She stood before Forever Fall forest, her path inwards blocked by the trees. It was as if the Elves sensed her presence, and commanded the trees to not let her through.
She extended her arms and black flames shot out from them and crashed into the trees. The black flames eagerly devoured the trees, and just like the last time, the trees grew from elsewhere to try to limit her progress to get through. Unlike the last time, she was prepared, having spent the past week perfecting a new spell she had invented.
She approached the flames, and spread her hands apart. The flames also spread around, preventing the newly formed trees from reinforcing the burning ones. She took advantage of her momentary victory, and moved through the dead trees. Her eyes were glowing blue with the power of the Winter Maiden, and her focus betrayed her intense concentration.
The flames let her through, and from behind her formed a ring of fire around her. That would serve both as a shield to discourage any attacks, and as a sword to pierce through the trees. The only issue right now was that like before, the forest's power, or perhaps the power of the Elves, were pressing hard on her senses, making it hard for her to use them to sense the location of the Elves.
Every problem, however, had a solution. She had been unable to find a good way to bypass the problem, so instead she did what she did best. Violence.
There was, suddenly, a cracking noise heard from her black flames, and lightning began to wrap itself around her flames. Before her vision went blank, her senses were assaulted by scream of pain, so large as if the entire forest had cried out in pain, yet there was more screams than even that.
She was submerged in the minds of so many, her will split into many pieces felt weak to her, but this, she had predicted. She did not need to dominate the forest, or the guardians in whose minds she was now submerged. She gathered her strength and revealed her true form to them. The pain from her Evil Presence spell and the recoiling from seeing her true form had made them lose focus on their spell. She could sense horror from the guardians of the forest, no doubt at her true form, and some weaker ones even fainted after sensing her inherent nature.
She withdrew from their minds, and smiled in satisfaction. Their spell momentarily broken, she could now easily sense their location.
She gathered as much power and Evil Energy as she could safely afford to waste, and put it all into her black flame spell. She then lifted herself in the air with her Maiden powers, and launched herself towards the location of the Elven settlement burning through any trees in between.
She burst into a large clearing in the forest, where she saw large golden pillars, size of maybe three men, spread around the border with the forest, upon which stood Elves, one per pillar. There were ten pillars, and the ten elves were likely the guardians whose minds she had attacked.
The Elves opened their eyes, and looked at her warily. She turned off her spell.
"Bring me to your leader!" Yang commanded, falling easily into her Overlord persona.
From the ground before her mystical blue light appeared spinning in circles, faster and faster, and a second later, with a flash of light, another Elf stood where there was once the tornado of blue light.
Her features, for it was undoubtedly a she, were ones of otherworldly beauty. Her skin was pale, eyes rich green and looked to be almost shining, her lips without lipstick and yet looked so good that Yang found herself slightly jealous, straight nose, and an angular face. Her hair was as red as the blood that flowed through her veins, and her ears were long and pointed, She was about head taller than the tallest person Yang had seen, and so she seemed to tower over her. The rest of the elven woman sported features that men would certainly go wild over. Big breasts, thin waist, and although Yang couldn't see her rear, she could probably guess that it wasn't a disappointment too. She seemed to be wearing a long red ceremonial dress that reached all the way to the ground, and from her waist and twisted over her chest was a golden tree branch. Whether the branch was some sort of armor piece or merely an eye catching accessory wasn't clear.
"That won't be necessary, Dark One." the woman spoke her eyes narrowing in displeasure at the sight of Yang. Her voice was the same ethereal voice she recognized, but as displeasure seeped into her voice, it seemed to almost magically radiate with its owners emotion. "It seems I have made a mistake thinking your kind can be reasoned with."
"You helped me reclaim something that was mine. Thank you for that." Yang honestly thanked her despite Gnarl's disgust. "But I have need to speak to you."
"Speak then, Dark One, and begone." she said, "I will not let your darkness taint this sanctuary. You've done damage enough to the forest already. I will not allow you to do the same to this sanctuary of ours."
"The Four Great Kingdoms have empowered me to speak on their behalf." Yang explained. "The Great Kingdoms seek an alliance with your people."
"Do not lie to me, Creature of Darkness." the elven woman commanded displeased. "We can sense your dark presence cloud two of these human-kingdoms. Two Kings have empowered you to speak, and you yourself empowered yourself to speak on behalf of your possessions."
Yang was surprised. She did not think their leader could have sensed that she controlled both her own empire and Malachite's Kingdom. Her power must be great indeed.
"Regardless," Yang said, "I am authorized to speak on their behalf. Are you authorized to speak on behalf of your people, or do you have some sort of a council?"
She looked offended by the suggestion.
"I am Queen Theophania, Queen of the Foreverlightian Elves!" she exclaimed, her voice booming with her power. "Only I can speak for my people, no other!"
"Perfect, Queen Theophania. Will you consider the proposed alliance?" Yang asked.
"To ally one of you, Dark One?" she asked incredulously. "History taught our people that you Dark Ones are signs of death for the Elves."
"I think we can look past that." Yang suggested hopefully. "I am willing to put aside any grudges so we can work together to combat a bigger threat to us both."
"You lie, Dark One" she said instead. "I sensed the hatred you put in your spell that burned apart our trees. I sensed the hatred you hold for my kind."
"I am an Overlord." Yang replied simply and honestly. "We are natural enemies. And my advisor, a Minion named Gnarl, despises your kind's very existence, far more than I ever do. To be fair, all Minions despise your kind. I believe you hold no love for my kind either."
"And you believe I will just trust you? That I will work with you when I know you will betray us given chance?"
Yang shook her head.
"No betrayal." she said honestly. "We work together until our common enemy is dead, and the alliance lasts not a second longer. I will not take hostile actions against you, and you will not take any against me, or the citizens of the Great Kingdoms."
"What enemy scares you so, Creature of Darkness, that you would come here begging for our aid?", the Queen asked with curiosity.
"I am not begging you." Yang said, fury clear in her voice and her red eyes.
"So you say." the Queen said dismissingly. "Who is this enemy you claim we share? Any enemy of yours would be a good friend of the Elvenkind."
"Do you know about the Queen of the Grimm?" Yang asked ignoring the jab against her.
"Of those creatures that like yourself seek only endless destruction?" she rhetorically asked, and without waiting for a response from Yang continued. "I am aware of her existence. She has ruled over those horrid creatures as long as I have been alive, and longer than my Father could remember before his passing. The Queen of the so called Grimm is no threat to us. She has been content to leave us be. Her enemy seems to be humanity, and we are content to let both groups slaughter themselves against one another."
"Your kind has once joined the other races to fight against the Second Overlord." Yang reminded her. "Surely that proves that the Elves can ally Humanity again."
The Queen shook her head lightly.
"Your predecessor was a threat to us, and had subjugated us, just as he had subjugated the other races."
"And will you wait for your enemy to come to your gate? Because she will turn her eyes on you eventually."
"So will you, Dark One, as had your predecessors." she said in disagreement. "I find your argument unpersuasive."
"If I had not promised to try diplomacy, my eyes would already be on your kind. You have many things I want." Yang warned.
"You must be sure of your strength, or perhaps simply arrogance borne of stupidity."
The Guardian Elves tensed around them, ready for a conflict to break out.
"Think about my offer." Yang insisted. "We can ally and work to defeat a threat that has loomed on the horizon since the Brother Gods left this world, and in that time perhaps we will learn to put our differences behind us, or you can fight me here and now, and then the other Kingdoms as they will not let this transgression go lightly. And even if you are victorious, you will be left weakened, and an easy prey for the Grimm and their Master to destroy."
"The same premise applies to your allies as well. If they go to war with us, they are left weakened." Queen Theophania pointed out. "I do not believe you are as well perceived by your allies as you hope to deceive me into believing."
"Then let's ally!" Yang almost demanded. "We become stronger, and prevent our enemy from taking an advantage of us."
"Or we are left open to betrayal." the Queen pointed out unconvinced.
"Think about it." Yang insisted. "If you agree to consider an alliance, send a representative to the city of Mistral, to the Vytal Festival held on 30th of December."
"If I recall your human calendars well enough, that is two days from now." the Queen commented. "That is not much time."
"I don't think that there's going to be much difference between two days or two months. If you are willing to consider the alliance you won't need much time to come to a decision."
"I suppose you seek us to appear in the festival's opening day as some sort of sign of unity?" Queen Theophania asked.
Yang nodded.
"And to make our alliance solid."
The Queen considered Yang's voice and it seems like she understood the meaning hidden within.
"The stability of our alliance doesn't matter, because the enemy will observe our alliance. That will force us to commit to it."
Yang nodded.
"Exactly." she said and then waited for a bit. "Sorry but we can't really delay the festival. Recent instabilities and conflicts between the Kingdoms have forced us to delay it month after month.", Yang admitted.
The Queen seemed to consider something in silence for nearly five minutes. When impatient Yang was about to interrupt her, the Queen spoke again.
"Let me in your mind, Dark One." she said to the surprise of the Elves present, who had already suffered through a similar experience with Yang. "My considerable powers will allow me to escape such an occurrence unscathed."
"No." Yang adamantly denied the proposition.
"I need to ensure you are honest about the alliance." she said. "You have my word I will go no further. I will not consider this alliance, if I cannot be sure of your intentions."
Yang thought about it, and against the insistent advice of Gnarl, and against her own hesitancy, she nodded.
The Queen placed her soft hands on Yang's skin and looked her deep in the eyes. Yang felt the Elf enter her mind, and mentally reminded her of the promise she had made. Yang summoned up all her feelings regarding the alliance, both positive and not, and let the Queen peruse them. Minutes later the Queen departed her mind.
"Your thoughts on the matter, no matter how distasteful some of them are, appear to be genuine." she commented. "As I said before, I will consider this alliance, and I accept your terms. If I wish for the alliance to proceed, I will sent a representative to the before-mentioned event."
Yang nodded and thanked her.
"Now begone, Dark One." she commanded. "You have tainted this place enough."
Despite Yang being displeased about such a dismissal, she did summon a Tower Gate and left. All in all, she considered the talks to have been productive.
Two days later, at the opening ceremony for the Vytal Festival, held in Amity Colosseum, the representatives from the Great Kingdoms, looked down from above to the mass of people in the colosseum. While the tournament would not start today, it was still considered fitting to announce the start of the festival at the colosseum.
Malachite stood up from her seat and was about to speak, for it was tradition for the leader of the host Kingdom to begin the opening speech, before mystical blue light appeared and began spinning in circles, faster and faster, and a second later, with a flash of light, the Elven Queen appeared. The leaders were about to pull out their weapons, situation turning tense, before the newcomer addressed them.
"I do hope I am not late." she had said.
Yang smiled at her.
"Welcome, Queen Theophania." Yang said politely. "You are just in time."
Yang looked over the others, and addressed them.
"Ozpin, Ironwood, Malachite, this here is Queen Theophania, Queen of the Elves." she said gesturing with her hands at each of the people present so the Elven Queen could easily understand which name belong to whom. "I had invited her to attend the festival."
From the sour look on Ironwood's face it was clear to the Queen that the others were not informed of her arrival.
Yang stood up, and looked over the gathered mass from above.
"People of Remnant, let me joyfully present our newfound ally! The Elves, reclusive but very powerful race, has agreed to join us in our quest to eliminate all Grimm! I had promised my people that neither old nor young, neither weak nor strong, neither ruralite nor urbanite, that none will have to fear the Grimm under my watch! I had promised prosperity and security to my people, and now! Now, people of Remnant, let me use this festival to extend this promise to the rest of you! So long as you cooperate with my Empire, so long as you don't seek hostile action against me or my people, I will do all I can to extend my eye of protection even for those whose loyalty I don't yet hold!"
To those that had listened, not to the words but to actions, they realized that this was a power play to counter a power play by another. The Queen of the Elves appeared just as the host was about to speak, effortlessly appearing where she needed to be, and Yang had one-upped it by turning the Elven power play into her speech, speech that the host that was supposed to speak did not protest. Those that partook in consuming the conspiracy theory spread by Valean Huntsmen Elite, that Yang had used devilish powers to brainwash the Queen of Mistral into servitude, took this as yet another proof of the theory's legitimacy.
"Even as I speak," Yang continued, "plans between my Empire and the other Great Kingdoms are underway. Thousands upon thousands of my forces have been stationed all around Remnant to best protect, you people of Remnant! With each passing day, the cooperation between our people is making us strong, and that makes you secure. No longer will we have to fear repeat of the Atlas incident! I know that some insist on disbelieving the incident, and to those I urge you to look at the Queen of the Elves, Queen Theophania, that had just appeared. If she can warp space to her desires, then I say, why must you believe that I, the Emperor that has slayed the strongest Huntsmen alive, cannot? I, who controls the creatures of Evil-made-flesh, my Minions, am supposed to be unable? I have said this before, people of Remnant, my powers know no limits! And now with the aid of the Elves to our Kingdom-Alliance, our enemies will be undone! Remnant itself united, looked past the differences in race and grudges of the past, to protect us from the Enemies of the People! You must, people of Remnant, look to one another as if to a brother, and allow unity to give you strength!"
"Must you make this into a speech aggrandizing your own image, Dark One?", the Queen rhetorically, but silently asked.
"And since I mentioned unity," Yang continued ignoring the words of the Eleven Queen, "let me give a chance for our unity-brothers to speak!" Yang turned around to face Malachite. "Please, Queen of Mistral let us hear your speech."
"That was a most dramatic and grand speech, Master," Gnarl telepathically praised her, "your rehearsals have more than paid off."
Malachite nodded, and as Yang did before, regarded the people below her.
"Welcome to the 39th biannual Vytal Festival." Melachite said, her tone authoritative but jolly. "I, and my Kingdom, have the honor of being the hosts this year. Like always, socialize, celebrate, and if you chose, compete. From tomorrow, for a week, you can participate in the tournament if you have been approved by your Huntsmen school. Like any other year, Haven, Shade, Beacon, Alsius, are the academies that will present their trainee-huntsmen to fight for pride, honor and achievement. Though, I must remain impartial, I do hope that Haven ends up winning, just as I am sure that the Emperor hopes that Shade wins."
Malachite paused and all jolliness left her face as she resumed in a serious tone.
"Honor is good, and victory is better still, but you must not allow the battle to get in the way of the primary goal of this festival, unity. In these dark and trying times, having friends is more than worth its weight in gold. Some enemies are not of blood and flesh, but of lust that turns one traitor. True Huntsmen is not one who is strong, or one that kills the most Grimm, but one who can stare at the heart of the darkness, and draw not fear, but bravery. Strong are a plenty, loyal are not. Stay true to your friends, your family, your neighbor, and most importantly your Kingdom."
She allowed a smile to creep on her face, and she gave a loud cheer.
"ALL HAIL THE KINGDOM OF MISTRAL! ALL HAIL ITS PEOPLE! AND ALL HAIL THE UNITY OF REMNANT'S PEOPLE!"
Her speech was met with a large cheer, though some couldn't help but wonder, if unity is what they truly seek, why is it that all Kingdoms aim to one-up one another?
Ozpin and Ironwood gave their own speeches each, too, promoting unity, though Ironwood's was more militaristic of a speech. And like that, the festival had started.