Weiss Schnee
"Mana is the basis of all Magic. From Mana, Magic splits into two directions, Practical and Technical. Practical Magic leads into Spells directly, then branch's off, while Technical Magic leads into Enchantments, then branch's off.
These Branch's only meet again to form Summoning Magic.
For our purposes, Technical Magic will remain the focus for now.
Enchantments are the most direct form of Technical Magic, rather then turning Mana directly into a result, you use Mana to attempt to change an already existing being, granting them magical effects.
Unlike Buff and Debuff Magic, Enchantments are permanent until broken, and they cannot affect living things. Which leads nicely into the first branch of Magic off of Enchantments.
Curses. Curse's are Enchantments with two caveats, they are able to be applied to living things - Things that possess a soul - and Curses are unable to be manually broken.
The only way to Break a curse, is to destroy whatever it is placed on.*
Contracts, like the ones for our purposes, are a form of Curse.
There exist two kinds of Contract, Loose, or Direct. Loose contracts have an inbuilt self-destruct, allowing them to be called off if both parties agree. Direct Contracts - more commonly known as Binding Contracts - Do not have this, and are therefore impossible to escape.
There are three known ways to summon a creature, being Formation, Subjugation, and Contracted.
Formation involves the creation of a 'living' thing out of your own Mana. When you can no longer sustain the creature, it will 'die' rather then simply disappearing.
Subjugation involves a similar process to Contracted Summons, however, rather then forming a Contract with the creature, you can instead defeat it in combat, and bind its soul to your service.
Contracted summons are creatures you have formed a Summon Contract with. These are seen as the most powerful kinds of summons, and will simply be sent back to there home once the mana flow is cut off.
In order to make a contract with a creature, you must first Summon it directly using a ritual, then, simply bargain with it and form the Summoning Contract.
Creatures come from different Planes of existence. Take heed in there trickery and rules.
Never bargain your soul.
*There exists some telling of a way to specifically break Creature Formulas affecting a living thing. These are curses that effect the soul, body, and mind. While many doubt the legitimacy of The Abaddon Curse, it is one of the only records to have survived the Erasure Ritual."
"Now... what to bargain with." Weiss placed the book down with a sigh. She had known most of that, but was smart enough to double check her knowledge before she tried this.
The Workshops main Circle had already been configured for the Summoning... now she simply had to pick a Plane to pull something from...
"Trying to Bargain with the Fae with no experience is a death sentence... Heaven is empty... that leaves Hell and the more obscure worlds..."
Trying to summon a Devil to bargain with was probably a bad idea... her only options left besides that was going the Subjugation method... but... that held an issue.
A Devil or Fae she summoned to try and Subjugate could simply return to there own world before she got a chance to defeat them. Most of them would stick around for a Contract Bargain... but any she could Subjugate before they fled would be too weak to be useful.
And any that wouldn't flee for the opposite reason, she wasn't confident she could beat.
Her Arma-Gigas was a prime candidate for a Summon... however, you can't form a Summoning Contract with a Golem.
Theoretically, you could send a Golem to another plane in order to use it as a summon... but that would involve a Contract anyway, as you'd have to bargain with a creature to take it to another plain.
This was why she had asked Qrow and Glynda to meet her here.
Between the two of them, she was sure they'd have an idea about where to get a decent summon from. Qrow himself had spoken before like he'd fought someone with a Bronze Affinity... if Weiss could find out what kinds of summons they used...
"So, why are we here?" Perfect timing.
"Qrow, use your manners."
"What manners?" Weiss could practically feel Glynda roll her eyes without even turning to see it.
"Hey. Ice Queen." Qrow had already arrived next to her, finding his way onto the platform floating in the middle of the room that the main Magic circle was on. "That cloak ain't yours you know."
"You'll have to rip it off me-" Her anger stopped as Qrow held a hand up.
"Just a light jab." He leaned back with a sigh. "You know the crew Neo was rolling with? There holed up at a few different warehouses all over Vale... I've searched most of them, and nothing so far." Weiss nodded gently.
"I see..." She turned away and sighed. "Where is Neo at the moment anyway?" A change of subject was in order.
"She's-... it's... currently being held at Beacon. The cell is comprised of more Anti-Magic runes then exist probably anywhere else Vale." Glynda had joined them as she spoke.
"How strong is she anyway?"
"As far as we can tell she dosent have a title, so no Secondary Mana pool to deal with... but her Primary is only a little smaller then a True Dragons." Weiss blinked in surprise at Qrows words.
"How is-" She shook her head. This was a bit too far off topic. "Nevermind... I called you both here because I need help with something." She gestured to the circle in front of her and Glynda adjusted her glasses.
"I see... the ritual is... Quaint." Weiss let out a sigh and Qrow chuckled.
"You looking for a Summon?"
"Yes. My power is mainly contingent on having one... if I can use it, perhaps I'll be able to defeat Rory if he comes for me."
"You wouldn't be fighting alone anyway. Between me and that Pyrrha chick, he's not a threat."
"And if he has a Legendary Tier weapon?" Glynda crossed her arms and Qrow shrugged.
"Legendary weapon or not, he can't beat two Harbingers and a Dragon all at once."
"Which is why I need to be able to use my power properly." Weiss cut in, to which Qrow sighed.
"I guess... what summon were you thinking of going for?"
"That's the issue... I'm not sure. I was hoping you two might have some ideas." Glynda started thinking and Qrow scratched his head. "Qrow, have you not fought someone with a Bronze Affinity before?"
"Yeah... but that was a while ago. He was using Formation."
Weiss furrowed her brow.
"I could go that route... but I'll leave it as a backup option for now."
"I do have an idea." Glynda's words were a beacon of hope. "You're in possession of an Arma-Gigas correct?"
"Yes... but i thought Golems couldn't-"
"They can if someone takes it to another plane."
"Do you know a creature that would do that?"
"I personally don't possess any Summons other then a Familiar, who isn't strong enough to take the golem... but-" She turned to Qrow and he sighed.
"I knew this was coming..." He stretched his shoulders with a groan. "If we're doing this... we're going to the training room first."
"You'll have to do the Subjugation method, you alright with that?"
"Yes but... why are you-"
"Just, pull your golem out." The man sounded anxious... it was a new sound from him.
Glynda had constructed a new magic circle in the middle of the training room, one meant for summons rather then just being a general ritual circle... and since Glynda had tuned it rather then Weiss, it was looking much better.
The weird part was Qrow stood in the middle of it.
Weiss pulled out her Scroll and tossed the piece containing the Gigas out, with a flash of light the Golem stood tall and proud, its sword held in ready.
"Order it to be passive and transform... you're gonna have to fight it." Weiss gulped at the Harbingers words... she wasn't exaclty prepared for this... but...
She let out a sigh as she transformed into her half state.
Ruby had gone through most of there clothes and enchanted them with the Shifter enchantment. When Weiss had commented on how odd it was to do that to there pajamas... well, Ruby had won that 'argument'... she had been right anyway...
Turns out one of them could be attacked in there bedroom.
The clothing she wore now was simple comfy clothes, but after transforming they became like a part of her, wreathed in her white scales, and certain parts even became a light blue membrane like her wings.
"Your Highness? Would you like me to take your cloak?" Weiss turned to Glynda with confusion... but she saw it out of the corner of her eye as she did.
Reaching a hand around, she grabbed Ruby's cloak behind her and...
It was still red...? Not only that... it was still... cloth...? It hadn't changed with her?
"I thought this was Shifter-"
"Summer might've keyed it to only work on Ruby." Qrows words were helpful... and Weiss shrugged as she carefully removed the item.
"Thank God I didn't tear it when I transformed..."
She readied herself and looked to Qrow.
"Not gonna go full Dragon?"
"I want more combat practice." Qrow nodded as the explanation and Glynda quickly fetched a sword for Weiss.
The Queen looked over the rapier for a moment before nodding.
"This'll do."
"Alright... prepare for some disgusting shit." Qrow sighed as he activated Deaths Magic, allowing the mana to flow into his soul.
The signature black liquid cloak formed around him and Weiss watched as his body disappeared into a shadow like substance under the hood... The last time Weiss had seen it, she hadn't been able to make out many details about it...
But, with her half form... her eyes could see more.
The glowing eyes of the figure... they were a deep crimson. A red full of... not hate, animosity perhaps.
And his face... there wasn't one there. Rather, a white mask of sorts that looked to be made of bone.
He slowly raised his 'arms' and held them forward. The magic circle around him glowed with a black colour thay seemed to steal the light from around it... before black leaked from the ritual.
It flowed up and into the air, the same liquid that seemed to make up Deaths cloak... the bubble of black formed into a figure which faded into a form she could recognise.
A ghostly form that held a single glowing eye in the middle of a white mask with red designs. The creature lacked legs and seemed to possess flight, its arms actually looking fairly weak.
This was a Geist.
"Qrow... can summon Grimm??"
The creature let out a screech before lunging forward, diving into the Golems chest and phasing right into it's being.
The Gigas shuddered for a moment before its blade slowly rose in it's grasp. It looked at Qrow for a moment before deciding against him as its target, instead settling its sight on the half Dragon.
"Not giving me time to think about that huh?" It brought its blade down in a large overhead swing that Weiss dodged with a sidestep, the greatsword cleaved into the ground and Weiss stepped off of it in a leap, raising up to eye-level with the possessed Golem and flapping her wings, sending her careening forward into its head.
Her sword bounced off of its armour and she adjusted herself to fly past its head instead. As she did, the Gigas quickly spun around, swinging at her in a large horizontal arc. Weiss put her hand to the blades flat side as she dodged the swing, freezing a small amount of ice to it still wrapped in her hand so she was carried around by the swing.
When the blade went still for a moment, she broke her hand free from the ice, running down the blade and moving to its neck this time.
She plunged her sword between it's armour and drove her mana through it, freezing a good portion of the Golems shoulder and upper body into a block of ice. She quickly leaped off the creature as it threw it's offhand up to punch at her.
Weiss rested in the air for a moment as the Gigas tried to scrape away at the ice. Her wings flapping to keep her still as Glynda yelled to her.
"Your Highness! Don't destroy the Gigas! What you can summon afterwards will be whatever condition you leave the possessed Golem in!"
"Great... so I have to be careful."
She landed with a sigh and readied her blade again.
"What attacks do I have that can win me this fight without dropping the golem in condition..."
Thanks to her power, once she had a summon, when she called upon them they wouldn't arrive the same as they existed.
Rather, they would be made of ice magic. Among other things, this would grant her the ability to use her double Ice Affinity to fuel the summon leagues more efficiently then without. But, it would also allow her to change the summons shape minorly.
Size changes, reforming it with more magic when it took damage... things like that.
So long as she didn't destroy the Gigas now... she should be able to handle any issues with its condition as she summoned it.
The easiest way to deal with this was to just overwhelm it with sheer power... which she could do with one breath attack.
But Weiss wasn't interested in doing things like that. Not right now.
She hadn't slept in three days now, her wife was being possessed by a maniac that wanted both of them dead... and she was too weak to stop him.
"I need to let off a little steam."
She lunged forward the second it was free of the ice from earlier, with a twirl of her body she side stepped another downwards swing, and held her hand out as it swung at her with another punch. The golems arm stopped dead when its fist met her palm, and she let a smirk cross over her expression.
The Gigas was weaker and slower then her, even with the Geist possessing it.
With a push of her hand the Golems fist moved back and it stumbled a bit. She flapped her wings and landed on it's chest with a leap, placing her hand on its centre now.
"The Geist is what I'm Subjugating I guess... which means I don't need to hurt the Gigas... just what's inside of it." With a pulse of mana the inside of the Golem started leaking our a light blue glow. The Geist inside screeched with what a Grimm experienced instead of pain, and the Golems arms waved and shuddered. "So, how do I get you to submit?"
With a few more blasts of her mana, the golem fully fell on its back and stopped moving all together. Weiss tilted her head and stood, turning to Qrow who simply nodded.
"Grimm don't have souls. There all created with a Formation summon. In order to Subjugate one-"
"-I need to make a contract with the original summoner." She leaped off of the Golems chest and walked over to the figure of Death.
He still stood in the middle of the circle, which was letting off a blue light now.
"Congrats, I'll be a fair bargainer and give you the Geist for free." Weiss could have sworn he smirked, but he didn't have a face she could see.
"So, Grimm are the creations of Death?"
"A previous bearer of the title."
"Right... that Salem woman was a Harbinger of Death..."
"Though, the ones I make are different from 'normal' Grimm. Mine won't attack me, and I need to supply them with mana to keep them going... I never summon them if I don't have to, but with this contract, this one will be yours to deal with. No mana cost from me." Weiss nodded at his explanation and he held his 'hand' out. She met it with her palm and felt a surge of pain ring through her soul for a moment before it disappeared.
"Ow."
"Oh, yeah. It's gonna hurt by the way." Weiss deadpanned at him before sighing and turning to the Gigas-
"Oh... it's... gone?"
"Not gone. Congrats, you got a summon."
"Where is it stored then? If it's not in another plane..."
"The black Death stuff is like a portal to another plane if you wanna call it that." Qrow reverted to his base form and Weiss let out a sigh of relief as she stopped feeling Deaths mana wash over her.
She too returned to her base form, and Glynda brought over Ruby's cloak... which she quickly put on again.
"Can other Grimm attack it in that plane?"
Qrow shook his head.
"My Grimm and... hers... are kept separate. For ease of understanding, let's just pretend there's two planes for Grimm. All of them are in one of them, besides the Geist and Gigas which are in another." Weiss nodded.
"So... how do I summon it?"
Glynda pulled out her wand with a smile.
"Welcome to Summoning one-oh-one." Her smile unnerved her... it unnerved Weiss even more as Qrow left the room.
"Shits too complicated for me." Was the only reasoning the Queen got.
"So... let's get started then?"
Weiss had experienced many, many confusing things in her life...
How could her father be such an asshole, how did she fall for Ruby so quickly, why was Ruby experiencing the dreams... etc.
Listening to Glynda explain how to summon something though?
Easily top of the list.
"The things we do for love."