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Etherius stared on as Ghalan worked, he took in each swing, each resonating frequency emitted. He even noted down each individual muscle movement by using his semblance. At times he felt nauseous, but, he just ignored it, pure focus enveloped his mind. He felt the heat permeating throughout his whole body. Yet, he stood there, unblinking, unmoving. It was as if he became a statue, one which observes everything in front of it. Occasionally he would feel his fingers twitch, unknowing how many times. It was a trance-like state. His eyes' stars slowly began to spin in rhythm with the beat... One swing, one rotation... another swing... another rotation, on and on and on. He felt his conscious start fading away from his body, just observing, not even the movement of the air seemed unnatural to witness. His breathing slowed down to a stop, his heartbeat extremely slow. Yet, one could tell he was alive. His aura flourished, enveloping his body in a weak glimmer of ice blue. When Ghalan later quenched the blade his entire body seemed to expand as his aura became thicker, his body then gradually shrank to its previous size with small physical alterations making him look more and more like his ancestor. As Ghalan finished up his work Etherius felt his mind instantly hazed. He went over to an empty wall and slumped down on the ground leaning on it, his aura still around his body. He took two deep breaths and was about to ask Ghalan for an empty room before his aura, seemingly intelligent, forcibly entered his eyes. The stars within his eyes expanded as the aura got in contact with them. After a short while, they spun quickly, seemingly being awoken by the aura's presence. Etherius felt his whole body ache with pain as his eyes summoned illusory lightning that wandered throughout the inside of his body absorbing his aura. All of the veins in his body expanded getting ready to burst at a moments notice as his aura shield flickered, leaving him vulnerable. As he felt his essence was drained he felt his muscles jolt with energy as the lightning passed by, it used his aura to continually destroy and repair them before it reached his eyes again. Once they reached his eyes smoke gathered on his forehead and around his feet, slowly the smoke solidified into a red gemstone on his forehead and a pair of boots similar in design to his gauntlets. (Sorry about the wait, tons of exams.)

Etherius looked at Ghalan and then shook his head "No, I believe It'd be better without any armor for me. My semblance could get unbalanced." he then took a leisure breath and added "I would, however, like to observe and learn. It might be beneficial for my semblance." he put his hand to his chin as if striking a thinking pose "A weapon would ideally be appropriate, but, I think I'll stick to my gauntlets." he materialized his gauntlets as he said this "And if you're suspicious about what I said before... Let's say I have contacts. We're all allowed our tiny secrets, no?" he questioned Ghalan.

Etherius narrowed his eyes when maidens were mentioned, he felt as if his body ached unconsciously as if it was something he knew, and at the same time, it sounded too surreal. He felt a hint of disdain within his heart towards this information. Even after Yuki demonstrated her Winter Maiden powers. It wasn't the fact that he was left in the unknown, it was something else... Something innate, something that had been hammered into his bones while he was young. He couldn't remember, was he even ever taught such a thing? He also had no idea whatever story they were talking about either, but, he did remember that there were some bounties that nobody ever took. Even if the reward was equal to the yearly income their cafés produced. He assumed these past maidens might be those if they're so terrifying. He sighed and looked calmly at Draco, intending to alleviate his current state of mind "I'm not sure if my words are of any help. But, her not having a bounty is a little bit too late. All huntsmen have one. Very few people actively choose to do them though. Especially to students, the pay is horrendous."

Etherius looked at the structure and had a small look of disappointment, inside he felt a hint of sorrow towards the building. He then sighed inwardly and perked his ears when Calbian had asked what the point of them being here, which is what he wondered too at this point. If they're at such an old building, built presumably for something larger than any of them. Why would they send some trainees to it? ------- Meanwhile... Back in Vale, in the Vale branch of the Malvaleine family's business, Leumentra sat on a small throne-like chair. She heard the familiar metallic clang of the secret door opening and looked casually in its direction. The people that had been sent with her all came in and kneeled respectfully "Elder, we have confirmed that all of the previous fortifications are fully operational with minor damage." one of them said casually, one of the stronger looking ones looked up at Leumentra and calmly added "However, some of them have been visited. Most likely it was Ozpin, we fear he knows more than he lets on." at this point, Leumentra chuckled "I already know. I just hope our plans haven't been meddled with. Did you check the secret storages?" The same person as before nodded and Leumentra gave a smile of acknowledgment 'Young master, I hope you understand you're fighting against someone even your mother doesn't dare offend.' she thought calmly, albeit she had a hint of worry hidden in her heart.

Etherius noticed that they probably had also had an unpleasant talk, but, it was nothing he could say about it. He looked at Ghalan half-amused and half-serious, however, it didn't display on his face. He decided to go into the bullhead and as he sat down he felt his hand twitch slightly again.

Etherius opened the door and said softly to himself "I wonder if I've fully recovered..." his hand twitched slightly as he felt a craving to fight to let out some steam. Obviously, the whole team had left at the same time. On the way there Etherius didn't intend to strike up a conversation, if the others wanted to, they would be welcomed.

We're probably just waiting for me, I've been extremely scatterbrained the last few weeks. I'm gonna go write one while I'm not thinking about anything else.

Etherius sighed and thought whilst looking apologetically at Euca 'If only you knew, but, if I told you, her plan would be ruined...I just hope I made the right choice trusting her.' Etherius then turned to look at Rei "Did they specify where we're meeting them? We'd best go, don't wanna waste their time."

Etherius didn't intend on trying to cheer Euca up as he knew by now he lacked the skill to emotionally help someone. Rei then informed them about the meeting with team DARC, he nodded and decided to inform Euca of some things "Euca. If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to protect your relatives. I was sure my family would investigate you all, and if they did, they would surely take all of your families hostage, or worse, kill them off. I told you about my family so that they couldn't. Normally, if a Malvaleine tells anyone of our family's true form its a death sentence. However, I know my mother wouldn't agree with it, so I could. Which would, in turn, protect your families. Now, if I was planning to kill you, I wouldn't tell you about it. Furthermore, you're one of the few under 100 people in Remnant History who knows about the Malvaleine family's true character, who isn't a Malvaleine and are allowed to live."

Etherius was a little tense as Leumentra had not exactly talked to him about this before. Leumentra giggled before saying "You don't have to do anything except listen, but, one can be discouraged sometimes." she said it as if she had experienced it before. She sighed and said "We'll begin then." her eyes' gaze landed on Shian and the star shapes in her eyes spun and flashed red after they returned to normal she smiled "Shian, I have to say overall, your potential is quite sufficient. However, you need to stop hindering yourself." as she said this she looked at Rei and her eyes once again did the previous phenomena "Rei, you show promise in furthering your semblance. However, you have to think what a bird would do." after this, she turned and looked at Euca, the phenomena happened again and she said with a bit of disdain "Euca, I only have one thing to say" her voice started to turn colder "You, in this group of four, have the worst potential in combat. Maybe being destined for a downfall is hereditary... But this time, it isn't a Schnee." she spoke as if she had investigated his past, quite thoroughly. She turned to the door and opened it to leave she spoke before leaving "If you wish to prove me wrong, you're free to do so during the VYTL festival. Not like you'll make it." she then left glancing at Etherius. Etherius sighed after she left and shook his head "Sorry, I didn't even know she would be evaluating you guys. She's able to see potentials with her semblance. I'm sorry that I didn't chime in, but I wouldn't be able to stop her at that point either. She probably had orders from one of my parents. They're pretty worrisome." he said this all with a bit of an apologetic tone.

Leumentra smiled faintly "Looks like you're all more conversational than Etherius." she said friendlier than before "With that in mind... I'll give you all the freedom to choose if you want me to evaluate you. You might as well also consider if you want the others to know or not." she was a lot more friendly towards them after they introduced themselves.

The elevator reached the bottom floor and Leumentra exited it, afterward she headed for the exit immediately. When she went outside the people that went with her all looked at each other and nodded before they dashed towards the cliff. In less than five seconds they reached the edge and all of them jumped. Some of them turned into birds in varying sizes, two of them seemingly flew in the air in some way, the rest they couldn't see. But, they were sure to be safe. After this Leumentra started heading over to the dorms... ------- Etherius nodded for a bit and thought before saying "I know a person that might be able to help. She's supposed to come here soon to greet me I assume." as he finished his sentence a knocking sound was coming from the door "I guess that's her..." he said jumping up and opening the door to reveal a masked person wearing a floral kimono, once he opened she said "Young Master Etherius, it's good to see you. Your mother's worry was almost causing minor earthquakes... Meanwhile, your father is still laughing about your..." she paused and looked up at Etherius' hair and the bow on the side of it and finished her sentence "Deal." Etherius rolled his eyes and welcomed her in, once she went in and the door closed she took off her mask whilst turning to the others, she then introduced herself "I am Leumentra Malvaleine, I am one of Etherius' aunts. Whilst my main purpose for coming to your dorms is to greet Etherius, I am also here to... Evaluate you all." she said quite strictly, Etherius could clearly be seen developing a headache of the situation.

Sorry for the long delay in post. I ended up procrastinating due to real life stress. Procrastinating from something you like is like... double procrastinating. (This line here makes no sense.)

Leumentra nodded and said "I'm in no hurry. I've got plenty of years in my life left. And I thank you for accepting me" she shook his hands and told Ozpin "I'll get them to do their mission. You can ask Etherius to contact me if you find someplace where my expertise helps. Until then I bid you farewell" she then entered the elevator and bowed once more before the elevator shut and started going down. -------- Etherius chuckled as his team got in "It's great to not be in danger of falling into coma Re-" he stopped his sentence as he realized he hadn't explained properly why he had to be gone so long "Sorry, I should probably explain. You see, while it's happened in the past that I overdo my semblance, the severity this time had only been preceded two times. The first time I ended up sleeping for three months. After that, I figured out ways to ground myself. The second time it happened it took me three days to recover. This one was the worst of all three, thus I needed the whole month. Also to get my mask." he said holding up the mask in his hands. He then shrugged and nodded "We've sure got a long way to go. And we'll have to double the length of our training passes. We do want to get good results during the VYTL Festival. If we end up too tired one day we can come up with complimentary tactics." he gave a short nod to Euca "Euca wanted to incorporate it."

Leumentra chuckled once more as she took her hand to her mask and slowly pulled it off, revealing a face quite similar to Etherius' although she had a little bit of a rounder face, her hair was completely red to not miss that comparison. Her face revealed a soft smile as she said "It's my fault for bringing it up. Either way, to re-introduce. I am Leumentra Malvaleine, the third elder of the Malvaleine family. I was the headmaster of our own academy before the decision of sending me here was made." she bowed slightly and then a short moment afterward stood up straight again and spoke once more "My semblance is related to my eyes. I can see into people's potentials. I can vaguely feel and describe their abilities, I have to say... Yours are quite extraordinary Ozpin." she coughed and resumed "The other part of my semblance is to see improvements, the ability to guide so to speak. I can, by glancing at people offer them advice if so necessary. I can see the benefits of said advice and the harm, however, these are not absolutes. If for example, I cannot fathom or completely see through an ability... I cannot reliably give advice." She looked at Ozpin and the stars in her eyes spun once more and a rather disappointed look appeared on her face "To be honest, I've been trying to see your potential... But, it feels... Doubled up, distorted. As if I was looking at two people, it must have to do with your abilities I'm certain, so I won't press for answers. Also, I would like to take a closer look at that Faunus someday. Something about her feels familiar, and at the same time doesn't." her mind seemed to trail off for a short moment "Ah, sorry. I've never had that happen to my semblance. And, as a quick note. I cannot measure one's current power, just their potential. It's up to the person how far they'll go, with or without help." She put on her mask once again and her eyes analyzed the room once more before landing on Ozpin and the words that came out of her mouth were "You have quite the excellent students this year, you know? The Faunus with that fox has quite shocking potential... All jokes aside." she added the last part as she remembered the reports on Draco. Etherius nodded "I'll review all of your improvements at our next training." he then scratched the back of his head as he said "Well, I'm sorry for worrying you. I didn't have that much of a choice."

If you have potatoes for shoes. Do fictional characters exist?

Etherius got a face that looked like a headache was coming on "So you guys got serious about training after I left." he said a little sarcastically. He then narrowed his eyes as he was thinking about it "Well, from my own training back home. It is easier to improvise, learn each other's strengths, but, it would serve as a good way to learn our strengths." he then kind of scratched the back of his head and calmly recalled the bird that had been flying "Oh, don't worry about them. They're part of my family. The bird's probably one of my older cousins." he seemed to have a bad memory repressed about the person who was a bird "So, how have you been?" he said awkwardly while trying to not remember. Leumentra's eyes seemed to distance themselves for a moment as if she was thinking, then they spun around again and she spoke "We've always had one or two spies in Beacon, Ozpin. Nothing major, just checking out potential troublemakers and overall strength of new huntsmen. Safety reasons. We haven't had them infiltrate any of your secret places." she added the last part with a straightforward tone to reassure Ozpin, she then nodded slightly as she said "I thank you for your cooperation." which didn't have much of a purpose until her next speech "While your proposition of trying to take her away... astounds me, we have no such thoughts. We do not plan to spill any blood for a person, neither will we be going back home until two months after the VYTL Festival, hopefully." she showed a bit of worry at the end. Once again her eyes spun for a short while before she continued "Right... Right, our reason for being here. I and my escorts are planning to stay here in Vale for the time being. This is due to the report Etherius sent. I will not personally take part of the mission and request if I may work as an instructor at Beacon, my sister, the matriarch has been waiting for an opportunity to send me here to deepen our connections. She had hoped to introduce me herself, but, knowing my sister... I just couldn't have her here when it was about Etherius." she paused for a while before adding "She's a bit of an overprotective mother. It troubles both Etherius and people around him." she paused for a while until her eyes seemed to open fully "Oh, my, I forgot. Of course, my request also entails that I'll describe my semblance to you if you accept."

Heathlife chuckled at first and almost had tears form in his eyes "No, it isn't too much control. Originally the spell would only give me the magic. So, for them to even get to use it at all is a privilege." he would be embarrassed at the next statement if it wasn't for his arrogant nature "Well, it's me. But, you're not too bad at stones. The best I've met at least... And I doubt we can see into the future, even then, see into it with accuracy. So, I wouldn't know." he nodded once when she said he'd be delighted. She then rejected his offer and he replied with "No, really. If not as a favor, as a gift. I don't really like sweets and have no need for any material goods." Heathlife was about to say something before he felt a hard hit on the back of his head, he felt his consciousness slowly lose control, he struggled to regain control as he was being dragged into his subconscious mind. He cursed inwardly and yelled into his mind '...WHO? I'll kill them... I'll kill her for not warning me... Stupid brats... I'll... annihil-' he then felt his mind being absorbed into his subconscious making him lose consciousness.

@Drago Ryder (I'll assume Ozpin is looking through a monitor at the front of Beacon tower, cause, only Leumentra is in his office) Leumentra chuckled lightly and the star-shapes in her eyes spun before stopping, once they had stopped she spoke "We were contacted by our Young Lord, he was out on a mission recently. On that mission they were ambushed by Grimm, he reported hearing a roar similar to a humanoid Grimm." she paused as she glanced around the room and a displeased look appeared in her eyes "It was also reported that some people were harmed. I met those two outside, the female Faunus didn't fit in with the initial report our spies had. I wonder why?" she stated the question before continuing "According to my own deductions she has some sort of ice-related power. Quite strong ones, the potential on par with our Matriarch's physical body." she spoke quite smugly and added with an innocent sounding voice at the end "I don't know what you're talking about, we didn't make any such entrances." --------- @silvermoon15000 Etherius saw the door open and saw Euca walk in, he heard him talk about a manhunt which he chuckled at. To answer the question he simply said "I had to undergo special training, no one on our team was strong enough to help me so I had outside help... No offense, you're plenty strong for your ages." he then coughed and asked "Have you all followed the training regime?"

Heathlife seemed to faze out a little bit about the hoof shake thing, but, he listened to everything Maud said, he then replied to the question if they were ready "I would have free control of it, I'm not naive. Besides, if anyone got out of hand I would just have to sever their connection to the rift. Then they'd lose the power." he then had nothing to comment about on the notes thing, it all depended on if they were panicking or not. The difference was insignificant however, he did, however, respond to the next part "Well, it isn't that bad. After all, it is me." he smiled a bit before returning to his neutral expression, which didn't change throughout her explanation. He responded to the part about him coming with them "I'd be delighted, it would surely be helpful in my researches. However, I am quite tower-bound." He heard the part about Starswirl having an expo and decided to answer as to why "While he is a genius, he is a foolish one. Believing himself to be superior to everyone, even me. Although, he has certainly improved in that regard. The last thing I did in the magic society was proving one of his theories was wrong." his eyes started to fill with anger before he shrugged it off, it was beneath him after all... He decided to say something else instead "Well..." he stood up "Is there anything you want in the stalls? As payment for the information, I dislike not returning such favors. Besides, if I return to the tower with this satchel" he levitated the satchel to him "I'll just get another row of letters."

Leumentra walked into the elevator and turned around so that she was facing Glynda "If one is strong enough, they don't have to be stealthy." she said as her distant and soul-gazing stare was replaced with a cold stare, if one wasn't experienced with death one would probably need a new pair of pants. Before Glynda would have had the time to respond the doors closed. As the elevator reached the top floor and the doors opened, Leumentra walked out she then calmly said "Hello, Ozpin. I'm sure you know who we are?" ---- Etherius stepped out of the shower and put on the pants part of his uniform and then sat cross-legged on his bed, holding his mask in his left hand.

@silvermoon15000 Just to correct a little problem in your post. You don't know where Etherius is unless you have some sort of tracker on him. Since he hasn't actually been in contact with you guys for about a month.

Heathlife nodded when she said her name but didn't shake her hoof as if he didn't know common pony manners. He then listened to her talk and decided to answer her question first "Well, I kind of almost blew Canterlot up. Although, them trying to suppress my spell out of fear didn't help." he started speaking pridefully at first, but then his tone changed to a disdainful one. Then he added "I was casting a big spell, in hindsight, I should have done it outside Canterlot, where no one could stop me. Didn't expect them to fire offensive spells at me though." he paused and then coughed "I guess I should tell it slowly so you can keep up..." He breathed in and out "So, as I said. I was casting a big spell, I designed it myself. It would open a rift into the magical realm, allowing all of us to have an endless amount of magic. Imagine how grand we could become. But, in the middle of me casting the spell, the entire magic society of Canterlot noticed the shift in magical energies. They were alarmed, probably thought some creature of the unknown was summoned. They barged into my tower, five of them?" he questioned himself, unsure, but, he continued "Let's say five of them. They saw me opening a rift through our dimension and were terrified, so, what is the best thing to do? Ask the person? Look at his notes on the ground detailing every single thing? No, it's to cast lethal-grade magic at them. But, the magical pressure from the rift was too great, so their magic was pushed away by it." He took a moment to remember the next part "And I sure say it was an impressive rift, offered up my cutie mark, my two eyes, several different timelines of myself and I never do remember the last thing. Probably not important... Either way, due to them casting their magic, my magic was slowly being undone. So, I had to forcefully close the rift, or it'd expand, absorbing the entire mountain we are on... And probably open a gateway to some horrifying place. But, to continue, forcefully closing rifts... Isn't easy, and coupling that with the fact that this rift held the magical potential of... well, almost everything. One could say it rebounded. Which meant that all that magical pressure was released into my body, and as soon as that rift closed fully, the magic of those Magic Society fools hit me, which, due to my own expertise in controlling magical energies... Didn't kill me. The damage they caused to the rebound made it easier for me. But, all of the things I offered up in exchange kind of came crashing towards me... Quite a bit distorted. I fused with the different 'me's assuming my current form, my cutie mark returned... But changed, my eyes came back one changed color, and my mind was left in a vegetative state." He looked at her "But, as you obviously can see, I managed to wake myself up." he then seemed as if he had just remembered something and said "You said there was an underground cave underneath Canterlot? Stretching throughout almost? That surely doesn't sound like a natural forming geological formation to me. And you said it had valuable minerals stoved away in its walls? Even gemstones and such? I'd be interested in going someday, my final thesis paper was after all of the storing of complex magical formations inside gems. Studied my theories all from Onyx to diamonds to sapphires and I think I managed to get some red beryl." He rubbed the top of his head as he said "Now when I think about it, might have been my final magic theory, which is more right than whatever they were doing. That might have gotten them to cut my name out. I basically called Starswirl the Bearded a blind fool after all."

Etherius finished showering and went to his bed after putting on new clothes. He held his mask in his hand and looked at it, waiting for the others to arrive, he didn't really want to go out since he heard the commotion earlier. ------- @Drago Ryder Leumentra looked closely at Glynda "Not bad, and as for the other things. We were requested to come, we didn't have the time to notify you. As for why we're here... It's simple, but, I'm sorry, those matters are between the headmaster and me. Unless you'd like the entirety of the Star-eyed Slayers after you." she spoke with a straightforward and elegant tone, she then turned to the elevator and said "You're not afraid I was sent here to assassinate him? I am a Star-eyed Slayer after all" she said with the same tone as before, however, unknowingly to Glynda she was smirking.

When Etherius reached their dorm room, he noticed, it was empty. He sighed and decided to take a shower, he hadn't exactly had access to one for a month or so now. ------ @Acnologia@Drago Ryder Leumentra walked a bit before raising her hand, upon seeing this the other eighteen all seemingly dashed out, seemingly spreading throughout the entire open field, as if searching. A short while later one of the slower ones walked up to Leumentra and said "Elder, there is no trace of young master Etherius" in response Leumentra lowered her hand and almost as if machines the other seventeen people appeared at their previous spots as if they never moved. They then continued walking until Leumentra was considered close to two Faunus, one a dragon Faunus, the other a fox. She turned her head to look at them before saying "Out of all the people I've seen from Beacon, you two show remarkable potential. What a shame you most likely won't grasp it." she turned her gaze toward the tower again and started moving. They didn't appear to be moving faster than before, but in a short amount of time, they reached the bottom of the tower. Upon doing so, the guards all stood outside whilst Leumentra went in alone, hoping anybody would greet her.