Here we go, one more shorty after this one.
Beta: CrowSkull
The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 99
Volume 3, Episode 18
Salem
The Queen of the Grimm, Salem, stepped around the debris that had fallen from the ceiling in Beacon's basement. It wasn't much of a basement now, after all of the chaos and explosions one could see the sky from down there. The sky in which was turning color as more and more Grimm made their way into the city. No longer was it a very human-like blue, it was turning into the burgundy color that she has grown all too accustomed to seeing every single day back in the Grimmlands. Good, now Vale was starting to feel like a home away from home. All she had to do now was get herself situated and comfortable and transform this once great castle of Beacon into a true kingdom. If the Grimmlands were a barren landscape like it mostly was then Vale would become the equivalent to the Grimm Kingdom to which the entire world should forever fear.
Salem chuckled to herself at the thought. But smothered the amusement down quickly. There were other matters to attend to rather than laugh at an inevitability. She looked for his body, using her magic to spray away the rocks and debris and render them to dust and sunder. Cinder had told her that she had been the one to kill Ozpin in the end, and that was all well and good, but Salem just wanted to be sure. The man, as immortal as he was in death, was just as slippery and deceptive in life.
It didn't take long to find him, for she knew where his battle with dear Cinder took place in the vaguest sense. Once she spotted a familiar head of white hair, she almost dared to call out Ozma's name and start to boast. She sighed a happy sigh that it was not the case. Salem went down to one knee and physically moved the last piece of debris off of the former headmaster's body, revealing the very clear puncture wound in his chest which must have pierced through his heart and lungs.
"There you are, dear Ozma," Salem said, caressing the dead man's face with one of her deathly pale hands. "You've caused me no end of trouble in my endeavors. But you ultimately failed in the end, as you always do. When are you going to give up? No, forgive me, it is a grave insult to assume that you ever would after thousands of years have already passed."
The hand she had pressed against Ozpin's cheeks clenched gently. Magic, real magic began to pour out of her hand and into the dead body. "Make sure that in your next life, you really think about who is your ally, and who is forced to be your ally. With that said, if you are somehow still alive now, die."
The headmaster of Beacon's body faded away into colorful dust as Salem fueled the flow of magic. Almost like a Grimm, ironically, did he die if he wasn't dead already. Seeing his dust float around the basement of Beacon had Salem letting out a chilled sigh, she could finally relax now. She didn't know why she was so tense before, but she was happy that she no longer wasn't.
"And you," Salem said, a smile drifting across her features as she viewed the man suspended in the air by fleshlike binds. She thought it was poetic, that one of the men who had suspended the original fall maiden in hypersleep for years was now suspended in the same area. Only he wasn't asleep, and he was fully aware of what was happening around him. "The headmaster of Signal Academy, Ozma's hidden right-hand man. He should have kept you hidden, he never should have let you show yourself. Now I have you, exactly where I want you."
"You won't have me forever," Abledo replied in a cough. He was beaten, scorched, and already tortured before she got there. She assumed that it was either Hazel or Tyrian or both that did it. They both had reason to, Hazel for his irrational conquest to punish Ozpin for the death of his sister and Tyrian because… well, he was Tyrian. "I am not immortal."
"That doesn't matter to me." Salem stepped up to him. She was so tall that despite him being lifted one or two feet up into the air, she could still look at him face to face. "You can deny it all you want, but you are Ozma now. You may have been born Albedo, but once you used that very interesting semblance on him, you became him. That means you know things, things that I want to know. In time, you will tell me."
Albedo flinched back when Salem's hand clasped his face, disturbingly gentle with how she handled him. "You will not be hurt anymore. You are still at a relatively young age and I could use a man with your talents. You have the right to decline, of course. But I feel as though in time, you will start begging to join my ranks."
"I'll never join you," Albedo spat blood not at her, but at the floor. In spite of being in pain and a hostage, he was still smart enough to not spit it on her face. Good, that meant even under stress he could still be smart. "If you really think that I am Ozma now, then at the very least we'd have the same mindset and goals. Ozma would never join you. You already had a chance to win him over once, and look at what happened because of that," He laughed when Salem's eyes narrowed dangerously at him. "Four beautiful little girls… what terrible fates they-" Before he could continue, Salem's hand snapped around his neck and began to squeeze. He immediately began to gag and shake in a desperate attempt to get out of her strangling grip.
"Hm, you may have Ozma's memories, but even he would be smart enough as to never bring something like that up in my presence." Salem's hand slowly drew away from his throat. "You are smart," she remarked suddenly, smirking as she returned her hands behind her back. "You almost made me want to kill you. If that happened then that head full of information would be all for naught. Smart, very smart indeed."
Salem turned away and began moving away from him. Albedo looked into her back, recovering from near strangulation but still managing to bark out the words he had in mind. "Are you going to make me use my semblance on you?"
Salem stopped and looked over her shoulder. "No, that is reserved only as a last resort to converting you. I still have other things I want to try on you, so until then, do try and not go insane. That would make this much harder than this ever needs to get."
With a flick of her wrist, Salem used her corrupted magic to seal Albedo away in the same flesh that bound him. A wall of flesh stood between him and freedom, not that he'd even want to break free in his current condition. With no aura and quite literally being in the new heart of the second Grimmlands, he was ironically safer in her care than not. She'd never let him leave Vale anyhow, not when she had so many ideas she wanted to try with him.
She made her way back up to the ground floor of Beacon, and then went to the cliff that hung over the Emerald Forest. There was when she summoned all of her minions. Watts was still on his way from the castle in the original Grimmlands, but Hazel, Tyrian, and Cinder were still well within her reach. Seers spread throughout the school and city and within minutes, Tyrian was of course the first one to answer her call. With the next being Hazel, and then Cinder at last. They all went down to one knee as soon as they formed a line behind her. Salem took the moment to bask in the achievement of what she has done. Looking over the burning city was a wonderful sight for her.
"Has the remaining students and any other forces of resistance been squandered?" She asked first without turning to meet any of them.
"The Grimm has seen to it that the school has been completely cleansed of any people aren't bent to your will," Tyrian answered for them, sounding saner than he ever would at any other time when he wasn't in Salem's presence. "Vale is still work in progress, but that was to be expected. A lot of people lived here, so killing them all or forcing them out of the city was going to take a lot of time."
"Hm," Salem agreed silently. "Amity Colleseum seems to have also floated away."
"Do… you want us to stop it?"
"No, there's no reason to spend time and resources on something that is unnecessary. That will be Watt's concern, in time." Salem finally turned to look at them each in the eyes. But the one she found herself staring at the most was Cinder. The woman looked back at her, a humble smile on her face as the very grateful look she had in her eyes was ever-present. "Cinder, rise."
Cinder did as she was told, standing above Hazel and Tyrian and letting her hands intertwine behind her back as her black-white hair waved along with the wind. "I am yours to command, my Queen."
"You have outdone yourself," Salem complimented, stepping closer to her fall maiden. Cinder preened at the praise and continued to do so as Salem continued speaking. "You have become the fall maiden, punished Malikai Matsuoka, let go of your hate for his son, and have brought an entire kingdom to its knees. You required my assistance for that last achievement, but it is yours nonetheless."
"No, I disagree with you." Salem raised an eyebrow as Cinder dropped back down to one knee. "Without you, none of this would have been possible. I owe everything to you, I am nothing without you. Thank you, for this power you have trusted to me, and for giving me this chance to prove myself."
"Your silver tongue is shining today, Cinder," Salem laughed, flattered by Cinder's praise unto her. "I trust you know what your next task entails, no?"
"Haven Academy." Cinder immediately continued. "My next task is finding the Spring Maiden, whether it is still Vernal or someone else she'd passed it on to, and then taking that power for myself-" Cinder stopped when Salem raised her hand.
"Your primary objective is not to kill the Spring Maiden and take the power for yourself, but it is to make her open the vault so that we may gain access to the Relic of Knowledge," Salem instructed. "Do you understand?"
"Yes, my Queen." Cinder said obediently. "My desires shall never rise above your own."
"You will get your power in time," Salem added. "But only in time. Remain patient, and you will be rewarded."
"My Queen," Hazel piped up, bowing his head when Salem looked at him with a questioning gaze. "Forgive me, but what of the Relic of Choice? Cinder is the Fall Maiden and the vault holding it has to be nearby. Why don't we take it while we have the chance?"
"If I knew where the vault for the Relic of Choice was, what purpose did I have ordering you and Tyrian to capture the headmaster of Signal?" Salem asked. "Do remain silent, Hazel. Your purpose is not to speak, but to do as you are told."
Hazel winced and bowed his head. "Of course, my Queen."
"I can get the information out of him," Tyrian remarked, the crazed look in his eyes appearing again as a grin spread across his face. "Let me be the one to make him talk. I can be pretty convincing when I need to be, my Queen."
"While I am happy to see your enthusiasm, you and I both know that he'd die before he talked. And you'd only serve to make that death come more quickly. No, I shall handle him myself. Your duty is to work with Cinder and Hazel in Haven as planned. Speaking of such, Cinder, where are those… children that you have brought with you?"
"Mercury and Emerald are ensuring the loyalty of Adam Taurus," Cinder explained. "I have no need of them in Haven, and I thought it unwise to leave them here alone with you with nothing to do. They are only useful as long as they are still useful, I don't want their skills going to waste, and Adam remaining an ally to us is paramount to having the manpower to overthrow Haven, and then Mistral down the line."
"I see," Salem nodded her head. "I expect greater things from you, Cinder. I will put my trust in you for now. Do not make me regret making that choice."
"What of the boy, your grace!?" Tyrian asked suddenly, raising his hand as if he was in a classroom and Salem was the teacher. "Little Kai! Your grandson! I've already proven myself useful in manipulating him once to unlock the true power of his eyes, I can do it again and have him work for us!"
"Kai Matsuoka is not to be harmed," Salem said slowly, threats dripping off each word as she looked at each of them. "And he will become one of us in time… Tyrian, you seem to want something to do, don't you?" When Tyrian nodded his head madly, Salem continued. "Good. As long as you remain in stern contact with Cinder, then you may pursue Little Kai as you wish, help him along with his next journey. Help him get stronger, and if possible, start leaning him toward us."
"If I may," Cinder interrupted. "But Tyrian is hardly the best person to do such a thing. Kai has no reason to trust him and won't, not after this."
"Then who is the best person to do it, you?" Salem laughed. "The one who killed his father, mother, and sister? Hazel has other things he needs to do and Watts may be even worse for the job. While Tyrian has in fact proven capable of making Kai do things he may otherwise never do. He will be the one to plant the seed, and you will help him in doing so if he needs it. But you are not to interfere with his task, is that understood?"
Pacified, Cinder bowed her head once more. "Yes."
"Good." Salem turned back to the sight of the Emerald Forest, which had been relatively untouched by the battle. "Now leave, all of you. I shall remain here to keep the Grimm under control until the time comes that we have need of them again. You all have your tasks."
"My Queen," Tyrian, Hazel, and Cinder said at the same time before getting up at the same time and walking away in their own separate directions.
Salem sighed happily when she was left alone. As much as she needed those people, she got a headache every time she had to explain to them what their roles were. Time and time again, some of them forget their place. Tyrian, despite being insane, was the one easiest to predict and mend under her control because of his undying devotion to her. Whereas Hazel was a man with too big a sense of morale to be working with her, and Cinder was ambitious. The latter of the three was the most useful of course, but Salem knew that soon she'd have to keep a close eye on her. Cinder wouldn't let herself be controlled forever, especially not when she wanted all the power in the world, and yet even when she had it, she would still be beneath her. In time, she would have to be dealt with. But for now, she still had her usefulness.
She couldn't help but wonder what her grandson was doing at that very moment. It had been weeks since the initial attack and their very first encounter. She knew that he'd been taken out of the city by someone and that he'd be safe as long as he was on Vale. She had ordered the Grimm to not even get near him, but only the ones that were on Sanus. She assumed that his next target would be returning to Anima, where it all began. Shade and Vacuo was not a land she needed to look at anytime soon, and Atlas was going to be the next focus after Mistral. He was a smart boy, so surely he'd be able to figure it out for himself.
Thinking about him had her thinking about what Albedo said before. Her daughters… she as well thought that they had all died that night and for a very long time she thought that was a fact. Even now, she didn't know how exactly it was possible, but at least one of them had to have survived. She could sense her own blood, although heavily diluted, was flowing through Kai's veins, especially when she reached to touch him. How could that be possible if the only kids she had ever had were the four that she and Ozma had in the beginning?
Knowing that at least one of them had survived fills her with so much joy and the fact that she was able to meet one of their descendants, one of her descendants, made it even better. She still had family out there, and although it may not seem that way to Kai himself, she was his family as well.
"I look forward to our next meeting, Kai Matsuoka," Salem grinned. "May it be even more pleasant than the last time."
And there we go, one more chapter to go and this will be the first story of mine that has reached chapter 100. A slight little warning, but there is going to be a small period of time where I have to sharpen some of my plans. So after the next chapter, there is going to be a short hiatus. Nothing too long, don't worry. Just enough for me to get my bearings on how exactly V4 is going to start.