“Goddamn!” was all he thought as the rapid Dings and tsunami of information came flooding into his mind the instant Roman was confirmed dead. He wasn’t even able to register the fact that he had an entire woman’s body currently clung to his side, as he was completely overwhelmed by the influx of information that had been given to him by the system. “Wait! Uhm firstly, yes, I really wanna see the Egg hatch, but I don’t wanna see it right now, can you delay it until I’m ready Meta?”

[Yup! Meta will delay the hatching and pend your response to the Systems question!]

“That’s perfect, thank you so much. I didn’t think that Grimm’s ability to strengthen me would count as an absorption skill, but in hindsight it does make sense” he thought. “Next order of business would the wild fact that I got Roman’s weapon even tho I definitely saw that shit straight destroyed right in front of me, but it is the System so it’s not that surprising. Roman had hella money on him which is so-so in value since I’m already rich as fuck but it’s whatever. The title that I got for completing the quest is fucking amazing and it’ll rapidly increase the efficiency of my grinding which will soon begin again. I do wonder how the Clan Exp works; I’m guessing it’s just experience directly attributed to the Clan which is good I guess.”

[Meta knows that Clan Exp is Experience that directly level’s up a specific category of any of your Clan’s! Meaning, all 15,000 Clan Exp is available for both the Lover’s and the Demon Clan!]

“That’s fucking amazing! Thanks for the explanation lil homie, I appreciate it!”

[No problem Partner! Meta also did something else that you’d be happy to hear about! But Meta will tell you later!]

(Y/N) took a moment to think about what the thing Meta could be talking about, but nothing came to mind, so he just gave up on figuring it out. “Alright I can’t wait to find out! The next thing that’s a bit confusing is the fact that I get items from the Elites killing things. Is this like a special case, or does this happen all the time?”

[It happens all the time! When anyone in your Clan kills anything, because of your position as the Clan leader, and because you have the System, they generate items just like you do! Also, Meta knows that due to the Clan System, like experience, you always get all the items that your members acquire!]

“That’s hella overpowered! Let’s fucking go! I might be able to accomplish my goal’s faster than I originally thought, thanks System.” In his mind he spoke a silent thanks to the System that had helped him so much this far. “What’s next? Oh yeah, why the fuck were there so many more man alive then we thought? I guess there was less military here than we thought there’d be, meaning that the Schnee bastard is dumber than expected and didn’t increase security for the influx of Dust. Good thing for us since now I have an more Human Essence than I know what to do with,, I just have to remember to feed them to Byakko whenever I get the chance and figure out what to do with the excess. Meta, you got any ideas?”

[Meta believes that you can use them to enhance any Beast Eggs you create! According to the System, you can only use one on each Egg because of the power of the enhancement you add! It explains that when you add a Human Essence to another being, you are essentially fusing it with another Soul!]

“Uhm, Meta, when and how did you learn all that?”

[Meta learned it all just now! Meta ran a simulation using your leftover Ursa (Minor) Cores and pretended to create an Egg to see what would happen! Then Meta told you the results of the simulation!]

“And you did all that, instantly?”

[Yep!]

“Could you… run anymore simulations and see what I could do with some of my other extra resources? If not that’s fine, but I would love to see what you could come up with.”

[Give Meta one moment… all done! Meta thinks that the most useful thing you could do with your EX AP is to convert it into Growth AP! You can use Growth AP to increase the Growth Rate of any Attribute you want to! The Cost of the conversion is based on your already existing Growth Rate!]

(Y/N)’s eyes slightly widened in shock at the sudden revelation, “I thought the Growth Rate was something that I kinda just came up with, I didn’t think it was a real System mechanic. Either way, I definitely didn’t think that I could do that. What’s the conversion cost?”

[The Cost is simply whatever your current growth rate is multiplied by 5! So, yours would be 620 EX AP per 1 Growth AP, but Byakko’s would be 250 EX AP!]

“Damn, that’s actually really clutch since I’ve had a massive excess of EX AP that I haven’t been putting to use. Thanks again Meta! You really are the greatest partner a person could ask for.”

[Meta just wants to be the best Meta can be for (Y/N)!]

“Well, you are somehow consistently being better than the best!” After taking a moment to appreciate his mental partner, he continued on his quest to understand everything he gained from tonight’s exchange. “So, next on the list of insane improvements made from this little mission would be the elephant in the room, the big boy, the climax of this massacre, the fact that I got like a million experience from killing all these people!”

[Not a million! Three hundred sixty-three thousand, seven hundred and twenty-four (363,724)!]

“For where I’m at right now, that shit feels like a million! It literally leveled me up like a hundred times!”

[Not a hundred! Fifty-seven point eighty-nine (57.89) times!]

“Exactly, that’s like a hundred! Actually, can you pull up my status window real fast, I really wanna see what my stats are looking like.”

[Of course!]

Name: (Y/N) (L/N)

Age: 18

Race: Awakened One, Deus~Humanus

Titles: Awakened, Savior of Earth, King Slayer etc.

LVL: 69 (89%)

HP: 68300/68300, (+17498), {+16825}

SLD: 34150/34150

MP: 48075/48075, (+3089), {+11031}

AU: 8530/8530, (+2249), {+1849}

Attributes:

STR; 1696, (+1866), {+424}

END; 1479, (+750), {+370}

DEX; 1420, (+1278), {+355}

VIT; 1346, (+1750), {+337}

INT; 1765, (+618), {+441}

LUK; 1050, (+998), {+263}

EX AP: 1980

SY: 60

SP: 100

$Money$: 80,001 AUG | 10,0403 AUS | 0 AUB | $496,183 Lien

“Jesus fucking Christ! Who knew that mass murder could reap such amazing benefits! Maybe I should do this more often… I’m just kidding, but still. Plus, I don’t even think I wanna level up anymore, I’m sitting pretty at a really NICE level. What’s Byakko looking like?”

Name: Byakko

Age: 0

Race: Celestial White Tiger

Titles: Celestial White Tiger, Goddess of Righteousness, Queen of Animals, Guardian of the West

LVL: 35 (20%)

Human Assimilation Rate (20%)

HP: 15250/15250 {+3563}

MP: 11750/11750 {+2375}

AU: 1475/1475 {+256}

Bond Lvl: MAX

Attributes:

STR; 355, {+89}

END; 205, {+51}

DEX; 500, {+125}

VIT; 285, {+71}

INT; 380, {+95}

LUK; 215, {+54}

========================================================

Name: Byakko (Grimm), Scylla

Age: ???

Race: Celestial White Tiger, Grimm

Titles: Celestial White Tiger, Goddess of Righteousness, Queen of Animals, Guardian of the West

LVL: 35 (20%)

HP: 29250/29250, {+7063}

MP: 4750/4750- {+625}

Bond Lvl: MAX

Attributes:

STR; 670, {+168}

END; 520, {+130}

DEX; 395, {+99}

VIT; 565, {+141}

INT; 100, {+25}

LUK; 40, {+10}

“Seems like she’s grown a lot stronger as well, but clearly she’s not growing as fast as I am, but that’ll change soon enough.” While (Y/N) continued exploring the System and joyfully celebrating over the various improvements he had suddenly made, outside his mind the elites watched as their respected superior suddenly began heavily introspecting, tuning out all of his surroundings. In response to his sudden change, they all took it as normal, so they began exercising the tasks that they had been assigned to the night prior. Junior and Z went to order the men around, having them scour the complex and clean up any of the straggling men that managed to avoid the slaughter that came to the rest of the small army. While they handled that, the twins offered to take Neo on a little adventure to find Hel, but she politely declined with a light shake of her head, instead opting to cling onto the unmoving Devil for the time being. Mil and Mel easily accepted her declination, telling her to keep him warm as they left to go meet up with Hel who, at the time, was coming down from the massive tower she was on top of. As the twins left, Neo started climbing his body like it was a tree, or a jungle gym, and made her way onto his shoulders, and once she reached the top, she hugged tightly to his head and bent over to rest her head on top of his.

Hel ended up meeting the twins midway to the location, and after greeting one another with hugs and light conversing, they then walked back to the central complex, getting greeted by the Acolytes as they walked by. Hel immediately got to work, finding and analyzing the logistics of the entire compound, learning the amount of Dust, the cost of everything, the planned delivery times, and everything else her man needed to execute the next portion of his plan. After compiling all the necessary information, she immediately ordered an Acolyte to pull up the car so they could leave and go back to Hel’s kitchen since there was still somethings that needed to be done, and she then alerted the other Elites that they’d be leaving soon.

After that, Hel asked the twins where her lover was, and they smoothly pointed her in the general direction. The area was incredibly open and there were no objects in the way to block her view, so she immediately saw her man standing near the now flaming crater with an ice cream colored girl sitting with her legs draped across his shoulders, crotch pressed up against his neck, and chin gently resting on his hooded head. “…Isn’t that Neopolitan?” The twins answered the woman’s question with two quick nods, “I though that she was a threat.”

“Like, she definitely was!”

“Yeah, but now she’s totally not!”

“uh huh” Hel said as she looked across the field at the odd duo. “So, how long have they been like that?”

“Uhm, like, since Bro killed Roman” Mel said after thinking for a moment.

“I mean, not like that specifically. Neo got up on his shoulders after we left to meet up with you! But yeah, since then they’ve been just standing around all cutely like that!”

“It is very adorable, I’ll give you that, but it is time for us to go, so I’m going to have to grab them” as she finished the comment, Hel began walking over to the still standing duo, quickly getting the attention of the mute that was on top of the Devil’s shoulders. The adorable woman flashed the masked woman her bright smile and waved a politely hello the moment she noticed the Mistress approaching. “Hello Neopolitan, ” she began as she reached the duo “I’m Hel, it is very nice to meet you.” Hel then extended her hand, giving the fun sized woman a small handshake before she asked anything else. “I see you’ve taken a liking to my Honey here.” Hel spoke in a very light manner to the woman, but Neo was still a bit tense, and after she heard her comment, she began rapidly waving her hands and shaking her head, clearly saying that she wanted no trouble. “No, no, Neo your absolutely fine, no need to get off his shoulders, I promise. He really does have this effect on people, it happened to me as well so trust me I understand” she said as she chuckled slightly, prompting Neo to silently giggle as well. “I was just wondering if you’d be joining us for the rest of the evening. You are of course welcomed to if you wish.” After Hel extended her welcome to Neo, the girl rapidly nodded her head up and down, joyful at the woman’s offer. “That’s great! I’m sure we still have room for you in the whip” she said happily. Hel then turned her attention to her lover who seemed to be still deep in thought and tapped him gently on the shoulder. “Honey, Hon, it’s time for us to go. We’re heading back to the office to complete the nights work” Hel spoke gently, soothingly, easing her lover out of the confines of his mind and bringing him back to the real world.

“Already? Oh, damn I must’ve been thinking about all this shit for a long ass time” he thought allowed much to the amusement of the woman on his shoulders who silently chuckled on top his. Her sudden movements alerted (Y/N) to her position as he then tilted his upwards, coming face to face with an adorable girl. “When did you get up there?” His oblivious question got another chuckle out of Neo who just brightly smiled into the Devil’s eyes as they moved from the far edge of the battlefield to place where they entered the massive complex. (Y/N) carried Neo on his shoulders as they walked to the large Hummer with Junior in the drivers seat and Zeb in the bed of the truck. The twins were waiting for him at the backseat doors with both of them swung open, and Neo eloquently hopped from the man’s shoulders, floating down to the ground, as he prepared to enter into the vehicle. As usual, (Y/N) got into the middle seat with both of the twins on either side of him, but this time he had an adorable pink and brown-haired woman on his lap for the duration of the drive.

The ride back to their headquarters was much more energetic than it was on the way to the Schnee’s property, the twins hyperly recounted all the events that took place, gushing over the way their Bro handle the entire situation. Even Neo showed how much she was impressed by the way he dismembered and dismantled Roman’s by her varying excited expressions and exaggerated mimicking of (Y/N) swinging his scythe. (Y/N) of course took the time to give props to the rest of the crew who did a phenomenal job efficiently destroying the former Xiong men, but none of really wanted to hear any of it, instead they just continued showering their leader in praise. Even Zeb joined in on the bustling conversation, using the small window that separated the trucks bed from the main body to praise his Chief and give a thank you to Junior for getting angry for him after Roman said some less than stellar things about the Faunus.

The excitement and bustling conversation continued even after they made back to the Club, and as they entered into the building (Y/N) took notice of the lack of personnel that was on hand. Instead of having six men standing guard at the entrance there was only two, and once they made it into the den the only people present were the bartenders and hostess that aimlessly went around cleaning and polishing things to fill the spare time that they had. The group leisurely traveled up the numerous flights of stairs and Junior opened up the office doors to welcome them inside, the group quickly took to their usual seats, but Neo simply chose to stay close by the Devil. As (Y/N) sat down in his office chair, Hel quickly followed sitting in his lap, and then she offered her own lap to the small woman, who then happily accepted the offer.

As soon as they finished getting situated, Hel activated the desks computer function and began typing away at the holographic keyboard, importing all the information that they needed for the exchange that was soon to take place. “So, Honey, how would you like to approach this little ‘meeting’ with the Schnee? Should we just let him know the old fashion way by allowing his advisors to tell him the morning, or do you want to leave him a personal message from your truly? Maybe brute force it and open up negotiations right now, the choice is yours” Hel projected the many angles that they could approach this scenario, but in the back of her mind she already knew the answer.

“We’re brute forcing it, call his personal obligations office and we’ll demand a meeting with him. If they say they can’t or won’t, I’ll threaten them until they say yes.” That was the exact answer that Hel was expecting, and she quickly obliged his request, contacting the Schnee’s direct line, and listening to the rings as they waited for the office to pick up. It only took a few rings, and they were met with a woman’s voice who softly greeted the callers.

“Hello, you have reached Master Schnee’s personal obligations office, I apologize, but we do not take any direct calls at this time, but you may make a plea to create a scheduled meeting time with administration. Would you like me to direct you to that office Sir?”

“Get Me Jacques. Now.” As the woman on the other line heard the voice once again, she was instantly stricken with the same fear that overcame her before, but this time she didn’t have the means to complete his request.

“I-I’m s-s-so sorry s-sir, but h-he’s n-not available a-t this t-time” she managed to fearfully respond.

“I Don’t Remember Asking A Question, But I Do Remember Giving You A Command, So I’ll Repeat Myself One More Time. Get Me Jacques. Now!” At the slight raising of his voice, the woman on the phone shook, nervously dropping the Scroll she answered the call on.

After dropping it, she took a moment to calm herself before picking the device back up and responding to the Devil’s command. “Y-yes s-s-sir, I’ll s-see what I c-can do.” After that the line went silent for a while as the receptionist scoured the higher ups trying her best to get in contact with the right people, to get in contact with the more than likely sleeping Schnee. Eventually, the woman somehow got in contact with the family butler and alerted him that the Devil was on the phone and wanted to speak with the Master of the family. The Butler immediately, but nervously, went to Jacques Schnee’s room and loudly knocked on the door, waking the man from his slumber.

“Master Schnee! Master Schnee, there is an extremely important matter that you must attend to immediately!” The Butler loudly spoke the information behind the thick, hoping that the order would reach him in his half-asleep state. Unfortunately, his hope was true and in reply to his diligence the Schnee aggressively swung the door open and immediately slapped the staunch man across his face, seething in anger.

“Do you know what time it is!?! You should be more than well aware of the fact that I do not attend to matters past midnight, I need my rest! I should have you fired for your transgressions!” The Butler didn’t make a move in retaliation, instead only waiting for the man to finish his angered rantings.

“Master, the Devil has requested an urgent meeting with you, and it seems incredibly serious. The entire Personal Obligations office is running scared trying to reach you, I am just the messenger.” The moment the name was brought up, the Schnee’s anger only seemed to rise, and he turned around, retreating back into his room, slamming the door behind him.

Even from behind the thick door, Klein, the Butler could hear the man muffling curses at the Devil, and a few minutes later his door erupted back open, revealing a now fully dressed Jacques Schnee, white suit, slicked back hair and all. Without acknowledging the Butler’s presence, he began storming down the hallway, heading towards his office while loudly shouting curses at the man who was ruining his sleep. “First, he steals my money, then he disrespects me in front of my face, then he tells me to apologize, then he threatens to kill me, then he fucks up my goddamn sleep! I am going to tear that fucking pleb a new one! I am going to fucking kill that piece of scum!” The entire way to his office he was muttering curses of that nature, over and over, declaring his death repeatedly.

As he reached his study, he sat down at his comfortable desk, hit a button and angrily told the secretary to patch the man through. She responded with a simple ‘yes Master Schnee’ as she transferred the Devil’s call to the Schnee’s study, alerting the horrifying man as she did so. “Jacques.” The Devil once again spat the man’s name out as he appeared on the large screen, rage clearly evident on his face.

“What the fuck do you want from the great Jacques Schnee you filthy fucking gangster! You are nothing to me! You have nothing on me! Do you know what an honor it is to simply be able to look upon my form even on a virtual screen? Do you know how powerful I am? Do you know how wealthy I am? I could literally buy your life, that is how much wealth I own. You are a spec of dust, a drop of water, an atom of oxygen in comparison to me! You are nothing!” By the end of his rage fueled rant, the man was left completely out of breath, his chest heaving up and down as he allowed himself to relax back into his chair.

“Are Finished Or Are You Done?” The Devil and his colleagues looked completely unimpressed by his rantings, and the Clan leader’s response completely reflected how they all felt about the pompous pricks outbursts.

Just when they thought the man’s anger couldn’t rise any further, the Devil’s sudden statement sent him clear over the edge. “You insolent little-“ before he could finish, the Devil suddenly cut him off by speaking over him.

“As Much As We’d All Love To Listen To Your Incoherent, Sensationalized Ramblings About Your Greatness, There Are Other Matters That We Need To Attend To And I Don’t Have Much Time To Waste” after he spoke, Hel immediately followed up with displaying information across their presentation, showing the analytics to the Schnee.

“If you would, please direct your attention to these logistics please Jacques, you’ll see some numbers and values that you may or may not recognize. Whether you do or not doesn’t matter, the point is that you are no longer in control of any of these values, and instead we are.” After the woman spoke, Jacques immediately looked over the data that the woman sent over, and shockingly he was able to recognize this data, more specifically the resources, costs, and forecasted income on said resources.

“Wait, wait, wait! Wait a goddamn minute, what do you mean you are in control of these values?” He asked the question as he openly chuckled his sickly laugh at her statement. “Are you stupid or something? This is the logistical analysis for all of the SD-Block, for you idiots that is the sector that I, Jacques Schnee, own for shipping and delivering Dust into Vale. There is no possible way you could be ‘in control’ of the entire Block! It’s defended by Atlas military, and it is essentially protected and sanctioned by Vale’s government as a whole! The entire lot of Dust is worth over $50 million Lien, raw! Even if you were to somehow get in, you’d be killed on sight! HA, don’t make me laugh with these pathetic bluffs!”

As soon as he finished another one of his rants, Hel turned to her lover with a knowing look, and then hit a few more buttons to send some much-needed images to the Schnee. “It may not seem very possible, but for the amazing might of the Demon Clan, something like this is only inevitable. Look at these images, security cam footage, and feel free to call your people if you want to, see for yourself the events that have taken place over the course of tonight.” The images that Hel had sent over made Jacques sick to his stomach as they showed the brutal carnage that was inflicted on the Atlas men who worked to defend the Block, and he watched as men in black suits ravaged and overran his yard, occupying his property, but that wasn’t even the most horrific thing. In another security video he watched as the Devil and his accomplices slaughtered the army of men who had overrun his base, proving just the five of them to be far more powerful than the ones who conquered his property in the first place.

Jacques gulped hard, swallowing the water spit that climb up from his throat, preventing himself from vomiting at the sight of hundreds of people being dismembered, decapitated, Immolated, exploded, mauled to death by the group of people that stood, sat, before him. He slowly managed to calm himself down slightly as he dismissed the images from his screen, “even if t-this footage and these i-images are real, what’s preventing me from just calling in the Atlas military and mowing down any defenses that you set up?” The Schnee was trying his best to hold onto any possible advantage, any sliver of pride, he had left in his power in front of the Devil, but the image that he had worked so hard to build was now crumbling before him.

“You Must Be An Idiot To Believe That The Same Thing Won’t Befall Your Little Military If They Show Up, And Even If You Did Manage To Muster Enough Troops To Make Us Back Off, I Could Still Make All That Dust Disappear In An Instant. Like I Said Before Jacques, Before Me You Have No Power, No Vantage, No Strength. You Are A Dead Man Walking.” Each and every word struck terror into the heart of the white haired Schnee, creating nervous shakes in every once of his being and leaving his mind completely void of any counter points.

The only thing he could muster up to say to the Devil was, “what do you want from me? Money? Dust? Whatever you need I can provide it, just please leave me be!” Right before their eyes, the strong man façade shattered into a million pieces, leaving nothing behind but the terrified, coward that was the real Jacques Schnee.

Once he broke, that’s when the Devil and his Mistress realized they had him exactly where they wanted him, “Jacques, As You Haven’t Earned My Respect, And Thus I Don’t Trust That You Will Uphold Our Deal, So I Refuse To Negotiate With You Over These Distances. By Tomorrow Night, You Will Meet Me Here In Vale, In My Office, Where We Will Discuss The Specifics Of Our Little Deal. See You Tomorrow Jacques.”

“Wait-“ Before he could say anything else, communications between the two of them were shut down, leaving the broken man alone, yet again, sitting in his study.

“That went pretty well, so now let’s go two for two and tell Mother the good news about Roman’s death” the Devil and his crew remained completely unfazed by the entire conversation they just had, now focused on the next guest they would be speaking to.

On the other side of the word, the self-proclaimed ‘Master Schnee’ was only beginning to recover from the conversation he just had with the most terrifying person he had ever met. “GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!!!” His shrieking shout echoed quietly through his matted study, only reminding him of how screwed he actually was. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! I’m so fucked!” The words that the Devil spoke echoed throughout his mind, “I’m a dead man walking. I am a dead man walking. He’s going to kill me, he said it before and he’s sticking to his goddamn guns! What do I even do? I can’t just curl up into a ball and let him take my life. I’m Jacques Schnee for God’s sake!” In the echo chamber that was his own mind, he somehow managed to lift himself out of the depressive slump and back into his high mighty delusions of grandeur. “I know I can find a way to get out of this, but what the fuck do I do?”

The Schnee sat in his office for a while, getting up from his seat and pacing around the room, hoping the constant movement would help him come up with some ideas, and about 20 minutes into his brainstorming session it seemed like the movement worked. Jacques immediately moved from his position in the center of the room, back to his large desk and once he reached it, he slapped a button to contact the family Butler. “Klein, I need you to wake Willow, Weiss, and Winter and send them to my study immediately. I have an extremely important and time sensitive assignment that I need all three of them to complete, inform them that the Nobility and Value of the Schnee name is at risk. Alert them that this is of the utmost urgency, and I truly do need them today.” Jacques poured all of the emotion he could into his message and due to the silence on the other end of the call, he determined that his performance had worked.

Klein was shocked into silence for a moment before he was able to respond to the man, “yes Master Schnee, right away.” Klein was about to immediately leave for the peoples rooms before he had a sudden thought, “uhm Master, should I alert Whitely as well?”

“No Klein, he is far too young to handle important family issues such as these right now. In time he will grow into his own, but tonight he is still but a boy and cannot take part in such an important matter” Jacques’s words slightly moved Klein as he had never heard the man speak with such urgent emotion as he did now, it made him seem… human in an odd way.

“Yes sir, I’ll get on it right away!” Klein excitedly left his quarters, running to the woman’s rooms that were spread slightly across the massive manor. The first room he knocked on was Willow’s, waking her up from her drunken slumber and telling her what the Master had told her, word for word verbatim. Willow didn’t believe a word of what Klein had told her, and the moment he included her daughters in this little affair she immediately sobered up and became more than serious.

“I don’t believe for a single second that he’s changed even a tad bit; this is more than likely another one of his plans for us to take the fall so he can elevate himself even more. Jacques is pure evil, but I… I’m much worse.” Even when she felt it necessary to protect her children, she couldn’t escape the extreme guilt she felt for allowing this to happen, but she only allowed the depressive episode to last for a moment before she quickly cleared up her expression as only a Schnee could. “Delay getting Weis and Winter, I want my time alone with Jacques to figure out his objectives.”

The staunch man couldn’t deny the fact that Willow was more than likely correct about Jacques’s sudden change in tone, but he couldn’t help but be hopeful that this might be a turning point for the broken family. However, he understood Willow’s reluctance, so he obliged the woman’s request leaving with a small, “yes Mistress, I’ll delay for as long as I can, but I cannot promise it will last too long.” After Klein left the room, Willow sat in her small mirror for a moment, trying her best to hype herself up and putting on her ‘game’ face before she exited her room, quickly heading towards Jacques’s office.

As she reached the large wooden study doors, she knocked lightly on the door, waiting for permission to enter, and it soon came with a muffled, “please, come in!” Willow opened the door slowly, walking inside, and quietly shutting the door behind herself, sealing off her only exit. “Where is Weiss and Winter?” He asked right out the gate, his sudden response made her flinch slightly, but she remained strong otherwise.

“Klein is going to get them as we speak,” she said with a faux smile as she quickly approached his desk, “you know how far apart our rooms are, and plus Klein is getting a lot older and heavier so he may not be able to move as quickly as he would’ve before.” The man sitting behind the large desk laughed his haughty chuckle in response to her explanation, slapping his knee as he did so.

“I guess you’re right, please sit Willow, I think you may want to sit for this.” Willow nervously sat down in one of the leather seats that sat in front of his desk, sitting poised at the edge of the seat not leaving herself any vulnerability. After letting out a long sigh, Jacques began with, “I know you and I have had our differences and… issues up until now, but I really want to put all that behind us today. Tonight, I come to you humbly, asking, no pleading, for your assistance and expertise.” At his sudden admission, Willow’s eyes widened in shock as he had never, not once, asked for her help. It was always him demanding her do things, sometimes angrier than others, but never was saying no an option, so she simply decided to stay quiet and listen to what he had to say. “I need you,” he began, taking a moment to take a deep breath before continuing, “I know I’ve always been an awful husband and an even worse businessman.” The order of importance he placed on his downfalls immediately showed Willow his insincerity and she instantly steeled her heart to his manipulative words, her attention then fully focused on finding his hidden objective. “You’ve always been the rock, the one to hold me down when I made any decisions, the one who’d advise me on everything! And I’m just so angry at myself that it took me this long to notice, so before we discus anything I want to say thank you, for everything you’ve done for me and this family.”

As the sickly, vile words left the snakes mouth, Willow had to actively keep herself from vomiting in disgust at the man in front of her. “We were never a family you sick fuck! Well, I try my best, but I still believe that you are the essential reason why the Schnee Company has seen such successes in the recent past and present. The fact that you think your words mean anything to me means that you must be dumber than a box of crayons, you are a vile, imbecilic, creature of irredeemable quality and once you die, I hope you burn in hell for what you’ve done! Our family isn’t the same without you as its head and if you are committed to making things right from now on, then I want you to know that you have my whole support.” She spoke every lie as easily as she breathed, for she had been doing this for years in their marriage and she didn’t see an end in sight. She would give him the brightest, most submissive fake smile she could manage and spoke the sweet, regurgitated nonsense that he would want to here, stroking his ego as high as it could go in hopes of him telling her what she wanted to know.

The response that she gave was music to Jacques’s ears, “I’m glad to hear all of that Willow, you’ve been an amazing lover for me over the years and I would hate for that love to be squandered over a few mishaps. Willow, you are the greatest businesswoman, negotiator, analyst, assistant, and every other skill that falls underneath that tree of successful individuals in the world, and it’s because of your superior skills that I need your help. The central issue that the Schnee Company and thus our family is facing is the same group that put us in a bad situation before. We would’ve gotten out of it but the Devil, as he is called, didn’t seem to want to negotiate at all at that point, so he squandered the talks before they truly began. Don’t worry though, I don’t fault you for creating that plan, there was no way for to know that he’d take that route.” The way he so readily shifted the blame for his own mistakes made her blood boil, if she was able, she’d murder him where he stood.

“I’m so sorry! I should’ve have predicted as much; I never took into account that he may have wanted to get you face to face just to intimidate you! I apologize, this is all my fault! Jacques, you are a fuck up and a disgrace to the Schnee family name, how could you fuck up simple negotiations with a mobster of all people.” She feigned guilt in front of the man, hoping to tap back into his pity minded nature so he’d give her the information that she wanted.

As usual, he fell through, “no it truly wasn’t your fault, if anything it was that stupid fucking, Demon! If he didn’t request an apology or just simply put some respect on my title as Master of this house than we wouldn’t be dealing with this stupid damn problem in the first place!” And just like that she was easily able to piece the puzzle together and learn what had actually occurred. “But that’s neither here nor there, the importance of this is that since the first negotiations fell through, he and his Demon Clan have taken some… extreme measures to ensure that he is in an advantageous state against our family.” After finishing his thought, he took a moment to piece together how he wanted to reveal this information to the woman, not knowing exactly how she’d react.

“You don’t have to cherry pick when revealing information to me, I’m already fully on board! If it will help keep a clean slate on our family name and restore livelihood to our marriage, then I’ll do whatever it takes! What the fuck are you hiding Jacques?”

Willow’s reassuring comments cleared the nervousness from his mind, and he then chose to tell her the dead truth about their current situation. “Since you said your already on board, and you know I need you all for this, I’ll tell you straight. So, the Devil and a few of his members essentially took over the entirety of the SD-Block in Vale while it was at its peak capacity.” Willow’s face went from a fake smile filled with concern to a genuine look of shock, but she quickly shook the look from her face and continued listening. “All of the security was slaughtered, data stolen, and most importantly, the Dust is being kept hostage in the city. They’re occupying the entire shipyard and military action is not an option. One, it would be far to costly, two, there is no guarantee that we’d be able to get the Dust back anyhow, and most importantly three, it would bring an unbelievable amount of shame to the Schnee name. The only option we have left is negotiations and this is why I need you all to go and represent our family in these negotiations. If not , the entire Schnee family name could be tarnished forever, and I know that is something that neither of us want. I know it’s a lot to take in, so take as much time as you need.”

The air rang quiet for a moment as Willow began analyzing the information presented before her, “if the Demon Clan is completely occupying the entire SD-Block and Jacques fears that the Dust could disappear any moment, then why would the Devil choose to negotiate in the first place? Once again it sounds like the Dust isn’t the Devil’s true objective, because if it was then right now, he’d have more than enough Dust to either sell or arm an entire army. The Devil’s objective isn’t very important right now, the true question is why does Jacques need us to go then? This sounds like a solution that could be solved very simply by him just showing up and making a literal deal with the Devil. Why would he need to get me, and my daughters involved?” The question irked her to no end, so she decided to suck up her pride and do the thing she had been doing for the vast majority of their marriage, act dumb. “I’m so sorry Master Schnee, but I just can’t understand why you would need me, Weiss, and Winter to go to Vale in your stead. Do you think you could explain it to me? You would seem to be the best candidate for a situation such as this.”

The sweetly asked question was easily able to persuade the man and he immediately began spilling his ‘reasoning’ with the woman. “Well, there are quite a few reasons why I cannot go and some of them I have already listed already, but I’ll list them in simplest terms so you can easily digest it. One, the Devil doesn’t like me, so he won’t talk to me, two you are a better negotiator than I am, three, don’t take this the wrong way, but it seems that the Devil has a natural affinity towards woman, so he’d be much more likely to give into a deal if you all were around him, and lastly you three are the true faces of the Schnee family! Who better to save it then you all!”

“Then why do Weiss and Winter have to come along as well? It seems like I could fit all of these roles by myself Master Schnee” Willow knowingly added the ‘Master Schnee’ on the end to ensure that he would answer her question.

“You really are asking a lot of questions Willow,” he spoke, agitation clearly growing in his voice, “but I’ll answer your questions since you’ve been so good for me tonight. Weiss needs to go because if she is to be a proper heir she needs to understand how to deal with these situations and you’d be a perfect example. Plus, she’s going to Vale soon anyway to become a Huntsman at Beacon academy so I’m sure she’d be happy to travel they’re with her mother. Winter must go to protect you two if any danger comes your way, you may be the best, but just in case things go south I want Winter to be there to protect you both.”

“I understand. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to protect our family name, I’ll be sure to make you proud. So is this really all he wants? He want’s me to go in, negotiate a solid deal with the Devil and fix his fuck up? It does sound like his usual MO, but something seems a bit off about everything.” She would have taken the time to continue thinking about it, but a soft knock was suddenly coming from the door, and Klein’s voice was heard.

“Master Schnee, Weiss is here to see you!”

“Please my daughter come in” shouted Jacques, and after his lifted voice gave her permission, Weiss entered into the study.

The woman that walked in had pure white skin that was just as blemishless as her elegant pale blue and white dress. Her hair was a beautiful, shining white that glistened in the light and it was tied up in a perfect ponytail, with not a single strand out of place. This was the second born, lovely daughter of Willow and every time she saw her, she couldn’t help a small tear forming in her eye as she looked at how much she had grown. “Hello Father, Mother” she said as she gave the two of them a small curtsey before she took a seat in the other free chair, sitting at the edge of the chair with perfect posture, just like her mother. “Father, what is this all about?”

“Before we begin the explanation again, where is your sister?” At that question, Klein, who was still at the entrance of the study, spoke up to answer the question.

“Master, she’s apparently been gone for quite some time now, she must’ve earlier today without letting anyone know to fulfill her obligations as a Specialist in the military.” The butler’s answer caused Jacques to become visibly angry, but he somehow managed to hold the anger in as he forcefully calmed himself down.

“Klein, your dismissed” he dismissed the man, waving him off arrogantly with a single hand, and the group watched as he exited the office. “Well, this might stifle the plan a little bit, but I believe that this will go smoothly enough that you won’t need Winter, after all it was just a precaution. Now, my daughter, let me tell you about our current predicament.” Willow listened as Jacques revealed the current scenario, while leaving out a few specific details and adding more villainous terms and exaggerations to describe the Demon Clan. However, overall, he stayed mostly true to his original story, showing that if this was a lie, he had at least thought about it a little bit before presenting the case to them. After he finished the story and the mission plan, he included the reasoning of why Weiss and Willow needed to be the ones to go, and when he requested his daughters assistance, she of course said she would help. The ‘family’ then shared one last goodbye before they all went back to their room’s on opposite corners of the manor and fell back to sleep, with the exception of Willow, who’s mind was still racing as she thought of the evil man’s ulterior motive.

Back with the other side of Remnant, the Devil and his group were finishing up a phenomenally exciting conversation and part celebration with Mother aka Lil’ Miss Malachite, the leader of the Spider’s and mom of the twins Miltia and Melanie. “Your reputation truly does proceed you Mr. Prompt, or should I call you Reaper, or maybe the Devil himself? You have made an impeccable bounty of titles in such a short amount of time. If I weren’t your Mother, and you hadn’t killed Roman then I might be a little bit jealous of you Sonny” the large woman said jokingly. “Jokes aside, you have done a phenomenal job Son, and tho I haven’t known you for long, and we haven’t talked much, it would be an honor to let you know how proud I am of you.”

“Thanks Mother, but you really don’t have to call me all those names, I believe I like Son the best” (Y/N) said as he bowed slightly to the woman.

Lil’ miss was taken aback by his sudden gesture, holding her hand to her large chest, “oh my, you truly do know how to make a woman’s heart swoon Son. You truly are like the Son I never asked for, but never knew I wanted.”

“It’s a huge honor to be looked at like that by a woman of your amazing power, I can definitely say that I wouldn’t have made this far this fast without your help, so thanks for everything Mother!”

“Sonny, if you don’t stop lying to your Mother, you know that you’d get just as powerful, just as quick even if I didn’t assist you. You would’ve definitely figured it out, and I probably would’ve gotten out of your way to let you do it” she said as she took a long drag on her pipe, softly blowing out the smoke, and watching it dissipate in the surrounding air. “Well, it’s about time for me to go Sonny, I still have some… ‘things’ that need to get taken care of by the end of the night. So, enjoy the rest of your night, enjoy being the most powerful crime lord in Vale, and enjoy all those gorgeous little girls you seem to surround yourself with. If you ever need dear old Mom just know that I’m only a call away, and I promise I’ll drop anything for my Son.”

“Thank you so much Mother! I’ll be sure to keep in touch whenever I’m not busy taking things over or running the Clan. But there is one more thing that I wanted to ask you about,” that comment grabbed Lil’ miss’s attention, and she then tuned back into what her Son was saying,” what would you like me to do with Lady Browning’s Preparatory Academy For Girls?”

The leader of the Spiders thought about the question for a moment before quickly coming to an answer, “do whatever you want with it. I’m having the spies that I’ve been prepping return to Mistral upon graduation, so if you would like me to, I can put in a good word with the Headmistress and possibly get you some more loyal subordinates, but I personally have no more use for the School. Do what you wish Sonny.”

“It’d be great if you could! I think I could put some trained woman to good use here, only of course if their loyal to the Clan.”

“I’ll find you some good ones then Son, now if you’ll excuse me, Mother’s got some people that need taken care of. Goodbye my darling little girls, eldest daughter, kind sir, Junior, and of course my favorite Son. I’ll be talking to you all soon” after Lil’ miss individually said goodbye to everyone in the room, and she got goodbyes in return, she ended the call.

“Wow, what a nice woman” the kind Sir, Zeb said as the call ended.

“Like, I know right!”

“Yeah, Mother is super nice!” The twins quickly followed up after one another, supporting Zeb’s point. The group continued to celebrate for a little while longer until (Y/N) told the group that it was finally time for him to go. The night was long, and the sun had already begun rising over the horizon signifying his time to return to his other lovers, and Hel chose to go along with him tonight as well. So, after the exchanging of a few cheek kisses curtesy of Neo and the twins, and a bow and salute, the Devil and his Mistress exited the premises with Scylla in tow, stopping at DTD for a moment to tongue each other down. Scarlet was beginning to get restless because of how much she wanted to meet the others, but he assured her that she’d meet them soon, soon as in within the next two days. At that comment, she gave him another fat kiss on the lips before pushing him goodbye and entering into the shops parking lot to drive home. (Y/N) couldn’t wait for Scarlet to meet the rest of them and that’s all he thought about as he made it back to his temp room where he found himself in the same position, he saw himself in, if that makes any sense. The two of them swiftly flashed each other a thumbs up and they quickly switched places, letting the original into the comforting embrace of his lovers and letting the clone into the comforting embrace of himself.