8-X: Necessity

"Hey Sacchi! Wha'cha doin'?"

From the corner of her eyes, the Goddess of Sacrifice saw Eniripsa approach her. The face of the Fairy Goddess was, curiously enough, filled with utter boredom, a listless look on the diminutive deity's face as she stared up at the goddess.

"Erm..." Sacrier, for her part, gave the fairy a curious look, tilting her head to the side as she stared at her fellow deity. "Watching the mirror?"

"Still? You've been doing that for forever!" The Fairy fluttered closer to her, drifting to her spot at the Celestial Stage as the Goddess of Healing gave Sacrier a confused look of her own. "What's there to even watch? I mean, isn't he just being evil or something? Building up robot armies because he wants to fight us?"

Sacrier blinked. Was... Was that what the other gods thought of the Xelor? A frown slowly formed on the goddess's face, her eyes shifting downwards as she thought on her friend's question.

Sure, Eniripsa might've been a bit exaggerated in her words, as was her nature, but the Angel of Compassion couldn't help feel some worry at the underlying meaning behind the question. After all, it was clear to Sacrier that few gods viewed Nox in any positive light, especially after his open declaration of... war. Whatever tentative sympathy he might've garnered from the other gods had been dashed away at that moment, and the goddess was all but certain that she alone had remained invested in the man's struggle.

"Hey, don't look so down. I'm just kidding!" The Fairy Goddess's voice broke through Sacrier's thoughts, the sudden cheerful chime of her words quelled some of the woman's concerns. Only some of them, however.

"Wait, is that Noxie? Why's he fighting with a bunch of the wolf things?"

Still, some of Sacrier's worries fell, the voice of her friend lifting her spirits just a bit. Even if the Fairy Goddess had asked due to to confusion, the fact that Eniripsa bothered to question the Xelor's status at all was a welcome tone when compared to the apathy or outright antagonism that the other gods seemed to show. Slowly, the goddess turned her gaze away from the mirror, resting on the fairy as she took in a deep breath, before finally speaking out. "Well, you know how Noximilien has acted lately, correct?"

"Lately?" Slowly, the fairy turned away from Sacrier as her friend's eyes fell on the mirror, squinting for a bit as the other deity visibly tilted her head. After a few moments, her fellow goddess shifted her attention back to the Angel of Compassion, shaking her head in almost-exaggerated motions as Eniripsa stared up at her. "Nope! All I know about him is the yelling thing he did to us last month. It was last month, right? Or earlier this month?"

"No, it-..." Sacrier was about to correct Eniripsa, before immediately stopping herself. At first, she had wanted to state that the Xelor had been stranded in that world for nearly a season, but the moment that thought entered her mind, the Goddess frowned. While her friend might've been a bit spontaneous at times, there was no way that the Goddess of Healing could've made such a wide mistake when considering something as fundamental as time.

Then again, time was relative, and that fact was especially true to a God. While months had passed in the strange world that Nox had been exiled to, could the same be said of the Krosmoz and the World of Twelve? All it took was a single glance at the Clock of Xelor to tell her otherwise, and with a furrowed brow, Sacrier settled her gaze back on her friend. "... Yes. To the World of Twelve, that had occurred earlier this month. But Noximilien himself has been stranded in that world for almost four months now."

"Bwuh?" Confusion was clear in Eniripsa's voice as she stared up at Sacrier, before throwing a curious glance to the God of Time.

As always, Xelor ignored them, as well as the rest of the gods, content to stare into the distant stars as he stood in silence. A frown formed on Sacrier's face as she stared at the Keeper of Time. Even now, despite being the one who had visited this plane the most, Sacrier had no clue what the Xelor was thinking about, nor what his feelings on the entire incident was. He had voiced neither agreement nor disapproval at Sadida's appeal to the gods, and had simply chosen to watch as things unfolded.

Regardless... that was an issue for later. For now, she still had Eniripsa's question to answer.

"A-Anyways, in that time, he has been living peacefully with the local population-"

"Peacefully? What an interesting word to use." At those words, another voice rose up, sarcasm heavy in his tone as the grinning skull of another deity stepped into view.

Sram, God of Shadows and deceit, slowly made his way to the two goddesses, his wings flapping silently in the celestial air as he came to a stop beside Sacrier. His hollow eyes turned to the woman, the darkness somehow flickering with amusement as he stared at her. "Tell me, did he also peacefully capture that fort after he peacefully let those animals slaughter the humans there? And did he peacefully declare war on us after he peacefully unleashed a giant fire bear on the people who arrived after?"

"Hey! Don't be mean to Sacchi!" Almost immediately, Eniripsa flew up between Sram and Sacrier, her arms crossed and her cheeks puffed in a visible pout as she pointed at the God of Shadows. "B-besides! She says that Nox didn't mean to do all that! ... Right, Sacchi?"

But before she could answer, however, a hollow chuckle echoed out from the Skull God, amusement clear in his tone as he turned his gaze towards the Angel of Compassion. Then, for a brief moment, all of his mocking tone and sarcastic air faded, leaving only the black, eye-less sockets of his skull as he stared at the goddess. "...As hard as it is to believe, I'm not being mean to Sacrier. I was completely serious in my questions."

That... gave the goddess some pause.

For a few moments, she stood silent, her eyes transfixed with the Skull God's blank visage, contemplating the question as her memories returned to the Xelor's arrival all those months ago. At that time... he had been lost, hadn't he? Empty, doing nothing but exist as he wandered that world. The creatures that had flocked to him had flocked of their own volition; they hadn't paid attention to the man's desires or orders because he had none at the time.

Then came the fort, and the creatures' own desires for blood. Again, Nox did nothing but observe, only forced into conflict when one of the people had outright confronted him. And rather than kill that individual, he allowed her to live. He kept her as a prisoner, sure, but he also ensured that she had been fed and sheltered from the beasts who had slaughtered the settlement. Then came another prisoner, his Dial, more prisoners, his research... All that time, he had kept to himself.

The most... morally questionable event of his actions, besides keeping them as prisoners, had been his action of pitting them against the beasts and his creations in a cage of conflict... but even then, he provided them with weapons, as well as amenities after the incident. To Sacrier, it was clear that the Xelor wasn't acting out of malice... But she thought that she was the only one who had seen it like that. Was Sram trying to tell her otherwise?

And then came the final conflict. Again, it was Nox who had been attacked, first by the mysterious swordsman and fencer, then by the world's armies. Nox had struck back, sure, and his constructs were far more lethal in their actions than the Xelor had been when he had first taken the fortress, but at the same time, they weren't as cruel as the shadowy creatures had been. And that fiery monster... That hadn't shown up until Xelor did... whatever he did to the mirror. If they had remained silent, would Nox have done the same thing?

Sacrier didn't know. As her mind reflected on all the actions of Noximilien Coxen, she simply didn't know what the man would've done. But, as she took in a deep breath, she did know one thing. And so, she turned back to Sram, her gaze locking with the God, completely serious as she spoke out. "...Yes. Yes he did."

"... I see." And Sram responded, equally serious as he turned away from her. He remained silent, his attention falling instead to the Wakfu mirror for a few short moments, before finally breaking the silence. "In that case, good for him."

That was all the God of Deceit said, leaving the air silent as he promptly sat himself down at the spot beside Sacrier, his attention focusing purely on the mirror before him.

This... drew no small amount of confusion, as both Sacrier and Eniripsa gave the Skull God a look of incredulity. The Fairy Goddess was the first to voice her concern, her voice immediately sounding out as she stared at Sram. "W-wait, what? I thought you hated Noxie."

"Eh. I wouldn't say I hate the guy. Besides, I appreciate a good con as much as the next person, so the way I see it, he's either tricking Sacrier by pretending he's good..." The grin of Sram's skull seemed to widen as he turned away from the mirror, his sight falling on the empty space beside the other mirror. "... Or tricking the rest of us by pretending he's bad. Or, you know, he could be both."

Sacrier's gaze followed the God of Shadow's, and as if on cue, a burst of Wakfu resounded. At that moment, Sadida arrived, determination and disdain worn on his mask as he shot the goddess a single glare. But, rather than his expression, the Angel of Compassion took note of something else about the deity.

In his left hand was an... artifact of some kind. A hand mirror, whose frame was equal parts metal and wood, grown and forged through the culminated will of two gods. Was that what he and Feca had been working on? The God of Masks ignored her gaze, quickly turning to the cracked Wakfu mirror as he brought the smaller item up to its surface. Gradually, a faint light spilled out from the large Wakfu mirror, slowly at first as it began to flow into the smaller one. She wasn't quite sure what he was doing bu-

The goddess's eyes widened, and her eyes instantly fell to his other hand.

How did she not notice it before? Where Sadida's left hand held the artificial Wakfu hand mirror, his right hand held something far more dangerous. There, in his grasp, flickering with an ominous purple light, was the telltale spark of Stasis. And just as quickly as she recognized it, the spark disappeared, consumed in an instant as he forced the energy into a smaller device.

A pulse echoed out from the hand mirror, a crack that drew even the attention of Xelor, as all eyes fell to Sadida. For a moment, the two Wakfu mirrors rippled and distorted, an unknown energy passing through them as it fell through the empty air. Yet, that moment ended, and the mirrors returned to normal, as though nothing had happened at all. Just like that, Sadida turned away, focusing his power into the air as he formed another portal, departing from the Celestial Stage of the Gods as quickly as he had arrived.

The air stood silent. Then, without warning, Sram's voice echoed out once more, his voice worryingly jovial as he stared at the empty space.

"... Either way, this should be interesting."

Her presence was marked by a sheen of light, a single spark of metal that tore through the darkness as she brought her blade forward. Her target shuddered, staggering for a few moments as it felt the sudden weapon, unable to even utter out a cry as the monster collapsed on itself, ash and smoke bleeding out into the room as the woman re-sheathed her blade. And as she watched the Ursa collapse, the masked woman couldn't help but frown, a single display of displeasure that was known only to herself.

There wasn't supposed to be grimm here.

Everything she had read and heard about the outpost, all the situation reports and inquiries to nearby bases, had pointed it to be running as expected. Yet, since her arrival at the destitute ruins, the woman had found nothing but grimm roaming the passages, countless beasts that had made their homes in the buried streets and buildings. This particular structure was no different, and the decayed walls were home to far more of the annoying monsters than she had anticipated.

While she had expected to find a small number of the monsters near the outskirts of the area, the fact of the matter was that this building, if nothing else, was supposed to be free of the monsters. After all, these ruins still had a great deal of significance, and she knew first-hand that one of the Valean cells had spent a considerable amount of effort in establishing a base of operations here. This base of operations here.

But as she stood in these empty halls, it was clear that the base had been completely abandoned, and its inhabitants were nothing more than grimm and corpses. That now-dead Ursa had been the final confirmation of that fact, as she had found the beast inside the base's supposed command post, asleep atop the remains of what she assumed to be the outpost captain.

So what had happened here?

Suspicion filled her mind as she scanned the room. Both sources of information, namely the surrounding bases and the White Fang Specialist who maintained communications in the region, had mentioned nothing out of the ordinary. That implied that the grimm attack that had apparently taken this base had occurred recently, and that news simply hadn't gotten out yet.

But as she stared at the blackened blood and long-decayed corpse, it was clear to the woman that this stronghold had been compromised for quite some time.

Her first reaction was that this was simply further proof of the incident that had occurred at Fort Stratum, and that the loss of the outpost was just one more step that some mysterious player had taken in order to cover their tracks. After all, given the appearance of the dust-infused grimm those months ago, and the dubious companies that Mountain Glenn had once housed, it wasn't an unreasonable to assume that someone had finally found something usable from the forgotten ruins... Something that was now in the hands of the White Fang's enemies.

However... If that was the case, why hadn't anyone stopped her?

Even if the neighboring outposts were unaware of this facility's status, the White Fang Specialist must've known, right? And if that was the case, then he also would've known that, if it came out that Rhinestone's latest acquisition had come from a White Fang cell under his jurisdiction, he would've lost his position entirely. That in itself would've been reason for the Specialist to stop her.

Yet, the White Fang Specialist had treated her request for a status report as any other, giving neither special attention nor explicit dismissal to the update. Not only that... but when she had mentioned her intent to visit this place, the man had merely shrugged at her not giving her statement another thought as he resumed whatever it was he had been doing. Of course, there was still the possibility that he planned to ambush her later after her discovery... but given the fact that her methods of transportation were not unknown to the higher ranks of the White Fang, she found that particular plan extremely unlikely.

So where did that leave her? She didn't think that one of White Fang's elites were blind enough to allow someone like her to snoop at such an important location, so... What did that mean? Was he uninvolved after all? Or...

The woman paused, her frown growing deeper as she stared at one of the ruined walls.

Or was this place simply not an important location after all?

She had arrived here because she had been investigating a possible source of the artifact that Rhinestone now carried in their grasp, and the ruined companies of Mountain Glenn was the most logical source of that artifact. But what if this place wasn't the source of that item? What if, instead of finding that device, the team here had found absolutely nothing of value, and the item that had been confiscated from Fort Stratum was completely unrelated? If that was the case, then... was this entire discovery one giant coincidence?

... It didn't matter. These pointless suppositions were getting her nowhere. Whatever the case might've been, the woman was, at the very least, committed to uncovering what had happened at these ruins. If they weren't related to events of Fort Stratum, then all the better... But if they were? She couldn't afford to discard that possibility.

With those thoughts in mind, the woman finally made her way out of the command post, her steps silent as she began her search of the rest of the complex. There was no doubt in her mind that this search would be an arduous process, but the sheer gravity of the events surrounding her investigation meant that she had to keep an eye out for anything remotely-

"Whoa! What do you think happened here?"

A voice echoed in the distance, and the woman's eyes immediately widened. In a single burst of movement, the Operative pressed herself against the hallway wall, focusing herself towards the source of the voice, as she slowly peered through one of the windows of the collapsed building. Her eyes narrowed as she peered through the mask, the sight of four mysterious figures stepping into view. The first thing she noticed of the group were their weapons, each item distinctive in both colour and frame, all made to deliberately draw attention to the wielders. Only one such group were so blatant in their intentions.

Huntsmen.

"Keep it down, Sienna. You'll draw the attention of every grimm within earshot if you shout like that." A male voice reprimanded the female one that had spoken out, even as a low growl echoed through the streets. "... See?"

"C'mon Owen, they're just grimm. We've dealt with worse!"

At those words, metal met bone, and the sound of the strike echoed outwards from their spot on the street, signalling the start of the huntsmen's conflict with the local monsters. Good. That meant that she could take her time with her investigation while those fools dealt with the grimm. Not only that, but the constant sound of battle served as an adequate indicator for her window of opportunity, as she could freely search the building without recourse as long as the annoying cacophony continued unabated.

With that in mind, the Operative began her search of the first room, keeping some attention on the group of huntsman as she entered the first room.

"Yeah, but every minute we waste here is a minute we're not searching the place." Gunfire, then another female voice rose up. Both inconsequential to the masked woman as her eyes fell on the Scroll of a corpse. A fortuitous place to start. "And if the Headmaster of Beacon thinks that this is the best place to search for information on that thing that attacked the fort, then I'd rather not waste any time."

That piqued the woman's interest. It had been quite a while since she had heard of that man, her eyes narrowing as his name rose up in her mind. The last thing she had wanted was to be reminded of Beacon, and yet, this mission had done just that for her.

However, that did bring to light one interesting fact: Ozpin was looking into this area as well, and for the same reason. Unless there was some other fort that she was unaware of... Either way, that meant that something was buried in Mountain Glenn. And that, in turn, meant that she had to keep an eye out for anything that looked suspicious.

"I still don't see what Mountain Glenn has to do with that crazy mummy thing."

...What?

The woman looked up from the Scroll, turning away from her fruitless investigation as she threw a glance towards the source of the voice. They were a fair distance away, and while the Operative had confidence in her senses... she hadn't misheard the huntress, had she? Before she could think on it further, an angry howl echoed out, only to be followed by a metallic ring as someone silenced a beast of grimm. After a few moments, another voice spoke up, providing both the previous speaker and the Operative with an answer.

"We already told you, is more likely that that 'crazy mummy thing' was just a person with a really weird semblance and really bad technology. You saw the stuff he did while we were captured, right?"

Captured?

Instantly, the Operative discarded the scroll, quickly leaving the room as she made her way to one of the broken windows. From her vantage point, she could now see the huntsman team that had attracted the grimm... The same huntsman team that Ozpin had sent to investigate because of some fort, and the same huntsman team that had apparently been captured at the fort. The woman's red eyes narrowed as she focused on the distant group, only to widen with alarm when she spotted their features.

Deer antlers, ferret tail, lion mane, bear ears. They were all faunus.

Suddenly, the woman was more interested in the group of huntsmen than the ruined White Fang base. After all, it might've just been random chance that Ozpin had picked out an all-faunus team to investigate Mountain Glenn, and the huntsman team might've been completely unrelated to what had transpired at the old White Fang Fort.

But if they were related, and this wasn't random chance, then she'll just have to see what they knew, wouldn't she?