Author's Note:
I do not own Library of Ruina or RWBY. These series belong to Project Moon and Viz Media. Everything I say is to not be taken as canon, they are merely add-ons to the story to flesh it out.
Hey guys, it's been a while. Thankfully, I was able to pop out another chapter within this summer. In regard to this chapter, I'll say that this one isn't my best work. There was a lot that I couldn't decide on, and there were many things I had to add so I think this chapter will be all over the place. But, whatever. What happens, happens. I'll just have to go off from that.
Either way, let's talk about my thoughts on what's happening to RWBY. As you probably know, Viz Media has claimed ownership of the RWBY Franchise. While I have no personal thoughts on Viz Media as a company, I'm just glad that RWBY found a home. Hopefully, we get to see what happens next to RWBY.
Also, OH GOD THAT RYOSHU E.G.O. ID Friendship ended with Maid Ryoshu. Now Long-haired Ryoshu is my best friend.
Anyways, that's it from me. Thank you all, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Reviews:
Argorok - Thanks, can't wait for your guys' reviews.
TetSuoRai - :)
MrSadLad - It's just another Tuesday for Angela, hehe.
konmek43 - It's plausible, but I'm still throwing things out to see how you guys react.
Emm - The Library could put out all the Abnormalities, but the problem would be getting them back.
blazeinferno4 - Well, thank you. Empty Industry has always been a great ProjectMoon YouTuber as far as I can remember. Like BongBong, Dakota is a permanent character in the Project Moon verse.
Nikopon - Damn, I unintentionally did all that. Well, thank you for pointing that out. I'll probably be stealing this from you.
Haruka - Uh, what? The last chapter was about two months ago
—BEFORE THE BREACH—
—VALE CITY SQUARE—
"Father!" A cheery voice called out. "Look at this shop—there's so many sweets! They look delicious!"
An older gentleman walked alongside his daughter. His messy blonde hair and full goatee made him look unkempt. The same could be said for his eyes. Though most of his current appearance could be attributed to his job. After completing a difficult project given to him by his boss, he finally had the chance to spend some time with his family. And what better way to spend time than exploring the upcoming Vytal Festival?
"We can get some tomorrow, Ellie," he responded. "We just had dinner, so don't go upsetting your stomach."
His daughter, the only family he had left, was the brightest star in his life. Unlike him, she looked cleaner and more proper. She had straight blonde hair that shimmered in the sunlight, a beautiful smile that could light up the darkest room, and a radiating aura that drew people to her. She was a stark contrast to his disheveled appearance, with his unkempt hair and weary eyes. Despite his self-loathing, he had managed to raise this beautiful girl.
"Aww, alright. But you promise, right?"
He snickered to himself, "I promise."
He looked around the square to see a multitude of people roaming around even as the sun was barely setting. As the Vytal Festival approached, Vale became a bustling melting pot of cultures from all four Kingdoms. Both Humans and Faunus from all over came to Vale to enjoy the celebration of their history. Especially in Vale City Square, businesses in this section of the city competed with each other due to the influx of customers.
Now that it was almost starting to turn dark, they should head back before night falls.
"Alright, Ellie, let's get back to the hot—"
Suddenly, something rumbled.
He looked toward the ground as the echoes of the tremor lingered beneath his feet. A terrible feeling crawled down his back. When he turned to grab his daughter, he realized that everyone else in the city square had also frozen in place. They all looked confused as the rumble subsided. Just as he was about to dismiss it as something random, it happened again—only this time, stronger.
Something was happening, and everyone around them was stuck in the same boat.
Some people suggested it was an earthquake; some thought it was an explosion; and others believed it was construction underground. Again, the strange phenomenon occurred—stronger and louder this time. Instead of making theories, fear and worry began to take hold. It was at this moment that everyone who had stood motionless heard the next sound from deep below.
A train.
Instantly, he ran in front of his daughter and took hold of her in a hug; shielding her just in case.
Then, a deafening roar shattered the silence, followed by a violent tremor that shook the ground. Panic erupted as people screamed and scattered in all directions. A massive plume of smoke and debris spread into the sky, blotting out the sun. The force of the explosion knocked down a few people, and those who didn't run stayed to help others who had gotten injured by the explosion.
Amidst the chaos, four girls could be seen in the middle of where the explosion took place. All of them looked relatively unharmed despite being in an explosion. The only conclusion was that they were huntresses, but they looked rather young, so they had to be just students.
But why did huntresses-in-training pop in out of nowhere?
"Ellie, we need to leave," the father said seriously.
"Wha– Father?"
Before she could even process what was happening, another rumble came from the other side of the City Square—just right under those young girls. Soon, a giant King Taijitu emerged from the rubble and raised its head into the sky. Tens of hundreds of smaller Grimm crawled out from the hole that the snake Grimm had created.
"Ellie! We need to go now!" He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his chest. He sprinted as fast as he could without trying to bump into anyone. Then, as if they had sparked their fears, the hundred or so people who were standing there started to run in a panic.
The mass hysteria of Grimm caused almost all the Grimm to focus solely on the crowd of people.
One Beowolf pounced on a man, ripping into him.
A concrete wall crumbles due to a boarbatusk crashing into it.
Many Creeps start to swarm the streets.
The roar of an Ursa echoes throughout Vale.
And lastly, a King Taijitu surrounds the young huntresses.
As the father and daughter duo made it a safe distance away, the former found a building with the front door open. He slowly opened the door to see that nobody else was inside. After turning back to see his frightened daughter, he steeled himself and pulled them into the building.
—RANDOM BUILDING—
Inside the dimly lit room, they could see it was an unfinished store of some kind. The windows had somewhat transparent curtains, giving the room a soft glow. Chairs were stacked on top of tables, and the counters had been moved to the back.
"Alright, we're safe. For now," he sighed. "Are you okay, Ellie?"
A panicked expression was painted on her face as she spoke, "I-I— T-The Grimm… There were s-so many. I-I…"
"It's alright now. I'm here." He gently placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down. "Breathe, Ellie. We made it out. We're safe in here."
Ellie took a few shaky breaths, her eyes darting around the dimly lit room. "But what if they find us? What if they come in here?"
Her father knelt to her level, his expression serious but comforting. "Don't think like that. Right now, we need to stay quiet and wait for the Huntsmen to come, okay? They'll protect us."
Ellie nodded, still trembling but trying to compose herself. Her father led her to a corner of the room, where they could sit with their backs against the wall, partially hidden by some furniture. Although this was less than sufficient, it was at least easing Ellie's nerves; but he could still see her shaking. The last thing they wanted was a fear-seeking monster to bust through the wall in front of them.
"Alright, Ellie," the father said as he grabbed a hold of her hand. "I'll go look through the window, making sure it's safe outside. Then you won't have to be worried. Stay here, alright?"
"...Okay."
As he got up from the wall, he carefully approached the window. Even though the window curtains were translucent, it was still difficult to see through them. He moved his hand toward the end of the curtain, pulling it slowly aside to get a glimpse of the outside world. From what he saw, there were still people running away from the city's square. A few of them had wounds, but it didn't stop them from sprinting at full speed. Suddenly, the fading light from the sky started to disappear quickly, as if something was covering the light.
Then, a circular red eye opened up in front of him.
The Beowolf howled as its bright red eye met his, raising its claws to strike at the building. He jumped back due to a mixture of shock and reaction. However, it was already too late to realize his mistake. Then, the rubble from the wall collapsed on top of him, his head being the only part of his body that was free. The once dimly lit room was now brightly lit as the setting sun fell over the now-opened wall. In the way of the sun, the blackened shadow of the Beowolf extended further into the building. The Grimm growled as it searched for its prey.
"Father? What happened?" Ellie said as she peered her head out from behind the furniture.
The Beowolf turned to face the girl, instantly forgetting about him. As soon as Ellie realized what she was looking at, she screamed in fear.
"AAAAAHHHH," she cried as the blackened wolf charged at her.
In her father's eyes, all he could do was watch it unfold. As he struggled to move even an inch from underneath all the rubble and debris, he couldn't do anything. Everything he had worked hard for and suffered for was about to be lost as his daughter was about to be killed. All he could hope for was… a hero.
In the blink of an eye, a red flash was all he could see. Instantly, the Grimm exploded into dust, as if it had never been there in the first place. Then, he saw the red hair that followed the flash of red and saw a woman with a cigar in her mouth.
"Oi, what the hell is happening here?" Gebura asked.
—VALE CITY SQUARE—
"Hey, girls?" Yang called out. Now that almost everyone except them had left the city square, most of the Grimm were attracted to girls. "I don't think there's an end to this."
"I'm start—" Blake chopped a Beowolf's head off. "—ting to see that."
"Well, stop talking and keep fighting!" Weiss complained as she created an ice field surrounding a few Grimm. "Yang!"
"Gotcha!"
Yang jumped into the air and crashed downward toward the trapped Grimm, killing all of them with an explosion. All that was left was smoke and ash with Yang's fist touching the ground. Suddenly, a Beowolf jumped into the smoke with its claws reaching for her. Before it could attack her, it was cut into pieces by Ruby. When it fell flat, all four of them regrouped in the center.
"Yang, you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks to you," Yang looked at her sister and smiled, but that smile changed to a more serious one. "But, seriously, there's a lot. What are we going to do?"
As she looked over to the city, there were still dozens of Grimm surrounding them, including the King Taijitu that loomed above them. Eventually, the Grimm couldn't handle their thirst for blood and went straight to attacking.
Ready to fight, the girls split off to handle as many Grimm as they could—each of them applying their own tactics to lessen the numbers. However, there were too many of them and more seemed to keep coming; either from the hole in the ground or Nevermores flying in from the sky.
When Ruby tried to go face-to-face with the King Taijitu, she didn't realize how giant the Grimm was and nervously approached it. It screeched in her face as if to intimidate her. But before anything could happen, the sound of a distant explosion caught both of their attention. As the snake looked up to sense where the sound came from, in the distance, a pink object was flying toward it at high speeds.
"NORA!" A voice screamed out loud. "SMASH!"
Before it could react, a hammer struck down on its head, putting it out without it knowing what happened. As Ruby looked up into the sky, she could see three other figures exiting a bullhead. As Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha landed next to Nora, they immediately went to fend off the Grimm attack. As it turns out, Team RWBY was not alone in this fight as more and more people started to show up.
Sun and Neptune showed up first; showing off their detective badges. However, they failed to get the spotlight as the entire Atlesian Fleet moved to hover over Vale. Dozens of high-powered machine guns fired upon the Grimm down below and hundreds of Atlesian Knights dropped from airships to land into the streets. While the knights weren't strong enough to take down the Grimm, they made up for it in numbers to overwhelm the Grimm.
Even if they managed to deal with the current Grimm, more would show up via the hole in the ground. Speaking of the hole spawning the Grimm into the city, it started to rumble. Ruby and the others prepared for the next Grimm to appear with their weapons ready. However, instead of a Grimm appearing, a robotic hand slammed through the debris and latched itself onto the ground.
Pulling itself up, the Paladin rose from the ground, missing an arm. Yesod and Zwei stood tall on its shoulders, with only Yesod bearing minor scratches. Emerging from the depths of the tunnels, the trio had successfully stopped the bulk of the Grimm from entering the city. The only Grimm that had slipped past them was a deathstalker, a few Beowolves, and a swarm of Creeps.
"Thank you for the lift, doctor," Yesod thanked.
"With absolute pleasure!" Oobleck responded inside the Paladin.
Before he jumped off the Paladin, Zwei did so first by dive-bombing into a Beowolf, knocking it out instantly. Even though he knew animals could wield Aura, Yesod could only question how a dog was this well-trained.
Now that he was on the surface, he could finally see what transpired to the city; although he was expecting destruction and carnage, the buildings were somewhat intact and there wasn't a pile of bodies surrounding the place. Only a few as Yesod grimaced.
Nearby, he could see Team RWBY and JNPR battling against the Grimm. Sun and Neptune were double-teaming a few of the wolves, and Doctor Oobleck was holding off an Ursa with just the Paladin's only arm. Up in the air, Yesod could see the air superiority of Remnant as dozens of airships hovered over the area—raining fire upon the Grimm. Speaking of in the air, another bullhead arrived on the scene and opened its doors to reveal a team of students Yesod recognized as Team CFVY and a professor, Peter Port.
Judging based on his weapon and current skillset, Yesod opted to stay away from the frontlines and provide overwatch. He took to the streets and ran behind one of the cars for cover—using the hood of the car as a pseudo-mount for his sniper. From there, he could see the four senior students jump from the bullhead.
Once they landed, the fast movers of the team, Velvet and Fox, immediately dashed forward to assist with the breach while Coco calmly walked with them. On the other hand, Yatsuhashi found himself surrounded by four Beowolves. Believing that he was in danger, Yesod opted to help but saw that the student was preparing a slam attack. Once he smashed the ground with his giant weapon, it tore off all the concrete and made the four wolves fly away from him due to the shockwave. One of the Beowolves was sent flying in Yesod's way, hitting the building beside him.
Surprisingly, the Grimm was still alive. Though, weakened by what had happened to it. Pulling out Tamaki's rifle, he aimed it directly at the Grimm's head and fired. A vast amount of black mist poured out of the wound like a faucet, leaving Yesod to disregard the creature and continue to spectate.
The purple librarian could only compare Yatsuhashi's strength to that of Gyeong-mi from the Stray Dogs. As for his other team members, Velvet and Fox cleaned up some of the Grimm—the latter of which used a large spiked Ursa by applying his Aura to the Grimm's head. It reverberated from its head and flew backward into the group of Grimm, exploding with spikes that impaled the nearby Grimm.
'Another use of Aura that displayed mastery,' Yesod pondered, still wondering why they can't use it.
Undoubtedly, the contrast between the first years and the second years was beginning to show itself to Yesod. At this point, did Yesod even need to interfere? Three student huntsmen teams were already here fighting without a problem, and there was the Atlas Military above them. There was no reason to try and help when the help was already here. His point would be proven when the leader of Team CFVY slowly walked up to a giant Beowolf and started to complain to it about something he couldn't hear.
As if she wasn't intimidated enough, the Beowolf reached its claw backward and prepared to attack. Before it could even reach her, Coco counterattacked and gave the Grimm a disgusted look before slamming her handbag into the Grimm's head. When more Grimm arrived, she didn't back down but held her ground until the Deathstalker from earlier used its stinger to force her to move. When Velvet ran in to assist, Coco dismissed her and began to transform her weapon.
When her weapon fully transformed, Yesod froze instantly.
He knew it was a gun, but it was unlike any gun he'd ever seen before. Everything about it screamed "Violation of the Head's Rules" to him. The minigun's multiple barrels started to spin as a loud noise roared from it. Once Coco pressed the trigger, every Grimm in front of her shattered into pieces as bullets ripped and tore their bodies, armored or not—the ground crumbling in the process. After destroying three Beowolves and a deathstalker, she turned her gun upwards to shoot the three overhead Nevermores, splitting one in half. Then, the three massive bird Grimm slowly crashed into the nearby buildings, causing dust to fly into the air.
'I will ask Miss Adel about it some other time,' Yesod noted to himself. He could only imagine how a simple handbag turned into such a weapon.
Soon, Yesod could see Professor Goodwitch angrily walking down the street. With her riding crop and Semblance, she flings a Creep and a Beowolf away from herself before immediately closing the hole in the ground using the debris—effectively making it seem like nothing had ever happened.
Immediately, she marched over to the students.
"Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Team CFVY and… Mr. Wukong and Mr. Vasilias," Goodwitch remembered. "Can one of you explain to me why there are Grimm running throughout the city?!"
Ruby spoke up instantly, "We were on a mission chasing Roman Torchwick and there was a train with Dust in it, and he blew up the train right here!" All the other students except her team were surprised when they heard her.
"The White Fang were helping him too, they planned this all out," Blake added.
"That's no excuse for what transpir—"
All of a sudden, a giant Ursa flew into the sky—its body appeared to be cleaved in half—before crashing down a few blocks away from them. Then, gunfire and explosions rang out from the general direction of where it came from.
Immediately, Ruby ran toward it, followed by the rest of her team.
"Team RWB—" Goodwitch tried speaking up, but she was interrupted when Team JNPR and the two students of Team SSSN started to follow suit. After watching the two freshmen teams run ahead, the blonde professor looked at their senior team and saw the glint in their eyes. Glynda sighed, "Fine. I expect you all to be safe."
Without any hesitation, Team CFVY ran off to go help as well. When they disappeared, Professor Port, Doctor Oobleck, Yesod, and Zwei joined up with her. She looked mildly disappointed and angry.
"I assure you, those children are strong," Professor Port chuckled. "I doubt any of them would falter in front of a Grimm."
"I concur," Oobleck agreed as he somehow took out a cup of coffee. "Team RWBY posed a serious challenge against both Grimm and White Fang."
Zwei barked, garnering the attention of Port and Glynda.
"Is that a—"
"Yes. He is an excellent partner," Oobleck nodded.
Yesod, the only librarian there, found himself even more perplexed at the world they found themselves in. He could only think about what had happened in the past few hours. The Puppeteer was here. Alive.
'Roland wouldn't allow such a man to live,' Yesod thought to himself. 'And yet, the fact that the Puppeteer said that there were others like him… Only the City would make a cruel joke like this to torment him further…'
"Well, I'd say we best get going to support those children," Port suggested.
"Agreed," Glynda instantly said before walking. All the men and singular dog there looked at each other before they shrugged their heads and followed. In Zwei's case, he wagged his tail and followed along.
—STREETS OF VALE—
As they walked, the two male professors chatted away.
"Say, Bart, I never knew you could pilot a Paladin," Port exclaimed. "I doubt the Atlas Military would allow people to pilot such equipment. How were you able to do so?"
Oobleck chuckled, "I read the manual."
"What?" He replied in a baffled tone.
"He did so," Yesod commented. "When we found the Paladin, Zwei—Miss Rose's pet—and I fended off a horde of Grimm whilst the Doctor attempted to pilot it. His… caffeine habits allowed him to read 300 pages in only five minutes. Needless to say: the Paladin proved its worth in exterminating the underground Grimm."
"And I must say, the intricate design of the Paladin is unlike anything in history! It's as if it was a walking tank wielding the power of a Deathstalker."
"A walking 'tank?'" Yesod questioned.
"A land vehicle that uses treads and gears to move while carrying a hundred pounds of armor and a turret big enough to stop an Ursa Major in its tracks," Oobleck explained. "Nowadays, it has become rather obsolete."
Yesod only sighed and let his head down in response. He couldn't even fathom what it could look like. From the Puppeteer, Coco's weapon, and this 'tank,' today was already too much so he decided to just not ask more about it. Either way, it seemed like the fighting was over as they hadn't heard a single bit of gunfire or any explosions since they had started walking.
"A bit quiet."
"You can say that again, Mister Yesod," Port said. "A silent battlefield is a double-edged sword."
"Team RWBY? JNPR? CFVY?"
Before they could turn the corner, they saw the students standing frozen in sight. While it was inevitable that they would spot them, it was the way they were just motionless even as the teachers were just talking a few moments ago. Not even a word or a comment.
"What is the matter with you all?" Goodwitch questioned.
As they fully turned the corner to look at what was in front of them, a chill went down their spines.
A giant mountain.
The bodies of black and white corpses were stacked on top of each other, forming a monochrome pyramid. In the air, it looked as if there was a campfire, spewing black smoke into the air. Robotic parts from Atlesian Knights also littered the pile—arms, legs, torsos, and heads were a part of the pyramid.
Surrounding the pyramid, the buildings lay destroyed. The bricks and walls of any building were cleanly cut out—carved out by giant slashes. Rooftops was smashed in, leaving pieces of debris all over the place. Market places were left battered and their items were buried under either debris or bodies of Grimm.
In the midst of all this, a redded figure stood with her grotesque blade out. As if instinct kicked in, she noticed one of the Grimm sneaking up behind her. With a pull of her weapon, it glided through a Beowolf without hassle.
"Gebura," Yesod called out.
The red-haired woman turns to look over to the group, "Oh? It's you guys." After she spoke, she jumped down from the mountain of corpses and landed directly in front of them.
"Miss Gebura, did you tak—"
"MISS HERO!"
A little girl suddenly came out of nowhere and started to hug Gebura's legs. She had put both of her arms around her as if she wouldn't let go forever. Everyone else was surprised even as another person, her father, showed up. He looked a bit disheveled but was still uninjured.
"Ellie! Sorry for my little girl," the man chuckled as he started to massage the back of his head. Then he turned to the red-haired woman. "And, once again, thank you for saving us. We would've died without you."
Suddenly, the little girl's name sets off alarms in Yesod's head. But, he chose to question it later as Gebura starting speaking.
"It's no problem," Gebura said indifferently.
Everyone started to ask some questions regarding how she defeated all the Grimm and why there were so many robot parts around. As she looked a little annoyed, everyone except the girl latched onto her leg backed off. To everyone, they probably thought that she wanted some space. But, to Yesod, it seemed like something else was on her mind.
Suddenly, she clicked her tongue. "Dammit."
—BASEMENT, THE LIBRARY—
With a heavy sigh and her eyes closed, Angela stood firm. In the snap of a finger, she appeared in the room where their "prisoner," as Roland put it, was kept at. She had been troubled with Hokma's findings and the recent attack in Vale that she had almost forgotten about Cinder Fall.
Speaking of forgetting, she still curses yet blesses her more recent developments in regard to her human nature. She wanted to forget, and she almost did. However, that man's obsession only made her remember even more than she thought.
"Binah, I only hope that you foun—"
Someone hiccuped, "You know…" She hiccuped again.
Angela immediately opened her eyes to find Netzach and Dakota holding some kind of alcohol with Cinder Fall beside them, chained up in her bed still. She was also apparently drinking—Angela could tell because of the bottle in her hand as well. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like there was blood spilled everywhere on the blanket. Meanwhile, Binah and BongBong were off to the side on a table, watching the entire development unfold.
"I wasn't always like this… I… I had… a family. Parents that would've loved me, treated me just like their child. But, they gave me up… discard me away for money…"
"Pretty normal," Dakota quietly spoke, but not enough for Cinder to hear.
"I was brought to this awful place, told to serve people who didn't care about me. They tortured me, beat me, put a shock collar on me to make me obey!" Cinder cried out loud as she took another swig of her drink.
Off to the side, Angela felt a little pity for the girl. She was also brought to an awful place told to serve only a single purpose and forced to obey. The pale-haired librarian looked at the others for their reaction as well. Netzach and Dakota looked indifferent to what Cinder said. BongBong was staring off into the distance, probably thinking about something else. If only she could understand her.
Like always, Binah's was the most difficult to judge. But it felt like she had an even darker expression when hearing about the shock collar.
"But, I found it, didn't I?" Cinder drunkenly laughed. "I found a path to the top. Had to make some tough… choices. Things I still remember… But I'm here. Stuck in a room filled with strange librarians that live in an even weirder magic library."
"At least she knows," Netzach commented.
Not even slightly interested in her backstory, Angela interjected, "Enough of this unnecessary talk. How is it that you get everyone drunk?" In a snap, Dakota, BongBong, and Netzach were teleported away—only Binah, Angela, and Cinder remained. The latter of which was rubbing their eyes to see if they clearly saw what happened.
"Did they just go…"
"Miss Fall," Angela interrupted. "Do you know of the Maidens?"
With a confused expression, Cinder took some time to process what the pale librarian had said. "Well, you're looking at one~. The strongest here," Cinder proudly claimed.
Well, Angela already knew that just from feeling the same energy emanating from Amber. But something about Cinder's half felt more… polluted but she didn't know exactly why it's like that.
Binah intriguing hummed, "It appears that your mouth is more practiced than your fighting abilities. Considering what I have seen… Both leave much to desire."
Cinder's drunken eyes narrowed, a flicker of anger igniting within them. Despite her anger, she remembered getting beaten down by the blackened librarian. She grimaced and looked away in shame—swallowing her pride.
"If you are ever so prepared, I am still always open to enlightening those who overestimate their abilities. That is, if you can face me again," Binah smugly offered.
"Shut it, Binah," Angela sighed. "As usual, you're making it worse." The Head Librarian turned to face the half-maiden. "Make it quick: how did you steal half of the Fall Maiden's powers?"
"'Steal?'"
"Yes, allegedly, the Maidens wield extraordinary powers tha—"
"I KNOW WHAT THEY DO," Cinder angrily yelled, interrupting Angela. "I did not 'steal.' It is not stealing if I came to take what was rightfully MINE! IT WOULD'VE BEEN FULLY MINE IF THAT ARROGANT DRUNKEN HUNTSMAN DIDN'T SHOW UP!"
"It wasn't yo—" Angela tried to speak again, but was interrupted again. However, it wasn't Cinder who stopped her. It was Binah, who had placed her hand on Angela's shoulder. The Arbiter only smiled and gestured to let the half-maiden speak her mind.
"I deserved it all. My queen promised me. And I promised her," Cinder bitterly spoke.
That single word Cinder had spoken sparked intrigue in Angela: "Queen." She remembered that talk she had with Ozpin and Ironwood back a few days ago when she learned the truth of this world—the entity that was haunting Remnant was the Grimm Queen herself.
"Salem," Angela commented.
Instantly, Cinder snapped out of her drunken stupor and locked eyes with the pale-haired librarian. At first, confusion painted Cinder's face before melting into anger as she writhed in the bed. As if her face controlled the temperature, the room was starting to heat up as Cinder tried to burn her restraints away.
"How do you know that name!?" Cinder yelled out. "You know her! You damned librarians! Working for Ozpin that ba—"
Cinder was knocked out immediately. Behind her was Binah who somehow gotten in her blind spot and put her to sleep using some kind of method. Whatever it was, Angela was glad that her ears weren't as sensitive as she thought they would be and was thankful to Binah for her help. Binah only responded with a slow nod and a slight chuckle.
"It seems like we won't get any answers from Miss Fall anymore," Angela sighed. As thoughts came pouring in about what to do, something drew her attention. She looked up at the ceiling—something Binah also mimicked to see what bothered the Head Librarian. Presumably, it was something only Angela could see. Once moment later, Angela raised her hand and snapped away.
—ENTRANCE, THE LIBRARY—
"You don't even know where she could be," Mercury pointed out.
"No shit Mercury," Emerald bit back. "But this is our only chance. There hasn't been a single person in or out of this place. The distraction is still working."
"The distraction only works for how ever long it takes for the huntsmen to clean up the mess. Plus, it's a giant building. We're going to be pushing mushrooms by the time we reach the top floor."
"That's why the faster we go, the better. Anyone in the way wil—"
"Greetings, dear guests."
Suddenly, Angela appeared in front of them. With her signature book in hand, she glanced over at the two and narrowed her eyes. The librarian could spot the weapons they hid immediately behind themselves and the anxious expressions visible on their faces. It was a no-brainer for what they were after.
"Where is she?!" Emerald barked.
She looked about ready to pull out her weapons and kill Angela, but the green-haired girl was held back by Mercury. He sighed, "Hey, Miss Angela, right? Sorry about that. My teammate here is on her period right now and our leader said that she was going to be in the Library."
When he mentioned her period, Emerald turned her anger from Angela to Mercury. In response, she kicked him in the back of the knee—hurting him quite a bit.
"I see," Angela nodded. "I believe you are referring to Miss Cinder Fall, correct?"
"Yeah. Black hair, amber eyes, a demeanor that could make a kid cry."
"As her teammates, wouldn't you have better means of contacting her instead of meeting her in person?"
"Well, her Scroll is dead. It's charging back at the dorm."
"That may be, but, considering what is happening right now in Vale and the announcement from earlier. She would've been racing toward the exit to provide help—like what many others had done earlier. If that was the case, then she would've made contact with you two, her allies."
"She's a real logical thinker, y'know. If so many students are racing to help, why bother to help? One more team isn't going to make the difference. Plus, with Cinder's Semblance, it'll be a cakewalk for her. Small fries ain't her thing."
"Then, you must know what kind of power she possesses," Angela said.
A nervous bead of sweat rolled down Mercury's face. He knew where this train of thought was going. She already knows. Still, he had to save face.
"By whatever do you mean?"
"The Maidens."
"She already knows, Merc. Let's just kill her already." With another sigh, he gave up.
"Yeah, and it'd be real helpful if you were to kindly give her back to us. We kinda need her," Mercury asked. As he looked at Emerald, he continued. "For some of us, more so than others."
As he finished talking, Angela had a feeling they wouldn't politely tell her how she obtained the Maiden powers. They seemed too prideful about it. However, Angela had an interesting idea. If she couldn't book the Maiden, then she was fine to… She checked to see how much Light they had accumulated—there was a lot. She opened up the book in and hands and pulled out a pen; then, she started to write something.
"Uh, you just gonna ignore us?"
"Merc, I've just about had it right now."
"Give the nice lady a moment, Em. She's probably writing you her eulogy, alongside directions on how to find Cinder."
"Sorry for the wait," Angela apologized as she pulled out a black sheet lined with blue lines and gold. She handed it to them as well as the pen.
"An Invitation?" Mercury mused before reading the contents. "'Dear guest: I formally invite you to the Library. The Library's doors can provide you with all the wisdom, wealth, honor, and power you seek. However, an ordeal will await you in the Library. If you cannot overcome this ordeal, you will be converted into a book yourself.'"
"'Item of the Day: Cinder Fall,'" Emerald finished the last part. "So what? We go in and fight something, then we get Cinder?"
"Exactly as the Invitation stated," Angela confirmed.
"What are we waiting for then?" Emerald complained as she started signing the Invitation.
Only Mercury took the time to fully understand the Invitation. He scoured through the entire piece of paper to see if there were any catches or foul play hidden in them. To his worry and relief, there wasn't any. After being told to hurry up by Emerald, he only sighed and wrote his name down as well.
"May you find your item in this place," Angela prompted as she gestured toward a hallway filled with Light.
"Fuck you."
Not slightly bothered at all, Angela watched as they disappeared further down the hall. She could only sigh as she really hadn't fully thought of this sudden Reception beforehand. Still, she did it anyways, might as well go through with it till the end. With a snap of her fingers, she disappeared in an instant.
—FLOOR OF ART ARENA, THE LIBRARY—
As they stepped out from the Light, they were met with the infinite space of the Library. The greenish-brown colored wood beneath them seemed to go on forever. Tiny bright lights floated throughout the entire place—dancing as if they were alive. While it was unbelievable to the two of them, the other two people on the other side of the platform were directly staring at them.
"So, you're the punks I've been hearing about," Dakota smirked.
Dakota was wearing some sort of black trench coat with a white undercoat underneath, and black pants and shoes. A larger coat outlined with orange covered her body, reaching down to her knees. On top, stripes and a star could be seen on the front of an orange-lined black beret—giving her the look of an army general. In her hand was a large blackened saber that was almost as big as her. It was decorated with a golden guard and what seemed like extended serrated parts on the back of the blade.
"Man… I guess you reap what you sow…" Netzach groaned. After that alcohol stunt again, his punishment was to partake in the Reception. Begrudgingly.
While Dakota was outfitted with the keypage of R. Corp's 4th Pack Commander, Netzach was wearing a similar outfit. No cape, no headwear, no real weapon of any kind—just a cane. A black two-piece suit and pants. Nothing special about the outfit whatsoever.
"Just two people? Really?" Mercury complained. "Well, I guess it's to be expected: two-on-two. Though, can't really say it's fair for them."
"You get green and I'll deal with this purple bitch. It'll be over in an instant," Emerald said as she pushed Mercury aside. Once she ran off, Mercury ran alongside before splitting up to deal with their respective foes.
Considering that it was only one person, Emerald believed that her Semblance should be the deciding factor in this fight. Utilizing her Semblance, Emerald focused all her attention on the purple-haired librarian. She'll just make it so that it looks like she'll attack from the left while it'll actually come from the right. Now that the illusion was cast, with her weapon, she ran up full speed to gut Dakota and get Cinder back.
"Oh…?" Dakota let out. To her, Emerald was bearing toward her from the left side.
In response, Dakota raised her right arm which held her weapon. At the angle she raised it, Dakota was going to go for a slash downward to counter the illusion's left-sided attack—the blade itself seemed to glow orange as she prepared. As the real Emerald hastily approached, both sides swung at the same time.
'No one can stop me from reaching Cinder,' Emerald thought to herself. Just as Emerald thought she had achieved victory, a sudden shift in Dakota's feet pointed toward where Emerald's real body was. The green-haired girl could only look up to see that Dakota had switched to targeting her.
"Huh?" Emerald could only let out a confused noise as the pommel of Dakota's weapon slammed into her head. An orange electric static charged the weapon as it made contact. With just one strike, Emerald flattened on the ground as she hadn't put up her Aura since she didn't believe she needed it.
"What the hell did you do?" Mercury shouted from the other side of the arena.
Dakota could only smirk in response, "Nothing really. Just letting off some steam."
"Dakota, can you also take on the other while you're at it?" Netzach asked, standing a few meters back.
Suddenly, the green-haired body beneath Dakota started to shake. "Uh, don't think so. You're on your own," Dakota said as she prepared to beat down the girl again.
Sighing, Netzach turned toward Mercury, who was watching Emerald get back up and continue to fight. He turned to glare at his opponent. He was forced to partake in the Reception, but that didn't mean that he had to fight.
With some ease in his voice and his hands peacefully raised, Netzach spoke, "Hey man, I'm a little tired today so can you just like… not fight and wait for your turn with Dakota?"
"Sure."
"Wow… that was easy."
As Netzach wondered if he gained some kind of persuasive ability because of Nemo's natural charisma, he remembered the whole Vale situation going on right now. He hopefully thought that it was resolved so that he could go get more drinks. However, things didn't seem to go his way as he caught the gray-haired boy making his way to him—Mercury smiling at him as he walked.
"Really?"
"What? I'm just walking over to give you a 'big' handshake," Mercury calmly said.
Netzach could only mentally groan when he heard that. People like him were always big trouble, always resorting to violence and making him do tiresome work. He remembered when Gebura smashed a bottle of wine because she was teased about not getting the cork out of the bottle. And in the end, he was blamed for it. A whole week of cleaning the Library was placed on him and his assistants.
'That wasn't fun at all,' Netzach wistfully thought. 'Now, what was I doing agai—'
With one foot on the ground, Mercury swung his entire body, leveraging the full force of his body to lift his right leg and direct his foot into Netzach's head. The green-haired librarian's body immediately dove under the kick and jumped away from Mercury. Seeing that his attack missed, Mercury continued to attack by keeping his momentum and swinging back again. Due to his momentum, once he spun around, he raised his entire leg toward Netzach preparing an axe kick.
It came down with a loud noise as the air pressure from the kick exploded onto the ground.
Once again, Netzach dodged it by simply walking backward.
"Are your ankles alright dude?" Netzach voiced his worries. To Netzach, Mercury just put all his energy into slamming his ankle onto the ground. There was even a crater left because of it.
"I'll be fine, once I get a hit on you!" Mercury declared as he pounced toward the green-haired librarian.
"I'm just saying: you aren't strong enough." While Netzach continued to dodge Mercury's attacks, Emerald was still on the ground recovering.
"Oh come on, I didn't hit you that hard. You still got some life in ya," Dakota said as she poked Emerald with her saber. Soon, Emerald started to come to. Once woke up, the green-haired girl immediately got up and retreated to a further distance.
"Wha-what did you… You know what my Semblance is?"
Well, Dakota wasn't going to tell her exactly how she knew. It's all a part of the Invitation and Reception of the Library. Once Guests are invited, Roland and Angela get to see what led up to their invitation. That's the Invitation. As for the Reception, once the Guests walk through that hallway of Light, time freezes for them.
A random floor is chosen to receive the Guests and they're allowed to look at the abilities of said Guests. It's frankly unfair as the Librarians get to know every technique or fighting style of a person. Angela said that it was a side effect of the Light preparing the Guests to turn into books.
After all that, time is unfrozen for the Guests and they walk through the hallway and come across whatever floor is chosen to fight against them. All of them unknowingly walk into their deaths.
'Truth is… the game was rigged from the start,' Dakota thought to herself. She might as well give the green-haired girl something to dread over. "I'm just used to fighting against things like that. A little mind trick ain't going to phase me."
"Grrr," Emerald growled.
The duel-wielding girl readied her blades and charged toward Dakota. In response, the Librarian's entire body charged with orange electricity—all of it going to the tip of her blade. Dakota's cape fluttered as she also readied her saber.
Approaching each other, just right before they could clash, Emerald jumped forward—making Dakota miss her attack. In the air, Emerald swiftly maneuvered herself to attack Dakota's back. Suddenly, a spark of electricity emerged from her back, shocking Emerald.
The green-haired girl activated her Aura in time to mitigate some of the electricity, but it was enough to thwart her attack. At that moment, the electricity from Dakota seemed to go into herself as if she was storing it. Whatever it was, it made Emerald cautious enough to take note of it.
Soon, Emerald started to walk around Dakota, hoping to see if she could understand what the electricity was doing. Doing the same, Dakota walked opposite the green-haired guest. Both of them studied each other as they circled, waiting to see who makes the first move.
'The longer I take, the more Cinder could be in trouble,' Emerald thought to herself. 'My Semblance didn't work on her the first time… why? Was it a fluke? She said she fought something familiar before. Maybe…'
'The longer I take, the more bothersome this is starting to be,' Dakota thought to herself as well. 'If I take any longer, I know BongBong is going to eat my fucking pudding. I spent like 800 Lien on that shit.'
Seeing as this was going nowhere, Emerald rushed forward, preparing another use of her Semblance. As if she always knew, Dakota charged ahead as well—dragging her blade alongside her.
'A reckless charge forward…' Dakota mused as she was approaching as well. Then, just as Emerald reeled back her arm and swung forward, Dakota continued to press forward. Dashing through her, Dakota figured out that the charging Emerald was an illusion. Dakota twirled to see three extra Emeralds jumping from above.
With a twist of her saber, an electric discharge electrified the area around Dakota. Seemingly all the Emeralds including the real one would get zapped as well, but once all of them faded—indicating that none of them were real—Dakota heard the wooden floor creak behind her. Immediately swinging her blade backward, Dakota caught the very real Emerald's weapon with her own.
"Fuck!" Emerald shouted.
Dakota huffed, "You're a real annoying one."
"I think you're a real fucking bitch," Emerald insulted.
"Eh, three out of ten."
"What?"
"I heard it before. Come up with something original please."
Pissed off, Emerald went to pull the trigger on her gun whilst still locking blades with Dakota. However, before she could pull the trigger, Dakota maneuvered her saber upward, knocking Emerald's weapons out of her hand. With a swift cut, Dakota's blade slashed through Emerald's arm. Blood sprayed everywhere as her Aura worked to patch up her injuries.
"MY ARM!" Emerald screamed in horror.
"Fuck yeah!" Dakota yelled out euphorically. "It's over."
"'Over?'"
"Yeah, woo! See, Angela, didn't need any Abnormalities to help! Did this shit without them," Dakota bragged.
"It may be over…" Emerald desperately said before she faded away, surprising Dakota. Just as that wasn't enough, Emerald's voice continued, but from behind her. "But it's over for you!"
Suddenly, the continuous sound of gunshots echoed throughout the arena, followed by brimstone. Then, Dakota stood motionless as the smoke cleared.
"Heh…" A small chuckle left Emerald's mouth. "Good riddance."
"Nice going Em!" Mercury shouted as he tried attacking Netzach again, still not being able to hurt him. "Now come help me deal with this guy!"
"Let's finish this quickly, get Cinder, and burn this pl—"
"A song in front of me? Ah, it's you. It's approaching, becoming more colorful by the second."
Emerald instantly turned around to see Dakota's body slowly emitting a red aura. She swore that she unloaded both of her guns into Dakota's back, but she was still alive somehow. Slowly, Dakota's body got up unnaturally, as if a puppet pulled her strings. Then, dozens of flattened bullets fell off of Dakota, unnerving Emerald.
As if snapping onto her attacker, Dakota's eyes latched onto Emerald's.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHH," an animalistic wail came out of Dakota's mouth.
The scream affected both Emerald and Mercury, who was in the middle of attacking but got interrupted. They had a sudden loss of breath and something was clouding their judgment. Emerald could only look at Dakota who was swirling with orange electricity and that red aura.
"It's fucking payback time, you asshole," Dakota raged.
In Emerald's mind, she didn't like seeing where this was going. "Merc! I need some help over here!" Emerald shouted.
As Mercury recovered enough to throw another kick toward Netzach, the Librarian used his cane to redirect the attack. Throughout the entire fight, Netzach dodged and deflected Mercury's attacks without much effort. And anytime Netzach did dodge, he would take the opportunity to poke at Mercury with his cane.
"You know what? Fuck it," Mercury said as he disengaged. "I've been saving this for later but you're really pissing me off."
Much like the previous times, the gray-haired boy charged ahead looking to get an attack in. Netzach raised his arms to defend himself or jump out of the way, but nothing happened. He watched as Mercury slid to the floor before he could reach the librarian. Then, a flurry of kicks started to come at Netzach.
He blocked the first few, but then the soles of Mercury's boots exploded. Silvery blasts shoot past Netzach as the green-haired librarian retreats to a safer distance. After a few seconds, a good portion of the arena was surrounded by those projectiles.
As they swirled through the air, Netzach hadn't kept his attention on his opponent, barely realizing that he was rushing at him. Although, that wasn't the only danger. From the other side, Mercury's blasts were closing in on him at the same time. With the amount of charge he had, Netzach raised an energy shield to protect both sides.
When Mercury's foot slammed into the shield, it cracked, barely mitigating the damage. However, the same couldn't be said for the shield blocking the projectiles. It obviously couldn't take the full brunt force of a dozen or so attacks. After it broke, all of the remaining attacks slammed into Netzach's side. Though it didn't outright take him out of the fight, it was enough to remind him why he didn't like fighting.
"My friend…" Netzach heard.
As Mercury ran toward Emerald to help her, he began to think. Something had obviously changed during the fight. Emerald shot the purple-haired librarian down, but she somehow survived. He could put two and two together and figure out that that scream changed something. Well, he didn't have to care about that now. He took down Netzach and now the fight was in their favor. A two-on-one was a guaranteed victory for them.
As he came up to Emerald, he was about to say something, "Emerald, ready to do thi—"
A giant yellow laser beam pierced through Mercury's Aura, cleanly carving a hole through his abdomen. What stood behind the hole was Netzach who had the most bored expression. Even with a hole in him, Mercury turned around to see smoke coming off from Netzach.
"What did I say?" Netzach sighed, a glowing white pebble hung from his neck. Mercury could only swear that it wasn't there before.
"If my friend gets hurt… I would be sad. He has to live!" Before he could fall, Mercury saw a bluish and purple boy, then the boy disappeared after a blink. Soon, Mercury fell to the ground, profusely bleeding.
"Merc?" She quietly called out to him in the hopes that he would get right back up. Standing there shocked, Emerald gritted her teeth. But, seeing a pool of blood surrounding Mercury's body, a tear rolled down her face.
However, reality was far too cruel for that miracle.
Mercury's body exploded in hundreds of golden pages. Emerald could only watch as those pages floated away before fading away. Then, the green-haired girl slowly turned her head around to see Dakota's energized blade come down raised high; under that, red glowing eyes on Dakota's face never left her own eyes.
"I'll see you in hell."
"Cin—"
Dakota moved quicker than Emerald had seen. A quick slice cleanly cut through Emerald's neck. Dakota lifted her blade again before swinging it down once more at Emerald's neck. Contrastingly, the second slash was less clean—spraying blood everywhere as Emerald's head came cleanly off. Her headless body collapsed to its knees before exploding into pages as well.
Then, the Reception ended.
"Fucking fucking shit," Dakota angrily said as she fell over due to the pain. Even though she had the pebble, it wasn't enough to drown out the other Abnormality's influence. "Auggh, my back and head hurts! Fuck!"
"It's song is not so bad." Netzach offered a hand.
"That's because you got used to it, Jesus Christ," Dakota complained as she grabbed his hand. At that moment, Angela snapped herself into the arena. This time she was carrying two new books.
"Good work you two," Angela applauded. A quick snap and both of the fighters were completely healed and stripped of their keypages. "You both are dismissed for today."
"Ughhh," Dakota groaned. "The least she could do is teleport us as well."
"Drinks on me?"
"Sure."
"Though, I gotta pay a visit to a friend. He helped today," Netzach said as he smiled. "Wanna come with?"
"Can't say no to that either."
—THE NEXT DAY—
—AUDITORIUM, BEACON—
Roland and the other Librarians except Gebura, Binah, and Hokma stood in the crowd as Ozpin was speaking. In the aftermath of the now-named "Breach" in Vale, hundreds of students gathered to hear the recent news. The Headmaster informed them all about what transpired, how it happened, and who did it. All it did was point the spotlight toward a certain freshman team again.
"There's no sugar-coating it – we've lost friends, family, and colleagues. The void they leave behind is real and painful.
But we cannot afford to let this bring us down. The Grimm thrive on our fear and despair. If we succumb to these emotions, we only make ourselves weaker and invite further attacks.
We need to be stronger. We need to support one another and rebuild, not just physically but emotionally. The strength of Huntsmen and Huntresses isn't in being untouched by hardship, but in how we rise above it.
Don't let this tragedy bring you down. Let it push you to be better, stronger, and more united," Ozpin finally concluded.
"What a way with words, that man," Roland sarcastically chuckled.
An elbow hit him in the side, "He's the Headmaster and your boss's boss. Show respect. But, I do think this public announcement was pointless."
"I think it's good that the Headmaster is trying to calm the students, Tiphereth. It's bad enough that people were killed—especially if those were some of these students' parents or friends," Hod commented before nervously smiling. "Though, he could've been less frank with the delivery."
"Given the circumstances, there's no denying the damages done," Yesod said.
"Did you find out why they did it?" Malkuth curiously asked.
"And, was it really Roman Torchwick and him?" Roland questioned, a darker tone used on the last word.
"No, and beyond any doubt, it was the Puppeteer."
"So that's why he knew her," Roland grumbled as he recalled their first meeting at the docks. "He probably told him everything about us and the City."
"I don't believe so," Yesod interjected. "The Puppeteer seemed… out of it. He had no memories of the City, only visions."
"'Visions?'" Tiphereth questioned.
"Yes, and mainly about Roland."
"Weird," Malkuth commented.
"More like creepy," Netzach added.
"Not only that, I have reasons to suspect other members of the Reverberation Ensemble are here," Yesod mentioned, piquing the interest of the other Librarians, prompting him to continue. "For one, the Puppeteer mentioned that there was another person who had the same visions as him. The second piece of evidence is the little girl and her father Gebura saved yesterday. The father called her Ellie."
"What about it?" Angela jumped in as well, intrigued by what was being discussed instead of listening to Ozpin's speech.
"Her name is Ellie, somewhat similar to Eileen."
"That doesn't prove much," Roland said. "Just coincidences."
Yesod shook his head in disagreement, "Much like Jae-heon, her appearance is also very much the same despite her age difference. As I was the one to receive the Church of Gears leader, I do believe that they are one of the same. I've also asked Miss Rose about what they had called Jae-heon as she was in close proximity to them: Jay."
"Not such a coincidence then, isn't it?" Netzach concluded for Yesod.
"Hm~," Chesed hummed. "If Yesod's theory holds true, then doesn't this mean that other people from the City are popping up here? And given enough time and prodding, they'll start remembering their past lives?"
"That was what I was going to mention as well," Yesod said as he gave the blue-haired librarian a nod. "A theory I came up with is that it isn't just the Ensemble, it's anyone who died in the City. They look exactly if not similar to the person in question, but don't have a single idea of what the City truly is."
Yesod turned to look at one particular librarian. "A theory possible due to one Angelina Onyx."
Everyone else started to look at Roland. A shadow cast over his eyes, veiling his emotions. He knew that she had a similar name, he saw how uncanny she resembled her, how she acted, her preferences, her banter, her… her smile. Add in the fact that he could confirm that she was getting the memories of her, did that mean…
"She can come back…?" Roland quietly questioned as a tear rolled down his face.
At that moment, he felt a reassuring hand placed on his shoulder. The black fixer looked over to see Angela. Then, he felt another one—coming from Malkuth. Then, one by one, all the other Librarians got to have their chance to comfort Roland. Once that was over, they noticed a few stares coming from the people around them.
"What? Can't a grown man cry?" Roland said as he smiled through tears. That got the stares to quickly disappear.
"Once this assembly is over, everyone come to the Library. We have more… issues to discuss."
Just as the assembly ends, Malkuth thinks back to their earlier conversation. Something about the Reverberation Ensemble being on Remnant. She feels like there's something she knows, but she can't place it. In usual Malkuth fashion, she'll probably forget about it until the time comes.
—A FEW MINUTES LATER—
—ANGELA'S OFFICE, THE LIBRARY—
"I see," Hokma said as he held the newest addition to the Library's books.
The other librarians had been told about what transpired in the Library during the Breach. Everything down to when BongBong was attacked. Needless to say, the others agreed that they were justified to do this, except Hod, who was a little indecisive but more so leaning on their side.
"They look a little bigger," Malkuth pointed out, holding a Book of Mercury. "Like there's more pages to them."
"I'm betting most of his pages are filled with his ego," Roland joked. "Though, I don't know what to say about this one." The fixer was holding up Emerald's book which was just if not equally the same size as Mercury's book.
"We will learn more once we burn them, right Angela?~" Chesed wondered.
"Yes, and I will start with Miss Sustrai."
The book suddenly burst into flames, something which all the Librarians had seen multiple times. Soon, the entire book was destroyed, only leaving a bright light to blind the entire room. Once the light faded away, a pile of golden Key Pages was littered on the ground.
Seeing as to how successful the first booking of Remnant went, they did the same for Mercury's book. After that, they now were in possession of Remnant's first Key Pages.
"Well, that was anticlimactic…" Netzach sounded disappointed.
"Yeah, I thought there would be something different, but it was normal," Malkuth's tone fell flat as she spoke. "But, I guess that was to be expected."
"Objet d'art quality," Angela mused. "I suppose they are one of a kind afterall."
Before Angela could do anything with the Key Pages, she was interrupted by Roland. "Shouldn't you tell Ozpin what happened? He's going to want an explanation as to why three Haven students suddenly disappeared, and how one of them is currently chained up downstairs."
"I believe one part of your sentence was false," a voice announced its presence. The Librarians turned to see that it was—
"Binah?"
"What part was false?" Hod asked. Suddenly, an object was thrown into the room from behind Binah.
"Wha…?"
"False as in, not 'chained up downstairs,'" Binah answered.
"Where am I?" Cinder demanded.
"You declared to see your precious subordinates. I simply provided," Binah said with a smirk as she used her Singularities to pull two of the books out of Roland's hands before dropping them near Cinder. "I hope you read well."
Author's Note:
And that's a wrap, Chapter 23 is completed!
With this, I really have nothing much to say, so I'll make it short.
Within a month, I'll be preparing to go back to college, so updates will once again take some more time. I'm really happy that I got a lot of support from you guys. It's been the main factor in continuing this story.
Please tell me if there are any mistakes in grammar or any story-related things, I tend to overlook some things. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day.