Okay above all I HOPE to god I manage to get this thing out before I leave for Dragon*Con.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter and I'll see you next chapter.
[[]]
E. Gadd hummed in thought as he took in all the information Ruby had given him about the Boo.
"This is concerning." E. Gadd muttered, "In many ways."
"Concerning?" Ruby asked uncharacteristically upset, "Why didn't you seal up King Boo? If what that Boo said then that means King Boo is most likely free!"
E. Gadd sighed, "Yes, I am aware I should have perhaps sealed King Boo like I did the rest of the Boo's." E. Gadd admitted as Luigi re-entered the room with a cup of coffee that the professor had requested, "However, I wanted to research King Boo, to figure out how he got so powerful and why he and the Boo's were so different from the other ghosts."
Ruby's eye twitched, but unfortunately, she did have to agree on WHY King Boo was so different from the other Portrait Ghosts she encountered in the Mansion. "So… Did you figure anything out?"
E. Gadd nodded, "I did, and the answer ended up distracting me from sealing the King away." E. Gadd said as he pressed a few keys on the monitor, which brought up an image of the large red jewel on a gold rim that was King Boo's crown, "Do you remember this?"
Ruby nodded, "Yeah, that was King Boo's crown, that you didn't let me have." Ruby pointed out.
"It's a good thing too." Luigi said, "Turns out that-a crown was a large Blood Diamond. Which-a I learned is-a kinda disturbing."
Ruby raised an eyebrow, "What's a Blood Diamond anyway?" She asked.
E. Gadd pushed up his glasses, "For Humans and Faunus, not much more than a relatively harmless trinket, at least the average sized one." E. Gadd said, "But to a ghost? It's a power enhancer. For instance, do you remember your battle with Van Gore?"
Ruby nodded, "Yeah, though it wasn't much of a battle." Ruby said.
"Well, with a Blood Diamond the size of a cherry, Van Gore's power would increase to the level that he would only need to open a tube of paint, and whatever ghost he could imagine would spring forth from it." E. Gadd said grimly.
Ruby's eyes widened, "WHAT!?" Ruby cried out in shock, "Th-then how did I beat King Boo?" Ruby asked in horror, unable to figure out how she WON against King Boo if he had a Blood Diamond THAT big on his head.
"I think he was-a overconfident." Luigi pointed out, "He-a seemed very prideful."
"That might be a part of it." E. Gadd said, "Though I do think the Blood Diamonds power was drained from such constant use."
"Huh?" Ruby and Luigi asked in confusion.
"Ruby, you found two Blood Diamonds in the Mansion Trap." E. Gadd said, "The Crown, and the one on the Balcony where you fought Boolossus, according to Madame Clairvoya, they didn't have nearly as much power as gems that size should."
"They didn't?" Ruby asked, confused.
"What happened?" Luigi asked genuinely curious.
"Well, for the one at the Balcony…" E. Gadd said, "I suspect the Mansion recognised you as a threat, and pulled power from the gem to manifest Bogmire, and then Boolossus created that pocket dimension."
Ruby and Luigi nodded at that, creating a pocket dimension, as well as an entity that could create a pocket dimension, was sure to consume a LOT of power.
"As for the King's crown, I suspect it's drain was more over time." E. Gadd said, "No doubt that crown was what caused him and the Fifty Knight, and most likely this 'Inner Circle' to manifest as Boo's after their passing. Then there was his personal Grimm, he must have had somewhere to store it as there were never any reports of that thing being sighted, plus keeping it alive after Summer beheaded it, as well as the pocket dimension he fought you in…"
"He must not have realized how much power he was using." Ruby muttered, currently shocked that the only reason she was alive was because King Boo's pride got in the way and that he wanted her defeat to be a dramatic spectacle with his Grimm and the Pocket Dimension.
Luigi then pulled out the letter he had found and handed it to Ruby, "Whoever this-a Kuro person is, they-a wanted a Blood Diamond for something." Luigi said.
Ruby raised an eyebrow as she opened the letter, which was old, seemed to have been read a lot, and some of the ink had definitely faded.
'Dear Lady Wi****-
Oh for De*th's sake I'm not writing your full f***** **tle every time I want to send you a letter. Just deal with **e informality!
Nonetheless, I'm thankful you agr**d to create the mask to my spec*****ions. I know Blood Dia*onds are taboo, despite the concerning amount found in the **** *****s.
We both know upon my death I'm likely to b*****e a ghost, like all residents of the **lley, this gem is only part of my overall plan.
The Gate ********************, ****** *********** end it all.
Nonetheless, thank you, for your help, and for being such a ***d friend.
Yours truly, Kuro *********a.
"This… Kinda brings up a lot of questions." Ruby said after reading the letter, "But, why did it say a 'concerning amount' of Blood Diamonds are found… Probably here?"
"Because of how they are made." E. Gadd said as he gently took the letter and folded it up, "Two things are needed to make a Blood Diamond. A paranormal presence-"
"Plenty of that here." Luigi added, making Ruby nod.
"And a bloodbath." E. Gadd said, "A lot of people dying in an unnatural fashion in a very short time."
Ruby gulped, "Like… A Grimm attack?" Ruby asked unsettled.
"That would be the most likely." E. Gadd muttered, "That being said, there was supposedly an unusual experiment conducted by a group of occultists to see if Grimm Blood could be used as an alternative."
"Did anything come of it?" Ruby asked, somewhat curious.
"As far as-a we know?" Luigi stated, "Well one of-a the seems to have gotten loose."
Ruby shuddered at that, in all honesty, that would have been the most likely outcome of the event.
Then a ding came from E. Gadd's computer, causing everyone to jump.
"We can put aside the somber mood for now." E. Gadd said spinning to his computer, "My Parascope has likely detected our Dark Moon Piece."
Ruby perked up and jumped out of her seat, "Great, where is it?" She asked, glad to change the subject.
"The Basement." E. Gadd, causing Ruby's mood to drop once again.
"Why?" Ruby cried as she pulled out the TS to find a route to the Basement, "Um… Where are the stairs to the Basement?"
"There aren't any stairs." Luigi said as he pulled a key from his pocket, "There's only an elevator, which-a I locked."
Ruby took the key and raised an eyebrow, "Why did you lock the elevator?" Ruby asked.
Luigi looked away and started poking his fingers together, "I was-a trying to unlock it, thinking it was-a locked, then I saw a ghost." Luigi admitted.
Ruby nodded, she probably would have done the same, "Alright, let's go." Ruby said as E. Gadd aimed the Pixelator at her.
[]
Ruby landed painfully in front of the elevator, as per usual when it comes to the Pixelator.
"Ow…" Ruby groaned as she stood up and looked at the elevator and pulled out the key Luigi gave her. "Let's do this." Ruby said to herself as she unlocked the cage to the elevator and stepped inside, then pressed the button label 'B'.
Stepping back, Ruby waited patiently as the elevator shuddered and then began to evenly go down.
"Shouldn't be too long." Ruby muttered, right before the elevator suddenly stopped, "Okay that was fast." Ruby admitted as she waited for the door to open.
After a moment however Ruby reached out and pressed the emergency open button.
Instead the elevator began to fall.
"Waah!" Ruby cried out as she stumbled with the elevator falling, and in less than a minute the elevator crashed, and Ruby was thrown out of the elevator and into the basement.
A moment after Ruby's face planted outside of the elevator, she heard a ding come from the elevator.
"Oof." Ruby muttered as she stood up and looked at the ruined elevator, thankfully the rope was still there so she could climb out if she needed to.
Looking to the short steps, Ruby could see a hall that led to a much larger and cruder room.
Seeing as it was her only way forward, Ruby stepped forward, and entered the crude room. Three of the walls seemed to be made of cobblestone, but one was made of nothing but webs rock held together by those webs, pieces of pottery and a few suits of armor, one of which held a lit torch, another holding a halberd.
"Okay so where-" Ruby started before something landed in front of her, causing her to jump back with a small yelp of fright.
[Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon OST: Confront the Source Phase 2]
What landed in front of her she could divine in two halves.
First was the lower half, a large blue and red spider with eight glowing eyes, the spider itself was as large as an Ursa and was staring her down with malice.
But seemingly attached above the spider's eyes was what could be described as a human upper body made out of metal plates held together, and held to the spider, by a series of webs.
The armor reached out toward its side and grabbed the halberd from one of the suits of armor, ripping it from the armor, and scattering its pieces across the room, a pair of eyes glowing through the visor.
"In…Tru…Der…" A woman's voice rasped from within the armor, rage in her voice, "You… Broke into MY home, and RUINED my sweet babies little webs!"
"Wha-" Ruby started, only to be cut off as the woman spun the halberd over her head.
"I'll kill you!" The woman's voice shouted, "Intruder! Homewrecker!" She shouted before swinging the halberd downward at Ruby.
Dodging to the side, Ruby aimed the Strobulb at the spider and flashed it, just as a test to see what would happen.
The spider cried out as it curled up and covered its eyes, jerking the armor away from Ruby, who let out a grunt as she was jerked to the side.
With this Ruby understood that at the very least, she could limit the movement of the two, and that they were not exactly the same entity.
Speeding past the spider while it was stunned, Ruby ran next to the torch wielding armor, before backing off as it raised its arm and swung down at her.
Still, it did result in a Fire Element Ghost getting shaken out of the flame, which then began to hover around Ruby, "Thanks." Ruby said, feeling comforted by the small ghost.
Not too surprisingly, the large spider did keep its distance from the flame wielding armor, much to the annoyance of the armor. This certainly proved to Ruby she was dealing with two different things sharing their bodies.
Ruby glanced at the spider web that covered part of the wall made of loose rocks and used her opening to contemplate what she could do.
She could just throw fire at the woman and spider until she hit the webs, but that could take time she didn't really have, plus the woman could just get frustrated and force her 'mount' forward.
Or she could throw fire at the webs holding up the rocks. Sure there was always the risk of a collapse, but between the Gloomy Manor and the Mansion Trap not getting burned to blown up, she trusted the building's spiritual power to hold the place together. But if she was lucky the spider would try to save it's home.
"Let's see how you deal with this!" Ruby shouted, turning and throwing the Fire Elemental at the wall.
"No!" The woman shouted as, despite Ruby's aim being a bit off and only lighting up a single thread, that thread began to burn like a fuse.
The conjoined entity rushed toward the web, hopping up onto it as the spider tried to stab at the fuse, while the woman had tossed aside her halberd and tried to catch the fire with her gauntlets.
Both of them had failed however and the fuse reached the center of the web and caught the whole thing ablaze.
The stone wall collapsed, revealing the room to be much longer that it had at first appeared. The spider tumblerd from the crumbling wall, and a fairly large stone smacked it between its eyes to send it sprawling across the ground.
The Spider curled up as it fell to the ground, and the armored woman split from the spider, revealing a deep blue ghost tail.
'She's a ghost? Some kind of possessor type?' Ruby thought as she looked at the woman, who began to float up, her armor falling apart as she did so to reveal her true form.
She had a dark blue body and was wearing a deep violet, almost black dress that had a red hourglass shape on the front, the widest parts of said hourglass being on her chest and hips, her fingers were almost claw-like, her hair was dark red, and she actually had eight green glowing eyes as well.
"Why do you hate spiders so much!" The Faunus Ghost shouted as she raised her arms and then shot them to the side.
[Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon OST: Confront the Source Phase 3]
What few webs remained in the room floated toward her, then shot out across the room latching onto several things. She then pulled on all the webs, bringing everything to her which resulted in a new set of armor being constructed, her arms were exposed now, but her face was covered by a blindfold of webs, which Ruby doubted would hinder her vision and now she was armed with a battle axe.
Ruby glanced over next to her to see the halberd she previously used was still there, thinking quickly, Ruby stowed her flashlight and dove to the halberd, grabbing it and rolling onto her back, raising the weapon just in time to block a swing of the axe.
"You'll pay for this!" The woman shouted, "Your blood will nourish my babies for years!"
Ruby didn't respond, and had to remind herself not to take it personally as the woman was likely suffering from the effects of the Dark Moon shards corruption. Instead she burst into a cloud of petals and slipped below the ghost, causing her to stumble forward.
Ruby then swung the halberd down from behind the woman, the small axe on the polearm catching her armor, and with a pull, Ruby ripped the cuirass off the ghost.
The ghost woman immediately dashed to the other side of the room, getting space from Ruby and shot out another string of webs, grabbing a rock that had once been a wall and hurled it at Ruby, who jumped out of the way.
Ruby yelped as she landed in front of the torch bearing armor again and it swung at her once more, missing once again, but it gave Ruby an idea.
Grabbing some old cloth that was scattered around the room, Ruby speared a ball of the cloth on the tip of her halberd and lit the cloth ablaze.
"What are you doing?" The ghost demanded, only for Ruby to speed forward in a blur of petals and stab at the ghost's face.
Sure the attack wouldn't harm the ghost, but it would burn her blindfold.
"Ah!" The Ghost cried out as the webs burned away to reveal her eyes, just as Ruby dropped her halberd and readied the Strobulb.
A quick flash blinded the ghost, and it was soon caught in the vacuum of the Poltergust.
"No! No no no!" The Ghost cried out as she tried to escape, only for Ruby to unleash a charged pull with Poltergust and sucked the faunus ghost away.
[OST End]
"Phew." Ruby said as she dropped to the ground with a sigh of relief, "I don't know if I should be glad the Dark Moon shard drove her mad or if she didn't have any combat experience."
The ghost did have some impressive tricks, but she was mostly flailing wildly, when she wasn't stuck to her spider.
Ruby then felt something tapping on her shoulder, causing her to look behind her and see the large spider was tapping her shoulder with its pedipalps.
"Whoa!" Ruby shouted jumping up and away from the spider, which she had noticed had shrunk down to half its size. It was still a massive spider though.
Ruby also noticed its eyes weren't glowing anymore.
The spider made a motion with its pedipalps to follow it, surprising Ruby, "Are… Do you understand me?" Ruby asked.
The spider halted its movements to the end of the hall, before moving to a nearer wall and began making a series of webs, which caught Ruby by surprise as the webs made words.
Mama Widow taught Spider Queen people words.
"Whoa…" Ruby said, then her face fell a little, "I'm… Sorry about what I had to do though."
The Spider Queen made new words.
Spider Queen not mad. Mama Widow find shiny rock, Mama Widow start being angry.
Ruby blinked, "Can I… Have the shiny rock? So a friend can make it not hurt anyone else." Ruby asked.
The Spider Queen began its way to the back wall once again, and revealed a cubby hole in the wall.
Inside that cubby hole was a glowing, dark crystal, the Dark Moon shard. And a large painting of a familiar figure, a still life image.
"Blake?" Ruby asked as she pulled the painting out of the hole, ignoring the shard.
Ruby observed the painting closely, as if waiting for it to move. Instead of Blake herself moving however, Ruby noticed something rather disturbing, and pressed her ear against the painting near Blake's mouth.
She could hear Blake breathing within the painting.
"Oh Brothers…" Ruby gasped as she set the painting down carefully and backed away from Blake's portrait prison, "How did… Hang on, I'll save you."
With that Ruby pulled out her flashlight and turned on the Dark Light Device and aimed it at Blake.
The sepia toned background began to swirl in a multitude of colors as Blake's image regained color and was being forced out of the painting.
In a flash of light, Blake fell out of the painting, fully restored.
"Blake!" Ruby cried out as she caught her friend, "Blake are you okay!?"
"Ruby?" Blake whispered, looking at her team leader, "What happened? Why am I… Where am I?"
"You'll be fine Blake." Ruby said as the Spider Queen approached her with the Dark Moon shard in her pedipalps, which Ruby silently took and stuffed her pockets, "I'll explain everything once we're safe. What can you remember?"
Blake stood up slowly, much to both hers and Ruby's surprise, "I was… In Vale." Blake admitted, "Hiding, waiting for the docks to open back up so I could head back to Menagerie, rekindle things with my parents hopefully. Then I suddenly felt a massive weight being slammed against the entire back of my body and then… I couldn't feel anything, I could barely see anything, barely hear anything."
"You were trapped in another painting." Ruby explained.
Blake shivered, "It was so much worse this time." Blake said, then looked at Ruby, "Ruby… About what happened-"
Blake was interrupted when Ruby put a hand on Blake's mouth, "You can apologize when we're all together… Or at least when we find Yang." Ruby said, "For now, we need to leave."
Blake nodded, and looked around, "How?" She asked.
Ruby opened her mouth to answer, only for the Spider Queen to start pushing the two- And causing Blake to yelp in surprise at the massive spider she only now just noticed.
"I guess the Spider Queen will lead us out." Ruby said as the Spider Queen pushed them to the elevator, which was surrounded by a large colony of spiders, which had seemed to make a pair of seats out of webs for the two.
"Are you sure it's safe?" Blake asked, looking at the webs.
"Well…" Ruby said, "With all the ghosts gone, the Spider Queen seems friendly enough now." Ruby said, "I think we should be safe."
Blake could only nod as she sat down in the seat, Ruby joining her soon after.
With a sudden jolt, the web seats began moving up the elevator shaft, slowly but surely, "By the way Blake, I actually learned that my ancestors lived here at one time." Ruby said happy to make small talk.
"Really?" Blake asked, not really knowing where 'here' was, but figured she'd learn soon enough, "Well, what's their name?"
"Shinku Muramasa." Ruby said happily.
Blake raised an eyebrow, "Shinku Muramasa… Where have I heard that name before?" Blake muttered.
[[]]
Professor E. Gadd's Ghost Dossiers.
Subject: Widow Noire
Mistress of the Gloomy Manor, Lady Widow Arachne Noire III was the last known member of the Noire family that held ownership of the Gloomy Manor for a few generations.
Despite being a Faunus, Lady Noire was remarkably well treated by the Evershade community, however she never took a lover as her fascination with arachnids took up most of her interest.
Having never awoken her Aura, Widow's power was a result of Evershade Valley's effect on those born there. As such she was born with the ability to understand spiders, fittingly enough, and thus she ended up raising a colony of spiders that are rather ghost friendly, and are surprisingly friendly to humans.
Upon her death her prowess over spiders enhanced, allowing her to manipulate spiders and their webs, the former of which she almost never does except to save them, she also has the ability to enhance a spider into a Spider Queen, however it seems only 1 Queen can exist at a time and she raises the spider herself when she appoints a new queen.
Her Spider Queen's have advanced intelligence, capable of understanding human speech and can write using their webs, they are also larger than even Menageries largest non-Grimm spiders.
What's more she possesses a pseudo-possession type ability allowing her to merge with her Spider Queen, further enhancing its size, and taking direct control over the spider, however the Spider's instincts can still overpower her control.
Note: During the Shattered Dark Moon incident, the only time she ever performed this technique, she seemed to also share a mentality with her spider, however we are unsure as to whether it was due to her mental state being influenced by the Corrupted Dark Moon shard or if it is a consistent effect. Lady Widow refuses to put her Spider Queen through that.
Threat Level: Moderate as she lacks any form of training, but majority of the Spider in Evershade will protect her, including the Spider Queen.