AN: I apologize for the delay. I had to deal with preparations for college. Story updates will potentially come slower than usual, but I'll still try to keep this story alive. Either way, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

The beowolf sprints through the White Forest, farther behind lie its frenzied pack. Just now they felt an extreme amount of negativity coming from the White Palace. Its pack has never experienced such extreme agony, such despair in its life. To say that they've been driven mad with euphoria would be an understatement.

The beowolf leaps from the woods into the clearing outside the palace. It gives a triumphant war howl before a dust bullet pierces its skull, killing it. A similar fate falls upon its pack, who are either pierced by giant great arrows, skewered with normal arrows, or punctured with dust bullets.

"Moon above they just keep coming. I think we're seeing every darkborn in the entire forest! You know what exactly caused that scream?"

"Beats me, could be the queen, or some new screamer variant that attracts darkborn. Speaking of which, how's that new musket coming along? I bet it's really nice to slowly reload while watching your enemy get closer and closer?"

"Oh haha, the big strong oni with her giant great bow mocks the little guy with the musket. At least I'm progressing in science by volunteering for her majesty's musketeer brigade. Besides, they finally made these things explode rarely instead- Petra gigas approaching from the tree line surrounded by borbatusks and beowolves."

"I see it."

The oni duskborn draws out ash dust great arrow, before pulling back and releasing. The spear-like arrow pierces the gigas in its mask and explodes. The stone giant collapses as the geist controlling it was destroyed, and the surrounding darkborn were engulfed in a scorching blaze. The flames stuck to them like glue despite the panicked beasts' attempts to put them out. The forest seems a lot quieter now, though the ground is littered with great arrows and normal arrows.

"That seems to be the last of them. You know, I'm kinda glad we go through those training exercises instead of just sitting on our asses watching over the queen. This could've gone a lot worse with that gigas."

"Well…yeah. We're Rose Guard, we guard the queen and the princess and slay any and all that dare attack her. We're not greedy corrupt kingmakers that regicide the second our moonsilver isn't in onyx or rubies."

"I know, just a random thought I had."

Yang stretched her arms before leaving the docked airship, alongside her was the red noble girl who is currently fuming about Vomit Boy's shenanigans. For some reason, she's wearing a hood on a cool sunny day, to Yang's guess it's just part of her design that she was taught somewhere.

The two of them walked up Main Avenue before stopping. Just in front of them is Beacon Academy, one of the four main huntsman academies across Remnant and their home for the next four years. That is per se if they complete the initiation this year. Yang looks over to see that the girl is awe-struck by the sight. She wonders what goes on in her head.

This is just like home.

The large awe-inspiring gothic architecture. The imposing yet brilliant tower pierces into the surface sky. The main avenue that leads into an area ahead marks by trees and fountains. The overall isolation from the rest of the major city down the surprisingly gigantic river. Gods, when Ozpi displayed this academy yesterday Ruby was expecting it to be a university similar to Yggdrasil.

Instead, she sees a grand regal town that would serve as the focal point of a kingdom, and this man considers this place as a place for education?! He might as well be the de facto ruler of this area of the surface given this academy's similarities to the White Palace.

Ruby's attention then turns towards the surrounding crowd. She noticed that everyone around her is wearing different clothing and some even have unusually colored hair like dark blue or bright pink. But then she paid attention to their weaponry. Some of them were wielding normal weapons such as a sword imbued with fire dust or a staff. She saw one wielding a fishing rod-like device, then another wielding a pair of sheers. The nail in the coffin for her, was a Lightborn wielding what she thinks are musical instruments…as a weapon.

Ruby froze, then she started hyperventilating. This can't be right, no way this can't be right. She signed up for a school of learning in exchange for parole language and training, that's what Ozpi displayed to her. Yet the more she looked around the more she was confronted with the horrible fact. She chalked it up to the school teaching militias to fight against Darkborn attacks, but then she saw a Lightborn produce small but painful flashes of light in their hands to a crowd. Then talked about it as if it was nothing.

She was in a nest full of Flashborn.

If a single one managed to overpower her strength and made her motionless in the air, then who's to say what a nest can do?

She started to hyperventilate more as her vision narrowed. Her hand slowly moved towards Crescent Rose. Then she noticed that her hand is lunar white, the Light Masquerade had already worn off. But it hasn't turned night yet. It doesn't matter at the moment. The thought was pushed from Ruby's head as she grasp the irony of the situation before her. To escape Luna Naturae to prove to herself right. Only to perish in front of the Lightborn equivalent of the White Palace.

She counts 20 in front of her. With the accursed sun in the sky, they'll have a clear advantage over her if they remove her hood. With her strength and speed, she can take out three maybe four if she bisected them with Crescent Rose, and then dash towards the interior. Or maybe the forest farther ahead? No, it's too far and risky, she'll most likely encounter that witch, who'll freeze her in place.

Ruby then felt something grab her hand. Panicking, she nearly drew out Crescent Rose, but stop to realize it was the yellow girl trying to get her attention. Presumably asking what was bothering Ruby. The girl…the more Ruby stared into her lilac eyes the calmer she felt. A calming familiarity washes over her mind as if she was once again a child, and her mother was tending to her while she was sick.

Ruby just stared at the girl's eyes. Embracing the comforting feeling that she was giving off. She just met her, yet she feels familiar. Why?

The girl waved her hand in front of Ruby's eyes, which snapped her out of her trance. She sees her hand is pale white rather than lunar white. She sighs before awkwardly chuckling. Gods, she's getting the same visions as her mother. The yellow girl playfully punched her prosthetic before talking about something, probably related to the school. Ruby should give her a name she can call her.

Ruby then sees a small group of Flashborn running up to her and the girl, who Ruby decided she'll refer to as Yellow until she knows her true name. Yellow expressed a face of familiarity and surprise at the group before they whisked her away. One of them must have activated their magical ability given how the group quickly ran out of sight and sent Ruby spiraling.

Ruby dizzily stumbles a bit before falling backward, and landing on…boxes?

"What are you doing, you lumbering oaf?!"

A falling briefcase lands on Ruby's head. She rubs her forehead as she gets up, only to see a pale white girl dressed in white pointing at her. Ruby realized she fell on her luggage and tried to help pick them back up. However, the girl snatched the case out of her hand.

"Do you have any idea the damage you could have caused? I thought someone as wealthy as you would have known but I've mistaken!"

The girl took out a dust vial and showed it in front of Ruby's face, it is unsealed properly.

"This is dust! Mined and purified by you know where! You could have blown us up with your bumbling act!"

Ruby's confusion only made the girl angrier.

"Are you braindead? Dust!" As she spoke she shook the dust vial more and more, seemingly uncaring of the danger she was creating. "Fire! Water! The elements of nature! Energy! Are you even listening? What do you have to say for yourself?"

Ruby stood up to her full height, her nose catching the cloud of dust that the girl released and she sneezed. Setting off the dust clouds that surrounded the girl. The dust vial flies off behind her as Ruby stares at the smoke cloud in horror, as she just violated the rule Sam gave her before her fateful departure.

"Unbelievable! This was the exact kind of thing I was talking about!"

All fear and worry immediately left Ruby as she saw the girl completely unharmed, and most likely blaming her for her folly.

"You complete dolt! You may pass by being gigantic but I can see it on your face that you're too young to be attending this school! This isn't just your ordinary combat school you know. We're here to fight monsters, not just sparring and training. Maybe if you have gotten your head out of the clouds you'd figured that out and watch where you're going!"

"Art thou a complete dullard?! Thou shook unsealed dust vials like a newborn child, and then thou have the audacity to rouse thy anger at me?! Surely someone with thine appearance would at least know basic dust safety, but it appears I am dealing with a childe!"

"...What?"

"You won't be able to speak to her."

Blake said as she approached the two girls carrying the dust vial that was launched previously. Ruby's face lit up as she saw the girl who saved her from the police back at the train station.

"What do you mean? She can understand what I'm saying."

"No that's just anger reacting to anger. This girl literally can't speak any known language in Remnant, nor is she part of the four kingdoms. She doesn't even know that most of the technology we use exists. I've gotta say, this is a pretty poor first impression for this foreign princess. Wouldn't your dad get mad that he lost millions in potential Lien because her daughter provoked the daughter of someone very important?"

"W-what? Princess? Foreign?"

Weiss proceeded to stare at Ruby while she and Blake engaged in a limited conversation using gestures. Ruby points to the vial in Blake's hand, curious at the symbol on the vial. Blake showed Ruby the snowflake symbol, the emblem of the Schnees, and she sees how Ruby's face went from curiosity to anger and disappointment rather quickly. She looked at the still baffled heiress and then back to Blake.

"So this noble girl is related to that greedy, accursed family? No wonder the maiden lacks any basic knowledge of Dust. If her family head relies on slavery to acquire profit, then I don't doubt that this girl doesn't even know how to clean without a Seer or servant doing it for her."

Blake chuckled at the disrespectful attitude Ruby was giving to Weiss, uncaring of her presence and exploiting the language barrier between them. Weiss however was stammering and turning pink over the disrespect the primitive foreign princess was giving her. She snatched the dust vial and huffs, before walking away.

Ruby smiled at what she considered to be a personal victory for her family. She turned to Blake to continue talking to her but finds her already walking away. She considered following her, but she then realized.

She was stuck in a Flashborn academy with no clue on where to go, she met an accursed Snowflake, her first friend is already gone and she has no clue where Yellow went. She fell onto her knees and looked at the ground. Regret was starting to seep in, and this was a horrible first day for someone attending an academy.

A shadow appeared in front of her, then a hand stretched out for her. Looking up she sees the Lightborn that dared vomit on her dress, gods that was a pain to clean out. She considered rejecting his offer but given how she reached rock bottom for now. She took his offer and watched in amusement as the Lightborn struggled to lift her for a moment before standing up. The Lightborn awkwardly chuckled before looking at Ruby.

"I'm Jaune Arc."

Ok Jaune, you got a super tall quirky girl with enough kick strength to launch you across the room. Yet you've been wandering around with her for the past 5 minutes and haven't yet even talked. Oh, why was this so hard to just talk to her? Granted he did vomit on her boots due to the motion sickness but she seems more focused on Beacon than…him. At least she seems to forgive him for that. He thinks.

He then looked at his sword. The family heirloom of the Arc family, Crocea Mors. He stole, well not really stole more of smuggled out of the house while Dad wasn't looking, to help him become a huntsman. After all, that magazine he read weeks ago said that all great heroes have to have a signature weapon. It also said that girls dig cool swords, maybe that will open her up!

He tugged on the girl's shirt to get her attention, before pulling out Crocea Mors. The girl ogled at the sword, which boosted his ego.

"Like it? Well, It's a family heirloom. My great grandfather used it to serve in the Great War. Yeah, this thing has seen it and did it all, from the Vacuan Defense to the Alexandria Campaign. I even got this shield!"

Jaune took out his sheath and unfurled it into a shield. The red girl looks amazed by it and clapped her hands in enjoyment. She then asked something in her language. He knows it was whatever language she spoke because it was the same one he heard before receiving a kick to the gut.

Jaune nodded, awaiting what this girl is going to do. Suddenly in a flash, she draws out the largest katana he has ever seen outside of Mistrali animations. She then used the sword to point toward Crocea Mors, a smug grin on her face.

"Oh yeah? You think you're cool because you have a cool, grey katana. At least I have something different than a sword, what do you have?"

The girl gave a quizzical tilt before her grin grew bigger. The katana quickly transformed into a giant scythe and she slammed it hard into the ground. She then looked at Jaune and gave an arrogant chuckle. Jaune slouches and sighs in the resignation of his defeat.

"There you are. The meeting is about to begin yet you're wandering campus like a bumbling idiot!"

Jaune sees all the arrogance and confidence immediately leaving the girl's face the moment she heard those stern words. Turning around Jaune sees a blond woman with a riding crop, who is now somehow lifting the girl in the air.

"I-"

"Mr. Arc, please do try to make it to the meeting on time. I understand that Beacon may be a spectacle but you aren't a proper student here in this academy. At least follow me to the amphitheater so you don't miss any important details."

"Y-yes ma'am."

As Ruby and Jaune enter the amphitheater, the sound of a young girl shouting for attention is heard. Ruby looks to see Yellow waving her hand trying to get her attention. Walking over there, she hears the yellow hair boy, Jon or something similar, sounding dejected as she approaches Yellow.

"I've saved you a spot Red! Sorry for uh…ditching you back there. Turns out there was a case of mistaken identity!"

She awkwardly laughed to herself while Ruby just stared at her in confusion. Yellow then opened and closed her hand, which Ruby interpreted as her wanting to know what happened while she was dragged away by those flashborn.

Ruby tried her best to relay what happened to her after Yellow left, from her tripping over the luggage to the Snowflake carelessly shaking unsealed dust vials and causing an explosion. Ruby's expression went sour and she did a mocking expression whenever she did the Snowflake's side.

"Wow, I barely understood any of that. You said there was some explosion, and you tripped over luggage…right? You sure this isn't some overreaction from being suddenly alone?"

Ruby groans, hearing Yellow's confused voice only telling her that she failed to get the message across. She then felt someone tugging behind her. Turning around she sees a piece of paper being shoved in front of her face or rather tried. It was the Snowflake who was doing this. Brushing past her dismissiveness of her, Ruby takes the paper from the Snowflake's hands and reads it.

"I don't even know why you're conversing with that barbarian?"

"Wait that explosion did happen?!"

"Obviously! That lumbering barbarian couldn't even pass basic dust procedure, yet she gets mad at me for causing an explosion?! And then has the gall to talk back to some girl in front of her language?! She shouldn't even be here in the first place!"

"Well…uhhh…maybe you two got off on the wrong foot! You know, different cultures and all that stuff. Uh, maybe you two should apologize to each other and get to know each other!"

"Did thoust seriously giveth me a training pamphlet for dust for children?!"

Yang awkwardly chuckled and stepped between the white girl and Red as the two glared knives at each other. Their glaring was interrupted by the noise of the microphone activating, alongside large holograms displaying pictures. On the opposite side of the room lies an old, white-haired man dressed in green with glasses and a cane. Ruby recognizes him as the same man who gave her this catch-22.

"I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you are finished. You plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose. Direction. You assume that knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge will only carry you so far. It is up to you, to take the first step."

The Witch then steps up as Ozpin steps aside.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight for rest. Be ready, for your initiation begins tomorrow. Everyone except Miss Silver is dismissed."

"I don't understand."

"My queen."

"Did I do something wrong sam?"

Lusus turn her face towards Sam, tears running down her face. The news of her daughter running to the surface has been more dramatically damaging to Lusus than he had anticipated. He knew it would be bad but her mercilessly slaughtering a bunch of darkborn might be the only way she can let off some steam given her past.

Not to mention Huginn. She…well he pities whoever has to face her this week.

"Sam, please. Answer me. Besides the banquet incident. Did I screw up? Were there any signs, an omen, or a failure in my parental ability? Anything?!"

"Well…uh."

"I just don't understand. I thought I was raising her well. I treated her with all the love I could give. Yet she's gone…She's gone because of me. I signed the death warrant of my daughter."

Sam felt extreme guilt over helping Ruby escape. But in his defense, he thought of the long game. He read the books of blooming writers and from the personal library. Ruby had the tell-tale signs of a royal who would harbor resentment towards her parent and would have committed regicide, or worse. A small part of him wants to admit it

Lusus suddenly screamed, and slammed her fists onto the table, nearly shattering the piece of furniture. She then snapped out of her rage and looked horrified by what she'd done. Right, primordial ruler from the First Era with enough strength to strangle a beringel without issue. Ok, Sam, you killed for your freedom, you trained a young girl into a fighting machine, you can certainly calm an eternal queen.

"Well uh. You see…um."

Sam looks across the room to think of anything to help give him an idea of what to say. His eyes draw to a painting of the Azure Scarf Rebellion and an idea formed in his head.

"Youth rebellion!"

"Youth…rebellion?"

"Yes, youth rebellion! You know, the youth these days are not listening to their elders. Disregarding tradition and forming a counter-culture against their parents. It's a thing these days due to the printing press and the advent of writers outside of poetry, science, and religion. She was…just influenced by some writing and her coming of age. It wasn't your fault."

Gods, he sounds like an ass but it looks like it was working. He can see Lusus's eye through her hair, processing what he just said.

"Then…If this…counter culture resulted in Ruby's flight…then I shall gather the army and burn all items related to this movement. Imprison all those that dare-."

"Calm down! Just calm down before you do anything-."

A single, glowing hate-filled eye pierced through her hair and was staring into Sam's soul, interrupting him. For a second it felt like the entire world fell silent as her red eye just…glared at him. It was akin to interrupting an apex predator from enjoying its meal and having it full. Undivided attention is placed squarely on you.

She took a deep breath and sighed. Her face gave him an apologetic expression.

"Thou art right. My emotions have clouded my judgment. Gods, it's like the early days of Second Era again."

There was a brief silence before Sam moved to comfort her.

"Take a deep breath. I know this is a lot, especially for you. But you and I trained her exceptionally well. She'll fall back on her training and will be fine."

There was another brief moment of silence.

"...Besides Ruby and the attack on the palace. Was there anything planned today my queen? Something to help keep your mind focused on other matters?"

"...Actually…There is one thing. It occurred rather unexpectedly, even for me. I expect it back, but I wanted to see how it would work."

She faced Sam and gave a smile, one that unnerved him.

"It would be beautiful for them to see the absence of time."

Ruby signs as she relaxes on her sleeping mat while eating pemmican, her notebook opened beside her. By the moon, that was way longer than she hoped. First was the struggle of them to create some form of identification from what she could tell, a process she made longer when she was flashed and destroyed the accursed device.

Then there was the tour. Ruby rather quite enjoyed the sights of this academy, from its workshop to its similar Grand Library and the enormous tower in the center. A shame she couldn't enjoy the last parts of the tour. Mainly because the Witch wouldn't let her leave her sight, and the reversion reached up to her thighs by the time she renewed it.

Ruby sighed, before taking another bite and continuing to document her experience on the surface. So far, not bad, but not good either. As she was writing, she hears something or someone land beside her.

Turning to her side she sees Yellow with a cheerful smile on her face.

"It's like a big sleepover…you have those back home, right? I doubt both of our parents would approve of all the boys around here."

Ruby watched as Yellow made a purring noise towards the boys before Juan walked into view and she immediately made a disgusted noise. Making her laugh.

"Hey~, is that your writing language? I've never seen anything like that!"

Yellow pointed to the journal entry Ruby was writing. For a second Ruby panicked, until she remembered that lingual barriers existed. Then Ruby hears the distinct sound of a match being lit. Looking over to the source, Ruby sees her friend sitting beside a candlestand reading a book.

"Is that girl over there your friend?"

Yellow said and pointed to her Mutant friend, from now she'll call Black due to her clothing and hair. Ruby nodded to Yellow's question.

"Then why not go meet her? Get proper introductions between all three of us!"

Yellow then got up and somehow pulled Ruby up by her prosthetic arm, and then dragged her to Black.

"Hello~! I believe you two know each other?"

Blake looked up from her book and saw Ruby alongside a yellow-haired girl.

"Yes. Besides the explosion outside of the school. I helped her get into Beacon after she helped me in a "situation". I couldn't just let her wander around in Vale, especially given the fact she has no clue what we're saying."

"Well, that's nice. I'm yang, and this…is Red!"

"Red?"

"Well, we don't know her name. Though I heard her being called "Miss Silver", if that's her first, last, or a nickname the staff gave her, beats me."

"I am rather curious. Why art thou hiding thy cat ears? Surely there wouldn't be any danger for thee to reveal thy animal traits?"

Blake gazed at Ruby curiously, before she points at her bow. Blake panics due to her secret being potentially exposed before she remembered Ruby's lingual barriers. Ruby however recognized Blake's panic and tries to shift the conversation before Yang picks it up.

"What are thou reading?"

"Oh. How do I explain this to you?"

Blake thought about it for a second before an idea popped into her head. She points toward herself and Yang several times. Before raising one finger, and then doing a tug of war with both her hands.

"Remarkable! I've never heard of a tale about 2 souls in one body! Granted the tales my mother read to me were more related to spiritual, and historical romance. One of my favorites was…"

Ruby stopped, before facepalming and giving an awkward chuckle. She then gestures to writing in a journal to Blake.

"I think she wants you to teach her how to write?"

"Wouldn't the teachers already be doing that?"

"Yeah but think about it! We'll get to bond, hang out, learn about our hobbies and figure out where did this giant cupcake of a girl come from. Because I want to know what exactly her parents had been feeding her."

"...I guess, I can make some plans in the future. Provided we all pass initiation tomorrow."

"Great! Welp, I'm going to sleep. See you at initiation!"

Blake watches as Yang and Red walk back to their sleeping spots. She wonders how exactly she managed to change the school year by convincing Ozpin to admit Ruby, before blowing out the candles and going to sleep.

It was a slow day.

Sure they made it big selling those historical relics, and Roman Torchwick, slimy bastard he is, has kept his end of the bargain. But besides that, the boss has spent the last few days just counting Lien. When he joined he thought he would make it big in the Alexandrian underworld, yet now he's just watching Mistrali animations while on camera duty.

He sighs, before continuing to watch on his scroll. In the corner of his eye, one of the camera screens suddenly turned static before returning to normal. He ignored it of course, given the connection of this place he wouldn't bat an eye if some of the cameras loses connection for a bit.

He ignored it until the static got closer and closer to the security room. Putting down his scroll, he looked at the camera before the door slightly opened.

A tense period of silence emanate from the door as he expected something to just burst into the room at any moment. He drew out his pistol and aimed at the door. Yet nothing came.

He got mad, stood up from his chair, and angrily walked towards the door.

"Oh haha, very funny guys. Annoy the man who's in charge of camera duty. Don't you have some drugs to do, or play a simple card game?"

He closed the door shut, and started walking back to his chair when he hears a faint noise behind him.

Turning around…he sees a Grimm.

A Grimm.

A Grimm somehow managed to sneak its way into this warehouse and he's the unlucky bastard that gets to meet it face to face.

Panicking, he tries rushing towards the console and grabbing the radio to alert the gang, but before he could do that. He felt a large metal object thrown at his head, and everything went black.

The geist emerges from the container it had posses to take out the lightborn. It looks upon the lightborn in question, unconscious but soon to be dead. Part of its nature wants to use its claws to kill the lightborn, but it is overridden by the commands of its master. The geist floats towards an air vent and knocks on it with its claws.

Slight whirring can be heard behind the vent before it popped open. A tech seer floats from the air vent towards the camera as the geist leaves. It plugs in and starts disabling all security throughout the facility. Alarms were disabled, security doors disabled, and the camera recording was disabled and deleted.

The tech seer took control of one of the cameras outside and started moving it in an unusual pattern. The camera displayed the front of the warehouse, there was 3 lightborn standing guard.

In a moment shurikens struck all three, and as they collapsed to the ground in pain, shadowblades appeared from the shadows across the street and eliminated all three. A fourth lightborn emerged from some tiny office and saw the duskborn assassins. Before he could even shout, one of the shadowblades grabbed his mouth and plunged its blade into their heart. Killing the lightborn instantly.

The corpses were dragged inside the warehouse grounds and dumped in the shadows before the shadowblades stacked up on multiple entrances around the warehouse and enter.

The tech seer watches on the cameras that most of the lightborn were concentrated in the main storage facility, though there were some stragglers in the hallways. Said stragglers were being picked off one by one as the shadowblades move to their next part of the plan.

A shadowblade enters the security room, he glances towards the tech seer, before noticing the unconscious lightborn. The shadowblade took out her blade and stabbed the unconscious man in the heart, before walking over to the console.

"Do you know where the boss is?"

The tech seer chirps, before the cameras switch to an office on the third floor, the windows in the room are facing the lighthouse.

"That's good, switch to where Muginn is."

The seer chirps again, and the camera switches to the outside. The shadowblade presses the camera microphone to relay the information.

"Third floor, facing the lighthouse."

A buzzing noise is heard on the radio beside the console.

"Vlad! Romeo just saw some of our guys dead outside. Why you haven't reported this?! There better be a good excuse or else I'll flay your skin and throw you into the ocean!"

"Vlad! Answer me!"

"Boss, I think Vlad's dead."

Nero angrily glared at his underling. Nero Grigio was the top dog of the Alexandrian underworld, a shrewd and cunning man. He manipulated and schemed his way to the top, and his attempts to expand into Vale proven successful when he transferred those strange historical relics to Roman, who had provided him more Lien than he had earned in his position.

He thought he won the jackpot. But now some jackasses are moving on his turf and killed a few of his men. There will be heads rolling tonight when he's done.

"Niko! Ashe! You're with-."

The power suddenly went out. Whoever is attacking him, they're good. Nero can hear screaming and muffled gunfire in the distance. He took out his weapon, a mace cane with dust imbued in the head.

The gunfire stopped. Did they win? There was more silence before suddenly a window was broken behind them.

Ashe screamed as he was dragged and thrown to his death by an assailant. Another burst through the window and stabbed Niko in the heart. It was just him and two tall ninjas. He would be baffled if it weren't a life and death situation.

They immediately attack, Nero blocked a sword with his cane but his flank was exposed. One of the ninjas tried slashing his back but failed due to aura.

The two of them immediately pulled back. Nero chuckled, they thought they must have an easy kill. Nero immediately rushes them. His cane clashes with the sword of one of the ninjas, the other tried to slash him but he elbows them in their face.

He breaks the guard of his foe and strikes them in the chest. Before suddenly his cane became too heavy to lift even with aura. He looks to see that one of the ninjas has a purple glow emitting from their hand, while the other ignited their sword seemingly out of thin air.

Nero lets go of his cane and rush the gravity ninja. He punches them hard in their face but receives a retaliatory strike from their friend. He grabs his cane and parried another strike. The ninja was aggressive, using sparks of flame, even whips composed of flame to break his guard. But Nero got the upper hand when he broke the ninja's guard by firing a ball of flame from his cane. The panicked ninja was then struck hard in the chest and stumbled back.

Nero walked towards his foe and raised his cane high, intending to bludgeon his foe to death. He had a smug grin, despite the losses he still holds up in combat, and didn't even break a sweat dealing with these pests.

As he was about swing, he felt someone grabbing his cane. He looked to see…an even taller ninja dressed in white and dark blue, reminiscent of the night. Nero saw as they effortlessly froze his weapon, and then shattered it with their bare hands. Before he could react, the figure backhanded him, before delivering the most powerful punch Nero ever experienced. So much that it broke his aura.

Muninn took the lightborn crime boss to the broken window and edged him over the edge. His subordinates were foolish to try to take on a flashborn, but they were lucky that he arrived before he could kill them. The lightborn started panicking as he realized he was one push away from falling to his death.

"W-wait! Let's talk this out! I'm sure whatever Spider is paying you I can double that!"

"My services are not for sell lightborn."

"What is it you want then?! Money? Power? Anything?! I can get it for you!"

"Cease thy infernal prattling, my mistress wanted thee dead. Though I am…impartial to her rule, however. If thou want to live, then answer my questions. If thee answer truthfully, then I shall relinquish thee."

"Ok! Ok! Shoot!"

"A couple of days ago, thou received a trade deal offering rale valuable artifacts in exchange for Lien. These artifacts belonged to my mistress and are quite…valuable. Where did thou move them?"

"Oh, those! Yeah, I shipped them off to Mistral-."

"I know the criminal underworld operates on a form of secrecy and code to protect those involved. Thou aren't in the position to continue such a code, and believe me. There are fates far worse than I could do to you. I could…generously give you to my mistress for example."

The Lightborn boss stared at Muninn for a moment before cursing under his breath.

"Roman Torchwich. It was a planned deal between me and him. I move the relics to him, he moves money to me, I move into Vale and provide him with Lien and men for his side job!"

So the traitor was correct. All that's left is to acquire Torchwick's location.

"And what of this Roman Torchwick? Where is he located?"

"I don't know! I know he operates in Vale, but his base of operations? No. But there's an info broker in Vale, named Junior Xiong, owner of Xiong's club. He knows everything that happens in Vale!"

"I see. I thank thee for thy cooperation."

"Now will you let me go?"

Nero awkwardly chuckled, before he felt his lips freezing together.

"Sure thing."

Muninn let go, before turning to check on the shadowblades. He helps the injured one to his feet as a third shadowblade enters the room.

"Let this be a lesson to thee, on why thou shouldn't attack flashborn. Their life force shield invalidates all your training, and they could take more than you can handle."

"We apologize for our mistake, my lord. We assure you we won't make it again."

"My lord! I came to let you know that all lightborn has been eliminated, including some that were hiding in crates shackled up."

"Good, sterilize all duskborn influence from this area, from their scrolls to the way they've been killed. This criminal organization had a rivalry against another. Make sure their deaths are easy for the media to pin the blame on their closest rival. Finally prepare a messenger nevermore for me at camp."

"Yes my lord."

As the shadowblades leave the room, Muninn gazed upon the shattered moon. He speaks a small prayer to it before leaving. By tomorrow morning Alexandria will notice that their biggest crime group has been purged, and by night Roman will learn not to meddle with forces beyond his comprehension.