A tale of twin masterpiece in remnant

[Soya_Kazama]

3rd POV

Earth,Japan

Near Saitama city,White Room



In a cold sterile room,everything is white as far as eyes could see. There's no breath of life as if everything is mechanical. We see two children by the age of 12 fighting against each other.



The boy with reddish-brown hair and golden eyes was blocking a punch thrown by the other boy with purple hair and silver eyes. The fight goes for a while with purple haired gradually starts panting, the golden eyed boy uses this opportunity to counter attack further weakning the second boy.



The fight returns to stalemate with the second boy starting a conversation.

"Can I have a word?"



1st Boy's POV



The past months' silence was broken when Shiro whispered in my ear.

I thought it was a mental attack, but he stopped moving completely.



"It's been many, many years since I've last beaten you in Judo, hasn't it?"



"That's right."



I had been winning since the second round after I lost my first fight.



"Boxing, Karate, Jeet Kune Do-it's the same for everything. I'll win the

first one or two fights, but once you turn the tables on me, I can't do anything about

it. You're really great."



Why would he say that in the middle of a brawl like this?



"I have one thing to say to you."

"...What?"



I listened to the mumbling, which continued at such a close distance that the

adults couldn't pick it up.



"I've decided to leave this facility."



"Only the outcasts get out of here."



"So I'm going to drop out and get out of here. If you look at the dropouts'

tendencies and the adults who have to deal with them, you can imagine what kind

of paths they take. At least I won't be killed."



"What are you going to do out there? Is there a point to that?"



"Yes. I want freedom."



"Freedom?"



"I want to be free. I want to have friends. Isn't it normal to feel that way?

Look around you. It's just me and you. We're going to be like this for over ten

years."



I didn't understand what Shiro meant.

Why would he want that?



"Don't you care about the outside world? Or are you able to withstand this

pain in the first place?"



I had never had any such interest or doubts.



"One-sided knowledge and this small space-are you satisfied with that?"



"At least I'm not complaining."



I'm definitely growing every day in the White Room.

Didn't he want to know how far he could grow and what his limits were?

You can't get this kind of education in the outside world. This means that

you will lose efficiency in self-improvement.



"...You're weird. I want to see the real world, not the virtual one."



Objectively speaking, I had seen many children who were sick and tired of

their constrained lives, but the idea of dropping out because I couldn't take it

anymore never came to me.



"I was convinced when Yuki dropped out. I even envied her."



"I see."



If that was the answer Shiro gave, then I had nothing to say.



"I thought you were just like me. I thought you'd want to be out in the world

someday."



"I'm sorry, but I've never thought that."



"...I see. I was going to ask you to leave with me..."



I was sure the adults watching over him didn't know this as well as I did.

They didn't know that Shiro had such an enormous amount of feelings about

this place.



There was this established notion between the administrators that the

children couldn't know what we didn't tell them. But the reality was that there were

other people, like the one in front of me, who desired to leave the White Room as

soon as possible.



I didn't know if this discovery meant anything as long as I was the last one

standing.



"I'm going to go ahead and see you again sometime, Kiyotaka."

I didn't reply to his words.



3rd POV



Suddenly, Kiyotaka and Shiro's instincts screamed of danger they had never felt before! They both get back in fighting stances and turned around only to see the surrounding grayed out and two weard moving arms.

A voice came from the left arm



"Mimihagi"



Another came from the right arm



"Pernida"





Both arms suddenly moved at incomprehensible speed. The left arm toward Kiyotaka and the right arm towards Shiro. Before any of them could react, a heavy migraine hit them and they heard word



" Enjoy"



and they fall unconscious.

 

[Soya_Kazama]

Shiro's POV

As I opened my eyes, I saw myself surrounded by trees I had never seen before,Kiyotaka also woke up and started to check his surroundings. The after effects of the migraine are still present, so I started to steady my breathing to maximize oxygen intake.

After a few seconds, I asked kiyotaka, "Are you alright?"

"Affirmative" replied kiyotaka with his usual tone, but eyes seemed to a curious glint.

Standing up, I started to examine our surroundings and simultaneously theorize the cause for our predicament. Was my plan exposed to the instructor?Then I have been disposed. No, Kiyotaka is with me,they would never let him go. Have we been kidnaped? This makes more sense since the professor should have many enemies and kiyotaka being his son makes him an excellent hostage.
Wait, how did I knew he was professor's son?we were never told our last names.

"Shiro, look up."

Kiyotaka voice made me suppress my thoughts and look up at the sky, and to my surprise, I saw a bird we were never taught. It was around 2.3 km away. The avian has features resembling those of several other bird species. It has a mask-like, white bony structure overlaying the upper front of its head. It also has four glowing red eyes, two on each side of its head. The headpiece also includes a dorsal spine or fin, reminiscent of that on the heads of condors and some prehistoric pterosaurs.

"Did the outside world found a way to revive fossil?" I asked with uncertainty

"Negative,such information should already be disclosed if it was true." Kiyotaka said, analyzing the situation.

I started moving forward, and my body felt unnatural light as if the gravity is reduced. Kiyotaka also started to experiment with the unnatural lightness.

Around 10 minutes later, we reached the following conclusions. The entire area has a gravity reduction by 1.5 times, resulting in our increased agility. our sight,hearing,reaction time, and strength also increased to level which should be unscientific in 12 years old body. One,we have been kidnaped for another experiment involving sensitive technology, which can explain sudden changes in our body. Two,we are still in white room and this can be a secret test to measure quickly thinking and loyalty but this theory becomes obsolete since we can still feel pain.

So overall conclusion,we need more information simultaneously gathering food within few hours an searching for shelter within few days.

My left wrist has weird tattoo which look similar to one of the hand we saw before getting kidnapped. I raise my palm of my left hand to have a better view but the next moment made question reality.

The tree in front of me started to shake violently before getting shredded to countless pieces.

I was left speechless .

Kiyotaka's POV

If I didn't witness the in front of me I would never believe it. Something supernatural that would make any one question the semblance of reality. From the moment we woke up No,from the moment we saw the two sentiment arms, we have experienced a series of bizarre incidents ,sudden blackout, a prehistoric raven, decreased, gravity, change in sun's uv index and Shiro's supernatural ability.

Shiro is already experimenting his new for ability which made some interesting conclusions. The assumed rage of the targets is between 10 to 15 meters but he says int can be increased. He believes that a imaginary connection is created between his left hand and the designated target. He also experiencing high fatigue after repeated use of his ability.

My right arm also has a similar tattoo, so I started conducting similar experiments. I press my right palm on a tree similar to what Shiro has done. The tree and its surrounding became unnatural quiet and it maintained silence.

'Is it paralysis,no it is stillness'

After 5 minutes I also started to feel fatigue. I released my palm and after approximately 30 seconds the fatigue lessened.

In the mean time, Shiro has reached enough proficiency to telepathy control the logs of the broken trees.

"Where should we make a temporary shelter?"asked Shiro

An ideal shelter can vary in different terrain but food and water is a must.

"The is a water stream ahead,it can make a ideal water source, we can catch fish from it or use the wild berries but the potential problem.."

"Possible Posion or unknown pathogen" Shiro said voicing out my worries

We both sighed,we have 80% confirmed we are on different planet.
We started advancing towards the water stream, the rough plan was to built a demo house around 30 meter away from the water source which will act as a bait while we will stay In a under ground bunker. I plan to set wooden barricades to make the bait more believable.

I also made some interesting observations of right hand's ability. It can indeed make both organic and inorganic substances still as far as ignoring time,a result of using this on a falling leaf. Another effect of the ability in exclusive stilled objects can have preservation effect or in other words the become indestructible for few seconds at least.

While building the bunker,I asked Shiro
"Do you remember the words spoke by the sentient arms?"

He stopped and looked towards me and said yes. He understood my intentions. Sprinting by 50 meter he started chanting

"Mimihagi"

Nothing happened
Then he chanted the the word

"Pernida"

The tattoo of his left arm opened he eyes
A sudden chill ran in my body

The same feeling I felt when I saw the arms for the first time. Before I got paralysed,I quickly chanted
"Mimihagi "
The tattoo of my right arm opened its eyes.

They both were looking at each other. The entity named Pernida scowled and close his eyes. Mimihagi on the contrary smirked and smilled creepy before closing his eyes.

Both,me and Shiro fell from sudden exhaustion.

"Let's not make *pant* any more problems *pant* regarding the two"
I wholeheartedly agreed with him.

 

[Soya_Kazama]

Shiro's POV

Within the next 30 minutes, I recovered from the exhaustion and started standing up. Once again, I had a influx of unknown information about the left hand. My left arm also had a faint blue pattern tracing the veins beneath the surface of their skin.

'Progression and evolution'

'Blut'

The new information about the first two abilities seems to directly opposite to kiyotaka's right arm's abilities, Stillness and Preservation . My left arm also feel strange, my blood in my vein feels more heavier.

Kiyotaka also seems to obtain some kind of umbrakinesis or darkness manipulation, his surroundings became much darker and two black hands spawned from his shadows.

"How does it feels?"I asked

"Strange, it feel like moving a new limbs" Kiyotaka answered examining the shadow hands

"There isn't much time left, Let's complete the construction of the bunker" I stated
"Affirmative" replied kiyotaka

Gathering the woods of fallen trees, I compressed the them to make a wooden walls and a floor by 4×4 meters. I already made a crater using the telekinetic disintegration ability's of the left hand or pernida. Alignment of the walls and floor made an adequate room underground. The first entrance will be under the demo house, second entrance will be near the water stream.

Kiyotaka has already started catching fishes by halting their movements and fetching with a net made from shadows. He also started a bonfire on the surface to smoke the caught fishes. It can take care of most pathogens. He is using the stillness on the wood containers I made to boil the water.

After couple of minutes the bunker was complete, connected to the surface house via underground tunnel and made the wooden barricades with hidden traps to lookout for potential invaders, as for weapons I made 4 long wooden spears and nearly 100 short spears which can act like projectiles with telekinesis.

Kiyotaka came back with the fishes and water and stored 70% in the bunker, it can last for a week. The remaining on the surface house to make the bait more believable. We both sat at it bonfire, I handed him 2 spears and we started eating the fishes.
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"What do you plan to do now on?"

"Uncertain,the best scenario is to find civilization but without scouting it may back fire"

"Do you think it is possible the we're in past ?"

"Small chance,it can explain the strange flora and the giant raven but the gravity is still less than earth"

I started thinking, assuming we're on different planet many questions arises.
Who sent the sentient hands? Why this planet? What is their objective? Why me and kiyotaka? The last voice on earth was 'enjoy',enjoy what? Power, freedom, camping. How troublesome, I wanted to to move out of White Room not move out of the world.

As I looked up the sky I discovered another shocking phenomenon. The moon was shattered by its one side and countless pieces floating beside it. This doesn't make sense. At first glance it looks like it has like this for centuries but then the moon should form a ring around planet. Kiyotaka curiously watch the sky

"Kiyotaka, I have decided I will travel this world and investigate the moon of this planet"

He looked at me,trying to find reason behind my actions he asked
"In the White Room, you want to see the the outside world similarly here in this planet you want to explore the unknown, can you tell me what motivate you to make such choices?"

"In the White Room I knew I can't keep up with you so leaving and finding something i enjoy was the best option, here I can make my own choice so it was curiosity but the common factor was Freedom "

"Freedom?"

"Yes"

"Why do you keep searching for freedom? You say you couldn't keep up with me yet but you started holding back during the last 2 months, don't you want reach your full potential, see your peak capabilities?

"Yes, but not at the cost of my freedom."

"Is freedom really that important?"

"Yes, after all freedom is the right of every sentient being"

Kiyotaka's POV

How fascinating. Among the other students I known,Shiro always different from other. While most students tried to survive or maximize learning he always try to reason whether the White Room was really correct in there teachings. Previously I thought he was naive but he was far from it.

He chooses to act by his will and not will of others, no one including me in white room chooses to do anything, the orders were absolute and falling to do so will get disposed, that was our life but he managed to develop something I never thought 'A Freedom of Choice '.

Shiro will be my first piece in this unknown world, and from him I will learn about Freedom and Choice. Show me Shiro whether the Freedom is worth the price.

3rd POV

A creature with cloven-feet, a line of hair sprouting from its spine, snub snout and tusks was advancing towards the campfire. It had four eyes and a bone-like mask that seems to be strapped to its face by a black vein-like organic tether. It has a series of plates along its back and on its thighs, and two extra sets of tusks.

The set traps activated and numerous projectiles were launched towards the creature. The creature was alarmed and braced for impact.

Most projectiles were deflected by its exo-armor while a few were embedded inside his belly causing mild pain.
The creature got angered and in frenzy started to charge at the child in front of him.

The child watching the creature began to to walk towards it. His golden eyes shined and as the creature hit him.

A Shockwave was create by the impact.
And the the child was completely unharmed even the White clothes was completely fine.

The boar creature was shocked in this turn of events. The child spoke
"The invincibility can also be used for one's own body or its allies and the span has increase to 1 and half minutes "

"What about enemies?"

He raise his right hand and the creature movement started slowing down and and finally came to standstill.

"The black hands are temporarily unavailable,so both ability can't be simultaneously used right know "
He released his stillness.

The boar immediately ran away as fast it could. The child stared at the running animal and did nothing.

The boar felt happy running away from such a monster but suddenly he saw another child of same age I front of him.
His silver eyes started at the boar analyzing for potential weak points. His eyes flickers unknowing. He raise is left hand and said
"It's weird anatomy makes him having a armor like structure but the projectiles only hit below him in another words his underside is comparatively under-protected and vulnerable, with little to no body armor or shielding"

The boar lost the control of his body,he started shaking violently attempting to break free of his constrained but it was futile. After 15 seconds, the animal got teared to shreds. The boy said with heavy breathing
"The ability still has limits, stronger entities need more time and energy and I need to be also stronger "

The left arm absorbed the the remaining of the creature lessening the boys' fatigue

"For now, let's go to sleep" Shiro said

Kiyotaka nods and goes with him.

 

[Soya_Kazama]

Kiyotaka's POV


As I closed my my eyes and dozed off, I found myself in front of a white empty hallway. I assumed I was having having a lucid dream since I had multiple in white room. I started walking down the hallway, and I also noticed some peculiar changes. My right arm's mark had disappeared, and clothes changed from the white Gi to the patient gown that I usually wear. After walking for a couple of minutes, I reached the end of the hallway only to greated a magnified version of the white room library.


The gallery hall is assumed to be more than 30-story space, square-shaped and surrounded by a shell of books. The interior circulation is arranged in a spiral among the reading gallery areas,the stairs were cube like, making its way to each floor.

​

Reaching out on one of the books, I found that some of them are the same books that used to be present in the white room. What was more surprising that It contained more books I had never seen before. While looking around, I saw a small shrine with a statue of the right arm or, as it calls himself Mimihagi. I didn't approach it since I didn't have enough information about it.


After reviewing a few other floors, I realized that every single record of information on earth till the last day was recorded, I was a bit pleased since reading books was one of my hobby and I won't miss our on knowledge that white room never taught.


As I reached the other hallway, I found another library, but it was empty. Only a single book was present, and it showed information about the boar life animal that Shiro killed. It was called 'boarbatusk'. New terms such as 'Grimm' and 'Creature of darkness' caught my eyes. I skipped a few pages, and the next animal was the prehistoric bird we first saw. It's called a 'Nevermore', and its description was written, but unlike the previous one, this data was incomplete.


I could only assume that either we have to kill it or absorb it like Shiro did. I kept the book it it's original place and returned to the first library, and started reading an interesting find.


*7 hours later *


Reading books about shadow manipulation made me think about some interesting applications. I should wake up within a few seconds. I wonder how I will exit his place. As I was thinking suddenly, I began to dozed off and my eyes closed and everything went dark.
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Opening my eyes, I saw a familiar wooden ceiling and surroundings as I began to identify the ungrounded bunker.


Coming up to the surface, I begin my daily routine similar to one one I did in white room. Shiro also started the same. Seeing that the exercise became much easier, I increased my reps from 300 to 350, which was still easy. I finally stopped at 450 reps.


After the warm-up, we finally decided to explore the forest. I extended my shadows horizontally on the ground, enveloping the food and water. Now we can explore without worrying about. A nice trick I learned from yesterday books.


We started sprinting towards east. On the way we encountered another group of new animals or Grimm as they were called.


The Grimms had bone-like mask with red markings characteristic of most Grimm, as well as the bone-like spikes protruding from their arms, back, and knees. Their hands and feet are also tipped with long, sharp, white claws. They we're 10 of them.


We hid our presence and watched their movements. I masked our sense using Mimihagi so they won't smell or hear us. Shiro took out two half meters spears and aimed at the furthest Grimm.


I reinforced the spears, making them borh indestructible for 5 seconds. Shiro shoots them aiming at the chest. The spear completely impaled the two wolves, making a loud, sharp, piercing cry


*loud and painful screams*


The pack startled, breaking their usual formation. I switched to umbrakinesis, summoning the black hands, their number increased to 3, and used them to grab the three wolves by their neck and started choking them. They were struggling to get out. The shadow hand enveloped the three Grimm and started tearing them from inside.

I extended my right arm towards the Grimm corpses, understanding my intentions, Mimihagi absorbed the unknown residual energy and the corpses disappeared.


Shiro's POV


As kiyotaka was attacking the wolves or Grimm as my imported knowledge says, I proceeded to jump two of them and tear their limps, incapacitating them. While the other three started jumping at me, I finally got a chance to use another ability I gained before.

[Blut Vene]


Blue marks started to form around my veins, guarding my skin. The wolf's claw got blocked, and the recoil startled the beast. I used this moment to punch the beast in the chest.


A normal punch should not be effective even if it is reinforced with Blut, but with Pernida's ability to progress anything, including time, I accelerated my speed by 3× increasing my attack power.


As a result, the punch went straight through his body, killing it instantly.


Pernida also absorbed the corpse and I learned the name of the Grimm.


'Beowolf '


The last 2 Grimm finally started to run away, I sprinting towards them and caught them instantly. The imaginary nerves entered their body halting their movements and after struggling for a while they stopped,killing them.


After absorbing the corpses I killed the remaining 2 beowolf I incapacitated before and absorbed them.


A interesting observation is my eyes react every time I came close to these Grimm wonder what's this about .


Kiyotaka also returned absorbing the corpse of the first 2 I killed.


We both continue our journey


Kiyotaka's POV


After the massacre we continued moving towards east, around 20 minutes later we came across a village
Which looks similar villages of medieval times of earth. I confirmed that it is a human settlement as the guard was human and few other were entering the village.


We walk towards the village, the guard finally noticed us. With a curious but cautious tone he asked
"Welcome to Eien village children, how can I help you?"

(AN:It is the unnamed village from vol:4 where team RNJR defeated a the ghost grimm and the jaune fellow got his new armor )


Shiro answered " we were traveling between the forests, suddenly monsters attacked us, we managed to fend ourselves but lost our supplies,so we are searching for shelter"


The guard furrowed and asked "where are your parents ?"


"We don't have them" I replied


He grimaced and asked " and you guardians?"


"They left us " I answered


He looks guilty and changed the topic "Are you martial arts practitioners?"
He guessed by observing our Gi .


"Yes" we both replied


He smiled kindly and said
"Then welcome to Eien village you can stay as much as you like."


"Thank you" we both replied.


The guard asked the last question "what are your names ?"


"Kuro" Shiro replied
"Toji" I replied


We both see no reason to reveal our true names. In this word of supernatural there is a possibility of getting harmed just by reveal of names and we both are new to supernatural so we won't take any risks. It also decrease changes of getting tracked .


With the guard acting as our guide we finally entered Eien village.

End Note: somehow i made kiyotaka an archbishop (re zero) and Shiro into a quincy.​

 

[Soya_Kazama]

3rd POV

While Kiyotaka and Shiro are walking with the village guard, they begin to look around the village. They were curious about how everything worked in this distant world. They saw blacksmith who had a set of horns and other human with animal parts. The guard smiled at their antics.

He guessed, "I believe this is your first time seeing faunus."

"Faunus?"
Kiyotaka and Shiro tilt their head in confusion.

"The individual with animal parts like our local blacksmith "

The blacksmith looked at them curiously.
"Where do you lads come from?"

The guard replied for them "they were in the forest, and Grimm attacked them, so they were looking for shelter."

The blacksmith got mumbled,"Those bloody monsters, why can't those bastard leave us alone."
He ended the conversation and continued to work.

The guard also took the children to meet up with the mayor.
The mayor has gray hair and appears to be quite old. He wears red robes accented with gold, a necklace of green prayer beads around his neck, and a golden ornamental hairpiece.

The mayor looked curious at the new faces. The guard began to narrate their story. The mayor had an understanding look on his face as if he encountered similar situations before.

"The Grimm attacks had increased significantly over the last decade, so it isn't uncommon scenario"
And looked at us and asked," kuro and .. toji, was it? You can stay in an empty house south of this village. "

Both shiro and kiyotaka bowed, "Thanks for your kindness."

The mayor, with a tired look, smiled, " Don't mind, this is the least I could do."

"Sir, why does everyone in the village have a depressing look on their faces?" Shiro stated the obvious

The mayor stiffened, " You noticed.... yes, the villagers are constantly harassed by a Grimm, so everyone's mood is low."

"How do you plan to solve this issue?" Kiyotaka asked, wanting to know how the natives fight the threat.

"We sent a letter to the huntsman union branch in Argus, but there is no response."he replied sadly

"What's a huntsman?" Kiyotaka asks

"You .... don't know about huntsman?" He looked weird out by the question

Both Kiyotaka and Shiro shake their head.

"Huntsmen and Huntresses are licensed elite warriors dedicated to slaying the Creatures of Grimm and whose duty is to uphold the peace of their world, Remnant. The occupation of Huntsmen was created following the Great War's conclusion on the island of Vytal." He explained which sudden excitement

Kiyotaka and Shiro got weird out with the sudden excitement.

"Why can they only fight the Grimm?" Shiro asked

"Kingdom of Atlas is trying to use Robots to replace huntsman, but huntsman are more efficient because they can use Aura and Dust."

Both children stared at the mayor, and he chuckled.

*Stareeeeeee*

"Let me guess, you don't know about Aura or Dust."

They nods

"Aura is a manifestation of the soul, a life force that runs through every living creature on Remnant. It creates a layer of protection against outside threats and is used to fuel semblance, a unique ability of every Aura user. "
"Dust is a source of all energy in Remnant. The physical properties of dust make it incredibly useful for a variety of purposes, particularly in weapons of Huntsmen."

Kiyotaka and Shiro frowned inward. The entire civilization was built upon a single source. Hypothetical, if someone makes dust unusable, the civilization will collapse, also Dust is a physical resource it means it will run out eventually.

Suppressing these thoughts,Kiyotaka asked another question
"why Grimm are attacking this village ?"
Hoping to gain information on Grimm's cause of attacking human.

The mayor grimaced, " That is partially our fault, Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, so the depressing atmosphere makes us excellent target "

As they were about to ask more questions. A loud crashing sound was heard.

"GRIMM ATTACK,GRIMM ATTA---"

The mayor advised them to run and hide while he was gathering people who could fight.

Kiyotaka and Shiro caught the glimpse of the attacker. The grimm consists of gray boulders, which form a central body and four levitating limbs. Through the Geist's influence, these boulders gain red vein-like markings.

They stood and watched how the people were going to fight the Grimm. To their surprise, the people at the front glowed different colours from their body. They assume it was Aura. The villager at the vanguard raised their shield to tank the attack from the Grimm.

*CLANG*

The villager barely blocked the wave of the hand.

Other villagers used mace to attack it, but it barely did any damage.

This went for a while.
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Kiyotaka's POV

As the fight between the Grimm and villagers continued, me and Shiro approach the blacksmith who was hiding in the shop.

He was shocked to see us " Are you lads bloody crazy, Quickly hide somewhere"

We didn't answer and approached the the weapons.
There were lots of Choices, from sharp weapons like long swords and daggers to blunt weapons like hammer and mace. Since we are going against a non organic foe we opted to choose blunt weapons.

I glanced at the mace and took it. This will do for now. Shiro took a giant hammer.
"We are borrowing this for a while."
I said and both exit the shop leaving behind the cursing demi-human.

Since the fight was taking place in open area sneak was useless but using villagers as bait was still a valid option but they still have their uses so I will go for frontal assault. Shiro hid his presence as he will have the final blow.

I ran in front of the crowd approaching the rock golem. The mayor looked shocked to see me.
"TOJI Why are you here?"

"We will repay the favor for letting us stay " He looked gobsmacked by my reasoning. That's enough talking. I started at the Grimm.

"NO, STOP you're going get yourself killed, not even a huntsman-------"
I ignored him and stated my analysis.
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The Mayor' POV

I was absolutely speechless.

At first when I saw the two kid with the guard I assumed the were normal orphan due to their gloomy faces.

From the guard's story I was bit spectical since there has been stories of bandits using children as baits, but when they were asking different questions about the world I removed my suspicion. They look like kids who Is seeing the world for the first time.

So when I saw those the Two kid absolutely decimating the Petra Gigas, i was left stunned.

It's not like I haven't seen strong Huntsmen heck there are stronger people than them but never have I seen such seamless teamwork that will embarrass veteran huntsmen and the scary part is they don't even have Aura .

The Crack in the Petra gigas could visible to naked eyes. In frenzy it started to attack haphazardly.

Toji blocked it with his arms
"It's hurts" He said this in his usual dead voice .

Damm brat, at least try to act that you are actually hurt.

Toji grabed the arms and Kuro smashed the hammer on the face of the Grimm finally taking it down.

I was relieved the both villagers and those kids are safe as I began walking toward them.

Suddenly a black shadow came out of the corpses. It started to take form with bone-like spikes on its back and ribs on its upper body, with long, skeletal forearms and sharp fingernails.

It's a BLODDY GEIST.

It make sense now why evertime we fend it away it will come back unharmed.

*OoOoOoOo*

It started screaming in its creepy voice. The Geist was floating around but when he looked at kuro kid he froze.

He started moving hysterically and tried to escape. The two kids ran toward it and before I could say something they were gone.
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Kiyotaka's POV

We purposely lower our speed in tailing the ghost so we can move out of villagers sight. Using our supernatural abilities in front of others will halt until we unlock Aura.

After a while I increased my speed and caught in with a shadow hand.

I didn't kill it since it will have its uses. I experimented whether I could touch it or not. Result were expected as I could one touch the bone mask, not the rest of the body.

Shiro could touch it he uses his blut vene. He was going to deal the final blow but suddenly the atmosphere around the Grimm changed. His red shined brightly and looked at Shiro with malice.

With a sinister voice it said "another silver eyed spawn"

It excluded a pressure similar to the sentient arms but it was much much weaker, so we are hardly affected.

Shiro narrowed eyes "who are you?"

The voice chuckled,"who am I? Very well I will tell you who I am light spawn. I am Salem, queen of Grimm and the cause of you tribe's extinction"

Perhaps the voice misunderstood the Shiro's origin and is rambling about how great she is. Let's use this for fishing more information.

I taunted her," you speak too much for a coward who is hiding"

The voice growled "watch your tongue boy"

Looks like I hit on a sore spot, Shiro caught on and futher taunted "You should watch yours, a parasite clinging on a dying corpse"

The voice snapped "you dammed pawns of Ozma, you all will die like your predecessors, I will make sure to play with your body as much as I like before throwing yo---"
The Grimm died
(What she meant: I will experiment with you with grimms and kill you)

Me and Shiro stood there speechless with a single word in mind.
'Pedophile'

 

[Soya_Kazama]

Kiyotaka's POV

After a few minutes, we analyzed the information obtained from the conversation with the Pedophile.
She was angered as soon as she saw Shiro's silver eyes. If what she said was true, then there are special properties in these eyes, which can be a threat to her. One could argue she hates silver eyes aesthetically, but that doesn't explain her reasons for causing the tribe's extinction.

Although her presence was not strong compared to Pernida(left sentient arm) or Mimihagi(right sentient arm),she was powerful in her own right. So it was weird for such a being like her to worry about a random child .

She called herself 'Queen of Grimms' and' Shiro a 'Light spawn'. The Grimm are called creatures of darkness, I could assume silver eyed people as light spawn. The grimm must feel threatened by the unique powers of silver eyes.

She also called us 'Pawns of Ozma' with similar hatred, so she and the Ozma person must be fighting some kind of hidden war. Why hidden, simple since we learned from the mayor that grimm are attracted to negative emotions, and if an existence like her is exposed to public It will create mass distresse which will result in larger grimm attacks. Ozma could never afford to give Salem such an advantage without having some kind of special weapon.

Which comes to the first point. She started the conversation with 'another silver eyed warrior', which means she met a silver eye user recently, and she must have killed and experimented with that person since she stated that all the predecessors have died. So Ozma must have lost his special weapon.

The mayor said grimm attacks have increased in the last decade, the war must have been in stalemate for a long time, and Ozma must be losing recently since he has to use his secret weapon. Losing the silver eye user must be devastating blow to Ozma, and if he can not replace his weapon, the balance of the war shifts tremendously.

Salem must also be waiting for this opportunity, so a mass scale attack must take place in the future shortly. Since she saw us, she will try to eliminate us discretely. She will mostly likely send someone to assassinate us rather than Grimms or herself as she fears the silver eyes. It also means she has pawns in influential positions in the countries(or kingdoms as they say).

For the conversation with the mayor and the guard, I could derive that the term Huntsmen held too much influence to both officials and the common folks.

A subtle brainwash to romanticize Huntsmen profession. Must best Ozma's doing. Not bad,he is getting ready-made soldiers without doing much.

Salem's men must have infiltrated in one of these Huntsmen Institutes. Does Ozma know these traitors were yet to be seen.

"How troublesome. " I sighed

"Tell me about it." Shiro also sighed

We purposefully injured ourselves and started returning to the village. It will make our excuse more believable.
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Arriving at the damaged gates, we were great by a number of happy villagers.

"Look,they are back!" One of them shouted, pointing his finger at us.

The children ran towards us,
"kuro-nii, toji-nii, did you kill it?

"How did you become so strong? Tell us, tell us!"

"Are you Huntsmen, right? That why you two are so strong."

"Toji-nii walking toward the monster was soooo cool as if you already won before the fight began."

"Kuro-nii with hammer went *bam* and *boom*, and the final strike was so great."

Uhh, I never spoke with so many people. How to respond to this situation. white room never taught me any communication skills. If I answer their questions, they will ask more. If I ignore them, I will appear rude, and if I refuse, they will start crying. Shiro also looks very uncomfortable.

"Children, calm down. You're making them uncomfortable." The mayor saved us from this plight, and I was grateful to him.

"They are tired from fighting. How about they take some rest, and you will ask them questions tomorrow? " The mayor pacified the children .

"""Fine""" the children grumbled.

We walked with the mayor, and he escorted us to the house we are staying tonight.

I noticed he looked at us worried. I don't understand why he's looking at us like that. Wasn't he happy that the Grimm got taken out by the outsiders, like us, and his men saved their lives.

We finally reached the place where we will stay .

"Kuro-kun,Toji-kun," the mayor stated

We stared at him

"I don't know what you have been through, so I can not make assumptions, but I sincerely hope you value your lives more."

Did he misunderstand our help for self-sacrifice.

"Don't worry, sir. we never fight battles that we will lose." Shiro stated obvious.

"I am not talking about that! I want you to enjoy your life like children of your age should."

I stared straight in his eyes.

"Why are you worried for us? We are just outsiders and will leave eventually. You have no motives or obligations to help us."

He didn't flinch and smiled wryly.
"That is exactly why I am worried .... no child should have eyes like you as if you gave up and indeferent to everything and everyone.

"What if we are just lying to you and have malicious intentions?" Shiro asked this time

The mayor blinked, "Didn't you two saved the village? If you had malicious intention, you would have left it as it is.

"What if it is a ploy to make you guard down?" I enquired

"Then you would not have said it right now."

We both remained silent for a while.

Shiro broke the silence
"Why are you so keen on helping us? In the end, we are nothing but strangers.

He smiled kindly, " Yes, we are, but it's also the duty for elders to guide young ones."

He crouched and pated our heads.

He was genuinely worried for us.
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There was no hidden agenda, no mask, only an elder worried for some kids.
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I didn't understand.
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For the first time in my life, I am experiencing something I didn't understand logically but instinctive.
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Care
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He cared for our well-being
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Why
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A random elder cared for us where our own parents treat us like tools.
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Is this why Shiro wanted to go to the outside world ?
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I didn't understand
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But something is clear
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I don't want this feeling to go away.
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But
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As a horrible human being, do I even deserve this?
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"Sir,what is your name?" I asked

He looked surprised but answered " My name is Matsuo Shiba"

"Matsuo,What do you think we should so?" I asked

He answered with a smile " I can not answer that.you should choose what you want to be but ..."

""But?"" Both me and Shiro tilted out head

"Make sure you imprint your legacy in this world itself."
He paused and asked
"What are your real names?"

"I am kiyotaka" I said

"I am Shiro" He said

"Let's the the names kiyotaka and Shiro be carved into the minds of people and make sure they does not forget your existence."

With such a strong encouragement he started to walk away.

We stood there thinking about what Matsuo said

Carving my exsistance in someone's mind. I never thought abouts it.
After all my goal up until now was to survive. I wonder what should I truly want.

With these thoughts I went to sleep.
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*Two weeks later*

3rd's POV

In next two weeks kiyotaka and Shiro stayed in the village to learn more about the world. They would occasionally help out some villagers in their leisure time.

They also trained their unknown abilities in secret and it seemed there no further improvement.

Kiyotaka can stay invincible for 2 minutes 30 seconds without any fatigue, he could also create a barrier of still time outside of his body to protect his allies and as a new ability he could reverse time for 5 seconds within a area of 3 meter radius. He can slow down his opponent with in 40 Meter radius and completely freeze them for 10 seconds with in 3 meter radius. But the effects should decrease for stronger opponents since Shiro was hardly affected during their spar.

His umbrakinesis didn't improve didn't improve much as its range is also 40 meters but he focused on the versatility of this ability which improved his control over it. He can also summon 4 shadow hands.

Shiro finally knew the name of his first ability. It is called 'The Compulsory'.By shooting its nerves from its fingers and extending them into its opponent's body, he can control or kill them but it range is 35 meters . He can increase his body movements by 4 times for 30 seconds and for inanimate object by 10 times. His arms can absorb energy from grimm to lessen energy strain.

His Blut vene can now cover the whole body, providing complete protection form both impact or Posions.

From the village library they found mapped their current location.

They are on a planet called remnant. It has 5 big land masses with 4 of them named as Sanus, Solitas, Arina and Menegarie . The last land mass was unnamed and it shaped like a dragon.

They are currently on continent of Arima In the kingdom of mistral, near Shion village .

The common currency which is used every kingdom is called lien.

Unfortunately their wasn't more information as Eien village is still in remote location of the main civilization so they decided to finally leave this village to go Shion.

Mayor Shiba understood their reasoning and gave them 2000 lien each as reward for saving the village.

"Are you sure you won't accept my proposal?"

Since both Shiro and kiyotaka felt there is no need use their previous last name so choose Shiba as their new title to honour the mayor.

The mayor was ecstatic to hear that and wanted to adopt them as their grandchild but both of them declined

"I didn't like my previous environment nor hated it" Kiyotaka said in his usual monotonous voice

"I don't hate my previous place either," Shiro started

Mayor Shiba understood their reasoning and advice them a few things
"You should create your identity documents on shion, it will cost around 50 lien each. Also Buy a scroll, it will help you to communicate in case you to split up."

Kiyotaka and didn't know what a scroll but assumed it some kind of mobile phone.

They also changed ther clothes.

(Kiyotaka clothes)

(Shiro's clothes)

"Do you really want only this things?" The mayor shiba asked with skepticism

He was talking a short sword which kiyotaka took and a pair of daggers which was taken by Shiro and a pair of shorts bags where their Gi was kept.

"Yes" Kiyotaka said
"That's enough " Shiro said

Mayor Shiba sighed,
"Well, have a safe journey ahead " He said with a smile.

Kiyotaka and Shiro bowed their head and started walking away.

Matsuo Shiba stared at the leaving pair and thought
'I hope you two find you happiness in this broken world.'
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Volume 1 is done.

 

[Soya_Kazama]

Volume 2 starts



Shiro's POV

We left Eien village for 1 hour and were walking to the east where shion Village is located.

In the journey,we encountered 2 packs of Beowolf, 18 of them. It was used by us to test our skills without supernatural abilities. We tried to compete to kill them in under a minute.

I actually won, what a surprise.

Well not really, since I was using daggers, I had greater mobility and versatility and I had already learned to use them in white room whereas kiyotaka is using short sword reducing his options as it was never taught to us how to use it.

I took 47 seconds while kiyotaka took 49 seconds.

Even with such a disadvantage, he was slower by just 2 seconds!

Sigh, he is getting stronger as ever.

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We finally reached Shiro village. Calling it a village will be an understatement. At a glance, it was a full-fledged town with over 1000 houses. The entrance was bustling with people. It looked like it was a common occurrence as guards were casual about it

A guard noticed us," Oii brats, what are you to staring around, come in?" He invited us in striking American-English

We were a bit surprised by the sudden language change, but it's not big of an issue.

"My apologies, we were surprised by the scale of the village," I replied truthfully.

"I know right, every new face has the same reaction and is bloddy hilarious." said another guard.

(From now on, kiyotaka and Shiro will speak english)

"So where are you two coming from?" Asked the first guard.

"We came from Eien village." Kiyotaka replies this time.

"Eien, hmm , so how is oldman Matsuo? I heard he was quite stressed due to recent grimm attacks."

"He is relaxing now since the grimm attacks were solved." I said

"Wait, really?" The third guard was surprised." I heard the attacks were happening for months. How did it get solved?"

"A single Geist was attacking multiple times."

""Geist!", The guards exclaimed.

"Are they rare?"Kiyotaka asked.

"Indeed, they are very rare. They have only 2 sightings, and now 3 in 5 years. I have to in form our superior about this." the first guard said in rare seriousness.

"So, what about you kids?" asked the second guard

"We want to create an identity document for us." I answered.

"Oh, about that, you should go to CCT tower in the middle of the town." he replied

"Where can we buy a scroll?" Kiyotaka asked

"A scroll ... you should find one in the Dust store 3 building before the CCT tower."

"Thanks for your help." we bowed to the guards.

"Don't mention it, kids, you also gave us valuable information." The guard went their ways.

We started walking toward the giant relay tower building at the center of the town .One the way we saw various kinds of people but the most bizarre kind was older teenagers and some adults walking with various kinds of weapons. The most eye-catching event was when someone's sword turned into a SCTHYE.

What

I have underestimated the technological advancement of this planet. This tech already surpassed that of earth.
[AN: COTE 1st year starts in 2015, and they transferred here when they were 12 years old(3 years prior to Canon)]

Kiyotaka also stared at the weapon with fascination. He has been studying advanced physics and mechanics from the mind library for a few days. Guess he finally found a hobby.

I also wondered what should I do in the future. Now that I am free from White Room, I have many options, but for now, I want to travel to different places.

We finally reached the CCT tower. It was around 3 stories high with signal receptor at the top. We entered the place and approached the first counter.

An adult by 30s, which I assumed to be the receptionist, asked, "How can I help you kids?"

"We want to create a document identification." I answered.

He took out a device and created a holographic keyboard and monitor.
"Wait a seconds.... Done, Now tell me your information, started by full name with Given name first" He asks

"Shiro Shiba."
"Kiyotaka Shiba"

"Siblings huh, you two have different hair colours, though."

"Adopted." Kiyotaka states.

"Oh, I see, what about age?" He asks another

"Twelve." both of us said.

"Date of birth?"

"20th October." Kiyotaka said
"9th February." I said

"Finally, place of origin?"

"Eien village." Both of said.

He continued typing in the keyboard, and then he took out something.
"Place your thump here to record your fingerprint."

We followed as he instructed.

"..... and done. You can buy a scroll and scan your thump to get a ready-made account in CCT database and get a digital copy."

We both paid him 50 lien.

" Thank you for using our services." He says as we walk out of the place.

Without wasting any time we quickly to the shop where we can buy our holographic smartphones.

The shops name was 'Dust of Dusk'. Strange name. In the shop , an elder was smoking cigarettes, in the counter. He noticed us.
"If you two want to buy, then stay or else get lost." He orders us rudely

"We want to buy scrolls." I said

He paused for a second and pointed at the stores left corner.
"The small one cost 150 lien and the large one cost 500 all other are In between them."

After some time, I chose 2 of Them costing 150 and 200 lien each .

Kiyotaka, on the other hand, chose one costing 150 and another costing 500 lien. He already planning to solve the money problems huh.

"How can we rechange it?" Kiyotaka asks

"Go to any electronics shop, they will use electric dust for rechange it. You don't have to worry about that now, a scroll can last for 8 months to a year depending upon its uses. "

That's convenient.

Leaving the shop, we enquired a place where we can stay. We found a inn to stay costing us 80 lien to stay 1 day .

*thud*

We sat in our respective beds.

"Their technology is really weird."

Kiyotaka answered " The technological advancement, no everything here is solely developed to combat grimm"

"Could it be Ozma's doing?"

"Probably" Kiyotaka agrees.

Following the instructions I turned on the scroll. A hologram manifestes from their sides.

Using the fingerprint, i connected my first device but remained anonymous on the second device.

I finally saw the home screen. It's interface like normal smartphones we used in white room with more versatility.

I touched the second app from the left which look like sphere.

Remnant also have its internet, what's a surprise. This makes the our work much easier.
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3rd's POV

For the next 2 hours both Shiro and kiyotaka learned as much as they can about the planet's culture, history, technology, geo-political demograph and economy.

(Info dump below)

Remnants' culture is highly tied to the Huntsmen profession. They are symbolized as heros who sole purpose is to protect the general populous. Most media like serials, games, magazines, and news are also related to huntsman or Grimms. It confirmed their theory that ozma is brainwash most young children to become huntsman.

For history most information before the Great War is unavailable. The cause of the war was a ideological conflict about how to combat grimm. Mistral and Mantle(now Atlas) wanted to abolish art and repressed self expression of its citizens to decrease grimm attacks. King of Vale named Osborn disagreed and went to war with them. Vacuo joined Vale in the war and they defeated the alliance of Mistral and Mantle.

Twenty years after the great war, The Faunus Rights Revolution begins. Following the Great War, efforts were made for a worldwide compromise of policies, in hopes that the Kingdoms of Remnant would never go to war again. One such gesture was giving Faunus equal rights and legal ownership of the island of Menagerie. Some saw the gift as fair and just, as Menagerie is a symbol of their culture, while many others saw it as a slap in the face, as much of the island in reality is borderline uninhabitable.

Over time, it became apparent that Humans were adamant about having all Faunus live there, forcibly if necessary. Such confinement would jeopardize the rights they earned in the Great War to travel freely and settle in other Kingdoms, thus the Faunus fought back, sparking the Revolution.

For technology, Atlas is leading advancement to act as a beacon of hope against grimms. They are particularly advanced in robotics. Kiyotaka had a curious glint in his eyes about reading this. What was disappointing that everything needed Dust. Dust also doesn't work in stratosphere so there hasn't been space advancement. There hasn't been a single advancement on other source of technology.

In terms of geo-politics, Atlas is militaristic technocrats but it has a council where people are elected. The people there are proud to be part of the strongest kingdom. Vale was former monarchy, now governed by a ruling council to represent and see to its people's needs.

Like the rest of the kingdoms, Mistral governed by a ruling council. The notable cities of the Kingdom are its capital, Mistral, and the city of Argus.
The kingdom is pretty lax in regards to criminals.

Vacuo is nominally governed by a council representing its people and their interests. However, the formal government's influence is marginal.

As for economy, the whole planed uses a single currency lien. The Dust being the most sought out resource since every thing runs on it. The Schnee Dust Company(SDC) seems to have monopoly over it. The inflation rate seems to be very stable after the great war.
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Kiyotaka's POV

I sorted out the information obtained and my predictions were correct.

Every development in this planet happened to fight grimm on way or the another. The overreliance on dust happened due to their immediate effectiveness on grimms.

The people became narrow minded on their way of thinking in both technology and media.

I will use it.

Since most people have scrolls but have nothing else to do other than hearing huntsman propaganda, I will use the to earn some immediate money.

In my mind library, there is a computer from White Room which is connected to every book so I don't have to waste time navigation it .

The computer also holds record of the internet of my previous world so it made my job much easier.

Shiro and I place the scrolls on the floor. I extended the shadows horizontally and submerged it.

Next, we both closed our eyes and entered the mind library.
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Opening my eyes, I see myself inside the giant white Library with Shiro.

Yes, Shiro can access it when I am here. The stay at the library seem doubled with the growth of my abilities, around 16 hours.

Since this place doesn't exist in reality we can't bring or take things out but I can access objects I stored in my shadow storage. I used this loophole bring the electronics.

As predicted, they can still work without signal.

"I am starting the graphic model" Shiro says as he opens the larger scroll.

We are going to plagiarise digital games from our previous world.

Shiro chose a taping game 'flappy birds'.
It was very easy to make but It won't be effective for long term sustainability

So I searched another game with bird theme and selected 'Angry Birds' as another game.

I can completely make it using remnants programming language but it will take almost a week. I can't waste that much time here. It reasons for the delay is the operating system in scrolls are fundamentally different and so learning and using a new programming language will take few hours and using the new language re-create the game will take a week. Also I don't have cct network here to work with it.

So I decided to recreate Java script in scroll. The process will be simple. Using a scroll, I will take pictures of the inner codes from the books and scan them with the built-in word scanner. Then I will have the digital code. I replace the old commands with present once to match with the interface.

It took one hour.

With the new programming language ready, I will repeat the same process for the game. This time I won't have to replace the old commands and with series of talking pictures, scanning it and and copy-pasting them the game creation was complete.

Shiro already made 'Flappy birds' with the existing language. He made changes to some graphics to match with the huntsman/grimm aesthetics. He also added a side story with levels to make the game more engaging. He added 2 free skins to bait users and used micro transactions for unlocking further skins and backgrounds.

Knowing the addictive effects of the game he added time limit of 3 hours daily and made them pay cash to remove it, be it daily, weekly or monthly.

How devious.

I did the same with my game. I created add-ons on the birds. A sword and cape for red, a spear for yellow e.t.c.

They hold no value other than aesthetics.

Something new I added was a sudden grimm boss appearing in any level other than the first 20, It will make the level harder. At the same time, a huntsman version of mighty eagle will come to aid the players birds, the birds will unlock their Aura and they get stronger. As reward for completing such level, a single bird will be allowed to use their aura in regular levels if they wish, player can stack them if they wish.

It took another 3 hours.

Our games have been completed.

We both exit the library
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Opening my eyes, I see I am back in the inn. I extended my shadows and took out some food and the scrolls.

While eating, I started working on the final step.

Advertising

For this, I created two bots, one will create pop ups and other will create redirection links. They will include some random but uninteresting apps to avoid looking suspicious.

This will go on for a week, them bots will kill themselves since keeping it for too long will look suspicious

To avoid tracking, I released the bots from the unregistered scroll.

As for the producer's name I wrote ' Toji Ayanokouji'.

Shiro deadpan at the name, I wonder why. Even he wrote his name as 'kuro Vanko'.

With the preparation completed, we went to sleep.
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Next morning, we woke up at 5 as usual.

Our scrolls have some notification but I ignored them and opened the tab connected to our bank account.

Kiyotaka's account - 645,300/- lien.
Shiro's account - 736,380/- lien.


Just as planned.

 

[Soya_Kazama]

3rd's POV

*Around the time when kiyotaka slept.*

The guards who guided the Shiba Sibling were walking in a rush. They also had a serious look on their faces. They entered the CCT tower, and without greeting the receptionist, they went on the second floor.

On the second floor, they entered an office. A man by the age of early 50s with back brush gray hair and red eyes greets them. He has a scar sniched on his right and has a light beard and mustache. He was a veteran huntsman.

"What's the matter you dipshits, it's rare for you all to look like that." He said in a playful tone

"Sir, a Geist has been spotted in the neighboring village." The first guard spoke.

"A Geist. That surprising. " he was surprised," so, did you send a team?"

"Sir, the Geist was already defeated by the two new kids." The second guard said with some pride.

"What kids?" He looks curious.

"Here, they registered today." The third guard handed his scroll.

"Let's see .... both are twelve, WAIT TWELVE. " He looked gob smacked.

"We had the same reaction when we first heard it." The first guard chuckled. But suddenly turned serious
"But that's not the issue, Grimm movements became unnatural quiet in few and as if ..."

"As if they are preparing for something." The huntsman finished the guards' statement.

He knew what the guard was talking about. Many villages experience the same situation before getting a stampede. Barely some villages survive such attacks.

He immediately called someone.

"Send team BLTR to investigate the village surroundings. There can be a possible stampede in a few days. I want to know everything I mean EVERYTHING about the grimm movements."

He ended the call.

"I hope you are wrong."

"We too, Sir, we too." The guards exclamed.
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*on team BLTR side*

"Did you find absolutely nothing?" An annoyed female voice asked

"NO, not a single movement of Grimm on sight." answered an equally annoyed male voice.

"Do you think the information was wrong?" Asked another male

"Idiot, if anything, it confirms their suspicions. There is no way the grimms vanished out of thin air." Said another female.

"Let's return for now." Said the first female who is presumably the leader.

"Agreed""yes""yeah" the teammates agreed.

While returning, the team was getting significantly tired.
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"*yawn* leader, how far is the village?"
Asked the second female.

"It's still 500 meters away,*yawn* Seriously, what's wrong with us?" she mumbles.

"Ryan, any possibility about a apathy influencing us?" She asked her partner but got no answer.

"Ryan?"

She turned to see Ryan frozen and mumbling something.

"I am sorry I am sorry I am sorry I am ---"
"RYAN SNAP OUT OF IT" she tried to help but it didn't work.

"Damm it, Liam Teal, what about you two?" She asked her other teammates

"We are fine."The second male Liam said.

"Barely" Teal remarks

They finally noticed they were getting surrounded by grimm from all sides.

"How the hell they managed to sneak on us?" Teal asks

"The apathy must be ruining our senses," Liam replied

"I will try to break open you two take care of rya---"
"BIANCA, LOOK OUT." she turned, and a black spear was about to impale her.

But suddenly, a figure came in front of her and protected her.

*splash*

Blood spattered across her face. Her eyes widened. It wasn't her own. it was her partner's.

"Ry__" Her breath clogged . She couldn't even say his name properly.

"Bianca," a weak voice spoke. "...run"

" Why did you ...." Before she finishes, Ryan replies
"Why shouldn't I save you .... you are my precious partner, after all. " He smiled softly.

He took out a pendent and handed it to her.
"Please hand it to ..... my little brother, tell him ....... I was proud of him." he says this with some tears in his eyes.

She took the pendent

"Bianca," He called her once more. "You are the .... best partner I could ever ... gotten.... so .... live" with this parting words, his eyes lost his shine.

Ryan is dead.

Before she could mourn, she was shouted by her team members.

"Stop standing like bloody moron and run." Teal screamed

"NO,Ryan is already gone. I won't lose you too.."

"Don't feel sad. We already knew this day would come." Liam smiled sadly

"But..."she tried to argue

" JUST RUN, for god sake." Teal shouts

She stopped arguing and started running with tears in her eyes.

"You didn't have to be so harsh." Liam said in disapproved tone

"She won't go otherwise. She is a big softie, after all." Teal answers in passive.

"Well, that's true." Liam nods, "So this is it, huh? I never tho----."

"Stop bitchi'n and fight properly." Teal shuts him down

"Hey!"
And they continued fighting till their last breath.
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On Bianca's side, things weren't looking good. Her left leg got amputated, and she was crawling, and she rested herself self on the back of a rock. She already sent the message through her scroll and was waiting.

A grimm was following her. It had an emaciated, somewhat humanoid torso with rib-like protrusions and pectoral-like bone plates on its chest, as well as a series of bone spikes along its upper spine. Its two long, thin arms end in a hand with only two fingers. The shape of its head is similar to that of a human head but with a longer, pointier chin. It was an imp

"We never had a chance, huh?" She spoke to herself.

"Find----- silver eye companion, kill him." The imp muttered

"So we weren't even a threat to you." She realizes.

The imp smiled sadistically. It wanted to see the despair on the human as much as possible . It made him glee with anticipation.

But

"Hehehe, HAHAHAHAHAHA."she laughed maniacally.

The imp was annoyed. He didn't expect this reaction.

"What. Expected me to beg like a bitch. Sorry, not happening." She rambled like crazy.

Suddenly, she grabbed her hidden knife and slammed with a red crystal. Squeezing out every bit of strength and Aura, she lunges out at the Grimm.

The Imp was alerted, and it tried to impale the girl with his hand spikes.

It succeds.

*splash*

*Drip*

"Drip*

Blood was dripping from her body.

The grimm laughed at the futile attempt.
"Too .... bad"

"Yea, too bad .... for you, that is." She mumbles.

The daggers started shining brightly.

The imp realizes something was wrong, but before it could escape --

**BOOM**

The daggers explode.
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*next day*

Kiyotaka's POV

After checking my balance, I started my daily workout. We increased it to 500 reps in 18 minutes to match with our growing strength.

Finishing my workouts, I went out of the inn to explore the shion Village more closely.

Since it was 5:30 a.m., the streets were silent to my liking.

While walking, I kept thinking about what should I do in the future. Now that I am free from White Room, I have many options, but most importantly, I want to protect this freedom.

I kept finding technology fascinating, so I will keep indulging into it. I am curious about if I could recreate the technology of fiction in reality.

For now, I have to deal with immediate threats.

There is a chance that the Pedophile is already sending her pawn to capture us, and I will be the first target.

Since I don't have silver eyes, she will probably send stronger grimm instead of humans.

Reading her personality, I can conclude that she is a sadist so she will try to make us feel as much despair as possible. She will make a Grimm stampede.

Now the question is, when.

Will she wait to make us let our guard down , or will she be angered by our insult and attack immediately.

I finally reached the CCT relay tower and walked to the receptionist.

"Oh, it's you, the silent kid. What do you need ?" He asked me.

"Where can deposit my money?" I asked my questions in roundabout way.

"You can go to the right counter over there." He pointed to his right side to a booth like structure."You're lucky. Normally, it's always crowded. "

I went there and opened the interface. It has the same system as the scrolls . Clicking the transaction tab and widrawal option, I took 50,000 lien. This will do for now.

I came back to the receptionist and thanked him but asked him about Aura.

"Aura, huh, that huntsman stuff, they will know more about that but I have heard that someone close to you should unlock it."

So someone else can unlock Aura.

Ending my conversation with the receptionist, I opted to leave. While leaving I saw a man with grey hair and red eyes talking about grimm attack.
So I evasdropped on the conversation.

"So they are really dead."

"Yes, it's confirmed."

"They were a strong team. How did they die?"

"From the records, it seems that pack of apathies messed with their senses and they got out numbered"

"Their was an imp leading the pack."

".... do you think it's the same one that attacked kuroyuri?"

"Screw that. What about the numbers?"

" it's unclear, but around 500 is assumed."

"By brothers , can we even survive?"

"We must, it our ---"

I heard enough.

It seems Salem couldn't wait at all.

Let's make some preparations for stampede. Now, where can I find potassium nitrate.
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Shiro's POV

I was scouting the forest. Using Pernida, I increased by speed by 2x, I haven't seen a single grimms around 300 meters from the village.

Some people were returning from forest to the town village with grim faces. They were muttering about preparing for invasions.

So Salem is making moves after all. Kiyotaka probably also derived this conclusion. She wants to take out the whole town with us . What a predictable move.

I further went into the forest to find and any footprint. To my surprise, I did find some of them.

It varied from wolf, boar a horse, and a giant human. The human was probably around 4-5 meters tall.

The looking around, I saw something disturbing. An amputated leg was lying within a bush. I wore my gloves and removed bushes to pick up the leg. It was a female leg.

The leg was impaled before it was cut off since the blood is dryer in that section.

I also saw a pendent and a scroll. I turned on the scroll to see an audio playing.

[".... I don't who or what kind of person would pick this up.... but if also you find my leg with the scroll... the run "the voice said

"They are too many them. It not normal. They trying to kill everyone. Beowolf, boarbatusk, ursa in hundreds and lead by apathy imps and the nuckelavee" the voice was shivering

"They were specifically looking for someone called silver eye companion to kill . It you find that person then tell him to run as well , don't let those monsters get to you! Please Run don't end up like us..."The voice pleaded

"If you took the pendent, please.... take it to some one called Oscar pine in south of Anima" the voice pleaded
.

"..... I am scared ... I don't want to die .... please some ... save me..."]

The audio ends.

.

I grabed the pendent and scroll and took them with me. It is a good information source.

I looked around the area with bit more scrutiny. The lack of dead bodies and their weapons was suspicious. There was a explosion crater.

At least she went down with a fight.

Knowing that I will find nothing more I returned to village and meet up with kiyotaka. He said the went to buy some chemicals wonder what he gonna make.

I should take out some of my money from the bank and buy few things.

...
...
...

Return from the weapon shop, I returned to my room. I see kiyotaka already there with some saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur powder, baking soda and lot of soap and ammonia.

He also bought lots of test-tube, beakers, burner, a weight measurer and a distillation equipment like condensers and dry ice in fridge.

Does he want make gunpowder then why does he need the soap or didtilator.

Wait, soap with glycerin and potassium nitrate in didtilator.

"You seriously making that" I asked knowing what he is making.

"Indeed, while gunpowder can work with weaker enemies the stronger one will brush it off like the possessed Geist so it will a backup if stronger grimm shows up." Kiyotaka answers.

"How did you manage to reduce to atmospheric pressure?" I asked him about the distillation of soap

"Normally, I would have to buy a compressor or us another method, but using my right hand I stagnated the air pressure and distilled it to get glycerin" He explained the process.

"I already made few batches of gunpowder and nitroglycerin. Only testing is left." He wants to test if it worked.

"Wait I have a idea to use it." I took my bow and few arrows wrapped in paper.
"Let's go now"

We walked out of the inn and approached the village exit.

"Wait you two kids"

We stop and looked behind us.

A tall man in his 50s with with back brushed gray hair and red eyes called us.

"Do you need something from us, sir?" I tried asking politely

He looked surprised to see us,
"Yes, are you two Shiba Sibling? The one who killed the Geist in Eien village."

"That will be us. The battle was a hard fought one, and we won because we were lucky." I tried to dismiss that achievements.

"Stop the cap, I heard two barely took any hits." He exclaimed.

"We were faster than normal, and the grimm was slow. It was nothing special." Kiyotaka tries to counter argue.

"Nothing special, huh? I wonder what is special for you two." He mumbles

The atmosphere remained silent for a while
.
.

I broke the silence
"Sir, do you want us to fight in the grimm invasion ?"
I asked him directly

He was shocked then, with a deep voice, he demands
" How did you know?"

I handed him the scroll that I found .

He takes the scroll and plays the recording

Kiyotaka also hears the recording, but his face remains unchanged.

After the audio ends. His demeanor changed , if it was easy going before now, it battles hardened warrior.

He shakes with anger, fear, and bits of regret
"No, not you too..." he mutters

An opportunity.

"Sir, there was a large crater in that area. She tried to end both herself and the enemy. She didn't go down without a fight." I deliberately left out the missing leg but mentioned the suicide.

From the conversation before , we concluded that he was Burton Ackermann, the head of shion Hunter's union. He probably knows that grimm out numbered the huntsman by a large margin. He is under lots of pressure ,so he wants capable fighters.

So when he found that there were capable fighters who could take down a rare grimm , he ought to scout us.

But now that he personally saw us, he was surprised because of our age and felt guilty to involve us with this.

Next, when he heard the record of the dying Huntress, he was shaken deeply probably because they were very close to him.

This is not the first time someone close to him died under his watch, so this incident was a major blow to his spirit, but it was not hopeless enough, so I deliberately mentally the recorder's suicidal attack.

Burton already knew what kind of person the recorder was, and I also figured out hearing the audio.

A soft-hearted optimist.

So hearing that kind of person perform a suicide attack was probably horrifying to him.

As one would expect, his face lost all hope and eyes hollowed out.

He lost his close acquaintances twice, and he couldn't find a way to defend this town. He has to command people to fight, knowing that would die. He is probably in deep despair.

I feel a bit sad forcing him to feel this, but our survival is on the line, so superficial feelings are irrelevant.

Kiyotaka finally makes his move
"We have a way to defend the town with the least amount of casualties."

The huntsman eyes regained his spark
"Tell me, what do you need!"

Normally, one would be skeptical of such claims, especially coming from children, like us. But since I shook his mentality to almost breaking point, any kind of hope will be magical to him.

Making one feel despair and then giving them hope is basic to control the human heart.

Kiyotaka continued,
"Nothing much,.... we want to make a deal..... with you, of course."

He purposefully timed the intervals to raise his anticipation.

The huntsman finally composed himself but was still hopeful,
"What kind of deal?"

It was followed by silence.

The atmosphere became tenser.

"Nothing important, really.... after the town is saved,....... we want you to unlock both of our aura." Kiyotaka finally explained his demands .

The huntsman was puzzled,
"Unlock ..... Aura?" Then he looked as us more closely, and then he was shocked
"Y-You two fought and killed an advance grimm WITHOUT AURA."

We both noded.

He looks like he lost his will to live l,
" By brothers, what kind of monster are you two ?"

We ignored his remark, and kiyotaka asked,
"Do you agree with this arrangement?"

"WAIT WAIT, tell me before how you are willing to accomplish your goals. You two may be monstrously strong and skilled, but grimm still outnumbered you."

We stared at him and sighed .

"Come with us." I asked him to follow us .

We started to walk, leaving the town behind.

"Wait! Explain more clearly ---- " He started running behind us.
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We went around 200 meters away from the village in the forest.

"I still don't get why you two need to go this far?" He kept bugging us with questions.

"Just watch." I answered with a bit of annoyance.

Kiyotaka took out the container from his bag and carefully placed it on the floor.

"How did he fit so much that bag?" He is still asking

I didn't answer.

Kiyotaka took out the gunpowder around 50 grams while wearing gloves and placed It below a tree a bit far.

"What's that?" He was curious

"Black stuff that makes things go boom." I answered cryptically

"What?"

Kiyotaka came back and asked the huntsman," Shoot it."

"Excuse me?" He was puzzled.

"Shoot the black power with your gun." Kiyotaka asked again.

He pointed the gun and took as shot.

As soon as the bullet hit the gunpowder.

*Boom*

The trunk of a tree and its surroundings was destroyed, and the tree started falling.

The huntsman was surprised. " Damm, that good fire power ,much stronger than typical fire dust."

We were also surprised the explosion was more powerful than expected. 50 grams shouldn't make such an explosion equivalent to 500 grams.

So dust also enhances normal occurring events.

Burton frowns, " It can indeed make changes in our situation, but it's still not effective against big and agile targets like imps." He explained the disadvantages.

We know about it too, that is why kiyotaka took out the special yellow chemical.

He once again took 50 grams of gunpowder and placed it on an even further tree.

This time, I took out a bow and some arrows wrapped in paper and used a dropper to carefully release four drops of nitroglycerin.

"What that's yellow water gonna do" He looked amused.

I didn't answer and started to aim at the gunpowder.

Kiyotaka started to take cover.

"Seriously, what is it?" This time, he asked seriously.

Among the various inventions, this one is probably one of the most influential in the late 19th century. Alfred Nobel, the creator, was dubbed as 'the merchant of death'. It was ...

"The Dynamite. " Kiyotaka answered

I released the string, and the arrow flew to the target.
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***BOOM***

The explosion was around 10 times stronger than the previous one.

The trees around 5 meters radius started to fall the ground had a crater of a 1 meter radius.

Piece of wood scattered like sharpnail
We already took cover, so we were fine.

If the huntsman was surprised before now, he was shell-shocked.

His mouth opened in surprise. He was too engaged at the explosion sight and ignored the injuries caused by the scattered wood pieces.

After a while, kiyotaka said
"Sir .... do you agree with the deal?"