Not counting the hiatus announcement and poll link, we are now on Chapter 50 of GOTM. 50 whole chapters, and we haven't even scratched the surface of what I have planned for the whole story, especially with the background B plot with ADAM, Daimen, and the other Gods (Don't think I forgot about that).

Before anyone asks about that, now that I've brought it up, there will be interlude chapters talking about that in the future. I actually have one planned to happen in the next 10 chapters from now, so look forward to that.

Also… MIRLIR IS BACK! Honestly, I was kind of worried that they'd dropped all of their stories, but they've been updating again, so I'm happy! I don't know if they're reading this (I highly doubt it, tbh) but if they are, know that you're my biggest inspiration!

That being said, let's get into my response to reviews/comments!

[Response to reviews/comments!]

(Qoutev) TACO SENSEI: Tyrone best doggo! And don't worry about Weiss, she'll be a-okay. Maybe… well, physically speaking, anyway. Mentally… not so much.

(Guest) Reader 451: Good, Jackie Chan movies are the bomb, and anyone who thinks otherwise needs to be castrated. That aside, I've been meaning for Jolyne to have a bit of self-reflection for a while now. I just haven't had the chance to allow her the chance to do so, what with everything going on. Also, Ruby and the coin she picked up…. Uh, well, I don't know how people will react to what it is, but the cross should've given away as to who had placed it there. Speaking of the "who" we'll be seeing him in this chapter. It'll be fun, with lots of lore dumping and hints at what his goals are.

Kolt999: Weiss didn't have her Aura or Semblance unlocked when she was captured and enslaved. She was going to have it unlocked but got yoinked before it could. I won't give it away just yet, but it actually has something to do with a certain someone we all love to hate. He shows up in this chapter, so be prepared for that.

As I said when responding to Reader451 just above you, I've been meaning for Jolyne to have a bit of self-reflection and a potential hint toward a possible plot point later on. As for her conversation with Rantaro, I actually planned for it to go on a little longer and explain a bit more about the current situation, but for the sake of the length of the chapter, I decided to cut it down and save it for another time.

Then we get to Monaca. Yeah, Monaca has it a bit rough and things are kind of screwy with her. She, along with the other kids, will have a massive character arc in this world. After all, with the passage of time that will occur in this world, by the time the RWBYverse is over, her character will look extremely different.

I'll be honest, I was a little bit nervous about writing Yang, considering she was one of the "sensitive characters that the community loves" so I didn't want to do anything too big with her. But as the story goes on we'll see more of her. Taiyang is going to have a rough time of it, and I will deliver upon thee Grumpy Ruby at some point within the story.

Speaking of Ruby, yeah… she's another character I'm scared about writing for, especially considering what I did to her. I don't know how people are going to feel about it, but, as I'm constantly having to find myself saying, keep in mind what kind of story this is. At the end of the day, this is a harem, even if it doesn't fall into the typical tropes of a harem. I know this story has a lot of serious undertones but at the end of the day, this story is a Harem. We haven't had a chance to expand upon that, but it'll get there.

I was kind of heavy-handed when it came to what I have planned for a future arc, huh? Yeah, The White Fang is going to show up, and boy-oh-boy am I going to have a blast with that. 'Course that won't be for a bit, but I plan for that to happen.

Have a great day, Kolt!

Now, with that out of the way, let's get into the chapter, shall we?

[Makaria Plutos and Jasper Quartz belong to Shine375, and Zain Hotaru belongs to Sunky Addict]

xxXXxxXXxx

[Jamol]

Out of all of the things that could've happened, Jamol had never possibly considered for this to happen. When the new user of Lust showed up, he had plans for them, big plans. He was going to get his deceased wife back, no matter what. That had been in his plan, and nothing short of something drastic happening, such as something happening to him or his children, would have him cease that plan.

Then they thought of him, mentioned his first and last name, something that not many people knew of by the way, and in a voice he never thought he'd hear ever again, especially given the circumstances he had been in.

Sitting on his throne, deep in thought, Jamol watched as he had several of his slaves dance for him. They weren't the best at it, but he honestly didn't care. It was something to get his mind to think about something else right now. He could've obviously fucked that elf in the basement, but he decided against it, as he wasn't particularly in the mood for that. Oddly enough, it would've made him felt awkward after the case.

His golden yellow eyes narrowed on one slave who had been slowing down. Upon the slave seeing his glare, the slave picked up the pace, making Jamol smirk for about a second, before it dropped as he went back to his thoughts. Thoughts that he didn't want to return to, but found himself returning to anyway.

"Jack…. that was Jack I heard. Girl's voice or not, that voice was eerily similar to Jack's…. Jack…. died." Never in his life did Jamol ever think that Jack would've died, especially so soon after him. Well, he'd say soon, not like it hadn't been over 6,000 years. Or, well, perhaps not for Jack. For Jamol it had been 6,000 years. Considering time flowed differently between the dimensions, as explained to him by Gabriel if he did the rough calculations… that was half a year after his original death.

Which begged the question of how?

How? How could he have died? He knew his life hadn't been the best, what with his family sucking harder than a vacuum cleaner, but he also lived in a suburb, meaning that there was practically next to no crime going on. There were a few ways that Jamol would think that Jack died. Maybe he got into a car accident, or maybe he got jumped by a few thugs? But even then, who in their right mind would attack Jack of all people?

Honestly, the fact that Jack died was… it was surreal. Jack, despite having crappy parents, lived a relatively decent life. Sure he was kicked around a lot, but he was tough. He knew how to fight if only for self-defence, and even if he had LTMS or Long Term Memory Loss, he was still a good person. He always helped out with the community and always made his best effort when it came to lending a helping hand.

So, in retrospect, the only thing that he could possibly even consider as a reason for Jack dying was either in some sort of freak accident or...

Or…

Or….

Maybe he…

"No… the Jack that I knew wouldn't do that. Sure his life sucked, his dad was a piece of shit, and his mother was neglectful, I never got the feeling, or even a hint that he would… that he would kill himself… The Jack I knew wasn't suicidal. At least, I don't think so…."

Under the mask of… whatever it was that he had become, he still cared about people. He still had a soft spot for his friends and family, whatever remained of it. He thought back to the time when he was first reincarnated as a normal Gamer. How he had died in a brutal, painful way. His limbs were torn off one by one, his face quite literally peeled from his skull, and his eyes dug out with sharp claws.

The world of Dark Souls sucked massive donkey ballocks. By the time he went back to heaven, and by the time he had recovered mentally from being killed time after time, and then killed in finality by that… that sunken person of a man… Adam, he believed his name was, Gabriel approached him and gifted him with a Power To Become a God.

Past him didn't know what that was, but the current day him knew exactly what it was. A Multiversal System, specifically the one of Pride and Christianity.

It was funny because, in his day-to-day life, he was a Muslim. Apparently, it didn't matter what version of the Holy Book he read and prayed from, be it the Bible, The Qur'an, The Gita, the Torah, the Guru Granth Sahib, or the Tripitaka, he was always going to go to Heaven due to the fact that he prayed to God. Even those who didn't pray to God and who were naturally good people would be able to go to the heavenly plain of existence above mortal soil—Gabriel's words, not his. That was good to know, at least.

Although now, if he died, he would be sent to the bottomless pit of hell. He wasn't stupid to believe that he wasn't seen as a scumbag. In fact, Gabriel ceased talking to him ever since he finished up in the last world he was in. He could only imagine why.

And then, an annoying, whiney-sounding voice interrupted his thoughts, causing the man to grit his teeth in frustration and fury.

"P-Please, L-Lord Jamal, I beg of you! P-please, let me stop!" One of the slaves cried as they collapsed to the floor, the bottoms of their feet bleeding. "P-Please! I-I beg of you!" As the slave begged, cried, and wept, Jamol stood up from his throne, eyes narrowed in hate. He was angry. Very, very angry. Not because of the slave begging, but because his plans had been thrown off by an Olympic mile.

He couldn't turn his best friend into a sex slave. That wouldn't sit right with him. Ironic considering what he was doing to Makaria. So, he'd have to do the next best thing. But that could wait. He needed to get his anger out, and he saw a fitting way of doing so.

"You know… I'm in a very foul mood," Jamol spat, glaring down at the Slave whose eyes widened. "And you just had to make it worse, didn't ya?" The other slaves, who were continuing to dance, gasped at what Jamol was about to do and silently prayed for the slave on the floor.

"W-What's happening?" One of the new slaves asked in a hushed tone, as the slave to their right whispered in a downright terrified tone of voice.

"He's bringing out his Cursed Eyes. Anyone who ever seen them… they die almost instantly," one of the slaves whispered to another, a shiver clawing down all of their spines, as the one on the floor just about pissed themselves.

Jamol's right and left eyes transformed before them. They no longer were a shade of golden yellow, but a shade of dark, vile, evil red. However, most of the eyes appeared black, rather than red. What appeared to be a flower shape appeared on the outer rim of the eye and around the pupil. It had three sharp, knife-like points originating from the pupil, and around those were lines that crisscrossed, overlapped, and appeared overtop of the other in a flowing pattern.

Had it not been for the circumstances it was about to be used for, one could possibly say that it was beautiful. However, that was not what the slaves were thinking at the moment. They were thinking about the horrendous death that was about to occur to the slave who had foolishly begged for a reprieve.

The moment Jamol's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan appeared, the ones he stole from Sasuke Uchiha, the slave in front of him burst into flames. Unlike regular flames, however, this fire was black. The slave didn't even get the chance to scream in pain, as the flames were so hot that they instantly burned away.

His eyes darted to the rest of the slaves, who all continued to dance. "Let this be a lesson. Never, and I mean ever, ask me for anything. You are all my tools, and you will do as I say," Jamol's voice was stern, disciplinary in nature, and full of hatred. "You filthy, disgusting, repugnant animals need guidance. Therefore, I will grant you it. Even if you die, it hardly ever matters. Your lives are replaceable, as is anyone else who pisses me off. All of you are free to go back to doing what you were doing before this. Get, leave! BEGONE!"

And with that, the other slaves stopped their dancing and ran away as fast as they could, all the while Jamol's eyes returned to their normal golden-yellow colour. Jamol didn't so much as pay them any mind as he sat back down on his throne. There was a lot on his mind, and he honestly didn't know what to do at the moment.

So, instead of thinking about the whole mess with Jack and his arrival in this strange, downright apocalyptic world they were in, he pivoted to something else that he had planted the seeds for. It started with the death of Summer Rose, and the repurposing of her corpse for The Dog, and while it took a whole 10 years for it to be the right time, the planting of the trap that he had set about a month ago in Patch for Ruby Rose to pick up and accidentally, or purposefully, use.

He thought about the Gacha Token he placed in front of Ruby Rose's abode. He had specifically planted that one there to catch her attention. It was one of his creations, as he had learned how to create his own Gacha Tokens with the guidance of his system. It took a lot out of him, but for his plan for Ruby to work, it had to be done.

It was specifically a Demonic Rarity Gacha Token. The powers that it would grant Ruby were required for his plans for her. As for what those plans were? Well, he wanted her to become his personal hitman. Of course, it would take a while for her to control those powers, and considering how innocent she was from viewing her via a proxy he had made watch over that house, it would take a good long while.

But, he was willing to wait. After all, if there was one thing that Jamol was when it came to his plans, it was patient. He had all the time in the universe—neigh—the multiverse to wait for his plans to work.

"Sir Jamol. A moment, if you would?" A distorted voice called out to him, as he looked over his shoulder. It was one of those stupid Seer Grimm, and he knew damn well who it was who was talking to him.

"Salem. What the fuck do you want? It better not be about the Grimm lands again, or I swear to the gods above I—"

"I take it I caught you in a bad mood? And no, it is not about The Grimm Lands, even if I am still… annoyed with what you are doing there," Salem interrupted, her tone of voice unimpressed. Jamol frowned, staring at the seer with narrowed eyes before groaning.

"Yeah. You did. This better be important," Jamol growled as Salem cleared her throat.

"I wanted to ask about… those things roaming about and killing my Grimm. Whatever they are, I want answers. They don't die, no matter how many times they get cut down, and they seem to be able to infect my Grimm," Salem questioned, her tone of voice laced with a hint of venom. Jamol caught onto it and laughed. "What are you laughing about?"

Jamol sighed, wiping a tear from his eye, one made of blood, which was to be noted. He was going to need to rejuvenate his eyesight sooner rather than later. Sometimes he hated using his EMS, but it had to be done to prove a point.

"Ah, it seems you came across my experiment. Those, my dear Salem, are Necromorphs. I have them under my control, so don't worry about them. And, need I remind you that any Grimm that wanders into my section of the Grimm Lands will probably be attacked by them, so you shouldn't be having a problem with them," Jamol explained as Salem stayed silent for a moment.

"Necromorphs… those butchered and mangled humans and faunus are… undead shape-shifters? I knew you were vile, Sir Jamol. But that… that is beyond vile. It is a plague. Why inflict it upon those people?" Salem inquired, a hint of curiosity in her voice as Jamol shrugged.

"Cause I could, that's why. Believe me, I've done far worse. Oh, and you're wrong. They aren't shapeshifters. They're just horribly mutated corpses. Hence the name Necromorph. Anyway, not that it matters. There, I answered your question, now leave me alone. Unless there is something else bugging you?" Jamol asked as the Seer vanished. Good, the sooner the better.

He honestly despised Salem. But, without her around, he wouldn't have half of the resources he now had at his disposal. But, at the soonest possible opportunity, the moment he secured what he needed from her, she'd be dead. He'd make sure of it. After all, he had all the means to do so, what with his multitude of other abilities.

"Hmph… in the end, if I kill that damned bitch, I still help out the old bastard. Ah, oh well. I need her power anyway. For what I plan for this world is far worse than what she had planned for it. After all, if I can make a seventh of one of those and completely control them, then… Adam's head will surely be mine!"

And with that thought, Jamol reclined in his chair, a faint smile on his face. "And then… this endless cycle of death will cease. I'll have destroyed Adam, and along with him The Dead Multiverse. The Almighty may not like it, but this has gone on for far too long…." Then, a scowl formed on his face.

"However… it seems I was wrong as to where I sent Jasper. I'll need to make contact with him as soon as I possibly can and tell him to head to Anima. The Dog will have to come back to me, of course, but either way, it doesn't matter. I will see Jack again. No matter what. Who knows, he is now a she…." Jamol clenched his jaw tight, shaking his head. "No, Jack's a friend, not a fuck buddy. Besides, that'd make me half-gay! And I am not gay!"

And with that thought sealed away, he decided to make plans to reunite with an old friend of his. Once he got confirmation of Jack's location, he was going to pay him, or, well, now her a visit. He just hoped Jack didn't know what his reputation was. If he, or well, she did, then that might complicate things.

In fact, it would complicate things to an extreme. Depending on how Jack reacted, he'd have to react in turn. And the last thing he wanted was to fight or possibly kill his friend. Especially if he had the coveted Lust system.

That was only "if" it got to that. Jamol sincerely hoped it didn't. For his sake, and for Jack's.

After all, this was all a game. It would be a shame if Jack lost his cool over a bunch of NPCs. He hadn't in the past, so there was no reason to assume that he would do the same now, right?

Right?

"Hmph, how can someone get attached to NPCs anyway? Ridiculous if you ask me," Jamol grunted as he stood up from his throne, cracking his neck side to side to get rid of the tension in his upper back. Even though he had gotten his anger out by killing that one slave, his blood still boiled and his mind still combed over for reasons to run amok. So, instead of wasting his time and doing something stupid, he decided that he was going to train.

Train what, exactly? Well, he was going to train one of his most devastating abilities and one that he had unlocked relatively recently—if you count 3 years ago "recent." He hadn't had much time to use it, seeing as he only used it once, and was barely able to control it.

But, by his estimation… if he was able to master it, and completely control it, then he would be able to dominate anyone weaker than him. His fellow Seven? Not so much. Maybe Jack, considering he, or rather, she was now one of them and presumably just starting out, but with how infamous Jack's system was for giving its user abilities that could even transcend the Gods, given enough time, of course, then his prior assumption held true.

So, with that in mind, Jamol decided what it was he was going to do for the next little while—something that took precedence over his meeting with Jack. He was going to practice with that for a bit. To do that, though, he was going to need to go to his Personal Training Dimension, or the PTD as his System dubbed it. Every Multiversal Gamer had their own PTD—it was mandatory so that they could get as strong as they liked and or needed to be.

Besides, he couldn't use it here, lest he destroyed his castle just by walking with it active.

He remembered the first time he used that in combat. Just activating it was enough to wipe out what was in front of him, and that wasn't including the enemy he was fighting. Forests, towns, and even a far-off neighbouring city had been destroyed. He had single-handedly caused a majority of Vacuo's settlements to vanish, and it actually scared him.

With that kind of power, he was a walking nuke. Then again, he could already split continents, so maybe it wasn't as impressive. But the raw firepower of that was more than enough to exude caution. Hence why he was now deciding to train and master his control over it, lest he cause another incident like that again.

And with that thought, Jamol left to his bedroom, turned to face his PTD; which was a black mirror of sorts, framed by a pair of black bat-like wings that spread out around three feet on opposite sides of the mirror. Narrowing his eyes, he knew he wasn't going to come out of it for a while. It was a risky move, but he had enough defences in his palace to ensure that if anyone broke in, they'd be swiftly dealt with.

So, with that in mind, he stepped into the massive black, demon-winged mirror, not to be seen for three months in the real world….

Unfortunately for him, in the next three months, a lot of things happened that Jamol had no idea was even possible. And because of it, everything he had ever worked for within this world, every pain-staking hour, every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears that he produced, all of it, all of his hard work, would slowly begin to crumble.

This one choice, one decision that he made, the choice to train rather than be in his palace, would spur upon a chain reaction of events so drastic that, even if he was there to stop it, would not change the impact it would have on the world around them.

[Zain Hotaru]

Gravel crunched underneath Zain's feet, as a lumbering body slammed down in front of him, its skull-like face falling slack and its red glowing eyes fading away into nothing but pitch-black nothingness. His indifferent expression had anyone seen it, would immediately make it seem as if he had no care in the world for felling this great beast.

Even still, it was his job. Well, not really. He was no Huntsman, yet, but a part of him wanted to be one. Before him was a corpse of an Ursa, one of the more territorial kinds of Grimm. He assumed he might have gotten within its territory, and or, ran into it during a hunt. The fight itself wasn't really much of an issue—one quick kick to the face and a thrust of the edge of his blade into its cranium, and the job was done.

The Grimm's Blood stained the edge of his sword as he swung it to his right, the black, sickly liquid splashing onto the ground around his right leg. The path that he was taking to the person who unjustly massacred The Branwen Tribe was far longer than he had been anticipating. By his estimate, at the rate he was going, it would take him three days to get there.

Which begged the question of: just how fast was this person? Everything at that camp looked recent, meaning that he should've been able to stop the fight if he had gotten there, considering he himself was only a few hours away from that camp. What's more is that he never even saw the fight in the distance, smelt any of the burning wood or heard any screams.

A part of him was a little worried that he was getting a little in over his head. But even if that was the case, he wasn't about to back down. Not when someone as dangerous as that was running around. He had to take them to justice. His morals would not allow for anything less.

So, while it was annoying, he was going to have to do a three-day walk. A three-day walk through Grimm-infested woods.

Joy.

While that wasn't exactly the bestest of things, he assumed it could've been worse. After all, it wasn't like he needed to eat, sleep, drink, or do anything a normal person would have to, on account of the fact that Zain was referred to as a "Gamer" by Ma'at.

That title made him feel like a Discord mod, to be honest. He hated it, but according to Ma'at, it was something that the other Gods deemed important enough to change the original title. Apparently, it was "supposed to entice the younger generations and hook their interests." The fact that the Gods paid attention to cultural norms of humanity was beyond interesting to Zain, as he would've thought the Gods to be more… archaic and by the books than, well… this.

Watching as the corpse of an Ursa began to fade away into dust, Zain had noticed something had been… off about this particular Grimm. For starters, it seemed to be in "hunt mode" as he had coined the term. In other words, something had whipped it, and most likely every other Grimm in the area, into a Frenzy.

If he had to guess, it would be the same person who massacred the Branwen Tribe. Which, to him, made it more prudent that he face them sooner rather than later. Normally Grimm got this bad only when there were copious amounts of fear in the air, and because of that, a sense of urgency filled his chest.

He needed to find this person and find them now.

And with that, he continued his trek, not stopping for anyone or anything. He could keep going in this direction for however long was needed, and not stop until it was required. Gamers Body was an amazing thing, he thought. It was a lifesaver, both literally in this case and metaphorically speaking.

After a little while of running in the same direction, seemingly making no progress in his journey, he stopped dead in his tracks at the sound of rustling bushes. As he stopped, he kicked up a vast amount of dust due to how fast he had been running, making him cough and choke on the dust cloud he made.

Now that he thought about it, maybe he should've slowed down a little bit. The last thing he wanted to do was run into someone when running as fast as he had been and kill them. Granted, he was seemingly alone on the trail he was on, not counting the rustling of bushes around him, so maybe he was a little overly worried by what-ifs at this point, but he digressed. One could never be too careful, something his mom told him when he was younger.

There was also the chance that he might have needed to turn at the fork he saw in the road up ahead, so there was also that. By the time he was able to gain his senses back from the small cough fit he had, he narrowly avoided a clawed, purple slime-like hand slash at his face.

Back flipping twice to avoid a few more consecutive strikes, he lunged forward with his blade, attempting to skewer whatever the hell the thing had been that had attacked him, only to hit nothing, and for the claw to rake across the left side of his face, digging into his skin, drawing blood.

It made him stumble as the smoke still filled the air. While that would typically hurt a regular person far more and probably even blind them, Zain had a trick up his sleeve. He thanked his lucky stars he had been graced with a Regenerative Passive Spell, giving him a regeneration factor similar to that of Deadpool from Marvel comics.

What that meant was that he could recover lost limbs, or grow a new body if his head was sliced off of his original body. Granted, it would take a month or so, but it wasn't all that bad. And also, granted, that didn't make him unkillable. If someone were to destroy his heart or his brain, he was good as dead. Or, you know, drop his HP down to 0, which both of those would assumedly do, but that went without saying.

That being said, small flesh wounds like this weren't an issue. So, the wound healed up almost instantly, just before he was hit by another attack. Narrowly dodging it with a tilt of his head, Zain realized something about his mystery attacker.

For one, they were using the dust cloud to their advantage. So the longer this dust cloud stayed, the harder it would be for him to hit his target. Secondly, they were only taking potshots at him, meaning whoever was attacking him wasn't confident that they could kill him, which told him all he needed to know about the person or thing attacking him.

They weren't going to be able to handle what he was about to do.

Sheathing his sword, Zain placed two of his hands on the ground, and with a small amount of effort, and huge depletion of his Mana bar—about half of it—Zain unleashed an attack he had seen from a certain character from a certain manga that he used to read, often when he was taking a break from watching RWBY.

Blue flames erupted from his hands, soaring into the ground as he pushed with all of his might. While his arms were pretty much useless, when enhanced by Blue Fire, an Uncommon spell ironically enough, he was able to melt the ground around him, due to how hot blue fire was.

Due to the heat in the air, the dust dispersed, and with the ground being nearly molten, if whatever was attacking him landed on the ground around him, all it would do was hurt the person and or creature, but that would be more than enough to trip them up, giving him a chance to pin them to the ground and interrogate them.

Unluckily for him, when he stood up on the now uneven, scalding to the touch ground, the creature and or person who had been attacking him disappeared without a trace, leaving him a tad bit disappointed that his flashy display of power was unneeded. Maybe he scared them off? If so, that was a little disheartening.

"Damn, and I spent a good chunk of my Mana doing that…"

Just as that thought cleared from his head, he felt a red-hot searing pain in the back of his knee, making Zain stumble forward and take a knee. Reaching behind him, he grabbed what appeared to be a purple, goo-like kunai out from his leg, making Zain raise an eyebrow, wincing as his skin and torn muscle healed over in a split second.

"What the hell is this?" Zain thought as he slowly stood, stance hunched and blue fire dancing around his arms. It was clear that his attacker hadn't left, meaning he still had an enemy to knock out. His question was just how fast were they? Clearly, they were experienced in this field, and considering they used a kunai, he assumed them to be a ninja.

But, what was a ninja doing out here, in the middle of Anima, far from any settlement that he knew of? Then again, this version of the RWBY universe was different, so perhaps he was a little off. Maybe there was a small settlement nearby.

Ninjas, though, seemed a bit much. What use was a Ninja in a world where Grimm could take down a regular person without so much as needing to blink? Though, that didn't explain the goo-like Kunai.

"Bah, whatever. I need to focus. Pay attention to nothing but my hearing. Blindly attacking is only going to cost me more than it'll help me. Now, focus…" Closing his eyes, he focused on his earring, listening out for any odd movements. All he could hear was the wind brushing past him, the slow, casual rustling of the leaves in the wind, and the birds chirping. It seemed as if it was early morning now, which was great to know.

And then, in a split second, the snapping of a tree branch to his right. In the blink of an eye, Zain snapped to his right, and as soon as he did, he let off a massive explosion of Blue Fire in that direction, the flames just barely missing the trees and accidentally starting a fire. He knew he hit his target, seeing as he heard a gargling groan. That… worried him. He hoped he didn't kill his attacker. After all, he needed them to answer the question he had.

Walking forward, right where he had hit his target, all he was met with was a purple stain on the floor, which only further confused Zain. "Okay, seriously? What the hell is going on?" the white-haired boy questioned in his head, as he dispelled the flames around his arms, allowing him to regenerate his Mana. He only had a quarter of it left, which frustrated him.

Thankfully, should he be attacked again, his flames or his spells weren't the only things that he could use. If that was it, then he'd be a one-trick pony.

Zain crouched down, dipping his finger in the purple slime-like stuff. It wasn't blood, that much he was able to gather. It had a rather gunk-like texture. It had white and black spots all over it, and that wasn't because of his special vision either. Rather, that was just how it appeared. Straining it between his fingers, he realized that it was far stickier than he had thought, as his fingers couldn't separate after touching the strange, goo-like substance.

"Okay, really?" Zain thought, flashing regular fire over the gunk, as it dissolved in an instant. His eyebrows furrowed. He recognized that from somewhere, but he couldn't be sure. Not until he saw what was attacking him. It could've just been his imagination, but if that was here, then that only caused more questions to form in his mind.

And then, out of the blue, something slammed into his stomach, sending him tumbling off to the left, and making him spit up blood. He had only realized now that his HP was now down from what it was before, i.e. completely full at 1,750, to now ranging around 35.

"CRAP! I forgot about that! Even if I regenerate wounds, it doesn't actually heal me! I have to actually cast a healing spell for that! Goddamnit!" Zain frowned, gritting his teeth. The reason for that was that the spell had been half of a set of spells. He got the first half early for picking his class, that being a Knight. The other half would come at a later point, completing the spell. All in all, it was stupid, and he hated it, but such was life.

As quickly as he could, he muttered the chant for the healing spell he had under his breath, recovering half of his health in a matter of seconds, just in time to narrowly survive a fatal blow to the neck, his larynx being crushed and his breath being forced out his body.

It was then, when he looked up as his vision faded, that he could see an Abomination staring him down. Although it was slender, and seemingly made for combat with less of the chunky appearance that he had remembered seeing in season 1 of The Owl House, Zain's eyes still widened to the size of saucers upon seeing it.

The Abomination had clawed fingers, probably meant for tearing things apart easily. Its arms were slender, as were its legs and the rest of its body, most likely tailored toward speed and dexterity. It had sharp, feral teeth with red, glowing eyes filled with only cold calculation, much like regular Abominations, aside from the colour normally being yellow and not red.

Of course, there was the smell. All Abominations smelt of death because they were created out of dead tissue. While not outright necromancy, it was close enough to be considered Black Magic amongst other magic systems.

Gasping and wheezing for breath, not helped by the putrid smell that wafted off of The Abomination in front of him, Zain slowly tried to back away from the creature as it sculked forward. His HP was low, and his Mana was still recovering. He still didn't understand why he didn't naturally heal while in combat. Honestly, it annoyed him more than anything else. Then again, he guessed if a person who had a regeneration factor was in a videogame their HP wouldn't heal because balancing was a thing.

He had forgotten that, and it was costing him.

"Well… it was a short run… but it could've been infinitely worse, I guess…" Zain thought, closing his eyes, and accepting his fate. But when death never came, and when he opened his eyes, Zain could only stare in confusion as the Abomination was dead on the floor, body melting into gunk as a familiar figure he was confused about seeing here and dressed in a White Fang uniform stood in front of him, back facing him and the posture of someone who had just performed an execution via gun to the back of the head.

"B-Blake?" Zain thought, coughing and rasping for breath as the Cat Faunus's eyes shot to her peripheral vision, spotting the very conscious Zain. With no hesitation at all, Blake ran off, though not seemingly bothered that she had been spotted. Zain smiled, even if Blake was still in the White Fang for whatever reason she might have had, she was still willing to protect those who needed help.

[Are you alright, Zain Hotaru?]

Zain grunted, cracking his neck from side to side. "I'm fine, Emelia…"

[Your Hit Points tell me otherwise.]

"I just ran into an enemy I wasn't prepared to fight… speaking of, were you able to use CHECK on it when I fought it?" Zain asked as Emelia, the name of his System, paused for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, he got what he was looking for, and needless to say, what he saw nearly made him go wide-eyed.

[Name: Abomination – Ninja Variant]

[Creator: Jolyne Brooks]

[Level: 75]

[HP – 0/5,000]

[Stamina – 0/1,000]

[Mana – 0/0]

[Description: A beast made of dead cells, and rotting DNA. Created by Jolyne Brooks]

"Jolyne Brooks…? Could this be the person I'm looking for?" Zain thought, narrowing his eyes. Looking past the fact that an Abomination had been created by someone who clearly wasn't from that universe going off of the name alone, Zain felt a part of him get angry. This was most likely the person who massacred the Branwen Tribe, and while they were able to create such a high-level Mob, strong enough to contend with and probably defeat an Alpha Beowulf judging by how Zain had killed a handful in his short time here, he'd go on a limb and say that this Jolyne Brooks individual relied on them.

There was no way, in his mind, that anyone could just take on The Branwen Tribe, defeat and possibly even kill Raven, and come away barely scratched, or better yet, alive.

Raven was considered one of the top characters within The RWBY universe. Even if this world was different in a few ways, mainly with the villainous factions, some things had to remain the same. And one of those things was Raven being as powerful as she was.

Now, he had a name for his objective: Find and Defeat Jolyne Brooks.

[Zain Hotaru. I advise strongly against going against Jolyne Brooks. I have information that you might want to know regarding her and her escapades. It is important that I do this, so please, listen]

"Not right now, Emelia. I have to do this. You can tell me after I defeat her," Zain thought in reply as his HP went from 1 to 1,750 in the time it took for him to sit up and dust himself off, i.e. in less than a minute.

[….Acknowleged….]

And with that, Zain continued forward. Nothing short of him dying was going to stop him now. He refused to let this "Jolyne Brooks" get away with what she had done.

He was going to make her pay.

[Kokichi]

Pain. All he felt was pain, and also vast discomfort. He had no idea how long he had been out, and needless to say, he wasn't exactly in a good mood. His head hurt, his chest hurt, as well as his left leg for some reason or another. The last thing that Kokichi remembered was using his Probability to stop Chiaki's reckless attack from not only nuking the room but also severely injuring everyone else.

He was worried. He didn't know what could've happened after that. All he could have hoped for would be if they managed to escape. If he opened his eyes, and he was greeted by a blue forcefield, then he was going to do some serious screaming of both anger and frustration.

Groaning, Kokichi slowly sat up from whatever it was he was laying against, his leg twinging in pain as he squinted. He realized that he was in an area without much light, leading him to believe he was in some sort of building or shelter caught in either a blackout or, a shelter without lights and in the middle of the night. Neither of those situations were ideal, but they were better than nothing.

By the time his eyes adjusted to the shade and or darkness, of which he couldn't really tell, Kokichi met face-to-face with Masaru. Recoiling from the sudden "in your face" awakening, Masaru snickered, before backing up and looking over his shoulder. "Guys! He's awake!"

The purple-haired troublemaker frowned, a splitting headache coming on as he cupped his forehead. "Sheesh kid, you don't need to shout…" Kokichi bemoaned. In response, the kid snickered, before jumping atop what appeared to be a boulder. He wobbled left to right for a few seconds, before sitting down cross-legged.

A rock… Darkness… "Where are we?" Kokichi asked as Masaru shrugged.

"I dunno. I didn't choose where we went. I just went along with what those two idiots wanted to do," Masaru said, gesturing over to an approaching Gundham, who frowned at the boy.

"You, heathen child, had been the one who decided it was a good idea to steal one of those demonic flying vessels, with its pilot inside. Twas only thanks to myself and the corrupted banshee that we were able to get here," Gundham rebuked as Chiaki chuckled to herself off in a corner, leaning against the wall of what Kokichi was now assuming to be a cave.

"Hey, Gundham, you're reverting into Chuunibyo talk again~" Chiaki teased as Gundham grumbled, looking over his shoulder.

"Tis enough out of you! You're also partly the reason we had to make a quick escape. Had it not been for your nonsense we would've been able to sneak out, like shadow demons in the night. But you! You decided to attack every guard you saw! I had to freeze your hands over to get you to stop, and even then—"

"Okay, I get it, now can you two stop bickering like a married couple already?" Kokichi interrupted, narrowing his eyes at Gundham. "Besides, that doesn't answer my question. Where are we?" Kokichi questioned as Chiaki cracked her neck from side to side, clearing her throat.

"The pilot called this place "Forever Fall," and honestly, I don't get it. I mean, yeah, there's a giant waterfall in the distance, but I don't get it," Chiaki said as Gundham scoffed.

"It's because of the red tree leaves. This section of the woods looks like it is forever in the fall, ergo, Forever Fall. I take it you never paid attention in class, what with all that gaming you probably did?" Gundham stated as Chiaki frowned.

"Until High school, I was home-schooled via a tutor. I only went to High School, and later Hope's Peak, to make some friends. But as we all know, that didn't turn out so great, now did it?" Chiaki stated as Gundham growled.

"No thanks to that damned wi—"

"ENOUGH!" Kokichi hollered, gaining both of their attention. "The two of you, do me a favour, and shut the fuck up, okay? Until we find some sort of civilization, I do not want to hear a single word out of your mouths, m'kay?" Kokichi stated, narrowing his eyes at the two. Instead of the two back-talking him, they simply kept their mouths shut.

It may or may not have been because of the death glare that he was sending their way. Honestly, he didn't care. All he cared about was trying to stand up and see what the outside was like. However, try as he might, he found himself unable to do so. An extreme pain flew through his body, a pained gasp escaping his lips as he bit down on his tongue. "W-What the fuck?!"

"Uh, yeah, I was going to say something, but those guys were arguing and you were getting mad, so… uh… we kinda crash landed here. And… in the crash, when you were completely unconscious, you broke your leg. Funnily enough, except for the dead pilot, you were the only one who got injured, well… majorly, anyway. I got a headache, Gundham has a sore knee, and Chiaki… uh, I don't know about her considering she seems to not care about injuries… Which is weird."

After Masaru finished explaining, Kokichi sighed.

Great, so, to recap, when he used his Probability to save everyone's asses from Chiaki setting off a small bomb with the use of her Dragons Lightning and Fuego spells, he passed out, and they booked it. Instead of going for stealth, Chiaki thought it funny to attack anyone or anything she saw, be it rightfully so or otherwise he didn't know and nor did he care.

Then, according to Gundham and Masaru, they hijacked one of those strange flying helicopter jet things, kidnapped a pilot from what Kokichi assumed was a military base, flew to some place far off from that icy hellhole they came to this world in, and crash-landed in a forest that seemed to be perpetually be stuck in the fall.

Oh, and, he had a broken leg, making him about as useful as two tits on a bull.

Lovely. Everything was tits up, he had no real way to contact his sister seeing as his mental link was being blocked by something, and he was stuck with what could only be called a gaggle of morons, two of which couldn't stand one another, and the other being a child.

Things couldn't possibly get worse, could they?

"Well, isn't this a surprise? I heard some commotion going on and look what I find…" An almost chillingly calm tone of voice flowed throughout the cave, as everyone stared down the entrance. Standing at the entrance of the cave were a group of three people. A group of three people who, to Kokichi, gave off a rather nasty vibe. Why? Well, simple.

Their mere presence radiated the definition of Evil. Not the type of evil that surrounded Jolyne, where it was almost a lawful kind of Evil. the kind of Evil that only applied to those who struck first, like a build-up of karma, in a cruel sort of way. No. This evil was pure maliciousness and greed. The kind of evil reserved for Disney Villains. You know, the overtly maniacal, cackle-in-the-dead-of-night kind of evil.

That. That was the kind of Evil that surrounded the group of three.

The first one, and the most obvious one, was the one in the middle. Tall, ranging around 5 feet 8 inches with long, ashen-black hair, golden yellow eyes like that of an eagle, and the pale skin of someone who hadn't seen the sunlight in a long, long time. She wore dark red, off-the-shoulders v-neck mini dress with yellow patterns around the collar area, and on her right hip was a blue feather-like accessory. A Bizarre thing to note about the dress was what appeared to be an upside-down triangle tail that seemed completely out of place, with it ending just below the knees.

The second one, the one off to the right of the person in the center was a lightish, darkish, almost middle-of-the-road brown-skinned female, perhaps around the ages of 17 to maybe 18, with light, mint-green hair. The hairdo was kinda wack in Kokichi's opinion, what with the straight fringe in her bangs. It honestly made her look dumb in his opinion. That aside, then came her… downright stupid outfit.

To call her top "intricate" would be to call a fat cat, well, fat. The collar seemed to twist, turn, and contort until it reached underneath her rather impressive chest—not that he was staring, mind you, totally, not staring—which seemingly held in place a green crop top. Either that or it was her bra. Honestly, he didn't know, and he didn't quite care.

Around her right arm were three ring-like armbands that were attached to her upper arm, as well as a string of gold beads tied just above her wrist. He had no idea what for, but if he had to guess, it was a fashion statement. A strange one, but a fashion statement nonetheless.

Next came a pair of white shorts held up by a gold coin-plated belt. Attached to the belt were what appeared to be leggings attached like that of a garter-belt. They were made of leather, and also a dark shade of brown, which stopped just below her knees. Finally, came her shoes, which were just your standard heels, albeit in a light brown colour.

Finally, the one on the opposite side of the lady in the middle. A pale-skinned young man with gray eyes and gray hair, though not the elderly kind, but rather regular gray hair, partially slicked back and a little unkempt. Either he was edgy or he genuinely thought it looked cool.

He had a slim yet athletic build. A part of Kokichi believed he could probably punch everyone's lights out right here, right now if given the command, and his body language, albeit a little cocky, was the kind of stance someone took in case a fight broke out. The kind of stance that would allow the person to get low, lunge, and incapacitate whoever might be in their way.

In other words, the big guy looked like he could fight, and knew how to. And rather than hide that fact, he openly presented it in a challenging kind of way. Bold, and where Kokichi would call stupid, he replaced it with scary. Why? Because of the bloodlust in his eyes. Either that guy was an assassin, or, he was a fighter, and one who didn't mind killing. He banked on the former rather than the latter, though.

Then came his outfit. A gray and black two-tone partial-zip jacket that covered most of his upper body, a pair of black pants, a single notched belt with a sash and a bandana draped over it, and a pair of rerebraces and vambraces on his arms. In other words, no fancy clothing, just pure practicality. Something he couldn't say for thing one and thing two next to him.

"And that, I am assuming, is the "could go wrong" part, isn't it?" Kokichi thought as Gundham narrowed his eyes toward the one in the center.

"And who are you, dark one?" Gundham questioned, his eyes full of distrust and alertness.

"Me?" The one in the red replied, an almost alluring grin on her visage, had it not been off-put by the gleam in her eyes. "I am Cinder Fall. And I would like to give you an offer you cannot refuse."

-To Be Continued-