"OH jeez man, if only you were there to see his face!"

"I think it's a dick move."

"Oh please, your face is telling me you like it!"

"No, I am not pleased."

"Oh fuck you, you're literally smiling- YOU'RE MAKING A MANIAC SMILE RIGHT NOW!"

The two were simply bickering with each other around in the festival grounds to pass time. Or for Lordez, telling him what just happened between now and the small yet tense conversation with him and Ozpin/Antonio.

"Oh please, I'm just smiling at your demise."

"Nope, you definitely are smiling because you think it is funny!" He grinned evilly.

"I'm just thinking of something funny."

"Yeah, which is what I just told you about!"

Misha just rolled his eyes away from the bickering of his master and his friend before changing his position to not hear the duo's voices.

"...Things would change around here soon huh?" Orm took several sips on his drink.

"Heheh, that it will." Lordez said as he took a bite of a fry.

"Though have you even thought of ruling the world? Orm raised a brow. "Like how you would put up different kinds of rules, policies and such?"

"The long term you mean?"

"Aye, knowing you, you thought of something like that haven't you?"

The undead shrugged. "Only made a draft, been busy setting up points to remove the pest out of the damn planet. I mean, it's difficult to multitask on your own nation's policy and conquer the damn place at the same time."

"Point made." Orm commented.

"I mean, it's not fucking rocket science and shit, its two things! You conquer the planet, not a nation! It's the whole damn place and it would take time!"

"Uhhh, I might have to agree on that, but also have to disagree on it too."

"The hell are you on about?"

The viking wannabe shrugged. "I mean, there are records of history that rulers of the past managed their kingdoms as they conquer other places."

"Let me say it again, "at the same time"!"

"Ohhhhh~." Orm muttered. "Why not just leave it to someone else? Like, someone who knows how to manage and finance the place while you're away?"

"Oh I do have some people in mind, but the question is, will they accept?"

"...I see why you're hesitating now."

"See? Exactly pointed out! Glynda, she can be useful as a secretary or helping out on managing the policy and the networking of finance. Port and Oobleck are teachers, not sure how they will help out contributing to my, sorry, OUR realm other than as warriors. Ozpin on the other hand, is more of a schematic mastermind-"

"What makes you say that? I thought it wasn't Ozpin, rather Antonio? Someone from our place?"

"While they could manage, that isn't the problem. The problem is how can I trust them?"

Orm was confused, very effective! "I thought you trust them?"

"Because why? I know that this whole damn thing is a show (manga as well but its going on late) which means I would know how the characters would go on? Mate, I explicitly told you that beyond volume 5 and 6 is entirely bullshit, that the plot derailed from the whole damn thing ever since Oum died!"

"..."

"Egg-fucking-xactly!"

"Why are you speaking like that?"

"Let me answer that question, with another question-" He paused to take a good sip from the straw of his drink. "Ah~. Why the hell not?"

"Because it sounds annoying."

"What, like how Alcat- my dad sounds?"

"Like father like son?" He joked as he smirked from his drink.

"For almost 10 fucking years, I never knew that our clan master is my dad all the damn time all along!" He exclaimed.

"Kinda fooled most of us eh?"

"Yea- wait, most of us?" He paused, noting that specific word. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Well, you already know that I knew your dad long ago because of that douchebag of a mind voice, but that doesn't mean that it's not just me who knows that he is your dad exactly."

"So you're saying that there might be other of our teammates who knew about him being my dad?"

"Mhm." He said as he downed his drink, releasing a small satisfied burp.

"...You're starting to sound like him now."

"Sound? Don't you mean think?" The viking corrected.

"Yes, don't tell me you're thinking like him now."

"Well, unless I'm actually his son and not you-"

"Fuck you and I'll gut you for that one." He snarled, making the viking wannabe raised his hands in defense.

"Whoah, chill chill, didn't mean to hit a nerve there." He said carefully. "But aren't you supposed to be mad at him since he, I don't know, abandoned you since you were born?"

"I…" He sighed. "I don't know… I was only raised by my mom and without a dad, try living a life without a father."

"Hmph." Orm snorted. "Living, you mean surviving that damn wasteland of a hell over there."

Lordez made a small smile. "Yeah… that. But you get what I mean."

"Aye, compared to this place," He gestured around. "This is frigging paradise!"

The undead could only nod with a smile on his face before turning into a frown.

"...Look, once we are done with whatever we have to put our fun into this world, we're gonna ask Gman to transport us to where your father is. If not, then we have fun another way."

"...Heh, you really think of other possibilities."

He shrugged. "Your father's fault on that one."

"Hahah, no shit."

The both of them chuckled softly at the nostalgia of their leader always frigging reminding them like a damn parent to his children… To be fair, he is older than anyone else in the clan.

'...Although, don't tell me he has a father-son complex.' Orm could only think of the possibility… 'Because that is NOT him!'

"Anyways, how would we go from here besides whether we should really trust Ozpin or really trust Ozpin?" Orm asked.

He sighed. "It depends. Depends on how the plot would flow. Since us being here literally changed the plot, including Ozpin being earlier than us."

The viking nodded. "Of course, basic time-travelling knowledge."

"Mercury wouldn't be fighting against Yang since Cinder's team is disqualified, so their only chance would be having Emerald to hallucinate Pyrrha against Penny, and we shouldn't let Penny die."

"But she is an AI, ain't she? She could just reupload herself to another computer and stay there in the meantime while a new body is being built for her?"

"She survived, but I'm not making volumes beyond 5 canon." He deadpanned.

"...That's just selfish."

"No, it's smart thinking. Since the whole damn thing just lost plot! IT LOST THE FUCKING PLOT! IT DERAILED FROM WHAT IT WAS TRULY MEANT TO BE, AND THAT'S HOW IT WAS CAUSED, BECAUSE THE DIRECTOR DIED!"

"...Lower your volume because people are looking at you now."

True to his friend's word, people are indeed looking at him weirdly from shouting quite loudly.

"...You heard my words."

"I know, I know… But it is exactly what I'm worried about."

"?" Lordez raised a brow. "Worried about what!?"

"You…"

. . .

Cinder only had one shot at this, and one shot only.

The plan to create an initial panic was trampled when her subordinates failed to win against those brute headed fighters. (Yatsuhashi and Coco)

She wasn't expecting them to win exactly, knowing that Mercury and Emerald had no trouble against them.

It was something else…

She had not made any mistake with her planning, rather examples of sudden problems just appearing out of nowhere. It made her dismantle her original plans and have to make another one.

A time-consuming process, and she was a bit on the clock for that.

No, someone else is ruining her plans.

Professor Lordez Grimm, the name very unusual and dark. His files explained that he was from a long forgotten village somewhere in the outskirts between Vacuo and Vale, that was destroyed when he was young.

She doubted that.

She highly doubted that.

She wouldn't admit it, but she was paranoid.

Ever since the infiltration into the CCT, that… creature. No, it would be enough to call it a monster.

That dreaded aura she felt, almost like it was going after her soul.

Was it some kind of semblance? Was that thing one of the third parties in the play?

The possibilities lay around Professor Lordez Grimm.

That man of exceptional strength, power, and intelligence. He holds an air of mystery and cold demeanor of authority.

But it could be nothing, she might be worried for nothing…

He is just another obstacle to gaining power, another wall to be destroyed in order to achieve her goal.

All in all, nothing would stand in her way to gain absolute power.

Besides, her plan wasn't all in ruins. The virus has been implemented into the CCT, once the fight between that champion of Mistral and the interestingly experimental human-android.

Oh, such an opportunity to produce… Chaos and Disorder into the world.

The plot with the part of "PVP" was… surprising to say the least.

Team CFVY vs Team RWBY. One on One.

It was Velvet against Ruby. It was originally supposed to be Yang vs Mercury on this part, but with Cinder's team losing, the plot changed.

He'll never know how this show will go.

"So, was this supposed to be it?"

"No," He shook his head. "It was originally supposed to be Yang against Mercury, but since they lost, the course of the plot changed."

"So we avoided the inevitable of a Grimm surge?"

"Wait, we did?" Lordez blinked in confusion.

"Uhhh, I remember you telling me that there was supposed to be a Grimm spike increase when Yang 'broke' one of the punk's legs."

"...Huh."

"So you do forget things dont you?"

"Hey, try being in my shoes. It's hard to multitask."

"Yeah, sure. As you wish 'Genius'." Orm grumbled. "Now shut up dude, I wanna watch how this goes." He said before scarfing down several fries from his small pile.

When the match started, with Port introducing the contenders, Velvet started up by materializing a holographic replica of, surprising him, his weapon; [Soul Eater].

It made him remember at times when she took pictures of weapons and students. It would make her seem… Weird in a way, but her style of fighting was flexible, but with a few flaws.

The copied weapons don't have the same power and effectiveness of the original weapon, and are short lived. It was like those Cash Shop Items; the [Quick-Change Item]. Except they don't die after dealing some damage like Velvet's camera weapons.

Ruby, after getting over her excitement and the memory of her previous fight against Professor Lordez, a fellow scythe wielder before, attacked head on with a burst of speed.

Ruby aimed for Velvet's wrist holding the replica weapon. And to his surprise, she managed to avoid the attack and countered with a wide swing at Ruby.

*CLANG*

Not able to dodge in time, she blocked the attack but the impact threw her quite a distance, almost falling out of bounce from the arena.

Even though Velvet managed to copy his weapon, he would have thought the damn thing wouldn't be the same as the original.

Apparently he was wrong.

Dead wrong.

If he is correct in his guess, Velvet's camera can probably copy not just his or Orm's weapons, but YGGDRASIL weapons too. And despite being created by the {Create Greater Item} spell, the damn thing is TCI (Top Class Item).

It would be broken as fuck if it could copy the weapon or item's ability. Copy a WCI, use it for how many seconds, and boom. It's Endgame phase.

Fortunately, like he thought, it can only copy the strength and power of the weapon, not its ability thank fuck All. Since it didn't seem to emit any aura, only the material that Velvet was able to copy.

Velvet, after shaking the shock out of her mind, not expecting that their Trainer's weapon being so powerful that even just by hitting someone it would throw them almost half the arena away, she immediately charged towards Ruby who was just regaining her bearings after that impact.

Ruby was quick to respond by stepping to the side to avoid the attack, twirling her body around and countering with the blunt part of her scythe.

It managed to hit, making Velvet stumble to the side, gaining the opportunity for Ruby to get a strike in.

(I fucking suck at writing fight scenes)

Ruby comboed the hell out of Velvet before Velvet managed to get a surprise attack on herself by throwing an uppercut to her chin. Ruby's aura may have protected against the damage, but the vibration itself managed to shake the brain, stunning her.

Velvet pulled Ruby's head and kneed the fuck out of that face, making some of the audience cringe from that move. No doubt making Yang madder than she already was, Blake and Weiss trying to calm their teammate down.

Lordez could only frown as Velvet lost her chance on beating Ruby. The scythe user was in a stunned state, even if briefly, she could have used a take-down on her. Then the memory of Aura reminded him that it gives a person incredible strength and speed. So he felt stupid on judging her 'lost choice of opportunity' on that one.

Velvet materialized another weapon, Ember Celica. The surprise on the original user of the weapon when she showed an incredible amount of swift punches to Ruby who seemed to be panicking while blocking her fists.

Velvet proceeded to switch Ember Celica to Coco's minigun; Gianduja. She hunkered down and rained hell on Ruby who ran around using her semblance to dodge the bullets.

Checking the leaderboard, Ruby is still good in Aura, but hers was lower compared to Velvet.

'Show me what you two can do.'

Ruby fired her scythe downwards several times, throwing herself up in the air and firing again, using the recoil of her scythe to turn herself into a living projectile. Velvet, using most of the weapon's ammunition, materialized [Executioner]; Orm's greatsword.

"Oho~" Orm hummed at the sight of the holographic replica of his weapon.

Despite how heavy-looking it is, Velvet was able to wield it with ease due to Aura and braced her stance, with the greatsword withdrawn; indicating she would make an upward slash.

Once within range, the two almost in sync; clashing blades together. (Something like a one-side clash hit?)

Although, with the [Executioner] being the same level power as Lordez's, the result was surprising to the audience but not to the two players. Ruby was literally thrown upwards by the force and power alone by Velvet's greatsword. If Ruby wasn't so focused on orienting herself, she would have noticed the cracks on the scythe's blade, and the internal parts moving ever so slightly.

Ruby felt lighter than ever, as if she was flying. Despite being seemingly helpless in the air, she was now above Velvet just 10 meters up in the air. Ruby whirled her body around and fired her scythe adding a little bit of boost and at the same time, activated her Semblance.

She came crashing down like a meteor from space, down towards Velvet who was unable to do anything in time.

*BOOM*

*CRASH*

The floor, despite being heavily reinforced with materials that would be enough to withstand dust explosions, was cracked by Ruby's Meteor Fall. Holy hell that sounded like a special move.

Velvet's aura almost instantly turned to the red zone, just almost an inch from the yellow zone. With Ruby's aura also lowering by a bit, indicating that she took some damage when she crashed into the ground.

"Ruby Rose has won the match!" Port announced, followed by a loud collective cheers from the audience.

WBY cheered in joy that their teammate and leader won, CFY were slightly disappointed that their friend lost but were good sports about it.

They watched as Ruby helped Velvet up and shook hands, no doubt they were good sports in the fight.

Lordez smiled while Orm laughed as he clapped his hands excitedly at the fight.

"Hahahahah! Would you look at that! You trained them well!" He grinned to his friend, who simply shrugged.

"I only did my job." He said casually, but inside he was happy from the praise coming from his friend.

"Yeahah! You trained them well! That's one thing you sucked at before, and now you're suddenly good at it!"

He felt his smile twitch. "And by that part, are you trying to piss me off?"

"Nah, just wanted to point out that you are still... You." He motioned to him.

Lordez sighed at his friend's minor antics. Although he was no doubt proud at his work with the students, they had performed well. Even with Jaune being the most unskilled person in the school, he developed well. Since going along with Pyrrha sticking with him.

One thing's for sure, this match surprised him. It definitely changed the game.

Velvet's camera is able to mimic the weapon's material, but not its abilities. It was both a relief and a bad thing.

He was a bit disappointed that it didn't manage to copy the weapons' abilities. But he was also damn glad it didn't manage to copy their weapons' abilities.

He was unsure whether it shadowed his concerns or his disappointment on that one, but he felt he was leaning to the former.

And if he was being honest, he had no idea that the camera was able to copy the strength of YGGDRASIL's weapon, or of anything made of YGGDRASIL magic. All he knows is that Anesidora is able to copy any weapon it pictured, but one thing he remembered is that it used Hard-Light Dust.

NOT COPY THE ENTIRE MATERIAL ITSELF!

But a weapon with pure physical power without any abilities or enchants is almost useless in PvP situations in YGGDRASIL, it would be suicidal.

'...Unless you're Jason in that regard.'

"Hey, you brooding again?" Orm slightly shook his arm, bringing him back to reality.

"Hm?"

"Next match starts at 6:30 PM, long break, and we can prep the plan now!" He said, with a small sense of urgency in his voice. "Don't want the stalls to run out of food when the match starts."

"...You go ahead, I'll just wait here."

The viking raised a brow. "You sure? I'll get you something if you want."

"Just fries and a burger. I have some things to think about."

Orm shrugged as he walked away, leaving his friend brooding in peace. Knowing him, he thinks a lot of planning and a good amount of caution showed from him.

Some moments later, Lordez noticed Velvet coming up to him.

"You did well, Ms Scarlatina." He said, causing the bunny Faunus to meekly bow her head in thanks. Even after all that training she got from him, she is still a meek little bunny. Up until she fights, damn she is fierce.

"It's thanks to your training, sir Lordez."

"I merely guided you and your comrades, anything else, you've earned by sweat and blood." He said. "All in all, you did your best in the match. So goes to Ruby as well."

"Yes, speaking about the match, what was your sword made of? Even Mr. Hank's. When I swung the scythe at Ruby, I didn't put up all my strength behind it."

Such a question was expected. Although...

'Looks like they are really using that nickname.' He felt a twitch of his mouth going upwards. "That also goes the same for yours. Your camera can replicate other weapons, such a thing was shown in the match, using Hard-Light Dust yes?"

"Yes, but from how it felt, your scythe and Mr. Hank's greatswords were a bit heavier and more durable compared to any other weapons I have felt." She said. "But it's strange, even though I had replaced the materials with just Hard-Light Dust, your weapons seemed to be much stronger than any of the weapons I copied from others."

"I see…" 'She was able to tell such a thing then?' "This is quite a discovery, but something like this can be answered the next time. It is good you told me this, Ms Scarlatina."

"It's no problem, sir Lordez." She said, although is that a light pink of red on her cheeks? Is she blushing!?

He would have thought it would be her having a crush on him, considering what had happened before in the cafeteria in the first week of school...

"But, may I ask what are your weapons made of? They don't seem to be anything I've ever seen before."

He grinned. "That's because our weapons are not made by any normal material."

"You mean they are made by something else?" Her eyes widen in disbelief.

"It was made by magic!" He started proudly, making a little pose with his chin up. As if he was taking pride in those words."

"..." Her expression… No doubt she wouldn't believe that. Too bad, it was the truth.

"Heheh, but all serious now; You wouldn't be able to find those kinds of materials anywhere in Remnant unfortunately." He answered as he dusted off the non-existing dust from his clothes from his awful pose earlier.

"What do you mean?"

"That's because they are something from the past. From what I have been told, the material acquired to create our weapons, came from the shattered moon." He looked up, emphasizing his point.

"Really!?"

"But that is something I'll tell you next time, Ms Scarlatina. Because it seems your friends are waiting for you over there." He pointed behind her, and indeed was CFY. With Coco having a wide grin on her face. No doubt making the wrong connections in her head for the teasing of their teammate.

He'd like to see scenes like these without any worry.

Because the next match is Pyrrha vs Penny. And if the plot goes the same, Ozpin would be having Pyrrha become the next Maiden.

But if it goes sideways and Ozpin doesn't plan to have Pyrrha be the next Maiden, then he'll have to improvise. Once the situation starts, then he would be the start to conquer Vale from Grimm influence.

Victory without sacrifice for the good.

Day was done, and now comes noon.

There was barely anyone on the grounds of Beacon.

Mostly because everyone is now at the fairgrounds to spend money, enjoy themselves, or just eat… I mean, it's literally a fucking festival, what the hell was there to be-

Lordez, acquired fries and burger given by Orm (owing his friend a couple of lien for that), went back to Beacon to talk with Ozpin, or Antonio for that matter.

He would have used {Gate} to reach there, but what would make him be hasty to not waste time?

Aside from the Fall of Beacon event, he is confident that he had set his plans in stone. Everything is set and ready to go, just one signal they need, and the plan will be executed.

Conquer Remnant, get rid of the Grimm, have Humanity and Faunus NOT kill each other and fucking finally co-exist peacefully, and then hope to Gman that he would be able to go to his father's world. Mischievous the bastard is, but he somehow keeps his word.

His ears then picked up someone talking, familiar voices. He then saw Nora dragging Ren turning from a corner.

'Ah, so it's that scene huh?' It was literally dusk as he noticed, making him remember that certain scene with Pyrrha having conflicting thoughts on whether she would become the next Maiden-

'Wait, so it's that scene? So Ozpin really gave her a choice…' He frowned slightly.

"Oh, sir Lordez!" She waved her hand cheerfully with a smile on her face. And Ren who noticed him as he tried to wave his hand but cannot because he is carrying a huge ass bucket of popcorn and a seemingly large-ass cotton candy that he would think Ruby would gulp the entire thing… Unless they are chibi. "Whatcha doing around here?"

"I just arrived, Ms Valkyrie." He replied. "Based on what I currently see, I take it you two enjoyed the festival?"

"Yep!"

"Then must I ask, why does it look like you two are heading back to the fairgrounds?" He grinned inwardly, wanting to tease the ever-energetic hammer-wielding orphan girl. Ren just looked at her confusingly as he also wanted to ask that same question that their Trainer is asking as he took a sip from his straw quietly.

"W-Well, we're on our way there to win a stuffed animal!" She answered although the way she told it was almost like Ruby trying to make a lie.

'Jeez, they are both the same, yet different in blood.' "...Then enjoy yourselves." Walking away to where Ren and Nora came from.

He could feel Nora trying to say something but for some reason held back.

Sensing two certain souls around the corner, he then saw Pyrrha and Jaune sitting their backs behind the wall.

She was letting her head onto the side of Jaune's arm.

'Ah, so we're in that part now.' He thought. Knowing how this scene goes, it was really confusing how Jaune didn't notice what Pyrrha was trying to say… But understandingly, girls are damn confusing.

Talking about something only they know what they are talking about to someone who doesn't understand what they are talking about.

Big Brain.

He waited up until Pyrrha used her semblance on Jaune, holding him up against the wall before running away in tears, leaving him confused.

Seeing the chance, he slowly walked up to Jaune on his knees, looking like a badass motherfucker with wind breezing onto the side for dramatic addition.

"What did I say…?" He heard Jaune ask himself that question. He could seriously answer that for him, but that would ruin the surprise.

"...Perhaps there was a misunderstanding between the two of you."

Jaune turned his head around and saw his Trainer. "S-Sir Lordez… You heard that?"

"No doubt about it, now, can you stand?" He held out his hand for him, to which Jaune accepted and Lordez helped him up on his feet.

"Thanks."

"I couldn't help but overhear your… private conversation with Ms Nikos. Would it be easy to believe that there's a misunderstanding in the middle?"

"I don't know what I said to make her feel bad!" He waved his arms frantically. "She's talking about destiny, and I don't know what's wrong with her about it!"

"...It's not your fault whatsoever. There's something on her mind that conflicts her…" He didn't know how to put the words… For one to decide something that holds a great burden. "Sometimes, no, most of the time in this kind of situation, women tend to be confusing. But within time, we would know what she is trying to say… But it is truly astonishing though."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"If you haven't noticed, she is in love with you."

The next match is nearing, and everyone is gathering in their seats.

Lordez did some last minute preparations and put in a couple of cloaked Skull Spiders on every entrance. Shadow Demons on unauthorized halls, including where Ruby encounters Mercury.

Speaking of Mercury, should he have a Darkwraith to protect Ruby like last time? Or should he put in the Shadow Doppelganger to Mercury for their 'reunion'?

Both would cause Ruby to be traumatized though… Oof, tough choices.

Technically, it wouldn't matter as he'll have to show up as the Herald of the Nightmare King and retake Vale from the Grimm. As well as the White Fang… Only those who would surrender anyway, he'll have to put that order to all his summons on that one.

"Think fast ya git!"

With lightning reflexes, he turned around and caught something that was tossed at him. A burger.

*Whistle* "You still got them moves."

"Heh, your fault for making me hear you." He unwrapped the burger and took a bite from it.

"Eh, true on that one." He shrugged, handing him a large fries. Tossing them would mean they would be spilled, and wasting food is not their forte and is utterly stupid. Who in the world would want to waste such delicious food? Unhealthy which they learned the past months, but it's still delicious as fuck. "So, plan's a ready?" (Intentionally wrong grammar, ignore that)

He nodded his head. "Did a last few touches before the match was about to start."

"So the Fall of Beacon is going to start after this?" His friend groaned in annoyance. "I wanna see the fight, why can't we stop them early on again?"

"Because of character development. And also we can't always solve their problems all the time. They wouldn't-"

"-wouldn't learn yes. I know. But it's so annoying though~..." He complained.

"Well, at least you might fight against Tyrian or someone within the Queen's ranks."

"But can they put up a good fight? Because I highly doubt so."

"Hahah, true. But there might be some surprises around the corner, we might get caught off guard from it. Like how we did not expect Gman and Askad to be here."

"And here I thought you thought about everything."

"Yeah, screw you too bud." He huffed. "Anyways, after a few minutes when the match starts, the Pawn's monologue would start as panic would ensue-"

"Wait, 'Pawn'?"

"You know damn well what I mean by that."

Lordez then saw Ruby getting out of her seat and going into the maintenance hall. It is settled, he'll have to summon in a Darkwraith to protect Ruby.

Oobleck was now announcing the matchup, Penny vs Pyrrha.

"It's starting." He grinned. "Orm, you got your bear ready?"

"Aye, boy is at the Beacon's courtyard." His tone changed. All serious now. "Are you going to make your entrance as your 'other'?"

"No, not yet for now. Once the White Fang appears, the reckoning will begin."

"Oof, sounds edgy when you say it like that."

"Shush." He glared at his friend, who just looked away like nothing was wrong. "Unless you just want to enjoy the fight, or be in the fight. Besides, can't Glynda be worried all about you."

"What do you mean? That woman is worried about me?" He raised a brow. "Wait, don't tell me-"

"She seems to have a small crush on your muscled ass." He grinned. "And finally all those years-"

"Don't you dare." He frowned, having a small feeling that he knows where this is going now.

"-those years of silent solitude-"

"Don't you fucking dare." He growled as he clenched his fists.

"-you finally will get laid you lil ass virgin cunt!" He grinned.

"Alright thats it, I'll fucking teach ya a lesson you hypocritic fucking virgin-!" Before Orm was about to punch Lordez into oblivion, the speakers boomed with a loud voice.

"And now, it is the time to begin the randomization process for our next fight!" Oobleck announced through the speakers, making Orm to just grumble in annoyance and excitement.

"I'll get you back at this, I swear." He half-growled half-mumbled.

"A duel for the next time then man." He smirked. Although he was saved by the luck of the devil there. He would have lost in a 1v1 fight against him.

"It looks like our first contender is…"

"When's the signal?" The viking asked, slightly excited for a fight he would be in. All those guarding and patrolling the school's perimeter would finally end as changes would become soon.

"You'll know it when it happens."

"Classic line there, classic line." He said sarcastically.

And there it begins, the enthusiastic robot girl, and the seemingly discontent Mistal Champion, now appeared from the rising platform in the middle of the arena.

Seeing how its going the same, he cast {Message} to one of the Lich assigned in anti-infiltration.

[Lich]

[Yes, my creator. What are your orders?]

[Have the Darkwraith protect the girl whom I described to you, no harm must come onto her. But do not have the Darkwraith kill anyone meaninglessly. Have it capture if possible, minimize destruction and death]

[As you wish, my creator] He then disconnected from the link before straightening his back.

'Now, just wait until the time arrives.'

. . .

Ruby was suspicious of Mercury in front of her right now. And the match seemed odd, like it was set up for two certain people she knows.

If Pyrrha uses her polarity on her best friend Penny, it would bring disaster! Worse, someone could get killed! (Or destroyed)

She needs to stop them! She needs to go to the teachers and stop the match, but Mercury is standing in her way.

Panic and worry overtook her mind, as all she was thinking was trying to get past him and warn the teachers, she used her speed to go past him, but he was able to predict where she was going and kicked her in the stomach.

She thought of calling her friends with her scroll, but Mercury destroyed it with a shot from his gun boots.

"Now… Let's just keep this between us friends." He said smugly before rushing to the downed Ruby.

Ruby got up in time to dodge backward from another kick before being forced to block it with her arm. Mercury forced her to block his attacks, not giving her any time to recover.

Mercury made a small mistake on missing an attack on her, allowing her to back off and recover.

Ruby knew that she was unable to beat Mercury in hand-to-hand combat, as she relied much on her weapon. And said weapon isn't on her person which makes it more difficult. Despite her training from their combat-instructor Lordez, her weakness of hand-to-hand combat still implies. Even if it is decent enough for her to hold her ground.

If she cannot force her way through Mercury, then she will have to fight her way through…

But by the time any of them could make a move, a small pool of darkness appeared on the ground between them. Slowly and out of the shadow was a figure and they suddenly felt the temperature just dropped, their legs trembling slightly in response, a cold sweat sliding down their necks as they looked on in anxiousness.

The shadow from the figure began to fade, making its appearance clear as crystal day. Ruby widened her eyes in recognition.

It was the same being that she saw back at the CCT that night!

While Ruby was looking at the figure in astonishment, Mercury on the other hand was sweating a lot. This thing in front of him was bad news. His instincts were screaming at him to run and avoid this thing at all costs.

But he pushed those thoughts aside as paranoia and began to charge in at the Darkwraith, leaning in with a kick to the ribs.

Mercury didn't expect it to grab his leg and used him as a club, making him crash down to the ground, making it crack. The Darkwraith did not show any mercy and continued its silent rampage.

It didn't stop, until the threat to his master's order on protecting the human girl behind it, she went up in front of it and grabbed its arm, as if to make it stop smashing Mercury onto the ground like a toddler playing with its toy.

"P-Please stop!" Ruby exclaimed, out of pity and in disgust from stopping this… thing from killing Mercury. He may be one of the bad guys, but that doesn't mean they need to die!

The Darkwraith only stared at her for a good long moment, to which Ruby was beginning to sweat nervously, before dropping its hold on the boy. Mercury was incapacitated due to being used as a club and smashed into the ground. While he didn't receive any damage due to being protected by Aura, it didn't protect his head from the constant smashing he received, shaking his brain until he was knocked out.

Ruby could only wince at the sound of Mercury being dropped on the ground. And now she realized her mistake, she was within the range of this thing. But before she could do anything, the being in front of her simply vanished into particles of black. The same thing happened back in the CCT.

She didn't realize that she was holding a great amount of air in. The stress and anxiousness she was getting from the skeleton-man.

As she was about to drop down to ground out of exhaustion and stress, her mind reminded her what she needed to do once she glanced at Mercury. She needed to stop this match!

And with that, she used her semblance, rushing to her destination.

. . .

Lordez smiled as he received the message that Mercury has been knocked out, and Ruby Rose was now on her merry way.

He would have had Mercury killed there and then, but the benefits of having him alive for some certain… interests outweigh the risks. Plus, if he is being troublesome, he can easily deal with him. The same goes for Emerald.

And now, to save Penny. The plan was sound, but the execution was tricky.

Once Pyrrha's mind is being manipulated by Emerald, he'll use that chance to use {Time Stop} and carefully switch Penny with a Shadow Doppelganger. He would have Cinder play her little plan, thinking that she is in control while he is just twisting the screws of her little play-plan.

And besides, what's the bad thing in gaining a favor for a man who created Penny?

"I see you brooding over there, brodir."

He glanced at his friend, whose expression was deadpanned.

"It's all going so well~."

"Your overconfidence worries me."

"That's because you never believe, Orm. To believe is to seek victory!"

Orm scoffed. "Yeah, like that happened last time."

While he could have retorted back to his friend at that time, to which he winced at the bad memory, he needed to be focused on timing his {Time Stop} spell at the right moment.

And oh boy did that moment come in PERFECTLY!

Once Pyrrha used her semblance to deflect the 'swarm' of blades that she was 'seeing', Lordez quickly cast {Time Stop} (ZA WARUDO!) and went down to the arena.

"You sure they would buy it?"

He hummed at the thought. It did occur to him that the Shadow Doppelganger wouldn't be able to mimic the electric sparks or any sounds of machine parts 'dying' inside Penny's mechanism, but a simple illusion spell would make it work.

"You know what our leader said-!" Orm shouted across the arena.

"Yeah yeah, "Improvise"." He waved lazily in response.

He summoned in a Shadow Doppelganger and ordered it to mimic Penny's appearance. It didn't take a minute for it to completely transform.

"Now we switch their places."

He gently grabbed the frozen-in-time-and-space Penny and had the Doppelganger Penny to switch its position from the original. Posing the exact position as the real Penny has.

With that done, he went back to his seat. And before dismissing the spell, he double checked.

"Jeez, just start it up already!"

"Shut up! It takes precise surgical cuts and timing on this!"

"You planned for this day and moment for so long, it's not like something is going to change."

"You sonofabtch! You're inviting CHANGE into my fucking plan!" He screamed. "DON'T TEMPT THE UNIVERSE ON ME!"

"Hahahaha!"

After a few minutes of the two bickering idiotically with each other, Lordez undid the spell and let time continue.

And now, chaos reigns.

CHAOS REIGNS!