Hey guys! Just in case you didn't notice it, I edited my error in the last chapter. Yeah, not sure how my memory got so fugged up that I mistook the Relic of Destruction for being the one in Atlas and the Relic of Choice being beneath Haven, but I made sure to fix it upon it being pointed out the very next day. So, yeah, sorry about that. Will do my best to keep confusing errors like that from happening again.

Additionally, for those of you wondering why Ozpin would tell Jaune about Salem's immortality, that'll actually be explained shortly, so hope that puts your concerns to rest.

Thirdly, as a good friend of mine pointed out, in an episode of the World of Remnant, it was stated that Grimm and aura do not go together at all. Grimm simply cannot absorb or use aura and thus the last section of the previous chapter breaks canon. That said, I didn't know that fact as I do not watch World of Remnant. That, and as most fics go, differences between canon and fics will naturally occur so long as it fits the narrative being told. In my case, the whole 'Salem is responsible for the gradual evolution of Grimm' was my attempt at being able to explain this ability the Seer possesses – an ability that will be elaborated on in this very chapter.

Anyways, just wanted to explain all that in case there was any confusion. Thanks in advance for your understanding.

Now then, onto the chapter!

Chapter 40

It was with a great deal of frustration that Ozpin paced his office. At the risk of sounding crass, if only to himself, he was getting really fucking tired of bullshit.

The 'bullshit' in question? One exceptionally spooked and angered James as he stormed into his office to speak with him, but not before rounding up Glynda and Qrow in the process too.

And it'd been amongst his inner circle that James had dropped a massive bombshell on them in this very late night, when most others were dead asleep.

Cinder Fall, the woman who'd tried to kill Amber, was now dead. To be more specific, she'd been killed. And after being informed of the state of her body after it'd been discovered, there'd been yet another startling truth.

"Just how the hell did Callows get to her?" Qrow murmured for what appeared to be the umpteenth time.

Indeed, when the state of her body was discovered and a cause of death was quickly determined, it was revealed that there were traces of a venom that hadn't been officially recorded for years now, belonging to that of one Tyrian Callows, whose venom had been the cause of many deaths prior to him being caught and subsequently escaping.

Ozpin highly doubted it was actually Callows himself who'd been the one to slay their captive; for one thing, the deranged madman had obviously last been seen in Mistral, when he'd fought against the Branwen tribe. There was no way he could've gotten from the wildlands of Mistral all the way here aboard James' flagship that quickly, not even with help from Salem. And even if under orders to dispose of only Cinder and leave lest he be punished for any screw ups, there was no way the scorpion Faunus would've passed up a chance to raise some hell aboard the flagship. It simply didn't fit his MO.

Thus, it was far more likely that someone had somehow gotten their hands on a sample of the serial killer's venom and used it to kill Cinder Fall. Said someone was able to get aboard James' flagship and leave without being noticed too, indicating serious cunning – doing such a thing was by no means an easy feat, not even for the most skilled of spies, meaning whoever did this held a truly absurd advantage somehow.

But more than that…

"Let's all try to calm down for a moment here," Ozpin said, trying to be the voice of reason as he normally is, as he should be. But even his patience for all this was reaching its limit. Too many things have been going wrong the past several weeks and whatever attempts he and his allies made at countering their foes' moves were so far failing hard. "James, that device you mentioned, can you elaborate on it, please?"

It was with admirable effort that the normally easy to anger Atlas general was able to keep himself relatively restrained just long enough to speak. He'd spoken of some sabotage that had also occurred with the flagship's generator, having mentioned a device that had been used to power said generator, but naturally the issue with Cinder Fall had taken precedence over explaining this other matter.

Letting out a heavy sigh, James rubbed his forehead as if to suppress a migraine before speaking. "…It was something made years ago by a man named Arthur Watts, one of our best scientists prior to his death during an experiment. The device was something called… called the Eternal Motor if I remember right. It's been a very long time since I've ever heard about it, much less studied up on it, but the gist was that it was meant to be a perpetual motion machine of sorts. Watts, for all his intellect, was… a little disturbed, wanting to produce multiple Eternal Motors to implant within people. His logic was that by doing so, humanity could end up becoming something… more."

"Was he mad?" Glynda immediately retorted, amazed by what she was hearing and clearly not in a good way. "Just what was his logic behind such a thing? There are enough problems as it is with people adjusting to prosthetics for their limbs and he wished to stick machines like that inside people?"

Glynda made a good point. While there were plenty of people out there who've suffered the loss of a limb – or more – and have gotten it replaced with a prosthetic, not all of them ever fully adjust to having it. And it especially wasn't easy for some to physically get used to needing it either. Not even James, who'd gotten a solid portion of his torso replaced along with his right arm replaced with robotics after a horrible battle many years ago, was quite over it all.

And in the case of implants of any kind, there was always a chance of the body simply rejecting it. Thus, planting a perpetual motion machine in people… the number of ways it could all go wrong were too numerous to immediately count.

James winced. "Like I said, he was brilliant but disturbed. Long before his death, I'd made sure to have his equipment and notes confiscated. While I could admit to there being potential with his idea, the dangers it posed was far too much for me to ever approve of… that said, the prototype he did make certainly was capable of producing an immense amount of power, no Dust or any other source of apparent fuel needed. If nothing else, I figured it could be used in another fashion, one that wouldn't prove harmful to people. And as the Relic of Creation is already powering Atlas, well…"

Ozpin hummed. "So, you made it into the power source for your flagship. But now, it is missing."

James nodded grimly, even growling. "…I don't know just who could've taken it, much less how they even knew of its existence; the only people who ever knew of it aside from myself were those that had once been a part of the same team Watts was on, including Dr. Polendina. Naturally, they were all sworn to secrecy. I've already contacted some people back in Atlas to speak with them, determine if perhaps they'd leaked the knowledge somehow, but I personally doubt it; they're genuinely good people."

"Maybe someone threatened them or something," Qrow muttered. "That's usually how shit goes. I just can't believe you'd used something like that as a damned battery, Jimmy. You sure you didn't replace your balls with iron ones?"

James rolled his eyes at Qrow's gruff and crude words but answered all the same. "Even as just a power source, I was well aware of its dangers. That's why I had a whole crew dedicated solely to observing and maintaining the generators. If anything had gone wrong, they'd have known right away, which they did upon returning to their workstations after the 'malfunction' with the sprinklers. The flagship will still run without issue but now it's going to require just as much Dust as any other ship to keep running until a better alternative occurs."

The general then looked to Ozpin. "But enough about this for now – just what are we to do about this situation with the deceased Cinder?"

The headmaster sighed. "Sadly, it wasn't as if she was being very cooperative with us," he replied in a quiet tone as he leaned against his desk. "The loss of life, no matter whose life it may be, is horrible… but ultimately a senseless one; even if she'd lived, I doubt we would've been able to push her hard enough to give up whatever information she may have known."

"In other words, we're back to square one," Glynda commented in an exhausted tone. "…At least Amber is doing better now."

Indeed. If there was at least one thing that was good about this, it was that, upon hearing of this news in the first place, he and Glynda had gone to see Amber. He hadn't even had to check the system monitoring the young woman to know – through his extrasensory perceptions alone, he'd been able to detect the fully restored Maiden power within her.

Amber was whole again.

Alas, the Fall Maiden was still comatose. Whether or not she'd wake up at all was unknown, but her vitals were certainly looking stronger than before, so there was at least that. But strong vitals or not, it wasn't an indicator one way or another that she'll wake soon let alone at all. That was the tragic thing about comas – even if the person was doing perfectly fine otherwise, there was never a guarantee they'll wake up soon or even at all.

Still, he can only hope for the best here.

"Then what do you think, Oz?" Qrow drawled out, folding his arms over his chest. "With the shit hitting the fan over and over again, think we should try making use of the kid?"

At that, the tension in the air changed. Ozpin could only sigh upon immediately noticing said change.

"What kid?" James asked suspiciously.

With Qrow throwing him under the bus, the centuries old wizard abruptly launched into an explanation of what had occurred most recently concerning one Jaune Arc.

Summing up the gist of that event in the span of just several moments, Ozpin waited in resignation, knowing that James and Glynda – but mainly the former – wouldn't take this news too well.

Sure enough…

"T-This is insane!" the general roared. If it wasn't for the thickness of the walls, made so intentionally to keep conversations in here private, who knows how many people would've heard the man shout. "Just how could this be?! Was he really able to piece together all this through… through mere happenstance?!"

Glynda, for her part, said nothing but was looking decidedly uncomfortable. Whether it was due to this breach of secrecy and by one of their students no less, or him keeping this from her and James for a few days now or just everything combined was unknown.

"You're… you're certainly right to be so frustrated," Ozpin admitted somewhat reluctantly.

His friend did have a point. It was truly an odd series of conveniences here. Though he'd chosen Mr. Arc's team to take on the mission to Sol which had been what put him in direct contact with Hazel, the direct confrontation between the two of them had been genuinely unexpected. The seeming animosity the man held for the blond teen had also been completely unforeseen as were the slip ups made regarding keeping even Salem's very name hidden from everyone outside his inner circle.

However, he'd long since become numb to how oddly life could go. Sometimes, it seemed as if everything in the world was going increasingly wrong and other times, things can go horribly right.

And in all honesty, it was much better that it was Mr. Arc who'd been the one to find out about Salem rather than someone else. Oh, he didn't doubt he's told his friends by now, he trusted in Mr. Arc's ability to keep this information from spreading outside of his circle of friends.

"Unbelievable," James muttered. "Oz, it's bad enough that a student, through a combination of luck and his own intuition, managed to figure out Salem even existed, but just how could you then go out of your way to fill in some of the details?! Letting him know she's 'an immortal ruling the Grimm' that's been active behind the scene for centuries?! Can you even trust him to stay calm and silent about this?!"

Ozpin held up his hands to placate the general. "James," he began sternly. "You need to calm down."

He said this quietly but with such an intensity that the Atlas general actually recoiled as if struck. Even Qrow and Glynda looked surprised.

Ozpin winced slightly, his own emotions running high now in response to James' constant temper problems. Reining himself in, he spoke in a calmer tone. "It wasn't as if I freely told him everything about Salem or even what our own plans were in combatting her. Of course, Mr. Arc is an observant young man, so I'm sure he'd have realized that not long afterwards, but it isn't as if there's much else that he could do at the moment to dig even deeper into this. That said, however… I do believe that, should things be dire enough, we could and should bring him further into the fold."

"Ozpin, you can't be serious," Glynda spoke up, shocked. "I understand just as well as you do that Mr. Arc's power and skill are certainly extraordinary for his age, but-!"

Ozpin shook his head. "Glynda, I don't think you fully do. He fought against Hazel twice. Not only has he emerged in one piece both times, but based off the information he's provided, it would seem that he was able to clash evenly with him. I'm sure you understand that means."

Glynda did, as did Qrow and James. They too knew of Hazel Rainart and his monstrous combat prowess, his seeming invincibility. For any huntsman trainee to not only be able to survive a confrontation with the man, but to apparently even give him an actual fight? That was something even most huntsmen couldn't accomplish.

"Moreover, Mr. Arc… his power only seems to be growing every time I see him," Ozpin continued, using this moment of silence to press his verbal advantage. "How much stronger he is now compared to when you and I first noticed his power during initiation and combat class, I cannot say… but one thing is most certain: his growth rate is truly abnormal. Given even just another month or so, he could easily give entire teams of huntsmen a challenge in terms of sheer power alone. I'd even go as far as to say he could match the destructive might of a Maiden."

And that right there practically knocked the others right off their feat. That was not a statement to be made lightly. What made the Maidens so sought after wasn't necessarily whatever level of combat prowess any one Maiden could possess, but rather the sheer power any Maiden could easily command at any given moment, provided they've the experience to properly push their magical abilities to the limit.

To manipulate the very elements themselves was by no means something exclusive solely to magic – plenty of semblances out there could do such things too, to say nothing of those who are experienced in the usage of Dust. But the differences between a Maiden and a Dust user or someone with a semblance could best be described in terms of sheer, unrelenting power and scale.

Someone may be able to use fire Dust to generate a fireball the size of their torso to incinerate a thick tree in a few seconds, but a Maiden could easily produce a stream of flames that could extend for hundreds of meters and raze entire forests in just a matter of minutes. Someone could use a semblance to produce a single lightning bolt, fully capable of frying another person to death even if they've aura to protect themselves with, but a Maiden could summon a lightning storm spanning miles on end to rain down upon their enemies.

The might of a Maiden was truly no joke, easily worth the might of a hundred heavily armed ships or even more if pushed to the limit. Thus, for him to even consider comparing a young man such as Mr. Arc to the Maidens said scary things about his own power. That he still had the potential to grow even more powerful was truly a thing of wonder and even fear.

But more than that, it was enough to get his friends, bless their hearts, to just shut up for a moment, giving him some much needed time to fully calm down.

"You really mean that?" James asked in a much more subdued tone of voice.

"He ain't yanking your chain here," Qrow spoke up suddenly. "I was there when the kid came in to talk. While I can't say if he really does have what it takes to rival a Maiden or whatever, he's definitely way above the level of a student – had things gone south, I'm sure even my semblance would've had trouble slowing him down."

James stared at Qrow, who looked back at him impassively. The general, upon seeing no sense of deceit in the alcoholic man's eyes, then turned back to Ozpin. "Do you… do you think this teen would be capable of taking on even Salem? Of killing her? Is that what you're hinting at here, Oz?"

At that, Ozpin internally grimaced.

Back when he'd brought them all in on this, he'd taken the risk of describing the woman that was once his wife as an immortal creature, much like how he'd done so with Mr. Arc too. To his surprise and relief, that particular bombshell hadn't stunned them anywhere near as much as he'd thought it would.

And he knew exactly why that was too – the thing about words is that they were almost always open to different interpretations.

For example, what may be 'large' to some may be of average size or even small to others because everyone has their own mental image of 'largeness.' What it meant for something to be 'light' or 'heavy,' 'cold' or 'hot,' 'fragile' or 'strong,' so on and so forth, it always varied amongst people. Certainly, there were agreed upon 'limits,' if he could call it that, extremes that everyone agreed on as being extremes, but for the most part the meaning of many terms were incredibly subjective.

This applied to even the very term of immortality itself amongst other such concepts.

Thanks to literally centuries worth of stories, more so since the rise of popular media such as cartoons, TV shows, movies and games, the very word of immortality got used and tossed around a lot, to the point where there were even different 'types' of immortality from what he's come to understand.

More often than not now, if someone or something is said to be immortal, it's usually meant in the sense that they can't die from aging or disease or maybe said immortal is just unnaturally tough and had yet to be beaten down hard enough to actually die. Maybe whatever it was that is immortal could die but would just resurrect, much like him in that respect or it'll continue to live so long as a certain object or whatever continued to exist.

The point is, thanks to popular media, a lot of people tended to think of immortals as beings that could still very much die, it's just that they're that much more difficult to kill for good.

And his friends, who've grown up with such a culture around them, were no exceptions from this odd bias. As far as they knew, Salem was immortal in the sense that she wasn't going to die of old age anytime soon. In their minds, she could be killed, it was just a matter of either beating her down hard enough to keep her down or finding a way to bypass said immortality…

…And sadly, it was on that front that he was truly loathe to admit Salem most likely was immortal in the truest sense of the word.

When the God Brothers had wiped out the first version of humanity, the one he'd hailed from, Salem had clearly survived that horrific act. Even when she'd thrown herself into the pools of destruction, it'd only corrupted her into… into whatever it is she could be considered now.

Back during his first reincarnation, when he'd met her again and they'd spoken to one another of all they've missed, she'd made it clear just how many times, in moments of weakness such as despair or rage, she'd tried to take her own life… to no avail.

And when the truth behind his resurrection was made known to her and she'd made clear her new plans to gather the Relics and summon the gods to fight them and rule the new humanity, the two of them had fought long and hard, a battle that had cost them the lives of their four dear daughters, which to this day still haunts him. And during that battle, he'd reduced her to little more than a large puddle of blood and even that hadn't been enough to slow her down for more than half a minute at most.

There'd been plenty of other times where they'd directly clashed throughout the centuries, back when his strength had still been at its peak.

He'd tried so many things, so many different ways of execution from simple dismemberment to outright atomization… and she'd regenerated each and every time from it without even looking winded.

Just about the only thing he hadn't tried on her was the Relic of Destruction, but only because he feared potential collateral damage and even Salem hadn't been so arrogant enough at the time to want to risk being struck directly by such a Relic, made directly by the God of Light himself. Whether or not said Relic would actually work was unknown, but so far, Salem was truly living up to the very definition of immortality.

If there was something that could kill her, he's yet to discover it. Sadly, his usage of the Relic of Knowledge had done much to crumble whatever hopes he did have of killing her – Jinn was not an individual that could lie or tell half-truths, especially not when asked questions as direct as 'is there anything that can kill Salem?'

But, of course, he had to keep this particular bit of knowledge hidden from his own allies. They were no doubt daunted by the task before them, but the possibility that Salem could still be slain or at least beaten in some form was what gave them the determination to keep marching forward. If they were to ever learn that she was truly immortal so far…

Ozpin tried not to dwell on that possibility. He's lost far too many comrades over the course of his lives to despair whenever he'd naively told them the truth. Many have backstabbed him for dragging them into such a hopeless war and while he could never blame them for such a thing, every time he was halted was a time when Salem could gain the upper hand.

Now more than ever, that was something he couldn't afford to have happen.

Thus, it was to his and everyone else's benefit that they continue to believe in the possibility Salem could be killed eventually. Better that they hope rather than give up.

Focusing back on James' question, Ozpin could only answer quietly. "Possibly. I won't hold my breath for such a thing, but at this point, we must consider all options, no matter how improbable… or unethical." He looked to Glynda as he said that last word, knowing well her concern for using students to carry on this crusade against Salem. It was bad enough that he'd done this kind of thing before, but the continuing usage of such a thing naturally tends to wear down one's very soul.

Glynda grimaced but begrudgingly nodded. "Very well. If you truly do think Mr. Arc could be helpful, then do as you please. But if a better alternative presents itself-."

"-I'll do just that," Ozpin assured her.

There was a slight pause afterwards as everyone there considered what was just decided on. It was Qrow who spoke afterwards. "So, should we approach the kid and bring into the fold for good right here and now? Wait a day?"

"I'll figure that out," Ozpin replied. "But frankly, I'd like to try and get a handle on the current situation before we start doing anything else. I understand that now more than ever we need to take the initiative, but we still can't afford to be hasty about this. Another misstep could potentially have far more horrible consequences than the ones we've had to deal with so far. That said… James, what of the other two we still have in custody?"

He referred to both Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, both of whom were Cinder Fall's lackeys.

James, looking and feeling much calmer now than just moments ago, answered in a controlled tone. "They're still alive and in one piece. More than that, they're still very much within their cells. And I already made sure to personally verify that they were among the living still – after how long it appears Cinder Fall had been dead even though the monitors we had on her said otherwise, I've made sure that guards personally checked on them much more often."

"Not that you expect anyone to come for them, yes?" Glynda asked.

James nodded, sighing as he did so. "Like Oz and I have already mentioned before, they may have been privy to Cinder Fall's plans to some extent, but nowhere near to the extent that's actually useful for us. In the end, they were just pawns to her, albeit ones more useful than most, I suppose, if only for their respective skill sets. Whoever assassinated Fall likely knew that too, which is likely why those two went untouched."

Qrow grunted. "Then you plan to toss them in the actual slammer? Not like there's much point in keeping them around anymore, right?"

"Yes. I'll arrange for their transport to somewhere else. They've committed quite an extensive list of crimes, not just here in Vale but other locales across the continent, so they'll be locked away in a proper prison for a long time, likely even life."

Ozpin hummed. If nothing else, there was at least that much. Even if this was but a very small victory, it was never a bad thing to have criminals like that put away for good. "I'll leave you to that then, James. Is there anything else?"

He looked from James to Qrow and then to Glynda. His three allies reminded quiet now and that got a nod out of him along with a small surge of relief; at least that was the end of things for now.

"…Very well then. Let's call it a night," the headmaster then said. "For now, let's continue to proceed as we have before. Then, once things are just a bit better situated, I'll contact Mr. Arc and see how a second meeting between the two of us will go. James, for now, just proceed as we've just discussed… and do keep an ear out for any further oddities – it'll no doubt be another sabotage attempt at crippling us."

They all agreed and slowly made their way out of his office, leaving the ancient wizard to his lonesome.

As soon as they were gone, he took off his glasses and rubbed the spot in between his eyes, well and truly run down now.

It was as plain as day that Salem was gearing up for an all out assault upon Vale, but she was first doing what she could to weaken and cripple all the defenses put in place… and sadly, she was doing an excellent job at that. It was truly amazing just how well things were going this time around for the woman as opposed to before, where things tended to be just a bit more even. Even back when he'd first been getting his bearings with all this and tried to establish an actual defense against his former wife, things hadn't been this harrowing, if only because Salem too had been learning how to play the long con here.

But now, things have clearly changed in all sorts of ways. Salem not only had a clearly capable group of pawns now, but the forces of Grimm were ever growing stronger too, not that most people would ever really pay attention to such a things. So many new types of Grimm had been made over the centuries and age had done wonders for a number of these different Grimm in terms of strength and intelligence. He didn't doubt for a second that Salem was figuring out ever new ways to make the Grimm even deadlier than before.

Really now, just about the only reason why the Grimm couldn't immediately wipe out every human settlement in Remnant is because an ever amassing horde of Grimm could never go unnoticed for long no matter how well she directed them around and he's always managed to find a way to dwindle their numbers to something much more manageable by the time the horde could even get near any major human settlement such as the kingdoms. Sometimes, he'd even been able to wipe out the horde outright, thus negating the threat. Plus, the ever-advancing technology of the kingdoms has done wonders in helping thin the Grimm ever more whenever push came to shove, albeit not always easily.

But if even one kingdom's defenses were crippled significantly and he was prevented from taking direct action, then even if Salem could direct a small horde of a mere thousand to form, that kingdom would be swiftly overrun and decimated.

And if this kept up, such a possibility could become an inevitability.

With worry gripping his heart, Ozpin began to plan out what should be done next.

It was with a small sense of accomplishment that Salem dwelled within her throne room, going over the knowledge that had been gained from her recent study.

She'd put Leonardo to good use by having him serve as a tool for her Seer to study the vault and after many attempts at scanning that damnable vault, the Seer had finally been able to analyze the undercurrent of magic that was perpetually running through it.

And now that she had such knowledge, it was only a matter of time until she could figure out how to replicate the magical signature and fool the vault into thinking the Spring Maiden was the one interacting with it.

Truly, it was one of the most impressive things she's ever pulled off in her eternal life. Magic was by no means something that can be easily studied, for even though everyone in her time had gotten their power from the same source – the God Brothers – they'd all naturally gone about their own ways of using magic, developing their own flair, their own techniques, their own signatures.

This was why the sole magical defense Ozma had put up to protect the Relics was admittedly so effective, because the vaults were keyed directly to the Maidens, whose magical signatures had differed considerably from Ozma's after he'd granted the first Maidens their magic.

However, as just stated, magic still ultimately came from the same source and thus, no matter how different each magical signature could be from one another, the 'core' of their magical essence was the same. It was thanks to this fact that she was able to so thoroughly study the vault of the Spring Maiden as well as she could and detect the subtle differences between that of the Spring Maiden power and her own.

Truly, if this was centuries ago, the feat she pulled off would be considered a true impossibility, something that could only be labelled as a pipe dream among pipe dreams.

But when one becomes a being of endless life and has nothing but time on her hands, well, things that were once considered absolute facts can be proven otherwise.

And the same applied for yet another thing too – the belief that Grimm and aura simply don't mix.

Which was still true, to an extent.

Due to their origins, Grimm are quite literally beings that embody destruction. Anything that lives that they happen to kill ceases to be. In the case of any collateral damage they cause, that being buildings or other structures be they manmade or not, nothing of note occurs. However, in the case of humans and Faunus and anything else that may possess a sense of self, if they die to a Grimm, that's it. No afterlife for them as their very souls are immediately taken in by the Grimm… and as the Grimm were spawned from the pools of destruction, any and all souls taken in are immediately broken down into absolute nothingness.

Because of this inherent trait, it was just assumed by this humanity that Grimm can't use aura… which is true, since aura, being a manifestation of the soul, does get broken down rapidly.

However, over more recent decades, she'd sought to try and play with this trait in the Grimm, but to no success; the misconception humans have about how Grimm work will thus continue on.

But this wasn't quite the case with the Seer Grimm that she's managed to create.

Though only slightly, her growing mastery over the Grimm and the pools of destruction have proven their worth by being able to somewhat dampen this inherent trait in the Seers. This change allows her Seers to absorb aura out of those trapped within their grasps and channel it outwards, therefore meaning that it could very well waste the aura of whomever is unfortunate enough to be their prey and weaken them that much more for the Seers or any other nearby Grimm to finish off.

Truly this was one of the greatest feats she's ever pulled off. Alas, it wasn't something that could be applied in combat – the Seers possessed surprising strength within their tentacles but they could still be overpowered if one tries hard enough plus the Seers themselves were never even meant for direct combat anyways. Additionally, it takes a second or so for them to begin actively draining aura out of their prey and the Seers can't actually use the drained aura itself to enhance them, meaning it has to immediately funnel the aura outwards lest the drained aura just be broken down to nothing within the Grimm. So, needless to say, what she'd achieved was ultimately nothing more than a shoddy success at best…

…But one with great potential still. Given another few decades, she may very well be able to do so much more in this regard, but that was time she didn't intend on waiting around for, not when her goal seemed so terribly close in sight now.

For once she is able to replicate the Spring Maiden's signature, she'll be able to gain access to the vault beneath Haven, where she knew for a fact the Relic of Knowledge was located. Once she did that, she could then use its power to learn of any ways to achieve her ultimate goal, ways that may hopefully mean not having to go through as much trouble to accomplish.

If that ultimately proves impossible though, well, it's not as if it'd be too big a loss. Any Relic she can deprive Ozma of, the better, after all.

And regardless of what she directly does on this front, once Watts and Hazel succeed in fully crippling Vale's defenses, overrunning the kingdom will be effortless, an action that would in turn cripple Atlas too should James Ironwood and his fleet be crushed along with the kingdom, which would deprive Atlas of much needed leadership and power. And with Leonardo already under her thumb, she'd no need to worry about any troubles in Mistral. And as for Vacuo, there was hardly anything of note there worth mentioning. The only real reason why that kingdom even lasted so long as it did is because the environment there could sometimes be too deadly even for certain types of Grimm, plus the Relic of Destruction was there too, being one Relic that not even she would so casually toy around with.

That all said now…

"I wonder just how things are progressing on Watts' and Hazel's end," she murmured out as she rose from her throne and started to gracefully walk forth.

She knew from the start of Watts' desire and ever since the failed attack by the White Fang on Vale's city hall, she's also come to detect the changes Hazel was now undergoing.

And even from here, she could sense those changes becoming ever more drastic in the latter's case, a testament to what appeared to be going on with the man.

Humming thoughtfully, Salem motioned for a Seer near the entrance of the room to approach her. She intended to contact her two subordinates and see up close and personal – in a manner of speaking – just how they may have changed since they'd last made contact.

But then, just as the Seer started to approach, she had a change of heart. Raising her hand again, the Seer ceased its approach and immediately made a beeline back to its original spot.

Salem had a different idea now.

Even with how studious humans had been in her time regarding magic, even with how long she's existed to study and expand her arsenal of powers, magic proved to be a truly mysterious thing, as is befitting of a gift granted by gods, specifically the God of Darkness.

Control over the elements, casting physical illusions, directly attacking the mind, short range teleportation, flight and so much more had been possible through magic. Regarding its more esoteric applications, it was just a matter of creativity and being willing to put in the time and effort needed to figure out how to achieve the desired end result.

There was good reason as to why she and Ozma during his first reincarnation had been considered as gods too among this second version of humanity at the time.

And so, she decided to display such an esoteric ability here and now.

Closing her eyes to concentrate, she reached out with her mind. Minutes went by as it felt as if her mind was somehow actually travelling the vast distance between her current position and the one she desired.

And then…

…

…

…"Hazel."

"Hazel."

Having been minding his own business as was usually the case, Hazel had been milling around within the forest Beacon used for its initiations, albeit sticking close to the edge of the forest furthest away from the blasted academy to avoid detection.

He'd gone out to get some air yet again and had unconsciously made his way here of all places.

And needless to say, the absolute last thing he'd expected to suddenly interrupt his solitude was the 'sound' of an all too familiar voice.

So sudden had this interruption been that he'd gone from sitting atop a small boulder to standing, fully alert.

"W-What…?" he murmured, his confusion evident in both his tone and current expression. "Y-Your… your grace…?"

Wondering for just the briefest of seconds if he was now going nuts, his thoughts were interrupted as the woman he'd pledged his services to chuckled… from within his own thoughts.

"My, my. Looks like it worked, after all… how terribly interesting."

"…Salem," Hazel spoke, dropping the title that he usually parroted out when directly addressing the woman. He was far too off-put by this sudden development to bother with his usual display of deference. "Is this… telepathy?"

This was not an ability ever demonstrated before, not by any semblance that he knew of, that is. He only even knew of this ability through works of fiction.

"It is, indeed. Speak within your own thoughts, it makes 'hearing' you easier on my end."

"…Like… this?" Hazel 'replied' as he gave it a try. Then there was an odd sensation that raced through his very skull as Salem 'nodded' in affirmation. He couldn't help but shudder; he'd known from the start this woman was capable of much, but this was just…

"Just how are you doing this? Why has this never been done before?" he mentally asked as he took a seat again.

"We'll address that in just a moment or so. First, I wish for a status report. What has happened since our last time speaking? Leave nothing out."

As those words literally got processed by his mind, Hazel took a second to compose himself. To say he had many questions about this would be understating things. Unfortunately, there was no way he could just make Salem tell him the answers he now so desperately wanted. And that she could do something like this too… he shuddered to imagine what else she might be able to do from afar.

But she was a woman of her word, he considered. If she said she'll explain this in a bit, all he can do is obey.

Thus, he told her of what's happened since his and Watts' last time reporting in.

He could tell Salem was listening impassively as he explained what exactly had happened during the White Fang's attack on city hall, of Cinder's failure to kill the Fall Maiden in addition to her subsequent capture and Watts' killing of her when he'd gone aboard Ironwood's flagship just last night to obtain that which he'd wanted back so much.

But more than that, he told Salem of his battle with one Jaune Arc as well as the oddities that have been occurring both during and well after that fierce conflict.

As this was a conversation occurring entirely within his mind(?), he couldn't actually see Salem and thus was deprived of whatever expressions she may have been making throughout the course of his report. Now more than ever, he would have much appreciated being able to discern what her thoughts may be, but that was denied to him.

…Could she read his mind? Perceive his thoughts and emotions? Given her perceptiveness as is, the possibility she could now do so literally was… disconcerting.

Nonetheless, he soldiered through and finished his report.

His mind then proved unnervingly quiet and for a moment he wondered if whatever telepathic connection between them had been cut somehow.

But then he was proven wrong.

"I see. Most… interesting. I've had glimpses of what has occurred but to know for certain what had occurred… tell me, Hazel. Just what is Watts doing right this moment?"

"Ever since returning from his 'errand,' he's holed himself up in a laboratory that our base came equipped with. He mentioned only briefly before entering it that he was going to modify that Eternal Motor of his, but he gave no specifics, not that I likely would've been able to understand the more delicate intricacies of it all."

Which was very true – Hazel was far from ignorant and dumb, but his knowledge on science only went just a bit beyond the basics; any potential conversation Watts would've wanted to have on the more advanced and in-depth scientific concepts would've quickly gone above his head.

"I don't know how long exactly he will be in there – he didn't give an indication on how long it would take him to do whatever it is he wishes to do. But he's made clear that once he's done, he will begin his operation," Hazel mentally explained.

Once again, there was that unpleasant sensation as Salem 'nodded' in understanding and the immortal proceeded on. "Very well then. I'll let him do what he must before the next part of the plan is to continue. Now then, with that out of the way… Hazel. Tell me: how do you feel about these changes you've been undergoing."

That gave him pause. For just a few seconds, all he could do was close his eyes and reach out for the Grimm milling around in the forest. He felt them stir as his presence became known to them only to withdraw a split second later. He then opened his eyes and observed his own fists, which crackled with lightning and flames as he willed them to manifest.

"…What do you mean exactly?"

Salem chuckled, clearly amused, and that sound echoed within his very skull to a point where it felt like he was experiencing a bad case of vertigo. A lesser person would've passed out instantly from how terrible this invasive feeling is.

"Surely you've wondered just what exactly is causing these changes in you. Just as I'm sure you've also been wondering how to make the most of these changes… as well as just how and why I've bothered contacting you this way."

Hazel fell silent as Salem hit the nails right on their heads. From the sound of things, she clearly knew outright or at least had a very good and educated guess as to why this was so.

By all rights, he should just ask her outright, just stop bothering with this small talk. This was by no means a time for wordplay.

But instead he decided to play along still. Now was still not the time to pushing his luck with the immortal woman.

"I've only really noticed these changes after injecting myself with Dust," he began in as calm a voice as he could manage. "But while that could explain away some of the changes I've been undergoing, this… this connection I've been developing with the Grimm, my growing overall power… that doesn't make sense so far."

"Oh? But it very much does, Hazel. To me at least."

He growled aloud. "May I ask for an explanation outright then?"

Hazel could practically feel Salem's amusement now, irritating him that much more. But when she 'spoke' again, he was struck silent.

"This telepathic ability of mine… it only works between those who possess magic."

…

…

…What?

"That's not…" he spoke aloud in his moment of shock. "How can that…?"

How can that be? Ever since this second humanity came to be, the only one to possess magic outright was that damnable Ozpin in whatever new life he lived at first before eventually giving large portions of his magical power out to the four Maidens.

This was clearly due to his Dust injections, but how so? And just how is that responsible for his connection with the Grimm now?

Clearly sensing his confusion, Salem responded before he even 'said' anything. "Did you never wonder the exact origins of Dust?"

"…Not particularly. I imagine many people don't question its origins too much at this point either." Such was his response. As far as anyone knew, Dust came from Dust mines and the like. Of course, how such things ever came to form in the first place was completely unknown too.

"Back when I'd defied the God Brothers for the final time directly," Salem began quietly. "The God of Darkness, after wiping out the first version of humanity and leaving me to my fate, took his leave in quite a dramatic fashion; he turn himself into a beam of pure dark and magical power and literally blasted off, obliterating a significant portion of the moon in the process, hence the celestial object's current state.

"But while his departure had indeed destroyed a portion of the moon, it hadn't been an absolute annihilation of said portion – there'd been fragments left behind that had then fallen to the world below, impacting all across the lands… and these fragments had ended up imbued with mere slivers of the God of Darkness' very essence itself. This essence then ended up seeping out gradually into sections of the lands themselves, eventually taking actual form-."

"-In the form of Dust," Hazel finished for her. Normally, he nor anyone else would dare interrupt Salem when she was speaking. That he did so now was a sign of his growing shock.

Just like that, he'd learned the origins of Dust and what Dust really is – the God of Darkness along with the God of Light had been the ones to grant the first humanity the power of magic, a power that had been but a mere sliver of themselves for all intents and purposes. That same power had been accidentally left behind and bled out into the planet, eventually warping small sections of it into the very thing that the current global society used to power just about everything.

Given the inherent dangers of using Dust for more personal purposes, it was clear that magic didn't mix so well with aura, at least not when done without 'permission' as opposed to how Ozpin had bequeathed a majority of his power to the Maidens and potentially others.

And here, for many years on end, he'd been going and directly taking in magical power that had come directly from the God of Darkness himself… who'd also been the one to create the Grimm and the pools of destruction too…

…?

But wait… now that he thought of it… wouldn't that mean there was then a direct connection between magic and the Grimm too?

It was a good thing he'd been sitting down, for this sudden information overload was causing him to lose control over his own body from the sheer weight of it all.

He had so, so many questions, so many in fact that he literally didn't even know how to start anymore or how long it'd even take to get all the answers he now so desperately wished to know.

As his mind wandered further down this rabbit hole, he was roused from his stupefied state as Salem once more laughed at his reaction…

…Before she then said something that truly froze him for good.

"Congratulations, Hazel… it would seem now… that you're becoming something similar to me."

And that's a wrap! Yeah, as you can see, Jaune nor his friends didn't make an appearance in this chapter and for the simple reason that it would've just ended up being a rehash of what was already established in the last chapter due to not much time having passed at all.

Next chapter however will be a different case since Jaune will be taking centerstage again on his new self-imposed quest alongside his friends… in addition to the machinations of other characters now becoming more apparent in their lives.

Now, that said, what do you think of the info dumps in this chapter? Hope it cleared up any confusion that any of you might have had about certain things.

Don't think though that I've tipped my hand completely, however – there's still plenty of surprises in store, plenty more twists and reveals both big and small to come.

Oh, and expect magic to continue being made more versatile as this fic goes on, because seriously in canon, its only advantage over semblances is sheer firepower... and apparently being able to turn people into birds too and that's kind of lame in my opinion considering just how versatile semblances appear to be in comparison.

I just hope you all will look forward to it.

Until next time, everyone. Stay safe!