Chương 105: Chapter 98: The Glitch from Beyond the Board

The howling gales of Solitas were merciless. The biting, sub-zero wind carried a flurry of razor-sharp ice crystals across the desolate, snow-drowned tundra just outside the gleaming, floating city of Atlas. Inside an abandoned, rusted Dust-processing warehouse far beyond the city's immediate perimeter, the shadows clung heavily to the frost-coated walls. The corrugated iron roof groaned under the weight of the endless blizzard.

The heavy, frozen steel doors of the warehouse shrieked as they were forcefully kicked open. Mercury Black stepped inside, violently shivering as he rubbed his gloved hands together. His breath plumed in thick, white clouds.

"I hate this kingdom. I absolutely hate it. If my legs weren't metal, they would have snapped off five miles ago."

"Stop complaining," Emerald Sustrai muttered, pulling her dark cloak tighter around her shoulders as she stepped into the gloom. Her dark eyes darted nervously around the empty, freezing facility.

"We made it undetected." Behind them, the storm seemed to part. Cinder Fall glided into the warehouse. The freezing temperatures of the tundra did not touch her. A localized, suffocating wave of heat radiated from her body, instantly melting the snow beneath her boots into hissing puddles of steam. Her right, human eye burned with a bright, amber arrogance, while a faint, ethereal green glow pulsed beneath the skin of her scarred face.

She carried the overwhelming, dual magic of the Fall and Spring Maidens, and the sheer atmospheric pressure she exuded was terrifying. Hazel Rainart was the last to enter, ducking his massive, hulking frame through the doorway. He was completely unbothered by the freezing climate, his face a mask of solemn, unyielding stone as he pulled the heavy steel doors shut, sealing out the roaring blizzard.

"Welcome to the frozen north." A crisp, cultured voice echoed from the catwalk above them. Arthur Watts descended a rusted metal staircase with effortless, aristocratic grace. He wore a heavy, impeccably tailored Atlesian winter coat, his mustache perfectly groomed. Trailing closely behind him, hanging precariously over the railing with a manic, unhinged grin, was Tyrian Callows.

The scorpion Faunus dropped from the catwalk, landing in a graceful crouch before standing up, his metallic stinger twitching excitedly behind him.

"My, my! Would you look at her!" Tyrian cackled, his yellow eyes wide and feverish as he circled Cinder, clapping his hands together.

"The little ember has become a raging wildfire! Two Maidens wrapped in a single, fragile vessel! Does the magic burn, dear Cinder? Or does it merely make you feel like you belong on a throne?" Cinder's amber eye narrowed. A pulse of superheated wind blasted outward, forcing Tyrian to take a half-step back, though his manic grin never wavered.

"Save your breath, Tyrian," Cinder purred, her voice dripping with venomous, absolute superiority. She didn't even look at the psychopath, entirely dismissing his satirical antics.

"I am stronger than I have ever been. Your mockery means absolutely nothing to me anymore." Watts offered a smooth, polite bow, adjusting his cuffs.

"I must offer my congratulations, Cinder. Claiming the Spring Maiden's power was a monumental triumph. You have certainly exceeded expectations."

"What is the situation in Atlas, Arthur?" Hazel rumbled, his deep voice cutting through the pleasantries as he stepped forward.

"Salem expects this kingdom to be primed for our arrival."

"And it is, my large friend. I have been making quite the mess from the inside," Watts smirked, tapping a few commands into his sleek, encrypted scroll. A holographic projection of the floating city of Atlas and the cratered, sprawling city of Mantle below it flared to life in the center of the warehouse.

"I have successfully hacked the municipal heating grid of Mantle," Watts explained, his eyes glinting with malicious pride.

"I am actively siphoning their warmth. The lower city is freezing, and the citizens are blaming the elites of Atlas. The tension between the wealthy floating city and the neglected slums below has reached a boiling point. General Ironwood is drowning in civil unrest." Watts tapped his scroll again, bringing up a portrait of an arrogant, white-haired man.

"Furthermore, Tyrian and I are orchestrating a flawless manipulation of the current Council election. We're planning to utilize the boundless greed of Jacques Schnee, we will ensure that Ironwood's political allies are removed from power. The military and the Council are tearing each other apart. Atlas is a fractured, paranoid mess." Cinder smiled, a cruel, satisfied expression.

"Excellent. But what of the giant machine? The colossal robot that destroyed the Grimm invasion in Upper Mistral? Has Ironwood mobilized it?" Watts's smug expression faltered for a fraction of a second. He sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"I have absolutely no clue, Cinder," Watts admitted, a rare note of profound frustration coloring his tone.

"I have scoured every classified server, every hidden military R&D file, and every Black Project budget in the Atlesian grid. I am still searching to see if Ironwood is hiding some kind of secret subterranean base, but as of right now? If Atlas built that mechanical titan, there is absolutely zero digital footprint of its existence."

"How is that possible?" Mercury frowned, crossing his arms.

"You can't just hide a robot the size of a skyscraper."

"Indeed. Which brings me to a piece of intelligence far more interesting than a missing machine," Watts said, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the group.

"My surveillance algorithms in Mistral picked up a highly disturbing anomaly in the aftermath of your departure. Specifically... regarding the Vault beneath Haven Academy." Hazel's posture stiffened.

"The cavern collapsed. The door was buried under hundreds of tons of bedrock. The Relic is sealed."

"It was sealed," Watts corrected, swiping his scroll to display an intercepted post-battle photograph. Cinder, Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury stepped closer to the hologram. Their eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated shock. The image showed the ancient, god-forged wooden doors of the Haven Vault. They weren't just open. They were completely, catastrophically shattered into millions of splintered, magical shards.

"What... what is this?" Cinder gasped, her fists clenching as the flames in her eyes sputtered in disbelief.

"How is this possible? I have the Spring Maiden's power! Without me, the door cannot be opened!"

"It appears Ozpin and his group found a way," Watts stated grimly.

"The door was destroyed by an unknown force. They possess the Relic of Knowledge."

"Then they will bring it here," Hazel growled, his fists tightening.

"To lock it away with the Relic of Creation."

"They certainly intend to," Watts smirked, his confidence returning.

"General Ironwood drafted a high-level military clearance to allow Qrow Branwen and his students to fly a transport directly into Atlas. But before he could send the authorization... I severed the network." If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Watts chuckled, pocketing his scroll.

"I cut Atlas off from the outside world. I trapped Ozpin's vanguard in the coastal city of Argus. Eventually, Ironwood's technicians will manage to restart the network, but with Ozpin's group currently grounded on another continent, we have a massive tactical head start."

"More time to secure our prize," Cinder purred, her shock morphing back into predatory ambition. She looked at Watts, her amber eye gleaming.

"And what of the Winter Maiden? Do you have her exact coordinates?"

"I do," Watts confirmed.

"Based on the internal communications I intercepted, General Ironwood has placed the Winter Maiden under extreme, high-tier security within the Atlas Medical Facility. He is keeping her in a state of clinical isolation to ensure her power does not fall into Salem's hands, highly reminiscent of how Ozpin guarded the previous Fall Maiden beneath Beacon." A wicked, terrifyingly wide smile stretched across Cinder's scarred face.

The thought of consuming a third Maiden's power, of claiming the Winter magic and adding it to her overwhelming arsenal, sent a rush of intoxicating euphoria through her veins.

"Perfect," Cinder whispered, stepping away from the hologram.

"I cannot wait to find her." From the shadows, Emerald watched her leader. Her dark eyes were filled with a profound, quiet terror. She saw the manic, obsessive hunger consuming Cinder's features, the way the Grimm arm twitched with dark anticipation. She's losing herself. Emerald thought, her heart hammering painfully against her ribs. The power is eating her alive. BEEP-BEEP. A sharp, high-priority notification chime echoed from Watts's scroll. Watts paused, pulling the device back out.

He opened the holographic screen, his aristocratic eyes scanning the incoming data packet from the coastal surveillance feeds of Argus. Watts's eyes widened to the size of saucers. Then, a low, genuinely bewildered chuckle escaped his lips.

"Well, well. Things just keep getting more and more interesting."

"What is it, Arthur?" Hazel demanded. Watts widened the holographic screen, rotating it so the entire inner circle could see. Everyone in the warehouse froze. It was a high-resolution, intercepted military feed from the Argus bay. The video displayed a towering, Leviathan-class Grimm emerging from the ocean, flanked by an apocalyptic swarm of Manticores and Sphinxes. But it wasn't the Grimm that left the villains in shock.

Dropping from the upper atmosphere with an earth-shattering boom was a colossal, humanoid entity. Its entire body was gleaming silver, marked with striking red lines and a pulsing blue light on its chest. Cinder's jaw dropped. Hazel stared in absolute, rigid silence. Emerald backed away in horror. They watched the silver giant position its hands in a flawless "+" shape.

A devastating, incandescent beam of pure white light erupted from its wrist, striking the Leviathan and instantly vaporizing it into microscopic ash. The giant swept its beam across the sky, obliterating hundreds of flying Grimm in a matter of seconds. After saving the city, the silver giant looked to the sky, yelled a bizarre battle cry, and flew directly upward, vanishing into the outer atmosphere. The holographic feed looped, casting a pale blue light over the speechless villains.

Mercury Black slowly raised a trembling hand, pointing at the screen. His usual cocky, sarcastic demeanor was entirely shattered.

"Is that... an alien?!" Mercury yelled, his voice cracking.

"Like in the movies?!"

Far away, across the churning oceans and jagged mountains, the sky above the Land of Darkness wept a perpetual, bruising rain of ash. Inside the cavernous, obsidian conference hall of Evernight Castle, Salem sat upon her dark throne. Floating perfectly still in the center of the room was a Seer Grimm. Its gelatinous body pulsed with a faint, eerie light, projecting the exact same footage of the silver giant obliterating the Leviathan over the bay of Argus.

Salem watched the blinding white beam of light erase her army. Her pale, translucent hands gripped the armrests of her throne. The dark, corrupted veins pulsing beneath her skin throbbed with a volatile, chaotic rhythm. She was confused. In all her millennia of existence, she was entirely, profoundly confused. And she was terrified. Salem replayed the events of the past few months in her mind, a descending spiral of absolute, reality-breaking anomalies. First, there was the bald man in the yellow suit.

The "Hero of Vale" who had fallen from the sky to save Beacon Academy. He possessed no Aura. He possessed no Semblance. He did not fight like a Huntsman, and he did not even harbor the fear that her Grimm fed upon. He was an absolute vacuum of mortal limitations who had casually caught her Seer Grimm with his bare hands. And he looked directly at her, through the eye of a hidden Seer back in the Forever Fall Forest about two months ago. He knew who she was.

Then, the colossal, alien-looking mechanical titan that had materialized in Mistral, effortlessly destroying the horde she had personally commanded, before vanishing into the clouds. And now? A literal alien. A silver giant of light with a devastating, apocalyptic beam weapon, descending from the stars to obliterate a Leviathan and hundreds of her beasts. Salem's crimson eyes narrowed, analyzing the footage again. She noticed something crucial.

Before the silver giant attacked, the Leviathan's body had been partially turned to stone. Petrification. The realization struck her like a physical blow. There was a Silver-Eyed warrior traveling with Ozpin's group. A lineage she had hunted to the brink of extinction. She thought the bloodline was entirely eradicated. But Ozpin had managed to keep one hidden, and she was now unleashing her power on the board. However, the Silver-Eyed warrior was not her primary concern. Not anymore.

Salem stared at the glowing silver giant on the projection. An otherworldly, humanoid being, wielding the overwhelming, undeniable power of light. It reminded her of a face she hadn't seen since the dawn of humanity. The God of Light. Did the God of Light return? Is he actively intervening to help Ozpin's group? Salem closed her eyes, her mind rejecting the theory.

"No. It cannot be." Salem's immortal mind racing.

"It is impossible." He will not interfere with Remnant anymore. He and his brother are far away from this world. They can only be summoned if the four Relics are brought together. That was her ultimate goal. Her eternal, desperate crusade. She wanted to gather the Relics, to summon the Brother Gods so they could look upon a divided, hateful humanity, judge the world unworthy, and destroy Remnant entirely. So she could finally be free...

If the Brother Gods were bound by their own cosmic rules, there was absolutely no way that silver giant of light had any connection to them. But then who... or what... is it actually? The question burned in her mind. Combined with Arthur Watts's earlier report, the situation was spiraling completely out of her control. Ozpin's group had secured the Relic of Knowledge. They had done it without the power of the Spring Maiden. They had shattered an indestructible, god-forged door with an entirely unknown force.

Salem opened her eyes. The confusion melted away, instantly replaced by a blinding, suffocating rage. Why were there suddenly forces in this world that she had never seen in her entire, immortal life? These beings... The bald hero, the mechanical titan, the silver giant... They did not bear the Brother Gods' design. They existed outside the board entirely. They were a glitch in the fabric of her eternal war. And these otherworldly forces were constantly, effortlessly getting in her way.

Salem had spent thousands of years manipulating the shadows, orchestrating the perfect, flawless collapse of humanity. And now, some unknown, alien entities were treating her grand design like a trivial inconvenience. Salem had enough. She stood up from her throne. The sheer, overwhelming pressure of her dark magic caused the obsidian pillars of the hall to groan and crack. She swept past the floating Seer, the heavy train of her black robes trailing behind her like liquid shadow.

She walked out of the great iron doors of Evernight Castle, stepping out into the bruised, ash-choked atmosphere of the Land of Darkness. Before her stretched a vast, desolate canyon filled with massive, bubbling pools of black, tar-like substance. The Grimm pools. The birthplace of nightmares. Standing near the edge of the largest pit, Salem raised her pale hands. A massive, hulking Beringel dragged its bone-plated body out of the thick, black sludge. It pounded its chest, roaring at the violet sky.

Salem stepped close to the beast. Her eyes burned with absolute, unyielding malice. She channeled her dark magic, a swirling tempest of purple and black energy enveloping her hands. She thrust her magic directly into the Beringel's back. The beast shrieked in agony as its physical form violently mutated. Flesh tore and bone shifted. From the broad, muscular shoulders of the gorilla-Grimm, two massive, black-feathered Nevermore wings sprouted violently outward. The Beringel stumbled, testing its new appendages.

With a powerful, earth-shaking thrust of its new wings, the massive beast lifted off the ground, soaring high into the ashen sky to join hundreds of other Beringels that were currently being grafted with identical wings. Salem looked up at the terrifying, customized army of airborne monstrosities she was actively forging. She slowly lowered her hands, turning her gaze toward the northern horizon. I will no longer wait in the shadows.

If her inner circle could not handle the shifting board, if these alien anomalies continued to disrupt her endgame... She would ensure her victory personally. I will do it myself.