RRC: I bask in your awe and neverending adoration! Or at the very least, I enjoy reading your comments.

Zeldawolfgang: Weirdo setup on FF made your review not really appear… So commenting on it here, sorry! Glad you enjoy!

Guest: Eh, long-term planning for collab. Fiona is an SI from elsewhere, someone else's SI entirely. Vixy covered her in the AN last chapter. When we leave the SE world (soon, I promise), she'll pop up less often, mainly doing her own thing.

Raidtensho: … Something that won't come up for a long long time. SE isn't my concern, RWBY is. And… Orion doesn't even know she exists. He never watched NOT.

Agent A910: *grumbles* Weird? I'll take the epic remark. Orion has read all fanfiction I have UP TO THE DATE of the start of this fic. That is all.

Lightsbane: Glad you enjoy?

Observer: Justin Law went rogue in the manga, but if I remember correctly a servant of Asura's drove him mad in order to do so.

Bob: … depends on my mood. Course, you only get to read this when I update, so your question is answered WHEN YOU READ THIS! *troll-face*

Hikari-san: Yeah, Orion's life is insane… I find it amusing. Speaking of insane, do remember what just happened.

Indeed, yay for Blair. I am admittedly pondering about taking her to…

Eh. Orion's human, same as everyone else. He'll have good days and bad. That happened to be a bad day. He's… ok, he was better. But yeah, Orion's fairly laid back when he's not sniping at someone, and pretty genial to anyone who isn't deranged or trying to hurt him, so he'll get along with most everyone.

Why do I torture you? Because I'm sadistic. And so is Kaijin. You'll meet her shortly.

Orion isn't really a danger. At least, not an active one. So long as you don't attack him, he's fairly harmless. Yeah, he's batshit insane, but he's high-functioning and aware that he's a bit twisted, so it's fine. Ozpin has more worries with the Grimm and actual criminals than Orion, who while yes tends to react with disproportionate force isn't really likely to respond with lethal force unless attacked with such.

The lone soul: We shall indeed be returning to RWBY at the end of NEXT chapter. Sorry, need to wrap up a few things.

AnerianJames: I'm actually a big fan of Xomniac's work, not just "This Bites!" but also his Worm fics such as Synesthesia.

EmiyaXander: *gives cookie* Glad you enjoy!

KPheonix: *gives cookie, shrugs* Eh, not my best moment, I'll admit. Sorry bout that.

Madman's Friend: *gives cookie* Glad you enjoy!

Bloodline Purger: *gives cookie* Yeaaah…. Things went a bit… off-plan for this arc. No worries, we'll be leaving the end of next chapter.

Zachary2: *gives cookie* Glad you enjoy? Except, what is this "planning" you speak of? Cause I really don't do it. Aside from planning certain character backgrounds, I really don't.

Wednesday's Jest: *gives cookie, shrugs once more* Fair enough. Can't please them all. Thank for the well wishes though!

This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things


Within her old profession and then some, Fiona had heard any number of screams. Some from her own lifetime as a member of the military, but the assassin she had been split off of out of fear had caused so much more.

She rather liked Orion when he wasn't being a brat, and she had to set her teeth as the young man screamed. "I'll… be back in a moment, Shinigami-sama."

"Oh… yes. Hurry, please."

Fiona dropped her dog-tags, and more importantly the shard of her soul tagged with one of Minato's hiraishin glyphs, on the ground next to Orion and bolted for the general vicinity Sid was likely in.

Worse come to worse, she'd only just end up either in Stein's reach or right behind Shinigami-sama if she misjudged where her fellow teacher was.

Luckily, Oobleck was currently in the same teacher's lounge the zombified Three Star Meister was when she ran from her dog tags shard's limits into the limits of the shard with Sid. "Um… young Mister Orion is in a fair amount of pain. Said something about a sense he normally didn't use, and then used it. In front of Shinigami-sama."

"Mister Orion possess the ability to be aware of other people's souls, and it's actually a fairly powerful sense. Why would he react in such a manner near Lord Death aside from just his power? Any veteran Huntsman can sense the same, to a lesser degree, and while Lord Death is rather overwhelming at first, I don't think there's anything there that would cause pain." Oobleck still stood bolt upright upon Fiona's words, thermos gripped tightly in his right hand.

Sid got to his feet as well, only slower due to the other teacher's extreme speeds. "...because Shinigami-sama is an old god, his spiritual wavelength is practically Madness itself. Fiona, the Death Room?"

"Yessir."

The zombie's eyes narrowed at her, but gave a short nod. "I'll lead you there, Doctor Oobleck. In case you don't remember the way."

"I would ask that you move at your top speed, and be assured I will easily keep pace." The green-haired man responded, his chair already pushed back into the table and stance set to bolt in the same direction as the zombie man.

"Fiona?"

"I am to fetch Stein and a medical professional as well. I'll probably teleport there, don't wait for me."

Neither teacher did, Sid bolting out the room fast enough to slam the door against the wall, Oobleck a step behind only due to unfamiliarity with the building.

Fiona took a stab for the general direction Stein had set himself up, and started running herself before Sid's movements took her outside the range of his shard of her soul. Unfortunately not as lucky that guess to where her other soul shards were, she ended up almost running into Shinigami-sama's desk.

She did at least know which direction the mad meister's lab was from the Death Room and, vaulting a desk with a curious kitty peering up at her then dodging around the old god's bemused form, ran out of her dog-tag's range once more.

Stein's office room was a maddening mix of packed boxes and unpacked medical equipment itself, one of which had her fragment of soul clamped over a bunsen burner.

"There's a witch posing as our head of medical. Shinigami-sama wants her quarantined in the Death Room before we butcher her ass. Since she has fooled most everyone so far, he's calling the hard hitters." Fiona unceremoniously announced flatly the moment the mad meister gave her a sliver of his attention. "Come with me so we can con her somewhere secure."

"...fascinating. Can I have the corpse?"

The kunoichi in her fully understood the request, studying the dead was always a viable way to arm oneself and one's comrades against the enemy. The soldier in her baulked at such an inhumane request, especially one from a mad man. "...you'd have to talk to Shinigami-sama. They plan on storing the soul anyways."

Standing from a rolling chair she was somewhat sure was the same that Orion had hit him with yesterday, the stitched up man nodded absently. "Standard procedure when there isn't a meister-demon weapon pair ready. Who is it?"

"...Medusa."

She couldn't fully see his expression, because his movements caused a glare to fall over his spectacles. "She's in the medical wing, inventorying supplies."

"Ah… you're going to need the crystal to give me range." Fiona hesitantly offered when it seemed as if the scientist was just going to walk out of the room.

Stein, ignoring the heat, plucked the shard of soul out of the clamps holding it to flame. "Come along then, we have a witch to hunt."


Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, teacher at Beacon Academy and veteran Huntsman in his own right, matched his newfound zombified comrade in arms step for step as they sprinted through the hallways towards the Death Room to bring aid to his current ward. The zombie man could more than likely keep this pace for extensive periods of time, and honestly to Oobleck it was similar to a light jog. The speeds he could hit were near unreal when he fully tapped into his Semblance, but unfortunately doing so would waste more time than it would save in unfamiliar territory.

Students across the hallway pressed themselves against walls or darting into classrooms/other hallways at Sid's shouting for them to move or get run over by the two determined men. The two exceptions to this were the red-haired immaculately dressed man Oobleck had been introduced to as Spirit and a woman covered in bandages named Mira, Sid's partner. Upon seeing them, and the serious cast upon their features, they had fallen into step behind Oobleck, keeping pace rather impressively with the undead man and the teacher with a speed Semblance.

He was worried. Ozpin had discreetly informed him of Mister Orion's possible psychological flaws, and being overwhelmed with what was apparently raw insanity could not be doing the young man any favors. Mixed with the fact that there were a lot of innocents in the school and this had the potential to end very badly. There were also hints of something else going on; Oobleck prided himself on his observational skills just as much as his knowledge, and so he hadn't missed the byplay between the two dead faculty members seconds before they bolted. This boded ill for both him and Mister Orion.

Finally they slowed as they approached a rather unremarkable door. Sid paused for only a moment to rip it open, revealing the Death Room's entrance of a row of guillotines. One part of Oobleck's mind was intrigued by the entrance to an alternate dimension being as simple as a door; he wondered what else was in play to achieve that.

The rest was focused entirely on the bone-chilling scream erupting from his ward, who lay on the ground in front of Lord Death, head held in his hands. Oobleck was near instantly at the young man's side, tapping into his Semblance to do so, but paused as his hands drew up. What could he do in this situation?

Lord Death greeted him. "Ah, Doctor Oobleck. It seems that Mister Orion has accidentally gained perception of the madness of my Soul Wavelength. This is an unusual reaction however; it is rare to see someone react so badly to it without a spark of madness present in themselves."

Oobleck hesitated. On the one hand, he could inform the old god that Mister Orion was possibly already a bit insane, and thus make the reaction entirely justifiable. Expected, even, if one took into account just how powerful a soul Lord Death had. On the other hand, it wasn't really his place to inform near-strangers of possible mental issues with the young man's psyche, especially when it could be that his perception was just that sensitive. To buy time, he shifted his attention to the old god. "This isn't something that happened on accident, is it? Mister Orion is far more cautious than he appears, and I caught an exchange between your faculty members that make me wary of something else at work here."

The ancient being of madness in question nodded. "Indeed. Mister Orion had brought something to my attention, and then had tapped into his ability to perceive other's souls, on purpose. All will be explained shortly."

Sid, Mira, and Spirit were still making tracks towards them, prompting Oobleck to make an inquiry. "How long until the nurse and her supplies get here?"

The dimensionally displaced teacher paid close attention to the answer given by the one who, ostensibly, was the cause for this. Hopefully the nurse would have have a way to deal with this, if they acted as medical staff for a school with this being as Headmaster. "Ah, Sergeant Hanson shall be teleporting in with Stein and Madame Medusa. No supplies should be necessary."

Oobleck winced as, after a brief period of silence, another scream ripped into the air. "Isn't there something we can do in the meantime, Lord Death? Anything to make this easier on him?"

Lord Death's "shoulders" rippled in a manner suggesting a shrug. "Sadly, there is not. Unless you are fairly close to the person who has fallen into madness, or have a method to get past it to the depths of their soul, there is very little that can be done. One of my Death Scythes possesses the ability to calm Madness, but unfortunately she is in Oceania at this moment. It would take her at least a day to get here, and hopefully this situation shall be resolved within that time. I believe I may want to call her back anyway, if not to double check on this young man then perhaps to keep Stein in check. He has been a bit more eccentric than usual."

Oobleck's hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. He had no ability to actually contact another person's soul in the manner suggested, aside from awakening Aura, and Mister Orion's was already awakened. As well, he wasn't particularly close to the young man; the closest person in the immediate area (and world, he admitted in the back of his mind) was Miss Scarlatina, who was at most a decent friend.

At this point the screaming had stopped. Mister Orion was still, relatively, conscious, but instead of screaming his madness he had reduced to unintelligible murmuring and the occasional full body twitch. Oobleck was unsure if this development was positive or not to the situation as a whole.

A flash of blue-purple-red heralded the arrival of Sergeant Hanson, along with Professor Stein and an admittedly very attractive blonde woman that was more than likely the aforementioned Nurse Medusa. They appeared at a set of dog tags that Oobleck hadn't quite noticed until now, a short distance from his assigned civilian advisor.

Who had stilled upon the presence of the new arrivals. Orion made no sound, no motion of his body, in complete contrast to anything else that had happened since Oobleck laid eyes on him. After a moment, the young man's body shifted so his eyes were directed at the Nurse, a light in them that suggested a complete lack of reasoning… and an orange glow tinting them.

… That was more than likely a bad sign.

While somewhat uncommon, a few Huntsmen or prospective Huntsmen had various effects on their eyes when using a Semblance. One of the most blatant examples was Yang Xiao Long, who's eyes went progressively scarlet as she tapped into her Semblance more and more. So Oobleck was instantly able to theorize that Mister Orion was, somehow within the depths of his insanity, tapping into his Semblance. One that he had yet to actually unlock.

… Yes, this was highly unlikely to be anything but a bad sign.

Still, the newly arriven nurse took a single step towards the young man who lay upon the ground, posture relaxed and non-threatening. "It's okay… we're all friends… it's okay here…"

For a moment it seemed to be working a little bit; Mister Orion had slowly sat up, still sitting on his knees, gaze directed towards Medusa, who seemed encouraged by the response. She continued speaking, lowering her center of gravity so it was easier to look the young man in the eye and for him to do the same. "That's it… Nice and easy…"

Oobleck then realized something. That he was hearing a very faint click-clicking sound. One indicative of a weapon designed to unfold with stealth in mind. Only two people in the Death Room had a mecha-shift weapon: Himself, and…

Wide eyes darted to Mister Orion's hands, where he could clearly see the metal of the young man's preferred weapons finishing enveloping both of them. Slowly the fingers were closing into a fist.

"Madame Medusa, look out!" At Oobleck's shout, the blonde kind-hearted nurse took a startled step back away from her current patient. That was all that saved her from getting a blade to her stomach.

The young man, moving with more speed and grace than he had displayed at any time before now, had launched an uppercut from his position with enough force to drag him to his feet, blade extended from his gauntlet. Just barely missing the nurse's clothings, Mister Orion stumbled back a bit from the force, not entirely balanced. After stumbling a moment, he stilled, weight perfectly balanced on both of his feet, arms dropped to hang at his sides. His eyes still held the gleam of madness, as well as the signs of somehow tapping into his Semblance. Although they were unfocused, Oobleck had a sick feeling that they were still seeing with perfect clarity of the young man's surroundings, and perhaps even more than that, though if that more was real or illusionary, none could quite say.

Lord Death blandly spoke upon seeing this development. "Oh dear. This has taken a rather negative turn."

And then the young man chuckled, slowly straightening up as he cracked his neck from one side to the other. "I should've expected that… I should have seen you moving… But there's so many songs, so much noise…" Orion, or at least someone who was Orion, stilled. "Why… Why are there so many songs resonating from you? I hear one… And I hear a second, crying to be heard under the false first… But why is there three? Where is the third?"

Oobleck carefully shifted his stance. Sid and the others were getting closer, but they were still a good distance away. He hoped he wouldn't have to intervene, but it seemed it might end up being up to him or Sergeant Hanson, considering Lord Death hadn't moved. The clearly insane young man's eyes constantly darted around, but that eerie orange glow convinced the doctor that he was still aware of everything. Technically.

Madam Medusa brought her hands up placatingly. "Easy there young man. We don't want to hurt you. There isn't any music playing. It's alright. You're safe…"

Mister Orion's eyes locked onto the blond woman's form. "Something there isn't right… I expected the loudness from one, to try and conceal that second one. That second is quite dark. But why is there three? What is different…" His voice fell into incoherent murmurs, as if attempting to truly figure something out. The young man's body swayed from side to side gently as he did so, arms hanging at his side, before he stopped once more. "Maybe…. That could explain it, but would she have done so, I wonder…"

Oobleck watched on, hand close to his thermos, prepared, as Orion began to pace back and forth a few steps, performing textbook military marching movements to always be moving. His strides were long, but very slow.

Suddenly, Oobleck once more heard faint clicking noises. But Orion already had his gauntlets out, all eyes were watching those weapons carefully, and he couldn't see anything from them that was making the noise. So what would- His greaves!

Right as the thought occurred to him, Orion spun and fired a slug from his left greave, which he had triggered midstep. Oobleck blurred forward, grabbing Madame Medusa and throwing her as fast as he could. She was still grazed a fair bit on her side, but Oobleck's actions had at least saved her a gaping hole her in her stomach, which is what would have happened due to the lack of Aura in this world and the caliber used by Orion's greaves. At this point also Sid and the others had reached them, the zombie man continuing his rush forward and putting the madman in a hold, the Demon Weapons assuming combat stances in case they would have to resort to extreme measures. The doctor spun, triggering his weapon as he turned his attention to Orion-

Only to pause in shock as full-blown cackling erupted from the young man, despite his current situation. "There's what was off! I didn't actually think you would have done it, but that blood isn't red!"

Oobleck's attention, as well as everyone else's, was directed towards the blood splatter on the ground. The blood wasn't red; it wasn't even the black of dried blood. No, it was as pitch black as the Grimm Oobleck fought, setting off alarm bells in his head. Bad ones.

"Vector Arrow!"

The doctor dived to the side as he heard the angered scream, turning midroll to watch in shock and a mild amount of horror for his comrades as the blonde nurse unleashed a wave of black arrows connected to her back at the young man and zombie, the once gentle face twisted into a snarl of fury. Sid immediately released the young man and dove away from the attack, his reflexes bringing him out of harm's way in spite of his shock. Orion straightened up, watching apathetically as the arrows rushed towards him.

"Mister Orion!" Oobleck called out to the young man as he finished his diving roll, only to stare as, in spite or maybe because of his current Madness, the young man twisted his body and slipped between the gaps in the attack, the few arrows he couldn't slip past easily weathered by his Aura.

"SHINIGAMI CHOP!" Lord Death intervened at that moment, blurring forward and unleashing a powerful karate chop on the false nurse (as obviously a real nurse wouldn't have attacked with lethal intent). The woman's form blurred away to the side, the karate chop missing and instead obliterating the ground along with a black plate pointing in the direction the woman had moved away to that Oobleck had barely gotten a glimpse of.

As Medusa came to a halt near Mister Orion's original position, a flash of blue-purple-red signified the teleportation of Sergeant Hanson to her dog tags, katana swinging to decapitate the exposed witch. The blade bit into the flesh of her neck… and then was stopped cold. Medusa snarled at her attacker. "Vector Storm!" A multitude of arrows swarmed around the witch, barely missing the dead woman who teleported away to stand near Sid, who had gotten back to his feet in a battle stance.

Everything stilled as all of the occupants of the Death Room readied themselves. Oobleck had shifted his thermos into kanabo form, while Stein shifted from a relaxed stance to a far more serious one, a determined expression on his face. Spirit and Mira both lit up before transforming into weapons that their respective partners accepted, Sid shifting his stance lower while Stein twirled a scythe-form Spirit in one hand. Lord Death simply looked upon Medusa, but the expression on his mask was anything but friendly. Sergeant Hanson readied her katana, while Mister Orion had apparently taken the time to slip some Dust vials into his gauntlets, although Oobleck was unable to tell what type he had. The madman had an annoyed expression.

"What part of 'her blood isn't red' did you people not get?" He grumbled, stance loose and a far cry from his normal one. He held himself at ease, hands at his side, blades extended, swaying back and forth. "Simple things like a slash or stab aren't going to break through that singing blood of hers."

The witch turned a hostile glare upon Oobleck's charge. "And how, exactly, do you know that? How does a madman from another world even break through my Soul Protect so easily?"

Mister Orion's expression shifted to a duller, almost mechanical one. "I know lots of things, and the same way I could predict your earlier attack." He cracked his neck from one side to the other once more, as if adjusting something. It faintly reminded Oobleck of Stein's habit of twisting his screw. "Honestly, acting out of control was a pain. But it was the quickest way to reveal you."

"Medusa Gorgon, while I am impressed at your skill at hiding underneath my eyes and infiltrating my Academy, I am also very vexed and angry over such a thing." Lord Death's tone had changed as much as his mask. Gone was the goofy tone of a teacher, replaced by the the angered growl that hinted at carefully restrained power which very little could match. "I hope you understand that you're going to die here in my Room."

Medusa's expression changed to one of insane glee. "I don't stand a chance against a Great Old One, even with the Black Blood counteracting your Madness and boosting my own power. However, I'm still capable of killing everyone else here, if I can find an opening."

"And how, exactly, do you propose to kill that which is already dead?" Fiona asked of the witch archly, sliding slightly behind the other undead teacher in residence. "There's two here that have already been killed…"

Oobleck tensed up, feeling a chill run down his spine. Enemies who knew they were about to die were the worst to fight. They had no worries, they had no restraint. They had a massive adrenaline rush that accompanies the certainty of death, and they were near unstoppable when fixed upon a goal. The tales and legends of heroes performing impossible deeds with their last breath had an unfortunate basis in reality. And Medusa had just declared her goal: to kill as many of them as she could bring down with her.

"Pumpkin… Pumpkin… Pumpkin…" All eyes shifted towards the noise. A cat wearing a witch's hat was standing on top of Lord Death's desk, staring intently at Medusa. It wasn't an ordinary cat: for one, Oobleck could tell the words were coming from it. Secondly, Oobleck's instincts were screaming at him that this cat was anything but normal. "Halloween Cannon!"

Those instincts were proven correct when a fairly large glowing pumpkin formed in front of the cat before it turned into a high power energy beam that was launched at Medusa. Apparently caught off guard by a cat of all things possessing that much raw power, the witch was struck and sent flying deeper into the Death Room. Oobleck took off running after the witch, weapon held in hand, flame alight.

Medusa Gorgon was going to die today, and he would try his damnedest to make sure no one else went down with her.

-Cue … I need theme music, VIXY! Ideas? … After consultation, we have gone with "This is Halloween" redone by Marilyn Manson. Which fits THE ENTIRETY OF THE ANIME, but meh. Go with it people.-

Medusa hissed in anger, similar the animal motif she operated with. To think she was found out by a mere boy! Never mind the fact that he apparently let himself go insane to draw her out, which she admittedly did not ever see coming from anyone. That he was both able to go right through her Soul Protect and easily deal with her attack meant he was far more of a threat then she had expected.

She should have known that these extradimensional visitors would have been an annoyance. While the dead woman that Lord Death had introduced her to was a curiosity, she seemed rather apathetic to her circumstances, perfectly content with simply hanging around and teaching. Following that example, she had figured these new visitors, though more numerous, to do the same. How was she to have known that one of them was somehow in possession of a perception ability beyond any she had ever seen?

And, she noted as she flew through the air, that a second one possessed a high speed technique rivaling her own Vector Plates. The green haired man she had briefly met in passing was heading for her at an incredible pace, an odd club-like weapon in his hand. Suddenly the end of it lit up with a flame before a barrage of fireballs were launched at her airborne position from a single swing. Cursing, she formed a Vector Plate behind her and launched herself sideways, avoiding the attack. The fireballs collided together in empty air, as she had dismissed the plate a moment after she had launched, knowing full well what would happen if the fireballs had hit the plate. She summoned a Vector Arrow to her hand and reshaped it into the form of a longsword, twisting in midair to land on one of the crosses dotting the landscape.

Not even halfway to her target, a sword bit into her hip as the soldier-ghost used one of her ninja techniques to gain enough height in a split-second. The only reason the dead one managed to get as close as she had was the complete lack of any murderous intent or hatred directed at her, or at anyone at all.

Medusa felt the blade hit her bloodstream this time. There was a heartbeat as her blood hardened to stop the blade…

-In the soulscape representation of Black Blood vs. Kyuubi-chakra tainted katana-

"Hmm… this is worrying." Medusa's inner blood demon inspected the tip of a blade that had rather rudely shoved it's way into her realm, sliding on scales to circle the startling phenomena. The elegantly dressed naga-looking thing flicked the edge of the intrusion with one dainty claw.

What had once been merely a stinging blue aura around the metal suddenly shifted to boiling hot red.

Alarmed, the half-snake half-woman personification of Medusa's Black Blood Madness tried to back away but suddenly hit something that hadn't been there a moment ago.

A gigantic red paw, patches of it mostly blue but with more than enough of the red energy to enable her to make out what had intruded.

The leering visage of a nine-tailed fox had bent itself from the blade, the creature not even aware enough to understand anything going on but fully willing to attack her anyways.

Only the gaping blue holes in the other creature let the naga slither out of the first bite, tearing off a large swath of her cocktail dress as the fangs pinned it in place.

Landing in a rather undignified coil on the floor, the blood demon only had a moment more to stare at the other demon before it lunged again.

She didn't get away as easily as before, not now that the blade was pouring more of that burning red energy into the massive fox. The fangs that dug deeply into her tail boiled with sheer HATE, which disappeared as the intruding blade suddenly slid out just as fast as it had appeared.

-Back in the real world-

...only for it to continue on, spilling a fair bit of her blood. Eyes wide in shock, she rapidly formed a Vector Plate below her and launched herself away from the blade, leaving only a bit of bloodspray behind. Face twisting into an angry snarl, the Gorgon gestured with her free hand. "Bloody Needle!"

The blood hovered in midair for a moment before launching itself as a multitude of spikes at the soldier-ghost who had cut her.

Yanking a forearm up to shield her face, the black needles peppered Fiona's form… only to suddenly steam and bubble into nothing as her non-physical, mostly spiritual form was inhabitable by the Black Blood. Now too far to strike out with the unnerving blade again, the dead woman merely inhaled a deep breath and spat a globe of water at Medusa's head.

"Vector Arrow!" Not wanting to risk any of the dead-woman's attacks against her, Medusa unleashed a storm of arrows to rip apart the globe of water. While a small part of her mind wondered as to how the hell the woman had done that, the rest of her was far more focused on surviving for as long as she could. Shifting her attention away from the falling soldier for a moment, she hissed a stream of curses under her breath.

Flying towards her at a decent speed was a fairly large pumpkin. Riding on top of the very large, orange gourd was the madman who had gotten her into this fight, accompanied by a new person. This new figure was a tall statuesque woman wearing a black bikini and black fur coat, a witch's hat upon her head that was apparently holding the madman close to her by wrapping an arm around his waist, more than likely to keep him from falling off. Even as she could feel her wound stitching itself back together, a boon from the Black Blood, the young man raised a gauntlet in her direction.

I know that there's a blade on it, but he's far too far away to even attempt to charge, so what- Medusa's train of thought was abruptly (and rather rudely) interrupted by a bolt of lightning launched from the young man's hand and struck her, jolting her painfully. Stifling a scream of pain, she reflexively threw her sword at the madman even while forming a second one in her off-hand and conjuring a Vector Plate below her to propel her at the duo. Unsurprisingly, the madman deflected her thrown Vector with his offhand's blade, but was forced to leap back alongside the woman holding him as Medusa landed on the gourd, a Vector manifesting from her backside like a tail to stab into the gourd and provide her secure footing. Shifting her sword from one hand to the other, she narrowed her eyes at the young man and the woman facing her.

"In the interest of curiousity, I would like to know the name of the one who lead to my death." Her tone was cold and biting, but she refrained from attacking just yet. The mad young man tilted his head to the side.

"Mmm… I suppose that's fair. It's Orion." As he spoke, his companion withdrew the arm-like fabric from around his waist to retreat back onto her hat. "This is Blair, the magic cat."

Medusa's gaze shifted a smidge, enough so that they knew she was addressing the woman named Blair that was obviously the cat that had attacked her earlier in a different form. "A Monster? Why would a Monster help the DWMA over a Witch?"

The cat-woman's own eyes were narrowed, absolutely no trace of any playfulness that one would expect in that of a cat present within them. "Unlike a majority of Monsters, I'm actually rather fond of humans and their antics. You threatening children spurred me to attack you alongside them."

With those words Orion rushed forward, fist cocked back. Medusa easily blocked his fist with her weapon, though there was a bit of strain from the force of the blow. Suddenly his left, enshrouded in a dense black aura, launched itself forward and buried itself into her gut, actually breaking through her Black Blood with raw brute force. The snake witch coughed up a small amount of blood due to the sudden internal damage, her Vector sword disappearing while a fair amount also spilled from the wound.

She reacted instinctively. "BLOODY NEEDLE!" The copious amount of blood froze in mid-air before changing direction and stabbing at the young man who had managed to hurt her. While quite a bit of it was blocked by the sudden manifestation of an orange aura around various parts of his body, a decent amount still struck him in the torso with a fair amount of force, launching him away from the witch with a bit of the blood residing within his system, more than likely waiting to kill him when the opportunity arises. At least that's one for sure death. A moment's thought had the remaining blood flow into her wound, rejoining her body as the hole began repairing itself immediately.

A sudden hiss, dissimilar to that of her snakes, alerted Medusa to the approach of Blair, who struck out with a rather powerful kick that the witch blocked with a forearm. A few seconds passed as the women, one a Witch and the other a Monster, fought a martial duel atop the giant pumpkin before Medusa slipped through the cat-woman's guard and slammed her skull with a kick, launching her off the pumpkin. Medusa felt a moment's triumph for getting the best of her opponent.

"Halloween Cannon!"

That feeling was quickly blasted away in a similar manner to the pumpkin exploding beneath her feet.


"Man, what the hell hit me…" I grumbled as I returned to full consciousness. Well, relative full consciousness, as I didn't recognize my surroundings. A dimly lit room with a few lamps scattered about, I could tell I was nowhere normal. A color scheme of black and blood red filled the room, with a variety of doors upon the walls painted varying shades of grey. An ornate table littered with books sat in the middle of the room, and a multitude of bookcases lined the walls in between the doors. I slowly clambered to my feet, taking in the odd room.

"Huh… I like the color scheme. Kind of morbid, but beautiful in it's own way."

"It would be odd if you didn't like the layout of your own soul."

The unknown voice coming from behind had me spinning in place to face the stranger. I raised an eyebrow as they moved into the light, the motion decidedly not human. The figure was most definitely a woman, evidenced by the ample curve of her chest. Clad in a black cocktail dress, the womanly creature had a massive snake's tail instead of legs. She possessed stark white hair and striking blue eyes, and the expression on her face was rather neutral. The most striking thing about her, aside from the tail, was the large rip in her dress and a fair sized hole in her tail, though she made no sign of discomfort. I was impressed, considering that the wound and dress were both being stitched up slowly as time passed.

"My soul was a lot more white until I messed with the layout." I commented, remaining wary of the intruder. "The last woman in it also punched me." Ruby was also a woman, but I was more so referring to Yang.

The snake-woman gave a rippling shrug. "I highly doubt that you were completely Mad when you last entered your Soul. That has affected you quite deeply."

Mad? The memories of my last actions rushed forward in my mind and I groaned. "Fuck. I seriously underestimated the strength of an Old God's soul." I looked closely at the wounded woman. "Assuming you're the representation of my madness, I would like to point that I figured you'd be male. My Shadow was."

The naga tilted her head to the side slightly. "True, your Madness would be represented by a male figure normally. However, I am not the representation of your Madness, nor am I a Shadow."

I blinked. "Okay, then what the fuck are you, and how the hell did you get here?"

The snake-woman gave a pretty good rendition of a curtsy, considering the tail. "I am Kaijin, the representation of Madness for Medusa Gorgon. I am here because you were struck by and infected by the Black Blood."

I felt a chill run down my spine. Infected? That's…. Really not good. "I thought the Black Blood was represented by a tiny little ogre dude?"

Kaijin's smile was mocking and insincere. "Each person's representation of the Black Blood is unique. Generally in the form of a monster that is most related to the person, the representative is the full incarnation of the Madness inherent in the person that the Black Blood feeds off of."

I slowly edged away from her a little. "Still not explaining how you are here. Cause I'm not really snake-like, or a woman. Or Medusa Gorgon, for that matter."

"So saying…" The woman's words indicated that she barely noticed my interjection. "I am here because my previous host is going to die, and I possess just as much of a survival instinct as she does. While normally the Black Blood does as I stated before, my previous host's soul was powerful enough to leave a lingering impression, thus allowing me to manifest."

"Ooookaay….." I drawled slowly. "So why, exactly, am I not going to attack you? And why is my apparent Madness not made manifest?"

"For the latter, I am taking up the role of the representation of your Madness." She admitted. Her face then grew irritated. "As for the former, because attacking and possibly killing me will let both of your Madness run free."

"Both?" That's… an even worse sign. This is very very not good.

"You were recently infected by the Madness of Order present in the wavelength of Death's soul." Kaijin stated matter of factly. "However, you were somehow influenced by something extremely powerful beforehand, leaving you with a second Madness. These two Madnesses are preventing you from feeling the effects of the Madness of the Black Blood."

Fuck, can not let this reach Ozpin. Really don't need an "I told you so" over this matter. "So, my own insanity prevents other insanity?" I asked rhetorically. "Ok, while kind of useful…"

"You are not able to suppress both Madnesses, not for a long period of time." She cut me off mid-thought. "One or the other, yes, however I assume you do not wish to operate as a Madman for the rest of your life. If you attempt to suppress both of them, you will be able to do so only briefly before they overwhelm your willpower. While you are admittedly powerful in that regard, the Madness of two Gods is not so easily denied."

"What's your stake in this?" I questioned her. "I remember that Medusa was able to possess others, and the Black Blood advocated use of itself so as to take over it's own host."

"While this is true in normal circumstances, and indeed if you were anyone else I would attempt to subvert you…" The naga slithered forward to be only a few paces away from me, looking me dead in the eye. "I am as incapable of suppressing both Madnesses inherent within you as you are. If I subverted you and took control, I too would lose myself."

"So, what, you're going to help me? Free of charge?" I shook my head. "Nothing in this world is free. Pull the other one."

"I can suppress one Madness within you." Kaijin stated bluntly. "I will do this in return for allowing myself to exist within you, and for brief periods for which I can control your body. As the Black Blood made manifest, I am able to grant you the boons of it whenever you give in to me."

I pondered what she said. If she's right, turning her down is not an option. Going insane is not something I want to risk in any case. As for allowing her control of me… "Is it just control of me? Or simply allowing yourself to exist as more than just a figment of someone's mind?"

"A bit of both." She admitted candidly. "While I still possess the desire to overtake you, I recognize that this is impossible for any sense of permanency."

"Hmm…" I turned away from her and regarded the surroundings again. "You are aware of my ability to manifest my soul physically, yes? I should be able to manifest you, as a piece of my soul, for a period of time and allowing you to interact with others."

That got her attention focused solely on me. "Truly?" She queried, then nodded to herself. "You must be speaking truthfully; you are as unable to lie within this room as I am." Her expression was contemplative. "This does change things. I will help suppress your Madness in return for letting me live. I will grant you any one boon at a time in return for manifesting myself whenever you are able." Her expression then hardened. "However, in order for you to access all of the Black Blood's power at once, or empower others with it, or delve into your Madness, you will have to give in to me. Do we have an accord?"

I nodded. "I'm fine with that. So, seal it with a handshake, orrr…." I was cut off by her suddenly moving forward, her body molding to mine as she gave me a surprise kiss. She maintained it for a few seconds before pulling away, satisfied.

"That will do, I believe." Suddenly the room around us shook, and her expression grew pensive. "Time for you to wake up it seems."

My head swiveled back and forth as the room shook again. "Hey, can you at least tell me what my other Madness is?"

"You haven't realized?" She inquired, then shrugged once more as another quake dimmed the lights. "The Madness of Apathy, of course."

And then everything went black.


"OI! You little brat, get the hell up already!"

These words were immediately followed by a rather painful slap across my face. My eyes opened and I bolted upright, waving my arms.

"I AM A GROWN-ASS MAN AND WHAT IS YOUR MALFUNCTION, WOMAN?!" I roared out before blinking as I returned to full awareness of my surroundings. "Oh. Huh. Hi Fiona. What I miss?"

"A fair bit. Now move it."

I rolled back and then hopped up to my feet, noticing that the stinging sensation was already gone. "Mind summarizing? Last I remember was being a dumbshit and basking in Reaper Man's soul."

"That…? Alright. The quick and dirty of it is Medusa's fully aware we're aware she's a witch. Sid and Stein are trying to herd her into Shinigami-sama's range, but they need another set or two to finish the herding. Dodge the damn black arrows, do not get hit by her stupid needles, and your green-haired speedster fellow is damn impressive with how he's being not there when things go to hell. Don't know where your kitty-lady goes, but she's doing well as a surprise sniper."

"Oobleck hunts genocidal monsters for a living, Blair's magic is actually well-suited to long range, figured on the arrows, and a bit late on the needles. Fortunately, they're a non-issue for me now." Probably.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry. Even if you do get hit by more Black Blood, I will still stick to our terms. The amount of it present in your system means little to my actual strength, in truth."

What the hell? "Please tell me you heard that." I asked the ghostly sergeant. "By 'that' I mean a woman's voice besides yours."

"...no?" Fiona offered after a moment, glancing to where Sid very nearly didn't dodge a barrage of arrows far from where we were standing. "I mean, besides miss bitchy-witch over there and Miss Blair's, I don't hear another woman."

"... Dealing with that later then." I shoved that concern aside (and carefully ignored the chuckle in the back of my head that was not my voice) and hurriedly began fiddling with my dust vials, swapping out my current ones for air ones. "Kill Medusa now, so long as I'm not dead or dying everything else involving me is a non-issue. No worries if I get hit again, I can guarantee I'll recover from anything short of dismemberment or an immediately fatal blow."

"Good company then, given I can survive the rest of it." Snorted the dead woman, re-conjuring a katana blade to her hand and kicking something up off the ground. "Here, hold onto these for me. I need more range."

I caught the objects, recognizing her dog tags. "Sure. Now then… Let's do this." I double-checked my vials before nodding and pointing my arms behind me. "I've always wanted an excuse to yell this." So saying, I unleashed dual blasts of air behind me as I fired off my shotguns in tandem, launching myself high into the air.

I spun in midair, taking in the scene below as I flew up. Medusa was a barely visible blur, fllitting from plate to plate in a small area while fending off blows from both Stein and Sid. Occasionally she went skyward only to quickly descend to dodge a magical blast that was presumably from Blair, judging by the orange. Oobleck darted in and out of the mess, taking potshots with his weapon whenever he saw the chance. I twisted in mid-air to position myself as pointed towards Medusa, arms back and body straight. I fired again, launching myself at rapid speeds that increased with every passing second because of gravity.

Oh wait. Aura can only take so much. I need to survive this landing!

"Done."

I felt a shift within myself, and grinned. Weell…. Since I have the chance.

"LEEEERRRROOOOOYYYY JEEEENNNNKKKIIIIIINNNSSSS!"

"OH MY GOD! REALLY?"

At my shout (and apparently ignoring Fiona's), Medusa's face turned skywards, shock written across it. One fist cocked back as I flew towards her, I had a massive grin on my face. "NIGHT-NIGHT, BITCH."

And then I slammed my fist into her face at terminal velocity. Well, terminal for normal people. Medusa was slammed into the ground, skull bouncing off as the impact left a crater. Huh, I generated a lot of force. "FIONA, GO!"

The expected blinding flare of blue-purple-red later, the ghostly sergeant ripped the witch out of her crater and bodily flung her towards Sid. Taking his cue from his fellow undead, the zombie slammed a boot into the woman's stomach and brutally redirected her into the air more in Stein's direction.

Stein darted forward, jumping up with a palm strike at the ready. A moment later he struck, palm twisting as he attacked. "Soul Force!" The resulting blow launched the snake-themed woman at the ground at a fair velocity. Before she could hit, however, Oobleck rushed forward at maximum speed and struck her with a two-handed blow, sending her flying away from us. A moment later an explosion struck her from the side, sending her spinning away to eventually fall to the ground at Death's feet(?). Pushing herself upward, Medusa directed her attention to the figure in front of her… and then looked up, paling.

"Fuck."

"Miss Medusa? Consider yourself fired." Shinigami-sama informed her cheerily, a near-audible inhale making his cloaked form inflate as energy pulled from the very air entered it's mask by the eye holes. Medusa had only a moment, within which she barely managed an inch of movement to try to escape with, before the old god unleashed a shockwave of energy directly over her head.

All of us flinched away from the brightness of the attack. When we could look again, the only thing left was a smoking crater around Death, and a floating purple ball with arrows similar to Medusa's vectors crossing over it. I whistled lowly.

"Damn… Reaper Man does not fuck around, does he?"


I plopped down heavily in a chair that was sitting near Death's desk. He had conjured up multiple chairs for all of us to array ourselves in after locking up Medusa's soul and cleaning up a bit from the fight. Arranged in a circular manner, everyone was seated in a chair aside from Lord Death (can he even sit?) and Blair, who had preferred to swap to cat form and lay down on top of my chair. After I had sat down in it, she had swapped positions to rest in my lap instead, one of my hands coming up to stroke her gently.

"Admittedly, that could have gone better." I commented idly. "While it could have gone a lot worse, considering we're all alive and with minor injuries, that could have gone better. That she had injected herself with Black Blood…"

"And infected you with it, leaving you with me?"

Not now Kaijin. I twitched as I heard her mocking laughter resound in my head, accompanying a brief stinging sensation in my body. That sensation then intensified to outright pain for a moment, leaving me to begin cursing under my breath. "Sadistic little…"

Yeah, ending up with a chibi demon that could manipulate my fucking blood was not in the plan.

"So… Mister Orion. A question, if you please." Shinigami-sama offered in an overly cheerful if slightly terrifying tone. "Are you somewhat like our own Miss Fiona?"

"Depends on what you mean. If you mean the whole being dead thing, then no, I am very much alive and actually in need of important things like oxygen or water." I answered wearily, a bit too tired to be terrified of the old god.

"...screw you." Fiona snipped irritably, sinking down in her own chair.

Sid patted his fellow undead on the shoulder. "At least you've accepted the whole 'dead' thing? We got you that far, at least."

"Bit out of my age range Fiona." I snarked back at her. "As for the trans-dimensionally displaced thing? Kind of."

"I am young enough to be not that much older than you, and old enough to be a grandmother." Sniffed the dead woman, batting a hand. "So you're both correct and not. And as far as I'm aware, Shinigami-sama, it's more like he's something close in situation as Natsumi was… just with a bit less clarity on the how."

"Also, I was just ripped from my world. I have a lot of raw data, but any personal memories are completely obliterated." I mentioned off-handedly. "Relearning morals hasn't exactly been perfect, but fairly close. I think."

"That's… an interesting experiment." Stein mused thoughtfully from Fiona's other side. "I wonder…"

"Let's not and say we did, for now."

"Stein, experiment on that on yourself. Suffice to say, considering how much a person is made of memories, it's fairly close to a miracle that I have any sort of personality." I drawled. "The whole "unlocking my Aura" might have helped though."

"No actually. I've… known others second-hand that had the memories, and still had no personality to speak of. As well as others re-learning social norms after being brainwashed." Fiona interjected, staring off into nothing. "It's actually a fair miracle that you're not entirely a murderous little ball of instinct instead of rational thought."

I shrugged. "That would have been too much work. While I am a bit apathetic… Actually I was a lot, but I'm getting better, I still do have emotions. Because I apparently have a stupidly powerful soul." I pondered for a moment. "I mean yeah, I might've gone a little insane, but I'm still functional in a civilized society."

She snorted at me, actually leaning sideways onto Stein. "All the best ones are crazy. It's just when they go off the deep end that others worry."

"Such as the Headmaster worrying about your mental state, thus confronting you before Mister Orion." Oobleck interjected. "From today's proceedings, it seems he was justified."

I scowled. "I didn't actually think I was insane then. A bit odd, but that was kind of par for the course. It was only recently that it's been confirmed I was actually a bit mad." I then sighed. "Of course, if I wasn't before, I am now."

"You're over the worst of it now." Fiona offered absently. "That bump to realization you're not as sane as society says you should be. Now you just have to remind yourself you're not sane, and that sometimes the reactions you want to go with aren't the best ones."

"Uh, Fiona? Just a hypothetical question here." I slowly spoke, as I remembered something Kaijin had mentioned earlier. "You know my earlier reaction was due to exposing myself to the Madness present in Lord Death since he's one of the Great Old Ones right?"

"...Shinigami-sama has the Madness of Order. You should've been mindlessly cleaning up a storm, not having a screaming fit had you been perfectly 'sane'." She countered just as slowly, refocusing on the group. "Since you didn't, and you do have a very strong soul, something else is up."

"I may have apparently been infected by a Madness of a different great old one beforehand?" I offered weakly. "May. Possibly. Considering I don't entirely know how I ended up where I was a few months ago with selective amnesia…"

"That's still better than waking up as less than a ghost attached to a fucking assassin."

I scowled at her. "Really? I'll trade you. I wouldn't mind being dead if it meant remembering my family, my friends, any lovers I may have had. Hell, I can't even remember if I had a pet!"

"...so, you'd rather remember exactly how they died instead? Their injuries that caused it? Which ones bleed out to death with me?" Fiona smiled grimly. "Worse yet, I lead my squad to their deaths. The people that looked up to me, that I got to know for years before we died in an ambush. Died because I picked the wrong path that day."

I flinched. "Ok, point to you. So, back to the original hypothetical question. What kind of advice would you offer someone that is currently suffering 3 different types of Madness? Hypothetically."

Fiona blinked slowly, first her right eye then her left. "Either a keeper or picking someone you know has proper morals and asking yourself what they would do in the same situations you end up with."

"And if the people this hypothetical person knows mainly consists of criminals, hormone driven teenagers, and leaders with significant authority?"

"You're kind of screwed, then."

"... Am I the only one who wants to go find a version of Harry Potter and yell at him about how easy he has it?" I asked. "Because honestly, this whole shenanigans that is my life makes his look blessed."

Sid looked over at Spirit. "Should we know who he's talking about?"

Spirit frowned thoughtfully. "The name sounds a bit familiar, but I can't remember where…"

"It's in one of Maka dear's books." The cat in my lap piped up, cracking an eye open to look at the group. "Main character of a series. Kid is hunted by the lich-like abomination that killed his parents but is protected by his mother's love and dying sacrifice. Has a nasty habit of being in the wrong place at the right time."

I blinked down at her. "... I didn't think you had those books. Then again, this is an Earth…" I blinked again when a thought occurred to me. "Wait, when the hell did you ever read those?"

The cat shifted her gaze up to me. "It's not like I have much to do aside from bugging the local fishmonger for food while Maka and Soul are at school, ya know. I need to keep myself occupied somehow. As I sadly lost my job after accidentally driving him," at this she flicked a tail at Spirit, "Deep into the depths of a bottle because he's not that great of a parent…"

And cue gloom cloud over aforementioned father. Damn, that's harsh Blair… Hold up.

"Weren't you meowing like every damn sentence earlier? And acting a lot more childish?" I accused her, though I was admittedly still petting her.

"I got tired of that. You didn't think I actually spoke like that all the time did you?" The Monster closed her eye again. "I'm 48 years old, give me some credit."

"... gotta say, you look damn good for a 48 year old woman." I pointed out.

"Mister Orion…" Oobleck spoke up carefully, considering something. "If I may be so bold, where would the 3rd Madness of this hypothetical person originate from?"

That got everyone's attention. I hesitated. "Ah, well, that might be because something designed to wake a Kishin wouldn't exactly be normal and would more than likely have negative effects on anything it may touch?"

Sid carefully shifted in his chair, studying me intently. "And when were you going to mention being hit by the Black Blood?"

"When there was someone here that could do something about it beyond dissecting and/or killing me." I stated flatly. "Since your head medical officer was both a witch and the inventor of the blood, and is also now a corpse, I wasn't exactly banking any hopes on you currently having someone on hand to help with that."

Oobleck piped up from his chair, addressing Death. "Lord Death, didn't you mention one of your subordinates could affect the Madness of others?"

The cloaked figure slowly nodded, a hand sprouting from him and stroking his chin(?) thoughtfully. "Marie Mjolnir, one of my Death Scythes, does indeed possess the ability to calm the Madness present in others. She is currently assigned elsewhere, however I can recall her here. I suppose that would the best decision, as there is no telling what damage Medusa may have done to the students during her time here. She also should be able to help with clearing up any lingering issues Sergeant Hanson possesses and of course take a look at you, young man." That last part was addressed to me, obviously. I nodded at him.

"Would probably be a good idea. While I've been coping fairly well so far, having someone who actually knows what they're doing check me over at worst can't hurt."

"She might hurt me!"

Relax Kaijin, I have so much personal Madness that you're unlikely to be affected. If you are, I'll make sure nothing permanent happens. We do have a deal, after all.

AN: …. SO MANY THINGS! Lots and lots of things.

I… don't know where to start. I touched on a LOT of shit… That might piss off a bunch of people… I suppose chronological is always a good stand by? Cept the first part was Fiona… IE Vixy… *ponders* Meh, I'll bug her later for her input. So, on to the next part. Which is…

Orion gone Mad: Yeah, uh… Whoops? He was technically already a bit loco before and just wasn't admitting it. But Shinigami-sama IS A GREAT OLD ONE. He's THE LIVING EMBODIMENT of one form of Madness. And he's THE Great Old One, more powerful than any other (Asura, at this point in time, is still sealed within his own skin, and lost before anyway, so doesn't count). So yeah, Orion is legally insane. And apparently was before, he was just suppressing. Heavily. As referenced. Now he's even more insane, but he's coping. Hey, Stein can do it, and Orion isn't psychotic like him, so yay for that. Yeah, that's… that's not actually going away anytime soon. I'm being glared at…

Medusa with Black Blood: … Upon thinking about it after setting up the fight, it was a tad bit one-sided. I mean, Blair, Fiona, Orion, Sid/Mira, Stein/Spirit, and Shinigami-sama vs. Medusa? So I gave her Black Blood. Which manifests in her soul as a naga, as that's a far more fitting youkai representation then an oni for her. So yeah, I evolved her from badass to BAMF. Which wasn't really that thought out….

Naga vs. Kyuubi: So… yeah. This essentially boils down to the metaphysical level of Black Blood vs. Kyuubi chakra. Which was unfair on so many levels that it wasn't even funny. But hey. Stuff happens.

Vixen Tail : To be clear, or clear-er, Fiona has only an echo of the Kyuubi chakra in her. Some of it is compressed with her soul-rock thing, and she leeches a small amount of it into her chakra manipulations. Hence why Orion stopped sensing her soul so quickly, because she really is partially demonic now. Especially when she reinforces herself/her katana illusions to be more real than normal genjutsu/Yin Release Illusions. But it's enough it has rudimentary intelligence, more just bestial instinct than actual higher thinking functionality. So… that scene with a spotty copy of a massive nine-tailed fox was the corrosive demon chakra Fiona had eating away at Medusa's Black Blood within the witch's soul-scape.

Speaking of…

Kaijin the Black Blood Naga: So… Originally meant to be a little throwaway. Completely, I swear. But then I got to thinking, and more thinking, and uh…

He ran away with the idea. I basically poked holes and helped him shore up the reasonings, but yeah. Helped not a bit.

Orion with Black Blood: Yeah, uh, yeah… I'm sorry. But I loved the concept of Kaijin to death, sooo… I stole her from Medusa. And in the process got Orion infected with the Black Blood, giving him a THIRD Madness… and a voice in his head. Hey, at least Fiona isn't the only jinchuriki now? Vixy named her, thanks Vixy! Kaijin isn't a main character, she'll mainly provide color commentary from time to time, and help Orion cope with the Madness… and actually run the Black Blood. Yeah, she's pretty much the living definition of a support character. I didn't mean to make an OC… but it happened. My bad. I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO FALLS IN LOVE WITH THROWAWAY CHARACTERS. Don't judge me. *considers* Erm, don't judge me more harshly than you normally do, rather. Don't worry too much either folks, Orion will be extremely reluctant to use the Black Blood for more than a minor boost, knowing it tends to have costly side effects. It's simply an ace in the hole for him. That will cause him pain occasionally because she's bored.

Orion's Semblance: No, he doesn't have it unlocked. He could just use a part of it temporarily while in a Mad state. His passive abilities have improved as a result, but he still lacks the ability to truly tap into it. Sorry folks, but no Semblance use from him just yet.

Hmm… Anyway. So next chapter will cover the period of time that Orion and co. are trapped in SE world. THERE SHALL BE TALES. Speaking of tales… WHO WANTS ANOTHER OMAKE!


Death Room, Later on:

Lord Death adjusted his mirror slightly then nodded in satisfaction. Standing next to him was Stein, twisting his screw as he stared at his reflection, and Spirit, who had his arms crossed and looked rather perplexed.

"So, why, exactly, am I here?" The Death Scythe asked, curious. It wasn't like he knew anything about finding alternate dimensions, he'd be better off teaching one of the classes or keeping an eye on on the newest Madman.

"Dimensional travel is not an exact science." Stein spoke calmly. "Oh sure, there are tales of people doing it properly or with ease, but honestly, because of how expansive and infinite reality is, the amount of people who can actually do so in truth are an inconceivable fraction of a percent. While we do have some points to work off of, there are still an infinite number of worlds that we may accidentally open a portal to instead."

"... That doesn't answer the question, Stein." Spirit spoke flatly, giving his first wielder an annoyed look.

"You're here, Spirit, because I may need your help to deal with the occasional incomprehensible horror or odd monsters that might pop up." Lord Death spoke up cheerfully. "Stein's going to be fine tuning, I'm going to be activating the portal and occasionally fighting off whatever comes through, and you're going to kick everything else out that I won't!"

Spirit resisted the urge to facepalm. Well, at least his day would be interesting…


"GROOAAARRRGGHHH"

"KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!"

"SHINIGAMI CHOP!"

"Evidently the wrong place… Don't forget to toss the body back through."

"FUCKING HELP US STEIN!"

"GROOOAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH"


The clashing of blades could be heard as Shinigami-sama, wielding Spirit, dueled a heavily scarred man with spiky black hair topped with bells and an eyepatch.

"HAHAHAHA! THIS IS AWESOME!"

"WHY IS HE SO DAMN STRONG?!"

"Dying removes a lot of limits, Spirit. SHINIGAMI CHOP!"

"Hmm, not this one…"


Spirit was fighting another man with an eyepatch and black spiky hair, though no bells were present. Instead, the Death Scythe's opponent was fending off the Demon Weapon blades sprouting from his body with blood-red blades sprouting from his own arms.

"HAHAHA, YOU'RE NOT BAD!"

"BRING IT YOU LUNATIC!"

Shinigami-sama nodded solemnly to himself as he watched the two of them fight. "It's good for Spirit to get some exercise every now and then."

"Indeed."


The Great Old One struggled to hold back a beast of massive proportions, while Spirit and Stein fought as a tag-team to deal with the goblinoid creatures that spilled out.

"Shinigami-sama, if you could hurry up with tossing that beast back in!"

"I'm trying Spirit, but he's not being very obliging!"


"Am I speaking to an Ozpin currently?"

"I AM THE GREAT WIZARD OF OZ!"

"Wrong Ozpin."


Yeah… incidents of this nature will be happening offscreen nextchapter if you don't see Spirit, Stein, or Lord Death anywhere during a scene. This reflects two of my own beliefs: that there are truly an infinite number of worlds, and thus an infinite number of possibilities, including that which we portray as fantasy, and that dimensional travel is about the farthest thing you can get from precise unless you cheat or the planes you can travel to are in truth limited in nature.

Hmmm… I think that's everything. Please Read, Review, and wait for the next update!