Chapter 3: Machinations of the Dark Side.
(Beacon Academy underground)
Raiko and Ozpin were meditating in front of each other, both of them in an empty place with nothing but weak lights and a blue floor. They also had what seemed to be lightsabers in front of each of them, but said lightsabers seemed to differ from a regular one since they seemed to have some kind of battery with them. The two Force wielders kept meditating for a while until both of them opened their eyes wide and ran straight to the weapons, and when they activated them, gray energy blades emerged, making a weird static sound that was uncommon for lightsabers.
As the fight began, Ozpin tried to stab Raiko multiple times, all of those attempts failing as the boy parried all of them. The young Jedi countered by performing a spinning slash in Ozpin's right side, which the headmaster quickly defended. With only one hand, Ozpin went from defense to a stabbing attack in seconds, scratching Raiko's shoulder slightly and giving him a slight shock.
"Looks like I got the first hit." Ozpin said in a teasing, but still friendly tone as he maneuvered his blade with elegance.
"It sure seems like it, great work there, headmaster." Raiko admitted as he prepared his counterattack.
This time deciding to be more aggressive, Raiko jumped into Ozpin's direction as fast as he could, forcing the old warrior to defend himself immediately. Keeping the pressure on the Makashi user, Raiko continued the offensive by constantly trying to slash him on the sides, eventually going for a stab on Ozpin stomach. The headmaster avoided the attack, but something later slashed him on the side as Raiko predicted he would dodge the stabbing attempt, so he used the Force to dash his arm in Ozpin's direction. The gray-haired warrior held his wound with his free hand, although some of his clothes got damaged in the attack, his skin only suffered a slight burn, something that a regular lightsaber would cause just by touching him, and thankfully nothing more.
Raiko performed a somersault in his opponent's direction, diving his blade towards Ozpin's with no restraint. Unfortunately, Ozpin was leagues better than team CRDL and had no problem dodging the attack. Even when Raiko tried to keep the pace of his attacks, Ozpin blocked all of them and with his free hand, he pushed Raiko backward with the Force. The young Jedi had no trouble in landing on his feet, but he quickly meets numerous stabbing attacks by Ozpin, who got in front of him and attacked him with such speed he left a green afterimage behind him. Eventually, he got a minor hit on the boy's shoulder, then one on his right leg, then one on the side of his stomach, and so on. Realizing what the headmaster was doing, Raiko jumped backward to create some distances between the two, Force pushing Ozpin while in the air to not end in the same position as before.
The two were now at the edges of the room, one with a massive blow and one with many small ones. The latter was having some minor difficulty in keeping himself standing.
"It seems you truly got the gist of Makashi, professor."
"Thank you. Your Ataru is also impressive, not very elegant, but impressive." Ozpin stated as he placed himself firmly in his stance, like a classic dueling master.
"I appreciate the compliment." Raiko said as he got into his fighting stance "Now let me show you the true power of Form IV."
Both Force users ran again in each other direction. However, instead of clashing against Ozpin, Raiko used the Force to blow a crater in front of the headmaster, stunning him for a moment. Taking advantage of this, Raiko immediately took the offensive, using as much acrobatics as he could keep Ozpin on the edge constantly. Eventually, he swung Ozpin saber away and deliver a powerful slash on his back, which the grandmaster answering by stabbing the Jedi on his shoulder.
"Blast!" Raiko complained, holding his shoulder in an attempt to block the pain.
Both warriors took a second to process their injuries before returning to combat, although a slower one to them, already receiving significant damage by this point.
With a pull of his hand, Ozpin Force pulled Raiko in direction, specifically in his lightsaber direction, something that caught the boy by surprise and made him nearly fail to defend himself. Again going back to multiple slashes at each other, the two Jedi clashed their energy blades together one last time, both trying to overwhelm the other as the sound of their lightsabers became more and more apparent. Both attempted to Force push the other and ended up in an even bigger stalemate, as none of them weakened even a bit as they continued to exert more and more pressure in their Force attack. The result was a big Force explosion that sent both of them flying towards the wall; the impact was so powerful it nearly broke their auras and made them fall to the ground with no remaining strengths to continue fighting.
"Uuuugh." Raiko mumbled as he struggled to get up, "I think we got a bit too carried away."
"It sure seems like it." Ozpin agreed as he got up with some difficulty, pulling his cane back to him to help him arise.
"Well, when you are not fighting for your life, fights can be a bit entertaining. It makes sense two people like you would get a bit carried away by it since you two rarely fought for fun." the voice of Qui-Gon echoed in their minds as the Force ghost appeared in the middle of the arena.
"A good point, master."
"I guess another factor was the absence of any lethal weapon. Those training sabers can at best burn your skin a little, nothing more than that." Raiko stated as he looked at the saber he had in hand, "Speaking of lightsabers, how did you make yours? There is no way you could have gone to Illum."
Ozpin chuckled, somewhat recovering from the slashes he received a few moments ago.
"Let's just say the crystal found its way to me."
Raiko blinked at him and the Force ghost for a couple of seconds.
"I don't think this explanation is enough, please elaborate on that."
"Master Qui-Gon taught me to reach the crystals with the Force and making them appear in front of me." Ozpin said with a tired voice
"Oh, that makes sense, I think. Well, when we find our new allies, you will have to teach me to call for the crystals."
"If we manage to even find them. All we have are theories."
"Hey. If master Qui-Gon's arrival here awakened the Force on you and on that Amber girl, maybe my arrival here does something similar. You two said you felt an enormous change in Force when I landed here. It is a possibility we cannot ignore, especially with our ability to blow up Grimm with the Force."
"That is true, but we cannot put so much faith in a simple theory, it is not safe. Our best bet is to ensure you can become a Huntsman." Qui-Gon warned.
"Speaking of this, do I really have to attend these classes? You know I have more experience than most Huntsman here, and while I understand the need of learning this world history and some of its politics, I don't think there is any need for me to learn about combat and other things I have already mastered as Jedi Shadow."
"We discussed this already, Raiko. I know you are an exceptional warrior, but that is because I know you are a Jedi. The rest of the world, including the council, can't even conceive the idea of alien life. If I said I wanted an eighteen-year-old boy, with no records about his existence before his entrance to this Academy, to receive the title of Huntsman, the council would undoubtedly question my decision and probably even remove me of my position as headmaster of Beacon." Ozpin said, talking with a lot of annoyance when mentioning the council "I know it will be tedious and pointless, but you will have to wait until you can operate as a huntsman."
Raiko sighed, his eyes showing a complete lack of enthusiasm with this decision, but he knew there was no other way.
"I understand." from Raiko's pocket, they heard a beeping sound, it was his new scroll that Ozpin kindly gave him "Breakfast starts in a couple of minutes, I should go. But before I leave, may I ask you how your inner circle reacted to the news of me, my order, the fact you secretly trained to be one of us?"
Ozpin shivered, but before he could answer, the Force spirit already interrupted him.
"He only told Qrow and Glynda about it. Both were shocked, with Glynda also being quite mad about it, but they handled it pretty well. Your arrival here most likely softened them for Oz." he said, humorously "We still have to inform Ironwood and Lionheart though, the first will most likely be problematic because of his... interesting personality."
"He is that overprotective Atlas guy?" Raiko asked, with Ozpin nodding in response, "Why would that be a problem?"
"James is a righteous person, but he is not a very patient man. He would probably try to make you a Huntsman immediately and either make Atlas scientists try to replicate the Force on the soldiers or make the knowledge of it public for everyone. With the Grimm being as vicious as ever, we can't risk making everyone on Remnant feeling afraid of the Jedi and Sith to attract the Grimm to our kingdoms."
"Makes sense. Just don't keep him in the dark. If he discovers about the Force from someone that is not you, he might be a little upset about it." Raiko warned before tossing the training saber back to Ozpin "I will see you around headmaster. Call me if you need anything. I got to go shopping."
"Shopping?"
"Yes. When I told Yang that all I had was this one robe, she INSISTED to come with me to buy more clothes. She also said she would pick clothes that were way less dumb than my robe." Raiko answered with some annoyance.
Ozpin and Qui-Gon chuckled.
"Ms. Xiao Long sure is an interesting companion."
"Yeah, they are. Living with them is amusing actually, it is almost like I am living with the clones."
Ozpin and Qui-Gon froze with what Raiko said but disguised their emotions before Raiko could feel anything changed.
"The similarities are quite shocking. A bunch of completely different people, all with completely distinct personalities, united over a single goal. They may bicker a lot with each other, but they really care for the well-being of their teammates despite their rough start." Raiko spoke with some nostalgia in his voice, "Man, I miss them. I hope that when the war ends they end up having some great healthcare by the Kaminoans, aging rapidly is not good."
"I am sure they will." Ozpin said, with an empty look on his face, "I am sure they will."
"Are you alright Oz?"
"Yes. Why the question?"
"You looked kind of distant now."
"I am thinking about my paperwork, it is not a very pleasant thing." Ozpin said, cracking a smile.
"I can relate to that. We Jedi Shadows had to file some stuff for the Council a lot of times, and that was definitely unpleasant. Well, now I have to go. Don't forget to call me if you need something."
"I will. May the Force be with you." Ozpin said.
"And you." Raiko answered, also smiling.
When Raiko took the elevator, Ozpin's smile dropped, and he sighed sadly.
"This is going to harder than I expected." Ozpin stated.
"Indeed, but we need to be patient. As much as it harms us, we need to conceal the truth from him. He will learn it eventually, but it needs to come to him. He is not Ironwood, you don't have to tell him everything immediately."
"I know, but still..." Ozpin clenched his hand on his cane "...how can life be so cruel to someone so young?"
"I do not know, but I can't say I don't feel sorry for the boy."
Both elder warriors looked at each other in sadness, before staring at the elevator Raiko left with a feeling of guilt.
(Unknown location)
In a mysterious land with an everlasting dark purple night, the cry of a Nevermore echoed through as it soared the sky of that desolate land. Many other Grimm were there too, in a larger amount than any human had ever seen before. In the depths of this nightmarish territory, there was an enormous purple crystal wall guarding something, with the only possible entrance being two enormous iron doors. Grimm and some soldiers wearing weird metal armor that covered all of their bodies completely, with the only non-metal parts being the visor of the helmet and some parts that were covered in a piece of black fabric to allow the warriors to move in a more nimble way than a regular soldier in armor protected the entrance.
Inside the large crystal wall, there were many unusual things. The first being a large factory that seemed to still be in the early days of construction, with the people working on it showing some ungodly dedication to the project. The second abnormal thing inside those walls was a gigantic pit with some black liquid inside of it. Said pit glowed in a faint red light for a few seconds before said light faded away, but when it faded, a Beowolf emerged from the pit and then left the walls by climbing the crystal walls. Surprisingly, the Grimm ignored all the surrounding humans while he did this, and the humans also ignored the Grimm, with only some of them looking at the creature with minor intrigue while it left.
The third-place seemed like a temple made of rocks and some of the mysterious purple crystals around the area. The hooded figures were the only ones that seemed to be allowed there. And finally, there was a giant castle, made of the same purple crystals as the walls, right in front of the pit. The castle was almost as big as the walls protecting this small base of operations, and none of the humans there even dared to approach it.
The humans living in this wicked place were no regular villagers. They were either more soldiers, like the ones in the entrance. Faunus warriors with light armor and white Grimm-like masks. And a few robed individuals that seemed to be in a higher hierarchy than the other humans, since everyone that stared at them looked intimidated, and some warriors with metal armor even bowed at their presence.
Inside the crystal castle, there was a large table with eight individuals around it, six of them sitting on chairs.
A dark-skinned tiger Faunus woman with short black hair, amber eyes, and a gorgeous black dress.
A tall middle-aged man who looked like he was still in his peak physical condition, with hazel eyes, brown hair, beard, and an olive coat.
A scorpion Faunus man with long black hair tied up in a braided ponytail, yellow eyes, a sleeveless white shirt, and pants of the same color, he also had a terrifying expression, looking incredibly creepy and menacing.
A man who looked like a gentleman, wearing a red suit with a gray trench coat over it, black hair, a mustache, and green eyes.
A beautiful young woman with raven hair and amber eyes, wearing a scarlet dress with yellow flame details on her sleeves.
Behind her were two teenagers. A dark-skinned girl with mint-colored hair, red eyes, an olive crop top, brown pants, and a white shirt. And a silver-haired boy with gray and black clothes who looked to be completely disinterested in this meeting.
Finally, there was a woman with creepy pale skin and a long black dress, whose eyes were black and red and had cracks around them. She also had white hair and looked to be incredibly intimidating.
"So, Sienna Khan." she spoke with her calm but still menacing voice, "I am so glad you joined us. Tell me, what do you think of our little, operation we have going on here?"
"It is certainly impressive." the Faunus woman answered, "But I have to ask what that fabric will do. You seem to put a lot of effort into it."
"Oh, darling don't you worry about it." the gentleman said "I can assure you that this fabric will be the key to our victory, our other associate and I will make sure of it, but until you prove to be completely on our side, we will have to keep you and your followers on the dark for security reasons. I sure you can understand it."
"Of course I do."
"Wonderful. Now, let us discuss what we want The White Fang to do for us." the pale woman stated.
With a wave of her hand, black smoke covered the table. In a few moments, a view of the capital Vale appeared on the smoke, showing all of its inhabitants living their usual life.
"Our first move will be to create a bit of panic in the safest Kingdom on Remnant." as Salem spoke, the view on the smoke changed to a destroyed city "In one of his many failed attempts to expand Vale, Ozpin tried to create a new city in Mountain Glenn, a place filled with mineral resources and filled with potential for a prosperous city. Of course, you know that failed spectacularly as my children destroy it and made Ozpin run with a tail between his legs. No offense to the Faunus."
"None took my queen." the scorpion Faunus said, while Sienna looked a bit bothered.
"However, the subway system he created to connect both Mountain Gleen, and the capital was almost finished, to the point where it reaches the city itself." Salem explained with a smirk, "This is where your organization enters."
"Man, what do you think leader Sienna is talking with that...thing?" a White Fang soldier asked his fellow associate.
"Shhh! Don't talk about her like this! What if one of the Grimm hears us and somehow informs Salem!" the companion scolded the soldier.
"Okay! Okay. Calm down."
"I did not rise to the ranks of Sienna's personal guards just to die because of your dumb questions!"
"Fine. Geez. I am just curious. Why she is talking with someone like Salem? Isn't she the leader of the Grimm? The Grimm want to kill us!"
"Sienna said Salem made a magnificent offer, and I believe her. Now just stay quiet and do your job! And don't go mentioning Salem like this! Sienna warned us she demanded her identity to be kept a secret to most people, so don't go around talking about her to rookies."
"Roger Roger." the soldier said in a comic tone, "Seriously, you have to ease it up, man."
"And you need to-"
The conversation between the two was interrupted as a small ship entered the crystal fortress, landing very near the castle entrance. From the ship, two black-hooded figures appeared. One of a muscular adult man and one of a teenager. They walked towards the castle entrance until the guards stopped them.
"Hold it! This is a private meeting! Our leader is now talking with Salem! If you have something to talk with any of them you can... wait...outside." the guard slowly lost his initial confidence as the man approached him, intimidated not by his superior size, but because of the threatening aura he exhaled.
The hooded man stared at the two guards with his frightening yellow and red eyes as if he stared at their very souls, and the Faunus did nothing but tremble in his presence, barely keeping their guns in front of him. After what seemed to be forever for the guards, the man finally spoke.
"You dare raise your voice against me?"
"So you will promise me that your Grimm will not attack our bases anymore if we do this for you?" Sienna asked.
"I promise my dear." Salem answered.
"Then we have a deal." the Faunus woman then extended her hand.
"Wonderful."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Just as Salem was about to shake her new ally hand, everyone in the room heard the agonizing screams of the White Fang guards outside the castle, while a bright blue light emanated from the outside window followed by the sound of lightning bolts. The gentleman sighed.
"I told you to not put guards outside."
As the light ceased, so did the screams, and right after this, the immense doors of the castle opened up as if an invisible force pushed them. Outside of the castle, now only the two hooded figures remained, with the guards being reduced to piles of ash that were blown away by the wind.
"What is this!?" Sienna Khan asked, slamming her hands on the table, "Is this a trap!?"
"Don't worry, my dear. He is an ally." Salem explained.
"He killed my guards!"
"They dared to stop me from entering, even though all the White Fang soldiers were warned to always obey the Sith while they were here. Those fools got what they deserved. And besides, I clarified no one should be near this castle entrance during our little business talk." the Sith said as he sits in a chair while the teenager just stood by his side.
"Sith!?" Sienna asked, a hint of fear present in her anger, "So you are one of those people with supposed magical powers?"
"Don't you dare compare the Force to mere sorcery, Sienna Khan. It is much more than that." the man explained in his unnaturally deep voice.
"But that doesn't mean you can kill my guards!"
"Your guards wanted to stay even when we told them that our associate did not permit any guards outside. He had to show some consequence for ignoring his request like this." the woman in the red dress said. Her voice tone sounded arrogant enough to annoy the hell of Sienna.
"What did you just said Cinder!?"
"Let's all just calm down. Beware your words Cinder, don't annoy our new ally on her first day with us, please." the gentleman requested.
The woman now known as Cinder scoffed but said nothing more. Sienna was still clearly furious with what just happened, but she also somehow decided to not speak up anymore too.
"Much appreciated, Watts." the man thanked the gentleman "Now, we shall speak about business. Exactly how much did you talk with her already, Salem?"
"We already discussed her role on Mountain Gleen in return for protection from the Grimm. She accepted."
"Excellent. I am glad you joined our side. However, there is one more thing we wished to discuss with you before you leave."
"And what would that be?" Sienna asked.
"You see, we know you are currently facing opposition from the prior leader of the White Fang, and we know you wish to silence his opposition."
Sienna frowned at the mention of her rival.
"Yes, I wish that, but by silencing him I don't mean to kill him and his followers, they may be fools but they are still Faunus."
"Are you sure about that?" the scorpion Faunus asked, his creepy eyes staring at Sienna with excitement "We can always make them disappear without traces. It will be significantly easier."
"Tyrian." as Salem spoke his name, the Faunus jolted, "Please remain silent while we discuss business that does not require immediate disposal of enemies."
"O-Of course my queen."
As Tyrian apologized, Cinder and the teenagers behind her looked at the scorpion Faunus with a mocking glare. Sienna glared at him with fury.
"Returning to the initial point, we are aware of your desire to not kill your brothers and sisters. Therefore, we offer to simply, incapacitate them for a while, so you can gain the full support of the Faunus in their absence. All with none of them knowing their 'accident' is related to you. You do wish to get the people of Menagerie on your side, don't you?"
Sienna looked downward and thought about this. On one hand, her rival was a former friend and a person she had a lot of respect for. However...
"Our cause is being held back by Ghira and his outdated method of non-violence." she said, acquiring a look of anger and disappointment "If we can make the Faunus realize how our way is the only way towards equality we can most certainly achieve our goal." Sienna stated, clenching her fist "And if you do this for me, what would you want from us? We are already helping you to steal all that dust, and now we will help you on that attack, what would you want us to do next?"
"It is simple. We require two things, actually." Cinder explained, "The first, is the blueprint of Beacon, we want one of your spies to get it for us. And the second is your help in constructing the factory you saw outside. We would love to have more working hand."
Sienna blinked her eyes in surprise. The first request was reasonable, but the second seemed too... easy?
"Is that all?"
"Correct. So, do you agree with our offer, Khan? Or you're satisfied with just the first one?" Watts asked, picking his mustache while talking.
This was not right, something was wrong, she could feel it. Sienna looked at all the members on the table, as if she tried to see what was the trick behind this offer. After some seconds, she gave up.
"Very well. I accept your terms. I will send some Faunus to work on the factory already." she answered, smiling at them friendly.
"Good. Thank you for your comprehension, Sienna. It has been a pleasure talking with you."
"The pleasure was all mine. Now if you excuse me, I need to go. I have other business to attend."
"Of course." Salem said, opening the large door of the castle with a snap of her fingers.
As Sienna left the view of the others, her smile disappeared and became a frown. During her way back to her companions she looked around the place, especially the Grimm, being unfamiliar with having many so close to her while not trying to kill her, and everything about that place rubbed her the wrong way. The feeling of negativity this placed exerted on her was surreal and she never shook it off.
"It is all temporary." she thought to herself.
Back in the castle, the remaining people continued to discuss their nefarious plans.
"Well, that was easy." Cinder stated, adopting a more relaxed stance and smirking "They truly were desperate for help."
"Once their attacks got too extreme, it was only a matter of time before Ironwood or Ozpin did something massive against them. They had little choice." the tall man finally spoke, being quiet for the entire last conversation.
"Their fear is easily exploitable. But Sienna is a smart woman. In the future, she will realize what is going to happen and betray us, but then it will be too late for her."
"Indeed. And now that she left, we can start our discussion about the plan for the actual attack on Vale." Salem spoke, making everyone pay attention to her "Watts?"
"My program is almost complete, all it will take is some extra data that is on Ironwood computers." he affirmed.
"I will handle this." Cinder stated.
"Wonderful. Now, all we need is to wait for the right time."
"And then the Maiden powers will finally be ours." Cinder said, smirking as she made a small flame appear in her hand, "Then no one will be able to stop us."
"Do not be so hopeful on that feeble magic." the teenager behind the Sith Lord spoke, it was the voice of a girl "While necessary for our plan, the powers of the Maidens are utterly insignificant compared to the Force." as she spoke, she could feel Cinder anger rise "And as my master and I informed you, a Jedi arrived on Remnant recently. I doubt you will be able to deal with him, Cinder. Maiden, or not."
"And what makes you say this, Syzarra?" Cinder asked, her eyes literally burning with a flame of anger.
The woman now known as Syzarra removed her hood to talk with Cinder. Her skin was almost as pale as Salem's and her hair was just as white as the one from the Grimm lady. She possessed some black tattoos on her face that did nothing to hide her beauty. She also had the same smug look as Cinder.
"The Jedi may be inferior to the Sith, but they are still leagues stronger than a regular person like you. Some magic will not be enough to defeat him. This is our job. Until he is down, you better wait on the sidelines. We can't risk losing our Maiden vessel because of your pesky ego."
Tyrian chuckled as Cinder growled in frustration.
"I still doubt the fact that a Jedi is actually here, have you ever considered that perhaps you two simply made a mistake? You always said Remnant is constantly brimming with the light and dark side of the Force, there is the possibility you two simply confused it with an actual Jed-" as Cinder retorted, Syzarra lifted her arm slightly and made a position that looked like she was holding something with her fingers.
Cinder suddenly stopped talking. Her look of anger changed to one of despair as she placed her hands on her neck, struggling to breathe properly. Syzarra then lifted her arm entirely, making Cinder float in her seat, being held by her neck. The other teenage girl reacted by pulling two green guns and pointing at the young Sith, but the boy desperately held her back with a fearful look on his face. The other adults looked at this with amusement, especially Syzarra master and Salem.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing, Cinder. If two people that are so deeply connected to the Force like my master and I say that a light side user arrived in this little mud ball of a planet, then that means there is a light side user in this planet. Do you get it?" Syzarra said with venom in her voice, also looking like she was squishing Cinder's neck harder at the end.
"y-yes." Cinder said with considerable struggle.
"Good."
With this, the young Force user dropped her victim and released her of the neck grip. Cinder looked at the pale girl with nothing but hate as she massaged her neck.
"I saw you tried to shoot at my apprentice while she punished Cinder for her act of insolence, Emerald." the Sith master said, the teenagers jolting in fear as he glared at them with his unnerving eyes.
He got up from his seat and walked towards them and Cinder. Syzarra smirked as she saw fear flood their faces as her master approached them.
"Thankfully Mercury was able to stop you, or else you would face the consequences of attempting to harm your superior." the Sith stated as he removed his hood, revealing a pale bald head and a futuristic mask that covered his mouth and nose and most likely made his voice like that "While protecting your boss is a very respectable thing to do, you cannot forget that in this hierarchy, my apprentice and I are higher than Cinder, I am even on Salem level of authority here, so be really careful to not anger me further girl. Was I clear?"
Emerald gulped in fear. She was shaking so much she almost dropped her weapons.
"C-Cristal, sir."
"Good." the Sith then looked at Salem "I guess this is all for the time, right Salem?"
"Indeed. This meeting is over. All of you return to your current jobs, except Cinder, we still have to train your abilities a bit more." as the woman spoke, Cinder flinched.
"Yes, I understand, I will prepare myself." she answered.
With this, all of them went in their separate ways. The two Sith lords walked together in the temple's direction, everyone in their way either bowed in respect or avoided eye contact.
"You performed well, Lady Syzarra. That Cinder girl could not have her ego left unchecked."
"You honor me with your words, Master. But our talk earlier made me question, how are we going to deal with the Jedi? Even if it is apparently only one, it may be a problem for our plans."
"We must wait a bit more before we make a move. He cannot hope to sense us here, so our existence is still a mystery to him, but when the time arrives, we shall send some Acolytes to test his skills and see the level of his threat to us. Although I doubt he will be a massive problem. Until then, do not engage in conflict with him in any way Syzarra. I can feel your urge to kill a Jedi after so long, but you must wait for the right time. Was I clear?"
"Yes, Master Malgus. I shall be patient."
The temple was very sophisticated, for one that resided in a land of darkness like this one. It had many symbols and paintings on the walls, depicting great battles from the apex of the Sith empire. Around the room there were also many statues of Sith Lords, they were the most respected and grandiose of all the Sith, Malgus himself had a statue depicting him in all of his might. The room also had a red light illumination instead of the purple one of Salem's castle, it seemed to be emitted from some strange red liquid flowing around the place in pipes.
As they continued their way, a robed Sith approached them, getting on his knee before talking with them.
"Master Malgus." he said, "Welcome back."
"Rise, lord Arman." Malgus ordered, the Sith now finally looking at his superior in the eye.
The new Force user's most defining feature was that he was clearly not a human being. He was a man with peach-colored skin and many black tattoos around his body, he also had horns and his eyes were just like Malgus's.
"I am here to report that our scouts confirmed a new student on that Beacon Academy. While they could not say if he was a Jedi or not, they discovered that until a couple of days ago, that student did not exist in any records, and only recently documents saying that he came from Vacuo appeared on the system. They also identified him as someone with the Semblance of telekinesis. Rather suspect, if you ask me. And since we all felt the disturbance in the Force right after this new student arrived..."
"It is obvious that he is the Jedi." Malgus stated, his calm and terrifying voice showing hints of anger when talking about their enemy "Try to discover as much as you can about him, we need to identify his level of threat to our plan. If the Jedi discovered this planet, the situation will become complicated for us. Send some Acolytes to measure his level of threat, but plan it right so he won't be able to feel them. Send some Grimm so they can mix their presence with them."
"Yes sir! I will request from Salem immediately!"
"No." Malgus stopped Arman in his track, which startled the demon looking human for a while "Salem believes this Jedi is only an insignificant problem that can easily be dealt with, let's make sure she keeps thinking that way. Just pick some Grimm from the random forest."
"Understood. I will be on my way. But can I please talk with Syzarra first, master? It will be only for a moment."
Malgus looked at the two teenagers with his frightening eyes, but both of them stood firm and showed no fear.
"Very well, but be quick. When you end your small talk, you will meet me in the study room so we can discuss your next mission."
"Yes, master." Syzarra answered.
With this, Malgus left, and then the two Sith lords relaxed a bit.
"Man, this guy is intense. I can barely breathe when I am in the same room as him." Arman said, "I still don't know how you of all people became an apprentice of Darth Malgus himself."
"Are you jealous, dear brother?" Syzarra asked, teasingly.
"As if. You only got chosen because you are older. We all know he would have picked me if graduated from Acolyte before. I am the best of both of us."
"In your wildest dreams. I can beat you to a pulp without even using the Force."
"Is this a challenge?" he asked, with some venom in his voice despite talking to a relative.
"Yes. But for another time, I have work to do now, so just tell me what you want."
"Can't a brother just want to talk with his sister?"
"So you delayed my important with master Malgus for no reason!?" she asked, harshly.
"No, I just said it was to talk with you!" he answered, also harshly "Your life can revolve around him, especially since you will eventually try to kill him in the future."
Syzarra eyes widened in shock.
"What!? I would never-"
"Sister, please. We are Sith. It is on our blood."
Syzarra sighed.
"Yeah, you are right." she chuckled, "But until then I would like to keep the role of perfect apprentice to make him think I am one of those losers who follow their master until they die, so let me go back to him to keep this charade going."
"Very well. A more respectable reason to avoid me. Go to your master then."
"I appreciate your understanding." with this, she went to her master.
"Just don't get killed, I am the only one allowed to kill you." Arman teased.
Syzarra apparently being normal with very dark humor answered by sending some small blue lightning from her hand in his direction. Her brother's quick scream of pain made her chuckle rather sinisterly.
(White Fang, base - Throne Room)
In the depths of Mistral (1), there was a hidden fortress in the forest where the White Fang organization dwelled after they disbanded from Menagerie, the land of the Faunus. Most of the organization stayed in the base, either planning attacks, training, or just preparing to leave to other branches they had spread around Remnant. In an enormous room with many flags branding their symbol, and a gold and red throne, Sienna Khan founded herself in a state of deep thinking. After the meeting with Salem and the Sith, she felt incredibly... uneasy.
"What can I do!? If we performed an elaborate trap, we could have a chance on taking down Salem dogs, but those Sith are way too much for us. And if that Cinder girl ever receives the Maiden powers, we are doomed." Sienna grabbed her head like she was having a massive headache, "What to do!? I can't be on their hand like this! I refuse!"
"Leader Sienna!" one guard protecting the throne room interrupted her thoughts, "Adam Taurus has arrived."
"Oh, thank you, let him enter."
As Sienna ordered, the Faunus soldier gave passage to a tall man with an asymmetrical black outfit that had the drawing of a rose on its back. He had short, blood-red hair, with two small black horns, and he wore the same mask as the other soldiers, but with some red details on it. He also carried a two-handed sword.
"Leader Sienna." Adam bowed in respect.
"I am glad you arrived here as quickly as you did, Adam, this conversation I will have with you is of the most importance. You may rise."
"So, what is this about? Are we going to plan a new attack on the Schnee company? Or there is a certain anti-Faunus politician out there that needs to be... persuaded into changing his views?" the bull Faunus asked, his voice containing a certain amount of pleasure as he finished the sentence.
"It is about, 'them'."
"Who?" Adam asked, but with a mere worried glance from Sienna, he understood, "Oh, I see. What is the matter with them?"
"Our suspicions were right. They do plan on taking over the world, and I can tell by the look on their faces that they see the White Fang as nothing more than a stepping stone. The simple fact one of her dogs is a Faunus that calls her 'queen' disgusts me." Sienna said, clenching her fists in rage.
"Are you certain that they see us as only a stepping stone?"
"I lived for thirty-seven years (2) Adam, and almost all of those years were spent dealing with people like them. I can tell exactly what they are thinking about us. And they think we are nothing but enhanced minions, the condition of working to build that factory of their proves it."
"Factories... Filth!" Adam grumbled, carefully passing his hand through his mask.
"However, I also realize that they severely underestimate us." Sienna grinned "They think they will satisfy us by simply knocking out Ghira and after this, we will obey them blindly. And that arrogance will be their demise."
"Oh, and how so?" Adam asked, also giving a cocky smug.
Sienna rose from her seat and picked her weapon. A chain whip with three blades.
"We will follow their orders, for now, but we will keep our eyes open and pay attention to their moves. The minute they show any sign of weakness, we will strike them down!" she exclaimed, slamming the whip in the ground with a lot of force. Adam even took a minor step back, "Their greatest magical ability doesn't work on us, they won't be able to see us coming. We just have to be patient." she then turned to her loyal second in command "However, this is a risky plan, we are dealing with a very dangerous group of people, if you have anything to say about it, now is the time."
Adam looked at the tiger Faunus with a hard-to-read expression because of his mask until he grew a sick grin on his face.
"I agree with every word you said." he then performed a small bow in respect to Sienna, "It would honor me to help you with that plan."
Sienna smiled proudly. She knew Adam would never submit to anyone by force ever again, but it was good to know she had such a loyal servant at her side.
"Although, once we defeat them, what will we do?" he asked, "If they are planning on conquering the world, we may take some profit from this, if we plan correctly, we can even take the world to ourselves! And then make all the humans submit to us, just like how we submitted to them years ago!" Adam exclaimed.
This time, Sienna did not look pleased, as her proud smile became a judgemental glare.
"We don't want to conquer the world, we want the humans to accept us, we may not be cowards like Ghira, but we will not submit anyone. No one deserves the fate of being slaved and treated as nothing more than an inferior creature." she said with a stern voice.
"But-"
"Adam Taurus!" Sienna shouted, glaring at Adam with much more seriousness than before "We talked about this before. Your past justifies your anger but is not an excuse for genocide. We need to be tough, but we also need to be better than humans and never get to their level. Only then, we will find peace in true equality."
"I... I understand. My deepest apologies." Adam said with a low voice, so low that Sienna only heard him due to her enhanced Faunus hearing.
"Apologies accepted. Now go talk with our informants in Vale, I am sure one of them must have something important to inform us."
"On my way." with this, Adam left.
While Adam exited the room, his expression hardened, and he clenched his fists.
"Peace in true equality. Right." he grumbled.
In the room, Sienna sat back on her throne and picked a picture from her pocket. Something badly damaged the picture with some parts of it being burned entirely. The only person who could be seen on the remains of the picture was a baby girl with feline ears.
"I swore I would dedicate my life to the liberation of the Faunus! I will not let some lunatics that think they deserve to be called gods interfere with the future I want to create! There is no magical power from outer space strong enough to make me forfeit my ideals! And those creeps will learn this the hard way." Sienna thought to herself as she stared at the photo with a lot of melancholy.
(Kingdom of Atlas - Nighttime)
"Why couldn't I go for Ghira and the rest of the original White Fang now!? This is an Acolyte job at best!" Syzarra shouted to seemingly no one as she inserted a password in a mechanical door, the door then made a loud beeping sound, "Blast! Is not that one either! Let me see this paper again." she picked a small piece of paper with many number combinations on it.
The lady of the Sith was currently in a building of what seemed to be a corporation. There was no one in the hallway she was in right now. After she got the password wrong again and the same sound rang in her ears again, her left eye twitched a little.
"Why you little!"
With an ear-piercing scream, she gave up the passwords and simply unleashed a lightning attack from her hand on the controllers, destroying them.
"This will handle the alarm."
With a wave of her hand, the metal door was ripped from its place and reduced to junk like it was cardboard. Not a single soul heard all of this noise. The room the Sith just barged in had only a giant supercomputer on it, all making a significant amount of noise and being way taller than her. She wasted no time and inserted a strange device on the advanced machine, which made a clicking sound as it was inserted. There was a small screen on the device that showed a loading bar shaped like the chess piece of a king. In a couple of seconds, it fueled entirely.
"That should work."
The girl then left the room with no worries in her mind. As she walked in the elevator's direction, there were many bodies of guards and workers on the floor, all with their heads and limbs ripped from their bodies by something that cauterized all the injuries they had in their corpses. All of them had a horrified expression engraved on their faces. Syzarra paid them no mind and even kicked one head out of her way.
As she approached the elevator, something made a sound in her pocket.
"Attention all patrols! This is commander Mark talking! There is an emergency!"
"Huh? Already?"
Syzarra then picked a communicator from her pocket, the communicator shared the white color scheme and some traditional design from the kingdom of Atlas, there were also some marks of blood on it, and they were really fresh since the fingers of the Force user were stained by it.
"The security cameras got destroyed and the guards checking the footage were all killed! Communications are all deactivated too! There is an intruder among us! How is the situation on the other floors!?"
"It is all wonderful here on my floor." Syzarra answered, "For me, at least. Your friends are another story."
"It is you! Identify yourself, intruder!"
"I am the woman that killed a bunch of Atlesian guards and it is now picking an elevator towards the entrance. If you want to catch me for more, your chance is there." she said with an unprecedented amount of arrogance, crushing the communicator with the Force afterward, "I swore I could escape before they figured it out. A shame, more families will have to deal with the loss of someone dearly. How heartbreaking." she said, almost chuckling.
The woman waited in front of the elevator, not waiting for it to arrive, but for the soldiers to mobilize themselves in the entrance, she wouldn't waste an opportunity to strike terror upon feeble people like them, and she wanted to savor as much as she could, after five minutes, she entered the elevator and smiled as it slowly went down to its destination.
When the doors opened, she saw multiple guards pointing guns in her direction. All of them had an aura of confidence, and Syzarra could feel their determination. However, she also could feel another emotion among them. It was not much, but she still could sense it. She felt their fear, and the mere existence of that emotion on the soldiers was more than enough for her to work with.
"Surrender! You are surrounded!" One soldier, this one wearing more advanced armor, shouted "Come peacefully with us and we will not kill you!"
Syzarra looked around, observing the positions of the soldiers with a wicked smile on her face like she was a predator watching her prey in amusement. She took notice of the extensive amount that was on the floor, and the smaller amount that was closer to the ceiling. With a light chuckle, she raised her hands in the air, moving her fingers slightly.
"I see you understand your position. 103! Go handcuff her-"
"You will all deactivate your auras, and shot yourselves in the head." the Sith spoke, confusing the high-ranking soldier.
"What?"
"We will all deactivate our auras and shot ourselves in the head." a little more than half of the soldiers said, in a monotone and emotionless voice.
The other half of the soldiers looked at them with looks of shock and confusion as their allies acted like they were being mind-controlled. But before they arrived at the logical conclusion, Syzarra closed her hands with strength.
"Goodbye." she said with sadism.
Immediately after, all the lights of the place burst and the windows and doors closed violently, covering the place in darkness, which took all the Atlas soldiers by surprise and left them momentarily stunned, even the Faunus that had night vision got taken aback by this.
"Goodbye." the soldiers answered in unison.
The sound of multiple guns being shot was heard after, none targeting the Force user, however.
"Open fire on her!" quickly adjusting to the situation, the high-ranking soldier shouted to his men, to make sure they all wake up as well.
The plan worked, and immediately after, guns were blazing in the elevator's direction, or at least as close as they could from it since the absence of light compromised their sight. After approximately fifteen seconds of shooting, they stopped, and after this, the room was completely silent. The soldiers could only hear their own breath. There was no other sound in the place, not even the sound of the invader's body dropping to the ground. The high-ranking soldier then picked a flashlight from his pocket, turned it on, and pointed the light at the elevator. Bullet holes filled the elevator, but there wasn't a single body inside of it.
"Men turn your flashlights on! She is still-"
The high-ranking soldier stopped as he felt some invisible force grab his neck and lift him from the ground, while also choking him. His flashlight also levitated, and it showed this frightening scene to the other soldiers. As their leader choked and pointlessly moved his limbs trying to escape, Syzarra's chuckle echoed through the room. But none of them could find where she was coming from. It seemed like it was echoing through their minds. As the chuckle continued, they saw the helmet of their leader break into pieces, revealing that he was a man with dark hair and dog ears.
"A Faunus, I didn't expect to have so many of you in Atlas military of all places." Syzarra said, her voice again coming from all directions, "You all want to know something nice? All of you that are still alive are Faunus, there is not a single human in this room. Apparently, those White Fang weirdos have a point: when they call your species better than humanity, there are only a few species out there that evolved to resist the Force influence in their minds."
The soldiers didn't even have time to wonder what the hell this woman meant with this "Force" thing, because they were all desperately trying to find her. However, none of their flashlights turned on, and the Faunus with night vision simply could not find where she was, almost like she was a ghost. Their leader was getting blue and his movements were stopping.
"But honestly, if you ask me, your human friends got it easy. A painless death with a bullet on their brain. That is way preferable than what this guy here had." Syzarra stated, as the leader now stood floating in the air motionless, life drained out of his eyes "And unfortunately for all of you..." the turned flashlight then exploded, leaving the room in pure darkness again "...I wouldn't call what will happen here painless."
Suddenly, in the middle of the room, two red lights appeared, coming from Syzarra lightsabers, and they finally saw her stepping on their leader corpse with the most terrifying expression they ever saw in their life.
"This is where the fun begins!" she shouted, genuinely anxious now.
In a blink of an eye, Syzarra flew in the directions of the guards in front of her, her blades leaving a crimson light trail behind her. With no effort in her moves, the Sith massacred the guards, who could barely see what was happening, and just screamed as the scarlet light approached them, signalizing their doom. The guards that were on the top of the room tried to shoot the woman, but their fear, her speed, and the fact that not all of them had night vision made hitting her an impossible task. After a lot of agony screams, there were no more guards on the ground, now only the ones right above her remained.
"Come on boys, give me a challenge!" she teased the terrified guards. Their once barely noticeable fear was now overwhelming their senses.
They all fired in the lightsabers direction with despair, none of them even considering trying communications again, and prayed that the woman's ego in standing still would get her killed. As the bullets approached her Syzarra closed and gained a calm expression, then with elegance and agility she deflected all the bullets with minimal effort. In a normal situation, the lightsabers would have melted or exploded the bullets into shrapnel, but thanks to some handy modifications, said problem was no more and it now deflected the bullets like regular blaster bolts.
This was unfortunate for the soldiers because while they witnessed the Sith perform a light dance in the ground, all of their fire returned to them with an accuracy that they believed to be impossible, slowly draining their aura until they were almost defenseless.
Some of them stopped, and now only watched in horror. Others continued, desperately thinking that at one point she would make a mistake and get shot, breaking her focus and eventually leading to more shots on her which would drain her aura entirely. They kept hope until their last minute, as their auras broke and they died with bullets in their heads and chests. When the guns stopped, Syzarra examined the situation again. She felt only five soldiers left, all of them consumed by their fear to the point they were standing still and not reacting at all anymore. Syzarra licked her lips and stared at them with excitement washed all over her face.
"Good."
Using the Force, she jumped right in front of one soldier, making him fall on his butt at her sudden appearance.
"Gooood." she said again, even more excited.
She dropped her lightsabers, which floated in the air. With a wave of her hand, the crimson blades flew away. The soldier heard slashing sounds and muffled screams of pain, followed by the sound of something hitting the ground. The lightsabers returned to Syzarra hands, who now stared at the soldier in the eye, taking a lot of pleasure with how much he was drowning in fear.
"Very good." she said, "That was a very pleasant experience. Don't you think?"
The soldier squeaked a little but wasn't able to say anything at all.
"Oh, I am sorry. I never introduced myself. My name is Syzarra, a dark lord of the Sith in her path of becoming a Darth. And you are..." she then used the Force to destroy the soldier helmet, revealing a young adult with fox ears that was crying out of despair and looked like a mess "...fox boy! So, fox boy, I am going to make a deal with you."
"Huh!?" the Faunus mumbled, still too scared to even tremble in fear.
"Listen, I am going to let you live, so you can tell your superiors what I did to this place, but this will come at a cost."
The poor Faunus lifted from the ground and now stood still in front of Syzarra, who turned her scarlet lightsabers and placed the energy blades at the soldier's right and left side.
"And the cost will be your arms, they belong to me now."
The Faunus gulped, but the Dark Side user act of sickness wasn't over yet.
"Go on, do it yourself. And do it slowly while looking right into my eyes. I want to enjoy this as much as I can."
"Wha-"
"Flinch! And you die. Hesitate, and you die. Do it quick, and you die. Break eye contact, and you die. Are we clear?"
No response, only a look of terror from the fox boy, who could even dry up considering how much he was crying.
"Are. We. Clear. Fox boy?" Syzarra asked again, pressuring him with her raised tone and with the Force.
In a state of absolute and unprecedented panic that no human of Faunus had ever felt, the soldier barely listened to her, his mind being unable to even formulate rational thoughts at this point. But between sobs and tears, he came up with an answer.
"Y-Yes."
The soldiers then began Syzarra's request. As his arms slowly crossed the laser blades, his pain grew in levels we never even considered being possible, and Syzarra wicked grin became more and more horrifying the more his look of agony and pain grew, the sound of his flesh being ripped apart by the heat becoming forever imprinted on his mind. After one minute that took ages to the poor Faunus, his arms fell to the ground, and he got on his knees, passing out from pain and panic.
"Good job. Fox boy."
With this, Syzarra breathed heavily and calmed down, now returning to her "regular" self. She quickly used the Force to destroy the closest window and fled the place before reinforcements arrived, leaving only one survivor who probably wished the sweet release of death more than everything now.
After running through the buildings of Atlas, the Sith arrived at her ship, hidden with camouflage technology. Upon entering it she pressed a button in the control panel and kneeled as if she was waiting for someone important to arrive, all the lights of the sip dimmed slightly as a hologram of a head appeared in front of Syzarra, It was her master, Darth Malgus (3).
"My master." she spoke, not raising her head when talking and with the utmost respect.
"Raise your head, my friend." Malgus ordered, "How did your mission go?"
"It went perfectly, my master. There was some resistance, but all of them were terminated, except one that I left alive to-"
"You left one alive!?" Malgus questioned, looking at his apprentice with fury, "What in the world were you thinking!?"
Before Syzarra could answer, she was lifted from the ground as her master Force chocked her.
"I-I left him alive to spread fear! To make Ironwood and the others concerned! Considering our plan, anything they do to prevent it will inevitably backfire!"
Malgus kept staring at Syzarra, who was struggling to not look terrified as her master's eyes seemed to look at her soul and devour it with his fury.
"Very well, I can see the logic on this." he admitted, "But do not forget I am the master. If want to change anything about the plan, you contact me first. If you do not inform me beforehand, or if your suggested change backfires, you will face the consequences of your actions. I hope I was clear."
"Y-Yes, master." Syzarra said, almost out of air.
"Go back to the temple! We have training to do now! Your lackluster form needs severe refinement!"
With this, Malgus hologram turned off, and finally freed Syzarra of his grip. She fell flat on the floor and even struggled to rise at first, rubbing her neck as she still felt the pain of the choke. But as soon as she got up, her look of fear turned into one of rage.
"Just wait, you old relic. Once I became a Darth, I will crush you, your creepy witch friend, and even that old man from the temple!" as she vented her frustrations, some items behind her broke, thankfully none of them were necessary for the ship to function.
With nothing else to do here, Syzarra flew her ship out of Atlas, returning to Salem's lair.
And this will be all for today! I hope you all enjoyed it! This chapter introduced yet another new character, Syzarra, and a new big villain in the form of Darth Malgus. For those unaware, Malgus is a Sith from the Old Republic and a very interesting character in my opinion. While his presence here may confuse some, and some people may not even know who he is, I assure you that all will be explained in due time, although Old Republic fans may have an idea of how he ended up here (also play the Old Republic games if you haven't yet, it is not for this story I just think they are great and you should all try it).
We also saw regular RWBY villains, including Sienna Khan, a character that will be way more than just some disposable character like she was in the show, which was one of my biggest disappointments with Volume 4. Salem and her followers are also here, but they will only receive more focus later, this was Sienna and the Sith chapter.
Next Volume we will return to Beacon and deal with a new arc for the Beacon's students. Yes, new, as in not Jaune bullying problem arc. You will see soon.
Addressing the numbers now:
(1): We never knew where it was, so I just placed it in Mistral since I think it makes sense.
(2): We know so little of her that not even her age is in the wiki. Oh, Sienna, they did you so dirty.
(3): Like how the Emperor hologram showed up in Episode V.
Now I wish you all a great day, don't forget to leave a review to comment on what you thought of this chapter and how could I improve what you did not like, and until next time!