Ruby ducked out of the way of one of the Grimm as it lunged forward; and swept her scythe in a vicious arc through another in reply. Yang slammed her fist into the first Grimm as it snapped in frustration and the trio kept moving forward; their eyes fixed on the fray developing in the distance. They saw another dust cloud bloom and felt the reverberation as the armored figure of Weiss connected with another blow far in the distance.

"C'mon team! We're almost there!" yelled Ruby as she dodged around a snarling Beowolf; who opened its mouth wide. Red energy began forming at the back of its mouth and Ruby's eyes widened as she dropped into a roll; barely dodging the beam of red death that burst from the Grimm's open mouth. Blake slashed her blades across the Grimm's neck and the beam disappeared as quickly as it had formed. The red light fled from the Grimm's eyes and its head slowly rolled off its shoulders and onto the ground.

"There's just so many!" Yang yelled back as she piledrived two more Grimm into the ground, where they fell still.

Blake looked back at Jaune and Morgl; a blue cylinder had formed around them; spinning faster and faster as they carried out whatever hair-brained scheme that the Hunter had come up with. She only hoped whatever they were doing that they would finish soon; there was just simply too many Grimm to fight; and already the exertions of the past few days were making themselves felt. She gave an exhuasted battle cry as she threw herself out of the way of another Beowolf's vicious claws and retaliated with a strike of her own; sending the Grimm sprawling.


Velvet groaned as she sat up; she looked around to see that she was trapped in some kind of energy bubble. She gritted her teeth and concentrated in on herself, tapping into the strange power that Illidan had tutored her in, 'the fel' he had called it. The night elf had told her, that as far as he could tell, she was the only one of the group that had undergone the ritual to develop it. With an effort of will, she spun it into a web and began probing the magical construct, searching for a weak point. She gave a start as she felt a familiar presence tug on her tendrils sharply.

"Halt Velvet; your instincts are good; but we must bide our time." Illidan's voice echoed within her mind. "When I give the signal; we shall break out of these accursed prisons. The woman; Cinder, caught me off guard… now however, I have studied her magic. I can see now why it was so much stronger than my own, or indeed her foul ally's."

Velvet frowned, then concentrated, "Why?"

She saw the night elf turn to her; then saw him smile, his orbs glowing bright, "It is difficult to explain; but essentially it has to do with this… Aura… she is mixing it with the power of the fel. The mixture is giving her power an unusual potency; I believe that once I break out of this orb; I shall be able to draw this Aura into myself. However, I do not know what shall happen when I do so; therefore, we must pick the right time to strike. Until then… patience."

Velvet nodded and made herself comfortable, "As you wish."


Mul'dan frowned fiercely, and sweat trickled down his brow as he cast the translation cipher once more. It was correct, he was sure of it; but the results of his castings left him bewildered; his eyes moved rapidly behind closed eyelids. He opened his eyes and let out a silent curse.

"How goes it?" a voice inquired behind him.

He turned to see Cinder walking up to him, her footsteps echoing around the room. The murloc did his best to keep his face calmly neutral as he gripped the artifact he had secreted inside his robes. By the Legion; the woman absolutely radiated power; it was as intoxicating as it was unsettling; "I have successfully deciphered the lock; but it's contents leave me… lost… perhaps as a denizen of this world; you may have more luck." He almost coughed out of habit, but managed to silence it; he was no longer in a position of power anymore; although he prayed silently to his dark masters that she wasn't aware of that quite yet.

"Show me." she demanded.

Mul'dan nodded, and made a gesture; the floating designs in front of him lowered to head height and began rearranging themselves rapidly. Finally they slowly resolved themselves into legible words. Cinder frowned as she slowly began reading it aloud…

"'Jaune x'... 'Weiss x'... 'Blake x'?" she whirled around and made a sharp pulling gesture with her hand. Suddenly, the orb containing Ozpin rushed towards them and when it arrived, it disappeared and dumped the silver haired human onto the ground.

Cinder picked him up by the back of the neck and thrust him towards the words; "What do these mean?" she snarled.

Ozpin looked at the floating words, then began laughing; Mul'dan eyes narrowed as he recognized the edge of madness present in that laughter.

"I'll never talk." he said. He pointed at the floating words, "They've already talked, but I won't!" he began laughing once more.

Cinder snarled as she turned to Mul'dan, "We don't have time for this; construct a Soul Harvester!"

Mul'dan looked at the human apprehensively; "He is insane," he murmured, "when I conduct this ritual; I absorb an essence of the victim. I cannot guarantee my own sanity should I do so."

Cinder brought red flame to her palm, "Do it." she said. The murloc stared at the flame, then slumped slightly and reluctantly opened a portal to begin summoning the necessary reagents.

Illidan grinned as he observed the conversation; in particular he noted the way that Cinder's eyes glinted with something close to hunger as she glanced from Mul'dan to Ozpin. It was a look he knew well. "And they call me the Betrayer." he muttered. It wouldn't be long now, he thought; as he watched the warlock begin setting the crystals for the ritual.


Morgl grimaced as he attempted to control the swirling power that moved around him.

"How much longer?" Jaune asked as he slammed away a Beowolf that attempted to get close.

"I already told you; asking me that doesn't make it go any faster!" the shaman grumbled; then he felt a tug across time and space. "Not… much… longer!" he grunted out as he pulled on that weight; dragging it into the world.

There was a flash of light and Jaune was temporarily blinded. He blinked rapidly to regain his vision; and when he did he stared at the sight.

There were creatures of every size and shape though all stood on two legs; none could be confused for a human. Some towered over Jaune; covered in fur; others were short; barely barely coming up to his waist, with green skin and tapered ear tips. At the front however; stood a familiar figure; who pointed at Jaune, "See man! I told you. I haven't been able to find anything on it; but it's some kind of weird event thing. This is where I got the legendary staff." YoloSwagLordxXx said to a huge, armored figure standing beside him.

The figure stepped forward and looked down at the murloc and the Hunter. Jaune tried not to gulp audibly as he looked at the massive blade strapped to the giant's back. Finally the metal-clad figure spoke, "I'm not seeing any quest… is it bugged or something?"

Morgl gave a start and grabbed the bag, he muttered something quickly under his breath and the bag transformed into a piece of paper. Simultaneously, an exclamation point appeared above the murloc's head. The giant grabbed the paper and quickly read it over; as it did; it's eyes widened. It turned back to the others, "It's a raid!" it yelled, the others stared at him blankly; then suddenly there was a flurry of activity.

"Ballsdpz; get everybody flasked up and get everyone their pots if they need 'em. PwNnUbs77; call Ubertunkz and tell him to get his ass online. EatmySoulout, get the portal up and invite him to the group when he does. We've got a chance at being world first people, let's make this happen!"

The strange beings went to their various tasks; Jaune simply stared, dumbfounded as he watched them casually annihilate any Grimm that dared to get close.

Finally Morgl cleared his throat, "Thank you, great and mighty warriors of Azeroth, for coming to us in our-."

"Oh yeah that's right, these quests seem to have a lot of dialogue; we're probably gonna have to wait a bit." SwagLordxXx said, cutting him off.

The figure groaned at that, then looked over his shoulder, "Hey, Tho'grash, got some story stuff for you." he walked away as a large, green skinned being ran up, his eyes wide with excitement.

He stopped in front of Jaune and Morgl; then brought a fist to his heart in a salute. "Lok'tar Ogar friends, it is the great honor of Debauched Tea Party to aid you in your time of need. Where is the terrible foe that needs to be slain? Where is the foul creature whose bones we shall take as trophies for our hall?"

Morgl pointed at the Academy, "Within those wall lies Mul'dan and his dark ally Cinder; as well as Illidan Stormrage. We need you to clear out the Grimm in this courtyard, then travel within to destroy them before they can take the core of this world and use it for their own vile purposes."

Tho'grash nodded, then saluted once more, "We shall do so with great haste and valor, Lok'tar Ogar!" he walked back to the armored figure, who was talking with what appeared to be a massive bear.

"Look Uber, you're going to have to roll like everyone else. You got the shoulders last week; and frankly we need more pieces on our dps anyway. Plox hasn't gotten a piece of gear for like the past three weeks." he turned his gaze to Tho'grash, "Well?"

"I swear, the writing's gone down ever since Liche Queen." he grumbled, "basically it sounds like an add fight out here; then maybe Illidan, Mul'dan, and some new person named Cinder. I would hazard a guess that we're going to fight Archimonde again, since that's like… what always happens whenever Mul'dan's involved."

The armored figure nodded, "Alright; then," he turned to the rest of the group, "you heard the man! Get out your AoE's! It's gonna be a mob fight!"

There was a mix of cheers and grumbling as they all simultaneously began pulling out strange scroll books and fiddling with them. Save for one who just sat there, beaming as he yawned lazily; making a show of checking his watch. "Frickin' warlocks…" Jaune heard one of them grumble.

Morgl turned to Jaune, "I'll handle things out here; go to your friends and tell them to be ready. They may seem like a motley band of misfits; but I've seen the warriors of Azeroth in battle. You'll get your chance to get inside soon."

Jaune nodded and took a deep breath as he turned toward the crowd of Grimm in between him and his friends. He charged forward with his war scream; tearing through the beasts.

Morgl heard one of the adventurers chuckle, "Hey, that's what you sounded like on fixate phase two weeks ago."

His companion smacked him on the shoulder. "Shut up, Balls!" he replied. Morgl rubbed his temples to ward off his growing headache, how the people of Azeroth put up with these… adventurers, he would never understand.


Weiss screamed her battle cry as she hewed through more of the filthy creatures. The time spent with the great warrior, Leroy Jenkins had not been wasted. She had learned his ways of 'Yolo' and 'Chicken'. She had learned how to throw herself into battle; confident in her ability to 'pwn noobs' and 'wreck fools'. When he had died to the foul tricks of the murlocs. Whom had cunningly placed a bucket of chicken that had actually contained a massive amount of explosives in the middle of the clearing… along with a large sign that had said; ''Free chickenz'. She had sat, paralyzed with grief; but then they had come again, they had tried to take the chicken. They had succeeded; despite her best efforts; they had taken the chicken; they had stolen the precious buckets. She would never rest until they were slain, all of them.

She swung the massive warblade in an arc; slicing a handful of murlocs in twain. Then suddenly, she heard a familiar voice; she paused for a moment; unheeding of the murlocs pitiful attempts to penetrate her armor.

It was a voice she had known before the chicken; it was a voice that inspired… annoyance… yes… but something else as well.

"Weiss! We're coming Weiss!" the voice called out; breaking through her battle fever.

She shook her head, trying to clear it; she looked up to see a group of girls running to her; determination and joy on their faces as they desperately fought their way to her.

She stood there stock still for a moment; then with a roar; she began slashing and cutting her way to them. The murlocs screamed and some even tried to flee as she vented her fury on any caught between her and her goal. Until finally; they stood face to face; suddenly it hit her. The names flashed across her mind, along with the faces, Blake… Yang… Ruby… they stood before her. Smiling up at her with wide innocent faces… the faces of noobs…

She swung her blade up; preparing to bring it crashing down; to pwn these noobs and take their chicken.

Ruby's eyes widened as she watched the blade rise and she turned them toward Weiss' face. "Weiss?" she asked, her eyes suddenly uncertain. "Weiss please, put the blade down…" the other two got into ready stances and stepped back a step. They were fools, they were noobs, they would be pwned. A voice suddenly spoke in her head, it wanted to go back to the world without chicken, without the pwning of noobs. It made her hesitate for just a moment, but the choice was easy; she prepared to strike, to erase them from this world. The voice began to speak once more, but she drowned it out with the mantra that her teacher had taught her.

"Strats are a lie, there is only Yolo."

"Through chicken, I gain strength."

"Through strength, I gain the skillz."

"Through the skillz, I pwn the noobs."

"Through pwning noobs, I get the loots."

"The loots will make me leet."

She swung the blade down, promising death and destruction; but Ruby never moved an inch, instead she spoke, "Weiss, you're my friend." she said simply.

That made her freeze, the blade halting mere inches from the slim figure in front of her. Friends? No, they were noobs; they had to be pwned… yet. Images flashed through her mind of them together, a massive food fight, playing a board game, fighting alongside each other. She had something then that she was missing now, something that was a gaping hole inside her that pwning noobs and eating chicken did not fill.

The voice whispered two words: "a life"

Suddenly everything came crashing on her; what the hell was she doing in this armor? More the point, this thing had to weigh literally tons… how the hell was she even-

Before she could finish that thought, the armor began buckling and she let out a small scream as she toppled over, her friends barely avoiding the impact as the ground shook from the avalanche of falling metal.

She tried to move; but it felt like she was trapped under a house; she gritted her teeth and slowly began trying to pull her limbs inward from the spacious arms and legs of the metal suit.

Suddenly she was blinded by light as someone removed the armor's helmet. A hand came through the opening and she grabbed it gratefully and she was pulled out of the suit onto the grass.

"You seriously have an awful track record with big suits of metal." Yang remarked as Weiss slowly got to her feet.

"Ha-ha, very funny Yang." In truth, her heart was soaring as she looked at her friends. "I thought… I thought you guys were dead…"

Ruby hugged her fiercely, "I'm so glad you're okay!" she yelled. Weiss hesitated, then returned the hug; trying to stop the tears of relief that were coming to her eyes.

"Eh-hmmm." Weiss' gaze shot up to see four strange creatures watching them. She reached for her rapier, only to realize it was missing. She glanced over at the massive blade, and desperately tried to pick it up.

"Whoa, whoa! It's okay Weiss, I know they look weird, but that's actually just Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora." said Blake.

Weiss looked to her in confusion, then back to the strange figures, one who she supposed looked a bit like Nora waved to her happily.

Ruby reached into her pack, pulled out Myrtenaster and passed it to her.

Weiss sighed in relief as she checked the weapon to ensure it was undamaged. "Thanks." She kicked the massive blade, and regretted it when the blade didn't even budge, but left her with a sore foot instead. "So what's going on?"

"Short version? An evil murloc named Mul'dan is trying to seriously screw up our world. He's in Beacon Academy along with some other evil people and we need to get through these Grimm to get to them." said Blake.

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "Okay… does the long version make anymore sense?"

Blake considered that for a moment, then shook her head, "Not really."

Weiss sighed, "Alright then, so what's the plan?"

Jaune spoke up, "We have some… allies that are going to create a distraction so that we can get inside."

As soon as he said that, there was a massive explosion and a multitude of different colored lights erupted from a space some distance away. The Grimm screamed and began swarming that location; leaving the entrance of the Academy, if not clear; at least at lot less guarded than before.

"That would be it," said Pyrrha as she readied her weapons.

"We rush forward, everyone else follow up?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha smiled, "You got it."

"You heard her, let's do this." Jaune commanded the others.

"Lerroooyy-." Ruby began, but Weiss slammed her hand over her mouth.

"No… just… no." she said.

Ruby removed her hand, "But we need a battle cry!" she pouted.

"Break their legs!" suggested Nora.

"Ooo, it should be a pun," suggested Yang.

"Blake their legs!" yelled Nora desperately.

Blake glared at her, then Yang, "No puns."

The group was silent, then Jaune spoke, "You know what? How about just, 'For Remnant'?"

They all thought about it, "That could work." admitted Pyrrha.

The group nodded one by one, they were warriors, but more than that, they were Hunters and Huntresses of Remnant, and today was their day to fulfill their duty. They all readied their weapons, faces determined.

"Alright then, on three!" Jaune said as he turned back to face the open doors of the Academy. "One, two, three!"

"For Remnant!" they yelled as one.

... except for Nora who yelled, "For pancakes!"

They all paused for a moment to stare at her, she shrugged, "What? I'm really hungry!"


Mul'dan etched the final line of the design into the floor; which began to glow a sickly green. "It is done." he said; "I shall now begin the ritual."

Cinder seemed to consider that, then smiled widely. "About that… you say that when you conduct this ritual, you gain a part of their… essence?"

Mul'dan nodded reluctantly as she paced around the circle of crystals, "Yes, I essentially absorb the portion of their soul that contains the information I require."

Cinder nodded at that, "What if someone were to say… absorb all of their soul?"

Mul'dan's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "They would gain all that the person had to offer; however, the process would prove… taxing. All of the fel energy the person had available would surely be exhausted for that day, if not longer"

Cinder paused to consider one of the crystals, "What if the person in question… purely hypothetically of course… had a kind of, battery?"

Mul'dan considered that, "It… could work." he admitted, "However, the transference would not be completely efficient, the… battery would have to be a highly powerful individual if the person wanted to have sufficient power left over for it to matter."

Cinder considered that, then smiled, "Thank you then for volunteering."

Mul'dan rounded on her, sickly green energy gathering in his palm, "What are you saying?" he demanded.

Cinder turned to him and smiled, "Your usefulness has ended Mul'dan; your foul coughing, your sickly stench and appearance. I don't have to put up with it anymore, good-bye."

She flung out her hand, and a red design quickly etched itself into the ground beneath the murloc. He desperately reached into his cloak, but before he could do anything more; he began to scream; green energy poured from his open mouth into the crystals; making them glow bright with energy. Finally; after what seemed like an eternity, he fell to the ground, deathly still.

Cinder turned to Ozpin and smiled cruelly, "Now, Ozpin…" she purred, "let's see just what you're hiding." she threw out her hand and Ozpin screamed as a single red leash emerged from the central rune, it pulled taut and a blue sphere emerged from him and flew into Cinder's hand. She clenched it and the room began to rumble as green light poured from the crystals into her body.


Illidan's voice roared inside Velvet's mind, "Be ready! I am preparing to break our prisons!"

Velvet grabbed her warglaives and readied herself to move quickly; her eyes glued on the figure of the woman who even now writhed as fel energy poured into her.

Suddenly the red sphere shattered and she dropped lightly to her feet; preparing to rush forward at her foe.

She heard a gasp and turned her gaze to see Illidan writhing on the floor; "It burns! It makes no sense! How did Jaune not know about Aura?! Why are there only two guards?! Why does one man own every single shop!? AUGGGHHH!" Velvet watched in confusion as the night elf continued to rant as he writhed on the ground in pain.

"Master?" she asked uncertainly. The night elf continued to writhe in pain, hands clenched at his skull, "Master Illidan?!"

The sound of her voice seemed to bring Illidan to his senses, his breathing slowed as he began to control himself. Finally he stood up; though his face was still in a grimace of pain.

"It's… nothing; I had seen the currents of Aura; seen how she drew upon them to integrate with the fel. When I reversed the process to collect Aura using the fel… I had no idea that it would pull so much up with it." he shook his head. "I saw the core of this world; the very essence of its being." he looked up to stare at Cinder as the light began to ebb. "That seal; the riddle upon it has something to do with… pairings…"

Velvet looked over at him in confusion; he waved his hand dismissively, "I am still trying to control this power; and I sense that your friends are coming as well. It would behoove us to wait just a little longer, come I will disguise our presence while I recover." he turned and darted into the shadows behind one of the massive pillars. Velvet glanced at Cinder and then reluctantly followed.

Cinder looked at her hands as she absorbed everything that was Ozpin. The power… the knowledge… it was all hers! She looked over at the corpse of Mul'dan and marched up to him, he had been reaching inside his robes, if she was correct then…

She let out a maniacal giggle as she saw the artifact that had rolled out of the murloc warlock's grasp. It was a slender rod, a hardly worthwhile object in the hands of the unlearned. However… she thought as she picked up and raised it high, red energy flowed around her in massive pulses. In the hands of a master, it could rend the distance between two points… meaning that one could summon objects, or people, across space and time.

She let out a yell and there was a sudden crack, and a woman appeared. She had gray skin and white air; her eyes were an unnatural shade of red, surrounded by pitch black pools. Black lines streaked across her face like cracks into the abyss. Bedecked in black clothes, she was an ominous figure that radiated foul power.

The woman's eyes widened, then narrowed onto Cinder.

"What is the meaning of this?" she hissed, "Too soon Cinder! You have summoned me too soon!" she looked around warily. "This is Beacon Academy." she murmured, she turned her furious gaze back to Cinder. "Where's Ozpin?"

Cinder grinned and tapped her temple lightly with her finger, "He's right in here, Salem."

Salem's head cocked to the side in confusion and her eyes narrowed. "Why have you summoned me?" she asked, her voice suddenly more suspicious than furious.

Cinder bowed her head slightly, "I believe the time has come to… re-negotiate our relationship, bow to me, or die."

Salem snarled, "Foolish girl! Even in my diminished state, you are no match for me!" she drew back her hand and strands of darkness began swirling at her fingers.

Cinder smiled, "That's where you're wrong." she extended out a hand, and with an effort of will, re-activated the Soul Harvester.

Salem screamed as the central rune once more activated; and Cinder began to let out a mad cackle as the leash went taut once more. Salem dropped to her knees screaming and a inky black and red mote emerged from her and went into Cinder; who slumped to the ground. Salem gave one last scream before starting to wither and shrink. Soon, nothing of her was left save for black robes that lay in a pile on the ground.

"So much power." Cinder murmured; she stood and extended her out her hands, "Unlimited power!" she screamed as lightning streamed from her finger-tips in a nebulous web above her head.


Velvet watched in horror, even without the sight that her master possessed, she could practically taste the power of the individual who stood there, cackling madly. She turned to Illidan, "We have to strike now, while she's distracted!" she hissed.

Illidan smiled, "Patience Velvet." he looked from her to Cinder and sighed. "It's so obvious when you're the one who's observing it. The arrogance, the lack of awareness…" Velvet stared at the night elf; who noticed her gaze and smiled. "Have you not wondered why it is Mul'dan retrieved that artifact in the first place." he looked back and shook his head, "because it's obvious she hasn't."

Velvet turned her gaze back to where Cinder continued to cackle maniacally, drunk on her newfound power, then gasped at what she saw.