This would be a most interesting test. From the words of his Queen these maidens may be the death of him.
But he has yet to see it.
Raven stood amidst the panic of her tribe. Two of her chosen lieutenants were already dead, and no one has seen the culprit. She didn't have time to stew in anger as she tribe needed her now.
"HELP ME RAVEN !!!"
Raven could only turn to the source before something landed near her feet. The head of another Lieutenant (spine included) was splayed out with a horrified expression. Panic had only grew worse at this. She didn't bother turning as another one of her Lieutenants screams were cut short.
It was fairly obvious that this assassin was targeting her elites. There were few who could strike her clan like this. Most of her enemies would either be performing full frontal assaults or silent kills in the middle of the night. What she was faced with was the chaos of a frontal assault with the precision of a silent killer.
An explosion caught her attention as she turned to find the armory in flames.
That was not in the plan. Then again, how could he have expected one of them would pull out a grenade launcher in a close range battle just outside of the armory.
If they were all this stupid in high stress situations he could only wonder how they were giving his Queen any issues.
He turned away from the rapidly spreading flames and leapt back to the roofs. He was about to leave when he saw the bandit leader walk to the burning armory. She showed little fear as the ammunitions began firing off wildly.
It was a prime chance to strike.
He withdrew his blades and jumped down with the grace of a falcon. His blades were aimed right for her neck, the moment he hit the ground her head would be gone. Then she saw him and set a wave of ice his way.
He couldn't dodge.
So he had his wrists spin to block the ice with his blades.
The woman was caught off guard by his wrists spinning but recuperated fast enough to jump back. His blades struck the ground and snapped. He scowled at the delicacy of his blades before dropping the ruined ones and pulling out a new pair. The blades glowed with energy and sliced through the women's own blade before she could properly defend herself.
She was constantly forced back as he pushed the offensive. He gave her no opportunity, no rest, and no mercy. He struck out his leg and pulled her back when she tried to escape through a portal.
With how obvious the differences between her two abilities were, she's the Maiden his Queen had warned about. He doubled down by snapping the arm he was holding. She grit her teeth and threw out a mass of ice, forcing him back. She tried limping away only for him to rush her once more.
It turned into a cycle of attempted retreat as the other bandits were paralyzed in fear as they saw some kind of machine force their leader into fleeing. Any who would try to help their leader would only be met with a decapitation or broken neck.
Then the women's eyes glowed and ice exploded out in every direction.
He was quick to raise his blades and twists his wrists once more.
She was clutching her arm. This... Monster was Grievous, The Butcher of the Broadside Fortress. She doesn't know why he was here, he had no mas- WAIT!!!
There was one... Person she could think of that could create a monster. One which she had ignored, thinking that she could fend her off. Salem was the master of Grievous, and Grievous was here to kill her tribe.
Though, looking all around, she was the one who killed her tribe. The power of the Spring Maiden going berserk and her entire camp being trapped in a cold prison. She could make out the outlines of her tribe members, all trapped in macabre ice statues which captured their last moments. She tried not to cry as she sat up.
At least she took Grievois with them.
Until she heard some of the ice melt, from the direction that Grievous was standing before she had frozen the village.
She watched with horror as Grievous just cut his wave out of the ice with those blades of his. He wasn't even affected by the ice.
Her tribe had died for nothing.
She had killed them all.
And their deaths had been meaningless.
She still had enough clout to turn to Grievous as he approached her. "I must admit, you've really messed with my plan" he started. "My Queen"- that was confirmation that he served Salem-"had asked that I kill you and all your elites, but spare the rest". "Now the one warning she had given me was that one of you was the Spring Maiden" he was atleast half way to her now. "I had never fought a Maiden before, but the power you displayed gave credence to my Queen's warning" he glanced out to the now frozen camp. "So, I guess I should leave at least one of you alive, terror can't be spread if there's no one to speak of it".
Ah messenger, a fucking messenger was what she had been reduced too.
"Though, now that I have a good look at you, you remind me of someone I had once known".
He didn't show it as he calmly walked to the leader, but the voice was going crazy again. Not crazy like he had when he had fought against Miss Nikos, but still quite crazy. He was going on and on about how this woman looked so much like Yang.
It was infuriating.
So he was going to dissect this at two ends.
"Though, now that I have a good look at you, you remind me of someone I had once known". His words were deliberate, their goal to make her think. His Queen had told him how the power of the Maidens was passed on, might as well bring the next Spring Maiden right into Cinder's warpath. "Yes, now that I can see you closely, you look so much like a Yang Xiao Long". He was cackling inside as he saw the woman's face turn to shock.
"You wouldn't happen to be her mother, would you ?" he was reveling in the slowly dawning horror on her face. "The resemblance is so close, one little change and you two could practically be sisters". His tease didn't calm her; "Of course, you can guess where this is going".
She couldn't resist as he began strangling her. "I guess you're just as defensive about your hair as she is her's aren't you" he just kept talking about her. Life was draining from her face as he just went on a tangent about her daughter, hoping Cinder would strike fast enough that Yang would not become a true threat, but a gift.
He swore he could see as a strange energy leave the woman's body as her neck was crushed under his grip. He ignored the blood that was dripping onto his claws as he dropped the woman's corpse.
He could only hope his Queen was happy with the outcome, he couldn't have stopped the Maiden from such a powerful outburst.
So he left the camp, signaling for a nearby Nevermore to pick him up and send him back to his Queen's fortress.
Soon the siege would begin, he had to be ready.
Qrow just read the news on his scroll. Raven and her entire clan (also his clan, not that he accepted it) had been killed off. The scene that greeted the Hunter team that had found the camp was just disturbing. The entire village frozen with the only one not covered being his own sister, who had her neck crushed. He put down the scroll as an image if his sister's corpse was shown.
He had no interest in covering what had happened to the Brawen Tribe. Just how it had happened.
The only way the entire camp could have been frozen solid was with either; A: a massive explosive filled with ice dust, or B: a Maiden. Now Salem's own Maiden used fire, Goodwitch's report confirmed that, so who could have done it.
His own sister.
She was always an icy bitch to most people, even family. But the problem with that was she isn't the kind of person who would kill her followers. Terrify them perhaps but never kill them.
So what would push her to kill her entire tribe ?
Who else but their largest issue, Grievous. It all made sense; he could fight with a level of danger on par with both veteran hunters and Maidens, his specialty was leaving no survivors, and his methods were always brutal. The panic in the tribe's dead was the most obvious sign that Raven hadn't just gone on a rampage.
It was just another reason that he would have to put down the Queen's killing machine.
Except this one was personal.
Yang had felt off this morning, when she had awoken to a tingling in the back of her head she thought nothing of it. Yet now, with her hands on fire and her team (and Pyrrha) watching it cautiously, she was taking it pretty well.
"PUT IT OUT, PUT IT OUT!!!" she screamed as the flames slowly spread up her arms.
Weiss and Blake were fast to start filling a bucket with water. Ruby ran out of the room to contact Ozpin. The sheer strangeness of her sudden fire had at least gotten Pyrrha out of her bed again.
When Goodwitch came into the room she found the three of them trying, and failing, to extinguish the flames which were slowly crawling up her arms. No amount of water would snuff out the fire, yet it didn't hurt one bit. Glynda was calling Ozpin, saying him it was far more important than his paperwork.
Well, what the hell had caused this in the first place ?
Yep, Raven's dead. I now Yang has the powers of the Spring Maiden. Chaos will be coming to Beacon.
Now to answer one question. MidNightMoonglow99, I read Darth Arc... Years ago, I think. It's been so long that I barely remember much of it. Yes, there are a lot of similarities between this fic and Darth Arc so if you notice any it's probably just unintentional.Yes both this fic and Darth Arc has Jaune become a Star Wars inspired servant of Salem. Though this is a Jaune betrayed story and I'm pretty sure Darth Arc has him captured during the Battle of Beacon.Well, enjoy, see you all next chapter.