Tales of the Molten Fox

I should be doing something outside. It was a nice day outside, birds chirping and the tournament was still going on with many many people walking around. But, no here I was in my room, tinkering away on Molten fox. Every free moment I could get I was working on my weapon, didn’t want to have my skills in this sort of thing to dull from lack of trying.

Amaran and Umbra were out at the moment, Umbra going to the shooting range with something she got from her Uncle, and Amaran was out shopping. Mavis was… somewhere, I didn’t know where she was as she simply was gone when I woke up in the morning. Maybe to hype Yang up for her match with Weiss against two people from… I think Atlas? That would be interesting to see, Weiss against two Atlas Huntsmen.

I wasn't watching the match per say, more hearing about it through my scroll while I worked on Molten Fox. It was the usual commentators doing a play by play, they detailed each move made by either side and the match has already been going on for quite a while, even before I tuned in. Soon, however, the match came to an end with Yang and Weiss barely scraping up a win. I smiled before hearing the familiar sound of Mavis popping into the room via her powers and when I turned to look at her, I felt my eyes twitch.

Mavis was standing in the middle of the room naked other than the fact she painted ‘clothes’ on her. I facepalmed at this. “I didn’t mean it literally?!” I yelled, mostly at myself for actually not believing that she would do it. Mavis rolled her eyes at me.

"Then you shouldn't have mentioned it." She retorted, Sylph atop her head as they both stuck their tongues out at me. I shook my head as I turned back to my work and started to finish it.

“How did you get past the security in that… and last the whole match without getting found out?” I asked Mavis.

"Trust me, people saw," Mavis said with a giggle before adding. "I have a way with words you know." She said.

“Right…” I said to her as I finished up my work. “Heard Yang and Weiss won, though Weiss got burned in the process though,” I added.

"I know they won, I was there." She said, giving the top of my head some knocks while Sylph snickered. I grumbled a little as I looked over to Amber who was laying on the ground. she has been there for most of the day panting a bit but she saw Mavis and Sylph came in and gave her tail a wag, making it look like a wave.

“I think Amber is very close to due,” I said as I got up and went over to move some pillows for Amber. She nuzzled my leg as a show of thanks as I did this.

"I'll be ready to help her deliver, don't worry," Mavis said to me as she cleaned the paint off of her with one quick motion as Sylph yap, hopped off of Mavis and nuzzled up to Amber. Amber nuzzled back before laying her head on top of her paws.

As this was happening, there was a knock on the door which both Mavis and I turned to look at. I frowned as I didn’t expect anyone to come to our dorm room but I got up and went to answer it. When I opened it I saw it was Aunty.

“Hello Viri, you’re not busy I hope?” She asked me with a smile on her face.

“No, I’m not busy. Mavis is here as well.” I Said, informing her which got her to arch a brow. She didn’t say anything as I let her in. As I was closing the door I turned to see Auntie looked at Mavis.

“Didn’t you have time to put some clothes on?” Auntie asked Mavis, the latter shrugging.

"I live here, I can be naked or not whenever I want to," Mavis said to Auntie as the latter walked in and saw Amber with Sylph.

“Those two look like they’re getting along,” Auntie said with a smile.

“Yeah, they have been for some time. Why you ask that?” I asked Auntie who simply waved off the question.

“Just me being me, anyway as much as I wanted this to be a simply me coming over to say hi, I have something I want you two to go check out,” Auntie said to us, which got a groan from Mavis as a result.

"Again~?" She said with a groan as she floated about. Auntie looked over and arched a brow.

"Yes, again. I thought you would enjoy getting out and doing a mission." Auntie said to Mavis.

"Well… the last few you sent us on were either a nightmare land, a world full of racist Ponies, and a small island with some ruins." I said to her. Mavis nodded at my words while Auntie pinched the bridge of her nose at this, knowing that this argument is in our favour at the moment.

"You've already tricked us twice into heading into the most dangerous places imaginable, you could easily send in your people for this," Mavis said to Axycia with her arms crossed. Auntie turned and narrowed her eyes at Mavis.

“That’s true… and I did.” Auntie said before arching a brow. “Guess what happened to them.”

I felt like the two of them were about to fight until Amber snorted out some flames which got everyone’s attention. Honestly Amber looked like she was a very tired mom who had it with everything.

“Uhh, Amber is close to due and she’s… easily irritable. Honestly, if you two start arguing, she’ll set the place on fire.” I informed Auntie. Mavis huffed and rolled her eyes before saying.

"We're not going unless you tell exactly what you're planning with whatever we find." She said to Auntie with narrowed eyes.

“Well, this mission is I have you and whomever you bring with you is to go to an island that was once used by the Atlas military.” Auntie started to explain why she has an interest in this island. "They have a… strange history with the island. It once housed Atlas' greatest Research and Development, where they developed most of what they use now but it also housed plenty of Dust based research, which led to the creation of a new, rather dangerous type of dust." Auntie said as she showed us a small vial of what looked like purple ooze. The two of us looked at the ooze with some frowns.

“What exactly does it do?” I asked her before hearing some angry yips from behind me. We all looked back and saw Sylph growling towards us with her tail all poofed out as if she was facing off with another Grimm. “Uhh, what got into Sylph?” I asked to everyone.

"She must not like whatever that is," Mavis said in regards to the vial in Auntie's hand.

"As she should be. This stuff is… well if it gets into the wrong hands a lot of people will get hurt or die… or even worse." Auntie said before she made the vial vanish. "Atlas has recently been trying to recover the notes, formulas and documents from the old facility but I want to prevent them from ever getting them."

"And what do you plan to do with them?" Mavis asked her sister simply.

"Burn them." She replied simply as well. Both Mavis and I looked at one another for a moment before looking at Auntie as she continued. “This stuff is the worst, and I don’t want it to see the light of day.” Mavis soon nodded and snapped her fingers, getting her mission gear on.

"So find the research and notes, everything to do with it?" Mavis asked Auntie with an arched brow as Sylph got up, gave Amber a nuzzle and hopped onto Mavis' arms.

“Yes, everything,” Auntie informed us in a serious tone. “Again, I don’t want this to fall in anyone’s hands. The wrong ones or anyone I don’t care which.” She added while Mavis had snuggled Sylph in between her breasts comfortably for the latter.

"Alright, then but what is it that are we expecting to encounter there?" Mavis asked which Auntie shrugged, not filling me with much confidence.

"The usual Grimm maybe." She answered Mavis. Mavis and I looked at one another before I asked her a question.

“Is it going to be just us or will there be others?” I asked her, already putting on my hunting outfit.

"You anyone in mind?" She asked me with an arched brow as Mavis grabbed her fan blade. I gave it some thought as she put her weapon on her hip.

“Well… I think Umbra and Amaran are busy so… hey, what about Rose?” I asked Mavis, who was busy thinking herself. "I mean… she’s not doing anything, other than staying in her room or going out for some training.”

"I say we should bring along Amelia as well, she has every capable aspect of a good fighter for when the need comes," Mavis said to us, suggesting we bring along the usually recluse knight. I arched a brow at this before looking at Auntie.

“Is that fine?” I asked her to which she nodded.

“I know of Amelia, and I believe Rose can be trusted.” She said before standing up. “Again I’ll arrange transport… special transport.” With that she was gone, leaving me and Mavis to get the other two. First and foremost we headed out to find Rose as she'd be the easiest to find.

Both of us soon arrived at Rose’s room and we knocked on it. After a few moments, the door opened up to Rose.

“Hey, what’s up?” She asked as she was whipping her hands on an oily rag. The familiar smell of oil was coming from her room.

"We came by wondering if you'd like to join us for a mission out of the kingdom," Mavis said to Rose while Sylph yipped at Rose. Rose looked down at Sylph for a moment then back up at Mavis.

“What’s the mission?” She asked, tossing the rag over her shoulder. “on second thought, don’t tell me now, tell me on the way.”

“Why on the way?” I asked Rose, tilting my head a bit.

“Well if it’s a timed thing then it’s better to get going than standing around,” Rose answered as she went back into her room and started grabbing things. It took a few minutes but soon she came out with a familiar long leather coat and hat on top of her head. She also was holding a...cane? “So, are we off?” Rose asked us before Mavis shook her head.

"No, now we look for Amelia before we head out," Mavis said while Sylph let out a yap. With that being said the three of us headed off to find Amelia. The hallways were mostly empty as all the students are watching the tournament going on or are in said tournament.

After a few minutes of walking, we soon came up to another door which I guessed was Amelia’s room. Mavis knocked on the door and the three of us waited for Amelia to answer.

"I don't think I've seen her leave the room much since her arrival here," Mavis muttered mostly to herself but me and Rose heard this. I blinked at this as she had a point there, Amelia hasn't really gotten out of her room since she first got here and I really paid no mind at first but now it's worrying.

“Is that… bad?” I asked Mavis in a worried tone. “What if something had happened?” To which Mavis shrugged at me before knocking on the door again, to still have no answer. We all looked at one for a moment before Rose went over and put her ear to the door.

“I… I hear something going on in there… kinda like music.” Rose informed us of what she hears. Wait, music? I moved over and put my ear to the door as well and sure enough, I heard some muffled sounds, even some clicking. Both of us pulled away and looked back at Mavis.

“It… sounds like someone is in there...and there’s clicking as well.” I informed Mavis. With a frown Mavis poked at the lock of the door, gaining some clicks and turns before the door popped free for us to push open. Viri pushed the door opened and we looked inside the room to see a pretty bare room. There was only a bed, desk, dresser and closet in the room where we looked over to see Amelia sitting in her bed with… a controller? I looked over to where she’s looking and saw that she was playing a video game. The game itself was… odd to say the least, by the looks of it she was playing a knight and was in the middle of a grand boss battle against something called Slave Knight Gael? Weird name.

“I have a feeling that I know this game…” Rose said mostly to herself but it did get Amelia’s attention as she looked over to us with wide eyes.

“Uhh… hi?” She greeted us just as there was a loud slashing sound and we all saw that her character was turning into ash and the words ‘You Died’ appeared. “Ah… not again…”

"Ah, so you've been busy," Mavis said with a little laugh. Amelia looked back at Mavis with a little blush on her face.

"Yeah… I was." She said before getting off of the bed and standing up, stretching. "What can I do for you, my lady?"

"My lady?" Rose asked, arching a brow at the old knight.

"We came by wondering if you'd like to accompany us on an expedition," Mavis said to Amelia, ignoring Rose's confusion.

"I will be honoured to my lady," Amelia answered without batting an eye. Mavis smiled at this as Sylph tipped happily at Amelia. "I just need a bit to put on my armour."

"Armor?" Rose asked out loud before looking at me.

"Don't ask," I said to her.

"We will wait," Mavis said to Amelia before she petted and kissed Sylph, giving the little fox some love again. The three of us stepped out of Amelia's room as she started to change. As we waited we heard loud clangs and pieces of metal being moved around.

"When she means armour…" Rose started to say.

"She means actual armour," Mavis said to Rose as Sylph nuzzled onto Mavis happily. "So, everyone is ready?" She then asked us all. I nodded at her as Rose looked at Mavis.

"Are you… going in like that?" Rose asked Mavis.

"Of course I am, this is my mission outfit after all," Mavis said to Rose nonchalantly, having had this conversation before with many others. Rose stared at Mavis for a few moments before looking away, not saying anything.

After close to thirty minutes the door opened and Amelia walked out in full armour, her helmet under her and welded a halberd in her other hand. How she had a halberd in her room and didn’t make it stand out, I did not know.

"Ready?" Mavis asked Amelia while Rose was busy looking at the knight in surprise.

“Yes, my lady,” Amelia said with a small bow before looking over at Rose. “Is there something wrong?”

“What? No… just surprise that I’m seeing a knight up close.” Rose said before giving Amelia’s armour a few taps. “And someone walking around in full plate.” Mavis shrugged at this before floating ahead of us all, no doubt towards the Bullhead waiting for us at the landing station. All three of us soon followed behind her and it wasn't long until we found ourselves at the Bullhead with Amelia looking at it as if it were a beast.

“What kind of beast is this!” Amelia exclaimed, pointing her weapon towards the Bullhead. We all looked at her for a few moments before I spoke up.

“Amelia… it isn’t a beast, it’s something that flies through the air and transport people.” I tried to explain to the old knight, who still looked uneasy about it.

"Amelia, it's no beast. Just a ship, like a boat… but for the air." Mavis explained to Amelia, who soon calmed down enough to not look as if she'd attack the Bullhead. After she has calmed down we all soon entered the Bullhead and sat down. Amelia jumped a bit when the doors closed up and when we took off.

Amelia looked out the window in awe as we flew in the air as the rest of us kept silent or, in Mavis’ case, caring for Sylph. It was the most awkward flight I've ever had, the silence was just all of the ugh. My only wish is that I never have to go through this again, seriously it's so awkward I felt myself die a little...

"Oh dear heavens, just talk about something already!" Mavis exclaimed loudly, stopping her mushing over Sylph. Everyone jumped a bit when Mavis yelled this out. Ameila was the first to clear her throat after this.

“So… Lady Rose.” Amelia started to say which got Rose’s attention.

“Lady? Uhh, you can call me Rose.” Rose said, shifting uncomfortably.

“Alright… Rose, I heard you came from the Fifth Kingdom yes?” Amelia asked which Rose frowned a little out of confusion.

“Fifth Kingdom? Oh, you mean Yharnam?” Rose asked. Before Amelia could answer that, I jumped in to cover.

“Her family is from there,” I told Rose who looked at for a moment before shrinking into her seat.

“Right…” Rose said as she looked away from everyone. Amelia looked over to Mavis with a sad look before speaking.

“I’m guessing you’re from there as well?” Amelia asked Rose who rocked her head back and forth.

“Ehhh… yes? Kinda? I was there for some time and… it was hell.” Rose answered bluntly.

"Hmm.." Mavis hummed as she went back to nuzzling with Sylph. The latter of which was happily licking her face while the silence soon fell back into place, only occasionally being broken by Mavis and Sylph. "You three are the worst at small talk," Mavis said to all of us. I shrank a bit as I wasn’t helping as Rose crossed her arms.

“Sorry, my lady,” Amelia said apologetically to Mavis. Rose tilted her head at this but didn’t say anything. Dear lords… this is so awkward.

The trip was luckily over as we felt the bullhead land and the doors open. We all stepped outside to see we were in a clearing in the middle of the forest. As we stepped out I turned back just to see the Bullhead was blending into the surroundings, this caused both Rose and Amelia to jump back before Rose went over and gave it a few taps.

“Well… that’s not going to get annoying later.” Rose said to herself as Mavis had her Scroll out and a map on it.

"Hmm… where to?" Mavis asked out loud before tapping a few things into her scroll. "Let's head deeper into the island, we'll hopefully pick up a lead there." She said to us all as she took point. The rest of us followed behind, pushing through some bushes and branches.

“Why is it… that every secret lab or warehouse… is always deep in the woods!” I asked, ducking under a branch that was about to smack me in the face.

“I believe it’s due to the seclusion Lady Viri,” Amelia answered me as her armour was taking each branch smack with ease, earning loud bangs coming off of it.

“Honestly, one would think a better place would be someplace no one would expect,” Rose added. “I mean, a secret lab where will it be? Oh, how about the middle of the forest!”

“What have you been reading to make you think that?” I asked Rose who pulled back a heavy-looking branch.

“I’ve been reading some comics that Nora has,” Rose answered as she pushed the branch back so none of us get smacked by said branch.

"You need to find better reading material," Mavis said to Rose as Sylph barked her agreement at this. "See, she agrees with me."

Rose simply rolled her eyes as we continued through the forest. Our trek was soon halted when we stumbled into an unusual sight, a simple wooden sign with a rather crudely written message.

"Pis off?" Amelia read out in confusion.

"Seems somebody doesn't want us, or anyone, here," Rose said as she tapped the sign a bit and watch it shake. I looked over at Mavis as she stared at the sign.

"You think someone is still around?" I whispered to her.

"Quite possibly," Mavis answered which didn't give me much hope of this going off without a hitch. We soon continued… for about five feet before Rose found something and we saw that it was another sign… and there was one every few feet. All saying another form of the first sign.

"Someone doesn't like people," I said as I stared at a small group of signs.

"That or make a bigger sign…" Rose muttered to herself sarcastically.

"This one is different." Amelia called out to everyone as she pointed at yet another sign that simply read "push me".

We all stared at the sign for a few moments before Rose spoke out. "So… anyone going to push it?" She asked all of us.

"I'm not, who knows where that sign has been. Think of the germs." Said Mavis, finding an excuse to not touch the sign.o

"And… what if it's a trap?" I added, not sure if something bad would happen. Rose and Amelia looked at one another in silence before Rose took her cane and pushed the sign. There were a few clicks and… nothing happened… well, until a body fell in front of us, making me yelp out.

"Oh look away Sylph!" Mavis said covering the fox Grimm's eyes dramatically. I calmed down enough to get a better look at the body. It wore the same armour as an Atlas Soldier… only said armour was covered with silly faces.

"Now I've seen some messed up stuff done to a body but this… this is dumb." Rose said with a frown.

"This is such disrespect to one of the dead," Amelia said with a frown as well. Mavis was the only one holding back a laugh and doing so quite well actually but I knew she was doing so.

"Well, seems we've got our answer if someone is here," Mavis said to everyone before looking over at the signs. "Let's follow the signs, it'll most likely lead us somewhere." She added with a shrug as she kept covering Sylph's eyes. The rest of us nodded and we headed out. As we walked I noticed that Amelia had her halberd at the ready and Rose as well… though she used a cane.

We passed sign after sign until we came to a large overgrown building that's been defaced by more of those signs, even a very large one that says 'Pis Off!!'

"I bet this is the place," Rose stated before giving it another look and adding. "I think whoever is here is some madman."

"Seems like it, though why would they put up so many signs," Mavis said, wondering this out loud as we walked closer. Once we came up to the doors we saw it used and barred with rusty chains.

"Lovely. Looks like someone doesn't people bugging them… or letting someone out." Rose said as she tapped the chains a bit only for them to fall off. “Or maybe they are for shit and giggles,” Rose added as we all stared at the chains.

“It seems so… shall we head in?” Amelia asked all of us. I looked at Mavis as Sylph growled at the door. It made look more adorable. As we entered the facility, we were greeted with the sight of an overgrown research facility. Everything from what appeared to be the front desk and even the halls beyond it was covered in vines and bushes even. We stepped closer to the front desk before Rose looked over it and around.

“This place… seen better days.” Rose said before looking back at all of us. “So… what’s the plan?” She asked and seemed to be directed towards Mavis as she was holding a growling Sylph in her arms.

"Find whatever we need to find and get out, preferably as quickly as possible," Mavis said, looking down at the map displayed on her scroll as a blip appeared. "Aha! This way!" She exclaimed, taking a sharp left down yet another overgrown hall. The doors, no doubt once sleek and shiny, now rusted and covered in nature. There were labs of all different kinds, from testing weapons to simple robotics. As we entered the room we looked around at the place and- ooo~

I saw what looked like an old greatsword with a split down the middle. Two bladed greatsword? At closer expectation, it looked like someone turned a rail gun into a greatsword… that is so cool!

I picked the weapon up and gave it a once over, seeing it was still in great condition even from who knows how long it has been here.

"Ooo can't wait to figure out what you do~" I cooed at the weapon as if it was a living breathing thing.

"Viri come on!" Mavis called out to me from out in the hall, bringing me out of my thoughts of wondering what this thing could do. Looking in the direction that the others are and at the weapon, I pulled Molten Fox out and replaced the Greatsword in her place.

"Later," I said as I ran back over to the others with Molten Fox in hand. A warm hum feeling coming off of her as I reunited with the others.

"Sorry, got distracted," I said to them. Mavis glanced back at me before looking down at her scroll and it was beginning to look like this would be a lot easier than I thought… That is until Amelia pulled Mavis back suddenly.

Where Mavis was lit up with electricity that looked deadly. We all stared at it with wide eyes.

"Holy shit," Rose said in surprise as Amelia looked down at Mavis.

"Are you alright my lady?!" Amelia asked in shock.

"Yes, thank you," Mavis said as she caught her breath from the sudden scare before embracing Sylph, who whimpered at this. The currents didn't look like they were about to leave any time soon.

"So… is there another way around this or…" Rose asked, looking at the place as if she was looking for something. Mavis didn't answer this as she looked at her scroll. I was looking at the electrical doorway.

"Man… this was surprising," I said out loud as I saw some sparks came off it. "That… that doesn't look-" before I could finish a stray bolt sparked me and hit me. My whole body froze up as electric pain before falling over.

"Oh shit!" Rose yelled as I twitched a bit.

"T-this i-is… s-so d-dumb!" I yelled as I twitched at the same time. Eventually, I managed to regain myself, sitting up and grasping my head with a groan only to hear the sound of something really, and I mean REALLY heavy fall, which echoed through the halls and spooked everyone.

Rose and Amelia turned towards the sound, weapons out as Mavis looked up in that direction as was trying to smooth out my hair and tail from the shock. We looked over to see a large machine that looked rusted over face down on the ground. I let out a sigh.

"A machine just fell over… that's all." I said which got a groan from Rose.

"Why did you say that?" She asked which I was confused before we all heard the sound of something scraping on the walls, loud enough that made all of us cover our ears. From the scraping came laughter and not the happy go lucky joyous kind, I mean the crazy kind. I managed to find the source of the noise being through the electric fence, it was caused by a man in a mask with only a pair of orange pants as clothes. It looked like it used to be a part of a jumpsuit but the top half was torn off.

"You woke the wrong dog!" The man yelled suddenly at us, manic-like twitched gave me the hint of him not being right in the head.

After a few moments of staring at the madman, Rose spoke up. "You know… he's well built for crazy." Rose jokes. Amelia and I gave her an odd look before backing at the madman.

"Umm… hello? Who are you?" I asked the man in front of us as he was breathing deeply… creepy. He soon dropped the object in his hand and had his arms outstretched.

"Over here, my sweetmeats, your prince of justice and genocide has something to say: Gone are the days of the tentacle and the age of the gods and mercy is far away... We are fighters of the middle, the second act in the three-part MEAT play, AND I WILL WIN BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR!" He yelled at us after rambling on maniacally, the mask only having one eye to see through and I could see the crazy in his one visible eye. "NO LONGER NOMINEE!" He yelled as he reached for the electrical fence as if they were physical objects and to no one's surprise he was shocked incredibly so but the horrifying this is he didn't let go.

"By the gods…" Amelia said under her breath as Rose winced a bit.

"That… has to hurt." She said as I thought back a few minutes ago when I was zapped.

"Yeah," I said to her as Sylph whimpered a bit.

"THERE IS NO FENCE ON THIS FENCE!" The man yelled as the electrical currents were seemingly absorbed into him, leaving him unscathed but with a slight blue hue. His eye was an electric blue now.

"Okay… what?!" I yelled in shock as the madmen began to crack his neck.

"Looks like this is a fight we can't avoid," Amelia said as she gripped her weapon. I glanced over at Rose as she held her cane in her hand like a sword before I looked at Mavis with a 'What we do?'

Her answer was in the of a worried shrug as she focused on protecting Sylph while the maniacal man laughed, raising his hands to shoot out literal bolts of electricity that Amelia was quick to use her halberd, using it as a lightning conductor.

"Freaky," Mavis said as Sylph whimpered at this.

"I'LL CUT YOUR EYELIDS OPEN SO YOU CAN SEE THE END!" Yelled the man, grabbing his weapon and charging it with electricity upon touch before swinging it wildly while charging it at us. Amelia was the first to act as she levelled her halberd and thrust forward at the man. The spear point jammed itself into the gut of the man as he grunted before swinging his axe at the knight, causing her to duck under the blow.

"Does he feel no pain?!" Amelia yelled as Rose came up and smacked the man with her cane, delivering heavy blows that the man seemed to shrug off.

"Nobody kills me but ME!" The man yelled as he grabbed Rose's cane and swung his buzz… Axe? Imma call it a buzz axe. But before any serious injuries could occur, Mavis blocked his strike with her fan blade before pushing him back away from us, letting us get ready for another attack. "I will swallow your souls and spit out its meat chunks!" He exclaimed loudly as the sparks around his body became more violent only to suddenly lash out at us.

Some of the volts went to Amelia who gritted her teeth through the pain as some volts went to me… and my hair went poofy again. Oh, come on!

Rose frowned at this as she flicked her cane back, causing it to change form as blades came out. With a slash the cane extended outwards into a bladed whip, wrapping around the man's arm with the buzzaxe and pulled on it.

"That's a bad friend touch." This time he creepily said this before tugging the whip back with great force, judging how Rose was lifted off her feet and sent flying toward the guy only to be slammed aside.

"That… was a bad idea…" Rose said with a groan before I looked back at the man who knocked Amelia aside as if she was nothing. I held Molten Fox up, ready to defend myself for anything. My sword lit up with flames as the man stood in front of me with electricity sparking off him. He only chuckled before he let out a grunt, the sparks around his body dispersing and this made him reel back. This gave me a window to strike.

I rushed forward towards him as he staggered a bit, as I got close to him I swing my blade at him, my blade drove itself into his chest, actually hurting him as he held out in pain.

"Pain!" He yelled before shoving me back, leaving Molten fox impaled on him much to my dismay. Mavis took this time to help Rose while Amelia was ready to defend.

"Come on, we're too enclosed to fight!" Mavis exclaimed and well… she wasn't joking.

"Does anyone have any ideas? So far if he grabs anything with electricity it will power him up." Rose asked as she moved her shoulder, checking if it was broken. Amelia looked over to her Halberd that was knocked away before grabbing it.

"From the looks of it, the man is now weakened, if we strike now, we can finish him off." Amelia offering the idea. I looked back at the man with Molten Fox in his gut, it made me frown as I was without a weapon… oh, wait.

I reached back and pulled the greatsword I had and held it out towards the man. It felt a little awkward in my hands as I held the sword.

"Another pain stick… put it in me!" He said, taking me as a challenge while also pulling Molten Fox out of his stomach. Once he did that he tossed near Amelia before he pulled out a vial of red… Dust? What is… "I'll show you what a badass is!" He yelled before turning his wrist to reveal some kind of injector port or something before slamming the vial down on it, causing his hand to twitch wildly as his veins shone a fiery red glow. We all watched as his one eye glowed red as the wounds he has gotten closed up.

"... I say we should run." Rose stated which we all agreed to quickly before taking off where we came from. As we ran Amelia grabbed Molten Fox and the madman let out a crazed laugh as he charged after us.

"I will make steaks out of your eyeballs!" He yelled during the chase, which didn't help with the fact that he was gaining on us!

"Okay… so the plan is running?!" I asked everyone as we ran.

“No Lady Viri, we are not running,” Amelia said as she ran beside me. “We are advancing in the other direction!”

“Lords she has a funny bone!” Rose yelled before ducking under some random equipment. “Is he still behind us?!”

“RAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” The madman screamed as he sawed that piece of equipment in half and continue to run after us. The Dust must've been giving him some sort of superhuman like abilities, seriously it's straight out of some video game or comic.

“That’s a yes!” Rose yelled as we ran faster. It wasn’t until we finally got outside that we split off in random directions, seeing who the madman will go after just so whoever he isn’t following can turn around and go after him.

Sadly, the person he’s chasing is… me. “AHHHHHH!” I screamed as the madman chased after me like a bat out of hell… it’s terrifying.

"There is no barbecue UNTIL I SAY THERE'S A BARBECUE!" Yelled the Madman before I glanced back in time to see him exhale a large ball of fire that I managed to just barely dodge out of the way, getting the trees to be lit ablaze. This, of course, caused the fire to spread rather rapidly around us, almost as if he could control it. I turned back to see the man towering over me, looking down at me with his one eye. All I could do was try to crawl my way away from him. "You're going on the great meathook in the sky." He said to me menacingly as he prepared a killing blow.

“STOP!” a voice that I didn’t recognize screamed out towards us and the madman stopped moving. I looked over to see… Weiss? No, wait… it can’t be her.

The woman wore a business-like blue dress with white hair that’s done up in a bun. She looks a lot like Weiss if she was older. The psychotic man turned to look at the woman, which allowed me to make some space between me and him. Upon facing her, his weapon dropped onto the ground. The two stared at each other for a bit as the fire raged on before I took a moment to reach for my weapon… oh, wait Amelia has it… crap.

The woman took a few steps forward, trying to stay out of the fire as she stared at the madman. "Please… take off that mask. Let me get a look of your face." The woman asked softly. For a solid minute, nothing happened, besides the roaring fire which this lady paid no mind for now. Then… Then the man's arm struggled to move up to his mask, almost like he was conflicted. As this was going on I was somewhat listening as I was trying to keep the flames from spreading by using my semblance to keep them from spreading. So far I moved the flames to one tree as it raged on fire.

I looked back in time to see the man drop his mask, revealing his scarred face. His one working eye, now an interesting shade of purple, completely differed from his other eye, the latter being similar to that of a blank orb. He was panting, almost as if out of breath as he stared at the woman. The woman stepped forward towards the man to get a closer look.

"I knew you were here. I knew it." The woman said with a smile on her face. "You know how long I've been looking for you?" She walked up to the man and I wish I could have told her to stand back but if I halved my attention, this fire is going to go crazy.

"S-snow angel…" The man said… Softly? This surprise caused me to lose focus and the fire burst free once again, engulfing the area around us which made the madman look… Worried but as luck would seem to have it, it began to rain… hard. It was odd since it was clear a few moments ago. The woman let out a yell from the sudden rain downpour but before long I saw the fire was doused.

"The sky weeps in sadness as my soul does!" Yelled the man suddenly before looking back at the woman… Then at his buzzaxe. Uh oh…

The man stared at his buzz axe and even reach down for it but his hand stopped mere inches from it and I could hear his struggle. He looked very conflicted for those few moments before he grabbed his weapon finally.

"Snow Angel… not… meat…" I could hear him mutter despite the pouring rain before he dropped his weapon once more. At this moment, the woman spoke up.

“You must’ve been through a lot… I’m… I’m so sorry.” The woman said to the man. She reached out to the man’s hands and took hold of his hand in her own as tears began to well up her eyes.

"Angel… shouldn't be sorry…" Said the man softly as through the corner of my eye I spotted my knight in shining armour, Amelia with Molten Fox on her hip as she snuck her way over to me.

"Lady Viri." She whispered to me, kneeling beside me as she did. Her armour was already soaked in the rain as were my clothes. I looked back at the other two who were simply looking at one another before I slowly stood up.

“Is everyone else alright?” I whispered to Amelia.

"Yes, Lady Mavisath and Lady Rose are safe. The former is the cause for this rain to help douse the flames." Amelia whispered back informatively before I looked over her shoulder, seeing the other two.

“That bastard of a husband… can’t believe this is how low he would go just to be on top.” The woman said tears started to fall from her eyes. Both Amelia and I looked at one another for a few moments before looking back at the other two just as the woman hugged the maniacal man, which surprised even him.

"Willow…" I heard the man utter under his breath and while they embraced, I saw Mavis and Rose arrive to see this before Mavis spotted me and Amelia.

"Is everything alright?" Mavis asked both of us. Rose looked over at the two before whispering.

“Well… he’s not trying to carve us and trying to barbeque us. That’s a start.” Rose whispered. I looked to Mavis and nodded a little.

“Everything is… fine I think? It seems that the two of them know each other.” I explained to Mavis as I looked back at the two. “If it wasn’t for her, I would’ve taken a buzzaxe to the face.” Mavis, Rose and even Amelia gave me an odd look at the word Buzzaxe but I didn't care much for that.

"I see… hmm." Mavis said with a hum before looking at the woman. "Interesting, that's Willow Schnee." She added in a curious tone. Wait, her last name is Schnee? So is she Weiss' mom or some sort of relative? Before anyone could do or say something I notice that the woman, err miss Schnee, was walking towards us.

“Ah… umm, hello everyone… sorry for what… has happened.” Miss Schnee said with a sad look on her face before looking at me. “Are you alright?” She asked me.

“Uhh, yeah… I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” I answered her as the rain slowly started to stop. Mavis arched a brow at Willow then at the man before back at her.

"You seem to be well acquainted with that man, ma'am," Mavis said with an arched brow. "Have a history together I presume?" She asked Willow only to realize something. "Oh sorry, that's kinda rude of me. I'm Mavis Mal Kun." Mavis said, introducing herself. Miss Schnee looked at Mavis for a few moments before bowing her head a little.

“Hello, my name is Willow Schnee.” She introduced herself as the rest of us did the same. All the while the man kept his distance, motionless beside his breathing as he stared into nothingness. What's up with that guy?

We explained our situation and our reason for being on this island, which surprised Willow. She mentioned how no one outside of the Atlas elites ever knew about this place. Our whole explanation took us a bit and all the while the man, who Misses Schnee has told us was named Delic, stood in the center of the open area.

"I understand your wish to save him but… how do you plan on helping him?" Mavis asked Willow, regarding her plans to help Delic. This made Misses Schnee frown a bit.

"I… I don't know." She said sadly before adding with a sigh. "I thought maybe I could find something here and… and do something." She said while giving Delic some sad glances.

"I'm sorry to be the negative one here but are you sure he can be saved?" Amelia asked Willow, the former's armour having dried off by now and her Halberd on her back.

"I…" Misses Schnee started to say before looking down at the ground. "I believe so… I'm going to try."

The rest of us looked at one another in silence with uncertainty. Rose turned to Misses Schnee and spoke.

“Look, hate it to break this to you but… I doubt that he will ever be normal again.” Rose explained quite bluntly. Miss Schnee looked at Rose in shock than in outrage.

“Y-You don’t know that! How would someone like you ever know that!” Miss Schenn screamed at Rose.

“That’s true, I don’t know that for sure but let’s face facts here, that man tried to kill us, and we simply walked into the building. He may be fine now but sooner or later he’ll snap and then he will go out on a rampage.” Miss Schnee stared angrily at Rose before that anger turned into sorrow.

“I… I just want him back… I want Delic back…” She cried where she stood. This got a reaction from the once motionless man, he glanced back and saw Willow's sorrow… and looked hurt.

"Pardon my partners' lack of thought here, I do believe there is some way to help him. Truly I do and it's best to never give up hope." Mavis said while casting a glare at Rose. Rose shook her head at Mavis as Amelia and I watched on. "And I may know of someone who can help but I'm going to need to head into that old research facility," Mavis said, which got a grunt from Delic as this seemed to have angered him. "And destroy whatever evidence of the experiments that led to this man's psychotic nature." She then added which surprised Delic, having not expected this. Well, kinda think of it, maybe we aren't the first to come here. Like maybe Atlas have tried to reclaim what was theirs, explains the body from before. I saw Miss Schnee sniffle a bit but a look of anger was on her face. I wonder what that’s about.

Rose didn’t look as happy as well, though not very. She had her arms crossed as she watched Mavis walked off towards the building.

"I shall await her return." Amelia simply announced, standing at attention with her halberd in hand. I looked over at Rose and saw her walk over to a nearby tree. I went over to her to see how she is.

“Hey, Rose.” I greeted her, which made her glance at me.

“Hey V.” Rose greeted back, using a nickname she gave me some time ago.

“How is it going with you?” I asked her which caused her to frown a bit.

“I don’t know… I didn’t want to come off as a rude bitch but I’m looking at the facts here; Delic had something done to him that caused him to go all badass psycho and we didn’t do much to him until he seemed to power down for a bit.” Rose explained.

“Until I stabbed him with a flaming sword.” I pointed out to her, flattening my ears on top of my head.

“Hey, we didn’t know what else he could do… but… ugh.” Rose said, scratching her head a bit.

“Something wrong?” I asked her. It took a few moments but Rose spoke up.

“I just… when I met up with Mavis I saw her point to the sky and then storm clouds appear, as if she could control the weather!” Rose explained to me. I was silent for the next two or three minutes, blinking and processing what she had just said.

“You… saw her do this?” I asked her in shock.

“I was like… five feet behind her!” Rose said loudly before sighing. “I didn’t stop her to ask her about it due to worrying if you were now ground Viri.” After she said this, the ground shook and an explosion surprised all of us, the entire research facility just went up in a fiery inferno that shocked us all. However, before anyone could react in horror to the fact that Mavis was in there, she came out from the thick forest cuddling Sylph who wagged her tail in happiness. We all looked at her, then at the burning building, then at her.

“My lady!” Amelia yelled as she ran over to her. Rose frowned a little.

“Aww… I wanted to blow stuff up as well.” Rose grumbled a bit. I rolled my eyes at this before I went over to Mavis, who was laughing as Sylph was licking her face. It took some time but soon we all headed off into the forest before ending up near the shore. On said shore, we saw a Bullhead that was- wait wasn’t it in the forest before? Oh, and I saw Aunty Axycia there as well.

Mavis went over to talk to Auntie while the others and I walked over to the Bullhead except for Delic and Misses Schnee. The latter two waited a bit away from the rest of us. Delic has been keeping quiet oddly enough, after having been chased and yelled at by this guy nonstop earlier I didn't think being quiet was his thing.

"Think you can do it?" Mavis asked Auntie as I tuned into their conversation a little later than I would've liked. Auntie thought about it for a few moments, humming as well.

“It’s… possible. Doing this without some… special assistance, I can do so much to help.” Auntie said to Mavis. The latter smiled before calling Willow over and upon sight of the Schnee, Auntie's eyes widened. “Oh… well, this just got interesting.” Auntie said with a smile. I arched a brow as Willow looked at Auntie with wide eyes.

“You’re… the CEO of Malkun Industries.” Willow said in shock at Auntie.

“Yes, yes I am. And you’re Willow Schnee.” Auntie said with a little bow. “Nice to meet you.”

Willow looked at Auntie with some worry but tried to keep a brave face while facing her. Mavis noticed this and spoke up.

"I've spoken to her about Delic's situation and mental state, she proposed an idea that may help in bringing back the man you once knew," Mavis said to Willow while Auntie nodded at this, confirming this to be true.

"Although, it will take my people quite some time." Auntie chimed in to which Willow replied.

“I don’t care, I’ll do anything if it can get-” Willow started to say but Auntie cut her off.

“Done.” She said which got a surprise from Willow. The latter was stunned but looked grateful before going over to Delic and bringing him over. "Before we continue, however, for safety reasons he'll need to be handcuffed," Auntie said to Willow who nodded at this before Delic brought both his wrists out. Auntie placed some odd-looking bracelets on his wrists before a beep was heard the bracelets emitted an odd hum. After all that was said and done, Auntie boarded the bullhead with Delic and Willow in tow before taking off, leaving us down on the island.

“So… now what?” Rose asked before looking at Mavis. “Are you going to make clouds for us to ride on to get back?” Upon asking this, Sylph let out a snort, finding this funny as did Mavis.

"No, I was thinking something much simpler." She said before snapping her fingers, engulfing us in that familiar golden light before seeing that we were in my dorm room, luckily Amaram and Umbra were still out by the looks of it. Amelia blinked a couple of times, the blinding light does that to one while Rose was stunned for a few moments before diving towards a garbage bin and started to vomit.

“Yeah… I did the same thing when that happened to me.” I said as we all looked around at each other… as Rose vomits. Mavis, of course, rolled her eyes at this.before we heard a whimper in the room, and we knew it wasn't Sylph, which only meant…

"Amber!" I exclaimed loudly, remembering her situation suddenly. I looked over and saw she was laying on her bed, whimpering and panting as she on her side. I ran over to her with a worried look.

"She's in labour," Mavis said before looking around and simply kneeling beside Amber. "You all wait outside, I'll handle this," Mavis said to us all but I didn't want to leave Amber like this. "Viri, she'll be fine. I promise." She said to me. I didn’t say anything but I soon stood up and followed the others out of the room, Rose now carrying the garbage bin with her. As the door closed I sank to the floor and pulled my knees up as I waited at the door. Though just a minute into the wait, I began to hear something heading this way and when I looked up, I saw that it was Oni that ran over here as if life depended on it. When he stopped by the door, he began to pant and paw at the door.

“Yeah… Yeah, I want to as well buddy.” I said to Oni who whined at the door some more. Amelia gave me and Oni sympathetic looks while Rose groaned, her head practically inside the garbage bin. Time went on, I don't know how long though, it felt like hours! And each passing moment only made me more scared of the thought of losing Amber being a reality.

Just as I began to truly panic, the door to the room opened up for us to enter and while Rose decided that she'll just turn in for the day, me, Amelia and Oni were quick to enter the room, shutting the door behind us. When we looked over we saw Mavis sitting on a chair with a sigh as Amber was lying in her bed and… oh, my lords Puppies!

I saw five little puppies laying next to Amber who was giving them some affectionate licks to each of them. Oni went up to Amber and the two nuzzled one another before Oni saw the pups and laying down beside Amber. I grew excited at the sight of them and I could tell Oni was the same.

“Oh, Amber…” I said as I went over to her and saw her wag her tail a bit. I sat on the bed and felt her nuzzle me as we heard some of the puppies made some adorable sounds.