Encroachment II

"Okay.. fine. I'll give you what information I have" The blonde woman sighed, dismissing her bodyguards and snapping her fingers as one of her employees nodded and entered another room quickly.

Esdeath, pleased, took a seat with Emerald and waited with her leg folded over the other. Emerald was glaring all over the bar, daring anyone to come over. Though that was mostly due to Esdeath's beauty. Stewing in uncomfortable silence, Miss Malachite cautiously watched the two women and let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding until the employee returned with a stack of papers.

"This is what we have. Is there anything else?" Miss Malachite asked, hoping to be done with the business.

Esdeath didn't answer right away. Taking the time to read a little of the contents on the paper, her brows creased. A small scowl written on her face that made the blonde woman and her bodyguards tense up. It disappeared as quickly as it came, though. Esdeath smirked to herself and quickly gathered the papers.

"That's all. Come, Emerald. We're going back to our room" Esdeath disregarded the blonde woman and got up once again, walking out of the establishment with Emerald following behind her quietly.

"Mistress what.. was that?" Emerald asked once they got to the street, seeing Esdeath shake her head.

"I keep telling you I insist upon you calling me by name, Emerald. I saw something quite unpleasant on the first page. But I also used my reaction to gauge theirs. They were too fearful to lie to me" Esdeath explained as they walked into the hotel they were staying in.

"Are we close to finding them? The ones we saw before always seem to get away with that strange teleporting.." Emerald followed Esdeath up to their room and closed the door.

"I believe we are, yes. It seems some outside force has influenced the Branwen tribe.." Esdeath replied, taking in everything shown on the stack of papers.

"You mean.. outside Remnant..? Like Raven? And that woman she stumbled upon?" Emerald asked, seeing Esdeath's expression harden.

"Something like that. I've learned much about Remnant since I arrived. Does this look like something you'd see here?" Esdeath flipped the pages over, showing Emerald its contents.

The pictures attached to the files were of men and women all wearing unique and outworldly armor made from what seemed to be strange animals. On top of that, they all looked to be some kind of Faunus. Though whatever animal bloodline they had was a mystery. Their weapons, were something that reminded her of Teigu but with a resemblance to what their armor was made of.

~Such animals wouldn't exist here. Nothing Grimm either.. What happened to this Bandit tribe? Why kill off every single town you raid? And why sign the name? Qrow has been essentially banned from Mistral due to this. Luckily or.. unluckily, people either think Raven is dead or still leading the tribe~ Esdeath thought to herself as she watched Emerald go over the information.

"Either way, we now have a few locations to check now. Get some sleep, Emerald. We'll move in the morning" Esdeath then removed her boots and part of her clothing to sleep, much to Emerald's embarrassment.

-Fuyuki, Einzbern's territory-

That very night, Raven decided to go help Kiritsugu's daughter. She figured the man at least deserved a chance to say goodbye to his daughter. Though above all, she wanted to get Illya away from that place. She felt herself pass a bounded field and continued on, seeing a Castle ahead. Though once she arrived at the gate, she saw two maids there. One had a large halberd and looked ready to attack.

"I don't believe you were invited here, stranger" The unarmed woman stated, clearly holding the other one back.

"No. But it's clear I need to be here. Step aside" Raven demanded, seeing the two tense.

"Leysritt, ki-" A young voice cut her off before she could give out the order.

"Sella, Leysritt return inside. Berserker and I will handle this" Raven both saw and felt thudding footsteps approach her in the front.

Atop a giant of a man. A beast in human skin, really. Was what looked like a small girl with white hair and red eyes. Though Raven saw the man she was on top of and narrowed her eyes. That was a servant. Which means the war was to begin soon. Snapping out of her thoughts, she heard Illya ask her a question.

"Who are you? What do you want? And why do you feel so... scary.." Illya asked her, suppressing an involuntary shudder at the feeling Raven gave her.

"First off. I'm Raven. I know your Father and he asked me to take care of you. I've come to retrieve you. As for your third question, I apologize. I was ready to fight and subconsciously stopped suppressing it" Raven finished with a sigh.

"Kiritsugu...? No.. He LEFT me! He ABANDONED ME! You lie! Berserker, Kill her!" She ordered the giant of a man, who simply obeyed.

With speed astonishing for a man of his size, he immediately swung his monstrous blade at Raven. The ground cracked and caved in beneath its weight and the Heroic Spirit's power. Sneering in content, Illya laughed coldly.

"Good job, Berserker" Illya praised the man, but only received a growl of struggle in response.

Looking down where the dusty crater was, she could see why. She simply failed to accept the scene in front of her.

Raven was holding onto his sword with her gauntleted hand. Aura flickering slightly as the Heroic Spirit tried to crush her with his inhuman strength. Illya felt another shudder as she both saw and felt a magical aura surround the woman. Leysritt hurriedly removed her from atop the giant man and quickly ran inside with Sella to protect their master.

"Berserker!" Was all Raven heard before the girl was taken inside the castle once more.

"I'd rather hurry this up. I have a busy schedule" Raven casually commented before using Omen to parry the Heroic Spirit's next powerful swing.

Taking this as an insult, even in his madness-hazed mind, the Heroic spirit put his all into the next swing and slammed his blade into Omen once again. This time, Raven went flying back ten meters before stopping. A grin grew on her face as she looked back at the giant.

"Okay. I have time for a little dance.." The Heroic Spirit then lost sight of her for a fraction of a second before suddenly blocking a hit from Omen, though he was sent flying straight through the Einzbern's castle.

Grumbling, Raven walked into the castle via the newly opened hole. She was tempted to facepalm at the trajectory she blasted the man in. Deciding to limit the damage of the castle, solely due to the fact that Illya was inside. She walked into what looked like a large hall where the Heroic Spirit had been stuck in what used to be a large staircase. Illya was off to the side with her servants, staring at the Heroic Spirit in shock.

"Berserker! Get up..!" The little girl demanded, though she didn't have to.

The mad servant almost immediately recovered upon seeing Raven enter the room. Moving even faster than before, a hail of powerful strikes descended upon the woman. Each of them blocked and parried by Raven, the sounds of metal clashing the only thing to be heard in the hall as the mad servant relentlessly attacked Raven.

Raven broke off the clashing of their blades and moved backward, then up on the ceiling before her powerful leg muscles tightened and she sprung off the ceiling and slashed the man's head in half before coming to a stop behind him.

"Strong but I can tell your skills are being held back by the madness. Shame you weren't summoned as a Saber. Now, Illya.." Raven proceeded to walk toward the girl, though her eyes widened as she both heard and felt a strike coming at her from behind.

The giant blade impacting her side and hitting her twenty meters away, passing two rooms before she came to a stop. She looked up at the mad servant, who had recovered from a fatal injury. Though she didn't have much time to think, given that he charged her once again and tackled her out of the nearby window. Falling outside the Castle, Raven brought up her knee into his chest and heard an audible 'crack', followed by her wrapping her arm around his neck and correctly positioning herself on the giant to drive his head straight through a statue outside.

Seeing that wasn't enough to kill him, she tightened her grip on his neck and pulled, hearing a louder 'CRACK' in his neck that surely snapped it in half. Though the act was harder than breaking ten inches of reinforced steel. She got up once again, this time, expecting him to recover.

Recover he did, as not even a moment later, his neck fixed itself before her eyes. A grin forming on her face she didn't know about, Raven unleashed her mana.

~Through that connection with that woman with that similar feeling I gleamed a few things. Luckily, I learned more about my odd power and created something new using the maiden power and that ability~ Raven coalesced the mana into her heart and activated a spell she created.

Illya and her servants, running out to the courtyard heard it. A steady beat that got louder every time it resounded. Then they saw it. Raven and Heracles were again clashing blades in an impressive show of skill, power and speed. Though that wasn't all. Heracles was losing. The loud beating had been coming from Raven. Mana radiating violently from her heart's beating was creating a dangerous shockwave that shredded Heracles skin, popped his blood vessels and disrupted his attacks and movements. Illya saw him die once again. The strange magic Raven used causing a part of his brain to burst. Though once that happened, she ceased using the magic and decided to use another strategy.

"What will it take to kill you, I wonder? Turning into a Nevermore and dropping you from the stratosphere? Using Gluttony? Wrath? Envy? I'll have to test them all out.." Raven mused to herself.

Illya panicked and ran over to Heracles and Raven. Heracles just having recovered and ready to go once again before his Master stopped him.

"Stop! Enough! What do you even want..!?" Illya screamed as she stood in front of the extremely intimidating woman.

"I told you already? Your father wants to see you before he died. You simply didn't believe me and had him attack me" Raven replied, clearly irked.

"Papa wants to...? It's true..?" Illya asked while staring at the ground in disbelief.

"He does. I suggest you see him if you have questions.. He doesn't have long, given how afflicted with curses he is" Raven replied softly, seeing the distress on Illya's face.

".....Okay.. I'll come with you. But Berserker comes too" Illya looked up at Raven and wiped away her tears.

"As long as he doesn't hurt Shirou" Raven shrugged and looked at the now pacified giant, a certain understanding passing through his eyes.

"Good. Now come along. It's been a long night and I'd rather it be over.." Raven sighed before leading the quiet Illya and Berserker.

-Six hours later, Patch-

The reunion really took far too much of her time, in Raven's opinion. Though she could have simply left once they returned to Kiritsugu's house, she did not want any mishaps to happen with Berserker so close to him. Now that the Grail war was beginning, she figured she would be spending a lot more time over in Fuyuki. Seeing that was the case, she decided internally to bring Yang along.

She kept asking her Mother to take her out on her jobs working with the White Fang but was pretty bored when she finally got the chance. Given that her bodyguard position was now more of a visual deterrent than a physical one. What Yang needed was to get in some real combat experience. Something that wasn't Grimm. Under her supervision, Raven figured the Grail War could serve to get her such experience. She would have invited Akame and Kurome but both were doing their final exams in Beacon.

After what was essentially a five hour sleep, Raven was woken up by Qrow, who barged into her room with a serious expression.

"Ugh... Brother, what do you want..? I worked late last night.." Raven groaned and turned her head in her pillow.

"Raven.. it's serious.." Qrow said gravely.

Seeing her brother's face and hearing his tone, Raven sat up and looked at him.

"It's Yang... she's.." Qrow choked out and held his face in his hand.

"What...? What about Yang..?" Raven felt her pulse accelerate.

"She has a boyfriend..." Qrow whispered out.

The room was silent for a solid minute as brother and sister stared at each other.

Then Raven picked up Omen with a "happy" expression and walked out of her room quietly, still dressed in her sleepwear kimono. She slowly approached Yang in the living room, who was eating cereal with Ruby.

"Hey Mo- Why do you have Omen unsheathed..?" Yang asked, sweating at the sight of her Mother's 'smile'.

"A-Auntie Raven..?" Ruby nearly spilling her milk with all of her shaking.

"Yang.. who is your boyfriend? I just want to talk to him, I assure you" Raven 'happily' asked.

"Boy- UNCLE QROW!! I KEEP TELLING YOU, VOMIT BOY IS NOT BY BOYFRIEND!!" Yang yelled at her Uncle, who had just exited his sister's room.

Barely keeping a straight face, Qrow turns to see an angry Yang and a confused but 'smiling' Raven. Huffing, he opens his arms and chuckles.

"Oh I know. I just wanted to screw with you and your Mo-" He stopped talking and immediately ran from Raven, who started chasing him with scary glowing red eyes along with an angry and embarrassed Yang.