"You asked them if I had taken either one as Queen or a Consort?!" I asked incredulously.
"Yes," Melina answered truthfully, "My liege, if you do not, you may succumb to the Madness of the Three Fingers. Or you are doomed to have history repeat itself."
"Look," I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose. "We don't even know if that will happen to me. As for the Madness of the Three Fingers, I've already fought one of their cursed avatars and an easier version of Godrick the Grafted."
"I see," Melina spoke quietly.
"Besides, I'm not ready for a queen or a consort," I said as I looked down, then at Amber and Glynda. "I apologize if she said something unkind to you two."
"No, it was just sudden," Glynda sighed and answered, "Unexpected, really."
"Yeah, and I still need time to adjust," Amber said, "Being freshly turned into a Tarnished and all."
"I was not aware that a Human could be turned into a Tarnished," Melina muttered.
"Anyway, the Roundtable Hold has been restored," I told them, "Gone was the burning hold that housed countless tomes of information of the Lands Between. Now it's empty, just housing basic furnishings and a map of Remnant."
"Weird," Amber muttered, "So, what now?"
"Now," I said as I looked at Amber, "We need to train you how to handle being a Tarnished."
"I was trained as a Maiden," Amber spoke with confidence. "I think I can handle being a Tarnished."
"Are you certain of that?" Melina asked.
.
Before Amber could understand what Melina meant, I had drawn my Bastard sword and cut her head off in one swift motion. Glynda screamed in horror as her body slumped to the floor. Before she could scream more, Amber's body and head turned to ash and slowly reformed next to the Site of Grace. Amber gasped and dry heaved once again before looking at me incredulously. I just looked at her with a bored look.
.
"First lesson on being a Tranished," I spoke as I swiped her neck this time, drawing a fountain of blood as she choked and died once again before reviving again. "Death isn't the end. It's just another beginning."
"Dear Oum!" Glynda shouted out in horror once again, "You could have told her rather than taking her life! TWICE!"
"I could have," I spoke as I put away my sword, "However, experience is the best teacher. I'd rather get her used to dying and dealing with the rebirth symptoms."
"Talking helps better," Amber coughed and stood up. "But was cutting my head off and slitting my throat necessary?"
"The first few deaths are the best to get over with fast," I answered, "Besides, be glad I didn't make them worse."
"How could they have been worse?" Amber asked.
"He/I could have crushed every bone in your body," Melina and I answered far too calmly. "And let you die slowly as you choke on your own blood."
.
Needless to say, both women were slightly scared at how calmly Melina and I said that. After her first two rounds of rebirth, Amber got somewhat used to the process. Once Amber was done dry heaving, I had Melina be her maiden for the time being. I had a guess that I wanted to confirm. I couldn't gather Runes from Grimm, maybe, just maybe, Amber could. I wasn't a true resident of this world, but Amber was.
However, that was besides the point. Melina, while being somewhat odd, was a good and, currently, the only choice for Amber to get stronger. That, and she needed someone to guide her. With the fact that I've fought something that came from the Lands Between, I needed to be on guard. And with one more tarnished on this world, and maybe more, I needed to keep my head on a swivel.
...
..
.
It's been two weeks since Amber's rebirth into a Tarnished. And she is doing better than I expected. My hunch was correct as well. Due to her being a resident of this world, she was able to collect Runes from the Grimm, though to a lesser extent than the enemies from the Lands Between. Only about 30%.
During these two weeks, what had happened in the arena spread like wildfire. Rumors and gossip are constantly being spread about what happened. People were saying that what Cardin turned into was the result of a mad scientist who was experimenting with aura and illegal human/Faunus experiments. Or that it was the work of someone's twisted Semblance.
Either way, it was annoying as it didn't help that I was at the center of it all. People were talking about how I dismantled the twisted Cardin both before and after. My comment about 'Death by a thousand cuts' made me more feared than Professor Port's class. Apparently, his class is notorious for putting students to sleep.
Besides that, I've been training those who still come to my class. Those who came, I trained them with their preferred weapon if I had one that matched theirs. For those that I couldn't match, I taught them hand-to-hand arts. Quite a few of them were sloppy when it came to fighting without a weapon. Besides those few, I was getting tired of the spooked looks I got when I entered a room.
Anyway, I was currently fighting a girl named Yang Xiao Long, who wielded gun gauntlets called Ember Celia. And she was currently keeping up with me in hand-to-hand arts. Though she tended to forget to use her legs, making her footwork sloppy. After our match, I made sure to tell her to work on her footwork, as it could get her killed after I tripped her for the third time.
After the class ended, I was cornered by Ozpin, saying that he had found another Site of Grace. After getting directions from him, I set out to find the site. Currently, it is located in the heart of an abandoned part of Vale called Mountain Glenn. Right where Amber was training and gathering Runes.