Cinder Fall had a plan in mind and for that she had to eliminate any potential interference "Give up and I'll give you a quick death!" Nora caught with her hand a Scimitar that her enemy threw at her and smashed it "the only one who will die is your Cinder" General Fall made two new Scimitars appear in her hands "Do you have the power to magically create Scimitars or something like that?"
"My Semblance allows me to create any weapon I want, the scimitars are simply my favorites" Nora raised her right hand and fired more electric shocks, Cinder threw her weapons and they were destroyed by absorbing the damage and creating a small smoke screen, Nora watched as her enemy rushed through with two new Scimitars in her hands. "I'll show Ren your head before I kill him!" Nora ducked dodging a deadly attack and immediately counterattacked with a punch to Cinder's chin sending her flying into a burning house "you won't touch Renny!"
Several weapons went through the walls of the house fired at Nora, she fired several electric shocks from her hands in response but the number of projectiles was overwhelming her "If you want to play with weapons that's fine!" Nora held a spear that was going straight towards her head and used it to repel other weapons that were being fired at her, this was more effective than using her power "We can continue like this all day Cinder!"
"Don't be so insolent, Valkyrie!" Cinder smashed the wall of the burning house with two swords in her hands, Nora pointed the spear she had towards Cinder and used it to shoot an electric current, Cinder blocked it with her swords but they were destroyed by the impact and made her fall to the ground, she had to react quickly and move as Nora jumped up and almost buried the spear in her face.
Cinder created two spears in her hands and threw them, Nora pointed her spear and fired an electric shock to repel the attacks, she continued firing and Cinder kept moving, all the houses around were being destroyed by Nora's power " From the first time I met you I knew you would be a problem, you have an insane love for Salem!"
Cinder dodged quickly and was approaching the Valkyrie, she created two scimitars in her hands and tried to cut her opponent, Nora used the spear to block "You are an ungrateful bitch, Salem has done so much for us, for you and you plan to betray her, we have this power because of her!" Nora began to emanate electrical energy and Cinder received a direct discharge that threw her to the ground, Nora's spear was smashed "the weapons you create are not of very good quality"
Cinder got up from the ground staring at her enemy "when I was human I was a slave of a stupid and pretentious old woman who believed that I owed her even the air I breathe, I swore to myself that I would never be a slave again, I accepted Salem's power because it benefited me but I don't owe her anything, also she has gone crazy, exterminating humanity is a ridiculous idea, if you were not a blind lunatic, you could see how serious is the situation we are in because of your beloved queen"
"Humans don't deserve this world!" Nora moved quickly, Cinder tried to block a powerful blow with her Scimitars but it was not enough defense, Nora smashed the weapons and buried her fist in Cinder's face knocking her down again "you have this power for more years than me but you're still acting like an insignificant human, petty schemes of a petty woman"for the first time Cinder seemed to be truly angry as the expression of fury on her face when she got up from the ground was intimidating.
"Do not talk as if you know me girl, you were a puppy that Salem decided to rescue from the streets, although I was a slave I was able to free myself before meeting Salem, I accepted her power because she offered it to me but I never agreed to be a slave without will, you are pathetic Nora, without Salem you are nothing "Cinder smiled satisfied because she believed that her words would affect the Valkyrie but contrary to what she expected Nora simply laughed out loud.
"You are undoubtedly an idiot Cinder" she moved to the right avoiding an electric shock "of course I am nothing without my queen, she saved me from my pathetic existence and turned me into a being similar to her, unfortunately you are still a human deep down, thinking of betraying the person who gave you the power you possess for insignificant reasons "Cinder moved her hands pointing towards Nora and shot several swords" this world belongs to me and I will not let Salem ruin things for a stupid tantrum! "she wanted to enslave humans and savor their misery for all eternity but destroying them wasn't something that worked for her.
Nora emanated electrical energy with great intensity "the fate of humanity is not something that you can decide Cinder!" Nora clenched her fists and stretched her arms creating a sphere of electrical energy around her that was destroying all the weapons that came into contact "Your pathetic weapons cannot harm me!" But she had forgotten about another player, an arrow hit the electric field and exploded dispelling her protection "What?!" Coco Adel had shot a blessed arrow with her crossbow.
Nora could not do anything else, Cinder's weapons hit her body consecutively until finally breaking her aura, Nora managed to take a sword that was going towards her and used it to repel the rest of the attacks but Cinder stopped her shots and materialized two more scimitars in her hands "now you die!" Cinder jumped to the attack but Nora managed to block with her sword, using both hands to hold the weapon and resist the force of her enemy "Even without aura I am able to finish you!" however Cinder smiled confidently, this was over, a pair of swords pierced Nora's stomach.
"But how?" Cinder had her hands busy but when she looked down, Nora observed that the swords that pierced her came out of Cinder's stomach "I told you that my Semblance allows me to materialize any type of weapon and you only saw me create weapons from my hands but I can draw a weapon from any part of my body "throughout the fight Cinder had well concealed that detail to take the Valkyrie by surprise" damn you ..." Nora fell to the ground bleeding from her injuries, Cinder moved her right hand and two swords plunged into both of Nora's arms, the Grimm screamed in pain, Cinder was enjoying this moment very much.
"Now you see? You are nothing compared to me "however Nora smiled despite having some blood coming out of her mouth" Petty Cinder, showing off a victory delivered by a human "Coco's intervention had given her victory but that was not of importance for Cinder "in the end you have lost Nora, that's all that matters" she materialized an axe in her right hand and got ready "don't worry, I'll do what I told you"Nora kept smiling until the last moment, Cinder beheaded her with anger because this did not feel like a victory "maybe your Necromancer boyfriend will satisfy me more"
Coco was pointing her crossbow at the Grimm, Cinder simply smiled "I wonder why you decided to help, someone with a brain would have escaped while we fought" the hunter surprisingly showed no fear of the monster in front of her "two reasons, first she broke my glasses and that's not cool, secondly she seemed more dangerous than you" Cinder created a spear and quickly moved, the tip of the spear was inches from Coco's face"You have guts, I admit it, I could kill you right now but I'm in a good mood and it is convenient for me to leave the humans alive who can defend Vale"
"Don't you wish to end all humanity?" Coco knew the queen's goal but Cinder acted differently than expected "of course not, humans are our main source of food and I have other ideas in mind for them, I don't support the queen" this monster was not a hero but at the moment she was on the side of humanity.
(…)
"I will give you a chance, leave the kingdom or i will kick your ass" Yang wanted to avoid wasting her time with this monster but unfortunately Sienna was quite stubborn "you tempt me but no" however the blonde was trying to solve things calmly "Are you that loyal to the queen? Do you also want to eliminate all humanity? "Those questions did cause a reaction in Sienna, the Grimm thought for a little minute before answering "the queen can go to hell, I don't care in the least and I don't want to destroy my main source of food."
For a moment Yang thought that there was hope "however you interfered with my fun, pretending to be a hero when you are just another monster, that's reason enough to kill you, I can think of what to do about the queen after finishing my business here "Sienna was quite spiteful and Yang would not get out of this easy, the blonde sighed somewhat tired "okay, let's do it your— "but she couldn't finish speaking as Sienna moved quickly, kicking her in the face and knocking her down.
"Fight!" Yang moved quickly as Sienna almost fell on her, another kick almost hit but she grabbed Sienna's leg, lifted her and hit her against the ground a couple of times however with her free leg the Grimm managed to hit Yang in the stomach and this caused the blonde to release her.
The Dhampir could not react quickly and received a strong punch in the stomach followed by a knee to her face, Sienna was a relentless monster that did not give her a second "I expected more from Raven Branwen's daughter!" Yang received blows all over her body but eventually managed to block an attack by catching Sienna's fist "that was easy, like Nora you managed to recharge my semblance quite quickly" Yang's hair began to glow with intensity as if it were on fire, her semblance had been recharged to the maximum.
"I see you can absorb damage or something like that. Should I be scared?" Sienna didn't seem to consider the Dhampir a danger but "you will" The blonde gave a strong blow to Sienna's face and then kicked her feet to knock her down, Sienna fell on her back and could see how Yang jumped and fell on top of her, the impact created a small crater but the Dhampir did not stop and hit Sienna repeatedly ending with a heavy blow to her face "did you like that?" the shine of her hair was dissipating, her aura would soon be gone but the amount of damage she had done to Sienna was quite a lot, her aura would probably not last long
Surprisingly the Grimm smiled despite having Yang's fist on her face "My turn!" Sienna kicked Yang with her legs to get her off and quickly got up "Are all generals this persistent?!" The blonde tried to hit her enemy but the Grimm dodged by ducking a little and gave a strong blow to the chin of the Dhampir that sent her flying, Sienna quickly jumped close to Yang and joined both arms hitting her in the stomach and sending her to crash into a house "shit I don't understand, she should be weaker"
The vampire was in a room full of old and shattered furniture, the nearest wall was smashed by the relentless Grimm "I think you underestimated me!" Yang threw a nearby table but Sienna did not bother to dodge and received the blow without problems, Yang gave several hits to the face and stomach but the Grimm did not seem to react "you are not the only one with such a convenient semblance!" Sienna gave her a hard headbutt that finally broke the Dhampir's aura and made her bleed a little "Fuck!" she took Yang by her right arm and threw her against a wall, the vampire ending up outside again.
Sienna came out through the hole in the wall that Yang made, she was enjoying the moment "you should have finished with all my aura when you could, my semblance is quite peculiar, the weaker my opponent is, the stronger I become, you made a mistake by not finishing me quickly and now you are without aura "Yang was breathing heavily, the situation was becoming dangerous" you received a lot of damage, your aura must be about to run out"
Yang tried to strike but Sienna easily grabbed her right arm "true, even now I can feel the little aura I have left but that is more than enough, you have lost this fight by relying too much on your little semblance and I keep getting stronger because of how weak you are"the Grimm kicked the Dhampir in the legs and knocked her down without letting go of the blonde's arm, she placed her foot on Yang's chest causing her pain" there is nothing more satisfying than teaching someone with a hero complex a lesson "Yang tried to hit her with her free arm but Sienna stepped on her with her other leg, preventing her from doing anything.
"AHHH!" With a sadistic smile Sienna Khan ripped off the Dhampir's right arm, the blood was coming out rapidly from her wound and some tears could be seen in Yang's eyes, the pain was incredible, although vampires had good regeneration they could not create new limbs "it is a pity that my semblance does not work against creatures stronger than me or I would have already defeated the queen" If she could not weaken her enemies it was impossible for her to show so much power, Yang was a very strong monster but she did not take her fights very seriously and wasted the power of her semblance, if she had attacked Sienna with more brutality, perhaps this would not be happening.
"Ready to die, Dhampir?" Sienna squeezed the arm in her hands destroying it and leaned down, she placed her hand on Yang's face, the blonde for the first time felt great fear for the situation she was in but a gust of wind pushed Sienna"Yang!" Weiss and Saphron appeared in time, the paladin stood in front of the Grimm while Weiss helped her friend up, the mage made fire appear in her left hand with the intention of stopping Yang's bleeding but the Dhampir stopped her "don't worry, vampires have good regeneration, this will heal quickly.
Sienna was furious at the interruption "one after another, only idiots appear that deprive me of my pleasure and fun, it is also the second time you interfere paladin girl" the Grimm had not forgotten the woman who had cut off her arm "I see you have a new arm, is this one better or do you miss the old one?" Saphron's little joke only infuriated the general more "the Dhampir had the same confident attitude but she screamed like a little bitch when I ripped off her arm, I will do something much worse to you, I can understand why the queen wants to end all humanity, sometimes they can be a complete pain in the ass"
But a figure fell behind her calling everyone's attention "I'm afraid that's not going to happen Sienna" Cinder Fall had managed to arrive on time, in her right hand she had a black bag with something that was dripping blood "What do you want Cinder? "Yang and the others were worried, dealing with another strong Grimm would complicate things a lot but they were in luck "even if you kill them, it is possible that another strong human will appear and we cannot risk losing a general, go back to the castle and I'll take care of the situation here, I'll go see you later because we have things to talk about "
Sienna sighed annoyed but the other general had a point and she could see that Cinder was up to something "whatever, I guess it would be better to go rest a little" Sienna let out a hiss and a Grimm horse appeared from somewhere, she got on and said something to the paladin "for your sake I hope I will never see you again or I will tear you to pieces" with that last warning she left the place leaving Cinder ready to act, Weiss created several ice stakes around her ready to attack but the Grimm stopped her "don't bother, I don't want to fight any of you"
That surprised the other three girls, Saphron was the first to ask "what do you want?" Cinder stared at them for a brief minute and finally answered the question "I just wanted to talk, you and I have a common enemy and I think I can help you with your goal " Yang had a sharp look, this was certainly suspicious but Weiss decided to give her a chance "speak already" Cinder simply smiled.
(…)
"Give up and I promise I'll be nice during my experiments, you won't feel pain" Ruby was cutting Arthur's tentacles with ease, the girl kept moving constantly, her eyes shining with intensity which weakened the Grimm in front of her a bit but he did not seem very affected "your silver eyes are undoubtedly a dangerous weapon against monsters but I am a particular case" she managed to get close with her semblance and cut him in half but the tentacles inside his body reconnected him.
"No matter how many times I cut him he keeps fixing himself and it doesn't seem to be a semblance or something like that but if it were magic my silver eyes should be able to cancel any kind of spell after constant contact" the situation made no sense, Arthur opened his mouth and a flare shot towards the girl, she moved her scythe like a fan to repel the flames but Arthur extended his right hand and shot a white sphere that caught Ruby's legs in ice.
The silver eyes increased their brightness which dispelled the fire and ice but Arthur took advantage of that to approach quickly and grabbed Ruby by the neck "What the hell are you?" she had never faced a monster like this, her power was not having a great effect on the general "I am a Grimm like the others but the difference is that I am intelligent" she cut the arm that held her and jumped back, he quickly reconnected the arm with a bored expression "you are so stubborn, you should accept your inevitable defeat"the Grimm moved his right hand and several plants sprouted from the ground trying to catch the Huntress but she cut them without problems "this bastard is a pretty strong mage"
This fight would end up being too long and that was not convenient for Ruby "at this rate my aura is going to run out, I can deal with his attacks but if I can't figure out how to kill him I'll be in trouble, I could use Weiss's knowledge right now, she could discover something about this monster "to deal with a magical problem it was best to have an expert nearby" well it doesn't really matter, if I keep it busy people can escape"in the end that was the priority.
(…)
"What happened?" young Grimm Oscar got up from the ground with a strong headache "I remember I was watching the fight and something must have hit me hard" but if it was an enemy he should be dead, something did not add up, he began to check the area until he saw the problem "oh no"
The boy ignored the destruction around him and approached Nora's corpse, little by little the body was turning into black smoke "no no no, how could this happen, that human could not have won" the boy was about to cry when he remembered something important "Jaune and Ren, they should be able to bring her back" however he noticed that there were two big problems that prevented that, the first is that if he did not hurry Nora's body would disintegrate completely and the second "Where is her head? "
(…)
"Move Velvet!" the bunny ducked and Sky Lark used a sword to cut a Grimm knight who almost took her by surprise, after being saved by Yang they were both helping in the evacuation "Captain, we have managed to evacuate most of the survivors but the forces of the enemy outnumber us, we will not be able to resist long "a poor Knight was giving a report to Sky, it was obvious that they could not repel the attack and it could be considered a miracle that so many people had managed to escape.
"Tell the others that it is time to retreat, we already did what we could and it would be dangerous to stay here, meeting another general of the queen is risky" Velvet kicked a zombie hard and ripped his head off "I can't leave without my friends" he had promised to help her and he was not going to break his promise "don't worry, if your friends are as brave as you say they must be helping the survivors, we just have to keep moving"
(…)
"As much fun as this game was, I think it's time to end it" Arthur raised both hands, two red and white spheres appeared, he put them together and released a powerful whirlwind of fire that went towards Ruby, she used her silver eyes to nullify the attack but Arthur manipulated the ground around Ruby and her legs were caught by the earth.
"Your silver eyes cancel magic but something existing like the earth on the ground is immune to your power" she thought to use her scythe to free herself but the Grimm made plants come out of the ground and held the arms of the huntress, at the same time her legs were being pressed by the ground "your aura is trying to protect your legs, how much will your aura resist I wonder, you can continue using your eyes if you want but my magic is unlimited, unlike humans, monsters do not have that weakness"
Normally a mage could not use magic if his aura was done, there were exceptions such as magic circuits but they were very rare cases, Arthur seemed to have the victory assured but some arrows cut the plants that caught Ruby "What?" The general joined his hands and generated a wind barrier to try to block some arrows that were going towards him but when they came into contact they caused explosions that sent him against a nearby tree "Are you okay?"
The Huntress Coco had appeared just in time to help, Ruby used her scythe to free her legs and stood next to her new ally "thanks" they decided to leave the presentations for later, Arthur got up wiping some dust on his clothes "what insolence, another girl who needs to learn manners" several stakes came out of the ground and nailed his whole body, making his dark blood flow through the place "we finally found you Ruby"
Weiss, Yang and Saphron appeared to give more support, Coco smiled when she saw her blonde friend alive, Ruby was surprised to see that her sister was missing an arm but it was still not a moment to speak "how impertinent"
Arthur's tentacles destroyed the stakes and freed him " "I think I can eliminate all of you but the job is done, the queen will be pleased" several tentacles came out of his back forming a pair of wings "keep in mind if i capture you, my experiments will be quite cruel Rose girl"many people had been saved but Siver had been totally destroyed.
(…)
"Thanks for being so quick Oscar, Nora would be happy to see how much you have helped" Ren's words were sincere but Oscar did not think he deserved them "if I had been more careful maybe I could have helped Miss Nora, I'm sorry" right now Oscar was in one of the towers of the queen's castle, Ren's work room, Nora's corpse was on a table, part of her legs had disintegrated but luckily Oscar managed to bring her in time and Ren used his magic to preserve the rest of the body, next to him was Pyrrha and Roman, both had tense and angry expressions.
"Don't feel bad kid, you're a rookie and the person who did this knew what he was doing" Roman was the first to let him know that they didn't blame him for what happened "I know none of the humans would have done this, they would have killed her and let her disintegrate but the person who killed her took her head because he knows we could revive her, however, the most likely thing is that the culprit will destroy her head to completely eliminate that possibility"they would not be able to revive their friend.
Although the Necromancers could revive anything, they needed the head, that was most connected to the soul, the rest was irrelevant, Pyrrha commented on the thing that made the most sense "it is obvious that there is a traitor, we know the resistance they encountered in Siver would not have been able to do this" Ren sighed tiredly "I have suspicions about who it could be but there is no way to prove something" the boy stared at Roman "How is your body?"
"I'm fine, I admit that I suffered a lot of damage but you know how ridiculous my regeneration is, it didn't take me long to get back to my maximum capacity, don't worry" what happened with Nora was sad but they couldn't stop "I'll talk to the queen but the plan will continue, it is what Nora would have wanted anyway "for the Lightning General the most important thing was the queen and Ren would make sure to fulfill those wishes.
(…)
Ruby was sitting at a table inside an inn eating meatloaf and rice, sitting next to her were Yang, Weiss, Coco and Velvet, after everything that happened they were in the Royal Capital of Vale, Saphron had accompanied the Knight Sky Lark to give a report on the situation, Yang was remembering what they had talked about with the mysterious Grimm named Cinder.
"You are the Dhampir Yang right?" Cinder didn't seem very worried despite having so many enemies in front of her, Weiss and Saphron weren't thinking of letting their guard down but they had no problem hearing what the Grimm had to say "that's right, what do you want?" The Grimm smiled upon hearing the answer "I am Cinder Fall, one of the generals of the Queen of the Grimm, however, like you, I wish to stop this madness"
Those words surprised the girls "I'm working with one of the queen's Necromancers to try to end this but we would have more success with some help, we particularly need the silver-eyed warrior, she is the best option to stop Salem"Weiss did not understand why this monster wanted to betray the queen" all the destruction and suffering must be feeding you a lot. Why do you want to stop the queen? "
"I have my reasons, but I assure you that they are not some kind of heroic shit, mage" Yang decided to ask something important that crossed her mind "What is the name of the Necromancer who is helping you?" That answer would affect her decision a lot, Cinder of course knew that she would gain support by answering that"it's your friend Jaune, I know he mentioned your name a couple of times" Yang smiled happily, he was finally trying to do something good, Saphron for her part did not trust those words "How do we know that this is not some kind of trap?"
Cinder looked at her with a bored expression "you don't but you don't have better options either, tomorrow the queen's great army will attack the capital, with Siver destroyed they don't have a safe place to escape, the queen has Grimms guarding the borders, they won't be able to escape without being seen"Cinder's words disturbed the rest of the girls quite a bit, the situation was not good "Jaune can get you another arm, that way you can face the queen"
"What is your plan?" Weiss knew that this monster would not have spoken to them without having something in mind "the queen's army will attack as soon as the sun rises, that will be our chance to attack" but that had consequences "the Capital will be under attack, even if we manage to defeat the queen Vale could fall if we don't help, the generals are very strong"
Saphron had a point but the Grimm had already taken that into account "Vale's forces should be enough to defend the capital, I will make sure the generals don't participate in the attack, anyway I only need the Dhampir and the silver-eyed girl"she had already taken care of Nora and was sure she could convince the other Generals.
"I doubt the queen will be totally defenseless" Weiss knew that Salem was a very old creature and she was not stupid "of course but my own forces will attack the castle, besides Jaune is on my side, several of his creations will be of help" Cinder seemed to take everything into account "I want to see Jaune, everything you speak sounds good but we will only agree to help you if he is really on your side "despite everything Yang was not able to trust this Grimm without some kind of proof, Cinder sighed somewhat annoyed.
"Very well, we will meet on the outskirts of the capital at midnight, we can talk more about the plan there"
Yang finished her meal and looked out the nearest window, it was still hours to midnight "will you trust that Grimm?" Coco was a little worried about her new friends, Weiss finished a glass of juice and answered.
"No, but she asked us to meet near the capital, if she wanted to kill us I'm sure she would have asked us to go somewhere else, it's obvious that she doesn't have any kind of affection for humans but she doesn't want to lose all her food, Salem wants to eliminate everyone and that is not convenient for her, I would say that we can trust her for now for that simple fact"
Also Yang wanted to see her friend again "if Jaune is helping her I think we can try, we have to wait until midnight" the wait was getting quite long.
(…)
"Thanks for coming, we have things to talk about" Cinder Fall was in her big room offering wine to her guests, Hei Xiong, Sienna and Arthur were present "What do you want Cinder?" Arthur didn't have much interest in being here but Sienna already had her suspicions "heheh I already imagine what you want" Hei just found himself leaning against the wall watching them with little interest.
"None of you have interest in the queen's plan, destroying humanity is not something that benefits you, I think that is something we can all agree on" her words were true and no one interrupted her "for that reason I think that it is obvious that the queen must go "the tension in the room could be cut with a knife.
"You want us to kill the queen?" Arthur considered himself a powerful Grimm but the queen was something that he did not think he could defeat "not at all, I have already prepared a plan to deal with the queen that I will carry out tomorrow, you will lead Salem forces during the attack on the capital, refrain from participating, without your intervention it is likely that the attack will fail"
That way Vale would survive "Nora is dead, I suppose you are responsible" Sienna had no doubt about that, after all Nora was the only truly loyal to the queen, Hei had some doubts so he decided to ask "What is your plan exactly?"
"My forces will take the castle during the attack on Vale, the defenses here will be weakened and with the help of the Dhampir and the silver-eyed girl we will defeat the queen" Sienna clenched her fists in anger "Tch I should have guessed you didn't kill her, that Dhampir is strong but she doesn't have much experience. Do you think she will do any good against the queen?"
"Even if she dies I'm sure it will be a good distraction, in the end the most important is the girl with silver eyes, that power should be enough" Arthur had his doubts about that "that girl is not a big deal either, I faced her in Siver, I doubt she can be of any use against the queen "but Cinder did not believe that" unlike you my dear Arthur the queen is more normal, even if her power is greater than yours she has not experimented with her own body"
"What about the Necromancers? I'm sure they will stay in the castle"Hei had that doubt but she already had a solution to that" Jaune is on my side and he will make sure that Ren is not a problem, tomorrow we will be free from the queen's control, I only ask you not to interfere and I will take care of the rest"
Arthur saw no problem in accepting "I doubt that your brain is capable of doing something very competent but if you fail it does not cost us anything, the conditions are acceptable" basically there was no risk for the other generals.
Hei Xiong nodded in affirmation, this saved him a lot of trouble and Sienna simply smiled cruelly"I would like to be present to see how Salem dies but it is your show Cinder, I will have fun during the attack but I will try not to kill too many humans "
After all she hated humans and a free opportunity to cause pain and suffering was tempting but at least she would try to control herself, satisfied with everything Cinder proposed a toast "to a new era"
(…)
"Oh my dear Nora, you don't deserve what happened" Salem wiped a couple of tears while looking at her fireplace, Ren was by her side serving her some wine "my queen, as I mentioned it is probable that she was murdered by another Grimm "Salem already had some suspects in mind" it must have been one of the generals, no one else would have the strength to defeat Nora, Arthur is a coward and this doesn't seem like Hei Xiong's way of doing things, I imagine Cinder or Sienna are responsible"
Ren agreed with that but unfortunately they could not act yet "at the moment we need them for tomorrow's attack, after Vale is destroyed we can seek justice for Nora's death"
"I promise you that I will make them suffer Ren, I know that Nora was very important to you and I loved her a lot" but the destruction of humanity was a priority "everything is prepared my queen, tomorrow Vale will fall and we will be closer to your goal, we can finally purify this world"despite how sad he felt about losing Nora, the Necromancer was quite impatient to start, after so much humanity would finally pay for their sins.
(…)
"My father is busy. What do you need Saphron?" the blonde was with the knight Sky Lark in the throne room of the great castle of the king, unfortunately Carissa Winchester was the one who received them, the young woman with long red hair was sitting on the king's throne "princess, we have brought the survivors of Siver and we hope you can help us with some food, we also need some place where we can place the survivors "Sky of course spoke to her with respect because this woman was the daughter of the king.
She didn't seem very interested but luckily she didn't give them any problems "fine, this castle is huge, bring the survivors down to the floors below and our servants will attend to them" Saphron was surprised that Carissa offered the castle as a refuge "it is rare that you are so charitable "the princess smiled when she heard that" but of course, now that they are in the Capital they are a priority for us, I will help them but I imagine you did not come here just for this" Saphron had accompanied Sky for something quite important.
"During the battle in Siver we faced some generals of the queen, we believe tomorrow a great army will attack the capital during the morning, it would be prudent to alert your army of knights, they have to be prepared" Carissa listened calmly to those words "are you sure?"
Saphron nodded confidently "very well, Captain Sky Lark, for your bravery and heroism in saving so many people I grant you the title of Knight Leader, officially you will be the one who will give the orders to our army, take all the corresponding preparations and help Saphron to adequately prepare our defenses"
Sky knelt before the paladin princess "as you say" the blonde was surprised that things turned out easier than she expected but it made sense, it was not convenient for the Winchesters to be careless with their precious paradise.
(…)
"You killed Nora!" after her meeting Cinder had gone to visit Jaune in his work room and the boy had pushed her against the wall with an expression full of anger "oh dear, be careful, a girl gets turned on easier than you think" when he heard that Nora had died in suspicious circumstances, he was completely sure that Cinder was responsible "you have her head, give it to me"
"I will return it to you after our plan is carried out, Nora was a danger for the operation my dear Jaune and I could not risk her interfering, I will let you revive her when all this is over "he released her and stepped back a little "I want to see her head, if it is in good condition I will ignore this but I need to know that I can revive her" although he was naive at least he knew that he should confirm things "that is fine, I also bring news that will make you happy"
The boy doubted that "did you kill another of my friends?" but she remained in a good mood despite everything "how funny you are, I actually got you a date with your Dhampir friend" he really didn't expect that "Did you talk to Yang?"
He knew that his friend was free and was accompanying the silver-eyed warrior but he did not believe that Cinder had found her "yes, she and her friends saved several people in Siver and they faced some generals, in fact the poor woman needs your help, Sienna ripped off an arm so I suggest you prepare some spare parts"
The boy smiled happily, he was glad to know that his friend was still alive "I admit that this is good news Cinder but I still want to see Nora's head, I will prepare some arms for Yang, what time will we see her?" the Grimm looked through the large window towards the forest and the moon was already illuminating the night sky "at midnight near the capital, it would be better if you make up an excuse, when we are about to leave I will show you Nora's head"
(…)
"This is problematic, Salem's plan has a chance of failing, it is obvious that her own servants intend to betray her, I have done everything possible to make things easier for her but at this rate, success cannot be expected, perhaps I should change the plan to something else, If you want something well done you must do it yourself, although it will be somewhat tedious but I have no choice, fortunately that idiot is in Atlas wasting his time and the old man is locked in his room terrified by the inevitable attack on the capital" a woman's mind could be somewhat unsettling or confusing at times.
"Well the knights will have their hands full so it should be easy to act, heheh I can't wait for the time to come, whatever happens I'm very grateful to you Queen of the Grimm"
(…)
Finally midnight had arrived, Cinder and Jaune were near a small forest near the capital, the Necromancer had verified the state of Nora's head and after knowing that everything was in order, he sneaked out of the castle with the general "How are they going to find us? "
"I told them we would be on the outskirts of the capital, I suppose it will take a while to find us" but after ten minutes waiting, Yang, Ruby and Weiss appeared from the shadows, both blondes ran when they saw each other but the Dhampir gave him a strong punch in the face "uh, why?" She offered him her hand and helped him up "that was for helping the queen kill so many people" but after that they both embraced, of course Yang had lost an arm but the boy had come prepared, on the ground was a dark chest that had several arms belonging to some of his zombies.
"While Jaune puts a new arm on you, we will be talking to the general" Ruby allowed her sister to have a moment alone with her friend and walked a few meters away with Weiss and Cinder behind her, after moving away a bit Ruby took out her scythe "Why should we work with you?"
"We both want to stop the queen, although we have different reasons, the destruction of humanity is not something that suits anyone, as I mentioned to your friends, I have made preparations for tomorrow's attack to be a success but I need you and the Dhampir to defeat the queen, Jaune wants to convince her peacefully but I doubt that will work"after all, he didn't want to hurt the queen but there was no way Salem would agree to surrender without a fight.
"I trust my sister and she believes that Necromancer can redeem himself but I assure you that if you try something my eyes will be the last thing you see" It was rare to see Ruby so serious, Weiss was surprised, Cinder for her part did not seem very concerned "I can respect your attempt to intimidate me girl but I am not afraid of you, your eyes are one of the most annoying things for the creatures of the night and even now nothing would make me more happy than killing you but there is a bigger problem"
Basically Cinder had no interest in gaining the trust of these girls, she only wanted to use them and although Ruby understood that she could not miss this opportunity, the queen was a greater danger than the Grimm in front of her, the huntress sighed resigned "we will work with you, the queen is the most dangerous enemy and you are only one of her servants, I don't think we will have any problem killing you"
Cinder stopped smiling when she heard that but the deal was already done "very well, my forces will move as soon as the the attack on Vale begins, I have made sure the other generals don't interfere so we only have to deal with the forces that remain protecting the castle, Jaune's creations will be helpful enough"
"Should we worry about something?" Weiss wanted to know more details just to be prepared "our biggest obstacle will be the other Necromancer, Jaune will try to keep him busy but it is possible that he will still be able to interfere, I don't know how strong he is but he should not represent a great danger, he is just a human" it was obvious that this monster considered humans insects, the girls noticed it but decided not to say anything.
While Cinder discussed more details with Weiss and Ruby, the blonde couple was taking advantage of the time "How have you been Jaune?" She had been very worried about the Necromancer " taking into account that I have been used and deceived for a long time I guess I am good, I am sorry Yang, you were right but I did not want to believe it, the queen is everything to me but what she wants is wrong , I wanted justice but not something so excessive "
He was connecting a new arm but she stopped him "this one doesn't feel so comfortable, try another one" the boy threw that arm to the ground and grabbed another one from his chest "look Jaune, I should kick your ass really hard but you seem to be truly sorry and as the sweet, kind and sexy heroine it is my duty to forgive you, but don't do it again or I will really make you suffer "the boy smiled happily" I don't know, your friend in a white dress seems sexier "he of course was referring to Weiss, The Dhampir hit him on the shoulder with an irritated expression.
"Hey, you were the one who said that I was the most beautiful woman you had ever met and blahblah" he enjoyed making her angry "and I didn't lie, but it's the first time I've seen your friend" that got him another hit but he continued laughing "I'm just kidding, you're definitely the most beautiful" she blushed a little and hit him again"a couple of years without seeing me and you already seem to be an expert in talking to women huh, I wonder what things you've been doing"
"Nah, I'm still the same idiot, I'm glad to have you around again Yang, after accepting the truth I didn't know what to do or how to act, I admit that Cinder helped me a little with that but I don't trust her, she did something wrong that It still infuriates me but unfortunately it was necessary "she squeezed his hand with a worried expression" she hasn't done anything bad to you? "he denied that with a movement of his head "no but she is someone dangerous and it worries me a little, unfortunately she is the only one in the castle that is helping me to stop my queen, I don't want to hurt Salem"
The Dhampir knew that would be impossible "deep down you must know that Salem is not going to surrender, we must kill her or we will not be able to stop her" he stopped for a moment with a sad expression "I can't, she saved me and I wouldn't be able to hurt her"
Yang squeezed his hand affectionately "she wants to destroy everything Jaune, if you don't want to hurt her at least you shouldn't interfere, I've been drinking blood so I'd say I have the strength to face her and I will not be as careless as I was with the general who ripped my arm off, Salem cannot stay alive or the world will always be in danger, besides I know what goes through her mind, she deserves to rest"
The girl had a small bag on her back and from there she took out an old book, the Necromancer took the book and looked at it with interest "that is the diary of the legendary Hero Ozma of House Rose, he and Salem were a couple twelve hundred years ago, reading it you can understand why the queen wants to destroy humanity but you have to know that everyone does not deserve to pay for the sins of a few, justice must be something that applies only to those who deserve it, the people who made you suffer must pay for their sins, others do not deserve punishment, I want you to understand that"
After a couple of minutes the boy finally finished putting a new arm on his friend, she got up and started to move it a little "hmm not bad, thanks Jaune" Ruby, Weiss and Cinder approached them after they had spoken "Jaune meet my little sister Ruby Rose and our favorite mage Weiss Schnee"
He raised his hand with a nervous smile "hey, I'm Jaune but I imagine you already knew that" it was likely that Yang had mentioned his name already "it's time to go Jaune, we must rest before the attack starts, we will see you when the sun rises "Cinder started to walk away, Jaune took his chest full of arms and Ozma's diary"take care Yang"