Chapter 17

Dictator, who is a Dictator?

A totalitarian leader, who leads with absolute control over his subjects, where his law cannot be objected lest his wrath could befall upon them.

As a leader, dictatorship was morally not a good choice, but Remnant's history books had proven that few dictators had produced great results during their reign, we shall stress on the word "few". However the sad truth about all dictators, is that they all face very grim ends. This was an undeniable fact.

Now, Tor Torden was a dictator, a tyrant and a cruel man. He does not tolerate failures, unloyal people and he will punish them for their mistakes. This was from the General's point of view.

[General Ironwood POV]

I was at first not certain if these young men could perform what they were given to do. Let's be very honest what these kids... except for Tor, could even do. They were against twice their number, Faunus with enhanced senses, not to mention they did not even use ranged weapons or even armour to protect themselves from the dust rounds.

Team T.H.O.R, a team comprising of a giant axe wielding boy, a hot tempered double axe wielding

shorty, a Claymore wielding Psychopath and a Emotionless Killing machine with a dangerous Semblance. That was it... not to mention the psychopath and the killing machine were bitter enemies.

But watching them infiltrate the Whitefang's hideout was quite fascinating. They effortlessly dispatched the Faunus guards with a simple yet effective plan. That Claymore boy, Havard was a gifted infiltrator and could be an even be a good assassin, especially with his Semblance. Seeing it on action was nothing but surprising. Even Qrow was very interested in it.

Things were going fine, until they met face to face with Albert Taurus. Records have stated that he was a very dangerous swordsman, with an equally dangerous Semblance. Here I thought they would face some problems, the Faunus they had previously subdued we're small fries compared to the Faunus that stood in front of them.

Four against one seemed disadvantages to the Faunus swordsman, " You Humans are all the same! You honourless scum! Fight me like a warrior! " That was obviously a bluff, the Faunus was smart. Knowing he could not win considering their number's advantage, he forced their ego as warriors and challenge to a one on one fight.

Knowing his semblance, " Executioner's Mark " he excelled in one on one combat. The Vikings were quite aware of his bluff, but instead of moving forward to subdue him, they looked at each other. What are they doing?

Tor then came forward, " You want an honourable fight? I shall be your opponent. "

The camera quality may not be high, but they could all see that Alfred had a sadistic smile on his face.

" Is he a fool? why is he complying with a criminal's demands? they could have just attacked together and subdued him faster. " Winter commented on the Vikings decision. It's was always a bad idea to comply to a criminal's demands, though in some scenarios they were compulsory but in this situation it was not necessary.

" It's called warrior's honour Ice Queen. " Qrow answered, " These guys are those " honourable warrior " people, kinda of a dumb move if you ask me, or probably it's just his ego."

Warrior's honour a quality that most huntsman and huntress have gave since the passing of the last King. With criminals having morality similar to that of a grim, humanity's saviours have to drop their warrior's honour to save what needs to be saved.

Nowadays when one is challenged to it's always their ego that makes them take the challenge.

Havard's point of view, I can that the rest have began to move forming a large circle with Tor and Alfred in it.

" Ganging up on me? What so that they can save your bleeding ass when I cut you? Coward! " Alfred mocked Tor hoping to see a reaction out of him. All he got was an emotionless stare as if he was talking to a brick wall.

" The opposite actually. " Harvard spoke, " We're standing here to prevent any cowards from leaving the duel. " That caused everyone to raised an eyebrow, but what he spoke next shook us all.

" Anyone leaving from a honourable duel, shall be executed. The honourless does not deserve to live, for they stain the warrior's honour. " His smile was very uncanny, like a predator smiling at his prey.

We can all see Alfred demeanour began to falter obviously affected by Havard's words, he gripped his Nodachi, observing Tor exploiting any weakness he could find.

Team THOR'S leader was on a defensive position, with his round shield in front blocking the entire upper body, with his sword sticking out from the right side. Slowly he approached Alfred, who unlike Tor charged with great speed and swung his giant blade at Tor hoping that the large razor sharp blade to cleaved through the wooden shield along with the body.

But a loud metallic ringing sound made Alfred's face turn pale. The shield was made entirely with steel!

How can he even carry a metallic shield so thick, ignoring that the shield was made of steel, it being able to look like a wooden shield was a real sign of craftsmanship.

Alfred immediately jumped back to a safer distance. With that huge swing, the edge of his razor sharp blade was surely dulled. Tor advanced slowly, still in his defensive position. Alfred was left with no choice but to move back. He looked behind him, he saw the sadistic face of Havard.

He turned back to Tor who was approaching his attack range, he swung his sword again but Tor deflected it sending it away to his side. Alfred luckily dodge a lucky counter slash towards his neck. He jumped back again to a safer distance.

Defend and counterattack, a very good strategy especially against an enemy without a shield like him, good against people but not a pack of Grim.

Alfred knew this as well as he understood that fighting Tor was a tough task. So he decided to employ his counter strategy.

" Coward! fight me like a man! stop hiding behind that shield! "

" Man this guy sure is demanding. " Qrow commented, " Such a sore loser. "

Our attention was again brought towards the screen, as Havard began to giggle as if he had heard a good joke. " This idiot just dug his own grave. "

Tor shortly drop his defensive guard, " As you wish. "

What happened next surprised us all, Tor made a dash towards Alfred who barely defended a powerful slash from Tor's sword, with lightening fast speed he delivered five slash whom Alfred managed to dodge thanks to his dextrous body. Tor slammed his shield at Alfred who was sent tumbling to the ground.

Tor then threw his shield like a projectile straight towards Alfred's skull. The Faunus immediately rolled from danger narrowly escaping the steel shield as it embedded itself to the concrete floor. He tried to get back up, but a front kick from Tor sent him back to the floor.

" Disappointing. " Tor spat as he pulled out his shield from the concrete floor with ease. " So much bark, but no bite. You fight like a mindless animal, an embarrassment to the spirit of the beast you are born with. "

The words " animal " and " beast " caused Alfred to snarl. " Fuck you! All you humans are the fucking same! calling us animals! beast! treating like shit just because we have extra body parts! Fuck you! Fuck you all! It's because of fuckers like you we Faunus like us are in danger. We the White fang protect the Faunus from people like you. You humans call us monsters, but the only monsters I can see are you assholes. Even if I die here, there will be other who will take my place and deliver justice to you mother fuckers! "

" I never intended to mock your race. " Tor spoke, " I only mock you as a warrior. "

" What? " Alfred seemed confused.

" You are born with the spirit of a strong beast, your horns proved it so, yet you lack it's spirit. You call me a coward, but the only coward I see is you. You have no honour "

" So what! " Alfred snarled, " Who gives a flying fuck about honour. All I care is about winning, and if I can kill a monster like you, the world would have a problem less for us Faunus. "

" I'm not a monster. " Tor interrupted, " I'm a hound, a hound of the Goddess Hel. "

" WHO THE FUCK CARES! " Alfred charged towards Tor his sword ready to deliver a slash. The warlord raised his shield ready to block the slash that could be seen from a mile away.

We were all too comfortable with how easy Tor dealt with him, that we ultimately failed to recall that Alfred Taurus was a dangerous criminal, " The Sudden Death " was the nickname he got when he uses his semblance. " The Executioner's mark ".

Alfred smirked with a sadistic look on his face, his semblance creates a mark on his enemies, and this mark enables him to teleport behind his enemies.

The Faunus disappeared out of thin air, the Vikings were equally shocked and when he appeared behind Tor, he wasted no time and brought his Nodachi downwards, straight to Tor's head.

KLANG!

Steel met flesh, blood spurted from the wound, a scream was not heard, there was only silence.

.

.

.

" You truly are a coward. "

Alfred face turned pale at the sight in front of him. Tor had his left hand firmly on the blade's dulled edge. He had to drop his shield, to stop the attack, but he could not protect himself entirely. The blade had also cut his shoulder. It was not entirely deep, but he was bleeding profusely.

" How? Just who are- "

Alfred could not finish as Tor struck his forehead with the handle of his sword. He reeled back letting go of his sword. Tor went ahead and grab him by the neck lifting him off the ground.

Tor's semblance, that black mist oozed out from his body, it creeped towards Alfred encasing him, his facial expression was enough for us to know that he was scared.

Who would not be scared, a semblance that prevents you from using your aura and your semblance. You would feel so weak, so vulnerable, so powerless.

" W-wha-what the fuck you d-did to me? " Alfred demanded, but Tor was unresponsive. " No semblance are allowed in honourable duels. Now you will be punished. "

" Oi, Tor, Can I kill the cunt? " Harvard said with such glee that it me feel very uncomfortable and I can see my comrades feel the same. " Never actually killed a Faunus before hahaha. "

" No. "

" Oh, you wanna kill the bugger yourself eh? "

" We're not killing him. "

" What? "

" We're leaving now, tie all the Faunus us and bring them outside. "

" Hey! what about this animal? " Harvard demanded his voice dripping with rage. I don't know what exactly their history is with each other, but one thing I can see that clearly is that with their animosity, they will gladly kill each other if they were given the chance.

" I'll break his arms and legs then we'll tie him with the rest. He's going to have a nice chat with General Ironwood. " Harvard did not look really pleased with the answer.

" He dies now. " The Claymore was pointed at Alfred. " The rules was laid down before Brottför took place, and the rules says that this animal dies now! "

" I know the rules Highlander, but first we bring him to the General, he gets whatever information he want from him, then after that you can do whatever you want with him. Don't assume even for a moment that I will disobey the rules just because we are away from our homeland. Not even Ozpin can force me against the rules set by our ancestors. "

" Good. " Harvard lowered his sword, " Just need to make sure. You are not behaving like yourself these past months. "

I looked away from the screen, and turned towards Ozpin. I had many questions, these rules they talked about, just what are those. Rules of Warfare? just what kind of rules are those.

" They are ancient rules their ancestors had passed down for many generations, They are dictate the way how an honourable warrior must act, with many rules and restrictions with horrifying punishments delivered to those who disobey it. "

Rules, a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct or procedure within a particular area of activity.

Though they restrict many freedom a person can have, but they are very necessary for the well functioning of any work to be done.

I looked back at the screen to see, Tor grabbing both of Alfred's arms.

CRACK!

A sickening sound of broken arms haunted their ears followed by a horrifying cry of immeasurable pain.

" AAAHHHHHH! " Alfred's scream of pain was unbearable to listen, but Tor took his right leg and stomped it bending it in the opposite direction.

" AAAHHHH! " Tor processed with the next leg.

CRACK!

" Alright tie him up. " Tor ordered, to which Olaf immediately took the ropes out.

Finally this savage event can end, these people must be well monitored, they are too dangerous to be left free. Just because they said they were our comrades, it doesn't mean they're trust worthy. And this violent show to showed us was a clear indicator that they cannot be taken lightly.

This event can now end, these young men can come back with their prisoner, and they can all retire to bed, because I surely needed to rest.

But... things don't always go according to plan, thing went south when Alfred decided to open his mouth.

" Fuck you! Fuck the Disgusting whore who gave birth to a monster like you! FUCK YOU!!! "

The screen went black... Tor had turned off his camera.

We changed to Havard's point of view.

" Get out. " Tor ordered his voice changed drastically.

" T-Tor, mate calm down. You don't have to do this. " Havard's voice was tensed, something bad was going to happened.

He looked back at them, and behold a smile so horrifying, so nightmarish stared back at them, with eyes wide open, gazing straight at them unblinking.

" I said Get Out! "