𝕭𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉𝖎𝖊𝖉 𝖇𝖚𝖙 𝖀𝖓𝖇𝖗𝖔𝖐𝖊𝖓

A Man in Black and An Obsidian Lady I

In the library...

"Excuse my language, but what the hell are we looking at?" Alfred asked as he looked over at the cards in Ruby's hand. Dante was equally lost as to what game Team RWBY was playing. "I honestly have no idea." He himself could barely make out the words that Ruby was mumbling as she looked over her own cards.

It might as well have been eldritch to him.

"Alright," Ruby said with confidence as she stood up. "Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!" Dante and Alfred looked at each other, still attempting to make sense of the game, as the two sisters began to clash. "Bring it on!" Yang shouts back. 

"I deploy the Atlesian Air FLEET!" She slammed a card down, as Yang made an appropriately dramatic gasp as Ruby said, "Looks like I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly!" She said this and accompanied it with fighter jet noises. Yang gasped again, shouting, "You fiend!"

Dante and Alfred looked at each other again. "I suppose... that's a good thing?" Alfred asked. Dante nodded. "An accurate assumption, yes. However, Yang has a trap laid for air-based cards. One Ruby does not know of."

"And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time only lasts one turn." Ruby's joy turned to confusion when Yang started to chuckle. "Pretty sneaky, sis. But you just activated my trap card!" Ruby made a noise of surprise as Yang flipped a card. "Giant Nevermore!"

"If I roll a 7 or higher, Vale feathers will slice your fleet in two," Yang says, triumphant. "But if you roll a 6 or lower, the Nevermore will turn on your own forces." Ruby shot back. Dante inhaled through his teeth, the chances of this roll going in Ruby's favor was very low. "That's just a chance I'm going to take." 

And as Dante, and just about anyone would have, predicted, Ruby's airships were torn out of the sky, and the attack turned on Ruby instead. Pieces flew away from the table, and when the turn was done, Ruby was in tears. Yang was triumphant. "Alright, Weiss. It's your turn." Weiss goes, "I... have absolutely no idea what's going on." Dante chuckled, while Alfred decided to take a seat with Team JNPR, having lost interest in the events ongoing at Team RWBY's table. 

Lie Ren was reading a very thick academic book, his teammate Nora Valkyrie asleep next to him. Alfred heard her mumble something on the lines of, "Pancakes..." Jaune Arc was reading a comic book, which Pyrrha Nikos took away and traded for a school book. Jaune groaned as he began to read. Alfred did not miss how Pyrrha smiled when she got Jaune's comic book. "...This table's pretty quiet. I like it." Alfred concludes as he pulls out a book of his own to read.

Meanwhile, "It's easy. You're playing as Vacuo, which means all Vacuo-based cards come with a bonus," Yang says as if that was supposed to explain everything. Weiss responds, "That sounds dumb," to which Yang responds, "See here. Sandstorm, Desert Scavenge, ooh, Resourceful Raider!" Yang then begins to rearrange Weiss' cards as she points them out. 

"See now you can take Ruby's discard air fleet..." Ruby sobs in pain at the mention of her failure. "And put it into your hand!" Weiss was still confused. "And, since Vacuo troops have a bonus against natural hazards, you can use Sandstorm to disable my troops and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom."

"Just know," Yang says pointing a warning finger at Weiss, "that I will NOT forget this declaration of war." Dante knew that Yang had a plan, and Weiss showing her cards only gave Yang the advantage.

"And that means?" Weiss asked. Ruby, between sobs, said, "You're just 3 moves away from conquering Remnant!" Weiss, upon realizing what that meant, stood up, laughing maniacally. "Yes! Tremble before the might of the Kingdom of Vacuo! Cower as they pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms--"