So, now we're here for the interlude between the first arc/part of the RWBYverse. Once again, much like the last interlude, I implore people to not skip it, as this is vital to understanding certain events that will happen in the future. This is mostly focusing on the main overarching plot, and we also get to meet the other Overseers of The Seven. I hope that I portrayed them properly for this.
That being said, let's hop into some responses to reviews/comments.
[Response to reviews/comments]
(Qoutev Addict) Sunky Addict: I wouldn't say that the hero complex will get him killed. I have a full character arc planned for Zain to go through. After all, any OC that is submitted will not be the same by the end of their journey. As for Syd, those who had watched RWBY should know who and what I'm trying to hint him to be. Pay attention to his appearance, that is a major hint as to what his identity is.
(Ao3) Tymaddux: I think you're reading a bit too much into Jolyne's overall "conversation" with Zain. I can agree with you on a majority of what you wrote, but as someone with insight, I'll say this right now: Jolyne does not have a problem with morally good people. Think of someone like Rantaro or Sayaka, or hell, even Gundham. She has no problem with those people, and yet they are Morally Good people.
The reason why Jolyne hates Zain is not only because A. the man tried, and failed miserably, to kill her. B. Is moral grandstanding to her—something that as time goes on, you will learn just how much she hates it and why—and calling her evil, despite having saved thousands of lives from the vile bandits that had raided and massacred Styx by making sure they couldn't harm anyone else ever again. And C. Zain is a hypocrite, as he is saying that it's wrong to kill, even though he tried to kill her. Meaning that, if the ends justified the means enough, he would be willing to abandon his morals if it meant there was one less "monster" in the world, which was the very thing she had done to protect Styx.
The rest of your analysis is spot on, though. Her lack of empathy toward others that she doesn't consider her allies or those who she has general fondness over, like those who would call her a God (i.e. the entire Faunus Race with a few exceptions) will eventually lead to something massive happening, and it will come to bite her in the ass.
(Ao3) AidenJacksonSmitthDSBB: Dear god… that has to be gross tho? Like seriously, who puts that much espresso in their coffee!?
(Guest) Reader 451: Jolyne will be attending Beacon. With Blake out of the picture, Team RWBY has to form somehow, and yes, that means that, at least for a brief window of time, Jolyne will end up being the B in Team RWBY, ya know, 'cause Jolyne (B)rooks. That and Blake is still a member of The White Fang and a high-ranking one at that. Oh, and btw, 11. It will be an 11.
Kolt999: Weixue and Rantaro are gonna be friends, obviously. I'm fairly certain I made that obvious due to their interactions. Jolyne's moving up in the world, and the world soon won't be able to keep up (currently, anyway) and Zain is Zain, nothing new to see here folks.
Adam is just not having a good day, either way, you slice it or dice it. Neither Emerald nor Kokichi made it any better.
Makaria is saved, and Syd is going to be EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. I can't stress that enough, Syd is going to become a very, very important figure throughout the remainder of The RWBYverse.
Jamol is going to be very, very pissed off when he finds out what's happened—moreso when you realize that a lot of what's about to happen could have been prevented if he had just been a good person, but we'll get to that—and yeah, no… he's cocky for a reason. He hasn't fought anyone for a reason, and that's because, for all intents and purposes, Jamol is stronger than everyone in that verse times 100. Jolyne is just barely scratching the top tiers of the verse (Salem, Ozpin, and the Brother Gods, not any of the hunters and huntress characters, they are basically cannon fodder.)
So, yeah, Jamol is NOT going to be a happy camper. Go figure. Have a great day Kolt!
Now, onto the chapter!
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[Daimen]
The valiant Grand Hall—the meeting place of The Watchers of The Seven Warriors. Oh, the nostalgia of seeing this place once again after so long. Its shining white colour radiated from the lone island it sat upon within the realms of The Heavenly Realms, far above even the home of The Almighty. A Billion Years have passed, and it hasn't changed even in the slightest.
Daimen always wondered why this building was so high above The Almighty's home. It had been here ever since the beginning of time. Many people credit the creation of The Multiverse to The Almighty when that couldn't have been further from the truth. The Almighty was merely a watcher—a guardian of The Multiverse, who shoved his responsibility to The First Seven in a far-off past that couldn't be viewed no matter how hard anyone tried.
It had been during a time when the concept of Time hadn't been a real thing. Not fully, anyway. It was thanks to The Almighty that The Gods had time and space, and that we had Matter and Anti-Matter. But had it not been for The Big Bang, The Almighty wouldn't be around.
And yet, before even The Big Bang, before The Almighty, The Grand Hall stood here. According to The Almighty, the first thing he bore witness to wasn't a Star, wasn't what would become The First Earth, nor was it The First Universe. No. It was The Grand Hall, and sitting atop it was a being that not even The Almighty could comprehend.
Daimen wondered where that being went….
"Ah, not that it matters. Let's go have some fun! I'm sure they all missed me!" Daimen thought, walking up to the double doors to The Grand Hall. Placing both hands against the pristine golden doors of the temple, Daimen shoved with all of his might to throw open the doors. And as soon as he did so, he stepped into the building and announced his presence.
"Ladies, gentlemen! It is so good to see you all after all this time!" The boisterous man clad in green announced, walking into a large, nearly 5-mile-long room fitted with a massive round table, surrounded by several 30 feet tall chairs that reached the ceiling, all of which had a symbol marking each Manager of each Multiversal System.
Truly, it had been far too long since he had seen his cohorts. Having been stuck in The Void for a billion years didn't help things, either, but nonetheless, it was great to be able to stretch his legs. Before he came to The Grand Hall, he had taken a tour of Heaven. He had to admit, he hadn't expected such a drastic change.
But, that was for a different time. Right now, he was here to talk about the most important of subjects. And with him standing around faffing about, he had to assume that everyone was slowly starting to get fed up with his wasting time.
"You know, Daimen, you're quite late. I would hope this never happens again," Nanabush said, as the representative of his "pantheon", the Aboriginal Gods. Spirits? Bah, whatever. He Reclined in his chair, arms folded behind his fox-like head as a smirk was strewn about on his face.
Above him was his symbol, that of a massive Sun with a spear being thrown through it, splitting it apart. He didn't know if they were actually Gods or just wandering spirits that had the same power as, if not a tad weaker than, Gods. Whatever the case was, Nanabush was looking at him with slanted narrowed eyes, both of which had a dark auburn colour to them.
Nanabush wore a dark red tunic that matched his fur, alongside a pair of black baggy pants, and stitched-together bear-hide shoes. He was built like a mountain, just like most of the Gods were, and in his mouth was a pipe filled to the brim with tobacco.
"Well, well, well! Nanabush! Representative of Envy and Manager of The Third! How have you been, my good fellow?" Daimen asked as Nanabush scoffed.
"Better than you, I'll tell you what, tell me? How was The Void for those last billion years?" Nanabush asked, a vindictive hint to his voice as Daimen smiled from ear to ear.
"Oh, you know, very maddening. Also very lonely!" Daimen replied, sitting in his chair, which had been a few spots away from Nanabush. On his chair was a simple symbol of a heart wrapped in spiked chains, with blood gushing from small cracks found in place by the chains. That was the symbol of Lust. Quite the bizarre symbol if he said so himself.
"Perhaps, let us not bother Daimen about such a subject. We all make mistakes, and thusly we should give him a chance to explain himself for his deeds on that day," Buddha said, tan arms crossed over his bare chest, eyes closed as he leaned forward in his chair. He was wearing a yellow toga with several spiritual symbols engraved into the cloth, and his hair was done up in a man-bun.
Unlike the other Gods, he was slimmer than most, but don't let that fool you. He could shatter whole universes with his pinky finger. Well, if he wanted to, that was. The big softie was a pacifist and refused to fight. The only time he did was when he who shant be named threatened existence. Only then would Buddha raise a fist to anyone.
He was overseer of The Fifth, and the representative of the Sin of Sloth—something he was very much against, but wasn't really given much of a choice. The symbol on his chair was that of a pillow on fire, crawling with fire-birthing flowers and with a single arm resting atop it. It was quite a dramatic symbol, but it was one that Buddha had designed for himself.
"And let him get away with Devouring half of The Heavenly Realms, killing Trillions of Souls just to gain a small sliver of power!? I know I can get ridiculous for my Destruction Events, but at least I contain them to my home universe!" Shiva spat, glaring over in Daimen's direction, his four arms folded over one another. He wore very little, except for a feather waist skirt and sandals. His radiant blue skin had a heavenly glow to it, as did his long blonde hair.
Around his neck was a snake made entirely of silver, resembling that of a King Cobra, and sitting on his back was a trident—his Holy Weapon, The Trisula. Around his right wrist were a set of red beads on a string, and over his shoulder was a woolly cheetah pelt.
And, as to be expected, Shiva was well-built. Though, he looked more like a mix between Nanabush and Buddha in terms of physicality. Despite his nature, it was clear as day why he was the representative of the Sin of Wrath, and the overseer of The Fourth. His symbol was a dark blue flower surrounded by a fractured universe, breaking away into several hundreds of other universes.
"He is not getting away with anything, Shiva. His sentence has been suspended. Or have you been so caught up in dealing with your own woes that you have forgotten about that?" An elderly voice rumbled throughout the room. His bright white hair and cerulean blue eyes were filled with a mixture of both rage, patience, and wisdom, unlike any kind that Daimen had seen, with the exception of The Almighty—fitting, as he was created in the image of him.
Zeus, the King of Olympus, and God of Thunder sat in his chair at the front of the table. Unlike everyone else in the room, he was not built heavily, nor was what a God was suspected to look like. He was an old man, much like The Almighty, though he had aged poorly compared to The Almighty. Despite that, he was beyond terrifying to look at.
Despite his scrawny size, despite his meagre frame, and even though he looked like a gust of wind could blow him over, Zeus was an intimidating force of nature, and also a very, very greedy one. He was, as was, the representative of the Sin of Greed, and he was the overseer of the Second.
His symbol was a coin bag overflowing with molten gold, a slurry of food, and heaps of women scattered around it, praying to a figure that appeared to be a God made entirely out of diamonds. And surrounding that emblem was a ring of white-hot fire.
"Personally… I believe that his punishment should be over. I know just by looking at all of you that you, with the exception of Buddha, have done far worse than Loki ever could," Ra, The God of The Sun from the Egyptian Pantheon said, massaging the lower half of his beak with his talon-like fingers. The wings on his back ruffled slightly, all the while he adjusted his white baggy balloon-like pants.
The Overseer of The First, and the longest-lasting Overseer over one Multiversal System in recorded history, stared down Michael, his expression turning into a scowl. "If we are to punish anyone, right now. It should be you, Michael. You have let your Patron do whatever he wants for far too long, and Rachel wants to see him punished for his crimes."
For a brief moment, the symbol above Ra—that being of a Shattered Moon with tendrils shooting out of it, all carrying various other planets and stars, that being the symbol of Gluttony—glowed a bright rainbow, indicating that Rachel, The First, was listening in on the conversation. She was the only one who The Almighty treated with reverence, as she had personally saved his life from the hands of He Who Shant Be Named.
In other words, her opinion meant a hell of a lot more than it should have, and she was considered a God in her own right. Her last known location was within The Lands Between, and the one she had all but settled in whilst waiting for The Day Of Reckoning to happen once again.
Meanwhile, over in his own chair, The Angel Of War, Michael, Frowned. His short blond hair and red eyes narrowed as his angelic wings rested over his shoulders. He wore a similar outfit to Zeus, though his toga was black, and he had a massive sword on his hip easily about the size of two greatswords. The sword itself was a pristine white, with a single red line going down the middle of the blade.
The Angel Of War crossed his arms, before speaking. "Does thou hath not understood that which I have attempted to do? Sir Anderson's connection to thy has been blocked by some otherworldly being. Thoust hast tried to travel to the world thine has taken refuge in, but thoust has been blocked from entering by the Lesser Gods of that world."
"Oars and Dractor need to get over their nonsense then. They're going to actively doom their own world if they don't smarten up," Shiva rumbled, scoffing with annoyance, before looking over to Loki, aka Daimen. "I thought you stopped going by that name, Loki. So why did Ra address you as that?"
"I never stopped going by Loki," Loki mouthed, snapping his fingers as his signature horned golden helmet appeared atop his head, and as a giant mammoth pelt cape draped itself over his shoulders. Otherwise, his appearance hadn't changed all that much. "And besides, Daimen is merely one of the names I just so happen to go by. So sue me for not being honest. Is it so hard for a Trickster God to be dishonest nowadays?"
"See! He gets it!' Nanabush barked, laughing, causing Loki to smirk. After a few minutes of laughing from Nanabush, the fox Trickster deity coughed, before sighing. "Although, we should really get to the point. He's on the move, a whole 50 Million Years earlier than usual. Does anyone have any ideas as to why that could be?"
Zeus hummed, cupping his chin. "There is a possibility that it's because Rachel didn't die during The Day Of Reckoning. Every other time this has happened, He managed to kill all seven members of the Seven. Perhaps the reason he has woken up again sooner than we wanted him to is precisely because Rachel did not meet her end at his hands."
"That is a good point," Buddha murmured, frowning. "But at the same time, that makes no sense."
"Oh? How so?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because, if we're being technical here, Rachel segmented her soul into threes. The first half went into The Seal, the main portion is still with Ra, and the third half is wandering about The Multiverse, unaware of her origin. The Seal requires payment of the casters' souls, or a portion of it, in order to activate. Therefore, that should not be possible. The Seal would have worked as planned. Unless, of course, someone tampered with it," Buddha replied as Michael grunted.
"Tis it possible that the reason why Thine Seal was prematurely finished due to The Dead Multiverse? Thou is aware that it is a sentient being, so perhaps it is becoming immune to Thine Seal, and therefore making Him immune, as well?" Michael questioned, making Ra nodded in agreement.
"Well said, old friend. Then that simply means that we end Him when the opportunity arises," Ra replied, making Michael snarl.
"Thine Shall Not Kill His Grace's Son!" Michael roared, earning a death glare from Ra.
"And need I remind you that His Grace's son has not only been the reason for the death of a majority of my Pantheon but also the death of Vishu, whose place you have since taken up? Not only that, but the premature death of the last Sixth Wielder, and the last Wielder of The Seventh?" Ra spat. "Or, the nigh uncountable amount of lives that He has stolen from us? Or, perhaps, the reason why The Virgin Mary's soul has been twisted into what it is now?"
"If I remember correctly, Jesus is still fuming over that one," Loki purred. "Demiurge The Forsaken One. Kind of a badass name change if you ask me. I'd call it funny if it weren't so tragic," Loki continued as Zeus snickered.
"So, then we let His Grace know our decision? That the next time he rears his ugly head, we shall slay The Ender of Worlds?" Zeus asked as Michael slammed his fist atop the table that they all sat at.
"Thoust doest not understand! If we kill him, all of humanity perishes alongside him!" Michael roared as Shiva frowned.
"If that was the case, then how come humanity hasn't disappeared every time we seal him away?" Shiva argued. "If that was the case, Mikey boy, then we wouldn't have sealed him away either," Shiva continued, earning a rage-filled glare from The Angel Of War. "You know what I think? I think you don't want to kill His Grace's son because you still believe he can be redeemed. You still believe that that Traitor can be cleansed of his sins.
"Well, news flash, bird boy. With all of the pain and suffering he has caused, he's better off dead. He wasn't treated like a God, so he threw a temper tantrum and tried his damndest to kill Daddy Dearest. And we all know how well that turned out for the last guy who tried that one," Shiva ribbed, as Michael flinched.
"How much you wanna bet Lucfier is laughing his ass off right now, alongside that hellspawn of a daughter of his. He knows damn well what mess it was we made, and he revels in it," Loki quipped as Buddha frowned.
"Miss Charlette is not nearly as bad as her father, you know. She is actively trying to cleanse Demons and send them up to heaven. You all are aware of that correct?" Buddha interjected as Loki shrugged, his expression one of indifference as he rolled his neck from side to side.
"Not that it matters. However, I do have a question for our Angel friend here," Loki began, as he glanced over to Michael, who scowled at him.
"What dost thou want, Trickster," Michael bit out as Loki's expression turned into one of pure anger, making Michael recoil.
"Tell me, O' Great Angel Of War… If we could have killed him since the very beginning, prior to him getting stronger, why did His Grace lie to us for this long?" Loki asked as everyone turned to look at Michael, who sneered. "Oh? What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Is that Pride of yours stinging? I knew since the beginning that something was up, and yet, no one else ever caught on. Shiva's right, if he was so heavily tied to the existence of humanity, then home come they weren't sealed with him?"
"You…! Thine's question is blaphemous! Thoust shant glorify that question with a response!" Michael spat, glaring at Loki, who simply reclined in his chair, kicking his legs up on the table with a shit-eating grin.
"Deflecting, are we? Pray to tell why that is, Michael. Or is Daddy Dearest not letting you spill the beans?" Loki questioned as Nanabush cleared his throat.
"While that is a very important question, Loki. Let us not forget that He is His Grace's son. While he has done downright unforgivable things, we must realize that killing your offspring can come with hefty costs to one's mental well-being," Nanabush said, looking over to Michael. "Though, that does not mean our stance on the matter has changed. We are done playing games, Michael. If His Grace has a problem with our decision, then he can be the one to talk to us. In the meantime, let us try to figure out what is causing that mental block between yourself and Jamol Anderson."
Michael gritted his teeth, hands balled into fists as his whole body rattled with rage. Unfortunately for the Angel, no one took pity on him. This had been the umpteenth time that Michael had gotten all hot and bothered over something as minuscule as this. As much as Loki was one to believe in redemption, he knew that there were just some people who couldn't be forgiven.
"How about we take a moment for recess on this meeting? We shall reconvene in 15 minutes, so that we may move on without any hassle," Zeus commented as everyone muttered in agreement. Loki stood up from his chair and vacated just out front of the building.
Staring up in the sky, looking into the countless spirals of matter and anti-matter that were The Multiverse, one had to wonder just where He was. How far away was he from their current location? What was his next move? What was he even doing right now?
All Loki knew for sure, was that this wasn't going to end well. It was getting evident that Sealing him away wasn't going to work for much longer. They had done the same thing for Billions if not Trillions or Quadrillions of years now. This trick was bound to stop working at some point, and rather than waiting for the day it is to fail, it was now or never.
He Who Shant Be Named needed to meet his end. And that needed to happen sooner rather than later.
-To Be Continued in – Hear The Dragon Roar – Part 1
