"I look alive. I'm dead inside. My heart has holes and black blood flows..."

NOVA Trailer 1 - Noir

Song - Paint It Black by Ciara and the remix by Dance with the Dead

It was near twilight in the Atlesian mountains. The young man could never get over how black the sky looked against the snowy white mountain range. The heavy contrasts, the bleakness, the void of color and feeling. This was how many viewed him, and his thin, fringed black hair and dark grey eyes only added to his plain appearance, donning a black dress uniform to complete the look. The only bit of color he had on him were a brown pair of glasses and a straw conical hat that he hung on his back from a string tied around his neck. Behind him was a handful of Atlesian soldiers, all cloaked in standard issued white uniforms and armed to the teeth.

The mountains in Atlas were known to be very treacherous if one didn't know the way or have the right skills to be venturing onto the mountains. Because of the unpredictable weather conditions that followed, most would try to avoid them, but their mission required them to cut through the mountains, lest their progress be delayed any further. The rocky terrain and sharp changes in the weathering winds made travel slower and the high altitude made the air lighter than anyone would've liked, but they've had to endure. Atlesian military men were supposed to be able to endure anything.

The problem with being the northern most country in Remnant was that they had longer winters and less direct sunlight than anywhere else, having up to almost two months without it, and that had caused... problems with the local Grimm. The Grimm loved attacking in the dark, mainly because nightfall was the ideal time to strike advantage wise and most likely to have a higher probability of negative emotions to feed off. A lot of evil was often done in the dark than broad daylight, which was one of the reasons why they had a mission to inspect and update a relay station in the northern precinct and had placed the young man in charge of the mission. Not only was he an adept soldier, he had a layout of the land, since this was one of the areas he would spend his time during leave to train.

Typing into his scroll, the young man pulled out a visual map of the area on the latest edition of the CCT Scroll System. It had the ability to hone in on other scroll users' whereabouts as a GPS and location device as well as show the user's aura level along their associates' if their scrolls were connected and were within a five kilometer radius. After looking over his own gauge, labelled 'MAJ. Noirth Obsidian,' he glanced over at his subordinates First and Second Lieutenant Nicholas Kohl and Xavier Le Blanc respectfully, and noticed that theirs were lowering gradually from shielding against the cold, along with the handful of specialists and private class engineers they had brought along with them for the mission that he didn't bother reading the names for, since they weren't his charges. Like the armor they wore over their bodies, they were all faceless to him.

"According to the scroll, this area is supposed to be where the relay station. Prepare the equipment for installation," Noirth ordered before tucking the scroll into his upper breast pocket. "If this works as well as it did in field testing, then this new satellite's broadband should be able to expand and strengthen the signals in other nations as well."

"Just... give us... a few seconds... to catch our breathe..." wheezed First Lieutenant Kohl as he slouched down to put his head between his knees, some of the warrant officers behind him mimicking his pose as they leaned against their equipment. Kohl was about middle aged and had scruffy dark grey hair with a five o'clock shadow, his unkempt appearance being one of the few things that made Noirth disgruntled.

"Let's just hurry up and get this over with. I'm freezing my butt off here!" Le Blanc complained impatiently as he shivered against the blustery north wind. While he was younger than Lieutenant Kohl, he complained like an old man, his silvery white crew-cut hair adding insult to injury. He hated that he had been one-upped and surpassed by a kid who was younger than him by six years.

"We will leave after all the preparations have been installed," Noirth replied calmly. "Any improper set up and we might as well have failed the mission. We are already behind schedule."

"I c-can't feel m-my hands," Le Blanc shivered, sticking his hands under his armpits.

"Insufficient. It is your own fault if you did not come prepared with your thermals. You knew the mission that you were taking on," Noirth advised, the chill of his words having more effect on them than the biting cold.

"Remind me again why we're taking orders from a seventeen year old child?" Le Blanc growled lowly under his breathe.

"Because he out ranks us and managed to be skilled enough to skip primary combat school and go right into the special ops," Kohl reminded him before leaning in secretively. "Some say he's like some sort of prototype robot or android that the military tech team has been trying to develop."

"Bet that's why Ironwood treats him with such privilege. What a freak," the second lieutenant spat.

"Well, the Brigadier General has been known to take in a few strays every once in a while."

"Don't dawdle. We have a mission to complete," Noirth spoke shortly, the two recruits quickly turning silent at his coldly blunt comment as they began to aid the other engineers unload their equipment.

Since the two soldiers weren't being very discrete, Noirth could hear everything they were saying, but he didn't let it bother him. Thanks to the special privileges that came with being part of the Special Operatives, as well as being the youngest major in Atlesian military history, he was used to getting comments like that all the time. Hearing insults and rumors like that simply meant that the people who were inferior to him were feeling insecure about their own short-comings and could only lash out at others using their words to make themselves feel more powerful, and that wasn't something he had to personally feel bad about. He wouldn't let it.

In all honesty, he could have court martialed them, as it was a minor offense to insult or disrespect a superior officer, but it would only show that he was bothered by the insults. For now, he would only endure their torments with a hardened, stone-cold exterior. They could make up for it in laps and dust-hardened paperwork later.

The process was taking longer than they had initially wanted, the cold prolonging how quickly the men could work. He disliked their efficiency, but it couldn't be helped. They weren't as used to the cold as he was. He just hoped that it wouldn't attract any problems. After a couple minutes of observing the progress, he sensed the change of the weather and noted the shift and angling of the snowfall from the north wind.

"The snow's starting to pick up. We had better hurry before-" Noirth advised before the familiar sound of a howl echoed through the region. "...before trouble shows up."

A large pack of Beowolves emerged on the horizon less than five hundred yards from their base. Most of the mountainside had been white, only covered with scarce pine trees to border the outlines of the mountain pass, but the Beowolves seemed to come out of nowhere, straight from the shadows. Gratefully, the major had planned on this. With the grueling harsh conditions of the cold and treacherous terrain, it was bound to attract at least one or two low level Grimm from their negative emotions. However, he had not planned on them being so big, the Beowolves being alpha-sized, a good three or four feet higher than the average Beowolf, probably due to living so long in the secluded mountains. Still, they were downwind from the pack and wore white stealth gear. As long as they didn't wander any closer, they would be fine.

Unfortunately, one of the more anxious recruits locked onto one of the Beowolves in his scope before he fired an energy blast that took it down with one head-shot. The sound of thunder immediately drew the attention of the major and the Beowolves.

"Idiot! Who told you to fire?!" Noirth snapped angrily, his irritation being the most emotion he had shown the entire trip as he stormed towards the unfortunate warrant officer. The soldier blinked back at him in surprise before he nervously lowered his gun, looking like he was about to wet his pants under the major's glare.

"B-But sir, they would've-" he sputtered weakly before he was swiftly cut off.

"They would have well have left us alone if they hadn't have spotted us. We had the advantage," Noirth argued back, now seeing the pack emerging from the shadows, only two hundred yards away. Their wild red and orange eyes gleamed like hell-fire while the snuffling and growling of their breathe clouded the air with mist as they surrounded the humans, hungry for blood. Real soldiers would've been able to reign in their emotions to prepare for such confrontations, but it couldn't be helped. Now they would have to fight and waste valuable ammunition.

"Lieutenant Blanc, Lieutenant Kohl, take your men and defend the parameter. Let the engineers continue doing their work."

"But they're all professionally trained recruits!" Le Blanc defended. "Surely, they could aid you instead of having to play bodyguard to a bunch of-"

"Then this will be good experience for them," Noirth retorted. "I know that they are greener than you let on, Lieutenant. I could tell by the way they shivered on the way up here. Even you are not originally from the Atlesian north. Set up defensive position alpha."

"He's right," Kohl admitted before turning towards his soldiers and commanding in a gruff voice. "Now, men, defensive position alpha."

These Beowolves were bigger than usual Beowolves, probably due to living in the secluded mountainside for so long, ranging at least three feet taller than the average five-six, identifying them as Alpha Beowolves. If their size wasn't going to be enough of a problem for the untested soldiers, they had large armored spikes and bone fragments gained from age and experience and were generally better pack animals than other type of Grimm, most not straying too far from their groups and having more thought out strategies. They were huge, intelligent, armed and experienced killers, and that combination made them all the more dangerous.

Cautiously, he pulled out a small baton that had been clipped inside his hat before it expanded into a spear. The Beowolf growled at the weapon, picking up the scent of blood and dust that the evil weapon reeked of as some of his brethren began snapping at human from the sides before one brave beta Beowolf charged him. He swiped his weapon at the Grimm's legs before twirling the spear around to plunge it into the creature's side. Using the momentum from the attack, he spun around and forcefully kicked another Beowolf in the head, causing it to stagger back some as he pulled his weapon out of the corpse. He raised the tip in defiance against the other Beowolves as he untied the string around his neck and swiftly brought his hat around as a shield.

"We came here to see a mission through, so get to work and do your job so that I can do mine," Noirth directed towards his comrades, who were still somewhat hesitant to defend the satellite. As much as Noirth didn't like it, his job was to protect these incompetent soldiers. While he had a high ranking, it was only honorary, as he was not officially old enough to join the army. Still, he was given permission to be treated as such and this was a trial on his ability to handle a military situation. He was only a trainee, and he wouldn't let anyone else allow him to screw up. Anyone he could count on would only be in the way. He was all alone and preferred it that way.

"We were told to do a Omega-Beta strategy if such issue came up. Please, get behind us, sir!" Le Blanc advised.

"You will only get in the way," Noirth turned back coldly towards the lieutenant before charging forward. He extended and retracted his spear into a Beowolf's head, like a bee stinger, jerking back and forth until he pulled it back and yanked off the head.

"Useless, my ass...!" Le Blanc grumbled before angrily charging forward with open fire against the Grimm, his fearful officers joining in the fight. It wounded some of the pack, but mostly it just really irritated them as one Beowolf swiped viciously at the ground to create a cloud of snow that blinded the second lieutenant. Suddenly, all of them began digging at the white powder before Noirth noticed it was too late as the snowy ground began to shift and loosen as the snow quickly formed into a gradual avalanche against his forces, excluding Le Blanc, who had scrambled towards the high ground at the last second.

Skidding to the side to avoid a narrow swipe from a Beowolf, Noirth activated his aura and forced a huge crack in the ground, causing the falling avalanche to extend to the Grimm pack as well. In his blind arrogance, however, he failed to notice the ground crumbling around himself. While his officers were buried under the snow downhill, Noirth swiftly threw his hat onto the ground and used it as a makeshift sled down the mountain.

Briefly activating his semblance, he slow-motion jumped into the air and did a mid-air somersault so that he landed on his hat with his hands. Using the spinning force of his hat, he spun around and repeatedly round-house kicked two Beowolves before launching himself back onto his feet, controlling his balance with ease as he gradually swerved towards the left to avoid the cloud of ice and snow.

As one Beowolf sled down to knock him down, he stuck his spear forcefully into the ground and activated the ingrained water dust crystals in his shield as they suddenly became a large spiked shield that the Beowolf ran smack into, impaled from his own body weight. Feeling the snow beginning to swim over him, he retracted his spear and climbed back onto his hat as he crouched down and wiped off the snow dust on his glasses.

After skidding towards the bottom of the hill, the snow came to a stop. Unfortunately, the surviving Beowolves popped out of the snow like evil daisies and glared down the hill. Noirth Obsidian let out an irritated sigh. What on Earth was going to kill these things?

Grudgingly, he pulled out a water dust crystal out of his coat pocket, hesitant to use it due to the dust shortage, and attached it in the center hole of his spear. Staring hard in concentration of the avalanche, he charged up his semblance and lifted the snow effortlessly into the air. The Beowolves, who had grown confused on why they were suddenly suspended in mid-air, began slowly spinning from the lack of gravity before Noirth activated the dust crystal in his weapon. A large stream of water began spiraling rapidly out from the blade into a drill-like shape before it blew back all the snowy debris and Grimm into a violent vortex of water, monsters, and powdered snow, shredding almost everything inside to pieces from the sheer force and speed of the gravitational pressure.

After the dust had cleared, the mountainside was barren, showing rock that hadn't seen the light of day for eons since the mountain's ascension. He turned to his scroll and, after he had all the correct coordinates, lifted all the buried soldiers that were stuck under the snow into the air before he exhaustively let them go back to their original gravity. Stuck in the snow pile nearest towards him was a shaken Lieutenant Kohl, who had a look of shock and awe on his face as Noirth extended his hand down towards him.

"I think the words you're looking for are 'thank you,'" he offered with a smirk.