บท 581: The Tale of Remnant

Unaware of the orgy taking place within his school, the headmaster of Beacon silently sipped his hot coco within his office as he reviewed the records of all their new students.

Ozpin was a middle-aged man with silver hair and brown eyes, and a pair of shaded spectacles on his nose. His appearance could typically be considered....shabby considering his position, with his messy hair, and suit hanging open.

Currently his eyes were narrowed in concentration as they swept over the records of Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Not only did that catch his attention, but so too did her grades and marks in combat training, meaning she was far more than just her name.

But she wasn't the only one he was examining.

Yang Xiao Long had caught his attention due to the fact that she was the daughter of an old acquaintance of his, Raven Branwen. Unfortunately there had been something of a falling out between Ozpin and Raven years ago, but it was apparent that her daughter had inherited her mother's capacity and instinct for combat.

Blake Belladonna was another that Ozpin had his eyes on, as one of the only people within the academy that was privy to her true identity as a Faunus, former member of the White Fang, AND the daughter of their previous leader/founder, Ghira Belladonna. And while her association with the White Fang would be enough to make most suspicious, Ozpin believed that Ghira's daughter would NOT approve of the terroristic methods the current leader liked to employ.

Aside from them was the young man known as Jaune Arc, who falsified his records in order to attend Beacon with no prior training. Ozpin opted to allow his attendance though, in order to see just how far this boy with no prior training was able and willing to go.

Then there was Pyrrha Nikos, who had won the Minstral Regional Tournament four times running, establishing a new record and solidifying her place as the 'pride of Minstral'. Unfortunately for them, she opted to attend Beacon Academy instead of Haven, which Ozpin was VERY thankful for. Especially considering something that he believed she of all people to be suited for.

Though there were a few other new students that had caught his attention, such as Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, Ozpin focused his attention on the transcripts of their youngest student, Ruby Rose.

Ruby was the real prize amongst the students that were attending Beacon this year, only matched by Pyrrha if she was up to what he had in mind for her.

Silver eyed warriors were exceptionally skilled in combat, so much so that there had been great legends about them throughout history, which had mostly faded into obscurity by now. Aside from their combat prowess though, they were also the natural enemies of the Grimm themselves with their powers.

Unfortunately there had been a drastic decrease in the amount of silver eyed warriors in the world over the last couple of centuries, leading Ozpin to believe that they were being hunted. And there was only one person he knew of that would be capable of that.

That was half the reason why he had invited Ruby to attend Beacon early, alongside her excellent combat capabilities. If the two assailants that got away during the Dust robbery noticed the color of her eyes, and spread it around, then her life would be in danger.

As one of, if not possibly THE last of the silver eyed warriors, Ozpin felt the need to protect and prepare her for the war ahead.

As he looked over the transcripts Ozpin's mind raced with numerous thoughts and machinations, so much so, that he did not notice that he was no longer alone.

"Do you want some more alone time with those? I can always come back later." A voice said, jarring the headmaster as he looked up sharply to see a burly man sitting in a chair across from him. No wait, a burly Faunus based off of the tail.

While most would panic in his situation, Ozpin was calm as he studied the mysterious intruder momentarily before greeting him politely even as he eyed his cane beside him.

"Hello, and who might you be?"

"Alexander D. Morningstar, alternatively known as the Dragon Emperor." The mystery man said, prompting Ozpin to cock a brow.

"'Dragon Emperor'? Not a MONKEY Emperor?" He asked casually.

"Well I AM the Monkey King, but that's a separate topic altogether." The man, Alexander, said dismissively.

"I see... And how many I help you Alexander?" Ozpin asked.

"Firstly, you can just call me Alex. And secondly it's more along the line of how I can help YOU." Alex told him while leaning back in his chair comfortably. And then he did something that left Ozpin well and truly speechless for the first time in....quite a while. He twitched his finger, and a tea set magically appeared between them.

"You can use magic..." Ozpin breathed out. Not as a question, but as a statement of fact.

"I can use magic." Alex affirmed for him while casually making the teapot pour itself for them, before a couple of small platters flew in their directions with a teacup on top.

"What is your intention for being here?" Ozpin asked him, his attention one hundred percent on Alex and what he was after now.

"Firstly a bit of background. As I said I am known as the Dragon Emperor, originally because of my imperial authority over all dragons. But as time went on I became an actual emperor that rules over dozens of races, and numerous worlds. Even universes."

Even as the revelation of numerous universes and worlds was made, Ozpin didn't even flinch. After all, he'd had an idea of such things before, but had no time nor opportunities to give the idea more than an occasional thought. So instead of reacting, Ozpin listened as Alex continued his tale.

"One thing that nearly all of these worlds and universes share in common, is that they all have a 'story'. Most I do not have the slightest inkling of, while others I know of immensely. Remnant is one such world, though unfortunately I know tragically little regarding the 'story' of this world."

"I see... And are you here to perhaps help us with our 'story'?" Ozpin asked curiously, since Alex did say he was there to help earlier.

"Yes and no. Though I know of many worlds and many 'stories', my ability to travel to them IS limited. As such there are several that I have no immediate intention to visit and help, including Remnant. However certain circumstances made me involved when I otherwise wasn't, so here I am now."

As Alex finished his explanation Ozpin was silent as he digested everything he had heard, his mind racing under his calm exterior.

"What are the circumstances that changed?" Ozpin eventually asked curiously.

"I obtained a power that put me in contact with someone in this world. Being in contact with them made me involved since they can be considered one of the 'protagonists'."

"I see... And who are these other 'protagonists'?"

"Team RWBY, composed of Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. And as for the basic plot..."

Alex then detailed what he recalled of the plot regarding RWBY, which was pitifully little considering he never finished it, and everything got pulled from the site he had originally been watching it on. But Alex told him what he could recall, which entailed the fall of Beacon and Vale, Pyrrha's death, and the 'death' of Ozpin himself before he reincarnated into someone else. And finally he detailed the betrayal of the headmaster of one of the other academies in the world, the guy who was a lion Faunus.

(A.N. For the record, I only JUST realized someone put RWBY back on Youtube, which is the only reason why I'm currently able to catch up on it. Until a few days ago, all of my knowledge was limited to volume 5, and a couple fanfics I read.)

Though Alex couldn't recall the name of the academy nor the man himself, Ozpin knew EXACTLY who he was talking about as he described him. Obviously, he planned to investigate the truth of this as soon as possible.

But the biggest shock had yet to come to him.

"So what is it you plan to do? Help strengthen team RWBY before the attack on Vale and Beacon?" Ozpin asked, wondering the actual role Alex was going to undertake in all of this.

"Them and more. I don't plan to be too active in this world, but I CAN help the huntresses in Beacon become significantly stronger before then. On top of that, some of my wives and lovers have shown an interest in this world, so some of them will probably become involved as well. I won't personally become involved until it's time to deal with Salem herself. I mean, I can go and deal with her now. But where's the fun in that?"

"..."

Ozpin just fixed Alex with a look at the final part of his statement, though he also couldn't help but to wonder why he singled out the huntresses. It wasn't too hard to come up with a theory why that was though, especially considering Alex mentioned his 'wives' and 'lovers' as well. And if he was correct, Ozpin just hoped that there would be proper protection involved. He couldn't logically oppose sexual activity amongst his huntsmen and huntresses in training since they were literally being sent to the front lines of the battle for humanity against the Grimm, so long as they didn't get knocked up right away in the process.

As for the final part of what Alex said though...

"I don't know if you're aware, but Salem can't be 'dealt with'." Ozpin told him bluntly, his voice filled with both frustration and sadness.

"Anyone can be dealt with. It's all a matter of how you go about it." Alex stated plainly from what sounded like experience.

"Not Salem." Ozpin immediately countered with finality.

For a moment Alex appeared to be considering something as he regarded Ozpin, before finally signing in resignation.

"As much as I'd like to just go back and forth with you about this, I think this will be the faster way."

Ozpin was just about to ask what Alex was talking about, when he suddenly felt a sharp stinging sensation on the side of his cheek. Except when he pressed his fingers against his skin, there was nothing there.

There had to have been at one point though, as several drops of his blood floated in the air as they approached Alex with his hand outstretched. Right as Ozpin was about to demand to know what Alex was doing, the words caught in his throat as Alex's body began to change in appearance.

His skin turned deathly pale, like that of a corpse, while his eyes turned blood-red and his black hair gained a metallic-silver sheen. At the same time his body radiated a chill that Ozpin felt despite the space between them, and the aura he gave off was akin to that of the ultimate predator that could kill him any second, making him actually shudder at the idea of death for the first time in over a thousand years.

Instead, Alex opened his mouth and swallowed the drops of blood that he had taken from Ozpin, before closing his eyes as the aura around him relaxed.

It took a moment before Ozpin could regain himself from what just transpired, during which time Alex sat there with his eyes closed. Except Ozpin could see that his eyes were moving constantly and rapidly under his eyelids like he was dreaming, despite being awake.

"What are you doing?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"Watching your memories." Alex replied calmly, though his answer sent a chill through Ozpin's body.

Alex meanwhile was currently witnessing just about the entire history of Remnant, which was a LOT.

His show began with a young man by the name of Ozma, who was basically a hero in every sense of the word.

With magic and weapon in hand, Ozma fought in order to free a princess imprisoned by her father in the castle they called home, not to win her hand, but simply because she too deserved to be free. Contrary to his expectations though, the two fell in love almost immediately.

In a typical fairy tale this would be where they got their happily ever after, but for this couple this was not meant to be. Instead, Ozma fell ill and died of disease shortly after, leaving her alone.

The princess, who was incredibly distraught, sought out one of the two gods of the worlds, the god of light, to plead for the return of her beloved. Unfortunately he would NOT return Ozma to her, as doing so would disrupt the natural order of the world.

Furious at the response she got from the god of light, the princess instead sought his brother, the god of darkness. And once she found him she again pleaded for the return of her love, all while leaving out that she had already visited his brother.

The god of darkness readily gave her her wish, having no qualms about the natural order like his brother did. But then the god of light appeared, and smited Ozma once more before revealing what the princess had done to his brother.

Furious with her actions, the gods cursed her with immortality so that she would never reunite with her beloved, and to teach her the value of the natural balance.

Unfortunately the curse has the opposite effect, with the princess instead rallying the people of Remnant to her side while proclaiming herself a goddess, and leading them to attack the brother gods in retribution. Only to be instantly defeated.

As a result, the god of darkness proceeded to wipe humanity out entirely for their arrogance, leaving only the princess as the two of them left to explore other worlds. So now she was all there was in the world.

Many, MANY, years later, Ozma would be resurrected by the god of light with a newfound purpose, uniting the mortal races that had come to live on Remnant once again to show the gods they were worthy of living. And to help accomplish this goal, Ozma was granted the gift of resurrection.

Of course Ozma had his work cut out for him. Not only had humanity managed to return from extinction, but so had a new species known as the Faunus that was being enslaved by the humans. Not only that, but humanity was also under constant assault from the Grimm, creatures of darkness created by the pools of darkness that were left from the god of darkness.

It was by chance that he managed to find the princess once again, and after being reunited the two were married before they formed their own kingdom as the only two magic users in the entire world. But then Ozma learned the truth of how far his wife had fallen, as she wished to replace humanity with their own magic induced lineage.

And then upon trying to smuggle himself and their four daughters out of the castle away from the princess, she found out and a fight broke out that resulted in Ozma and their daughters losing their lives.

This began the millennia long war between Ozma and his wife, Salem.

From that point on only one memory stood out to Alex, which was Ozma acquiring one of the four relics that the god of light had left to help him in his quest, the relic of knowledge. According to his memories, the relic would summon a spirit that would answer three questions once every hundred years.

After watching Ozma ask his questions, and receive their answers, he was then treated to a flash of thousands of years of war between himself and Salem.

He saw Ozma raising entire kingdoms to fight back against her.

He saw entire kingdoms fall before the endless hordes of Grimm that she commanded.

He saw Ozma and Salem locked in brutal combat.

He watched as Salem took pleasure in torturing Ozma to death, peeling the flesh from his bones bit by bit.

He saw Ozma being betrayed by those he considered comrades.

And then there were those same comrades killing him themselves in the name of Salem.

Over and over and over again, Alex saw a truly endless war between the former husband and wife, and hundreds of deaths on Ozma's behalf before he was forced to reincarnate to go through it all once again.

By the time he had finished viewing Ozma's memories, Alex found himself pitying the man sitting across from him greatly, along with no small amount of admiration. Ordinary men would have had their will broken LONG ago, yet here he was still fighting after several thousand years.

Yes, Ozma had made MANY mistakes in his never ending war against Salem, but that was only because he was uniquely given the opportunity to make those mistakes due to his long life.

He was also the driving force behind the majority of development and betterment of humanity, including the elevation of the Faunus from their status as slaves. He was also the one who trained and established the first Huntsmen and Huntresses, creating a powerful elite force specifically reared to fight against Salem's legions of Grimm.

Amongst all of Ozma's memories though, there was one in particular that Alex noted.

"You made a mistake when you asked Jinn how to kill Salem." Alex stated pointedly, speaking for the first time since he had consumed Ozpin's blood.

"What do you mean?" He asked warily, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"The question you asked was 'how do 'I' kill Salem?' The question you should have asked is 'how can Salem be killed?' It's a minor detail, but could mean a world of difference when it comes to questions like this." Alex explained to him, while Ozpin looked as if numerous pieces of a VERY convoluted puzzle had suddenly fallen into place.

"That's it..." He muttered quietly to himself as he picked up a piece of paper, Ruby's transcripts, and focused on her picture. Specifically her silver eyes.

Now it all made sense.

Ozpin originally believed that the reason Salem had started her suspected crusade against the silver-eyed tribe was because of how effective they were against the Grimm, which were her most powerful fighters. But what if the reason was because they were also the one thing that could kill her?

In the years after the brother gods abandoned Remnant he knew Salem had thrown herself into one of the pools of darkness that the Grimm were born from, which would kill any other person. However Salem was cursed with immortality, so instead the pools corrupted and twisted her body, giving her command over the Grimm while also turning her into one of them, a human Grimm.

"I would say you're on the right track." Alex said suddenly as if he were reading Ozpin's mind, also reminding the ancient man that he was still there.

"As far as I can tell, there is no such thing as true immortality. Only someone who hasn't found something that could kill them yet. I myself have racked up quite a number of kills that others deemed impossible." Alex bragged, recalling Trixeia, Alucard, Ohito, Darius, and any number of gods.

"I see..." Ozpin said slowly, not quite sure what to make of Alex's claims.

Of course, that was only because he did not know the true depth of Alex's accomplishments and deeds.

"Anyways. The main point is that you won't need to worry about Salem anymore. I'll deal with her however I see fit when the time comes, and my wives will more than likely remove the majority of her influence within Remnant until then." Alex while standing, as if making to leave.

"And what about me?" Ozpin asked him curiously.

"You can do whatever you want." Alex said as if it were obvious.

"You've been the primary force fighting against Salem for thousands of years, and have suffered more than any other person in the entire history of Remnant because of it. With us here, I would say you can just sit back and relax for once. Maybe go on a vacation."

"Relax? Vacation?"

"Yeah. Maybe look them up if you don't know what those words mean." Alex joked, before adding as he vanished in a slight distortion of space, "Oh yeah, I also already brought all of the women of Beacon to my home for the night for 'training', but they'll be back first thing in the morning so don't worry."

And with that he left Ozpin alone in his office once more, pondering everything that just happened. A large part of him thought that he might be FINALLY going insane after all of this time.

It would be a viable theory if not for the fact that the tea set Alex had conjured was still sitting on his desk.

While Ozpin was busy being Ozpin, Alex found himself within a city that was quite literally amongst the clouds, atop a massive floating rock that was tethered to the ground below.

With the high elevation, and far northern location, there was a chill on Alex's bare chest that he just ignored while looking around the city, and ignoring the dirty looks being thrown his way. Along with the insults as numerous people called him 'animal', and other choice words.

"Now lets see... Winter will probably be mad at me for what happened with Weiss earlier, so maybe I should grab her something before going to see her..." He muttered to himself, before pulling out the magic compass. Winter was pretty curt and professional, never really sharing anything about herself on the Chatroom, aside from the lovely backshot she sent for the previous quest.

But with the magic compass Alex was able to find something that Winter would appreciate greatly, which came from a sweetshop of all things. What he did NOT expect was for them to slam the door in his face without even letting him enter the store, accompanied by an angry shout about 'no animals allowed'.

"Haaa..." Alex sighed in exasperation from the treatment, though he'd thought he was prepared for it before he arrived.

"I wonder if they'd treat me the same if they knew I was a foreign emperor?" He mused to himself, right as a rotten tomato smacked him in the face.

...

"Haaa..." Winter sighed tiredly as she walked through the streets of Atlas, on her way to a certain tea/sweetshop that she and Weiss liked to visit, all to get something to send to her sister to cheer her up.

One day in Beacon and Weiss already found herself in such a compromised situation that would ruin her entire future, or it would under normal circumstances.

Winter had been prepared to use the technological might of Atlas to completely wipe all traces of the videos taken of her embarrassing situation, one that she planned to reprimand Lala for later. But surprisingly, there had been nothing to erase.

It was something Winter FULLY intended to investigate, quietly of course, but first was making sure Weiss was ok.

"In the name of the great nation of Atlas, you're coming with us you filthy animal!"

Winter's thoughts were disrupted as she turned the corner to where the sweetshop was, and came upon a scene the likes of which was from one of her worst nightmares, making her already fair skin pale to the point that she resembled a corpse.

Standing there casually in the middle of the street was none other than Alexander D. Morningstar, plastered in mud and other...questionable substances while an entire squad of officers were trying to take him into custody. All while Alex stood there with a casual smirk on his face, as if he found them and the threats of Atlesian military humorous. Which she knew he would.

"I'm telling you one last time animal, surrender quietly or face the consequences!"

"Is this really how Atlesian forces treat a foreign dignitary? An Emperor no less?"

"YOU?! An Emperor?! HAH! And I'm the king of Atlas!"

"Ah! That saves us quite a bit of time then! It is a pleasure to meet you your majesty. Perhaps we can speak in a more private setting about future cooperation between the Asoran empire and the kingdom of Atlas." Alex said with a completely serious tone and expression, earning him more than a few sneers and sarcastic comments about how stupid he was. Only Winter noticed the smirk in his eyes as he went along with the performance.

"And just WHAT is going on here?!" Winter demanded as she stepped forward before things could escalate, because if someone actually laid a hand on Alex then it was genuine cause for war between Atlas and Asora.

"Miss Schnee!"

The soldiers that had been accosting Alex immediately saluted aside from a few that were keeping their weapons pointed at him, as if that would keep him under control if he tried anything.

"This Faunus has been reported to be harrassing the people and shop owners of Atlas! We are trying to detain him, but he is refusing to cooperate! He's even making absurd claims of being the emperor of a nation that doesn't even exist!"

"And how do YOU know that it doesn't exist?" Winter asked him pointedly, making the soldiers pause.

"I happen to know that this man IS an emperor of a land known as Asora, and as such you have all endangered Atlas by assaulting him and provoking war! If he so wished, he could destroy Atlas himself right here and now thanks to your actions!"

Though usually calm and collected, Winter was well and truly incised at the stupidity of the Atlesian people and soldiers, even if they had no way of knowing if what Alex had been saying was true or not.

"Winter! Sorry about all of this, I meant to surprise you." Alex told her sheepishly while producing a small pile of her favorite treat from the sweetshop.

"How did you get those?!" The shopkeeper demanded while the soldiers kept their weapons aimed at him.

"Oh I grabbed them just now. Don't worry, I left a small pile of gold bars in their place for the inconvience." Alex easily answered, stunning the soldiers while the shopkeeper hurried inside to verify his claims.

"Of course you did..." Winter sighed while feeling a headache coming on, before glaring at the soldiers. "Put your weapons down! Or do YOU want to be the ones to explain to General Ironwood how YOU started a war?!"

THAT got their attention as the soldiers began to slowly lower their weapons, and the civilians that had been watching began to disperse so as not to get caught up in whatever was about to happen.

"Too bad they wised up. I could have used the exercise." Alex said nonchalantly, spurring the soldiers to leave at a more rapid pace.

"'Exercise' for you would mean the destruction of the entirety of Atlas AND Mantel, just to start with." Winter snapped back at him.

"Possibly." Alex said without meeting her gaze.

Winter just rolled her eyes before she decided to ask the obvious question.

"So what are you doing here?"

"I gained the ability to travel to members of the Chatroom, regardless of the world they're in the other day. I have other places to be, but decided to stop by here first." Alex explained like he had to Yang and the others.

"I see... So does that mean you're here to assist in the fight against Salem?"

"Nope, not at all." Alex readily answered, before explaining to her the same talk he'd had with Ozpin earlier.

"Of course that's what you would do..." Winter said while massaging her growing headache.

"Hey, there's still a few more months until things reach a breaking point in Remnant. Plus if I know my wives they're not going to sit by and let Salem do whatever she wants. Though, they may have other goals besides that. Speaking of, how about we go see them?"

As he said that, Alex stepped close to Winter and wrapped an arm around her waist, making her stiffen at his sudden close proximity. And that was BEFORE Alex palced his hand on her ass and squeezed.

"But General Ironwood-"

"Who cares?" Alex interrupted her, stunning Winter before he whisked them both into Asora to join Weiss and the others.

What the citizens of Atlas did not know was that the events that took place that night would trigger their rapid downfall. As once Alex's wives learned of the treatment he received there, several of them from the....devilish persuasion would work to see Atlesian high society completely and utterly destroyed. Starting with the Schnee Dust Company.

And they intended to make it as painful as possible.