Hero of Remnant: Veil of the Aether

by Aetherveil

Following after the events of the Volume 3 Arc, Dante, and his partner Inuba travel across Remnant to make their way to Haven, searching for clues that will lead them to the real mastermind behind the attack on Vale 6 months prior. They will meet allies, both old and new, and face challenging new enemies on their journey. Secrets will be revealed. Continuation of Hero of Remnant.

77. Chapter 77: Worst Case Scenarios

I know, it's getting annoying to apologize all the time.

The latter half of this chapter was a collaborative effort between myself, Xera, and HydraFlow, using their characters Nira, Ray and one other. Like me, both were really busy with their obligations and writing for long periods was a little difficult. Hence the lateness. But hey, we got it done in the end.

Also, there's a lot of holidays and family related celebrations, so that's gotten in the way a little bit.

In any case, here's the new chapter. Sorry for the wait.

---

Chapter 77: Worst Case Scenarios and Tundras

«»

---

- Nearly two years ago -

Her eyes slowly opened, blinking a few times as she steadily pushed herself up. She could hear the birds chirping outside, and rubbed her eyes as she yawned, sitting up fully to look around, feeling the side of the bed.

…

…

He's not here…

…

…

Was it all some wild fever dream?

She hesitantly reached beneath the sheets, feeling a slight wetness as the soreness finally hit her body, particularly her rear.

…

She suddenly remembered how hard she rode him…

Her cheeks were flushed red as she slapped the sides of her head, shaking it a few times to compose herself once more.

If he isn't here, where is he?

Looking around the guest room, Anya found a shirt in the closet next to her that had some of Dante's clothes for whenever he stayed over for the weekend. The shirt was a simple black t-shirt, and long enough to drape down to her thighs as she opened the door.

A scent immediately greeted her Nostrils. It was the smell of grilled meat, a salad with olive oil, lemon juice and vinegar, and… freshly brewed blood orange juice. The girl walked the hall of warm hardwood floors until she finally rounded the corner.

She then guffawed and burst out laughing.

Dante turned around in surprise, sighing when he realized it was Anya.

"Scared the shit out of me…"

"W-What are you doing?!" She said, still trying hard to stop laughing.

"Naked apron, obviously." The young man said unperturbed as he put down his spatula and tugged at the front flap of his pink apron that read "kiss the cook".

"Why?!" Anya said, her voice raising a few octaves as her laughter died down little by little.

"I don't know, I was feeling saucy." He shrugged, "Actually, it was that, but also because I thought I'd do something interesting and maybe appealing. Is it working?"

The girl titled her head to get a view of the gratuitous ass shot, biting her lip as she liked what she saw.

It was a rather fantastic rear…

Then, she noticed the scratches on his back, quickly walking up to him as she rested a hand on it.

"Goodness…"

"What?"

"Your back… I… I may have scratched it quite a bit…" Realizing what she just said, her eyes jolted up, "W-Wait a moment, why do you have scratches?!"

"Anya."

"D-Did I do something to your healing ability, or-?"

The girl was silenced by a sweet, brief kiss.

"Relax. You didn't cripple me or whatever. If anything, it's… nice."

"N-Nice..?"

"Yeah, nice. It tells me I did an excellent job pleasing and worshipping you."

She slapped his back, making him jump a little and gasp.

"Ouch..! That hurt!"

"Sorry…" she said, gently rubbing his bare back apologetically, "You… You did well…"

"Only well?"

"Extremely well." The girl wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly, "A night I'll never forget."

"G-Glad to hear it…" Dante said, frightfully aware of how her two large objects pressed deep into his back, "N-Now let me finish up before I burn the rest of this chicken. Or pitch a tent by accident."

Anya giggled a little as she let go and rounded the corner, sitting in the stool chair, "And who said that isn't the end result I desire?"

"Hug me again after breakfast and you might just get your wish."

"Really? Hugging is all it takes?" The girl asked, resting her chin atop her folded hands.

"Hugging me while wearing little? Yeah, it'll work. Though it's usually kissing that gets me in the mood."

"Kissing?"

"I can be wholesome at times too, alright?"

"I know." She smiled, "There is… one thing I wish to correct."

"Correct?"

"My true name... Is Satanya Khâlios, of the Realm of Conquerors."

"Realm of Conquerors? That's…"

"I know, not exactly fitting considering my personality… But it is where I was born."

"And your father… He's a King Class?"

"He's the 4th and last King Class, though he was exiled by the True King for his constant warmongering of the Human Realm."

"Isn't that kind of the goal?" Dante asked as he finished grilling the last piece of chicken.

"Not exactly. For unknown reasons, the First and True King declared that our kind were not to invade the Human Realm over a thousand years ago. He wanted peace." Satanya explained, "My father… He absolutely despises humanity, and ignored the First King's declaration. And so one thousand years ago, he opted to wage numerous campaigns against the Human Realm across different decades. That is, until he was stopped some 300 years ago."

"Centuries, huh… Wait, how..? Er… You know what, I probably shouldn't…"

"I know what it is you want to ask. I'm sixteen years old, a year older than you. From what I was able to gather of my past before I fled my father, I was… 'born' in a chamber using genetic material from my father and my mother. Considering the circumstances of my birth, I never met my mother, and assumed she might have escaped my father. Aside from that… the only other thing I know is that I am of the purest Dark Entity blood."

"So… are you a King Class too then?"

"In terms of power, yes, I can match a King Class. But I have my own classification."

"Let me guess… You're a Queen Class?"

"Indeed, I am." The girl giggled, "As far as I know, my classification is the rarest kind since there have only been three, myself included."

"But there's Four Kings."

"Yes, but there have been potential candidates for King Class across the millennia."

"Then why haven't I heard about any of them?" Dante asked as he set down the plate of grilled chicken, leaning on the countertop.

"Because they were essentially 'classified' by the First King. The Second and Third King essentially culled the rest because they deemed them unworthy."

"And your father was the lucky duck of the bunch."

"Yes."

"Okay… So what's the difference between Queen Class and King Class?"

"Well, the more obvious difference is that Kings are for the most part strictly male, while Queens are strictly female. The other is that our Magical powers are vastly more powerful and varied."

"All without being physically weaker…"

"Yes. That much I should have proven to you last night." She smiled coyly.

Dante cleared his throat, "So… You're actually a Queen, and a Queen Class. That's… wow."

"You don't have to call me that at all. Well, unless in the presence of Belîa."

"Belîa?"

"The Embered Knightess."

"That's her name?"

"Yes. When we were both children, I fled from my father and freed her from the dungeons where she was being kept. And so, she became my… bodyguard of sorts, but more importantly, my first friend."

"Wait wait wait… She said she was like over a thousand years old. How-?"

"A necessary lie that was propagated to keep the legend alive. Belîa's mother was the true original Embered Knightess, and she wished to carry on her honorable legacy. Despite being the same age as me, her 'size' allowed her to pass as an adult, even at a young age."

"Holy crap… She's… Well, she's freaking ten feet tall!"

"She's actually eight feet tall without the armor on."

"That's still freaking huge..."

"Riding on her shoulder at times was… interesting."

"Seriously?"

"She kept insisting a lot of the time, so I couldn't really refuse her…"

"Well aren't we the pampered little princess?"

"I-I never asked her to do it!"

"Gonna ask me to carry you?"

She blushed a little at the suggestion.

"Anyway, let's eat up. I'd like to put some underwear on soon…" The devil said.

"You can stay like that." Satanya told him, smirking playfully.

"Any particular reason..?"

"I like how the apron shows off your legs." The girl said, narrowing her eyes on Dante hungrily, "That aside… It's Saturday. And I don't quite feel like leaving the house today." Satanya explained as she gently grabbed hold of Dante's hand.

The young devil smiled back with a tilt of the head, and began to lean forwards towards the girl, "Your wish is my command, my Queen."

"Stop it!" She giggled as she leaned in as well.

Before the two were about to kiss, a huge and brief flare of blue flame appeared before them.

From it emerged an incredibly tall woman of 8 ft, with long, flowing and wild light blonde hair that reached her waist. She was indeed young looking and beautiful, but could easily pass as a young adult over twenty on height alone, despite being sixteen like Satanya. Her bangs draped over her shoulders in wild flares, framing sides of her face while her front bangs covered her entire forehead, the center portion covering part of her nose. Turquoise blue eyes with black, serpent-like slit pupils glowed faintly, like embered blue flame.

Due to her immense stature, the woman's overall figure was more voluminous than the average woman and voluptuous, yet still beautifully shaped along with. She had a slender waist for a person her size, her hips also fairly large due to the same. Her thick legs and arms had some muscular definition, perfectly toned without being absurdly muscled, a trait that greatly resonated with the rest of her large body. Her bust could only be described as mountainous, each breast much larger than his head, yet still perfectly rounded and perky, her dress helping with that feature to a slight degree.

Speaking of, her sleeveless black dress had a mesh chest-window that covered most of her bust, alongside mesh windows that were sewn into the sides just above the hips. Her back was mostly exposed, and the long silk dress had two side slits cut above the thighs to show off the black tights she wore underneath, and her black heeled shoes. Her left arm was covered in heavy black armor plating that resembled smoldering bone, with tufts of blue flame emerging from the gaps in her armor. The woman's other arm was covered with a thin glove of the same material as her dress, reaching just above her forearm.

As the flames quickly died down, she realized she was facing the wrong way, and turned around.

"Your Highness, I-"

The woman froze at the sight before her. Her eyes focused heavily on her barely dressed Queen for a few moments before they quickly drifted over to the almost nude young devil, who was currently screaming internally while trying to not make a panicked face.

"Belîa, wait a moment-!"

"W-Why are you..?!"

The immensely tall girl sniffed around briefly, then sharply focused her glare on Dante, who took a step back in response.

"You! You are the Black Knight! You..!" She froze yet again, her eyes drifting towards the ceiling briefly as realizations suddenly struck her before she angrily glared back down at the devil again and roared, "YOU DEFILED MY QUEEN WITH YOUR FLIRTATIOUS WOOING?!"

As her voice seemingly made the world tremble from her fury, she made to round the countertop to grab at him and strangle him, but the devil immediately fled to the other side and hid behind Satanya.

Normally, this was a tactic he would never resort to. However, Belîa was Satanya's retainer, and she was almost five times his size.

He was actually afraid of being crushed for once.

The Queen immediately stepped between them, protecting Dante with a stern stare despite her trusted friend's attempts to go around her.

"Belîa, please listen to me!"

"Worry not, your Highness! I will incinerate this cad until not even slag remains of him!"

"Belîa Ignîal, you will heed your Queen!"

Upon her command, the massive woman knelt down immediately in reverence, all while managing not to crack the hardwood floor as he kept her head lowered.

"My Knightess… Surely you remember our conversation about a particular person I was… interested in, but never introduced?"

"I… Shamefully, I regret to inform you that the revelation so long ago halted any further ability to think. Therefore… I did not remember such a thing, your Highness…"

The girl sighed as Dante peeked over her shoulder, "Belîa… This is said individual. As it turns out… he is also the Black Knight you and I know well."

"B-But your Highness..! Your identity..!"

"He knows. We… had a tense revelation the night before, which… Which then led to a night of immense passion." Satanya affirmed proudly, "The truth of the matter is that we are madly in love with one another."

The large woman made to speak, but immediately held her tongue.

"You are free to speak."

"Highness… This man… He has a reputation for courting women… My only fear is that he has intentionally wooed you for the purpose of self gratification for an evening…"

"See? I told you people were spreading rumors about me regarding that kind of thing…" Dante whispered.

The Queen crossed her arms and firmly stared at her retainer, "The Black Knight… No… Dante has proven to be of excellent character these last few months, both in terms of romantic relations and as an individual. You would do well to consider all future rumors as slanderous hearsay. Understood?"

"Y-Yes, your Highness…"

"Rise, trusted friend."

Belîa did so, looking anxiously between her Queen and Dante, still having mixed feelings. True as it may have been that his reputation as a warrior was indeed great and mighty, and that he had been working with them for the last two months to achieve their goal, there were still other sources of information that had troubled her about him.

However… If her Queen had been engaged in a romantic relationship with him for months now, so much so that she would firmly command her to stand down, then what she said had to be true. Not to mention… the mood did not seem like one wherein the devil had forced himself upon the Queen.

It would seem they really are… If that is the case…

"I-I suppose you will be planning the ceremony then..?" The Embered Knightess bravely asked.

"Huh..?" Was the response she received from the pair of lovers.

"S-Surely with this act you shall be engaged, no?"

"W-Wait a minute, Belîa! T-That's-!"

"Is it not human tradition that when you mate, you must be wed to one another?!"

"N-Not necessarily, but that's skipping way too many steps! I mean, yeah, I really love her a lot and want to get there eventually, but that's way too soon!"

Satanya let out a stuttering, confused squeak as she blushed furiously at the remark from Dante, holding a hand over her pounding heart.

"I-I see! The error is mine then! Too eagerly did I consider you a scoundrel, Black Knight. Or rather… Dante." The Knightess bowed her head respectfully, "These… events have thoroughly surprised me and utterly confused me, but… If my Queen has chosen you, I have no right to object. I can only give you my blessing. And… I only ask that you care for my Queen in ways I cannot."

"Don't need to remind me…" The young devil sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, eyes jolting up, "I-I mean that respectfully, mind you…"

"A-Anyway… Belîa, what is the purpose of today's visit?"

"I am here to report that the Warlock, Tûlok Ulqôs escaped me last night. His reinforcements appeared and blocked my path."

"And the reinforcements?"

"Subtly incinerated without incident. Unfortunately they were all Lesser Dark Entities, thus we were unable to capture anyone with actionable intel."

"Yet again he manages to stay a step ahead of us… We have to make sure he can't interfere in the peace talks, Belîa. Alert everyone to keep close watch of the Citadel and prevent any assaults that might occur, day or night."

"And you, Highness? Shall I remain in close vicinity?"

"Erm… I suppose so… Not that I don't want you here! I just…"

"Y-You needn't explain yourself further, Highness. I understand you wish to have your day of… intimacy."

"W-Wait a moment-!"

"Please excuse me for the interruption!"

She respectfully bowed before disappearing in a burst of blue flame, making Satanya sigh.

"That went smoother than a tub of shit…" Dante pointed out.

"I'm sorry… I really didn't expect her to be here today… And I especially didn't want her to find out like this!" She slapped her hands to her face, "That was so embarrassing!"

"Well, she knows. I mean, she really knows."

"Dante!" The girl exclaimed like a disappointed mother.

"So what?" He hugged the girl from behind, "It-"

"Changes nothing. A phrase I'm all too certain I'll be hearing far too frequently…"

"Her aside… Remember that I've got you covered. I'll call Blanc later and tell him to have his personnel on alert."

"Tell him?"

"What?"

"He's the King of this Kingdom, which in turn leads the rest of the world by example. You're just going to 'tell him' to do something?"

"Uh… yes?"

She laughed briefly, grabbing hold of his arms wrapped around her waist, "Your arrogance truly knows no bounds, does it?"

"Only because I'm the best."

"You are indeed the best…"

"When we're finished with breakfast…"

"Yes?" The girly coyly smiled.

"Should we shower and maybe go out somewhere for a little while? Or… Would you prefer we actually stay home today, and have me continue to 'worship' you?"

"Worship me?" She giggled.

"I mean… It's accurate. Did it not feel like that last night?"

"No, it did. I felt… appreciated. I felt loved. I felt… far too many things, if I'm being completely honest. But… the one thing that kept coming to mind… was that I was finally with someone I could spend the rest of my life with." She paused, turning around to face him directly, "Did… Did you really mean it? What you said earlier…"

"Y-You really gonna make me say it again?"

She pouted at his response.

"Don't you think we should at least finish High School first before we actually get engaged?"

"Look at you being so responsible."

"I'm always responsible, despite my general acts of irresponsibility."

"I won't even begin to point out the contradictions lurking in that sentence."

"Best not. You're more likely to char your brains thinking about all the stupid things I do or say." He said, making the girl laugh as she hugged him tightly, "You sure you wanna just stay in today?"

"We can go see a movie or something of the sort later. I just… want to cherish our time together as much as possible."

"You just want me to 'worship' you some more, don't you?"

"Indeed. Your Queen demands it."

"Then the Queen will get what she wants." The devil said as he picked the girl up and carried her off.

---

"So… Remind me again why we're just walking about Mantle?" Dante asked as he walked next to Dawn, the duo traversing the night streets of Mantle.

"Frankly speaking… Atlas isn't exactly something new for me, considering my background. And to be honest, I… don't quite have experience with cities like these. So in essence, I would like to examine my surroundings."

"How exactly did you survive World-Hopping?"

"Well, I was fairly well prepared each time. I had my own provisions, my own tools, my own goods I could trade for money or anything else I needed… I essentially had no need for extraneous travels."

"Basically you don't have much travel experience. And I mean actual traveling, like being on the road for months, not a day or two."

"What do you expect? I was effective, efficient, focused, and managed to complete my tasks quickly and without much incident." The girl argued.

"Yeah, but like a dumbass, you didn't stick around to actually see The World around you. You stuck around enough to get a quick glimpse and that's it. You SparkNotes'd it."

"I understood that reference! I utilized it in my studies at times when I needed quick refreshers!" Dawn proudly exclaimed.

The young devil rolled his eyes, "References aside, we gotta start getting you some real World experience, little sister."

"Er… Very well, but where exactly do we start? I know I must familiarize myself with places like Mantle, but… I have no idea what to really look at and examine for future references."

"Let's put aside establishments for a minute and talk about money."

"Is that necessary? I mean, with some of the things we've collected-"

"They might fetch a handsome price, sure… But what if there's someone that won't buy your stuff or trade for it?"

"Er… Well…"

"What's your next step at that point?" Dante asked.

"I… I suppose I would take up commissions similar to the Bounty Board…"

"Correct. Earn money through some commissions, no matter how silly. Just don't take to selling your body or anything."

"Why would I ever do such a thing?!" The girl quickly exclaimed.

"People get desperate Dawn, no matter who or what they are. Under intense stress, people don't always think clearly and sometimes make some really shitty, life changing decisions when they think they have no other choice." Dante explained, "That's why you always explore other alternatives than something like that. Unless you're actually a super freak and-"

"Brother!"

"Just saying…" He defensively raised his hands momentarily, "Anyway, now that we got that covered, what about places of information?"

"Information? I'd have a Grimoire to look through-"

"Nope. What if you lose a World Info Grimoire? What'll you do then?"

"I… Uh…"

"Visit some pubs or shady dives. People get a little too drunk or high sometimes and have loose lips. You never know what you'll hear. And if you don't really get any good info or only bits and pieces, you try and find a broker." The young devil explained, "And if they're trying to pressure you or charge you way too much, put pressure on them."

"P-Pressure?"

"Yeah. Threaten them a little. And if they think you're joking, well… Show 'em you're not fooling around."

"Is that really necessary..?"

"Sometimes it is. The threat of violence alone is at times enough of a deterrent, but sometimes you gotta smack somebody around. Of course, don't be the typical jerkoff and throw your weight around because you can."

"Only do so when necessary. I understand…"

"And if you don't wanna really hurt 'em, play around with them a little."

"Play..?"

"Yeah. Since you're a mage, you can do all kinds of freaky shit. Mess with their vision, make them slip, etc."

"Like playing pranks!"

"Yep." The devil affirmed, "You're getting it."

"Then what about places to rest with friends? Or to procure food for them?"

"Nice inns or shops with some character. Nothing too fancy, unless some big wig is hosting a party or something. But even in that kind of scenario, be careful. You never know when they'll consider you a loose end and try to kill you."

"D-Does that really happen?" Dawn asked, shocked at the idea.

"Oh yeah. Either because of fear or because you slighted them in some stupid way." Dante explained, "Since you'll more than likely be ok, worry about your friends or allies first. Be like a personal taste tester if you're suspicious, even if you have to be rude about it a little."

"That's… doable I suppose…" The girl said, sighing briefly, "Does adventuring and the like generally involve so much paranoia and suspicion of others?"

"Honestly, it depends." The young devil shrugged, "It's mostly a gut feeling if anything."

"A gut feeling?"

"Yeah. Like do you think you and yours are safe? Can you truly trust so and so? Stuff like that." Dante explained as he came to a sudden stop, "You gotta continuously ask questions when you're out and about. Your survival, and the survival of those with you may very well depend on you asking questions. You'll never know when that one tiny detail you asked about might be the key to success. You're curious enough to ask questions and look at the smaller details, even if they seem insignificant at first glance. So you'll be alright in that regard."

"If you say so…" The sibling said rather meekly as she turned to look up at the shop sign, "A tea shop..?"

"Been looking for a place like this. Good to know there actually was one." The young devil said with a hand on his hip.

Dawn examined the front entrance of the nifty little shop on the corner of the street, noticing it looked like an eastern-style shop one would find in Mistral, or the Apparition World. It even had a sliding door made of light wood and thin paper-like material. But most flashy of all was the sign depicting a sort of green dragon, the name of the shop being "The Emerald Dragon".

"Well, I suppose this will be a nice place to relax…"

Dante slid open the door for his sister to enter first, where they were greeted with warm heat and gentle, eastern Music from Mistral. The shop was fairly large, and had numerous tables and chairs made of wood with bamboo legs. The wall was decorated in a way to resemble an afternoon in a bamboo forest during the winter. The atmosphere alone was just… so peaceful and inviting, comfortable and safe, as if nothing from the outside World could breach the welcoming walls of this shop.

At the very back of the shop was a large countertop area made of what looked to be cider wood, darkened with a smooth, glossy shine. On the counter and above in the racks attached to the ceiling were numerous jars, each containing various different kinds of leaves and other ingredients you'd put in tea.

Behind the counter seemed to be a backroom, wherein the door suddenly opened as someone came through.

An older man, likely between 55 and 60 entered the room, kind amber eyes catching sight of the two siblings. He looked to be about 5'7 and was quite round in the middle, but not excessively so. His aged gray hair was pulled all the way back into an eastern-style topknot, like what you would see with samurai, while the back was fairly short . His aged, but seemingly robust and cheerful face had a long, grey beard of seven inches that was cleanly cut and pointed. The beard cropped out into pointed ends at the edges of his cheeks, whereas the rest of his beard merged with his sideburns.

His attire seemed to consist of a jade green kosode with long sleeves, and an emerald colored sleeveless haori. A black obi kept his kosode in place, which had been tucked into a pair of jade colored split-hakama. Black tabi socks adorned his feet along with wooden zori sandals as he made his way over to the seat the two siblings.

"Welcome, my young customers. Will you be staying for dinner along with tea?" The man spoke, his voice rough, yet gentle and wise with a slight accent to it.

"You serve food here too?"

"But of course. Tea is well served with good company, but I believe it is best enjoyed with good company and good food as well."

"See? The only thing better than finding something you are looking for is finding something you weren't looking for in the first place that's even better. Like tea and food." Dante nudged his sister as they took their seats closest to the counter.

"Well said, my young friend." The older man smiled as he reached over the countertop and handed the two menus bound in bamboo sheets.

The young devil eagerly glanced at the three page menu, finding something else he never expected.

"Holy crap!"

"W-What is it, brother?!" Dawn jumped up in surprise.

"You serve three-colored dango dumplings?!" The devil asked with a bright sparkle in his eye as he looked up at the man.

The shop-owner let out a brief, hearty laugh, "Why yes I do. One of the better treats to have with tea if you ask me."

"Um… Is this 'dango' genuinely good?"

"You kidding me?! It's freakin delicious! Not to mention it's Inuba's favorite snack!"

"Ms. Kitsukami's favorite snack? Really? I mean, she does make desserts for us now and then, but I never really see her partake…"

"That's because she's usually strict with her diet. She does indulge now and then, but only when it's mochi or dango. She literally goes crazy for those two treats." Her brother explained, "Man, she's really gonna be psyched to hear there's a shop that sells dango…"

"Er… We should probably order some tea, brother…"

"Oh, right. Uh… Let's see…"

Yeah, he's got green tea here for sure… but I kinda wanna try something new for once… like…

"Right… So three skewers of tri-colored dango for both of us, and for me… I'll have the Pale Dragon's Breath tea." The devil said.

"I would like to order Jasmine tea." Dawn called out after her brother.

"Excellent choices! I will be out with your orders in just a few minutes."

He took their menus and immediately retreated to the backroom after grabbing two jars, one from the countertop and one from the rack above.

"See? Hidden gem. Literally." Dante said as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

"I do admit, the atmosphere here is… relaxing. It's much different than camping."

"You camped?"

"Of course I did. Before revealing my identity, whenever you and the group traveled outdoors, I camped out nearby."

"Impossible. We would have seen the smoke."

"I'm a Mage, brother." Dawn sighed due to needing to give an obvious answer, "If I can cloak my presence, I can just as easily cloak simple wisps of smoke or an entire campsite from view."

"I guess…"

"You guess?"

"I'm messing with you, Genius Mage." The devil said, "You seriously need to unstick the stick in your butt."

"T-There is no stick in my rear!"

"You sure?"

"I'm quite certain of it!"

"Alright, alright. No need to get upset. We don't want to break anything in this nice shop arguing…"

"Why assume I would break something?! If anything, you're the sort of neanderthalic barbarian to sneeze loudly and cause the walls to tumble down!"

"While I technically can do that, I cover my mouth."

Dawn sighed in frustration, leaning back in her chair as she covered her face with her hands. Dante… just smiled. This was fun. Not annoying Dawn, even though that was fun in its own way, but spending time with her, getting to know her better. It was… immensely enjoyable.

Whatever circumstances separated them in the first place, he was just glad to be here with her now.

"Foolish arguments aside…" The younger sibling spoke, "I… have something serious to discuss with you."

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Uh…"

She hesitated, fidgeting with her fingers before she took a deep breath and mustered her courage to speak.

"I… I wish to learn more about Shadow Skin, and Angel Shroud."

"That's it?" The devil scoffed, "Thought you were going to talk to me about something more complicated…"

"Is this not a complicated issue?"

"Well, yes and no." Dante waved off, "I can say my piece about Shadow Skin, but you should ask Ciel about Angel Shroud rather than me, since I never used it."

"But in Scylix's Domain…"

"That was a forced union, if anything. As in I drew upon something I really had no idea I had deep down. I mean, I knew I had it in me and have used the bare minimum of my Light Powers, but I never got to using Angel Shroud." He explained, "Like I said, Ciel's the only one of us to have both forms. I guess that makes her a genius."

"Then about Shadow Skin… How exactly did you come about it, if you recall? And what do you feel when using it?"

"Hmmm…" The devil brought a hand to his chin, eyes looking towards the ceiling as he genuinely pondered the thought, "First time I used Shadow Skin was when I was 13 during my fight with the Witch of The Void."

"The Witch of The Void… As I recall, she suddenly appeared out of nowhere, manifesting through F-" Dawn spoke up, pausing upon realizing the name she was about to mention, "She had the ability to manipulate space and time to create Imaginary Spaces for attacking and for defensive measures, didn't she?"

"She was probably the strongest enemy I ever fought at the time. She opened portals to swallow up attacks entirely, or to send them right back, she created void objects and shapes to attack with incredible power and could open portals and wormholes to travel about or avoid attacks, walk through walls." He explained further, "Her Imaginary Screen was one of her greatest defensive maneuvers, since it practically negated any sort of attack, but what I think was her greatest ability was Soul Absorption."

"She could steal other individuals' powers if she consumed their soul…"

"That's right. And she killed a lot of people in the three days she ran amok. Her time-stopping abilities weren't too scary for me since she could only make temporary bubbles to trap someone in it, but her Imaginary Dimension was a pain in the ass…" Dante sighed as he crossed his arms, "It kinda worked like your Territory Creation, where she could create a false World within a space to freely manipulate reality and time to an extent."

"To an extent?"

"Well, she couldn't make enemies weaker or allies stronger like you can, but she was able to shift the terrain in her favor, manipulate gravity to a greater extent, and make more Time Stopping bubbles for an omni-directional attack."

"I don't understand… If she possessed such vast and incredible abilities, how did you ever manage to defeat her? From what I understand, your more Aura based abilities weren't as developed back then compared to now."

"It's not that they weren't developed, it's just that I never fully used them."

"W-Why?"

"Didn't need to. Back then, no one was able to scratch me. Not even the Witch of The Void, for all her incredible power."

"H-How is that possible?!"

"Simple. I wasn't a child throwing a temper tantrum. I was more skilled, more focused. And yet in the end, I still used the power I hated back then."

"Were you that pressed to keep some foolish 'untouchable' streak?"

"No, I was pissed off more than anything. Blaire fought her before I did and almost died." Dante's eyes narrowed onto the table, "You may not have known this, but while Blaire had complete control over her power, it was still too much for her body to bear back then. She literally 'burned' herself out to the point of death in that fight, and would have killed the Witch of The Void if she didn't hesitate in the end. Thankfully, I arrived and shared a lot of my Blood with her, where it healed her body completely and even changed it enough to match our bodies."

"Her biology changed to match ours..?" Dawn asked surprised.

"Sort of, but not entirely. Point is, she survived and is now able to use the full extent of her power. Anyway… Blaire almost dying pissed me off enough to use Shadow Skin in the end. I let the Witch of The Void throw her temper tantrum to see what she had, then completely overwhelmed her in the end."

"Anger drove you then…"

"Anger, hate… A few other things I can't exactly recall, but…" He sighed, "One thing I could clearly recall, even to this day, was a need to avenge the fallen and kill whoever I needed to in order to protect what I cherished."

"But the Vessel… She lived in the end, didn't she?"

"She did. I got close enough to literally rip the Witch of The Void's soul out of her. It was… Well, it was freaky, since I had no idea then I could do something like that."

"Darkness existed before Creation, and it will continue to exist after all has perished. Thus it shall surpass all that comes after it." Dawn spoke softly, as if reciting a sort of mantra, "Then I suppose… I would need to be subjected to a great amount of stress to achieve it."

"You may not even need it at all."

"W-What?"

"Dawn… Do you really think you're the kind of person who could hate someone enough that you'd want to seriously hurt them? Much less kill them?"

"Perhaps."

Dante looked up at his sister with interest at her words as the girl lowered her gaze to hands.

"I pushed myself and got as far as I did for my family. I imagine… if I too was pressed to protect something I love dearly, such as my family… then I too would venture into the Dark and slay whatever might threaten them." The girl answered bluntly, "I would never sacrifice a part of myself or others to gain more power. But for those I love… I would spare no expense, and leave no foe unchallenged. Which leads to my second question."

"Second?"

"Yes… I… I wish to learn to fight as you do. With a blade." Dawn spoke up, "My Magic won't always work against every enemy I come across. That aside… I am not trained as you, Ciel and Leoanrd are. That is why… in order to protect what I cherish, I wish to learn from you. To become stronger and understand true power."

"You sure? If that's the path you wanna take, then I won't stop you. But it's gonna be difficult, sometimes unbearably so. And I'm not gonna take it easy on you just because you're my sister. If you truly want to learn and surpass your own limits… you're gonna have to work harder than you ever have before."

"I'll do whatever it takes!"

"Hmph… Then work hard, little sister. Work hard for the sake of your own goals and dreams."

"Tea is ready!" The older man said as he emerged from the backroom.

A wooden platter of two large tea mugs and two smaller platters of dango made its way to their table, wisps of steam steadily emerging from the tea mugs.

"Nice! The aroma smells really good!" Dante complemented, raising his cup to take a quick sip, "Damn, and it tastes really good! Hints of mint mixed in with that taste of berries… Kinda gives you the impression you are a Pale Dragon breathing cool flames!"

"Exactly what I was going for." The owner smiled.

"One can never go wrong with jasmine tea… Hints of sweetness with a faint floral taste… An almost perfumed aroma that's calming and rejuvenating… It's absolutely perfect!" Dawn also complimented, "And the dango… I don't typically eat sweets, but they're absolutely delicious!"

"You do all the work yourself?"

"These days I do." The older man answered Dante, "Before I settled in Mantle, my grandson and I traveled together across the World for a time. While I was certain about finally opening my own tea shop, he… went on a journey of his own."

"I see… Either way, for running a solo gig, you make some really great stuff. I'm actually kind of amazed you don't have more customers…" The devil replied.

"Life is full of many difficulties. The times we find ourselves in now aren't all too different." The man said, stroking his beard in a contemplative manner before he sighed, "Unfortunately, this means some are too afraid to leave their homes to enjoy themselves much anymore. They usually go straight home after work nowadays."

"Well, maybe we should do something about that."

"I take it you are a Huntsman?"

"Er, yeah. I suppose I am."

"Excellent. I pray for your safety and continuous success, young man." The old man smiled, "Please, enjoy yourselves."

With a smile and a respectful bow, he took his leave to the backroom, Dante keeping his gaze on the old man for a time.

"What is it, brother?"

"Ah, nothing. Just… kinda glad no one recognized me for once…"

"That's right, I almost forgot that because you're an S-Class Huntsman now, you're bound to grab the attention of the public wherever you may go."

"Honestly… I could have gone without it…"

"Brother… You should be grateful."

"I am grateful, to an extent. You know I'm not about titles or whatever, I could care less about any of that crap." Dante waved off, "Frankly, while being an S-Class has some seriously beneficial perks, it makes me more known to the public."

"Which makes it more difficult to operate subtly… I see your point…" The girl said.

"That's right. Which brings me to my other tip." The devil said, "Don't be a glory hog or anything. Be an outstanding team player, sure… But don't brag about it or anything like that. Try to draw as little attention to yourself as possible. The less the enemy knows about you, your abilities or your personal life, the better. Trust me in that."

"Don't be in the spotlight. Understood."

"No, don't be in the spotlight too often." Dante corrected, "It's good to earn some recognition, but don't be bitchy about it and act like people owe you or anything."

"I see… I understand."

"Good. And don't strive to be a hero if you don't want to. It's your choice, and your choice only."

"I think I understand that fact well enough after hearing your endless rants about heroes…"

"Alright then… That covers it for my crash course on Surviving on Your Own 101." The devil proudly crossed his arms.

"I thank you for your guidance." Dawn respectfully bowed her head briefly.

"Don't sweat it. Remember, this was all just advice. It's your choice how much of it you want to follow."

"I said I understand already, brother." The girl huffed.

"Just making sure."

At that moment, the black diamond stud on his collar blipped a white light three times before a holographic screen opened up in front of him. When he saw the message, as well as the Kingdom's local news-feed, he inhaled sharply before closing it down.

"W-What is it brother?"

"Fun time's over for now. We gotta head to the Academy and meet up with everyone for an emergency meeting." He began, "Apparently from Ruby's message, Tyrion Callows showed up at the victory party for Robyn Hill and slaughtered a few people before running away. And… from the looks of the news feed… someone fabricated footage to make it look like Penny did all the killing."

"Oh no..! Why would someone do such a thing?! To Penny no less!"

"As sweet as she is, Penny is still just a tool or a machine in the eyes of many. Her 'malfunctioning' and doing bad things while serving under Ironwood is the perfect opportunity to peck out his eyes and stir up fear. Not to mention…" Dante brought up his holographic screen once more, rotating the view so Dawn could see the screen, "A perfect opportunity to screw over Robyn Hill."

"The votes in her favor have slowed down considerably… Jacques Schnee has seemingly taken the lead…"

"Yup…" Dante said with a disappointed sigh, "I have a distinct feeling this isn't some mere coincidence…"

"How so?"

"Well, think about it. Small amounts of killing during voting night on your opponent's side, fake video surfacing to incriminate someone completely innocent… The timing is too convenient." The devil explained, "That aside, who else other than Salem would benefit from a mishap involving Ironwood? Or a similar do-gooder of the people?"

"Jacques Schnee… Then that would mean..!"

"He's likely become a collaborator without realizing it. Or maybe he's just stupid enough to make a deal with the Devil. Question is… who's the middle man this time? Tyrion isn't smart enough to come up with a plan like this. The guy is a fucking infantile psychopath."

"And as far as we know, Cinder Fall is out of the picture. That man, Hazel if I recall his name correctly, seems to be more of the type that is 'muscle' rather than 'brains'."

"Valid point… So then… Who's the social media intern trying to screw us over?"

"More dango!" The owner of the shop hurriedly emerged from the back door behind the counter, laying a jade carton box on the table as big as a pair of shoes.

"Uh, wait a sec…"

"You did say you have a friend who likes dango, no? I prepared some more for you as a gift for a first time customer."

"Oh, uh… Thank you, mr..?"

"Izo."

"Thank you for that, mr. Izo. How much do we owe you for our orders though? Cause we gotta go."

"20 Lien."

Dante pulled out two plastic cards, handing them over to the older man quickly as he and Dawn made their way towards the entrance.

"Thanks for the tea!"

The older man waved, smiling faintly.

"Kids these days… Always rushing to get from one point to the next…"

---

"This is the worst case scenario..!" Ironwood angrily spoke as his tight grip on the table's edge crushed it between his fingers, making Clover and Winter next to him flinch a little, "More people are dead, Penny's been framed, and somehow, Jacques Schnee is sitting on the council!"

Dante stood front and center with the General, while Ren, Nora, Ruby, and Qrow stood further back.

"Not to mention… A second shipment for Amity was hit today. It seems election night was the last push Robyn needed to go from hometown hero to full-on vigilante." Clover sighed.

"It seems Robyn has emboldened our suppliers in Mantle. They're refusing to sell us provisions until the city is adequately repaired. With Robyn redistributing the goods her team has stolen, the Amity Project is completely stalled for the time being."

"We're close aren't we? Is there any chance of us requisitioning more supplies from the business sector?" Dante asked.

"We've already requisitioned far too much as is. And since we closed the borders, we haven't been able to fully restock our own supplies or building materials for construction." Winter said, "Frankly, the only other option I can see is declaring martial law."

Dante narrowed his eyes as Ruby and Nora's eyes widened in shock.

"You're not actually considering that, are you?" The orange haired girl asked.

"What's more important? Establishing communications and uniting the world? Or appeasing a few city blocks?" The General asked.

"It's not so simple! You keep talking about how we just need a little more time, but you're not the one having to struggle!"

"We have all had to make sacrifices for the greater good. Mantle has had to bear a lot of the burden, yes, but-"

"They're bearing all of it! The longer this waiting game goes on, the harder each day gets for people down there and now you wanna send in more soldiers? You can't just force people to fall in line. If you do that, you'll just be trading all of these problems for the Grimm!"

Ironwood stepped forward and stared at her with narrowed eyes, silencing all in the room before he sighed and lowered himself into his chair, resting his face in his hands.

"Please, General Ironwood. Squeezing Mantle this way… That kind of division plays right into Salem's hands." Ruby spoke up, "That's why Tyrian is here framing you."

"Which is also the reason we called you and everyone else here in the first place." Clover said as he opened his Scroll and flipped it to show an image of Tyrian Callows, "Ms. Rose, Mr. Aetherveil… Are you sure this was the man you saw in Anima?"

"Yeah… That's him alright…" Dante confirmed, "What's this freaks story anyway?"

"Tyrian Callows was accused of murders all across Anima. Simply put, he's a homicidal maniac who escaped justice when his prison transport was attacked by Grimm. After that, he was never seen again." Winter explained briefly and to the point.

"But now we have a suspect. We can tell the people."

"That a long-lost serial killer is loose in Mantle and the military has no idea where he is? That might make things worse before they get better." The Ace Ops leader explained to Ruby, closing his scroll as he crossed his arms.

"If we just told everyone about Amity, about Salem-!"

"We can't!" Ironwood raised his voice, "If we talk about Amity now, we risk Salem's forces, who we know are here, working to sabotage it! If we tell them about Salem now, we risk falling to the Grimm before we can reunite Remnant! We have to finish the tower! Therefore… As of now, I want Robyn Hill in custody."

"While I agree with you about not exposing our plans or Salem to the public, is it wise to detain Robyn Hill?" Dante asked, "Stealing supplies from you definitely earned her that, especially since she really didn't give it any second thought, so I'm with you there. But wouldn't that create more unrest in Mantle? Especially since people are still pissed that Jacques Schnee won?"

Ironwood sighed, tapping his fingers together before he said, "When we take her into custody, we can offer her a deal if she can get Mantle in order to cooperate with us with the supplies she stole."

The General looked in Dante's direction.

"I'm sorry to ask you this when you're already chasing after your 'query', but I'd like you to take Robyn Hill into custody." He asked the devil.

"I can definitely pull it off, but… I don't think she's gonna go without a fight."

"You'll manage it."

"She has Kallus Warren on her side."

Ironwood froze at the sound of the name, "Are you certain?"

"Certain, but… Seems to me that kind of set you on edge a little."

"Kallus Warren is an S-Class Huntsman, same as you. However… Instead of making his name off of Grimm he's hunted, he's widely known across the Four Kingdoms as the 'Huntsmen Killer'." Winter explained, "While he has hunted down Rogue Huntsman and Huntresses of the worst kind, he has been accused of intentionally starting fights with them in order to draw them into a conflict and kill them when they didn't have bounties on their heads."

"However, he doesn't just stop at Huntsmen and Huntresses. He's also allegedly killed Kingdom and town officials, who were later revealed to be corrupt." Clover added, "Other than that, we have no other information, other than he killed his predecessor to acquire his rank."

"You can do that?" Dante asked, a little disturbed and intrigued by the revelation.

"Back then, you technically could since there've been only a handful of S-Class Huntsmen. We only recently passed laws only seven years ago preventing such a thing from occurring."

"If conflict arises, can you defeat him and bring Robyn Hill into custody?" Ironwood asked after Clover finished speaking.

"Hopefully we can just talk it out first, but… If it comes to it, I'm certain I can at least take Robyn into custody and bring her here."

Dante was certain he could bring a potential fight with Kallus to a stalemate. After all, he still had no idea of his true strength. During their fight in Argus, he knew the Huntsman wasn't showing the full extent of his strength, and yet, he was very much formidable.

"Good. If anyone manages to catch Robyn, you are to bring her in immediately. Other than that, everyone else is to focus on Tyrian." Ironwood said as he headed for the door, hands clasped behind his back, "I want to know who he's working with, where he's hiding, what he's planning, and how exactly that video of Penny got all over my kingdom."

He then stopped in front of the door and turned to look at everyone.

"Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir." Was the collective response from Winter and Clover.

Strangely enough, Ren as well.

"Before you head out, Dante, I'd like to have a word with you in private." Ironwood said.

"Uh… sure." The devil shrugged in response to Ruby's confused tilt of her head.

I hope he's not about to chew me out for something I might have done…

---

The elevator ride deep within the bowels of the Academy was long, if not awkwardly silent for Dante and Oscar as they stood behind Ironwood. A minute or so longer and the elevator came to a complete halt, the guard railings rising up to allow them passage.

The area was filled with large masses of grey rock that floated around the the bridge extending outwards, some bulbs of blue light coming from the dimly lit floating isles.

At the center of it all was a plateau littered with numerous chunks of glowing blue rock.

That has to be the vault for the Staff of Creation…

~I know the name kind of says it all, but how exactly do you think it works?~

Don't know. Maybe you project an image from your mind into the staff. Then again… The Relic of Knowledge has Jinn residing in it, and her parameters include 3 questions every 100 years. So clearly, the Staff will have a gimmick to it as well if it's truly capable of making anything.

~What, like you've gotta be super precise with what it is you want made?~

Who knows? Unless we summon the entity in the staff, we won't know for sure.

"I hoped bringing you down here might jog some memories. After all, it was your idea to use the Staff to lift Atlas off the ground." Ironwood spoke directly to Oscar as they approached the vault.

"Er… I thought Gravity Dust kept Atlas afloat…"

"Same. A Kingdom this size definitely can't just run on fire or lightning Dust, not without suffering a massive deficit. But to think you could use a Relic as a power source…" Dante looked up, impressed.

"The Staff emits a constant and seemingly limitless source of energy that is more than enough to power the whole of Atlas . Oz even once speculated it could take us as high as we wanted." The General explained, "To tell you the truth, that served as the inspiration for the Amity Project. Get a communication tower up in the sky high enough that even the Grimm can survive.

"Make a satellite so that we never lose contact with each other again… Smart." The devil complimented.

Now that I think about it, Remnant doesn't have any sort of satellites whatsoever, which is why when the CCT fell, we were utterly screwed. I thought it might have been just a failsafe installed in the individual tower systems, but… To think they really didn't have any contingencies in place…

"If you're using the Staff to keep Atlas afloat, you're not going to use it to raise Amity, are you?"

"Unfortunately, The Staff can only be used for one purpose at a time." Ironwood said as Dante carefully took note of those words, "We're going to have to do Amity the old fashioned way, Dust and all."

"It feels strange, knowing that part of me helped come up with all this…" Oscar replied, looking to his own hands

"You'll get used to it, I'm sure. Eventually, you won't even know who's who anymore."

Oscar froze in place, looking somewhat upset at the idea while the devil remained quiet, narrowing his eyes.

"We... didn't always see eye to eye, but... I wish I could ask Ozpin what he thought of all of this."

"Well, I can tell you what I think. The path you're heading down where you're the only one with the answers, where you do the thing you think is right no matter the cost, it's not going to take you anywhere good."

Ironwood walked back towards the elevator, leaving Oscar and Dante behind.

"We have to stop Salem. Nothing matters more."

"Some things matter more, I think." Countered Oscar, as Ironwood stopped walking, "Keeping our humanity. It's what makes us different from her."

"I'm with the kid on that one, General." Dante spoke up, "I may not exactly be human myself, but… Humans should continue being humans, and never resort to becoming monsters just to fight what's out there in the Dark. Otherwise… they just might not recognize themselves at the end of their struggle, and become monsters themselves."

Ironwood closed his eyes, understanding the boys had a point as he briefly bit his lip, then resumed walking in front of the elevator's control panel, tapping the screen.

"In all honesty boys… Sometimes I worry that's her greatest advantage. Without humanity, does she still feel fear? Does she ever hesitate? When Salem hit Beacon, even with all my ships, all of my soldiers... I was no match for her. I've never felt so helpless…"

Ironwood stared intensely at the control panel. His mind took him to the night at Beacon, wherein he briefly saw a black queen chess piece displayed on the panel.

"You can't run the world on fear alone. It always gives way to the hope of others. True, playing the role of the monster makes you feel powerful and utterly invincible… but in truth, it just makes you weak. It makes your power brittle." Dante spoke solemnly, thinking back to some not so proud moments of his life.

"It's okay to be afraid, General. You just can't let that fear control you." Oscar said right after the devil.

"I promise I am not going to end up with Lionheart." Ironwood told them as turned to look at the two, "Do you believe in me?"

"I do believe in you, but not only you. I think the best thing you could do is sit down and talk with the people you're most afraid to."

"Now you are starting to sound like him." The General smiled at Oscar's response, "Coming?"

"Er… I'll be up in a bit. It's just… It's really calming here, so…"

"I understand. I come down here every so often for the same reason. Take your time, you two."

Ironwood walked onto the platform, and the elevator began rising through the shaft, leaving the two young men by themselves.

Dante's foot lightly tapped the ground as his shadow expanded outwards into a perfect circle that encompassed the two, a very thin and translucent barrier of black rising up momentarily.

That should take care of any eavesdropping…

"You think he's cracking?" The devil asked.

Oscar's eyes suddenly lit up at the sudden question before trailing the ground soon after.

"I don't think he is. I know he is. That massacre at the victory party, Robyn getting more daring and stealing supplies…" The boy counted off, "And Salem coming any time soon… Who wouldn't be scared out of their mind?"

"Honestly, with things like this, I'm more scared for the rest of you than I am for myself…" Dante replied.

"Are you really never afraid?"

"No, even I feel fear sometimes. But like I said, it's mostly fearing everyone else's safety over mine. I fear losing any of you, or letting you down. Which is why I work hard to make sure you guys will make it."

"You're not afraid of dying? Especially since you're not… well…"

"Dying doesn't frighten me, Oscar. It's never having stood up to fight for all of you that scares me the most."

"Thanks for sticking up for us mortals then, Mr. Demon of Vengeance."

"Want me to up the intensity of your training?"

"E-Er, no, please! Sorry!"

The devil smirked faintly, uncrossing his arms.

"Be honest with me. You think we'll need to fight against Ironwood?" The young devil asked the boy.

"I… I really hope it doesn't come to that. But if things continuously get worse… I think it might come to that."

"Do you think we should come clean about the Relic?"

Oscar pondered the question silently for a few moments, tightly gripping his left wrist.

"Honestly? I think we should have said so from the start. And it was always on my mind that we should have told him before things got bad. Now… things are pretty bad, even if we're on top of a lot of other things." He spoke, looking up at Dante, "I don't think we can afford to tell him now. He's already under a lot of pressure, and it's clear to me that telling him will form more cracks."

"Telling him could make him more paranoid, wherein he'll be more paranoid of us, and then…" The devil sighed, cracking his knuckles quickly, "Frankly, I'm of the opinion we should tell him, but… You have a good point about it being a little past the point of return."

"This honestly isn't a good feeling…"

"Almost never is… But that's how it is right now. We need to be absolutely careful with what we do or say. Or we might just find ourselves as public enemy number 1." Dante explained cautiously, "In any case, we should head back. I've got some work to take care of, and you've got training."

"W-With your sister?"

The devil quirked a curious eyebrow at the pitch of Oscar's voice and the small smile he was desperately trying to hide. Normally, this would curtail a "shotgun on the lap" sort of scenario, but frankly…

They looked pretty cute together with how much both of them fumble their words around the other.

"Work hard and good luck, Oscar." The devil smiled as he gave a gentle, approving pat on the boy's back

---

"Dante, got an update for you. The weather here has been acting very strange the further up North I travel. Now, I'm not certain, but I'm beginning to suspect some otherworldly actors affecting it; magic and the like. If the-"

The message cut into static and white noise, possibly caused by signal interference or corruption.

"-approaching what appears to be a- -of ice ahead of me. I'm not exactly sure whether it's a natural formation, but given the flat of this tundra compared to the very steep incline of this cliff, I'm beginning to suspect there's something ther-"

"I'm sending you a blueprint I whipped up, should get you and your ship here without any issues. Listen though: You must-"

The rest of the video message was complete static, prompting Dante to close down his holographic screen as he exhaled steadily, looking ahead of him.

"So that's the situation." The devil calmly told Inuba, who sat next to him, and the two individuals across the table, "Since then, I haven't been able to get into contact with him at all. Obviously it's no mere coincidence that weather was kind of shit in the area he was recording from, so I'm guessing the snow and wind is being manipulated with an Elemental Barrier. Security like that means there's something to hide."

"Then as you described, it's safe to assume he has found his captive sister?" Inuba asked.

"He likely has. Though if I'm being honest, it's more than likely bait." The devil explained, "While it isn't public information that Ray has 'escaped' from prison, whoever is behind this series of events likely took into consideration that he would secretly escape or work with collaborators."

"And from the story thus far, it's been a mix of both." Rosswal Belmont waved his hand upwards, soon resting his chin in it, "Really though, why waste our time helping him if we're not entirely sure this whole side show production is tied to Ogrânix?"

"Because, Mr. Belmont, we help our friends." The kitsune sternly scolded the vampire, "And we don't laze about like fools all day either."

"Oh, such sharp words from one of the loveliest maidens I've ever laid eyes upon!"

"Would you prefer I cast Everlasting Flames in your eye sockets to permanently relieve them of your eye balls?" Inuba spoke in a chilling tone, her sweet smile still present as she held a raised hand that brimmed with white fire.

"Er… No thank you…"

"Stupidity aside…" Dante turned his sharp gaze to the other individual, "The three of us are more than enough. But, this is important to Ray, and from what you've told me, you're pretty much friends with him. So rather than leaving some things to chance, I want a guaranteed victory. That's why I also asked you to be here, Nira."

"I'm of the opinion you highly overestimate my abilities." The small girl replied, voice muffled by a hamburger delicately wrapped in her hands.

"Yeah yeah, you're modest, I get it." The young devil waved off briefly, "But it doesn't change the fact I know you're incredibly strong despite your size, so much so that you still make me a little nervous."

"But I'm cuddly. Cuddly people aren't intimidating."

"Er… Y-Yeah, you are. Alright, look." Dante firmly said, "I may not know a whole lot about you, Nira… but I know your power is serious, even if I haven't gotten a good enough glimpse of it. That's why I feel like having you with us will basically guarantee victory."

The girl softly hummed, wherein she had a sudden thought, seeing as her eyes lit up, then softened into a sad pout.

"Uh… Look, if you help me out, I'll treat you to food whenever we meet up. And… I'll try to set up as many opportunities as possible for you to visit Kianna so you can play with her."

Nira's head immediately perked up with a twinkle in her emerald eyes, almost losing her burger. "Is that a promise?"

"Yeah. So will you help us?"

"Deal." The girl firmly agreed, "But also because we should help Ray."

"Good. So you know, we're trying to get in and grab the sister without drawing too much attention. After that, gloves are kind of off."

"Isn't that… slightly counterproductive?" Inuba asked Dante.

"Yes, but Ray may want to kill a few of them afterwards. And depending on the condition of his sister, he likely will. So we need to be prepared for that possibility."

"How will we be getting there? Not by walking, I hope."

"Yeah, cause we're gonna walk a few hundred kilometers." The devil sarcastically answered Rosswal, "We're going by ship, but we might go down at any time after we enter the Elemental Barrier, so we also have to be prepared for our ship going down just in case."

"Alright, Cautious Hero, we'll be ready for anything."

Brushing aside the vampire's remark, the young devil looked back to Nira, "You need some time to handle some affairs? Or are you good to go now?"

"Now is good." The noirette answered, speaking around a straw nestled in her mouth. She was contently finishing the soda that came with her meal, "Avery will be safe for the time being."

"Alright. Let's head on over then."

---

"Why am I going with you again?" Rosswal asked as he sat next to Dante, hands behind his head and fingers interlocked to stretch his arms.

"Because you're a lazy asshole, and all you've been doing is gambling and chasing after random girls." Dante pointed out as he piloted the small airship, "I got called."

"Once."

"Three times in one day, you idiot." The devil corrected.

"I was having a bit of fun."

"I don't think you've noticed, but now isn't the time for 'fuck shittery' like normal. And I can't afford to have you arrested."

"Because you need me for that punchy kung fu girl."

"That, and because if your dumbass tells them you're with me, that reflects poorly on me and I get in trouble."

"Eh~ Look at you taking a position so seriously…"

"I don't give two craps about my ranking. The point is that Ironwood is stressed right now, and I don't need you adding to it with your shenanigans."

"So he's cracking apart then?"

Dante sighed, "Not quite. As in 'we' don't need to enact our contingency plan."

"Yeah yeah… So why am I coming with you?"

"Chroma's found what he's looking for and he's sending me a flight path. With your powers, we'll have an easier time of drawing attention to ourselves and outlasting whatever they're gonna throw at us."

"Vampire powers, baby." Rosswal said, raising his hand to make a "peace" sign.

The devil shook his head, looking behind him to the rear seat, "What about you two? Doing ok back there?"

"Fine… But I'd very much appreciate it if a certain individual would stop causing issues for us." Inuba spoke sharply, turning her head towards the vampire's seat.

"Wow… I think she's literally trying to burn holes through my seat…" Ross whispered to Dante.

"I can hear you, you fool."

"Oops."

"What about you, Nira? Comfy back there?" The devil asked.

"The seat pads are soft, so I'm cozy."

"Uh… I have a question from before. Is someone usually after your friend?" The vampire asked the small girl, "Rosswal Belmont, by the by. Current vampire king and also currently single." He extended his hand.

"Nira." She shook his hand, "I have no idea what a vampire is, but you sound mythological."

"A blood sucking parasite…" Dante said.

"Hey, that's really mean!"

"It fits you perfectly as opposed to the rest of your kin." Inuba pointed out.

"Double ouch! I can only have my heart broken so many times in a day!"

"I see. He's melo… Um… What was the word?" Nira looked up for a few moments, before a visible light bulb illuminated her green gaze. "Melodramatic, that sounds right."

"Honestly Nira, you pretty much nailed it on the head." The devil chuckled a little.

"Gosh… You all make me feel so welcome…"

Shaking his head, the young devil narrowed his eyes on the indicator that popped up on the windshield's display. With the notification came sudden turbulence, which seemingly increased steadily. Not only that, but the engines seemed to have been failing due to the extreme cold.

"Holy crap… Uh, Inuba? Charm magic, please."

Without saying a word, the kitsune reached into her small pouch and quickly pulled out a rectangular slip of black paper, where her flaming white Aura quickly filtered into the paper. Glowing white kanji appeared on both sides of the charm, where she then slapped it on the ground of the small airship.

A faint shimmer of fiery orange blanketed the windshield, which helped stabilize the ship's engines and mellow out the turbulence. Even then, it was still very difficult to steady the ship. Compared to the standard Bullhead, the ship was built for speed, and was a little bit smaller, made to hold six people instead of twenty.

It wasn't until the controls literally got ripped out from Dante's hand before his brow wrinkled in momentary confusion. The ship was now beginning to reduce its horizontal speed and the altimeter reading them in a descent.

"What the hell..?"

"Uh, I'm not a pilot or anything, but that's not good, is it?" Rosswal asked.

"You didn't read my instructions fully, did you?" A voice sounded over the aircraft's intercom.

"Ugh… Damn it, Ray. A little heads up if you're gonna 'assume direct control' so we don't poop ourselves a little?"

The ship jerked to the left a little, knocking Dante's head against the side of the cockpit window before it straightened out again. "Whoops, my finger slipped."

"Dick…" The devil whispered, "Where are you?"

"I'm bringing you to me now," The Faunus replied through the radio, the snow covered ground finally starting to come into view from the cockpit's windows. "Since you can't or don't read for some reason, I'm guessing you missed the part where I mentioned the giant ice wall surrounding the Church."

"Didn't have the time to retrofit a ship. I just commandeered one fast and durable enough to get us here."

As the ship lowered, they heard the landing gear deploy with hydraulic whirring underneath them before the craft touched down on the ice.

Through the windscreen, Dante could barely make out Ray's form just off in the distance.

"This is as close as I can land before you're forced to swim, so get over here and I'll paraphrase my message for you. Make it snappy too, I'm freezing." With that final comment, the radio switched itself off as the engines powered down.

"Well well… I think I found someone bossier than you." Rosswal said as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Shut up." Dante told him, opening the cockpit door as he, the vampire, Nira and Inuba stepped out.

The snowstorm was thinner and less intense on the ground, but given their status as beings of supernatural origin and an overly powered human, the biting cold was nothing more to them than droplets of rain in the summer pattering against their clothes. As they got closer, they could finally make out the encampment in the distance, seeing a figure walking towards them.

They couldn't see his face, since Ray was still wearing the goggles and facemask from the first videolog Dante received, but given the extreme environment they found themselves in, it really came as no surprise.

"Man, you really should have listened to my message…" Ray commented as he sidestepped Dante's attempt to greet him and stared up at one of the four engines on the ship. "It's going to be a real pain in the ass to fire this ship up again when we leave."

The boy then turned around to face Dante directly through his mirrored gold visor.

"If it were as simple as flying to the church in this bucket, I'd have done it myself."

"Yeah yeah yeah, I've heard the whole speech before." The devil waved off, pointing his thumb over towards the massive crashed ship, "So if I did read the message correctly, you were gonna use an engine block of this big bitch to melt a way through?"

"I was going to have you fit heat-recycling engines so we'd be able to start them up again in this temperature," Ray corrected, shaking his head a little. "I'm guessing you also didn't bring the very important supplies I requested either so now we're going to have to improvise."

Ray started walking back to where the ice wall was, stopping for a second to take a look at Dante over his shoulder. "I hope we have enough Dust."

"I brought the supplies, ThunderCat. I just didn't have the time to refit the ship's engines."

"And what of the spare clothing?"

"I've got three pairs just in case, considering three of us can mend our clothes."

"Vampire powers, baby!"

"Shut up, Ross." Dante quickly said.

The Devil watched Ray's hidden gaze flick to the vampire before quickly snapping back to Dante in complete silence. "He better not get thirsty."

The boy then started walking ahead of them. Beckoning them to follow with a wave of his gloved hand.

"You sure she's actually here, Ray?" The devil asked.

Ray stopped in his tracks for a second before he looked down at his right hand and slowly balled his fingers into a fist. "I know she is. The connection between us hasn't been this strong since the last time I saw her. I know she's nearby, but they've done something to sabotage my ability to sense her. I won't know more until we get inside."

The boy started walking again bringing them up a small snow dune as a crashed airship came into view.

It'd been partly dismantled, parts of the metal body lying on the ground as some of the frame was exposed.

At the foot of the wall of ice, there was an engine that had been removed.

"They could be trying to breach her mind if making a deal wasn't something she was willing to do. I don't know if you know this, but despite that majority of vile bastards, Dark Entities never break deals or contracts." Dante explained, "And they definitely would've offered a deal first to make things simpler. So if your 'twin telepathy' mojo is murky, I can only guess they're digging for good to get what they want."

"It's not telepathy." Ray said quickly, approaching the open hull of the ship and pulling the hood of his coat off his head to lift up his goggles and pull down his mask. "Our Auras share much of the same composition due to our relationship as twins, they're almost the same. Her Aura is my Aura, it helps that we've always been close too."

The boy took a seat on a nearby crate before reaching over and picking up a thermos bottle to take a sip of coffee.

"Additionally, Solara's not stupid enough to make a deal with them either. If you think I'm difficult, you really haven't seen anything yet." He continued in a lighter tone. "They're more than likely using methods to try and break her resolve but knowing my sister as I do, I bet she's made it very hard for them to do so."

"Oh? So we're going after a sister are we? Is she single? Or are you two an 'item' or something, like Cersei and Jaime?" Rosswal asked the cat Faunus.

Ray stopped himself right before taking another sip of his coffee. Violet eyes lifting from the rim of the flask to give Dante and his party a look of utter contempt before returning to Ross.

"I'm sorry. I stabbed him in the brain one too many times times and he's just permanently stupid." Dante explained.

"Well, come daylight he can wriggle back inside his special little coffin and contemplate his cognitive impairment quietly, as I do not wish to hear this parasite's voice again." Ray's voice bitterly and disdainfully remarked as he finally took another sip.

"I guess that's a no… But hey, it was a serious question on both fronts!" The vampire said, "I mean really, you should have seen some of the shit I saw in the last five hundred years with familial relations."

"Ross." Dante spoke the vampire's name like a disappointed mother, realizing he was taking his own jab at Ray.

"Anybody else have a stupid question?" Ray asked dismissively, screwing the lid back on his flask and standing up again. "Or better yet, a serious one?"

"Yeah. Is your engine plan gonna work, much less be quiet enough? We don't need to shake up the whole encampment too soon."

"Considering you haven't read my plan fully, I'm going to assume you mean the one sat outside and not the four I have to modify before we can get out of here." Ray commented lightly as he reached for the rucksack by the entrance to the downed ship. "In which case, I don't know, but unless you brought a really big drill, we really don't have much of a choice. They know we're coming anyway, so the element of surprise is a no-go."

"They assume we'll be coming sometime soon." Dante corrected, nodding to Inuba, "And my partner is more or less the same in that she can't melt it all in one go without making a lot of noise."

Ray pulled out a scroll from his backpack before he let out a muted sigh. "That was the case until you ran your ship right into their barrier, Dante."

"Hey, they might assume it was a Grimm or some large flying animal. This isn't like with Atlas where they have life sign detectors at every edge of the city."

"A Grimm with the souls of four people? You know how unlikely that is? Either way, they know you're here at the very least. I slipped through the barrier as I tried to tell you to do." Ray stated calmly, opening up his scroll into a tablet and handing it to Dante.

"Relax, Ray. I could technically be classified as a King class, so they can't pick me up or anyone else around me. Not to mention… our 'friend' with the metal bind on her eyes has her own cloaking, so we're fine."

"They'll know we're here soon then, but that's a problem we'll get to later." Ray's hand dug into his pack again before very delicately pulling out a small metal box.

The boy set it down on the crate he sat on, and carefully unlatched it to reveal a glowing vial. He left it where it was for the time being before he walked to the front of the ship to pick up and unsheath a sword, bringing it back to the crate.

Inuba's head jolted up suddenly as her fox ears flicked a few times, her eyes turning towards Ray's direction.

"Um… Excuse me, mr. Chroma?"

The feline ears on Ray's head flicked too as she spoke to him, the boy giving a curt hum in response as he laid his sword down and twisted the pommel. The sword let out a little hiss before he pulled on it and revealed a hollow shell that nestled inside the hilt.

"What exactly is that… contraption..? Its energy readings are quite… concerning…"

Ray picked up the vial, being very deliberately careful as to not move it too quickly as he dropped it gently into the casing on his sword and pushed to close it.

The moment he turned the pommel shut, the sword almost violently jolted a little with a low buzzing sound.

"Plan B."

Ray's voice came out low and concentrated as he lifted the sword and took it straight back to its scabbard.

"I'm hoping we won't need it, but you can never be too cautious."

Dante narrowed his eyes on the device, carefully looking it over, but mostly focusing on the energy source.

"Did you build a fucking nuke?!" The devil asked, realizing that the source was an intense and highly unstable deposit of Hardlight Dust and Ray's own Hardlight.

Ray actually almost laughed in response as he attached the scabbard to his back with the sword nestled inside it. "Oh no, this is much worse."

"Dude..!"

Ray didn't seem too bothered by the discomfort of his peers, calmly pulling his mask back up over his nose and mouth and pulling his goggles down over his eyes again before his hood went over his head.

The Faunus then approached his back pack again and pulled out a pair of vibrant red Fire Dust crystals, holding them in one hand as he zipped his back up with the other and threw it over his shoulder.

"Right, let's go then. My sister isn't going to save herself."

"Please tell me you didn't build more…" The devil calmly asked.

Ray stopped right before the entrance to the ship to look over at Dante and shake his head. "One is already more than enough, you think me having two would be a good idea?"

"Frankly, I don't know with you."

"Ancient secrets are kept that way for good reason." The blond commented before leaving the ship with his Dust crystals in hand. "Come make yourself useful and move this thruster."

"Alright, mom…" Dante grumbled, "Ross, get your ass over and help me."

"Can't you do it yourself mr. Super Strong Harem Man?"

"Ross!"

"Fine, fine. I'll grab the other side."

---

The inner wall of ice had been silently cracking apart for a few seconds until a red hot glow grew bigger and bigger, eventually emerging as a blast of fire. As quickly as the fire jettisoned beyond the wall, it quickly died down, the sheer cold creating wisps of smoke and steam from the entry gap.

On the outer side, the exhaust of the thruster was glowing red hot, sizzling with dozens of pops, both internally from the activation and externally with the flakes of snow falling on the heated metal.

"Uh… Unless you put some Dust inside earlier, how the hell did you just manage that?" Dante asked Ray.

Ray let out a deep breath that billowed in steam from the vents in his facemask. "I didn't do anything to the thruster aside from disconnecting it from the crashed ship."

"I mean how did you power it up?"

Ray stepped around the side of the thruster to stand just beside Dante before putting his gloves back on. "I broke the Dust crystals from my bag and absorbed their released energy."

Once the faunus tugged his gloves back on snugly, he reached behind him to unsheathe the sword behind his back.

"Then I just redirected that energy into the fuel lines and powered it myself."

"So he's like a succ and bl-"

"Ross!" Dante firmly said with the disappointed mother tone.

"Essentially Mr. Chroma, you can act as both a flask to contain energy, and a battery to release said energy as fuel." Inuba clarified in simpler terms.

Ray turned to face her and offered her a slight shrug. "It's a little more involved than that, Kitsune, but sure, if that's how you want to think of it."

The boy then started pacing toward the hole in the ice wall ahead, subtly turning a dial on the hilt of his blade.

The weapon responded with a low hum before it glowed in a bright red-orange hue down the center of the blade.

"You've changed weapons again, I see." Nira spoke, "What happened to the twin daggers?"

"You and I have had this conversation before, Nira." The boy replied softly. "And they were shortswords, for the record."

The girl smiled at him. "I know."

"Ah, look at that. You can make jokes." Dante pointed out to the smaller girl.

"I'm more than just cuddly, you know."

"Alright…" Dante chuckled, "So how we gonna split this up? Me, Ross and Ray while you two go together?" He asked Inuba and Nira.

"Wouldn't it be better to stick together until absolutely necessary? None of us know what's inside and frankly, separating sounds like a death wish." Ray commented as he continued leading the way. "We still have to find a way inside the place, assuming it's not immediately obvious."

"I'm only suggesting the split so we're less conspicuous and so that you don't run off on your own." The devil explained, crossing his arms, "Albeit, you have a slight point about sticking together, since we have zero chances of being detected with Aura Sensing."

"I'm still not convinced we have the element of surprise." Ray stated with a focused tone. "Even if they have no idea now, you don't think they're going to once we knock on their door?"

"I mean, do you want to do this quietly? Or guns blazing?"

"If it were down to me, I'd blow it up from here." Ray said without skipping a beat. "Unfortunately, that also includes my twin, so that's not an option. We'll cross this bridge when we get to it, but for now, I'd suggest taking this one step at a time."

"So silence is golden for team two as they get inside then. Got it." The young devil gave the cat faunus a thumbs up, receiving a small nod in return.

"Aw man… And here I thought I'd get to drink someone and wear their skin for a bit…"

"Ross, when have you had a need to drink someone after we used my blood to make that elixir to cure vampire bloodthirst?"

"Hey, some villains have useful abilities, alright?"

"Whatever. Don't drink anyone unless you're dying, alright?"

"Fine~"

"Alright… Ray, you've got binoculars with thermals, right? How far away are we from the base?" Dante asked.

"Thermals? In a sub-zero environment?" Ray questioned in a skeptical tone. "If we can't see it from here - which we cannot - that probably means we've got a little hike to get there."

"Alright, whatever, let's go."

And so they ventured deep into the blizzard, traveling together in a horizontal row. From the feeling of the steps alone in the ankle-deep snow, they were steadily heading uphill. While the blizzard was blinding, it didn't completely obscure their vision, as Dante's Shadow Eyes helped him lead the way through the storm.

Minutes passed by quickly, the group eventually coming upon what looked to be a large monastery deeply tucked away in a snowy valley, a crescent cliff overlooking the entire locale.

"How about it, Ray?!" Dante asked, raising his voice so the cat faunus could hear him over the snow storm, "Your magic twin telepathy getting any stronger vibes?!"

Ray sighed through his mask, having put his sword away earlier to free up his hands, he turned to Dante and glared at him through his goggles. "It isn't telepathy. I can feel that she's here, but again, they're doing something to interrupt the connection so I have no idea!"

"Inuba?! You've got better sensing than both our dumbasses combined! You got a lock on anything in there resembling Pink Panther?!"

She briefly smiled since it was a reference she could understand for once, then closed her eyes, her white fox ears flicking slowly as the corners of her eyes brimmed with small tufts of flame. After a few moments, the kitsune's eyes snapped open.

"I've confirmed a similar presence a kilometer to the west where that large tower is! However, the Aura Signature is deeper underground!" She clarified, "Mr. Chroma was correct with his prior statement! The Signature is tainted, likely by an Impairment Curse!"

"I can break that!" Ray stated confidently shouting over the storm surrounding them. His attention was magnetically drawn toward the tower Inuba mentioned. "I'm also fine cutting my way to where Solara's being detained if the rest of you want to go and introduce yourselves to whoever runs this cursed place!"

"Er… Ok… Ross, let's go introduce ourselves! Inuba and Nira, you guys sneak in with Ray to find his sister!" Dante said.

"Understood!"

With the kitsune's reply, the devil gave the vampire a nod and the both leapt up into the air, their feet touching the snowy ground of the inner valley as they slid down it to the bottom. Not too far away, the pair could see a blackstone bridge overlooking a large, flowing river filled with chunks of sharp and jagged ice. They crossed this bridge fearlessly and unchallenged, coming upon the large, wooden double doors that lead into the monastery.

"You wanna knock?" Dante asked.

"After you, team leader." Ross bowed.

With a shake of his head, the devil took a few steps forward and booted down the doors, both of them flying off the hinges and plastering two men dressed in black robes.

"Knock knock, bastards!" The young devil said, summoning Sêrythîl to his hand as he twirled the spear around and slung her over his shoulders.

A couple of blacked robed individuals soon became a few dozen as they began filtering into the courtyard, wielding weapons that ranged from maces and flails to daggers and shortswords. Winds blew down some of their hoods, revealing the faces of men and women, some with rotting skin across sections of their faces, but all of them sporting glowing blue eyes.

"Well shit… They're all Altered…" Dante noted.

"Which means we get to kill them all. Or rather, we have to, since if they left, they'd go 'make more friends' in Mantle…" Rosswal sighed as he drew his midnight blue sword, "And I know you're a reaaaal stickler about taking them all out before they slip away."

"Like you said yourself… No real choice… Their souls have been consumed and their bodies have rotted…"

"Since when did you become so sentimental?"

"Since I was born and had a conscious growing up. Poor, dumb bastards…"

"Cry over them later."

"Wait… I wanna try something…" Dante said, waving a hand to stop Rosswal, "Alright, you Freaky Friday Motherfucker! I know you're watching us through these meat puppets! Let's have a chat, yeah?!"

From the corner of his eye, the devil noticed Ray, Inuba and Nira leaping over the walls further back towards the tower completely unhindered, since the miniature army of "devoured devotees" solely focused their attention on the devil and the vampire.

One of the walking corpses steadily walked out of the mass of bodies, the entirety of its lips rotted away to show its disgusting, bare teeth. Its maw opened, and a deep, wretched, high pitched gravelly voice emerged from within.

"You… You are the Black Devil, Dante Aetherveil."

"Just Dante Aetherveil, jackass." The devil replied sharply, glaring daggers at the talking corpse.

"Our King spoke of you. He prophesied your arrival."

"Not really a prophecy if it's been a known fact for a while now."

An annoyed growl escaped from the husk, what remained of its eyelids narrowing on the young devil.

"So… Where is the shit eater? He hiding here too? Or did he leave you to wipe his ass after he shits?"

"Our King is not here. He prepares for the start of the Reckoning."

"Same shit, different day…" Dante sighed, "I thought he would've at least learned his lesson from last time when I ripped his beating heart out of his chest."

"Your Queen is not here, Black Devil. You stand no chance against the King."

"He said that the last time and I still killed him." Dante spoke harshly, "Fine then. Why kidnap a Chroma? Looking to start a freaky zombie orgy?"

"Your wit is unamusing and irritating."

"Kind of the point, dipshit."

The other corpses were raising their weapons, steadily crowding around the devil and the vampire.

"The Chroma girl will serve her purpose in the construction of our edifice. As will you, when we strip away your undying flesh and present you a slave to our King."

"Not today, assclown." Dante said as he unslung Sêrythîl from his shoulders, giving her a few quick twirls as he took his stance, "I'm taking the girl. After which, I find the real you and really painfully kill you. And then… I kill your King again."

"You are welcome to try, failed Demon Knight."

With his bold invitation, the corpses began to swarm forward, while the vampire and the devil swung their weapons to begin their decimation of the horde.

---

The caverns were carved out and with cleanly smoothed walls, small glistens of stone that shone under dim torch light. The trio of Inuba, Nira and Ray hurriedly walked down the halls to make as little noise as possible if enemies remained inside.

Which was the strange part.

No one was guarding the entrance, and they hadn't run into any enemy resistance at all whilst roaming. They could hear distant booming sounds and felt the ground shaking violently every so often from the battle going on above, and yet the deeper they went the more the inner tunnels were disturbingly quiet.

The whole tower seemed more like a housing area, but so too did they find rooms down below.

All of them were empty. Some had doors broken down by something that forced its way in, some rooms remained completely untouched, saved for some blood splatters found in the doorways or center of the rooms.

They were all Altered down here…

The kitsune shook her head and focused on the path her Sensing was taking her, leading the way with Ray at her side.

"You do understand I can accurately detect her now, do you not, Mr. Chroma?" Inuba asked, keeping her eyes forward, "I understand your desire to get there quicker, but.."

"Look, can the honorifics, just call me Ray," he replied quietly, reaching his hands up to pull his hood off and lift his goggles up.

"Apologies. It isn't so simple with people I've only recently met…"

"Dante did mention you were practically raised as a warrior princess of sorts," Nira pointed out. "It must've been tiring speaking so formally all the time…"

"Mr. Chroma was my father, I'm not old enough to justify the formalities," Ray commented, his ears perked up on end as he tried to stay vigilant. "But it's fine, just call me Ray. She already does."

He gestured toward Nira with a nod before his gaze switched back to their front.

"From what I understand, your family dynasty, while mostly secretive, is a fairly respectable and powerful one, particularly with the secrets you keep." Inuba said, "Did you not ask your family hierarchy for assistance?"

"To protect our secrets requires a great deal of sacrifice. They would rather let Solara die here than risk our knowledge being uncovered." Ray responded in earnest. "As you can tell, that did not sit well with me. It's also why I'm kind of on the run from pretty much every governing body on Remnant."

"And why sometimes I help him with the authorities when he's in trouble." Nira added, "Did you say something mean to get thrown in prison this time?"

Ray threw a glance her way and shook his head. "Nope, I never do. Atlas just thinks they're smart enough to contain me."

Nira sighed, "One day they might wisen up their protocols about containing you. You should be more careful."

Ray smirked at her before returning his gaze up front. "They don't know I'm a twin though. I've always been a few steps ahead of them."

"Heh…" Inuba giggled, "You and Dante may very well be best friends, since you two seem to think alike concerning 'authority'."

"As I'm not a citizen of any of the Kingdoms, their politics mean jack to me and my family." Ray explained as they rounded a corner and met a flight of narrow stairs. "We were actually told not to involve ourselves with political figures when we were growing up."

"I can see why…" The kitsune said.

"You don't know the half of it…" Ray murmured as he ducked to avoid a lower part of the ceiling.

He then turned to Nira, one of his cat ears folding back as he offered her a curious gaze.

"I don't suppose you have anything to do with the 'S-Rank Promotion' Dante received, do you? He seems very pleased with himself over it."

"He was anything but pleased from the looks of it. If you haven't noticed, like you, he tries to stay out of the spotlight." The smaller girl said, "Ironwood decided we needed to bring a new S-Class into the fold, not just as a figurehead, but as someone that actually has the power to back it up. I agreed because of what I saw for myself following Avery Johnson. Sykira agreed because she thought he was 'cute'. And Kallus… Well… Kallus agreed because he thought it'd be fun."

"I don't know about you, but S-Class is a joke." Ray commented with a pause. "As if Ironwood wasn't losing the plot already though, getting that nutjob's approval."

"Kallus is nice." Nira pouted at Ray's choice of name for her colleague, "He baked me a cake for my birthday last year."

Ray rolled his eyes with an amused hum. "Because that definitely sets the bar for who's nice and who isn't, Nira. I'm also nice, but I also don't go murdering people for sport."

"They weren't exactly nice people." Nira paused, before tilting her head with a shrug. "And it was a really good cake."

"It's hard to imagine an individual as himself 'baking' from what Dante described." Inuba said.

"Didn't the two of them fight in Argus? Was Dante alright afterwards?"

"From what I heard, he managed to defeat Kallus Warren." The kitsune explained to Nira.

"Oh. That's surprising." The noirette said as her eyes perked up momentarily, "Though to be fair, he was likely drunk." She said with a contemplative expression.

"Quiet." Ray stopped in his tracks and held his arm out to stop the two from walking.

The boy's feline ears were swivelling as they very clearly picked up some kind of sound up ahead of them.

"Stay here, please."

The faunus lowered himself to the ground and crept forward down the narrow hallway, his right hand ghosting over the hilt of his sword.

"Perhaps it would be best that we stay together." Inuba protested, "Should we separate and either of us be trapped.."

"Inuba, with respect, shut up." Ray hissed as he stopped where he was and lowered himself all the way down into a crouch before he ran two fingers across the hard, stone floor.

With some hesitation, he brought the same fingers to his nose and visibly took a couple of whiffs.

"Oh good…"

"The stench of death… It would seem your sister's captor and the one controlling the corpses above is further down this way." Inuba spoke.

Ray turned around to glare at the girl for a moment. "I don't know what you're smelling, but I can smell one of the fuckers that raided my house down here."

"Perhaps a minion instead of the newly made Lich instead."

Ray nodded before standing upright again, taking his hand away from his weapon before beckoning the Kitsune and Nira over to him. "Just… keep your eyes peeled."

Nira calmly walked forward without hesitation, making Ray sputter briefly before he spun around and briefly grappled with an undead vicar. A shocked huff of air crystallized the space before his lips before he tossed it behind him, throwing the creature toward the noirette.

The girl's gaze glinted in the dull ambiance of the icy cavern, a faint flash of luminescent lime green light flickering behind her irises as she raised her hand into the flight path of the vicar. A tilt of the head, a casual smirk, and Nira flicked the creature's head with a simple extended arm and dextrous finger.

The impact shattered the undead creature's skull, bone fragments scattering across the frozen ground. The rest of its body followed suit shortly after.

"Thanks." Ray said in a muted voice, before he offered the girl a more apologetic look, "Also… sorry about that."

"Teamwork." The girl flashed a small smile and a peace sign before continuing forward, Ray's violet eyes following her as she did so.

"I-I see Dante wasn't lying about your rather incredible power, Ms. Ezdeil…" The kitsune said.

"What did he say?" Nira asked, gaze peering behind her.

"W-Well… He said you likely could level a building simply by accidentally stubbing your toe against it…"

"I suppose the impact might be enough, but I'm not that clumsy. Still, my earlier point stands." The girl said, pausing to fix her hat before fixing them with a serious stare beneath its shadowed rim, "Cuddly people aren't intimidating."

With that, she continued onwards, Ray sighing at her silly yet straightforward answer as he closely followed behind.

"What strange yet wonderful individuals we keep encountering…"

Inuba smiled as she ventured onwards, quickening her pace to catch up to them.

"I should warn you both… Or rather, Mr. Chroma since…"

"Inuba, please." Ray quickly interjected, raising a hand in exasperation. "Just call me Ray."

"Er… You should be careful, Ray. The greater power inside… While once human, it is now a Lich on the level of a Knight Class." She continued to clarify, "It will likely use ice related magic or poison to entrap you."

Ray nodded in acknowledgement before sighing to himself. "I can handle elemental based attacks, don't worry about that. But I'm considerably more worried about finding my twin right now. If it makes a move to come for us, I need you to find her and get her out of here as fast as you can, alright?"

"Doable, but shouldn't one of us stay to help you at the very least?" Nira asked him, "I don't know what a Lich is, but it sounds like something a tad more lethal than the everyday baddie."

"I am begging you both, if it comes between choosing me and my sister, take Solara and leave." Ray stated with a serious and solemn tone of voice. "In the grand scheme of things, she will be more useful to you than I."

"Ray-"

"Alright. I understand." Nira interjected, "But don't be so quick to go off on your own, Ray."

Ray looked down at the girl before placing his hand on the top of her head endearingly. "I can't promise that, Nira. Just promise me you'll look after her if I do."

The kitsune looked between them briefly, thinking that the small exchange… a little strange.

It's almost like… No, surely not.

…

…

Maybe?

The fox girl shook her head, "Your sister is here." She pointed out to the large, iron double doors carved with bone-like patterns.

"Inviting." Nira said, looking upon the door before she pushed it open.

The trio stepped inside the chamber lit by ghastly blue flames, taking note of the numerous stone pillars that filled the room, as well as the rotten stench of death. One look at the far end of the room, and Ray rushed ahead almost instantly.

With a quick flick of his wrist and a flare of violet light, the boy summoned two brightly glowing blades between his fingers and threw them at rusted, black chains suspended from the ceiling.

At the bottom of those chains hung a girl by her wrists and as soon as the knives nicked them, they broke instantly, both knives shattering into amethyst sparks and disappearing shortly thereafter.

Ray caught the girl right before she hit the hard ground, cushioning her fall with his own body as he held her tightly.

"Found you…"

Ray knelt on the floor as he cradled his sister, holding her upper body against his as he checked her over and tucked her long, blonde hair behind her human ears.

"She's freezing." He commented quietly, reaching one hand behind his back and under his coat before pulling out a vial of red Dust.

He popped the top, then poured the contents into his other hand. The action caused his Aura to flare up and turn a deep, vermillion red.

Both Inuba and Nira sensed the change undergoing as he grew warmer by the second, his violet eyes shifting into the same color before he tossed the glass vial to the side and pulled his sister closer.

"A few cuts, but none too deep." The kitsune knelt down, resting one hand on the girl's head while she carefully grabbed hold of the other, "Thankfully, there won't be any scars when I'm finished."

As she said this, flickers of white flame appeared across the open wounds on the girl's body, slowly closing them up entirely. And as she promised, no scars remained on her body.

Nira took that moment to crouch down beside them, gently touching Solara's arm. "Her energy's much worse for wear than her body…"

Ray hummed, acknowledging both of their comments as he bit the end of his gloved finger and pulled the article of clothing off. "This pretty face is her only asset, she'll be upset if she even gets a pimple."

He placed his hand in the center of Solara's chest, vibrant red Aura accumulating at the point of contact before he began pressing it firmly into her, forcing his energy into his twin's body.

"I see what you mean…" Nira said, poking her head around Ray's side, "She's cute. But given you're twins, I'm hardly surprised."

Ray didn't seem to pay any mind to Nira, seemingly distracted by something trying to fight his Aura off as his face showed signs of a struggle. Following his gaze, there was a dark stain beginning to seep through the unconscious girl's skin.

A morphing, swirling black… moving like a living creature embedded inside her.

"It seems the caster of this curse took into consideration tampering on your end. Might I suggest we weave our Auras together and eliminate it?"

"I can smoke it out…" Ray said with some strain, the light of his red Aura growing brighter and rushing through Solara's veins and skin, "You do what you need to yank it from her body."

"Very well. Push it out when you're ready." The fox girl affirmed with a nod.

Ray gave her a fleeting glance before nodding once and then ramping up his energy output, the action evoking an equally stubborn reaction as glints of Solara's own Aura started flaring up, body seizing.

Whatever it was, it was infecting her visually and tangibly on both an energy level and a physical one. Ray's focus narrowed, his Aura rushing in like tendrils through his sister's arms, illuminating the girl's skin and chasing whatever black presence resided beneath the surface.

Each centimeter gained, Solara's body twitched, straining against the rushing energy and arching against Ray's hand.

That arch grew more violent, and would've bent the girl's spine too far if Nira hadn't stepped in to join the two and help restrain the girl.

"I've almost got it…" Ray growled, Aura flaring before his Aura surged through Solara's chest, where the dark affliction was steadily concentrating. Solara's Aura flickered with a dangerous fizzle right before a dark and smoky presence crawled out of the girl's chest, manifesting atop its surface. "Grab it now!"

Inuba's hand let go of the girl's hand and immediately shot forward towards the center of her chest, white flame quickly working to swallow up the dark essence as the fox girl steadily yanked out the now manifested curse. Trapped inside a sphere of white flame was some sort of serpentine mass of pitch black, crackling essence, which struggled and squirmed under the pressure of Inuba's grip as she crushed its entire existence, burning it away entirely in small tufts of white fire.

The corners of her eyes flared up with white flame as she looked the girl's body over, "There doesn't seem to be any secondary curses lingering in her body or embedded in her soul. She should be fine now."

"I can see that." Ray murmured softly before he sat Solara up a little in his lap, hand still to her chest as his flow of Aura slowed to a trickle, "Time to wake her up."

He paused, shooting a glance toward Nira.

"In my backpack, can you get my bottle of water and medication?"

"The usual?" Nira asked, popping through his pack's pockets. "Or something special?"

"The tablets. White packet." Ray elaborated gently as he turned his head a little with her behind him, "I need her awake before I can patch her Aura properly."

With a hum, Nira jostled the pack once before spotting the right pack, reaching a swift hand in before tossing the requested tablets toward Ray. "The special ones it is."

As he caught them, he popped one out of the foil packaging and popped it in Solara's mouth, then washed it down with some water from his bottle.

"Is that modafinil? Or a Chroma specialty?" Inuba asked.

"The latter." The boy commented, taking the bottle away from his sister's mouth and setting it down beside them, "Brace yourselves."

As he said that last part, he took a firm grip of his twin's body as he watched with anticipation.

Only a couple seconds passed before a big gasp filled the room and Solara's lithe form jerked awake violently, the girl's eyes shooting open and darting around as her brother grabbed her wrists and wrestled against her.

"Relax! Solara, it's me!" The boy shouted as she tried to fight him off, the young man just holding her even tighter as he grabbed her arms, crossed them over her and restrained her while the girl yelled incoherently in between sharp, ragged breaths.

"Shh, it's alright… I've got you, you're safe with us…" Ray whispered soothingly as he held her head against his chest and spoke into her feline ear, the girl's fighting dying down as she began to relax and come to her senses. "Just breathe."

Solara's breathing slowed as tears involuntarily welled in her eyes, the first dripping against Ray's body, soon followed by the others.

"I've got you… you're okay, just relax…"

Ray's Aura began flowing into Solara's frame much easier than it did before, her eyes and Aura shifting from a clear, lightless hue to match the brilliant red coloration of her brother's.

"Ms. Chroma. You may not know me, but I am currently an ally of your brother." The kitsune calmly explained, "You've only recently woken up from captivity, and I'm sorry to be a bother, but what's the last thing you remember after you were taken?"

Solara's eyes seemed unable to focus on anything for a moment before the girl blinked a couple of times and her red irises glanced toward Inuba.

They were cleaner than Ray's in a way, at least in the context of how the Fire Dust manifested its energy in them. By contrast, Ray's were more animated and his gaze burned much hotter than his twin's.

A moment passed before the blonde faunus pushed herself away from her brother a little, his hands letting go of her as she sat up and shook her head.

She brought a hand up to her head, attempting to massage it as her cat ears folded back. "I… I need a drink…"

Ray's hand reached for his bottle, unscrewing the cap and handing it to Solara. It took her a moment to realise it was there before she took it and immediately began swigging it back.

"Take as much as you need." Ray said as he watched his twin slowly down the entire bottle, finishing with a small sigh before lowering the bottle from her lips and looking back toward Inuba.

"I don't remember anything… I don't even know where I am…" Her voice was weak and raspy, but held a lightness to it as she placed the bottle down and turned to Ray. "What I do remember is specifically telling you not to come for me…" the girl said in a reprimanding tone.

Ray didn't look phased, his eyes reflecting not a single ounce of regret as he shrugged.

"For the record, I don't recall you telling us that." Nira commented, eyes and head on a swivel now as she peered around the room, "It's nice to meet you by the way."

"Details." Ray muttered with another light shrug, "I wasn't going to leave you here at the mercy of these evil bastards, come hell or high water."

Solara looked at her brother as a frown formed on her face, her displeasure at his response evident in the subtle glow of her angry red eyes. "You're such a pain in my ass…"

Nira scoffed lightly at that, but in such a way to fully agree with the sentiment.

"Yet here I am." Ray whispered as amusement filled his expression and tone.

"Now that we've collected everyone, we need to rendezvous up above with Dante and Rosswal." Inuba said as she stood up, "When we're safe, I'd like to have a session with you to-"

Her fox ears immediately flicked up, hearing faint, ghostly whispers approaching from behind. Instead of drawing the wrapped up katana on her back, she simply formed one out of her flaming white Aura and swung outwards, striking only air as the noise dissipated.

Only to emerge behind Ray as a figure formed out of the darkness.

Ray's head snapped to the intruder as a sword came down hard toward him and his twin, the sharp metal blade striking a rapidly constructed fiery barrier and clanging against it with burnt orange sparks and a harsh metallic ringing that caused both Ray and Solara to recoil.

Ray was on his feet in a split second, pulling Solara up with him and shoving her behind him toward Nira as his palm stayed aimed toward the sword still clashing against his barrier.

Nira swept the girl up after she stumbled, not quite ready to walk yet.

"Take my sister and get the fuck out of here." The boy uttered calmly, loud enough for Inuba and Nira to hear him as he started taking slow steps back toward the girls protectively.

"Mr. Chroma-!"

"I don't wanna hear it, Inuba!" Ray yelled back toward her as he drew out his sword, his other hand pointing toward the nearest exit, "You made me a promise!"

His eyes were fixed on the towering dark entity in front of him as it drew its sword back away from Ray's shield.

Her fox ears folded downwards momentarily, but perked back up as she gave a firm nod, standing in front of Nira as they began their retreat.

"I've given her a good chunk of my Aura, she's gonna need that energy to recover, you two just get her out of here and back to the ship." Ray asserted as he wielded his powered weapon in front of him in a ready stance.

"And what, you're just going to fight it alone?" Nira asked, only taking steps back to protect the boy's sister.

"I know it's not ideal…" Ray said slowly as he turned to look at Nira with sad and desperate eyes, "But unless Dante and his freaky friend are just around the corner, it's all I've got."

The noirette's gaze met Ray's for a few long moments before flicking to Solara in her arms, the girl's frail, shaky body still struggling to establish the energy her brother fed it.

She couldn't stay here…

"Fine." Nira curled her arms in, holding Solara firmer against her front before narrowing her eyes at Ray, "But you can at least have the decency to give me a goodbye kiss outside if you're thinking of trading lives. So… please, be careful."

Ray's finger grazed against a trigger that popped out on the hilt of his sword for a moment, offering the girl a firm nod before he pulled it and red-orange flames started shooting out from little vents that ran down the length of his blade.

"I'll be fine." His words echoed into the room in a calm, assuring affirmation. He knew what he was doing, probably even planned on it.

The boy's eyes eventually flicked to his sister, who in her tired and weakened state looked both scared and bewildered at the situation.

"They'll take good care of you, okay? I'll see you soon."

Before she had the opportunity to speak a single word, Ray turned toward the creature before him and twirled his sword.

"Hello again, Bishop. You're even uglier than I last remember you!"

The creature was skeletal in frame and pitch black in body, standing at eight feet tall and wearing something resembling crimson, sleeveless robes that exposed his thick, bone-like arms and clawed fingertips, red plates adorning its forearms. Something resembling a miter rested on top of its head, two ox-like horns emerging from the sides. Tufts of green flame burst from the crevices in its garb and its mouth, where further up, abyssal red orbs from the skull-like head stared back at Ray.

The black sword it held resembled a large claymore minus a cross branch, the blade as thick as Ray's leg, jagged and chipped from overuse, yet still able to sever soul from flesh.

"Chroma… Scurrying around like the rat you are… How unsurprising." The skeletal entity spoke, its voice husky and wispy as it echoed throughout the chamber, "Using the Black Devil and the BlueMoon Vampire as bait was a bold move. But therein lies the problem. Neither is here to save you now."

Ray's mouth twisted into a grin as he relaxed his posture and began walking perpendicular to the creature, flaming sword hanging by his side.

"You seem to have the wrong impression, pal. They volunteered for this." Ray called out in response, gesturing his free hand above them. "I was going to kill you myself with or without them."

It laughed at him.

"Your bravado is misplaced. You sealed your inevitable fate the moment you stepped into my Domain without the Black Devil, and when you sent away his pet fox." The Bishop spoke, resting its bony hands atop the pommel of his sword, "Your struggle… is therefore meaningless. Surrender your life to me."

"Come and take it you lifeless bastard! When they're done cleaning up this mess of a monastery, where do you think they're coming next?" Ray taunted it as he broke into a chuckle. "You wouldn't be down here facing me if you weren't afraid of them, which tells me that you know you can't fight Dante or that vampire on your own."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. In any case… your soul will be mine." It spoke as it raised up its sword, holding it with both hands as it blazed with green fire, "And I will return to our new King."

"Ladies, it's time to go!" Ray called out while still facing the Bishop, raising his own sword up as the flames that encompassed it grew hotter.

The boy then pointed toward the Bishop after addressing them, his smug grin morphing into a stern, stubborn glare. "As for you, you kid yourself. Stone the fuck up."

What appeared to be a wild swing was actually an attempt to collapse the passage with the green fire that shot out of its sword.

Nira had almost instantly shot back a good distance with Solara in her arms, Inuba sighing briefly before she slipped through to join the noirette on the other side.

"As I said before, Chroma. This place… shall be your grave." The Bishop spoke.

"I'm waiting, asshole."

---

Interesting developments going on with the Chroma's and our new lich friend. Why grab the sister? What's the end goal here? All that and more on today's news.

Shit... Wrong gig... *Ahem!* All that and more next time folks! So with that...

If you have questions, ask them anytime. I will try to answer them without spoiling anything.

Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Your support genuinely matters.

With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend, and remember... be kind and excellent to one another, stay safe, and stay healthy.