Of all the things I own, RWBY and overlord are not among them.

Slightly delayed chapter, Life finds a way to get in my way.

Anyway, white1498, thanks for the review. I hope this chapter is better in readability. I will update the last chapter as soon as I can. Everyone please if you see a way for me to improve my readability let me know, so I can learn and become a better writer.

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Ruby couldn't believe how massive the Private quarters actually were. After they had passed through a long hallway, they got to an area that Ruby guessed would work as a living room. Though the gray stone was bare and like mutch of the tower full of holes. Ruby looked along the walls and saw many doors, she gave Lance a sideways glance.

"You aren't planning on filling all these rooms with women, are you? I told you I'm okay with sharing, but that might be stretching it?"

Lance shook his head. "Don't worry, most of these will be used for different purposes. However, that is an interesting idea, would you like a room of your own?"

Ruby thought, true she wanted to be close to him, but she saw a few caveats.

"My lord I want to be close to you but if you bring in more than me, I think having personal rooms is a better idea, you know to store our belongings or to work on our duties." She blushed as she continued. " Our time of the month is also something, I don't think It will be a good idea to be in the middle of all that while sharing a bed with 5 people."

Lance scratched the back of his neck, remembering a night he had walked around the tower only to find his mother storming out of the private quarters, looking miserable. The moaning of the other mistresses coming out of the doorway.

"I..I see that that might be an issue." The Overlord admitted.

Ruby's blush deepened, "Th.. Then there is the point of .. Pregnancy I think a calm place to retreat too as well as a room of our own when the baby is born would be nice."

"Wish my parents had this idea Fay was insufferable when she was expecting Titania. Magic and mood swings are a dangerous mix. Those poor cleaning minions didn't deserve that. Very well, you and any other mistresses shall have a room of your own."

"Thank you, Darling" why was it getting harder to call him that? "Any rooms that are already being used?"

Lance pointed at three of them, "That one is a bathroom not much right now, just a hole with cold water but better than smelling like guts all day."

Ruby's face twisted into a look of disgust,"I'm going to make it worse. The creatures of grim might disintegrate when you kill them, but their blood still somehow manages to stain and reek like a septic tank. Considering that we are evil, and they are attracted to negative emotions, we probably are going to be coming across plenty of them."

Lance did not know what a septic tank was, but the face Ruby made reminded him of the time his siblings and him had angered their parents and been sentenced to killing rebels in the sewers.

"Noted, the spa will be given special attention. Then there is the library, plenty of books, but you might want to watch yourself Gnarl likes collecting extra evil stuff. Mum once had a paper cut while she tried to teach herself to read, we spent a month hunting down that demon"

Ruby deadpanned, "Okay, so when Blake gets here, we should probably make sure that she doesn't read the wrong kind of smut."

"Smut?" Lance asked, "I am unfamiliar with the term."

Ruby blushed, "So the other room?" she asked, hoping not to have to explain her teammate's taste in 'cultured' literature.

"Oh, that's the treasure room."

Now, Ruby was a girl of the woods. Their homestead grew their own food, she made her own dresses and weapons. But however modest you might be, the chance to look through a real treasure room will make you excited. Something, Lance noticed and motioned her to go ahead. Ruby stopped just in front of the door.

"Uhm, are there any cursed items in here?"

"Not in this vault."

"Okay good."

The Vault was like a fairy tale mounds of golden coins reached the ceiling, she looked at the designs.

"You really are from another world. How many kingdoms does your world have?"

"One."

"But there are so many images on them. Kings, queens, Heroes, there is no way that it's just one kingdom."

Lance sighed, "It's my father. Back in the day, my world indeed had many kingdoms, races and cultures."

"What happened?"

"The spell I used on you is called the Evil presence spell, A powerfull mind-control spell, I refined it further than father did. so that my targets would retain some autonomy."

Ruby gulped, "What happened when your father used it?"

"It left nothing but broken husks, slaves to my father's will. Their children were raised to worship my family as gods"

"Is that why I only feel attraction and no outright love for you, my lord? Because you want an actual relationship instead of a plaything that just says I love you when you pull the string?"

Lance nodded. Ruby walked to a pile of jewelry and picked up a ring that reminded her of the one she had seen in the labyrinth, together with a silver necklace encrusted with the stones she was named after. She hung the ring on a Golden chain and put it around her neck before she handed the necklace to Lance.

"I don't have experience with love, I don't know how to feel about us right now. So, how about we take a step back, Girlfriend and boyfriend. If I get to make you say I love you. You will put that necklace around my neck and, if you get me to say it." she dangled the ring between them, "Then I am truly yours in the way you want."

The young overlord turned around "As you wish pick any of the other rooms and ask a minion to bring you a bedroll, sorry we currently are short on furniture"

Lance walked up the smaller staircase to what Ruby guessed to be the master bedroom. She opened the door to the right of the staircase. The room was more than spacious enough, even if there were some rubble piles and holes she could see potential. The window had a great view of the ocean she had heard when she woke up after the fall into the abyss. Ruby called a minion asking for a bedroll which she placed next to a pillar far away from the holes she set Crescent rose against the wall. Digging in her pockets, she fished out a picture of her team before it had all gone crazy.

"I will find you girls, I will get us home…maybe not the one we left, but we will be home soon."

Ruby was surprised there was a sun in this place. And annoyed as it woke her up, not that her dreams were much to write home about. Nightmares had been a regularity after the fall, but sleep had been a rarity during the Atlas disaster. Stretching her body, she picked up her weapon and headed for the throne Ro…..the cavern with the larger than average chair. Hoping that the tower had some breakfast. That was until she got her plate of-.

"-Maggots?!"Ruby shrieked

"Giant beetle larvae actually." lance said, not looking all that bothered with the meal but not exactly looking happy with it either.

"Okay, how? You are a price from a world that worships you as a god, how are you okay with eating this"

At that moment, quaver walked past, his jester hat now resting on a chef's hat and an apron that read. "Kick the chef." Ruby very much considered following the text but decided not to bother as she assumed the sick little clown would get off on that. Sighing in defeat, she turned to the bowl.

"Can I have some salt? And how about we go explore the lands around the tower a bit, we might just find my friends. Or at least something remotely edible."

Lance looked down at the squirming creatures on his plate, "I can agree to those terms, might find some trace of the missing hives as well."

Ruby tilted her head slightly, "Hives not for more types of bugs I hope because that was not what I meant with finding edible stuff."

Lance chuckled, "Don't worry, I meant the missing minion hives."

He stood up and gestured for her to follow him, they walked through the underground parts of the tower, eventually following down a grand staircase to some larger cavern.

"Welcome to the minion burrows, here the minions live when not on duty,"

he said, gesturing around at the first part of the shantytown.

Ruby could see places that could be used as a market or to keep animals. Further on, she saw a group of buildings that reminded her of a military camp. Some minions were busy gathering the few bits of building supply they could find others were chasing rats about the place, some were either fighting or training, Ruby couldn't really tell which of the two it was.

"This area is for the browns. Browns are melee fighters, my front-line warriors, and my laborers. I could also say that they are the most loyal as a tribe."

Ruby looked at him curiously, "why is that?"

Lance rubbed the back of his head, "There is something like an annoying tradition of new overlords A the tower is wreaked B all minions somehow get themselves and their hives lost, and we have to find them"

Ruby nodded, "Sounds like a video game you have to gather your power else you would be way too OP."

It was Lance's turn to look at her puzzled, "Video game? OP?"

Ruby slapped her forehead, "Of course, you are from a different world, it makes sense you don't know some things."

Lance nodded, "We must do something about that, else I will stand out like a sore thumb when we get to the remnant."

They walked further towards a part of the cavern where streams of lava pooled in a lake, a brown minion stood next to it, looking rather gloomy.

"No Redsies whyyyyyyy?!" He wailed.

"Let me guess, Reds do something with fire, and he likes fire?"

Lance nodded, "That would be Giblet, our blacksmith. One of the few minions I deem irreplaceable, he has forged for my father and grandfather, but without the reds, he can't ignite the forge, and he gets depressed."

"As a fellow craftswoman, I understand."

"You forge?"

Ruby held up Crescent Rose. "This is my baby, I made her myself, and I am also pretty good with a sewing kit." She looked at her attire. "Okay, I should definitely get some fabrics and furs, this outfit is falling apart."

Lance looked at the scythe, "You made this color me impressed, I wonder what you could do with magic to enhance your work."

Ruby's silver eyes shone in the light of the lava, "Oh yea, I'm in for that." She looked at the sword at the overlord's hip and held up her hand, he handed her the blade, which she inspected.

"I don't think I have ever seen this type of metal before."

"Dark mithril, it's one of if not the hardest metal in my world"

"Hmm mm" she looked at him, "Is your armor made of the same stuff."

"Yes, it is all the more surprising that your projectile managed to crack it."

"Giblet, come over here, please."

The minion perked up and ran over, bowing low to the tow.

"How can Giblet serve?"

What came next was hard for Lance to follow as the two started to have an in-depth discussion about how the tower's forge worked until Ruby gave a solid nob.

"Alright here is the thing, this stuff is great, up there with military heavy equipment but, your world's way of forging is outdated in this world. if we manage to rewire the forge into something more modern while, using your guy's magical enhancements."

"Makes weapons more smity more killy more shiny" Giblet said while dancing about.

"Well yes," Ruby said, "the problem is that we will need some equipment that I doubt we will find outside a factory."

Lance took back his blade, excited about the prospect of having a weapon that powerful.

They continued their tour, Ruby was not as excited about the swampy marshlands the greens called home tough, she admitted that she quite liked the enormous mushrooms. The watery caverns of the blues with their glowing crystals were gorgeous, she said, even though lance heard her mumbling about clichés when he told her that blues were the only minions capable of swimming. Though she admitted she liked the fact that they were magic.

Ruby noticed Lance growing quieter as they crossed a bridge over a chasm in the cavern.

"Lance, are you alright?"

"I am fine, we are nearing the minion graveyard."

Ruby got it. She remembered her mother's gravesite at the cliff on Patch, she would always go there quietly if she wasn't talking to her mother. There was a pressure in the air. She always felt it around graves memorials or holly places. Whether it was her own imagination the collected minds of people in reverence or actual entities she couldn't say, but it always felt soothing in a strange way.

The graveyard was not littered with crosses and headstones, she saw piles of shields and blades sticking out of the soil. Open pits of angry red fire cast a hellish light over the ground. From pale glowing trenches rose a green miasma, threatening to choke everyone who came close with unseen fingers. Deep pools of dark water that made ruby think of old tales of the sea and the unknown creatures that lurked within its depths. A green light shone over the fields as ruby looked up and saw an elevated altar with a teal storm at its summit churning by an unfelt wind faces flashing like lightning in a storm.

"What are those," She asked only to notice Lance being tense and drawing his weapon

"Souls, but there shouldn't be this many, nor should they churn like that."

Ruby drew her own weapon, and they raced towards the altar where an elder blue minion had his hands razed, a blue glow coming from them.

"Master mistress, I do not know what, but something stirred the spirits I cannot hold it argh"

The reaper-like minion was tossed down the altar only for Ruby to petal rush towards him and taking him to safety. There was no time for exchanging names or thanks as a deep rumbling laugh echoed throughout the cavern.

"I see. clever, you managed to find a way that Salem did not see."

A purple dragon's head poked out from the soul storm and the Overlord and mistress recognized the dark brother.

"Gods and their riddles." The reaper mumbled, "Speak clearly and let me tend to the dead!"

Not paying the minion any mind, the dark god spoke to the overlord and mistress.

"I am pleased with you, true not much has happened yet but the board is getting set up quite nicely, I wonder what is your next piece?"

The overlord looked up to the dragon "That depends on the winds of fate. now you speak of me finding a way Salem did not foresee?"

"Yes young one. see Salem wished Ozma back which would upset the balance my brother and I agreed on, but you or more likely your reaper there, he knows how to bend these rules."

The minion climbed up "Death for life. Life for death. A price is always paid."

"Indeed now then I have a gift, I shall imbue you the power of doing this with humans and Faunus as well. However, you shall have to kill the souls you sacrifice yourselves. You shall bury your own."

He looked at the former heroine, "What do you say Ruby Rose can you stomach that? To kill others for your own selfish gains? To do what you dammed others for? I wonder."

The air shimmered as a young woman appeared on the altar, screaming in panic. The dark god reached out his claw, and Ruby saw a pale blue silhouette.

"Penny?" Ruby whispered as she walked towards the screaming stranger, there was little to no resistance in her mind, showing that the tower hearth had indeed changed her.

This person was nothing but a resource to use for her master's and her own benefit, a piece of life force hers to reap like a ripe strawberry cattle to raise work break and butcher. Penny was known penny was precious penny was useful she was her friend her….hers.

The woman's screams changed to pleading recognizing a huntress, asking for help only to be thrown to the ground as the red clad girl pounced on her. Her aura less head hit the stone floor with a thud, the woman cried out in pain as she felt the blood gush out of the wound. She looked into the almost feral silver eyes of Ruby, who slowly closed her hands around the sobbing creature's throat. The former huntress was too strong for the woman to escape, the scared woman punched and clawed at Ruby, only to break her fingers on the mistress's aura.

Ruby could feel the woman's heart beat against her palms. First a rapid beating as she could see a primal fire in her prays eyes a natural desire to hang on to life...Then it became slower as the punches lost their strength and the eyes filled with tears as the face turned red...the face turned pale...the beating became fainter...a last gurgled attempt too breath... Then the woman shook beneath her and then became quite still, her now unseeing eyes wide as ruby stood up looking at her own bloodied hands.

Lance walked up to her, "Ruby?"

Ruby was shaking, at first, lance thought she was crying until he saw her throw her head back and let out a loud psychotic laugh. That melted together with that of the dark god and later that of the overlord, who took her into his arms. Every minion that heard it cheered as they knew their mistress was there's and would never turn back towards the light. Far away two ancient beings looked towards the darkening horizon, there was a change on the winds, and neither of them liked the prospect of a wild card at this phase of the game.

Calming down, Ruby shook herself loose of the overlord's embrace

"Okay I didn't expect that to be such a rush." She looked at the dark god and her smirk disappeared immediately as she saw Penny's spirit flickering and spasming. The reaper minion was shaking his scythe confused when she disappeared. Looking between the two Ruby asks.

"I take that that was not what was supposed to happen?"

"It wasn't" the god grumbled. Clearly annoyed with the complication.

Lance looked at the reaper, "Mortis, what was that all about"

The reaper shook his head, "The soul was strange, like some part was missing, and it only came and never went."

Lance looked at him strangely. "Came but never went? Missing?"

Ruby perked up "Penny was never really born, she was created including her soul as for the missing she was a maiden, maybe when she passed it to winter a part of her soul went with it?"

Mortis piped up "Aye that will do it. she is brought back but as more of a ghost than a fleshy human."

Lance stroke his chin, "Aren't ghosts attracted by magic."

"Yes master, but the entire tower uses magic."

Ruby hummed, "Is there any part more magical than others?"

All tree of them jumped, "The tower hearth! If she is anywhere, it's there."

" We got to hurry, the tower hearth is probably the most guarded place in the tower and the most volatile if this goes wrong. well, I would rather not die the first day of my quest."

They hurried down to the pool of the tower hearth, the orb was flickering blue and green streaks of electricity sparking off it as a transparent figure seemed to try to keep her head above water.

"Penny I'm here!"

"Ruby what's happening? There is something in my head I can't, I don't."

Flinching as a streak of lightning missed her by an inch, Ruby made her way down into the pool which felt deeper than last time she was in it. Wading towards her friend, she tried to calm the struggling spirit down.

"Penny it's okay we are safe, it's going to be alright."

"It's stronger than the virus in atlas I…I can't fight this."

"You don't have to" Ruby had finally reached her grabbing the hands of the spirit as green eyes met silver, "Just let go okay trust me it will be fine my friend."

Hoping that the spirit's favorite word would help and indeed it seems to do the trick as Penny slowly nodded as she gently sunk into the pool but looked up startled a split second and raised her hand. Ruby was thrown out of the water with a shriek as she landed on a curious quaver who had come to look what all the ruckus was about, and so had gnarl.

"What in the.. What's happening!?"

"We are not sure, Gnarl."

The hearth shone a bright green as the waters churned wildly before all became quiet.

Ruby bolted up and called out.

"PENNY!"

"You called my mistress?"

From the waters rose a figure dressed in a green toga, golden bracelets adorning her wrists, and ankles a silver circlet on her brow. Her pale skin encircled by a fiery halo of red hair as tow green eyes glowed with magical energy.

"Penny? What? How? Are you okay?"

The girl smiled.

"I am well" she turned toward Lance and bowed deep, "I believe you would like me to clear this all up right, my master?"

Lance nodded, not fully trusting the situation, "What happened to the tower hearth"

Penny smiled. "By lack of a better explanation I am the tower hearth, my spirit has been fused to it and I now can sort of control the tower." As to demonstrate she rose her hand and the pool spat out a bridge and a stone platform around the tower hearth, "I am of course loyal l to you and the mistress sire."

Lance raised his hand, "I can sense the truth through my own connection to the tower hearth. Gnarl, I want you to instruct Penny on the situation where needed and to find out what has changed because of it. Ruby are we still on for the hunting trip? I need to smite something."

Ruby nodded "I'm up for it but uh where is the front door? We kind of left that out at the tour this morning."

Penny smiled "Sensational first job, let's see, she waved her hand as a vapor like portal opened up "I will look about how to construct an actual portal later my lord, but I think this shall do for now."

Lance grunted in approval, "Well, you seem capable, see what you can do about improving the tower. And what you need to do it."

Penny bowed and walked over to Gnarl who seemed rather weirded out at the moment.

"Well one thing is for sure I shall not grow bored with master around."