jumps out aiming at the old man, "Freeze!" His scouts follow suit aiming their sights at the old man.
"Oohhh my! Wah, what did I do?" The old buzzard asked stepping back.
"You're trespassing on White Fang territory old man, keep your hands where I can see 'em and you won't get hurt."
"You don't want to hurt me?" The scout frowned at the remark.
"No, so don't make me."
"Thank you my boy, for your kindness I'll make sure you don't die first." The elder man's eyes flashed an unnatural purple/blue glow, the scout staggered backwards as the old man's whole body flashed a bright blue.
After the flash the old man was gone, and in his place stood a being that sent shivers down the scout's spine; in the place of the old man stood a figure half a head higher, dressed in worn armor that was decorated by unrecognizable runes and scroll trappings, a metal mask covered the man's face.
The mask itself was of a skull like visage of a demonic beast with three eyes, two of which were utilized for sight. His walking stick was now a staff with some sort of wheel-like insignia on top.
Before any of his men could react to the thing in front of them, eight crimson armored monsters of men wearing iron masks decorated with sharp teeth came down from the trees howling the most terrifying battle cry he's ever heard of in his life.
One that would haunt him for the rest of his days if he lived long enough.
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!" They screamed in unison, armed with a variety of weapons; axes, swords, and lasrifles.
Two of the Fang members where unlucky enough to be skewered by lasrifle bayonets and risen into the air screaming in ungodly pain as they bled like pigs.
One cultist slashed with a hatchet across a cat Faunus man's face, reliving him of the face as his aura shattered upon impact; the cultist chopped his head in half with the next strike and began chopping at his corpse again and again laughing like a kid playing whack a mole.
Khan himself bisected a Fang soldier with one slash from his dammed broad sword and with a quick flick of his wrist amputated the arm of the closest soldier and punched through his chest clawed gauntlet first.
He raised the poor Faunus in the air as the poor thing sputtered in pain, a pain that was relieved when the sword wielding hand assisted in tearing the poor bastard in half.
One had the flight instinct as the battle turned into a bloodbath; he didn't get twenty feet before a hailstorm of lasrounds broke his aura and wounded him severely. Crawling would've been a feat on its own with the amount of pain the Faunus was in before a Pact member came up from behind his prone figure and promptly debrain him with a masonry hammer.
The scout leader was back to back with the last two of his squad members, none of them could raise their weapons to the murderous human creatures that surrounded them. A thick black iron chain was whipped around them by one of the Pact's Trapmasters, with the thick and heavy chain pinning their arms and bodies together they abandoned their guns all together pleading for mercy.
Today must've been either they're lucky day or the worst thing that could ever happen to those who fought the Ruinous Powers.
Becoming captives.
Back at Beacon…
The walk to the next class was silent between Hansel and Ruby; she was still wrapping her head around the fact that the Grimm, the monsters that have hunted Humanity and Faunus kind for all of their history were basically nothing compared to the enemies Hansel and his people have been fighting against, monsters that took entire planet's and on top of that souls.
The very idea of having your soul taken was paling for any aura user.
Hansel himself was still fuming over how weak human history on Remnant was; he was especially annoyed with this false concept of peace they believed in. There was no such thing as peace, only an intermission between wars to rearm and rebuild only to destroy again, that is how the world worked.
He wouldn't have it any other way… maybe… no, no maybe's. Maybe's aren't meant for his kind, and there wasn't a shadow of a doubt in Hansel's mind that they were making him weaker with this 'compassion' they've been showing him, and he did not like it not one bit. He needed to be focused, a closed mind is a focused mind.
Professor Port's class the next one on the schedule; from what Hansel gathered Port was supposedly a boring teacher that taught about Grimm and how to combat them, of course for the most part its him telling all of them one of his many adventures as a younger man.
Sounded like an old Commissar that had too much Asmaec without the drink itself.
The man certainly looked like he would enjoy a flagger or two of alcohol from the roundness of his gut, yet oddly seemed looked like he would be able to handle himself. But how in the hell could he see with his eyebrows covering his eyes?
"Mister Hansel, it is a pleasure to see you again my boy! You gave us quite the show!" The fat jolly Santa Claus looking teacher said with hearty jubilee.
"…"
Port cough a little bit feeling slightly embarrassed, "Well I hope you don't mind but I was hoping you would like to perform for us once more with one of your weapons?"
"May I leave now sir?" He asked monotonously but on the inside sighing with relief that he'd get to kill something. Port nodded and Hansel left as soon as his legs could carry him.
However in his haste to leave he completely ignored his teammates who were trying to get his attention, one in particular, "Wait!" Ruby called but Hansel didn't hear her in time.
"What's going on Professor?" Weiss asked frowning at the supposed rudeness Hansel showed Ruby.
"I wanted to see if the reaction that Beowulve had could be replicated, if it does then we can confirm that Hansel is truly fearless and therefor an invaluable asset to us." The members of team RWBY stared deadpanned, that actually made some sort of sense coming from the usually nonsense incarnate teacher.
Hansel returned but this time he had his lasrifle converted into the weapon that every Grenadier carried once in their lives, the Hellgun, it was their lasrifle that had a stronger kick than the other 'flashlight' guns the regulars used. But had only twenty five shots before the battery either needed to be recharged or discarded.
It immediately took Ruby's interest, "Oh we haven't seen what that one does! I wonder what caliber it shoots?" Weiss rolled her eyes as Ruby started off naming numerous and very wrong calibers.
Port chuckles heartily, "A rifle with a bayonet this time? I see you like to switch things up, are you ready for your prey lad?" He gestures towards the cage with his blunderbuss axe… thing.
Hansel responded by leveling his sights at the cage, ready to kill whatever came out of it.
The lock came off and in a flash the Grimm leap out of its cage; the Beowulve roared in anger as it tried finding the portly human that locked it in the steel cage, it was frightfully disappointed when it felt a disturbance in the room. Said disturbance was standing twenty feet from it.
As Professor Port predicted the Beowulve started to whimper and shake violently, trying to find a way to escape the anomaly standing in front of it. But fate wasn't on its side.
The first shot went right through its knee, disintegrating it causing the whole leg to collapse with the lack of support.
'No mercy for the wicked, no mercy for the heretic.' He thought as another lasround burns the Beowule's connection to its arm and shoulder away, making its now useless left arm dangling.
Another round sounding off struck the beast in the chest; its bone plating offered mild protection as it started crumbling from taking the initial round. Hansel raised his bayonet as he neared the downed beast. This one however had more fight in it.
With a last ditch attempt the Beowulve lashes out with its good hand to try and wound the anomaly walking towards it, except Hansel's bayonet was lowered at the right angle to amputate a full half of the Beowulve's hand. The poor thing didn't have the time to scream as Hansel repeatedly stabbed its chest with the bayonet.
Satisfied with his work Hansel watched the corpse begin disintegrating into mist, "Once again Mister Hansel you prove that you are a truly fearless and powerful Huntsman in training." Port announces patting the Kriegers shoulder.
"Again, I have seen better." Hansel muttered leaving the classroom to store his equipment in his locker. Today was turning out to be an annoying one; first the history of Remnant turned out to be highly disappointing, the humans here appeared docile with this false sense of peace and comfort to the point where the only 'Kingdom' with an actual army is this Atlas place.
Secondly, their 'threat to Mankind' was a complete and utter joke. Orks were at least crafty in their own way and to their credit showed little fear. That is until they meet the Death Korps. Somewhere along the line they got the notion that whenever they killed a Kriegan that said soldier will come back from the dead looking for their killers.
It provided a great way to demoralize the xenos, but it's just a ghost story, sure there may have been notions that genetic memory is passed down but Hansel himself has never experienced such a thing, yet. As far as he knows that very well might be true, but until he can confirm it will remain just a ghost story.
They had no idea how dangerous the Ruinous Powers actually were, while the description he made was good it was in retrospect a summary compared to the actual truth. The actual truth would've made them curl up into fetal positions, the Chaos Gods fed off of negative emotions… kind of like the Grimm… which now seem to have another thing in common with Chaos… that's starting to become suspicious…
Before anymore paranoid musing could come to his mind Hansel noticed he had just walked right past the weapons locker room, "Frak all." He mutters pulling the scroll from his coat, "By the Throne this place is getting to me."
As Hansel started storing his weapons he felt a presence, someone was in the room. Carefully but casual enough he unslung the rifle, but with it being close quarters it would be inefficient, so he gently slid his fingers over the bolt pistol and closed the door hiding the pistol.
In a flash he turns around with his pistol at his hip ready to blast whoever was there, and to his utter dismay it was the Headmaster, "You really shouldn't sneak up on a Grenadier."
Ozpin nodded silently with a neutral face, "Doctor Oobleck recorded your conversation with him. Is it true, all of it?"
Hansel nods grimly, "That's a summary, the truth is that those beings feed upon the raw negative emotions of all beings. Hence our brutal upbringing, to starve them as we kill their followers."
The older Huntsman sighs pushing his glasses down and pinches the bridge of his nose, "They sound unstoppable."
"Not quite." Hansel removed his mask and stared Ozpin in the eyes, "As long as we continue to resist their temptations, keep our minds and bodies honed to defend against their advances they shall know defeat. The Emperor protects."
A small smile came to Ozpin's face, "That's nice to know. How are things with team RWBY?"
"…Complicated." He said putting his mask back on.
"I see. Well I won't bother you any longer; besides, you have a class to get back to. Have a good day Hansel."
The Headmaster exited the armory with his steaming mug, leaving the Kriegan soldier alone in the locker room, "What a strange man."
The class itself wasn't half as bad as Ruby had previously described, all they did was listen to the fat man talk about his past 'adventures' which were in their own way entertaining. As entertaining as Port's tales were Hansel felt himself slipping back into his brooding over human history.
At least that was until Ruby started asking questions about his lasrifle, personally to him it was just a better flashlight gun, but too her it was a marvelous piece of hardware that she wanted to take apart to figure out all of its secrets.
It was cute when she gets so excited over weapons like that.
It wasn't hard to imagine her as a little Mechanicus in a red hood obsessing over weapons and technology all the while maintaining that adora- that's it. She was the reason why he was getting weaker!
Yes, she was the whole reason. Ever since he first met her she's been trying to be nice to him; day in day out always trying to be friendly with him, smelling like strawberries and cookies, asking about his weapons and their capabilities, asking him if he was feeling well… giving him a warm smile every time she saw him… paying full attention whenever he spoke… giving him those oddly warming hugs that made butterflies fluttering in his stomach…. Emperor dammit!
The logical side of him has been screaming at him for a few days now, 'Kill, purge, praise. Destroy the unsanctioned abhumans. Kill, purge, praise. They are not Imperial leadership; they have no authority over you. Kill, purge, praise. She is a distraction, kill her, kill Ruby.
Kill Ruby.
He locked his eyes on the red/brunette haired girl; a simple thrust from his pen to her jugular might do the trick, one punch to the temple of her skull with his prosthetic arm would be instant, snapping her neck like twig branch, slamming her face into the table with all of his might.
It would be so easy, he would probably kill several others unarmed before a student could over power him or a teacher could kill him.
That's what the logical side wanted, that's what it thought the Emperor would want him to do, kill and purge all enemies… but is that truly what the Emperor would want? What if this was a test of will from HIM? Instead of that, would he instead stay his hand until the Ordo Hereticus made its decision, or will he act without the guidance of a Commissar as he had been doing. These Faunus while they may be foul but they were still useful at the current moment.
Ruby was a young and inexperienced leader and none of his teammates have drawn a drop of blood. With some guidance from Hansel however she just might shape up into an appropriate leader of a squad. Hansel had some training in that field so that seems like a possibility.
When the Imperium finally finds this world he would start following orders once again from the Imperial Guard and return to his regiment.
Until then maybe, just maybe Hansel could learn to deal with this 'weakness' and make it into a potential strength that he could utilize in his service to the Emperor. Maybe he could even learn to… accept this weakness and strengthen it to where it would become his strength.
Emperor bless him he was a genius… but how does one 'accept' a weakness… maybe he should really try understanding that romance novel after all.
Unknown location, presumably a small cave within Mountain Glen…
The White Fang scout from before opened his eyes slowly, his head felt like what a bell would if it was hit by a train after being beaten senseless by a bellboy and then thrown down a rapid water fall. Taking a large amount of effort he finally opened his eyes to see where he was.
Immediately he regretted being alive.
All but two of his men were dead, lying in pieces on top of some sort of tarp on top of flat rock slabs. The attackers, those terrifying crimson armored men with their foul masks on their belts were eating what remained of his fellow scouts like they were having some sort of sick Thanksgiving.
He had no idea when he started screaming or when the other two started either.
As if things weren't bad enough, the creature that disguised itself as an old man from before was sitting on a rock with one leg crossed over the other, while his equally terrifying comrade in the crimson armor had his helmet removed revealing a terrifyingly stony scarred face of a man with filed down teeth, drinking Faunus blood from a goblet.
"A bit gamy," The being spoke, "but still sweet, sweet blood."
"Bastard!" The scout screamed hoarsely shaking in his iron chains.
Montresor chuckled standing up, he closed the distance between himself and the scout, "What is your name?"
His eyes started to glow bright with the intense stare and a burning feeling was felt in the back of the Faunus's head; he cringe and hissed feeling the heat increase, it felt like his brain was being melted, "Aaron, Aaron Greenford."
Khan snarled, "Why are you asking him questions instead of reading his mind? You stupid psyker."
Montresor shrugged, "Because where's the fun in that?" He chuckled heavily as the Khornate cultist sneered impatiently nearly crushing his own goblet.
"What the hell are you, what do you want?!" Aaron yelled desperately trying to break free of his bonds.
Montresor grabs him by the chains and hoists him in the air, "We are Chaos Undivided… and we will amass altars to our Gods here. The Changer of Ways has plans for this world."
"This land shall be bathed in the blood of millions, innocent or guilty it matters not! Blood for Khorne! Skulls for the Skull Throne!" Khan roared thrusting his hands into the air.
"Dark desires and pleasure shall be awarded to the faithful warriors of Chaos, all shall enjoy the whispers of Slaanesh." An individual sporting purple and a light pink variant of armor said seductively with a few tentacles emerging from within a crustacean like claw that replaced its left arm, his mask was one made of human skin stitched together.
A green armor being came from the shadows wheezing through his rebreather, "The Plagues of Grandfather Nurgle shall wreak havoc upon all creatures that dwell here, only the strongest shall survive."
Sweat was pouring from Aaron's brow as Montresor brought him closer, "And you my boy, you and your comrades are going to do a little bit of… reconnaissance for us, until we are ready to be seen. Now don't struggle, this will only hurt a lot."
The screams of the three captives were heard by no one other than the cultists, the White Fang weren't able to hear the screams of the dammed scouting party even with their advanced hearing. They simply weren't listening hard enough to hear them coming from within the depths of Mountain Glen.
Oh shit, what the hell have I done? Bad Hansel, don't think like that!
