Here we are, finally. To the end. This is going to be one hell of a ride and unlike with my other stories I do not have as much time as I need to finish this quickly. Might be done in a few days, might be done in two weeks. Either or is fine. But nevertheless, thank you all for staying with us for this weird little ride that started over two years ago that was born out of pure idealism. It became something I never expected it to become. With that said, let's get this show on the road!

Beta & Co-writer: CrowSkull

A Tale of Two Heroes

Chapter 57- Destiny's Reminder

It was happening. Even as Hector felt the strain of his earlier transformation weighing on his mind and body, and even as Robert felt the sorrow of seeing something he had previously sworn to prevent, they both knew. It was happening. The Grimm were invading, but worse than that, as they looked among the crowd Aaron's semblance was running rampant all over Amity. It wasn't just that they failed to stop the attack on Beacon. It was worse now. This wasn't what they were prepared for.

"Nevermore!" Sun shouted as he worked on his scroll to call his weapon. "Everyone, call your weapon lockers!"

The rest of Sun's team and all the others that came down into the arena to help with Hell's earlier outburst all did as the faunus said. Rushing to pull their scrolls out and typing in their emergency codes and calling their weapons to them. It would take some time, but they were on their way.

Ashley, while still helping Hector stand, looked to his face. It was set with a certain degree of knowing fear that made her uncomfortable. "What is happening?" She asked as she too called her weapons with her scroll in her open hand.

"I-I-"

"It doesn't matter right now," Robert said as he stood up straighter and ignited Raios in a burst of lightning. "Aaron and Cinder, two terrorists are making their move, the Grimm are invading and Beacon is under attack," He announced to all of the students around him, they all turned to face him, listening as the giant Nevermore above them pecked violently at Amity's shields. "Scratch that, all of Vale is under attack… we need to evacuate Amity, calm down all these people and then go down and help protect the city." Robert said as the Nevermore tore through the shield. "You all called your weapons at the center, right?" He asked, and many of the students responded yes.

"Good, We'll deal with this quickly then."

The Nevermore landed on the center of the arena, screeching into the group of students and getting ready to attack, it lunged forward but just then all of the lockers came one by one to the arena, landing on the Nevermore and pinning it to the ground. Everyone jumped in and grabbed their weapons as quickly as they could before the Nevermore could get up again.

"Legs, wings, and head. Fast!" Robert commanded, shooting lightning and thunder at the Nevermore's head, keeping it from attacking again. Ren and Nora went for the head as well, stabbing the eye and hammering down, Neon, Sun, and Fox dashed for its legs, breaking them or cutting them off. Roy Stallion, Coco, and Robert himself went for the wings, shooting at the joints and breaking them in one side and dashing in and cutting the other off so it wouldn't wiggle or thrash around.

Hector got up with the help of Ashley and Yang. Sage was getting ready to jump up while Yatsu was about to be thrown by Arslan, Hector was able to recover from his mental stupor to look at both girls next to him, mutually agreeing on what to do, and they charged the Nevermore next. Ashley sliced it under the beak, Yang and Hector uppercut the head, launching it up in the perfect position for Sage and Yatsu to come down and decapitate it. Just as quickly as it came, it was dispatched, and not a moment too soon.

"Well done everyone, now. We need to evacuate the civilians." Robert said as he looked at the panicked people on the stands, a lot of them in a catatonic state due to Aaron's semblance. Others were wildly aggressive to all that came near. It was real chaos, it was like something out of a horror-action movie where everyone was fighting only for themselves.

"We need to get to Beacon," Hector said as he panted for breath. It was amazing that he was still kicking healthily after everything that had just happened. "You know what we have to do,"

"Right," Robert agreed with a knowing nod. The basement of Beacon. Most likely, Cinder was going to be there, and since Aaron wasn't currently attacking them right now, it would probably be where he was going to be too. "Everyone who can't fight needs to evacuate the city," He gestured to the intercoms, which we're currently blasting with a recording of General Ironwood calling for a full-scale evacuation of everyone who cannot fight and those who are injured. "Everyone who can fight and is willing to see this through to the end, take a Bullhead and get back to Beacon so we can take care of the Grimm over there."

The teams of students started forming up to do one of the tasks that Robert listed out for them. Despite putting on the brave face, Robert was panicking on the inside. He hasn't really had to play the lead role before, and while it seemed to be coming naturally to him, there was still that aching feeling in the back of his mind. Aaron was right, he was afraid of failing. And right now, there was a very real and perhaps probability that the orders he had just given out would lead to people dying some way or another. As he looked on to the half dozen other team leaders, he wondered how they did it for a moment. Before snuffing such thoughts from his mind with a shake of his head. He couldn't afford to lose control, especially not at a moment like this.

"There are people in the stands that still need help!" Ruby exclaimed, pointing to a few of them that had jumped into the arena in their panic. The drop was far and high, those who didn't have the aura to cushion their fall or absorb the impact were now limping or lying down in pain where they landed, while the ones above were still in the same state of chaos as before, while others were cowering in fear desperately trying to hide amongst the seats and colors of Amity. Ruby, doing what Ruby does, rounded up some other students along with her own team to go help them. Hector, moving to join them. After a moment's thought, Robert went to go help as well.

His radio has long since gone silent, but that didn't mean that he was the only one fighting. He knew that Seth, Qrow, Mackie, Verdant, all of them, were still fighting. Once he'd done the same and there was a break in the action, he'd try to make contact with them again. But right now, he had to save people.

The students who still didn't have their weapons yet went to go help the injured civilians while others who still had their weapons from previous tournament fights or called their weapon lockers early defended them from other Grimm that entered the arena or otherwise brainwashed people. Hector jumped up the stands after using a burst of Kaioken, followed quickly by Yang. The two of them fought together extremely well, knowing each other's styles and movements. It was natural for them to take the frontline together while Ruby with her sniper rifle and Ashley with her semblance went on to help others. Weiss used her semblance with stone dust to create a ramp that went down into the arena so that people didn't have to jump off anymore. Sun and his team along with Arslan's team covered the backline from Grimm. By the time Robert got there, things were already getting back under control as bullets and waves energy killed the Grimm.

Robert saw more than he expected, there members of the White Fang in Amity and they were firing indiscriminately towards the people on the stands, Robert gave a signal and people divided their focus to fighting both the Grimm and the White Fang, he himself sent a stream of lightning to incapacitate a few gunners while Ren, Fox, and Reggie flanked from the other side, dismantling them and knocking them out, clearing the choke points from where they were coming from. Robert and Hector dived in together towards the halls and cleared out the White Fang in a furious charge of Kaio Ken and a lightning dash followed by slashes, taking the members out and forcing them to retreat, Yang and Ashley joined them adding to the barrage of punches and slashes, taking multiple down in one fell swoop. They took the chance to flank the Grimm coming from the other hallway as well.

With Robert's ranged attack and Hector's pseudo invisibility to the Grimm they managed to hit them hard before they even realized they were there, Yang and Ashley went after Hector who was fighting most of the Grimm by himself and Robert focused on the White Fang.

"Hey, it's him! Is the-!" The White Fang gunner didn't get to finish as Robert dashed in and severed his arm, cauterizing the wound due to the nature of his blades. He continued slashing at more members in quick dashes before they could aim at him, he sent a lightning grenade and a lightning arc wave from his blade to immobilize the last of the members of the White Fang. In truth, he might have killed a couple, but he couldn't worry about that, he couldn't hold back, not with so many lives on the line.

"We need to hold a bit longer." Robert spotted a member talking through an earpiece, "There are more Huntsmen than we thought, we need to- Ack!" the member got knocked down by a professional huntsman. It seemed the other ones finally joined the fight.

The professional huntsmen that had been fighting long before they got there reinforced their numbers, fighting with them and issuing out orders that Robert hadn't yet thought of. Quickly, that entire part of the stands was liberated. The members of the White Fang in retreat to get away from the huntsmen and huntresses while the huntsmen that were being manipulated fought back desperately. It was strange, some of them were clearly still being affected by Aaron's manipulating semblance, but others weren't, others seemed calm. That sent a chill down Robert's spine. Just how many steps were Aaron ahead of them? As Ozpin once said, there were more huntsmen and huntresses in Vale than there has been in a hundred years. And yet Aaron had just rendered all of that useless. It was terrifying.

"Yo!" Another huntsman, one that Robert recognized, Razz, came to his side. Face covered in grime and aura flashing. "You guys came just in time, I didn't know how much longer I could hold up here. How are the civilians?"

"In good enough shape," Robert said as he glanced down to the arena, where a sort of makeshift safe zone was being created as a path was being figured out to get to the actual evacuation zones. "How are you doing?"

"Aura's less than fifty percent," Razz said with a huff. "Got taken by surprise. There are too many enemies around and some people still aren't responding, what the hell is happening?"

Hector slid back as a wall was busted open by an Ursa Major. Thankfully, Yang was there to back him up and caught him before he could fall down. The line was reinforced immediately by other students that they didn't recognize. Being a firing squad on the Grimm and leaving the biggest Grimm to the heavy hitters, that meant them as they quickly jumped back into action and punched literally through the Ursa. The lines switched again with more students and other huntsmen and huntresses taking the place of others

"Oi," Razz pointed his weapon at Hector, "Kid, you losing control like that anytime soon?"

"Stop," Robert said as he stood in front of Hector defensively before he could speak up. "He's on our side, and that's that. He was being manipulated by a powerful semblance. Just like almost everyone else is."

Razz was an understanding guy, and easy-going. Which made it all the more relieving when he nodded his head with a low growl. "Right, that's fair enough."

"Razz!" Ruby exclaimed as she bolted up to him. Unlike before, she wasn't fangirling or was there to ask him any silly questions. Instead, "Do you have any bullets you can spare? I'm low on mag's."

Razz was slightly caught off guard by the sudden question from a girl he didn't expect it from, but nodded his head quickly and grabbed a fistful of bullets from his ammo pouch. "Take these, they aren't dust infused but they still pack a punch." He said. "I don't have much use for them anyway, I hadn't loaded any of my own clips."

"Thanks," Ruby said as she immediately knelt down and began loading other magazines and a speed that no one could keep up with. That was Ruby's semblance for you, always having more applications by the day. "Where's Scarlet?" She asked as she loaded her clips.

"Somewhere," Razz shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "She'll be fine. Listen, what we need to do right now is clear out these stands and get everyone who can't fight to the evac zone. Once we get that done, you students are going to have to go back to Beacon. Us professionals will handle things here in Amity, but I have a feeling that there is more to this than I know, right?" He asked, looking specifically at Robert.

Robert nodded his head with a hum, it was useless to try and keep it a secret now.

"Alright, you go do what you have to do, and we'll stay here and deal with this," Razz said as he focused his aura on his fists.

"You can't, Vale must be getting hit as well, whatever isn't in the air is gonna be down there." Robert pointed out. "We need people down on the streets."

"Shit…" Razz thought for a second.

"Hey teach!" Coco went up to Robert, "We have a problem. We have sections three, four, and five of Amity going to the arena but we can't reach sections six and seven, we have heard nothing of the people there."

Robert looked up, sections six and seven were the rows at the top of Amity, there were many bodies out there but most people seemed to have run to the halls.

"They are trapped between the Grimm and the rest of us." Razz guessed.

"That must be where the Grimm came from. Coco, tell them to make more ramps, to tear down the walls, we also cannot wait for them, we need to evacuate everyone right now!" Robert ordered he trusted Coco to get the message across better than him.

"Yeah, got it!" She saluted, she ran and relayed his orders, Robert looked back at Razz and readied his blades.

"No rest for the wicked eh? Everyone, we are moving up!" Razz shouted at the top of his lungs, making a charge for the last people atop Amity, Robert, Hector, Yang, Ashley Sage, and Sun alongside the students, huntsmen and members of the VDF that followed, the pummeled through the Grimm in a three-stage formation that Robert and others suggested, huntsmen front, range fighters middle, officers at the back… just like the sewers.

They quickly killed most of the Grimm were being killed and some people were being evacuated by making holes in the walls and people using Dust to make ramps and makeshift stairs, still there were far too few people being evacuated, not many survivors. Something felt wrong...

"We are here, quickly, we gotta clear the stands," Razz told everyone as they were about to get to the last and largest area of Amity, there were some Grimm but they were dealt with quickly.

"Is anybody listening!? We are being shot by-" Something went off in Robert's earpiece.

"Hey, we lost people in the third section… something… blitz them. They were screaming." A member of the VDF said.

"We have to go back, then!" A student cried.

"But we cleared the other levels, and the Grimm is thinning out, nothing should have been down there." Ruby pointed out.

"Kid- We are being…. -trayed, can you hear-..." Robert was able to hear Seth's voice.

"What should we do?" Nora asked Razz as he thought for a second.

"Okay we are gonna have to… Look out!" Razz saw something and focused all his aura into his arm with his semblances instead of the rest of his body, he pushed some people out of the way as he saw a shining light, someone fired at them and they watched as Razz went to block the bullet. Only to gape and gasp when that bullet changed direction and bounced on the wall, hitting him through the side of the head and coming out the other side.

First, it was Razz's blood that splattered on Robert's face, then an instant later he was screaming for everyone to get down before Razz's body even hit the floor. Hector cursed and dove at Ruby, who was still wide-eyed and shocked as a man she once idolized was suddenly killed right before her eyes. Covering her body with his own, protecting her. Everyone else who wasn't actively fighting dove behind the seats and took cover. That bullet penetrated through the last of Razz's aura, and they didn't want to take the chance and see if that same bullet could penetrate a more healthy aura. As everyone went down and others created barriers and more cover with a variety of semblances, Robert peaked his head over the railing to see who was shooting at them.

He saw the flash of a sniper scope all the way across the arena. His eyes widened and he dropped back down right as a bullet whizzed past where his head once occupied. "Sniper!" He shouted and cursed.

"I noticed!" Hector shouted back. Hector rolled off Ruby and toward him, then checked to see how Razz was doing. "Shit," He cursed, seeing the pool of blood and an unmoving body. "Razz is dead. Shit…" To their horror that wasn't the end of it, more Huntsmen and huntresses appeared from the stands, six of them… and they were attacking them while they were hiding, they were attacking other huntsmen, the VDF officers, they even saw as one killed a civilian family in cold blood with a shotgun.

"Fuck!" Robert and everyone widened their eyes, he, Hector and other huntsmen met the rogues in combat as they dived for cover from the sniper, Robert and Hector pushed one away quickly one of them with a thunderbolt and a charge of Kaioken times five. The student and officers helped as well, teaming upon them and not letting them get a chance to kill them but there was little that they could do with that sniper on their back.

Professional huntsmen dived in and out to try and fend them off one on one, but the sniper kept shooting at them, it was Coco and other students with firearms that helped by driving them away with her minigun and preventing movement by locking them down.

"W-what… w-why?" Ruby trembled as she spoke, eyes locked onto the blood that had splattered on her clothes. "H-how… that bullet…?"

"Ruby!" Yang called to her from another distant cover. "Snap out of it! It's okay!"

"Someone get a bead on that sniper- Agh!" Another huntsman cried out as a bullet smashed into his aura. Not penetrating it but leaving a nasty bruise in the center of his forehead. He wasn't killed, but he was knocked out of the fight.

"Shit, I don't have that much range," Robert said as he took cover and tried to gauge the distance, he also had to throw lightning bolts and missiles to keep the rogue huntsmen away. "Whoever it is, they are way too far away for me to do anything about them." He spared a glance toward Razz and spoke a silent prayer to his friend. Razz was a good guy, he really wished he had the time to give him his proper respects.

"The arena isn't transformed at all either," Hector pointed out. "We can't just run across and hope for the best. It has to be a really strong bullet if it was able to tear through aura like that. Whoever it was, they know what they are doing."

"I know," Robert grit his teeth. He battled two snipers in his life, one he killed, and only another could make bullets change direction and bounce mid-flight… But it couldn't be, was it? He recognized that flash somewhat, as crazy as it may have seemed they were already being attacked by other huntsmen. That someone could definitely make a shot from that far away and land it directly on target in that way. But he also knew someone who idolized that same person.

"Ruby," He shimmied his way toward the young girl as she held Crescent Rose to her chest. "Ruby, we need you right now. Do you think you can shoot back at that sniper?"

"I-I… maybe… I… is it…?" Damn it, Robert closed his eyes and hissed out a whisper of a curse.

"It might," Robert said, choosing to be honest. "She might be getting influenced by Aaron's semblance. But right now that doesn't matter, she is killing people." He gestured to Razz's dead body. "I can't do anything about it from here, and you're the only one with the weapon and the skills to shoot back at her. Can you do it?" If not, he'd try himself. He had some minor firearms training in the past. He wouldn't be nearly as good as Ruby, but he'd at least get a few shots at the sniper if he could find them.

Ruby took a deep breath and nodded her head. Upon seeing that, Robert told everyone that it was time to create a good distraction. Hector knew just the way to do it, activating his Kaioken, he made himself a target by running straight into the retreating White Fang and began to beat them down. There were huntsmen that tried to fight back, but they weren't ready for his raw power that forced them back. Quickly enough, a bullet pinged off a gauntlet as Hector blocked the shot from the sniper. That was what Ruby was waiting for as she set up Crescent Rose, Robert close to her ready to put a shield or barrier to cover her. Leaning over the cover, she looked through her scope and took in a deep breath and held it.

Her hearing became numbed, her senses became focused on pure sight. She looked through the lens of her scope and adjusted the zero distance and the magnification and locked onto the flash of excess gunpowder and dust that launched out a sharp bullet from a very advanced and customized weapon. Once she found her target, she finally got to see who it was. Her suspicions were confirmed as she saw a head of red hair, looking through a sniper scope shooting at her friends. It was Scarlet. Scarlet Tarkus, her hero. Part of her already knew that, but it still made her trigger finger shake as she saw it with her own eyes. She almost didn't want to do it, but like Robert said if she didn't then she'd kill more of her friends.

A tear dripped down her face as she pulled the trigger. Her bullet - Razz's bullet - soared through the air all the way across the arena. Since Scarlet was so far, she had to aim up a little bit and account for bullet drop, and since the shield was down she also had to think about wind pressure coming from the west and going east. She was able to watch as the bullet shattered the lens of Scarlet's scope, and for the woman, she once idolized to flinch back, curse as she looked at her scope, and looked around for who could have done it. Ruby fired again, and this time the bullet pinged off of Scarlet's shoulder. She couldn't bring herself to fire a third and watched as Scarlet ran away into the vast hallways of Amity.

The sound came rushing back as Ruby let out the rest of her breath and dropped to her knees. Tears freely pouring down her face. "I got her," She muttered out loudly. "I destroyed her scope and shot her once. She ran away into the halls before I could shoot again."

"That's fine," Yang said, immediately at her side. "We can win the rest of this front now and get the injured ones out. You did great sis, I'm proud of you." Ruby let her sister help her back up to her feet.

The fight took a turn as they pushed back the huntsmen, Yang was angry enough now to use her semblance fully and it enabled her to push back one of the rogue huntresses enough to force her on the defensive, it wouldn't have been enough and the huntress was about to counter-attack, but Ashley came in and saved her, appearing from behind the huntress in an instant and slashing at her legs, she got punched back by Yang and then fired by the rest of the students into submission.

Another huntsman was being fought by Robert who matched him so far in their short fight, but suddenly he got a speed boost, a glyph in the shape of a clock appeared under him. Weiss was helping him and before the rogue could think of anything Robert surged forward and slash at different sides of him over a dozen times with both his blades, for a moment it looked like the huntsman had been stuck in position due to the slices, he kicked him away and ribbon attached to his leg, Blake used all her strength to swing the huntsman into the ground and then back up again, only to rush by a huntsman that hadn't betrayed them.

Hector battled a rogue huntsman at high speeds, exchanging fists against a greatsword and bouncing in and out of each other's range, the fight had not been even twenty seconds long, but with everything happening it felt like it had lasted far longer. He directed a punch to the ground to make a shockwave that pushed the huntsman away and rushed him. The huntsman was ready to counter in some way, but suddenly… he forgot the last couple of seconds and dropped his guard, just for Hector to crash into him at full strength, it was enough to bring that one down. Hector looked around him, someone he knew had helped him, he saw Yatsuhashi doing a two-finger salute and he returned the gesture.

The rogues had been defeated against the massive force and only one remained, one that had just killed one of the huntsmen that hadn't betrayed them, he realized he was alone and decided to cut his losses and run quickly to a hallway, only to be met by gunfire, a blunderbuss, and a rocket. His aura shattered and the rocket blasted him over the railing and into the lower stand, most likely dead. Out of the hallway came Seth, Port, and Dr. Oobleck.

"Seth? Holy shit you are alive!" Robert ran to him as the other teachers, he was able to see them and a group of VDF was guiding a small group of civilians out of the halls.

"You seem to be as well. Are they…?" Seth didn't speak further pointing his guns at the other huntsmen in their little force.

"They are fine, we just fought some off... and you?"

"Don't worry Mister Urra, we have a teaching license for a reason!" Oobleck said.

"Correct." Port hummed, he was different, he seemed not happy to fight, he seemed pissed. "To think that huntsmen and huntresses could…" he growled in anger.

"What has happened, why are they...?" Blake asked them.

"Miss Belladonna, it seems we have been betrayed," Oobleck said with a sorrowful sigh.

"Backstabbed and turned against, those bastards flew up to her with Bullheads during the match, they used their privilege as licensed huntsmen and transported Grimm and the members of the White Fang to this level," Port explained. "Despicable."

"This was where it started… and they…" Hector looked at the civilians that seemed also scared of him.

"They are the only survivors." Seth grimly said.

"This… this can't be happening." Nora denied, holding her head with two hands and not being able to believe something like this was possible. Ren supported her the best he could, patting a hand on her shoulder and letting her lean into him for comfort.

"Why, why would they…" Ruby herself wasn't able to believe it.

"... Aaron." Robert growled to himself.

"Amity is in the clear for now, however, most of the betrayers have been driven out from the looks of it and people are ready to be evacuated. We need to make sure they get there safely and get to Vale with utmost haste!" Oobleck commanded.

"I managed to get a message, there was a breakout in the prison near the industrial district," Seth explained.

"The corrupt huntsmen as well… it was a setup." Robert realized.

"You can't be fucking serious." Yang cursed out loud as everyone was processing the information.

"We can't focus on that, we have to do our job and get these people to safety, everyone gather together the remaining survivors and go to the evacuation zone!" Port told his students and fellow colleagues. Everyone sprung into action.

"Boss!" Reggie called out as he ran to Hector's side, supporting him as their current enemies retreated. "Sorry for being late, I was covering the other front line,"

"Don't worry about it," Hector said with a small smirk. "We won this side anyway. Where's Ash?"

"Right here," Ashley piped up, exiting her semblance right beside them. Hector acknowledged her with a nod and looked around for their fourth teammate who was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Michael?" He asked, suddenly worried.

"He's still down at the festival with his dad," Reggie said, concern clearly written all over his face. "We're going to go get him, right?"

"I…" Hector paled as the ultimatum was presented with him. Michael and his father were potentially fighting for their lives right now. But then again, Beacon couldn't fall this time around. He didn't know what he'd do if it did despite everything he has done to prevent it. But the thought of Michael getting hurt or worse was another terrifying thought in itself.

"Wait," Reggie stopped him before he could answer "Is this… part of your… y' know."

Hector nodded his head. "Yeah, this is the day that Beacon falls… if I don't do anything about it-"

"Don't worry about it," Reggie smiled and placed his hands on his shoulders, pulling him deeper into a sudden hug before pushing away just as quickly. "I don't blame you, and I'm not mad. Go to Beacon, do what you need to do. In the meantime, I'll go find Michael."

"I'll go with you," Ashley offered.

"No," Reggie shook his head. "Damn it… I knew this would happen. I knew one day I was going to have to make a choice like this… Being on the same team with the one I love was bound to cause problems." He sighed heavily. "Ash, go to Beacon. If what Hector said is true - and at this point, it probably is - than Beacon is going to need all the help it can get." Determined, his usual smile returned. "Don't worry about me, Michael and his dad are champion fighters, just like Pyrrha. If anything, they'd be the ones saving me once I get to them."

"Stay safe," Hector said, already feeling terrible about it.

"Yeah," Reggie bumped his metal fist against Hector's gauntlet. "You too, both of you."

Reggie turned away and went toward the evacuation zones. Unable to look them in the eye any longer lest he changes his mind. Hector and Ashley followed, stopping to help people along the way as they re-grouped with everyone else. Hector and Ashley only came to a full stop once they reached Robert and Ruby's team. All talking about what to do next.

"We should get to the evac zones ourselves," Weiss suggested. "General Ironwood is there himself, and I am sure he has separate Bullheads that can take us back to Beacon."

"That's the plan," Hector spoke up as soon as he reached them. "Beacon needs our help right now, and I am sure Ironwood will be helpful in doing so."

"The Grimm are all over the place," Blake pointed out. "There are more flying Grimm here than I have ever seen throughout my entire life. It might be trouble if they try to attack the transport ships that don't have any means of defending themselves."

"Trust Atlas to do their part," Weiss said. "We have the strongest military in the world. Right now is the time to show that strength to the enemy."

Robert nodded along to her words, showing his support. Atlas did have the strongest military, and unlike before, there was nothing that was going to turn that strength against all of them.

"We know what to do next," Robert said, moving on. "Get to the Bullheads, then to Beacon. Whoever wants to go down and defend Vale, can."

No one protested, not even the ones he had never met before.

Michael Cedric was a champion. A former champion, but he held a few titles to his name once upon a time. None of that mattered when he was fighting on a full stomach and fully trained huntsmen that all sat around him and his father suddenly attacked them at the same time his leader lost control of his darker self. He held his chest, which thankfully his aura protected from a sharp-bladed weapon, where his shirt and brown jacket failed to do so. He had to let go of it a moment later. He couldn't keep writhing in pain while people were trying to kill him.

A green shield formed from his mind and protected him from a barrage of bullets that sought to drain him of the rest of his aura. From further behind him, Tiberius created weapons out of his own similar semblance and launched it at the betraying huntsmen and huntresses. The projections themselves were weak, but the explosion they created when they collided with the ground made up for it easily. Tiberius and he were given time to gather their bearings as they took cover behind the counter along with the one that had served them food and many other civilians that trusted their lives to them.

"What's happening!?" Michael asked as he kept up his shield to hold back the firepower of huntsmen. "This doesn't make any sense. Why are we fighting other huntsmen?"

"I wish I knew the answer to that," His father replied, scowling and sweating lightly as he continued to create an armory of weapons made out of his semblance. "But they are trying to kill us right now. And I'm willing to take the guess that we aren't the only ones fighting like this."

He was right, of course. Michael dared to look around and winced at what he saw. The festival became a warzone in a matter of minutes. He heard the tell-tale roars and groans and howls of the Grimm, and he wouldn't be surprised if the White Fang were behind that. It wouldn't be the first time they resorted to using the Grimm as weapons. He had a good feeling that was a war crime but didn't exactly have the means to do anything to stop it at that moment.

"Shit," Michael let out a rare curse as he made to stand. "Father, I'll push out the shield and make it one-way. We'll show these assholes why they should regret not taking us out while our guards were down."

"Heh, that's my boy," Tiberius said as he got ready, but not before turning to the civilians behind them. "If you want to live, stay within my son's shield! It will protect you from almost anything. It is quite literally the barrier between life and death. Understand?"

The old man who had served them food was the only one to reply. "Y-Yes sir!" The others followed his lead, getting close to Michael as he expanded the shield and focused to make it one-way. It was a tricky process and one that could end in disaster if he didn't concentrate. One mistake and the shield could become one-way in the wrong way and get him and everyone he was meant to protect killed. Thankfully, that didn't happen and the shield was put up properly with the correct effects.

As soon as he stood out of cover the huntsmen started attacking them again. His shield held true and Tiberius was swift on the counter-attack, suddenly putting the vast majority of the battle behind cover while they made their way out from behind the counter that had been protecting them prior. The civilians clung close to Michael, which fueled him with more determination to protect them and rage at the huntsmen that were betraying their oaths to protect the innocent.

"Why are you doing this!?" Michael screamed as his frustration mounted. "We are supposed to be protecting the weak, not helping monsters kill them!"

He heard no reply even if there was one. But when a huntsman tried to break through his shield with his weapon he fortified it further in that one spot and watched as his father dealt with him swiftly with his semblance.

"Don't bother trying to reason with them," Tiberius said as he gestured for them to go into a more open area. "This was planned, they had plenty of time to go back on it if they really wanted to. But what's for certain that the huntsmen that we are facing are no longer huntsmen. But rogues." Rogues were rare, especially during this time of peace. They only really existed in Mistral and Vacuo for one reason or the other. Some were power-hungry and others were just plain cruel. But the world always placed heavy rules on them for that reason. Now that there were rogues seemingly all over the place, that rule seemed a bit null and void now.

"We must get out of this area," Tiberius went on. "We are at the disadvantage with our backs up against the wall. Surely we aren't the only hunters in the area. We can regroup with other warriors and form a line of defense and a haven for those who cannot fight." He gestured to the civilians. "Keep your shield up for as long as you can son, tell me when you are running low."

"Are you going to go all out anytime soon?" Michael asked with gritted teeth as he began to walk and will his shields to follow him. "I know you can do more than this… I've seen it. Felt it."

"Too destructive," Tiberius said as he created a line of swords, and sent them all flying at once to the enemy. It was like a superpower that a child would come up with, but it was surprisingly effective at keeping the other huntsmen at bay. "Not with too many potential casualties. I'll do it when I know that there are no allies around us."

"Fair enough…" Michael continued to walk and hold his shield for what felt like hours. Each step added more weight onto his shoulders. His semblance was always meant to be stationary and while he had evolved it so that it could be used for more than just that it was still what his semblance was meant for. Not to become a moving fortress. Moving while holding a big shield like this, especially one created to be one-way so that his father could fight back against the enemy, was bound to drain him.

He had a watch on his wrist to help him keep track of his aura because of this. A new suggestion that he was happy Reggie kept bugging him about now that he had it helping him. Potentially saving his life as he watched his aura go down by each percent. He hated how fast it drained when he was doing something like this, but he had to. He and his father were good, but there were at least two dozen or more huntresses and huntsmen attacking them. They would be slaughtered if it weren't for his semblance.

Eventually, it had to come down. And it would when he ran out of energy and aura. He couldn't risk letting his aura go lower than thirty percent, and he let his father know when it was time to let it down. Tiberius looked back at him and nodded his head and readied his weapon, similar to his own, yet much more deadly. Michael directed the civilians to enter one of the tents and to hide there until someone came to help them and let a mental countdown go off in his mind.

When he hit zero, he dropped the shield and dove to the side. Reaching for his weapons and chains and cursing when he realized that they were still at Beacon. He rushed to get his scroll out and dialed in code as his father dealt with the huntsmen that ran upon them. He was better than them, better than all of them. That was clear as Michael rushed to activate his weapon locker and pressed confirm. As soon as he saw the screen of his scroll tell him that it was on its way, he looked back at his father and stood up, creating a shield in his left hand and using the other free one to support his father as he needed it.

It wasn't like any battle he had ever been a part of before. It was just pure chaos. Semblances were flying around all over the place, weapons were clashing against the other, and partway through he thought that there were some other huntsmen that were helping them rather than fighting against them. They were slowly losing, however. Michael could only create so many shields in such a short time span before getting tired, and quickly enough, one of those huntsmen broke through his defense and knocked him to the ground.

His weapon locker landed just moments later, and he rushed to get back up to his feet to get his weapon, but his face was stomped into the dirt.

"Damn kid," The betraying huntsman spat. "Die, like your daddy is going to soon-" He stopped and choked on his own blood, a weapon made out of energy sticking out of his neck after catching him off guard. Michael was less affected by the death than he thought, and he pushed the man off of his body before retrieving his weapon. "Father!" He cried out as he readied his Kusarigama.

"Get back!" His father screamed back, halting him in his tracks. "Get out of here boy, let me handle this."

"What?" Michael shook his head. "You senile old man, you won't be able to fight them all at once!"

"Do you forget who I am?" Tiberius yelled back as he summoned more weapons to his aid. "I am Tiberius Cedric, head of the Cedric family and a champion before some of these fools were even born. Even now, if I wished it I could slaughter them all in combat. I shall show them that, but not until I know for a fact that no one who doesn't deserve what is about to happen is too close."

Michael suddenly understood what his father meant. This wasn't some noble sacrifice, this was him finally losing his temper. But Michael couldn't help but worry. His father was very skilled and powerful, yes, but he was old. His blonde hair was greying in many areas and he had to be draining on aura as well. Not to mention his stamina would naturally deteriorate as he continued to move. He wanted to keep protesting, he wanted to stay and help his father. But he was also worried about his team. Reggie, and Beacon. From here he could see the Grimm flying around in the sky, and the Bullheads rushing to meet them while others were fighting against each other. He knew what he had to do, and his father frankly did not need him.

"Father," Michael said as he holstered his weapons. "Just in case… I forgive you. For Mother, and for myself."

Tiberius didn't look back at him. But the subtle nod of his head gave Michael the signal that he needed. He ran and ran as Tiberius summoned more and even larger weapons to his aid, and kept running as he heard people die around him.

It was time to find a way out of this damn festival. Damn it, he should have known not to let Reggie talk him into this.

"We made it," Hector said as their entire group made it to the first evacuation zone. There was a huge crowd, being protected by what they hoped to be true huntsman and huntresses. Ironwood wasn't there, but that just meant that he was somewhere else. The civilians were getting evacuated, and true to their hopes there were a few ships that were going in a different direction, toward Beacon. One of the other present students pointed out.

"They have this place secured," Robert let out a sigh of relief. "That's good."

"We should take the first Bullhead back to Beacon," Weiss suggested. "I'm sure that the pilot would be happy to take many full teams of Beacon students back to the school. From the looks of it, they may need as much help as they can get."

"Yeah," Yang agreed easily. "I don't want to jinx it, but I would have thought that there would be more of a fight going on around here. There's just… not much going on."

"That should be good, isn't it?" Ashley asked as she stepped toward the crowd. "No fighting means no one is getting hurt. Which means that there are still people that we can trust."

"She's right," Blake added. "Let's not hope for a fight, especially not in an area like this where there are way too many people for all of us to take care of even with the other help that we'd have."

Hector hummed his own agreement and looked to Robert, who nodded back at him. As a group, they started making their way toward the crowd. Letting their muscles relax for the first time in what felt like hours. As they made their way toward the crowd, however, they began to notice something. The people in the crowd and those protecting them were extra cautious. Like they were expecting something to happen, and a lot of them looked out and over the edge where the black night sky as Nevermore and Bullheads battled in the air. They watched, staring at something.

Hector didn't like what his imagination thought of for him, neither did Robert. It showed as they started quickening their pace and power walking to the edge of the evacuation zone, pushing and shoving through people gently as their friends questioned them as they made to catch up. When they made it to the edge, Hector let out a hissing curse. Robert looked up at the flagship with him and felt an equal amount of concern and worry. Ironwood's flagship was being swarmed by Grimm, not only that, but there were Bullheads fighting other Bullheads. Nevermore which flew with more of a sense of direction, and with tiny specks of colors on their backs, as if they were being ridden. The people at the evacuation zone around them weren't just cautious, they were watching helplessly as the biggest ship in Ironwood's armada was being boarded and attacked from all directions.

"Ironwood's flagship…" Hector muttered under his breath. An angry scowl following quickly after. "It's being attacked…"

"It is…" Robert said, not knowing what else he could say about it. It simply was. Ironwood's most powerful ship just like before, was being overrun again. He tried calling Ironwood through his scroll, and by a miracle.

"Urra? What's the situation?" Ironwood spoke at a fast pace, he seemed to be fighting in some way.

"General are you on your flagship by any chance?"

"I'm leading my forces down on Vale, the flagship should be able to take care of itself! It's designed to endure and we have ways to keep it that way!" Ironwood spoke, Robert, Hector, and the rest looked in the distance and noticed something new, there were bullheads approaching the flagship.

"Are those Bullheads reinforcement of yours then?" Hector asked, looking at the scroll as well.

"Rivers…" There was an undertone that got quickly dismissed, "Bullheads? No, all ships should be focused on evacuation and keeping the sky's above Vale and near the transports safe." Ironwood told them, they looked back at the bullheads and noticed the Grimm were ignoring those, in particular, even flying side by side.

"General, I think your flagship might be boarded by betrayers," Robert replied.

"Damn it all, if they reach they boarded and take over… they could deactivate some of our forces and take away one of our most valuable assets in this fight!"

"We can't let it fall," Hector said, a new goal popping up in his mind as he turned away from the ship and toward the scroll. "You know what comes next, that thing is going to be the only one with guns big enough to hurt it," He pointed toward the mountain in the far distance, which had yet to erupt as it did before. It was shaking, however. It was going to happen very soon.

"Agreed," Robert replied. "It can't fall again… Alright, change of plans!" He turned toward the two teams behind him. RWBY and the three present members of JNPR. "Hector and I are going to need a separate Bullhead and get onto that ship, you guys are all going to go back to Beacon and help out over there."

"By yourselves?" Ashley asked, already against the idea. "You're just two people, what can you do to stop that?"

"Urra with all due respect do you think you can-" Ironwood tried to continue but he had to avoid fire from his end.

"General focus in leading your men, all me and Hector have to do is stall the rogues and save your men, there doesn't seem to be a particularly large boarding party, we should be able, all we need is transport if you have a spare ship!" Robert urged him to let them help.

"I can't let-"

"General no time for that! We all need all the help we can get, everyone needs to do their part, we can do ours!" Hector raised his voice as well.

"You two cannot be serious if you go alone… You think you can?" Weiss asked them

"I stopped a train with my bare hands almost completely by myself," Hector pointed out. "And Robert here has done tons of things on his own as well. If we work together, we'll do wonders aboard that ship. Besides, we are going to need it."

"Agh, again with that?" Yang pinched the bridge of her nose. "One day that excuse is going to run dry."

The general sighed he thought of his options, he seemed to check his scroll for a second and call someone else, he was very quickly checking what people they had flying and which not, eventually he said something "Alright, I have a man in an Atlas Bullhead near you in the second evacuation zone, once you reach the flagship keep it functioning, if at any point it looks like it's gonna fall transfer the signal of the knights and paladins to the other ships, should be a simple enough process, please do what you can and save my people as well… those are your objectives."

"We'll do what we can, General. Make sure your forces have a tour through the industrial district as well, there some escaped convicts that could use the greeting." Robert said.

"I'll consider it, good luck to you two," Ironwood said before hanging up.

"You guys can't go on your own," Ruby said next. Stepping up to them with a gleam in her eyes. "Let me come with you. Hex and I have fought together enough to know what to do, and You might need someone who can use a long-ranged weapon."

"Ruby!" Weiss wailed. "That's a terrible idea! Beacon is under attack, we all need you!"

"Beacon will be fine as long as everyone else fights to protect it, and besides, I am going to be helping." Ruby smiled at her partner. "Just… in my own way."

"Is this about earlier?" Yang asked, already reading her. "About Scarlet?" Ruby's face said it all, she couldn't bear to look at her. "You can't really be blaming yourself for that, are you? Well, if you're going then I am too. I'm not letting you-"

"No!" Hector suddenly cut her off. "Listen, we are already low on time as it is. We can't be wasting it arguing with each other! If we take Ruby, and then let you come too, then Blake is going to want to come then Weiss is going to want to come, and then only JNPR will be going to Beacon and they won't be able to do much all on their own! No offense,"

"None taken," Jaune waved it off.

"Just… make a choice, if Ruby wants to come she can. But only her, besides," He eyed Robert beside him, reaching a hand to touch the area under his own eye to emphasize his point. "Ruby is right about something, me and her fight well together. We trust each other."

Ruby smiled at him and nodded her head. Without waiting for any more input, she walked over to their side. Standing with them and looking back at her team. She took a deep breath and puffed out her chest, activating what she liked to call her 'leader mode.'

"Team RWBY, go back to Beacon with Jaune's team. Ashley, if you'd let me order you around for a bit, go with them, please." She added just in case.

"You-" Yang scrunched her eyes tightly, conflict written all over her face. "You grew up way too fast sis… fine. If this is what you want, I won't get in your way."

"Thank you."

"I guess I'll be sticking with you guys a little while longer," Ashley said with a bitter chuckle. "My team seems to be determined to be in three places at once."

"Divide and conquer," Hector said, smirking smugly at her. "All part of my ultimate master plan. I swear."

Ashley chuckled at his rushed joke. "I wouldn't be surprised. Be careful, you still owe Yang and me something."

"Right," Hector looked away as soon as that topic was brought up. "I won't be able to forget that anytime soon."

"Let's get going now," Robert said, having already come back from speaking to one of the other nearby huntsmen. "I asked around and I know where to go to find the second evacuation zone, it's not too far from where we are right now. If we move quickly, we might be able to find a pilot that would take us to the ship."

Hector nodded. "Let's go then, you ready Ruby?"

"Yes!" Ruby flourished Crescent Rose and nodded. "Let's go!"

Hector, Ruby, and Robert ran towards the second evacuation zone, there were still some people being evacuated there like Ironwood said but these last transports were being ambushed by Grimm, they went the opposite direction to flank the Grimm, they cut through Beowolves, Creeps, Beringels and even a Griffon that tried to ram them from outside, they killed it quickly by blindsiding it, stunning it with lightning and decapitating it before it could pose a threat.

They reached in time to ambush some of the last Grimm that was giving the Atlesian soldiers a tough time, Robert impaled a Beowolf from the back, making it explode into lightning and smoke, he proceeded to create seeker missiles to target the densest pack while he sliced through them one by one. Hector used Kaioken times five to charge through many Grimm in a single punch and then used the dust in Ebony and Ivory to launch punches that were made into solid, ice spikes. Being practically immune to the Grimm's attention, he was the ideal one to lead the charge against them.

They impaled the Grimm and he finished them off with a burst of his semblance and red flames, vaporizing the Grimm closest to them. Ruby fired from the back, getting many Beowolves in the back of the head, she flipped over one that tried to swipe at her to shoot it as well perfectly on the head. She looked at the massacre of Grimm Robert and Hector were making and spotted that the Grimm was backing away from them, lining up as they hadn't noticed her yet or where to focus on getting to the civilians on the transports. She channeled her semblance and prepared a big swing, and in an instant she sped forward cutting through the entire line of Grimm, aiming for the necks and making a line of death with Crescent Rose.

The Grimm was defeated and now the last transports were allowed to leave, only one bullhead remained, as Ironwood told them he had radioed a pilot to give them transport and follow the betrayers.

"You are the ones, right? Quick, I don't want to sit here any longer!" The pilot called them over

"We are going get ready to-" Robert ducked as he heard a loud bang from a gunshot and barely avoided a bullet to the back of the head, the three of them stared back to see a huntsman with a musket, he slowly walked towards them, they also saw from the sky two Nevermore appeared and flew close above them. From their backs two other huntsmen jumped down, landing next to the previous one and the Nevermore's then flew off.

They came in flying Nevermores, everything that could have been cool about that was immediately turned very uncool in Ruby's mind, all of them were betrayers as well, they were working with the Grimm. She couldn't help feel tears in her eyes, she just couldn't understand…

"Why? Why are you doing this!? You became huntsmen to protect people not to do this!"

"Kid… I became one for fame." The one with the musket said.

"I don't have a choice here, I do it or I'll die." One with a pair of swords added

"I realized that all of the work I've done was bullshit, that everything I did didn't matter and that my friend's family died because of it, kingdoms don't care for small villages missy and huntsmen don't either. We might as well let all this rot and start anew." The last huntsman with a giant curved sword said.

"You really think this would give you what you want?!" Robert asked them.

"I'm tired of people being weak and not giving a damn, I don't care… I just want to feel what it means to suffer for once, to realize what they let happen to other people." He shouted as the three got ready to fight them.

"Guys uh…" The pilot pointed to a pack of Grimm, a small one, coming from the other side.

"Ready the bullhead, we'll deal with this," Robert said as he ignited Raios, Hector was ready too, but he noticed Ruby was shaking, she was putting a brave face but she didn't seem able to fight other huntsmen yet and not because of inexperience, but because she could fight people who she always considered defenders of people and justice. Not to the death at least.

"Ruby… take care of the Grimm." Hector said, and she stared back at him, worried. "We'll be fine, you need to cover that flank," Hector emphasized, she nodded and sped off to kill the Grimm.

"You really think both of you can kill us?" One of the betrayers asked.

"Are you sure you can kill us? You are fighting the best of the best!" Robert goaded them.

"Pfft… as if." The betrayer with the greatsword spat, their fight started in an instant. The betrayer with the musket fired at them as both Robert and Hector ran in opposite directions at the beginning, the one with the dual swords and the greatsword met Robert and Hector respectively, Robert and his opponent exchanged fast blows going left and right, dodging their attacks and parrying their strikes. The betrayer didn't let up as he forced Robert to stay on his toes and not make any sort of distance, any movement Robert made was halfway there to meet him.

Robert changed strategy and focused an electric shockwave into the ground, the blast pushed back the betrayer and Robert took the chance to hit him with a couple of quick bolts that stunned him, he sent a seeker missile but that just baited the betrayer. They still managed to dodge right into Robert's attack, landing several slashes, and judo threw him before he could strike back.

The betrayer with the greatsword saber was met directly by Hector, he was going to strike downwards at Hector with fury until Hector activated Kaio Ken, the shockwave of Hector's semblance parried the incoming attack and gave Hector chance to go in with two punches to his middle section, however, the betrayer recovered quickly, using the momentum of being pushed back to spin around in a giant swing, and now he had distance and range on his side, and the greatsword had more range than Hector thought, he back away dodged the next flurry of attack dashing to land another punch. It was blocked and Hector had to jump and fire energy projectiles with Ebony and Ivory, it seemed to do some work but the rogue huntsman wasn't backing down.

Robert unleashed combinations of slashes and kicks against his opponent, the kick landed and he was about to deliver another blow when he got blindsided by a musket shot, the shot impacted his aura and forced him to roll, now he was back at backpedaling as he had to use his blades and speed to avoid two betrayers. Hector feinted a superman punch to bring out a counter strike, it worked as his opponent overextended and he was about to charge with all his strength, but the same happened to him, he got pushed back by a musket shot, he had to jump back as his other opponent, came swinging his sword like a hammer, only now he was using his semblance, and now the sword looked like magma, Hector dodged and the strike eft a pool of magma and molten rock.

He was pushed back, now he was back to back with Robert, together they deflected another musket shot, they looked at each other and nodded, once their melee opponents attacked they split up and faced the opposite opponent, the surprise strike did wonders as Robert landed a scissor slash and a lightning palm at the guy with the molten greatsword, and Hector landed a liver punch at the guy with the twin swords, Robert bounced back to deflect two musket bullets and protect Hector and fired a thunderbolt back, but the musket man dodged. They continued their assault, Robert being quick enough to land some quick kicks before he had dodged and parried two strikes, as another attack came he jumped on his opponent and planted two lightning grenades on him, pushing him back and Robert using the blast as propulsion to get to the ceiling.

Hector punched and broke his opponent's guard, the man jumped back but Hector punched his knuckles together to create a fire wave that managed to grasp him, he was then pushed back down by two lightning bolts, from Robert who was upside down on the ceiling, They heard a musket shot and this time Hector deflected the bullet, launching himself upwards and protecting Robert. The fight continued much the same for a half a minute, both of them dashing back and forth, blocking, deflecting, and diving rolled away from bullets, strikes, and semblance attacks. Hector landed some punches and Robert deflected a bullet, Robert evaded a strike from the great sword, kicked them man upwards and Hector covered him from another shot, Hector landed a punch to the betrayer with two swords while Robert dashed from side to side on the other and they changed targets again. Robert avoided a blade made of wind and answering with a lightning missile and launched an arcing wave of lightning at the musket man, Hector landed an uppercut on his opponent and kicked him away and sent an ice blast with his gauntlets at the musket man as well, but their opponents recovered. They were pushed back at every turn by the man firing from the back who gave his allies enough time to recover, they were further pushed back as the other two betrayers clashed into them and pushed them skidding back.

Robert jumped on Hector and fired seeker missiles of lightning down on them while Hector fired lightning and fire blasts with his gauntlets. fighting huntsman was difficult, back on the stands it had been six against more than twenty so it was done fairly quickly. They were trained, and even if Robert and Hector had the teamwork, skill, power, and experience to defeat them, they didn't make it easy, especially the gunman at the back.

"We need to get rid of that guy, ideas?" Robert asked Hector, his friend thought for a second until he came up with something, he fists his palm, a signal of a move that they had tried twice or thrice before during training, Robert looked at where the musket man was and at the nearby edge and complimented the plan with a hand gesture for an explosion and a thumb going towards the edge. They understood each other and proceeded.

They rushed them and parried the two guys in melee, knocking them out of their way and rushing for the man with the musket, he would dodge their combined strike, but that was part of the plan, Hector made a punch full of energy and Robert a palm with lightning, they collided the attacks against each other and made energy colored red and blue that pushed everything around them, it knocked the musket betrayer away, Robert grabbed the man's weapons and beat him with his own musket, Hector landed three punches to the gut, head and ribs, then Robert made some slices and together, with a kick to the solar plexus and a punch to the gut they send the rogue huntsman over the edge and flying down.

Would he die, maybe, maybe not, but now their fight was going significantly easier now for both of them. Robert evaded the wind blades made b the guy with two swords and countered with lightning bolts and missiles, that was significantly faster, and Hector dashed in an out of they the other betrayer's molten strikes, landing various punches and sending him crashing to a wall, the betrayer screamed and began to swing wildly in his ensuing anger.

Robert batted away with his own blade another blade made of wind and rushed in landing some quick slashes on his opponent, he tried to counter but Robert jumped back and used dust to create two lightning whips from his gauntlets that struck his opponent several times before getting a hold of his swords and shocking him through them, he dashed in and parried the blows his opponent tried to land as a last-ditch effort, making him overextend by turning his blades off and landing punches and kicks, he put him against the edge and in one final mistake the betrayer lunged forward and Robert avoided the attack perfectly and struck back with his own lunge, impaling the man through the chest with both his blades, the man gasped and Robert made a lightning explosion to send him flying to the abyss, that was two down and only one remaining.

Hector avoided molten strike after molten strike and countered with a hard punch of Kaioken times five each time, sending the guy on his back, but he didn't give up, he kept rushing back until Hector weaved between the attacks and made a sweeping kick into a downwards cleaver punch, it sent the betrayer backward right into Robert's attack. He landed two missiles at his back, unbalancing him and letting Hector go in with an uppercut that sent him upwards, then Robert jumped in with a mid-air twist kick that sent him back down again into a second uppercut that sent him up again into Robert. He spun with his blades, slashing upwards and then spinning the other direction to bring him down yet again into the ground just in time for a barrage of punches from Hector, fourteen punches ending in a final superman punch.

The betrayer got up with his aura flashing. "You pieces of… Aaargh!" He came down for another molten strike but Hector powered his fist with Kaioken and Robert made one of his blades, they overpowered the attack and knocked it away with their own and landed a counter, both of them going through him. Robert slicing him and Hector punching through his flesh. They split him in half as they charged through him, he died instantly as both of them got covered in blood.

"We…" Hector allowed himself to pant once it was over. Bent over and catching his breath.

"Hector, these people are far too dangerous," Robert said. "We can't hold back against them, if we do more people die, we need to go and take care of the others so this doesn't get worse, okay?" Robert shook his shoulder.

"Right… right, we have to, oh shit!" Hector pointed to Robert, they saw a person running towards the bullhead, it was Tarkus.

Tarkus simply wanted the bullhead to get out of the arena as soon as possible, but color her impressed when all the Grimm that supposedly came this way were dead, even more, when between her and the bullhead stood one girl with a scythe, she looked doe-eyed, maybe even about to cry…

"It just had to be you, eh kid?" Scarlet readied her gauntlet guns, the girl looked like she was shaking, she had fought a lot already, but she should be able to take her. That was until the same damn kid that beat her and the other red menace she has heard of, now times changed, they were covered in blood as well, and not their own… it seemed like she would need to reevaluate her chances.

"Seems we are all here and only one Bullhead remaining… we could take it and leave, say goodbye to this city that's about to die." She said as she walked back towards the edge.

"Guys please if we stay ah… oh uh." The pilot called them, Scarlet aimed her gauntlet gun for her, the three people in front of her looked ready to stop her.

"Nah, don't try it, I can still make this bounce and kill him, don't make me." She said as she kept her aim on the piot, in fairness she didn't need to aim at him to kill him. Robert and Hector got ready to intercept that bullet if it ever fired.

"Scarlet... why did you…" Ruby couldn't form the words properly. She just looked up at her idol, confusion, terror, betrayal, sorrow, all shown on her face.

"I'm sorry kid… I made a choice and you should as well."

"But why this!? Why kill so many people why would you… you said once… you said that a huntress should aim for greatness… why… did you… you killed." Ruby sobbed. "Razz, your own partner!"

Scarlet scowled. "He was nothing but a thorn at my side my entire life!"

"But he was still your partner!" Robert interjected. Startling Scarlet into taking another step back.

"Yeah, a partner too weak to see what really happens out there, yes I did say that. That we should aim for greatness but I didn't get it, you would have seen soon enough. People don't know what happens out there, they don't understand the sacrifices we make, and then they complain. Sometimes even forget to pay us and even act petty about it!"

"Look who's talking, you are doing this for not getting what you want!" Hector screamed at her.

"I did this to make things right! For us extraordinary people to get what we deserve and the chance to really make things happen, don't you agree we can make a difference, ruling these weak idiots instead of having to serve them with-"

"No, no no! You are wrong, they are people just like us we can't just-"

"Save it! Rose… I don't care, do you think any of these is a coincidence? This was a long time coming, I aimed for greatness, I aimed to be the best, now I can finally prove that and put all those who thought they could beat me in their place, think our fight was a coincidence kid? I made a bet, didn't get why Aaron was so interested in you two, but I guess I now know…" Scarlet backed away further towards the edge. "I hope he doesn't kill you just so I can kill you myself."

"You are just a pissy bitch," Robert growled.

"Think what you will, I will make the change I want, and when I'm done… I'll be at the top of the food chain." Tarkus said as she stepped back and let herself fall. Robert, Hector, and Ruby rushed to the edge and saw as she landed on a Nevermore and in a matter of seconds flew out of their field of view.

"She… she… she really…" Ruby couldn't form words, her tears already wasted.

"We have to go, get the Bullhead running!" Robert called the pilot.

"Ruby…" Hector went for her and offered his shoulder, Ruby hugged him and cried a little more until the remaining tears came out. "It's okay, it's okay." Hector patted her head.

"Guys! We can't let her be right, we can't let more people die without a fight." Robert called them from the Bullhead. Hector and Ruby nodded and quickly got on board as they went about chasing the other betrayers.

"So what's your name?" Robert asked the pilot once they were in the air.

"Huh? Why do you wanna know?" The bewildered pilot asked.

"To not just call you… you, or pilot or soldier, we might need to call you quickly." Robert explained.

"For short it is Ryan, I just hope we can remain in the air long enough." He pointed at the many flying Grimm in the sky.

"We can cover you, we are able."

"There's so many of them… if those reach the evacuating transports…" Ruby said as she looked at the flock of lying creatures.

"They have other people protecting them… but hey take that route, fly low, and we can give some support while we fly towards the capital ship and follow the betrayers." Robert decided on the route, he would admit he wanted to save as many people as possible as well, all of the people aboard seemed to really like that idea as well.

"You got it chief!" Ryan, now more determined, made the adjustments he needed.

"Hey by the way… you guys can shoot at longer distances than me, how am I supposed to help?" Hector asked.

"Oh, we have this!" Ryan pressed a button and from the side of the door a rail pulled out a minigun that had been hanging at the back, it quickly became a proper mounted machine gun.

"Whoa!" Ruby and Hector marveled.

"THat should help… now do you know how to-" Robert began but got interrupted by the sound of the minigun spinning, Hector had already figured it out. "I see… I guess you are in your element." Robert said as Ryan opened both side doors to let them shoot at the flying Grimm.

"Hyaaaaaa!" Hector fired hundreds upon thousands of bullets as they passed the flock of Grimm and killed many, shred some to dust and black smoke, and if he didn't kill them, he shredded their wings and let them plummet, he was having the time of his life.

On the other side Robert was charging up lightning bolts, lightning missiles, and seeker missiles to any Grimm that came into his field of view, the high altitude and the cold gave away feeling so… energetic that Robert felt his semblance overdrive a little, at his side Ruby sniped Grimm out of the air as well, making sure that no single one she could see got close to the transport ships, and to not attack their own aircraft as well of course.

Getting down to the ground was the easy part. Getting to the festival was challenging after pushing through Grimm and terrorists. What made everything so much harder was the sudden influx of other huntsmen and huntresses all fighting each other. He saw it back on Amity, but it was so much different down on the ground. He didn't know who to side with, there were ones who were fighting recklessly but obviously being affected by that guy's semblance, and then there were guys he thought could be on his side, and then there were others who were just fighting for the heck of it. Reggie did the only thing he could logically do there and decided to trust no one.

Michael and Tiberius had to be around there somewhere. They were at a stand that was making and selling seafood and he remembered where that was but the fact that the festival became a damn battlefield made it a little harder to get through all the tents and chaos. The Grimm hadn't even made it this far yet, or at least he hasn't personally seen any yet. He started to get a bad feeling in his gut. The spot where his horn used to be was starting to sting uncomfortably. As he made his way through the battlefield, desperately trying to not get forced into a fight he didn't want to partake in, the bodies started to mount up. It was terrible. Most of them were people who couldn't even fight, and their blood was splattered everywhere. Their lifeless eyes staring up and at him as if they were blaming him for their deaths. Reggie forced the thoughts out of his head and kept moving forward, especially murdering the one that suggested that Michael and Tiberius could be in a similar state.

He just had to find something green and glowing, or lacking something else that was made out of an energy type semblance of the Cedric bloodline. That was going to be his beacon, but sadly it just wasn't going to be that simple, it seemed.

Reggie stopped and encased his arms in metal as a person stepped in his way. Human, a woman. Huntress. His mind corrected. She looked at him and a hazy black-green mist flowed around her body.

"Please," Reggie began, already stepping away. "Just let me pass, I'm looking for someone. Blonde, glasses, a little gay looking." He laughed awkwardly at his own bad joke. "Seen anyone like that?"

"Faun… us…" The woman grumbled back, turning toward him and lazily dragging her weapon up into both hands.

Reggie felt his heart skip a beat in terror. He's seen that look before, that kind of look that reminded him of that day in Vacuo. Everything started that day with just a look. "You can tell with just a look? I would have thought that to be a little hidden, because of, y' know." He deflected his own concern with a nervous chuckle as he showed off his sawed-off horn. Hoping that it might diffuse the woman's unwarranted anger toward him.

"White… Fang…!"

"That, I am not." Reggie had a feeling that it wouldn't matter to the woman. His concern was confirmed to be warranted when the woman charged at him with a feral roar. He didn't want to risk hurting her since it was obvious that she was not in her right mind, but he had to defend himself as her weapon went to crush in his skull. She had a mace-like weapon. Not an ideal one for him to be up against. He was best against people with light and sharp weapons because then they couldn't penetrate his skin and bounce off his body. Heavy and blunt weapons like this one could deny his body, and force him to let his semblance down in order to let his skin and muscle go back into place. In this situation, he didn't bother to make the rest of his body metal. It would just slow him down.

If the huntress was fighting him in her right mind she would have defeated him quickly. But since none of her training was showing and she was practically just throwing her weapon around, he was able to dance around her and keep her from hitting him. Tiring her out was going to take too long, she was a huntress. And huntresses along with huntsmen were confirmed to be the most dangerous people on the planet. It would take way too long to actually tire her out and win that way, and he was sure that even with her wasting energy and movements he would be the first to give out anyway. So the only choice that remained was to try and knock her out.

That was easier said than done. The woman wouldn't be a huntress if she was knocked out by a single blow, even if it came from a metal fist that slammed into the side of her head. No, her neck whipped back but she held her ground and slammed the butt of her weapon into his chest, knocking him away and throwing her body into him. Reggie yelped as his back slammed against the grassy ground, and reached up to grab the woman's shoulders lest she banged her head against his and hurt herself. Up this close, she couldn't do anything to hurt him, but she was unbelievably strong. He was barely able to hold her back even with his metal arms. She kept screaming and clawing at his face and body, but he just kept holding her back yet was keeping her close enough so that she couldn't effectively use her weapon.

"P-please, calm down!" He pleaded with her desperately. "I'm not White Fang! I'm one of you, a huntsman!"

"M-monster!" The woman wailed as she strengthened her position on top of him. Reggie cursed loudly as the woman suddenly gained a lot more of her skill, and peeled his hand off of one of her arms.

Reggie's eyes widened with fear as she was quickly joined by another manipulated huntsman, and then another huntress, and then another as more were attracted to their struggle. Reggie didn't stand a chance against so many and morphed the rest of his body into metal as he held back not one, but three to four hunters as they tried to dogpile and murder him. Quickly enough as he struggled to keep them away, they got the idea that they weren't going to do anything like that and started beating away at him. Reggie was forced to cover his face and upper body to protect himself as he was kicked, punched and slammed, and slashed at by a variety of different attacks.

He saw his life flash before his eyes. Was this it? Was he not even going to get close to Michael? Was he never going to see him again? He felt like a scared child again, that same child that was held down and beaten until he ran out of aura, and was helpless as his only faunus feature in his Rhino horn was sawed off, making him feel excruciating pain and agony. A pain that he was never going to be able to forget. It was all coming back to him now. He felt like he was going to die.

Not without a fight, at the very least. He'd go out braver than before and swung back desperately as he tried to find a way back up to his feet. He needed not to expend himself like that, for two long chains with blades at the end of them flew forward and wrapped around two of the people attacking him. He watched with relieved eyes as he recognized the chains and for half of the people attacking him to be yanked away and thrown into one of the tents. Collapsing it and rendering them trapped for at least a few minutes. The other two didn't even seem to notice, and it gave him the opportunity to force himself out using more strength birthed from his desperate desire to stay alive. He headbutted the woman from before, making her see stars and fall backward with a bleeding bruise on her forehead, and punched the other one in the knee. Making them fall down to it as he pushed them both away and himself back up to his feet.

He saw Michael right as he rushed to help him back up to his face. Reggie swore, he wanted to tongue kiss him right there. But held himself back in favor of actually escaping. The huntsmen that attacked him were dazed but not defeated. Michael grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him into an area between tents, and they ran for what felt like twenty minutes until Michael used his weapons to cut through one of the tents. They both fell to their hands and knees, panting heavily and sweating lightly. It was more the experience that had them exhausted and not the physical strain.

"Mike," Reggie crawled over to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. "Are you okay?"

"I should be asking you that," Michael said with a shake of his head. "What are you doing down here, weren't you up in Amity with Ashley and Hector?"

"I was, but someone needed to come down and help you," Reggie said with a shrug. "Where's your father?" He asked before Michael could berate him.

Michael flinched and looked away. Reggie feared he had asked the wrong question, but paid close attention when Michael answered him. "He is making sure no one finds us," He said with a determined nod. "We have to get out of here. It's pure chaos out there."

"Oh, believe me, I know. But how are we going to get back to Beacon? Or even Vale for that matter?"

"I don't know," Michael admitted with a sour scowl. "One of the evac zones could help us, maybe if we find some Atlesian soldiers? We just have to hope and see. I can't really call them to come and help us."

"So… it's either we wait here until we get an opening, or go try and find one." Reggie laughed. "Figures. Well, I'm not very keen on waiting here until some of those assholes find us. But if we have to go somewhere, I'd say back to Beacon."

"Any particular reason why?" Michael asked.

"Hector said that Beacon falls today if we don't do anything about it." Reggie watched as Michael hissed a curse and shook his head. "I'm not exactly keen on letting a school for training huntsmen and huntresses fall like this, not today."

"Damn it… Figures he wouldn't tell us something like that until the last second," Michael hissed. "Fine, back to Beacon it is. If only so we can help find a way to end this and get back to the rest of our friends."

"Sounds like a plan," Reggie stood up and relaxed his semblance finally. "Let's wait here a few minutes so we can form some kind of plan and get our stamina back. I have a feeling we're going to need as much of it as we can possibly get."

Beacon was being swarmed by Grimm and members of the White Fang. A good amount of their huntsmen had also turned against them, fighting against their own whether by Aaron's semblance or by their services being bought. Either way. The leader of Vale's cell of the White Fang was pleased. This would send a message. The message that the faunus needed. The message that the White Fang was not to be a force to be reckoned with and dismissed as a simple band of misguided faunus.

Adam Taurus looked over Beacon and felt himself humming. Yes, this would do just fine.

"Get down there," He ordered his White Fang soldiers. His revolutionaries. "And show the world how the White Fang will no longer be ignored."

He himself jumped out of the Bullhead and landed on Beacon grounds. The building itself was pristine and massive, almost like a palace. And around it were its buildings. The dorm buildings should be relatively empty because of the festival and the tournament that was active just mere minutes ago. This meant that most of the students that could defend their school were still either trapped on Amity or stuck on festival grounds miles away from their precious Beacon. The only thing he and his White Fang had to worry about was the minuscule number of students, staff members of Beacon that stayed behind, and the Atlesian soldiers and mechs that Ironwood was bound to have left at the school.

It was the teachers he was most worried about. Most of them were at Amity, but he knew that the headmaster wouldn't be so foolish as to send every teacher there. There was bound to be some that he'd have to take care of personally. Since he was the strongest of the White Fang, and one of the rare ones that had an aura and actually knew how to use it. He was the living embodiment of not being required to go to a school to learn how to be dangerous or to get stronger. Everything he knew was self-taught, and it has carried him this far.

"Cause as much chaos as you can!" He announced to his White Fang as they swarmed the area. "Leave not a single brick standing, not a single tile unturned, and for the drops of human blood be shed in the name of the revolution!"

"Yes sir!" His White Fang screamed in unison. It was like music to his ears. Adam's smirk grew as he walked forward. His black coat whipping in the wind as he made his way toward the biggest buildings where most likely the most students would be. He'd have to deal with them himself so that his soldiers didn't have to. It would be wasteful to send the frankly weak members of the White Fang against training huntsmen and huntresses. With the amount of experience he has and his raw power, none of them would stand a chance.

Not even her. His mind added, making his brow scrunch up in anger under his mask. Blake. His love. Or rather his former love. The one that he trusted the most and the one who had abandoned him without so much of a word. She didn't believe that he could change. She thought that he was a monster. He'd imagine she'd think that he was doing this because of her as well because of how little and petty she thought him to be. Foolish girl. If she thought him a monster, then he was going to show her how much of a monster he could really be if he wanted to.

As the Bullheads loaded with Grimm dropped their load directly on top of Beacon grounds. Adam put a hand on the hilt of his sword. Two students were fighting a squadron of his White Fang, and they were winning. That was going to be a problem for morale. He sucked in a breath through his teeth and shot forward like a bullet. No wasted movements, efficient consumption of energy, and both of the students were down. Aura's cut through in a single unexpected powerful strike, and with their lifeless eyes staring up at the sky in disbelief.

He whipped his sword through the air to rid it of blood and kept moving forward. The squadron that he saved was at his back, offering him a semblance of fire support as he went forward to deal with more of the students.

None of them stood a chance against him. How could they be so weak!? These were the ones that were going to protect all of humanity and faunuskind? The ones who were going to be the next wall that held back the Grimm? It was pathetic. They couldn't even protect themselves from a single man.

Adam pushed forward and through enemy lines. Fighting what felt about a dozen students at least in quick succession. He didn't know the number exactly for he didn't count. But he cut through them like butter until he made his way to a cafeteria of sorts. He called for his White Fang to torch the place, and they did. Throwing in raw crystals of fire dust and shooting at them which created an explosion of fire which quickly stuck to the stone and wooden tables of the cafeteria. He took a moment to regard the work of his men, then spotted a human crawling away from him on his back. Eyes wide with terror and mouth fixed open in a pathetic sounding screech of a prey desperately trying to escape its predator.

Adam let out a cruel chuckle and quickly walked up to the human. Stomping his boot into their chest and looking down at them through the thin slits of his mask. "Some huntsmen in training you are," He said as he held Wilt in a reverse grip, pointing down at the boy's chest. "You're just a child crying out for their mother now. Die, like the rest of the scum of humanity."

"No!" A familiar voice screamed out as he stabbed the boy in the chest, ending his life quickly as he stabbed him in the heart. Adam felt his head shake and a smirk grow on his face once again as he turned to see wide yellow eyes filled with horror and fear. Good. Blake deserved to feel that and more.

"Blake," Adam said as he slid his sword out with a sickening squelching sound. "It's good to see you again, my love. It has been some time, hasn't it?" He asked, talking like he didn't have the blood of teenagers bled into his clothing and splattered on one of his cheeks.

"W-what…" Blake looked like she'd seen a ghost. Really, it was amusing. "This… this is exactly what I was afraid of! I kept warning you, I did!" Her hands trembled as she held Gambol Shroud. But moved toward him nonetheless. Albeit slowly. "Now look at you… the Adam I knew would have never stooped to such levels!"

"The world changed me, Blake," Adam said in a low growl. To Blake's ears, his voice was the most menacing she has heard in a long time. "The time for playing nice was over, the time for weakness had ended. And the time for being soft was lost when you abandoned me. Why, Blake? Why did you have to leave me like that?" Blake paled even further, unshed tears in her eyes. Her mouth opens and the sound of stuttering coming out. She couldn't say anything. Adam sighed, shaking his head. For a moment, he dared to start to get emotional. He couldn't afford to, he was way in too deep to start feeling any regrets now. "No, don't bother telling me. You couldn't handle the lengths that we had to go, what we had to do for the benefit of our people."

"How does the faunus benefit from this!?" Blake shouted. "This is senseless murder! It's stooping to the level of Grimm - No, lower! At least the Grimm have the excuse of being mindless."

"Don't you insult us!" Adam snarled suddenly, making Blake wince and jump back away from him in fear. "Don't you dare insult our memories, our comrades, the ones who were lost, and the ones we recruited and are fighting with us now. To do so would be to spit in my face even more than you are already doing now." Teeth bared, Adam slowly slid Wilt back into Blush, his hair and clothing shining red for a moment as he did so. Blake had to take a deep breath and prepare herself. She knew that stance, it was the stance that Adam took when he was planning to fight a duel. Especially one that could end up with the other dead some way or another.

"You not only betrayed me, but you also betrayed the faunus." Adam continued. "As such, there is only one sentence suitable for you."

"I'm sorry, Adam," Blake said, desperate tears trickling down her face. "I failed you. I really did. I was a coward. But… out of respect for the better memories that I am holding on to, I have to stop you."

Adam narrowed his eyes through his mask. The grip on his sword hilt tightening. "You will try."

Adam attacked first, just as Blake expected he would. If she hadn't used her semblance she would have been cut in half right at the beginning. Instead, a shadow clone left behind took the attack as she dodged to the side. Raising a fist up to slam down on the back of Adam's skull. Her ex wasn't having any of it. Twisting his body and slamming his shoulder into her chest. Blake cried out as her body slammed into the tables behind her, destroying them even more than they were and crying out yet again when the fires burned at her aura and clothes. She rolled off of them and used her semblance to escape from the fire and from Adam as he stabbed the ground where her body used to be.

It was less of a fight and more Blake running for her life while desperately trying to get a hit back in at her nightmare. Adam was ruthless as he ever was, treating her as an enemy. Something she sorely mistaken. Adam wasn't going to hold back just because the two of them used to be together. He truly saw her as an enemy. A betrayer. Just another person who hurt him. Part of that made her heart clench, but it was more of the fear for her own life rather than pain from his anger directed solely at her for the moment.

Unlike others where they would get angry and lose control and forget some of their training, Adam seemed to be able to use it to strengthen his determination even further. She was hardly able to defend herself, crying out each time as Adam's red blade cut away at her aura and stabbed into her. She knew how strong he was after training with him many times over the years, but clearly he was always holding back. This was insane!

Blake had to spam her semblance in order to actually avoid Adam's attacks. But spamming it was just bound to get her tired even faster, and Adam was better than her in every way. She wasn't going to win. That notion became all the more clear as Gambol Shroud was cleaved out of her hands. Both parts of it broke away into pieces as it skittered away from her.

"Ah!" She yelped as Adam punched her across the face, unable to use her semblance in time to take the hit for her, she fell to the ground. Holding her face and planting her back into the floor beneath her as Adam's red sword tickled the underside of her chin. Making her feel a very uncomfortable chill that went up and down her spine as she stared up at her would-be murderer with frightened eyes.

"Oh, Blake." Adam barely broke a sweat throughout their brief battle. He just looked down at her and sighed. He seemed more disappointed than conflicted about having her at his mercy. "How can you have become so weak? You know what, I am sorry too. Perhaps if I was a better man, you wouldn't have run away and become so weak."

Blake cried out as a stab of pain originated from her hip. Looking down and breathing heavily as she saw the red blade of Wilt stabbed into her body. Her black-violet aura glowed all around the wound, desperately trying to heal something that couldn't even begin healing yet.

A loud gasp had both Adam and Blake turned their heads to see where it came from. Blake's eyes only widened further and her fear increased twice as she saw who it was. Her partner, Yang, hyperventilating and eyes wide with anger as she saw Adam yank his sword out of her hip. Blake couldn't hold down the cry of pain that came immediately after, which further increased Yang's anger as she saw her partner clutch onto her side and roll into a fetal position as the man stood above her, a sick grin on his face as he put two and two together and figured that the blonde was Blake's friend.

"I see," Adam said as he sheathed his sword, keeping his hand on it as his clothes and hair began to glow red. "I know just the way to punish you without killing you…" He whispered just quiet enough so that Yang wouldn't hear.

Blake knew what he meant. "Yang! Stop!" She cried out, but it wouldn't matter. Yang was just too angry to listen to anyone.

"Get away from her!" Yang exclaimed as her hair caught flame and her eyes turned red. As reckless as her temper tantrums were, she sprinted and jumped into the air with a highly telegraphed punch cocking back over her shoulder. Adam saw the opening and his grin turned into a smile.

Blake saw the opening too. Adam wasn't going to just hurt Yang, he was going to maim her. She desperately tried to call out to Yang again, but it was too late. Instead, all she could do was watch as Adam activated his semblance and counter-attacked.

Somehow someway, Adam's attack was knocked off its target. He was originally aiming for Yang's arm in order to cut it off, but instead, he found himself fighting to keep his footing as a girl tackled into his side, pushing him away. Instead, his slash-cut Yang across the face. Slashing through aura and flesh but not deep enough for it to be fatal. Yang screamed in pain as she fell to the ground, clutching her face as she pushed herself up to one knee. Blake was relieved to see that she wasn't instantly killed. But when Yang took her hand away from her face to reveal a nasty deep mark of a wound going up from her right cheek to over her left eye, sealing it shut with a steady flow of blood, her heart dropped. She was still alive, but there was a good chance that one of her eyes was destroyed.

Adam regained his footing and elbowed the second girl who had just potentially saved Yang her arm and kicked her away once she staggered away. Her ashen hair was unmistakable. It was Ashley, her dual swords were just now being drawn and she stood before Yang and Blake, staring at Adam in a mixture of fear and determination.

"Ah, there you are," It took a moment, but Adam did recognize her. "Ashley Cain, Sienna Khan's rumored adoptive daughter." He spat to the side and sheathed his sword, taking a stance. "Sienna told me to bring you back alive if it weren't for that, I would kill you for betraying the White Fang."

"I was never part of the White Fang!" Ashley shouted back. "I was forced into it. You already knew that, Adam. Don't act like I wasn't constantly being pressured into it!"

"Wait- Agh!" Yang said as she stood up and put her hands up, keeping her one good eye open but at the same time, it was scrunched down in pain. "You know this guy?"

"Adam Taurus, I'm surprised Blake never talked about him." She said. Adam scowled at him as Blake went limp, losing consciousness from the stress and her injuries. "He's Sienna's right-hand man, and someone I vaguely knew of."

"Damn," Yang walked to her side and resumed her stance. "The White Fang really knows how to pick 'em, eh? That semblance is a wild one."

"If you think he's strong just from that just wait, he's been holding back," Ashley warned her. Her blue eyes narrowing as she looks at the man she has seen a few times over the years of living with Sienna. He used to be someone she admired because of his skill and determination, but she quickly became unsettled by him. He always argued with Sienna, questioned her notions, and every plan. There were rumors of him planning to overthrow her and it scared Sienna enough to send him away to Vale to turn that cell just to get rid of him. "He's stronger than the leader of the White Fang," She freely admitted. She knew it. She's seen him fight her before. It was just a sparring session but the difference in skill was clear. He was stronger and better than Sienna. "We're going to have our hands full fighting him."

"I'm flattered that you seem to know so much about me," Adam said. Hearing every word. "And it amuses me that Sienna happens to fear me. She hides it well under all those layers of pride. If you didn't forsake your mission for the sake of humans, I'd be more inclined in taking you under my wing."

"I'd never lower myself to start calling you mentor," Ashley snapped back, glancing at Blake for a moment. "Not after you've hurt my friends, and attacked my new home."

"The first lesson," Adam said in a low snarl. "Never say no to me…"

"Wow," Yang shook her head and sighed, the pain from her eye slowly fading as the adrenaline started to rush through her body. "Now I want to punch him even harder. So, what do you say? Teamwork?"

Ashley looked at her and they met eyes. After sharing a nod, Yang smirked. It wasn't going to be an easy fight, but as long as they worked together to bring down this monster of a man, they might just have a chance to hold out until reinforcements arrived. They weren't the only ones in the area, there were plenty of other students not to mention members of their own teams.

"We can't win," Ashley whispered to her. "But we can stall him."

"Sounds like a plan," Yang smirked as she clenched her fists. "I have to make him pay for hurting my pretty face. So forgive me if I knock him out in the first few hits."

"If you can do that, I'd be very impressed."

"Enough planning," Adam stepped forward in a low stance. "Let's see just how far you've come…"

Red darted forward and Ashley met him in the middle, metal sparked against each other until Yang came to break them up. Starting their desperate battle.

Hector, Robert, and Ruby were now hovering aboard the flagship and ready to jump down.

"You are gonna need me to come and pick you up?" Ryan asked them.

"Most likely no, but if we need extraction we'll call you, for now, remain safe," Robert said to him.

"Understood." Ryan nodded and steadied the ship, they stopped for about ten meters until the three of them landed on the ship and watched Ryan go off.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Ruby asked, concerned with the amount of flying Grimm around.

"He should be, let's just hope everything goes okay, now we need to go in this ship and see what we can find." Robert started to lead them towards the main bridge, that was until they got attacked suddenly, Hector rolled out of the way of some flying axes that impacted with lightning and Rober and Ruby dashed backward to avoid a bladed chain whip that seemed to have some sort of brush at the end of it.

"Of course they would be out here!" Hector got into a stance. Robert and Ruby did the same as they watched their opponents, they looked like huntsmen, and most likely they were betrayers as well.

"I expected more soldiers, not kids." One of them said.

"Makes no difference to me." Their partner said as he twirled his bladed whip.

"It really should you know, you wouldn't be just killing us." Robert said to them as he ignited Raios.

"Duh, you think we don't know that?"

"You've really fallen low haven't you?" Hector shouted at them.

"Now now, you three should just let us do our work, there's nothing you can do here to stop this." The man with axes said.

"That's where you are wrong. We will stop you!" Ruby pointed her scythe at them.

"If you insist." The man with the axes sighed as he made his axes spark with lightning.

"Huh, he seems to be like you…" Hector pointed out to Robert.

"...If that's the case I'll take him, see what he can really do." Robert got ready to dash forward.

"I can overpower whip guy then." Hector got ready as well.

"I… I can distract them, I can go between them," Ruby suggested.

"Okay, let's do this then!" Hector growled and the fight commenced. Hector rushed against the guy with the bladed whip, blocking each of the strikes as he ducked and weaved closer, he went in to land several blows but had back away and block as the betrayer spun and twirled the whip faster, making a bubble around him with just the sharp singing of the bladed whip.

Hector used earth dust and punched down, making a shockwave of red flames and sudden debris, it unbalanced the man with a bladed whip, Hector took the chance to go in with a flying hook but the betrayer instead blocked, with the whip, he grasped the whip with both hands let Hector punch the middle section, he quickly deflected the punch and tried to wrap the blade around Hector. Hector was good at wrestling control however, the blade wrapped around his gauntlets and he managed to move before the man could wrap more of the bladed whip around him, he managed to pull and grab the whip. He used all his strength to pull the betrayer with his own whip, did a quick spin with, making the blade lose around his gauntlet and sent him flying and rolling on the ground, Hector soon followed him.

Robert for his part quickly evaded one flying ax that came his way, dashing to the right to avoid an explosion of lightning, and then another fling ae that did the same, he dashed in firing lightning bolts of his own, the betrayer evaded one and blocked the rest with his forearms as some sort of lightning armor formed around him, Robert was surprised for a second, he could tell his lightning was affecting his opponent but that nonetheless, he rushed for him at full speed. The axes suddenly flew towards their owner as they got surrounded by lightning and Robert intercepted the attack that came for him. They exchanged blows and parries as they fought, Robert with precise slashes, kicks and dashes, and the betrayer with a wild and powerful swing of his axes, dragging his dual axes through the floor, making orange sparks and making lightning explosions on some impacts.

Both were wild, and both had enough strength and speed to match the other, the betrayer had armor around him made of lightning that seemed to negate most of the damage that Robert attempted to dish out. It only meant he would have to wear him down. Robert and the betrayer clashed weapons, both of them going left and right, Robert ducked and deflected the axes and landed counter strikes that didn't do much as they were blocked with the armor, but he kept pushing as he could be unrelenting as well, the betrayer tried to spin around to catch the ever-moving Robert, but helmet himself open for multiple slashes.

Robert blocked an attack from the right and countered with three slashes, and quickly ducked as two attacks followed, he slashed the betrayer's chin and kicked his knee, the stunned him, Robert slashed again and threw a lightning grenade behind the man, blocking three aggressive strikes a pushing towards the grenade with two swings of his blades, a knee to the gut, two roundhouse kicks and spinning hook kick. It took that to make the man stop attacking. The grenade exploded and the betrayer got pushed back towards Robert who flexibly raised his entire leg and kicked him in the chin, sending him upwards.

The betrayer threw an ax as he flew upwards to try and get Robert, Robert evaded and jumped upwards, dashing in the air to avoid a lightning blast from the ax, Robert was going to dash into him as he was mostly defenseless, the betrayer smirked, the ax he had thrown was coming back to him and ready to strike Robert in the back… However ever since Robert saw the axes come back to him he realized he had to keep track of them, and so he saw it coming, he spun around in the air with a sudden blast of lightning from his gauntlet, using his semblance as an improvised rocket thruster and avoided the ax with this sudden acrobatic maneuver, the betrayer was left exposed as Robert kicked him on the back of the head with a twist kick and sent him to the ground, only to land on him with a small lightning blast.

Robert stepped off the betrayer, he was unmoving, but quickly got up with a surprise attack, hooking an ax around Rbbert's feet to drag him in for another strike from the side, Robert recoiled as the ax impacted hi aura, he moved quickly to block and overhead strike from both axes, he blocked with his shields but then realized one of the axes went for his stomach, punching him with the top of it and blasting him with a shotgun blast… of course, it was a gun. Robert got stunned and pulled off his feet by both axes, he quickly rolled to avoid benign smashed down by both axes but quickly had to make a barrier as the betrayer shot him with both axes and then sent a thunderbolt trough one of them, Robert skidded backward as his barrier held until his opponent let up.

"You're a good kid, you really are… but I should show why I'm the huntsman." The betrayer said as he coated himself in blue lightning and rushed forward, both of them exchanged strikes and blows, only this time Robert had to fight back and an angrier opponent with ranged weapons that he used in conjunction with his axes, safe to say Robert was put on the defensive, and he was being pushed back.

Hector moved back and forth to avoid the huge amount attacks that his opponent was doing with the chain whip, he had to roll, duck and block while running around to try and get close and to avoid benign swarmed by it, he fired blasts of fire that helped push his opponent back, but did little to stop the waves of attacks, finally, Hector thinking they were wasting too much time decided to rush in with Kaioken times five, he rushed at incredible speeds and punched through the barrier created by the bladed whip, managing to get close and firing punches left and right, the rogue huntsman evaded and parried the attacks same as before, only Hector wasn't letting him grab him again, however that forced him to keep the distance and then it was back to the beginning again.

It was annoying if he really wanted to defeat this guy he would have to most likely power trough in some way, he focused and dive rolled straight through and attack and struck again, this time going for quick jabs instead of powerful punches, it worked to disorient his enemies defenses, but the betrayer only jumped back and made some distance, and he did so by swinging his whip and hitting Hector on the side of the cheek while retreating. Hector was getting more annoyed but knew that going in crazy was what his opponent wanted… Hector thought for a second as he blocked the attacks from the whip and was suddenly tripped by a movement of the same whip, he was almost smacked down further if not for the fact he rolled and gunned it to try and damage his opponent, he thought of an idea too.

He saw the next attack coming and he batted aside with his own attack, a follow up from the chain but he attacked it as well, not to protect himself, but to break the momentum off of the chain itself, the betrayer had to recover his chain as he lost control of it, just what Hector needed to dash in and land a solid hook to the guy's jaw, and several more punches to the chest, the betrayer was pushed back and he defended himself with the chain, but Hector thought of an answer, instead of punching forward going with max force, he used his palms, he practiced palm attacks recently and managed to surge energy through them.

By attacking with his palms he was able to control the chain better and surge potent strikes still damaged his opponent, he took the chance and kept hitting him, quick punches to the head, he tried to run he followed with what seemed to be punch but quickly turned to an under knee kick, that was followed by a palm to the chin and another to the ground. The palms sent dark red fiery energy that blasted the rogue to his knees ready for a cleaver punch to the side of the head. The betrayer tried to get up with a barrage of attacks, but Hector spun around to grab the chain as it went around him, and palmed struck the guy with a powerful fire palm and then pulled him back for a knee to the gut, and punched him down again, Hector was about to land an uppercut but was surprised as his opponent used the brush at the end of his whip.

The betrayer used it to draw a line of ink that became a black blade that almost sliced at Hector's face, hector jumped back, the betrayer had different semblance all together, he could make lethal strokes of ink, he saw as he poured quickie more ink into the brush, he rushed to stop him but it was too late, the betrayer made some quick brushstrokes that made more blades made of ink that Hector tried to avoid, they exchanged more attacks until Hector tried to get close to land another palm, he blocked by a line of ink that seemed resilient enough to block his attack and got batted away by the whip, Hecto then put everything on his offense, batting the whip aside again and avoiding the ink attacks, getting close and landing a sliding kick at the guy's leg and tripping him, they were on the ground and managed to wrestle for a bit, Hector hammering the rogue down until he got his feet swept and the betrayer managed to get up again.

The struggled against the other as Hector got tangled in the bladed whip, but still, he fought and forced the betrayer back as he uses the palm of his hand to push him back, followed by push kick and a flying elbow to the back of the head, however, his attacks only tangled him up more and the rogue managed to flip him and hold Hector down, Hector wasn't in a submission hold yet, far from it, but the bladed whip was grinding against his aura and causing damage, Hector used his elbow to hit the guy, but he wasn't letting go of him, he seemed determined to eviscerate him this way, hector just needed to get part of his arm free to get out of this, he just needed to hit him right… Luckily Ruby took care of that part.

Ruby had been frozen in place trying to follow the fights, they were really fast but more than that she thought she would be able to fight these huntsmen, when she froze she realized she was still… afraid, in sorrow, how could she fight people she thought were heroes? The answer came when she saw both Hector and Robert take some hits, she was in shock, but she was more worried for her friends, once Hector go trapped she came out of her doubts and shot at the betrayer huntsman in the head, damaging his aura and giving Hector the chance to escape. Hector did so by elbowing him and untangling himself, Ruby dashed in and entertained the huntsman with some quick attacks, they were a distraction just so that Hector could get up and strike from the side.

It worked as Ruby blocked some of the chain attacks and quickly banished from sight with her speed, blinding the huntsman with her petals and giving Hector the chance to land a hit that sent him across the hull of the Atlas Flagship. Ruby turned towards Robert and the other betrayer. Robert was back peddling but he was still up and fighting, truth was that the rogue huntsman he was fighting had hoped to kill him already, or at least and a strong enough hit, but Robert was never the kind to go down easy, he had been hit, but he recovered quickly and blocked, dodged and parried most of the attacks, even the shotgun blasts.

The betrayer was surprised when Robert jumped back after parrying one of his attacks, firing a lightning missile and pushing him back, then both of them dashed towards the other and Robert deftly deflected one of the axes, sliced back and plant a small grenade on him, it exploded and made him stumble but he still went in and attacked Robert again, firing a blast of a shotgun that was blocked by shields and swinging his axes, which were parried, deflected or avoided, he was still pushing however, he just had to keep it going, Robert jumped to the side again with another rocket thrust to the side and slice at his legs, kicked him in the stomach and bated him away with a stream of lightning, he was stunned for a second but he fired back his own stream of lightning from his ax.

They were trying to overpower the other's beams of lightning and Robert had far more power than he did. But he was rushing forward against the beam using his own as a shield, he just needed to overpower him so way, and he would be able to get in… he was knocked down when a scythe swiped his legs and red punch knocked him in the head, he barely enough time to see as he was hit by a thunderbolt, rushed in and… kicked in the crotch by Robert, he also kicked stomped his ankle to force him to a knee and grab him, here he used his semblance electrify him, he was overloading his own lightning armor, he was unable to move and soon Robert made the lightning armor explode making his scream as he felt his entire body convulse and spasm into a lightning explosion, every part of was shooting lightning that wasn't his own, once the explosion subsided Robert blasted him away with a lightning palm, two thunderbolts, and a lightning missile, it all pushed him rolling and smoking next to the other betrayer.

"You okay?" Hector asked his friend.

"He didn't get a good hit in, how about you two?"

"Much the same, we are fine,"

"Ruby?" Robert asked.

"I-I can do this." She said, with far more strength than before.

"Okay, we have to finish this quickly," Robert said as he got ready again, their opponents got up and stared at each other, they were losing to kids, they had underestimated them severely, they were angry and went in nack into the fight, the man with the whip making streaks of ink that fired at the three of them and the other remade his lightning armor and threw an explosive lightning ax at them. Ruby. Robert and Hector dodged the attacks in different directions, Hector battled the guy with the whip again while Robert dashed into the air and blasted the other betrayer with a barrage of lightning before he could get close. Ruby meanwhile shot at them from behind while rushing in for some attacks with her scythe, particularly going low and swinging at their ankles.

"The fight took a much different turn now, Robert and Hector had adapted to their opponents and were doing far better, and with Ruby helping them the betrayers didn't have a chance to adapt themselves. Hector ducked and weaved firing projectiles of fire and lightning from Ebony and Ivory, he avoided a blade of ink made from the brush and quickly ducked under a barrage from the whip, he forces a palm into the ground creating a shockwave, making the chain spiral out of control, Ruby attacked the betrayer with a whirl of Crescent Rose, catching him off guard and giving Hector the chance to ducked a brush swipe of ink with an uppercut, sending the man to the air and then punching him with a superman punch, sending him down to Ruby again, who sliced him and tossed him to the side before dashing to help Robert.

Robert had figured out most of the patterns from his opponent, he was wild and aggressive, but at his core, he was a one-trick pony, there was more than one way of being aggressive, and Robert showed him. Every swing of an ax was being met, Robert's blades sliding on the attack and counter-attacking, him rushing to the side and attacking from a distance with bolts and missiles. The betrayer was no longer in control of the momentum of the fight if he rushed in Robert would move away and use his ranged abilities or dash in with a precise strike that made him lose his momentum.

Robert deflected the axes and landed three quick flashes followed by a quick punch to his solar plexus, he would stumble and try again only to be surprised by Robert making a shockwave around himself with lightning and striking back at him with a thunderbolt, he would rush him trying to strike him but he wasn't able to make him backpedal anymore, not even attack as Robert sometimes send bolts that turned into shocker balls, those things blasted him from behind into more attacks, Robert also planted grenades where he would go, bait him in and push him away with shockwaves and even grapple with him and throw him to the ground multiple times, even with all his strength the betrayer had a very short range, even the shotguns on his axes didn' reach that far, and Robert capitalized that by staying out his range.

He was durable but Robert was wearing him down pretty handily, he rushed in with two shotgun blasts and suddenly he was met by young red girl fling at him with a kick to his face, it knocked him away and gave the Robert the chance to go low and punch him in the crotch, again, he was further pushed away with a barrage of kicks and blade strikes that ended in a lightning palm that exploded on impact. The betrayer growled this wasn't good, he saw his buddy in trouble as well and threw an ax at Hector, but Robert intervened by catching the ax mid-flight and throwing it back, the betrayer caught as if it was second nature, but got knocked down by an explosion as a lightning grenade had been hidden in his own ax.

Robert turned around and shot lightning at the whip, making it stay in place and shocking the rogue, Hector went ii with eight punches and knocking the man away, Robert saw as the other betrayer jumped at him with a warcry only for him to be intercepted by Ruby, who hooked her scythe around his waist and with a couple of slices threw the betrayer to Hector, who tossed him back into the air with a bit of combustion dust, his punch made an explosion that knocked the man around back to Ruby, who ran around at enough speed to create a small tornado of roses, flinging him up to charge him with Crescent Rose in snipe form, she fired a point-blank gravity bullet that she used to fling the betrayer back down with a loud thud.

Robert used wind and water dust with his semblance to create a spray of steam and lightning, the betrayer with the whip felt his weapon and his entire body be coated and electrified, he was being pushed back as well, making him stumble back he then got pushed with a thunderbolt right into Hector who punched him into his friend, both of them bouncing off each other.

"Ruby! Let's make a tornado!" Robert called at her.

"Right!"

"Hector get ready!" Robert also told Hector.

"Oh yeah I get it, let's do this!" Hector began to charge up his kaioken, meanwhile, Robert Ruby ran and blitzed around the two betrayers, striking them and hitting them when they could, suddenly they felt themselves float up in this small cyclone of rose petals and lightning, suddenly the cyclone stopped and saw as Ruby kept running… no, more like benign speed itself letting out a small cyclone around Robert, who was pointing at them with something, Robert in an instant fired his rail gun bolt, blasting into them with its force and also Ruby's cyclone of roses, they combined and hit them like a drill, ravaging their aura and pushing right into Hector.

Hector roared as he sailed forward with enough force to push them against the tornado drill, they eventually exploded as the two forces made them separate, the man with the whip losing his aura and ending near the edge and the betrayer with axes having very little left and flying next to Robert.

The betrayer with the bladed whip got up with shaking legs, as he was rushed by Hector and Ruby, they both struck at the same time, pushing him further back with enough force for him to lose his whip, then Ruby hit him swiped his legs with the other end of Crescent Rose, Hector went in with a fire punch that knocked him off the edge and flying to an avian Grimm.

"Aaahh!" The Grimm didn't care as it simply batted the betrayer aside and plummeted to the ground.

Robert as now on the offensive and with a flurry of punches, a couple of kicks and two slices he made the other betrayer stumble, he stumbled trying to recover but even if he attempted something Robert used his arsenal of abilities and techniques to make his ineffective, Robert used dust again, he was running out, but better use it than save it in this scenario, he used earth dust to create rock held together by lightning that impacted the betrayer right in the chest, he rushed forward and this time kneed him on the crotch, making him double down.

"You mother fucker could you stop-" The betrayer gasped for air as he was grasped by two hands coated in lightning, the same as before happened as his lightning armor was overloaded, he made a move to headbutt Robert off of him while blocking his hands with his axes, but Robert answered in kind headbutting him, both of them were staring at each other trying to push the other back, Robert did a lightning-quick punch to his gut and then headbutted him again, knocking him away and then rushing him with his blades.

"Ack!" He managed to get through his aura and stabbed his other shoulder, but the betrayer still pushed back, swinging wildly as he tried to kill Robert, Robert jumped back and watched as Hector appeared rushing in and punching him the jaw, making a couple of teeth fly out and then Ruby knocked him away further with a swing of Crescent Rose. The betrayer was now in trouble, he dodged a sudden attack from Robert, a ball of lightning followed by a thunderbolt that knocked him of the edge and singed part of his chest, he was barely awake when he saw the shocker ball above him suddenly charge up and fire a lightning strike at him, it knocked him down towards the abyss.

"Huff… we, we…" Ruby needed time to recover.

"Yeah, we did," Hector noted as well, the betrayers they just fought were now most likely dead.

"I… I don't think I can do this, I…" Ruby almost cried if it wasn't for her tears being dry already.

"Ruby, Ruby listen to me." Robert shook her shoulders. "Listen, I know this is hard, trust me I know, but we can't stop now, there are people still inside that need our help, yes these people were huntsmen and huntresses, but they decided to do this, we cannot let them continue."

"Yeah but… but, do we have to kill them?" Ruby asked while sobbing, she didn't know if she would be able to do something like that. "What if… what if they are being controlled or they have no choice, it's not right."

"I know, but they also won't let themselves be captured, I'm not asking you to kill them, Ruby… but they won't give you the chance to apprehend them, they'll kill you first chance they get, don't hold back on them, don't give them the chance to kill you. If you do what you just did and distract them for us to take them down more easily it should be fine… I'm sorry, none of this should have happened, but we are here now, and out of time." Robert really hoped things could be more simple, but they weren't and Ruby wasn't like him or Hector, she was a better person, and that was why this was so difficult.

"Okay… okay, I can do this… if more people are there, then we need to help them." Ruby shifted her attention to what really mattered.

"Right." Robert agreed with her.

"Guys! Trough here!" Hector found an entrance to the ship all of them ran in and started to look around, they needed to find the survivors if there were any and also find the main bridge, they followed some signals, but the inside of the ship was almost a labyrinth of halls and machinery, they used one of the engineering entrance-ways so the had to quickly traverse some small space to get to an actual hallway were people were supposed to walk.

They continued to run and found a hangar bay where a battle was taking place, three betrayers and some Grimm were attacking several soldiers, they had some atlesian knights and a paladin, but those were also being overwhelmed by the Beowolves and the paladin was being dismantled by the betrayers.

"They… they are slaughtering them." Ruby got ready to go in.

"They won't last long." Hector realized as well.

"We still need to make sure the bridge is safe, we gotta make sure they don't get control of the knights and paladins." Robert pointed out, for a moment Ruby and Hector thought Robert was either suggesting for them to split up or even worse, abandon the soldiers. "Which is why we need to end this fight quickly," Robert said as he pointed above them, towards scaffolding and rails that were on the roof, they were going to drop down and take them by surprise. Ruby and Hector nodded and all of them climbed and jumped up, they positioned themselves on top of the betrayers as they brought down the paladin and were about to kill the pilot.

Hector dropped first as the leader of the boarding party was about to kill the paladin pilot, he slammed her into the ground with a punch to the back of the head and landed several more punches before tossing him up towards Ruby with a punch that erupted in a fiery explosion. She fired six bullets on her way down and did three swings before crossing her up and sending her further with another strike of Crescent Rose, Robert came in last, having prepared seeker missiles, five to be exact and send al on the betrayer, she exploded in a cloud of smoke and lightning, Robert used lightning dust to create a whip from his gauntlet and smashed the betrayer on the roof net to him, he dashed up towards her and then dive-bombed with her to the ground, making a lightning explosion on impact.

She had been leading the charge against the Atlesian soldiers so far in this little boarding, even fought and killed several captains, but she didn't expect someone to sneak up on them, she tried to get up but it was futile, Robert, Hector, and Ruby were determined to triple team her brutally until she was taken out, she tried to fight back with her handgun sickles but she couldn't defend against the three, she tried to attack Robert and he countered and parried, leaving her open for Hector to charge her with Kaioken times four, her bones trembled as she was punched and kicked, Robert wasn't sitting idle either, he paralyzed her further with lightning and kicked her at her joints, kicking and making her knees buckle, slashing her with his blades and hitting her with quick kicks to the face.

Together Hector and Robert brought her down, grabbing and twisting her wrists to make her drop her weapons, tripping her feet and slamming her head to the ground, then bring her up to knee her teeth, push her away and slam her down to throw her to Ruby who fired at her fire bullets and rushed her to kick her back to Hector, Hector uppercut her and threw her to Robert who used ice dust to create a barrage of ice spikes held together by lightning, she was hit by the entire barrage as she flew towards him and was received with a lightning palm, and turned around to face Ruby, who shot at her as Robert held her hands at her back, Ruby went in and swung her weapon across her face making her aura flash, Robert threw her up, grabbed her by the feet and slammed her down for Hector kick her like ball towards several crates.

She was definitely weak now, the sneak attack had been too effective, she hadn't even gotten the chance to react, and worse for the betrayers, it rallied the Atlas soldiers, Ruby went to quickly dispatch the Grimm before the could do more damage, Robert took on another betrayer, the soldier focused on another and that left Hector to deal with the one they had been beating up.

The betrayer tried to fight back, but she had been ruined, even if she tried to fight unarmed Hector was better in that department by a huge landslide, her injuries made her unable to property fight back, Hector decked her twice before kicking her with a roundhouse kick and sending her further away. Robert entertained another betrayer, firing lightning towards him, it didn't hit him but it distracted him from the Atlas forces, who fired at his back, Ruby also swept in, swinging at his ankles and making him stumble into Robert's arc wave of lightning, he was pushed back and Robert fired a missile of lightning at another rogue huntress, she had a bow and was firing at the soldiers, Robert managed to hit her and push her to a corner, he was fired back at with several arrows, he evaded and struck them out of the air, even caught one and threw to the ground before firing back a thunderbolt.

The rogue evaded and fired at the floor close to Robert, letting out an explosion of purple mist, Robert quickly dove away from the explosion, but was surprised by the other betrayer that went in at hi with a Katar punch dagger, he blocked the attack but was pushed hard, making a dent in it and losing some air. He quickly evaded the follow-up attack and evaded the rest.

Hector pushed the betrayer he was fighting close to a window, punching her again and making fall on both knees.

"Surrender!" Hector threatened her, she was having a hard time breathing and her aura was broken now, but she still got up.

"N-never… Hyaaa!" She screamed as she pulled something out her pockets, a couple of explosives, she was desperate to at least try and take Hector with her, Hector noticed and rushed her, punching her in the stomach and making her crash through the window, she few out several meters before the explosives detonated, in a rather large explosion. Hector didn't have time to wonder if he could have done something else. He had to help his friends.

Ruby decapitated the last Beowolf and ducked behind crates, she was being fired at by the archer lady, this was difficult, even with the Grimm gone and the soldier helping these betrayers still fought to the last, no matter how outnumbered they were, she moved like a bundle of roses to avoid two more arrows and fired back, she took cover though.

She had hunkered down on the corner pretty well, even if she was benign shot by the soldiers and her, Ruby peeked out of her new cover and she spotted something, she was using the dust canisters around her to power her arrows, and she had them hidden, Ruby looked at the downed paladin and thought of a plan, she waited for her to fire an arrow again and she ran for it, she fired bullets at her but made sure to keep one last for her plan, she jumped over an arrow that fired at her, jumped on the paladin and aimed from the air at the dust canisters with a clear view, her bullet, one of the last she had made chain reaction that made the betrayer's reserves explode and she came out of her bunker, being flung b the explosion.

Robert dashed left and right to avoid the betrayer with the katar, he countered attack when he could and fired lightning bolts at him as well, he managed to keep out of his range and rush in and out for quick strikes, the betrayer looked pissed at Robert, he went in with a hard punch but Robert avoided ducking and spinning his body around to kick him on the face while crouched, a Meia Lua kick. It pushed him right into the firing squad of the remaining soldiers who pushed his aura further down, he tried to take cover and rush Robert again, Robert rolled back to avoid an attack and spotted something in a nearby crate. The betrayer jumped for him and Robert tossed at him a fire dust crystal from the crate, it attached to him as lightning sprouted out of it and it exploded like a grenade, he didn't even fall down before Hector jumped up to him, jumping seven times while in the air and punching him back down, Robert used lightning dust to create two whips from both his gauntlets, he grabbed the betrayer's legs and flung him to the ground, then he did the same to the other side toward Hector, who punched the betrayer with towards the wall, Robert flung him against the ground and finally back to Hecto again.

Hector barreled into the betrayer's back with all his strength, landing a hit of Kaioken times five to his spine with a devastating bast, he heard the spine crunch and snap as he hit, him, as the betrayer fell down Robert let go of his lightning whips and let him fall, he was unmoving, trying to move, but unable, they had broken his spine, he wasn't moving, maybe he won't walk ever again. He didn't care for the proper distinction.

"He's done for," Robert said the betrayer couldn't even speak.

"Yeah… huff." Hector took a breath of air, there was just one more left.

"Aargh" The archer creamed as he was shot in the leg, the lieutenant of the Atlas forces had finished her and broken the last of her aura. She was without her bow and out of options.

"Submit!" He warned her as he pointed his saber at her, she was unable to fight, but she still was going to, she tried to attack him but failed miserably as he sidestepped and knocked her on the back of the head with the pommel of his sword, the rest of the soldiers fired several, several taser shots at her, she confused until she dropped unconscious to the ground, the fight for the hangar was over.

"Hah… bloody hell thank you." The lieutenant thanked the trio that dropped in to save them.

"Is everyone alright? Are there any more people around, are there more captains or anyone?" Hector asked them.

"I'm… I'm the last officer alive, Lieutenant Holmes. There might be some people left hiding in the side rooms, some technicians, and some others." He informed them.

"We need to get to the bridge quickly!" Robert quickly brought the attention of everyone. "We have to make sure there's no one left that can use this ship to take control of the knight and paladins," Robert said.

"If that happens the knights will fall and destroy even more than the Grimm are already doing, we can't lose them right now!" Ruby emphasized.

"Ironwood told us to rescue you and make sure that if this ship falls to redirect control to the others, we need to recover this ship quickly and if need be, evacuate," Robert informed them, they probably already knew that already, maybe some of them could have been miffed at being given instructions by children or in general people younger than them, but considering how they rescued them they didn't care one bit, Lieutenant Holmes nodded and ordered his men around.

"We'll guide you to the bridge, we'll take the most direct route and check for more intruders, everyone squads of twelve, me Alpha and Currimar will accompany them through the halls, the rest clear the ship, if there's more rogues signal before engaging, knights, fast search!"

"Yes sir!" the soldiers nodded.

"Affirmative." The knights began to spread out around the ship.

Security had been tripled after they had been told about the virus, even then one last betrayer was very close to hacking through security and set the atlesian forces against everyone, he just needed a couple of extra minutes, he didn't get them, he turned around as he heard the gate to the bridge open and saw a fist impacting into his face, Hector had rushed him before he could have done anything. He went over the central console and landed on his shoulders, he got up to see an entire battalion of Atlesian soldiers aiming at him, alongside knights, a Lieutenant and two more young huntsmen in training it seemed.

"You are outnumbered and outgunned, surrender!" Lieutenant Holmes warned him. The betrayer pulled out a collapsible glaive from his back and got ready to fight.

"Not a chance!" he said, he leaped with a warcry towards them… in a couple of seconds he had been jolted, swarmed by bullets, blasted, sliced across legs and punched halfway through the window, he got points for bravery, but not much else, Robert and Hector dragged his unconscious bodied body out of the window and for the soldier to take him away.

"Are we okay?" Robert asked a technician they had found on their way to the bridge.

"A couple of seconds more and he would turn the knights on… everything…" The technician took a breath of relief, so did everyone else. "But we are still in trouble."

"What's happening?" Ruby asked him.

"The Grimm seemed to have taken the time we were being slaughtered to damage the ship severely, we still have the autocannons but our major guns have taken a beating." the technician said.

"We already knew the ship was probably falling… no offense." One of the soldiers voiced his thoughts.

"If that's the case we need to relay the knights signal to Blue-3 and Blue-2," Holmes said to the technician.

"Already on it."

"Good, what about the thrusters?" Holmes asked one of his soldiers.

"They are still online sir." One of them answered.

"Maybe we can retreat and join the rest of the fleet and their formation," Robert suggested.

"Seems like a solid plan young man, if we gun down some more Grimm maybe we could…" Holmes stopped talking as everyone heard a rumble and an explosion, it sounded distant, they looked through the window and saw as a Wyvern had come out of the mountain and was sailing through the sky, the dragon had joined the fight.

"I don't think we can retreat now," Hector said.

"We have a Wyvern! And it's going for our general direction!" One of the soldiers panicked.

"We all can see it, is there anything we can do?" Robert asked the technician and Holmes.

"Our best guns are out of order, who knows if we can even make them go back online." The technician said.

"We need to do what you said kid, we need to retreat and-" Holmes got interrupted by one his soldiers

"Sir, we can't, that thing will turn around and destroy us the first chance it gets. If we run we'll also become prey for the other Grimm."

"Where is it going?" Ruby asked.

"He seems to be going for Beacon… which is also near us." Hector looked through the window, he knew more on the hand of his preexisting knowledge than anything else, but seeing the dragon with his own eyes, it was different, it seemed larger as well.

"Such a magnificent beast…" All of them heard a voice from one of the nearby cells near the bridge as they remained silent trying to think of something. It was Merlot.

"You… you had to be here." Robert spoke to him.

"It seems you are here as well." Merlot acknowledged him.

"You are an expert, you think you can do something to help us?" Robert asked him. Merlot looked him in the eyes, Robert didn't seem deterred in any way.

"Besides praying I can tell you as soon as it is flying at full speed it won't stop, they are ancient and a miracle of nature but they can't turn perfectly with their massive bodies, if it goes directly for Beacon, then we might have a chance to escape." Merlot told them.

"Then we are going back to the fleet?" One of the soldiers asked.

"We actually have to go to Beacon, our friends are there." Hector protested against the idea and even more was.

"We can't fight that thing, we were the largest ship, but now we don't have guns capable of bringing that down," Holmes said.

"If we don't do something about this sector, the Grimm will take control of air space and push more forces into Vale, if we coordinate the fleet maybe we can…" Robert began.

"Kid, I understand, but we don't have anything to hurt it." Homes said.

"Hey what about the ship!" Ruby said, everyone stared at her at that moment, it made her nervous in all honesty.

"Th-the ship?!" One of the soldiers asked.

"He said it can turn, and this ship compares to it in size, if we ram into it maybe we can bring it down with us before it gets a chance to do anything," Ruby explained the best she could.

"That would bring us down," Holmes stated the obvious.

"You said guys said the ship was already going down…" Ruby poked her fingers.

"... Can we turn around fast enough to get to the fleet?" Holmes asked the technician.

"I… don't think so."

"But can we go fast enough to intercept it?" Robert asked.

"Uh… the main thrusters work so…. Actually… maybe… yeah." The technician said the tension was palpable inside the bridge.

"Are there any transport ships left in the hangar?" Robert asked Holmes.

"... Most likely some." He said, Robert nodded, no one seemed sure if to intervene or not, Robert considered the idea for a couple of seconds and decided it was now or never, they had to get to Beacon as soon as possible as well. Robert made a call through his earpiece.

"Ryan! Are you still in the air?" Robert asked.

"Yeah, and making sure to stay away from that giant thing," Ryan said.

"Speaking of that, we need an emergency extraction… for many!"

Adam was fast. Almost too fast. If it weren't for Ashley and her semblance and Yang and her skills they would have lost in the first few strikes, even while fighting together as they were now. Adam was clearly more experienced and had fought against more than one opponent at the same time before. He was never letting them actually fight together, and constantly switched between opponents, snapping back to Yang after using his superior strength to bat away Ashley's swords, and after knocking Yang down as she tried to pummel him, he turned back to Ashley and deflected her swords. He really was a prodigy, and the difference in talent was ever apparent as he completely took control of the fight.

The only solace they could think of was that they were still holding out. Even as Adam ducked under Yang's fist and struck the pommel of his sword into her stomach, bending her over. Only to then dodge Ashley's next attack fired with his gun scabbard to force her to use her semblance to dodge, he couldn't quite land a fatal blow. Yang and Ashley didn't know the full details of Adam's semblance, but it seemed to be similar to Yang's in the sense that he can charge up power by blocking and delivering strikes with his blade, and then sending it all out in a controlled or otherwise widespread attack. The deep bleeding gash across Yang's face told that story, and so they couldn't let him get the time he needed to charge up the attack in the first place.

Every time Ashley was knocked down, she stood back up and dashed forward. Her semblance made the world around her slower, but the white and blue streaks gave away her position. To Adam, she was just moving faster than before like a simple speed semblance and went on the full defensive whenever she used it. If she had gotten more time to train with it, she might have been able to disorient him further and land some critical blows to his aura, but like this, she had to work with what she had. Only a minor month of training since its first activation.

Yang had power stored up in her own semblance as well, but she couldn't use it without finding an opening. Her father Taiyang always told her that while her semblance was powerful, if she messed up with it her opponent would gain an advantage over her and lose her the fight. In this case against Adam, one mistake would cost her the life she has lived. But, she could also absorb each blow that Adam delivered to her. He didn't seem to know what her semblance was, only that when it activated her eyes turned red. Even knowing this, however. Yang and Ashley were slowly losing the battle. With Blake wounded and out of the fight and no one coming to help them so far, the situation became grimmer. Not even Grimm was attracted to their desperate battle, though that could be because of the other students and the White Fang nearby holding them off. Partway through the fight, Yang and Ashley knew that this was do or die. They had to beat Adam here and now.

He wasn't making it easy for them, not one bit. He was just so strong. To think that there was someone out there who wasn't a huntsman and had this much strength and skill was insane. Ashley let out a hiss through her teeth as she dashed behind Adam once again, only for him to spin around and parry her left sword. Ashley grit through the pain of that arm being whipped out to the side, but continued to attack with her right-handed sword. Adam snapped his body down and to the left, but it just nicked his shoulder. Bouncing off the aura and no doubt leaving a bruise behind. Her victory was short-lived as he pressed his gun into her stomach and fired a bullet. Making her eyes bulge out as a bullet knocked the air out of her lungs.

"Rah!" Yang jumped in and kicked away the gun before Adam could get a second shot in. His hand was forced open and the weapon went skittering across the floor and away from him. He finally let out a groan of pain as he shook that hand, giving Yang the confidence to continue a barrage of punches and kicks that Adam was actually struggling to dodge and defend against. When she roared and threw an almighty haymaker, Adam caught it in his palm, however, Yang smirked and fired Ember Celica's shotgun blast and he was thrown back into one of the nearby tables. Destroying it and kicking up burning ash and dust. Yang flinched from the sudden cloud of ash, and when she opened her eyes there was a black shadow in the midst of it. She grit her teeth and dashed forward, fist cocked back and fisting through the air toward the shadow.

She activated her semblance as she clashed against something red. With a roar, she pushed her full power into her next punch. Roaring loudly as her hair went up in flames as Adam attempted to block it with just his sword. Somehow, he did, and his sword glowed red as it somehow absorbed every bit of power that Yang had stored up in his semblance, and now his hair and clothing were glowing brightly with red colors.

Another shadow came from the side and slashed at her shoulder. Knocking her down to the ground and sending her rolling away. Confused, she looked up to what she saw. The shadow that was standing there looked like it was actually made of shadows and red energy. And there was another, all black with red accents of Adam's clothes, and then there was the third one, the real one, which all the shadows flowed back into as a flash of red aura and light came from his clothes.

Yang widened her eyes and was barely too late to dodge. She felt the injured part of her face get slashed as Adam's Moonslice past her and into the wall behind her. Destroying it entirely, and then kept moving until it went through the wall, collapsing it completely and then kept going. Yang watched and she felt her heart skip a beat as her mouth was left agape at what she had just witnessed. If she tried to tank that hit, she would have been killed. No questions asked.

She let out pained gasps as she reached a hand up to her left eye, which was sealed shut by blood before. The gash there was met by another one. A deeper one, that completely destroyed that eye entirely. Yang fell down to her knees, losing the will to fight as fear took hold.

Adam absorbed all of her power and threw it right back at her, just like she did. And he did it better. He… was a true monster.

"Scared?" Adam asked with a maniacal grin as he flourished his sword and let out a deep exhale. At least he had the grace to be sweating from the heat and their battle. "You appear as such, you can barely look at me now." He pointed out.

Yang didn't even know it, but she was shaking. Was she scared? Her body definitely seemed to be. The gash in her ruined eye was stinging even harder now and her fists couldn't clench without her feeling like her muscles were too tired and heavy for her to keep moving. She was frozen and down on one knee, hesitating as Adam prepared another strike.

"Yang!" Ashley cried out as she dashed in front of her using her semblance. "Snap out of it! We can still win!"

"Can you?" Adam asked tauntingly. "You're both exhausted, hurt, she's missing an eye, and your aura has to be getting dangerously low. I have more attacks from my semblance available to me, and she is terrified." He pointed out, gesturing to Yang. "I will admit, you two are strong. At least stronger than Blake ever was. You made me sweat and I actually had to try and beat you for a moment there."

"You haven't won yet, Adam," Ashley said as she flourished her weapons and took a low stance. "I'm still standing. And I am not afraid of you."

"I'd hope not," Adam chuckled. "The daughter of Sienna Khan should fear no man, woman, or Grimm. When I bring you back, perhaps there is hope for you yet. I can make you stronger, Cain. I can make you exactly what the faunus needs. You have the strength, the semblance, and the drive to make it work. All you need to do is come with me, and everything will become much easier from here on out. I can see the potential in you, how long have you had your semblance unlocked?"

Ashley grit her teeth and remained silent. However, she thought against that idea. If she could keep Adam talking, that would give Yang time to snap out of her frightened stupor. Then they could keep working together to take out Adam. "A month or so," She admitted reluctantly.

"A month," Adam smiled at her. "And it is already so powerful and versatile. I am willing to let the past be the past, Cain. All you need to do is come," He held out a hand, holding his sword in the other just in case. Ashley eyed both warily. "I will not harm any more of your friends if you come with me now. All you must do is take my hand, and we will go back to Sienna and you two can reunite. Then, I will begin your training personally. I may even stop planning against Sienna, that way we can find a way to work together."

Ashley was surprised by how generous Adam was being. She always knew that he was a schemer. He had to be in order to get to where he was now. Someone who's only virtue was being strong and skilled couldn't get Sienna's permission to run the entire Vale cell of the White Fang. Behind all that strength and aggression was a cunning, meticulous man who had to have everything planned out three steps ahead of time… mostly. She considered the option, but then she remembered. "You know," She started, keeping her weapons out in front of her. "I've heard a lot about you, Adam. Even from when I was still with Sienna, and those short times that I've seen you coming to speak with her personally, or to train with her. The Albain brothers were all too keen on speaking your praises whenever you were brought up, and I know most of the White Fang see you as some kind of hero. But, I've seen what kind of man you have become," She gestured to Blake, unconscious but in pain, bleeding on the floor from a stab wound. Just the gesture was enough to send her a message. Adam scowled at her because of it.

"She betrayed us," Adam said. "Betrayed me. She had this coming."

"You see, that's how I know my team leader is a better man than you." Ashley went on, smirking when Adam's scowl turned even angrier. "Because I betrayed him too. I used his trust and his affection for me, and I fed you and Sienna's information about him and Beacon when you asked for it. I betrayed what he thought of me, what he felt for me. But now I realize that I don't think you ever loved Blake. You just expected her to love you no matter what, and took advantage of those feelings for your own personal gain and self-validation. But when it comes to Hector, my partner, friend, team leader, and the one that I have grown to love…" Finally admitting that to herself made her feel like a weight was coming off of her shoulders. But she couldn't stop there. "He was angry with me at first, but over time he grew to forgive me. Over time he grew to know me better, and now the feelings we share is one that can be trusted. Unlike you, Adam, he gave me another chance. And I couldn't be more grateful for it."

Adam looked disgusted by her. Her early insults seemed to go ignored, but by the mention of her possibly loving a man, a human man, seemed to fill his mind with a new kind of anger.

"You'd lay with a human of all things?" He asked her.

"If he'd let me and the time was right, sure," Ashley said with a shameless shrug.

"Tch, then maybe I was wrong," Adam said as his extended hand went back down to his side. "You have a lot less potential than I initially thought."

"Your narrow way of thinking is going to be your downfall one day, Adam." Ashley declared, standing straighter and crossing her blades together. "I may not be able to beat you today, but someone will. And I am willing to bet that it will either be Blake or him to do it."

"Then you won't be alive to see it," Adam said, grabbing his sword with two hands and steadily raising it to eye level. "Sienna is going to be quite sad to hear about her daughter falling to the Grimm, or worse, one of the huntsmen an associate of mine had come to recruit. Maybe with your death, she'll finally stop holding me back."

Ashley paled at the thought. Uh oh, the time for stalling had ended. She swallowed nervously and took a step back, glancing over her shoulder to see Yang still down on one knee, her eye staring shakingly at Adam. She was still afraid, shit. Ashley couldn't leave her alone like this. Adam would go straight after her.

She didn't know what to say to continue stalling him. The only thing she could do was hold him off as long as possible and hope for the best. Maybe he'd slip up, or make a mistake, maybe then she'd have a chance at beating him. But while protecting Yang at the same time? She didn't like her odds.

The only thing she could do is try, and she wasn't going to give up.

Thinking a silent apology to the one who trained her and adopted her into her life. Ashley readied her weapons for what felt like the fifth time and prepared herself for the worst.

Adam shot forward like a bullet and Ashley was determined to meet him in the middle However, she stopped herself when a sword that looked like it was flying suddenly attacked Adam out of nowhere. She watched as another sword came to attack him, and then another one, and another one. Until there were about a dozen swords that Adam was fighting off all at once. The swords stopped and Ashley started into the back of the head of a ginger girl, who stood in front of her, only to then turn around and look at her with big bright green eyes.

"P-Penny?" Ashley almost didn't believe it. She hasn't seen Penny in forever!

"Hello, friend Ashley!" Penny exclaimed, just as happy as she always was. "Are you and friend Yang okay?"

"I-" Ashley shook her head and snapped out of her shocked state. "I am, Yang is hurt and shell-shocked but Blake… she got stabbed."

Slowly, the smile on Penny's face died. "Is that so?" She asked, glancing down to Yang, and then toward Blake, who was still lying on the ground hurt. "I see. Are you the man who did this to me, friends?"

"I am," Adam freely admitted as he sheathed his sword. "And you will join them in death if you choose to battle me."

"No," Penny's eyes flashed green and she waved her hands up to above her head. From her back, Ashley watched as those swords returned and surrounded Penny in a mirage of blades and metal. She could see the thin strings that were attached to each of them but they were nearly invisible. "I don't think I will. You are Adam Taurus, leader of the White Fang sect in Vale and deemed most wanted by Atlas. As such, you are under arrest. Surrender now, or I may be forced to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" Adam laughed at the idea of what looked like a little girl getting the better of him. "Is Atlas recruiting children into their army now? I should have expected as such from the General, he was always known for his… questionable tactics."

"The General makes the hard decisions a man in his position must make," Penny said before looking back to Ashley. "I am sorry that we will not get time to catch up just yet. I am going to have to focus my efforts on defeating this man."

"D-don't worry about it," After listening to her body finally, Ashley dropped down to one knee and let out a long sigh of relief. "I'll support you when I can, just hold on for as long as possible."

Penny smiled at her again. "Don't you worry, Friend Ashley. I am combat-ready."

The smile died just as quickly as her eyes narrowed when she turned back to Adam, her hovering swords soaring in the air all around her as she faced him. Without speaking any more, she attacked. Adam rushed to defend against the countless blades that seemed to be coming out endlessly from Penny's back. Ashley knew that there was more to Penny than the ditz of a girl that she always acted as, but she didn't know there was this much. Adam struggled to even get close to Penny, and when he did, Penny was no pushover. Using just her bare hands, she parried Adam's first strike and delivered a palm strike to the center of Adam's chest. Pushing him away and making him gasp for air as it was pushed out from his lungs. He recovered quickly and slashed at one of Penny's swords as it came flying at him. He didn't have any time to think of any plans or to gauge Penny's style as she always changed it. Unlike Yang, when Penny got close she delivered a single powerful strike. One that Adam either took or tried to block with his sword.

Ashley tried to warn Penny about Adam's semblance, but it seemed that she already knew. Instead of hitting Adam's sword and letting him absorb her own power and use it against her, she simply waved her hand around the blade and struck a lighter blow to Adam's face, specifically to his mask.

A loud CRACK was heard as a piece of Adam's mask came flying off. Revealing just a part of his face and the corner of his right eye. He fell to the ground, recovering from the blow before quickly getting back up and blocking more of Penny's swords. He seemed to stop messing around right there, instead of holding back and using his semblance sparingly, he launched it out and actually cut through some of the strings. Penny's eyes widened as she saw three of her swords fall to the ground, free from the strings of their owner. Many of her other swords followed suit. Until three dozen became one dozen, and then less than that even as Adam found her weakness.

Quickly adapting to the situation, Penny allowed Adam to get closer so that they could handle things up close and personal. Ashley watched the fight with an astonished look on her face. Penny and Adam were equally matched as they were now. Penny's robotic nature and metallic structure of her body allowed her to be able to take Adam's attacks, parry them, deflect them, and block them with just her body. While Adam had just enough strength and speed in his muscles and bones and reaction timing to be able to keep up with her. For what felt like half an hour, neither side gave way. Adam didn't get tired and Penny couldn't get tired.

Ashley still didn't like it. At any moment, Adam could unleash his semblance again and she wasn't confident that Penny could take it head-on. If she fell here, she feared for what would happen to her and Yang and Blake next.

Willing the remains of her aura to become active again, Ashley took in a deep breath, and the world around her went in slow motion. She had an idea, but she needed to wait for an opening in order to re-enact a certain event that happened while she was in Merlots lab with her teammates, when her semblance first awakened. It would use the rest of her aura, but if she could land a hit in on Adam than it may give Penny the chance that she needed in order to land a defining blow and end the battle with their resulting victory.

So she watched. Watched as the two titans that were Adam and Penny battle ferociously. Watched as Penny gave her that opening in the form of another palm strike, which this time hit Adam in his side. Making him bend at an awkward angle and making him point his back to her. Ashley launched as a runner would for a relay race, and the world became white and blue. She clashed into Adam's side, and she felt her aura disrupt his.

"Agh!" She heard Adam cry out as his muscles locked and tightened uncontrollably as she remained glued to his side, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing as tightly as she could.

"Now Penny!" She yelled as she held on tight, feeling her aura drain quickly. "I have him still-"

She froze, and so did Adam. Her mouth was still open as if she was saying something, and Adam was like a statue. The two of them locked in place, with one glowing blue and the other red. Penny didn't know what to make of it, but this was her chance.

"I cannot use my most powerful attack. But I can use my most powerful strike." Penny said as she got closer to Adam, placing her knuckles over his heart and retreating them back just a few inches. "Though, even that may not be enough to defeat him…" She warned as she eyed Yang, who was still watching in disbelief and unmoving from her position on the ground. She would be of no help here, not when she was in such a state with one eye and seemingly low aura. "I will have to try, however."

Penny focused hard, and her fist clenched and unclenched. Until something snapped in her mind, and she snapped her fist forward just as hard. Adam, just not becoming unfrozen, took the full power of her six-inch punch and combined with the strength of her android parts, was sent flying through a pile of rubble and into one of the walls. Cracking it and making him cry out in pain as he fell to the ground in a limp. His red aura flaring and flashing dangerously, but not breaking. He writhed on the ground for a moment in pain, but he was still alive and getting back up.

Ashley was still in the same position as before, and she passed out on the spot. Her aura going down in a plume of blue. Yang seemed to finally snap out of it and crawled to her, desperately calling out her name as she flipped her onto her back.

She was still alive, Penny knew. She was just exhausted from the exertion of her aura and semblance. But if it weren't for her, Penny didn't know if she was going to be able to defeat Adam. She could now, however. Adam had a cracked sternum and a broken rib according to her medical analysis and as such he was not going to be able to beat her in his current state.

He seemed to know that too and weighed his options. Fight to the death, or live another day? He chose the latter option, swallowing down his pride and turning tail and running out one of the already destroyed windows. Penny wondered if she should go after him, but stopped herself as she regarded Yang, Blake, and Ashley, all injured in one way or another and out of aura. She couldn't leave them. One stray bullet would end their life, and as they were now, she didn't put aside the possibility of a Grimm getting the better of them as well.

"Come on," She said comfortingly as she knelt down to pick up Ashley in her arms. "I know of a safe haven for us to all rest and recover in. Take Blake, and I shall escort you there."

Yang was all too eager to comply. Penny easily hefted Ashley up into her arms, being careful to not let her head hang as to not strain her neck or any of her other limbs for that matter, and watched as Yang half-limped over to Blake and started picking her up in a similar manner. She didn't have the strength in her arms to do it at that moment because of her exhaustion, so she opted to help Blake get back up to her feet and pulled her arms over her shoulders. Leaning forward in a way so that Blakes's legs hung above the ground. Then she grabbed her legs and shifted her position, carrying Blake with her entire body rather than just her arms.

Throughout the entire process, Penny was able to read her face. Sorrow, and guilt. Yang felt terrible about what had just happened. And Penny couldn't blame her, it was completely natural for a normal human to feel such things after what had happened. Adam Taurus not only completely countered her in the beginning, but then he managed to terrify her further by using his semblance. That uncharacteristic fear overwhelmed her. It was completely normal. Most hunters, despite their bravado, often did feel fear. Whether it be against the Grimm, or against someone more powerful than they.

"It is okay, Friend Yang," Penny said with a happy smile as Yang stepped near her. "Everyone made it out alive. So there is nothing to feel guilty over. Everyone makes mistakes, even me."

Yang looked at her and it looked like she was about to break down. She almost said something but stopped herself. Simply nodding her head as she looked down. A steady and slow trickle of tears falling down from her one remaining eye.

The fact that she wasn't freaking out about that was incredible. Penny thought. But then again, it couldn't be good for one's mental health.

"Let's go," Penny said, walking forward but at a pace in which Yang could keep up. "I know somewhere where you all can rest and get help. That is probably where more of our friends are as well."

Jaune followed his partner. It wasn't hard to find her for she was fighting with some of the other students by the time he and his team made it back up to Beacon. But he didn't get any time to celebrate reuniting with her partner as she received a call that for some reason was so important that it could not be saved for later. Jaune wondered what it was about, but Pyrrha simply said that she had to get to the tower and fast. Jaune suggested at first that he, Ren, and Nora should come with her, but she of course was against that. It took some convincing, but he managed to convince her that at least he should come. She was his partner after all, and maybe-girlfriend after that fun date that they went on, so he didn't want to leave her alone.

Now that the tower was in sight though? Even he could tell that something was up. She was quiet, much quieter than before. She didn't waste time in slaughtering any Grimm that got in her path or knocking out any White Fang members that got in her way. Those weird hunter guys that were fighting against them thankfully didn't cause them any trouble at Beacon. But when they finally made it to the tower, Jaune stopped as Pyrrha placed a hand on his chest. Looking back at him with apologetic green eyes.

"Pyrrha, what's wrong?" Jaune asked, confused. "We made it to the tower, now we just need to get in there, right?"

"I…" Pyrrha shook her head, regret already becoming a recurring emotion. "I am afraid it is not as simple as that, Jaune… Listen… I can't let you come in with me, it would be way too dangerous for you."

"What?" Jaune recoiled back as if slapped. "What about all the training you gave me? And the training from Mister Urra? I'm a lot stronger than the me that just got themselves into Beacon you know. I'm sure I can at least help against whatever Grimm or terrorist in there."

"That's the thing, Jaune," Pyrrha shook her head once again, not able to look him in the eyes. "We're not up against just a simple creature of Grimm or terrorist. I'm sorry, but I can't let you come with me. You'd…" She clenched her eyes shut, muttering another apology under her breath before forcing herself to say it. "You'd get killed… I can't let that happen, I'm sorry. Just please, stay up here. I'll be back soon and if you really want to help you can make sure that no one else follows me."

"Pyrrha…" Jaune said her name, flabbergasted and admittedly a little hurt by her words. "If it's really that dangerous, I don't think you should go down there either."

Pyrrha chuckled at his concern. "Even when I insult you, you still worry for me." She looked up into his eyes, grabbed his face, and Jaune's eyes widened with surprise and shock as she pressed her lips into his own. He just stood there frozen, and only after a few seconds of her kissing him passionately did he think to place his hands on her hips to return to gesture.

It lasted admittedly a lot shorter than he'd wanted it to. "P-Pyrrha…" He stuttered, face flushing red bashfully.

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha said as his metal breastplate suddenly picked him up and smashed him against the wall. Jaune cried out, more stunned than hurt but still shocked that Pyrrha would do something like that to him. He tried to call out to her as he fell but it was too late, she was already gone and in the elevator inside the tower and on the other side of the room. Despite being out of breath, Jaune still stood up and ran after her.

He only just got into the tower before Pyrrha smiled at him and the elevator shot down into the ground and a speed Jaune was not prepared for witnessing. He staggered back and screamed her name, but when he looked down the elevator shaft it was already far, far deeper in the ground than he expected. He considered jumping after her, but that would mean his certain death. He then considered grabbing onto the cables that made the machine work, but that opportunity was lost to him as it was snapped by some unknown force. Most likely Pyrrha's semblance.

"Fuck!" Jaune cursed frantically. "No… I-I need to find help," He turned to find that help, but stopped when he saw a man with glowing green eyes staring at him. He wore a black trenchcoat, but Jaune knew what he saw. It had to be a huntsman! "H-hey! My friend went-"

"I saw," The man replied to him, letting out a puff of smoke before flicking that same cigarette away and stomped on it. "Move along, boy. You're wasting the space you're standing in right now."

"W-what?" Jaune looked at the man and squinted. The realization set in after a few moments of looking at him. He matched a certain description, a description that a certain duo of friends told him and most of his friends about. It was the black-green mist that gave him away. "Y-you're-"

"I am," The man stepped closer, and closer. Jaune froze as the man seemed to skip a few steps and appear by his side, a hand on his shoulder as he stopped beside him. "Don't waste my time, Arc. Run away with the life you still possess. Run away, and you may yet be able to fulfill your own destiny."

Jaune fell forward as the man pushed him suddenly. Not even bothering to look back at him as Jaune rushed back up to his feet and held out Crocea Mors, the sword that has been passed down generation by generation in the Arc family bloodline of warriors, with both his shaking hands as sweat beaded down his face and body. He wanted to do something, but somehow he knew. If he attacked Aaron Hayes now, he was going to die.

"Run away," Aaron told him as he let one of his feet hover over the massive drop that went down into Beacon's basement. "As I fulfill my own destiny."

Aaron dropped down into the shaft and Jaune fell to his knees. Hating himself for not at least trying to stop him. Pyrrha may have been right, he was not ready for that. Not one bit.

The headmaster of Beacon Academy was waiting for her when she finally got down into the same basement in which she absorbed Amber's powers for herself. Pyrrha rushed out of the elevator and ran up to meet him as those memories flashed before her eyes, memories that weren't hers being locked away in favor of moving forward. To which Ozpin simply looked at her, a silent question being asked with his eyes.

"I saw someone following me," Pyrrha admitted to the headmaster. "I don't know who it was, but it was a man."

"Then we will be having company very soon," Ozpin said simply. "Go into the pod again, it will not be turned on but the door to it will close. But they do not know that you have already taken what remained of Amber's maiden powers. We must use that to our advantage. I will distract them and when you get the chance, let out everything I know you have been holding back and do not hesitate to end their lives."

Pyrrha swallowed nervously, she has never killed anyone before.

"It is for the greater good," Ozpin told her. "These are the ones responsible for thousands of deaths today, we must stop them here and now."

Pyrrha nodded her head and ran toward the pod, the memories of what happened the last time she entered it played through her mind and she hesitated for all but a moment before forcing herself into it. Ozpin pushed a button and it closed, but unlike before, she was just resting in it. Waiting for the right moment to use her semblance and reveal herself. She watched through the glass as Ozpin stepped forward, into the massive, lit hallway of Beacon's basement. Then he stopped, standing there with his cane held between his hands, helping him stand as he looked forward at something she couldn't quite see.

She felt chills go up and down her spine as she saw a pair of golden-orange eyes light up in flames. Lightning up the rest of the hallway as a beautiful woman in a red dress revealed herself. Pyrrha knew that behind that pretty face was a monster, but still held her breath in disbelief of what she saw. Was she there the whole time? How many times was she nearly killed without even knowing it? The knowledge of that made her uncomfortable and shifted inside the pod. All she could do right now was watch, and have faith in the headmaster.

"I believe that this is the first time we have met, Ozpin." Cinder said with a saccharine smile. Ozpin knew that it was anything but a pleasure for her meeting him.

"It is," Ozpin said with a scowl. "How foolish of you to challenge me directly, Cinder Fall. You are not yet strong enough to pose a threat to me."

"I am aware," Cinder sighed, a wave of boredom washing over her face as she looked around the massive construction around her with a mild sense of wonder. "To fight you right now would be akin to me digging my own grave. However, you are a fool if you really think that I plan to fight you fair and square. A warrior who has lived through many eras is not one to do the same, is he?"

Ozpin simply shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I suppose not," Cinder went on nonetheless. Her eyes strayed over Ozpin and then past him. Looking toward the two pods at the end of the hallway. They were both closed shut, though one she couldn't quite see-through, and the other very clearly had her target in it. Amber. She couldn't quite remember her surname, but she remembered that woman, and definitely remembered each and every scar that was still etched into her body. To see her floating oh so helplessly in that tank in a vegetated, lifeless state, brought a cruel grin to her lips. If only she was the one who ended her life, she would have liked to see the expression she had as her life drained away before her very eyes.

"I see that you wasted no time in replacing Amber," Cinder said, her grin widening even further as she looked to the other pod. She sensed it. Just as she sensed it from Amber long after she became acclimated to the first half of the fall maiden's power.

Ozpin's eyes widened ever so slightly. A question itching to the tip of his tongue, only to stop itself before his voice could escape his lips. Once the shock quickly passed, Ozpin narrowed his eyes daringly.

"Aaron did tell me that there may be a possibility that you'd panic in this kind of situation. Amber has fallen and lost most of her power, Vale has been under constant assault, the sudden arrival of two young men from different timelines. The list goes on and on, and I haven't even gotten to the good part." Cinder explained. "That was just the tip of the iceberg, and now we have you with your back against the wall, and an untrained maiden at your back."

Ozpin picked his cane up and whipped it toward her at that, the cogs in the cane spun and turned as a green-yellow hue washed over it before Ozpin activated his aura and magical prowess. His challenge made, Cinder's grin faded away and she entered a cautionary stance. She respected his own power, and would not underestimate it. In truth, she didn't even know if she could beat him even with the full power of the maiden.

She needn't have to. She wouldn't risk fighting him alone in her current state anyway.

Ozpin didn't give her a chance to think of a plan of retreat, and proved to be much faster than she thought he would be. Appearing in front of her in a flash of green and jabbing her in the stomach with his cane. She coughed and staggered back, then tried to counter with an arc of fire that she waved in front of her. The man didn't even flinch, diving through the flames and striking her again three times in the face, chest, and knees at such speed she felt the pain come at her all at once, and then her aura rush to mend it back together.

She flipped away and as she landed, slid back and the concrete floor beneath her burned and melted into magma. She then lifted the magma up with her semblance and crushed it into glass shards shaped into spearheads. Smaller than she'd have liked for a man like Ozpin, but enough to put him on the defensive for an instance. She shot them all forward as a machine gun would with bullets, but again, Ozpin's speed and skill were too much and he blocked and deflected each and everyone without so much of a bead of sweat rolling down his face. Cinder cursed mentally and touched the ground with the palm of her hand, creating another pool of magma but all in different places. The entire room lit up as the red hot liquid bubbled and popped and she retreated backward. Ozpin looked upon the fire and sneered. He extended his own hand, and disks of transparent green energy stretched to about four feet in diameter formed a path leading directly to Cinder. He started jumping across them in order to get to her, but clearly Cinder had other ideas.

A bow of black particles formed into her hands and three arrows of fire formed on the string as she pulled back. She let loose them all and they flew directly at Ozpin, only to turn mid-air and strike down at the disks instead. Shattering some of them like glass. Ozpin controlled his jump mid-air and kicked in such a way that he could move mid-air, a feat that was commonly thought to be impossible by normal means. Ozpin was no normal entity, however. Cinder flipped away to prevent Ozpin from landing a direct strike on her as she continued to heat the magma enough to keep it in its liquid form. As soon as she removed contact of her hand to the floor, the magma began to cool down and harden.

Ozpin stood on the one cool part of it as the rest of it cooled down. Steam and smoke rising all around him as his green aura sparked and flared with magic. He stared her down through the cloud as she panted slightly. He'd handled her perfectly so far, and she knew that if she kept playing his game in battling him, she would come out the loser.

Thankfully, she had the power to stall him. She stretched her arms out before her and raised them up and snapped her wrists upward to point her fingers at the ceiling. A wave of fire and molten rock raised up to touch the ceiling, creating a massive wall that protected her and effectively cut the entire hall into two halves.

Ozpin regarded the physical firewall and breathed in a deep breath, releasing it slowly as he raised his cane and held it aimed at the fire. Green-yellow magic tipped at the end of the cane, forming a transparent and temporary spear of sorts. It would take a detestable amount of power to break through Cinder's defense, but it would be enough. He had to kill her before her reinforcements came and now was his only chance. Letting out another deep exhale, the air came out of his lungs in a sparkle of yellow. Bending his knees and preparing to launch off as a runner would on the track, the floor he stepped off was reduced to a pile of rubble.

Breaking through the fire was easy, and his cane formed in the shape of a spear drilled through the air directly toward Cinder. Her eyes were widened and she moved her arms to create a gust of wind powerful enough to blow him away, but he was more powerful than that wind. It slowed him down a fraction, but not enough to stop him entirely. She realized that as he got closer and closer, and time seemed to slow as Ozpin watched a smirk widen on her lips. Instinctively, Ozpin gave up on his attack and allowed himself to be blown away before a mist of black-green smoke could wrap around him and trap him in a mindset of forced fear.

He landed close to where the fire-wall was coming down and let out a disappointed sigh. Already scolding himself for being too slow. This body seemed to have aged more than he thought it would.

"You certainly took your time," Cinder said as she dusted herself off and used her aura to mend her wounds.

"I had to dish away with an unwanted guest," Aaron said as the smoke dissipated, revealing him as he shrugged off his coat and threw it to the side. Underneath it, he wore a dark brown T-shirt, with straps coming up from his pants to show off three separate belts of different kinds of dust, and ammo. At his hip was his pistol, but Ozpin was more worried about the semblance.

He'd fallen for it long ago and it had cost him his life. During the life that he was a student in the very school, he built up and just before he'd recruited Team STRQ into his roster of allies. A life wasted, and opportunities forever lost to him. He wouldn't fall for it a second time, not now, and give Salem the perfect window of opportunity to not just strike down Beacon, but all of Vale. He needed to survive this encounter.

"But now you will have my undivided attention, my dear," Aaron said with a grin that showed just where Cinder got hers from. "Ozpin, Ozma, Ozwald, whatever you may call yourself now. It has been some time since we have met."

"Not long enough," Ozpin said with a scowl. "But I suppose now I can finish what you started long ago."

"I already finished that battle," Aaron corrected him as green markings started to line over his body and for dark veins to start bulging from his arteries and exposed parts of his skin. "Now this is a battle that will be the beginning of your downfall. Everything you have built up will be torn down and replaced by my mistress's order. A new world will be built, one where humans and faunus alike are led on to create a different utopia. I will rewrite history as we know it, by whatever means necessary."

"You are stuck in the past, Hayes," Ozpin said. "The crimes committed against you from your world have damaged you. You are growing more and more insane by the day, and by accepting the power Salem has offered you, you are simply losing yourself. This utopia isn't what you think it would become. It will just be resetting the progress humanity has made thus far."

"A man such as yourself would never understand me," Aaron said with a sigh. "But we can have this battle of wit and philosophy for hours and hours, but all it would be is mindless clashing. The time for talking is over, Ozpin, you lost your chance to sway me a long time ago."

"And I will forever regret that, now that I've seen what has become of you."

Aaron smiled and narrowed his eyes at the immortal. "Then carry that regret for the rest of time. As I kill you once again."

Ozpin glanced over his shoulder toward Pyrrha, who has already long since freed herself from the pod that he had locked her in prior to the beginning of this battle. He wanted to keep scanning the room for her but had to instinctively dodge a bullet by twisting his body around and to the side. Stopping and standing firm, glaring back at Aaron and Cinder as the former held out a pistol with a smoking barrel in his hand. Ozpin narrowed his eyes and whipped his cane out to the side, reigniting the magic within it and preparing to lunge forward. He didn't know where his allied fall maiden was, but he had to assume that she was lying in wait for the perfect opportunity to attack Cinder. If Cinder was killed and Pyrrha acquired the full power of the fall maiden then Aaron would quickly follow. All he could hope for was that Pyrrha was willing to do what needed to be done once she got that chance.

Ozpin wasted no more time and lunged forward, his cane launching for Aarons heart as a protective green barrier over his aura formed around his body. Protecting him from the effects of Aaron's semblance as he penetrated the green-black mist. Aaron seemed surprised by what he must have seen as a rash action but was quick to jump back and defend himself. By the time Cinder turned around to see what was happening as they snapped right past her, Aaron had already blocked four strikes from Ozpin's cane. Slowly chipping away at his aura. Physical strikes, however, were not what Ozpin intended to do for his first assault. Aiming to end Aaron quickly and distract Cinder, Ozpin kicked off of Aaron's chest and flipped away, landing on his feet and bringing a hand with two fingers pointed up to his forehead, chanting an incantation that Cinder was not familiar with.

"Per voluntatem, retineantur!" Ozpin chanted.

The marks on Aaron's arms molded into his aura. Aaron noticed and watched with wide eyes as those same marks shone with a yellow-green color before rushing to activate his semblance to smother the blast before it could activate it. He managed to stop three out of the four marks, but the fourth one caught aflame and burned away his corruptive semblance. Aaron cursed and patted that arm as the yellow flame burned hotter and hotter until then it exploded. Creating a large cloud of dust as Ozpin turned to Cinder, who was staring at what just happened and still trying to process it all.

The dust cloud was blown away by mist, and when Aaron appeared once again his right arm was scalded black and immobile. However, with a dark light that resonated from the veins across his body, that arm was engulfed in a wave of dark red and quickly healed the damage. Ozpin was unsurprised by this turn of events and didn't even waste a breath looking at Aaron as he lunged for Cinder next.

Cinder cursed and summoned her swords with her semblance, blocking and deflecting as many strikes as she could as the headmaster assaulted her with reckless abandon. He proved to be much too quick for her, however, and as one of her swords were broken and the other was disarmed from her grip. Ozpin prodded at her at least two dozen times in the span of a second before smashing her away, wielding his cane like a batter would a baseball bat, and threw her in a far off direction. He continued to spin with his own momentum and blocked an ax kick that would have caved in his skull had it landed. He glared up at Aaron and he glared back in turn. Their forces equalized and nullified against the other, forcing the two to flip away and land afar from each other.

It was like a battle of titans, Cinder thought as she caught her breath. Ozpin had the obvious advantage in skill and experience, but Aaron was able to keep up with his raw strength and speed and his own magical power. Since Ozpin sacrificed four-fifths of his overall power to create the season maidens scattered all across Remnant, he was far weaker than he once was in the past. If he still had such power, he would have bested them both easily. But now, once again, the mistakes that were the maidens continued to be an everlasting thorn in his side.

She couldn't tell if Aaron was actually stronger than the ancient wizard. But he was most certainly holding his ground. The training that he underwent under Salem and the portion of power that she sacrificed to bestow onto him was the reason he was able to fight him for this long already. Had Aaron had limitless time to grow more skilled as Ozpin did, this battle may have already been over.

She could barely keep up with the battle and wondered just how much Aaron really was holding back against her when he was training and sparring with her. Ozpin was pushing Aaron back at one point and then Aaron was overpowering Ozpin at another. A wave of a silver cane whipped through the air as Aaron's semblance corrupted the very area around them as they continued to battle. Cinder watched as the cracks in the walls and in the floor also began seeping out the dark green mist of Aaron's power. Slowly filling up the room. That was the strategy. In the case that neither of them, even together, could defeat Ozpin in a straight battle. Then draining his will by the second with Aaron's semblance would be the next best plan of action. She looked for an opening to join the battle and help her mentor but stopped herself. She'd just be getting in Aaron's way if she joined the battle so abruptly. Unless an opening was so obviously made and Aaron needed her assistance, she wasn't going to interfere just yet.

Her mind screamed at her as she felt the heat that wasn't her own get closer to her back. By instincts alone and a mysterious hungry sense activated from the depths of her mind, she ducked and turned as an explosion of fire just barely grazed her instead of getting a direct hit on her.

Cinder's eye erupted in flames as she glared at the one who dared to try and surprise attack her but was met with another flaming eye in turn. This one burning green.

"Hah!" Pyrrha grunted as her spear stabbed through the air and tried to penetrate Cinder's chest. The other half maiden raised a hand just in time and blocked the tip of the spear with her bare hand, her amber-colored aura preventing the weapon from dealing her a fatal wound. With a grunt of her own, Cinder held her other hand forward and a ball of fire began erupting from her hand.

Pyrrha raised her shield and blocked the explosion of flames. She was blown back by the force, but she held her ground and then dissipated the flames with a powerful gust of wind. When the flames were gone, she transformed her spear back into its sword form and took a stance. One of her eyes flaming green with the greater portion of the fall maiden's power.

Cinder growled loudly and summoned her bow in one hand and another arrow in the other. Her own flaming eye widening angrily and diluting as she glared down the other fall maiden with a literal burning hatred. "How dare you use the power destined for me, against me?" She asked. "How dare you even possess it!? That is my destiny, not yours!"

"You are wrong," Pyrrha shouted back with a violent shake of her head. "Someone as vile and cruel as you are shall never possess a power that is meant to do good for the world and use it for the polar opposite!" She continued. "I've been sensing you ever since I was given this power. It calls out for its other half. For the maiden before me and for the sake of Vale, I shall slay you and return the power to its rightfully whole self."

"Only a fool would think this power was meant to be used for the aid of Remnant," Cinder mocked. "But if this is the final obstacle that I must overcome for the power I desire, then so be it. Come, girl, let us see who's destiny it really is to become the fall maiden."

"Yes," Pyrrha's eyes flashed even brighter. "Let's finish this!" Pyrrha shot forward like a bullet, using wind to boost her charge even further and tearing up the metal parts of the wall to use as weapons. Throwing them forward with her semblance to which Cinder blasted away with her bow and arrow. When she got close enough to strike, Cinder turned that bow into a curved blade and deflected her red blade. Pyrrha blocked the counter-attack with her shield, and then pushed forward. Bashing her shield against Cinder's guards and throwing her back and further away from Aaron and Ozpin's ongoing battle.

Pyrrha charged forward again, this time using her shield as cover as Cinder threw fireballs at her and shifted her weapon into its rifle form. Using the shield for steady aim, she fired at Cinder's aura. She blocked each bullet with her hand, but they both knew that while that took less aura to absorb it was still chipping away at it. And with Pyrrha at full strength and Cinder still reeling from her brief battle with Ozpin earlier, Pyrrha had a clear advantage in terms of aura reserves.

Cinder realized this as well, and also realized that Pyrrha was pushing her farther and farther away from Aaron and Ozpin and toward the destroyed elevator that was still burning at the bottom of the shaft. How unlike the invincible girl, Cinder wondered. Pyrrha was going against her own honor fighting like this, but in some weird way that impressed her. Most likely Pyrrha was fighting with the intention to kill for the first time in her life. She wouldn't have allowed any less if she were to actually defeat her and acquire the full strength of the maiden, at least it would be to a capable opponent.

She wouldn't it make it easy, however, if this was what destiny had in mind for her, then she was going to make the most of it. As a cruel smile grew from her lips, Cinder let the flames beneath her feet make her hover high up into the air. Pyrrha aimed up at her without hesitation and opened fire. Cinder blocked the bullets as she threw another hand behind her, destroying the debris of the elevator left behind easily and creating a large burning hole in the wall that led directly into the shaft itself. As the grin on her face widened even further, she flew into the shaft and hovered there with a challenging glare toward Pyrrha.

"Follow me if you wish to take this power for yourself!" Cinder exclaimed with loud laughter. "Let us take this battle to where the sky can see it!"

Pyrrha growled as Cinder's laugh echoed as she flew up the shaft and toward the top of the building. She took that moment to look back at Ozpin and Aaron, keeping track of their battle and wondering if she should go help the headmaster instead of chasing down her other half.

Ozpin somehow found the time to stare back at her and nodded his head. Sending her the silent message that she was looking for. Pyrrha nodded back and looked back to the empty elevator shaft. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She has never flown before, but then again, she was wearing metal armour. Without the use of her magic, Pyrrha used her semblance on her own armour and while engulfed in a magnetic field of black, she threw herself up and kept levitating. Chasing after the other maiden and spotting her orange flame near the highest part of the tower. She was going to finish this, everyone was relying on her. She couldn't dare to let them all down.

Once Pyrrha left Ozpin broke away from Aaron, putting himself between the shaft and the man before him. He looked around and eyed the dark corruption that had been slowly taking up the basement of Beacon and regarded it with little concern. It wasn't going to be much of a threat to him, but more so to the two half-maidens. Now that Pyrrha and Cinder were gone, however, he wondered why Aaron still bothered to keep trying it.

"Who do you think will win?" Aaron asked, a worryingly calm expression on his face even as he bled from at least a dozen wounds while Ozpin was relatively unscathed. "My apprentice or your new pocket maiden? Cinder is well-trained and has had more practice with the power of the fall maiden, but Pyrrha Nikos is potentially more skilled than her but had less accustomation to the power of the maiden. Hm, it is quite the matchup, don't you think?"

"I have faith in Miss Nikos to hold out until I am done with you," Ozpin replied. "Then once you are dealt with, I will assist her in destroying your apprentice."

"So harsh," Aaron laughed softly. "I've not thought you could speak in such a manner. Tell me, has all those years of living a parasitical life made you less than human?"

"A long time ago," Ozpin replied easily. Not really putting his heart into it. "Are you going to keep stalling or are you going to keep fighting? I must say, for Salem's first apprentice in as long as a thousand years, I am quite disappointed in what she has come up with."

"Ah, you see, I might have been gravely insulted by such words," Aaron said as he relaxed his stance. Still being defensive, but not wasting energy in tensing his muscles. "What attracted me to her wasn't just my inherent magical power, but my drive to make a real difference. My adaptability, and my knowledge of the root of all power. You see, I know I cannot best you. I mean, look at me." He gestured to himself, wincing as the dark Grimm magic that Salem bestowed him worked to mend his wounds. "I endure a hundred injuries while you remain with barely a drop of sweat dripping off your body. Really, if I keep fighting you I will be killed."

"Then perhaps you will surrender while you know that," Ozpin suggested.

"Ah, Ozpin, you underestimate me. Truly, you do." Aaron bowed forward elegantly. Confusing Ozpin more than anything. What he didn't know, however, was the dim crack in the walls and ceiling around him glowing green, and slowly crumbling away. "I said I cannot beat you in battle. Not that I cannot beat you at all."

Aaron whipped a grenade toward Ozpin and made the headmaster roll away. Instead of chasing after him, Aaron sprinted forward toward the elevator shaft. Ozpin continued chasing and caught up quickly. Though right before he could strike while Aaron's back was turned, the man turned quickly and a swarm of something green and black pelted into his chest. Aaron's semblance, a direct hit, pinned Ozpin down momentarily. Ozpin was forced to use his magic to protect himself from corruption and succumbing to the lost forgotten emotion of fear. It rendered him immobile, however, but it would only be for a few moments as Ozpin willed his magic to overpower Aaron's.

"And just like that," Ozpin looked at Aaron as he spoke to him, a confusingly long distance away while he was incapacitated as he was. "I win."

Ozpin looked up as the sound of a loud CRACK made his ears ring. His eyes widened as the ceiling above him, which has been holding so much weight for a very long time, started to break and shattered, dropping large rocks and pebbles onto his face. The walls started to cave inward as well, and the supports that helped hold up the weight were broken by Aaron's semblance. Ozpin was helpless as the entire thing broke at once. Dropping tonnes of rubble and rocks and debris on top of him. Right before it started to fall, however, Ozpin broke free from his binds and sprinted forward, trying to escape the main weight of it but it was far too late.

Aaron watched as Ozpin was buried under tonnes of rock. Disappearing under the dust and solid matter. "Yet again," He said as he turned around, picking his trench coat back up and slipping into it as the rest of his wounds healed instantly. "You have wasted yet another life and been made the fool by a weaker opponent. For as old, powerful, and wise as you are Ozma, you are detestably reckless."

"And now…" Aaron stepped in the center of the elevator shaft. "I take away yet another thing you have spent so long building up."

"Are you sure you don't want to evacuate as well?" Ryan asked Robert, Hector, and Ruby.

"We are fine, we should have everything in order here, you guys left everything set up for us so we should be okay, what about you, have you everyone accounted for? Including prisoners?" Robert asked through his earpiece.

"Everyone still alive is with us, we are tightly packed across five airships but we are doing fine," Ryan said.

"Are you still sure this is a good idea? I don't care if you are better than a huntsman or not kid, you three are all flying directly towards one of the worst scenarios I could think of." Homes chimed in.

"Lieutenant, we'll be fine, as we planned we'll be off this ship before we crash with it, besides, we said we were going to Beacon, this seems like our best ticket there." Robert tried to sound relaxed about their plan.

"Are you sure? We could make the ship go in autopilot and-"

"No, we can't, like we said we need to hit it directly which means we are gonna have to predict and aim for its flight pattern, we have someone with a good eye here, if someone can aim that is her."

"It wouldn't hurt anyone to try a safer way…" Holmes lamented.

"By that logic we should also try this, just to make the most out of the situation… I'm sorry lieutenant, but we need to get to Beacon and try to kill this thing in the process won't hurt anyone. If we do it right we'll save many, there's nothing left to save in this husk of a ship anyway." Robert sighed.

"Huh… okay, you…"

"Robert, the name's Robert."

"Okay Robert, I hope we meet again. All weapons remaining should be in auto-targeting, the controls will be at your disposal, don't trigger the dust too soon however, make it count. If something happens to you, I'll be sure you are remembered as heroes."

"If we miss and run the ship into the mountain, we were never here okay?" Robert tried to laugh.

"Fair enough, I'm giving the order for the transports to fly, you are on your own now, good luck." Holmes bid farewell.

"To you as well." Robert ended the call. "Okay, they are gone, who is everybody?"

"I've never flown… anything before but, I'm okay…" Ruby put on a brave face with a smile, Robert and Hector both stared at her for a few seconds.

"Okay I'm not fine, I'm terrified… you guys?" Ruby asked them.

"I'm trembling and about to shit myself, not literally though, not that last part," Robert confessed.

"Yeah.. but hey, we gotta kill it, we can become dragon slayers this way right?" Hector tried to cheer them up.

"Hopefully, but hey let's do this already, not like we can sit and do nothing," Robert said as the three of them gathered near the controls.

"So… we fly into it, see where it is going, aim, make sure the weapons are firing, and once we are sure we'll hit it, we run, and on our way out we trigger the dust:" Hector summarized their plan. They had moved a lot of cargo of dust towards the forward storage of the ship, they would make sure it went alight the moment the ship hit and possibly make sure that whatever they hit exploded with the ship.

"Yeah, we have to check all of this and make sure to hit, once we are sure we'll pull all energy to the thrusters, so guns and everything else will be… gone, but we'll ram into no problem." Ruby said for her part.

"We might have some Grimm trying to stop us, so we are going to need to hold out this bridge intact as well… okay everyone ready?" Robert asked them, they didn't shake their heads or nod. "Well, maybe that's about as ready as we are going to be," Robert said while pressing a couple of buttons on a screen. "Guns are powered."

"Thrusters are ready, we are going!" Ruby said as she stood next to the… helm… it was more of a special control panel.

"The dragon is circling around the mountain, I think is trying to scare the people on the ground with fire runs." Hector looked out the window

"... Maybe it won't see us coming?" Ruby hoped they had one shot, after all, they sailed through the air towards the Wyvern and got close to Beacon as well, as they got closer towards the Wyvern the flock of avian Grimm grew in numbers, they seemed to be coming out and gathering around the Wyvern. Most of the Grimm that came near either flew by or into the ship, those that flew into it got gunned down by the automatic turrets, however, some decided to go even further and tried to get into the bridge itself, the bridge had one frontal view with several windows, only one was broken and the rest were doing wonders resisting the impact of Grimm dive-bombing into them. If they remained at the windows got gunned down, however, the turrets wouldn't last forever.

"We lost two turrets… make that three, we still have the big ones." Robert said as he monitored the guns.

"We are fine over here!" Hector said as he punched a Nevermore they tried to take a peek through the broken window hard enough to knock it away.

"Where is it? Where's the Wyvern? I can't see it!" Ruby screamed as she tried to spot the Wyvern again.

"It's looking around Beacon I think, there it is, it's dropping more Grimm towards the residential district next to Beacon." Hector acted as their spotter.

"So we gotta go right?" Ruby asked him.

"No! No… it's coming around, keep going straight." Hector called.

"If it keeps going in circles… we are not gonna be able to hit!" Ruby said Robert gave some power to the thrusters before going to take a peek.

"Merlot was right… it slows down when it turns, it makes a long flap of its wings."

"How many spins is it going to make?" Ruby asked.

"Maybe three if it keeps being distracted." Robert guessed.

"Nah wait I call four it's taking a long fly by the entire mountain around Beacon, it's dropping more Grimm. It's focusing on that area…" Hector looked again.

"Guys I can't do this like this… I can barely see it, it's below us right?"

"Yeah, we are… decently higher than it." Robert made a rough estimate.

"Okay, we need to aim the nose down," Ruby said, she quickly shifted the direction and now they started… falling slightly, the weight distribution changed and now they realized they were going for it now, they were going to dive into it, and speed would quickly catch up to them, above them A Grimm made a dent on the roof.

"They are breaking through!" Ruby shouted, Robert went to the dent and fired a powerful lightning bolt upwards towards the roof, it seemed to go through it and hit something as they heard a Grimm wail. At that moment as well a Griffon broke its head through a window, Hector made sure to punch it out of the bridge before it could do more.

"We are losing more guns!" Robert said.

"And that freaking dragon is moving too much! Hey Rob! Hex! Put power on the side thrusters." She ordered them.

"Now? We are nowhere near!" Hector said.

"It's the only way we'll be able to track it!" Ruby told them, Robert and Hector looked at each other, sparks were flying around them as they were being attacked and alarms were going off as more pieces of the ship were being destroyed by the Grimm.

"I take left, you take right!" Robert said to Hector, he nodded and both of them went to side consoles near the walls, they were some of the aviary power controls, Ruby steered the ship and Hector and Robert made sure to give her the extra power she needed to steer in a couple of seconds.

"Okay! Left!" Ruby called and Robert gave power to the left thrusters.

"Okay, okay okay a little less, a little less!" Ruby screamed as she aimed the ship for the Wyvern.

"Shit!" Robert decreased power.

"Oka we are fine, right! Right!" She called for Hector and Hector did his part at increasing the power of his side.

"Like that?" Hector asked.

"Yeah we are fine, okay now right again and then left again." She said as they continued this motion, to anyone looking from the ground the ship might have looked like it was doing a weird zig-zag, it really was doing it's best to home in on the Wyvern, all the while Hector and Robert had to shoot lightning and projectiles of dust as the Grimm tried to break through the roof and the windows, as the broke more windows and torn pieces of the roof the pressure got worse, both literally and figuratively.

"We are losing more guns!" Robert said, throwing a lightning grenade at a broken window with Griffon trying to climb through.

"I can't see!" Ruby said as more Grimm covered her view.

"I got this!" Hector went in and with a big hook towards the frame of the window and knocked several Grimm away from it.

"Okay, Okay I can see now, I need to go right now!" She called and Hector ran back to his console and gave power to the thrusters. "Rob… the guns?"

"We only have… I don't know how many but we almost lost all of them!" Robert yelled as he fired thunderbolts and lightning bolts at the Grimm on the windows.

"Okay… we are near, where is it?" Hector asked.

"...Staring at us…" Ruby looked from her viewpoint and coils see as the Wyver had noticed them, at that moment the pressure broke through, they had to hold on for to dear life to not get carried away by the air escaping out of the bridge, They held onto the consoles and the walls, Ruby to the hem on her case. Robert crouched and held his hand to the ground, he used gravity dust and shockwave around them to create a field of purple lightning, it didn't pressurize the bridge but it helped them stay on their feet.

"Thanks! It's… Aah!" Ruby screamed as she saw the dragon shoot a fireball at them, Hector thought quickly, he went towards the front of the windows, again with Grimm trying to climb through some of them.

"Robert, expand that thing when I say so!" Hector yelled.

"I'll do what I can!" Robert answered.

"Okay… now!" Hector used his Kaioken trough his gauntlets, focused all of it into an outwards explosion, it went forwards past the windows, it also combined with Robert's expanding gravity shockwave, the combination made a wall of solid fire, fighting fire with fire Hector was able to nullify the fireball as it went for them, it still hit them, and the windows were on fire and a big part of the ship was as well, but they were unharmed.

"We are close, we gotta ram soon," Ruby said it seemed like for the moment the Wyver was hovering after sending that fireball.

The dragon made a move to fly by them, it moved up, out of their course.

"We are gonna miss…" Robert faltered for a second.

"No! Look, it has to regain speed, emergency thrusters! Down and up and full. Power!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs. They did as so, for a moment the Ship slowed down, and then it blasted forward.

It wasn't advised in Atlas ships to put full power to anything, with all the power going to the thrusters is went faster than anyone expected, the sudden breakneck acceleration pushed them back, but much to their relief ruby had aimed right, the ship was going to impact the Wyvern's chest before it could shift momentum, turn, or do anything.

"We are gonna hit!" Ruby screamed but in pride and in terror.

"We gotta go, Now! Hector hit it." Robert held on as best he could to the wall.

"Got it!" Hector pulled out a detonator and pushed it.

"We gotta go now, now, now!" Robert urged them as they steadily made their way to the back, one of the walls was about to collapse, they looked at each other and rammed into it with all three of their semblances, as soon as they did, they went like projectiles outside the ship and into the air, the could now see the massive pack of air Grimm that had been trying to stop them and that was tearing the ship apart, they saw the dragon try to fly up faster, they the ship impact with a thunderous crack against the Wyvern, and like a bullet, the nose of the flagship exploded while still punching through the Wyvern with massive force, the Wyvern itself became engulfed in flames.

"Aaaaah!" The three of them screamed as they flew through the air, the dragon wailed in pain as the flagship pushed into it with enough force to carry it with it. They avoided some of the Grimm as the flew by, they used some as stepping stones, eventually, the three of them landed on a giant Nevermore that was also falling down and slightly on fire due to the explosion, Ruby landed and stabbed Crescent Rose trough part of the head, Hector landed on the right-wing and Robert on the left.

The Nevermore nose-dived straight to the ground and if they didn't do something, it would be against a cliff. Ruby shifted Crescent Rose and it made the Nevermore turn slightly, the three of them noticed and then looked at how they were positioned.

"Left!" Ruby called And Robert knew what to do, using lightning and his strength to shift the position of it.

"Right!" Ruby called, and Hector did the same.

"Up!" All of them controlled the Nevermore, together they managed to control it and made it not crash to a cliff, instead they made it crash into Beacon.

"We are going to hit the building, in one of the rooms!" Ruby shouted.

"Brace yourselves!" Robert warned them.

"Son of a bitch!" Hector cursed, and the three of them screamed as they crashed through the room of a team, they didn't know which one, but it was safe today some repair would be needed, the Nevermore began to dissipate as Robert and Hector regained their bearings.

"Ow!" Robert complained as he stumbled and limped slightly.

"Are you okay?" Hector asked.

"Yeah and… and Ruby?" Robert worried, they looked around and saw Ruby knocked down on the floor, they checked her pulse and were relieved to see she was just unconscious, it seemed she got the worst of the crash.

"Will she be safe here?" Hector asked.

"Maybe…" Robert looked out of the wall they made and saw as there were less Grimm on the air now.

"Okay... Rob, we are here at Beacon... we need to get to the vault." Hector said as he supported himself on a wall, panting heavily as he recovered.

"Yeah… just give me one second… put her… put her behind that closet, she should be hidden from… anything I think." Robert heaved as he was on one knee. "Okay, are you good?" Robert asked Hector.

"I think." Hector placed Ruby behind the closet, safely in the corner of the room.

"Got it, then let's go." Both Robert and Hector left Ruby in as safe a spot as they could hope. She had Crescent Rose in her hands just in case she woke up and anything happened, and out of sight in the way that no one would find her unless they were specifically looking for someone who was hiding. And in a time like this where all of Beacon was in the middle of a battle, Ruby was relatively safe. Just in case Hector made double sure by pushing a large desk in front of where she was sat so that even if someone did come by and see her with ill intentions in mind, she was small enough to be completely hidden.

"Where to first?" Hector asked as he and Robert came close to the elevator shaft. "Down into the basement… or up to the office?"

"Do we know that there's a fight happening up there right now?" Robert asked.

"I don't know," Hector let out a frustrated sigh. "We have a fifty-fifty chance. Ozpin's strong, but he was killed before, and even though Pyrrha is half maiden this time around, there's always the chance it wouldn't be enough."

After a moment of thought, Robert decided "Let's go down," He said with a resolved nod of his head. "Ozpin is strong. Cinder isn't nearly as strong as she could be right now. Unless Aaron is helping her and he is stronger than we both thought, then I believe Ozpin is still alive right now."

Hector thought about it for a moment but ultimately nodded his head in agreement. "So, we jump then?"

"Yeah, we can use the walls to slow ourselves down and landing shouldn't be an issue."

Hector nodded his head and was the first to jump down. He grabbed on to the wall with Ivory and used dust to superheat the gauntlet so that he had a better grip on the wall as he slid down. Robert followed quickly after, using his lightning to help him coast along the side of the walls just above Hector. They both fell for what felt like a minute or two before they allowed themselves to fall the rest of the way without holding onto the walls.

As soon as they made their way into the basement, they immediately noticed the many piles of debris, rubble, cooling magma, and specks of fire of two different colors all over the place. The entire place was a mess, and notably, there was no one down there.

"Shit," Hector feared that they were too late. "Is Ozpin…?"

"I don't see a body," Robert said as he began blowing apart debris with his semblance. "We can still save him."

Hector rushed to agree, and the two of them split up to different piles of debris and picked at the destruction that was left behind. Their fear continued to rise as they found nothing. Picking at the rubble and debris met them with nothing, Amber's pod on the far side of the room was untouched, but that just meant that Cinder knew that she was dead and that Pyrrha was already the other half of the fall maiden and considering that there was green fire mixed in with all of the destruction, it was safe to assume that she was fighting.

After a minute of searching, they realized that there might not be anything for them to find. The only thing that was left was the biggest pile of rubble, dirt, and rocks from a cave in from the ceiling. "Ozpin!" Hector called out into the pile as if the man could hear him from under it all. "If you're still here, let us know! Please!"

Robert shook his head and already accepted what Hector was denying. Ozpin was dead. They were too late, which meant that they chose the wrong route to go down. However, as he went up to calm his friend down and lead him toward the top of the tower, the room began to shake. Out of instinct, Robert went down to one knee and protected his face as Hector crossed his arms out in front of himself, as the largest pile of them all started to shake and for an avalanche of dust and rock to start rumbling away from the center. A shine of green started to resonate from the bottom of the pile until a small explosion of yellow blew away the rest of the rubble.

As the dust settled and their ears stopped ringing. Ozpin became visible in the destruction. His aura shattered with a disturbing sound as he dropped down to one knee. Bleeding from dozens of wounds as his magical shield faded away into the air.

"Holy shit he's alive!" Robert hardly believed it, but he saw it so of course, it was real, Ozpin wasn't dead yet.

"Ozpin!" Hector said as he caught the man before he could fall and supported him. "W-what happened? Are you okay?"

"Alive," Ozpin said with a nod. "Worry not about me, these wounds are not enough to kill me. You two need to get to the top of the tower as soon as possible." He explained quickly. "Pyrrha needs your help, she was battling Cinder as I was distracting Hayes, but just minutes ago I was buried underneath that rubble."

"Aaron went up the tower as well then?" Robert worried there, Pyrrha wouldn't be able to survive against both of them if she kept fighting

"I would assume so," Ozpin admitted easily, then started coughing and hacking as he fell down to his hands and knees. "Go, help her. She can barely stand against Cinder on her own much less Aaron at the same time. Enough has changed with me living already, perhaps if you two are fast enough, fate can be changed yet again."

"Right," Hector said with a nod and looked toward Robert. "Are you going to be okay if we leave you alone?"

"This is not enough to kill me," Ozpin repeated with the utmost confidence. "Believe me, I have endured much worse. Go, I'll be fine."

"Alright, you better not be bullshiting to us, don't die down here." Robert and Hector stood up, leaving Ozpin behind to help himself as they rushed back toward the elevator shaft. Hector used Kaioken and started running up the wall, using his heat and strength to force his feet into the metal walls as Robert ran up behind him with his lightning. They ran and ran, forcing themselves to keep going as they made their way back up to the top of the tower.

Toward their destined battle. Hector and Robert knew that this was make or break. They and Pyrrha were the only ones that stood in their way at this point. And they couldn't afford to let them win. Ozpin was still alive, that might have been enough on its own to change fate. But Pyrrha's fate was unknown.

Hector growled as he willed himself onward even more. Pyrrha was his friend, and he'd die before he let her get killed again.

Adam limped and held onto his chest while his other hand held onto Blush and Wilt. He definitely felt that something was broken in his chest. A cracked sternum perhaps, and maybe even a rib or two was broken or cracked as well. But most of all, it was his pride that was injured. He wanted to make Blake suffer for what she did, and Cain too for that matter. But that strange girl with the ginger hair and surprisingly very hard body had other things planned for him. And Cain's semblance too, damnit. So much went wrong, and all because he got too cocky!

He would have to work on that, but right now he had to retreat. Seeing him injured as he was now would demoralize the White Fang more than it would inspire them. He was the strongest of them and an idol among most. Seeing him hurt would make them wonder if worse would happen to them if they kept fighting. It hurt, but he was going to have to bear the pain just as he always did if he wanted to get himself and his men out of there.

The battle was taking a turn for the worst, however. The Atlesian soldiers and huntsman have returned to Beacon with a vengeance, and he knew that his White Fang was most certainly not going to be able to hold them off as they were now. Even the Grimm was being culled now. The message was sent, even if Beacon did not fall, the message that the White Fang will not be silenced and ignored any longer made it all worth it.

"Retreat!" He screamed to all his White Fang, forcing his voice to be loud even as his chest hurt doing it. "We have what we came here for, everyone who can hear me, pass the message along. We are leaving!"

"Yes sir!" The surrounding officers exclaimed as they went into their scrolls to send out a widespread message. In mere minutes the bulk of his White Fang began to regroup, and the Bullheads that they had apprehended returned to pick them up so they could make their leave and escape Beacon.

Adam led most of the White Fang toward the edges of Beacon where the Bullheads would be waiting for them and waited until he knew that the majority of his forces made it in. There weren't enough Bullheads for everyone to retreat in one go, and they all knew that. So they had to wait and hold that position long enough for the pilots to drop off the others, refuel then come back to pick up the rest. However, the Atlesian soldiers and huntsmen, and students were just vengeful enough to not let them get away so easily.

"Sir!" One of the lower-ranking officers called to him. "We have reports of an Atlesian squad of soldiers being led by Winter and Weiss Schnee themselves coming our way! What do we do?"

"You will do nothing," Adam said with a hiss of pain as he grabbed his chest. "I will take my best soldiers and deal with them myself. We do not need to win here, just hold out long enough until the Bullheads return."

"Yes sir!"

Adam didn't take his best soldiers, though he said as such as he grabbed the nearest and fullest squad of trained revolutionaries and told them to follow but stay a good distance away from him. In truth, even their best wasn't enough to best specialists unless they were in great numbers. He could, were he not injured right now. Even with low aura. He was going to try, anyhow. Someone needed to cover the retreat, and he was the only one strong enough to hold back the stronger of the opposition.

Going in the same direction the Schnee's were led onto a path of destruction by their own men. Faunus lied dead, mangled by the Grimm, or killed by bullets or bladed weapons. Others were injured, though unable to move. Most of them were young, crying out for help or for their parents. They weren't the only ones. Students and other Atlesian soldiers joined them, although in much smaller numbers. In terms of Specialists, it might as well be zero.

When they came across Winter Schnee and her squad of men and women, they were much more organized and well-trained than his own. That was expected given that the average Atlesian soldier received prime military basic training while the White Fang members were given exercise and a good and healthy diet and the minority of them had the aura to protect themselves with. Even fewer were the ones who actually knew how to use their aura and even fewer than that had their semblances unlocked.

"Winter Schnee!" Adam screamed over the ensuing chaos, ignoring the pain in his chest once again and appearing to be strong and energetic. "I, Adam Taurus, am challenging you!"

That got the woman's attention. Winter halted in her battle as all eyes and ears trained on them. She was far, but well within hearing distance. Beside her Atlesian soldiers aimed their guns on him, but she stopped them with a wave of her hand. Instead of stepping forward herself. Evidently going against the suggestions of her men and younger sister and stepping forward to meet his challenge head-on.

"You would challenge me to a duel here?" Winter asked back, dual sabers in each hand as she eyed him down.

They had fought in the past. Once. When he was breaking out faunus miners from a Schnee dust mining facility. It happened to be an ambush, and for the briefest of moments, they crossed blades. There was no deciding victor as the two of them barely traded blows against each other as both sides were retreating after a bloody battle. But with the glyphs that he knew she was capable of, and the dual sword style that she had assumed, he knew that even if he was in the best of shapes it would take surpassing himself to best the specialist.

"My White Fang is retreating," Adam stated, gesturing off to the Bullheads in the distance. "Your men are tired and getting worn out. Any further battle between our forces would only lead to bloodshed."

"Are you not the ones who attacked Beacon in the first place!?" Weiss Schnee screamed, stomping up beside her sister and glaring at the one who had been hunting down vulnerable members of her family. "You started this, and you're-"

"Silence, sister." Winter snapped to her. "Let me handle this. A man such as he is far too much for you to handle. Go."

"But Winter-"

"Go!" Winter raised her voice. A soldier then stepped up and pulled on Weiss' arm gently. The younger Schnee looked hurt by her elder sibling's harsh dismissal, and Adam couldn't help but respect her decision. However much he hated the Schnees and all they are associated with for what they did to him and his kind, he could respect when they knew when to back down or hold back their peers.

"State your challenge," Winter stated next.

"As I implied, it is a duel." Adam began, drawing his weapon and handing Blush back to a nearby member of the White Fang. He'd only need Wilt for this. "Best me in battle, and you may arrest me and go on to attack my retreating men."

"And if you win?" Winter asked.

"If I win, you let us leave," Adam said with a shrug. "That is all. Anything goes in the battle other than interference from an outside party in any way. Now, do you accept it? Or are you Atelsians going to spit on yet another negotiation attempt?"

"Most negotiation attempts have a hand holding a knife behind their back when it comes to the White Fang," Winter pointed out. "But… if you are being truthful. I will accept your challenge, Adam Taurus."

"Good," Adam let out a soft sigh of relief as he lowered his stance and held his sword with two hands. "Go, pass the message along, and leave us. As soon as the majority of our forces are gone, send a Bullhead to pick me up." He ordered the man behind him.

"But Adam. You're hurt," The bear faunus pointed out. "You're strong, but even the strongest guys can't fight when hurt."

"It means nothing," Adam growled back, warning him to argue no further. "Retreat or you'll never see the sunrise again."

"Go." He added finally. The soldiers reluctantly accepted his orders, and across the way, it seemed that Winter had decided to replicate his notion. Ordering her own soldiers to stand down as she stepped forward, holding her dual sabers in each hand as she entered an elegant stance.

She was faster than him. But he was stronger than her. Both had been fighting before this point, so they were both probably tired. Adam groaned quietly as the pain in his chest flared up again. Most likely, Winter wasn't as injured as he was and she had more aura than he did. All the odds were stacked against him. That was how it has always been. From the moment he was held down and branded back when he was a child to the moment he first picked up a weapon and started fighting back. There was one thing he was best at, however, one thing that helped him get as far as he was now. He never gave up, no matter how dire the situation was, or who he was up against. Be it Grimm, huntsmen, bandits, or Atlesian Specialists. He'd kill them all on multiple occasions. This was just one more battle.

He let Winter make the first move as they circled each other. She lunged forward and stabbed one of her blades at him, prodding at his defenses. The blade was deflected immediately, and Adam countered with a horizontal slash that Winter blocked with her second blade while at the same time stabbing her other one out toward his cracked mask. Adam whipped his head to the side and dodged that as well, feeling the wind brush against his neck as he did so. He wasn't done yet and overpowered Winter as he used a portion of the stored-up power his semblance still had left. Actually cutting through Winter's blade like it was made out of paper. She was a Specialist for a reason, however, and having one of her weapons cut in half did little to lessen her skill. She flipped away from his glowing red blade and used a glyph to summon a Beowolf out of the ground.

Adam winced as the powerful beast lunged at him and bit down on Wilt. He grunted loudly as it clawed at his chest, making it hurt even more as another loud snap was heard coming from his chest. It was throbbing painfully now, but he dispatched the summoned creature in a splash of red and its white head fell to the ground and dissipated away.

Winter summoned another glyph underneath her, and fire tipped the edge of her blade. Adam once again deflected the powerful wisps of fire that shot at him like bullets, and kept an eye on that same glyph as it turned and shifted from fire to ice. He hid behind a pillar as spears of ice flew at him next, clutching his chest and already bleeding heavily as a trickle of blood leaked out of his mouth. Damn it, one of his lungs must have been injured internally from the Beowolf's attack. He bit back his own pain and spun around the pillar and charged forward. He couldn't keep fighting defensively. He was able to destroy one of her swords already, if he could do it again he may as well be considered the victor.

Winter was prepared for it this time. As she saw Adam's hair and clothes and sword glowing red, she jumped away from the glyph and deactivated it. Only to summon another and create a wall of ice to protect her from his attack. He canceled it so as to not waste power, and kicked off the wall to launch himself over it, flip twice, and swing his weapon down on the third spin. Clashing against Winter's blade as she caught his strike with both her broken sword and her full one. Gravity made him lose the initial power behind the attack, and he allowed himself to be thrown away and flipped onto the ground, catching his breath.

"You are already exhausted," Winter pointed out as she pointed her full blade at him with narrowed eyes. "I respect you for fighting a losing battle, but it will not save you. Lay down your weapon Taurus, or else I will have to take it from you."

"Come… and get it," Adam taunted between breaths.

Winter through her nose, and decided to do just that. She stepped forward, then broke into an offensive sprint and pointed both of her weapons at the bull faunus before her. Adam met her broken blade with his own, but that was just what she wanted. Using his exhaustion against her, she let him push away her broken blade and flipped over him. He was too slow to defend himself and face her at the same time, and his red blade was out of position.

It's over. She thought as she swung her full blade and directly struck Adam's face on the mask. The mask cracked and shattered, and she continued to push her strike through. The faunus cried out as his aura flickered and he fell to the ground on one knee. Holding his face at the same time and slowly turning toward her.

Not over yet. Winter swung her weapon down to deplete what remained of Adam's aura, but something stopped her as Adam looked her in the eyes. Her own eyes widened and a shocked gasp blew out of her lungs as she looked at Adam's face. Half of it was perfectly normal, three-quarters of it even. But his left eye… it was branded. Branded by her own father's company. The letters SDC screamed at her and it made her make a mistake. She missed her strike and struck the ground as Adam dodged to her left.

Adam's sword arm was pointed away from her, so he got desperate and transferred all of the aura and the power from his semblance into his left hand. His clothing gleamed red, as did his hair, and the very atmosphere around them seemed to lose color as Adam threw the most powerful punch he has ever thrown, striking Winter in the cheek right as she turned to try and defend against the attack. Her own aura flickered bright white before shattering completely, and she felt something in her jaw crack as she hit the ground and rolled. Still alive, but dazed and extremely stunned. Winter didn't know what she was looking at. Trying to get up but failing too multiple times, Adam finally allowed himself to fall down onto both knees and cough up even more blood on the top of the shattered remains of his mask.

His scar was on full display as he looked back up and at her, then overhead when a Bullhead flew into view. "Come on!" A member of the White Fang screamed as they threw down a rope ladder to Adam.

Adam grabbed Wilt and lunged for the rope ladder. Tying it around both of his legs as it lifted him up into the air. Before he left, he announced. "This will not be the last time we cross blades, Schnee!" He screamed angrily. "The next time we meet, one of us will die."

"Don't let them get away!" Weiss exclaimed as she rushed to her sister and stood over her protectively as she aimed Myrtenaster up at his ship.

"Stop," Winter ordered as she held on to her arm. Weiss squawked and looked back at her, asking why she is letting a man like him getaway. "I will not dishonor my loss any further, he beat me. Let him go." She said. "Round up any who remain, and then help the rest of the school. This is just one section and we cannot afford to waste resources going after a single man."

She was helped up by two soldiers. One of them brought her the scroll she had given them before battling against Adam. She dialed a number quickly, and Ironwood's call sign appeared on the screen. "Your orders, sir?" She asked as she looked at the fiery wreck in the distance, and watched as an overwhelming black mist surrounded it. The primary flagship was down, but it had also destroyed the dragon. Whoever had the insane idea of crashing the entire ship into the Grimm Wyvern both needed to be slapped and given a reward.

"Clear out the rest of Beacon, and then go down to Vale," Ironwood said as he piloted his own Bullhead. "Atlesian Paladins are being deployed to handle the remaining Grimm and betrayers associated with the White Fang. We must prioritize keeping Beacon standing while also defending the citizens. Am I clear?"

"Understood, sir."

"Good, General Ironwood out."

"You heard him, did you not?" Winter called out as she favored her jaw. "Go continue clearing out the school of all unwanted guests. Once that is done, we may just be able to assist in the battle for the CCT."

"What about me?" Weiss asked, making herself known.

"Go assist your fellow students," Winter said, looking down on her. "Make sure they are okay, I am sure you must be worried."

"I…" Weiss nodded her head and hugged her sister. "I am glad you are okay," She said in a rush and broke away just as fast before it could be deemed unprofessional. They clearly had a lot to talk about, Winter thought as she watched her sister walk away without another word. She was clearly upset, and Winter couldn't blame her.

A conversation for later. Right now, she needed to finish this fight. Even without aura, it would regenerate in a given time. She had troops to lead, and Grimm to slaughter. Even if she did have to spit out a tooth or two in the process.

Adam Taurus… She thought about the man before she went on. I'll let you have this victory this time, but I swear it. The White Fang will be over soon.

Yang dropped to her knees as soon as she passed Blake along to some medical staff and followed them until they placed her partner on a makeshift mattress and began working on that stab wound. Miraculously enough, Adam's blade seemed to have missed all of Blakes's organs, and just stabbed through veins and muscles while just grazing an artery, which explained why she bled so much back at that cafeteria. Now that she knew that she was safe, Yang felt the comfort to let herself break down. Not emotionally, but mentally and physically. She lied on the ground where she was and was on the border of passing out. Only willing herself back awake when she remembered that there were others that she was concerned with.

Penny did an analysis on Penny as she set her down on one of the available makeshift mattresses. Thankfully, the dog faunus was just exhausted and her body was in a state of forced restful sleep. That made Penny feel better and let out a soft hum as she brushed some of her ashen hair out of her face so that it didn't get into her comedically open mouth.

Penny stood up and away from her friend and looked around to see if any of her other friends were there. Spending so much time on Ironwood's flagship proved to make her a little lonely. She missed her friends, and she wished that she didn't have to see them again like this.

Aside from the exhausted Yang, Ashley, and an injured Blake. There were two members of Team JNPR. Ren and Nora, who were both wearing bandages on multiple parts of their bodies and leaning against each other for support. Ren was clearly exhausted and Nora, surprisingly, was just as tired and quiet. Penny didn't blame them. Along with the arrival of Michael and Reggie, they had to defend against a line of betraying huntsmen and huntresses. Leading to them all being injured in some way. They didn't seem happy either, wondering where their other two teammates, namely Jaune and Pyrrha, were. It's been an hour since they had to leave for some unknown reason. Penny made a mental note among many other dozens to go search for them soon.

In regards to Michael and Reggie, the latter of the two was injured as well. Battered and bruised and with one of his arms in a sling as Michael sat restlessly at his side tending to his lover's injuries. Concern was written all over his face, and it was clear that he was worried for his partner as well as his missing teammates. They quickly noticed that Ashley was there when Yang called out to them, and they made their way to the sleeping girl. They were relieved to see her unhurt, and they stayed by their side even as Yang profusely apologized for freezing up and letting her get hurt. There was nothing for them to forgive, however. They didn't blame her for succumbing to gear. Reggie did before, and even Hector did before them. Multiple times, they were keen on pointing out.

In the back of her mind, she knew that Weiss Schnee was still with her elder sister, but that may have changed. No one else she recognized was present, not even the members of her own team that Atlas appointed her. That was unfortunate, perhaps they would arrive at a later time. Once Penny made sure that everyone was in one piece, she looked toward the great fiery wreck in the distance that was Ironwood's flagship, along with the massive plume of blackness that was the death of the Grimm Wyvern. According to her own code, there was no such contingency to ram the ship into any massive-class flying Grimm. But apparently and evidently, an exception was made. In any case, one of the major invading forces of Beacon was now destroyed and dwindling away. Leading to just one more issue that needed solving.

Cinder Fall. She was out there somewhere, and Penny was willing to bet that her other friends were as well. She was confirmed to be one of the driving causes of this sudden attack, and Penny had to admit. She hated that. Why did she have to do this? Why did she have to hurt her friends and bring one of the few places that she has come to call home under siege? Was she that thirsty for power, or was she just that cruel and heartless? Penny felt… strange. An emotion came to her that she wasn't quite familiar with. She felt her fists clenching and her eyes scrunching down. Was this anger? Was this hate? Was this what her father warned her to swallow down unless it was absolutely necessary?

If it was. Now it was absolutely necessary. Penny growled lightly and looked up to the sky, and to the CCT. Great explosions of fire and wind were igniting all over the place. A battle was being fought up there, a desperate one. One that could very well mean the destruction or its inception.

Cinder fired up and directly inside of Ozpin's tower. She hovered for a moment and looked around before stopping and taking a stance in front of Ozpin's desk. Moments later, Pyrrha chased after her. The metal parts of her armour propelled her forward as she activated her semblance and her right eye flaming green as the same color of fire blew out from one of her gloves. Cinder created a wedge of flame with her two hands and sliced away the opposing flames. Smirking as her orange fire dissipated together among the green embers of Pyrrha's.

No more talking, they both agreed. One of them was going to die tonight, and Cinder was going to make sure that it wasn't her. She summoned her swords in each hand as Pyrrha placed her shield on her back and held her sword in two. Both women took a deep breath, and when they exhaled a plume of smoke came out of their noses. They clashed in the middle in less than a second, Cinder's dual blades grinding against Pyrrha's Milo as they pushed back against each other with all of their strength.

The ensuing shockwave followed next, and all the windows in Ozpin's office shattered in an instant. Allowing the whistling rush of the wind to fill the room and make itself known. Cinder pushed away and with her swords, slashed two arcs of fire in the shape of an X toward her other half. Pyrrha let out a battle cry as she cut through it right down the middle in an upwards strike, which also sent a slash of wind through the air which Cinder tanked with her aura and nullified with her own magic. Wind and fire mixed together around her like an aura, Cinder rose into the air once again as two great balls of flame grew in both her hands. Pyrrha pulled her shield back out and slammed the side of her sword against it. Cinder winced as she felt her ears ring and for the balls of flame in her hands to be partially blown away. Pyrrha followed up by throwing her shield at Cinder and controlled its trajectory with her semblance. Cinder slapped it away with the back of her hand, but it only gave Pyrrha the chance to move it in mid-air and fling it back into Cinder's back.

Cinder cried out as the pain shot up her spine, and in a burst of hateful anger, unleashed the two attacks of fire that she'd been charging up in her hands. Pyrrha called her shield back to her and blocked the first one. That proved to be a mistake as she felt herself get blown back by its explosive power and for her to be so violently smashed against the wall that it cracked the entire foundation of that room. The second ball of flame and Pyrrha watched it with widened eyes as it got closer. Snuffing her fear out, she used her own magical power and threw out a hastily charged up blast of fire of her own. Green met orange and was overpowered, but it weakened the attack enough so that Cinder's flames simply washed over her aura rather than drain away at it.

Pyrrha fell down to one knee and got an idea. She sheathed her sword and placed her shield on her back once more, and charged up her own method of attack. She had barely enough time to practice with this new power of yours, but it was quickly growing on to her. She felt Amber's presence give her strength and helped her learn how to use this power the more she fought against its corrupted another half. She wasn't alone here, and as her green flames grew in size and intensity, she fired a short and thin beam of fire directed by the wind directly at Cinder.

Cinder reached out and blocked the beam with the palm of her hand, concentrating her aura and added more heat into that area to nullify the blow. She cried out when it did little as the beam of fire exploded a moment after it connected. It would have blown off her hand entirely if she hadn't concentrated aura into it. But she felt as her muscles, skin, and bones felt hot and were throbbing with pain. As the sensation became more intense, Cinder snarled. Did that brat think that she was stronger than her!? From the way Pyrrha smirked slightly as she unsheathed her sword to charge at her once more, she dared to think so.

Cinder screamed and unleashed everything that she had in a single burst. Pyrrha was caught off guard by the sudden area of effect attack and formed a sphere of wind around herself to displace the heat and flames. Cinder, while melting the steel beams and structure of that entire room, summoned her bow and arrow once more. In turn, Pyrrha went down to one knee and shifted her sword into a rifle. Aiming at Cinder as she pulled back an arrow.

Cinder let loose as many arrows as Pyrrha shot bullets. Each of them collided and destroyed each other mid-flight, but while Pyrrha had the disadvantage of a limited magazine, Cinder could simply keep summoning up arrows to constantly knot and release at a fast enough pace to keep up with Pyrrha's trigger finger. When Pyrrha heard her rifle click, she cursed and shifted it into a spear and prepared to throw it at Cinder.

That proved to be a mistake as the fiery aura that Cinder was giving off finally gave way, and she heard the thuds of almost a dozen arrows land all around her in the shape of a circle. Pyrrha looked down and gasped, she remembered this scene from somewhere. This was how Cinder managed to break Amber's aura when she ambushed her with Emerald and Mercury. She wondered how she knew that so suddenly, but pushed that thought aside as she prepared to getaway.

Cinder landed behind her and the accents of her clothes glowed bright orange as the arrows exploded all around the other half-maiden. The explosion was so great, it blew part of the roof of Ozpin's office right off and destroyed the clockwork along with it. Cinder enhanced the explosion even further by throwing another one of her precious fireballs into the mix. Adding to the fuel and causing it to be even more powerful than it would have been without her intervention.

When the dust was settling and the plume of smoke was fading away. Cinder smirked as she saw the figure before her down on her stomach. The same move to take down yet another maiden. She smiled cruelly at the shared fate as she summoned one of her blades and went to go finish her off.

Green fire exploded from the cloud and Cinder gasped as Akuou slammed into her stomach. Knocking the wind out of her. Pyrrha stood up suddenly from her positions on the ground, her entire body wrapped in a blanket of green fire as her red-orange aura shined brightly underneath it.

How she was able to nullify the damage was beyond her. But Cinder felt herself get blown away as the shield continued to push her up into the now destroyed ceiling. Pyrrha stood and the flames fell off her body. She dropped her sword as a black magnetic field formed around her hands. Cinder cried out in pain as the needle-point of the clocktower she had just destroyed just tried to stab into her back and cried out again when one big broken piece of metal slammed into her stomach. Again, and again. Pyrrha kept her locked in the air with her shield as she used her semblance further enhanced by her maiden powers to keep Cinder in the air and kept in check. A vein bulged in her head as she felt a migraine coming along with the mental strain it required her to endure as she used her semblance. She never really tested it's limit before, but now she knew that she could keep control of the battle as long as she kept Cinder locked in the air and kept throwing everything that she could at her.

A spear in the shape of the hour hand of the clock came to slash at Cinder, then one of the smaller gears of the machinery slammed into Cinder's spine, only for the biggest gear of the bunch to clash down into Cinder's back once again and for her to be slammed down to the center of what once was Ozpin's office. Pyrrha didn't stop there, she wasn't the full maiden yet. She kept looking for all of the heaviest pieces of metal that she could find and stacked that on top of Cinder. One after the other, without so much as hesitating. She was yearning for the final release of her death and for the influx of power Ozpin warned that she would receive. Once all of the biggest pieces of metal were piled on Cinder, Pyrrha formed her hands and crushed them together. The force repelling of her hands naturally gave off as she used and focused her semblance. The metal pieces around Cinder were forced to become smaller and tightened around Cinder's body. Crushing her slowly as they became denser and forced to fill the gaps they left as they piled on top of the other maiden.

Pyrrha thought that she had won, but cursed and jumped away as she saw the growing color of bright red and orange resonating from the center of the pile. She gave up on trying to crush Cinder and dove to the ground and covered her head, repelling the metal that would have slammed into her body as Cinder exploded out of the pile of metal gears with a roar of anger.

When she stood up once again, her red dress was torn in places, and there was the slightest trickle of blood from her cheek. Cinder glared down at Pyrrha as she repaired her dress with her semblance and mended her wounds with her aura. Pyrrha glared back with an equal amount of hatred as she picked up her shield and sword once more, taking a low stance as the two of them caught their breath.

Again, they said nothing and simply glared at each other. Cinder formed her dual swords out of the air once again as Pyrrha shifted her weapon into its spear form, and took a phalanx defensive stance that was nearly unbreakable. She slowly rose to her feet and the two of them began to circle each other. Just as their battle first started all the way back in the bottom of the tower within Beacon's basement and now as it ended up all the way at the top of the tower in Ozpin's now destroyed office.

It was hard to tell whether it was night or day with all of the fire around. The moon was still high in the sky, but the sun was starting to come upon the horizon behind Cinder. Pyrrha watched as the power of their maiden magic manipulated the wind into blowing away all of the smoke and most of the flames, which were a mixture of green and orange. Both of their auras flared on and off. Pyrrha wondered how much Cinder had left after what she had just done but was also worried about how much she had left since she had taken the brunt of so many attacks head-on.

She knew she could win, however. Cinder was panting, and throughout their entire battle, she was the one who drew first blood. She was strong, impossible so. But then again, she was the champion of Mistral. The Invincible Girl, and the idol of so many aspiring huntsmen and huntresses out there in the world. To fall here would be to let them all down. That was one side of her mind, at least. The other part, the most honest one of the two, was reeling from the battle with adrenaline-induced ecstasy. She hasn't felt like this in quite some time, the thrill of the battle, the way her heartbeat violently in her chest so much that she could feel it in her neck and ears as well. Perhaps if Cinder went down a different path they could have been rivals…

That path wasn't this one, evidently.

Their next attack would be their last. Pyrrha lunged high while Cinder went to attack low. The world seemed to move in slow motion. No Maiden powers this time around, no fire or wind, just raw strength and skill in their movements as they went to deliver fatal blows. Pyrrha aimed for Cinder's heart while she aimed to stab up her ribcage into one of her lungs.

Neither of them connected. A blast of smokey black and green clashed into Pyrrha's side, blinding her.

SNAP!

Pyrrha let out an agonizing scream as she felt her left knee get broken to the side, forcing her to fall to the ground and hold on to that knee as she felt like it was going to fall off if she didn't. Her sword and shield clattered to the ground and she felt her aura falter quickly. Along with any strength she had left with her maiden powers.

Cinder wondered what had happened, but slapped herself out of it when she saw her mentor, Aaron. Standing before Pyrrha's injured form with one of his feet just reeling back from a violent kick. He looked injured too, but he was alive. They would be fools for believing that he would be totally unscathed after a battle with someone as powerful as Ozma.

"You were having trouble," Aaron stated. It was an important distinction. He knew that she was having trouble, and didn't bother asking if she was having trouble. Cinder sensed his disappointment and bowed her head apologetically.

"She proved to have more grasp on the power of the fall maiden than I expected. Combined with her skill… if you hadn't come, I don't know who would have won between us."

"You, now," Aaron remarked with a short chuckle. "Kill her, become the true fall maiden, and our mission is complete."

Cinder wasn't at all bothered by the dishonor of it. She's done worse for far less. Nodding her head once, she moved toward the downed girl and stood over her. "Sorry girl," She said as a grin stretched across her lips and aimed her sword over her heart. "It seems that destiny has chosen me to be the victor. I will allow you this, at least. In your last moments, you were powerful enough to make me worried."

Pyrrha didn't respond. Aaron had knocked her out with his semblance so that she wouldn't be a problem anymore. She simply stared blankly to the side as her body went limp. Cinder kicked her over so that she was facing the sky, and smirked. Her sword inched closer to her heart. She wanted to relish in this victory. Finally, she was going to get the power that she has worked her entire life in pursuing.

An explosion of fire made her pull away before the job could be done. Blue lightning crackled all over the rooftop while Aaron met it and absorbed most of it with his semblance. In the ensuing counter-attack, Cinder hovered up into the air and formed her bow in her hands. Taking aim at the downed Pyrrha and firing her arrow lest it is too late.

Hector caught the arrow right as it was about to penetrate Pyrrha's chest and snapped it in half with a growl. Letting it fall to pieces beside him as he glared up at her with the promise of death in his red eyes. Aaron slid back underneath him as he crossed his arms to defend himself from a strike of thunder. His own face set in a growl of frustration as Robert took a stance beside Hector as they each glared at them.

"You thought you had us all figured out, didn't you?" Hector asked as his teeth were bared, the control he had over Hell barely under control. Said Hell formed in his spectral form from the corner of his eye, simply observing for the time being, and somewhat proud of his other half. "You thought that we were just going to let you win. No, not this time. We're going to stop you here and now."

"You were the ones on that ship, weren't you?" Aaron asked with an amused chuckle. "I should have known that you were the ones involved in destroying the Wyvern. Such a simple, yet very effective way of destroying such a magnificent creature. Imagine being as ancient as that Wyvern, only to awaken to get a giant Atlesian flagship crashing into your chest. How amusing,"

"We'll see who'll be laughing after we kick your asses," Robert replied as Raios crackled into activation. "You're losing, Aaron. Everything you warned me about was for nothing. Beacon is not falling today, and Cinder is not becoming the maiden anytime soon."

"You sound so sure," Aaron pointed out with a cruel laugh as his semblance went on to smother the night sky from view. "The sun has not yet risen, and this day has not yet ended. Anything can happen, Robert, Hector. I suppose one final battle between us all was deemed by fate. We are all fatigued and exhausted, so let us now see who is really the most determined out of us all…"

"You," Cinder interrupted, glaring right back at Hector as he glared at her. "We have some unfinished business. You've caught me off guard before, and have been a constant thorn in my side for months. I will be taking care of you personally."

"I'd like to see you try," Hector taunted as he powered up. "I'm a lot stronger than before, and you seem to be a little tired out." He smiled when Cinder growled at him. "The same result from before won't happen a second time. I can promise you that."

"Where are Emerald and Mercury?" Robert demanded as he prepared to fight. "Hiding somewhere?"

"They have a… different task to take care of. Sometimes you need to let the kids grow on their own, and as such, they have been excluded from these most recent events. Cinder and I will be more than enough to best you two."

Robert looked to Hector and Hector looked back at him. They shared a nod, agreeing to the choice of their opponents. Hector locked onto Cinder and kept himself in front of Pyrrha's unconscious form, swearing to protect her mind as he took a stance. Robert aimed Raios at Aaron, choosing him as his own opponent as he too assumed a stance. Aaron looked amused by their choice to battle, but his amused smirk faded and turned into a fierce scowl as he crouched lower and raised his hands, green light coming from his bulging veins as his own darker power came to.

Robert took a deep breath, and as he let it out. He lunged. But not for Aaron. Hector crossed by him and they swapped targets instantly. Not expecting the sudden change in opponent, Aaron dodged back from Hector's hastily charged strike which was further amplified by a mixture of red lightning and bright orange flames. They exchanged several blows, going back and forth as Hector pushed himself to match Aaron's power with Kaioken. He didn't know what multiplier he was even at, only that he seemed to have been strong enough to put Aaron on the back foot for a few moments as he kept hitting his guard and made him sit back with a red flaming uppercut.

Robert met each blade of Cinder with his own, letting out sparks of blue and orange as they crossed blades, parried and deflected their strikes, they pushed against the other, feinting strikes and countering with wide kicks until Robert pushed her away with a shockwave, then the ranged battle began. Cinder used pieces of molten glass, fireballs, streams of fire, and Robert sent out lightning bolts, thunderbolts, lightning missiles, and grenades. They darted around the inside of the tower, jumping on the ceiling, running on the walls and trying to catch the other, whether because of magic, semblance or other forces, they managed to evade or deflect each other's projectiles until Robert decided to cross her up and charge her with his blades again. They clashed and pushed each other with a mutual kick.

Hector flipped off of Aaron as he was struck in the chest by a kick. Aaron shot at Hector with his gun, making Hector avoid the gunshots and run directly into a kick to his stomach, they grappled with each other, pushing each other with increasing strength as the floor started to crack beneath them. Hector pushed his hand off of Aaron's and did a straight punch to his chest, Aaron budged slightly and answered with a palm to Hector's chest that sent him flying back. He landed on Ozpin's desk, which was still somehow in one piece throughout this entire battle, and shot forward. Roaring loudly as his fist thrust through the air, followed by an explosion of flame as Aaron blocked it with both hands. "Time's twelve!" Hector screamed as he overpowered Aaron suddenly. Aaron was tired and injured from his battle with Ozpin, Hector knew it. There was no way he could have gotten away completely unscathed. With yet another roar, he threw his other fist forward and slammed into Aaron's guard, sending him flying away and nearly off the edge before he caught himself with his semblance. Turning around, he turned to see Robert locking blades with Cinder once again, and rushed forward.

Robert saw him coming from behind Cinder and pushed even harder. As Cinder twisted out of the way to make him trip over his own weight, Hector's knuckles clashed against her aura. Making her head whip to the side as he followed through with all of his weight. Doing so caused him to overextend, but Robert protected his slip up and combined with his punch. Slashing across Cinder's thigh and sweeping her feet with a kick as she began countering. She stopped her counter and as soon as she realized it was a one on two, flipping further up and into the air. Throwing down two quickly generated fireballs down at them as she hovered in the air.

Hector blocked one and charged through the other, his aura giving him enough heat to nullify the damage. Robert prepared to shoot a bolt of lightning toward Cinder with Raios but canceled the attack as he felt Aaron try to grab him from behind. He twisted out of the way before Aaron could fully grapple with him, and slipped down to one knee as Robert swiped at him with Raios' blade. Robert went as hard as he could, sending lightning explosions through his palms, punches, and kicks on top of swinging Raios in multiple angles, hoping to catch Aaron off guard. It didn't work as well as planned as Aaron blocked most of his attacks, but he managed to get him as Aaron blocked Raios and Robert twisted with a jump, landing a kick on Aaron's temple and making him stumble to one knee. Robert quickly broke off to help Hector with Cinder.

Aaron got up quickly as he saw his student being doubled teamed, he used his semblance to project a blast in the shape of a punch. It impacted on Robert's chest and sent him to a wall, Hector, noticing his sudden injury. Turned away from his battle with Cinder and jumped in front of Robert, protecting him and deflecting the bullets that Aaron shot at him. Robert was about to thank him but noticed that Pyrrha was suddenly all alone and defenseless. "Get to Pyrrha!" He exclaimed as he forced himself back up to his feet.

Robert managed to shoot a powerful thunderbolt between Hector's legs towards Aaron, it managed to hit him and push him back due to how unexpected it was. Hector turned and saw as Cinder dashed toward Pyrrha with obvious killing intent. She shot forward like a bullet and held out a flaming sword. Robert saved Pyrrha's precious seconds by shooting a second thunderbolt toward Cinder's general direction, giving Hector the time he needed to kick off his toes toward Cinder and shoulder charging her into the wall, holding her there as he held her fiery sword with one of his bare hands.

"Hector! The palm fist!" Robert called as both Aaron and Cinder tried to get close to Pyrrha, Hector nodded and threw Cinder away and toward Aaron. Then together they prepared their combined duo-move gain, Hector punching against Robert's lightning charged palm and making a shockwave of red and blue that pushed their opponents away farther than their normal attacks, the tower shook and pieces of rubble fell.

Aaron nearly fell off the tower once again while Cinder used the powers of the maiden to fly back up. One of her eyes burning angrily as Aaron pulled himself back up, both of them looking frustrated as they were suddenly right back to where they started, with Hector now more focused on defending Pyrrha as Robert prepared more ranged lightning attacks.

Robert sent forth scatter bombs of lightning, throwing several clusters, he didn't expect them to do much, they were less powerful than normal grenades, he just hoped that since there were many, they would do something.

At the same time, Hector slammed Ebony into the ground and unleashed a wave of fire in the cracks that were created from the blast. Cinder was unfazed as she was still flying in the air, but Aaron was pushed back once again. Slowly dwindling away his aura and his stamina and frustrating him even further.

Cinder put a stop to their powerful attacks by flying straight into the two of them, each one of her arms stretched outward, she blasted past them in a fan of flames that washed over them both. Hector didn't allow himself to be pushed past Pyrrha, but Robert was separated from him as he was taken to another distant part of the tower. Aaron watched as Robert and Cinder did battle again while Hector continued to defend Pyrrha from any off-centered attacks that went out of control. Attacking Hector would lead to a drawn-out battle while helping Cinder with Robert would lead to much the same as Hector would rush to his aid.

Aaron had enough, he let out a feral roar that resonated around the tower with his semblance enforcing it, making a wave of shadows and green mist around him. He surged forward making two spectral blades and rushing towards them, Robert and Hector acted on reflex as they saw Aaron approaching and blasted Cinder out of the way with a well-timed lightning palm and a powerful Kaioken fist. Aaron met them blow for blow, even while Hector joined and they both fought him at the same time.

Aaron spun between them, deflecting their attacks with ferocious slashes, pushing them back with each strike and stopping them if they thought of repositioning and attacking from another direction, he did a back kick to Robert's gut, a swipe at Hector's shoulder, and kept pushing them back, Robert and Hector eventually got into motion and started to defend themselves more effectively, but Aaron switched up by pulling out his gun and shooting Hector before he could land a punch and slammed Robert into the wall before both as he started their sword fight, lightning and ethereal blades going of each other and making unnatural sparks.

Hector rejoined the fight with Aaron as both him and Robert struck at him, Aaron himself divided his stikes amongst the two, kicking Robert and the bouncing of the recoil of the kick to kick Hector, it went back and forth, his feet kick four, six, eight times before Robert and Hector could bounce back up and strike back. Then he did the same with his spectral blades, bouncing between the two and spinning to shift focus between one or the other as they tried to get the better of him. Robert and Hector were fast, but Aaron was fast enough to tackle both of them.

It took a few seconds and a bit of a beating but Robert and Hector adjusted to Aaron approach, Hector slamming his knuckles together and creating a dust explosion of steam that temporarily blinded Aaron, Robert took the chance to exchange several blade swings and slashes with him and feinting them to push Aaron back with two thunderbolts. Hector dived in with hard punches and landed a red fiery palm that pushed against Aaron's guard with a small explosion. Robert picked up the opportunity to strike low with his blades and do a backflip kick to Aaron's chin. Together Hector and Robert struck from both sides, and once Aaron blocked they went high and low, Hector went low with a sweeping kick and Robert went high with a flying roundhouse. Aaron however jumped and twisted his body to remain horizontal between their kicks.

For a second it looked like both of them would have been able to push Aaron back, but Aaron recovered and began to beat them back again, punching Hector with a gust of green mist towards the wall and pushing Robert with a kick towards one of the pillars. He sent sharp waves of dark green smoke towards them, Hector used his gauntlets to create a blast and jump over it and Robert answered with an arcing wave of lightning that collided and exploded with Aaron's, soon the both started their cycle of back and forth again.

Cinder let them fight and hung around the edges of the tower, keeping an eye on her mentor's battle with the two of them while also keeping track of Pyrrha. She was slowly regaining consciousness, but with a broken knee and broken aura, all she could hope to do was use her magic from a stationary position. Cinder would rather she not wake up at all, and used her semblance to form her bow in her hands and slowly took aim. If she shot at Pyrrha, she knew that it would somehow be blocked by the other two since even as they were locked in combat with Aaron they were still keeping track of her. She knew what Aaron was trying to do, however, and she was willing to see through his plan to the end.

Hector landed a wild punch on Aaron's face out of a mix of luck and being just slightly faster than him, and then quickly broke away from the fight to target Cinder. Starting from there, everything seemed to have moved in slow motion. Cinder shifted her aim toward Hector and held her breath.

The tip of her arrow ignited with flame while at the same time Aaron unleashed a powerful wave of his semblance that knocked even Hector on his face, temporarily stunning him as his head banged against the floor and nearly breaking his nose. Robert was blown away and slammed into the wall where the elevator was. Cinder let loose her arrow and Robert dodged it by flicking his neck to the side, but the arrow exploded right beside his face. Blowing him away and destroying what little remained of the supports above them. He wasn't so dazed that he couldn't get out of the way, however. Robert pushed himself up to his feet and tried to jump forward.

Something stopped him. Green and black wrapped around his legs first, and then the rest of his body felt ten times heavier so suddenly and as he was in mid-sprint, he couldn't hope to hold up that weight and stay on balance. He winced when his heavy chest slammed into the ground, and let out a shout as he was suddenly yanked back. Through one of his cracked open eyes, he saw as Aaron was manipulating his semblance in such a way that it was binding him.

He looked up and his eyes widened and he felt his heart skip a beat. Rubble from the ceiling started to fall as Cinder's arrow destroyed the rest of the support. He cried out with pain as the biggest part of the rubble slammed down on the lower half of his legs. Protected by aura so that the bone wouldn't shatter or otherwise sever that leg entirely. But not saving him from the agonizing pain that had him screaming.

"No!" Hector exclaimed as he rushed back up to his feet and was met with a terrible decision to make. Try and help Robert and doom Pyrrha while doing so, or standing his ground and dooming Robert instead.

He didn't get to make that choice as Aaron suddenly grabbed him from the back of his head and slammed him back into the ground. Smashing his face into the tiled floor and depleting what little remained of his aura, and then was thrown back into one of the still-standing walls as his semblance ran out from a lack of aura production.

Robert wasn't in enough pain to not shoot lightning out of his hands, he tried his best, but with movement, he wasn't much better than a static turret, Cinder got in the way of his lightning bolts, deflecting them with her magic, and if he tried to make something that would explode she would just make a barrier, same for Aaron that used his semblance and dark powers to push the lightning off him. Robert didn't let up however, it would be enough to cover Hector at least.

Hector, now bleeding from a dozen wounds as soon as his aura went out. Still stood up and stood over Pyrrha's form with determined eyes. His left arm felt like it was dislocated, and his nose was definitely broken with the amount of blood that was constantly flowing out of it. But he stood against Aaron nonetheless. Cinder was nowhere to be seen, however, and he knew that he had to-

"Ack!" Hector hacked as he felt something stab through his chest and come out the other side. He looked down slowly, his hands shaking as he raised them to touch the arrowhead that was sticking out where his heart should be. He grabbed it but didn't have the strength to pull it out or snap it. Instead, he fell down to one knee, and Aaron kicked him away from Pyrrha in a flash of green.

"HECTOR!" Robert screamed he tried to push the rubble off him while he shot more lightning toward Cinder and Aaron, he made shockwaves around him if they got close to taunt him, and also to try and push the rubble off him, but it wasn't working, no matter what he did his lightning wasn't breaking trough Aaron or Cinder's defenses.

"No, no no no, no!" Robert tried to push the piece of debris holding him down and was about until Aaron let out a wisp of black mist that impacted on more pieces of the roof, more pieces of debris fell on him and he screamed in pain again as now he was covered in rubble up to his chest.

"And just like that," Aaron said as he turned toward him, panting heavily as he rolled his soldiers and wiped the sweat off of his forehead as he made his way toward him. "You have lost. I warned you not to fight against fate, Robert. Now look at what had to be done," He gestured to Hector, who was slowly dying as he bled out. "A pity, really. So much potential wasted."

"You, I'll kill you!" Robert screamed as he felt tears stream down his face as he kept fighting, Aaron just made a wave of green mist that blocked his blasts and bolts of lightning. "I'll make you suffer, I'll make you wish you were never summoned to this damn planet!"

"No," Aaron crouched down and grabbed his hair, staring directly into his eyes. "You won't. How can you kill me when you can't even protect her?"

Robert's eyes widened with horror as he looked past Aaron and Hector and toward Pyrrha. Standing above her now was Cinder, who was staring down at her other half with a sickening grin plastered all over her face. One of her swords in hand. Pyrrha wasn't even conscious to see her own death as it approached her.

"Get. Away. From her you bitch!" Robert tried to shoot a thunderbolt at Cinder, but it was stopped by Aaron before it could even leave his hand.

"Futile efforts," Aaron commented as he smashed his face into the ground, but made sure he could still see what was happening. "Now watch as you fail yet again, Urra."

Cinder stabbed her sword down and pierced Pyrrha's chest. The girl snapped awake suddenly, and limply grabbed at Cinder's weapon and wondered what was happening for the briefest of moments. Once she realized that she was dying, her maiden powers sparked one final time. Too weak from her injuries to fight back, her hands fell to her sides lifeless as her head tilted toward the ones who tried to save her.

Smiling at them, even as she died. She tried to say something, but her lungs didn't have any air in them. As Cinder wrenched her sword out, Pyrrha's body turned to ash. Floating away in the wind as bright golden ash, and again as Cinder exploded in a fiery aura, both of her eyes flaming with the full power of the fall maiden.

Robert's eyes went red from tears as he watched Pyrrha's ashes scatter in the wind, he said to her that her fate was her own, that she could change it! And now… she had died, all because of these damned bastards. He tried to push himself up, but he couldn't, he tried to charge himself up with lightning, but it wasn't affecting Aaron, he could feel his semblance acting up, screaming for him to stand up in a way he had never heard before. The adrenaline rushed through him, but Aaron and the rubble still had him pinned down.

"How does it feel to fail once again?" Aaron taunted him with dark laughter. "How does it feel that after everything you had done, it all mattered naught. Cinder is the fall maiden once again, and Beacon will fall.

Robert moved his head just enough to stare at Aaron. "Fuck you, think you've won? Someone will beat you, if not us, someone else!" Robert put on a brave face, he promised vengeance, and he wanted to get it, but all he could do now was struggle.

"This power…" Cinder wasn't even listening to him as he continued to rant. "It's… unbelievable! I feel so powerful! I feel whole, these flames, so hot!" Cinder laughed boisterously. "I love it. I truly do."

"That is good to hear, Cinder," Aaron said as he stood up and away from Robert. Willing to let him live if only to let him suffer for longer. "You finally have the power that destiny has permitted you. Salem will be pleased, as for this one…" He looked down at Hector's body, which has long lost its fight as his heart stopped beating. "Let's take his body, I am sure Salem will find a use for it."

"Hm, very well." Cinder nodded her head and turned to him. "What of the other one? I think it best to be rid of him now, he can grow to be a problem."

"How about you do us a favor and just fling yourselves off the tower! Let the dead rest!" Robert screamed as he let out a shockwave, pushing part of debris off, not enough to free himself though. He was feeling something else too, a voice in the back of his head telling him to push on, he had to for different reasons. If only he hadn't gotten pin down… he felt anger, at everything, but mostly at his mistake.

"He continued to amuse me as he lives," Aaron said with a laugh. "Let him suffer a bit longer. He will never be strong enough on his own to defeat us. With Ozpin dead and this one coming with us, he would be alone."

"Hmph, a cruel fate. Indeed." Cinder smiled as she looked back down to Hector. "I'll take him, shall we make our leave then?"

"We shall," Aaron said with a nod. "Allow me a moment, and we can-"

Ozpin's destroyed office shook as a dark black-red wave of magical heat exploded from Hector's presumably dead body. Time suddenly stopped, no one moved or knew what was happening and each of their faces was stuck in a reaction of shock and surprise.

Hector's body twitched and within his mind. Something foreign came to the fold. No, not foreign. Himself. Hector awakened within a massive void of white. There was just… nothing, as far as the eye could see. He slowly pushed himself onto his hands and knees, his chest still impaled by an arrow as he picked himself back up.

"Am I… dead?" He asked as he looked down at his fatal wound.

"Not yet," Another voice - No, his own voice, yet somehow different at the same time, replied to him. Hector whipped his face upward, suddenly the pain he felt was washed away. In front of him was someone he couldn't ever mistake. It was him, or the darker self within him. Hell turned around and met him with bright red eyes, his hair a snow-white color, but his skin this time around was still tan in pigmentation. He looked exactly the same but… he seemed older than before. This wasn't the same Hell that he knew, that much was obvious in the way he simply looked.

"Who… are you?"

"Who are we, you mean," Hell replied. "You finally entered this state of mind. We were capable of this before, a long time ago in a different era in a different timeline, but it seemed that it was locked to you once we were sent here."

"Sent?" Hector asked. "What do you mean sent?"

"You already know, don't you?" Hell suddenly appeared behind him, placing his back against his. Hector widened his eyes as an influx of memories were brought forth back to the surface. Not fragments, or pieces of a puzzle-like before. But everything.

As the memories kept coming to him, from the moment of his birth made out of the blood of yet another version of himself to the moment he first gained a soul and enhanced his power even further and even further to when he was trekking through the snowy landscape of the Atlesian mountains all the way in Mantle to find the Winter Maiden. And then to his death. Defeated by a sword-shaped relic, and for his very being to be trapped within another soul.

The rest of it came quickly. The giant battle, Ruby, all four maidens fighting in a battle against millions of Grimm and Salem. Only to finally come to an end, when yet another dimension became the center of his power.

"I'm…" Hector began as the tears flowed freely down his face. "We're… we've always been…"

"We've always been one and the same," Hell said it for him. "Once we were sent here in this body, our memories were all jumbled and some were forgotten. Our true power was locked away under tight binds of thought, and it took torture, isolation to the Grimm, for it to finally be brought out. We are both Hector and Hell, but we are also our own identity. Two fragments of an already fragmented soul. Everything that happened in that world had ended, this one is a new one entirely. Instead of killing us outright, he sent us to a distant past in a separate timeline using the power of the four relics and with the aid of the God of Darkness. He gave us another chance to redeem ourselves, and save this world."

"Is that what we wanted?" Hector asked, now viewing the world very differently not that he knew exactly what he was and where he came from. "To have a second chance?"

"I don't know," Hell laughed, turning around as he did the same. They looked at each other, twin faces of the representation of the darkest part of their being, and the lightest part met. "But we were given it nonetheless."

"We can't lose," Hector said as he looked down at his bloodied body. "We can't die, not like this."

"Not like this," Hell agreed as he extended a hand toward him. "Fate will try and do her bidding to stop us, but we have the power to go beyond such binds. We have always been separated since we first arrived in the Emerald Forest, let us fix that, shall we?"

Hector looked back up, and with determined resolve, grabbed Hell's hand and tightened his grip on it. "Yes, let us fix that."

A bright light exploded from them as the fragmented part of their souls merged together, to finally become whole.

Hector was standing, Robert couldn't believe it. For a moment he thought that all hope was lost, but there he was. Standing with the black-red fiery aura he had become accustomed to seeing. He feared that it was purely just Hell in control, but with the way, his skin was still colored spoke a different tale. His hair was still a snow-white, however, even whiter than it was before when Hector transformed. But his eyes were once again red, but brighter and more vibrant.

Something was different, that was made all the more clear as Hector reached a hand up to the arrow impaled through his chest, and yanked it out with so much as a yelp.

"You've made a grave mistake," He said in a darkened voice as his eyes shined a bright red color. His nails extended out into claws, and although he looked like he had lost control. He couldn't be more in control. "Now I'm whole again, and now you will suffer the consequences of all that you have done."

"What the…?" Aaron couldn't believe what he was seeing, and what was that he sensed? Magic!? The very magic that Salem bestowed to him!? "How are you doing this, what are you!?"

"I killed you!" Cinder exclaimed, her own eyes widened with shock and a certain degree of fear. "How is this possible!?"

He laughed. Hector, or Hell, Robert couldn't tell. But he laughed.

"I am both Hector and Hell, the accumulation of another eras grudge, and I was created to destroy. But that was then, now… I am a warrior." He took a stance that Robert never saw before. Something was very different. "And you two do not belong in my world."

He flashed forward in an instant and Cinder couldn't even see when Aaron was struck so hard that he was trapped in the wall that he had slammed in. Cinder snapped herself out of it and deflected two of the claw swipes that Hell tried to dish out against her. Then backed away and cried out as she unleashed a full blast of fire in an effort to kill him instantly.

It washed off a blackened aura, and the damage that was done to him was healing almost instantly. "Pitiful," He taunted with a cruel grin. "Shall I make your death even more painful this time around?"

Cinder's eyes widened with shock. That was a full-powered blast! How was he still standing much less taunting her!? "H-How…?"

"You are far beyond yourself," Hell warned as his black fiery aura exploded even larger. "You shouldn't have wasted time after you killed me once. Now you will suffer."

"D-... Die!" Cinder screamed as she flew into the air, the full power of the fall maiden barreling down on him one blast at a time as she constantly threw her power at him with no remorse or awareness. All she wanted to die was kill him, to rid the world of a monster that didn't deserve to exist! "Die, die, die, die, die, DIE, DIE, DIE!" She screamed each time she let lose a blast of fire. Her flaming eyes flamed even hotter as she constantly attacked with reckless abandon.

As Robert watched as Aaron remained stunned and Hector was taking the full brunt of Cinder's flames as he simply crossed his arms to defend himself. What was he witnessing? He couldn't help but wonder. But with Hector still alive, there was still a chance for them to beat them. He tried to free himself from the rubble on top of his leg, but the weight was too great. Keeping him trapped under there no matter what he tried to do. With a frustrated scream, he looked back to see how Hector was faring.

He had broken through the flames and was fighting Aaron and Cinder at the same time, and holding his own at that! He was insanely fast, and powerful at the same time. Even when Cinder and Aaron landed blows that could have killed any normal person, they just healed up nearly instantly because of Hell's crazy healing factor. They just couldn't measure up to him, but then again despite Hell's overwhelming power, they weren't dead yet and were still holding their own. He didn't know how long Hector could last, but he knew that if they were to win, they had to fight together.

"Hector!" Robert exclaimed as they fought. "Help me, get this shit off me!"

Hector looked back at him and nodded ever so slightly. In a flash of movements nobody could quite keep up with, he delivered half a dozen blows to Aaron and blew him away, and then quickly stunned Cinder by kicking her across the face in a flexible maneuver. Once they were out of the way, Hector turned and threw his fist at the rubble on top of Robert.

"Hah!" A beam of red and black destroyed the rubble on top of him while at the same time not hurting him any further. Robert dragged himself away from where he was strapped and wiped his tear-stained face away as he stood up on shaky legs. At the same moment Aaron went forward and blasted Hector with a powerful ball of dark energy, he doubled down by punching him on the center of the chest and throwing Hector to Cinder. She received him with a fire beam that scorched his shirt off and left third-degree burns on his skin, still, Hector's healing was still healing his wounds faster than either Cinder or Aaron thought possible. They were ready to dubbed down to try and make sure he stayed down but instead they got shot by Robert, he fired a railgun bolt at them, it was potent and colored a of deep blue, it impacted Aaron who got pushed towards Cinder, both of them flung to the wall and benign electrified with the strongest bolt Robert had created so far.

"Hah…" Robert took a deep breath and growled, Hector stood up and jumped back to him, his healing mending everything Cinder and Aaron had done, Robert himself was being surrounded by lightning and aggressive blue sparks, he was looking down at where Pyrrha had been, not looking at them directly.

"You think it would be that easy!?" Robert shouted at them. "You think we would just die?! There's a reason we have lived so far… and that is that we don't quit, we never give up!" Robert turned towards them, activating Raios, but something was different they noticed. Robert's eyes, they had always been a dark brown in color, when he used his semblance at its fullest they became of deep blue color, now… Robert's eyes were of a cold bright gold color, he promised a fight to the last breath with the look he gave.

"You had trouble against just me alone. With the two of us together? Ha!" Hell? Hector? Both of them said, regardless of the case, Cinder and Aaron got off the wall and calmly walked towards them.

"You don't know what you are fighting against boys, no matter how you cheat death, how much you fight you still underestimate what you are fighting against, there's just so much you can do against us!" Aaron taunted them.

"You could barely stand against us when I was weaker, I don't care how much you can withstand, we will break you and leave you as an example for all the rest!" Cinder shouted at them, how dare they stand back up with… this.

"You want to bet?" Robert taunted them.

"As you said Hayes, the night's not over yet!" Hector backed him up. The four of them squared off against each other, waiting for the other to make a move, Hector and Robert looked at each other and started first.

"RAHRG!" Hector howled as he punched the ground making a massive fire wave, far more powerful than before and shattered the remaining pillars of the tower. Robert jumped up with the wave, the remaining pieces of the roof and other debris flying up with him, he created a lightning shockwave from his palms that pushed all the debris as projectiles towards Aaron and Cinder.

Cinder blasted the projectiles out of the air and Aaron rammed through them as he flew into the air to get to Robert. Meanwhile, Hector and Cinder battled each other, Hector rushing in and punching the ground to create flaming waves of dark red fire, Cider backed away and levitated in the air to avoid his attacks. Robert and Aaron exchanged strikes and kicks in the air, however, Robert was not willing to be an idiot again, fighting Hayes directly was stupid, it had been stupid, the best thing he could do now was distract him and focus down Cinder at the same time, Robert parried and deflected one of Aaron's punches with his blade as they started to fall. He used his other hand to create a thruster explosion and flip over Aaron and kick him in the back, propelling himself towards Cinder.

Cinder stepped aside from Hector's strikes carefully, they were faster, which meant she had to be faster as well, she fired multiple projectiles of fire trying to kill Hector. But Hector just tanked through them and kept pushing. Cinder was about to release another blast when suddenly she was kicked down. From above Robert had barreled into her with a kick and dragged her body through the ground with his feet as he landed. He kicked her towards Hector and he punched Cinder straight through the wall, she recovered mid-flight and charged towards them again, Aaron did too.

Robert was the first to meet Cinder as they exchanged a barrage of blade swings and strikes: Aaron slammed his fist down where Hector had stood, and kept going with a flow of kicks, punches and surprise sword attacks, forming his spectral blades in the blink of an eye. Hector blocked, parried and tanked straight through all of it, he still had to worry about Aaron killing him by maybe decapitating him but so far he was able to match him blow for blow, Aaron still landed strikes on him, but none of them were enough to bring Hector down. Cinder kicked Robert away and got ready to send a fire beam his way, but Robert had planted a sticky lightning bomb on her, she recoiled from the explosion and covered herself in a shield barrier of fire as Robert used earth dust to create rocks whips that were held together by lightning, he whirled the whips around as they smashed against Cinder's barrier multiple times and with a final swing, redirected the whips to Aaron.

Aaron was hit on his thigh and grunted as he dropped down slightly, that was what Hector needed as he flew like a missile for Aaron and punched him in the face and sent him rolling backward, once again forcing him nearly off the edge. Robert fought Cinder in a range battler again, Cinder was far more powerful now, but Robert himself in overdrive, no, something stronger than overdrive. It could have been the anger, the grief, the adrenaline, the defiance and determination to keep fighting, it didn't matter to him, all that matter was that he felt he had mountains of energy to spend, he fired projectiles after projectiles of lightning. He fired barrages of three from one hand and then did the same with the other in less than a second.

Regardless of how much she tried, Cinder realized that lightning was just plainly faster than fire, and Robert made sure to fire as much as he could and as fast as possible, she tried to make a wave of fire that engulfed Robert, but Robert made his vortex in a second and blew the fire away from him in a shockwave. He then clashed with Cinder and she was forced to keep up with a snarling Robert, striking at her while a field of lightning and debris protected him.

She was able to make him bounce back, but she got clotheslined by Hector, he had disengaged from Aaron and taken the chance to attack at Cinder, she got flung back and Robert did his best to intercept Aaron. Robert managed to block some of Aaron's most ferocious strikes but eventually, Aaron got past his vortex. Robert made a shield and Aaron fractured, Robert sliced him back and did manage to get two grazing hits. But Aaron grabbed him and punched him on the ribs again, Robert felt a familiar pain, but he managed to shrug it off and focus on blocking the next hit and hitting Aaron with a lightning knee. Aaron felt that one and pushed Robert back with a wave of his semblance and decided to focus on Hector with Cinder.

Hector resisted the damage that both of them were dishing and since he was able to withstand, he was able to counter, he darted back and forth between punching Cinder in the foot as he ducked a punch from Aaron, tanked through the backup hits and gave out a barrage of punches and flaming blasts, hitting Aaron's guard, breaking through Cinder's, pushing Aaron away with a red fiery palm, and enduring Cinder's flames to kick her knee and punch her in the jaw. No matter how much they kicked him down he got up immediately, no matter how much Cinder burned him he was able to heal, no matter how much force Aaron would hit him with he was able to recover and hit back.

Hector made fire waves across the ground and exploded in an explosion of red energy to keep pushing them away and keep fighting, Aaron got hold of his wrist and shot at him on the liver. Bullets apparently were also not enough, but holding Hector down seemed to have done something, even so, Hector strikes back at Aaron and pushes him back and avoid a blade from Cinder before kicking her on the shins and going back to clash fists with Aaron and go back again fire a wave of fire at Cinder. However both Aaron and Cinder were able to get close and eventually get a hold of him by the wrists and make sure he couldn't escape, even if he tugged hard enough to almost fling them, they beat him down and force him down with their respective semblances, hitting him again and again, Hector elbowed and kicked every second of the way, even attempted to bite at times with his pointed canines. He was using every advantage he had, even if it was dirty or something an animal would do.

They finally made him double over and Aaron was ready to try and behead him with a misty sword. But Robert jumped back into the fray with a kick to Aaron's face, saving Hector's healing time and switching his attention to Cinder. He did much the same as Hector did, quick kicks back and forth between the two, only far more in variety, acrobatics, and far more defection parry to avoid being brought down. He kicked Cinder twice across the head and made a barrier to avoid the fire blast that followed, as he went for Aaron he made a preemptive backward headbutt and thruster explosions to get away from Hayes, he swung and slice like a whirlwind, sending thunderbolt left and right, ducking and avoiding hits, surging lightning to the ground and making shockwaves to push them away. He couldn't last as long as Hector, couldn't take as many hits as Hector, but he was able to perform just well enough to buy time.

Robert flipped in between two attacks and then bent backward and stabbed at Aaron while he kicked Cinder, the blocked the attacks and pressured him until the whirlwind of energy was not enough to keep them away, they went, Cinder slashing at Robert's thigh, Aaron hitting him the back and Cinder blasting him somewhat with a quick blast of fire. His aura flashed dangerously but he was able to push back with another tornado of blades and kicks. Aaron eventually grabbed him by the neck and slammed him down, only to see as Hector recovered and pushed Cinder out of the way and decided to hold on to Aaron, Robert wrapped his legs around Aaron's neck and together he and Hector managed to throw him in the opposite direction of CInder.

They again tried to rush both of them, but now with Hector and Robert back to back they had better chances. Hector used his Kaioken times ten and dust to make a wave of ice that expanded across the entire tower, it exploded around Hector and Robert shaped like spikes. While Aaron used his semblance to tank through the attack, Cinder flew out of the range of it, all the while Robert charged up and jumped into the air and made four shocker balls. Those four things were constantly shooting lightning at Aaron and Cinder as they fought, forcing them to dodge or block as they also dealt with Robert and Hector.

From this point the fight became a blur, they went side by side, left and right, someone always attacking to people at the same time as they alternated and saved their respective partner from something, they stood in an X formation in the middle of the tower, lightning, fire, and dark energy flying about as they exchanged blows, sometimes breaking off to attack the other person, or block the attacks of another, they all hit each other, some more than others. Aaron took the least amount of significant hits but it mattered little when Robert and Hector acted like two pests that just wouldn't die, it was both a display of skill and relentless violence, not a single one of them willing to give in no matter how tired or injured they got.

Rober defended Hector's back from Aaron and Hector battled at close range with Cinder, in the blink of an eye Aaron rushed in and Cinder was ready to make another full power fire blast. Robert roed backward on Hector's back kicking Cinder with both feet on the face and Hector spun around to punch Aaron on the stomach. Both of them got pushed back as they changed opponents. However at that moment, someone else appeared, Aaron noticed as he was the one closest to the elevator.

Ruby had woken up and heard the battling atop the tower, regardless of what was happening she decided to go help, what she saw were Robert and Hector, all bruised battling the same fire lady she had seen almost a year ago, she recognized that fire.

"Hector! Rob!" She called them but was too late to see a shadow dart towards her and strangle her. Robert and Hector looked back and became terrified.

"Huh… Seems you still have someone else to lose-" Aaron was ready to try and snap Ruby's neck only he turned around to see the barrel of a gun aiming at him, but more than that, he saw something he hadn't expected. A pair of silver eyes.

With everything that had happened today Aaron couldn't fathom the chances of even more unexpected scenarios, his mind stopped for a second as all the possibilities of a silver eye appearing could mean.

"No!" Hector And Robert screamed as they pushed Cinder away and rushed for Aaron, the distraction of his inner thoughts was enough for Ruby to fire Crescent Rose at Aaron's head and for Robert and Hector to come in with a twist kick and power punch, they just couldn't lose Ruby, they couldn't lose anyone else, not tonight. They had thrown Aaron towards Cinder and together made a barrier of energy that protected them from a beam of fire from Cinder, the dust settled as Ruby coughed and hacked for air.

"Are you okay?" Hector asked as he held Ruby in his arms.

"I'll… ack, be fine." Ruby said in a quiet voice. But the moment she realized what Hector looked like, her eyes widened. Unlike all the other times she looked into his eyes with her own, he just didn't react. "A-are you…?"

"Long story, don't worry about it," Hector said. "Catch your breath,"

"You… shouldn't get cocky, I'll make sure you lose everything if need be, all of your friends will die, with silver eyes or not, even maidens… just like Nikos." Aaron snarled, he was getting increasingly pissed at how long this was taking.

"Pyrr- Pyrrha? No, she… is she-" Ruby could feel a sadness she had never felt before, betrayal had been one thing, the loss of a friend…

"Ruby…" Robert tried to make her focus but quickly realized what was about to happen. The corners of Ruby's eyes began to glow white. Aaron seemed to know what was about to happen as well and charged in his panic in a desperate last-ditch effort to stop Ruby.

"NOOOOO!" Ruby didn't want that man to hurt her friends, for him to kill Hector and Robert, and so she triggered her silver eyes for the first time, Aaron panicked, not for himself, but for Cinder.

"What!?" Cinder exclaimed as she saw silver light coming out of the girl's eyes. She immediately felt the scalding pain all across her body as her Grimm biology within her worked against her. Then it stopped as a body covered her own, protecting her from the light at the cost of his own. Aaron cried out as Ruby's burning light engulfed him and partially turned his back into dust.

"Shit!" Robert panicked as well, not sure if Hector would be safe from the effect of the silver eyes. But his worry was unwarranted, as Hector was already hiding behind a piece of debris and making sure none of the light touched his body.

By the time Ruby stopped activating her eyes, Aaron had fallen down and while Cinder was injured, she was still standing. Still, with all her limbs and two angry, flaming eyes as Aaron fell to his hands and knees, his entire back petrified and turned to stone. Ruby passed out from the strain and fell. Cinder looked furious, but as she looked down at her mentor, a very rare pang of worry and concern washed over her as she knelt beside him.

"Aaron!" Cinder sounded worried, for the first time in her life. Aaron was just about the only person she truly adored. To see him injured like this… all because he was protecting her?. "Aaron… please don't." The worry was soon replaced by rage as she glared at Ruby with the promise of death. "How… DARE YOU!" She screamed with more anger than they had ever heard from her, she charged at Ruby's downed body with her swords being summoned recklessly.

Hector flashed in front of her and blocked her strikes. His left arm was turned to stone, revealing that he didn't entirely dodge Ruby's silver eye activation. But even with one arm, he was still able to push back Cinder and save Ruby. Cinder snarled angrily and let out a constant barrage of fire. But Hector simply stood there and endured it. As the flames washed over his body and burned his skin while his healing factor continuously healed all of the damage, he looked back toward Robert and then down to Ruby.

"Get her out of here!" Hector screamed as he forced the flames to aim a different direction. "I'll take care of Cinder alone."

"Hector no! Wait-" Robert bit his lip and growled in a low curse, Hector could only use one of his arms at the moment. And the last time he tried that against Cinder it didn't go very well. He was about to throw caution into the wind and try to attack Cinder to help his friend, but spotted Aaron at the corner of his eye, leaning up on one arm and taking a shaky aim toward the unconscious Ruby.

"No!" Robert immediately dashed and tried to stab Aaron, but even in his injured state Aaron could defend himself and block the attack, but not enough to defend himself from the kick that pushed him off the tower. Finally knocking him completely off.

"Aargh!" Robert heard Aaron's pained scream, and was about to chase after him but suddenly remembered Ruby if Cinder got past Hector… but he also had to help Hector as well, Cinder could still kill him, even if he seemingly seemed invincible, now he was struck with an injury that wasn't healing nearly as fast as the others were.

"... Shit" Robert cursed as he ran toward the young girl behind Hector and picked her up into his arms. "I will be back!" He promised as he ran toward the exit, or at least what remained of it. "Hold on until then!" He needed to find help, but he knew that if Ruby died, everything was over, he just felt it, besides, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let that happen.

"Just go!" Hector shouted as he blew away the rest of Cinder's blast with his one good arm. The gauntlet on that arm was a burning white color. But even with the immense pain, he must have been feeling, Hector didn't show any of it. "I'll take care of this… she and I have some unfinished business."

"Yes, that is true," Cinder laughed maniacally as her aura exploded outward and crackled furiously. She was becoming unhinged, almost as much as Hell was in the beginning. "We do have unfinished business. I've captured you once, tortured you, and killed you and yet you still stand before me. Hah, I have given you way too much mercy it seemed. Way too much… You need to die, yes. I have to kill you with these flames!"

"I'd like to see you try," Hector taunted back as his own blackened aura exploded outward to match Cinders. "Oh… I want to see you try… Kaioken times ten!" He screamed out once again. This time, however, the times ten multiplier seemed to be even more intense.

Robert took that opportunity to leave them be, somehow, he didn't think Hector would lose. Hell, he might not even need his help, and with Aaron potentially killed off after being thrown off the tower, he might be coming back up just to see a body.

"Aargh!" Cinder and Hector roared as they charged at each other. Two titanic aura's of flame, one black and red, and the other a bright orange, clashing together as a gauntlet deflected a sword and shattered it entirely. Cinder seemed to have acclimated to her Fall Maiden powers quickly and was able to enhance herself even further as the fight went on. They both continued to get stronger and stronger as they went blow for blow. Hector healed everything that was dished out against him, and with Cinder's burst of resolve and willpower, her aura seemed to be limitless.

It became a battle of determination if anything. If not, a battle of two magics seeking to overpower the other. Hector and Cinder clashed again and again, even with one arm Hector was keeping up with her perfectly. Cinder was trying her hardest, pulling every card she had in order to get an upper hand. She flipped away and tried to use her explosive arrows, but that was completely ineffective because of the raw strength of Hector's aura. She tried to slash at him with his swords, to deal a fatal wound so deep that not even he could heal it fast enough. Her swords were too weak to even cut that deep into his skin. Quickly, she stopped fighting with normal weapons entirely. Instead of attacking with the power of the fall maiden exclusively.

Fire battled against fire. Cinder and Hector constantly roared at each other as more and more flames kept getting thrown at Hector. It was burning so hot, but Hector's aura was almost equally as out. It made him sweat and did burn him in places, but not to the fatal level that Cinder was hoping for. She wanted to see him burn to ash, just like that girl. She wanted to render him down to nothing but a pile!

Hector seemed to have adapted to her new strategy of just throwing everything she had at him. He took each blast of flame and walked through it. Suddenly a blast of black and red fire was thrown toward Cinder. Nullifying her constant fuel source of flame and blowing it away. What was that!? Cinder screamed in her mind. Can he use the same kind of magic as maidens!?

Her answer came in the form of Hector seemingly charging up something with his single arm. A ball of black and red energy, getting larger and larger as Hector continued to charge it up. His teeth bared and his eyes flashed red, the undeniable sense of magic becoming more and more obvious with each passing second.

Cinder rose to the challenge. Flying high into the air and preparing a blast of a flame of her own. She began laughing as she charged her own much, much faster. It seemed that even with all the power that he had, she was just more of a prodigy! "Die!" She exclaimed as she let out a massive beam of fire, attempting to burn not just Hector alive, but to destroy the entire tower!

"HAH!" Hector screamed back as he threw his charging attack forward. Black and red matched a bright beam of orange. Cinder and he pushed against each other with all of their might, sweat, blood, and grit flowing out of every pore as their very will clashed against each other. It proved to be equal as their blasts exploded in the middle, sending Cinder's flight out of control as she spun through the air uncontrollably. She caught herself quickly, but just barely. Looking down through the smoke and dissipating the cloud with wind magic, she saw as Hector was still standing strong in the center of the office. Breathing heavily as his other arm which was once stone was now curled up at his side. The petrification slowly flaking off of it as the effects of the silver eyes began to wear off.

Cinder screamed her frustration as her aura exploded once again with her ensuing anger. Hector screamed back in an equal amount of fury.

If this body wasn't so weak, Hector would have been able to use more of this newfound power! He cursed himself for this. He was so confident that he'd be able to end it quickly, but he should have known that he wouldn't be as powerful as his other original body from that world. It would take time, time that he didn't have at the moment. At the very least, he seemed to be able to match the power of the fall maiden, and Cinder was already at her limit.

She hovered down in front of him and heaved for breath. Her arms were limp, fatigued from the blast she had just let out. But she raised them up and summoned her swords once again. More than willing to continue their battle.

With both of his arms now available, Hector was as well. Or was he Hell? The distinction mattered not. He was both now. He was whole.

Without so much of another word, Hector and Cinder lunged for each other once more. Each of them desperate to end the other's life.

Such was their destiny, even across worlds.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Robert cursed as he ran through the halls of Beacon, his mind racing of possibilities, he wanted to hide Ruby in another spot like before and help Hector, but with Hayes out there he couldn't trust it. No, he had to run farther he needed to find something he needed to-

"Mister Urra? Ruby!?" Robert heard a voice, his mind stop and turned towards the right defensively snarling at the voice, he saw Jaune, Jaune of all people.

"Jaune, what are you doing here?" Robert asked in disbelief.

"I…" Jaune was stumped at seeing Ruby unconscious and also worried about Robert's sharp golden eyes, he couldn't really even begin to guess what was happening. "I came back, after everything I learned from you, Hector, Ruby as well I… I couldn't abandon Pyrrha. I held off some Grim and then I climbed my way to the basement. There was no one there, so I climbed back up and saw the fighting going on at the tower and thought… Mister Urra where's Pyrrha?" Jaune asked, and Robert stared.

"She…" Robert couldn't quite form words. Jaune didn't get it at first, then he didn't believe it, but the way Robert sounded, that he was carrying Ruby, he could still hear the explosions from the tower.

"Is she still fighting? Is she-"

"No…" Robert somberly said.

"No, no… that's… that's, no that can't." Both of them heard an explosion that shook the ground around them, Jauned balanced himself and looked back at Robert, he had ook that he had never seen before, he looked mad, determined and above that… asking something of him.

"Jaune, I need to ask something of you." Robert slowly said.

"Y-yeah?" Jaune said in a broken voice. Robert handed Ruby to him.

"Promise me that you'll keep her safe, promise me that you'll carry her out of this, promise me to protect her with your life, someone is hunting her… I'm sure of that, and if he gets to her, he'll kill her." Robert stared at Jaune directly in the eyes.

"I…"

"And if you see a man covered in green mist and shadows, hide or run, but don't let him get her," Robert emphasized.

"I will, I will!" Jaune seemed in enough composure and determined enough to protect his best friend.

"I know you will," Robert said as he turned in the other direction.

"Where are you going?!" Jaune asked as he saw Robert run most likely towards the fight above the tower.

"To save Hector! You get out of here!" Robert screamed in fury, Jaune perked up and looked at the unconscious Ruby in his arms.

"Yeah… okay." Jaune began to run in the opposite direction.

Robert rushed back up the tower as fast as he could, ignoring the way his muscles screamed for him to stop as he climbed every step. Going up the elevator shaft was out of the question, it was destroyed and nearly impossible to climb up through in the state that it was in now. It took precious minutes, minutes he didn't know would be enough for his friend. It only made him move faster, against his body's wishes.

When he finally made it back up there, the office was somehow even more destroyed than before. The heat he felt by just watching the battle between Hector and a full-powered Cinder made his skin crawl. They were constantly clashing against each other, like two catastrophes meeting and trying to overpower each other. They kept going at it, over and over again. There were dozens of bruises and cuts on Cinder's body, and Hector was healing from a dozen wounds at the same time himself. Their flames constantly dueled each other to death. Robert watched and wondered how he could help, this battle… It seemed beyond him. Could he even help?

No, he had to. Robert felt something stir within him. His friend, his brother, was fighting Cinder all by himself. Getting burned and cut and bruised with each exchange. He couldn't let him do it alone, not this time. His resolve burst out in the form of lightning, and something whirled up from out of his back. He crouched down low, and suddenly the heat didn't seem to bother him at much. However, something was different. His lightning, it wasn't blue entirely anymore. It was gold. The blue was still there, but it seemed more as an accent than anything else. As his emotions continued to go wild and he kept watching as Hector battled Cinder to the death, he felt something explode from his back.

Hector seemed to sense him coming, for he crouched low and let him vault over his back to slash at Cinder with his gold and blue lightning blades. She obviously didn't expect his sudden return so quickly and was forced on the defensive, even more so when a wave of black flame slammed into her side, knocking her off balance and opening her up once again to attack.

Robert took the chance to grab Cinder by the jaw, fly suddenly up with a spin like a tornado, and throw her down, down directly at one of the main roofs of Beacon. He dropped down like a comet to that roof as well.

Hector watched with a surprising glint in his eyes. The things sprouting from Robert's back, golden-blue wings of pure lightning. It propelled his friend forward with each attack. That surprise was washed away quickly as he decided that now it was time to end this while Cinder was caught off guard and on a reckless defense. He gritted his teeth and slammed his fists together, screaming out a very familiar incantation that never did quite get old.

"Kaioken times TWENTY!" He screamed as his aura exploded into an even brighter and larger color of red and black flames. His body immediately felt the effects of this push, but with this healing factor, it practically completely negated the negative effects of his semblance. Joining Robert once again, he used his overwhelming speed to slam his fist into Cinder's stomach. Bending her forward and making her cough up blood. He crouched low and allowed Robert to vault over his shoulder a second time, kicking Cinder in the back of her head with his heel, further enhanced by golden lightning.

"Hey!" Robert quickly saluted Hector. "I left you once to fight her alone, not again!"

"Fine with me," Hector said as he stomped past him. "Let's finish this… you'll know when to attack next, trust me."

Robert did trust him and held himself back as Hector rushed forward again in a flash-step that he could actually keep up with this time with his eyes. Hector flashed beside Cinder and slammed his elbow into her back, then slammed his knee into her stomach as she fell forward and forced her to stand back up. With her now stunned and him way too fast for her to even hope to keep up with, he hit her time and time again with a variety of attacks. He kept going and going until she was pinned up against the wall, and only when her amber-colored aura shattered in a small explosion of wind and fire did Hector stop.

He let her fall forward, and even without aura, Cinder still had her magic. She snarled and summoned her sword, aiming to stab into Hector's eye in a last-ditch effort to kill him by stabbing directly into his brain. He slapped the sword to the side with his hand and suddenly he was behind her. Gripping her on the face from behind, and stabbing one of his claws into her left eye. Destroying it completely.

Robert saw his chance as Cinder's left arm was wailing wildly and beating against Hector's side. She screamed in agonizing pain, and wasn't paying any attention to him as one of the flames of her eyes went out and Hector dug deeper into her eye socket trying to get to her brain. Cinder did, however, make that difficult and made a move to stab Hector right through the brain with that same left arm, she flipped in defiance and got the perfect angle to do so. In a controlled reaction, Robert sucked in a deep breath and ignited Raios, just one blade. He focused on forming a single sharp blade of gold lightning with a deep blue core. Cinder's arm flailed out again, and Robert lunged.

In just a second, he passed by Cinder and her left arm flew into the air. Sliced off in a single attack.

"AAACCCKKKK!" Cinder screamed as blood rushed out of her new stump of an arm, even with the cauterizing, the cut had been so fast it wasn't able to cauterize the whole wound. She quickly lost consciousness as Hector grabbed her by the back of her skull, and slammed her face into the stone ground. Cracking it apart and ruining even more of her pretty face. The left half of her face was ground into the stone. But she was conscious to feel the pain.

Hector let out a long deep breath as he kept her pinned there just in case she was pretending to be knocked out. His aura died out and his exhaustion showed. Robert collapsed next, just behind him. The new power he just activated taking its toll on him as he fell forward and could barely feel any of his muscles.

"Finish her off…" Robert croaked as he rolled onto his side to see his friend still standing over Cinder, with one foot on her back instead. "No more surprises."

Hector looked at him and nodded to him with a groan. Cinder was defeated, one of her eyes gouged out and her left arm sliced off. Sure, she could die from blood loss soon. But he didn't want to take that chance.

He raised his left hand, which still had Ivory somehow still intact, and held his hand out. Lightning crackled as his last bit of lightning dust was used to deliver just one more final blow. "Just like last time," Hector said as he prepared to stab his hand through Cinder's back. "And this will be the final time I kill you."

With a roar, he thrust his hand down. Only for a dull thudding sound to be heard as his arm was forced to a stop just before he could penetrate through Cinder's back. Green and black mist washed over his arm, and in his fatigued state, not even his new form could overpower it. He didn't lose completely, however. As the mist tried to throw him off the tower, he flipped through the air and caught the ledge with one of his hands. He pulled himself up easily, only to snarl as he watched as Aaron picked up Cinder with his arms and glared back at him.

"I'll allow you this, you abomination. You bested us, just this once. Even then, the world will still. Fall. Apart." Aaron said as the mist washed over his entire body, Cinder included with it. "Next time we battle, I will make sure I am not nearly as unprepared or as merciful as I was today. You caught me off guard, out of all of the outcomes I predicted, this was not one of them. Know this, Hector, Hell, whatever you call yourself. You won this battle today out of pure luck, not by your own power."

"Aargh!" Hector pulled himself over the edge and lunged at Aaron. But when he hit him, he just went through a thick mist. Coming out the other side confused and furious. "Damn it!" He screamed to the sky, slamming the fist he intended for Cinder into the floor in his anger. "Damn it, I was so close! If I was just slightly faster… AGH!"

"Yeah… I know the feeling." Robert said as he coughed and hacked, still awake.

Hector growled and looked down toward Robert. A sign of concern waving over his face for a moment before it was replaced with yet another scowl. The exhaustion still showed in his body language, however. As he stepped closer to his friend and let his body fall backward flat onto his back, he let out a long exhale of breath. "Even with the merging… it still wasn't enough."

"... Merging?" Robert asked, worried more than anything.

Hector barely looked at him. "Hell and Hector are one and the same. I don't think I really have the time to explain it. We are neither just Hector or just Hell. We are just… whole."

"So… you combined yourself with the parasite?" Robert asked, trying to sound casual about it, but he couldn't help but wonder if Hector was still… Hector.

"Stop calling me that!" He suddenly snarled. Robert flinched back, surprised by the sudden burst of anger. Hector looked away and huffed, calming down. "I am not a parasite. I was simply fragmented, the Hector you knew is still here, but so am I. Think of us as a fusion, perhaps."

"Okay… that doesn't answer much but hey, are you at least like actually, part of each other? Other halves?" Robert tried for a different approach

"Yeah…" Hector let out another sigh, and this time around. He actually looked like the Hector that Robert knew. "Something like that… I suppose I may need a new name soon, the one I was given no longer applies to my nature."

"A regular Hector and a dark Hector... is still a Hector?" Robert joked.

Hector seemed to still have his sense of humor, for he at least chuckled at the attempt. "Perhaps… hm…" He looked up to the sky, looking toward the moon and then toward the rising sun. "We did it… didn't we? Beacon, it's still standing… and I don't hear fighting anymore."

"Doesn't feel like a victory…" Robert confessed.

"Not a complete one," Hector admitted. "It doesn't end here. This is just the start, you know that. There is so much we still need to do… what I need to do."

"...You? Huh?" Robert forced himself to stand up as best he could, what Hector said, sounded off, even after everything that had happened, and thought there weren't more surprises.

"I never did tell you, did I?" Hector said as he too stood up, stretching his arms up over his head as he let out another long groan. "I… am not going to be staying around much longer. I am going to go to Mistral, you see, I made a certain deal with a certain woman back when I was still in Mountain Glenn."

"You are fucking kidding me right? What are you talking about?"

Hector turned to him and smiled sadly, and recounted the story that he never bothered to ask about before.

Months ago in Mountain Glenn…

"I know you're the Spring Maiden!" Hector exclaimed before Yang's mother could escape through her portal. He froze and didn't know what else to say as the woman slowly turned toward him, her red eyes glaring into his soul through the thin slits that allowed her vision in her mask. In an instant, Hector had to cross his arms and to stop the red blade that would have sliced his head off and was flung into the metal wall of the train. Choking on his own weight as Raven held him up by his neck with the base of her sword.

"You may be strong, but you are hopelessly foolish. Who are you?" She asked in a low growl. "How do you know what I am?! Huh? Answer me!"

"I-... Ack!" Hector choked out. He didn't know what to say, or what to believe for that matter. He knew that she was the Spring Maiden, but he also felt another part of him that knew this woman. Fought with this woman before. Even though he knew he had never met her in his entire life. Was it Hell who made him think this way? Remember these things that have been slowly becoming more and more prevalent with each passing day? He didn't know, but somehow, he knew just how to get himself out of this situation. By being completely one hundred percent honest.

"I'm not from Remnant," He said as spittle formed on his lips. "I'm from somewhere else, a different world at a different time. I was brought here by some kind of magic!"

Raven's eyes narrowed even further. She raised one hand while keeping the other trapping Hector, and tore off her mask and threw it through the still-open portal.

"Do I look like a fool to you?" Raven asked, her face becoming scarier than a Grimm as she glared into his eyes.

Red eyes. That was it! Hector didn't know if it'd work, but he activated his semblance with a desperate groan. His body took on a small red aura as his eyes turned red. Raven didn't look worried or surprised, but her eyes widened ever so slightly. Her grip on his neck lessened, and inside of the base of the sword, it was her hand instead. Better than before, at least.

"I have memories," Hector continued, desperately hoping Raven would listen to him. "Memories of a different time. I remember you, Raven Branwen, leader of an infamous bandit tribe, mother of Yang Xiao Long and ex-wife to Taiyang. Not to mention you are one of the four seasonal maidens."

"You know a lot for a boy trying to convince me not to kill him," Raven snarled.

"I remember you dying," Hector admitted next. This time, Raven couldn't hold back the confused look in her eyes and face. "I remember you putting on the best fight that you could… putting aside your differences with the ones you hurt and them doing the same, and I remember you making peace at the end… I don't know how I remember this, but…" Hell flashed through his mind, his ghost appeared behind Raven. A sad look on his face, but also with a smile on it as well. Clearly, these memories came from him. "I remember crying for you… But that isn't this world, that was a different one in itself. With a different me, and a different set of rules."

"Are you insane?" Raven asked with a chuckle, hiding her disbelief. "Because what you are suggesting is something just a little unbelievable. You have one more minute to try and convince me not to kill you and be done with it."

"Magic exists in this world, doesn't it?" Hector asked, Raven didn't mention it, but she allowed for his feet to touch the ground so that he was no longer choking. "God's exists, they created Remnant and took away most of the magic in the world. But they didn't get rid of all of it, clearly." Digging into those wretched memories once again, Hector continued. "The relics… Salem… Ozma?" The name was familiar and unfamiliar all at the same time. "And the maidens. The God's always had a plan for that time, even after they were gone. They even interfered and created a being of powerful magic to make sure that everything went just the way they wanted it too. Another me, the original me. I know it sounds crazy, and this you wouldn't know anything about it. Maybe not even the future you, but… it's all I have. The original me sent me here, along with some… unexpected consequences."

"And that is?" Raven asked, an eyebrow piqued with interest.

Hector looked up, surprised. "You're listening to me?"

"I am curious," Raven admitted. "You are right about one thing, magic is real and I am sure there are things about it that even I don't know about or will ever have the time to learn more about it. A different dimension is something I am sure isn't out of the realm of possibility… as for the rest of it, however."

"I can't prove it, at least not now," Hector said with a sigh. "I don't have evidence. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Beacon," Hector said, his eyes widening. "In this timeline this early on, Beacon gets attacked and falls. Ozpin dies, and the fall maiden is taken control of by Salem." He looked up at Raven, who was surprisingly even taller than he was and stared confidently up at her. "If Beacon is attacked again… then that will be your evidence."

"You are crazy," Raven said with a bitter laugh.

"I might be, but if I'm right, then there is a good chance that if we work together this early on, you will live to see the end of the war."

"What war?" Raven asked.

Hector widened his eyes, surprised by his own knowledge. "I… it's… a future thing… Something that hasn't happened yet… The relics need to be collected before that."

"Okay, you've thoroughly confused me," Raven admitted with a sigh as she pulled away from her hand. "But, if you are right, and I can't believe that I am considering it to be the truth. Then you and I will be spending a lot of time together figuring the rest of this shit out."

"After the Vytal Festival, I can prove to you that I'm right," Hector said. "If it helps, I am strong. And I know I can get a lot stronger than this. Once I learn how to control this power, mold it to my will, I can become the best ally you can ever ask for. And a friend, too."

"Don't push it," Raven warned.

"We were friends once," Hector said, looking down as different memories flooded his mind. "Not for a long time, but once."

"Hm," Raven didn't dignify that with a response. "Well, it appears that I will let you live after all. Besides, if all that you say is true, then I have no intention of dying. And you are strong," Raven looked him up and down, gauging his strength visually. "Very strong for your age, and I can sense something within you. I'm willing to make a deal with you,"

Raven grabbed his hand suddenly. Hector felt something strange as black and red wisps washed over his entire aura before fading away. "I'm bonded with you now. I don't take that lightly. If you are wrong, I'll portal to you and kill you. If you are right, I am taking you with me and I'm going to pull all of that strength you mentioned out of you and go on with that alliance of ours."

"P-please," Hector held his other hand up in surrender as Raven tightened her grip down on his trapped hand. "Just give me until after the Vytal Festival. I don't plan on letting them attack Beacon a second time, but there may be another way I can prove it to you."

"Then you better plan it out, and not waste my time any longer," Raven glanced at Yang, who was slowly regaining consciousness. It wouldn't do if she woke up and saw her, it wouldn't do at all. "I'll give you your request, but no longer. I will know when the time comes, and when it does. You better be ready, boy."

Hector swallowed nervously but ultimately nodded his head. "Deal. But… if I could ask you for a favor. This train is full of explosive dust, and if it crashes…"

"That's why she saved me and Weiss…" Robert said as he ran his hands through his hair and let out a long, exhausted sigh. "I… I should have known, dammit. I knew you were hiding something!"

"Sorry for hiding it," His friend said with a sad smile. Even after the battle, he still assumed this new form of his. He still looked exactly the same, but something was off about him. Robert didn't know how to think about it, Hector just seemed… different. It must have been because of his merging with Hell.

"How…" Robert shook his head and sighed again, looking about the destroyed top of the tower and then into the sunset into the distance. Beacon had been saved, yes, but at such a great cost. "How much time do you have left?"

Right as he said that, a portal of red and black tore itself through the air. Hector looked at it as it formed, and sighed himself. "About that much time…" He said blankly as the woman stepped through the portal, her red eyes immediately locking onto the man she made a deal with, then looking around to the destruction that the Wyvern, White Fang, and everyone else who attacked Beacon left behind.

"You were telling the truth," Raven said as she took off her large mask, revealing her face.

"You believed me before," Hector pointed out as he walked toward her with a small limp, favoring his left arm, which was burnt the most by Cinder. The constant cycle of healing and getting burnt took its toll, it would take some time to recover from it. "You were just in denial at first, you needed this proof."

"And now I have it," Raven said as her eyes trained on Robert, who was slowly standing up and trying to activate his weapons. "I don't suggest you try that," She said as her eyes flamed red. "You wouldn't be able to beat me even if I didn't use the powers of the Spring Maiden."

"Don't fight, please," Hector said without looking at him. "I knew what I was getting myself into all that time ago. I accepted it."

"Hector, really," Robert said, looking desperate. "You can't leave now, not after everything we've been through. You have a team here! People who love and care about you. At the very least, this is just way too soon. Give it a few days, say your goodbyes to everyone else. Or better yet, don't go with a woman like her at all!" He snarled. "You know what she is capable of, she's a coward, and in a situation where she has to choose between herself and you, she will be selfish."

"Don't talk about me like you know me, boy," Raven said as she placed a hand on the hilt of her weapon. "If it is for the betterment of the tribe and he endangers it, then yes, I will make that choice. But he is an investment, and I don't like my time being wasted."

"There you have it," Hector gave Hector a small sad smile as he turned to look at him over his shoulder. "I know this is sudden, man. I wish I could stay longer, I really do. But I made a deal, a promise, and I have to follow up on that. Besides, I am sure that this is not the last time our paths will meet. You were brought into this world alongside me for a reason," Hector explained. "I don't know why or what my other self was thinking, but I know that you are an important piece in this puzzle we have been set to put together. We will see you again," His eyes flashed red, as did his hair flash white.

"Nah, Nah, no, I can't let that happen.." Robert ignited Raios at last, stepping forward and being pushed back and rolling on the roof of Beacon as Raven hit him with the hilt of her weapon.

"Don't test me, boy, we made a deal, now he has to honor it, you don't get a say in this," Raven warned as she kept a hand on her hilt as she slid it back into her sheathe.

"You bitch…" Robert tried to get up again, but his body wouldn't let him, he fell to both knees and heaved.

"Don't fight Rob, you can't win this. I have to go." Hector said to him.

"I can't let that… bitch, screw things even more at the last second." Robert heaved as he still tried to get up, the injuries he suffered across the day finally catching up to him.

"We'll be fine… I know what I'm doing, I know what I got into." Hector drove the point.

"No, you don't! You have people that need your help here, Hector I… I can't do this alone, you are the closest thing I have to a family that I have left if I lose more people… I'll… I don't think I can fix this, we failed, we screwed up, and I feel I alone will just make it worse…" Robert felt his mistakes on the back of his mind, and a voice telling him it wasn't true.

"You're never going to be alone in this," Hector said with a laugh. "Even then, you've achieved a lot on your own already. When the time comes, you will know when to come to find me, and you know where I'll be."

"I'm growing impatient," Raven said loudly, interrupting their moment. "Say your goodbyes and go through the portal. I'll allow that much."

"Just a second," Hector said with a frustrated sigh. "You know what happens next. I won't say goodbye because our paths will cross again. In the meantime, make sure Beacon doesn't fall the second I leave. It'd suck to hear that news while I'm stuck all the way in Mistral."

"I'll… do what I can." Robert promised. "But Hector please, get out of this, you can't let her...ugh." Robert held his sides and his injuries, he knew that after this, it would be months, perhaps even years, before he saw Hector again. He had to make this last meeting memorable. "You're my brother, Hector. We need to see this through to the end, together. Get to Mistral the first chance you get I'll..."

"Don't make me silence him for good," Raven warned again.

"Just a second! We will see this through," Hector smiled at him. "Until we meet again, brother." He said finally, stepping through Raven's portal. The spring maiden spared a look at him before she huffed and followed him through, closing the portal behind her. Sending them both hundreds if not thousands of miles away.

"Wait, wait!" Robert tried to move but was unable to even take a step. As soon as they were gone, Robert fell down onto his stomach and then dropped his hands towards the floor as well.

"Aaaarrrgh!" he shouted towards the sky in anger and punched the roof of Beacon, once twice his knuckle hurting as he so did his back. High in the sky, the moon was still there, but the sun was quickly blocking it from view with its burning light. He was so tired, so exhausted and fatigued from all the fighting. He couldn't believe that he'd just been moving for who knows how many hours. They'd done it, though. Beacon was saved, Ozpin was still alive, and the ties between Vale and Atlas only grew ever tighter.

We couldn't save Pyrrha, though… His mind saw fit to point out as he felt tears build up in the corners of his eyes, he held on to his hair and screamed again. He turned to see her body on the tower, only to remember how it was burned away into some kind of magical ash after Cinder killed her. He felt a pang of guilt and sadness in his heart. They'd promised to save her! And they failed. They beat destiny at every other turn, but when it came to Pyrrha, they'd lost.

He didn't look forward to telling Jaune that news properly this time. Hell, he wasn't ready for it himself! After everything they fought for and even when saving Beacon from falling, they couldn't save just a single girl.

I'll get stronger, He promised himself and everyone he'd grown to love and care about. I'll get stronger, and make destiny fail again and again if I have to. Just you wait, Hector. You're not the only one with limitless potential. That thing he did while fighting alongside Hector and Hell, he had to be able to replicate that, right? If he could control it and activate it at will, he'd be able to take on Aaron and Cinder on his own, just like Hector was. I'll never be a burden again, I swear it.

Next, he thought about the future and what lay ahead. Beacon was saved, and by extension, Vale was spared a grim fate. Hector was gone, but not gone forever. They may have won this battle, but there was so much more to be done.

This was just the beginning, Robert thought as he sat up and looked over to the horizon.

And there we have it. That marks the end of this story. Imagine that? After everything we went through, this was the second story that I have ever made, and somehow it is not the third I have completed. Imagine that? Now, I must go on to-

It's not over yet. -CrowSkull

Huh?

Not over yet, there's still a part two. -CrowSkull.

Oh, fuck. You're right. Well, uh, yeah! There is going to be a part two, a part two that we need to plan and a whole lot of fuck ups to fix in the first half of this story. We tried to remaster it before, but with all the other stories I had going on, plus work and college. We just never found the time. Now that I am working on just two stories now, however. I think we can find that time now.

I'll possibly be the one to start editing those chapters just to cover for Gen and his busy schedule… also once I get out of mine somewhat, but we should be able. We made this giant thing even when we were on busy weeks as well, the amount of shit and difficulties we had to overcome to do this, it was an experience… part of me wants to say never again, but we most likely will. -CrowSkull.

He's right, I mean, Hell, just where we are right now there is 62k+ words! That's nearly 20k more than the finale for An Unlikely Hero, which, as you can now see, is definitely and now confirmed to be directly tied to this story.

Well, I must admit, two heads and some planning really made it easier, like what? We did this in a week? -CrowSkull.

Haha, yeah… I'm fucking crazy. We both did our own segments, and your true fans will be able to tell which is the one writing. But in total, this entire chapter had 14 major scenes. Wait a second… We're missing one more, aren't we?

Oh right. -CrowSkull.

There is just one more scene to go! The Epilogue. That's right, I'm switching it up this time around! Let's get right into the final scene of this crazy long ending chapter to the first installment of this series. Or is it second? Maybe. There's UH, and now TH here… yeah… time to go for three!

Hah, a trilogy of fanfiction stories. Who would have thought? Anyways, Epilogue time!

Extra note: This document is 155 pages long. We went through each scene several times, but we definitely did not catch all of the little errors and mistakes. Please forgive us for that.

Two weeks since the battle of Beacon Academy...

The headmaster of Beacon Academy stood over his ruined desk in his ruined office. His ruined computer with a thousand cracks in it with a ruined keyboard set in front of it. He didn't know why he bothered to find the pieces and put it back together. The machinery within the device was far beyond repair. The lack of three and a half of his four walls and the missing ceiling and entire clockwork seemed to have added on to the troublesome feeling he had, and it was not because he had to lean on his cane for the support this time around.

"So," He turned around to see a man who was wrapped in bandages beneath his clothing and crossing his arms. "How much has changed?" He asked with a fond smile.

"You are alive for starters," Robert replied as he scratched an itch that has been bothering him for a long time. "Atlas and Vale are still allies, the droids never turned against us, and Beacon isn't being infested by Grimm and a petrified dragon."

"Wyvern," Ozpin corrected.

"Whatever. A lot has changed," Robert continued. "Besides a million smaller things, I don't really know what else major has changed… Well… I know some things that remained the same."

Ozpin offered him a sad smile, knowing what he was thinking. "Pyrrha Nikos fought valiantly and had a funeral all to herself. I could not have asked for a better maiden, for as short a time as we were allied."

Robert looked to the side, not willing to acknowledge the fact of Pyrrha's death, he felt responsible."The major problem is the betrayers, they were new… and for the worse."

"Hm, yes. They will be a problem." Ozpin went on with the change of topic. "We have captured many of them, but not a single one has been broken yet. James has been questioning some himself, but they keep stonewalling us. The General fears that he will have to resort to more… experimental methods."

Robert scoffed. "Let him. After what they did, they don't deserve any less."

"Quite," Ozpin chuckled.

"What about the ones that were influenced?" Robert asked for the ones he did worry about. Some people were also classified as betrayers when really, they had been victims as well.

"They are being looked after," Ozpin explained. "Beacon's hospital wing is still standing, and as such many of those who are afflicted by Aaron's manipulation is being treated. Thankfully, the effects are not permanent. Of course, those who have committed atrocities will not be tried as criminals. That is to say, their mental states may have been affected for the worse… There have been many hundreds of requests for leaves or resignations for the same reason. Devolved mental state of mind.."

"... And what does the rest of the world think? I… don't dare to watch the news myself." Robert admitted.

"Vale is receiving support from all the other kingdoms, offering their aid in whatever way is available to them," Ozpin said. "That is to say that the reactions to what happened are mixed. There is an outcry to find those who are responsible for the attack, but as you can imagine, that cannot be done so soon."

"Are they pointing fingers?" He asked.

"People may point at whatever they like," Ozpin shrugged his shoulders. "They are the voices that are most ignored."

"And the evacuation of Vale? Grimm are still around, active around the perimeter more than ever, and many people can't still go back to their homes."

"Thanks to the efforts of James and his brave men and women, they are taking care of that issue," Ozpin said. "Enough about that, I've told you this in many ways, every day for the last fourteen days. How about you answer one of my questions instead?"

Robert looked down and sighed, simply nodding his head.

"What happens next?" Ozpin asked.

"... Haven, the next academy that follows after Beacon is Haven, they want the relic of Knowledge, and they will go for the spring maiden."

"Ah, yes." Ozpin bristled and frowned at the thought of Raven being the spring maiden. Thanks to Robert retelling the tale to him, now he knew. "I suppose Hector will be making sure those events don't repeat itself…"

"I also have other friends there… I'll be going as well. Once I'm ready, once some of the airships leave and everything's in order, I'll go… I made a promise after all." Robert faced Ozpin with far more determination.

"Hm, you aren't the only one who's planning to make a trip," Ozpin pointed out. "Why, I hear that Yang Xiao Long has been meeting with Team MAR quite frequently. See, she isn't very happy that Blake Belladonna said goodbye to her and ran off to Menagerie, and with Weiss Schnee about to be taken away by her father in a few weeks... and her sister currently in a coma, she seems to have certain things on her mind. Of course, her father is much too soft to actually try and stop her," Ozpin laughed at fond memories from the past. "I am prepared to hear the news that four of my students are going to be missing quite soon. Boy, I must admit I am quite worried for our dear friend when those two girls get their hands on him once again."

"I… hope they still see him as… him." Robert worried.

"Oh, and that isn't at all." Ozpin laughed, not missing a beat. "What did Qrow say? They were even speaking of new team names. Apparently, the winner is Team YAMR. Yammer, Robert. Really, they hardly tried at all."

"... You take pride in your team naming, don't you?"

"No comment," Ozpin took a seat as his many broken bones in his legs and body flared up again. Ah… the old age of this body combined with his fraction of magic he had left. It wasn't often he lived long enough to feel it. "It will take some time for me to heal… I assume that you aren't going to wait for me to do so, I hear that you are planning some things yourself."

"Wasn't planning to wait for you, no… no offense." Robert admitted.

"Hm, none taken," Ozpin gestured to his broken body. "Well, if you are going to be leaving Beacon so soon, I suppose this is long overdue. Here, give me your scroll."

Robert raised an eyebrow and did just that, sliding it over the desk and toward the headmaster.

Ozpin took it and reached into his pocket, typed in a few commands, and then promptly tossed the scroll back to Robert after tapping it against it. "There, you are now a full-fledged Huntsman." He said mock clapping as Robert gawked at his new license. "Congratulations on your graduation."

"Hmm… I guess it would be like you to skip all the tests involved." Robert said with a laugh.

"Please, please, hold back your thanks." Ozpin drawled. "The tests are rather null at this point. I won't waste your or my time when we both know that all of Beacon would be biased in how we grade you."

"Don't worry I'm sure Glynda will do that for both of us." Robert pocketed his scroll.

"At least this way, you can freely travel throughout Remnant with no worry of legal trouble. Also, there is a command I copied and transferred into your scroll. It is an app, the same one that I used to grant you their license. Those who you deem deserve it, give them their license. I have a feeling that you are not going to be alone on your next journey."

"Most likely… But that would have to wait, too. People have to recover, I still have to make some planning with a partner of mine, and since now I'm a huntsman, I do need to go and save people, protect others, and also… I still need to beat someone, she won't call me a huntsman if I don't, and neither will she." Robert paced as he talked about the future, it helped plan and relax in some cases.

"Of course," Ozpin already knew what he was talking about, and gave him a smug grin. "Do what you need to do. In the meantime, this old man will be making sure Beacon returns to its current state. Oh, and one last thing before you leave."

"Hm?"

"When you see Hector again, do make sure to tell him just how much of an insolent fool he is for doing something so reckless as trusting Raven Branwen... But also thank him, for all that he has done. I regret that I was not able to tell him that before he left…"

"I'll be sure to do so." Robert laughed.

Robert walked the halls of Beacon with his hands in his pockets, there was so much to do, and truth be told he didn't know where to begin, technically all he needed to do was wait in some particular cases. But he felt a pressure in the back of his head, one that told him that the world wasn't okay, and that quiet, small voice at the back of his head was still there as well.

He needed to distract himself, he needed to go on a quick mission soon to go and make a difference. It was then that he found the team JNR… they were talking amongst themselves, and when they saw him, it seemed that they had been looking for him.

"Hey…" Robert waved weakly.

"Hey…" Nora spoke for them.

"... What's on your mind?" Robert asked them, he wanted to know honestly. And if possible help.

"We… umm, we have been talking, and uh-" Nora tried to form her words.

"We know you are planning something, you want to go out there and make a difference, make things… right." Jaune interjected.

"I do," Robert confirmed.

"When the time is right, we want to go with you, I know you are going after Hector, you must be, but also, you'll go after everyone that was involved in the attack… even the ones that. Killed Pyrrha." Jaune said with considerable venom in his voice.

"If you go with me, you'll face things you never have before, you'll most likely face the worst of the worst on this planet… and I'm not talking about Grimm." Robert explained to them.

"Pyrrha was our teammate, we can't sit idle and let people that had a hand in ending so many lives go free, we have to honor her, we have to do something, and if we remain in Beacon, we might not get a chance to do so," Ren said.

"Even if it is difficult, even if it's more than we might be prepared for… we trust you, you know what to do, you know how to fight this, you can teach us and you are also the one with a plan." Nora explained, Robert was shocked (pun not intended), even after everything, they trusted him?

"You know… it is not what she would have wanted." Robert said to them, they hardened their stares at him. "But… maybe you are right, and most likely, I'll need you, you, and many others." Robert admitted.

"We won't let you down, and you can count on us." Jaune nodded.

"I know… I just hope I don't fail you again." Robert said with a sad smile. "I might need some help with that, it would be easier if you are there to warn me." Robert pulled out his hand, Jaune and him shook hands, there was a very difficult road ahead and a very interesting road trip.

The sun in Mistral was hot. It beamed down on him even through the shadows of the trees above him. The red tents that surrounded him didn't help much, but somehow, it didn't bother him one bit. He's been there before, after all. He lived here before. How poetic, for him to end up in the same place he started, long, long ago.

"Oi," Vernal called out to him. "Stop staring up at the sun you fucking weirdo, Raven is asking for you."

"Again?" Hector asked with a sigh as he rolled his still sore muscles. "Is she trying to kill me or does she just not know what rest is?"

"Don't know, don't care. Just go before I drag you there myself."

"Yes, like that went so well the last time you tried that," Hector smirked as Vernal narrowed her eyes at him in a warning. He then laughed when she cursed at him and stomped away, but not before warning him to go find Raven. Once she was gone, Hector looked back up into the sky, remembering…

Mistral was the beginning before, and now, it was the beginning again. Hector wondered how things were going to turn out this time around. I wondered if the same thing was going to happen or not. One thing was for sure, he was no longer certain of the future. Everything was a mystery now, he couldn't predict it much like he couldn't predict his own power. It was every day with Raven. Training him every morning, afternoon, and night until they were both ready to pass out with exhaustion. Only to do it again merely hours later. Thankfully, his healing factor saw fit to make sure that nothing lingered for too long, but really, he was more grateful for the merging.

He felt at peace with himself at last. There was no more Hell, much like there was no more Hector. Oh, of course, he was still both of them and he would still assume the name of Hector. But at least now it was his own identity. He was his own man.

He smiled as he looked up at the sky, and wondered how he was taking all of this. And for once, he didn't mean his original self.

"Fucker, what are you doing!?" Vernal exclaimed as she stomped up to him again, making him wince as her loud cursing made his ears ring. "Raven doesn't like to be made to wait, and I sure as hell don't like seeing your stupid face every time she makes me come get you!" The other bandits flinched back at her tone, even if she was bumped down to third strongest of the tribe when he arrived, she still had a lot of pull in just her mere presence.

Once his ears stopped ringing, Hector turned around to face her. His shirt was off, and he had black wraps around his wrists and forearms. Raven never did allow him to wear his gauntlets when they trained. Kept telling him that he would use it as a crutch. His hair was still snow-white, and his eyes a piercing red color. His smirk revealed pointed canines. He felt stronger and was feeling it more and more every day. The training was grueling - even for him. But he knew that he needed it.

He flash-stepped beside Vernal and placed a hand on her shoulder, surprising her with his sudden burst of speed. "Never change, Vernal." He said as he patted her shoulder. "I'll make sure you don't die a second time."

"What?" Vernal finched, confusion written all over your face. "The fuck you mean?"

"You'll get what I mean later, I'm sure," Hector said as he walked past her, rolling his shoulders as he made his way to Raven's tent. "Now, where were we... Raven?"

~To be Continued…~