Chapter 26: The old fox knows more than you know it knows.

~Sometime later at the Vale police department~

— P.O.V. Professor Zoroaster Ozpin —

As I was being led to one of the interrogation rooms, I was now without a shadow of a doubt, sure I was heading in the direction of the strongest and darkest magic I have ever felt. No, dark was not strong enough of a word, this was even beyond what I feel from Salem, well beyond.

Officer: "The others are in the viewing room here, Sir. Have a good day."

Giving a nod to the officer, I opened the door and entered the viewing room. My eyes immediately snapped to one of the people in the interrogation room.

Ozpin: "Oh my… I understand why you were so insistent that I hurry over here."

'No, Salem can't even compare to the darkness no, the evil, of the magic I feel from that woman. Salem might as well be a saint, doing the Light Brother's work.'

As I unconsciously let out a surprised remark, a familiar voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Turning my head, I looked towards the source: Glynda Goodwitch.

(Source: https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Glynda_Goodwitch)

Glynda: "How bad?"

Ozpin: "Bad. The darkness of her magic is on a whole different level. But I am curious, Glynda? You can not sense magic in the slightest. And sure, while her state of dress is unusual, it doesn't exactly scream magic. Okay, maybe it does, but a Semblance could very well be the source."

Glynda just looked at me like I was joking with her, and when she realised I wasn't she spoke up.

Glynda: "Ozpin. She's transparent. Normally, I would think of a semblance yes, but none of the tech can pick up Aura from her. Only the other two in the room. So, that left only one thing: Magic."

I was confused and about to respond when the Chief officer spoke up.

Chief: "Other two? Miss, there are only two people in that room there. What do you mean by 'other two?'"

Both my and Glynda's eyes widened slightly at that. Turning to him, I ask if he could repeat what he just said.

Chief: "There are only two people in that room, Sir. The girl in red, and the boy in black. Look, even the camera only shows two people."

Turning our attention to the screen displaying the camera in the interrogation room, my eyebrows lifted in further surprise.

Glynda: "What in the world…?"

Ozpin: "Indeed, there surely are only two people on that screen."

Turning to look back into the room through the one way mirror I speak up again.

Ozpin: "And yet I see three. And Glynda, the woman to me, is not transparent in the least. She is quite solid as a matter of fact."

Glynda frowned and turned back to looking at the room.

Glynda: "So, we have a woman that appears differently to three different people, and doesn't show up on camera."

Ozpin: "So it would seem."

All three of us were lost in thought at this interesting conundrum. What interesting magic, I had to admit. But also, pointless? Looking down in thought, I tried to disassemble exactly the point of such a spell. It hid her from machines, or technology in general it seems, but it acted differently between the three people in this room; why?

'What is different about the three of us? The first thing that comes to mind is Aura. The chief doesn't have it unlocked, or is unable to.'

Looking back up at the woman I had a thought.

'It can't be that simple is it? That's the only thing that makes sense though. Magic is out the window because Glynda doesn't have any, and yet can still see her. The only thing we all share is the state of our Aura. Our soul… so only those with strong souls can see her? The stronger the soul, the more solid she is?'

Something in my gut was telling me this was true. If so, it was very odd magic. But if you could avoid people, and if nothing without a soul could see her? Well, she would be a very deadly assassin.

Ozpin: "Did you speak to them yet, Glynda?"

She shook her head and said, "No. I merely led them here, and have had them waiting in the room for you to arrive."

Stroking my chin with my hand, I gave a nod. The magic I felt from that woman was beyond the meagre word dark, and to make matters worse it felt like an endless ocean. The only positive I could take away from this, is she didn't seem overly hostile. At least, not yet.

Turning my attention to the other two in the room finally, I at least didn't feel anything from them that was worrying. I did recognize the girl however. Summer Rose's daughter, Ruby. Qrow talked quite a lot about her, and the fact that she was able to take down some armed thugs was impressive for her age.

I knew nothing about the boy, however. The feeling I got from him was slightly odd, to say the least. I could tell he had his Aura unlocked though.

'Friend of Ruby maybe?'

Turning to Glynda, I asked for the entire story as she knew it. After she was finished, I couldn't help but frown. My attention was once again on the mysterious and dangerous woman.

'She took an explosion from a fire dust crystal as she held it in her hands like it was nothing more than a breeze. Worrying, but also presents opportunities. I need to get to know her, I only hope she isn't like Salem. But that darkness isn't confidence boosting.'

I asked the chief if there were any cookies available, and he said he'd go get some. As he left I spoke up to Glynda.

Ozpin: "Let me do the talking here, Glynda. That woman is beyond dangerous. But, if we can get her on our side, I can tell it would be a great boon."

She huffed, and crossed her arms along her chest, but gave a nod nonetheless. Few minutes later, the chief returned with a plate of cookies and handed them to myself.

Ozpin: "Alright, let's go meet them now."

Chief: "Do you want me to stay and monitor from here?"

Ozpin: "Yes, that would be ideal, thank you."

Giving me a nod as Glynda started to leave, I took a quick look at my reflection in the viewing port to make sure I wasn't a total mess.

(Source: https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Ozpin)

Satisfied, I left the room with Glynda. The tiny walk was soon over as I knocked on the door, opened it and walked into the interrogation room.

It took everything I had to not drop the plate of cookies I had in my left hand when the woman's aura came crashing down on me without a wall between us.

'This is so much worse than I was expecting.'

I could practically feel the woman's eyes burning a hole down to my very soul behind her faceplate. It felt like she was judging my worth, or to see if I was a threat that needed to be taken out. The world around me seemed to start to darken as I felt the shadow of death itself peer at me, before it all disappeared as if it was an illusion.

Clearing my throat, and placing the cookies down on the table, I tried to speak without my voice cracking.

Ozpin: "Hello everyone. I am Professor Zoroaster Ozpin, the headmaster of the Beacon Academy here in Vale. A pleasure to meet you all."

Little Ruby's already wide eyes started to sparkle when I introduced myself, but I noticed the boy didn't react much at all. It was almost like he expected I was going to show up…

Pushing that thought aside, I continued.

Ozpin: "I would like to get your side of the story, please."

Ruby: "Umm.. are.. May I have a cookie?"

Nodding my head, she hesitantly reached out and took one. When she realised they really were for them, she started to eat the cookie in her hand. Much to my surprise, though it really shouldn't have been from what Qrow has told me of her, she started to almost inhale the cookies.

She had cleaned out the plate in less than six seconds.

'A cookie monster indeed, eh Qrow? Heh.'

Jake: "Awe, I wanted at least one…"

Ruby: "Oh… uh. Sorry?"

I took a quick side glance at the woman, who had not moved even an inch since I had laid eyes on her.

Ozpin: "Now, that you have been fed. One of you anyway. Mind introducing yourselves?"

Ruby: "Ah! Right. Nice to meet you! My name is Ruby Rose! Future Huntress extraordinaire! A huge fan of yours, really! I want to go to your school when I am done with my training at Signal Academy."

Ozpin: "Ah, a huntress in training is it? And a scythe as your weapon. I know of only one other wielder of such a weapon. A dusty old crow."

Ruby: "That's my uncle! He's a teacher at Signal Academy, where I go too. Ah, I already said that… uhh.. anyway! He's been teaching me a lot about how to use a scythe!"

Ozpin: "I see. And you want to come to my school hmm?"

Ruby: "More than anything."

Ozpin: "Hmm…"

Giving her a few nods, I then turned to the young man.

Taking the queue, he spoke up, "Hello, Professor Ozpin. My name is Jake Trifle. I also have dreams of becoming a hunter, like Ruby here."

Nodding my head I asked, "I see. And what weapon do you use and where have you trained?"

The young boy shifted a little uncomfortably as he spoke up.

Jake: "Umm, due to how my semblance works, I don't have a set weapon like Ruby. But I can use the sword to a satisfactory level. I am recently here on vacation from Pharos Academy."

Nodding my head at that I then asked what his semblance was if he was okay with telling us. Much to my surprise, he simply pointed at the woman.

Jake: "My semblance lets me summon a spirit of a warrior past. She follows my commands as if I was her general or something."

'An obvious lie, that.'

Ruby: "Whoaaaa...."

Turning my head to her, she continued to stand there in silence. Looking back at Glynda, I could tell she also didn't buy what this young man was selling.

Ozpin: "I see. And how long can your semblance hold this spirit in our world."

Jake: "Indefinitely. I can only summon one, at least for now."

Nodding my head, I look back at the woman.

Ozpin: "Being able to summon a spirit is quite the unique semblance you have. And no upkeep cost on your aura and the like? Very powerful indeed. And, what is this spirit's name?"

Jake: "I call her Saber."

Raising an eyebrow, I look back at the young man.

Ozpin: "Just Saber?"

The boy nodded his head and didn't elaborate further.

'Well, I can tell she is not human at the very least. But I don't buy it for a second that she is the result of his semblance. He would have to have the power of a god or something to summon something like her and not have to pay a steep cost to keep her around.

But, there is an obvious connection between the two of them. So maybe not his semblance, but something else he did? Best to keep her close, so I can keep an eye on her.'

Looking back at the young man and Ruby, I give them a smile.

Ozpin: "So, how would the two of you like to attend my school early?"

Ruby's eyes lit up like the sun, while the boy seemed to smile knowingly.

Ruby: "Yes! No take backs!"

Jake: "I would love to attend early as well."

Glynda: "Ozpin! Wh-"

I just held up my hand to stop her for now, before giving the two of them a nod.

Ozpin: "Great. I'll see you two on the first day of Beacon. You guys can go now."

Ruby let out a cheer in happiness as I turned to leave with Glynda. Leaving the room, and quickly making my way back to the observation room, we swiftly entered it.

Glynda: "Explain."

Holding up both of my hands in surrender, I nodded.

Ozpin: "I have been hearing good things about Ruby from Qrow for a while now. And, she also has silver eyes, you know what that means."

She nodded at that, giving me that much at least so far.

Glynda: "And what about the boy and the… Woman? Spirit? Whatever. She is horribly dangerous. They finally got the footage from the street cameras. Look."

She turned the little video pad she held towards me, and it started to play back. What was shown was interesting to say the least, and also served as further proof about what I thought the woman's spell did. None of the cameras were able to pick her up, but that was pushed to the side when the battle went into full swing.

Ruby was as great as Qrow stated, better even. I had no worries about her fitting in my school. The worrying thing was the boy. He did nothing the whole time, while the woman obliterated the goons. Literally with one of them.

'Clearly has no qualms taking a life, it would seem. Still very odd to see someone just explode like that for seemingly no reason.'

Glynda: "She's dangerous, Ozpin."

Nodding my head I say, "Yes. All hunters and huntresses are. But I am well aware she is beyond just dangerous, trust me. All the more reason I want her near so I can keep an eye on her. I don't believe for a second she is around because of that young man's semblance though."

Glynda: "Agreed."

Ozpin: "But there is a connection. Let's try and find out what it is while they attend school. We should also look into the boy's background. Could give us a clue. Trust me, Glynda. We need to be very precise with how we handle this woman. My instincts are telling me she can be of great help in our war with Salem somehow."

With a sigh, she nodded.

Glynda: "Fine. I don't like this, but I understand your reasoning. I can see the point in keeping her where we can literally see her."

Nodding, I say, "Good. Now, we both have things to do. I have a few calls I need to make as well. Need to talk to a certain old crow for one…"

[author] And chapter 26 is here~. All from Ozpin's point of view at that! Was it to much? Or, did it give some insight like I hoped it would? Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway~. See you in the next one~![/author]