The Fallen City (1)

There was a man shackled in chains and locked up in a cage. It was a tightly enclosed area that was similar to the place where the most dangerous prisoner was locked up. Aciel also glanced at the elemental dust contained in canisters throughout the shelves.

"..."

Aciel was silent as he glanced at the Faunus, who had rusted hair and a heavily muscular body, almost like he'd seen from the strong men in his previous world.

'Why did he lock up one of his kind? It wasn't a bear Faunus but a boar Faunus instead.' Aciel was puzzled. He wondered if the Boar Faunus are discriminated even in their kind.

Rumble!

The basement quaked as the man forcefully moved his hands as he had woken up, causing the chains to extend to the fullest, causing dust from the cement to churn before glancing at Aciel.

"A human?"

"Yeah. I was wondering why that psychopath locked his kind here. Is there something more than what meets the eye?"

"..."

"... He was a deserter."

"Why did you get locked here?"

The man recounted the story. It was during the Faunus War between the Faunus and the humans. The Four Kingdoms and the Faunus made a peace treaty after the Faunus defeated General Lagune through their near-perfect night vision in the Battle of Fort Castle.

"Sergei was dissatisfied since the war ended. I tried to stop him, but I lost consciousness after I was poisoned alongside my comrades by him."

Then Ottar was locked up inside here because Sergei wanted to experiment on his body due to his high resiliency to dust and physical attacks, which explains why lots of elemental dust was in the room.

"Who are you then?"

"I am the First Division Captain, Ottar."

"You don't have any family name?"

"No, I am just a drafted nameless soldier. I was only given the name by the People of Menagerie."

A drafted soldier who becomes the third highest authority in the Faunus Army? Aciel was a tad surprised since he knew it wasn't easy to reach that rank in the military unless he had extraordinary leadership and combat ability.

"Do you hate humans?"

"..."

Ottar was silent as he glanced at Aciel.

"I would be lying if I said I didn't."

"Then, which do you hate more, humans or Grimms?"

Ottar gritted his teeth and replied, "Grimms. Had it not been for them, my family would still be here."

"..." Aciel smiled.

He grabbed the key from the table and unlocked the cage and the chains binding Ottar.

"Why?"

"I now have a solid reason to free you. If you hate Grimms more, then that is enough. I don't blame the Faunus for attacking humanity due to their discrimination."

Aciel thought it was reasonable. The Faunus tried their hardest even in the Great War, yet the human race only used them as tools, which led to them revolting during the Faunus War. To Aciel, the Faunus were a part of humanity on either side. He wouldn't discriminate against anyone.

Ottar silently glanced at the fleeting figure of Aciel, who left after grabbing a couple of dust canisters.

.

.

"Hey," Aciel glanced at Ottar with confusion.

"Why are you still here?" Aciel was about to prepare to go out after an hour, but this man still stayed inside the house instead despite it being several hours already. There was nothing left in this house since Aciel had taken everything.

'Was he planning on robbing me? Wait, this doesn't belong to me in the first place, but loot is loot.' Aciel glanced warily at the towering Ottar.

"... Thank you." Ottar bowed. He had a height of 6'11, which was like a tower even for Aciel as he looked down.

"Alright, get up. So what do you want?"

"Take me in. I will be your subordinate."

Aciel frowned, unable to comprehend what was happening as he held his head as if he were in delirium.

"Why would you want to become my subordinate?" Aciel asked.

"I can sense you will become a great leader. Just like in the battle of the Great War, I want to fight for a General who will make history."

"... So you're practically a weirdo?"

"Weirdo?" Ottar asked in confusion, "I don't have anything to do. I would rot without any meaning." Ottar shook his head as Aciel started to understand.

Some soldiers would lose all meaning if they had no lord. A good example would be samurais or knights who swore loyalty to their Lords since they trained throughout their lives to serve their Kings or Lords, but wasn't this old-fashioned?

"... Hm..." When Aciel thought about it.

'If I become the Leader of an Organization or the King of a nation. It would solve one problem.'

He recalled his previous life. It was a disastrous war where none of his comrades survived while he was the only one fighting in that meaningless world. The reason why they lost in the first place was corruption.

The higher-ups or upper echelons of the Allied Nations were beget with vices. They used the lives of soldiers while they cooped up in their safe haven while people kept dying.

They swam in luxurious beds of money and women while his comrades suffered with barely anything to eat or equipment to bear the cold and the harsh climates when he thought about it.

Aciel felt inexhaustible rage.

This world was no exception. Many traitors joined the enemy side just to save their own skins.

"Alright, but I don't trust you yet."

"Then, I will follow your commands to earn your trust, my Lord," Ottar said as Aciel harrumphed before leaving to get his things.

'I asked him to carry all the dust canisters, but he truly did with barely any effort.'

Aciel had no doubt that would've weighed at least hundreds of kilograms yet Ottar was pulling the gas canisters into the wooden cart with ease.

"Where should we go?" Ottar asked as he looked around in a wary tone.

"Let's find a path that can lead us out of this winter."

After several hours, they decided to rest as the night beckoned, "Let's camp here." Somehow, the cascading snow had stopped falling as both sheltered inside an abandoned building.

When the bonfire burned up, Ottar and Aciel sat facing each other while Ottar cooked from the deer they caught.

"Hey Ottar. What did you fight for in the Great War? You should already be in your 30s or 40s, right?"

Ottar finished mixing the ingredients before leaning on the wall, "What I fought for? It wasn't a noble reason."

"..."

"So what was it?" Aciel asked curiously, as Ottar shook his head.

"It wasn't anything noble. I fought because I was angry."

"Angry of what?"

"The world... I've lost everyone, so I took it out on fate to go against it."

Against fate? It was similar to Aciel as he reminisced his past.

"What about your past, Leader? How did you get here?"

"Me? I don't remember much. I don't recall the faces of my family. Since I was born in a cold laboratory where I was trained to do what I needed to do."

Aciel talked about his past life as he doesn't remember his current identity in this world. Nonetheless, he never remembered his parents' faces. He only recalled the faces of his comrades who fought by his side when he went into duty after his entire childhood was spent on training.

"I see... I am sorry to hear that." Ottar couldn't help but look down, and Aciel looked at the night sky.

"It doesn't matter. We may remember the past, but the past is long gone. We can only live in the present because that is what it means to live." Aciel closed his eyes as he thought of those old times.

"It was an old friend of mine who told me this. If we live not in the past or the future but in the present, then we will find meaning in our lives, no matter how improbable."

"Hope is found in ourselves. Not in anything else. And hope will always exist in the present."

"It's indeed true." Ottar nodded as he thought about Aciel's quotes.

When Ottar fought for the people of Faunus, the people of Menagerie were happy to achieve the victory even when the victory still did not help the Faunus gain equality.

The next morning, Aciel and Ottar got up after they finished packing the equipment and headed out to their next destination, but outside the abandoned building was a whiteout.

The surroundings were a blank canvas, devoid of any discernible features except for the broken lampposts and the abandoned buildings.

"It's snowing badly; we have to keep moving. We don't know if this winter will continue until next month; we'd both die without any food left," Aciel said as Ottar nodded.

"Let's search for a massive building; we might be able to find temporary shelter or a food supply for the entire week if we still can't find a settlement or village-!" Ottar continued to drag the cart as he listened to Aciel, but they suddenly stopped as the sound of something heavy fell.

Rumble!

When they both reached an unknown factory, a loud sound echoed from the building. Aciel and Ottar prepared their weapons. Aciel pulled a knife and an axe from his cloak while Ottar removed the wrapped cloth of silk surrounding his greatsword. They carefully approached the factory building.

"Grimm?" Ottar asked.

"It might be. I have a bad feeling."

When Aciel opened the door inside the factory, screams could be heard echoing from the hallway of the building.

"It's a group of people. Let's hurry."

Aciel and Ottar rushed inside, and they saw a group of people blockading the basement to the factory with all their might.

"Urrgh! Someone help! It won't hold any longer!"

The random man said as the others also tried to keep the door shut by pushing the door or blocking it with heavy pieces of furniture, but they were stuck on the first floor, making their escape impossible. Both Aciel and Ottar were on the second floor as they glanced down at the panicking people.

'They must be villagers relocating to a new settlement.'

There were women, children, men, and elderly people, which had a population of at least fifty people.

The door broke down as numerous Ursas and Beowolves stormed inside. Aciel didn't hesitate as he threw his axe into the fray before the Grimm even managed to bite into a man's neck.

Swiish!

The Beowolf's face split in half as an axe went flying before piercing into the ground. Crowds of survivors looked up to see a white-haired boy as pale as the snow landing in front of the horde of Grimm.

He grabbed the axe and dashed to the horde with his dark aura, slaughtering them with swift slashes of darkness infused into the knife.

"S-Someone help!" When the woman was about to get pounced by an Ursa, a massive figure crash-landed on the Ursa, causing white snow to rush up and the ground to crack into pieces, as a huge silhouette rose towering above the Ursa while stepping on the corpse of the unlucky Ursa who had been in the way, slowly pulling the silver greatsword from his back.

Ottar glanced at the group of Ursas with calm eyes before taking a step, causing the ground to crackle with every step.

When the Beowolves and Ursas rushed towards him, Ottar only swung once with his greatsword, causing countless Grimm to perish.

'He's strong. Probably a lot stronger than me.' Aciel had a look of surprise but shook it off. 'As expected of the First Division Captain. His aura is no joke, even his brute strength.'

"Ottar take out the Alpha Ursa!" Aciel shouted as he continued to chop up the Grimm like an exterminator. He glanced at the two stronger Grimms, an Alpha Beowolf and Alpha Ursa.

"I'll deal with the Alpha Beowolf."

"As you command."

A tumultuous spiraling wave of orange aura flames gathered around Ottar as he screamed in rage, launching a massive fiery sword wave that took the head of the Alpha Ursa, burning it to a crisp, along with the unlucky group of Grimms and a section of the building, slicing it in half and setting it ablaze.

"It's my turn."

In a frenzied attack, Aciel's eyes glowed crimson as he gathered all of his aura into his blade and the soles of his toes, shocking even Ottar.

'So much aura.'

Aciel's speed multiplied as he moved almost at the speed of sound, rampaging through the crowds of Grimms, leaving only the Alpha Beowolf to roar.

"Awoo!" The Beowolf threw its claws, but Aciel left an afterimage as he had already jumped up and landed on its shoulder before delivering a devastating blow that tore the Alpha Beowolf to pieces. The upper part of the Beowolf, which was shaped like a circle, turned into fireworks of shredded flesh before it stumbled to the ground.

Splat! Thud.

The rest of the remaining Grimms ran away as Aciel's aura terrified them.

'His aura is unique, causing fear in the Grimms?' Ottar glanced at the retreating figures of the remaining Grimms, and the too-strong young leader he just chose.

'I didn't choose the wrong leader.'

Ottar thought Aciel had the presence of a great leader, especially the demeanor he normally exudes, but it seemed he had underestimated Aciel, as Aciel had much more than just being a leader.

Ottar's intuition was always right.