[Discontinued] Yet Another World (Re:ZeroxRWBY)

21. Dance of The Crimson War Goddess

"A possible act of sabotage could be underway right in the academy and the tournament itself.'

Indigo remained stern as she uttered that phrase. It had caught Subaru off-guard, his face revealing a hint of shock and surprise, though not as far as that time when he discovered that Rem had been eaten by gluttony. In fact, her warning to him is a bit tame compared to the things he had gone through, even the ones that are from Remnant itself.

But nonetheless, it had only been a single year without any major incidents happening from his perspective. Though knowing his experience and luck, he should have been more attentive and prepared for this sort of outcome in the first place. As such, that simple phrase drove his now rather inquisitive mind into a frenzy, even if his face did not show it that much from the perspective of others.

He had sat down with a restless leg alongside the rest of his team inside their dormitory. His hands had covered his lower face. Subaru then took a deep breath, before exhaling just as much in order to calm his mind.

Though even with all of the things he had gone through being a hint of his ever increasing wisdom, he could not think clearly. There just wasn't enough information to go off of this warning flag. Why didn't they tell him sooner? Why had things been so sudden for him recently? What had they been hiding all this time? Question after question piled up inside his mind with no clear answer he could give for any of them. Natsuki Subaru was truly and utterly confused, and off-guard.

There simply wasn't enough time to think about what was going on for him. With the tournament getting closer to its finale, he can't really plan a thorough investigation to delve into what might possibly be going on behind the scenes.

But, he could always ask the people who seemingly knew much more than he did at the moment. He looked up to face the two girls, Indigo and Scarlet, and promptly asked them the most basic of questions he could muster out of his overworked mind.

"Who are they?" Asked Subaru.

"Cinder Fall and Neopolitan. Two people that I never thought would work together." Said Indigo, "One is a direct subordinate of The Black Queen, the one that sent Hyena to you. The other is an experienced assassin, and a friend of ours, her former partner in crime, Roman Torchwick, was executed well over one and a half years ago just so you know who she is."

Indigo looked at Scarlet, her friend's expression noticeably souring and her grip on her skirt tightening at the mention of her more deranged past self. Indigo wanted to comfort her, but a more important situation was at hand.

"Who is the Black Queen?" Subaru asked her.

The question caught Indigo by surprise, "I...no, we don't know, and Scarlet never really wanted to open up about her. Ozpin seemed to also be in the dark about her, only knowing the name of the previous holder of that title." She answered.

Subaru looked at a tense Scarlet sitting beside him. From the looks of things, Scarlet was struggling to keep her composure. He could even see her whole body trembling with heavy anxiety. Subaru's face grew solemn for a moment as he thought, maybe they could have a nice casual chat with her after this ordeal was over.

"Natsuki," She called out to him, making him instinctively turn towards her, "I suggest that we should use Cor Leonis as a way to push Scarlet's performance to her max potential. It's the only way to ensure our victory."

Subaru blinked, "What do you mean? Could you please elaborate more?"

"Scarlet's full potential is being limited by her external spine implant. It essentially halves her potential due to it functioning as a torture device for her during her time as Hyena. If she ever decides to recklessly push her limits, that pain will increase drastically." She answered him, "But if we can remove that pain instead, it would be guaranteed that she'll possess more than enough firepower to go toe to toe with the likes of Cinder for a while, and the only way to do that is to-"