Signal Academy, a school on the island of Patch for budding young huntsman and huntresses. A school filled with children who would one day grow up to join the fight against the Grimm. The vile creatures of darkness hellbent on humanity and faunus' destruction.

One such huntress was racing down a quickly emptying hallway. She was a small petite girl, fourteen years of age. Although the girl was wearing a school uniform, she was also wearing a red cloak with a hood that was currently down. The girl's hair was black with a tint of red and there was an excited smile on her lips. Her name was Ruby Rose and she had finally built the most amazing thing ever.

She rounded the corner and spotted Richter Bremen, one of her best friends, grabbing his backpack out of his locker. Richter was about her height, slightly taller with slicked-back medium-length dark hair, he wasn't too muscular or too thin and his eyes were the darkest shade of brown in all of Signal. Almost black really. Like Ruby, he was also in school uniform, though he had taken the tie off and thrown it in his locker. Richter hated school uniforms.

"Richter!" She shouted excitedly. Ruby saw Richter's dark eyes widen in surprise at her sudden appearance. "You need to come to the workshop right now!"

Richter sighed as he closed his locker. "What is it now Ruby? Classes just ended. I was gonna go home and take a nap." He whined.

Ruby scoffed, "Naps can wait. You have to see this!" She replied excitedly, half-walking, half-running back towards where the academy's workshop was. Richter sighed, rubbing the back of his head. Ruby knew her friend would protest and complain, but ultimately he would comply, most of the time.

"Fine fine." He finally said, following the excited Ruby at a much more sedate pace.

The Signal Academy workshop was a busy place during school hours. It was here that aspiring huntsman and huntresses began to craft their weapons. The tools they would use to battle grimm. Almost every weapon was unique and it was up to the person on what kind they would make. Ruby had spent a lot of time here, working hard to make a weapon she could call her own. There had been many failures and it had been soulcrushing, but Richter and her friends had always been there to help her. Making sure she didn't give up.

And now her persistence had finally paid off.

Ruby opened a nearby locker and pulled out her finished weapon. Richter's bored expression quickly lit up as he caught sight of it.

The petite girl turned towards her friend with a huge grin. "Check it out!" She exclaimed excitedly as her weapon unfolded into a scythe.

Richter whistled in admiration, "Wow you finished it?"

Ruby beamed, "Yup!"

She began to take her weapon through its paces. Slashing and twirling through the air, almost as if dancing. It felt perfect in her hands, like it was an extension of herself. Ruby grinned as she continued practicing, she had finally done it! She had finally completed her weapon!

So excited was Ruby that she was too enthusiastic with one swing, slicing a little too close to Richter's head. Thankfully Richter was also a huntsman in training and his reflexes saved him from a bloody shave. The scythe just passed over the top of his hair, cutting a few ebony strands from it. Ruby immediately stopped her practicing, putting the scythe behind her back and rocking back and forth on her feet. A sheepish smile on her face.

"Whoops! Heh, sorry." She apologized.

Richter had a handful of hair in his left hand, he was looking at it with a frown, which quickly turned into a grin. "Well, guess I don't need a haircut anymore."

Ruby smiled, "Always seeing the bright side of things eh?"

"Usually." Richter replied, shaking the strands of his hair off his hand. "So what are you going to call it?"

"Crescent Rose!" She informed him, holding it proudly in her right hand.

Richter nodded, "A suitable name."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "That's all you have to say? I've been working on this for almost a year!"

"What else do you want me to add?" He asked, exasperated. "Sweet mother of god! That's the greatest scythe I've ever seen! It should be inducted into the weapon hall of fame! Why even my grandpa says it's cool-looking and he's blind!"

Ruby paused for a moment before grinning widely. "That's more like it."

Richter chuckled in response. "But seriously Ruby, nice work."

Crescent Rose folded back into its non-weapon shape and Ruby placed it behind her lower back. "Thanks. I was actually thinking of testing it out at the old manor east of here."

Richter crossed his arms in front of his chest, "You mean the one us students are forbidden to go to. The one that has had a lot of grimm sightings lately?" He shook his head, "I don't know, maybe you should use some of the dummies here first."

Ruby frowned, Richter was a good friend, but sometimes he was just too cautious for his own good. He wasn't a coward, she had seen him in action before with his weapon, Dyrnwyn, a single-edged sword that could transform into a revolver. He was an adept huntsman, but she had never seen him take a risk.

"Dummies don't fight back." She responded, "I can't gauge Crescent Rose properly that way." Ruby smirked at her friend. "Don't tell me you're getting cold feet Richter."

Richter let out a long sigh. "No, no." He said to her. "But if you insist on going, then I'm inviting Pearce and Trista to come along." He pulled out his scroll and began texting.

Ruby pouted, "Aw, but that means there will be less grimm for me!"

"You poor baby."

"But can't we just…"

Richter wagged the finger of his free hand at her. "No buts, this is the only way I'll agree to going."

Ruby huffed in indignation. "You're such a worrywart."

"Better that than having something happen to you out there because we were too reckless. I don't want to get punched by Yang again."

"Fair point."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The old manor east of Signal Academy had been there for over a century. It once belonged to a member of the Schnee family as sort of a getaway place for vacations. However, as the years passed grimm activity in the area grew too high and the manor was abandoned.

Now in the dilapidated manor's courtyard, four young huntsman in training were battling grimm. They were picking the creatures of darkness apart with ease. Ruby Rose was now out of her school uniform and in her favorite black and red dress with a battle skirt. The instigator of the impromptu mission was beheading grimm left and right with her scythe, twirling and flipping as she danced a dance of death for her enemies.

Her three friends, Richter Bremen, Pearce Spicule, and Trista Cornucopia were also doing their fair share of grimm-slaying. Richter, now out of his school uniform, was wearing a black jacket with grey lining, the tail-end of the jacket went to his ankles and was split in two. The twin tails of the jacket flowed in the wind as Richter went from grimm to grimm, either slashing them up with the sword version of his weapon or blasting them apart with the revolver version. Plain blue jeans and black shoes with grey trim completed the outfit.

Pearce Spicule was a faunus, he was tall and his hair was light-brown in color. He had the ears of a lion and a solid build. Currently, he was wearing a light-yellow, sleeveless shirt, blue sweatpants and blue jogging shoes. He looked like a hermit that had been training in the forest all his life. But his friends knew he preferred this style of clothing because it was easy to move around in. And move Pearce could. Armed with dual daggers that could transform into dual pistols, he made short work of any grimm foolish enough to stand in his way.

The last of Ruby's friends, Trista Cornucopia, was a dark-haired girl of average height. She had her long hair in a ponytail that went down to the base of her spine. Trista wore a white jumpsuit with red trim and her weapons were silver gauntlets that had mini-gatling guns embedded in the palms. grimm were shredded to pieces from the rapid fire of her gauntlets.

Richter beheaded several Beowulves with his sword in the blink of an eye, flicking the blood off his blade and sheathing Dyrnwyn. He looked around, assessing the battle. So far they had been lucky, the grimm here were all low-ranking, easy for huntsman of their caliber to dispatch. However, if the bigger grimm like the Ursa's and the Deathstalkers showed up, it would be a problem. They were still in training after all.

He watched as Ruby leapt into the air, making herself parallel to the ground as she spun like a top. She lashed out three quick times with her scythe, each splitting a grimm in half, before landing easily on her feet.

"All clear?" The petite girl asked.

"Yup." Richter replied.

"Yup." Came Pearce's answer.

"Gimme a second." Trista called out, several more rounds of her gauntlets went off before quiet settled over the courtyard. "Yup."

Richter watched Ruby survey the landscape with a frown before turning to him. "I told you there wouldn't be enough grimm!"

Richter waved it off, "Relax, you got a decent run out of Crescent Rose right?"

Ruby patted her weapon, now tucked behind her back once more. "Yeah she handles like a dream." A crazy expression suddenly appeared on her face and both Pearce and Trista took a step backwards. "But she wants more grimm blood!" She finished, laughing maniacally. Richter couldn't help but laugh. Leave it to Ruby to be so dramatic.

Pearce raised a skeptical eyebrow, "And now her weapon talks to her apparently."

Trista shrugged, "That's our crazy Ruby."

Richter walked up to Ruby and gave her a playful punch on her shoulder.

"Ow!" Ruby protested, rubbing her arm.

"There'll be plenty of grimm-slaying nights in the future Rambo, don't worry." The dark-haired boy reassured her, "Let's head home."

Richter took two steps when Pearce suddenly held a hand up, "Wait." The male faunus said, everyone paused. "Do you guys hear that?"

Richter strained his ears and at first the only sound he heard was silence, but then he heard it, a commotion, and it was coming from inside the manor.

Ruby's eyes immediately lit up "More grimm!" She said in an excited whisper, running for the manor's front doors.

"Ruby wait!" Richter hissed, rushing to try and catch up to her. "More grimm is not necessarily a good thing! We should leave it be!" He heard the muted footsteps of Pearce and Trista, coming up behind him.

"If things get bad, we run. Simple." Ruby whispered.

Richter was not convinced, "Yeah…simple…." He said sarcastically.

"A quick peek won't kill us." Pearce said.

"Yeah I was promised a good night, I didn't even break a sweat killing those poor excuses for grimm." Trista agreed.

Richter looked at each member of the group. He didn't like this plan, there were too many unknowns. The place wasn't abandoned for nothing. They were all good huntsman, but who knew what kind of creature the darkness would spit out in there? Still, all his friends wanted to check it out, so he couldn't say no.

"Fine, let's just…make this quick." He relented

Ruby smirked, "That's the spirit!"

The group entered the rundown mansion, the smell of mold assaulting their noses. Vines and other various vegetation were growing on the walls and a once bright and dazzling chandelier was now dull and hanging barely from the ceiling. Almost all the rooms were completely bare as looters picked the place clean decades ago.

"This place has seen better days." Pearce remarked.

"Yeah, it's kind of sad seeing something that used to belong to the Schnee family reduced to this." Trista said.

Ruby brought a finger to her lips and shushed them, "Quiet! We have to get the jump on them." Their two friends immediately stopped talking. Richter realized then, that they were just as nervous as he was.

The group continued to search the mansion, checking all the rooms on the ground floor and the second floor. Finding nothing except a lot of cobwebs and a few rats. They returned to the ground floor and entered the living room. Where they all finally eased the tension they were feeling and relaxed.

Ruby was pouting "I can't believe we didn't find any more grimm." She said sadly.

Pearce was crouching, checking his scroll for messages. "Ah well, at least we can say we explored a creepy mansion."

Richter caught Ruby's eye. "Another day Ruby, I promise."

The petite girl lowered her head sadly, "Yeah…"

"Hey guys!" Trista called out, Richter looked at the dark-haired girl to see her kneeling next to the living room's old fireplace. She turned to look at the group, "Maybe we can get a fire going! Anybody bring any marshmellows or…."

Richter stopped paying attention as he saw two red slits suddenly flare to life in the fireplace. The unmistakable eyes of a grimm.

"Trista!" Richter shouted, "LOOK OUT!"

"Huh?" Trista said, blood splattering her face as she looked down at the new hole in her abdomen. The beowulf that was hiding in the fireplace retracted the hand it had used to impale the dark-haired girl and Trista collapsed face-first to the floor in a heap, blood beginning to pool around her.

"Trista!" Pearce shouted. Richter was already moving, Dyrnwyn in revolver-form as he fired it behind him. Using the recoil from the shot, Richter arrived right in front of the beowulf that had wounded Trista. He brought his left palm right up to the Grimm's face and released a blast of his aura, knocking the creature backwards, its body no longer having a head.

Suddenly the fireplace and the entire wall it was attached to collapsed, shooting out a plume of dust. Richter was forced to use his left forearm to shield his eyes, he was dimly aware of Pearce grabbing Trista and moving her away from where the fireplace used to be. He heard the sound of Ruby bringing Crescent Rose into scythe form as they waited anxiously for whatever had broken the wall.

Eventually the dust cleared and Richter was greeted by the sight of grimm, and they weren't small fry either. Multiple beowulf alphas and he even spotted some ursas in the group. He clenched his teeth tightly, this was not good, he didn't know if they could take them all, especially since they were one down now.

"We've….got company…." He said out loud.

"I see that." Ruby replied, there was no longer a smile on her face. "Pearce, stay with Trista. Richter, let's go."

Pearce shouted his acknowledgement as Richter opened fire with Dyrnwyn in Revolver-form. Shots that would have destroyed a lesser grimm merely staggered a beowulf alpha that was charging for him. A second beowulf alpha ran by the one he was shooting at, crossing its arms in front of its face.

Instinct saved Richter as he switched Dyrnwyn to sword-form, barely parrying the second beowulf alpha as it blurred towards him, its sharp claws extended. He caught the claws with the flat of his blade, the force of the blow knocked him off his feet and he was forced to do a backflip to regain his footing. As soon as his feet touched solid ground again he took off, delivering two swift diagonal slashes to the beowulf alpha, each one opening wounds on the creature from collarbone to hip. Black blood sprayed from the cuts as the grimm staggered back. Richter placed his right boot into the beowulf's belly, sending it flying backwards, a tenth of a second after his boot landed he lashed out horizontally with his sword, slicing the beowulf's head off cleanly from its shoulders. The body landed on a group of its brethren.

There was no time to celebrate as the first beowulf alpha, the one he had been shooting before, lunged forward. The grimm slashed at Richter with its right hand, landing a solid hit on his left cheek. The blow was so strong it knocked him onto his right side. Reacting quickly, Richter rolled away from the beowulf, hearing its claws strike where he just was. He rolled to his feet, turning to face the grimm, which was already in melee range. It lashed out with a downwards slash, using its left hand. Richter answered with an upward slash from Dyrnwyn, severing the beowulf's left arm at the elbow. He followed through with a downward slash that cleaved the grimm's skull in two, it collapsed in front of him, dissolving into a black dust.

Richter barely took a deep breath before four more beowulf alphas were closing the distance to him. He would have tried to change his current position, but he was the only thing standing between them and Pearce, who was doing his best to attend to Trista's critical wound. Instead, the boy switched Dyrnwyn to revolver-form and began firing shot after shot at the beowulf pack. It wasn't enough to kill them, but it did keep them at bay, at least until he ran out of Dust.

He took this time to spare a glance at Ruby to see how she was faring. Currently she was on the back of an ursa. Crescent Rose in rifle form as she fired point-blank at the back of the grimm's skull. Using the recoil from the shot, the petite girl backflipped behind two beowulf alphas who were coming to attack her. She landed, switched her weapon to scythe-form and with one horizontal slash, cut off the beowulves' legs. They fell face-first to the ground. Ruby was already moving, spinning and executing another horizontal slash that beheaded a beowulf alpha behind her. She continued her rotation, crouching and lashing out with another slash that ripped another beowulf alpha in half. Richter couldn't help, but envy her, she was a natural.

He returned Dyrnwyn to sword form and charged the pack of beowulf. Pearce did what he could, supporting him with his pistols. However, the grimm were just too durable and too numerous. Even Ruby was forced to leap out of the melee, using Crescent Rose in rifle form to hold the grimm she was battling at bay. She regrouped with the rest of the group, positioning herself at Richter's side with Pearce just behind them. Trista's eyes were shut and her teeth were clenched as she constantly groaned in pain.

"They just keep coming!" Pearce exclaimed, continuing to fire into the mass of grimm.

Richter turned to Ruby, "Time to go!"

For once she didn't argue, "Right!"

Pearce picked up Trista bridal-style and took off towards the manor's front door. Richter and Ruby followed, still pumping shots into the mass of grimm as they walked backwards at a brisk pace. If they could just make it out the front door…

"Shit! We're cut off!" Richter heard Pearce say, followed by the rapid reports of his pistol. Richter looked behind him to see a wall of grimm blocking them from their exit. But how? Between Ruby and him, no grimm got past. He then noticed the large holes in the manor's floor. Holes that were not there before. Did the grimm tunnel up from underground?

"Oh no!" Ruby exclaimed from his right, Richter looked towards her to see her struggling with Crescent Rose in rifle-form. "It's jammed!"

"Switch it to scythe-form!" Richter yelled to her.

"I can't! The locking mechanism is completely shot!" She shouted back. Ruby was so intent on trying to fix her weapon that she failed to notice the beowulf alpha that leapt towards her. With no hesitation, Richter leapt towards his petite friend, intercepting the beowulf in mid-air before it could reach her. He drove Dyrnwyn into the right side of the grimm's head, then kickflipped off the body before it hit the floor. He landed at Ruby's left side.

"Can you fix it?" He asked her.

Ruby quickly shook her head, "Not here."

Richter was about to say something else when the sounds of pistols clicking empty reached his ears.

Pearce cursed, "I'm out of Dust!" He said, sounding on the verge of panic.

Time seemed to slow down as Richter assessed the situation. One friend severely wounded, another with a broken weapon and one that was out of Dust. They were surrounded by grimm and since they were here in secret, no help would be coming. Even if they did use their scrolls to call for help, it wouldn't reach them in time. He felt himself shaking, it was fear. He didn't want to die here. Richter took a look at each of his friends, his gaze lastly falling on Ruby, who was looking at him questioningly with her silver eyes. He stared into those silver orbs and suddenly the shaking stopped, he knew what must be done.

Taking a step forward, Richter tightened his grip on Dyrnwyn, "Go, I'll hold them off." He could still feel the cold knot of dread in his stomach, he was still afraid to die.

But he was more afraid of seeing his friends get killed by the grimm.

Ruby looked at him with disbelief. "What? Richter no! You can't!"

"I still have some Dust left." Richter said, surprised at how calm he sounded, "I can cover your escape."

"You can't beat all those grimm on your own!" He heard Pearce say.

Richter turned Dyrnwyn into revolver-form, firing a few shots into the grimm horde. "You're wasting time!"

"Don't you get it Richter?" Ruby asked, her voice pleading, "If you stay, you'll die!"

Richter felt his composure break, "No you don't get it Ruby!" He snapped at her, "If I don't stay, we all die!"

She had no reply to that. He could see the strategist in her as she played through the scenarios in her head. Richter watched her face contort in sadness and pain as she came up with the same conclusion he did. If they all tried to run, the grimm would chase them down and kill them all, but if one stayed behind to fight them, to delay them, then the others might survive. He looked away, seeing that crestfallen look on her face was quickly eating away at his resolve and he needed to be strong, the strongest he's ever been, to do this.

Instead Richter pointed his revolver at the pack of grimm blocking the front door. Channeling his aura into the weapon, he fired a massive sphere-shaped blast that was taller than he was. It cut through the grimm, slamming into the front double doors and shattering them into splinters.

Both Ruby and Pearce looked at him, eyes filled with concern and regret. Richter turned his back to them, facing the grimm horde. "Go on, that path won't stay clear forever." He heard Pearce pick up Trista and head through the hole he had made. He was surprised to feel a hand squeeze his right forearm. He looked to see Ruby staring at him.

"Richter…" She said, guilt in her tone. He knew what she was thinking, that her stubbornness had got them into this mess. However, he was just as guilty as she was, going along with her, because she was his friend. He didn't want that guilt to eat her up.

"It's alright." He said gently, making direct eye contact. "At least…it'll be kind of noble you know?" He grabbed her right shoulder with his right hand and gently shoved her behind him. "You're going to be a great huntress one day Ruby. So live, live and show the world what you are made of."

For a moment Ruby didn't move, Richter thought he saw the hint of tears in her eyes, but he hadn't seen her cry since they were kids. He was about to yell at her, when he finally heard the sounds of footsteps running for the hole. Good girl, now it was just him and like a hundred grimm, with barely any Dust left in his weapon. No pressure.

No pressure at all.

He continued firing into the horde, and although he was pulling the trigger on Dyrnwyn as fast as he could, the horde was still advancing on him. One of the beowulf alphas broke through his barrage, reaching for him with its left hand. Richter switched Dyrnwyn to sword-form and pinned the grimm's left hand to the ground with it. Using his free hand, he blasted a hole through its chest with a burst of aura, the grimm went limp.

Richter dislodged his sword, and felt something like a freight train hit his chest as an ursa headbutted him, knocking him onto his shoulders where he slid backwards for a few meters. Ignoring the pain, he rolled back to his feet, switched Dyrnwyn to revolver-form and fired a handful of shots into the ursa's head. It staggered toward him a few more steps before the bullets took their toll and the grimm collapsed at his feet. Another ursa took its place a second later. Richter let out a curse and took aim, pulling the trigger.

And Dyrnwyn clicked empty.

Richter knew it was going to happen soon, but he didn't think it would be at such an inopportune moment. It was his last thought before he was hit hard on the right side of the head by the ursa's massive left forepaw. The blow broke through his aura shield, cutting into his face. Richter could feel his own blood flowing down his face as he crashed onto his left side. That had hurt.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

It was her fault, it was all her fault. That's what Ruby kept thinking. If she hadn't been so damn persistent, if she just would have left when Richter insisted, then none of this would have happened.

Tears trailed behind her as they fled from her eyes, but she refused to cry, it wasn't the time. Richter was one of her oldest friends. Because of their short stature they got picked on a lot when they were kids, but neither of them took it lying down. They gave back to the bullies as much as they got and they always had each other's backs. Eventually they got a reputation, don't mess with Ruby Rose or Richter Bremen, sure you were bigger and stronger than them, but you wouldn't leave unscathed. Yang and Richter had always watched out for her, but now here she was leaving a friend she had known since a toddler to be killed by grimm. Abandoning him, the fact that he seemed to be okay with it made Ruby feel worse.

She saw Pearce turn his head back to look towards the manor, the sounds of gunfire had stopped. Trista groaned in his arms, blood dripping down her jumpsuit. Ruby frowned at her, they needed to get her to a hospital soon. Pearce however, looked like he wanted to turn back to try and help Richter.

"Just keep moving Pearce!" She called to him, wincing as she spoke those words, "Don't look back!"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Richter grunted in pain as he opened his eyes, greeted by the sight of the ursa who just wrecked him standing tall over his body. It then opened its mouth wide and dove towards him, seeking to take a chunk out of his right flank. Exerting himself, Richter pushed off of the ground, ending up in mid-air, right above the ursa's head. Transforming Dyrnwyn back to sword-form, Richter reversed his grip on it and dropped down on top of the large grimm, driving the blade right through its head. He extracted the blade from the ursa's skull and swiftly twirled it in front of him as web of steel, blocking over a dozen strikes to his person. He then gripped Dyrnwyn tightly in his right hand and charged into the horde.

He lashed out viciously and accurately, seeking killing blows whenever he could. If there was no opening for a killing blow, Richter would aim to take out limbs instead. If he was unable to kill them, then at least he could slow them down so they would have trouble chasing his friends. He lost track of the number of grimm he had cut down, but it was not without expense. With his aura shield depleted, the grimm were landing fierce hits on him. Already Richter's arms, legs and torso had several deep cuts on them. The young huntsman was leaving a trail of his own blood wherever he moved, but he didn't care, he had to keep fighting.

Richter had just finished cleaving a beowulf in half with a vertical upward slash when another finally broke through his defenses. The grimm bit down hard on Richter's left shoulder and he screamed in agony, blood exploding from the wound. Clenching his teeth, the young man fought through the pain, shoving Dyrnwyn into the underside of the beowulf's jaw. He saw the blade of his weapon protrude through the top of the grimm's head and it spasmed once before going limp, dissolving away.

As soon as Richter was free from the grip of the beowulf's teeth, he stumbled backwards, trying to get a little distance from the rest of the grimm horde. He was starting to feel dizzy, and judged that it was probably from the blood loss. Richter fell to his knees, using Dyrnwyn to keep himself propped up. He felt so tired, so weak. The horde began moving towards him again, did he even still have the strength to fight them?

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Ruby's jaw tightened as the sounds of battle coming from the manor seemed to have ceased. She saw Pearce look back as well.

"It got quiet back there." He said solemnly, "Do you think…."

"No." She replied quickly, "Richter won't go down that easily."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Richter's limbs felt like they were weighed down by anchors. He wanted nothing more than to keel over, close his eyes and let oblivion take him. How much time had passed since he began this suicide run? Surely Ruby and the rest were far enough away now that the horde couldn't catch up to them?

Surely it was alright for him to drop over dead now.

He kept telling himself that as a beowulf alpha dropped to all fours, leaping at him. Surely there was no need for him to keep fighting, he could just let it end here right?

Richter felt an invisible surge of strength suddenly flow through him and his grip tightened on Dyrnwyn's handle. The beowulf lunged forward with its claws, but instead of impaling his chest, it hit only air.

No.

Having sidestepped to his right at the last possible moment, Richter brought Dyrnwyn down on the beowulf's neck with all his might, separating its head from its shoulders.

He still had to fight, he couldn't leave things to chance, not when his friends' lives were at stake. He had to keep fighting, until he couldn't fight anymore. Twisting in a complete circle to build momentum, Richter lashed out in a horizontal swing. Dyrnwyn's blade flew right into the jaws of an ursa, then through it. The young huntsman heard something snap and looked at his weapon to see half the blade had broken off, the top half clattering to the floor and sliding a ways away from him. Fortunately, the ursa he had cut with it collapsed to the floor and began to dissolve.

However, another ursa took its place, this one raised its forepaws above its head then slammed them to the ground hard. A shockwave slid across the floor, carving it up as it slammed into Richter, sending him flying backwards in the air. He bounced twice off the floor before hitting it face-first and staying.

Richter tried to struggle to his feet, what was left of Dyrnwyn gripped tightly in his right hand, but he could only manage to get to his knees. The grimm horde was closing in on him and he had nothing left, this was really it. Despite it all, Richter grinned to himself.

May as well use his semblance.

Although he was able to craft his weapon way before Ruby, she had mastered her semblance faster than him. In fact, he was still learning to control it properly, which is why he didn't use it in battle yet. However, this was a special circumstance, there was no need to worry about control here.

Searching deep within him, Richter found the power of his semblance and dragged it out. His entire body instantly felt hot and he looked down at his arms to see orange, vein-like lines running down them. Ruby, who was one of two people who had seen him use his semblance, the other being her uncle, said that his eyes became darker than night. He only had her word to go on for that though. A shroud of flame erupted around Dyrnwyn as he raised it high. As soon as he brought his broken blade down that would be it. In his current state, the strain of using his semblance would most likely rip him apart. Despite that thought, he chuckled, might as well go out with a bang right? He braced himself.

Time seemed to slow down as Richter started bringing his sword down. Images flashed through his mind, images of his dead parents, of Pearce, Yang and Trista and finally, Ruby. He closed his eyes, regretting that he would never see any of them again.

Goodbye.

That was Richter's last thought as Dyrnwyn made contact with the floor and the entire area was engulfed with flame.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Ruby was nearly floored by a shockwave as an explosion rocked the manor behind her. She turned back towards it, seeing the flames beginning to spread to the manor's roof. The petite girl clenched her teeth so hard she was surprised she actually didn't crack them. Richter, that idiot, he actually went and used his semblance. That stupid brave idiot.

"Whoa." Pearce uttered, who was also staring at the explosion. "I didn't think Richter was that strong."

Ruby felt a pain stab at her chest, but it wasn't the physical kind, she turned her back on the manor. "We need to keep moving." She said in an eerily calm tone.

Pearce looked at her, concern and sympathy in his eyes, "Ruby…"

"Those grimm will be after us soon…"

Pearce set Trista down for a moment as he wiped the sweat off of his brow. "I need a moment."

Ruby's head lowered, her tiny hands curled into fists, "If they catch up to us, Richter's sacrifice will have been for nothing." She cast a steely gaze at Pearce and the male faunus found himself leaning away from her. "Let's go."

Pearce nodded silently, picking Trista back up as they continued running. Although Ruby's face was set in determination, although she had steeled her heart. The petite girl couldn't stop the few stray tears that flew from her silver eyes, nor the sudden loss she felt in her heart. Someone important to her was lost yet again. And all she could do to honor him was to run.