Chapter 30

Where we last left off, Raven and Bloody Mary are fighting in the streets of Mistral. Both of them show their maiden powers with Bloody Mary got Raven beat three-to-one.

"How?" Raven asks as she points her sword. "How did you managed to get those souls?"

Bloody Mary giggles like mad, "Easy." She lowers the collar of her dress and shows a red gem embedded into her chest. It is in a shape of a diamond with some of her veins visible around it like a parasite feeding on blood. "This little gem the Professor gave me grants me the ability to absorb the souls of the Seasonal Maidens. I can absorb them whether they were willing to give me them or not. Alive or dead. But with Amber and that other girl, just dead." Maniacal laughter follows after her explanation.

Raven finds it disgusting, "You're a disgusting wretch."

"What did you call me?!" Mary's attitude went from happy maniacal to full on anger. "Nobody calls me a wretch!" She arms her axe, "NOBODY! Not you, or my parents, or the doctors!"

Bloody Mary charges in and gives a huge swing at Raven. But she dodges it and tries to stab the gem. However, Mary quickly dodge by falling backwards and enters in the reflection of the puddle as the rain continues to pour. Raven quickly uses her Omen to use earth Dust to have the water be absorbed by the soil with a quick slash. Yet Mary uses three puddles behind Raven as three of her axes nearly hit Raven if she hadn't jump out of the way. The three axes went back down into the puddles before Raven gets rid of them. Raven then uses her Omen to slash down a door into a shop to stay away from reflective surfaces. The shopkeeper runs out through the back door before Raven realizes she's in a glass nick-knack store.

She looks around and see Bloody Mary's sinister red eyes from all the reflective surfaces peering right into her as if she's peering into her soul. Seventeen axes came out from the glassware that try to strike down at Raven. Raven turns into her bird form and flies out of the shop and into the one across the street. A few civilians managed to get out of the pawn shop. Raven proceeds to smash the mirrors with wind strikes to ensure Bloody Mary never comes out of them. She continues to shatter all the glass and reflective surfaces to make them too small for Mary to pop out of or use her abilities. Yet from the shards, tiny versions of Bloody Mary started popping out with the intent to kill. They all range from five inches to an inch as they continue to appear from the shards.

Raven looks down and realize she is dealing with a miniature army of maniacs, "What the-?!"

The little Bloody Marys charge at the life-size bandit chief while screaming their war cries at her. Raven tries doing a few fiery slashes to disintegrate them into nothing. Many made contact which resulted in the little Marys turning into deformed melted glass.

"Glass?" Raven went after seeing the destroyed tiny Bloody Marys. She then use her maiden powers to set the whole place on fire. Strong enough to melt the glass. "Hope that's strong enough."

She's surrounded by burnt destruction with the shop covered in soot, cinder, melted objects and the destroyed remains. Raven turns into her bird form to get out as police sirens are heard as they managed to get close to the shops. She fly overs the city just a mile away before Bloody Mary appears out of nowhere and kicks her. Raven falls down into Lil' Miss Malachite's shop right through the roof in her human form with many of the Spiders getting out of the way before pulling their weapons out. Raven landed on Lil' Miss Malachite's table as she enjoys her dessert.

"I was not expecting a show for my dessert." Lil' Miss Malachite says.

Raven slowly gets back up and sees Bloody Mary coming down from the hole. She rolls to the right to get out of the way as Mary comes down with her axe that sliced through the table. Raven uses her maiden powers to fire ice shards at her, but when the shards made contact, they went through as if she is made out of water.

Raven gets frustrated, "What kind of semblance is that?! Or is it something else?!"

Bloody Mary has her head poking out of Miss Malachite's spoon, "I had some...adjustments done."

Miss Malachite's drops her spoon, "The fuck?!" But Bloody Mary disappeared, "This must be that murderous brat that killed her parents!"

The Spiders keep their distance from any and all forms of reflective surfaces as they form a circle.

"You know something?" Raven asks.

"A child that has been abused by her parents to the point of insanity." Miss Malachite explains. "One night, she murdered her parents with an axe and then locked up in an insane asylum. She escaped, but people don't know how. Not even me."

"Would you like to know?" Bloody Mary's voice echoes in the building from everywhere.

Everyone is keeping an eye out for her and make sure she doesn't strike.

"To know how, I was saved. Saved by the love of my life. He accepted me for who I was. He understood me. He knows that how bad the world is and we're gonna burn it down." Her tone of voice start to sound more and more twisted. "Thanks to him, I was introduced to the Professor. A man with unimaginable power that can put ideals into action. He upgraded my semblance to levels beyond my imagination. I evolved. Thank to the Professor and the Evolutionaries, I became far stronger. Thanks to my damaged mind, I can withstand the power of the three souls fighting each other."

"GAAH!" one of the male Spiders went, "She's in my eye!"

A hand came bursting out of his left eye before sinking back into the eye socket. Everyone backs away as the man falls dead in a puddle of blood coming out of his socket. Then another members of the Spiders scream as both her eyes got destroyed and hands coming out of both sockets as if this is a horror movie. The hands go right back in as the woman drops dead in the same manner. Lil' Miss Malachite runs out as Raven turns into a bird and tries to fly away. Raven flew high until she start to feel tiny scratches on her. Upon closer examination, there are tiny axes coming out of the raindrops that harm Raven. Raven flies back down while creating a special dome before turning into her human form. The dome shields her from the drops as she lands close to a cliff close to the city. She tries to weigh her options on what to do next.

However, Bloody Mary shows herself as she fight against Raven. Both jump off the cliff as they use their powers to fight in the air. Bloody Mary glows crimson red with her eyes being the same color. As for Raven, she glows regular red. The two battle with each one using all their best moves and counters with each blow causing powerful quakes that can be felt. The quakes are also causing some of the rocks of the cliff to fall off with water pouring down. From what everyone can see from the city, they see two balls of light colliding into each other as they are at awe while feeling the quakes from the impact.

Back in the air, both Raven and Bloody Mary continue to fight with Bloody Mary using her Maiden powers to turn the raindrops into ice shards and launch them at Bloody Mary. Mary, on the other hand, creates a thick ice shield to stop them and then launch it at Raven. Raven slice it in half as Mary was behind as she was about to attack. However, Raven block her attack and punch Mary right in the nose. Raven flies back as Mary uses the blood from her nose to make a whip that she uses to try and snatch Omen. But Raven is too fast and...yeah, the whole fight is sorta like a Dragon Ball Z fight. You know, the whole flying in the air, shockwaves being seen, everyone glowing to power up? That sort of thing. So the fight continued for over an hour and... You know what? I missed the DBZ with the music from Toonami over the crappy original Japanese OST that Funimation released. The people we have online uploaded THAT version to every dub site. Its okay, but I liked the Toonami one, its not the same. If I wanted to listen to it, I would watch regular Dragon Ball. Because of that, I never watched DBZ ever again until I finally found two sites that have it and only two. People in this day and age don't know what they're missing. The tracks from the Toonami version is much better that help give DBZ its identity here in the west. Crap! Okay, let's focus on the story! Where was I? Oh yeah.

After an hour of fighting, Raven notices that her maiden powers are slowly weakening. Her power wanes as the glow from her strength starts to flicker.

"Feeling a little...drained?" Bloody Mary sounds sadistic, "I've been draining your Maiden soul during the duration of our fight. Pretty soon, you'll be a weak, pathetic bitch that her own tribe would kick out."

Raven starts to get frustrated yet she shoots a beam of light into the sky that causes the storm clouds to dissipate and the rain to stop. After that stunt, Bloody Mary headbutts Raven right in the forehead. That final blow cause Raven to loose the Soul of the Spring Maiden from that stunt and she falls down into the sea.

"Ta-ta, birdie bitch." Mary smiles as she sees Raven plunge into the water. A portal opens up, "Now time for me to get back with my future hubby! Later!" She goes through the portal.


On the other side of the portal, everyone is in Enlighten Valley not too far from the Oda District as it is mid-morning. Gris embraces Bloody Mary as he swings her around in her arms and they kiss.

They stop with Gris asking, "Had fun?"

"Like taking candy from a baby." Mary smiles.

Then they kiss again.


Minuit District, Council Meeting Room

In the meeting room, Leader is sitting in his seat as Gris and Bloody Mary enter. Gris presents the Lamp of Knowledge he places on the table. Bloody Mary shows her gem that shows four little lights. Green for the Spring Maiden, pink for the Summer Maiden, orange for the Autumn Maiden and white for the Winter Maiden. All the power of the Four Maidens in one gem.

"Excellent work." Leader is pleased.

"You were right about tricking Raven." Gris grin in delight, "She fell for it, hook, line and sinker. A shame about losing our priests but hey, they got their reward in the end."

"And of Raven?"

Bloody Mary seem proud of herself, "Sleeping with the fishes."

"She fell into the water?"

"Indeed!"

"But did she truly drown?" Leader sound upset, "Remember, Raven isn't your typical Maiden. She's a survivor, a fighter. The strongest bandit on Remnant that is far smarter than average."

Bloody Mary drops her proud face and seems unsure, "I'm...pretty sure?"

"Did you see her body and check?"

She gulps, "Uh...no."

Leader sighs as he scratches under his gas mask, "Then we still have a problem. Even without the Spring Maiden, she's still a threat. But you have completed two of three of your objectives. I'll let it go for the time being." He stands from his seat, "Because we have two more obstacles that need to dealt with. The second gem to trap Ozma is ready. Once we dealt with Salem, he's next when the Tournament is midway." He looks out the window, "For now, prepare for the greatest battle that this planet has yet to see."

Gris grins slowly from ear to ear, "You mean... It's time?" He seems to be getting excited for what comes next.

"Yes. Once my speech is over, get ready."

"YES!" Gris express his excitement, "TIME TO KILL THAT BITCH! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"But honey?" Bloody Mary is less enthusiastic, "What about the plans for our wedding?"

Gris holds onto both of Mary's hands, "Don't worry, babe. This battle will be a walk in the park. Once it's done, then we can plan our big milestone."

Bloody Mary pulls out her axe and looks serious, "You better. If not..." She shows her menacing aura, "I'll make you regret it."

Gris giggles, "That's what I love about you, babe. So feisty!"

Leader claps his hands three times, "Alright, love birds, please take it outside. I have a speech to get ready for."


Back at Mistral

Back in Mistral, the waves are banging against the rocks that fell over from the fight. From the waves, Omen, Raven's sword, somehow washed up on those rocks. Yet Raven's right hand emerged from the water and managed to grab hold on the boulder. Raven is still alive.


Enlighten Valley, Afternoon...

An announcement was made to the entire valley that Leader was making a speech to all citizens. Many of the schools had to stop with all the students watching the television, factories ceased productions as everyone takes the rest of the day off to attend, shops allow people to gather around the screens to see Leader for the first time. Farmers stop tending the crops to visit the Council Building and see Leader with the rest of the council in the three balconies. Leader is standing at the podium with five microphones for him to speak to. Everyone is hanging onto every word that is about to be said for this is the first time Leader address the masses.

"Greetings, my fellow enlighten people." His voice is calm and clear for everyone to listen. "We are all like-minded individuals that believe that the world we live in is unjust, unkind and have been lied to. We live in a world where prejudice is still around despite given full rights. A world that still monsters are preventing us from proceeding further with those in power claiming our sweat and toil as their own. We've all came together to be free from the corruption, the abuse and the horrors that Remnant keeps on hurling at us. In this valley, we have made our home here. But we all know that it won't last for long as the conservative barbarians that want to keep us from being ourselves and to evolve will come crashing through our gates.

Now. Now it is our time to face one of those threats head on. I do not advocate war, but this is a war against the very monsters that want to wipe us all out in the name of their Queen. A queen that wish to destroy our world because she was cursed with immortality. A queen that cares nothing about evolution and wants us to live in fear. We have taken care of the hoarders that have taken away the brightest minds on this world and made them work on the same outdated technology and refuse to advance forward. But now, we must fight. I am not conscripting you into this war, I am only asking for volunteers.

If you believe in pressing forward to a new age where we can finally escape our worldly cage and head out to the stars. An actual future where all intelligent species can co-exist in harmony rather than hating you behind your back because of the differences you have. A world where people can take on their own evolutionary path can be open forward, you can fight. If not, then it is your decision and your decision to make for you are a free individual. No one will judge you, for you are free. Bear in mind that if you volunteer, you will have to go through some changes. This includes cybernetics, genetic engineering and many forms of transhumanism that will be irreversible. It will be permanent. Even though evolution and change is our ideal, I would understand if you are ethically against it."

Everyone murmur about what to do and this will be the biggest decision of their life. To fight and put an end to Salem once and for all, or stay and remain hidden as the world goes through the Culling.

"I'll go!" a man voice is heard through the crowd. This man is a Faunus with deer antlers, "I want to fight for a better world! This valley has been good to me and I owe a debt of gratitude! I shall fight!"

A human woman speaks, "I shall fight as well! I want to go to the moon! See the stars and see Remnant through a different view!"

A human man speaks, "A chance to change myself?! I could I say no to that!"

"I want to fight for a better future!"

"A world with no Grimm? I can start my own fishing village when they're gone! Mayor even! Count me in!"

The number of people that want to fight with patriotic fervor as they raise their fists for something better. A world with no oppression, no prejudice, and no backwards thinking. A world with no Grimm where anyone can place their settlements anywhere in the world without fear of them lurking about.

"Then it is time. No more masks. No more secrets. Many are waiting for me to say a certain phrase for when it is time. That time is now!" Leader removes his gas mask and toss it high in the air. As it fell down, Leader reveals his real form. Eric van Genus' true appearance is a Faunus with a black complexion and antelope horns. "We want WAR! Give 'Em HELL!"

The crowd cheers as now it is the time to fight against Salem and the Grimm directly at the source. Eric goes back inside and plays Hell March 3 from C&C Red Alert 3 as Enlighten Valley goes through a rapid change. Factories have half of their production lines produce weapons and armor for the soldiers while others are making militarized vehicles. Volunteers sky rocket as many are sent to the different labs to have their bodies modified. Not just humans, but Faunus, Wessen and even some Vampires as well. It will take some time, but they will be ready for war.