Glad to see you back and still as good as ever, will eagerly await how this pans out.

This is totally going to be another Bad end series isn't it?

Oh fuck nooooooo
"Something that can really change a person" you don't need to dooo this agh

Also I have no fucking clue how you handle this type of shit the transition from "everything's fine" to "everything is changed" is very smooth

Phew and I thought the others especially Pyrrha are going to go berserk

I- what? Adam partnering with Atlas in any capacity wouldn’t happen. I also don’t really see why Vacuo and Mantle would roll over for Atlas so easily after Atlas basically funded an assassination attemptbased on flimsy pseudo-science I might addon a member of a family that can basically burn society to the ground at any time they choose.

I get the impression that this was Salem’s plan all along. With something like this happening, there are essentially two end games that I can see, unless one of the governments is forced to collapse by internal revolts.

1. The world unites against her and her family, uniting the relics and bringing the gods back.

2. The world is thrown into further chaos by a 2nd Great War, except this time she’s in a position to pickup the pieces, and the relics in particular. She brings the relics together, thus killing everybody when the gods deem that humanity has failed.

She herself would likely to come to us to live through either one of these circumstances, but she has a bit of a history of not thinking about how her actions might be responded to by others. Plus, as a side benefit, in at least one of those scenarios everything that Ozma’s reincarnations have built will in fact be torn down.

Good one, I admit it, got tricked by the POV, did think it was Jaune for a moment. I am curious as to why and when did Mistral and Vacuo decided to join the Coalition. Was it because the assassination showed that the 'Grimm children' were not invincible? Or are they just choosing to unite against Salem?
I just realized that this route may have been the most dangerous alternate path for Salem to choose because if the world unites against her, and the relics are gathered, the gods will come back to see a unified people.
Great story, can't wait for the next chapter even though I will have to. ;)

I have a nagging suspicion Jauney boy's going to kick it at the end of the story, probably from Salem's hands

You and your wily writing...I'll admit that I was a part of that hopeful foolish group that fell for the Jaune fake out at the start...Tricked, fooled, duped, bamboozled, SMECKLEDORFED!

Figures that the Belladonnas would still be on for their ill advised plan...darn emotional attachments and dumb science jerks making even the dumbest of ideas seem reasonable in the moment...(My evil puppeteer Salem senses are tingling and saying that Merlot's working for her and is purposefully feeding the families wrong info...)

Though to be fair, Kali is right...the second she failed that assassination attempt, intentional or otherwise, they basically burned any chance on walking things back. Sure it was rage and anguish, but she still walked in there with a knife in the first place! Manipulated Summer with politics to get by without being searched! They had Marcus (who I'm assuming was the world's best assassin) there, but she just had to bring the knife...There was always some intent there Kali...

In any case, it's nice to see that Pyrrha was keeping a somewhat level head despite high emotions and everything else that happened. And Jaune lives! YAY! Though the warning at the start is definitely concerning D: Hopefully Jaune doesn't forsake all kindness and hope for peace...sure, punish the Belladonnas and the Schnees and such for...but don't go full Dark side! Resist! Don't let the pain and the sorrow and the Grimmstuff magic that Weiss pumped into you turn you full evil!

Honestly this is by far my favourite RWBY fic going at the moment. You have managed to mash together political intrigue, an adorable romantic subplot, killer premise and superb characterisation really well. Really do think you have captured the characters really well. Can practically feel the anguish of the parents whilst reading this which is really a credit to you as an author.

Can't wait to see the children really let loose in future chapters. Keep up the good work!

Love the story. Can't wait 4 the next chapter. Seriously. Hurry

Giving Ozma's sword back is not a nice thing to do, it's very stupid thing to do, not even Emiya Shiro would do that.
It's like Shiro would trace Mordred's Clarent and then give it to Kirei.

Awesome, we get more intrigue.

So Kali and Ghira decided to do this... in their sovereign nation? /Themselves/? Had they considered that if Salem decides to declare war on Menagerie alone (which she would just to drive the kingdoms further apart), the likelihood of the other kingdoms intervening is very slim? Had they considered that the reputation of a nation already tarnished by the existence of a global terrorist movement will tank even further when it gets out that their leaders /personally/ attempted to assassinate diplomats, specifically one of the children that were cruelly kidnapped? Had they considered what the tanking reputation of Menagerie will do to race relations?

I mean the whole idea of "assassinate their diplomats before they declare war since it's inevitable anyway" is already incredibly stupid, but they also can't even arrange a proper assassination that doesn't put the knife directly in one of their hands? I know Salem predicted something like this happening, but I doubt even she could have predicted it happening in a way that's so stupid. She probably thought she would have to put forward evidence of the conspiracy, but nah the Belladonna's decided to do it all themselves in broad daylight surrounded by eyewitnesses and potentially numerous recording devices.

So in short the Belladonna family did what it does best in both canon and fanon; make things worse for everyone through their inconceivably poor decision making. I wonder if I'll ever see a fanfic where that isn't the case... Will the Belladonna's ever escape their eternal curse of incompetence and hypocrisy?

Nice job breaking it, Kali!

Hell of a cliffhanger, Cant wait to see the shitstorm it causes