"Dark Signer?" Ruby repeated, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Sorry if this sounds prejudiced, but I've read enough comic books to know that any time there's a 'Dark' version of something else, it isn't gonna be friendly."

Lil' Miss giggled through Junior's lips. "Don't be so childish. The universe needs my mark's Dark Magic just as it does the Light Magic of yours. Two of the six primordial forces of reality, birthed by the Code and in turn puppeteering even the gods borne from them. But opposites need not be enemies when balance is paramount."

"Riiigghttt," Ruby slowly nodded, doing her best to pretend she'd understood any of that. Eventually, the silver-eyed duelist just gave up and raised her duel disk, her deck shuffling for combat. "Let's duel!"

"Duel?" Lil' Miss replied, mirthfully shaking her drone's possessed head. "Little Signer, I told you that you've misunderstood the situation. There's no need for us to duel."

"Th–that's right!" Melanie called. "No need to duel!"

"None whatsoever!" Miltia added. "You can just surrender and then mom won't burn out J–"

"Girls, what did I say about talking when the grown-ups are talking," Lil' Miss cooed, her daughters instantly falling silent. "Really, I generously offered to help you gain the power to be adults with the rest of our associates, but you wanted to stick with those uselessly inconsistent decks of yours. You chose to be weak. If you don't accept that reality, you'll just end up getting yourselves hurt. And then what would have been the point of letting you stay out of my way with Junior?"

Miltia and Melanie wilted under their mother's scorn, while Ruby's gaze narrowed into a glare at the Dark Signer. She may not have liked the Malachite twins, but no parent should talk to their children with such offhand cruelty.

"I've seen my dad use these magic circle barriers before," Ruby spoke up, pointing to dark blue flames surrounding her and the possessed Junior. "We only get out once we duel or–"

"Or you agree to a mystically binding promise of my choosing," Lil' Miss finished, her smiling almost charming. "And that promise… is to ally with me."

The Beacon Slifer Red quirked an eyebrow. "... why? Is that even a thing that Signers and Dark Signers can do?"

"Once upon a time, no. Every five thousand years, The Aesir chose their Rune-Eyes, and the Crimson Dragon and its servant lizards chose their Signers, and they did battle with The King of the Netherworld Armityle, its chosen champion The Yubel, and The Dark Signers selected by the Earthbound. A contest of champions that could transform a few disputed worlds to light or darkness until the next five millennia passed for another competition. A cycle. A balance. A destiny."

"Wait, what was that about Aesir–"

"But now! Destiny is broken!" Lil' Miss flamboyantly proclaimed, not even hearing Ruby's attempt to query her for Nora's sake. "The gods that once ruled Creation, Destruction, Order, and Chaos are gone! The imbalance has warped The Light to destruction and ensured Darkness is no longer gentle!"

"Like I said, I've read a lot of comic books. I get that you want to spice up your info dump and everything," Ruby said. "But I have no context for anything you're saying."

Lil' Miss sighed, tutting disapprovingly. "Ozpin really hasn't told you anything. Very well. The important thing to know is that the old rules of what Signers and Dark Signers must do no longer apply. Remnant, since its very creation, has been cut off from the rest of reality, protected by a barrier. That barrier gets cracks in it from time to time that the old man and The Queen seal up, but a few refugees like your dragon and my Earthbound sneak in nonetheless, hiding from their gods and allies so that they are not warped as well."

"The bigger powers can't fit through the tiny cracks in the barrier?" Ruby surmised.

"Correct. They might not even notice given how busy they are trying to tear each other, and everyone unfortunate enough to be in their way, apart," Lil's Miss smiled. "But that's irrelevant. Weaker than they might be compared to when they are connected to their sources, our magic allows us power few could dream of. If we unite with the rest of my associates, perhaps even powerful enough to overthrow the one who controls this world."

Ruby scowled. "Do you really think I'd be onboard with overthrowing the kingdoms' councils?"

"The councils? Hahahaha!" Lil' Miss' laugh boomed throughout the club's backroom. "I have as many councilors in my web as I need already. No, I'm aiming higher. I want The Queen's crown. Believe me, you don't want her wearing it."

"What makes you think I want you wearing it?" Ruby queried. "Whatever it is."

"The power to change the world," Lil' Miss offered, reaching out her hand. "And it would be yours as well."

"If I worked with you. And even if I hadn't seen all this right here, I've got two friends who have told me a buttload of very disturbing anecdotes about what you and your Spiders have been getting up to in Mistral for over a decade. You're a bad guy. I'm a hunting duelist," Ruby declared, raising Crescent Rose once more. "Now, like I said, let's duel."

Lil' Miss sighed. "If you insist. If you ever desire to accept my offer during this match, just let me know. You wouldn't be the first Signer I've convinced of the need to move forward from what we once were."

The drone pulled out the deck in the duel disk on its arm and scowled as it observed the cards within. "Iron Chain? Really, Junior? This weakness will not do."

Lil' Miss reeled her arm back and chucked the deck towards the mystical barrier, the cards scattering towards the dark flames.

"The boss' cards!" Melanie and Miltia screamed.

"Eep!" Ruby squeaked, the red-hooded girl scrambling into action.

She dashed about the dark circle, her semblance beyond her reach in the barrier's magical confines. Still, she dashed and ducked around the fire, snatching up each and every one of Junior's cards before the flames could touch them.

"Such effort," Lil' Miss shook Junior's head. "For such worthless cards."

"No such thing," Ruby growled. "And even if there were, no card deserves to be destroyed like that."

Lil' Miss shrugged. She raised Junior's hand in the air, dozens of skittering spiders descending from the ceiling on thin threads of unearthly glowing silk. Each one carried a single card, laying them all down in the Dark Signer drone's palm.

"Not bad. Could be better, but not bad," she remarked, examining the new cards before shuffling them into a single deck and inserting it into Junior's duel disk. "Now then, shall we, Little Signer?"

Ruby stored Junior's deck safely in her deck box before raising Crescent Rose for battle, her own deck shuffling within.

"Duel!"

Ruby Rose: 4000 Life Points

Lil' Miss Drone: 4000 Life Points

"I'll go first," Lil' Miss announced, drawing her five-card hand. Her stolen, glowing eyes darted about her selection before she took hold of one and laid it on Junior's duel disk. "I normal summon Dragonbite."

A dark lizardlike fly flashed onto the field, its jaw unhinging to drip steaming acid onto the nightclub floor (ATK 1000/DEF 1000).

"When Dragonbite is normal summoned, it does not fly alone," Lil' Miss said. "It summons another Level Four or lower Insect-Type monster from my hand–"

"No, it doesn't!" Ruby exclaimed, snatching a card from her hand and inserting it into Crescent Rose. "I activate Infinite Impermenance!"

A pink-bordered trap card manifested before the Slifer Red, spawning crackling sparks that caused Dragonbite to write in pain.

Lil' Miss cocked an eyebrow in curiosity more than concern for her monster. "Oh? A trap card from the hand?"

"One that targets and negates your monster's effect," Ruby triumphantly gloated as one of the cards Penny gave her faded from the air. "It's a gift from a friend."

"An impressive gift. Keep that friend close. Let their power stoke your own," Lil' Miss advised, slipping a card from her hand into Junior's duel disk. "I activate Insect Imitation. Now by tributing Dragonbite, I can summon an Insect-Type monster from my deck that is one level higher. I choose Bio-Insect Armor, in defense mode."

Dragonbite was sealed within a spotted green egg. However, before long, the shell cracked and shattered as emerald light flashed from within. A hunched-over, grotesque mantis with a cannon strapped to its back emerged, kneeling down over a sideways card (ATK 1500/DEF 2000).

"Ew," the twins shivered.

"Cool!" Ruby whispered, her eyes twinkling at the creepy crawler and its big gun. Just because Lil' Miss was obviously not a great person didn't mean the young silver-eyed girl couldn't admire her monsters.

"I set one card facedown and end my turn," the Dark Signer drone smiled. "Now then, please. Show me more of what you can do, Little Signer."

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"Luster Dragon!"

"Marauding Captain!"

"Kaiser Vorse Raider!"

Weiss winced as the small army of suit and sunglasses-wearing thugs descended on her and Yang, their platoon of monsters eager to shred the Obelisk Blues. Her Blue-Eyes White Dragon hovered overhead of the two Beacon students, ready to defend its master and her teammate. Unfortunately, while it could take down any of the goons' monsters one-on-one in a closeup brawl, it couldn't unleash White Lightning to mow down the horde at range when the crowd of civilians was still stampeding out of the arena, directly in the line of fire.

And while Blue-Eyes's legendary strength might be sufficient to take down each of the enemy monsters one by one, that didn't mean the rest of the horde couldn't swarm Weiss and Yang while it was occupied.

Yang panted, struggling to her knees despite her complete and clear exhaustion. "Okay, you take the five dozen on the left. I'll take the five dozen on the right."

"You can barely stand!" Weiss scolded.

"Okay, fine, you can take five dozen and one, But not a goon more," Yang snarked, continuing to struggle to rise. "If you think I'm gonna leave you to fight these guys alone–"

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

Weiss and Yang's eyes widened as a familiar singsong voice cut through the panicking bustle of the crowd. Junior's men paused their advance on the two Obelisk Blues, utterly confounded that anyone could have the lung capacity to make themselves heard above such chaos.

The thrum of an engine soon joined the energetic song, along with a high-pitched, one might say girlish, scream.

The crowd parted like a great sea as a plain green duel runner with Beacon's emblem printed on the side roared through The Club's halls and launched itself off the top tier of the stands. As it soared through the air, Ren stoically hunched himself over the front as he drove, Nora boisterously laughed as she continued her maniacal singsong chant, and Jaune screamed in terror as he desperately attempted to hold onto his impromptu third seat on the max two-person vehicle.

The duel runner bounced onto the top of the half-melted cage, Ren deftly keeping the vehicle balanced atop the thick roof bars. At last, the motorcycle reached the end, leaping over Junior's men and their monsters, and skidding around to a stop before a slack-jawed Weiss and Yang.

Jaune immediately collapsed to his knees and started hurling up everything he'd eaten at Heartland's Funzone Pizzaria. Ren stepped off the duel runner and began rubbing his team leader's back.

"Hi guys!" Nora cheerily waved at Weiss and Yang. "Woah, Yang, you look like crud. And yet still somehow wicked hot."

"You know it, girl!" Yang winked, snapping her fingers at the other muscular girl.

"What are you guys doing here?" Weiss demanded.

"Ruby called Pyrrha to back up Blake when she had to come here to help you guys," Ren explained. "We got worried about her, but when we called, they were both fine so they sent us to back you up."

"And it looks like we're just in time," Nora said, cracking her knuckles as she glanced over the horde of goons regaining their nerve and the giant Spider emblem carved into the ceiling above. "Kicking Spider goon butt. It's almost nostalgic."

"They're not the big problem," Weiss informed them. "Ruby's trapped in a magic duel. Jaune! Go and back her up!"

"Jaune?" Yang queried.

"Jaune?" Nora repeated.

"Me?" Jaune echoed, barely recovered from his heaving, staring incredulously, yet hopefully at Weiss.

"Yes," Weiss said, pointing at the necklace hanging around her throat. "You."

Jaune noticed her movement and mirrored it, no doubt feeling his key hidden beneath his Ra Yellow uniform. His excitement died immediately but was swiftly replaced with understanding resolve. "Right. Me."

"Go then," Ren said, helping his leader to his feet and shooting him a supportive smile. "We'll handle things here."

"Are you sure?" Jaune asked, looking over the vast horde of goons and their monsters. "There are a lot of them."

Nora chuckled, deploying Magnhild and snatching up cards from her deck. "Don't worry, Fearless Leader."

"Malachite thugs are our specialty," Ren finished, doing the same with his sharp green Stormflower duel disk.

Jaune nodded. He grabbed Crocea Mors and dashed off into The Club's deeper caverns.

"Jaune, wait!" Yang called, only to fall back to her knees. "He doesn't even know where she is!"

"He'll figure it out. The magic light show is impossible to miss," Weiss lied, praying that Astral would be able to use his own magic to detect the power emanating from whatever was possessing Junior. Just as she prayed that the ghostly being had enough of his memories to make use of his immense magic power to aid Ruby against the terrifying foe.

In the meantime, she hunkered down beside Yang, Blue-Eyes lowering to guard her and her teammate. "Besides, out of all of us, he has the least experience with open combat. You two got this?"

Nora and Ren responded by slamming spell cards into their duel disks.

"Black Luster Ritual!"

"Machine Angel Ritual!"

The light of Ritual Summons filled the wrecked arena, Junior's thugs intimidated back as the worst beatings of their lives were called up.

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Jaune ran through The Club's tunnels as fast as he could, looking to Astral floating alongside him. "Please tell me you can sense where Ruby is?"

"There is a sizable amount of Dark Magic radiating from deeper in," Astral said. "I can guide you there."

"Better yet, take control" Jaune replied. "No chance I miss something along the way then. And if this enemy is magical, you're gonna be more help than me."

Astral's brow furrowed and he nodded. "That is logical."

The ethereal armored being flew into Jaune's body, the blond boy's eyes shifting to one red and one azure instead of his usual baby blue pair. Then as one, they charged off into the dark halls.

RWBYRWBYRWBYRWBYYUGIOHYUGIOH

"I draw!" Ruby yelled, ripping a card from the top of her deck and smirking at her draw. "I activate One for One! I send World Carrotweight Champion from my hand to the graveyard and summon Rose Lover from my deck. Then, I discard Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis to activate World Carrotweight Champion's effect and summon it from my graveyard."

A beautiful blonde maiden in a stunning scarlet gown manifested before the Slifer Red, her dress inlaid with living roses (ATK 800/DEF 800). Immediately after, a fierce warrior made entirely of carrots (ATK 1900/DEF 0) leapt up from beneath the floor, standing defiantly in the midst of the searing blue flames.

"Then I sacrifice both my monsters," Ruby said, whipping a high-level monster from her hand. "And tribute summon Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms!"

Rose Lover and World Carrotweight Champion's aura bodies morphed into mercurial spheres, slamming together into a single larger orb of energy. That orb soon transformed into an enormous cherry blossom, a towering geisha emerging more elegant and beautiful than the flower itself (ATK 2800/DEF 1200). The gorgeous dancer fluttered her fan over herself, preening as she was showered with bright pink petals (ATK 2900).

"Talaya gains a hundred attack points for each Plant-Type on my field," Ruby explained.

"So I see," Lil' Miss replied, the Princess of Cherry Blossoms smirking down at her Bio-Insect Armor. "But is that really all you've got, Little Signer?"

"Nope!" Ruby grinned, hitting a button on Crescent Rose to eject a monster from her graveyard and flipping around the last card in her hand to reveal another high-level monster. "I can banish Rose Lover to special summon a plant monster from my hand. So Talaya is joined by Chirubime, Princess of Autumn Leaves!"

A second flower bloomed beside Talaya, this one warm in hues of yellow and orange. Where the Cherry Blossom Princess was elegant and haughty, the woman that rose from this new foliage was smiling and kind (ATK 1800/DEF 2800).

"Battle!" Ruby declared. "Talaya, Princess of Cherry Blossoms attacks Bio-Insect Armor!"

Talaya flicked its fan towards Bio-Insect Armor, a hail of pink cherry blossom petals shredding the insectoid war machine to pieces.

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered, pumping her fist. "And now–"

"Parasite Paranoid."

"Huh?" Ruby stammered, only for her gaze to suddenly twist towards Talaya, the beautiful Princess of Cherry Blossoms letting out a horrid scream.

A malignant blue worm burst from the Princess' skull, deadening her eyes as it began to feast on the surrounding cherry blossoms.

"Talaya!" Ruby shouted in concern for her monster.

"Parasite Paranoid can target one face-up monster on the field and equip itself to that monster from my hand," Lil' Miss explained. "That monster becomes an Insect-Type, but also cannot attack Insect monsters, and its effects that would target Insect-Types are negated."

"Can't attack Insect monsters?" Ruby's brow furrowed. "But then, why didn't you use it before I destroyed Bio-Insect Armor?"

Lil' Miss spread Junior's lips in a creepy, unnatural grin. "Attack and find out."

Well, it wasn't like she couldn't. If she didn't attack, Lil' Miss would still have all the countermeasures she might have set up and she'd just get more time to grow her field. Ruby had to at least try to press her advantage.

"Chirubime, Princess of Autumn Leaves! Attack her directly!"

"I activate my facedown card Cocoon of Ultra Evolution!" Lil' Miss proclaimed, the card in question flipping up to reveal a Quick-Play spell displaying a golden cocoon surrounded by spiderwebs. "I tribute one Insect monster equipped with an Equip Card and can then special summon an Insect Monster from my deck, ignoring its summoning conditions."

"Uh…" Ruby stalled, her eyes skittering over her opponent's empty field. "You don't have any Insect monsters. Or any monsters at all."

"No," Lil' Miss coyly concurred. "But you do."

Ruby's face paled as she whirled towards her Princess of Cherry Blossoms, her infected monster surrounded by the same golden cocoon shown on her enemy's spell card.

"The only thing better than bolstering your own strength is removing your enemy's ability to fight back at the same time," Lil' Miss lectured. "I call forth Block Spider. Who, due to its effect, special summons another copy of itself from the deck when it's special summoned to the field."

Two goofy spiders burst out of the golden cocoon, connected by a line of webbing coming out of each of their rears. Six of their legs wore bright red boots, while the remaining two made jazz hands with clean white gloves (ATK 0/DEF 100).

Ruby blinked at the Dark Signer drone's silly, goofy monsters. She was pretty sure they'd made a guest appearance on The Onomatopia Gang one time, blocking off a crucial forest route until Gagaga Magician had tricked them into trying to pick a fight with Gogogo Golem. Not what she'd expected from a crime boss with Dark Magic possession powers.

Lil' Miss noticed her confusion and eerily cackled. "Heartland. Heartland. Everyone loves Heartland."

Never had the delightful jingle of her childhood unnerved Ruby more.

"So long as a Block Spider is on the field, you can't attack any Insect monsters but it," Lil' Miss revealed. "So with two out, and only Insects on my field…"

"... you have an attack lock," Ruby scowled.

"And there's more," the Dark Signer drone warned. "When Parasite Paranoid is sent to the graveyard while acting as an Equip Card, I can summon one Level Seven or higher Insect Monster from my hand, ignoring its summoning conditions. Meet Metamorphosed Insect Queen!"

"Wwwrrrggghhhh!"

Ruby and the Malachite twins slammed their palms over their ears, a shrill shriek tearing through the backroom. A horrendous monster of red, blue, and yellow manifested in front of Junior's warped, smirking face, a giant beetle with an elegant woman growing out of it similar to Ruby's flower princesses. The insectoid monarch let out another piercing screech at her master's foe, her wings flaring behind her as she raised her pincers for battle (ATK 2800/DEF 2400).

"So long as Metamorphosed Insect Queen is on the field, she protects the subjects that attend to her. That means as long as she's not my only Insect monster, you cannot target or destroy any of my Insects with card effects. Add that protection to my Block Spiders' attack lock and, well…" Lil' Miss mockingly shrugged. "What will you do now, Little Signer?"

Ruby frowned. "I end my turn."

"I thought so."

"And when I do, the effect of Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis in my graveyard activates," the silver-eyed girl countered, her bouquet of fiery flowers rising to her field atop a sideways card (ATK 2200/DEF 0). "I banish one Plant-Type monster from my graveyard, and it returns to my field in defense mode."

"How ironic. I also receive a monster during the End Phase," Lil' Miss cooed, her Insect Queen chittering as it birthed a slimy egg (ATK 100/DEF 100). "Metamorphosed Insect Queen creates an Insect Monster Token during each End Phase. Now, I draw. I banish Cocoon of Ultra Evolution from my graveyard to return Dragonbite to my deck and draw an additional card. And, oh, would you look at that! I normal summon Dragonbite."

"Cool! That guy's back!" Ruby cheered, the acid-drooling lizard dragon returning to the field (ATK 1000/DEF 1000). "But your monster zones are all filled up. You can't use his effect to summon another insect out."

"Then I'll use its other effect," Lil' Miss smiled. "By banishing the Dark Spider in my hand, I can increase one of my monster's levels by its level. So my Insect Monster Token rises from a level one to a level two."

Ruby cocked an eyebrow. "So, wild guess, one of them's a tuner?"

"How astute, Little Signer."

"Mom, don't!" Melanie pleaded.

"His body can't take that much Dark Magic!" Miltia begged. "Just use Insect Queen–"

"Silence," Lil' Miss hissed, her daughters flinching back as they trembled quietly. "Junior's a strong boy. He can handle one burst."

"Uh, burst of what?" Ruby queried. "If you're Synchro Summoning, it's just aura technique."

"Normally, yes," Lil' Miss said. "But as this body is a loan, as it were, I do not have access to its aura."

"What?" Ruby exclaimed, looking over her opponent's full field of monsters and their aura bodies. "But then, what are those guys manifested with?"

Lil' Miss raised Junior's arm, her Spider mark blazing bright purple. "Why, Dark Magic of course. Funneled through Junior's body."

"You can manifest monsters with magic!" Ruby gasped. "That's awesome!"

Lil' Miss cackled, seeming to actually enjoy the younger girl's excitement. "Quite! All monsters enjoy it, but some few demand that their bodies be crafted with massive quantities of magic and aura. Good luck trying to bring out one of the Brothers' God Cards without such wealth."

Ruby's eyes went wide as saucers, her silver orbs twinkling with childlike wonders even amongst the flames of hell. "The Brothers' God Cards? They're real!?"

"Very real," Lil' Miss grinned. "In fact, I have plans to acquire one, suck away its powers for my own ends. Perhaps, you'd like to join me and wield it yourself instead–"

"Nope. You're still evil."

"Shame," Lil' Miss sighed, the glow of her Dark Signer mark suddenly intensifying. "Level Four tuner Dragonbite tunes my Level Two Insect Monster Token."

Dragonbite broke apart into a quartet of tuner rings. But the moment they entered the air, the circles' color changed from green to the black of the darkest night.

The new dark rings swirled around each other, a black vortex spawning between their spinning circumference. Wind rushed through Ruby's hair, yanking her hood over her head as the Insect Monster Token morphed into twinkling stars and flew into the ebony hole. The stars were compressed tighter and tighter, blazing sapphire flames lighting around them.

"What in the world?" Ruby whispered, a chill filling her bones even within the circle of flames.

"When the shadows are devoured by even darker shadows, the curtain pulls back and reveals… a world without light," Lil' Miss chanted, Junior's eyes blazing with an unnatural violet burn. "Dark Synchro Summon! Level Six! Underground Arachnid!"

The black hole collapsed in on the darkened stars and the cold wind called forth a new monster from the pitch-black night. It was a giant spider, smaller than Metamorphosed Insect Queen but with sharper limbs ready to spear any prey it hunted down. A ragged humanoid figure fused into the creature's head, a banshee figure shrieking its horrid bellow (ATK 2400/DEF 1200).

"Ooo!" Ruby gasped with twinkling eyes of wonder. "A new kind of Synchro Summon! That's so cool–Ah!"

Ruby's arm burned, her Signer Mark flaring to the point that her forearm locked up with aching pain.

"Black Rose?" she murmured, feeling her dragon's apprehension before glancing back up at Underground Arachnid. "Is this thing really that dangerous?"

"It's most definitely not safe," Lil' Miss smirked. She pointed Junior's fat finger at Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis with unnerving sharpness. "Let's remove that defense mode protector of yours, shall we?"

The banshee sitting atop the Underground Arachnid unhinged its jaw and unleashed a line of thick, sticky webbing. The goopy whip wrapped around Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis, the fiery bouquet yanked across the field and stuck helplessly to the eight-legged cretin's back.

"Amaryllis!" Ruby cried.

"Once per turn, I can select one face-up monster you control and equip it to Underground Arachnid," Lil' Miss explained. "Of course, with Bio-Insect Armor in my graveyard, I can equip it to one of my Insect monsters as well."

"So that's why you let me destroy it," Ruby winced, the mantis armor manifesting across Metamorphosed Insect Queen (ATK 4300/DEF 4400), the giant cannon aimed straight at the silver-eyed Signer.

"The best way to get rid of a problem is to get someone else to do it for you," Lil' Miss shrugged. "Metamorphosed Insect Queen, attack the Princess of Autumn Leaves."

Metamorphosed Insect Queen screeched at Chirubime, the enormous cannon of Bio-Insect Armor lighting up with a blinding fiery glow.

BOOM! In a single thunderous shot, the Princess of Autumn Leaves was disintegrated to ash. Ruby threw her arms up to shield her from the blowback of the attack, but the shockwave proved far too strong and she was ripped off her feet.

Ruby flew back through the air and crashed into the barrier of flames, her aura crackling as it strained to keep her hood and her Slifer Red uniform jacket from lighting ablaze. She slid down to the floor and panted for breath, the blow feeling heavier than any attack by an aura body she'd taken before.

Ruby Rose: 1500 Life Points

When my Princess of Autumn Leaves is sent to the graveyard by one of your cards, I can special summon a Plant monster from my deck except for another copy of itself," Ruby wheezed. "Come on out, Baobaboon!"

Her trusty tree with a baboon's face flashed onto her field in defense mode (ATK 1200/DEF 1000).

Lil' Miss sniggered. "A tree with a monkey's face? That's a monster you don't see every day."

Ruby's eyes narrowed at her opponent's disrespect for her monster, but she merely activated Baobaboon's effect to draw a card and place it on top of her deck or on the bottom. Not using her real deck or not, acting through a 'drone' or not, the Dark Signer was skilled and clearly more experienced with magic than the Beacon student was. If Lil' Miss had known about Chirubime's effect in advance, she could have stolen it with Underground Archnid's effect, then used her Dark Synchro monster to destroy Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis and wipe the silver-eyed Signer out completely with a single shot from Metamorphosed Insect Queen. If Ruby was gonna have any chance to win, she needed to take every advantage she could get.

She drew for Baobaboon, only to frown at the sight of Book of Moon. With Metamorphosed Insect Queen protecting her fellow Insect monsters, the usually reliable spell was useless. Ruby placed it on the bottom of her deck.

Meanwhile, Lil' Miss' dark gaze remained focused on Baobaboon. "Hmm, you must have stronger monsters you could have brought out, but you chose this one for some reason. Better to keep my attack lock intact than tribute one of my Block Spiders for another attack and risk over-extending myself. Underground Arachnid, destroy that barking monkey."

Underground Arachnid blitzed onto Ruby's side of the field, Phoenixian Cluster Amaryllis still captive on its back. With one thrust of its sharp, spindly legs, Baobaboon was speared and destroyed.

Which fortunately meant that two more swiftly appeared on Ruby's field.

"When Baobaboon is destroyed, I can summon as many as I want from my deck," she said, drawing from her duel disk. "And I get to use each of their effects as well."

Once again, Ruby frowned when she spied her pull: Rose Paladin. Normally a formidable monster that could call out some of the silver-eyed duelist's most powerful Plant-Types when she destroyed a monster in battle, the Block Spiders' attack lock made her useless at the moment. Reluctantly, the Beacon Slifer Red put her on the bottom of her deck, before drawing her third card and choosing to place that one on top of her deck.

"I end my turn. Which means that Metamorphosed Insect Queen makes me another Insect Monster Token," Lil' Miss announced, her most powerful monster secreting a new slimy egg.

"Targeting protection, effect destruction protection, an attack lock, and an endless stream of tokens," Ruby noted, finally catching her breath on her knees. "You don't mess around."

"It doesn't pay in my line of work," Lil' Miss smirked. "There's no victory in strength, but power can change the world."

"Aren't strength and power the same thing?"

"Oh, Little Signer," the mob boss tutted, somehow delivering motherly condescension with Junior's face. "Whether you've known it or not, you've lived your entire life shielded by Ozpin's veil. You have no idea the horrific world that lies outside behind the curtain."

Ruby scoffed. "I know the world's not a fairy tale."

"Because otherwise it wouldn't have taken mommy dearest from you?"

Ruby's head shot up, her silver eyes wide. "You… you knew my mom? Do you have Stardust Dragon? Were you the one who–"

"Killed her? No," Lil' Miss shook her drone's head. "Sad to say I only knew your mother by reputation and the few stories I've been able to get out of one of my associates. A shame. We could have done such great things together."

Ruby glanced towards the Malachite twins, cowering silently outside the dark blue flame barrier, and glared at their domineering mother. "My mom would never have joined you."

"She didn't hide her last journey to Solitas from Ozpin because she was still satisfied with him," Lil' Miss snarked. "There is horror on Remnant that you could not conceive in your worst nightmares. Evil, true evil, that does not sleep and cannot die. And as I said, destiny is broken. It will not save you or those you love. Only you can, by making the right choice."

"By joining you?" Ruby frowned.

Lil' Miss gestured to her resplendent field, her Dark Synchro Monster in particular. "You can't be afraid of the power you may wield. There's wonder in magic, treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. With my guidance, it could be yours, your loved ones safe from the Grimm and worse nightmares. Without it… well, this duel will continue."

"Great!" Ruby grinned.

"Great?" Lil' Miss repeated, quirking Junior's head in confusion. "You do realize that you're one turn away from losing this match and, if you do not accept my offer of an alliance, your life."

Ruby chuckled, the Beacon student rising to her feet with a bright and eager smile, her crimson cape billowing behind her. "I want to help people. I want to make the world a better place. I want to find my mom's lost Signer Dragon, and see as many awesome monsters as I can. But I know there are other ways I could do that stuff other than being a hunting duelist. I could be a doctor, a police officer, or a dust structure designer, or a card forger, that kind of stuff."

"I suppose you could, though in a far less romantic manner," Lil' Miss waved off. "But please, tell me, why did you choose to be a hunting duelist instead?"

"Because dueling is so much fun!" Ruby exclaimed, spreading her arms wide as Melanie and Milita looked at her like she was an utter madwoman. "Whether it's hunting Grimm with my monsters or taking on an opponent that can push me to my limit and beyond, there's nothing like it!"

"Even if you might die?" Lil' Miss queried. "Even if I might kill you?"

An image of Summer, smiling bright as her white cloak fluttered in the wind conjured by Stardust Dragon, filled her daughter's vision.

"I know what I signed up for," Ruby proclaimed, peace filling her from that certainty as she defiantly pointed at her opponent. "You're a bad guy. I'm a hunting duelist. I beat the bad guys and save the people they try to hurt."

She felt both her dragons gush with pride at her speech, albeit with each focusing on different parts. Black Rose Dragon fawned over her determination to save people, while Starving Venom Fusion salivated at her determination to beat the bad guys.

Lil' Miss stared at her for several long seconds, Junior's face warped with amazed confusion. "Well, I don't think I've encountered a more shining example of the light's prized selflessness."

"Thank you."

"I'm afraid that wasn't a compliment," the mob boss continued, her hand brushing her glowing Dark Signer mark. "The Spiders as an organization existed long before I was born. I grew up in the slums of Mistral, living in terror of them. Still, through guile and cunning, I accumulated a fortune and for a time was safer from them. But then, I was convinced to be selfless, to use my hard-earned wealth for the 'betterment of mankind and the advancement of knowledge'. Were it not for meeting Uru, I would not have survived the experience. In the technical sense, I didn't."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Ruby inquired.

"Meaning that if you waste all your strength and power saving others, you'll have none left to save yourself when you need it," Lil' Miss quipped. "And without you, all the tiny little people will die instead of the few you might have had to let go of."

"Let's test that theory," Ruby challenged, her fingers grabbing hold of the top card of her deck. "My move! I draw!"

And staring down a fully fortified field of insect powerhouses, she would have to make the most of it.

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Go Forth and Conquer!