Phew, finally done! Took me a bit, but I'm quite pleased with how this one turned out. I'm going to try to move towards more intricate quests, instead of one-chapter quests where afterward the group goes back to the tower, and move towards getting the gang to Remnant. To all of you, thanks so much for sticking with me and this story during my absence. I got pills and am hard at work juggling this and my two other fics (shameless promotion of those after this chapter is done), my day job, and my attempt to finally get my black belt in judo after almost 20 years. Thank you all so much for reading this. Enjoy and I would love a review.

Yours in fantasy,

Firebird's Child.

Lance placed the covered object down in the common room where the mistresses were keeping themselves busy. Brigitte, committed to her new position under Ruby, was following the freshly minted Empress around in full armor. Weiss, it seemed, also took her partner's new position to heart. At least, Lance assumed this was the case as he noticed Ruby pouting at the pile of books Weiss had pushed her way.

"Aw, man, do I really need to learn all of this?" Ruby groaned.

Weiss put on an overly polite tone, clearly meant to tease her friend. "Your Darkness must be knowledgeable in many evil subjects. How else will Your Grace do away with the filth in our Lord's way?"

Brigitte scrunched up her nose. "Please tell me your teachers never talked to you like that."

"It's not far off, sadly," the heiress said. "But I am serious, Ruby. As Master's mistresses, we should try to learn about where he came from."

Yang snickered from a couch where Amélie was giving her a massage. "From what Lance told me, there is precious little left to learn about. Everyone is either spell-enslaved or dead, and everything is either conquered, destroyed, or some happy mixture of the two."

"You are quite right, Mistress Yang," Gnarl walked into the room, bowing low to the Overlord and his consorts. "Indeed, Master's Father left the old world in ruins, and it will take generations to heal, if it ever does." Gnarl smirked as he saw his master's red eyes grow fierce; the lad still had his fire. "The difference is that his Lordship wished to burn the world that left him in the cold since childhood. Master Lance wishes to create a bulwark of darkness. And one can hardly have an empire without some culture to enjoy."

Blake, who was having what could nearly pass for tea with Penny in a corner, looked up. "Well, don't you minions have a culture? Has anyone ever tried to use that as a societal basis?"

All the minions in the room looked at the Faunus and shook their heads. "One of the early Overlords tried that, my lady. Those were indeed dark times. As fun as it was at the start, I fear humans were not made to coexist with Minions left to their own devices, especially when we get the chance to multiply." The minion master's gaze held Blake's for a moment. The Mistress suddenly recalled a conversation she had had with the minion before and regretted mentioning her choice in literature. "From what you've shared with me, the terms 'mind break' and 'free use' come to mind."

Weiss grabbed a thick tome and scanned through it for a few seconds before looking disgusted. "Wait, so you guys really can reproduce sexually with humans, and you have litters of how many?"

Ruby, looking over Weiss's shoulder, made a repulsed face, "Nopenopenope. Not doing that. Like, ever. Ugh, I need eye bleach."

Penny, who had been sitting with Blake, looked over and spoke to Lance through the mental link. "Master, should I shelve the breeding program?"

"Keep it. But don't tell the others about it yet."

"As my master commands."

Gnarl coughed, "The rule of an overlord is composed of two parts: domination and destruction. And as fun as it is to cast an entire culture into oblivion, some of their teachings are worth remembering." The minion master approached the pile of books and singled out a blue tome. "If I recall correctly, Mistress Ruby, this book details the ancient dwarves. By the time they went extinct, the dwarves were little more than drunken buffoons. However, during my time, they were highly sophisticated blacksmiths and builders."

Lance saw Ruby's silver eyes shine as they glanced at the pages of the dwarven tome. "Darkness, those weapons. If we had this one at Atlas..." Ruby traced something on the page with her fingers. She looked to the collapsed Crescent Rose on the table with a thousand-yard gaze. Ruby had said the weapon felt off somehow, as if the last vestiges of her heroic past were weighing down her strikes.

Lance coughed, getting the mistress's attention. She stood up and walked over to him.

"The weapons of the dwarven smiths were formidable in their heyday, yet there is another power you all could use some help with: magic." Lance pulled the cloth off the object, revealing an ornate standing mirror. Its golden rim was adorned with carvings of flowing elven script. What the mistresses couldn't grasp was the meaning behind the words. They were dark words of dreadful curses, binding dark spirits to the glass, forcing them to adhere to the will of the object's master. The four colored gems in the corners held the souls of what had been left of the sanctuaries. If Lance closed his eyes, he could hear them. Elven soldiers that fell as his father ripped the life energy from the sanctuary, refugees that fell prey to the empire's legions, dryads consumed in the fires, unwilling custodians doomed to guard their murderer's son.

Ruby looked at her master like a child that was promised the newest toy. Her voice was soft and full of longing. "How do we start, my lord?"

"This is a Mirror of the Lidless Eye. It can show me anyone I wish, with a few exceptions not withstanding."

Blake walked over, "Such as?" Blake asked, eyeing the silver surface watchfully. She still was not quite at ease around magical objects, especially after a stuffed dragon's head she had found in a storage room had let out a burst of fire when she had hung it in her room.

"I must know the person by name and face, which is a bit of a bother."

Yang sauntered over, smirking. "Doesn't have to be a big deal. With all the social media and self-absorbed dickheads back home, we could probably look up 99% of Remnant's people."

Lance beckoned the others over and looked into the mirror's silver surface. "Show me Titania." The silver rippled until the surface became a window into an unknown room A girl in her early teens with snowy white skin and blood-red hair sat bowed over a desk, labeling different types of jars with eyeballs suspended in a grimy liquid and tongues coiled up inside a murky brine. She wore a sleeveless black dress that ended just above her ankles, revealing she was barefoot. Ruby noted a single golden earring that was similar in design to the amulet Lance had bound around his gauntlet. And now she thought about it, the design was similar to the crown he had given her as well. What the group could see of the room looked like a goth's dream. Silver floors shone in the light of blue flames burning in braziers made of skulls. A queen-sized bed sat in the corner, its pillows decorated with four stuffed toys; two of which Ruby recognized as the brown and red minions. She guessed the other two were a green and blue one. The bed was surrounded by piles of books.

The girl's head shot up. Her pointy ears twitched as she looked at them and met her brother's eyes. The girl's gaze then went to the mistresses, her eyes lighting up with excitement. She jumped from her chair, clapping her hands and bouncing on her toes, "Please tell me these are my sisters-in-law?"

Penny beamed. "I'm Penny. Please call me sister all you want," the former android said, recalling an old dream of having a sibling.

Yang flicked her tail and gave a wave. "Yo, name's Yang. Price for calling me 'sis' is an embarrassing story about big, evil, and sexy over there," she said, nodding to Lance.

The girl giggled. "Nice to meet all of you. My name is Titania. So, Yang, whose soul did Lance sell to court you?"

Yang's cheeks grew a darker shade of pink. "Actually, I was born human. My mother is one of the few with magic back home. And, well, master has a way of bringing out a girl's dark side, you know."

Ruby spoke up confused, "Uhm, Sis, I don't think she can hear us." Penny looked confused, "What do you mean? She just talked to us." Titania shook her head, smiling, as she could gusse the cloaked mistress dilemma by the look on her face"You forgot, didn't you, brother?" Lance scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, my bad. Ruby, only magic wielders can talk through the mirror." Ruby's face fell, "Awww, man. First time seeing my sister-in-law and I can't even say hello."Titania looked between the women. Before frowning and walking out of the mirror's point of view, she returned with a thick book. Slung on her back was an iron staff with the head of a brown minion. She mumbled a few words, then stepped towards the mirror, passing straight through. She placed the book on a table and embraced her brother.

"I have missed you," she said. Lance noticed hints of sad longing on his mistresses' faces, a look he realized he also wore in his most private of moments. He had never recognized it until his sister had hugged him. He hadn't imagined he would ever feel homesick.

"How is mother?" Titania frowned. "Lady Kelda has been irritable lately. I think what happened to Nero was the final spark that made her seek an end to Juno."

Ruby took off her crown, looking from it to the mirror and then to her master's gauntlet where the familiar pendant dangled. He subconsciously fingered it. She now recognised his movement. How many times had she looked at her mother's emblem when the sting of loss had crept up? Nero was dead Lance showed no emotions outside of the fingering of the pendant. "And father?"

Titania bit her lower lip. "He has been dismissive," she said, worry creeping into her voice. "I believe he shares the sentiment, yet I think he does not plan to intervene. Mother has been difficult. She enjoys the drama, I think. Or the suffering." The half-elf glanced back to the mirror, as if wanting to ensure nothing had followed her. "There are other worries, brother, talks of shapes on the borders of the netherworld. I think Juno is up to something big."

She took a deep breath, attempting to push away the weight of the news, and that's when she noticed the others. "I'm sorry, where are my manners?"

Ruby stepped forward, placing a comforting hand on Titania's shoulder. "It's okay. I'm Ruby Rose, Master's first mistress," she introduced herself.

"I figured, seeing you are wearing that crown," Titania remarked, followed soon by the introductions of the others. As they chatted, Titania's mood seemed to lighten a bit, especially when she heard of her brother's successful use of the 'Evil presence spell'. However, her gaze drifted to the corner, catching Amélie standing silently and still. After a nod from her brother, Titania's expression turned solemn. She snapped her fingers, and Amélie immediately approached, bowing low.

"Greetings, my lady. How can I serve you?" The words had barely left the maid's lips before Titania's staff struck her in the stomach. Amélie crumpled to her knees, gasping in pain. When she managed to lift her gaze to Titania, she was met with a disgusted scowl, followed swiftly by another blow to the side of her head. Warm blood gushed from the wound, though the tower's magic swiftly began its healing. The world spun around Amélie, Titania's cold words reaching her as if from a great distance.

"Evidently you've been given a long leash, no doubt due to my lord brother being preoccupied with matters more pressing than training his pet, and his mistresses' lack of experience in commanding the respect their positions deserve." Titania lifted Emilee's head slightly with her foot, a small smirk playing on her lips as the blood on the maid's cheek stained her toes a deep crimson. "You exist at either my brother's whim or his mercy. Both are resources that, along with his patience, have limits. Remember your place next time, slave."

With a bored expression, Titania delivered a lazy kick to Amélie's face, then watched with faint amusement as the spell-enslaved woman pressed her forehead to the floor. "Awww, now that's a good girl."

Blake looked at the display, Amélie looked up and met Blake's eyes pleadingly. It had surprised Blake when Penny had offered Blake to have her. After all, it had been Penny who had asked the Overlord for a maid. Then Weiss had revealed the Faunus trafficking of Amélie's family. Blake did not feel the same outrage as she had once been, yet the idea of owning the daughter of the man who had kidnapped and sold her people was a sick power trip that made her feel an icky kind of powerful. As a thank you, she had promised to take Penny and Weiss pet shopping at Menagerie as soon as the island was under their master's dominion.

Titania twirled around on her toes, her dress swirling. Her warm smile gave her every bit the look of the little sister that tried to make her big brother proud. "I take you didn't summon me to beat some manners into your maids. Let me take a guess. You lot need some magic tutoring?"

Ruby tilted her head, "Won't darling be able to teach us? He is a strong mage in his own right, isn't he?" Titania whipped on the balls of her feet. "Lance is a strong caster, but he is not the best in learning spells from books or the subtle ways of how the finer theory of the arcane works."

Lance nodded, "Yeah, last time I tried to learn anything bigger than a cantrip from a spellbook... well..." Titania smirked, "Let's just say he took the term 'firing our governess' a bit too literally that tutoring session."

Yang laughed, "And you can now call me 'sis'." Titania balled her fist and pulled it back in a victorious gesture before continuing. "He will probably be able to help you when you know the basics."

"Let's see, considering Yang was able to awaken magic, my guess is that magic is still a thing on Remnant, just that something is keeping you from accessing it. A substantial burst of magic should be able to kick start it; the difficulty will be getting enough magic in your system without, well…"

Gnarl spoke up, "Without turning yourself into the wrong type of mutant."

"Or explode." Titania added "Remember that one time I tried to turn that thrall back into a sentient elf by turning her into my witch apprentice?"

Gnarl chuckled, "She went ballistic."

Titania had a slight frown. "It's sad really; she was cute. Too bad her mind was all over the place afterwards."

Lance nodded, "The cleaning minions were picking her brain for months."

Yang shuddered. "Am I the only one who thinks that being Evil involves a lot of 'fuck about and find out'?"

Gnarl clapped his hands, "Mistress is learning fast! Always remember, the great boon of evil is forcing others to risk their lives experimenting. It's your privilege to reap the rewards of their discoveries."

Penny raised her hand. "What if it only results in explosions?"

Gnarl chuckled. "Then one can always laugh at their guinea pigs' fate."

Titania shook her head. "Alright then, let's try to find a way for you three to become magical."

Weiss looked at a passing minion and pointed. "Aren't minion life force orbs magical? Can't we use those?"

Titania shook her head but looked impressed at Weiss. "Someone has done some studying. Minion orbs are magic, yes, and indeed they would be able to give you magic, but it won't be enough." Titania beckoned a passing red minion, whom Weiss recognized as Geiser, a minion who helped keep the baths hot at all times. Geiser looked at Titania, who raised her hand, prompting the minion to produce a ball of fire.

"Minions have strength in numbers above all. One of these fireballs is strong, but..." Titania showed her hand, forming a sphere of crackling black energy with green electricity around it, "This is what a mage of 13 years can do on her own. From what you said, you are facing a witch that has had millennia of experience. A simple minion soul won't give you the power you need to challenge one of the Maidens you talked about, much less Salem."

Titania suddenly looked sheepish.

"Ah, caught myself monologuing. I can't dispel this." She walked towards a window and released the magic; a beam of dark energy shot through the sky like a javelin before disappearing behind the horizon. Blake looked at Titania it was clear the girl had her attention. "Okay, so how do we learn how to do, well, that?"

"We need a potent source of magic that is stable enough to not turn you into a pile of molten slug innards. I think I have a spell that can give us the location of such things. Gnarl, grab me a piece of parchment, would you?"

The minion master brought over the requested material. There was a glint of mentor-like pride in the wizened minion's eyes. Ruby had seen it before in Goodwitch and Ozpin. Titania took out a few vials from the satchel she had brought. Penny jumped forward, her green eyes twinkling. "Are you making a Magic map?" Titania looked over and nodded. "Indeed, I should be able to get this ring of the abyss on paper. Tough I fear that magic does not negate the fog of war. I might be able to give you an idea of where such a magic source is, but not how to get there, nor what exactly the source is or who."

Penny grabbed Titania's hand and pulled her towards her room, "Sensational, I have been working on a couple of designs." And indeed she had. What Lance could see inside the mistress's personal room were models of different magical items and sketches covering the floor and most of the wall. Titania, first startled by her sister-in-law's suddenness, soon started browsing and picked a scrap from the wall, pointing at it excitedly. Then she walked to the door.

"Sorry, no peeping." She pointed at Amélie. "You, girl, fetch us something to drink and some snacks." The maid all but ran out of the private quarters. Titania slammed the door shut, and a sign of a minion wearing some strange combination of a wizard's hat and safety goggles with the subscript 'magical fiddling in progress' manifested on the door. Lance, Gnarl, and Ruby agreed at once that it would take a while before the two would emerge from the room again.

"Well, at least the first meeting with one of our in-laws went smoothly," Yang said, shaking her head with a smile.

Weiss placed a hand on her forehead. "Don't make me think of that. I'm pretty sure Winter will try to stab Master." She shuddered at that thought, especially because Penny had confirmed Winter had become a maiden. The reaction Whitley would give was something she could only guess. As for her mother, that would depend on how sober the Schnee matriarch would be when they reunited.

Blake nodded, remembering her father's reaction to Sun's awkward attempts at conversation, and thanked the darkness that Lance was more level-headed than the monkey faunus. She didn't even want to think about how he would react to her marriage to Yang without his blessing, much less about the fact she was in a polyamorous relationship with not just her wife and a tyrant from another universe, but also her sister-in-law and the former heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. And they were the easy part to explain. Penny's unusual existence would probably send her mother's head spinning, and Brigette's situation went against everything her parents stood for.

"How am I going to even start that conversation with Dad?" Ruby asked, caught between embarrassment and a full-blown panic attack. She knew she would need to get the story of how she and her lover met to sound better than 'the lesser of two evils' if she didn't want her father and uncle to try and take him away from her.

"It's not that bad. At least Uncle Qrow will be proud," Yang said, puffing out her chest. While Yang had a small concern about her father and uncle, she trusted that a little bit of her master's magic would help them all become a big, happy, evil family. As for Raven, Yang would be lying if she said she wasn't curious about the look on the bandit's face when she saw how powerful the young mistress had become.

Lance looked at the two. "I'm more worried about your mother. You were what? 7 years old when she disappeared? Imagine how she'll feel when she wakes up and hears her baby girls are not just all grown up, but in a harem."

Ruby looked desperately at Gnarl. "Does your wisdom extend to avoiding a parent's wrath, oh dark grand adviser?" The minion master nodded. "Indeed, it does. I helped raise Master, remember. In my experience, the best way to avoid an angry parent giving one grief is to shift the blame. I'm personally quite fond of the simple elegance of 'a wizard did it'."

Yang looked over, "So you are saying we should throw Ozpin under the bus?" Gnarl rubbed his chin, "If this means the same as throwing someone under a chariot then yes. Anyway, Master, I think waiting here would be a waste of the day. Knowing Lady Titania's perfectionism and Mistress Penny's creativity, may I suggest returning to the Factory? After all, Mistress Yang did find evidence that suggests the remaining minion hives might lie within." Lance nodded.

"Brigette," The mistress stood straight, "Yes, my lord?" The overlord ran an armored finger past her cheek, making her shudder, "I name you head of the guard. Defend the tower in my absence." The order made the young woman's face light up like a firework. "Thank you, Master, thank you." Lance turned back to the other mistresses, "Would you join me?"

"Like you need to ask," Ruby said, grabbing Crescent Rose from the table. For now, the weapon would serve her still. Team RWBY followed their master towards their next mission.

Angela stuffed the last of the medical supplies into her bag. She fingered the blue gem in her pocket, feeling the spell that hid her memory temporarily fade.

"Master, the plan is in motion. The goddess has something up her sleeve involving Jaune. She's leading us somewhere. I might not be able to contact you for a while."

There were no words coming from the crystal, just a feeling of confirmation. Angela closed her eyes. "Thy will be done, my lord." She pocketed the stone and blinked, confused. "Must have dozed off again. Well, having an absent mind after all this isn't strange, I guess. As soon as I'm home, I should take some time off." She didn't know why, but she felt like vacationing in a castle.

Angela swung her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the garage near the gate. The garage was primarily used for food carts, but it also housed Hana's mech 'Tokki'. This small Atlesian prototype, piloted by the Faunus, had flown straight into the abyss when Cinder blasted the bridge, just as Angela and the rest of Overwatch had entered the in-between. The machine had been a lifesaver, keeping the group intact during both the fall of Atlas and their time in the abyss. However, it had taken a beating. Fortunately, Mako's bike provided the necessary parts for repair. In homage, Hana maintained the bike's yellow and added a depiction of a fierce-looking pig alongside the Pumpkin Pete logo she used as her mascot.

A large cart was hitched behind Tokki. Angela hopped in, being the last to do so. Their party consisted of Zelan, Jaune, Lena, Phyra, Fareeha, and Hana. Jaune was engaged in a discussion with Zelan. The goddess bore a look that suggested to Mercy that this journey wouldn't be leisurely.

Hana and Mako exchanged a final fist bump. She then climbed into Tokki and pulled the cart through the gates. The survivors cheered them on, their voices carrying hope and gratitude. As the village receded from view, an air of tension enveloped them, broken only when Zelan dared to speak.

"I assume you all wish to know what we are about to undertake," Zelan began.

Fareeha responded, her tone sharp and cold, "The Abyss stones, right? The ones that book spoke of?" The goddess nodded, prompting Lena to chime in. Despite everything, her voice still held a peppy edge. "What do those do? Oh crumbs, they won't get stuck in us, right?" Lena pointed at the glow that came from the opening in her harnas where the mysterious artifact had gotten stuck in her. "I'm kind of full as it is, you see."

Zelan chuckled. "No, Lena, they won't. The Abyss stones are powerful artifacts that allow one to open a gate from this hellish place." Angela tilted her head, "And you know where they are?"

The goddess nodded, her face etched with silent pain. "They are in my garden, Avondhoff, the final safe haven for the few who escaped Evill's conquest of my world." Hana was next to comment. "Easy peasy then. We just get to your garden and get the heck out of here." Zelan shook her head.

"Not so easy. When I took refuge here, I had to make some deals with its ruler, the infernal lord who killed my husband nearly a century ago. Worst of all, this lord is the grandfather of the Overlord."

Jaune's face went pale. "What was your deal?"

Zelan took a deep breath. "I had to give the lord the key to my garden and place a seal at its gate. If it is opened, it will mean…"

"Mean what?"

"And lo, the infernal gates open and bring forth a wave of good, and darkness will answer, and the slain of their clash will be many," Zelan said, remembering the scriptures her priests had once recited. "It will mean the end times for my people, the final stand of the elves. And if we fall again, I will join my children in their loss, to be crushed or corrupted."

The group fell silent, with only the footfalls of Tokii and the cart wheels disturbing the quiet.

Jaune looked down at his hands and sword. "You know, I think I've killed more innocents with my good intentions than I have Grimm with my sword at this point."

Zelan squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry, Jaune. It will feel like that, but I promise I won't let you go without a way to save your home." The words gave a flicker of hope to Jaune, but that was soon extinguished as the red sky shimmered. The grand palace of the infernal lord appeared out of thin air, accompanied by the cries of damned souls.

Ah the elderlords plans start taking shape and jauns pschychy is well not in a good place but hey cant expect much from a guy stuck in hell.

NOW FOR MY SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION

I have been hard at work at two other fics that i upload as consistently as i can wich means whenever i can write i do much like this one.

You give me shivers: Danny phantom has tryompth once again with the help of Dani and the mysterious halfa erma and the ghost zone is finally rid of pharia once and for all. But of course that does not mean danny and co are done with daving people after returning home danny and erma have to deal with revealed secrets family relations and two towns known for strange things being fused into one. Warning includes goofy gore an aged up erma and an ocazional dancing zombie, as well as the true horror highschool drama.

Cabin between the treetops: multy focus but with a focus on God of war and Percy jackson. Chaos has been bussy after Kratos slew the Olympians and restored them to there original forms without the taint of the eviles. Aphrodite spurred to create new heroes to deal with the monster population boom that had taken place after they where gone had made a slight mistake by not removing Kratos from her work files. Now the retired god of war must traverse the multiverse to seek his children and try to be a dad all over again. Will there be drama yes, shall an immortal make the mistake of touching kratos kids. Most likely, does it feel strange to write Percy and Annabeth as siblings, you have no idea mate.