Chương 142: Chapter 135: The Lost Fable

The pristine, opulent environment of Saitama's guest bedroom faded away completely. Ruby Rose stood alone in the vast, blindingly white expanse of the void. Slowly, the blank environment began to morph and manifest around her. A dirt path formed beneath her boots, leading toward a dark, imposing castle in the far distance. The soft, echoing sound of a woman humming a lonely, melancholic melody drifted through the background.

Jinn's resonant, melodic voice began to echo from everywhere and nowhere at once, speaking directly into the minds of Team RWBY and Team JNPR.

"Once upon a time, there stood a lonely tower..." Jinn narrated softly. The white mist shifted. Blake Belladonna faded from view, and Pyrrha Nikos materialized exactly where she had been. Pyrrha turned, looking over her shoulder as the vision solidified.

"... that sheltered a lonely girl." Jinn continued. A high-definition, phantom projection materialized in the void. It was a rather beautiful, blonde woman, sitting quietly in front of an ancient vanity mirror. Ruby walked slowly up to the projection, staring at the woman's face with profound curiosity.

"Her name..." Jinn revealed softly.

"Is Salem." A swirl of ethereal blue smoke passed over the vision, revealing Salem in her original, mortal appearance. She stood by the window of the high tower, her arms crossed defensively, staring out at a world she could not touch. The melancholic humming continued in the background.

"Locked away by her cruel father, Salem was a girl who desired but one thing: freedom." Salem turned away from the window, her face a portrait of profound sadness. Ruby watched closely as the beautiful woman walked past her, entirely unaware of the young Huntress' presence.

"She lived in a time when kings and their Kingdoms were plentiful, when men and women were capable of greatness, and magic was a gift from the Gods that all could wield." Salem sat down heavily and leaned back against the vanity. She held up her left hand. Utilizing her innate magic, four glowing, magical spheres, each inscribed with a distinct magic circle representing the basic elements, hovered gently above her palm.

"And yet, there she sat within her tower." As Salem looked down at her hands, the blue smoke reappeared, enveloping her and shifting the scene entirely. It reformed into the exterior of the towering, foreboding castle where Salem was imprisoned.

"Until one day, a legendary hero came to brave the challenges within the tower's walls." A young man appeared at the base of the tower. He was clad in gleaming, regal armor and a flowing cape, proudly wielding an ornate golden scepter. Jaune Arc materialized in the void, walking slowly up to the projection of the ancient warrior.

"The people of the lands knew him as Ozma." Curious, Jaune reached out and waved his hand directly in front of Ozma's face. The legendary hero did not blink, simply stepping forward and phasing entirely through Jaune's hand.

"Unlike those who had come before, this warrior was not driven by the prize of the young maiden's hand." Jinn narrated, her voice filled with respect.

"He fought only for righteousness, and his pure heart and courageous soul prevailed." As Ozma marched confidently up the tower steps, brief, overlapping visions flashed through the mist, showing dozens of other, lesser warriors falling in brutal battle against the tower's magical defenses. The blue smoke reformed the scene once again. This time, it showed Ozma in the heat of combat, powerfully swinging his golden scepter to strike down a towering, dark-armored figure guarding the final corridor.

With his foe defeated, Ozma pushed open the heavy wooden doors leading into Salem's room. Salem stood up from her vanity, her eyes wide with shock and hope. She offered a hesitant, deeply grateful smile to her savior. The blue smoke swirled, rapidly shifting through a montage of their escape. It showed Ozma and Salem battling side-by-side, their combined magical powers obliterating the remaining guards.

"They escaped the wretched fortress, and yet something bound them together." The mist reformed into a quiet, moonlit forest. Ozma and Salem were running away from the looming silhouette of the tower, their hands clasped tightly together. Once they reached a safe distance, the two stopped, panting heavily as they caught their breath. They slowly turned to look at each other.

"Ozma had been ready to give his life for justice countless times, but now saw a woman worth saving it for." Jinn explained tenderly.

"And Salem, to her surprise, found her freedom not in the outside world she had yearned for, but in the eyes of the man that had saved her." Salem looked out at the vast, open world, then back to the hero.

"So," Salem breathed, a nervous, hopeful smile on her lips.

"Where should we go now?" Ozma smiled warmly. He offered his hand to her.

"Wherever you'd like."

"The two fell deeply in love, planned adventures around the world, and lived happily ever after." The blue smoke enveloped the environment completely, leaving only Ozma and Salem visible as they held hands. They smiled at each other as they disappeared into a bright, blinding light of white space.

"Or at least..." Jinn's melodic voice suddenly dropped, carrying a heavy, ancient sorrow.

"That's what should have been." The smoke violently reformed the scene. The bright light was replaced by the dim, sickly glow of a candlelit sickroom. Salem was kneeling at the bedside of an unconscious, horribly pale Ozma. She clutched his hand with both of hers, sobbing uncontrollably into the sheets.

"Ozma, the infallible hero of legend, fell ill. And where all the beasts and blades of the world had fallen short, a single sickness prevailed." Ozma's body slowly vanished into wisps of gray smoke. Salem wailed, collapsing onto the empty mattress as she clutched his golden scepter to her chest. Weiss Schnee materialized behind the grieving widow, watching the agonizing scene unfold with deep, genuine pity.

"How..." Salem sobbed, her voice cracking with pure, unadulterated grief.

"How could the Gods let this happen?" As Weiss continued to watch, she looked up toward the ceiling. Hovering above Salem's head were two glowing spheres. One is a brilliant, radiant yellow. And the other is a deep, swirling purple.

"The Gods, brothers of light and darkness, creation and destruction." Jinn narrated.

"Salem prayed they would see the injustice that had befallen her love and make things right." The two orbs slowly descended. Blake Belladonna manifested, watching the yellow and purple spheres conjoin in a blinding flash of light. The blue smoke transitioned the scene entirely. The dim sickroom vanished, replaced by a breathtaking, brightly lit environment. A massive, pristine white stairway led up to the peak of a majestic mountain.

"The Domain of Light was a sacred place." Salem approached the base of the stairway. She carried a bouquet of beautiful flowers in one hand, and Ozma's scepter tightly in the other.

"It was here the elder brother dwelled beside his fountain of life and creation. It was here... where mankind would fall to ruin." Pyrrha Nikos watched in silence as Salem began her long, desperate climb up the stairs. The smoke transitioned the scene, bringing them to the very top of the mountain. Salem stood at the edge of the Domain of Light. It was a stunning, vibrant valley filled with blooming flowers. At the direct center of the valley sat a glowing pool of pure, golden water, and a massive, ancient tree.

Golden leaves blew from the branches of the tree, encircling the water. From the glowing depths of the pool, rose a towering, majestic being composed entirely of radiant, golden energy. The God of Light. He walked forward, stopping just a few feet away from the grieving mortal. Salem immediately fell to her knees, bowing her head.

"Please," Salem begged, her voice trembling with desperation as she held out the flowers.

"Please, bring him back to me." The God of Light stared down at her for a long, heavy second.

"I understand your pain." The God of Light spoke, his voice booming with divine, unyielding authority.

"But you demand of me that which I cannot make so. Life and death are part of a delicate balance." Salem looked up, her tear-stained eyes widening in shock.

"So... you won't do it then?"

"To disrupt the cycle of--""But that's not fair!" Salem interrupted, screaming at the divine entity.

"That's not fair!" Her voice echoed violently throughout the Domain of Light. The God of Light narrowed his glowing eyes, speaking with stern, absolute finality.

"Let. Him. Rest." The wind suddenly whipped into a frenzy, causing the golden leaves to blow violently around Salem, completely obscuring her vision. When the leaves settled, Salem found herself standing back at the very bottom of the stairway leading to the Domain of Light. She had been banished. She looked down at Ozma's scepter in her hands. Slowly, her grief hardened into a sharp, furious resolve. She looked up at the mountain peak.

"No." The blue smoke violently transitioned the scene again. The bright, beautiful environment was replaced by a dark, foreboding, terrifyingly jagged landscape. A twisted, obsidian stairway led up a jagged mountain, darkly mirroring the Domain of Light.

"The God of Darkness..." Jinn narrated, a shiver evident in her ethereal voice. Salem approached the base of the stairs. Scattered across the blackened earth were the horrifying, skeletal remains of massive beasts.

"None dare to enter his home, as men knew what monstrosities emerged from his blackened pools of annihilation." Salem proceeded forward, utterly fearless in her grief. She reached the top of the mountain, approaching a massive, bubbling pool of thick, tar-like liquid. A substance horrifyingly similar to the essence that spawned the Creatures of Grimm.

"And so you must understand the Dark Lord's surprise when he found a lone woman kneeling before him." From the bubbling, blackened pool, the God of Darkness emerged. His body was composed of swirling, jagged purple energy, completely twisted and contorted into a terrifying shape. Yang Xiao Long manifested a few feet away from Salem, letting out a sharp gasp of pure fear at the sight of the dark deity. The God of Darkness crawled toward Salem in a jerky, unnatural, arachnid-like position.

From the shadows of the rocks, massive, ancient Creatures of Grimm began to inch closer to the mortal intruder.

"Salem understood it well." Jinn explained.

"She told him of her loss and professed that she knew only he could answer her prayers, all while careful to make no mention of his elder." Salem knelt before the God of Darkness, tearfully reciting her tragic story before humbly offering Ozma's scepter to the twisted deity.

"Rise, child." The God of Darkness hissed, his voice a chorus of echoing malice.

"And let your faith in me be rewarded." Salem stood up. The God of Darkness raised a clawed hand, conjuring a massive, swirling purple sphere over the pool. The dark energy condensed. And from the sphere, Ozma's body materialized, dropping onto the obsidian floor. Salem rushed forward. Ozma let out a violent, ragged gasp as he was ripped back into the world of the living.

"Where am I?!" Ozma yelled, his eyes darting around the terrifying landscape in sheer panic.

"What is this?! WHERE AM I?!!" Salem dropped to her knees, a radiant, overjoyed smile breaking across her face. She threw her arms around him, pulling him into a desperate hug.

"It's okay!" Salem cried happily.

"Everything's going to be okay!" Suddenly, a deafening crack of thunder shook the mountain. The God of Light appeared at the very top of the stairs leading into the dark domain. He glowed with blinding, furious golden energy.

"What have you done?" the God of Light demanded, his voice shaking the earth.

"I have done what I please, brother," the God of Darkness spat, standing up to his full, towering height.

"You may bask in the powers of creation, but you do not own them."

"This is not creation," the elder brother rebuked.

"Do not lecture me!" From the shadows, the Grimm began to slowly approach the God of Light, snarling hungrily at the golden entity.

"I will do what I must to maintain order," the God of Light stated firmly. He thrust his hand forward. A brilliant orange aura instantly surrounded Ozma's body. Before Salem could even react, the hero disintegrated into golden ash right in her arms.

"No! NOOO!" Salem screamed, clawing desperately at the ash.

"What did you do?! BRING HIM BACK!" The God of Darkness roared to his older brother.

"You dare enter my domain and show such disrespect!" He raised his hand, instantly reforming Ozma's body from the ash.

"Ozma!" Salem cried out.

"I am abiding by the rules we agreed upon!" the God of Light argued to his younger brother.

"Rules that I now see are ever in your favor!" the God of Darkness countered furiously.

"And yet the day a mortal comes to pray at my feet before your own, so do you arrive to lay your judgment upon me!" The God of Darkness violently shifted, his body expanding and twisting until he transformed into a colossal, nightmarish, purple dragon-like form with four legs and wings that snarled aggressively at his brother. The Grimm, emboldened by their master, lunged forward to attack the golden deity. But the God of Light simply flared his aura.

A blinding pulse of golden light emanated from him, instantly vaporizing every single Grimm in the area into nothingness. The God of Light then shifted his own form, transforming into a massive, breathtakingly beautiful, oriental-looking golden serpentine dragon.

"I know we have our differences. But I have not come here with the aim to control you," the golden dragon spoke, his voice resonating through the dark domain.

"The same, however, cannot be said for her. This woman came to you only after I denied her pleas. Pleas that would have disrupted the balance that you and I created. Together." The younger brother paused. He hovered in the air, his glowing purple eyes narrowing as he pondered the revelation of the mortal's deception.

"Then it seems I owe you an apology," the dark dragon concluded coldly.

"Allow me to correct my mistake."

"NO!!" Salem shrieked. The God of Darkness opened his massive jaws, firing a concentrated purple beam directly at the reunited couple. The beam struck Ozma, instantly disintegrating him for the third time. Salem knelt on the obsidian floor, utterly broken, watching as the ashes of her beloved blew away out of her hands, scattering into the dark wind.

"You..." Salem whispered. Her sorrow instantly curdled into a blinding, psychotic rage.

"You monsters! Give him back to me! GIVE HIM BACK!!" Salem roared, unleashing her own magical abilities. She fired a barrage of elemental blasts directly at the gods. The God of Light reacted instantly. The golden dragon rushed forward, unhinging his jaws, and entirely devoured her. The void shifted wildly. Salem woke up, screaming, as she fell from the sky. She plunged heavily into the glowing, golden waters of the God of Light's pool.

She thrashed, drowning in the divine water as a strange, shimmering aura coated her entire body. Suddenly, she found herself violently expelled from the pool, collapsing onto the grass at the edge of the water. She coughed and gasped for air, dragging herself onto her knees. She looked up. Standing side-by-side in front of her were the God of Light and the God of Darkness, returned to their humanoid forms.

"When you first came to me, I did pity you." The God of Light said coldly.

"But it is clear now that your selfishness and arrogance have led you astray." Salem staggered to her feet, glaring at them.

"What did you do to me?" Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. She looked down at her hands. The strange, shimmering aura still clung to her skin.

"I have made you immortal," the God of Light declared.

"Immortal?" Salem repeated, her voice hollow.

"You cannot die," the God of Darkness added cruelly.

"You cannot be with your beloved." Both Gods spoke in perfect, terrifying unison, their voices echoing with absolute, divine finality:"So long as this world turns, you shall walk its face." Salem stared back at them in absolute, paralyzing disbelief.

"You must learn the importance of life and death," the God of Light stated.

"Only then may you rest."

"No! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" Salem screamed, lunging forward to reach out to them. But as her hand extended, the environment vanished. She found herself standing entirely alone in a vast, empty, open field.

"Salem was a prisoner once again" Jinn narrated softly.

"Her fruitless attempts to reunite with Ozma eventually became nothing more than acts of spite and defiance against the Gods." The mist reformed into Salem's original bedroom. Nora Valkyrie materialized, her teal eyes widening in sheer, unadulterated horror. She clamped her hands over her mouth as she watched a shadow projection of Salem violently and fatally stab herself through the chest with a sword. But Salem did not die.

The wound instantly healed, rejecting the blade, leaving her gasping and sobbing on the floor. Her suicide attempt completely failed due to her divine immortality.

"But perhaps the Gods were not as powerful as they seemed..." Lie Ren manifested in the room. He watched closely as a blood-soaked Salem slowly walked toward the window, her eyes completely devoid of sanity, still gripping the sword tightly in her hand.

"She had lied to them, turned them against one another. They... were fallible." Salem stared out the window, her eyes locking onto a massive, fortified castle in the far distance.

"If she were to turn humanity against light and darkness, she could rid herself of their curse, or at the very least... she could make them suffer." Ruby Rose reappeared, standing directly in Salem's line of sight. Suddenly, Salem reared back and violently threw the bloodied sword directly toward the young Huntress. Ruby yelped in panic, throwing her arms up to protect herself, but she disappeared in a puff of blue smoke a microsecond before the blade could strike her. The smoke transitioned the scene instantly.

A regal King sitting on a throne jumped up in shock as a bloodied axe was thrown violently onto the marble floor before him.

"Salem traveled from one Kingdom to another." Jinn explained, the smoke swirling to show a rapid montage of Salem's campaign.

"Telling tales of how she stole immortality from the Gods, welcomed any swordsman to cut her down, and demonstrated her powers." Salem was shown standing confidently before various world leaders, allowing their elite guards to strike her down, only to heal instantly. She spoke with the King, then an oriental-looking Empress, and finally, a massive, savage-looking Warrior King covered in furs and war paint.

"With the kings and queens in awe, she pulled them deeper into her scheme." Jinn narrated.

"She painted them pictures of a time when they would no longer have to watch their loved ones wither and die, when they could claim the powers of their creators for themselves, and in turn, perfect their own design." As Salem finished her grand, manipulative speech to the Warrior King, she lowered her head, kneeling respectfully before him. The Warrior King's eyes burned with greed and ambition. He drew his massive weapon and let out a deafening, proud battle cry.

His entire army, and the assembled armies of the other Kingdoms, cheered wildly alongside him, raising their weapons to the sky. The scene shifted to a massive, apocalyptic battlefield. The combined, unified military forces of all the Kingdoms were charging forward in an all-out, magical assault directly upon the Domain of Light.

"All they needed to do was destroy their old masters." As the thousands of warriors breached the valley, the God of Light emerged from his golden pool, taking on his massive, radiant dragon form.

"The Gods had hoped that Salem would learn from her eternal curse, and she did." Jinn noted grimly.

"She learned that the hearts of men are easily swayed." The leaders of the Kingdoms stood proudly at the front of their massive army, raising their weapons toward the golden deity. Suddenly, the sky darkened. The God of Darkness, in his terrifying purple dragon form, descended from the clouds, landing heavily alongside his elder brother.

"Who has led you down this path?" The God of Light boomed, his voice shaking the earth. The sea of warriors parted. Salem walked slowly and confidently through the crowd, making her way to the very front lines. She stood before the deities, glaring up at them with a triumphant, spiteful smirk.

"You..." The God of Darkness hissed. He reared his massive head back and roared furiously at the immortal woman. In response, Salem didn't flinch. She raised her hands, launching a massive, concentrated blast of magical energy directly at the dark god. Following her lead, the entire army of humanity unleashed their fury. Thousands upon thousands of magical blasts, elemental strikes, and Aura-infused weapons rained down upon the deities in a blinding, apocalyptic barrage.

But the God of Darkness simply raised a single, massive clawed hand. He effortlessly caught the entirety of the combined assault. He absorbed every single magical blast, every spell, and every strike into a swirling, dense purple sphere of energy resting in his palm. Salem and the leaders of the Kingdoms stared up at him in absolute, paralyzing shock.

"My own gift to them..." the God of Darkness rumbled, his voice echoing with profound, apocalyptic disappointment.

"... used against me." Beside him, the God of Light looked away, unable to bear the sight of their ultimate failure. The God of Darkness slowly closed his claws, violently squeezing the dense sphere of absorbed magic within his hand. A microscopic point of blinding purple light appeared. And then, it detonated. A massive, silent shockwave of absolute, fundamental annihilation exploded outward. It swept across the Domain of Light, expanding instantly across the entire planet. It smote everything.

The armies, the kings, the castles, and the cities. Every single human being on the face of Remnant was instantly, effortlessly wiped from existence, turned into fine, gray dust that blew away in the wind. Humanity was completely, entirely eradicated. Only Salem remained, standing alone in the drifting ash, her divine immortality protecting her from the purge.

"No..." Salem whispered, spinning around in frantic circles, looking at the empty piles of dust that used to be her grand army.

"No...!!" The God of Darkness slammed his massive foot into the ground, generating a localized tremor that violently knocked Salem backward.

"You thought there was no greater punishment we could bestow upon you?" the God of Darkness sneered.

"I'll come back!" Salem shrieked, crawling back to her feet, completely blinded by her own madness.

"I'll tell the rest of the world of this massacre! I'll build a new army!"

"You do not understand." The dark dragon leaned down, his glowing purple eyes locking onto her terrified face.

"There is no one left. You are all that remains of Humanity." Salem's manic defiance instantly shattered. Her expression fell into a mask of pure, absolute horror at the revelation. The God of Light shifted back into his humanoid form, looking out over the empty, dust-covered world.

"This planet was a beautiful experiment," the God of Light mourned softly.

"But it is merely a remnant of what it once was. We will learn from this failure. I hope that you will learn from yours." The God of Light glowed brilliantly, before completely disappearing into a burst of golden light, ascending into the heavens.

"No! You can't leave!" Salem screamed, reaching up toward the sky.

"You can't leave!! COME BACK!!!"

"Still demanding things of your creators..." the God of Darkness mocked. He shifted into a pillar of dark energy, disappearing into a massive beam of violent purple light that shot straight up into the sky, piercing the atmosphere and exiting the planet entirely. As the dark god breached the atmosphere, his sheer, unbridled destructive power slammed directly into the moon. The celestial body catastrophically shattered.

Massive, continent-sized fragments of the moon broke apart, raining down like a fiery, apocalyptic meteor shower back onto the surface of Remnant. Salem fell to her knees amidst the falling ash. She threw her head back and let out a long, agonizing scream of absolute, total despair, the sound entirely muted out by the deafening roar of the crashing meteors.

"Once again, Salem was alone..." The blue smoke swept the apocalypse away. Salem was shown wandering aimlessly across a lush, green landscape. She walked past a pair of deer peacefully eating grass. She wandered through the skeletal, overgrown ruins of abandoned villages that were now solely inhabited by the roaming Creatures of Grimm.

"She cursed the Gods. She cursed the universe. She cursed everything, everything but herself. She wandered the face of the planet, awaiting a death that would never come..." The environment shifted to a dark, jagged wasteland.

"Until fate led her back to the Land of Darkness." Salem stood on the edge of a massive, overhanging cliff in the Land of Darkness. She looked down, her hollow eyes locked onto a massive, bubbling pool of pitch-black liquid far below her.

"This was it. This had to be it. The brother's Grimm, the pools of black that continued to give rise to horrific nightmares. If the fountain of life granted her immortality, then surely, the pools of Grimm will finally take it away." Without a single moment of hesitation, Salem leaned forward, plummeting off the cliff and submerging herself entirely into the bubbling, blackened pool of annihilation.

"She was wrong." Jinn stated, her voice dropping into a dark, terrifying register.

"This force of pure destruction could not destroy a being of infinite life." Beneath the surface of the black pool, Salem screamed as she was violently thrashed around by an unseen, agonizing force. The dark magic warred with her divine immortality, tearing at her very soul.

"Instead... it created a being of infinite life with a desire for pure destruction." Slowly, agonizingly, a figure crawled out of the black pool, dragging herself onto the obsidian shore. Salem rose to her feet. Her skin was now a deathly, sickly white. Her golden hair had turned the color of bone. Black veins pulsed across her skin. She slowly opened her eyes. The blue irises were gone, replaced by burning, blood-red irises set against pitch-black sclerae.

"And in time, she would find her adversary..." The scene instantly shattered, shifting back into the blinding white space of the void. Ozma was shown lying on his back. He gasped, his eyes snapping open as he awakened in the empty dimension. He slowly sat up, taking a confused look at his blank surroundings. Team RWBY and Team JNPR manifested in a circle around him, watching silently as the ancient hero walked around aimlessly.

"Ozma." Ozma spun around. The God of Light stood before him in his magnificent golden dragon form, before smoothly shifting back into his humanoid shape.

"Where am I?" Ozma asked, deeply confused.

"We are between realms," the God of Light explained gently.

"I'm afraid a tragedy has befallen your home at the hands of my brother. We have chosen to depart this world. But in our absence, I would like to offer you the chance to return to it."

"I... don't understand," Ozma stammered.

"Mankind is no more, yet your world remains," the deity elaborated.

"And in time, your kind will grow to walk its face once again. However, without our presence, they will be but a fraction of what they once were." The God of Light raised his hands. With a wave of divine energy, he conjured four distinct, glowing objects into existence: A Staff, a Sword, a Crown, and a Lamp.

"Creation, destruction, choice, and knowledge, were the ideals upon which Humanity was made. Now I leave them behind with the hope that you will learn to remake yourselves." The four Relics spun in the air, conjoining together into a brilliant yellow sphere of energy that hovered before the hero.

"If brought together, these four Relics will summon my brother and I back to your world, and Humanity will be judged." The God of Light declared, his voice echoing with absolute consequence.

"If your kind has learned to live in harmony with one another and set aside their differences, then we shall once again live among you, and Humanity will be made whole again." The deity's glowing eyes narrowed severely.

"But if your kind is unchanged... if you demand our blessings while still fighting amongst yourselves... then man will be found irredeemable, and your world will be wiped from existence." Ozma stared at the sphere, overwhelmed by the apocalyptic stakes.

"Until your task is complete," the God of Light promised.

"You will reincarnate, but in a manner that ensures you are never alone." Ozma fell heavily to his knees as he struggled to come to terms with this divine ultimatum. Oscar Pine materialized in the void, watching the very first incarnation of his own soul kneel in the dust.

"I'm sorry, but..." Ozma whispered, his voice trembling with sorrow.

"That world just isn't as dear to me without her. If I may... I'd rather return to the afterlife to see Salem."

"You will not find her there," the God of Light stated bluntly. Ozma's eyes widened in sudden, desperate shock. He looked up.

"You mean... she isn't gone?"

"Salem lives," the God of Light confirmed grimly.

"But the woman you hold dear in your memories is gone. Heed this warning... where you seek comfort, you will only find pain. So, will you--""I'll do it." The God of Light blinked, visibly surprised by Ozma's immediate, unwavering answer. The hero didn't care about the task. He only cared that Salem was alive.

"Very well," the God of Light nodded slowly.

"Our creation rests within your hands." The deity dissolved into a burst of golden light, leaving Ozma alone in the void.

"And so... Ozma was reborn." The void flashed. Ozma was suddenly thrust into a chaotic, terrifying physical reality. He had reincarnated into the body of a man with a tanned complexion and pale blonde hair. He was currently standing in a dark forest, holding a bloody pitchfork, having just stabbed a Beowolf that was disintegrating into ash at his feet. Ozma gasped, clutching his chest as he took the time to come to terms with his new body and his violent surroundings. He looked up.

Screaming villagers were running frantically past him into the forest, fleeing from a massive fire consuming a village in the distance.

"Where am I?" Ozma is confused. He heard a man scream nearby. He looked over to see a villager wildly swinging a sword at a lunging Beowolf. The Grimm swiped its massive claws, knocking the man to the ground and disarming him. Instinct took over. Ozma's ancient, heroic soul surged forward, seizing control of the host body. He sprinted with blinding speed, snatching the discarded sword from the dirt and seamlessly slicing the Beowolf's head off in a single, fluid motion.

The man scrambled backward, panting in sheer relief as the Grimm turned to ash.

"Thank you!" the villager gasped, looking up at his savior.

"Please, tell me your name. Who are you?" Ozma opened his mouth to reply. But suddenly, he couldn't speak. He looked down at his trembling hands, entirely disconnected from the body he was piloting. A wave of profound, existential horror washed over him. He dropped the sword to the ground, backing away in terror as he realized he was trapped inside another man's life. Oscar watched the scene unfold, his hands gripping his suspenders tightly.

"He didn't know..." Oscar whispered, recognizing the exact, terrifying dissociation he had felt when Ozpin first spoke to him in the barn. Jinn continued.

"Ozma had found himself in a world completely unfamiliar to him." The scene shifting to show the reincarnated hero walking down a bustling, medieval street.

"Cities looked different. Creatures known as the Faunus bore fangs and claws and were locked away in cages. And without the blessing of the Gods, no one could perform magic like mankind was once capable of. No one but himself, and a woman known as... the witch." The busy city streets faded away, replaced by the dense, overgrown foliage of a dark forest. Ozma walked through the trees, coming upon a lonely, dilapidated cottage hidden deep within the woods.

"During his years of travel, he heard the same frightened whispers that spoke of a terrifying sorceress who commanded dark powers in the wilds among the beasts and monsters. Ozma was convinced that this witch was Salem, and decided he needed to see what she had become." Ozma stood at a cautious distance from the cottage, clutching a walking staff tightly. The heavy front door slowly creaked open. From the darkness within, Salem emerged.

She was wearing flowing black robes, her white hair and red eyes a stark contrast to the shadows. At first, as she stepped onto the porch, she offered a furious, terrifying glare at the intruder. But as her red eyes locked onto his face, she paused. She felt the ancient magic resonating from his soul. Her terrifying expression instantly softened, melting away into a look of profound, vulnerable disbelief. Ozma lowered his staff. He recognized the soul beneath the monstrous exterior.

He offered her a warm, tentative smile.

"Call it magic, or call it something stronger." Jinn narrated softly.

"But in that moment, the two knew exactly who it was that stood before them." Ozma and Salem walked slowly toward each other, crossing the overgrown yard. They stopped, reaching out with trembling hands. They clasped hands, interlocking their fingers affectionately as tears welled in their eyes.

"What do we do now?" Ozma asked, his voice thick with emotion. Salem smiled, a genuine, beautiful expression despite her cursed form.

"Whatever we like." The blue smoke swirled, rapidly accelerating time. The dilapidated cottage was shown completely repaired and beautifully furnished. Salem and Ozma were sitting comfortably across from each other at a small table on the front porch, engaged in deep, earnest conversation.

"As Salem and Ozma recounted the events which had brought them back together, each withheld parts of their story. Salem, fearing Ozma would reject her, blamed the end of the world entirely on the Gods. Ozma, still unsure of where the truth lay, kept his grand task and the existence of the Relics a secret." The scene shifted inside the cottage.

"Though time passed and all seemed well, Ozma's conversation with the God of Light still lingered in his mind. He had found happiness, but Humanity seemed more divided than ever before."

"Are you surprised?" Salem asked as she poured two cups of tea.

"This world is quite literally godless. These Humans have no one to guide them. Perhaps that's all they need." Ozma frowned, accepting the cup.

"What are you saying?" Salem looked at him, her red eyes gleaming with a sudden, dark ambition.

"We could become the gods of this world. Our powers surpass all others. Our souls transcend death. We can mold these lands into whatever we want, what you want. We can create the paradise that the old Gods could not." Ozma looked deeply troubled by the suggestion. He hesitated. But as he looked into the eyes of the woman he had crossed lifetimes to find, he slowly smiled, nodding in agreement. Salem reached across the table, placing an affectionate, reassuring hand on Ozma's shoulder.

"The hearts of men..." Jinn whispered.

"... are easily swayed." The cottage dissolved. A small, primitive village was shown under brutal attack by a massive Nevermore. The villagers screamed, fleeing from the giant bird's razor-sharp feathers. Suddenly, a field of crackling purple energy completely surrounded the Nevermore in mid-air. The giant Grimm shrieked as its body was violently bent and folded into unnatural, agonizing positions by an invisible force. The Grimm disintegrated into black ash. The terrified villagers slowly looked up.

Ozma, once again wielding his golden scepter and wearing regal robes, and Salem, hovering gracefully in her black dress, were levitating side-by-side in the sky above them. The villagers immediately fell to their knees, bowing down to the magical saviors in absolute, unquestioning reverence. Weiss and Yang manifested in the void, walking slowly past a massive, towering stone monument where two grand statues of Ozma and Salem had been erected side-by-side in the center of a thriving city.

"The two amassed a following. That following grew into a prosperous Kingdom." A magnificent, sprawling stone castle materialized. Inside the castle, the mist revealed a massive, ornate throne room. Hanging proudly above the dais was a grand, beautiful oil painting of Ozma and Salem standing together in regal attire.

"And at the head of that Kingdom blossomed..." The blue smoke swept over the painting. Four little girls magically appeared within the frame, standing happily in front of their parents.

"... a family." The painting faded into reality. Ozma and Salem were standing on a sunlit balcony, watching their four young daughters playing joyfully in the courtyard below. The little girls were all wearing beautiful dresses, each colored in vibrant hues strikingly similar to those of the Four Maidens. One of the youngest daughters ran up to the balcony, playfully tugging on the hem of Salem's black robe. Salem smiled down at her, a look of genuine, profound maternal pride on her face.

She looked over at Ozma, and the two parents shared a deeply affectionate, perfectly happy smile. But the peace was a fragile illusion. The blue smoke transitioned the scene sharply. Salem stood alone in a dark chamber, a cruel, satisfied smirk on her face as she gazed into a glowing crystal ball. Within the crystal, a massive, bloody conflict between rival factions of humanity was raging. Ozma stood a short distance away, looking out the window. His expression was deeply, agonizingly troubled.

"Are we sure this is right?" Ozma asked, his voice heavy with guilt. Salem looked over her shoulder at him, her red eyes cold and calculating.

"You said we needed to bring Humanity together. In order to do that, we have to spread our word, and destroy those who will deny it." Ozma's eyes widened in sheer, horrifying shock at her casual brutality. He turned away, looking at his own reflection in the window glass. Suddenly, his reflection shifted. The tanned, blonde man vanished, replaced by the original, legendary hero Ozma. The reflection spoke to him.

"What are we doing?" the original Ozma pleaded, his eyes filled with sorrow. Ozma reeled back in horror, clutching his chest. He looked over at Salem, his heart breaking as he finally saw the monster beneath the woman he loved.

"This isn't what he asked of me..." Ozma whispered. Salem frowned, stepping away from the crystal ball.

"What did you say?" Before the argument could escalate, the heavy oak door burst open. Their eldest daughter ran into the room, beaming with absolute excitement.

"Mother! Father! Look!" The little girl raised her hands. With a giggle, she effortlessly conjured four multicolored, glowing wisps of magic that flew in joyful circles around her head. Salem's face lit up with an incredibly proud, delighted smile. Ozma looked on in absolute surprise, watching his daughter wield the lost magic of humanity. But his initial joy quickly faded, returning to a deeply troubled, terrified frown.

"It was a miracle. Their children could perform magic." Jinn noted sadly.

"But what should have been a joyous occasion was short-lived." The smoke transitioned the scene. Ozma and Salem were alone in his private study.

"Ozma told Salem everything. The true reason the God of Light had brought him back, the Relics that they scattered around the world, and the day of judgment he had been told to prepare for." Ozma stood before her, having just finished his desperate, agonizing confession. He waited for her anger, for her betrayal. Instead, Salem simply smiled. A dark, terrifying, wildly ambitious smile.

"Don't you see?" Salem reasoned smoothly, stepping toward him.

"None of that matters anymore. Why spend our lives trying to redeem these Humans... when we can replace them with what they could never be?" She offered her hand out to him, inviting him to join her in wiping the slate clean to create a new, magical race from their own bloodline. Ozma stared at her outstretched hand. He looked into her red eyes, finally seeing the absolute, unyielding darkness within her soul. He did not take her hand. He backed away in pure, unadulterated disgust.

The smoke violently transitioned the scene again. It was the dead of night. Ozma was moving silently through the quiet halls of the castle, holding his golden scepter tightly as he quickly and quietly escorted his four daughters toward the exit. As they hurried down a long, dark corridor, the youngest daughter suddenly stopped. She looked down the hallway, her eyes widening.

"Mommy?" she called out innocently. Ozma froze. He slowly turned around. Standing at the very end of the hall, her white hair framing her furious, glowing red eyes, was Salem. Ozma immediately stepped forward, protectively shielding his daughters behind his body as he raised his scepter. Salem stared at him. She realized exactly what he was doing. He was trying to take her children away from her.

With a scream of absolute, blinding fury, Salem thrust her hands forward, conjuring a massive, concentrated beam of red magical energy. Ozma swung his scepter, launching a brilliant green beam to intercept it. The two blasts of ancient magic collided in the center of the hallway. The sheer force of the impact triggered a cataclysmic explosion, engulfing the entire corridor in a blinding white flash.

Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc manifested in the void, watching in absolute horror as the castle was torn apart from the inside. Ozma and Salem fought a terrifying, apocalyptic battle of magic throughout the fortress. Walls shattered, towers collapsed, and the very foundation of the castle crumbled beneath the sheer weight of their destructive power. The home they had built together was entirely annihilated.

As the dust settled over the ruined, burning courtyard, a single, charred plush toy is seen lying abandoned in the rubble. The unspoken, devastating implication was clear. The four daughters had not survived the crossfire of their parents' war. A trail of fresh blood stained the broken cobblestones. Ozma, severely wounded and bleeding heavily, was weakly crawling away from the ruins, his scepter dragging uselessly behind him. A few yards away, Salem's broken body rapidly, unnervingly reformed itself.

Her divine immortality stitching her flesh and bone back together. She stood up, completely healed, and walked slowly toward the dying man. She reached him, kicking him violently onto his back. She planted her boot firmly onto his chest, holding him down as she glared into his eyes.

"We finally had freedom..." Salem whispered, her voice dripping with pure, venomous betrayal. Ozma weakly looked up at her, coughing blood.

"I..." Salem didn't let him finish. She raised her hand, unleashing a point-blank, incinerating blast of fire that completely engulfed the hero, executing him instantly.

"Thus began a long and painful cycle of death and rebirth for Ozma." A rapid, heartbreaking montage of Ozma's various reincarnations flashed through the void. A frail, sickly man weakly walking through a graveyard filled with countless tombstones. A despondent, exhausted man walking aimlessly in the pouring rain, clutching a bottle of liquor as he chose to drink his unending misery away rather than fight.

"Some lives were spent in mourning. Many were spent attempting to forget it all." The montage slowed. Ozma reincarnated into the body of a dark-skinned man with wire-rimmed glasses. He started off slouching in defeat. But slowly, he straightened his spine, picking up his cane and walking forward with renewed determination.

"But no matter what, his mind would eventually turn back to the task he had been burdened with." The scene shifted to a humble, cozy wooden cabin. Ozma's newest reincarnation was happily serving a warm meal to his loving wife and two small children. Interestingly, both of the children possessed bright, striking silver eyes. A ghostly mirror image of the man leaned against the wall behind them... The original Ozma, watching his new life unfold with quiet affection.

"And as the centuries went on, Ozma began to learn the importance of living with the souls with which he had been paired." Suddenly, the peaceful dinner was interrupted by the sound of terrified screaming outside. Ozma rushed to the door and threw it open. Villagers were running in absolute panic as a massive pack of Grimm tore through the settlement.

"But no matter where or how he lived... her presence was always felt." Ozma looked back at his wife. She gave him a brave, understanding nod. Ozma gripped his cane, The Long Memory, tightly in his hand. He turns back to face the monsters, fully prepared to defend his family.

"If Humanity were ever to stand a chance at being united, one thing was clear..." Ruby Rose stood in the void, her silver eyes wide. She already knew the answer.

"He had to destroy Salem," Ruby whispered. The smoke transitioned rapidly, showing Ozma's reincarnation many years later, now a much older, gray-haired man. He was standing in a cluttered, dimly lit workshop, carefully tinkering with the hidden mechanisms of his cane.

"Knowing he could never rid the world of her through any mortal means, Ozma sought out the power of the Relics." The elderly tinkerer placed his cane inside a heavy metal cabinet, closing the door with a loud clank. The door immediately swung open again, revealing Ozma's next reincarnation, a younger, sharply dressed man, retrieving the exact same cane from where his previous life had left it.

"Armed with my knowledge, he believed he could fulfill his promise to the God of Light." The blue smoke swirled, forming a grand, ancient chamber. Ozma was shown standing before the golden Lamp, holding it high as he summoned Jinn for the very first time. All of Team RWBY and Team JNPR materialized in the void, walking slowly toward the vision of the ancient wizard and the divine entity. Ozma asked the Jinn of his time.

"Where are the other Relics?"

"He asked me his questions," the narrating Jinn confirmed. Ozma asked next.

"What powers do they possess?"

"And though I gave him my answers..." Ozma stood tall, looking directly into the ethereal blue eyes of the entity. He took a deep breath, preparing to ask the ultimate question that would finally end his eternal suffering and save the world. Ozma demanded.

"How do I destroy Salem?" The narrating Jinn's voice echoed through the minds of the students, laced with a profound, terrifying pity.

"... not all of them were to his liking." Team RWBY and Team JNPR stood perfectly still, watching as the Jinn of the past looked down at the desperate hero. The two simple, devastating words echoed in the void.

"You can't." Upon hearing this absolute, divine truth, Ozma's entire body gave out. He collapsed heavily onto his knees in the ancient chamber, his head bowing as he surrendered to complete, unending despair. Team RWBY and Team JNPR recoiled. The eight students stood paralyzed, the horrifying weight of the truth crushing their spirits. Their expressions fractured into a spectrum of absolute devastation. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha all stared in pure, unadulterated terror and shock.

The realization that their ultimate enemy was literally unkillable shattered everything they had believed about their mission. Jaune, Yang, Nora, and Ren gritted their teeth, their terror morphing instantly into a blinding, furious anger. Ozpin had knowingly led them into an unwinnable war. Ozma remained weeping on his knees as the vision of Jinn dissolved into smoke before him. The scene transitioned flawlessly, the ancient wizard fading away to reveal his current reincarnation.

Oscar Pine was kneeling in the exact same position, his head bowed in profound, agonizing sadness.

The blinding white space of the void shattered. The familiar, opulent surroundings of Saitama's guest bedroom rushed back into existence. Time resumed. Jinn hovered gracefully above the carpet, having finished answering the young Huntress's question. She had laid bare the entire, tragic, terrifying truth of Ozpin and Salem.