Three days later, and after meeting with Malachite as promised, a meeting Roman did not attend, they stood in Argus disguised as soldiers of Atlas as courtesy of Roman's talented illusionist Neo. During the said three days Yang got an opportunity to finally meet her face to face, and she reckoned she became quick friends with her. Incredibly sadistic tendencies aside, she was fun to hang around with. She was super cute too.
The initial plan had changed as they were not going to start from the town closest to Mistral and work up north, instead as Roman had suggested they now planned to take over Argus first and use their giant robot to go south until Mistral and west from there, taking care of all the villages and cities en route.
This heist on Argus was a three-man job, her, Roman, and her friend Neo. Yang saw Roman pull out his scroll and take another look at the map of the Military base that Malachite had provided.
"Ready, your highness?", Roman asked in a teasing tone.
"Save the flattery for when we're done", Yang said, "But, yeah, I'm ready. You, Neo?"
Neo nodded as well.
They walked from Argus along the long bridge leading from Argus to the Military base. Like expected it didn't take much for Roman's silver tongue to work his magic and convince the guards that they were supposed to be in there. Yang considered learning some silencing magic just in case she'll ever get into some sort of conflict with Roman. It was scary how good he was at talking convincingly.
Once they were inside is when the real challenge began. They had to make their way to the surveillance room, turn off all the cameras, and wreck the servers. As good as Roman was at being convincing, Yang didn't think he could convince whomever was stationed there that they had authorization to do that, much less be there.
With the map, finding their way to the surveillance room was easy. Given how confident they looked, no one stopped them on their way to question them which suited Yang and the gang just fine.
Upon reaching the room they found a small problem. The door was locked, and only unlockable with a hand-scan of one that was authorized to access the room.
"Seems like it's the end of the stealth section, huh?", Roman mumbled to himself, "I had hoped we would, at least, have the cameras dead before we have to drop the act."
Neo got a sadistic smile on her face, and it looked like she was not at all regretting that stealth had to be dropped in exchange of excessive violence.
"May I?", Yang asked.
Roman motioned for her to go ahead.
Yang placed her hand of the steel door and infused it with Evil Energy. She didn't make it explode yet, however. She wanted to see if she could replicate the withering effect she had on the grass as she walked in Raven's camp, anger fueling her, and Evil Energy leaking from her withering the grass beneath her as if she was Walking Death destroying life with every step.
Yang relaxed her mind and her willpower and allowed the corruption to wash over her. She felt like releasing a cruel laugh, but she held it in. She recalled how angry she was when she learned that her uncle had been lying to her for years, and she tried to focus on that anger. The now unresisted corruption made it very easy to focus on her anger. She fueled more Evil Energy into the door, and she fueled her anger in there too. When she felt that the door was about to blow up in her face, she willed it to die and wither away. As she was a creature of Evil, Evil Magic came naturally for her, although, of course, more complicated Evil Magic would still require time and effort to learn even if it would be easier due to her nature. She saw the door blacken, and then slowly bits and pieces of it began to crumble and turn into dust of the non-useful type. She breathed in and out and tried to let go of the anger. With that not so easily done, she refocused her efforts of using her willpower to, once more, resist the corruption. Not long after she felt normal again.
"I wouldn't necessarily advise you to do that again, Sire", Gnarl informed her in her mind, "Letting corruption take hold like that, especially letting it in willingly, is dangerous. The more times you willingly let it in, the harder it will be for you to push it out and resist it"
"I'll keep that in mind", she responded to him non-verbally.
"That being said, Sire, Congratulations on your new spell.", Gnarl said in a pleased tone, "This is known as 'The Touch of Decay', and although you are but a novice at that spell, with practice it will be easy enough to use it in battle"
Yang understood what he meant. While the casting of the spell didn't take particularly long, she did spent it in high-focus, and focusing on one thing, and unmoving, is a death sentence in battle. Still, she felt great at both having learned a new spell by herself and hearing her teacher's praise. She was certain to put time into practicing at casting the spell as fast as her Fireball spell.
As the final piece of the door crumbled away, Neo rushed in and stabbed one of the shocked operators in the room with her parasol-weapon called Hush.
Roman used his cane, called Melodic Cudgel, to shoot a flare at the other.
The third and the last one hurriedly pulled out his scroll to call for security but Neo swiftly took care of him too.
Roman looked back at Yang.
"Nice going with the door, blondie"
Neo too looked impressed and just a tad jealous.
"Thank you", Yang said, "Did it look Evil and Dramatic enough?"
She wasn't going to tell them that she just learned the spell, but she did want some feedback.
Neo nodded excitedly, while Roman chuckled and said "Looked like Death itself had its way with the door. I'd say that counts as dramatic enough".
Yang preened at the praise she received.
Roman took a seat on a chair near one of the terminals and quickly disabled all the cameras.
"Luckily for us, they didn't log out before they got killed", Roman remarked.
Neo looked offended and pointed a finger at herself.
"Yes, fine, luckily for us Neo took care of them before anything bad could happen", Roman amended his words, "Happy?"
Neo indeed looked happy.
"Now we destroy the servers?", Yang asked, aiming her hand at them conveniently located in the same room. With how they were buzzing working here was probably a nightmare. And it was so cold here too. Probably to keep the servers from overheating she decided.
Roman looked thoughtful.
"Best to be sure they have nothing on us. That display could probably give you away.", Roman commented, but stopped Yang as he saw her about to attack the servers, "But! We should prepare first."
"Prepare?", Yang asked.
Neo looked at her as if she was stupid and mimicked soldiers marching in with the help of her semblance. She did so by transforming herself into a wide range of different soldiers.
"Neo's right", Roman confirmed, "If there's even a single smart technician in this base, they'll have the servers rigged to an alarm whenever they shut down or get destroyed. They don't want to miss an footage after all. Standard procedure."
"Oh", Yang said feeling a bit stupid. That really did make sense.
"So, here's what we're going to do", Roman said taking lead. He did it with such confidence and charisma that it was a while before Yang realized that she was the one supposed to be in charge. He had the aptitude of a natural leader, "I'm going to drop some Fire Dust here and there around this room. We blow it up, and quickly make like a tree and leave. We pretend like we weren't there and while everyone'd distracted at the accident we make our way towards the mech and look for a way to take it over"
Yang nodded. That was a good plan. That being said, she frowned and poked Roman in the chest.
"Puns are my thing, Roman. Don't steal that from me."
Roman raised an eyebrow.
"I haven't heard you say even one. And besides you do realize that this will make me do them even more?"
"All the times I talked with you were serious!", she said defensively, "Wasn't the place for puns!"
"Or you're just a pun-master-in-learning and can't come up with them on the fly"
Neo poked both of them and then gestured at her scroll.
Roman nodded.
"Right, we're on a timer here."
Roman threw some Fire Dust around the room carelessly, and when they left he aimed his Melodic Cudgel at one of the Dust Crystals and shot his flare before quickly moving away with the rest of the gang.
The sound of the explosion, and the blaring alarms, both of destroyed server and the fire alarm quickly alerted everyone of the accident. When Yang sensed guards approaching and informed her comrades, Neo stopped the gang, and touched them, using her semblance to turn them invisible until the guards and everyone else moved past them. Yang tried to not feel jealous at how good Neo was at this.
With Neo's help they made it to the center of the facility in almost no time at all. It was at the center of the base that the mech was, and Yang could hardly believe its size. It was as tall as the base, its head reaching its celling. It was about as wide as well. It seemed that most of the facilities size was due to the size needed to contain this ginormous thing.
Roman whistled at the size of the mech.
"That's what I call impressive. I call dips on piloting the thing"
"Hey!", Yang protested, "I wanted to do that!"
Roman took no offense and instead challenged her.
"Do you know how to pilot a mech?"
"…no", Yang had to admit. It seemed that Gnarl didn't either.
"Well, I do. That means I get to pilot it."
Yang muttered a curse in between her breath, but had to concede that Roman was right.
"So how do we get it moving?", she asked instead.
"I figure it's done one of two ways. Either one of the consoles here authorizes it to start, or it has an authorization procedure -password-based or ID-scan, or maybe the hand-scan thing we saw earlier- inside of it. Knowing what I do about Atlas' tech, I figure it's the latter."
"So we find the highest ranking person in this base, and bring them here? If it's the hand thing or the ID-scan we don't need them alive and can do that after we figure that out, and if it needs a password…", Yang trailed off.
Neo gleefully mimicked lots of stabbing which Yang took to mean torture. She grimaced a bit, but quickly hid it. She wasn't really fond of torture even if her Minions enjoyed it. "Well", she corrected herself, "she wasn't normally fond of torture". When anger clouded her judgment or she was high on the power her ever increasing Evil Energies brought, she did enjoy it, although probably for different reasons than her Minions or Neo.
"Something like that, yeah", Roman confirmed to Neo, "You two go ahead and follow the map to find the office of the leader of this base. Caroline Cordovin, if I remember the research we did on this base correctly. I'll stay here and work on the consoles to ensure that there's nothing stopping us when we want to get out. There has to be a way to release this damn thing without destroying the base. They couldn't be rebuilding this every time they needed to use the mech"
Yang and Neo nodded to him, and followed Roman's command, even though Yang grumbled quietly to herself that she should be in charge as the Overlord.
They found Cordovin's office with ease, and got in just as easily. It seems she left in a hurry and forgot to lock the door. Snooping through her office was mostly fruitless as they didn't find anything that would help them with the mech.
Neo mimicked a fire, and Yang could guess what she meant.
"You think she also went there?", Yang asked.
Neo nodded.
They went back to the accident site, and indeed saw her there. They had seen her pictures before the heist to recognize the important personnel. Cordovin was a short, elderly woman with short silver hair and brown eyes. She wore an Atlesian uniform with black gloves and a dark gray belt. Yang breathed in and concentrated. She had to be confident, but seem in a hurry to tell her some terrible news that would momentarily get her away to someplace where they could knock her out. And just like that she got an idea.
She ran up to her, panting in a way to make it seem as she rushed over to her as fast as she could.
"Ma'am!", she said to get her attention.
Cordovin turned to look at her, and Yang knew she had to do this quick so she wouldn't get suspicious of a face she has not seen before.
"Your office, Ma'am!", Yang said in a way that seemed heavily concerned, "Just went past it, I did! On fire! The door broken!"
Clearly that worked as she turned away and ran to her office, two other officers accompany her. Yang and Neo took the liberty of following them as well.
When Cordovin reached her office which was neither on fire nor broken into, she turned to glare at Yang. Yang surprised her by a strong punch to her face. It was so unexpected she didn't even put up her aura and got knocked out. The two officers that followed her were gifted with a murderous stab curtesy of Neo. They dragged the dead officers into the office and set it a blaze just like the surveillance room. They then took the knocked out leader and carried her over to Roman, making liberal usage of Neo's semblance where needed.
Once they reached Roman he turned to look at them.
"You've got her? Good", he said pleased, "That's good news. There's bad news, though, Neo"
Neo put on a curious expression.
"We're going to have to skip on torture. I realize that I couldn't put past Atlas to put a self destruct code in this thing, code that someone tortured would give out. Too risky. We need a new plan"
Neo seemed disappointed, while Yang's face light up as she got an idea.
"I have a plan!", she announced.
Roman and Neo turned to look at her.
"We hide and let her awaken. One of us gets into a bullhead to make it seem like we're escaping. Chances are she won't want to let us go, given we attacked her and the arson and whatnot"
Roman's eyes widened as he understood her plan.
"Then when she gets in Neo follows her invisible into the mech, right?"
"Exactly!", Yang said proudly, "That way she can observe whatever the activation protocol is and kill her and toss her out when it's active."
Roman nodded.
"Brilliant. You good with the plan, Neo?"
Neo gave a pleased smile in return.
"Great. Let's put the plan into action then."
Yang hid near a wall and let an illusion of darkness blend her into the shadows, as Neo turned herself invisible with her semblance. Roman, undisguised as he was ever since he had separated from Neo, shot a flare at Cordovin's left foot to awaken her in pain, and he ran off to the nearest bullhead which he thankfully knew the location of.
Yang held her mouth shut trying her best to hold her cheer in place as she saw Cordovin fall exactly for her plan. As the enraged woman climbed into the mech to pursue and destroy Roman, Yang could feel invisible Neo trailing the woman.
The Colossus stirred to life, and took a careful first step, then suddenly stopped. Yang could feel a life quickly gone, and soon after saw Neo toss a dead body out of the mech's entrance. She saw Neo pull out her scroll and message Roman, and soon he too returned. He fiddled some more with the console in the room, and the building's walls and ceiling just opened up, allowing the mech to leave. Yang undisguised herself, and Roman smiled smugly at her.
"Well, majesty, would you do this rouge the honor of joining his majestic mechanical wonder?", Roman asked with teasing tone.
Yang rolled her eyes, and replied that the only thing in the room that was majestic was her. To that Roman pretended to be hurt before Neo, once again, reminded them they were on a schedule. All three of them climbed into the frankly fairly spacious mech, and Roman took controls.
Roman piloted the mech out of the base and, with heavy prompting and pleading eyes from Neo, stomped the base and its inhabitants to rubble and puddles of blood.
"Happy now?", Roman asked her to which she delightfully nodded.
As the Roman turned the mech around to get a feel as to how quickly and fluidly it can move, Yang grabbed hold of his right arm with a sharp "Roman!"
"What?", he asked alarmed. Surely she saw some sort of issue.
She pointed at something in the ocean.
"What do you see there?", she asked heavy excitement being clear in her tone.
"Uh...the ocean?", he said unsure, and he looked back at Neo who shrugged as well.
"Move there!", she demanded, "I need to get closer!"
"We have a job to do, remember?", he reminded her.
"I don't care. Just do it", she replied.
Roman shrugged and decided to oblige her. He still had to figure out all the kinks of this device before they do anything serious with it, so might as well take a scenic detour.
The mech was surprisingly agile and after two minutes of walking they were already a good away from the destroyed base.
Now that he was closer, he could see something. It blended very well with the water.
"Okay, so, blondie, what exactly am I looking at?", he asked.
"Never mind that, just put me near him, okay?", she asked with an excited but serious tone.
He figured he might as well keep on obliging her. They had mostly kept to the more shallow areas although no doubt the Colossus could easily go into deep waters as well. As they neared whatever that water-colored creature was, he let Yang out and she made her way over to it.
Yang eagerly walked over in shallow waters to a small blue creature swimming around. She snapped her fingers in-front of his face. The blue goblin-like creature turned his head to look at her and he too grew a happy grin.
"Master!", he happily exclaimed.
"You know that thing then?", Yang heard Roman say from the mech he was piloting.
The blue creature looked up to Roman's mech and introduced himself.
"Am Blue Minion!"
"They come in different colors?", he asked confused
"Oh, that's right", Yang thought to herself, "I only showed him the Browns.
"Yeah. I have the Browns, you met them. I also have the Red's, masters of fire, that I found when my Empire was Theodore's Vacuo. Until know I had no idea where to find the other lost tribes. I am lucky I caught a glimpse of him from the Colossus.
That was completely a lie. She couldn't see it just like Roman couldn't from that far back, and she hadn't exactly had her senses on high alert. Gnarl, however, seemed to have a sharp eye for these things, watching from the Tower Heart's connection to her, and noticed the Blue Minion and informed her.
"If they are lost, how can they recognize you?", Roman inquired.
"Minions are born with an inherent connection to their Master", Yang said as an explanation, "and while they can't exactly sense where their Master is, they can recognize them on sight."
Clearly it made far less sense to Roman than her and he let her know just that. Instead she changed the topic.
"You go deal with the government here in Argus and make sure to place that person Malachite told us to put in control. In the meantime I will have this Minion lead me to the rest of his tribe, and then we regroup back here."
The Colossus nodded, and left to fulfill its end of the plan, and just the same, so did Yang.
Yang looked back at her Minion.
"Can you lead me to your tribe?", she asked, and to her delight he nodded.
"Can do, Overlord! Me lead Master!", the Minion said as it eagerly ran off and lead her to rocky wall, and he simply ran through it, and as Yang attempted to follow him, the wall did not let her through.
"Ahhh!", Gnarl said pleased
"Something you'd like to share, Gnarl?", she asked irritated. She couldn't let this wall stop her from going through.
"It's not real, Master", Gnarl said simply, "Surely as one of the biggest fans of this branch of magic you can tell me what it is?"
"Illusion Magic?", she guessed.
"Indeed, and a pretty high class one.", Gnarl confirmed, "If the wall was real, the Blue could not get past. It's a power Illusion fooling even the senses of a living being. It feels real on touch does it not?"
"It does", Yang confirmed with a nod.
"That's what you should aspire your Illusion magic to be, Master. This Illusion feels real, when you hit it,it casts a sound, and for all intents of purposes seems real."
"How do I get past it then?", Yang asked.
"You simply must realize that your organs are lying to you. It is not there. The Blue realized it and the Illusion had no hold on him.", Gnarl advised her.
Yang tried a few times, and every time she hit the damn wall.
"It's not easy, is it?", Gnarl said, "Despite my misgivings about this branch of magic not many can question the results of its most powerful aspects."
"How do I get past then?", she asked.
"Master,", Gnarl said in a sage-like tone, "You must learn to solve these magical problems yourself. It is useful to learn more about Magic. The higher tier spells require understanding of how Magic works, the kind of innate understanding that is impossible to properly explain. I can, of course, tell you the solution, but it will make your aspirations for Magic far more difficult to complete in the long run. The solution to this is quite simple, I assure you."
Yang thought over it.
"Any hints then?", she asked hopefully.
"How did the Blues know the wall was not there I wonder?", Gnarl said instead.
"That was definitely a hint", Yang realized.
She thought over what she knew about Blues. They had an affinity for Magic. They were the only Minions that could swim. They were very good at resurrecting recently fallen Minions. "That's not really helpfully", Yang thought to herself. Surely it couldn't be swimming, as she could do it too, and didn't seem like resurrection was the solution either. Their affinity for Magic seemed like the solution then. Should she blow it up?
She shook her head.
"No, that'd be the easy solution, and probably not the whatever the lesson Gnarl wanted to teach her.", she thought to herself. Plus for all she knew it wouldn't do anything to the Illusion.
Yang thought about it further, and tried using her senses on the wall to try to sense what kind of magic would let her through. And just like that she fell through the wall and landed face first on the ground in front of patiently waiting Blue Minion.
"I don't understand", Yang said to herself confused, "Why did it let her through?"
"Because this Illusion didn't affect your Magical Senses, merely ones organ-based.", Gnarl explained, "As soon as you sensed that there was no wall, and instead merely a complicated Illusion, the Illusion lost all it's hold on you. In essence you truly realized there was no wall. That's how the Blues went past, and this Blue too, by sensing that there was never any wall."
"But what happens when I encounter an Illusion that does?", she asked frightened by the possibility.
"I will, of course, advise you then too. While there are spells that can help counter Illusions, one method that always works is to find a flaw with an Illusion. The more detailed the Illusion is, the more effort and time you need to put in to make it as life-like as possible. There's hardly ever an Illusion cast without some sort of a flaw in it, though, given enough time and sufficiently talented and powerful wizard, it is indeed possible that a flawless Illusion could be cast".
"And then?"
"If it ever comes to that extremely unlikely scenario, Master, I will help you through it, as I have done with every other problem you ever had", Gnarl answered, "We should hurry and find the Blue Minions. We are running on a timer for mission as your recall. I will have to ask that you trust me on this topic."
Yang calmed down, and nodded. She trusted him, and it wasn't particularly important to learn about that now.
She orders the Minion to lead her further and he does. The cave isn't particularly long, and soon after she finds a group of Blue Minions sitting around their Hive snacking on some frogs.
Yang snapped her fingers, and a Tower Gate appeared next to her, and she ordered the Blue Minions to carry the Hive and any magical artifacts they may have found since the reign of the last Overlord. There were only two magical artifacts they found. A Mana Pillars, that increases how much Magic she can use without the need to rest or go back to the Tower Heart so it can quickly refill her reserves. And Spell Totem in a form of a chameleon.
"That, Sire, seems to be the source of the Illusion. As you know, powerful Magical objects can influence the world around them if left unchecked. I am certain that the spell tome contains the Illusionary spell that you encountered."
"Does that mean I'll be able to use Illusions just as good?", Yang said excited.
"With time, Sire.", Gnarl said, "As you are well aware, these Totems are more of a cheat, bypassing the need for long training, or the prerequisite skills."
"It also helps you get the feel for how that Magic feels, making it far easier to cast it even without the Totem's help", Yang remembered and responded.
"Indeed.", Gnarl agreed, "However the Spell inside is not very flexible. While, as you have learnt it is possible to combine the spells, you did not attempt to change what the Spell in the Totem was. You only added electricity to it"
Yang nodded, remembering that modification.
"This will allow you, I am certain, to cast an Illusion Spell as strong as you just saw, and very likely on just one object at a time. It very likely would not be any more detailed than then what you saw the Spell do now"
"So, not any more detailed than a rock wall that feels and sounds real?", she asked disappointed.
"I would venture a guess that this would be something like that, yes", Gnarl said sharing his thoughts, "But if you get the feel of that Spell, and you train to replicate it on your own, why, I do believe this would significantly boost your efforts in crossing the gap between your current abilities and that of the level of the Spell. In quick time you might be even able to stretch the Spell wider."
Yang's mood did improve and she didn't consider the Totem to be a complete waste then. When she recovered both the Hive and the Totem and teleported them back to her Castle, she returned back outside the cave and to the place Roman had left her, and indeed she saw him there waiting for her.
"You're done with your servant hunting then?", Roman asked, as Yang entered the Colossus.
"For now. I'm still missing the Greens, but I don't have much of an idea of their approximate location.", Yang said, "How did things go on your end?"
"Easily", Roman replied simply, "There's not much that can stand up to this beast."
From Argus they went north to Higanbana, defeating whatever opposed them. The few places that were not bandit or criminal led were offered a chance to surrender, something they gratefully took. No one was eager to die, after all, and politics remained politics for them. From Higanbana, they went north east crossing through Lake Matsu, and making their way to Wind Path. The city, full of criminals naturally, were not all eager to give up their power. Few Missiles from Colossus destroyed their will to resist, and incidentally their bodies as well. The local governmental bodies were crushed, civilians offered another chance to surrender. And, just like that, they controlled north and west. That wasn't exactly the plan, but that had changed today when they informed Malachite of their intent to strike Argus first.
"Get into the agreed-before formation.", Yang told Roman, "I'm going to get us another powerful ally. It won't take more than a few moments"
Roman, nodded, and Yang climbed out of the mech and teleported back to her home in Patch. The agreed-before formation was simple. She, Roman, and Neo go to Mistral from the north with their mech. Malachite walks in, with several bodyguards from the south, and the rest of the huntsmen she had acquired would surround the exit and entry points into and out of Mistral's capital. From there they all meet in the center, and launch their final confrontation.
That comes later, though. For now she wanted to find Raven and have her by her side just in case. Her senses informed her that she hadn't left Patch yet, and relieved, she hurried inside to find her, something very easily done.
"You sure seem in a hurry, Yang", Raven noted.
"Wanna cause some chaos?", Yang asked instead.
Raven thought about it for a bit and shrugged.
"Sure, why not? It was getting boring just sitting around here anyway. What'd you have in mind?"
"You'll see", Yang said mysteriously as she summoned a Tower Gate, "Come on, follow me."
Yang stepped into the Gate and disappeared and with a shrug Raven followed her. Both of them quickly made their way to the center of Mistral and met up with the rest of their associates.
"A Mistral criminal, a Vale criminal, a bandit, an Emperor, and a midget. Whatever we're doing here sounds like a start to a bad joke", Raven remarked.
"She doesn't know the plan?", Malachite asked not at all pleased.
Yang rolled her eyes instead.
"No worries, she can be trusted. Extra ally won't hurt. Now, come on, let's go"
Malachite looked wary, but nodded.
They began their march on the Haven Academy.
"Oh", Raven said in realization, "Yes, that's going to be very chaotic", she said in a pleased tone.
Yang smiled at her.
The Academy was pretty much scarce. Unlike Shade which started it's classes a month early and instead gave more holidays, in Mistral as in the rest of Remnant, classes hadn't started yet.
They walked through the spacious Grand Hall and up the two stairways that join together at the top leading straight to the waiting room just before his office.
"The headmaster is very busy", the receptionist started before she was lifted in the air, as if an invisible hand gripped her throat and lifted her. Yang threw her right hand sideways, and the receptionist hit the right wall, and collapsed unconscious.
"I think I just secured an appointment with the dear headmaster for us", Yang said with a bit of dark humor in her voice.
Roman chuckled apparently amused at her humor.
Yang walked up to the double mahogany doors and placed her hand upon them. She infused the doors with Evil Energy, and when it was close to exploding sharply pulled it back, demanding that the door wither away. She infused the doors with her frustration too that the spell didn't respond as easily as she wanted. Eventually, with more time having passed then the last time she did it, the doors began to blacken and crumble to useless dust. As the doors fell apart, she made her eyes glow in the evil-looking orange brown.
"Hello Leonardo.", Yang said with a cruel smile etched on her face, "We have much to discuss you and I"
She hoped her entrance looked as cool as it felt.
Leonardo put on a polite smile on his face.
"Ah, the Young Emperor", he said in a jovial tone, "I daresay this is the first time we meet face to face. Although I wish you hadn't damaged my doors as you did. Mighty pricey to replace, I'm afraid.". He took a more serious tone, "I expect my secretary was unharmed?"
"Merely unconscious", Yang admitted, "I don't make it a habit to go around killing innocent people."
"Theodore", Roman pointed out as a counterargument.
Yang's face turned into a frown.
"I do make a habit of that", Raven said instead.
Yang frowned even more, as she turned back to look at them.
"Do you two mind?"
"By all means, your highness", Roman said with a mocking bow which only served to annoy Yang even more.
"You said we had something to discuss?", Lionheart politely reminded her.
Yang turned around, and smiled at him.
"Indeed.", Yang said with a nod, "You will soon learn that we have just finished taking over all of Mistral. We are here to ask for your immediate relinquishment of your position to my dear ally Malachite"
"Oh?", Lionheart said with a jolly laughter, "And if I refuse then?"
A smug and cruel smile grew onto her face.
"Theodore had dared to refuse me once. He did not live to repeat the mistake".
"I may be somewhat timid.", Leonardo admitted, "But it'd take a supernatural monster of most greatest caliber to turn me into a damned coward."
He nodded to himself.
"I shall make my stand here then", he said, his jovial tone replaced with determination, "I would rather die than to let my people fall into the hands of criminal scum like you."
Yang suddenly felt deep respect for him. It wasn't often you met someone like that.
"And yet", Raven countered him, "There was I. And Malachite holds quite some power in Mistral too. As did the rulers of Kuchinashi, Wind Path and the like"
"Unfortunate", Lionheart said with a frown, "My heart truly goes out for all those who suffered. You might find it interesting to note that before Miss Malachite took Kuchinashi over, it was to be soon liberated by Huntsmen. I had asked Qrow, a dear friend of mine, to find a team that he thought could quickly liberate the city without any of the criminals escaping. Even before then, teams like Team SAFR had been sent there, The operation, however, soon turned moot, and before we could prepare a new one, well, here we are. It is highly unfortunate that these were places of easy fortification, and places easily defended when criminals find out an army of Huntsmen is to arrive at their door."
His face soon morphed into an unreadable expression, not a happy one for sure.
"And then there's that issue on the horizon that eats up far too much resources.", he said vaguely and mysteriously.
"One final chance", Yang said, "Surrender, and I, as well as my allies here, guarantee you mercy."
He shook his head.
"I think not", he said, "If I am to die here, so be it. I will die defending my people."
Yang extended her blade to his throat.
"That can be arranged."
Leonardo's eyes trailed over the blade, before his eyes widened in surprise.
"This is!", he said in shock, before his eyes narrowed, "I cannot allow one of her servants to have this Kingdom, much less this weapon you are wielding"
He took a few steps back, and launched a few projectiles from his disk-shaped weapon named Stalwart.
As Yang dodged him, and began fighting back, Roman turned to look at Raven.
"Do you have any idea what he was on about?"
Raven nodded.
"Yes", she confirmed, "and this is a terrible misunderstanding."
Despite that she didn't join to help her. Neither did Roman for that matter, instead pulling out a cigar and smoking it while observing the battle.
"Neither of you are going to help your so called ally?", Malachite asked.
"I don't fancy fighting a Headmaster.", Roman said simply, "Besides, she seems to be doing well enough on her own."
And indeed she was. Whatever strength Lionheart may have possessed one day or another, it is clear that he was out of shape. Even without the Slow Spell, Yang could more than easily match his speed, and if she relied on the increased power the Evil Energies have granted her, she could more than out-speed him.
"I don't see why I should", Raven said in her defense, "She doesn't seem like she needs my help, does she?"
"I suppose she doesn't.", she replied.
Yang really hoped that this fight was looking far more impressive from the outside. Maybe they'll even think that she can handle all Headmasters as easily. That would certainly help her fearsome reputation.
Lionheart shoots out a fiery rock-type projectile from his weapon, and tired from playing around Yang responds with her own fireball.
"She certainly has many talents, doesn't she?", Roman said to Raven.
"Oh, yes, plenty of impressive ones", Raven confirmed.
Leonardo's eyes widened.
"Not only are you her servant, you are also a Maiden as well!"
Yang's eyes glow red for a moment as she bites back.
"I am no ones servant!"
Torchwick looked back at Raven.
"Since you seem in the know about whatever is going on, why is Lionheart suddenly yelling about her sexual history, or lack of it?"
Malachite looked curious as well.
"Very poor naming conventions, I'm afraid", Raven said as an answer and refused to elaborate.
Lionheart's desk flew towards his back and he only barely managed to sense it and dodge it, but when it turned around and flew at him again, something he did not expect, it hit him, and exploded in his face. As he attempted to get up, he was blasted by lightning as a courtesy of Yang. She demanded that his mind submitted to her own, and attacked his will with her own. She used her anger to supplement the damage done, and his ever growing fear that she was a servant of somebody he only referred to as 'her' to weaken the defense of his will.
She could feel him resist and fight her, and he even managed to stand up, and so she cut off the spell.
"Impressive. You are strong willed, Leo", she said with respect in her tone.
"What...", he said panting and gasping, "what..what the hell was that?"
"Yes", Yang said pleased, "do think further on what you just felt."
She blasted him again pounding over and over at his weakened will. He was growing fearful and desperate she could feel it, and she used that to further weaken his will.
She pulled back again. Despite it all, he was still the strongest will she had tried to attack like that, not that she tried many times at all.
Leonardo was twitching from the electricity. His eyes grew pleading.
"Please...", he managed to get out, his tone begging.
The only response he got was more lightning. His legs gave out from under him and he fell to the floor. Yang gathered all of her power, and before giving one last strike, she instead revealed her true essence in his mind. And as he was distracted with the horror of her true form, she struck one final blow, she dominated his mind.
She withdrew from it, her eyes full of the glowing brown light as before, and she laughed long and cruelly, sounding much like an Evil Overlord that she was.
Lionheart laid collapsed on the ground barely breathing, his mind no longer consciously maintaining his aura.
Yang laughed and laughed. She felt so powerful, so good. It was a wonder why she had ever refused this! For first time ever she had consciously chosen to use the Evil Presence spell. Not driven to it by maddening anger, nor anything else. She had been angry, yes, but she made the choice herself now. And the Evil Energy that came from such an Evil act...
Yang laughed more, her laugh cruel and gleeful.
She focused her eyes once again on the crumpled form of Leonardo.
"Now!", Yang said authoritatively in a gleeful tone, "Rise my new servant! Leonardo Lionheart! Greet your Master!"
Malachite and Roman looked at her with disbelief, not at all believing that she really thought Lionheart would now serve her, if he could even get up at all.
Raven, instead, just raised one eyebrow, and continued to observe the spectacle.
All that, Yang did not see, focused as she was on her servant.
Slowly, but surely with great effort for his spasming legs threatened to give out from under him, Leonardo rose to his full height.
"How may I serve my most wondrous Master?", he asked, in tone full of only devotion. His eyes looked as if he was seeing the world for the first time.
Yang's wide smile grew even wider.
"Kneel before me, Leo, kneel before your malevolent Master.", Yang commanded him.
With shaky knees, he did. His head lowered to stare at the ground until his Master commands him otherwise.
"Now, Leo, I wish for you to relinquish your position to Malachite"
"As the Master commands", he said, his voice sounding as if there wasn't a single thing he would rather do.
"Well, then, summon the press. But make sure you look well. We wouldn't want any accusations of pressure on you, would we?"
Leonardo shook his head.
"I did say that Theodore did not live to repeat his mistake", she said reminiscing, "You will live unable to repeat it. Consider it a mercy"
He gratefully thanked her and even kissed her armored boots, before rising and making his way out of the room.
Yang turned to Malachite.
"Feel free to follow him if you must. I'll be waiting for celebration once you get your promotion".
Malachite looked unsettled, even with everything she had done in her life, but nodded and left the room as well, likely to make sure that Leonardo wasn't making his escape.
"That was...", Roman said searching for words, "deeply unsettling. Did you really brainwash him?"
"You'll have to tune in to the news to find out", she said in response.
Where Roman was unsettled, and wary of the implications of her powers, Neo seemed to take this all in stride, and instead seemed upset that she didn't join the action.
"That was certainly a spectacle", Raven commented, "Are your murderous urges satisfied now?"
Yang frowned.
"Way to kill the mood.", her tone soon grew outraged, "Besides you're one to talk! Aren't you a civilian-mass-murdering bandit?"
Raven smirked, and Roman commented on that with curiosity.
"Do you always try to provoke her for your own amusement?"
"Sometimes", Raven confirmed much to Yang's annoyance, "Her reactions are funny. Other times I provoke her by simply questioning her more deeply. You will find that she lies to many people, but to no one more than herself."
"I'm beginning to regret finding you", Yang said annoyed.
"That's a lie too", Raven informed Roman.
Yang narrowed her eyes at her, but said nothing.
15 minutes later they had tuned, via their scrolls, in to the emergency press conference Leonardo had called wherein Leonardo announced Malachite's successful efforts at reuniting the Kingdom and that as a result he was resigning and handing over his position to her.
There was a long shock, then cheers. And while not everyone was happy at the new shift of power, nevertheless many of those gathered had indeed cheered this new development on.
Afterwards came a new announcement for which Yang was not prepared as it was a surprise even to her.
"The Kingdom of Mistral would like to extend a hand of friendship to it's sister Kingdom, one that has chosen the path of an Empire. To the Unholy Ultimus Empire, Kingdom of Mistral issues a proposal of an alliance. In Hell full of Demons, it is always good to have a friend by your side to help you weather the storm."
She shouldn't have been surprised really. It seemed inevitable in hindsight that Malachite would choose to tie herself closer to the one Kingdom she had warm relations with.
As the press conference ended, Yang sent a message to her secretary to formally announce to the press that "The Unholy Ultimus Empire accepts the alliance. While Mistral and Vacuo were enemies when Atlas attempted to press its might upon the world, the world has changed, and in the uncertain times, a friend would do us good indeed."
Together she, Malachite, Roman, Neo, and Raven all sat in Malachite's new office and celebrated the momentous occasion. Well, celebrated might be a strong word for Raven, but she too took part in the festivities. And neither Roman nor Malachite attempted to poison one another even one!
"This is turning out to be a great day", Yang thought, which, of course, could never last.
And so, they were interrupted by an emergency broadcast by the news. A female reporter was talking about something with a frantic face.
"To those just turning in, we must repeat this again. Kingdom of Atlas is mobilizing its armed forces citing growing instability in the world, and a rising Anti-Atlas alliance that could threaten to plunge the world into another Great War if it's not quickly squashed. General Ironwood is quoted as saying that he cannot permit the growing instability to fester, and that Atlas will atone its old sins by stabilizing the world before it can be plunged into the Darkness of the Grimm."
"Fuck", is all Yang could say.