CHAPTER 1: Evil Rising

A/N~ Okay! Time for a new chapter! Let's kick this off with a Yang!

I'm not really sure HOW LONG it had been in between RWBY Volume 2 and 3, but I'm going to make this story set one month after the events of Volume 2, assuming that the Vytal Festival began before then.

Let's address the first set of reviews!

R9 (Guest): As I mentioned at the end of the last chapter, Ninja Steel will continue this August, but the precise date has just been confirmed to be on the 12th of that month!

Dark Mage Wyvern Lord: Well, that's what story writing is about. A plot is not complete for readers in just one chapter

One Month Later…

Remnant

Night came with a blanket of darkness shadowing all over the city of Vale. The streets that was once bustling with people here and there were emptied with only a few pedestrians roaming around the sidewalks, possibly on their way home for the night. The shop houses all shut down and closed up, save for a few late night exceptions to allow night-time visitors a chance to spend a few Lein before they hit their beds.

The alleyways were completely dark and quiet, only a few squeaks of nearby rats could be heard. The silence was soon broken with the sounds of tapping footsteps coming from the alley itself.

A lone stranger, backed by two more accomplices, walked deep into the shady and quiet backways of the buildings. One of them, a girl with mint green-coloured hair wearing a white top over a green undershirt, could smell the wretched stench of garbage in the air, causing her face to cringe along with her twitching nose. She waved her hand on her nose to relieve herself of the terrible smell.

The man with grey hair pinched his own nose, also being repulsed by the pungent scent in the air.

"Ergh…" The girl groaned. "Remind me why we came to this part of town again."

"What's wrong, Emerald? You're not being put off by a simple stench are you?" The man retorted at her jokingly. All he got was a nice whack to the back of his head by the disgruntled girl.

The woman in front of them, who had long messy black hair and a red dress, did not pay any attention to the scuffle between the two. She held a sort of scanner device and was swaying it around and around, looking for something in the area.

Once she walked in, a dot on the radar screen kept blinking in a steady pace. Suddenly, the deeper she went, the faster the blinking went. Eventually, the blipping dot flashed on and off at such rapid speed, she knew she was in the right place.

"Ah… There you are." The woman dropped the device down and looked upon where the object could be. Everyone's eyes pointed straight at the same direction and there they found what they were looking for.

They came across a wide back alleyway, where there was nothing but piles of trash and rubbish and dumpsters and a lone streetlight shining what little light it could in the immensely dark area.

Quietly approaching, they could see a weird humanoid creature, standing upright. What perplexed them, at least the two younger associates at the back were, was that the creature wore what looked like a yellow dress and had a head that featured something like a white mask.

"What the heck is that?" asked Emerald. "That a Grimm?"

"Since when do Grimm wear clothes?" countered Mercury, the grey-haired guy.

"But it has a white head with those red markings on 'em."

"And… a smile…?"

Emerald was about to add up to her defence, but seeing that there was no other way to compare the creature with some other beast from far away, she gave up quite fast.

"Okay, maybe it's not a Grimm."

"Shut up, you two." The front woman silenced the duo, continuing to look further into the mysterious being lurking in the shadows. They made their move, stepping quietly towards the strange creature.

For the next few seconds, all was silent, the creature failed to notice any sudden movements or suspicious noises. The trio of humans were getting closer to finding out what on Remnant was going on with it, hoping to make use of this new turn of events.

Just what could it be? A monster? A new form of Grimm?

If it was, then all of people, Cinder Fall would be aware of the birth of a new one. Plus, as they got closer, it was starting to be clear that this was no Grimm indeed. The white face Emerald thought was from a genuine Grimm was not a face at all, but a mask. The creature also had its arms held together like a lady in a royal ceremony, too courteous for any barbaric creature of destruction.

"It's been one whole month." Suddenly, they could have sworn they heard the monster speak! A raspy female voice in perfect English, despite it being in only a few words, but imagine their extra surprise when she began to speak again. "And still, no sign of it. Where is it?"

Despite the startling discovery, the three humans neared their target with caution, hoping to catch her before she noticed anything.

SPLASH!

Unfortunately, Mercury was too focused on the monster that he did not see a small puddle of murky water in his path. It was too late to stop as he stepped on the puddle, causing the water to spurt out in a loud splash sound

"Huh?!" The robed monster was suddenly alerted by the splashing sound, sharply turning to where the humans were. There she saw three young humans all startled by her turn of direction.

WOOOSSHHH!

All of a sudden, the mysterious being thrust her arm out at them. At once, they felt a powerful force pushing off against them. They dragged off a few feet away from the attacker before stalling to a stop. While the strong force was still blasted upon them, they did their best to hold the ground, pushing themselves down, shielded their faces with their arms from the stretching pull acting on their faces, and pressing their feet as hard as they could.

For a good three seconds, they managed to hold off the force of the blast. The strange being ceased her power when she could not do anymore.

The standoff commenced when Cinder's squad stood opposed and battle-ready against the powerful creature.

"Ah! So you dare sneak up on me?" the creature sneered at them. "Foolish children!" With the snap of her fingers, eight dark blue clouds of smoke puffed up all around her. When the smoke vanished, each of them revealed an armoured soldier with blue armour and a metal conical helmet. Five of them were holding yari-like spear weapons with tips made of several diamond-shaped blades while the rest of the three others wielded laser-powered arquebuses.

Cinder smirked at the sight of these soldiers. Her heart burned with a huge fire inside, eager to show these unknown enemies who they were messing with. The other two cohorts behind her were ready to back her up, equally satisfied with the thought of battle.

"Kudabots! Attack!" The wizard ordered her newly summoned troopers to charge for the trio. From the looks of these three suit-less humans, the being known as Madame Odius was certain victory was at hand. She expected this fight would end in an instant. Those humans had spirit, which she would admit.

However, underestimating the enemy proved to be a clear mistake. And she would learn it the hard way. Cinder and her teammates were readying themselves for the battle ahead of them. Mercury stomped on the ground during which a clicking sound is heard from both of his boots. Emerald unsheathed a pair of jungle-green revolvers with curved blades built underneath the barrels. Cinder waved her hands up and conjured a pair of black glass swords which she then brought them together and attached them at the hilts to form a bow.

The Kudabots raged forward in a formation reminiscent of an old military procedure. The five spearmen head the charge to attack the enemy head on, leaving behind the rest of the sharpshooters to line up and take their shots.

Mercury was up first to charge right in and engaged with the Kudabots with his boots. The Kudabots swung their spears at him in an attempt to skewer him down to the ground. However, just before they could have the chance, Mercury rolled out of the way just in time as the Kudabots all landed on the ground and stabbed the tough stone tiles on the floor.

Mercury turned his head around and smirked when he saw the Kudabots all incapacitated by the failed strike and recollecting themselves from the messy move. From there, he saw his chance and sped for them, kicking one of the Kudabots at the back.

BANG!

Once he made contact, a loud bang was heard as the Kudabot was knocked out by a sudden shot from the boot that kicked it. It was in fact an actual bullet that was shot out of his boot heel, yet the impact was powerful enough to propel a Kudabot towards the wall.

He made a move and dealt with the rest of the Kudabots. Each tried to swing their spears individually, but the agile fighter sidestepped and danced his way through each attack, following up with more of his kick shots at them until they were all knocked off.

Watching their melee-style counterparts taken out, the Kudabots with the firearms moved in for the shot, kneeling down and aiming their laser muskets on Emerald.

Despite the steady formation, the girl with the jade hair simply walked in a casual stride. She twirled her blasters around until she cocked them to firing mode before putting her index fingers around the triggers.

The Kudabots stood firm and fired a barrage of laser bolts from their blasters. The blue laser projectiles were shot in a line and headed straight for her. But all Emerald had to do was leap in the air and look down on the enemy while she was in mid-air.

The Kudabots down below were scattering to fire back up he gave them a taunting wink before aiming her blasters at the airborne fighter. They let loose more shots, lasers blazing at her direction.

The lasers managed to hit their mark and Emerald was sent hurling down on the ground in a hard landing. While she laid still on the ground, the Kudabots lowered their weapons and checked on her remains. They approached her unconscious body, looking down on her to confirm their hit.

TWACK!

Suddenly, a strike to their heads all sent them off towards another wall, piling up on top of one another and defeated. In their eyes, it would look like they did managed to take down at least one of their attackers.

Unfortunately, they were wrong. There stood Emerald, proudly swinging her right blaster which was now attached with a long metal chain at its back like a flail. Its underslung blade was now extended out as a dagger of sorts, making the weapon a whip of sorts.

From the looks of her body, she did not seem to suffer any damage at all. The area on the floor where it was thought that she landed on did not show any sign of a crash. It was firmly intact, as if she casted some sort of illusion on those downed Kudabots. It didn't take long for anyone to assume that it could be just that; an ability to cast a tricky illusion on her foes.

"Imbeciles!" So much for backup, Madame Odius mentally cursed. Now, she was left alone, and her opponent, Cinder was now coming towards her, bow and three arrows loaded at the ready. "Well, I guess I shall destroy you myself!"

Odius defiantly faced her enemy head on and conjured up two fireballs in her hands. Cinder pulled the bowstring back and made ready to fire her arrows. The soothsayer threw both of her fireballs at Cinder in furious swings.

Even as the fireballs raged towards Cinder, she held her ground and fired all three arrows back at Madame Odius' direction. The two sides flew right for each other poised to hit their respective targets. As soon as they came into contact, they immediately blew up in a large explosion.

Madame Odius was blinded by the flashing blast and shielded her eyes. As soon as she opened them back, panic struck as the same three arrows somehow survived the impact and speared right for her. With little time to react, she leapt out of the way just in time before the arrows could cut her down.

Even as she avoided a nasty fate, the battle was far from over. She then flung another pair of fireballs at Cinder with fiercer power from her growing outrage. However, once again, Cinder was one step ahead of her, sliding her feet and gliding away from the incoming fireballs. After she safely avoided the explosions, she let loose another volley of arrows at the monster.

Odius jumped out of the way just in time and kept attacking Cinder, this time with a massive blue wave of fire like a raging mini tsunami to sweep all three humans at once.

Cinder gave an ominous nod to her teammates, which they acknowledged. At her signal, they all jumped out of the way; the two of them stepping away at the sides while Cinder back flipped in the air, allowing the wave of fire to pass through and blast a wall before disappearing into thin air. The infernal attack looked quite powerful, but when it hit the building, not a single burn mark was found as if no damage had been done to it.

The moment Cinder landed down after the blaze, the two other humans sped forward to flank Madame Odius from both sides. The soothsayer saw them coming for her and got into her defensive position.

Mercury moved in to shoot her down with his gun-boots. He hit Odius which then he heard the loud bang he would often catch when hitting his targets, but to his surprise, the seemingly weight-burdened monster was somehow further away from where she originally was. The two women who managed to see that she actually shifted away in the speed of light.

The stunned fighter tried to kick her again, but she already took care of him by tossing a few fireballs at him. Mercury made some back flips away and landed back on his feet. He gritted his teeth from the disappointing outcome.

Emerald took her turn and fired her guns at Odius. The magic user responded by raising her hand towards the bullets and made some glowing circle on her hand. As the bullets came for her, Odius moved her hand so that the rapid-fired stream of bullets could be caught by the glowing disc on her hand. With lightning fast speed, her hand moved to block off each bullet without a single miss! Her hand just stopped all her shots without a single scratch, catching Emerald off guard long enough for Odius to fire another fireball at her. Emerald flew back towards the wall, taking her out.

Odius then turned towards Mercury behind her, seeing that he was charging at her for another kick. As soon as he tried, raising his foot at her, she had the same energy disc on her hand and pointed it at Mercury, enlarging it to form a shield to protect herself from the incoming attack. Mercury's momentum was instantly cut short as he came to a full stop when he kicked the shield. At that moment, Odius managed to swing her shield away, throwing Mercury off his balance and dropping him down on the floor.

With two combatants down, it was time to finish up with the last one.

"Stop!" Suddenly, a cold shrilling voice halted her advance. She faced the last warrior on the field and saw that it was Cinder who told Odius to cease fighting. She would not have any of that, however. "Perhaps we can settle this the easy way."

Cinder put away her weapon, making it vanish out of sight.

"And why should I?" Madame Odius relented, arguing that she had no intention on removing these nosy brats from her sight.

A sly smirk came from Cinder. Realizing that her opponent would not back down so easily, she decided to show her the hard way, after all. Waving her hand upwards, she focused her energy in her body and directed her hand facing Madame Odius.

All of a sudden, Odius could feel something hot at her legs. After another second, she could feel the heat rising rapidly until eventually, it was almost impossible to stop it.

"ARGH!" She could see that her legs were enveloped in a blazing fire that began to burn her in an agonizing moment of extreme pain. She wanted to bend down and dust off the flames, but when that didn't work, she tried to use her own magic to extinguish the flames. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to work as the fire continued to burn through her skin.

She then looked at Cinder and saw that her hand had a small orb of flames on it, instantly giving her the notion that she was doing this. She could not believe that a human could cause this much power and could not do anything to stop her.

"Choose." Cinder knew that her enemy was now powerless, trapped in agony and desperation to break out. All she had to do now was reel in the prey. "Talk… or die…"

Madame Odius was running out of time. The fire was getting more and more powerful as it began to burn up towards her whole body. Even so, she did her best to withstand the pain, in a last ditch effort to show her foe no fear. However, after the pain grew on and reaching her torso, there was no point relenting. She had no choice… but to give up.

"Ugh… Very well."

Cinder gave her one last smirk before finally accepting her opponent's surrender. She flicked her hand back and slowly eliminating the burning power from Madame Odius. The soothsayer dropped to the ground and on her knees, relieving herself of the burns she had suffered.

She casted another magic spell on herself. Cinder kept a watchful eye on the defeated Odius as she did so, but all worries were cast aside when Odius finally rose up and the magic casted was gone. Probably a healing spell of sorts.

Even after being fully healed, Madame Odius had no more reason to continue the fight. There was just no way she could take on Cinder if she would be capable of using such powerful magic on her own.

On the other hand, there was a sudden spark of interest inside of her. If a human was able to summon fire with her own hands, then could this be the answer she was looking for? Was this the energy she was tracking this whole time?

"Good. Now, let us begin." Cinder ceased all hostilities, or at least attempted to, and began her little talk with the demon. Her intent on getting answers from her was now coming into play. A monster this powerful could mean a chance to gain much needed power to realize her goals. All she had to do was find out if this creature was just another beast to tame, or would she be much more powerful than any Grimm known to man. "Who are you?" she asked.

"What do you want to know, human filth?" Madame Odius sneered at Cinder, still disgusted by her defeat.

At that moment, Cinder's two teammates had recollected themselves up and went to gather back at Cinder's side. Wounded by the fight, they held to the places at their body that hurt the most and limped their way towards their leader.

"See? Told you it's not a Grimm." mused Mercury.

"So what? It's not like I said it was definitely a Grimm…" argued Emerald.

"Silence!" They were both hushed up by the strict voice of Cinder telling them to shut their mouths, with them not wanting to argue with her. Mercury and Emerald were now quiet enough for Cinder to continue her discussion with the creature.

She noted Odius' hostile expression with her fists clenched each second Cinder looked at her. The woman came up with a way to approach the being without causing another scene. There was already enough of a ruckus as it was. More fighting would definitely mean more noise, and thus more unwanted attention.

"Now, now. Let's be civil. We're all living beings, are we not?" She tried to at least put up an act to look a little more passive. Madame Odius saw the softening of Cinder's tone, but the hard feelings towards her were still keeping her from trusting the human.

"Don't push your luck with me, young one." she hissed.

"And what do they call you?" asked Cinder.

"If you must know, I am Madame Odius." the soothsayer answered. "I am but a wandering wizard in search for something in this world. But before I go on, how did you find me?" Cinder pulled out the device that she used earlier to find Odius' energy. Perhaps a little bit of closure with her could help gain her trust in the matter.

"This scanner of mine has been detecting a source of dark power in this area. And it led me straight to you."

"Ahh… So you are interested in the dark arts?" Odius stroked her own chin, interested in what this human could be interested in.

"Let's just say…" Cinder snapped her fingers, igniting a small flame on them from a single spark. "I'm picking up on it as I go."

Odius then came over towards Cinder. The human woman backed up a bit, slightly agitated by her advance. She did, however, remain in place without any action. She sensed Madame Odius' energy coming from her body, being calm and curious, like she wanted to find something out from her.

The soothsayer took a good look at Cinder and tried to feel for any power inside of her. Surely enough, she found what she was looking for. That same energy she was looking for. What made it even more interesting was that the power inside of Cinder felt very… cold. Much like her own.

"This is very rare." mused Odius.

"What is?" wondered Cinder.

"That of all the foul creatures I've met in my days, I did not suspect humans learning the ways of darkness." explained Odius as she stepped away from Cinder. "Well, children. Aren't you an interesting bunch…?"

Odius came forward towards the other humans behind Cinder. The leader of the team naturally let the wizard go through her and scan Mercury and Emerald for their own energy signatures. The way Odius wanted to feel for the energy within them told Cinder that it had to do with her Aura, and it was clear from her voice that she was craving for such power.

This Madame Odius seemed like a power-hungry being, searching for more power to fuel her might. However, there was something that held her back from being a sort of assertive figure; the one in charge of either herself or any group or organization.

Odius was busy checking out the two younger fighters for their powers. Unfortunately, she was getting a little too close for comfort. Their skin started to tense up and bodies were getting crept out by the seemingly excessive probing of their energies with the shadowy figure just drifting around them like a phantom in the night.

"Umm… Okay. You're kinda creeping me out right now." Mercury could feel a crawling sensation zapping up his spine and was getting quite jumpy with it. "Can I kick her down now?"

"No." Another bone-chilling command by Cinder forced him to endure Odius' scanning. He did not have to wait long since she was finally over in seconds, giving him time to feel the relief set in.

Odius quickly deduced the humans' powers and she fell very impressed and accomplished at the same time. First, these were three humans with extraordinary powers; the same ones she had found during her time at the Warrior Dome. Far more interesting though was how connected they were with the same darkness that she indulged in.

For the first time, she could finally feel at common ground with these puny humans; the hostile interaction now becoming something of a neutral conversation between like-minded beings.

"I see within you a sense of wanting. A desire for something greater than anything your world had ever seen." deduced Odius, identifying with the team of their dark ambitions.

"You sure are perceptive." Cinder agreed, as she too felt like something can be negotiated with this strange wizard from who knows where she came from.

"Trust me, darling. I've seen that kind of desire in many beings from where I come from."

"And where do you come from?" asked Emerald.

"That is not important." defended Madame Odius.

"Well, then maybe you can answer us one question." Cinder added, hoping to push forward into the details. "Why are you here? Are you here to find… a certain something that we have?"

"That is of no concern to you, child." Even with the soothsayer's own defiance still mounting, Cinder attempted to ask further with more striking questions.

"Are you sure? Because if I'm not mistaken, you must be here for a power that could benefit anyone of your form. If sensing for our own energies was of any indication."

"How would you know?" Madame Odius believed it was her turn to ask some questions from Cinder. "What are your motives, child?"

"Now, that I can't tell you as well." But apparently even Cinder had her own secrets to keep. Still, she had some ideas on how to keep the interest flowing between them. Crossing her arms together, she kept up the talk with a hunch about their unwelcome guest. "But it seems that you're willing to use our power for radical intentions."

"Do you know what this power is?" Her attention was given. Cinder reeled her in for more answers.

"Oh, it's really easy to find. In fact, we just showed you a little taste of it."

Madame Odius' desire had just increased tenfold. Just a little taste of power. That certainly meant that there was a huge abundance of it across the world. She just had to get her hands on it and all she needed was how to get it.

"You see, what you witnessed was all possible is thanks to the power of Aura." Cinder's explanation of the power Odius so sought after was now reaching a new peak with her mentioning of its name. It must be really important if it was given a name.

"Aura, you say?" She tapped her fingers together like some mad genius reaching for her potions.

"An energy that surrounds us. We of this world use this power to all sorts of things. Build. Make. Help… Destroy." And the word 'destroy' was more than enough to give Madame Odius the stuff she needed to confirm that she came to the right place. However, these children were still not to be trusted to help her. Telling her of the power of Aura only did so much to build trust between the two parties.

"Do you wish to heed this power?" asked Cinder.

"In a way, yes." Cinder's eyebrow went upwards, curious as to how Madame Odius would put her quest for the Aura. "For now, I am carrying out a mission for a powerful champion. He is the one seeking out this energy."

"A champion?" Emerald jumped in at the revelation of Madame Odius' master. Just how powerful was this champion of hers? "What kind of champion?"

"A warrior of great strength and pride. He has sent me to find this power that you call Aura. And he has plans on using it."

The black-haired woman's suspicions were hitting the mark. So it was true that she was not being the centre of a plot, but rather the pawn of one. A champion searching for more power was a recipe for chaos and destruction.

Perfect.

"So… you're an underling?" inquired Mercury.

"Call me an advisor of sorts." Even so, the fact that she was serving a champion and still had tremendous power in her own right was more than enough to instil some nervous feelings to the two younger humans.

"And what might these plans be?" Cinder tried again with her attempt to find out about Madame Odius' motives. She wanted to know what kind of scheme her kind could be hatching at this very moment. More importantly, she also needed to know if she could align her own goals with hers. Could this possible intrusion of evil be useful for inciting her revolution to overthrow her enemies? There was only one way to find out,and that was to keep on asking. She was sure that something will prove to be of use to her in the end. "Would it happen to spread chaos?"

"Ahhh… Such intriguing questions. It is almost as if you know the answer already." said Odius.

"Oh, I know very much of what your champion wants. He wants control. He wants fame. He wants to rule all." There was no denying that Galvanax was the ever typical tyrant who seeks for control wherever he may go or whatever he could to take it. It was a simple concept for Cinder; cliché to put it bluntly. "Our goals are aligned. This whole world is a mess and we wish to grow more powerful to change it to our favour. Through chaos and darkness, we can achieve our victory over this world. Through the power of our own dark Aura."

Cinder slowly walked away from Madame Odius as she came to a close to her speech.

"But tell me. Do you really want to give this power to your master?" "Or is it you who intends on getting it?" Madame Odius clapped once when Cinder broke through her secretive intentions. The way she pursued to find out about Aura was a little too... obsessive. She just could not even hold still to find the answers she needed. Also, Cinder could even feel the intent in Odius' spirit, just indulging for more information but that wanting was more directed towards herself and not the champion she served.

"You can see through my deception." admitted Madame Odius. "You are indeed special, child."

Things were coming together quite nicely for Cinder. Now all she had to do was to make their two goals into something mutually beneficial for both sides.

"Perhaps we can work something out." She tapped her chin with a grin on her face. An idea so mischievous, so dangerous and destructive, it might just work. "Maybe… we can work together."

"What is in it for you?" Madame Odius was now back to being curious at this human's demands. Just a while ago, these three humans tried to subdue her, took out her troops and now began questioning her like a prisoner of war after being burnt up. Now, here was this lone woman, requesting to join forces with her. Or rather Galvanax, considering that this discussion was now being extended to include the mighty warrior himself.

It was quite baffling indeed, especially for Mercury and Emerald. Could Cinder really have the guts to make friends with a being they've never seen before?

"We, too, desire to take over this world, and we are currently on our way to do so." explained the cold-hearted woman. However, there was now a frown on her face. Odius saw this as a sign of opposition. An obstacle that stood in the way of her new acquaintances. "But there is one force that stands in our way."

"What could possibly stop a bunch of powerful children such as yourselves?" asked Madame Odius. Slightly flattered by her remark, Cinder went ahead and reveal to her the bane of existence.

"They're the Huntsmen and Huntresses. Meddling little kids wandering around spoiling our plans. They prove to be quite… annoying. Recently they were successful in thwarting one of our plans to take over the city of Vale where we are now."

Madame Odius could not deny it. She felt the same way with this poor lass. It so happened that a bunch of other meddling kids used to ruin her day too. Naturally, she was starting to feel more inclined to working with these dark souls.

"And what do you want me to do?" questioned the alien mage. Cinder turned back around and faced Odius.

"You said you are working for a champion. Then I suppose you have an army or something?"

"Yes… We have troops that can wreak havoc to any system we travel to." Madame Odius acknowledged to Cinder of her manpower. "If only they'd be more competent to defeat those pesky Rangers…"

Cinder grinned again. Things kept getting better and better with each passing reveal. Summoning those Kudabots to fight her team was impressive enough, but hearing that Odius had more from her master, her plans were getting more plausible as well.

She had heard enough. Now, it was time to bring in two like-minded forces together to begin her master plan.

"Then we would like to propose an alliance." she began. "You and I can work together to achieve what we want." She came closer to Madame Odius, hoping to strike a deal. "Help us and send your armies to defeat the Huntsmen and Huntresses and we will give you what you want. At the end, you'll be able to take your prize all to yourself."

"Mmmm…" Madame Odius put some thought to this rather tempting offer. She had to think about what she could gain from this alliance with these humans and what could go wrong if she refused. If she agreed to join them, then what would Galvanax do when he would find out that she had struck a deal with humans?

Then again, these humans did have the same dark power that Galvanax so wanted in the first place. She did agree to do whatever it took to 'give' him that power. Perhaps she could find a way to excuse herself from any punishment for dealing with a bunch of cockroaches.

"So, do we have a deal?" The alien looked back at Cinder, who extended her hand out to seal the deal. After a while to think, Madame Odius came up with her answer.

"Very well." And thus, the two sides came forward to formally agree on a partnership to deal with whatever may stop them from achieving their evil ambitions. The two beings shook hands, accepting that though they were different, they still had a mutual view on total dominance of this world. "This will be an interesting event."

"I agree." They both broke off after forming their alliance. Meanwhile, Mercury and Emerald were standing at the back watching the exchange. As shocked as they were about how Cinder nailed it at negotiating with this weirdo, they had to admit; Cinder was always one with the nefarious plans she had formulated for a while now.

With their settlements done, Madame Odius made ready to finally depart and report to Galvanax about her successful attempt at finding a worthy contact to show them around and work with.

"I shall inform my master about this arrangement. Reinforcements will be sure to arrive. You know how to find me." She informed the team.

"We'll be waiting." added Cinder. Finally, after a rough night of fighting and conversing, the two sides had to part ways and settle in for the night to prepare for a promising tomorrow. Madame Odius walked away and, in a cloud of purple smoke, she disappeared into the night.

Cinder watched as the wizard vanish, smiling with satisfaction. She then gathered her teammates and headed off to finally call it a night. Tonight truly proved to be a strange night, even in her standards. Nevertheless, she was willing to move on and plan out what she could be facing next. Her adversaries had better be ready, because this was going to be one more step towards her ultimate fulfilment.

"Uh, Cinder?" Suddenly, Emerald came to her side and asked her a question that sounded pessimistic to her. "Pardon me for asking, but are you sure we want to be in league with these… creatures?"

"Yeah." agreed Mercury. "She does kind of creep me out. And how do we know if we can trust her to help us?"

"In fact, why do you want her to help us?"

Clearly annoyed by their questions, Cinder raised her hand to silence the two. A mischievous grin crept up her face with a cold thought in her head. Knowing Cinder, her teammates could tell that she had some deeper twists in mind for this scheme involving their new allies.

"It's very simple." she said. "Since she has an army, then it must be an army powerful enough to devastate an entire world. We'll let this… creature join us. If we manage to find out what she knows, then we could find something of use for us with her forces."

Mercury and Emerald looked at each other, with their smiles now evident and their thoughts growing with excitement of the cruel kind.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure that whoever we will be dealing with… could just be our asset on fulfilling our cause much faster than intended."

Apparently, when Cinder said that her plan to take over Vale was a failure thanks to the combined efforts of the Huntsmen and Huntresses, it was merely a ploy. The so-called Breach of Vale was in fact more of a success than a failure to her. And now, she just gave herself yet another set of cards to play out with. It was only a matter of time before she could draw them out and move forward with her plans to achieve her ultimate goal.

However, she was not alone…

Outside the city, not too far away from where she had encountered her new allies, Madame Odius found herself in a pier; an empty one with no one and nothing in sight other than the calm seawater and leftover crates on the jetties.

She chose to set herself down on one of the crates and pulled out a wrist device wrapped around her right arm. She pressed on it and proceeded to call someone to report on her mission.

"Great Galvanax." she called. "Can you hear me?" After a while, there was no response. Must had been from the radio wave interference given off by the lingering gravitational forces made by the broken moon above her. But after waiting for a bit, her call was answered.

"Madame Odius?" It was the voice of her master. "Is that you?"

"Yes, my champion." responded Madame Odius.

"Where have you been?!" Suddenly, Galvanax threw a nasty shout at her. No surprise there, however. She knew he'd be furious after forcing him to wait for so long. "It has been a month since you departed my ship! This'd better be good news!"

"Indeed, sir." She hesitated briefly. Could Galvanax accept what she did, or would she be on the way to being punished by the champion for making a deal with humans?

No. She had to go on. If Galvanax wanted the power of Aura, he would need to know what she had to offer.

"I have located the power source you need." she reported to Galvanax.

"Go on." Galvanax's voice began to slow to a calm but inquisitive tone.

"I managed to find out that it comes from this very planet. The humans here use it to become powerful fighters. I believe this power could be the solution to our problems."

"Excellent." Galvanax's voice sounded very pleased, but what he asked next was a little more than Odius bargained for. "How did you come by this information?"

"I… uh…"

"Odius…"

"I may have… settled a deal with some humans…"

"You WHAT?!" Her face reeled in shock and fear. She knew this was coming. And she could had sworn that she heard a loud bang on the other end of the call.

Madame Odius had to hurry. This would not end well if she did not explain herself.

"Calm down, sir!" She attempted to give her master the story, hoping he would take the time to listen for her sake. "It's not what you think."

"You have just seconds to give me a reason why I should not tear you apart!" yelled the champion. Odius composed herself as best as she could before giving her master what he wanted.

"These humans. They are actually… very workable. They claim to have much knowledge and even skill in the dark form of this power. They even have a name for it. Aura it what they call it. A promising feat. And these humans I have made contact with, they appear to have the same darkness that you thrive with!"

"Ergh…" Galvanax still sounded quite angry at Odius seemingly betrayal, but after eharing her out just this once, he seemed to have calmed down to see reason in the evil mage's words. "And how would you know if we can trust these humans?"

"Oh. I know, master." She nodded surely, assuring to Galvanax that she had things well under control. "They possess the same diabolical power and spirit that make you the reigning champion of Galaxy Warriors. They can be worth working with."

Finally, after a brief temper tantrum, Galvanax spoke up again, now calmer after listening to Madame Odius' claims. That was close, she thought. She would not want to end up in the arena to fight endless waves of ruthless fighters before she had to suffer under the might of Galvanax.

"Very well. I shall trust you this once." Galvanax declared. "But remember this. That if you choose to betray me again, you shall suffer the consequences."

"Understood, sir." acknowledged Madame Odius. "Do send a transport to pick me up. And I shall give you the details."

"Good. I'll be expecting you." Finally, the call ended after some static was heard. Putting off her DataComm, Madame Odius looked towards the disfigured moon orbiting the planet. Tomorrow was going to be another day of evil plans.

But her deceptive ways were still in check. She was willing to exploit the power of Aura on her own and, with enough of it, she could usurp Galvanax's throne and become the ultimate warrior the universe shall love and fear.

"My plan is coming to motion at last. Soon, Galvanax, oh mighty champion, you shall be no more. There could only be one. And that… will be me…"