"Chief Torturer! What is this place?"
There in the distance, she could still see clearly that the Coquina Sandriders were bolting down the hills of sand, numbered in the thousands. All carrying with them rifles and blades coated with their own thick layers of Aura. Others rode on the back of these giant scorpions, crushing large crystals of Dust in the palm of their hands to ignite powerful bursts of elemental powers, ready to strike.
And there beside them was the gigantic beast crawling with each heavy rumbling step toward the approaching army of Atlas.
Weiss could see all of this, and yet for some reason, her vision seemed darker somehow, filtered with strange colors that made it feel as if nobody on this battlefield could actually see her floating there, to the point she might as well not even exist.
"Step into my office," Oobleck grinned, standing in the middle of the desert as the Vacuan troops sped past him, showing off his intangibility and invisibility to those around him.
Noticing this, Weiss immediately floated over to those same Vacuan troops that went dashing by, and true enough – she was also intangible to the soldiers. None of them could see her in her current state.
"You are not a general," said Weiss, "and yet, you possess one of the strongest abilities among the ranks of Oz's circle."
Oobleck chuckled:
"The God King hides more secrets than even some nations, daughter of the North. Now come face me, tyrant! Let me feed."
There was something utterly bizarre about the way he looked, with the shimmering emerald eyes of something that was decaying, rotting into a being that was hardly recognizable as being human. He wore a suit, a dashing tailcoat, like that of a civilized man. But his pale skin spoke of secret stories that had not been revealed for perhaps centuries past. An emanation of something more, something outside the cosmos, cursing him with a darkness that was vague and confusing.
What exactly was this man?
The shadow of the Grimm Giant was something so massive it could block out the sun with one single step. The beast defied comprehension and logic, casting doubt on the true hidden history of these fractured lands of Remnant.
None of that mattered at this moment, when the howling of the cannons and bombs from ships and tanks rained down from far above. A rain of a thousand flames.
The missiles traveled far and with majestic speed. But the armor of the beast coating its head, its claws, was nearly impenetrable. Grimm creatures possessed no soul, no Aura, and yet the strength of the monster was truly that of a full-fledged Giant.
Standing on top of the jeep with his soldiers sitting in the back shooting their rifles toward the oncoming scorpion riders, Ghost clenched his fist in a ferocious silent rage as he scanned across the desert, spotting Sun Wukong in the distance.
Riding on the scorpion, the blond Faunus held out his red bo staff, twirling it with grace and precision, before coating it with his own golden Aura. On his other hand, he reached down into his pocket to pull forth a handful of small Dust cartridges, jamming it into the weapon, before pulling out fragments of powerful elemental Dust crystals, most notable of which were gravity gems.
Two skilled men with great strength, all standing tall on top of what they were riding.
And within seconds they leapt off high into the sky at blinding speeds.
Sun now spinning his staff to have it transform into a pair of gunchucks like a blooming flower, flipping in the air as the whirling of the guns flared up in the shape of a gorgeous western cactus. And from the barrel of the guns stuck at each end of the nunchucks came fierce rain of flames to assault Ghost from all directions.
Yet, in the face of fierce fire, Ghost was not phased. With a single hand motion, he managed to slice through the wall of bullets completely, bursting them all in less than a second. There, emerging from the smoke Ghost grabbed onto the front of Sun's face before tossing him straight down into the sand far below.
Flipping through the air, Sun regained his balance, landing on the sand to face Ghost head-on.
"You are… White Fang. Sun Wukong. I've heard of you."
"And I've never heard of you."
Ghost remained stoic, expressionless.
From the side of his belt, Sun reached inside his pocket to pull out a peculiar little capsule. Crushing it in the palm of his hand, he removed the broken casing to reveal inside a small mechanical-looking pill.
Recognizing what Sun was holding in his hand, Ghost's eyes lit up in a fit of fury.
"Where did you get that?" He pointed his finger.
To respond, Sun simply smirked, uttering a single word:
"Magic."
Sun swallowed the pill whole, and within less than a second, his body was already changing. With powerful muscles raging across his biceps, his torso, and even his legs. Not being able to contain the sizzling sting of his Aura, he tore off his shirt, tossing it away.
Putting aside thoughts and questions, Ghost readied his battle stance. But his defense was instantly penetrated when Sun dashed forth at a speed Ghost could not see, stabbing his chest with the bo staff to knock Ghost far into the distance.
Ghost's own Aura was strong, but there were hints of it flickering at that single strike, and he too felt the impact even with the shield protecting him.
Biting his lip, the young man slammed the ground out of silent fury, before instantly powering up the palm of his right hand into the shape of a blade, with the mechanism of his golden glove unraveling from his golden ring, lighting up like starlight, and instantly flooding his entire body from head to toe with powerful electrical energies that burst forth without restraint.
With one swift motion, Ghost swung the electrical blade, driving it down like a bolt of lightning. And yet, with the speed at which Sun was moving at, it was as if the man could no longer feel any pain. Simply letting the numerous burning bolts sear his flesh, which allowed him to power through and swing his staff right at Ghost's head.
Blocking the strike with his hand, he countered with a roundhouse kick. Which proved ineffective the moment the staff crumbled once more into the gunchucks so that Sun could create a near impenetrable lotus defense, swinging it around to counter Ghost's flurry of powerful kicks and hand slashes.
Glancing around the battlefield, Ghost was horrified to see the thousands of Sandriders charging forth to ram straight into the tanks and jeeps of his platoons. Many soldiers got off their vehicles to brandish their blades and rifles, only to be pushed back by the insane inhuman strength of each rider, tossing around the privates like they were ragdolls.
Putting two and two together, he concluded that Sun had also distributed the pills to the Vacuans among his troops. Many of the higher-ranking Atlesian officers were strong enough to hold back some of the enemies, but the giant scorpions provided an advantage that was difficult to combat against, given their powerful pincer attacks and toxic tails.
From afar, Ghost could see Lisa dashing around, punching the Sandriders off their mounts at supersonic speeds. So with this, he was at least relieved that the members of Team GOLD could still hold their own.
Which also included Oliver leaping around to stomp the very ground they walked on, causing tremors for enemy cavalry. His wind power was rising with every passing minute, but foolishly, his attention began to turn toward the gigantic beast in the distance. Numerous Paladins were deployed from airships onto the back of the monster, walking on its exoskeleton while placing bombs and mines along the way to then later detonate. The explosion caused moderate damage against the Grimm, but not enough to knock it off balance, or even to stagger it ever so slightly.
Making the decision in a split second, Oliver took off, jumping high into the air to gather into the palm of his hand a massive vortex of wind, spinning so furiously, he produced a punch that shook the very ground and sky itself, blasting to the deep sunny sky a tower of tornado drilling straight down onto the head of the Death Stalker.
The beast roared, but still yet to yield.
"Pay attention Atlesian scum!"
Smacking the staff across his face, Ghost's attention was drawn back to his current bout against Sun. The extra force driven by the weapon gave off the impression that Sun had been jamming Gravity Dust cartridges into the staff. And Ghost's hunch was proven completely right the moment he saw Sun taking out even more Dust fragments to shove into the loading chamber of his guns.
Ghost realized then of his innate superiority in power, for he knew this man was only capable of matching his natural abilities when he was provided with a mountain of assistance. But that did not mean he was to be underestimated, because Sun was still clearly a cut above any ordinary fighter. Having the experience and smarts to know when to strike, and the battle knowledge for counters and offense.
And so, with utmost determination, Ghost's eyes lit up a powerful flare of sparkling lightning, reaching deep inside to a level of effort he rarely had to force himself to – the blade on Ghost's hand sharpened into the shape of a crescent moon, now a long sword imbued with electrical energy that could burn the very sun itself.
With this in the palm of his hand, he charged forth.
Councilman Sleet walked alongside Councilwoman Camilla, heated and furious from debate as they stopped in front of a large wooden door in this vast surprisingly empty hallway. This was a brief moment for the two to rest from the constant harassment by the press, not to mention military personnel and politicians assaulting them with ideas, concerns, orders, questions, and meetings left and right.
But a moment alone meant a moment to argue.
"I can't believe you are siding with the insubordinate spoiled brat in a cape," cried Sleet.
"Don't you throw this onto me now, you were the one who insisted on that plan to lie to the public. What was it you said? To bolster the image of the Empire?"
"YES, the Empire's image, not her image! She's making a fool of us and the boys in marketing and PR. Not to mention it was a national secret, she should've been charged with treason right there on the spot."
"Regardless of that, the Empire looks stronger than ever with the Envoy at the helm. The people feel safer when they know they have someone like her protecting them, twenty percent more to be exact according to census data. It's what we all want at the end of the day, so don't be such a crybaby."
"How dare you? That woman isn't protecting them, she is ruling over them."
"Let us both be honest here and cut to the real reason why you're upset."
"Enlighten me."
"You're pissed off that you lost control, you lost power – you lost. Simple as that. It's written all over your face. You just want you and the rest of your cronies to be in charge. It's so obvious."
"Insult me with your baseless accusations all you want. I am one of the few men on this Council who knows of the danger of a Superman. Something like that is not natural."
"On the contrary, I think it is a completely natural evolution of the human race. To surpass our limits and reach new heights."
"You just keep on being a bootlicker, see how far that takes you. It won't be tomorrow, it may not even be next week, but one of these days they're going to blindfold you and shoot you in the back against a wall. There'll be gulags, prison camps filling up with opposing parties, and you're a fool if you can't see that."
"Slippery slope, Sleet. Slippery slope."
"I have a meeting here," Sleet placed his hand on the door in front of him. "We'll pick this back up some other day. But I WILL get those votes from your judges and mayors, with or without you. We're not so different you and I, so don't pretend you're not also trying to get your own people into office. You're operating in flip territories, they'll turn on you eventually."
"We'll see about that. Have a nice day, Sleet."
And with that, she walked off into the hall, disappearing behind the echoes of each step.
Waiting for the clicking of her heels to disappear, Sleet stood there patiently until he was sure nobody was around, and only then did he lightly knock on the door. It swung open in an instant – and inside, Sleet walked into a scene of secrets and schemes.
The schemes of Professor Watts, standing in the middle of his office next to the one Adam Belladonna.
He stood there wearing a black long coat with two golden epaulettes, draping it over his shoulders almost like a cape, hanging over a sharp red shirt with rolled up sleeves and a pair of black gloves. His long black pants and shiny dark brown shoes seemed fresh off the tailor's order, woven with the highest quality this richest nation could afford. On the back of the coat there – the crimson beastly symbol of the White Fang.
Sienna Khan stood by his side, adjusting his collar and dusting off anything she could find over his shoulders to make it as proper as possible. Once done, she handed over to him the object he wore as leader of the White Fang, leader of an entire people – the white mask with intricate crimson swirly patterns, to be carried around like a crown of a king.
"Councilman Sleet," said Watts, "so glad you could make it."
Sleet walked forth, not even paying the Faunus any attention as he plopped himself down on one of Watts' nearby couches, crossing his legs as if owning the place.
After a long period of tense silence of Sleet grabbing the whiskey on the table next to him, pouring himself a glass, the Councilman finally decided to acknowledge and glance over before pointing his finger at the young man, saying:
"I don't know how you managed to pull this off, but I'm impressed. Keep this up and who knows, maybe one day you'll find yourself on the Council."
To that, Watts simply scoffed:
"I'm not about to give up actual power for petty politics. But enough about that, listen up. We have some pressing matters to attend to."
"What do you have in mind?" Sleet asked.
"The war is raging on," said Watts, "and I now have a plan to kill the Superman. But in order to do that, we're going to need every advantage we can get our hands on. That means only one thing."
"We have to find out who and what Weiss Schnee really is," Adam finished Watts' thoughts.
"Precisely. Technically speaking we already know what she is, or excuse me, I should say I know what she is. But the thing here is we do not have the context or backstory to piece together the history. There are no files on record, no archives of any kind. Not even a trace that someone was snooping around sweeping the whole thing under a rug."
"What do you suggest we do then?" Sleet asked.
"There are no records of her history," said Watts, "but there must be some records of recent exploits, especially in the last five years or so when the Superman was made universally known. We can start here, because there must be things that are written about her even if those things don't exist in the Atlas' archives. Accounts written by people from other kingdoms for instance."
"What exactly should we be looking for?" Sienna asked.
"Anything. Rumors, news articles, some diary entries from a three-year-old child, it doesn't matter. Any scrap of information will help us learn more about her because of the power of beliefs. Remember – the gravity of Stories and beliefs is what powers this universe."
"Okay… I don't really get it," said Sienna, "but if you think it's going to work…"
"It has to work," Adam asserted. "There are lives at stake here. The last of our White Fang brothers and sisters, including our brother in arms Sun. He's out there risking his life for the cause. That cannot go to waste."
"In any case," Watts looked over to Sleet, "I take it you'll keep all this under wraps as best you can? That means we'll need to travel and cross borders without interference."
"I'll see what I can do. I can pull some strings with the Atlesian border guards, but the Mistralians may be tricky."
"Tyrian will assist you in that regard," said Watts. "There are perks to being one of the richest most powerful men in the East."
"I'm putting a lot on the line here," Sleet tapped his finger on the table, "so this whole thing better goes without a hitch. And if the Superman somehow catches any of you in the act, I don't know any of your asses from here to Winter, you got that? I see any of you uttering my name, I'll shove your own tongue down your throat, and that's a promise."
"Heh, typical politician."
At the heart of the desert, the battle continued to burn the sand below. Rifles and cannons roaring against the roaring of the scrambling scorpion. Blades and steel clashing against the clashing of the sparkling metal. And in the middle of it all, the spirit and Aura of Sun and Ghost flared up brilliantly beneath the emanating sunlight of noon. Two stars colliding.
Digging deep inside, Sun clapped his hand together to summon two light clones as he fell to the ground, launching the two of them into the air where Ghost was descending from.
But the lightning bolts from Ghost's Semblance struck far and fast, dissipating the clones in a flash instant. Swinging his arm back, the blade on his hand lit up like a shooting star, before cutting at right where Sun was standing, creating a massive moon slice traveling faster than thunder's light.
With expert precision, the slice carved up the very sandy ground beneath them, leaving perfect prints of the cut. Which under normal circumstances would've been splattered with the blood of the Faunus standing before him.
But here, with the help of these power pills, Sun managed to gather up enough strength to power through the cut, shielding himself with a flickering layer of Aura, clearly now nearly out of breath and out of stamina.
Clapping his hands together once more, he pushed himself to the very limit to now summon forth an entire army of light clones, numbered in the hundreds, popping into existence to wield their shimmering golden staffs. They all leapt into the air, front flipping around in formation to strike down from far above, twirling the numerous gunchucks and staffs with utmost grace.
But in the end, the beauty of this demonstration proved no match to the full power of Ghost's overwhelming Aura, charging up the electricity within him – the energy burst forth to create a shockwave so large it managed to knock several Sandriders far in the distance off their scorpions from the force of tremors alone.
Not even Sun himself could stand on two feet now that his energy had been nearly depleted.
"I don't know where you got those pills from," said Ghost, adjusting his glove, "but you will be put on trial one way or another. Surrender."
But there, in the distance came a plasma gunshot bolting across the battlefield, hitting Ghost straight in the chest area and instantly knocking him back away from Sun. The blue-colored shot was swift, and impactful, but not strong enough to penetrate his Aura, which Ghost suspected was never the intention in the first place.
Because arriving next Sun, helping him up on his feet, was a young man with spiky ocean blue hair held together by a pair of yellow goggles over his forehead. He wore with him a simple red leather combat jacket with a sharp black collar above a long pair of grey jeans adorned with pouches and ammunition, while sporting on his hands a pair of strong black gloves padded with dark metal plates to protect from the recoil of the large energy rifle he held in his hands.
"Just in time, Neptune," said Sun, holding onto his ribs.
"Let's finish this asshole, bro."
"No! Don't underestimate him. This one – he's different. I would've been cut in half several times by now if it weren't for the pills."
"So what's the plan?"
"Buy me some time, don't try anything you can't handle. It's a long shot, but I'm going to try something weird. King Theodore himself told me about this as a last resort."
Neptune nodded his head as he pulled down his goggles over his eyes, saying:
"Do what you have to do."
With a single click of a button, the energy rifle in Neptune's hands began to quickly morph into a long mechanical trident glowing with crystal sky-blue energy, no doubt powered by strange mechanisms that consumed Water Dust, as with a swift swing of the trident – Neptune created an entire wave of water conjured from the tip of his weapon, and riding on this wave of water, he charged straight toward where Ghost was standing, trying desperately to draw his attention away.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Sun dashed away as fast as he could, moving faster than the eye could track to arrive at an empty sandy hill that had yet to be burned by bombs or guns despite the battle still raging all around in every direction.
And there on this small mound – Sun prostrated himself, now on both knees, and after pounding his forehead onto the ground, he bellowed up high into the sky:
"MAIDEN OF SPRING, LEND US YOUR POWER! DELIVER US FROM THIS HELL BELOW!"
Ghost's eyes lit up the moment he heard this proclamation from afar. Grabbing Neptune by the neck, he tossed the young man aside as he attempted to push through the crowd of Vacuans who were also getting in his way.
"Oh no you don't!" Neptune rushed over, leaping in the air with the trident in hand driving straight down.
Only to then instantly be thwarted by the electrical field that was surrounding Ghost from head to toe, making Neptune bounce off him as if he were jumping straight into a brick wall. With another swift motion of Ghost's hand, barely even flicking, the entire row of Vacuan soldiers standing in front of him was instantly cut in half, with their blood splashing outward like geysers.
Seeing this from afar, Sun immediately looked back into the sky, shouting even louder:
"MAIDEN OF SPRING, DELIVER US, DELIVER US, PLEASE!"
And yet, still nothing happened.
Charging his trident now to its maximum capacity, brimming with powerful Dust energy oozing out of the bladed tips, Neptune launched it forth into the distance in perfect javelin form. Sizzling through the air, yet somehow still stopped mid-air by the lightning field shield, instantly tossing the trident to the ground.
From behind Neptune, Cardin snuck up on him to hold him by the waist, lifting him off the ground for a suplex and driving his head straight onto the sand. With his mace in his hand, Cardin coated the weapon with his Aura before using every ounce of his super strength to smack him far into the distance, launching him into the middle of the crowdy battle where Elm and Ren were struggling.
Now alone with Sun, who still knelt down facing the endless sky above, Ghost stood behind him with the palm of his hand sparkling outward uncontrollable Aura energy. Glaring down, Ghost stood there taking a moment to breathe, but still ready to strike.
But not without muttering out a single word:
"Goodbye."
The massive pillar of thunderbolt struck from heavens on high, but the peculiar thing that everybody on the battlefield immediately noticed was the fact that the bolt did not come from Ghost's Semblance. As it was something so thick and dense not even Ghost's defensive Aura could prevent him from being interrupted, launching backward mere milliseconds before he could cut Sun into pieces.
Descending from a place far in the clouds, everybody was struck with awe and sheer terror by what they were witnessing. Many in the Atlesian army could not even believe it, questioning if they were all collectively hallucinating. But there was no doubt about it.
It was another being who could naturally fly – the Spring Maiden.
Several days earlier…
King Theodore stood by watching a painted circle of ancient scholars gathering around several dimly lit wax candles in the middle of this moldy secret cellar of his kingly castle. Hidden beneath layers upon layers of musty concrete passageways, long winding corridors leading into difficult mazes, and doors locked away by both modern and ancient methods. Keypads and old bronze keys working together to protect the secrets that many were not ready to hear.
For this reason, Sun very much felt like an interloper despite the fact that he was greeted and welcomed into this kingdom of the West as an honored guest.
"Master Sun," said Asher the servant, following his king shortly behind, "do you know why there are only four major kingdoms in the entire world? There are, of course, numerous towns, villages, cities, many who claim to have no affiliation with any of the kingdoms, and yet still living under these laws, paying their taxes, walking the roads, asking favors from judges."
"Huh… now that you mention it." Sun scratched his head. "I guess I never really thought about it."
"Oh boy, here we go again." Theodore rolled his eyes. "Make it fucking quick Asher, I'm falling asleep already. You know this ritual will take weeks. You're boring us to tears with this crap! Chop-chop."
"You can take a brief nap, sir. I'll be finished by then. Anyway, as I was saying, it could all just be a coincidence. But what we have in our national possession here reveals to us the underlying truth of this world. Something that makes up the foundation of all kingdoms, the foundation of the gravity of these lands – the reason why people revolve around these massive countries, seemingly attracted by an invisible force pulling them in."
"What are you trying to say?"
Pointing his finger to the middle of the circle, only now bright enough for Sun to see the intricate runes and patterns decorated onto the floor with fresh white paint, and placed in the center there was a peculiar-looking corpse.
At first, he thought this was the body of someone who had recently died. But upon closer inspection, that did not seem to be the case given the pale color of the withered skin and dry flaky surface that looked like it had been sitting in a dark closet collecting dust for ages. Not to mention the frame of the skeleton seemed a little smaller in comparison to a typical modern person.
And here, the most bizarre thing to Sun, the one thing he could not reconcile, was the fact that the longer he stared at this corpse, the more fresh the flesh seemed to him for some strange reason. He did not know how or why, but he just instinctively knew that this body was an ancient relic of some kind, despite not giving in to any sign of decay or odor.
Clearing his throat, Asher finally explained:
"That there – is the body of the Spring Maiden. Her name is Vernal."
Sun's eyes widened into an immediate size of pure disbelief. But Asher was still not finished, he continued:
"The Seasons are formless and beyond the cosmos. They are abstract and larger than this planet, possibly larger than the entire universe. And to interact with our plane of existence, they emanate their essence into the lower worlds. Piloting the bodies of chosen avatars, exceptional individuals with powers beyond mortal comprehension. It is said that the bodies of those first chosen by the Seasons, the first generation, are the closest things to perfect emanations of pure cosmic essence. And for that reason, their bodies possess a certain divinity, thus making it so they will never rot or decay even after death."
"That – is insane!"
"This divinity has a certain gravity to it," Asher went on, "and this is the reason for the existence and the longevity of the four kingdoms, and why the peoples of the world revolve around them. As the legend goes, any country possessing a body of a Maiden, or any piece of their divinity, will gain the power to rule beyond the thousands of years. The four kingdoms are the only countries to possess the original corpses of the first Maidens. Which means their reigns became much longer than any city, town, or village to come after that. Many tribes and settlements will claim to possess a piece of a Maiden from the second generation onward. Some of these claims are true, others are questionable. But regardless, one thing we know is for sure – the power they wield is but an emanation of an emanation."
Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Sun glanced about all over the place, still trying to process this information. Asher grinned ever so slightly, almost as if taking pleasure from his confusion. He then continued:
"There are divine miracles known to happen by the grace of the Seasons, working through these corpses as a conduit. One of these miracles is the passing on of Seasonal emanations, passing on the title – the true way to coronate a new Maiden."
"How do we know the person chosen is the right one?" Sun asked.
"We know because we know." Theodore spat a mouthful to the side, getting impatient. "We are geniuses, you see. Or I am, anyway, since you people are all small-brained monkeys. It's impossible for you to comprehend how smart I am."
"Those chosen by the Seasons will experience a telling sensation upon contact with the corpse." Asher explained. "No two experiences will be the same, but the revelation that one is chosen will be clear for all to see. The chosen one to take up the mantle of Spring is truly one from an unexpected source. We scoured these desert lands for years, and only to come across a young orphan girl by the side of the street in the land of the East of all places."
"You mean in Mistral? Why there? How is that possible?" Sun shook his head.
"It just is." Said Asher. "It felt so insignificant, how it happened. One we could've so easily missed without divine guidance. The gravity of the corpse is strong, very strong. Even in something as tiny as a single finger. But once the girl came in contact with the corpse, her body lit up like fireworks. You should've seen it, it was… magnificent."
"So, who is this girl?"
Snapping his fingers to signal one of the robed scholars, Asher called out loud:
"Bring in Nora Valkyrie."