Hei Xiong was walking through a dark cave, somewhere in the great kingdom of Vacuo, he had a job to do "damn it" several Grimm beasts were accompanying him, some humans with worn clothes and looked malnourished tried to block their path but the beasts were enough to eliminate them, those poor men had their gaze lost like zombies, they were being controlled by someone.
"I'm sorry to have to do this" these people seemed to be in very bad condition and Hei did not think they had much time left, the only thing he could do was eliminate the root of the problem, as he advanced he saw a light, there were torches illuminating the way inside the cave, he reached an area that seemed to be a kind of prison, he observed that some of the trapped people were dead but someone called his attention "hey tough guy, can you get me out of here?"
Behind some metal bars there was a young blond man who seemed to be fine, without a shirt and with some torn pants, Hei was surprised to find someone in such good condition "You look good, not like the other humans"
"I guess I was lucky or maybe not, that woman wants to use me as a sacrifice for something so I have to be in good condition, same with the blood sucking lady over there" the human pointed behind Hei and the Grimm turned to see a woman sitting on the ground behind bars, both cages were facing each other "I didn't notice your presence. What is a vampire doing here?"
The woman was wearing black pants and a red blouse, she had a necklace made of bones, long black hair, and bright red eyes "I heard a legend about a weapon that absorbs the blood of its victims and that brought me to this place, I met that idiot and while we were fighting that bitch took the opportunity to capture us during our little fight" apparently there was some tension in the air "little fight yeah right, I was kicking your ass woman, I expected more from a powerful vampire"
"Keep dreaming, you were lucky that we were interrupted" Hei did not wish to be involved in such a stupid discussion "better save this shit for later" after all there were more important issues to deal with.
"Listen, what can you tell me about the person who captured you?" the vampire didn't seem interested but the blonde was more cooperative "she is an extremely powerful mage, I heard that several people were disappearing near the border between Vacuo and Atlas, I imagined it was some monster so I decided to play my hero role but when I found this cave I ran into that vampire loser"
"Big guy get me out of here and I'll help you kill that bitch" the woman offered him a fairly simple deal "besides I also want to teach this human a lesson" Hei sighed somewhat irritated, these two continued with the same "If you want me to continue kicking your ass I have no problems, you are not the first bloodsucker to who I taught a lesson "the Grimm broke the human's cage to get him out but the vampire's cage was different.
"She placed a spell on the cage to weaken me" Fortunately Hei Xiong was someone with a convenient power, the Grimm touched the cage with his right hand and the magic that contained the vampire vanished, the human was impressed to see that "oh man that's pretty cool"
Hei smiled a little "my semblance allows me to eliminate magic with my hands, it is quite useful" Raven tore the cage apart and went out, stretched her arms and legs as if she had woken up from a long sleep "finally freedom, thank you big guy"
The Grimm had to admit that it seemed strange to him how calm the human looked in this situation "It seems strange to me that I don't feel any negativity emanating from you taking into account that you are facing two monsters hated by humanity" the blonde smiled with some confidence.
"Well you freed me and you don't seem like a bad guy, besides our vampire friend doesn't scare me" Hei let out a slight laugh, it was the first time he met a human who didn't react with fear "you are nothing normal What's your name?"
"Taiyang Xiao Long, super cool and handsome adventurer who travels the world trying to help as much as I can"the human offered his hand and the Grimm surprisingly accepted "I am Hei Xiong, I guess I had not shaken hands with a human in a long time"the vampire woman seemed to find the situation ridiculous.
"You two are idiots, this kind of thing only tells me that you are weak" the blonde raised an eyebrow in response "please, after the fight we had I'm surprised you can say that and Hei here seems capable of splitting you in half"
"Well I'm the strongest Grimm in Vacuo after all" Tai seemed interested in that "really? Maybe we can have a fight after this, it's been a while since I've faced someone strong"the vampire woman wanted to kill him but decided to calm down.
"If we're going to face that woman I need to drink your blood" vampires lose strength if they don't feed regularly "I don't know, at least invite me to dinner before sucking me" she knocked him down, her patience had run out and the poor Tai ended up with an attractive vampire on top of him "if you keep messing with me I swear I'll suck you dry"
"Don't threaten me with a good time" Hei expected the woman to lose control but surprisingly that was not what happened, she blushed and got off quickly "You are an idiot!" both men were surprised by the cute reaction, Hei laughed internally so as not to make her feel bad and Tai decided to give her a break "I'll let you drink my blood but not much, I need my strength for the fight we have ahead" he offered his right arm to the woman and she hesitantly approached.
"May I know the name of the woman who is sucking me off?" the human had a raised eyebrow and a mischievous smile on his face, she drank for a minute and then wiped her mouth with her hand "I am Raven from the Branwen clan in Mistral, the honor is yours, human" these two seemed to be in their own world so Hei decided to interrupt "It will be better if we go deep into the cave, maybe that mage already noticed my presence" the group advanced a little deeper into the place"to be clear, I'll keep the sword"
Hei had forgotten that, the legendary sword that this woman was looking for "I have no interest in weapons and I doubt that our human friend wants that" Tai confirmed that "yeah, a sword that absorbs the blood of others does not seem to be something that goes with my style"
After walking a few minutes they reached a large open area that seemed to be the center of a cave system, Hei observed that there were some humans carrying things and in the center of the place there was a large sphere of magical energy, the one responsible for all this was standing next to the sphere "Is she the mage?"Tai nodded.
Apparently the woman was in the middle of some kind of ritual, the slaves tried to attack the group but they were not real opponents "Taiyang these people have no salvation" Hei decided to make him see reality before his new friend had any heroic ideas, these people were barely alive and the blonde with some sadness accepted it "I know"
Hei broke the neck of two of his attackers, Raven without much effort beheaded them with a strong slap, Tai knocked down the few who tried to attack him but the situation was not to his liking.
The evil woman turned to see the commotion that her guests were causing "you two, it seems this man freed you" she had on blue pants and a white shirt witch a large brown hood, she had a light brown complexion, with shoulder-length, straight brown hair.
"Why would a Grimm interfere with me? The amount of people I have captured has generated a lot of negativity, that should be satisfactory for you" the woman's words made some sense "certainly, a normal Grimm would probably be happy that you saved him the trouble of generating negativity but I am not like that, unlike most monsters I remember what it was like to be human and I don't enjoy these things, what you are doing is disgusting"
"You will pay for the lives of these people" Taiyang clenched his fists tightly, what she had done despite being human was out of the ordinary, Raven realized that within the great sphere of magic was what she was looking for "The Bloodthirster, once we finish you I will have a worthy weapon"
"A monster with a hero complex, how pathetic that my great masterpiece is threatened by such a stupid creature" Hei was an abnormal monster but he was proud of it "and a human worse than a monster, I suppose it was appropriate to meet face to face"
The woman seemed outraged by that comment "this ritual will change everything, the Spirit of Death will materialize in this world" Raven and Hei seemed shocked to hear that, Tai was the only one who didn't understand well "can someone explain to me What is she talking about?"
Hei was kind enough to answer him "as you should know this world was created by the brothers of light and darkness, light created humans and darkness created monsters but they both wanted to try doing something together, something unique that had the essence of both, that is the Spirit of Death, a being that represents light and darkness in its purest form" Taiyang had never heard anything about it, humanity knew about the brothers but the spirit of death was something new for him.
"I never heard anything about that" the monsters did not seem surprised, Raven continued with the explanation "that is normal, the church hid everything related to the point that humanity forgot its existence but we monsters live longer, the Spirit of death was the judge who devoured the souls of evil people when they died or sent good people to paradise, that was his job but one day he got tired of being a simple servant of the gods and rebelled against his creators, of course he could not do anything and was defeated, the brothers locked him up in hell for all eternity "
But it was obvious that some humans knew of his existence "That's right, the Spirit of Death is the true god that the world deserves, a being that has the essence of light and darkness is perfectly balanced, my name is Amber and I am one of the few survivors of the religion that worshiped the Spirit of Death, for generations we have tried to spread his word discreetly, he was an intelligent being and left a way to free him to his most faithful servants"this turned out to be something more serious than what Taiyang expected "that's bad right?"
Amber seemed proud of everything she had done "these poor slaves are giving their lives for a greater cause, I myself would give my life in their place if necessary, for generations this has been prepared and the day has come, The Bloodthirster has already absorbed the blood of all the monsters that exist in this world, the last ingredients were the blood of a powerful human and a Vampire, I already took that when I captured these two, I only kept them alive because I planned to use them as material to enhance the ritual but I guess it doesn't matter"
It was incredible to think that sword had absorbed the blood of every species of monster that exists, it must have been several generations to have achieved that.
"I just need to touch that magic sphere and this circus will end" but it would not be so easy, her eyes were surrounded by a fiery yellow glow, Taiyang was surprised "that can't be good" Raven realized that the situation was dangerous "you are a magic circuit, that explains why your magic is so strong" the human was the only one who seemed lost, Raven looked at him with some disappointment.
"You are quite ignorant of many things, a magic circuit is a human who was born with a ridiculous amount of magic power, as if his body was composed entirely of magic, unlike normal people they do not need aura to use their magic"
Magic circuits were rare to find "this crazy fanatic ended up being more trouble than I expected" Amber raised her hand and shot a flare towards her enemies, Hei blocked it with his right hand canceling the attack, Raven and Taiyang moved quickly and they tried to attack her from both sides, she invoked a wind barrier around her that repelled them and immediately an electric current shot out of her body towards the two, they dodged and Hei took the opportunity to try to connect an attack but she lifted the ground and sent the Grimm flying far away" from what I can see you are able to repel or cancel magic, I will not let you get close to my magic sphere"
She raised her hand and generated a small collapse that sealed the entrance through which they came, at the same time she buried Hei under the rocks, her wind barrier blocked a punch from Taiyang and pushed him again, Amber watched as a punch from Raven was about to hit her barrier and she smiled confidently but she would pay for it.
"Underestimating me is a bad idea, you damn witch!" Amber received a blow on her cheek and ended up crashing against the nearest wall, she didn't understand how her enemy had managed to hit her until she observed the vampire, her hands were surrounded by magical energy.
"You should know that magic is common in this world, don't think you're special just because you're a magic circuit" Raven had wrapped her hands in wind magic to get through Amber's defense "I won't let you ruin this!" The ground where Raven was began to break, a pair of bat wings sprouted from her back that allowed her to fly, Amber pointed her hand at her and another flare was fired, the vampire tried to dodge but the flare followed her as if it were a living being.
Amber received a punch to her face that made her lose concentration "You should remember that you have more than one opponent!" Taiyang tried to hit her again but received an electric shock that sent him several meters away, Amber manipulated the ground and caught the blonde between several rocks but Raven fell on her "You guys are very annoying!" Raven punched her several times in the face trying to destroy her aura but Amber managed to knock her off with a whirlwind.
She realized that Taiyang had freed himself from the rocks and was running towards her "I should have killed them both when I had the chance!" Amber pointed with her hand and it seemed that she was about to launch another flare but the fire focused on her palm like a small sphere, she fired it and Taiyang dodged jumping to the side but when that sphere hit the ground it generated a great explosion that shook the entire area, being so close, Taiyang's aura took a lot of damage.
"I've had enough!" Hei Xiong held her by the back with both arms as if he was giving her a hug, the Grimm took her by surprise in her carelessness "Let go of me you fucking monster!" Amber's body emanated an electric current that was hurting the Grimm's aura but Hei wouldn't let go, Raven took a knife out of her pants and tried to take the opportunity to end this "You guys take me too lightly!"
Although she was immobile, Amber's hands were free, she created two small spheres of fire that she threw to the ground creating two powerful explosions that sent Raven flying against a Taiyang, Hei's aura received considerable damage and he did not have much left, the poor man was against the nearest wall and was bleeding a little "if I continue to use my aura to protect myself I will not be able to destroy that magic sphere" he needed his semblance to do that.
"As I am a magic circuit I take little damage from magic attacks so I can do crazy things like that" a normal mage would have received considerable damage in that type of explosion, Amber created a large ice stake and threw it at the Grimm but he raised his right hand and destroyed it with his semblance "tch, what a troublesome power" Amber created ten ice stakes around her "in the end you only have two hands, you will not be able to eliminate several attacks at the same time"
"I don't need to" Hei smiled and saw how Amber was knocked down by Taiyang, the stakes fell to the ground, the mage was face down on the ground with the human on top of her, he joined both fists like a hammer and started to hit her on the head with incredible brutality, the magic circuit would not resist that.
"Fuck!" Taiyang was hit by several stakes that formed from the ground and removed him from his place, Amber got up with some effort and received a strong kick from the Grimm that sent her flying, Raven waited for her in the air and with a punch she sent her against the ground near her sphere, the girl's aura was done.
"A magic circuit is a formidable opponent but I imagine that you held back a bit so as not to destroy the ritual site" Hei knew that otherwise this would have been more complicated, the three of them approached Amber who was breathing heavily, she was already quite exhausted.
"There is no way that I will let you ruin this, my life is insignificant compared to the importance of this work" she stepped back and entered the magic sphere, they tried to stop her but she made several stakes come out of the ground that blocked the way, they destroyed them without a problem but she just needed a little moment.
"Unfortunately I will not have time to complete the ritual properly but there is still a possibility that this works" the sphere began to take a yellow color when affected by Amber and was vibrating, it was unstable and Hei realized what what was about to happen "you two behind me now!" Raven and Taiyang quickly got behind the Grimm and he raised his hands to block what happened next.
"Fuck you, the spirit of death is justice!" A powerful explosion originated from the magic sphere, being something caused by magic Hei was able to block the damage and save them but the place was totally destroyed to the point that when everything was over they realized that they could see the sky, the entire cave system had been destroyed "fuck that was scary" Taiyang fell to the ground exhausted, that was too close for his liking.
"Damn I hope it wasn't destroyed!" Raven began to search among the rocks for a long time while Taiyang and Hei were resting, finally she managed to find her objective "it looks a little damaged but I'm sure that some blood will fix it" The Bloodthirster had survived that great explosion, the Human managed to regain his spirits by resting "well we stopped a crazy fanatic from reviving a being that could threaten the world, I would say it was a great adventure" Hei let out a slight laugh, he could not deny that.
"You weren't bad for a human" even Raven seemed to be in a good mood "oh please do we have to fight again to decide who is stronger?" Taiyang joked a bit about it but received a pleasant surprise, the vampire kissed him with passion and hunger, like any normal man he did not resist, however he didn't notice that a red portal appeared behind him, she kicked him inside the portal with a smile "I can think of more pleasant ways to decide who is the strongest"
Before entering the portal she observed the Grimm who was also surprised by what happened"Hei Xiong, if you ever need a favor you can find me in Mistral, I have to pay the debt I have with you" he nodded his head accepting the parting words and she finally left.
(…)
"I visited Mistral several times, I remember Taiyang would escape from the castle from time to time to go on an adventure or just for a couple of drinks, he was a funny man, the last time I visited Raven she was pregnant with you Yang, unfortunately I couldn't do anything to save him"
Hei was leaning against the wall near a window of the mansion, the twins were outside guarding the area, Ruby, Yang and Weiss had heard the story and were surprised "You were the one who told dad about the queen's attack, right?" Ruby had no doubt about that and he confirmed it "yes, some time later I found out that Taiyang ran away from Raven and fell in love with another woman, I never imagined that it would be someone with silver eyes"
The Grimm seemed somewhat sad to remember his old friend "to avoid problems we kept in touch with letters, I remember how happy he sounded when he told me that you were born Ruby, I didn't worry about him because I imagined that he could defeat any Grimm but I did not think that the queen herself would attack this place, maybe I could have done something else to help him" Yang found it hard to believe that the vampire in the story was her mother but she had no reason to doubt the Grimm.
"My mother does not like to show weakness but I remember that when Dad was in the castle she was more relaxed, when he left she became the bitch that only considers strength the most important" Yang had to admit that she felt some resentment against her late father for abandoning her but she knew that Raven was somewhat controlling, part of her didn't want to blame him for wanting to be free.
"One of the Necromancers gave the queen the idea to check this place, I suspected you would come here and I'm glad I wasn't wrong, I was thinking of asking her to send me but luckily she did it herself so everything went well" Ruby knew her father well and Hei Xiong's story did not seem strange to her, she totally believed him and thanks to him she was alive "I thank you for telling us this, for me and Yang it means a lot" but he did not come just to tell them that history and Weiss was the first to mention it "I guess you have another reason for being here right?"
"Indeed but I had to tell you that story so that you would know how I met Taiyang, the main reason is because of you Ruby, I know your mother didn't finish teaching you everything about silver eyes, I can help you a little with that but I need you to check the basement of the mansion, your mother left something important there that you should take"
(...)
"I am Saphron Arc, paladin of the church, it is a pleasure to meet you Velvet, Coco" Saphron and the girls were having breakfast in a pastry shop near the entrance to the capital of Vale, the paladin had to report what happened in Ritchen and decided to bring the girls with her "Are you a descendant of the former king of Vale?"
A hundred years ago the Arc family were the ones who ruled Vale, everyone knew the story, the royal family was betrayed by the Winchesters and they took control of the kingdom, it was a civil war that plunged the entire kingdom into chaos.
King Arc was executed but as a show of respect, the lives of the other members of his family were spared although everything was taken from them, most of the people of Vale thought that the Arcs went to another kingdom but the truth is that they stayed in a small village within Vale.
"I wanted to be an adventurer and I left my home very young, however I found out that my family and my village were destroyed by a Necromancer, no one survived to tell the story but when the reinforcements arrived they found many Zombies" which could only mean that a Necromancer was responsible.
"That's terrible, I guess you joined the church after that" Coco knew that something like that would motivate anyone "yes, the Necromancers are humans who were born in darkness, their power is evil and they must be eliminated, I knew that the church would give me the power to face that evil" Saphron's plan was to find the Necromancer who killed her family and finish him off, but the poor girl didn't know the truth.
"I can understand being despised and hated just for having something strange" Velvet could empathize with the Necromancers because many Faunus are treated badly "but you are not out there killing people, they kill and revive their victims as servants, is disgusting" the firmness with which Saphron spoke intimidated the rabbit girl a bit, Coco decided to change the subject.
"I was wondering if it would be possible for you to bless my weapons and arrows with holy magic, I have realized that I really need it if I want to face strong monsters"after all they only came out alive because Saphron had saved them.
Before Saphron could answer Velvet drew the attention of both "hey girls, it's dark outside" by looking through the window of the store Velvet could see that the sky was dark as if it were night but it was ten in the morning, the girls went out quickly to see what was happening, most of the people from Vale had gone out to observe the sky, the people seemed somewhat scared which was understandable, it took a couple of minutes until a woman's face began to take shape in the dark sky, it was a Grimm.
"To be able to do this she must have a very strong magical power" Saphron knew that this was not a normal monster, the face in the sky began to speak and her voice could be heard throughout the kingdom "Humans, I am Salem Queen of all Grimm, I have lived for many years in Vale sharing this place with you but after a long time I have made the decision to eliminate you, for many years you have caused suffering, you are selfish and pathetic beings who do not consider the consequences of your actions and now everyone will die"
People listened with terror in their hearts "hug your loved ones, enjoy everything that comes your way in your day to day because you will die soon, It will be better if you don't waste the last moments that you have left in this world, you can escape to some other kingdom if you wish but you will only delay the inevitable, I will kill you all without exception" with those words the darkness of the sky vanished and everything returned to normal but the chaos had already been sown "fuck, this is quite serious"
(…)
"She really plans to kill them all" Jaune had been on top of one of the castle towers seeing the whole message of the queen, deep down he knew it but his faith and loyalty completely blinded him.
"I need to stop her, this is not the right thing to do" but someone else had been spying on him "What can you do alone my dear Jaune?" Cinder had been behind him all this time, she came in while he was distracted seeing Salem's message "I have to talk to her, I'm sure if we talk we can fix this" the boy was too naive but for Cinder that was a good thing.
"You are too nice for your own good, she revealed her intentions knowing that you would see the message, that should tell you that she is not taking you into account my dear Jaune, even if you try to talk you will not achieve anything, that should be more than obvious" she had a point, Salem did this knowing perfectly that he would see everything, he had a lot of respect and loyalty for the queen but he always believed that they would make the world a better place, ending all humanity wouldn't do any good "What can I do ?"
"Perhaps I can help you with that, the destruction of all humans is not in my interests or those of my companions" she approached the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder "try to pretend that what happened does not affect you, try to convince them all that you accepted the situation, let the plan continue normally for now and for the final part I will have something prepared" the boy decided to accept the proposal, his mind was on chaos and it seemed the most reasonable, however he remembered his good friend "how I wish Yang was here with me, she would probably beat me for being an idiot but i would gladly accept that"
(…)
"This should be enough" Ren had taken an arm of one of his zombies and sewed it to Sienna, when connecting the limb, the Grimm's aura did its job and assimilated the new limb as if it had always been part of her body, she slightly moved her new limb and began to play with her fingers.
"Good, at first it feels a little weird but it seems good" she was sitting next to the Necromancer, this was Ren's work area in another tower of the castle, unlike Jaune's work room, this area had larger windows that allowed the sun to illuminate everything.
"Why did you end up in Salem's service?" Sienna was somewhat curious and the young human had no problem answering "I am capable of turning the plague that is humanity into something pure, the world must be purified, punishing humanity sounded quite attractive, I had no reason to refuse to serve the queen" Ren kept a fairly neutral expression even though deep down he felt happy to remember that day.
"Are you sure it was the right decision? The queen only plans senseless destruction, even the plan you created represents that" Ren didn't seem to see the problem" the queen wishes the destruction of all humanity, we don't need a great plan to achieve something like that, we simply follow her wishes" for Ren the path he traveled was quite simple.
"We also have a bigger problem now, Raven Branwen's daughter possibly joined forces with a silver-eyed warrior because the queen didn't kill her when she could" Ren didn't seem worried "Yang is a naive person who thinks she is a hero, she does not represent any problem, our only concern is the silver-eyed warrior"
Sienna, however, did not agree at all "even though she's a Dhampir she's still strong, they could even beat up the queen's personal dog, you're taking this lightly Necromancer boy"
She was about to leave the workroom but paused at the entrance for a moment "you should rethink your loyalty a bit, this plan could lead to our own destruction and that will be a problem" Ren of course did not think to do something like that, this conversation gave him the impression that Sienna had the intention of betraying the queen but decided not to act without a clear confirmation "maybe I should be more alert about the generals"
(…)
"OH OH OH! So the queen wishes to end all humanity, that's so BADASS!"she was together with Oscar on top of one of the castle towers training a little.
"The queen seemed so nice when I met her, I didn't think she would be able to do something like that" of course that was due to a simple reason "because now you are one of us, as long as you don't do something bad she will treat you well"
Oscar received a punch in his face that knocked him down, Nora was a tough teacher "we'd better continue, you won't get strong if we waste time" although by training Nora meant to beat up the boy until his aura ran out.
"You need to learn to dodge, your reactions are still slow" He tried to hit her but she blocked his fist with her hand, kicked his feet to make him lose his balance and lifted him into the air to throw him against the ground "Does this really help me? In the end the queen told me to work as a messenger "
Because he was weak, it would help a lot if he functioned as a messenger during this war "I know she said that but you have to be able to protect yourself, imagine you meet a paladin of the church, Sienna lost her arm due to carelessness and she is extremely strong, imagine what will happen to you"
Fear was a strong motivator, Nora was smarter than many believed and she was quite happy to be part of something so big "we cannot disappoint the queen, what do you think of her idea?" she wanted to know the opinion of the boy.
"To be honest the idea of causing so much destruction does not please me, I don't think it is correct to do that but humanity has committed many horrible things against its own people, throughout my life in the streets you were the only person who offered me kindness, a Grimm and not my own species, the truth is I don't have a clear opinion"
"I understand, you are just like Jaune, he also doesn't want to destroy humanity and in fact he thought that the queen only had in mind to enslave humans, I doubted that but I didn't think her idea was so big, however, I don't think Jaune is going to take this revelation very well, just like you, he doesn't enjoy doing bad things but since humanity has hurt him so much, he believes that dispensing justice is acceptable " Ren and Jaune had strong reasons to hate humanity but the blonde was more naive and believed that he could make a better world.
"I will tell you a little secret Oscar, I am not interested in any of this in the least, enslaving humans or destroying them, I don't care, whatever the queen wants I will do it with great pleasure, she is my hero and I will never stop supporting her" for Nora there was nothing else, Salem was the most important thing in her life and maybe Ren, the only other person in the world who adored the queen as much as she did.
(…)
Cinder was in her room drinking some wine with a smile on her face, things were going quite well "poor little Jaune, Salem doesn't appreciate you as you deserve, lying to you for so long, I will take good care of you " soon Jaune would become her possession, one more push and she would achieve it" I need to prepare everything "
She had on a necklace with a red stone that began to shine, the stone began to project a kind of hologram in front of her and she observed that it was one of her companions "dear Emerald, thank you for answering so soon"
"What do you need Cinder?"
"I need you to send a large number of troops to the queen's castle, I know that to get here from Mistral would take almost two weeks but they have to do it in five days or less, the queen's plan will reach its final stage in that time, the woman is crazy and plans to start a large-scale war against humanity, we have to intervene and take advantage of this"
Emerald listened carefully, she knew it was an important matter"very well, I will inform Blake and Ilia about what you have told me and send the troops immediately, good luck"
(…)
"How are you?" Jaune was outside the castle near a tree in the great forest taking some fresh air, Ren had gone out to look for him "taking into account that everyone had deceived me including you, I guess I'm fine" Ren did not enjoy lying to his friend but it was for his sake "to be fair Nora never lied to you, she didn't know either" Jaune smiled a bit ironically "not that it matters much, she is loyal to the queen"
"Exactly, I hope this doesn't make you forget everything the queen has done for us Jaune" the blonde was angry and although Ren had a point he couldn't help feeling betrayed and worst of all there were many signs that he ignored but he had to do what Cinder told him and pretend to be fine "I can not do anything to change the queen's decision, it is obvious that she must have a reason to want to eliminate all humanity, I am not happy about this but I will live"
Ren seemed skeptical, Jaune was accepting this better than he expected "Are you sure you're fine Jaune?"
"I am not but there is nothing I can do, I will continue doing my job, also General Arthur and Sienna have already left for other towns, the kingdom will not expect an attack during the day, it will not be long for all of Vale to be destroyed" his only hope was Cinder, it was likely that Yang was busy fighting General Hei Xiong and he didn't know if she could survive.
"Humanity must pay for everything they have done, this is the right thing to do" Jaune did not feel love for humans but this was too excessive for him, the world could end up totally destroyed "if you excuse me it would be better if I continue with my work" The blonde left his friend and went back into the castle, Ren sighed a little, he was quite worried about the way Jaune was acting.
(…)
Sienna Khan was sitting on a mountain of corpses, watching as a whole town fell before the zombies and Grimms "ah delicious, so much negativity can be very intoxicating" however she knew that this pleasure was only momentary "that bitch even gave them such a direct message, these poor idiots were so terrified when we arrived, I guess that made this more enjoyable"
She was thinking about her conversations with the two Necromancers "Jaune seems quite naive and easy to manipulate but I'm sure that damn Cinder already has something in mind, the other Necromancer seemed to want to kill me when I talked to him, I don't think it's a good idea to mention a possible betrayal in his presence, I'm sure I can kill him but maybe I should do things more discreetly "one was a child who needed guidance and the other was a blind fanatic, two people broken by humanity.
"General Khan I bring a report" a Grimm knight approached the mountain of bodies she was using to rest "What is it?" but the report was not interesting "the town is finished, we faced some knights but they were not rivals for our forces" that was quite obvious.
"Of course not, it's been hours since the attack on Ritchen, they wouldn't be able to increase their defenses that quickly" the attack plan was simple but Sienna had to admit it worked.
"We have also received a message from the forces led by General Arthur, their attack was a success and they are retreating" everything was going quite well "depending on how the King of Vale responds to the situation, things should get more complicated, inform the others, we are done here"
(…)
"How is Jaune?" Ren was in the private library of Salem, as always the woman enjoyed a good read "shocked as expected, he tries to pretend that he is fine but is obvious that he is angry and feels betrayed, the fact that he has not taken a drastic action is proof that he is still loyal to you however that cannot be said about the others"Salem knew what he meant" I assume that Sienna and the other generals still have doubts about this"
"I have noticed that some have approached Jaune, particularly Cinder, I doubt that he thinks of betraying you but we must be alert, she gives me a bad feeling" Salem sighed somewhat tired "they are still as pathetic as when they were human, planning small plans worthy of little creatures"
"Once we finish our attack on Vale, I will kill Sienna and any other general who opposes me, that should serve as a lesson, for now they are useful for the first part of the plan" she could always replace her generals with more cooperative people "It will be for the best my queen, for now it will be better that everything continues as normal until we achieve our first great victory "the boy bowed and left, leaving the woman alone with her thoughts" soon everything will end, I will kill them all"