Absolute Zero

The Beginning

The loud sound of the morning alarm woke him up. He reached for the alarm not too far from him and turned it off. Slowly he started to get up from his bed and walked towards his bedroom window, he opened the window and looked out the window. The sunlight slowly illuminates the city that looks like a giant shell. Axiom is the name of this city. The city is surrounded by large walls and domes that cover the city's sky to protect humans from the contaminated air. Originally the sun would not be able to illuminate this city but thanks to the dome sunlight could be emitted into this city. This world is different. This is not a world that humans are familiar with in books or movies. The humans who live in the world are in the shadow of fear. Vampires, that's what they're called. From the outside they are quite similar to humans but what distinguishes them from humans is that their skin is pale, their eyes are red, their teeth are fangs and their physical strength is twice as strong as ordinary humans.

"Rena…" The man said quietly but filled with emotion.

The man closed his bedroom window and started to get ready. After finishing dressing the man stood in front of the door of his room and looked towards this small room. There wasn't much stuff in this small room and this was the last time he'd been in the small room he'd been in for the past few years. He slowly opened the door and he came out of his room and closed the door again. He walked slowly without looking back. The man wearing black clothes walked out of the building where he lived and his steps stopped right in front of the entrance of the building. He looked at the very clear sky from inside this dome and if he came out of this city he would not see a scene like this but a dark scene because the fog that covered this world made the clear sky invisible.

"There's no point in trying to feel the heat of the sun." An old woman said to the man.

"Oh, good morning aunty..." He turned to the old woman who was watering the flowers on the left and right of the entrance of this building.

"The clothes," the old woman stopped for a moment watering her flowers and glanced at the man who was standing in front of the door of her old building and he continued to water the flowers.

"This is my first day." The man replied spontaneously while tidying up his wrinkled clothes a little.

"Is that so… May you always be well." The old woman seemed to say in an even tone but, there was a tremor in her tone as if she was holding back a deep sadness. Her face just looks normal but it's different from her tone of voice. Is this old woman sad? I'm not that close to him so I don't know if he's sad or not. thought the man in black.

"I'll say goodbye auntie, see you later." After bidding farewell the man turned around and walked towards the train station which was three blocks from this old building.

"Hey kid," came a voice from behind him and the man stopped his footsteps and turned around to see the source of the voice.

"If you don't mind, you can drop by any time you want." said the old woman.

"Of course, I will stop by and also I will bring real fish, just wait aunty."

"I'll be waiting for him." This time the old woman showed a happy expression and the man seemed to feel a little relieved to see the old woman holding the green flower sprinkler that had started to fade. Of course I will look for real fish, it's not that I'm not satisfied with processed fish but it doesn't taste like fish, maybe, they just put fish meat crumbs in it and the rest I don't know I don't want to think too much about what they do with processed fish products that.

The human corps is located in district 10 while where he is currently is in district 23 and to get to district 10 the fastest way is to take an electric train or use a private vehicle. However, during the journey to district 10, it was clear that the economic disparity of each district and district 23 could be called a slum district because of the large number of refugees from districts 24 and 25 which were permanently closed by the city government due to an attack 5 years ago which caused many human casualties.

The man who was standing on the edge of the carriage door while looking at the changing city scene gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he recalled the incident. That day he lost everyone he knew even his family was slaughtered right before his eyes. His younger sister was taken away by the vampires and he was helpless when he saw this happen. For 5 years he cursed his weakness and joined the army of mankind only to get permission to go on an expedition out of human territory or rather go deeper into the crimson fog.

The world has changed, this world is no longer the safest place for humans, now it is not humans who are at the top of this world's food chain but more powerful creatures with red eyes and resembling humans with vampire names. From 7 billion world population 50 years ago now the world population only reached 500 million and it is still decreasing as time goes by. Humanity began to build walls to protect themselves. However, not all walls are effective, even vampires can burn a city to the ground, for 50 years since the destruction of the world, humans have always suffered losses due to vampire attacks. Humanity is currently on the verge of despair.

The man who was standing wearing black clothes didn't even care about the fate of mankind, he didn't care whether humanity would perish in this world or not, he only thought about how he could find his little sister out there. He didn't care to do whatever he was told as long as he could join the expedition outside the walls. His eyes were full of revenge aimed at the creatures called vampires. Instantly his thoughts were interrupted by the voices of teenagers getting into the train and he looked at the map of the city's electric train journey and it seemed that the electric train was stopping at district 15. Districts 13 to 15 are academy districts where young people who are old enough can school and district 13 is an elite academy district. Of course the nobles and other influential people in this city or rather in this kingdom want to include their children in district 13 and districts 14 and 15 can be said to be exile academy districts because nobles and rich people look down on those who are commoners. or those who live in poverty. Of course it feels really sick when we think about it because there are still such narrow-minded humans when humanity is on the verge of extinction by the vampires.

Wouldn't it be great if humans like them were wiped out? Thought the man who looked at the teenagers who got into the carriage of the electric train with their smiles and laughter. The man turned his gaze back to the outside of the electric carriage window while watching people pass by. However, that thought immediately disappeared from within him because these teenagers were new seeds of mankind and it was his duty as part of the vampire hunter squad to protect them from the vampires so that the events of five years ago would not happen again. Shortly after that the electric train began to close the entrance of each carriage and began to continue its journey until district 5.

"It is reported that the expeditionary troops have managed to return victory to the human side and they have managed to reclaim a small amount of human territory. This is a great victory for mankind." Said a news anchor woman who reported that the expeditionary troops had succeeded in reclaiming the area that was once the territory of mankind. Seeing this, the man standing in the corner who was wearing a black uniform was amazed that he also wanted to go on an expedition outside the wall.

"Tch, it's just a small territory that isn't even useful to us." Said a man whose clothes seemed shabby and it seemed that the man was drunk.

"Hey, shut up." Said a man who wore a gray suit and looked very neat.

"What do you know about that region? for how dare you tell me to shut up, you bastard."

"Indeed, who are you to dare mock those who sacrificed on the front lines?" The well-dressed man replied with emotion.

"Who said you? I once joined an expeditionary force and have been on expeditions several times out there." The drunken man was proud of himself.

"Ooh.. Then which unit did you join?" asked one in a deep voice.

"Of course I joined the 2nd squad 3rd division." The drunken man proudly said that.

"Ooh… Looks like you joined a pretty great unit." The man in the same black uniform as the man standing in the corner looked surprised because there was someone wearing the same uniform as him and what surprised him was that the man wearing a hat and uniform covered in robes was a top officer.

"If you are a former soldier of the 2nd squad of course you know me?"

"Who are you? I never even saw you in the 2nd squad."

The man took off his hat and revealed his brown skin and silver hair. He is Albert von Manstein which he belongs to the Manstein noble family and he is a Major General and is the leader of the 3rd division.

"I, Albert Von Manstein the leader of the 2nd division and I have never even seen your face in my division. So, who are you?" His intimidating gaze left the drunk man speechless.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just making it up." The man quickly knelt before the silver-haired man.

"After this train stops turn yourself over to the train police."

"S-well…"

Albert Von Manstein put his hat back on and this time he noticed the man standing in the corner and walked towards him. The man quickly made a respectful gesture to the high-ranking officer.

"It's okay kiddo." Albert gave a gesture for the man to lower his right hand which was saluting the officer.

"S-well sir…" The man lowered his hand.

"Looks like you're a new soldier."

"Private Luke Ainswald, report sir." The man named Luke Ainswald returned his respect.

"Relax, Ainswald."

"W-well sir..."

"It seems that there are many people like that man who doubt the efforts of the soldiers on the front line." Said Albert who was standing next to Luke.

"He's just a madman who doesn't appreciate the efforts of the soldiers on the front lines."

"But, that man is right, since the incident five years ago our movement has reached a stalemate, in fact we have more often than not taken small areas that are less dangerous." Luke looked at Albert who looked a little depressed.

"Wasn't there an explanation from those up there?"

"If there had been an explanation from them we wouldn't have made the move we are now."

"Is that so…"

The electric carriage stopped at district 13 station and Albert slowly started to remove his hand from the hanging handle and started walking towards the exit.

"Okay, because I have business in district 13 so, this is where our conversation ends."

"Okay sir."

"One thing of advice I would like to say to newcomers like you. Don't die." Hearing those words Luke speechless he watched as the man in black robes walked along with several people who had been waiting for him at the 13th district train station.