Chapter-34
Sigurd, Maria, Ozpin
"What are you doing here, Ms. Schnee?" The girl asked as Weiss' eyes widened.
"Uh, do you know her, Weiss?" Ruby asked as Weiss shook her head. "I have never seen this girl before in my entire life."
"Oh! I work under your sister!" Penny answered as Weiss' eyebrows shot up.
"You know Winter?" She asked as Penny nodded. "Of course, it's a pleasure to meet her sister finally! I'm Penny Polendina!" She spoke with a bright smile.
"Hi, Penny. I'm Ruby." Ruby greeted. "So, you're here with Weiss' sister?"
"Not only that, but I'm participating in the tournament!" Penny spoke.
"The tournament? Forgive me, but you don't really look the part." Weiss spoke skeptically as Ruby elbowed her.
Penny didn't seem to mind the comment and just smiled. "Don't worry. I am Combat ready!" She spoke with a salute.
"But if you don't mind, I do think a skirt doesn't seem like a combat ready outfit." Penny spoke as Weiss' cheeks flushed.
"It's a combat skirt!" She protested. "And you're wearing one too!"
Penny looked down at her skirt. "So I do."
"She's a bit weird…" Ruby whispered.
"But I wish you the best for the tournament!" Penny spoke.
"I see. Then, good luck, friend." Ruby spoke as Penny's eyes widened.
Uh…Did I say something? Ruby thought before recoiling as Penny was suddenly in her face.
"What did you call me?" Penny asked as Weiss looked between her and Ruby in confusion.
"...Um…sorry, I shouldn't have called you weird…"
"No, no, no. After that. You called me 'friend'...Am I your friend?" Penny asked as Ruby raised her eyebrows.
She took my wish a bit too literally. Ruby thought as she noticed Weiss shaking her head before making a gesture with her hand.
Oh, Weiss wants me to humor her. Ruby thought before smiling. She felt a sense of familiarity as she talked with Penny, although she couldn't understand why.
"Yes." She spoke before frowning as Weiss facepalmed.
"Really? Yay! Now we can paint our nails and talk to cute boys!" Penny spoke. "We're going to be the bestest of friends!"
Ruby's smile fell as Weiss came up. "Thank you, but we really need to go." She spoke walking off with Ruby as Penny waved goodbye.
But Ruby's smile disappeared as she remembered a distant memory.
"You're the bestest friend ever!"
Now Ruby realized why Penny seemed so familiar.
The last person to ever ask to be my friend was…
"Tulip." She spoke in a soft voice as she looked back at Penny.
"Ruby?" Weiss asked. "Are you listening?"
Ruby jolted and looked at her. "No…what were you saying?"
"I was…nevermind. Let's go to our dorm." Weiss spoke.
Never thought I'd meet someone like you again, Tulip.
"Lancer…you are a professor of this academy. What were you thinking, going about and challenging representatives from other academies?!" Glynda snapped as Cú rolled his eyes. "Hey. I saw an opportunity, so I took it."
"Trashing up the courtyard in the process." Sigurd spoke with a sigh.
"What if one of the students got hurt?" Ironwood spoke with a glare.
"Hey! Don't compare me with an amateur moron who has the attention span of a spoon! I was keeping an eye out in case one of the students got into danger."
"I can vouch for that." The green-haired servant spoke as all the Atlesian representatives stared at him.
"You…keep your mouth shut. Do you realize what image you're giving the Atlesian military with your behaviour?"
"Do you realize how little I care about it, Jimmy?" Rider shot back.
"Ho, first name basis already? How long have you known these guys, tin man?" Qrow spoke up.
"A few months." The armored servant spoke.
That sounds about the same time I met Ozpin. Sigurd thought.
"At any rate, this is James Ironwood." Ozpin spoke. "James, they are Saber, Lancer, Tristan and Ruler."
The armored man, the girl and the green-haired servant raised their eyebrows.
"A Pleasure to meet you." Sigurd replied. Tristan and Shirou made their greetings.
Ironwood nodded. "Hm, Saber, Lancer…" He spoke before looking at the Atlesian servants. "Doesn't that sound a bit similar to your titles?" He asked.
"Yes, you said they were First Rider, Second Rider and Assassin, no?" Ozpin spoke.
"Yes."
"I am First Rider." The Armored man spoke.
"Second Rider." The green-haired man spoke.
"Assassin." The girl spoke softly.
Silence then fell in the office.
"Um…are we going to say something or what?" Lancer asked.
"We're waiting for two more people to arrive." Ozpin spoke. "After that, I'm afraid only me, Ironwood, the other two people, Qrow and Glynda can stay.."
Sigurd narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
He'd been Ozpin for a few months now, patiently waiting for Ozpin to open up, but now, he was starting to slowly lose that patience. He hadn't even accomplished the first task of his objective of finding the infinite man.
During these next few days, I need to start looking. Sigurd thought. He probably could not eavesdrop on this conversation right now, but he will have to get one of his fellow servants to take a look in Ozpin's office and see what he is hiding.
Soon, the elevator doors opened and came in Winter Schnee and…an old woman in a navy-blue tunic draped in a dark blue cloak with a cane adorned with an ornamental skull. The oddest part were her eyes, where there was a complicated mechanism whose shutters twitch to reveal glowing circles.
Are those…mechanical eyes? Sigurd thought in surprise.
"Hello, Maria." Ozpin spoke as the woman grinned. "Hey there, Ozzie! I see you've grown your hair." She spoke as Ozpin snorted in amusement.
"Good to see you again, Maria." Qrow spoke.
"Auntie Maria, kid." Maria replied. "Don't think you can escape me after your embarrassed breakdown when I caught you flirting with Summer."
Qrow jolted. "I'm…in my 40s, Maria. I don't think I'm a 'kid' anymore."
"Doesn't matter. Even if you're an old man by huntsman standards, you'll remain that smooth-talking kid who who wore a skirt on the first day of school!"
Sigurd looked at Qrow who chuckled nervously.
"Maria, there are other people here. Please do not embarrass Qrow." Ironwood spoke with a neutral expression as Maria rounded on him. "Oh don't you go all 'white knight' over here, Jimmy! We all know that you're enjoying this scene the most!"
Ironwood turned away from Maria and faced the servants. "Please meet Maria Calavera, the 'Grimm Reaper'. She was Thane's apprentice and one of the best huntresses of her time."
"Is that it? Jimmy, I've got a lot more titles, you know!" Maria spoke but was ignored by Ironwood.
"Thane's apprentice? Like Mr. Port?" Tristan asked.
"Yep! Me, Portie and Thane's kid Vidar were his apprentices. Of course, me and Portie were Beacon students, but Thane would drop over to pick us up from time to time. Speaking of which, are you Tristan, the knight from Cysgod?"
"Indeed."
"How were things over there?"
"Very bad." Tristan replied.
"Which is our topic of discussion. Now, if you all may please leave." Ozpin spoke as the servants went out.
"Well, I'll go to the combat arena! I want to see how Beacon's combat happens!" Second Rider spoke before walking off.
"Hey, wait for me! We'll settle our battle there!" Lancer spoke as Second Rider grinned. "Oh right! We didn't get to do that!" He spoke as the two servants walked off.
"I…wish to talk to you, Assassin." Tristan spoke as Assassin looked at him. "Yes?"
"Not here. In a more secluded spot." Tristan spoke as Assassin nodded. "Alright then, lead the way." They spoke walking off.
"Saber, do you wish to discuss matters?" First Rider asked as Sigurd nodded. "Yes, but I need to talk to Ruler first." He spoke as First Rider nodded.
"I see. I will be at the library." He spoke before walking off.
"What is it, Saber?" Shirou asked as Sigurd turned to him. "I believe you were going to sneak into Ozpin's office?"
"Hm, how did you know?"
"Your eyes were scanning around the room. Plus, despite your friendly smile, I can tell you're the least trusting of Ozpin out of all of us."
Shirou chuckled. "They certainly don't exaggerate your wisdom, dragon-slayer. Very well, what do you need me to get for you?"
"Nothing. We both want the same thing."
"Very well. But I want you to take a look at the enchantments in Ozpin's office."
Sigurd reinforced his eyesight as hundreds of runes in a foreign language lit up in green all over the door.
"Hm, so Ozpin knows runic magecraft." Sigurd mused. "That too, in a world where magecraft and magic are considered non-existent and fantastical." He spoke.
"Well, Ozpin has several runes that respond to any sort of movement. From the way these runes are inscribed, I'd hazard a guess they send a warning to Ozpin of there being someone in his office." Sigurd spoke before pressing his hand against the door and jolting as he plucked a rune off the door.
The rune was shaped like a simple wheel. It didn't seem to be packed with as much mana as a primordial rune.
"I will go study this sample. Give me a few days to figure out how it works and I'll make something to counter it." Sigurd spoke. "After that, we'll have to set the time to sneak in." He spoke before nodding and walking off towards the library.
"How are you adjusting, Winter?" Ozpin asked as Winter fidgeted. "I must admit…Even if it has been months since General Ironwood informed me of the situation, it is still difficult to full digest. To think that all our fairytales which many of us dismissed as nonsense held the final piece to the puzzle of our knowledge of our planet."
Ozpin smiled. "At least there's some progress." He spoke. The recruitment of Winter Schnee was certainly a beneficial outcome. He was well aware of the power and resources Sophia brought to his circle through her status as a member of the Mantlese Aristocracy that allowed him to reestablish a firm grip over all the continents. Even if Winter was not going to inherit the corporate empire Sophia left behind as her legacy, she still was a promising candidate to rise up through the ranks of the Atlesian army.
Both he and Maria had admitted that his operatives were getting old. Right now, they could still perform their duties well, but with younger members already appearing in Salem's circle, Ozpin knew it was only time before their youthful energy eventually trumped the experience of his circle members. Winter was the first step in that direction, restarting a cycle that had begun when Ozpin met a 16-year-old Summer Rose during the Faunus revolution.
And in this future roster, Ozpin knew Summer's child Ruby would rise up as a leading figure.
"Now, you wish to know the full situation?" Ozpin asked, looking at Maria.
"Yeah, I heard about the Wyvern." Maria spoke. "I knew Thane wasn't telling us something, but this…"
"Leaving that aside, currently we still have a few more things to accomplish." Ozpin spoke. "First, the white fang as well as Salem's agents have escaped to the mountains in the northern direction. Our current priority is finding them and putting them down before they get a chance to retaliate. Second, excavating the Wyvern's corpse from Mount Glenn and rigging it with enough explosives to destroy its body. While the neutrality clause of the Vytal treaty is in effect in this period, we have to accomplish at least the first objective."
"Understood, I'll begin making plans for an operation to hunt for the acolytes." James spoke.
"Moving on, let us talk about…them." Ozpin spoke as the others frowned. "James, how did you meet those three?"
"First Rider and Second Rider were fighting Grimm together, while Assassin was mistaken for a prostitute in Mantle and officers attempted to find out which brothel she came from. What…about you?"
"Saber was the one responsible for preventing the acolyte named Cinder Fall from fully stealing Autumn's powers. Qrow brought him to Beacon. Saber met Lancer on a mission to one of the towns in the southern agricultural hinterland. Tristan…you can tell how we came into contact with him from his reputation as the 'Knight of Cysgod'. Ruler saved the lives of some students at the Nepotain shootout. Now, what is your impression working with them so far."
"They are definitely an odd bunch. First and Second Rider know each other. Apparently they both were allies in a war. Yet, they are so different. Not to mention their equipment. Both their armors are extremely durable, First Rider's more so, and made with metals that are not found anywhere on Remnant. Then there's their combat ability. While First Rider admits he is more of a strategic thinker and relies more on his armor's offensive capabilities to fight, Second Rider is a force of nature when it comes to combat. Lancer is perhaps the first opponent I've seen who's given Second Rider a difficult fight. Assassin isn't as powerful or possessing any tremendously advanced armaments like the two Riders, she utilizes poison as a method of assassination."
Ozpin frowned. Armor that is near indestructible and forged with metals unknown to Remnant? He could not think of any such civilization ever having such things. The kingdoms in the Age of Mystery were extremely advanced in magical theory, but technology? That was something much more primitive than what is there at the present.
"There are odd things about my group as well. Saber can use runes, for example."
"Runes? You mean…" Maria looked at the floor.
"Not the ones I use. His runes are completely different. For example, this one." Ozpin spoke stretching out his hand as a rune materialized. Winter looked at the rune in curiosity
"This is an Ehwaz rune, one of Saber's runes. It works in a similar manner to the Ekwos Rune." Ozpin spoke, stretching out his other hand as a separate rune formed. "Lancer has also displayed the ability to cast runes, while Ruler uses a different type of magic. Tristan doesn't use magic, but his bow doesn't shoot physical arrows, more like concentrated vacuum projectiles to function as arrows."
"And you haven't questioned them on these things?" James asked as Ozpin shook his head. "I do not believe in wringing the answer out of them like Salem does. But, I admit that that strategy is getting nowhere, so I'm testing out an old trick. It requires a lot of mana, but I will have all my answers. I shall do it today after the opening ceremony of the Vytal tournament."
Ozpin then got up from his chair. "We shall discuss more tomorrow. Now I believe you all should wrap up a few things before the opening ceremony begins."
After the meeting, Maria went straight for the Beacon dorms. She deeply respected Ozpin, despite his manipulative tendencies, and had always had a close friendship with him back when he was a little orphan that Thane brought to Beacon.
Maria fondly remembered most of her batch treating Ozpin like their little brother and showing him around.
As far as she knew, Beacon was not just Ozpin's school. It was his home. But despite all that friendship, Maria and Ozpin both agreed she was too old for such an active role in his circle, staying only to provide her own insight gained from years of working within Ozma's order. Hence, meetings now bored her.
Now, the exciting part came. Meeting someone very, very, precious to her.
Some of the students gave her odd looks, some offered to help, which Maria of course rejected. She didn't want to bother these youngsters when she knew the dorms like the back of her hand.
She walked through the first year dorm rooms before stopping at her destination.
A door with a plaque with 'RWBY' written on it stood in front of her.
"You two missed that epic fight! They were all just 'whoosh' and 'yah'!" Ruby's voice came in from within followed by Yang's laughter as well as the soft chuckles of another girl.
Maria smiled and knocked on the door.
The door flew open to reveal Ruby.
"Ye…" Ruby began to speak before gasping in shock.
"GRANDMA!" She screamed attempting to hug her but Maria shifted to the side as Ruby flopped to the ground beside her.
"Ruby, Don't think you'll ever get me with a hug. Your mom tried and failed and so will you!" She spoke. Ruby didn't pay attention to the comment and continued to grin at her.
"It's been so long! Iwantedtotellyouallthethingsthat'shappenedat…" Life's rear end touched Ruby's lips as Maria laughed.
"Slow down, you troublesome child…My gods, this brings me back to whenever your parents would leave me to babysit you after you had a jar of cookies." Maria spoke.
"Is that Grandma?" Yang's voice came in as Maria looked at her other godchild. "Hey, firecracker."
"Its been so long, grandma!" Yang spoke walking up as Ruby went to open her mouth to launch into a barrage of sentences, Yang pulled her by her hood and pulled it over her face.
"Ruby, relax." Yang spoke.
"Mhm, mhm!" Ruby's voice came as she pulled her hood back.
Maria then noticed two other girls come up. One with white hair and a cat faunus with black hair.
Oh, is that Winter's little sister? And the other girl…she looks a lot like Ghira. Maria thought with a smile.
"Ruby, could you introduce our guest?" The Ghira look-alike spoke before Mini Winter gasped.
"Is that one of the Grimm Reaper's weapons?!" She exclaimed pointing at Life.
Someone knows their huntsmen history. Maria thought with a smirk as Ruby turned to the other girls.
"Weiss, Blake. Meet Grandma Maria."
"...The Grimm Reaper." Maria spoke before slapping Ruby's leg. "I thought I told you to say that too!"
"Eep! Sorry!"
Weiss' mouth fell open. "The Grimm Reaper…as in the same Grimm Reaper with the second highest kill count of grimm in huntsmen history after The Hunter himself?!"
"One and the same. Although, as you can see…time's caught up with me." Maria spoke.
"Grandma, this is my bestie Weiss, and that is Blake!" Ruby spoke.
Ah. Blake. I do remember Ghira having a kid named Blake. But didn't Blake run away from Ghira's home 5 years ago? Maria thought.
"Come on in!" Ruby spoke as Maria entered the room. From the look she could tell who occupied what.
There were bunk beds put up with the top one in the right containing posters of rock bands, along with a pair of sunglasses meaning Yang's. The top in the left was tied to the ceiling with ropes along with a white sheet draped like a net, indicating Ruby and her paranoia towards mosquitoes. The bottom one on the left was very, very prim and proper, meaning Weiss' and the last one could be deduced as Blake's.
"Can I sit here?" Maria asked Weiss who nodded.
"Oh no! There's no problem at all!" She spoke as Maria felt the urge to roll her eyes, even if her eyes were prosthetic.
Not even 5 seconds in and she's trying to kiss my ass. I guess this is payback for me trying to do the same to her great grandma when Thane took me to the Schnee manor for the first time. Maria thought with a grin. Thane had taken her in, introduced her to Sophia, before making a half-baked excuse and running off, leaving Sophia to babysit her, a young child.
Maria was oblivious at that time and just clung onto Sophia to gush over her, but now she could tell Thane had done that deliberately all so that he could derive pleasure of torturing Sophia with the task of babysitting. Sophia's stormy expression as she contemplated how she was going to murder Thane when he he showed his face again never got old.
Maria sat down while the four girls sat opposite of her.
"So…are you enjoying Beacon?" Maria asked as Ruby nodded before launching into a story of her time. Maria listened to the entire story with interest.
By the time Ruby was done, Maria noticed a lot of time had passed by.
"Wow, that is…quite the story." Maria spoke impressed. "Am I looking at the rise of the new Team STRQ?"
Ruby blushed. "Oh! They're not that crazy!" She protested.
"Not crazy? You're selling yourself short." Maria spoke with a chuckle. "But in all honesty, I'm really happy for the both of you. I can tell things are going fantastic for you. Just keep up the good work, and I see a bright future ahead of you." She spoke. "Now, its time for me to go."
"What?! Already?!"
"The opening ceremony's going to start soon." Maria pointed out as Ruby looked at her teammates.
"Good luck for the tournament." Maria spoke walking out before she could hear the sounds of chaos unfolding in Team RWBY's room.
"Its as if Summer lives within her…" Maria spoke before sighing. With what Thane had told her of what happens to silver-eyed warriors after they die, Summer was probably actually living within her.
Maria walked out of the dorms and headed towards the bullheads that would take them upto the Amity arena.
"Is that you, Maria?" A familiar voice spoke as Maria stopped before a large grin split her face.
"Portie!" She exclaimed turning around as her best friend, teammate and fellow co-student of Thane stood with a warm smile.
"How are you, Mary?" Port spoke leaning down to hug her. Maria gagged as Port's arms wrapped around her small frame.
"I'm…fine…Lemme go…" Maria grunted as Port let go.
"Gods, Portie, a little tighter, and you would have sent me to an early grave." Maria spoke coughing as Port chuckled.
"Sorry, I got a bit too excited seeing you again, Mary." He spoke. "Are the eyes fine?"
"Yep. Got them checked by Polendina a couple of weeks before I came here. They're in top condition."
"That's good to hear. Come on, let's go together." Port spoke as he joined her in heading towards the bullheads.
"So, what was this about Cysgod I hear? I didn't think that town would ever get into trouble ever since you and I took down the nest of shadows in its forest."
"While screaming like goats." Port added as Maria chuckled.
"Thank our dear teacher for that. But still, how the heck did things go to shit again?"
"A group of humans leading a faction of 'shadow servants' were looking for something belonging to Thane?"
"The pages from his diary?" Maria asked.
"Yes. Did Ozpin tell you?"
Maria nodded.
"Hm, I always wondered about Thane's little side trip to Mount Glenn. I guess we now have the answer."
"You found it. I was still reeling from that fucking 100 pushup exercise to fully register what he was saying at that time."
"You called our teacher a 'motherfucker'..."
"That was an accident! How was I supposed to know Thane of all people would be there at the door?!"
"I always told you not to use such foul language frequently."
Maria scoffed. "Look at us. We're supposed to be these veteran huntsmen held up on pedestals by the juniors. And we're bickering like kids!"
"My students already believe me to be an idiot."
Maria looked at him. "Port, I heard from Ruby that you narrated the story of you somehow capturing a Beowolf back in your hometown while trying to help transport some Cabbages for the purpose of telling the simple fact that grimm can be captured. If I were in your students' shoes, I would also write you off as an idiot."
Port grinned. "So, I'm otherwise not an idiot?"
"No, you still are. I had to deal with you in your teenage years, when you were ten times worse than what you are now."
Port and Maria continued to argue to the bullhead. Many of the other passengers stared in surprise as the two pupils of Thane engaged in a never-ending argument, seamlessly switching from one topic to the other.
The two then landed at Amity arena, where they headed to the stage which had been set up as a platform for the performances of the opening ceremony.
"I still don't get why we're supposed to stand here." Maria spoke. "Its always the headmasters who spout out the welcoming speech. I don't have to do anything." She grumbled.
"It always feels nice to have a close relative of Thane or Sophia at this." Ozpin spoke walking up. "You two were his pupils, as for the Schnee head…"
Maria growled. Jacques Schnee was a snake who'd played on poor, sweet Nick's guilt to take Sophia's wealth and legacy all for himself. She could understand Nick's desperation for a successor after discovering that Willow simply lacked the capability to manage the SDC, but she wished he'd not fallen for Jacques' trap so easily.
Which is why Maria had high hopes for his children. Weiss was the next in line, and Maria felt like she was seeing Sophia in Weiss. She was confident she would keep Sophia's legacy going.
Soon, the performances began. Several of the older students from the academies performed their respective kingdom's dances. Maria could recognize the improvisational style of Vacuo, reflecting the kingdom's beliefs in freedom and individual agency, the uniformity in Atlas' style that reflected its beliefs of collective strength and unity, the flashy and multi-layered styles of Mistral to reflect its cosmopolitan nature. And of course, Vale's storytelling forms that reflected its idealistic beliefs.
After the performances, Ozpin stepped up to give the welcoming speech.
"It feels just like yesterday." Maria heard Port speak softly as she looked down.
"So, where are we going, Mr. Thane?" A young Maria asked, walking hand-in-hand with Thane through Alsius academy, looking at the several stalls that had been set up.
"Its a fun little program." Thane spoke with a wink as Maria continued to stare at the stalls in wonder. Growing up in the dirty streets of Vacuo, Maria was not at all used to the amount of colors she was seeing. In the distance, she could see a massive structure that seemed very intimidating.
"Look at that. That's Amity Arena. That's where we're going to go." Thane spoke as they entered. Maria spotted several people walking with different types of weapons in their hands, chatting to each other, before their eyes widened whenever Thane walked by.
"Um, why are they staring at us?" Maria asked nervously as Thane chuckled. "Don't worry. I have a reputation amongst huntsmen. These are just the participants surprised to see me." He spoke before heading to a very posh corridor that had two people holding guns.
Maria hid behind Thane's legs as Thane walked up to them before holding up two papers.
"You didn't need to show that, sir. We can recognize you." One of the guards spoke as Thane smiled.
"Now, now, don't go all treating me like some sort of god. Is Sophie there?"
"Ms. Schnee is there, yes."
"Great!" Thane spoke as Maria's eyes widened. Was Thane talking about the scary white lady she met in the big house?
"Don't be scared, Maria. Sophie's a nice person. She just acts like that towards me."
"Why does she do that?"
"It's called 'friendship'." Thane replied before they entered into a room with windows overlooking the stage. Maria could spot a head of white hair as Thane walked up to the scary white lady.
"Yo." Thane spoke sitting down beside Sophia as she looked up. "Oh, you." She spoke before smiling at Maria. "And hello, Maria. Good to see you again."
"H-Hello."
Sophia frowned. "I want to apologize for scaring you the last time we met. You're not at fault for my irritation at that time." She spoke before handing Maria a chocolate bar. "Its from Rostum's. Top quality. Just a little apology gift." She spoke before glaring at Thane, who smiled mischievously.
Maria bit into the chocolate and was blown away by how delicious it was.
"Maria…" Maria heard Thane's voice as she gasped.
"Oh! T-Thank you, Ms. Schnee." She spoke as Sophia smiled warmly.
"You are welcome, Maria." She replied.
"No one else in the VIP section?" Thane asked.
"Everybody's coming. He's running late." Sophie spoke as Thane smiled.
"Great! That means I can spend time with people I actually like!"
Thane and Sophia then engaged in some talk that Maria tuned out, lost in her own world.
Soon, blaring voices rang out.
"Welcome to the first round of the Vytal Tournament, Ladies and Gentlemen!" An energetic voice spoke out as Sophia looked at Thane.
"...You got Fengjian as the commentator?"
"Hey, Xiao-Long's a battle junkie. I don't think anyone would be looking forward to this tournament more than him. And besides, it's not like people are aware of his brutal reputation. They just know him as the former head of the imperial guard of Mistral."
"Thane, he tried to snap my neck once and then settled with breaking my fencing arm."
"And I stuck a knife through his eye for that. We're even. That was in the past…so chill, Sophie." Thane spoke as Maria stared at them in horror.
Maria then noticed two groups of four people facing each other.
"Now for the first match of this tournament, Team SHDE from Alsius academy is up against Team LVDR from Beacon! Give them a round of applause!"
"YEAH! KICK THEIR FROZEN ASSES, LVDR!" Thane yelled pulling a green flag emblazoned with the symbol of Vale and waving it.
"Thane! We have a child here!" Sophia snapped as Thane blinked before looking at Maria, who stared at him in confusion.
"Sorry, I'll explain what 'ass' means later." Thane spoke sheepishly as Maria nodded.
"But still, LVDR's going to destroy them." Thane spoke as Sophia raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Beacon is still a new academy. Alsius has been there for a longer time." Sophia spoke raising a white flag with Mantle's symbol.
"But…those are my students." Thane replied as Sophia scoffed. "Of course…them winning would be beneficial to your already massive ego."
"Please, Lily's a great girl." Thane spoke, pointing at LVDR's leader. "She has a good head on her shoulder and I'm confident she'll win."
The match began and Maria gaped at the speed and skill of the two teams. Even though she'd seen Thane moved much faster, it was still shocking.
"Enjoying yourselves?" Another voice came as Maria saw an old man with grey hair wearing a green coat over a white ruffled shirt, a blue ascot tie and orange gloves. A golden crown adorned his head as he carried a cane. Two armored people with sword and rifles slung along their backs flanked him.
"The King of Vale…" Maria spoke in wonder, remembering tales of the legendary warrior king who ended the great war.
"Oz!" Thane spoke in joy as Oz smiled. "Sorry for the latency, Sophia. I had some business." He spoke as Sophia smiled.
"No problem, Oz. The first match has just begun."
"Oh?" Oz spoke as an excited glint appeared in his eyes. "Let me see. I want to see the future defenders of humanity in action." He spoke walking up and sitting down beside Sophia, looking at the match.
"Maria, cheer for Vale." Thane spoke handing her the flag as Maria waved it. More and more people arrived with whom Thane cracked jokes and laughed as they watched the match.
Soon, Lily thrust her spear and got the last member of SHDE down to red.
"AND THE FIRST MATCH GOES TO LVDR OF BEACON!" Fengjian yelled.
"YEAH!" Thane and a whole bunch of other people holding green flags screamed as they turned to Sophia and other people with white flags.
"SUCK IT, MANTLE! BEACON'S HERE TO DOMINATE!" Thane and another man who Maria remembered was Julius Arc yelled as Sophia huffed. "It was a close match."
"I'm sorry, Sophia, but you do have to admit that Thane's training is not to be taken lightly." Oz spoke as Sophia sighed.
"True." She spoke.
"I'm honestly interested to see Haven's kids." A woman in mistralan attire with crimson eyes and spiky black hair in a ponytail spoke.
"What, want to see if they live up to Branwen standards?" Thane asked.
"Yep. You better have trained them well, Nikos. Or else I'm kicking you in the crotch." The Branwen woman spoke turning to a red-haired man who winced as everyone laughed.
Maria focused back onto Lily, who waved at the audience with a wide grin.
Seeing the match had lit something within Maria. Something which would define her future for the rest of her life.
"I want to be a huntress…" She whispered, her soft voice drowned out by the sounds of celebration of Thane and his friends.
The First Vytal tournament will always be a special moment to her.
"...And with that, I welcome you all to the 40th Vytal Tournament." Ozpin spoke as the symbol of Vytal lit up on screens across the arena.
With all that had happened in Vale, Maria was happy the Vytal tournament was still taking place. The people really needed a break.
Once the ceremony was over, Ozpin went to his room. He put away his cane before touching his hands against the floor as a circle lit up under his bed.
Finally, its ready. Ozpin thought. His project was complete.
It was a technique developed by the magi of Anima during the Age of Mystery in their desire to access the memories of the Planet. To do that, they would take a sample of any person's body part before inscribing a circle to offer access to the Planet's inner sea that held its knowledge of all the people that existed on it.
The entire thing worked like a search engine on a computer. Put the name of the item you wish to search and it will show the results. A similar thing worked here. The sample served as the 'name' of the item, and the mana was required to temporarily anchor the magus' mind to the inner sea and access information about the person they wish to learn about.
Of course, mana was a lot less in the age of perseverance, where Ozpin has been forced to use a lot of dust to generate the mana for the process. Even then, it was severely restricted to memories. The Relic of Knowledge had a much wider range and presented the information in a comprehensible manner, as long as the question was specific enough to leave no space for vague answers. This method, however, could only present the data and it was upto the user to interpret and infer the information they want.
Ozpin placed strand of hair he got from Saber at the center and drew upon his mana core. His hands began glowing green as he pressed them against the circle.
"Soul, memory, knowledge…" He began.
"Our existence hinges upon memories locked within our souls…"
"All which come from the heart of the planet…"
"I am but a seeker of knowledge…"
"One among the countless who take the pilgrimage of enlightenment…"
"I offer my being to the sea of memories…"
"And in return, grant me the sight that sees all…"
"With the eyes of life…"
"I shall expunge the void of ignorance…"
"I shall tear through the veil of deceit…"
"And with the grace of the gods…"
"I shall bring forth the heavens' light..."
Ozpin finished his chant as the circle was activated.
Its ready. Ozpin spoke as he quickly got onto his bed.
Now, who are you, Saber? Ozpin thought before his world went black.
A/N: I'll be honest, I had initially no idea how I was going to go about this chapter. But once I got to the Maria portion, it all clicked into place and instead of the earlier 2500 word chapter I was going to write, I managed to push it to almost 6000. So, yay.
Moving onto my regular gripes about RWBY's story - Maria. Someone once said Maria existed only to be Ruby's silver-eyed mentor who does a poor job, which is painfully accurate. Maria had wasted potential and was one of the major issues I had with the otherwise good storyline of Volume-6. Of course, we know what was the biggest issue with Volume-6 (Bumblebee Vs Adam).
And we get a little look at Remnant magecraft at work. Yes, I know there are parts of this which conflicts with what we've seen in Fate lore, but hear me out. This is a different planet with different rules. Magecraft on Remnant is less risky than that on Earth, whose reasons I will not explain now. I actually had to edit the last part because I later realized that I'd accidentally made Ozpin's little trick work exactly like the Relic of Knowledge. So, I wrote in some nerfs to ensure it doesn't make the Relic of Knowledge obsolete. Next chapter, everything is revealed.
Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!
Now, unrelated to the story, I saw the title of LB7. And 'Nahui Mictlan' sort of hints to what is going to be deviation in this losbelt. Now in the Nahuatl language, Nahui means 'four' and has often been used to describe the five suns of Aztec mythology.
The First sun is described as Nahui-Ocelotl, Ocelotl meaning 'jaguar' and hence the sun of Tezcatlipoca, whose sacred animal is the Jaguar.
The Second sun is Nahui-Ehecatl, Ehecatl meaning 'wind' and hence the sun of Quetzalcoatl, who is the Aztec god of wind.
The Third sun is Nahui-Quiyahuitl, Quiyahuitl meaning 'rain' and hence the sun of Tlaloc, the Aztec god of rain.
The Fourth sun is Nahui-Atl, Atl meaning 'water' and hence the sun of Chalciuhtlicue, the Aztec goddess of water.
The Fifth sun is Nahui-Ollin, Ollin meaning 'movement' and hence the sun of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war, whose death will cause a massive earthquake.
So, Nahui-Mictlan could possibly hint to Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec god of the underworld, becoming the fifth sun instead of Huitzilopocthli or even the fifth sun ending and Mictlantecuhtli becoming the sixth sun to usher in the age of Nahui-Mictlan.
Another thing that I've noticed is that All the descriptions of the suns have the names of the things that cause their destruction.
Jaguars caused the end of Nahui-Ocelotl.
Strong winds caused the end of Nahui-Ehecatl.
A Rain of Fire caused the end of Nahui-Quiyahuitl.
A flood caused the end of Nahui-Atl.
An earthquake (the movement of the earth) is set to cause the end of Nahui-Ollin.
So, Nahui Mictlan could possibly mean a sort of zombie outbreak, where undead beings coming in from Mictlan begin slaughtering the living until nothing is left.
Lostbelt king is either Tezcatlipoca or Mictlantecuhtli, most likely Mictlantecuhtli if my above theory is correct. It would actually make sense for Mictlantecuhtli to be the LB king because apparently LB7 is the worst for humanity. This is 100% possible if Mictlantecuhtli is the Lostbelt king, because unlike the other LB kings, he does not care for humans at all, and would be the least concerned should a crisis befall humanity. It would also fit a lot with the creepy and horror vibes of the Lostbelt, because a world ruled by the Aztec death god probably means the dominance of elements from Mictlan/Xibalba, which sources agree is a shitty place in mythology where humans are tortured with trials by the Lords of Xibalba.
Also, I'm pretty sure that LB7's setting would involve the last humans trying to survive the zombies and helping Chaldea in fighting against the hordes of Mictlan, which I'm pretty sure ties back to the Ultimate One sleeping in the Sea of Trees with Xibalba.
It would be cool if it turned out at the Ultimate One, which is ORT, is the one responsible for the Zombie outbreak in Nahui-Mictlan. I mean, ORT has the ability to rewrite the World around it to match the environment of its homeworld, which is crystalline.
This could lead to an interesting chain of events based on my assumptions:
1. Mictlantecuhtli takes over as the Sixth sun or Fifth sun. Possibly the South American fantasy tree helped by appearing in Mictlan/Xibalba.
2. His hold over Mictlan/Xibalba weakens.
3. This allows ORT to leak its reality marble 'Crystal Valley' over to Mictlan/Xibalba and corrupt it along with overwriting the fantasy tree, causing the undead to be unleashed into the Lostbelt and start massacring the inhabitants of Nahui-Mictlan.
4. Meanwhile, Alien God is doing their own work on the plan to possess ORT, possibly going against Mictlantecuhtli and attempting to guide the surviving humans as their new 'Chief God', considering that the ORT Xibalba is trying to wipe them out and Mictlantecuhtli not caring about their plight. Most likely Alien God is doing this from the Golden Sea of Trees and hence is 'The One Who Rules Over The Planet'. Daybit is either working for Mictlantecuhtli or for ORT, if the theories about him being an alien are true.
5. Last few humans meet Chaldea who undertake a journey to Mictlan/Xibalba to prevent the Alien god from possessing ORT and removing ORT's corruption, while trying to survive the hordes of ORT's Xibalba, the forces of the Alien god as well as that of the Lostbelt King Mictlantecuhtli. The Essence of Excalibur will most likely be completed in this journey, because I think the flashback of a creature on the ground is Sefar being defeated by Excalibur, and its most likely going to be a part of the completion of the forging process of Excalibur and its readiness to be used against the Alien God.
This is all just speculation based on my understanding of Aztec and Mayan mythology.
What do you guys think?
Response to reviews:
Stickmanreader: Thank you.
ZoukuYuujinchou: Holy scripture? Come on, man, I wouldn't call this a holy scripture, especially when I'm forced to cut out certain parts because of how long this story will stretch out.
longbowchris50: Qrow and Winter shenanigans ft. everybody else.
