A Wicked Game

by RandomPeon

When stuck into a rigged game, the best option was to not play and change the game. Now reincarnated as Torchwick's son, I faced a cruel game in which the other player, Salem, couldn't lose. Thus, time to play a different game. First fic, SI, partial Yu-Gi-Oh crossover, because the mc can't help himself.

13. Monopoly

Hi! I have two things to say first.

1: Concerning the poll. There has been 6 votes so far. 4 in favour of saving Remnant with a duel. 1 for the tournament, and 1 against any duel in the fic.

Again, I remind everyone that the poll only influences whether there will be a tournament with the RWBY characters. So far, the response is pretty positive, which is good for me because I want to write that, but the sample size is too small. So I invite everyone to make their opinion known.

2: Anyone remembers when I said the canon events was going to start at chapter 14 or 15. I've realised while writing this chapter that the next bit of Gemini's misadventures are going to be a little longer than I expected, so I'm gonna have to push it back by another chapter or two. Sorry. But you all gets a bonus non-canon Chibi omake at the end of an already long chapter as an apology.

(And to clarify, when I says 'canon event', I mean when we reach the time where said events happened in the show, not that the event themselves will be the same. I also means the 'start' of canon events to be around the attack on Amber, rather than around Initiation, as the attack happened first.)

Now that this is out of the way, Ilia, it's your turn.

Ilia: ''TwistedView first compares Ruby with a Megumin/Uchiha expy, what with only being able to use her power and with the eyes' powers being trauma based.'' *Mutters*: ''The hell's a 'Megumin'?''

Okay, first off, you have no idea why it was so funny for me to read your comparison to Megumin after I had already written the beginning of this chapter. Hope you'll find this as funny as I did.

Ruby isn't limited to only one use of her eyes, though. Just like we can observe in the show, and like Gemini said last chapter, the more she gets used to her eyes, the less tired she'll be for using them.

Ilia: ''He says he likes the twist of Adam flee the WF instead of Blake, but he didn't expect the Albains to be killed off so quickly.''

I mean, once Adam learned what they did, their death warrant was already signed. Stretching their survival would have just kept them as a distraction from the story's actual antagonists. I'm not going to just ignore the impact of their death, though.

Also, Adam hasn't technically left the WF, as he's still taking orders from Sienna. It's only an official facade.

Ilia: ''He also say that the Yandere Ruby fic would be hilarious.''

I'm sure it would be too. I'd write it, but I don't want to start several fics at the same time and end up with taking a year to update one, so I'll focus on this one. Maybe after A Wicked Game is finished. (Again, if anyone feels like writing it themselves, go for it. I don't mind. Just send me a link when chapter 1 is written, because I'll want to read it too.)

Ilia: ''To finish, he gives a fic recommendation and says that the fic has an allegorical story about shipping in fanfictions at the end of each chapters. He also gives a few name ideas for the GeminiXRuby ship, before wishing you luck on figuring out whether to have the card tournament or not.''

I have read A Monster's Marriage, yes. I might go back, though, because I've forgotten a lot of the allegorical story. Speaking of ships and the 'High Seas of Fanfiction'.'' *Snap fingers* *Ilia's clothes are replaced by a pirate outfit*

Ilia: ''Hey!''

As for the name ideas. My two favorite ones are Rosenquarz (9/10) and The Hood & The Hoodlum (9/10). The Hood & The Hoodlum would be perfect and win hands down if a 'hoodlum' would refer to a kind of criminal that fitted Gemini, rather than an agressive and violent criminal (a thug.)

Ilia: ''Next, we have Mkuros joking that chapter 69 would be Gemini saving Beacon by sending Cinder to the shadow realm.''

First, nice. Second, how did you get my script and why did you leak it? (Joking)

Ilia: ''He says that a tournament of… I… He calls it 'Paradox-Billiard-… Vostroyan Roulette… Fourth Dimensional Hypercube… What is this? Why is he calling it like that?''

Ah, a TTS reference. Based and Man-Emperor pilled. Funnily enough, I was planning for this to be the name of the next chapter with a duel.

Ilia: ''… Anyway, he says that it'd be fun, especially if the decks fits the characters. But he's worried that it would disturb the flow of the story and suggest making it a canon side story instead.''

Depends what you means by 'fit the characters'. They'd have decks based on their interest. Like, Blake is a catgirl, but she wouldn't make herself a deck based on cats. She do seems to like ninjas, though, given a certain books that she has. So she'd have a ninja deck. She'd also have to be dragged kicking and screaming to 'waste her time' with a card game, but Gemini'll find a way to convince her to participate. Maybe. If he can keep the cops from crashing the party and try to arrest her. Or him… I think I can see why you're worried that it'd disturb the flow.

I have considered making it a side story, but the time spent writing it wouldn't be spent writing the rest of A Wicked Game, so it'd be making people wait for this one to continue anyway. In the end, keeping it as chapters in this fic seems simpler for everyone involved.

Ilia: ''Johnathan-Mandrake propose StarlightRose or TwinRose for the GeminiXRuby ship. Based on Gemini being a constellation representing twins.''

Those are nice ones, too. 7/10 and 7.5/10, respectively. Thanks for the contribution.

Ilia: ''Pachu72lee wonders if Gemini noticed there was a rat in his compnay.''

There's no rat in Gemini's company. Councillor Vanille got the info at the end of last chapter through a clerk working at a patent office, so not Gemini's company. Gemini never had a choice but to patent Hydroelectricity either, otherwise he wouldn't have the intellectual property of the technology and everyone could just copy it from him. So the end of last chapter was unavoidable, really.

Ilia: ''Kolomte'49 wonders why only the RWBY fandom has unique ship names while other fandoms don't.''

Most fandom just stick the two characters' name together because it's simple and everyone know instantly which characters you're talking about. The RWBY fandom is an outlier there, yes. I think it's because when RWBY was first coming out and we only had the color trailers drip fed to us, people didn't have much to go on and started coming up with ship names based on the only thing we knew about the characters, their design.

In fact, I could be wrong, but I think we didn't even know that much about Yang when the names of her ships with Ruby, Weiss and Blake were invented. She was just the 'unrevealed yellow girl'. And then we found out she was Ruby's sister.

This is why you wait a little before shipping two characters, people. To avoid a Star Wars situation.

Ilia: ''He wonders if you read White Fang X. He also ask how you think werewolves in RWBY would mean for the Faunus.''

I didn't know White Fang X, but I checked it out after your review. Honestly? The grammar is pretty terrible and the pacing didn't feel quite right (though the second one might have just been the first few chapters.) I dropped it because it hurt my eyes to try and read it.

As for werewolves in RWBY… That's kind of very off topic? Like, this feels like it came out of nowhere. But to answer, if werewolves were a thing in RWBY, assuming you means any kind of wereanimals and not just wolves, then I would expect Faunus to be completely extinct on Remnant by the time the show started.

On Earth, humans' reaction to werewolves was to genocide wolves on sight, almost making the entire species extinct and leaving the few survivors so traumatised on a genetic level that their descendants are now born terrified by the mere presence of humans. And that's when werewolves don't even exist.

If you give me a Remnant where wereanimals are a thing, I'd expect humans to be even more motivated at 'taking care of the threat' and to blame the Faunus for the wereanimals instead of the hairiest guy in the village. And unlike Earth's wolves, the Faunus can't survive by fleeing to the deepest part of the world where the humans can't reach. Because then they'd just die by Grimm. So by the time the show started, the Faunus would have been extinct for so long that no human on Remnant would even know what a Faunus is. Unless the Faunus won, in which case humans would be the ones to be extinct and no Faunus would know what a human even is.

Ilia: ''Then he comments on the conflict about Ruby's eyes that Gemini and Tai had last chapter, before recommending a fic named Mama Raven, by TeeAiDee.''

I know Mama Raven, yes. It was already in my favorites. It's a great one, if anyone hasn't read it, I strongly suggest you go read it now and come back to my fic only after you're done. Just because it's so much better.

As for the discussion between Gemini, Tai, and later Qrow. If anything felt off there, that'd be because neither side could talk about the real problem: Salem. The issue Qrow brought up last chapter was only a minor worries Tai and him had that they used as an excuse to explain Tai's reaction. The real problem they're worried about is that they're afraid that Ruby using her eyes would attract Salem's attention and let her know Ruby exist before she'd be able to win against her agents. But they can't talk about that because Salem is a huge secret and they can't tell Gemini about her, somehting Gemini realised while talking to Qrow.

And the real reason Tai calmed down so quickly is that while he's not happy about what happened, and it made him panic, he can't reasonably blame Gemini about it. After all, Gemini doesn't know about Salem, right?

So yeah, that's why Qrow and Tai's reasons last chapter felt a bit flimsy and off, because it wasn't the truth.

Ilia: ''He also finds it hilarious that all it took for Yang to drop the search for Raven was publicly available informations about the Branwen tribe.''

I know, right? It's as if none of the characters of the show ever read anything in their entire lives. Yang not knowing about the Branwen tribe makes as much sense to me as Weiss not recognizing Blake's last name through all of Volume 1.

Ilia: ''Then he says the WF wrecking the store doesn't make sense. Because attacking a place where the only employee is a Faunus would encourage other Faunus to hate the WF because they cost them their job.''

Yes. It's stupid from the WF. The kind of stupidity that can be observed in the real world, because people are stupid. That was the point. It also ties in with when Gemini, in chapter… 7, I think, mentions how the WF would protest businesses that employed Faunus labor without checking if the Faunus employees were treated well or not. And now that the WF is attacking businesses instead of simply protesting… There's a reason why Sun in Volume 1 described the WF as 'freaks who uses violence to obtain what they wanted'.

People are stupid. I'm writting characters that are people. Therefore you can expect plenty of people in my story to have stupid moments. Wouldn't be realistic if every character was a 180 IQ genius at all times, would it? :D

Also, Flax isn't Gemini's only employee at the shop, he's just the only one I bothered to name. You'll see why in this chapter.

Ilia: ''At the end, he ask if Jimmy Vanille is related to Torchwick and Neo's novel and then note that Neo is disappointed with Gem.''

Neo isn't disappointed with Gem. She's disapproving (not the same word)of how close he is with Ruby, because she views Ruby as trouble waiting to happen.

As for Jimmy Vanille… He is related, yes. In fact, he's very related to Neo. Biological father related.

Speaking of the novel. There are a few changes in Neo and Roman's backstories between the novel and my fic.

1: In the novel, Roman has been retconned into a thief from Mistral, rather than Vale. In my fic, chapter 1 already showed Roman as being of Vale. So this fic would be officially AU if the novel could be canon.

Why is the novel not canon? Because in Volume 3, Cinder's motivation to recruit Roman was because as a street rat, he would know the city the best. Now, even with the novel, Roman would have been a thief in Vale for over a decade, so he would know the city decently well, but he still wouldn't know it as much as another criminal who grew up in Vale's streets. So if the novel was canon, Cinder wouldn't have recruited Roman and neither he nor Neo would have taken part in Volume 1-3's events.

2: Neo's birth name in the novel is revealed to be Trivia Vanille… Nope, not calling her that. Neo is Neo. I don't know what RT smoked, but in my fic, her true birth name is Neopolitan Vanille. She dropped the Vanille when she left her family with Roman and took his last name when he adopted her. I might recycle the name Trivia for a biological little sister of Neo, though. With Jimmy's only heiress having gone with Roman, he'd need another one, after all.

3: Related to number 2. Little Trivia Vanille, in the book, had an imaginary friend named Neo. When she fled her family with Roman, she took her imaginary friend's name, which she stopped seeing after that, which also coincided with her hair going from entirely brown to the tri-coloured hair we're familiar with.

… Jossed. Just feels like an excuse to justify number 2 and 4, which isn't needed at all. Speaking of number 4.

4: Her hair. I don't know what went through the writer's head, but that was 100% unnecessary. This is a world where multi-coloured hair is normal. Look at Ren's black and pink hair, or at Ruby's black and red hair. Why bother making up an explanation for Neo's hair when it'd be perfectly normal for her to just be born like that? In my fic, Neo was born with her tri-coloured hair.

5: The reason why her parents where abusive is also changed. Her mom was distant with her in the novel because she was creeped out by her daughter's heterochromia. Again, this is a world where peopel's eyes and hair are much more coloured than in real life. So this is stupid too. As for her father, he was beating and locking her out of public's eyes because she was… mute? He was a successful politician that became councillor, by the way, not the stereotypical retarded hillbilly that some city people seems to think rural people are.

In my fic, both parents treated her the same way they did in the novel, but the reason is different. Here, it's because they were creeped out by her attitude. In my fic's Neo's backstories, instead of playing with dolls like a normal little girl, she'd play at torturing the dolls, showing she took sadistic pleasure out of inflicting suffering since a young age. Parent's are still assholes, but it feels like a more solid explanation lorewise and considering both their own background and Neo's personality. Might just be me, though.

6: Jimmy and Carmel Vanille are still alive in my fic, instead of having died when Neo escaped with Roman when she was 8. It's more of a butterfly effect due to Roman having to juggle taking care of baby Gemini and his criminal activities than me retconning something of the novel out of my fic, though.

7: Roman and Neo's relationship is father and adopted daughter, not lovers like in the book. Kinda already too late to change that one, and I like that dynamic better anyway.

I think that's it.

Disclaimer: RWBY is the legal property of Rooster Teeth. Yu-Gi-Oh is the legal property of Shueisha. I only own my Ocs.

Disclaimer: This chapter contains politicians. I know, I know. It's very upsetting. I'm sorry.

---

''Gemini, my archrival! No more weaseling your way out of this. Today, we fight at last!'' Ruby exclaimed, pointing her finger at me from the other side of the patch of sand in her home's courtyard, the one where we used to spar before she finished making Crescent Rose.

I tried my best to avoid fighting her since then, but now I had ran out of excuses.

That aside, there was something I couldn't help but wonder about…

''Why are you wearing an eyepatch?'' I asked Ruby, whose right eye was covered by a round, black leather patch held by a thin string.

She held her hand in front of her face, stretching her fingers apart. ''Fufufufuuu… This is no mere eyepatch. This is a seal holding the power of my eye.''

Oh God, no. Please tell me this wasn't happening.

''Without it, the power of the dark god will overflow and end this world.''

I turned Ruby into a chuuni.

''I am the envoy of destruction, prepare to be engulfed by the night!''

''She went and bought the eyepatch a few days ago. It's was pretty funny watching her pratice her lines in the mirror. I just hope it's not going to become a habit.'' Yang said.

''Darkness blacker than black-''

''Okay, time out!'' I interrupted her, forming a 'T' with my hands.

''What is it, my archrival? Are you overwhelmed by my fell presence?''

''… Not really. I was just wondering, doesn't the power of your eyes comes out of both eyes? If your eyepatch is supposed to be a seal, shouldn't you cover both eyes? Like with a second eyepatch, or a blindfold?''

''Urk!'' Ruby recoiled. ''W-well… That's… Uh…''

''Also, your 'special eyes power' is made of light and only works on Grimm, so what's all that stuff about 'dark god', 'destruction' and 'darkness'? That just doesn't fit the theme.''

''Urk! I can… You see…'' Ruby tried to think of something, and failed. ''Yang, Gem's using logic again!''

Yeah, and apparently it was super-effective.

''I saw.'' Yang deadpanned. ''Are you two going to start fighting or…?'' Neo and her were the ones who kept an eye on our aura for the spar.

''Oh, right.'' Ruby took off her eyepatch and put it in her pocket. Learning to fight without depth perception was possible, but it would take more than a few days. Right now, she kinda needed to aim properly. ''I hope you're ready, Gem, because I've been looking forward to this for months.''

I sighed in surrender. I wasn't getting out of this, was I?

I extended my arm to point my cane toward Ruby. ''Very well, then. But you shall not thwart my evil scheme, champion of light! This world will become mine, as it was always fated to be, and my shadow shall reign supreme over everything!''

''Ooooh, he's good.'' Ruby muttered to herself. ''Don't count on it, for I am Ruby Rose, the light bulb in the darkness. As long as I stand, your villainous… errr… villainy willn't-''

''Won't'' I corrected.

''-Willn't, be victorious!'' Ruby finished, sticking to her guns.

She deployed Crescent Rose, and there was a lull during which we gauged each others, both of us wary of what our opponent could do. Her, of my dirty tricks. Me, of the giant ass death scythe twice my size.

C'mon, I was level 36 now. I didn't expect to win, but I should at least be able to avoid losing so hard that it was humiliating. Also, I was keeping my cane sword in its sheath, fighting with it as a cane instead. Unlike the Grimm, against which sharp weapons were better against their hide and blunt weapons were better against the bone-like armor, people had their aura taking the kinetic force that would have damaged them. Blunt or sharp made no difference in how much aura they lost (which also happened to be why a bullet was more like a long range punch for aura users,) and an empty hand to grab her with or throw stuff was an advantage I wanted to keep.

I shifted my foot, and Ruby took this as her cue to shot behind her and use the recoil to be at my left and make an upward, diagonal strike with her scythe. I moved just in time to block with my cane, but the weight of the weapon behind the hit still sent me backward.

I landed on my feet, but Ruby already had Crescent Rose's blade planted in the ground, the barrel straight toward me. I knocked the first two shots away with my cane, but Ruby wasn't a great shooter just because she could aim well, and I only realised too late that parrying the third shot, aimed at my head, left the bottom half of my body too open as the fourth shot hit me on my right tibia.

The pain of the shot made me flinch, and Ruby profited of the opening to shot me dead center on my chest. I let out a cry of pain as the force of the bullet threw me on the ground, grasping my chest as blood flowed from below my hand.

''Oh gods, Gem!'' Ruby exclaimed, before coming over to me. A shame she didn't leave her weapon behind. ''Please, tell me I didn't it anything vital. Why didn't your aura block?''

Her eyes widened in surprise when my bloodied hand grabbed her ankle, before I whacked her in the face with my cane. ''It did.'' Was the only explanation I gave.

Now both on the ground, I was still holding her by the ankle as I gave her another hit. I was now inside of her weapons' effective range, and its shape made this pretty inconvenient for her as it made it difficult to strike an opponent that close. She tried to kick me off of her, her boot striking me in the face, but I answered with more face whacking with my cane. With how much aura I had, a fight of attrition was very much in my favor.

She knew this, though, so when kicking me didn't work, she tried to use the recoil of her scythe to project herself away from me, but I didn't let go of her and she ended up dragging me along, much to her frustrations.

I hit her in the ribs.

Then she turned her scythe into its gun form before turning on herself and firing her gravity round at the ground, sending herself, and me, into the air. But since I was dragged after her by holding her, it meant that my positioning was lower than hers. So when, right before we would have started falling down, she shot horizontally to send herself passing above a tree branch, I took that thick and solid branch right in the guts.

This did the trick and my hand let go of her, before I dropped on the ground.

After we landed, we sent wary glances at each others.

''… Okay, I'll bite. How did you do the thing with the blood?'' She asked, now that it was more than obvious I wasn't injured.

I grinned and digged into my blazer, before throwing a bag the size of my fist on the ground, in clear view.

''A bag of fake blood, really? Why do you even have that?'' Ruby asked, dumbfounded.

''I bought a bunch during last Halloween, figured I might find some use out of it.''

Ruby sighed. ''Of course, I don't even know why I'm surprised anymore. Yang! How much aura do we have left?''

''You're at 80%, Gemini's at 90%.'' Yang answered.

I was pretty sure I lost a bit more aura than Ruby during our exchange, but that was the benefit of having so much more than my opponent. I came out the winner even if I took a little more damage than them.

I was still at a disadvantage when fighting her at a distance, however, so I ran towards her, ready to continue this spar.

But Ruby was strong even at this range, so she stood her ground and defended herself, whirling her scythe around her and making it really hard to get closer without getting hit by her blade.

I ducked below a strike, the wind whistling in my ear as the blade cut through it right above my head. I barely had any time to see the next hit coming at my legs before I jumped above it. Then I used my cane on the ground in front of me to push myself away from the next strike, which would have gotten me mid-air had I been a moment slower.

What followed was an annoying exchange where Ruby would slowly advance toward me like a death tornado and I would be forced to step backward repeatedly while I attempted to prod at her openings, which shifted too fast for me to exploit.

Until a moment in her sequence of movements where she slighty slowed down and I took the opportunity to attack when her scythe's blade was facing away from me. But it was a mistake, as it meant the bottom of the polearm was pointing right at me, allowing Ruby to easily stab me with the pike when I came in. It was minor damage, but it stopped me in my track and Ruby followed-up by shooting, using the recoil to strike faster and harder than she could with only her arms. The butt of the scythe's head rammed into me, taking a bigger chunk of aura out of me than any of the previous hits in this fight.

She followed that by jumping in the air and making several consecutive flips, her weapon primed to hit me while I was down. I rolled over to dodge it, thought, and her blade dug into the ground with her landing on the shaft.

I swiped at her with my cane, but Ruby dodged, letting it pass above her by freaking breakdancing on her weapon's shaft. Wha- Since when could she do that?

My stupefaction cost me, as it left me open for Ruby to kick me in the face while she was doing her moves on Crescent Rose. Then she used the recoil of the weapon again to get it out of the ground, before quickly switching ammunition type.

I tried to profit of the short time it took her to reload and charged at her, delivering thrusting blows with my cane. She moved the shaft of her weapon in front of her, using it to parry most of my attacks, but three strikes still reached her. One on her shoulder, another on her forehead and the last on her stomach.

Then she used her semblance for the first time in the fight to put some distance between us and shot several bullets at my feet. My legs nimbly dodged the bullet, letting them touch the ground around my feet, and I was about to chase after her when my feet refused to move, stuck in something. I glanced down and suddenly realised that the dust rounds Ruby had switched munitions for were ice dust ones, as my feet were now encased in ice.

Grinning, Ruby switched munition type again. Knowing I didn't have the time to break the ice and reach her before she shot another type of bullets at me, I drew my sword and took position, the hilt of the blade resting in my palm and the point of the blade pointed toward Ruby, before throwing it in a manner similar to a javelin.

This worked, and Ruby, eyes wide in surprised, yelped in pain as she received the blade on her chest, where the heart was (so… the boob, yeah. Sorry? I was just aiming for the torso because it was the only part of a Human large enough to have a reliable chance to hit.) I then started to bash on the ice with my cane, freeing myself from it. Unfortunately, it wasn't before Ruby was ready to shot at me with whatever elements her gun now had.

I ran at her, dodging the first bullet as a cackle of electricity accompagnied it. Oh goodies, this was going to be fun to be hit with. Not.

Ruby predicted my next dodged, and rather than shot where I was, shot where she expected me to move, successfully hitting me. The bullet's electricity coursed through my body, the shock locking up my muscles, stopping me from moving for a second even if my nerves wouldn't actually be damaged thanks to my aura.

That second passed, I didn't even have the time to move out of the way of the third bullet. Or the fourth.

The fifth hit me as I threw my cane at Ruby's head instead of trying to dodge. The hit unbalanced her and won me just enough time for the paralysis to worn off and charge at her.

I tackled her, sending both of us to the ground and making her lose her grip on her weapon. But before I could punch her to lower her aura some more, she headbutted me and then kneed me in the guts before pushing me off. Ugh, she was learning, not willing to let me grapple her anymore.

But now I had the advantage, she didn't have her weapon anymore. Crescent Rose was right behind me and she couldn't hope to get it as long as I stood near it. What was she going to do, challenge me in hand-to-hand combat?

Unsurprisingly, she didn't. Surprisingly, she went and took my sword in her left hand.

Then she came at me, her right foot placed forward in a basic sword stance. She started with a diagonal cut that I dodged before I tried to counterattack, which was cut off by Ruby quickly following up on her previous attack by striking upward. I stepped back to avoid that hit too, but the next one, where she spun the raised blade around to transition into another cut, hit me on my sides.

What the hell!? Since when did Ruby knew how to use a sword?

She swung my sword again, and this time, I grabbed the blade barehanded, taking the damage to my aura to give her a right hook in the face. This allowed me to take my sword back as Ruby staggered backward, but she didn't stay close to me so I could hit her, instead she bursted away from me, leaving rose petals in her trail.

We looked at each others, unsure how to proceed. Now that I had my sword back, she couldn't challenge me to get her hands on Crescent Rose, but I couldn't pursue her without giving her an opening to her weapon. A stalemate.

''Yang, how much aura do we have left?'' I asked.

''Hum… You've got 61% left and Ruby's at 55%.'' She said, revealing that I still had the lead, though it was only by 6%, compared to the 10% I had when Ruby asked. And to put things in perspectives, me being at 61% meant that I lost a lot more than the total amount Ruby had.

At least she was on the verge of losing. Hey, I might actually win this.

I reached into one of my pocket to take a flashbang, but Ruby was faster than me.

''Losersayswhat?'' She said quickly as she threw at me something out of her own pocket, a tiny Nevermore with it's beak, wings and legs tightly shut by duct tape.

''Wha-'' Then her eyes flashed and the light blinded me.

While my vision was covered with dark spots, I heard Ruby use her semblance to quickly get to Crescent Rose. I tried to intercept her by swinging my sword, but without working eyes, I missed.

Then I heard her shot her weapon and felt the scythe's blade hit my back, taking me as she moved with the recoil. Then she shot again, and we moved until I hit a tree trunk. I still had a few dark spots in my eyes, but I could feel the cold blade still trying to dig in my back as I was stuck between it and the wood.

I cried in pain when Ruby shot again and the recoil slammed the scythe into me, crushing me against the tree. The wood cracked and broke apart under the force. Yikes.

''Second round inc-''

''Stop!'' Ruby was cut off by Yang. ''His aura's at 47%. You won sis.''

''Awesome.'' Ruby got her weapon off me and shifting it to its compact form to hid it under her cape, clasping the weapon to her waist. ''How are you feeling?''

''I'm feeling pain. I never want to do this again.'' I said. ''Right now, I want to sit and relax.''

''That's great, 'cause now it's Neo and I's turn. You two can keep an eye on our aura.'' Yang said, eagerly hitting her palm with her fist.

So Ruby and I sat against a tree with our scrolls as our sister fought again.

''Since when do you know how to use a sword?'' I asked her.

''Since always.'' Ruby grinned, before offering more details when I raised an eyebrow. ''Dad and uncle Qrow first started training my sister and I with wooden swords, when we were like, 6. That was before Yang decided she liked using her fists better and I wanted a scythe like uncle Qrow. I only know the basics, though, but fighting with a weapon is just like riding a bicycle, once you learn it, you never forget it.''

I… No, I was pretty sure most people's ability to fight decayed without pratice. It didn't for me because the Game kept my Skills fixed, but magic soul powers were involved there, so that didn't count.

''… Anyway, what was that with the Tinymore?'' I asked, still curious about it.

''Tinymore?''

''The tiny Nevermore.'' I clarified.

''That's a pretty good name for those…'' Ruby mumbled before raising her voice. ''Well, I first thought that even if it only hurt Grimm, the light of my eyes would still be able to blind a Human opponent. So since it could only work with a Grimm around, I went and caught the smallest and weakest one I could find. It was pretty easy to catch with my semblance, I went whoosh and all, it was less easy to wrap the duct tape around so it wouldn't be able to escape and attack me while I kept it on me, but I managed.''

Clever girl. But… ''Wouldn't it be simpler to just buy flash bang? It'd do the job too and you wouldn't need to go to all the trouble.'' Also, the flash bang neutralized by both light and sound, while her eyes only had light. The only advantage her eyes offered over those was that they didn't risk affecting her too.

Well, the use of her eyes did tire her. But with the pratice of the last few month, she had gotten better at it. She could use her eyes at full power 4 times in a row, though she became too tired to fight effectively after the first one and could barely defend herself after the second one. But the biggest breakthrough of her silver eyes training was that she learned how to control how much power she used when her eyes activated. Like earlier, the flash of light was a small one, just enough to blind me or kill a Beowolf. With that small power output, a single burst didn't even have a noticeable impact on her stamina.

''I guess, but where do I buy those?'' Ruby asked.

Ah, right. Bullets, weapon parts, dust. Ruby knew where to buy those, but flashbangs didn't afect the Grimm for some reasons, so it wasn't part of the usual huntsmen shops. The militaries had somes, as did the police, but the main way to obtain those outside of serving the state was to buy it from criminal suppliers.

Not because having flash bang was illegal, it's just that there wasn't a demand for it amongst civilians and huntsmen, and no demand meant no profit so good luck finding someone selling it, making it hard to find in shops. The police and criminals (hence why criminals made and sold them) were the only ones who wanted flash bangs, since they fought other people.

I took the flash bang I had wanted to use earlier and handed it to Ruby. ''There, take it as a gift. I can supply you with more if you want.''

''Oh, cool. Thanks.'' Ruby said, before she realised something. ''You were about to use one right when I flashed you, weren't you?''

''Sure I was. You were faster though. I'm so proud that you learned how to fight dirty.'' Also, Ruby, phrasing. Don't say you 'flashed me', words it differently, please.

''I had a pretty good teacher for that.'' She said with a grin. ''How are your projects doing?''

''Oh, pretty well. You mastered your eyes, or at least almost did. Yang's has become so strong compared to the one I saw in my vision. My own level is started to get to a point where I'll be able to at least hold my own. Onyx's last report claims that he found a trail that hadn't gone completely cold for once, he might be able to find the Fall Maiden before Cinder does. If we're lucky, we can kill Cinder before she even become the threat she wants to be. To top all this, the scientists I hired managed to work out how to make dustless energy and the technology has been patented under my name, so now it's just a matter of having the funds to actually build a dam.''

Yes, I had shared the search I had started for the Fall Maiden with Ruby, along with the research on dustless energy. She was a bit surprised because I had said I was planning such research for after Cinder was dealt with, but after I explained she agreed that starting early was the right decision since there was an opportunity.

''Cool.'' Ruby replied, a bit absentmindly. ''So… Do you think we're ready?''

''Honestly, I'm starting to think we may have overdone it.'' I said. ''But there's no kill like overkill, so we might as well get ready some more.''

''Sounds good to me.'' She giggled. ''Do you have something in mind?''

Well, I was worried taking the time to train her silver eyes would take time away from her training and make her weaker than her canon self, but we actually managed to fit her silver eyes training on top of her normal schedule, instead of replacing it. So she was just as good as in canon. That was good, really good.

''Your semblance. We're focusing our efforts on that next.''

Ruby tilted her head at my words. ''But, I already control my semblance pretty well. I even found this new trick recently, where I can 'expand' my semblance around me and make stuff fly off along with me.''

Ah, that was the thing she did in the food fight, was it? ''That's great, but trust me, it's only the beginning. There are a few more things you can do with your semblance.''

''Really?'' Ruby looked at me with stars in her eyes. ''That's stuff you saw from the futur, isn't? What did you see me do?''

''You know how you leave petals behind you? Well, I saw you turn completely into petals and reform after you moved with your semblance. With this, you can also takes other people with you, making others benefit form your speed.''

''Oooh, that's neat.''

''Yes, but the part that interest me the most is that when you turns into petals like that, your entire body briefly becomes intangible.'' I said.

''Intangible…'' Ruby thought about what that would mean to be able to move while dividing her body. ''So if there was an obstacle between me and where i wanted to go, like bars, fences or something, I could just pass through it? That's pretty cool.''

It was. Once she mastered her semblance, there was nothing in the world that would be able to stop Ruby from reaching her target.

That's what Ruby's semblance truly was; the ability to reach anyone who needed saving.

''True, but I've had an idea for another way to use it.'' I said, smirking at the idea of how dangerous Ruby would become if it worked. ''If you become intangible, then attacks would pass through you too, wouldn't it. What happens if you use your semblance when an opponent was about to land a hit on you.''

Ruby grinned as she understood where I going. ''I'd be impossible to hit. Oh, and I'd have an opening to counterattack too. I'd be basically invincible in a one on one fight.''

''Yes, especially if you can learn to use the intangibility aspect without having to move from where you are.'' If she learned to do that, I couldn't help but wonder just how strong she'd become.

Mmh, now that I thought about it, if she learned how to use her semblance like that, she'd basically be like a logia from One Piece, the guys whose body couldn't be damaged normally because they turned into stuff like fire, sand or mist. Oh yeah, Ruby would become OP.

''Ooooh, that'd be awesome. Alright then, I'll start training my semblance more.'' Ruby said, before our attention was brought to Yang yelling as her semblance activated.

Ruby and I looked at our scroll. Yang had 58% aura left. By activating her aura now instead of when she was lower, her semblance would only give her a relatively slight increase in strength, but since the rules made her lose if she fell under 50%, I suppose that was the best she'd get in the spars.

My sister, who was at 65%, suddenly disappeared, before several fake her appeared around Yang. Before, she'd just turn invisible and leave only one decoy, but Yang had learned how to keep her senses sharp and be on the lookout for the littlest sign of where Neo really was, whether this was a step making an almost imperceptible noise, a footprint appearing in the sand or even just the air being disturbed by Neo moving throught it. So my sister now opted to increase the number of visual stimuli to keep Yang's attention, sometime even hiding herself amongst the decoy while letting Yang think she was invisible elsewhere.

As the four Neo charged at Yang, the blonde shot the ground, using the recoil to send herself into the air. Then, she fired her bullets everywhere around her. A few of the shots went upward into the sky, but the rest carpet bombed the area below her, the fiery explosions destroying all the decoys in one go.

It looked like my sister had managed to pull herself away from the bombarded zone in time to avoid getting caught in the attack, though, as her invisibility wasn't broken and she didn't lose aura.

Then Yang landed on the ground and received a strong kick right in her face. But the brawler had expected it, and reacted by swiftly grabbing Neo's leg.

The kick had lowered Yang's aura to 51%, on the verge of defeat, but now she had Neo in her grip. The blonde used that grip to spin her opponent around her before throwing her up into the air, followed by her shooting at the airborn girl. Neo had no trouble knocking the shotgun shells out of the way with Hush.

Taking the kick voluntarily to be able to grab Neo was daring, but Yang should have known that my sister would have easily blocked an attack as simple as just shooting her, even if she couldn't dodge in the air.

And now that Yang had basically no aura left before losing, this fight was going to be Neo's victory.

That was when I noticed it, the bullets Yang had fired in the sky earlier, falling down toward Neo and about to hit her before she would fall down. The tri-coloured girl noticed it too, and opened her parasol to shield herself from the fire dust shells.

The first one exploded as it crashed onto the deployed weapon, spreading fire all around her. It didn't touch her, but it also filled her view for a moment, during which the other four shells swerved around the parasol to surround her, before they hit their mark and exploded.

One of the most basic use of dust was to control the trajectory of the element conjured. That was something some non-dust specialist learned to use and apply for their elemental bullets, allowing them to change the direction of their bullets mid-shot.

And so, Neo crashed on the ground, smelling of singed clothes. Though her aura prevented any actual damage by the fire, which disappeared fast without fuel to burn.

I looked at my scroll before speaking aloud. ''Neo has 44% aura left, Yang… won?''

Neo pouted at the news, but Yang blinked, stunned as she tried to process the information.

Then she grinned and jumped with her fist raised in the air. ''Yes! I did it! I finally did it!'' She exclaimed.

I had a small economic empire to fund the fight against Salem. Ruby could either kill Cinder with one big use of her eyes or just stun lock her by spamming small uses of it. Yang was just so much stronger than she was in canon.

All the pieces were getting in position.

A dark smirk grew on my face.

Cinder won't know what hit her.

/-/

Roman rubbed his temples, feeling the headache coming as he finished reading Neo's report.

Where did he even begin? His son had apparently decided he was open to becoming a huntsman. He couldn't say he was a big fan of the idea, but hopefully he was going for the 'take the training, then do whatever he wants' kind of huntsman instead of 'wannabe hero who gets himself killed young' or 'council's dog' kind of huntsman. He wasn't worried about Gemini becoming the third one, but even though he tried to teach him better, he was still a little worried he might choose the second type.

There was a certain… rigidity to his son's character that Roman wasn't sure where it came from. Oh, Gemini was just as willing to lie and cheat as he was, but there were some things he just couldn't stand for.

He himself wasn't a big fan of Vale's political elite. As far as he was concerned, the 'state' was nothing more than another criminal organisation. Both demanded money from people who lived on their territory in exchange for which they promised 'protection', but then were the ones using force against those who didn't pay. When criminals did it, it was a 'protection racket', when the state did it, it was 'collecting taxes'. Different names, same thing. Both lended money to people and when someone would be unable to pay, both would take away that someone's property to pay back the debt. Criminal group denied that property by smashing it and breaking their 'client's' legs, the state did so by seizing it, and possibly imprisoning the property in question, but both course of action were an usage of force to punish the one who didn't pay. Both enforced their own rules on their territory, sending their thugs against those who broke those rules or other groups who tried to take that territory for themselves. When criminals did it, it was intimidation or a gang war, when the state did it, it was 'patrolling the neighbourhood' or a 'police/military intervention'. Oh, and the state's thugs had shiny badges, very important.

The only difference between the state and a mafia was the scale. As such, Roman lived his life treating the both of those the exact same way, content to simply view both as the natural state of the world and working around them to survive.

Well, except good old Jimmy. Roman went out of his way to target the asshole and ruin his day on each of his adopted daughter's birthday. Neo's day was always a little brighter when she knew the man was having a bad day.

But the general disdain Roman felt for the self-proclaimed 'elite' was nothing compared to the burning hatred he noticed in his son's eyes every time Gemini's attention was directed toward them. He wasn't even sure if his son was aware of the death glare he had whenever the news mentioned one of the families running Vale from the shadows.

Roman didn't know where that hatred came from, or why it burned so intensely, but he was starting to get worried, as it didn't seems to go away. If anything, it seemed to be getting worse. Neo was worried about Gemini's friendship with the huntress girl possibly attracting trouble with the powers that be for him, but by the look of it, he was going to run into that trouble all on his own.

And that brought him to the other part of Neo's report, the most insane thing he had ever heard.

Apparently, that little huntress friend wasn't content just being a naive hero wannabe who absorbed pro-huntsman propaganda like a sponge, she was also some sort of demigoddess that could vaporize Grimm with lasers coming out of her eyeballs.

… Excuse his langage, but what the actual fuck!?

He agreed with Neo's assessment. Every ambitious bastard in town was going to try to get their hands on that girl, especially since that power was hereditary, and most of these people would be ready to kill anyone in the way to be the ones to profits from such power. And sure, having someone like her on their side would be pretty convenient for his trips to the border cities, but it just wasn't worth getting involved in the bloodshed that would one day happens over the girl.

He needed to find a way to break that friendship, to keep his son away from that girl, but how? Neo suspected that he was enamoured with the girl, though according to her, he didn't seems to realise that yet. Whether she was mistaken or not, that she believed it in the first place hinted at a close friendship at least. So he couldn't just forbid his son from seeing the girl again, that would just drive him to resent them. No, he needed the girl to be the one to turn against him, so that his resentment was directed against her. That was the only way he could get the both of these apart while keeping his family united.

Thankfully, Neo also told him about how much of a goody two-shoes little red was, so that was as easy as telling her about Gemini's criminal family. Part of him felt a bit guilty about doing this, but the girl was always going to turn against his son anyway, it was just a matter of time before she found out about the truth.

So with that in mind, he gave Neo her instructions.

/-/

The next day, at Signal Academy, Ruby found a black enveloppe in her locker.

After havind read it, she barked a laugh, making her schoolmates turns their head towards her, not knowing what made her react like that. Then she ripped the anonymous letter in pieces and threw it into a nearby trash can.

She didn't know who gave her that letter, but clearly they weren't aware that she already knew about Gem's family.

/-/

''WHY DID IT NOT WORK!?'' Roman asked himself, surprised, and a little panicked, by that plan's failure.

He just got the news from Neo, who had used her semblance to observe this Ruby girl's reaction without anyone noticing. Little red hadn't even cared, and her attitude toward Gemini in the following days saw no change whatsoever.

What was he supposed to do now?

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-'

''Coffee, boss?'' Perry asked him, interrupting his internal screaming.

''Yes, thank you Perry. You're the best.'' He accepted, taking the offered cup. He was wise to call Perry back now that Gemini clearly didn't need the supervision anymore. Everything ran so much smoother with the dog-eared Faunus around.

''You know it, boss.'' Perry said, giving a thumbs up, before going to take care of other thing.

'Now, where was I again?' Roman thought. 'Oh, right. Panicked mental screaming. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH…'

/-/

''Lords and Ladies of the Vale, you have my gratitude for taking the time to come to this meeting.'' John Blackland, a man in his early fifties with a well groomed, black circle beard, graying hair on the sides of his otherwise pitch-black hair, and wearing a long sleeved black doublet with the back and sides of the collar lined with red fox fur, greeted the 11 other families' head sitting around his dining table. They all came to his home when he announced there was something important to discuss, each of them knowing he wouldn't organise a meeting without due reason. ''I trust some of you may already know what this is all about,'' three of them nodded, ''but for our fellows that have not gotten the news yet, Vanille, if you may.''

''Thank you, Lord John.'' Jimmy Vanille said, stepping up to talk in front of the 12 most powerful people of Vale, as a servant of Lord John distributed paper copies of Gemini's patent. He was understandably nervous, as he had dealt with most of them in the past, just not all of them at the same time. Still, he believed he handled himself well, as he didn't let it show on his face. ''A week ago, a patent for a new technology has been filed. A technology able to produce energy without the use of dust.''

''Dustless energy?'' Lady Morgue Orkney said, immediately latching onto what that meant. The head of the Orkney family, a woman with long, curly red hair wearing an expensive dress, was one of those amongst them who felt the impact of Jacques' rise the most, as her family used to have holdings in the dust mining industry. Holdings that were taken by the SDC. The loss of her family's wealth would have been much worse if she hadn't seen the writing on the wall in advance and redirected most of her holdings into other industries before being ruined into the ground. A shame that after all of her efforts, her heir had decided to go rogue and affiliate himself with… these people. ''Interesting, we could make use of that. Finally push back against the SDC.''

Maybe even kick that accursed company out of their kingdom.

''Hmph. Getting rid of the SDC is nice and all, but the true threat is the Atlesian military and their base on Vytal. To say nothing of Mistral.'' Lord Dagrun Redroot said. The man was ever the old warhawk, who believed that Vale should have used its victory in the Great War to subjugate the other kingdoms. As far as he was concerned, King Ozias' decision to kneecap Vale's military power by replacing said military with these huntsmen was outright treason. The man wanted Vale to reign supreme over Remnant and viewed the other kingdoms as nothing but unwanted rivals and threats. If he had his way, he'd raze Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo off the map and would salt their land to ensure they never came back against Vale ever again.

''Each things in its time, Lord Dagrun. For now, we must first take our economic power back.'' Lord Pelias Goldenram said. The man with long, thick gold-coloured hair (and John really did meant gold, not yellow) wore a cream-coloured luxury woolen coat. Just like his ancestors, he never cut his hair once in his life, letting it reach to his ankles. The members of his family were too proud of that distinctive trait for that, what with the hereditary semblance tied to their hair. A rare trait the Goldenram family believed to be a magical blessing from a wizard. ''Who own this technology?'' He asked Jimmy, thinking about the various companies who stood to gain from breaking the SDC's monopoly. Those that hadn't gone bankrupt or hadn't been purchased by Jacques, at least.

The councillor winced. ''That's where we run into a problem. You see, the one who financed the research and own the patent is a teenager by the name of Gemini Torchwick.''

The elites of Vale raised their eyebrow at the name. They all heard of Roman Torchwick, the man was a nuisance, but one that carefully avoided from targeting one of them directly, as he didn't wish to attract their ire to the point they would become willing to spend more Lien on arresting him than it was worth it.

Still, as far as they knew, the man had no relative, so a kid bearing his last name could only mean a son.

Now, most of them wondered, how did the son of a mere thief, a street rat, managed to succeed where everyone else failed, despite all of their wealth and power?

''That brat!? How in the gods' name did he managed to do that while under my men's watch?'' Lord Jupiter Lawson, wearing his uniform of General of all of Vale's police force, exclaimed. The man didn't always care for the issues Vale faced, preferring to enjoy himself with whichever woman caught his eye at the moment, consent optional. This time, however, the man seemed furious, a rare ocurrence.

''You dealt with the kid before, Lord Jupiter?'' Lord John asked him.

Jupiter nodded. ''You could say that, yes. I've had my men investigate him, with orders to remain unoticed. We were expecting to be able to let him lead us to his father, so that we could arrest both.''

''You've know about him? Why have you not told me? You I knew I-'' Jimmy's voice disappeared, no sound leaving his throat, as he tried to remind them that he had a personal vendetta against Roman and always sought anything that could be used against the man.

''Mind your words, councillor.'' Lady Vanessa d'Outremer, a 30 years-old woman with wavy black hair, said. The woman, whose semblance allowed her to temporarily steal someone's voice, never liked Jimmy Vanille. In fact, she outright hated the man since his daughter had been fianced to Lord John's third son. Sure, Jimmy's wife, Carmel Vanille, had dominion over a sizeable portion of the Industrial District's organised crime, and the marriage would give the Blackland family the inheritence of that organisation, but the Vanille were way too recent on the scene to be allowed the honor of marrying amongst one of their own. They were still nothing but cattle, like the rest of the population. ''We do not answer to the likes of you, it is you who serves us.''

Faced with the cold stares of those present, Jimmy gulped and looked at his benefactor, Lord John, who motionned to the floor.

He got the message, and kneeled in front of the nobleman he offended. ''I apologize for my mistake, Lord Jupiter.''

Lord Jupiter snorted derisively. ''You're forgiven, but do not forget your place again.''

''Now that this is done. Lord Jupiter, if you may, what have you learned about the boy?'' Lord John asked.

''Less than I'd have wanted.'' The man who essentially owned the kingdom's police force admitted. ''Unfortunately, the boy has taken notice of the policemen trailing him and has avoided them at every turn, so they haven't managed to locate where he lives or what he does outside of his legal work, which is being a manager in a card game shop.''

''A… card game?'' Lord John wasn't sure he heard that right. It was far from what he had expected the activities of a child raised by a criminal like Torchwick to be. ''Is this a laundering scheme?''

Lord Jupiter shook his head. ''Nothing has been found that indicate it to be. While there might be some foul play behind the scenes, that would require a thorough investigation to be certain, and that would tip him and his father off. I held off on that because the primary objective there was to catch Roman, not just his spawn. For now, the kid seems to have simply made a breakthrough in the entertainment industry, having created a decently popular cartoon and a card game based on it. Damn brat even puts his real name on each cards he sells as if he didn't come from a criminal background.''

Lord John frowned at that last bit. If this Gemini was bold enough to announce his name to the world, then he must be really confident that there was nothing he could be caught and arrested for. Was it because he was arrogant, or was it because he truly followed the law?

He held back a snort. There was no way he was an 'honest citizen', not with who was his father. The Beowolf never strayed far from his Alpha, after all.

Either way, they should focus on today's actual important matter. ''Given that these 'hydroelectric dams' seems to have a relatively high initial cost before it can generate profit, there may be a chance that he wouldn't be able to finance them himself. Does anyone think he would be open to selling the technology?'' Lord John asked.

''Why even bother bargaining with the boy? He is of lesser lineage, we can just have him removed and seize his property for ourselves.'' Lord Xanthic Aurora said. The young man, only 19 years old, had dull yellow hair in a bowl haircut, a brighter yellow for the eyes and the somewhat unhealthy looking pale tone of someone who didn't get quite as much sun as they should. His older sister was the original heiress, but she had died of sickness just before becoming head of the Aurora family. Of course, Lord John wasn't stupid. It was obviously poison.

The plebs would have wondered how Lord Xanthic could be trusted by the other family heads if they knew the truth about his sister's death, but that was what the Initiation Rite was for. The Rite took place in a closed room, containing only a camera and a table with an orphaned child strapped to it. Orphans didn't have anyone, so nobody cared if one disappeared, if anyone even noticed.

Three hours of excruciating torture inflicted on the victim, who had to be kept both alive and conscious until the end of the Rite, all on camera. Each family's head completed the Rite and possessed a copy of the other's footage, meaning none could betray the others. No one amongst the twelve of them could sink the ship or jump off of it without drowning themselves.

This was the only way monsters could trust each others.

Although some of them were admittedly a little unerved that Lord Xanthic didn't stop his Rite at the three hour mark and stretched it for almost twice that length.

''No, an assassination won't do.'' Lord John declared in a calm voice. ''It is better that we obtain the ownership of the intellectual property through more... 'legitimate' means, rather than force.''

''Agreed.'' Lady Morgue said. ''The boy cannot stop us from simply taking it from him, but we aren't the only ones who will want this tech. We can't allow other parties to have any opening to try and take it from us.''

Lord Dagrun nodded. ''Whatever we choose to do, we must do it quick before Atlas and Mistral's eyes takes notice of the opportunity.''

''If anyone is worried about this Gemini causing trouble, we can alway gets rid of him afterward, but I agree that we should first focus on making sure nobody else obtains the patent.'' Lord Hansa Sitron said. The 23 years old had blue hair slicked back, except for the yellow streak at the top of his head that separated his blue hair in two, and sideburns. He wasn't a Sitron by birth, he descended from a minor noble family instead, but married into the Sitron. He was an officer in Vale's coastal guard, the modern militia version of the kingdom's navy, before he became head of the Sitron.

This might explain why his formal attire bore some similarities to a naval uniform.

Eleven of the oligarchs of Vale continued to discuss the subject for a bit, and it looked like they were going to decide to buy the intellectual property, even if they needed to… persuade Gemini to sell it to them.

That was, of course, until the oldest of them, who had remained silent so far, suddenly started laughing.

''Eh eh eh eh- '' Lady Yveta Nightguard, the woman having more wrinkles than skin at this point, coughed. Then she took a raspy breath, before she spoke again, looking over the others with her eyes, one of which was nothing but a blind, white orb. ''If you cannot… see what's right in front of you-'' Another coughing fit. ''-then you must be blinder... than my left eye.''

She was so old, Lord John wouldn't be surprised to learn she was born old. As it was, she was 123, while he was 51. That meant she was already 73 when he was born, and he wasn't all that young anymore either.

The woman even outlived all of her children and grandchildren.

''What do you mean, Lady Yveta?'' Lord Claude Askari, one of the most publically politically active of them, asked. ''What did we miss?''

The old fossil offered a crooked smile. ''History… does not repeats. But… it certainly does-'' She coughed again. ''-rhymes quite often. Your predecessors… treated Jacques lightly too… and look… where that got us. Eh eh eh…''

The entire group froze, except for the one individual who didn't care.

''… Lady Yveta, are you implying that we are witnessing the rise of a second Jacques?'' Lord Dagrun asked with narrowed eyes.

It was Lord John who answered, a cold sweat running down his spine. ''No… It is much worse than that. Jacques only had an incredibly indebt husk of a company to work with when he started, and he built his fortune on an already known ressource. This one already has a decent, debtless, capital, and he brings something never seen before.''

''The boy needs to die.'' Lady Gruoch Donwald, usually paranoid but correct for once, said. ''He needs to die yesterday.''

'' I agree with Lady Gruoch.'' Lady Morgue said. ''Vale will not survive if this brat has half of Jacques' luck.'' Because what other than luck could allow mere cattle to elevate themselves above the superior breed of the nobility? It was certainly not genius that could have made that happens, as those of lower birth possessed none.

The peasants were nothing but animals born to be exploited by the true men and women of Mankind. Their life was one on the level of Faunus and other animals, like the cows and pigs in the field. But Jacques and this boy? For not knowing their places and defying those they should cower and serve under, they were even lower.

The oligarchy took their decision, all eleven of them voted in favor of the boy's death.

Eleven?

They looked at the one amongst them who had remained silent during the meeting, listening idly with a disinterested look on his face.

Lord John sighed. They didn't need the last vote, especially since it wasn't a vote against the decision, simply remaining neutral, but the man's indifference to everything was becoming grating after so many years. ''Lord Dacre, please try to give your duties the respect and attention it deserve.''

Lord Dacre Pulvis snorted, his eyes peeking at them from under his hood. ''I am the only one here taking it seriously. Do what you wish, Lord John, but true power does not rest within the artifices of men.''

The man then got up and walked out of the room, his dust weaved robes and cape flowing behind him.

Another sigh. ''Anyway, the plan I propose is for Lord Jupiter and his police force to arrest the boy and keep him imprisoned. During that time, we will fill the paperwork and go through the procedure for a closed-door trial during which he'll be condemned for execution.'' It shouldn't be too hard to pin a crime, or several, on him, even if they had to make them up. ''Then, the state will seize the boy property and put it up on auction, which will be private to us only.''

That way, whoever of their group bought the patent, it would be officially legitimate and they wouldn't have to fear having it taken away from them.

''I can do that easily.'' Lord Jupiter agreed, as the other nodded in support of Lord John's plan.

''We'll need to take care of the scientists and other people he hired, too. Make sure they won't be able to talk.'' Lord Dagrun added. It wouldn't do to have them talk.

''Perfect.'' Lord John said with an evil smile. ''Then, gods willing, we will finally break Jacques' monopoly and take back the glory that should have always been ours.''

/-/

'Time is moving forward, and fast.' I thought while working on the next batch of cards to release.

Huntsmen school, due to training people to fight, had a different schedule than the civilian ones. Where the civilian schools kept the students inside during the cold of winter and let them have a vacation during summer, the huntsmen school needed to train them outside, so they made use of summer, leaving the vacations for the coldest three months of the year. This meant that their school years started at the beginning of spring.

That mattered because during Cinder's attack on Amber, some of the trees in the background had started to lose their green. That meant that it happened during fall. September, I believed, as there were still too much green for October. So if Beacon's school year started after winter, it meant that Amber was attacked several months before the start of the show. It will happen next fall.

So I had only a few months left to stop Cinder from becoming the Fall Maiden. Roughly 5 months, since we were already in March. That was too short to my liking, to be honest. I wished I had more time for Onyx to find Amber. More time to train.

As it was, I didn't feel like my level was high enough for what was coming. Sure, I managed to put up a fight in my last spar against Ruby, but considering I needed tricks to reduce the gap between our skill, that I had so much aura that she took down multiple time the amount of aura I took from her, and that she treated the spar as, well, the training that it was (she'd be able to just run away from me faster than I could chase her and just shoot me until I lost, even if it'd take a long while), she was still much more skilled than I was. And Cinder was much more dangerous than Ruby, unless you were a Grimm.

At least the Gamer's Mind Perk should immunise me against Emerald's semblance. I think. If the description of what it did was accurate. So at least I had that going for me. If I managed to interfere in the attack on Amber, my role would be to keep the pressure on Emerald to stop her from being able to focus to use her semblance. That alone would be enough to extend the fight long enough for Qrow to show up before Cinder takes half of the Maiden's powers… If I could assume canon would remains the same without my own interference.

If my suspicions were correct and another reincarnated joined Salem, then I should expect Cinder having possible reinforcement, so just me alone might not be enough. There was Onyx, who I had already involved, but apart from that, who else could I bring? Ruby would be a bit of a risk as Cinder wouldn't yet have a weakness to silver eyes, but she could still hold her own the traditional way. Yang has become so strong she was a good option, too. That's three people I could potentially bring with me.

Neo wasn't on that list because if I tried to bring her along, then I wouldn't be able to hide the 'why' from her and she absolutely wouldn't let me get involved into something as dangerous. But that was fine. Honestly, even bringing Ruby and Yang was completely optional. I could just hire a few huntsmen teams. Hell, why limit myself to 'a few'? I could hire ten of those and show up against Cinder, encircling her and her group and making it impossible for her to escape.

It was nice having money.

Speaking of making Lien, I had also expanded the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise into several kind of merchs. Kuriboh plushies were fairly popular. I gave one to Ruby when I caught her looking at one on my shop's shelf. That made her so happy her cheeks took on the same colour as the tip of her hair.

There had also been local tournaments organised in Vale, Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo. I looked over the names of the tournaments' winners, just to see if there was a name I recognized. And indeed, while most where unfamiliar to me, there was one that I knew. The winner of a local which happened in a small city not too far from the city of Mistral itself.

Lie Ren.

It was nice to know roughly where he and Nora where. Shame I didn't have the time to go to Mistral and recruit them, but they were going to be at Beacon anyway.

''What the hell did you do!? Why is the police here?'' One of my employees interrupted my thought, barging into my office with Flax right behind him, both having a panicked look on their face.

''Excuse me, what are you talk-'' I was cut off by the sound of way-too-many police sirens from outside.

Did they surround the building? Because it sounded like they did.

Suddenly, a sniper shot through the window of my office, hitting the employee in the head and blowing his brain out.

''''What the fuck!?'''' Both Flax and I exclaimed, horrified.

I jumped at him and pushed him on the floor, right before another bullet passed where his chest was a second ago.

''I need you to listen to me, alright?'' I said, my voice loud as I felt my heart pounding hard.

''W-what's happening?'' He asked, his eyes wild.

''Gemini Torchwick! You are under arrest! Surrender immediately!'' A voice, amplified by a megaphone, yelled.

If Neo was there, I could escape easily, but at this hour, she was sleeping at home, tired from following me during my night-time training. She'd usually be there to lead the cops away from the path to our house when I left the shop, but that was still a few hours away.

''I have no idea.'' I answered him honestly. The only crimes I had committed were breaking into the VRL and vigilantism in Atlas, neither justifying such a reaction from law enforcement. ''Follow me, stay out of sight from the window.'' This was the last time I had a window in my office.

Flax nodded, crying. I moved to a large shelf next to the wall and pushed it, revealing a small tunnel just big enough for an adult to crawl under.

''What is that?'' He asked, his eyes switching between the hidden passageway and throwing fearful looks toward the window.

''A secret escape route, because I'm a paranoid fuck. Now go! Hide in there and wait until they're gone before you come out, you'll just run into them outside otherwise.'' I instructed him. It would be a little awkward for him to pass through because of his tall horns, but he should be able anyway as long as he kept his face parallel to the ground.

Once he was in, I pushed the shelf back into place to cover the exit.

''Wait, what are you doing!?'' Flax asked from the other side of the shelf.

''If we both go, they'll just pursue us until they catch us! Don't worry about me, just focus on saving yourself!'' I didn't consider myself the heroic type, but I just didn't want to be responsible for his death. The other one was too much already.

If my Faunus employee had any objection, it died when we heard, and felt, an explosion coming from the front of the store.

They brought explosive too!? I knew I was Roman Torchwick's son, but still, how much force did they bring for a teenager?

I typed a quick 'Help' to my sister, knowing the ping of her scroll would wake her up. I doubted she was going to get here in time, though.

I heard heavy footstep run into my store, lots of them. Deciding not to wait for them, I grabbed my cane and jumped out of the window.

Only to be met with a full on police barricade, easily 50 officers… and four bullheads with gatling guns. I think I already complained about the excessive force being employed.

But the real surprised was the man leading them.

Jupiter Lawson, leader of the entire kingdom's police force and one of the twelve oligarchs who ruled Vale from behind the scenes. What the fuck was he doing here?

My eyes narrowed at the sight of the policewoman standing next to him, one with golden hair, clearly related to Pelias Goldenram. The Goldenram, like the Schnee, were one of the extremely rare families to have a hereditary semblance. Their hair was prehensible, able to move according to their will, and was pretty much indestructible as long as aura coursed through it. This may seems a given, since aura naturally took damage in place of the body or objects it infused, but what I meant was that the hair didn't take damage in the first place, meaning that hitting the hair wouldn't lower the aura of a Goldenram.

Aura couldn't take the damage of a hit if the hit wouldn't have inflicted damage. There was a reason why people on Remnant bothered with armor even with aura.

Pelias himself had a mane that puts Yang's hair to shame, using it as an impenetrable shield. But the policewoman standing next to Jupiter had her hair separated in several long braids. I could take a few guesses on how she used it. My first one was as restraining limbs to immobilise and arrest criminals.

''So you're the kid in question?'' Jupiter said into his megaphone, looking unimpressed. ''I'm legally obligated to offer you the chance to surrender. Please refuse so we can proceed to put you down on the spot, it'd makes thing simpler for us.''

I looked around, and quite honestly, I wasn't fancying my chances. My best bet to escape would be to take Jupiter hostage and use that as leverage to get away, but between the Goldenram next to him and the sheer firepower they brought along… Yeah, I was dead if I fought back. And Neo wasn't getting there in time.

What sucked was that even if I got away, I'd still lose everything I worked for, as being a criminal on the run would mean not being able to continue working on my Yu-Gi-Oh business and my research on dustless energy.

''… Fine, I surrender.'' I declared.

Jupiter and some of the policemen blinked.

''Uh… That usually doesn't work'' One of the policemen commented.

Jupiter raised an eyebrew, before speaking up again. ''Then disarm yourself and put your hands on your head.''

Disarm myself? ''Like, all of my weapons?'' I asked for clarification. ''Are you sure?''

''Of course I'm sure! What question is that supposed to be?''

I shrugged in response to his answer. That was his time to waste.

I let my cane fall on the ground. Then I reached into my blazer and took out my throwing knives. Then I took another knife out of my left sleeve. Then the right one. Then I took one hidden under my blazer, at the back of my waist. Then I took off my top hat and shook it, letting two knives fall on the ground. Then I took one out of my pants' pocket. Then another one out of my other pocket. Then I took off my right shoe and the small boot knife hidden in it. Then I did the same with my left shoe.

''For gods' fucking sake, are you done!?'' Jupiter yelled, his patience, and that of several of the present officers, slowly being stretched.

''I still have a few left.'' I replied.

''How do you have so many knives!?''

''I'm a compact packer.''

''… Just keep your hands on your head. Officer Goldenram, handcuff him.''

The policewoman approached me and as she yanked my arms to my back and puts the handcuffs on me, I just couldn't help myself.

''Kinky.'' I quipped, which earned me a slap behind the head.

''Ugh, you're just like your pest of a father.''

Oh? So she took part in operations against my father? Interesting.

Also, worth it.

/-/

Once the police was gone, a young Faunus pushed the exit of a hidden tunnel and peeked out of the hole on the side of the building, before crawling out of it once he was certain nobody was still around.

Then he ran.

/-/

In Atlas, Jacques looked over the piece of paper in front of him.

When this kid came up to him that day, with his out-of-the-box idea, Jacques knew Gemini Torchwick would make himself heard of again in the future. Sure, the idea itself didn't pan out, and even if it did and the SDC had funded the construction of a CCT for Menagerie, it was arguable whether it would have actually helped his company, but he still showed that he was capable of exploring original ideas and was bold enough to try implementing them. He even had the guts to come and present the idea, to him.

Sure, the child lacked experience, but the potential he showed made Jacques think he'd make an useful asset in his company once he'll have grown up. So he kept an eye on the kid.

Then, Gemini surpassed his expectations and, at the age of only 14, succeeded where the rest of the world failed. He managed to create a dustless method of producing energy. He wasn't just a child with potential anymore, but an once-in-a-generation genius.

And this contract Jacques held in his hands was going to bind that genius to the Schnee. He couldn't let anyone else have Gemini. Not when the boy was worth multiple times his weight in gold.

Sure, the creation of dustless energy would devalue dust, but the ressource was running out anyway, and the SDC wouldn't suffer a loss if they were the one to get the technology. Dust would still retain value for munition, too, and the supply would last for longer if it wasn't used to power homes and vehicles anymore.

Jacques' scroll rang and when he answered the call, his eyes widened at the news he received from one of his informants.

So the valean elites were making their move. That just wouldn't do.

/-/

WICKED CHIBIS (Not canon)

''Finally!'' Exclaimed Chibi Gemini, rubbing his hands as he arrived at the end of the cave-like environment within the Vault hidden under Shade Academy. ''The sword of destruction is mine! Eh eh, Cinder won't be getting up after I'll be done with her.''

He grabbed the sword by the hilt, and the spirit within the relic appeared in a shower of holy light.

And as his eyes laid upon the glory of the being… Chibi Gemini lost his smile and turned around, leaving the sword behind.

/-/

Chibi Ruby was outside, shooting at an offscreen Chibi Cinder before taking cover to avoid being hit by a fireball.

Chibi Gemini walked out of the vault with- wait, no. ''Where's the sword!?'' Chibi Ruby asked him.

Chibi Gemini made the face. ''Yeah, no. Forget the sword, Cinder can have it.''

''What!? Have you gone nuts? She's going to kill us all if she gets it.'' Chibi Ruby said, exchanging another bullet/fireball with Chibi Cinder.

''Nah, it's fine. We can just go home.'' Chibi Gemini said.

''Nu-uh, no way.'' Chibi Ruby said, refusing his idea. ''If you're going to be like that-'' Chibi Ruby ducked to avoid a fireball. ''-then you fight Cinder while I'm going to get the sword.''

''You're going to regret it!'' Chibi Gemini yelled behind her, as she speeded through the cave inside the vault, leaving rose petals behind her.

Then Chibi Gemini turned back toward Chibi Cinder, who had come closer and was now standing right next to him.

''Oh, hi Cinder… Any chances you're willing to let me go?'' Chibi Gemini asked her, a worried look on his face.''

Flames came out of Chibi Cinder's eyes, and she opened her hand, holding a fireball in it. ''No.'' She said.

''Yeah, I expected as much.'' Chibi Gemini sighed.

/-/

After half an hour, Chibi Ruby came back out of the vault to the sight of Chibi Cinder chasing Chibi Gemini around.

''Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot!'' Chibi Gemini exclaimed everytime Chibi Cinder threw a fireball at him, which landed on his butt everytime.

''Gem, stop playing. We're going home.'' Chibi Ruby called out to him.

Chibi Cinder stopped and looked at Chibi Ruby. ''Wait, where's the relic? I thought that's what you went there for.''

Chibi Ruby made the face. ''Please don't remind me, it's so not worth it. You can have it.''

''What? Are you sure? You… you know I'm going to kill you and your boytoy once I walk out of that cave with the sword of destruction, right?'' Chibi Cinder asked with a skeptical look on her face.

''Sure, break a leg.'' Chibi Ruby said without a care.

Chibi Cinder, wary, entered the cave, leaving Chibi Ruby outside with Chibi Gemini.

''Shouldn't you be trying to put out the fire?'' Chibi Ruby asked Chibi Gemini.

''But if I put it out, I'd lose this hot piece of ass.'' Chibi Gemini said.

''...''

/-/

Chibi Cinder passed through the cave while looking around her with suspicion. There was no way these two would just let her take the relic of destruction, right? There had to be traps or tricks of some kind.

But nothing came, and the sword quickly came into view.

Chibi Cinder's hand slowly reached toward the sword, before grabbing the hilt. There was a bright light as she took the sword planted in the ground, and the spirit of the sword of destruction appeared.

Chibi Cinder looked at the… white… thing, standing in front of her. A small, ridiculous looking creature with round eyes, a pointy nose pointing upward, a thin top hat and a cane.

''What is this thing supposed to be?'' She wondered aloud. Obviously, this was the spirit of destruction inside the relic, but compared to the other spirit, it… it was just so… lame looking.

''FOOL!'' The creature yelled, pointing at her face with its cane. ''I'm am the glorious spirit created by the god of light to destroy my wielder's ennemies, the holy sword: Excalibur.''

… Well, no matter how it looked, it was still what she came for. And now its power was hers.

''My legend dates back to the 12th century you see. My legend is quite old. The 12th century was quite a long time ago.'' Chibi Excalibur said.

Chibi Cinder was confused. ''But we're only in the 10th century.'' According to the Mistralian calendar, anyway. Which was the oldest calendar.

''FOOL!'' Chibi Excalibur whipped his cane in her face again. She had to duck to avoid getting hit by it because the spirit was too close to her when he did that. He didn't seems to have noticed.

''Anyway, where was I?'' Chibi Excalibur continued. ''Ah, yes. It began on a midsummers day with the sun blazing overhead. No, wait, it was a blustery Autumn day. I was the unsavory fellow back when it all started. Which was in the winter as I recall. I remember the tough crowd, all the hot babes fought over me that summer. Yes. Yes that's right, it was summer. A scorching midsummer day. I-''

''Just pick a season already!'' Chibi Cinder screamed, before having Chibi Excalibur's cane pointing at her face again.

''FOOL! Do not be so rude as to interrupt the re-telling of my legend.'' Chibi Excalibur said. ''Which happened on a Monday. Or was it a Tuesday? I seem to remember it was a Wednesday. It couldn't have been a Tursday, but maybe it was Friday? Yes, it very well could have been on a Tursday. Then again, Saturday is a lovely day for a legend to start, isn't it?''

''I just want to know if I can use your power.'' Chibi Cinder said.

''… Ah! I know!'' Chibi Excalibur exclaimed. ''You must be here to become my Meister. To guess this on my own, truly, I am a genius.''

Chibi Cinder rubbed her eyes, feeling the rising headache. ''Don't you mean 'master'?''

''FOOL!'' The cane did it her this time, knocking her to the ground. ''Dont be a fool… Fool.''

''As I've already told you,'' Chibi Excalibur said, before proceeding to tell her something he absolutely hadn't said before. ''Before becoming my Meister, there is a list of 1 000 provision you must pursue. Be sure to look through all of them, they're important. I greatly look forward to your participation in number 452: The five hour story telling party." Chibi Excalibur said, as a big stack of paper appeared in Chibi Cinder's hands.

''No. 022: On a refreshing morning, start out with a refreshing greeting. No. 172: Seek harmony. Seek it, thus. First! A haircut! No. 202. Only the grandest of toilets is acceptable.'' Chibi Excalibur continued.

''Yeah, yeah, sure. We can go all that later. Can we go crush my ennemies first?'' Chibi Cinder asked.

''FOOL! You must learn to appreciate each things coming at the appropriate time.'' Chibi Excalibur said. ''First, allow me to grace you a song by me, perfomed by my illustrious self.''

''Is that really necessary?'' Chibi Cinder asked.

"FOOL! As someone who is unaware of the vital role that singing has played in the cultural history of mankind you are in no position to question me. Remember that the next time you stop to consider your place in this world. You do not possess the power to deny a singer his song. Do you understand what I'm telling you?" Chibi Excalibur said.

''Alright, alright. Sing your song.'' Chibi Cinder conceded. After all, this was just a song, so it shouldn't take too long. Right?

''Wonderful. Here we go!'' Chibi Excalibur said the last part in actual english, which Chibi Cinder didn't understand, before starting to dance. ''Excalibur! Excalibur! From the United K.! I'm searching for him! I'm going to California!''

''What's a California?'' Chibi Cinder asked.

''FOOL! Never interrupt a song.'' Chibi Excalibur said before resuming his song and dance.

/-/

Three hours later.

''… From the United K.! I'm searching for him! I'm going to California! Excalibur! Excalibur!…''

Chibi Cinder fell on her side, her mental exhaustion obvious by the empty look in her eyes.

/-/

Even Later.

''… I'm going to California!'' Chibi Excalibur stopped. ''The song is finished.''

Chibi Cinder, who's eyes had become empty round circle and whose ghost had started to leak out of her mouth and rise in the hair, returned to consciousness. ''Finally! Does that mean I can use you now?'' Really, the things she did for power.

''Yes, for now.'' Chibi Excalibur said.

''Good.'' This better be worth it- ''Wait. What do you mean, for now?''

''This is a daily performance.'' Chibi Excalibur said.

''…'' Chibi Cinder was despairing too much to be able to say anything, tears forming in her eyes.

She planted the sword back into the ground of the cave and turned around.

/-/

''So… How did it go?'' Chibi Gemini asked Chibi Cinder when he saw her coming out of the vault.

Chibi Cinder made the face. ''No amount of power is worth this madness.''

''Why do you think we left it there?'' Chibi Ruby said.

''Are… Are you going to kill us now?'' Chibi Gemini.

Chibi Cinder sighed. ''Not today. Right now, I need to go home and reconsider the life choices that led me to meet this thing.''

---

Ilia: ''… I really hope it won't be the actual sword of destruction in the show.''

I really wish it was. Damn you, internationnal copyright laws that makes this impossible.

Ilia: ''Are you crazy? This thing is so stupid.''

Excalibur, popping out of nowhere: ''Wanna fight?''

Ilia: ''GAH!''

Anyway, I hope I didn't make the oligarchs seems cartoonishly evil. Because if that's how they came across, then I haven't made them evil enough, since they're supposed to be almost as evil as real life oligarchs. (Oh, what am I talking about, the real life deal are so much more depraved than the guys in my fic. On a completely unrelated note, I have no desire to commit suicide. If you ever hear that I suicided by two bullets to the back of the head, it was murder.)

Keeping true to RWBY's habit of having characters loosely inspired by fairy tales or mythical characters, each of the 12 oligarchs in this chapter are relatively loosely based on usurper or would be usurper.

John Blackland - Based on Prince John of England, the little brother of Richard Coeur-de-Lion and appearing in Robin Hood's stories. Prince John was nicknamed 'John Lackland' in his youth because he wasn't expected to inherit lots of land.

Morgue Orkney - Loose syncretisation of Morgause of Orkney, Mordred's mother, and Morgan le Fay. Both of these characters plotted to take the throne from King Arthur.

Vanessa d'Outremer - Based on Ursula from the little mermaid, hence the semblance that gives her a mute button for other people.

Claude Askari - Claudius from Hamlet, with the last name from Scar from Lion King, who was partially inspired by Hamlet to begin with.

Gruoch Donwald - Lady Macbeth, the first and last name comes from the two real life people Shakespear based the character on.

Pelias Goldenram - King Pelias from greek mythology. Better known for sending Jason on a quest to bring back the golden fleece, he also took the throne by killing his father, the previous king. Yes, I've been lazy with the first name, you guys try to mass produce Ocs while limiting yourself to a single theme.

Jupiter Lawson - Based on Zeus, the horniest of bastards. Took the roman name for the character, because why not? Zeus was the god of the law, amongst other things, hence the last name and the character's involment in the police.

Dacre Pulvis - Jafar, fom Aladdin. I was running out of culturally western characters to base the Ocs on, so I looked elsewhere. Also, Jafar's always been a cool villain. Jafar means 'stream' in Arabic, Dacre is a name of Brythonic origin meaning 'trickling stream',close enough. Pulvis is just 'dust' in latin, because dust is the closest thing people on Remnant that aren't Ozpin, Salem or a Maiden can get to magic.

Hansa Sitron - Based on Hans from Frozen. Yes, I know. He doesn't exist in the original fairy tale the disney movie was based on, almost nothing in that movie was anywhere close to the original fairy tale. He's a character of a younger generation than most of the others in the group, so his name is a color. Hansa is a shade of yellow, hence the yellow strand in his hair. I'd have made him a full blond, but I already had Xanthic for that, and this is RWBY so I don't need a reason to make a character with crazy hair colour. Sitron was the name of Hans' horse in Frozen.

And this is where I ran out of character of old stories, or even just a disney movie, and took usurpers from purely fictional modern stories instead of old myths. Hey, if RT could make a character based on a purely fictional novel of only a few centuries ago (Sun Wukong), not even a myth or legend, then I can do the same with modern stories, right? What's a few centuries, anyway?

Yveta Nightguard - Yzma, from The Emperor's New Groove. That's why the character is so ridiculously old. As in, 'was already in her 40s when the great war happened' old. That's it, that's the joke.

Dagrun Redroot - Danzo Shimura, from Naruto. Danzo kinda went behind the village back to play pretend Hokage, so I count him as an usurper. Dagrun comes from old norse. Dagr, which mean 'day', and grun, which means 'secret lore'. First part doesn't really fit, but the second is so perfect that I don't care. Redroot, because ROOT and the red part because it fits in-universe as the last name of a noble family who's land would either be in the Forever Fall forest or at least border it.

Xanthic Aurora - Zant, from Twilight Princess. His title is literally 'Usurper Zant' in the game, I don't think I need to explain that one. Xanthic is a shade of yellow, and the name makes a lot more sense if you look at Zant's French name, which is Xanto. Aurora is 'dawn' in latin, would have went with twilight in latin, but one, it was too long and didn't sound nice, and two, using shadow is a Vacuan naming convention. This is a Valean noble. Nightguard can be interpreted as standing guard during the night or something, so that's fine, but apart from that.

Not all of them will be relevent after Gemini's arrest arc, but if I only came up with names for like, three of them, you'd instantly know which ones would show up later in the story.

Anyway, I'm beat. This is midnight and I need to take a shower and got to sleep.

This chapter was named Monopoly because the oligarchs wanting to break the SDC's monopoly was the main plot driving factor.

For next chapter, the title I've been thinking was 'Sanity Roll'. Until next time, you don't have to review if you don't want to.

Excalibur: ''FOOL! True gentlemen always leaves a review.''

Yeah, whatever you say.

Excalibur: ''Now come, it is tea time.''

At this hour? No, it's sleep time.

Excalibur: ''Ah! I know! I must put on my pyjama. Be a good squire and prepare my favorite tea while I change.''