RWBY: Remnant of Flames

by Blazblade

Two individuals who once fought against one another are now sent to a new world following a tragic event. Their presence will change events in ways no one could have expected. They will face new challenges and experience new adventures. Welcome, young Valkyrians to the world of Remnant. VC and (slight) RWBY AU. Covers the events before and during Volume 1 of RWBY.

3. Chapter 3: Battle against Cinder Fall

Note: I don't own anything, this story is for entertainment purposes only.

word: Author's notes

"Word": Normal dialogue

"Word": flashback dialogue

'Word': thoughts

---

Chapter 3: A Fierce Battle Erupts! Enter Cinder Fall

'Alright,' Ragna thought to himself, 'the shots came from this way.' He had been running toward the sounds of gunfire for a few minutes, wondering what was going to be his next move when he got there. 'Okay, considering what happened before to me, someone must be under attack by those monsters. So if anything, they may need help if there are too many of them. ' He soon saw a small white fence in the distance on the right side of the road. Further away to the right was an abandoned farm and field right next to it. To the left was a thick treeline, perfect for cover if he had to snipe at any targets. What caught his attention though was the people on the road.

There were two people on the road, both girls about the same age. One of them had light brown hair that reached down to her neck and brown eyes. She had on a white blouse with a brown vest for top clothing, and she had on a brown corset and similar colored pants. She also wore wore a white cloak on her person seemly to hide her face from others. She also wore several pieces of golden pieces of armor including a golden gauntlet on her left arm, two gold bracelets on her right wrist, golden armored boots, and a golden pauldron on her her right shoulder. She seemed to look more "medieval" to Ragna, as he had read some books about Europa's past. The other one looked more odd to him. She had tanned skin, ruby red eyes, and short light green hair with two small ponytails sticking out from the bottom. She had a white, sleeveless vest that was open at the front with a black colored symbol on the back and had a very short green shirt. She had on pants that were white and gray held up by two gray belts that had pouches on the back. From what the young Darcsen could see, the sounds of fighting was coming from the two girls.

'The sounds I was hearing was coming from these two? Wonder whats going on,' The young Darcsen thought to himself. The green girl wielded two green handguns from what he could see. The brown haired girl was using two uniquely shaped jagged swords made of a strange material in a fighting stance. Brown soon charged at Green with the later firing at her. Brown Brown easily began to dodge the bullets by jumping higher than was possible for regular people to do over the shots while performing a front flip and brought both swords down in a downward arc. Green managed to dodge the attack via back flip and landing on her feet. She then did something to her handguns that surprised the young Darcsen. With a flick of the wrists, her guns came apart and transformed. In the span of a second, her handguns became twin hand scythes of the same color as she swung her new weapon at Brown's swords.

'Did her guns seriously become scythes!?' Ragna was surprised to say the least. The only weapon he knew that was both a blade and gun combined was the Var, the weapon used by his fellow Darcsen and member of Squad 422, Imca. He had always joked about the massive weapon, calling her "Ms. Overcompensation" because of it. Needless to say, she did get annoyed of it at times, but he and Kai understood her in a way none of the other Nameless could as they also lost their homes to the Imperials. She didn't want to have any connections to others as she thought it would make her weak, but both he and Kai were stubborn and kept going until the three of them finally became good friends. Of course, Imca was the go-to women if their was a position to take or when you needed heavy fire support so she always made an impact on any battle she fought in.

While he was reminiscing, Green swung her scythes in wide slashes, countering Brown's attacks. Ragna wanted to get into the fight but a thought came through his head. It was something his friend Matt had always done during the war,

"Observe the situation, then act."

Ragna always knew that his friend would look at a problem from all angles. It was a key reason as to why Welkin had always trusted Matt when he came up with plans at times. Ragna knew how important it was to him, and that way of thinking could be applied to any soldier especially snipers. Snipers after all were supposed to look at a battlefield and assess the situation before acting. So he had to stay back and watch what was going to unfold for now. He soon headed to the forest and remembered the rule of that all snipers followed and that was drilled into his mind that day.

'Just like Calvaro said that day back in boot camp'

---

Flashback

Fort Amaranthine, Gallia, March 25th, 1935

Fort Amaranthine, the HQ of the Gallian Military. The fortress was the rectangular shaped complex with hangers for the vehicles, barracks for the soldiers, training grounds for the new recruits, and an R&D center for developing weapons. While the Imperial forces were a few dozen miles away from the Capital of Randgriz, the fort was buzzing with activity and the Militia and Regulars were preparing their forces to move out and defend the city of Vasel, which held strategic advantage as its main bridge served as a key point for the Imperials to eventually reach the bridges over the Graz river and the fortress of Aslone.

Ragna, a member of the newly formed Squad 7 of the 3rd Militia Regiment was lined up with the other snipers of the squad preparing to undergo further training before they were eventually sent out. The man looking them over was the fort's main Drill Sargent, Sargent Calvaro Rodriguez, a man that everyone he had trained feared. The forty-eight year old man was of impressive build, with brown hair in a combed back military cut with a small mustache on his face. The most prominent feature on the man's face was an eye-patch worn on his left eye which he lost in the First Europan War. The man was a member of the Regular Army, but he gave every soldier he trained the same harsh training, regardless of being a member of the Militia or the Regulars. He was known during EW1 as a skilled anti-tankman, as he had destroyed 55 tanks during the war, the feat being a big reason as to how he became the fort's Drill Sargent. Rodriguez looked over the squad's snipers with the same keen eye as always, seeing if these men and women had the potential to fight and win.

"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS! LISTEN UP!" He bellowed. "I'm going to make this ABSOLUTELY clear, you are all now going to experience hell starting today!" As of this point, the training you will receive from me will be the hardest you will ever go through in your career as soldiers! So you'd best prepare for all of the blood, sweat, and tears you will shed during this time as the war continues!" Ragna couldn't help but roll his eyes a little at that statement and think to himself, 'Been there, done that, and that was with Matt's dad.' It was true, young Matthew's father, the famous Brig. General William Siegfried a.k.a. the White Dragon was an incredible individual, truly larger than life. However, when it came to training Ragna and his kids, Matthew and Kimberly, he was a slave driver. Running on muddy road in the middle of a massive downpour with weighted gear on? Having members of the Siegfried Royal Guard attack them from out of nowhere at random? Pushing your limits for nearly 4 to 6 hours a day even on weekends? That man was definitely not normal when it came to training those under him. However, after going through training that gives the kind given by special forces a run for its money, those that endured became soldiers of another caliber altogether. The young Darcsen couldn't deny that the man's training made him far more capable as a fighter and soldier, than he could have imagined, but still the struggle as long and painful.

Something he wouldn't forget anytime soon.

Rodriguez saw Ragna's eyes rolling, which to him met giving the cadet punishment in the form of increasing his training regime. However, the Drill Sargent had heard from Captain Eleanor Varrot, the commander of the 3rd Militia Regiment, that the bipolar eyed young man had been through General Siegfried's own unique training. Rodriguez, like many in the lower ranks of the Regulars respected the man who was the right-hand man of General Belgen Gunther during EW1. He himself had met the White Dragon personally during the conflict, and fought along side him. William, or known by his soldiers as "Uncle Will", was someone that could get the most disorganized, under-equipped, under-supplied unit whose morale had hit rock-bottom and get them to continue fighting. Rodriguez would let pass today, but next time he would give the Darcsen a serious crewing out and a harser training course.

"Alright, first off I'll be the one to tell you about what your role as snipers are," He said. "Your job is to look after your fellow troops at all times. You are to engage any and ALL high value targets, from officers to elite troops and any enemies that get close to your squad mates." He looked over Ragna, seeing all of the weapons he had for close combat on his person and added,"While it seems one of you can engage in close combat, snipers are supposed to avoid it at all costs." Ragna inwardly sighed, knowing that while he was highly skilled in close combat, he had decided to become a sniper like his father, Nicholas the Blue Hawk. Of course with all of the weapons on him, most would assume he was more fit for being a shocktrooper or scout, rather than a sniper. "Well any way, you are to start shooting practice today cadets! Observe the range you'll be practicing on." The six snipers of Squad 7 looked out at the shooting range, a fairly standard one at that. There was the normal targets set up at different distances, first one being at 500 yards, another at 600 yards, and ones at ranges 700 to 1,000 yards away with one every hundred yards. "Now that's been taken care of, begin when you're ready, training begins now! Dismissed." Rodriguez said as he walked away, leaving the snipers to start training.

The bipolar eyed boy soon heard chuckling from nearby and saw who it was. Cezery Regard, another of Squad 7's sniper and from what Ragna read of the man, a avid Darcsen-hater. The 23 year old from Barious had long silver hair with some locks dangling over his forehead and blue eyes. Ragna knew that Cezery along with the other Darcsen-haters in the squad would enjoy any ridicule and misery that the Darcsens in their squad would at all times. Ragna, on the other hand wasn't going to allow it and he would make sure of it.

After all, if there was one thing Ragna liked doing, it was making Darcsen-haters know who they were messing with.

"Hey Regard," Ragna said out loud, "What are you laughing at?" "You of course, Dark-Hair," Cezery responded with his usual smarmy voice. "Snipers are supposed to stay at a distance and shoot the enemy, not fight up close idiot. That's what the shocktroopers are for." Ragna scowled a bit at the Barious native's statement, but he soon smiled himself. "Oh really? The reason I became a sniper is because of my father. That's a lot more important of a reason than being a complete coward." Cezery soon glared at the Darcsen, but only encouraged Ragna more. "That's right, I read your file dumbass. Besides, standing back so far from the battlefield and during combat, you would no doubt either not shoot any Imps near our Darcsen soldiers or just shoot them completely. After all, in the chaos of war, who knows who killed them right?" Cezery soon began to have a look of anger on his face. "Yeah, so what? If anything you Dark-Hairs deserve it considering what you did during the Calamity," He retorted. Ragna, however began to do a slow clap, showing that he was mocking the Darcsen-hater and his reasons. "Yeah, sure use THAT excuse guys like you always use." Ragna soon fully faced Cezery with a scowl on his face. "Using the damn Calamity as an excuse to push Darcsens around? Yeah, really shows you're tough, picking on someone that can't fight back. "Then again," Ragna said with a smirk, "Any Darcsen could beat you in seconds without breaking a sweat." Cezery looked at Ragna with a look of anger on his face, can't believing that a Darcsen was talking smack about him.

Well, he just had to show him what who his betters were.

"Oh yeah Darkie?" Cezery said with a scowl on his face. "Let's see if you can out shoot me while we're training." Ragna raised an eyebrow at the challenge, not expecting the desert native to attempt a challenge to prove himself Ragna's better. Ragna of course didn't have a problem with this challenge, but he knew a way to further get under Cezery's skin. "Alright then," the young Darcsen said with a smirk, "get up on that watchtower and shoot." He was pointing at a nearby watchtower overlooking the shooting range which stood at 20 feet tall. Ragna's smirk widened on seeing Cezery's eyes widen, remembering in Cezery's roster info that he was scared of heights. "What's wrong, Pvt. Retard? Are you scared of heights? It's okay you can just retract your challenge, although that proves that you conceded defeat to a Darcsen." Now Cezery looked at the bipolar eyed Darcsen with look of rage on his face. The desert boy knew that the Darcsen got him trapped. If he went through with the challenge, he would have to climb up there and do it. With his fear of heights, his shots would be inaccurate and he would lose no questions asked. If he retracted his challenge, he would be admitting a loss to a Darcsen. It was a complete Catch 22, and Ragna knew it.

The two bickering snipers soon heard laughter from two others in the group and turned to see who it was. The ones laughing were the Bielert brothers, Oscar and Emile. Oscar was a 15-year old boy with straight brown hair, brown eyes and a small x-shaped scar on his forehead. Emile, his younger and sickly brother, had brown, mop-like hair and brown eyes as also laughing but he was coughing as well in between laughs. Ragna felt bad for them in that Emile was greatly sick, which would no doubt affect his performance in battle, and that Oscar had to look after him both on and off the battlefield due to his natural instinct to protect his younger brother. However, he also respected the two in that they wanted to prove themselves and protect their country, no matter what their condition was.

Cezery, getting further angry stomped toward the two and said in an enraged tone, "What the hell is so funny to you two?" The brothers stopped laughing and began to look a little scared, their faces showing a timid look on them. "W-well," Oscar said, "it's funny because your getting beat at your own game by a-" "Shut up!" Cezery was now becoming livid with all that was happening in the span of a few minutes. The Dark-hair humiliating him was bad enough, but the brother's laughing at him was just adding insult to injury. "You brats better learn to keep your mouths shut if you know what's good for you." While Oscar seemed to shut up, Emile acted a bit defiant to the self-centered sniper. "Well, you always act mean to Darcsens *Cough* *Cough*, so seeing one stand up to you is pretty cool." Cezery, now looked pissed off at the sickly boy, soon began to raise his hand and getting ready to smack the boy. "How about I be mean to you? You little pest!" Cezery soon brought his hand his hand down, thinking that he could get away with it before any of the others could up him. Just as his hand as about a few inches away from Emile, it was stopped in it's tracks. 'What the?' Cezery thought to himself. He knew that Oscar would try and stop him from hurting his brother, but he wasn't strong enough to stop him instantly. The other snipers weren't close enough either to stop him.

No one except-

Cezery looked to his right and saw the ABSOLUTE last person that he thought would stop him.

Ragna, the Darcsen he had insulted earlier had his hand on Cezery's wrist.

A Darcsen stopped him from hitting the younger Bielert.

A DARCSEN.

For the Barious sniper, he couldn't have imagined that a Dark-hair of all people would lay a hand on him. He knew that all Darcsens followed a simple rule, drilled into them from their childhood. "Darcsens don't retaliate." This was the rule every Darcsen followed for the past 5000 years since the Calamity and none of them had ever gone against that rule. They feared that the groups that hated Darcsens would use it to further clamp down on them with more hate and violence than before. This made them of course be easy targets for ridicule and assault in most cases, the offenders seeing it as being easy as they wouldn't fear retaliation

However, like everything in life there are exceptions, and now Cezery was seeing the exception of the Darcsens.

"Hey ReTARD," Ragna said in a low, angry voice, showing that he as not happy about what Cezery was going to do in hitting a kid. "What exactly were you going to do there?" Cezery was stunned to say the least. He certainly didn't expect that a Darcsen was going to stop him from attacking. Really he and probably everyone else in Gallia, with the exception of those who know the Darcsen sniper personally, would of thought the same thing.

So his surprise increased when the Darcsen started to increase the pressure on his wrist, threatening to crush it.

"Let me go dammit!" Cezery soon began to pull on his arm in order to get away, hoping that he even if he got hurt, it was kept to a minimum. However, as he soon discovered, Ragna's grip was like iron, not bending to his efforts to escape or lessening up any time soon. Ragna soon kept the pressure going and Cezery's face began to contort into one of pain. Yet again, he couldn't believe that a Darcsen was now actually trying to hurting him, and greatly if the increasing pressure was a clue.

"You have a lot of nerve in attacking someone all because a little Darcsen insulted you." Ragna soon grabbed the front of Cezery's uniform and pulled the racist toward him, the space between their heads mare inches away from each other. "If you're going to go after someone, go after the guy that's the fighting back, NOT someone that's just watching the event." Cezery was now starting to feel scared by this point if not completely afraid, and the ever increasing pain from his wrist was not helping him get more confedence to stand up to the young Darcsen. "I'm going to only say this once, you damned racist. If you or any of the other Dracsen-haters try to pull anything that gets the Darcsens in our squad hurt or even killed, I WILL make you wish you weren't born. GOT IT!?" Cezery was now completely terrified if he wasn't already. He couldn't believe that the Dark-hair was threatening him just for his fellow Darcsens. The Barious sniper soon began to see the facts in front of him. This was one Dark-hair in which he needed to avoid at all costs.

"Alright you two, that's enough."

Both snipers turned to the person that said for them to stop and soon saw a pair of hands push them away from each other. The person that intervened was the oldest sniper in the squad and a veteran from EW1, Catherine O'Hara. The 35 year old woman had shoulder-length dark brown hair and brown eyes. She gave off an aura of experience due to her fighting back in EW1, giving her the knowledge and skill she needed to survive a battle and live another day. She decided to step in to prevent things from escalating even more than they already have, knowing that the two could be put into solidarity confinement for starting a fight. However, she mainly did to stop Ragna, as she happened to be an old friend of Nicolas during the war and the two had kept in touch before the Darcsen-hunters attacked his village. She was surprised to learn about his son and had met Ragna several times in the past. Catherine always thought of herself as being an unofficial aunt to the young boy, along with her other charge being young Marina.

"Ms. O'Hara," Ragna soon began "I know what your trying to do but this bastard needs to get it through his head-"

"I know that you would want to do that to him so badly Ragna, I really do." Catherine said her unique accent, "However, if you decide to hit him, you'll get in trouble for it." Catherine figured that if Rodriguez came back wondering why he wasn't hearing any firing and saw the two fighting, he wouldn't hesitate to throw the both of them into the slammer. It would get even worse if the "man" in charge of the Gallian Military, "General" Georg von Damon, decided to extend the punishment to the whole squad. She knew that Ragna had a great dislike for racists, especially those that attack Darcsens outright or even worse. While his actions were looked down at by most Darcsens, she knew that he did it to help and protect others. Ragna always acted against racists and bullies if they made him do so by attacking those that couldn't fight back or protect themselves. However, he would definitely attack those that insulted his unique looks. That event usually meant that the person or persons that did so ended up in the hospital in with their limbs broken at the very least.

Ragna looked like wanted to retort, to tell the veteran sniper that he wanted to deck the self-absorbed bastard in the face and make him feel the same kind of pain he gave to other Darcsens. However, after a few seconds he soon sighed, admitting that Catherine was right. He was stubborn when he put his mind to something, but he soon learned that he would have to bite that habit as it could land him in serious trouble one day.

"Alright, you win Catherine I'll stop."

The caring sniper soon smiled at the young Darcsen. He was always rough around the edges when it came to certain things, but he was mature enough to know when to stop. She soon walked up to him and put her left hand on his right shoulder and said, "You really are your father's boy, wanting to protect others because you can. He'd be proud of you no doubt." The Darcsen gave back a smile of his own to his aunt figure, glad that she knew his father would understand if he was alive to see his son standing up for others and now following in his footsteps in wanting to save his home. No doubt he would be scared of his son potentially dying, but proud in that he would fight for a good cause.

Cezery soon clutched his wrist and attempted to move it around, trying to get feeling back into it. A spike of pain soon shot through him as he moved it, causing him to grunt and clench his teeth. His wrist was in pain and seemly broken due to the Dark-Hair almost crushing it. He soon glared at the Darcsen, but Ragna, undeterred by Cezery's previous actions and hostility stared right back. After this stare-off between the two, Cezery soon turned his head and walked off to the furthest practice line from the other snipers and especially the Darcsen sniper.

Catherine sighed in relief, worried that the two would continue and possibly come to blows. It was clear that due to Cezery being a Darcsen-hater and Ragna disliking them and being one that would go the extra mile and hit them, it was clear those two would continue acting like this for the rest of the war. She was worried about it going to far, but she knew that it would happen soon. The veteran sniper looked at the young Darcsen, who gave her a smile in appreciation for convincing him to stop. A feint smile appeared on her face as well thinking to herself, 'Yep, he's your son Nick.'

"That was awesome, Mr. Ragna!" Oscar said ecstatically.

Ragna soon turned to his right and saw the Bielert brothers looking at him with big smiles on their faces. Ragna's face soon flushed red with embrassment and rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand. Catherine couldn't help but giggle at the sight of the Darcsen who just a few minutes ago was dead serious. Now he was embarrassed like he was on stage trying to deliver an important line in a play. 'Seeing him being flustered definitely shows that he's not a stoic or cold person at all,' she thought.

"How did you learn to do that?"

"Why did you attack *Cough* I thought Darcsens don't fight back."

"Hey, Hey!" Ragna said with his hands in front of him trying to calm them down. "Will you guys relax already? Also drop the questions please?" Catherine soon giggled louder, to which Ragna heard and soon glared at her. "Catherine! Not helping!"

"Why did you have to do that? Isn't it against the Darcsen way of life to fight back or harm others?"

The four snipers turned to the person who said those words. The speaker was, oddly enough the last sniper in the squad, 24 year old Marina Wulfstan. She had shoulder-length black hair that covered her right eye and blue eyes. While she was quite beautiful, she was a lone wolf in terms of personality. She never wanted to interact with anyone, make friends, or even be in the same room with any person. She did have respect for people that she saw deserved it, Matthew being one such person as the two had some history since Matt and his father visited her and her father for several years. She never did consider him a friend even though Matt though of her like one, but as a person he was someone she could respect as he wanted to help those in need like she did. Unlike him, she wanted to do it from the shadows, a warrior that would protect others and then vanish. To those who knew her well, she would rarely talk to anyone unless it was important or to tell them to go away.

The fact that she was asking why the young Darcsen stepped in to stop Cezery was surprising in of itself.

"You're asking why?" Ragna said with an eyebrow raised. Marina's nod was the sign for him to continue.

"It's because someone has to. I get that Darcsens don't want to fight back as to not get anymore retaliation from Darcsen-haters, but for me that's not going to cut it anymore." Ragna said with a look of of both anger and determination. "I lost everything that day when the Darcsen-Hunters attacked my village and I lost my parents. I promised on their graves that I will not allow my fellow Darcsens to be victimized or suffer the same loss that I went through. It's not revenge that I want, killing every single Darcsen-hunter won't bring anyone back, or will I ever be happy in doing so. When one follows the path of revenge, they live their lives to see it through, casing off practically anything else they have later in life. Friends, family, love, happiness, they put that all aside for a pointless and completely worthless goal. And what awaits them at the end, when they finally have done the deed? When their one goal, the one goal they wanted above all else to see through to the end, the goal that they perused for years of their life is finally accomplished? He soon looked down, his face becoming apathetic. "Nothing. Just nothing. They finally got what they wanted all their life when they lost something or everything important to them, and now they probably think, 'what's left?' Really, revenge is pointless, you have a life to live, so spend it wisely and with those around you."

Marina closed her eyes and thought about what he had said. 'He went through all that, and yet he isn't possessed by revenge like most others would.' To Marina, people were easy to understand and see through, unlike the beasts of the wild. People acted in certain ways due to either certain events that changed their outlook on life or because they had something to gain from it. When one loses everything he knew and cherished, they they become inverted, their personalities becoming distant and cold. When its someone or something that causes their loss, people are quick turn to revenge in order to get back at the one who took the thing the cherished. It was something that most people would do, something that enforced her dislike of others.

That this one Darcsen, who had so many reasons to follow in the same path as most others would, had decided not to spoke volumes.

"I see," the lone-wolf sniper replied after a minute or two, "Thank you for answering my question Ragna."

Catherine soon began to smile at that. 'Mari has for years been distant from others, thinking that people always act in the ways that she saw as predictable and resentful. That she's taken an interest in Ragna is something in of itself.' The veteran soon looked up at the sky, imagining what the fathers of the two young snipers would think of this little interaction. 'Mark, Nick, I hope you two are seeing this, it looks like your children might become as good of friends as you both did.'

"I'M NOT HEARING ANY SHOOTING MAGGOTS!" The snipers were shaken out of their previous states by Rodriguez showing up seemly out of nowhere and yelling at them. Ragna began to be concerned that the Drill Sargent saw the whole thing and would punish him for getting into a fight. If a fight happened between soldiers on duty or on the fort grounds, they would be tossed into the slammer for a few days. This would not only affect his time training to improve his skills, but also affect the squad as a whole. While there will be those that he will dislike personally in the squad, they were the people he would fight alongside and so he wanted to help keep them alive.

The snipers soon got to firing at targets and moved on for now. Marina still stole a few glances at the Darcsen, wondering what made him who he is and his mentality on life.

---

'I couldn't think back then that was the first of many times I would interact with Marina.' Ragna thought to himself as he moved through the woods to look for a good sniping position. 'I wonder how she and the others are back in Gallia,' He thought solemnly. 'They probably think that both me and Selv are dead.' He soon shook his head, 'No, I can't think that right now, I need to focus on observing that fight.' His feet impacted the hard dirt as he ran, the sounds of battle clear as day in the background. After a couple of minutes, he soon found a good position to overlook the road and field. It was a tiny outcrop of rock, with a few large bushes on its ledge and a log in between two of the bushes that was nearly covered up by them. This was in fact a small rest area that people would use while they where either hiking in this area or for hunters when they were looking for animals or Grimm to hunt. Ragna soon got on his stomach and placed his GSR on the log, a full magazine already loaded in the rifle. He peered down the scope to obverse the battle between Brown and Green continue while mentally estimating the range and elevation in his head. He knew that he would eventually have to intervene, so he had to go over the calculations that would allow him the best chance for his shot, factoring in wind speed, bullet drop, and even the planet's spin in order to make his shot count.

Meanwhile, Brown and Green continued to exchange blows with their blades. Green's scythes were slicing through the air as she skillfully moved with wide sweeping attacks. Brown on the other hand swung her jagged swords with grace, moving in sync with her swings. Their receptive weapons creating speaks as they clashed, with either of them giving an inch. Green spun like like top as she jumped forward at Brown, spinning clockwise with her arms outstretched to give her scythes the most range possible. Brown soon crossed her blades to block the attack, but soon jumped back as Green sent a side kick to Brown's stomach. Green soon switched her scythes back to their gun form and began shooting as she jumped into the air, then proceeded to do a front flip as she was coming down. Brown back flipped to dodge the rounds, but had to block as Green came down with an ax kick, which packed more force due to the momentum from the flip. Brown staggered back a step, but held firm and shoved Green away. While Green was forced back, Brown soon threw one of her swords like a javelin which forced Green to jump to the side.

Ragna couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the tactic. Sure taking advantage of an opportunity to strike your opponent is always an effective move, something he himself always did when the chance presented itself. However, unless the weapon was meant to be discarded like a throwing knife, it was a risky move unless the user had other ideas.

'Okay, now she just made herself more vulnerable so why-'

Wherever his thought was going was stopped in its tracks at what he saw next.

Brown soon dashed at Green, covered in a brownish glow while holding her right arm out. Like magic, she formed a new weapon this one being a single-edged hand-ax. She soon swung her new weapon in a right diagonal slash that caught one of Green's scythes and moved it down, giving her a chance to thrust her remaining sword. Green soon moved out of the way, but it was too slow and she received a small cut on her left side. Ragna was still processing the new weapon appearing from nothing as the exchange occurred. While most people would think it to be impossible at what they saw, Ragna had different thoughts on what had just happened.

'She can make weapons out of some kind of energy? That's just like my Azure Flame!'

Brown soon launched a combo of fast strikes forcing Green back, showing visible signs of frustration on her face from what Ragna could see. Then a dozen more jagged blades appeared around Brown which then launched like a machine gun, cutting through the air at high speeds. Green soon dodged the incoming blades via back-flipping, pivoting, and rolling around, doing everything to avoid getting hit. However one of the blades nailed her in the stomach, but instead of impaling her and going through her body she was knocked back with the blade going deep enough to pass the skin. Green soon pulled the blade out of her before then jumping away from Brown's sword thrust. Ragna soon pulled his eyes away from the scope and rubbed them using his hands, while also trying to process what had just happened.

'She took a blade to the gut and isn't dead or dying!? This Doesn't make any sense!' He then looked back through the scope and saw that the earlier cut Green was gone, no scar, no blood. He again was surprised when he saw the Green-haired girl become surrounded by a strange glow and her wound was mending itself. 'Okay this is getting crazy, transforming weapons, making weapons seemingly out of nowhere, and now non-Valkyrian healing factors? What in the hell is going on here?' As he thought that, Brown soon throw her hand-ax at Green, clipping off a piece of her hair and rushing at her while making a short spear materialize in her right hand. Green was on the back foot as the fight went on, making Ragna think she would have to retreat to fight another day.

However, Green had other ideas in mind.

"Merc, can you get out here already and help me!?" She yelled with anger laced in her tone.

'Is she yelling for someone?' Ragna raised an eyebrow upon seeing Green turn her head and yell out load from what he could tell. Was she calling friend or perhaps a partner in crime?

He wouldn't have to think long as a loud blast-which Ragna assumed was from a shotgun- rang out in the area. Brown was caught off guard as well and had one of her swords was knocked out of her hand. Ragna soon looked around for the individual that fired the shot, now understanding that this was a planned attack. Within seconds, he soon heard another shot and saw in the scope a gray blur rushing towards Brown. Brown soon crossed her swords to block the blur's attack, her feet staggering back from the force of the attack. She didn't have any time to counterattack, as she saw Green coming at her swinging her scythes at her which forced her to jump back.

Ragna soon focused his sight on the gray blur, who was as unique-looking as Green and Brown. The attacker was a young man around the Darcsen's altered age and apparently had a whole "gray" motif going for him. He had short, light gray hair with the front combed off to the left. He had on his person a gray jacket, dark gray sweatpants, and had combat boots on his feet. He soon saw what looked like armor on his lower legs, above his ankles.

The young Darcsen couldn't help but wonder to himself, 'Who are these guys and why are they attacking this girl?'

Gray soon began his assault, starting out with a spinning right kick against Brown's sword. The two clashed, only to be broken when Gray's left foot shot off the ground and he was shot into the air. Gray maneuvered in midair, then kicked his right foot out. A round was fired off from his foot, and the recoil launched him at Brown. Gray soon entered a front flip and delivered an axe kick at Brown, which she had to dodge via a last second back flip. However, she was soon hit by Green nailing her with a jump side kick to the back. Brown soon tumbled along the ground like a rag doll, kicking up a little dust from the road.

Ragna again was stunned as it seemed to him that this new world was able to surprise him every second. 'The shotguns are on his legs!? How the hell does that work?' After taking a second to calm down, he soon thought about it objectively. 'Okay so considering what I saw, his shotgun boots-still wondering how the hell that works-give more power to his kicks and can launch him forward.' As he thought this, Green soon changed her weapons again, this time hitting the butts of her scythes and causing a chain to him between them. She soon threw one of the scythes at Brown, wrapping around her left sword, then pulled it out of her hand. Gray, taking advantage of the moment, launched himself at Brown to nail her with a flying front kick. However, unlike last time, Brown soon jumped up and avoided Gray's attack. Ragna soon looked up, surprised in seeing that Brown was floating in the air. Brown soon raised her right hand in the air as glowing darts began to appear around her, first the dozens, then the hundreds. It was like seeing a deity ready to cast judgement on those that had defied their wishes or commands. In one swift motion, Brown brought her arm down on her two attackers, sending all of the projectiles at them like rain in a storm. Green and Gray began to dodge frantically as if there lives depended on it, using flips, pivots, and rolling to avoid the attack. However, they still got hit several times, their bodies glowing with that strange energy to prevent the projectiles from turning them into human pincushions.

'Ok, looks like Brown is winning this fight so far.' Ragna couldn't help but have a smile appear on his face. This girl and her powers seemed to make her on a similar level to him and Selv.

However, out of nowhere, an arrow hit Brown in the back and exploded. She soon hit the ground hard, dazed a bit from the surprise attack. Green and Gray soon took their chance and attacked Brown while she was vulnerable. However, Brown recovered quickly and moved out of the way by rolling away to the right at the last second. She soon got back on her feet and created two spears that she sent at the two to help get some breathing room. Green soon turned her scythes back into guns and started to give supporting fire to Gray, who blasted off the ground with a shot from his shotgun boots. He soon began to kick in other directions, allowing him maneuver in the air and then shot off at Brown from above. Taking fire from two directions, Brown kept moving back until the area her left foot was going to land on was blasted out from underneath her. This allowed Gray, who had landed back on the ground to dash forward and strike Brown in the stomach. Spittle came out her mouth and the air was knocked out of her lungs as she was launched back. She looked like a tumbleweed skipping across the ground until she stopped on her front, groaning in pain.

Ragna's eyes widened in shock at the sudden turn of events. He soon saw Green and Gray pile on Brown and pinned her to the ground, holding her arms behind her back. He was began to look around for anyone else in the area, trying to find the archer that shot the girl.

'There was a third one? Who else is with these guys?'

He soon saw another person appear from trees on his left side as he focused his sight on the newcomer. The archer was a young woman in about a year or so than his current state. She had jet-black hair with a long strand on the left side of her head and covering her right eye, with her visible eye a dark brown color. She had on a red combat dress with a low neckline and held up by straps around her neck. In her hands was a bow that she pulled apart, turning them into twin, single-edged blades that she put on her back in an x shape. the most apparent thing that one would notice on her is the devilish smile on her face. It was the type of smile one had when their plan had succeeded, making her seem like the mastermind in this attack.

Ragna's eyes narrowed at the woman, a growing sense of unease circulating through his body. The type of unease when a person senses danger in the air, but doesn't know how bad it is until its too late. It was a feeling that he had once before, back during the war in Gallia. It was back at the ruins of Barious, when he met Maximilian and Selvaria face to face for the first time.

'This woman, I'm getting the same type of feeling that I got from His Bastardness that time. However, she seems like a combination of him and Selv; a cold, calculating individual that also has the power and will to crush who ever stands in their way.'

As he looked on, he saw the black-haired woman put on a white glove on her right hand. Upon zooming in, it had a unique symbol on the back, red-orange eye surrounded by red cracks.

'What is that?' Now Ragna knew that he would have to intervene to save the brown-haired girl. He cocked back the bolt on his GSR, allowing the magazine to bring up one of special bullets that his friend Scott had made back in Gallia. They were known as "flashless rounds", due to them admitting zero to little muzzle flash upon leaving the barrel. Scott had made this to help the squad's snipers fire at enemy soldiers without giving away their position. This was due to a reduction in the powder charge, which also helped in lessening wear on parts of the gun. Upon observing the attackers weapons, Ragna knew he had a range advantage over them and he would exploit that to the fullest.

The woman walked closer, taking her time as if she hadn't a care in the world. She seemed to want to savor the moment, which worked in Ragna's favor. This gave him time to go over the distance from him to the woman and any variables that he would have to compensate for in order to nail his target. 'Alright, distance is about 750 yards away, well within the effective range of my GSR. No wind is blowing, so I don't need to compensate for that. I'm about 5 meters up from ground level, so I'll have to raise the rifle by a few millimeters. The only thing that I can't get properly is the world's rotation, but it seems to be like back on Eden.' He soon made the adjustments needed to nail the woman in the head if need be. Even if she also has that barrier around her body like her cohorts, a head shot will still knock her down and daze her senses.

However, it seemed he would have to change his target when the woman got in front of the strange girl. A creature soon emerged from the white glove, a scarab-like being with a similar look to the bipedal wolves he fought before. The pinned girl now had a terrified look on her face seem what he could see, with the gray clad boy showing off a large grin in anticipation of what would happen next. Ragna realized that even if he hit the woman and incapacitated her, the monstrous scarab would still attack the girl doing who knows what to her. Knowing now what he had to do, he adjusted his sights on the scarab, making last minute adjustments to make sure he nailed the target.

The scarab now began to ready itself to pounce on the poor girl at any second. The Gallian sniper steadied his breathing, making sure his heartbeat couldn't throw his aim off. As he did so, a smirk came to his face. When he makes his shot, the assailants would know of his presence. Eventually he would have to fight them in close combat. Advanced weapons or not, he wasn't going to stand back any longer.

It was time for the Azure Wolf to begin the hunt.

'Sorry, but whatever plans you had made for this moment stop here.'

He took in a slow, deep breath and squeezed the trigger.

---

'Oh how I love it when in the end, everything comes together perfectly.'

Cinder Fall couldn't help but be elated after her associates finally subdued the current Fall Maiden. It certainly took longer than she wanted, due to the Fall Maiden's stubbornness and the skill she had with her powers. Emerald and Mercury definitely have a long way to go before they're capable of fighting the other Maidens, however this fight will no doubt help them in growing stronger and gaining experience. Now with the Fall Maiden pinned and helpless, she put on the glove her Goddess, Lady Salem, had given her. The scarab Grimm would attach itself to the Fall Maiden and siphon her power to her. Sure it may kill the current user, but it was necessary to help achieve her master's goal to create a new world.

"For Oum's sake, you couldn't have jumped in sooner? We were getting our asses handed to us." Cinder mentally rolled her eyes at Mercury's complaint. She could have joined in sooner to defeat the Fall Maiden faster yes, but this was also a test to see their combat skills in action as well as adapting to situation at hand. It was experiences like this that would help them become more useful in her plans to destroy Beacon and to fracture the decades-long peace between the Four Kingdoms. Although, them complaining about it was irksome to her. After all, complete obedience the cause was needed if they were to have any place in the new world.

"Shut up Merc, we won didn't we? So stop being a baby." Emerald was clearly more devoted to her and knew her place. It was these qualities, along with her skills and Semblance that made Cinder recruit the thief in the first place. While their bickering was always an annoyance to her, with their mission accomplished and ultimate power being handed to her on a silver platter, Cinder chose to ignore it.

"Now then," Cinder said while standing over the Fall Maiden, "I'll be taking what now belongs to me." The scarab Grimm soon appeared from the portal in the palm of the glove, within view of the now terrified girl. Cinder couldn't help but further widen her grin upon seeing the sheer terror in the Fall Maiden's eyes.

"No, Please don't!" Even her voice gave off the fear she felt. She seemed aware that if her power was taken, she would die. Cinder of course could care less at the sight. Any obstacle in the way of her master's plan would be removed, without remorse.

Mercury couldn't help but also smile at the scene. After the pounding the Fall Maiden had given them, this was payback at it's finest. He didn't have any problems with the Fall Maiden receiving pain, she brought this on herself when she need obtained her powers.

"Oh I'm going to enjoy this." His tone giving away the joy at the girl's eventual suffering.

Emerald couldn't help but sigh at this, but she knew that this had to happen so might as well get on with it.

The scarab was about to attach itself to the Fall Maiden, victory was in Cinder's grasp. Now the real plan can begin. With the Fall Maiden's power, she will bring down Beacon Academy and its headmaster, the mysterious and unusually insightful Ozpin. She could breakdown the peace Remnant has experienced for the past 80 years, throwing them into states of distrust, fear, and anger. These emotional states will help the Grimm to flood the Kingdoms, bringing them to their knees. Then her master will exact her desires upon the crippled Kingdoms, to bring about a new world order.

BANG!

A gunshot rang out across the area and then a second later, the scarab was blasted apart.

Everything was silent for a few seconds, the only noises being the bullet impacting the ground in the nearby field and the whispering of a small breeze that blew through the road.

It was two seconds.

In those two seconds, everything she had planned for, all the planning that she had put in for this moment, was destroyed.

Cinder's face went from a grin of absolute victory to one of shock and disbelief. It was the first time Emerald and Mercury had ever seen a look like that on their bosses face. They were stunned as well, thinking much like Cinder that they won. Even the Fall Maiden, known as Amber to those that knew of the Maidens, was shocked.

"W-W-WHAT THE HELL!?" Cinder can't help but say out loud. She had never lost her composure before (to Emerald and Mercury's knowledge), but now the look on her face and her trembling body showed her disbelief on full display.

"WHERE THE HELL DID THAT SHOT COME FROM!?" Emerald also yelled out loud.

"THERE'S A SNIPER AROUND HERE!?" Mercury also gave his two cents about the whole event.

Cinder soon turned her gloved hand so her palm faced her directly. The scarab Grimm was a sure fire way to extract the Maiden's power as said by her mistress. Now her only means of taking it currently was gone, taken by an unseen sniper.

She then clenched her hand, turning it into a fist. Her face contorted into one of anger and rage. Now she wanted to find the person responsible for tearing away everything she had worked for and make them suffer. Its been a long time she has been enraged, now she wants revenge.

'Whoever has done this has just signed their own death warrant.'

---

'Alright! I nailed it!'

Ragna couldn't help but have an ecstatic grin on his face. He was worried when he pulled the trigger that he would miss the scarab monster and the pinned girl's life would be in jeopardy. It was no doubt one of the hardest shots he ever made, not because of the distance but due to the size of the target. The scarab was the size of the women's hand and with it about to attack, the timing of the shot had to be spot on. That he made the shot was due to not only his skill, but also due to luck.

'Alright now the next problem is how to help that girl escape.'

Luckily for the young sniper, Emerald moved away from Amber to draw her guns out. This left Mercury to pin the Maiden down by holding arms behind her back. Now that the number of people holding the girl down is down to one, he gets an idea on how to further throw the assailants off their game. Ragna soon moves his scope on the gray clad boy, cocking a new round into the barrel. He began to slow his breathing to help line up his next shot, knowing full well that he was breaking another key rule of snipers. The rule of never shooting in the same place twice. Doing so would give away the sniper's position to the enemy cause him to come under fire. However, Ragna felt safe as the enemy didn't have any real long range attack outside of the black-haired archer, and even then its a stretch.

'Well, I never did always follow the rules now did I?'

---

"COME OUT ALREADY! WE KNOW YOU'RE HERE!"

Emerald soon cast her eyes on the treeline next to the road with her guns at the ready. She looked frantically at the treeline to find any sign of the mystery sniper, a glint from his sniper scope or any metal part of the rifle that reflected light. However, she didn't see anything and couldn't help but groan at this problem.

'Whoever this sniper is, he chose a good day to attack us on. Thanks to the cloudy sky today, no sunlight is shining down on area. This means no glint of light coming off from his scope or gun to help us spot him.'

"Do you see them Emerald?"

Emerald didn't need to turn around to know Cinder was angry about the sudden turn of events. Honestly it made sense, considering everything she had done to this point had gone along flawlessly. Now that an unexpected factor had shown up, she wanted it gone immediately.

"No, I can't see any sign of them. I don't see any flashes giving them away."

Cinder was starting to calm down from her earlier outburst, returning to her previous analytical state. She knew that based on the path of the bullet that hit the scarab was directly to her left and or right. The barn was several dozen yards away and was diagonal to where she was. If the shot came from there, the bullet would have scraped her hand. It couldn't have been from the fields as they are to far away from the road to be a good position to fire from and there was not much thick cover due to the plants being too short. So that only left one place, deep in the treeline to the left of the road.

'It couldn't be Branwen, he should still be far away from this location due to Emerald's Semblance. The gun part of his weapon also packs a bigger punch than most others, so it must be a regular caliber rifle. Whatever the case maybe, we have to stop-'

"GAH!"

However before she could finish her thought and order Emerald to go into the trees, Mercury has hit by another shot. It hit him in the left shoulder, causing him to jerk to the right and hold it pain. This gave the Fall Maiden the chance she needed to escape, and she took it by the horns. She managed to free one of her arms, conjured a dagger in her free hand, and stabbed Merc's other arm. With both arms in pain, Mercury could do little when Amber finally shoved him off her and got back on her feet. Cinder and Emerald soon saw her back up and went in to attack her. This time, Amber jumped away from their attacks and sent four spears at them, forcing the two to jump away.

'Thank Qum someone was nearby, I thought I was done for.' Amber was relieved on so many levels with the smile on her face showing her joy. She didn't think that anyone was out there and that she was finished. It truly seemed to her that there was someone up there, watching over her.

Cinder, now showing disgust over this turn around acted immediately by pointing to the trees and giving orders.

"GET INTO THE FOREST AND KILL THAT SNIPER NOW! I'LL DEAL WITH THE FALL MAIDEN!"

Mercury rushed on ahead to the woods, well-ahead of his boss. The beating he got from the Fall Maiden iterated him greatly, hurting his pride as an assassin. Now he was itching to take down the punk that shot at him, allowing their target to escape.

---

'Looks like someone is pissed.'

Ragna's Valkyrian-enhanced senses picked up on the black-haired woman's order, showing her to be in control at the changing situation. Now he had to act fast with the enemy now knowing where he is and how to deal with them if the fight goes to close quarters. He knew his that enhanced physicality could allow him to fight them one on one, he would have to push himself hard in order to win. That didn't even include the idea of him fight two or all three of them at once. If that happens, he would have to use all of his skills, abilities, and smarts to come out on top.

'Okay so I have one more bullet to fire before I need to reload. Now, how do I use it effectively on Gray?'

A thought soon came into his head on how to trip up his opponent. He soon smiled at his own little plan.

'That could work.'

He soon got up and started moving out of his current position. After running about 200 yards away from his starting point, he soon put his back against a tree, waiting in ambush. The gray-garbed boy dashed to within 80 yards of him and looked around for the sniper. Due his experience in living in a forest, Ragna knew the terrain like the back of his hand. He picked up a rock and tossed it at a nearby tree, startling the young man. Reacting to the noise, Gray sent out a shot at where the noise was coming from.

"Come on out already and fight!" The anger in the assailant's voice was as clear as day.

Ragna knew better and and waited for his chance. He picked up another rock and moved carefully. He crawled 10 yards to the left, using the foliage to cover his movement. He had to move slowly as to not alert his foe, who kept his head on a swivel. After he crawled 5 yards to another tree, he tossed his rock into the bushes across from him and behind Gray. The rock made the bushes shake, alerting Gray that his enemy was close.

"Got you now!"

Gray leaped into the air and sent out a shot into the rustling bushes, the round tearing through the foliage. As he began to prep his feet to land, Ragna took aim at his left boot. He knew that due to that weird energy that he had surrounding him, he won't shoot off his foot. However, the young Valk-boy had other plans. As soon as Gray's left foot was about to touch the ground he fired.

Mercury felt his foot get shot out from underneath him and began to fall forward. He didn't have anytime to react as he hit the hard dirt, face first. Ragna, with a large smile on his face, soon moved out of his cover and began to insert a new magazine into his rifle.

"Dammit, how the hell did he do that?" Mercury began to pull himself up from the ground and shook his head to shake off the pain. He was on his knees when Emerald ran up behind him, panting from the both the length of the battle and the run up to him.

"You okay Merc?"

The young assassin stared at his ally with iteration in his eyes. This was not his day at all. "I just got my foot shot out from under me and I ate the dirt, do YOU think I'm okay?"

The former thief rolled her eyes at the boy. "Well at least you didn't bite your tongue. Come on, we have to find that sniper or else Cinder is going to pop a vain."

"I know, I know." They soon ran deeper in the trees, trying to find the sniper before they have to face the wrath of their boss.

Ragna meanwhile was trying to keep watch on the battle between the black-haired and brown-haired women. While Brown keep shooting any projectiles she conjured up, Black was dodging away that came her away or deflecting them with her two swords. She soon combined the two into their bow configuration, and started sending arrows at Brown. Taking the chance while he has it, the young sniper begins to take aim at the bow. The distance this time is 550 yards, an easy shot for a sniper with a little bit of skill.

Ragna? He had that in spades.

Steadying his breathing, he soon put the scope on the bow aiming for the top blade. After a second of focusing his aim, he fired. The round hit the top part of the bow, the force knocking it out of the woman's hand. This gave Brown her chance to attack the women up close. Creating two more swords, she lunged at the women and thrust one of the blades at her. Black barely dodged the attack, the blade's edge cutting her dress a bit. The Fall Maiden smirked as she hit the very person that almost ended her before.

She turned to the woods and yelled out, "Thank Qum to whoever is doing that! It's appreciated!"

Cinder narrowed her eyes at how this farce had been going, her thoughts going to how her associates haven't killed the sniper yet.

'Those two better eliminate that sniper, every second we waste is a chance for Branwen to show up.'

---

"Over there, I heard a shot!"

Mercury and Emerald soon dashed to where the shot came from as fast as they can after Emerald yelled out. They had wasted enough time in trying to find him, and every second they had was important. Their main worry was that Qrow Branwen, the Huntsman that was guarding the Fall Maiden would soon show up and interfere. Qrow was known as a hero and one of the strongest Huntsman in recent times. If he showed up, their plan would be ruined and they would have to leave immediately.

Ragna, alerted by the snapping twigs, began to move again. He knew that he would have to fight them in close quarters, but he wanted to catch them by surprise first. This way, he could gain an advantage and wear them down before they could land a single hit on them. 'So how should I go about this? Just shooting them constantly will end up wasting ammo, which I can't replace right right now.' He stopped to think about what he had just thought of. 'Man, now I know why Ms. Catherine always worried about having enough ammo.' He shook his head to bring his mind back to the present. 'No time now for reminiscing, I guess I have to fight them face to face.' He soon lowered his right hand to one of his frag grenades and dashed to the left, showing himself as a blur to his pursuers.

"I think I see him!"

Ragna soon picked up the pace, dashing as fast as his normal form could go. Soon he came to a small drop ahead of him, overlooking a trail. He jumped down to the trail, ran to a nearby tree and stopped to look around. The trail couldn't be seen from the ground he jumped from due to the height between the ground and the edge, about 5 meters overall. Seeing a chance to use his grenades effectively, he pulled one out and armed the grenade by pulling the pull cord on the bottom of the grenade. He began to count down from 5 seconds as he used a technique known as "cooking" the grenade. This is done to make sure that it explodes in a smaller amount of time so that the enemy dosen't have the chance to toss the grenade back or away from them.

5...

The footsteps of the attacks getting closer and closer.

4...

"He must be close by!"

3...

"Look there! He must have jumped down there!"

2...

Ragna soon tossed the grenade to the trail a second before they jumped down onto the trail.

1...

A smirk came on the young Valkyrian's face.

'Surprise losers.'

---

Mercury and Emerald jumped from the small ledge onto the trail, determined to finally end this chase with the mystery sniper. The trail seemed normal enough with loose twigs and pebbles on the path. One of the branches looked a little weird in that it had a cylinder shaped head on one end and what looked like a pull cord on the other. They thought it was strange, the only things they knew that had pull cords were either toys, engines or grenades. There eyes soon widened when they realized what it was and they only had time to say one word.

"SHIT!"

The grenade exploded in atypical fashion for its purpose.

They happened to be standing close to the grenade, about 2 feet away from the blast. The concussive blast disoriented them, affecting their hearing and the force of the blast knocked them off their feet. Hot shrapnel cut and dug into their skin, leaving small cuts that their Aura quickly healed. It did however have the effect that the young sniper needed, that being dazing them as to affect their reaction time and mental state. Now he positioned his hand over one of Isara's smoke grenades to start the next part of his plan.

Mercury was the first to get up, still groggy from the grenade. He placed both of his hands on the ground and pushed off of it, his head still pounding from the blast. If he wasn't pissed off before, he was now.

"Damn this bastard, they're making fools of us. I'm so going to enjoy ending their life."

Emerald also began to get back up although with a little more difficulty. She couldn't help but agree with her ally. With how the plan had been shot out completely, they had to salvage the situation as fast as they could. They soon heard footsteps moving away from them, indicating that the sniper was moving to a new position. This time, he seemed to be running along the track to the main road.

Both their eyes widened a little. If they were right, the sniper was going to attack Cinder while she was still fighting the Fall Maiden. If the sniper made it to the road, Cinder could in trouble fighting two opponents at once. Considering that the sniper had managed to get the upper hand on them, Cinder could be on the losing end eventually. And every second they spent fighting the sniper and Fall Maiden, Branwen would get closer and force them to retreat or fight a losing battle. With this in mind, they ran after the enemy sniper.

Emerald turned to her ally, determined to stop the sniper as her voice indicated. "Come on! We can't let him get to Cinder and help the Fall Maiden any more than he has been!"

---

Ragna heard the green haired girl's yell behind him thanks in part to his enhanced Valkyrian hearing. He figured that he was about 100 yards from the road and at the rate he was going, he could get there in 7 seconds if he sprinted the whole way. Of course if he just ran straight onto the road and helped the hooded girl fight the woman in the red dress, he would just be attacked by the two behind him. This would have him on the back foot for a bit, giving them the advantage. If there was anything he learned during the war with the Imperials, every second counted in a fight. Doing anything to throw the enemy off to gain the edge over them was always the best way to win and live another day.

He soon pulled out the smoke grenade and armed it. The grenade would blast out smoke in 5 seconds, with the full cloud forming in a couple seconds. However, just tossing the grenade at his pursuers and or dropping it behind him so they could get caught in it wasn't what he was thinking.

'Okay then, now I have to time this right.' He knew that if it was going to have the best chance of catching them off guard, the grenade would have to send all of the smoke out at once. So the best way to do so was similar to a trick shot he did before with frag grenades. He only had one shot at this, so he to make it count.

'Here's goes everything!'

About 5 yards from the road, he tossed the smoke grenade behind him and stopped. He began to concentrate on the head of the grenade as he positioned his right hand over his right pistol. Soon, the smoke grenade was beginning to leak out its contents as it passed both Emerald and Mercury's heads as they looked at it. Before they could jump away from what they thought was another explosive, Ragna quick-drew his pistol and shot the grenade. The impact of the bullet caused it to explode instantly, creating a cloud of smoke in an instant. This caught both Emerald and Mercury off guard, with both of them now coughing due to the smoke entering their lungs. Now with big smirk on his face, Ragna dove into the smoke, ready to give them a beating to remember.

"Dammit! How the hell did he manage to get the smoke cloud out so quickly!?" Mercury said while coughing in between words. He and Emerald saw the smoke grenade mere seconds before the smoke fully formed. Regular smoke grenades shouldn't be able to fully form their clouds for a few more seconds. They did hear a gunshot before the cloud suddenly showed up, but they weren't hit by it. Mercury's eyes soon widened in realizing the idea that the sniper must have shot the grenade's head in order to get all the smoke out at once.

'But that should hard as hell. Then again, he did nail the scarab Grimm from far away. Maybe he has a sidearm?'

"This guy is really being a pain in the ass!" Emerald growled at the fact that they were again being outsmarted by this elusive sniper.

"What a coincidence, I was about to say the same thing."

Both of them widened their eyes at the new voice near them. They didn't recognize the voice to anyone they knew, so they knew it must be the sniper they've been chasing. Now they had a chance to get payback for what he did to them. In their minds, he just made a horrible mistake as they could no doubt take him down without much effort. After all, snipers tended to avoid close combat, lest they end up in a position where their expert marksmanship couldn't be of use.

Unknown to them however, this was one sniper that enjoyed close combat and was a master at hand to hand.

As Mercury was about to turn and kick in the direction of the voice, he soon felt a hard punch connect with his face. His Aura softened a good chunk of the blow when it happened, but it still staggered him a good deal.

'Damn, this guy hits hard! It's like I was hit by with a hammer!'

However, Mercury couldn't make a move against the attacker as he was being hit all over his body in the span of seconds. He felt a flurry of strikes land all over him, from punches, to kicks, and to chops. He felt most of the hits being on his torso and face, staggering him back more and wearing down his Aura. Emerald soon intervened by swinging her scythes at the attacker, but Mercury felt himself being pushed forward and took the hit.

"DAMMIT, HIT THE OTHER GUY NOT ME!"

Emerald also began to focus on finding their attacker, but then as hit by a spinning kick to her jaw. He felt the tough leather of a boot on her chin as she was knocked backwards into Mercury. Mercury soon pushed her away to get space, but was then hit by an uppercut to the jaw, sending off the ground for a couple of feet. Emerald soon felt aside kick to the gut, the force causing her to cough up spittle and skid back. However out of anger or stubbornness, they stayed in the smoke in an attempt to hit Aura or no Aura, this guy was hitting hard and they felt sore where they were hit.

"Okay, how the hell does he hit so fast and so hard?"

"It's called training loser. Try it!" Mercury soon felt immense pain course though his body as he was kicked right between the legs. While his Aura helped lessen the blow, it still hurt immensely. While his hands moved to cover his pride, he soon felt an elbow to his chin, snapping his head back and causing a bit of whiplash. Emerald now knew that their opponent wasn't above cheap shots like they were. Emerald swung her scythes again, but Ragna dodged the attack and soon grabbed her right arm. He soon kicked her extended right foot out from under her and began to twist her arm right behind her back. In response, Emerald soon jumped over Ragna to get him to lessen his grip. However, Ragna followed her movement and still held on. This time he kicked both of her feet out from under her and tossed her over his shoulder at Mercury, who was still nursing his pride. The two hit the ground hard, their bodies sore from the beat down they felt. Their Aura was still intact, albeit weakened a good from both fighting the Fall Maiden and being attacked by Ragna.

Ragna on the other hand was in trouble. It seemed to him that while he had landed enough hits to take down several people at once, their barriers wasn't gone. However, it did seem that his hits were affecting them somewhat. If he kept going, he might be able to bring down the barriers, giving him a fighting chance. He soon noticed that the smoke was beginning to dissipate, causing him to bring out another smoke grenade.

Emerald got up first and saw a silhouette in the smoke. Reacting quickly, she brought up her guns and began shooting at the figure. Ragna dodged the shots by diving to a nearby tree and armed both his smoke grenade and a fragmentation grenade. Emerald dashed at the tree, slashing it with her scythes to reveal their opponent. Ragna moved out of the way and into the remaining smoke, tossing his frag grenade at her. Emerald thought that it was another smoke grenade so went ahead to slice it in half, the body separating from the explosive head. Ragna soon preformed another quick draw and shot at the head of the frag, literally blowing up in the thief's face and knocking her back. He soon tossed the smoke grenade at Mercury who was starting to get up, then jumped and landed an axe kick on the assassin's back. As Emerald jumped back on her feet with a bit of difficulty, she was shot in the back by three bullets staggering her. While she could have dodged it, she was dealing with being disorientated from the concussive blast wave and her ears ringing. The bullets didn't feel as strong as Dust bullets but they still were using up her Aura.

Mercury soon got back up, only to be hit in the back by a strong elbow strike. Ragna soon followed up with pivoting on his left foot and hitting the gray-clad assassin with a spin kick. Mercury, completely frustrated at this point began to send several kicks at the young Darcsen. Ragna nearly dodged the incoming bullets, noticing they were faster then what he was used to. While it came as a surprise, he had experienced dodging close range laser fire from Selvaria in their battles and from Rleia and Alicia. This helped him increase his reaction time over the course of the war, to where he could dodge bullets without any effort. Although, he had gotten hit a few times by his Valkyrian sisters during their battles. If he had to describe it, it hurt like a million hornets.

But as the saying goes, "No pain, no gain."

Ragna soon got close to Mercury again and gave a hard uppercut to the chin, followed up by him pivoting on his left foot and sending a side kick to Merc's gut. Both hard hits caused the kick expert to expel spittle from his mouth. However this time he recovered, and began to fight back. The two began to trade blows, blocks, and parries with all the skills they possess. However, Mercury's fatigue was showing as Ragna's hits were whittling down his Aura and were starting to make certain areas of his body sore.

"OW! DAMMIT EM HELP!"

Emerald soon began to dash into the smoke to help her ally, determined to put down the sniper. However as she as running to the smoke, Ragna soon grabbed Mercury's left leg. He soon began to swing around the gray boy, spinning like like a top for a bit before Emerald jumped into the smoke cloud. He quickly moved from her incoming scythe and with all the strength he had, swung Mercury into Emerald hard. This caused them to start tumbling down the trail and spill out into the road. Their Auras had been drained by a good amount by the punishment they took. If they took any more strong hits, their Aura would dissipate and leave them vulnerable.

Cinder soon saw her cronies tumble from the forest as she dodged another volley of projectiles from the Fall Maiden. She was scowling even more at this sight and how things were going south even more then she could have thought. Her two conspirators were being beaten around by one person who they should have taken down already, and the Fall Maiden was still in fighting condition. To say she was enraged was an understatement. Unless they ended the fight quickly, they would have to leave least their faces be known to Branwen and eventually Ozpin. They must complete their mistress's mission, no matter what happens.

"Will you two focus and get up!? You outnumber him two to one!"

Mercury, still feeling sore from the earlier strikes (especially the kick to his privates) got back up to his knees and faced his boss.

"Tell that to our mystery sniper. The bastard has out tricked us and landed some serious cheap shots."

Emerald also began to get back up saying, "He seems to be military, but this guy is skilled and unconventional as hell."

Cinder began to think about what her cohorts had said, While expert soldiers, especially those that became Huntsmen were very dangerous. Their experience in combat and their unique way of approaching a battle put them on another level then those that were civilians turned Huntsmen. They had a mental edge in that they fought battles with a will to win or survive that was greater then most people.

"That doesn't explain how he got the drop on-"

A gunshot sounded off and she felt a round pass by her head, her skin searing hot due to how close the bullet was to her face. She also saw a piece of her hair fall to the ground, clipped by that same bullet.

"How about you see for yourself, bitch."

Cinder soon turned to where the mysterious voice was coming from. She turned her head to the smoke as a figure began to emerge from the smoke, finally showing his face to the three assailants.

They were surprised to see who it was that attacked them.

They saw a 17 year old boy in a torn up military uniform that looked like it belonged in a museum exhibit showcasing the Great War. The main weapons they saw on him were a scoped rifle (which made him their mystery sniper), a cutlass on his right hip, and a decorated broadsword on his back with a large blue gem in the crosspiece. The main thing that caught their attention though was the sniper's face.

"What the- dude what is up with your face?"

Emerald soon smacked Mercury upside the head for what he just said. She turned her head to him saying, "He's the one who has been outsmarting us and kicking our asses, and you're focusing on his looks?"

"Oh come on! How can anyone not point that out? It's impossible."

Cinder ignored the banter between her subordinates to focus on the boy standing against them. She couldn't help but notice his eyes were just different then that of others she saw of the same age. They were hardened, strong, and experienced. It just screamed 'You try and fight me, I'll take you without a second thought'. She narrowed her eyes at the boy, seeing him as both someone she could use for her Lady's cause and as something that should be crushed without hesitation.

Ragna walked over to the brown-haired girl to see if she was alright. She was getting up and pulling out a special staff he hadn't seen before and extended it. It had two amber-colored crystals, one on each end. While she had several bruises and was worse for wear overall, she still looked like she can fight if the look in her eyes showed it.

"How are you holding up there?"

Amber looked who the person who was her savior, finally seeing what he was like. She was grateful to him for saving her from possible death and from these people from taking her powers away.

"Alright," she said with a smile "I thought that I was finished until you showed up."

Ragna soon smiled back saying, "No problem, messing certain people's day is a hobby of mine."

Amber giggled, "Good to know. Thank you..."

"It's Ragna."

Amber blinked at the boy's response, but got over the surprise quickly. She nodded her head in understanding. "Thank you Ragna, my name is Amber."

The Valkyrian boy gave his own nod and said, "Nice to meet you as well, but let's take care of this first."

The two then turned their heads to the three attackers, their faces becoming scowls. Cinder couldn't help but tighten her hands on the handles of her swords in anger. Now it seemed as if things wouldn't be as easy as she thought it would if they got the sniper into close quarters combat. Snipers normally shied away from CQC, since their sharpshooting skills were next to worthless in hand to hand. However, the young sniper seemed to be skilled in this field due to the weapons he had on him.

If anything, this would be a tough fight for both sides.

"So," Cinder said focusing on the Darcsen boy, "you are the sniper that has interfered with our mission."

Ragna soon smirked at the woman in response. "Who knows? Maybe it was someone else who wanted to trash your plans bitch."

Mercury soon stood back up, albeit with some difficulty due to the soreness from Ragna's previous strikes on him (especially the kick to his dignity) and stared at him in rage, "Kid, you have no idea what you just got yourself into."

"Like I care. This isn't the first time I've gotten into something that's in over my head," Ragna said nonchalantly.

Cinder couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the boy. Seemly not being afraid of the circumstance he is in showed that the young man either was ignorant or unfazed. Regardless, he must be eliminated for the sake of her plan.

"You should have just looked the other way, you would have just kept on living your life without knowing what happened here. Now that you have seen us and attacked us, you must be eliminated."

Ragna readied his sniper rifle and looked down the gun's iron sights. "Alright then, I'll at the very least give you a chance. Either piss off now or enter a world of pain."

Cinder narrowed her eyes at the boy's threat, thinking that he still had no idea of what they were capable of. "Kill him and the Maiden."

Ragna sighed a bit at the woman's order before aiming down the sights. "Well then, don't say I didn't warn you."

---

Play Xenoblade Chronicles X OST: EX01

Mercury soon charged first at Ragna, determined to get his payback on he boy. Acting quickly, Ragna fired off a shot from his GSR within seconds of Mercury's first move. Even though he was injured, the young assassin dodged the incoming bullet though barely. Merc took note that the bullets were slower then normal dust rounds, meaning that the bipolar eyed fighter had been using what seemed to be outdated and inferior weaponry. The kick-boxer closed the distance and sent a side kick to the boy's face. Ragna, using his enhanced senses, ducked under the kick. He quickly positioned his left hand on the barrel of his rifle while also grabbing on Mercury's leg. He quickly pulled back before the kick-boxer could react and swung the buttstock of his rifle into the gray boy's soft spot. This caused Mercury to grunt in pain and widen his eyes at the second shot he got to the balls. Ragna soon jumped back as Emerald swung her right scythe in a reverse grip to separate his head.

"Dammit!" He said with a high pitch as he once more cradled his pride. "The hell is your problem with my balls?"

Ragna smirked while drawing out one of his hunting knives and began to block the thief's swings. "All's fair in love and war, bastard!"

As the two kept clashing, Cinder couldn't help but notice two things about the young sniper. First was that anytime Emerald landed cuts on the young man, the cuts stayed there. This meant that the boy had no Aura, meaning that if they landed a lethal blow on him he would die instantly. However, that brought her to next observation. That being even though the boy had no Aura, he was still keeping up with them despite this handicap. It could be possible if he had the right training and experience. However, this boy possessed reaction times and reflexes on the level of skilled Huntsman and showed good skill with the knife.

Ragna soon discarded his sniper rifle and drew one of his throwing knives. He tossed it at Emerald, forcing her to dodge it and end her attack. Ragna dashes at a speed that took Emerald and Cinder by surprise and strikes her with a hard punch to the gut, causing her to skid back a couple of feet. Mercury soon threw himself back into the fight, throwing several kicks at the Valkyrian. Ragna managed to dodge several of the kicks until his left foot stepped on a rock in the road, causing him to lose his balance. Mercury soon saw this and threw a strong front kick to take down the sniper in one shot. Ragna quickly recovered and threw a haymaker to intercept the kick, thinking he could stop the kick. The two blows collided, rattling both fighters due to the force behind each strike and each having their own thoughts.

'Okay, why does it feel like I hit a metal wall? I think even heard a 'clang' sound there.'

'What the hell? Someone without an Aura was able to stop my kick?

Cinder was again surprised at this development, thinking that in straight up fight Mercury could over power the young man. That he stopped a kick from a high-quality prosthetic leg with just his own power definitely raised an eye-brow. 'This boy is full of surprises.'

Ragna however did feel a lot more pain due to him hitting the metal limb. His knuckles were sore and his fingers were numb but he still managed to stop the attack. 'Damn that smarts. At least my healing ability will cancel it out.' Ragna then sent a side kick with his left leg at Mercury who blocked it, but followed up with a fast punch to the gut.

Seeing that Cinder was distracted, Amber dashed at her and swung her staff. Cinder noticed the incoming attack and crossed her swords to block the attack, grunting from the effort. Cinder returned the favor with several slashes that forced the Maiden back a few steps. They soon traded blows for a few seconds until they entered a power struggle, with each one trying to overpower the other.

"Why are you people after the power of the Fall Maiden?" Amber demanded.

Cinder narrowed her eyes at the girl and said, "You won't live long enough to know. You or your new friend."

Ragna meanwhile was bring forced back by Emerald as he was using both his hunting knives to block her scythes by parrying them. He knew that if he directly blocked them, it would give her the chance to hook her blades around the knives and find a way to pull them out of his hands. At the same time, Mercury was shooting off rounds at him forcing him to dodge and leaving him on the defensive. Thankfully, he had managed to avoid serious injury so far in the fight due to his fast reflexes and his healing factor was numbing and healing any sizable cuts on him. However, he couldn't keep it up forever so he had to find a way to turn the tide and fast.

'Come on Ragna! Think!'

Amber soon saw how her savior was in trouble and knew she had to act fast. Cinder struck out at the Maiden with a fast stab from her right sword, which Amber barely blocked. However, she noticed that Cinder had overextended her attack in her haste to win the fight. This allowed Amber to sweep Cinder's right foot from under her and knock her away with a kick to the stomach. Taking advantage of this, Amber conjured up a dozen sharp projectiles and sent them at Mercury while he was focused on shooting the Darcsen. He cried out in pain when they struck him and knocked him down.

"Merc!"

Ragna smirked at the opportunity given to him and acted immediately. He dropped his right hunting knife and quick drew his adjacent pistol. Emerald was about 3 feet from him, meaning that it would be impossible to dodge any of his bullets unless she could react instantly. While her head was turned, he fired off all seven of his shots within the span of two seconds. When Emerald heard the shots and tried to turn her head, she was hit in the torso by all 7 rounds due to both Ragna's gunslinger skills and the short distance. This weakened her Aura even more and made her stagger back a couple of feet. Ragna soon dashed at the stunned thief and nailed her with a rising pistol whip to the chin followed up by pivoting on his right foot and cutting his knife with a horizontal slash in a reverse grip and ending with a spin kick to the head. The thief was knocked off her feet, and landed on her front hard.

Cinder had seen the combo the sniper had done on her underling and saw how he could move so quickly. It wasn't that he had gotten faster (although he was faster then even skilled athletes), he was the skill level of being able to waste little to no movement in his attacks. So the untrained eye, it would seem that he had gotten faster in that instant. With everything she had seen so far, one conclusion had come to mind about the boy.

'He must have had training that only elite Huntsman would have or faced something that made him grow to this level of skill.'

Mercury had recovered from Amber's earlier attack and saw his companion go down. He then had seconds to react as the Darcsen soon ran at him and stabbed at him with his left knife. Mercury dodged the thrust and struck back with a kick that Ragna deflected with an elbow strike and slashed down with his knife. It cut his pants leg and made a sound similar to someone scratching a chalkboard as he cut below the knee. Merc widened his eyes in shock that the sniper found out about his prosthetic legs.

"So you do have metal legs. That explains why I felt like I hit a metal wall before."

The young assassin glared at the boy, seemingly trying to bore holes in his opponent's head. This was something he didn't want anyone to find out, as certain Semblances could counter him easily.

Ragna soon smirked as he said. "Well, didn't think I'd fight a cripple that has basically advanced metal peg legs."

Mercury's scowl deepened as he growled at the young boy and clenched his fists. He was not going to have this freak insult what he had gone through to finally be rid of his old man. 'Well, I have plenty of ammo with how this guy looks.'

"Oh yeah? Well it least I can keep one hair color! Have you even seen yourself in the mirror, you freak?"

Ragna moved his head down, his hair covering his eyes as he dropped his pistol on the ground. Mercury soon had a wide smile on his face at seeing his opponent drop both his guard and one of his weapons. Having looks that really standout usually brought on people either giving complements about it or insults for being different then the norm. It seemed that the boy had dealt with the later and it damages him emotionally.

Not wasting this opportunity, Mercury blasted off via shooting off a round and flying towards his opponent. His already wide grin widened further as he was about to deliver flying spin kick to the sniper's face. "SAY GOODNIGHT!" All was going well for Merc at that moment as he would finally defeat the guy who had been messing up their attack and pissed him off. Then his forward momentum stopped, as if it was a cartoon with the character freezing in place. He then looked on in horror at why he stopped.

The boy had caught his kick without any difficulty and stopped his attack dead in its tracks.

Emerald was stunned to see Mercury's attack put to a halt like that. They held the advantage over the boy due to their Aura protecting them and allowing them to have superhuman performance. Despite the fact that their bipolar eyed enemy was able to keep up with them (and that was a mystery in of itself) they had been driving him back. Now that he stopped one of Merc's strongest kicks without any real effort where previously he had to put in a good amount to do so or parry out right was a shock to the system.

"Hey cripple boy." Ragna's voice now sounded more menacing as he raised his head. When it was fully up, he had a devilish grin on his face with his eyes showing killer intent. He wasn't the same boy they had been fighting before. "What did you just say about my hair?"

Mercury swallowed his own saliva without even realizing it. 'W-What the hell is with this guy?'

He soon heard two noises coming from in front of him. The kind where a blade had been drawn and of metal being pierced through. He looked at his leg and saw that the sniper had drawn his sword and stabbed it into the ankle joint of his fake limb. This caught both him and the others off guard at the feat of strength the boy displayed and that the blade was still intact.

Mercury was now beyond pissed off at what had just happened. His prosthetic legs were expensive as all hell as they were of high quality. This type of model was designed to be as close to the original limb they replaced in terms weight and flexibility. They were also very sturdy and could still work after taking a powerful hit from Grimm. That the same guy that had already made fools of them earlier had done this? Now he was livid.

"BASTARD! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THESE THINGS COST!?"

Ragna's response? He gave him his strongest haymaker to the face.

"LIKE I GIVE A CRAP!"

Mercury felt his nose get smashed and his Aura drop a good amount as he was sent flying a couple of yards away. Emerald was stunned to see that the boy had gained such a boost in power and knocked Mercury away so easily. Cinder on the other hand noticed something that her cronies didn't. She saw that the sniper was covered in a faint, blue aura for a few seconds. She couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in curiosity at the man. 'He doesn't have an Aura surrounding him from what I saw before. Is it a Semblance? No that wouldn't be right, a Semblance is created when one's Aura is unlocked. If he had an Aura the whole time, it would have been protecting him from their attacks from the start.' Cinder thought about it for a few seconds before her eyes widened.

'No. It couldn't be. Is he by chance one of THEM!?'

Whatever thoughts she had were put aside as Amber swung down her staff in a jumping strike, which forced Cinder to jump back. 'Tsk, this is becoming both insightful yet annoying at the same time.'

Emerald looked down at her ally and shook her head at his actions. She knew that Mercury wouldn't pass up insulting someone for either their appearance, personality, or anything really. She knew that it would bite him in the ass one day, and it seemed that day was today.

"You really just couldn't keep your mouth shut, couldn't you?"

Mercury gave her a deadpan look and said, "Put a damn sock in it."

Before Emerald could retort, Ragna closed the distance between them while drawing his other pistol and began firing away at her. Emerald soon dodged most of the bullets, with only two hitting her but that was all the Darcsen sniper needed to throw her off and start swinging his sword. Emerald managed to block the first swing, but was hit by a pistol whip soon after. Ragna then began to swing his blade at high speeds, getting through Emerald's defenses occasionally and dropping her Aura with every hit. The thief grimaced, if this didn't change her Aura will disappear and the bipolar eyed boy could defeat her. 'Wait, I'll just use my Semblance to catch him off guard and-'

Her thoughts stopped as she was hit from behind by Amber shooting a couple of projectiles into her back, knocking her off balance and getting her to drop her guard. This gave Ragna the chance to dash behind her and hit her with Beowolf's pommel to her neck, the strike having enough power to knock her unconscious. Mercury soon got back up to try and assist, but Amber held him back by sending several more projectiles at the assassin. This gave Ragna the chance to reload his pistol and ready one of his remaining frag grenades by pulling the cord. Ragna fired away at the assassin as he closed in, with Mercury dodging the incoming bullets with extensive effort due to the damage to his right leg. Soon Ragna put away his pistol and looked as though he was getting out one of his throwing knives to stab him from Merc's point of view. When they got up close, Ragna dodged a kick aimed for his head and drew his armed grenade. Mercury this time managed to surprise the young Darcsen and nailed him with a kick to the gut, finally getting a good hit in and causing split to come out of the sniper's month. Ragna was sent back, his boots dragging across the ground as he was recovering from the strike. Mercury was about to dash off after him with his good leg shooting him forward, but then he noticed the armed grenade under him.

"SON OF A-!"

Before he could get away or finish his sentence, the grenade exploded and blasted him back. His Aura was now at dangerously low levels, several more strong hits and it would be depleted. Ragna managed to straighten himself out, his healing factor numbing any pain he felt. He saw that the green haired girl has still out thankfully and the gray themed boy was down for a bit. He now drew his cutlass and Beowolf in order to help Amber beat the women in the red dress.

Cinder scowled at how her grunts were taken down by one individual without him either being too exhausted to keep fighting or too injured to keep fighting. Realizing that she now has to fight one on two, she had to go all out in order to achieve her goals. Her eyes began to glow brightly as the dust infused into her body began to strengthen her. She sped at the Fall Maiden and unleashed a barrage of strikes, eventually breaking her guard. She soon knocked Amber away via a strong spin kick to her right hip, then pivoted her left foot until she jumped at the young Darcsen and began to clash blades with him. Cinder swung her right blade in a diagonal slash which he managed to parry with his cutlass and stabbed with Beowolf. Cinder parried Beowolf and sent a kick at Ragna which he blocked by crossing his blades, he was jarred

Ragna soon smirked at Cinder, not giving away any fatigue he had from fighting earlier. "So, starting to regret you're decisions here lady?"

Cinder couldn't help but smirk as well and said, "I will admit, while I'm quite angered at your actions, it's a bit... endearing at the same time."

Emerald regained consciousness and heard the exchange between the two along with Mercury. The two both grimaced at their leader flirting with the enemy that had been running them ragged. "Em, did I get hit so hard I'n in a delusional coma or Cinder is really flirting with the guy that has been kicking our asses?"

Emerald said in a similar state of disbelief, "I think she is Merc, and yes it is disturbing. On so many levels."

Both of them soon pushed off and began to trade swings and stabs with their swords. This time, Ragna was taking several more cuts due to Cinder's higher level of skill and the Dust infusion increasing her physical abilities. However, despite his current state, he was going keep fighting for as long as possible. Pushing his senses and reflexes to their limit, he gave a long roar as he began to move attack at his fastest speed. This surprised Cinder for a few seconds and Ragna managed to leave a couple of cuts on her. However the black haired woman soon got her composure back and pushed back, forcing the Darcsen to grit his teeth in frustration.

'This woman is as strong as Selv was. How the hell is she this good?'

Cinder soon saw an opening in Ragna's defenses and knocked his blades away from in front of him. A wide smirk appeared on Cinder's face while Ragna's face was in shock at the sudden turn. 'Now you're mine!' Cinder soon angled her left blade for a thrust, aimed at his heart in order to finally kill this annoying roadblock.

The sword was about to move, until it was knocked out of her hand. Both of them turned and saw that it was Amber who did the deed as she swung her staff at the exact moment. However, Cinder refocused faster and nailed Ragna with a strong kick to the gut sending him back. Amber and Cinder clashed weapons once again as Ragna re-orientated himself and was about to charge back in until his senses kicked in. Emerald had gotten back up and was now firing away at him with her guns. Ragna's weakened state caused one of the bullets to hit his arm, a stream of blood coming out along with the bullet.

'Dammit!'

Ragna soon charged at the thief as she turned her weapons into scythes again and the two began to clash blades. Both were at their limit and Emerald's Aura was dropping with every strike that the Darcsen landed on her. Soon after nearly a minute of just a flurry of swings and parries, the two entered a power struggle. "Do you guys not know when to quit!? This is getting old!"

Emerald soon smirked and her eyes glowed for a bit as she said, "Well, it may look like your friend maybe tapping out, permanently."

Ragna was about retort until he looked behind him and his widened in horror. Amber was kneeling in front of Cinder as she raised her blade over her head. Then she brought it down, cutting into the girl and causing blood to spill onto the ground. She stayed still for a second before falling on her left side, seemingly lifeless as she sprawled into the ground. Time for the young hybrid stopped for a few seconds as he stared in shock at the girl's fate before it all came back full force.

"NO!"

Acting quickly, he soon managed to knock one of Emerald's scythes out her hands and hit her in the nose with the pommel of Beowolf. She staggered back and Ragna nailed her with a roundhouse kick to the head, knocking her down and away from him. Ragna soon dashed to Amber's still form and grabbed her before Cinder could react. Holding the wounded girl in his arms, Ragna began to check for the slightest pulse. He put two fingers on the girl's neck in the area where her neck was connected to her shoulders. His thoughts became panicked as the seconds ticked by.

'Not again. I won't let someone die because I couldn't save them again!'

A beating sound is heard by the Valkyrian, faint but still there.

Another beat, a stronger one this time.

More beats are heard, causing the young man to realize a sigh of relief.

"Thank the maker, I thought she was a goner."

"Yes. However, you will not be so lucky."

Ragna's eyes widen when he saw the girl disappear right in front of him and in place of her was the black-haired woman standing in front of him. He got up to his feet and tried to jump back to get some distance. Unfortunately, his wounds and exhaustion caught up with him and made his movements sluggish. This gave Cinder her chance to finally land a blow that will this fight for good.

She moved in quickly, crossing her blades in front of her body. She soon dashed at the boy and swung her blades.

For a second, Cinder was behind the sniper with her blades out to the side. A smile appeared on her face as she stood up straight and flicked her blades to the side to remove the blood on them. A second later, blood erupted from the Darcsen's chest in an X-pattern.

"AHHHHHH! SHIT!"

Ragna still stood up a second before collapsing on the ground like a sack of potatoes. Blood ran from the boy's chest, forming a puddle around him that was getting bigger.

Cinder's smile became a wicked grin as her plan had worked.

---

A few seconds earlier

As the young man dashed at Emerald, Cinder was locking weapons with the Fall Maiden. Seeing her movements were slowing due to exhaustion, Cinder managed to slip under the girl's guard and knocked her down with a pommel strike to the back of the neck. She soon landed a spinning kick to the Maiden's right hip, sending her rolling across the ground like a rag doll.

Breathing slowly to help relax her body, Cinder soon looked to Emerald fighting with the sniper. He seemed to be preoccupied in taking the thief down, but Emerald gave little gestures with her fingers that Cinder noticed. A smile came onto her face as she signaled Emerald to use her Semblance. The duel scythe user smirked and her eyes began to glow slightly as Cinder prepared to finally bring the young man to an early grave.

'Unless that sniper can sense the girl's Aura or see through the illusion, he is finished.'

---

Present Time

Amber's eyes began to twitch open as she regained consciousness. She noticed that the fighting had stopped and looked around to see if Ragna was safe. She turned her head to the right, and saw the young man on his front with a pool of blood around him. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight, the boy who had saved her was if not immediately dead then he would be then saw the woman responsible for attacking her walk up to him and raise her left blade in the air, its tip pointing to the boy's spine.

A surge of anger and urgency filled the Maiden's body as she created several dozen spear length projectiles around her.

"NO YOU DON'T!"

Yelling at the top of her lungs, she sent the projectiles hurtling at high speed towards Cinder. Reacting quickly, she began dodging any projectiles she could and those that got too close she had to deflect with her swords. However, several projectiles got through her defenses and hit her in various parts of her body. Her Aura dropped greatly when the barrage ended and she was starting to become tired. Amber prepared to charge at her again, but was immediately attacked by both Emerald and Mercury (though Mercury was slowed due to the damage to his leg from earlier).

Seeing her prey cornered, Cinder began to walk towards the young Maiden with a large smirk on her face. "Now, where were we?" Amber soon began to back up as she began to look at the current situation. 'I'm outnumbered again, my body is becoming sluggish, Ragna is bleeding out, and these bastards are still in fighting condition. Dammit! where is Qrow when you need him!?'

The enemies were getting closer.

Amber entered a combat stance to prepare for attacks from multiple directions.

"Don't *cough* count me out... Just yet."

All eyes widened at hearing the voice. The four couldn't believe what they were hearing. Amber was relieved while Cinder and her party were completely stunned. They all turned their heads to the source of the voice and saw something that should be impossible.

Ragna was getting back up, albeit struggling quite a lot. He planted Beowolf's tip in the ground and was now pushing himself up.

Cinder's shock soon gave away to anger it what she was seeing. How much would it take for this boy to get the hint? He was way too wounded to do anything, and their Aura was still intact and they were relatively still in good shape. She soon took a step in the direction of the struggling boy and pointed one her blades at him. "How are you still alive? You should have been killed by that strike without an Aura to protect you!"

Ragna gave a weak chuckle as the blood coming out of his body was coming out in smaller amounts. Cinder soon noticed the flame-like blue aura from before surround him again, this time being much more noticeable and stronger. He was now on his knees and beginning to push up "You, *cough* really think you guys *cough, cough* killed me just like that?"

Emerald stepped back a few feet and shook her head in disbelief at the sight. "How? How is this happening!?"

The young sniper soon got onto his feet and was now trying to stand up straight. "You guys have no idea about me. People have always said I was stubborn as all hell, even in the face of death. They even said *cough* that I was a bit suicidal at times. However, I don't stay down. I always will get back up and fight again." He managed to stand up fully and turned to his enemies with a wide smirk on his face, and what they saw was surprising to say the least.

The boy's wounds were starting to heal up, slowly but surely. The blood had stopped gushing out and the wound was beginning to turn into a lighter red. All of the previous wounds he had were either gone or became smaller then they were before. Ragna of course was in massive pain due to all of the wounds and his body screamed at him to stop moving. Thanks to his healing factor though not only were the wounds healing, it acted like a anesthetic and numbed some of the pain. He would just have to work through the pain, especially with what his next move was going to be.

'Damn, I guess I really am at the end of my rope. Guess I have to use my powers to survive.'

Ragna hardened his eyes as he looked at Cinder directly and said, "Guess you guys are going to be the first people that I have to go all out on." He soon closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He felt for his inner flame, knowing full well that he had to end this battle quickly. This was one chance he had to take, it wouldn't happen again after this.

Finally, he felt it. It was visible in his mind's eye, a decent-sized fire. Now it began to grow into an inferno, a raging fire that filled his mind. A gust of wind surrounded him, blowing around any loose bits of clothing on him.

He took a deep breath, and opened his eyes.

Play Metal Gear Rising Revengeance OST: A Soul Can't Be Cut

Both of his eyes turned crimson as the gust blew out from him, causing the onlookers to flinch. When they looked at the boy, a raging blue fire covered the his being along with the wounds healing faster then before. His hair turned fully sliver, replacing the dark-blue that was there before. Looking at the boy would give someone the clear message:

He was now going all out.

Emerald and Mercury stepped back in fear, their senses telling them to get away from the boy immediately. Cinder on the other hand was wide-eyed at the sight. She couldn't understand what she was seeing. The boy they had been fighting against, the boy that she thought she finally killed possessed powers that either herself or her compatriots had seen before. The only way it was possible was that the boy had a Semblance that didn't require someone to unlock their Aura. 'The only people in Remnant's history that would possess that ability is the Original Huntsmen! That's the only explanation for this, but it still doesn't add up!' Suddenly, her body shook slightly in fear during her thoughts. She forced her body to regain its composure and she faced the young man down. "What are you!? You can't have a Semblance and that isn't a natural Aura. Just who are you!?"

Ragna looked at his reflection in Beowolf's blade, thinking about how long he can stay in this form. 'In my current state, I'll only have five minutes. I need to make this count!' He soon looked up at Cinder with a calm look on his face, relaxed like a spring in the mountains. "You want to know what I am?" He points his blade at Cinder; his eyes turning into a steely gaze.

"I am an impossibility, born of two races. An abomination to some and a hero to others. For right now though, I'm the guy that's about to kick your ass."

Cinder was about to ask what he was talking about, but Ragna soon dashed at Cinder at a faster speed than they expected. In the space of a few seconds, he crossed the distance and swung Beowolf in a fast horizontal slash. Cinder barely had time to both register and block the attack, but then she felt much more force behind the blow than the boy did previously. It caused her to stagger back a step due to the force behind it as well as caused her body to rattle slightly.

'No way! We had the advantage over him earlier, but now he's at a point where I'm barely keeping up with him. Just what is this power?'

Acting quickly, Ragna pivoted on his left foot and began a blinding barrage of swings with Beowolf. Cinder moved her blades frantically to try and stop the boy's onslaught, but despite her best efforts she was suffering even worse then the sniper did against her earlier. The only thing preventing her from serious injury was her Aura, but at the rate the fight was going it would give out eventually.

Seeing the tables turning quickly against them, Mercury and Emerald moved to attack Ragna from two directions. They circled the sniper and they moved in to take him out. Emerald was coming from the left with her scythes and Mercury on the right boosting off of his undamaged leg. However when they got close enough to attack, he suddenly vanished into thin air causing their attacks to hit air. They looked around to see where he had disappeared to, thinking he couldn't have gotten far.

"Okay, how did he do that?" Mercury said frantically.

Cinder took this break to try and piece together what she saw from the mystery boy. 'Healing factor, increased speed and strength, and now teleportation? There shouldn't be a Semblance that gives someone all of those powers.'

"Looking for someone!?"

They soon turned their heads to the sky and saw Ragna swinging his sword at them. To their surprise, laser beams came off the blade and were speeding at them. They began dodging the incoming beams, narrowly dodging the beams at certain points. When the beams impacted the ground, they left small, smoking craters were they hit showing the three that they packed quite a punch. Ragna smirked and disappeared again, this time teleporting behind Mercury and sending a larger beam at the assassin. It hit him dead center in the back, blowing him off the ground and sent him tumbling along the ground. After bouncing along the ground, he managed to right himself and got to his feet. When he looked to see where the half-breed was standing, his eyes widened as he saw Ragna close the distance quickly. Gritting his teeth, Mercury blasted off the ground and swung a kick to the boy's head, hoping to use his momentum against him. Due to his enhanced eyesight, Ragna saw the kick coming faster then before and swung Beowolf.

The leg his blade made contact with was the one he damaged before. This time though Beowolf's edge, sharpened due to the power of the Blue Flame cut into the ankle joint and removed the foot from the rest of the limb.

"NO WAY!" Mercury yelled out. He couldn't believe his limb, made to take serious punishment from strong Grimm had been cut apart so easily. While he was still in shock, Ragna sent out a strong haymaker to Merc's face. This time, his fist was covered in his flame adding more power to the blow. His punch impacted Mercury's nose with a satisfying crunch sound and he saw the strange barrier that surrounded the gray clothed boy finally break down as he knocked him away. Mercury once again bounced on the ground until his back hit a tree and he fell unconscious.

Emerald and Cinder were stunned by the sight, realizing the battle had swung against them. Emerald soon began to shoot at the Darcsen with her guns, but Ragna's superhuman reflexes allowed him to cut the incoming bullets apart without any effort. He then jumped into the air, charged up his blade and swung downward, creating a large beam that was speeding at the remaining two. They managed to clear the blast, but they felt the shock wave of the explosion push them back a bit.

During this moment, even Cinder began to think what she could never have imagined before.

'We can't beat him.'

---

Meanwhile

'Dammit! Got to Hurry!'

Qrow sped toward the battle zone as fast as his transformed state could go, desperate to save Amber. He honestly blamed himself for falling for the enemy's tricks, no doubt the cause of a Semblance that creates illusions. Ozpin told him to stay close to Amber and make sure that Salem's forces couldn't have the chance to steal the powers of the Fall Maiden. If they succeeded, Salem would be one step closer to throwing all of Remnant into darkness and be able to find one of the four keys hidden away by the academy headmasters.

'Okay, seems like its this way-'

*BOOM*

Qrow got out of his crow form and landed on a nearby tree branch. He was still far away from where he guessed Amber would be, but he could still hear the explosion from that distance. 'The hell? What could have caused that?' He knew couldn't have been Amber due to the nature of her powers and what she could do with them. Perhaps the assailants had a Semblance that causes explosions? It was a logical guess, considering they were still in the dark about who was serving under Salem.

His eyes then focused on something in the distance, just few feet over the treeline. His right eyebrow went up in surprise when his eyes adjusted to the object in the distance. 'Is that a person? Why are they on fire?' The figure then disappear below the trees as a large dust cloud peaked over, covering everyone who would be down there.

Qrow shook his head, there was no time to think things over. He jumped from tree to tree as fast as he could go. While in his mind, he could help but think of the mystery figure he saw.

'The way he was covered in fire like that looked similar to Yang's Semblance, but the fire was blue. If anything, I hope he's on our side.'

---

Back on the road

"WHERE IS HE NOW?"

Emerald was panicking as she strained her senses to detect Ragna's presence in the dust cloud. Exhaustion was catching up to her as her breathing was heavier than before. Before she could ask Cinder if she could tell where the sniper was, Ragna soon appeared behind her and landed a kick to her back. Emerald tried to right himself in the air, but Ragna teleported again and hit her with a spin kick to the hip. Emerald was sent flying, spinning head over heels until Ragna nailed her with a kick to her chin sending her up higher into the air. He teleported again and nailed her in the stomach with a powerful hammer blow. The wind was knocked out of her as she hit the ground hard as her Aura finally gave out.

Cinder heard Emerald's grunts as she was being knocked around before she hit the ground and chose to get out of the dust cloud in order to see Ragna. At the same time though, Ragna also dashed out of the cloud and stood several feet away from Cinder. The two stared each other down as Cinder gritted her teeth and grinded them against each other. She had to accomplish her mission no matter what happened, and she wasn't going to return empty handed. It was the first step for Remnant's downfall and she wouldn't fail!

"I WON'T BE BEATEN BY A BRAT LIKE YOU!" She soon charged at the boy, the patterns on her arms glowing brightly as she clashed with him again. Ragna didn't want to waste time talking with Cinder as he parried her incoming strikes with some effort. He was more focused on how much time he had left in using his Blue Flame, as his body was building fatigue due to how long the battle had gone on for. 'I better wrap things up quickly before I pass out from over using it.' As they entered another power struggle, Ragna pushed away Cinder with all of strength then proceeded to hit her with a powerful punch to the stomach that forced her back onto the road, her feet scraping the ground.

Ragna soon began to focus his flame into Beowolf as the blade began to glow brightly. Cinder soon stopped her slide back and saw the boy's weapon was covered in flame. She realized she needed to get Emerald to use her Semblance to overload his senses so she could use a special amulet that her master gave her so they could escape, although she never thought she needed to flee like this. She contemplated her options she had in front of her...

*BANG*

Ragna, Amber, Cinder, and the awakening Emerald and Mercury heard the gunshot cracking through the area. Cinder's eyes widen in realization of why a shot want off out here. 'Dammit it all its Branwen! If he shows up, we're good as finished!'

Ragna, seeing the shock in her eyes couldn't help but smile at this turn of events. It now seemed as though his role in this battle ended as it seemed that Amber must have a friend or ally that's making their way to them. He was glad that she would get out okay and that their opponents would leave empty-handed. However, that wasn't to say he wasn't going to let them get away without one last attack. He soon jumped to the air as the three attackers soon began to gather around each other.

"LIKE HELL YOU GUYS ARE GETTING AWAY!"

Cinder looked up in fear as the boy prepared to fire his weapon's beam at them. She rushed over to her underlings in order to escape, and got to them by the time Ragna was about to thrust his sword at them She turned to Emerald and yelled out, "EMERALD DO IT!" The thief nodded and focused her eyes on the boy to blind his senses. Ragna's vision went black which surprised him, but he still knew where they were and thrust his blade forward.

"NOW BURN!"

The large energy beam shot out of Beowolf, the beam shifting for a second to look like a monster's head coming at them. Cinder was stunned but she soon brought out the amulet and raised it up to the sky. It glowed brightly and they teleported away as soon as the beam hit the ground. The ensuing explosion was far larger in scale as it was heard from miles away in any towns near the area. A massive smoke cloud formed over the trees as the concussive blast knocked down a few old trees to the ground and caused any nearby animals to flee from the site.

OST end

---

Unknown Location

A Portal opened up in the middle of what looked like a training area as a loud boom was heard in the rest of the compound. At the same time, Cinder and her allies flew out of the portal and hit the wall hard. Mercury and Emerald groaned in pain at the impact as the last of Cinder's Aura dissipated as she hit the wall.

As she began to fall unconscious, one thought passed through her mind.

'Damn it all...'

---

Back at the road

Ragna soon landed on the ground looking at the large carter he made in the road. He soon sighed as he rested Beowolf his shoulder and said, "Oh man, I really went overboard this time. I hope they're able to repair this later." Ragna soon heard footsteps behind him as he saw Amber put away her staff as she walked over to him. She looked more beat up then he did, but she managed a smile on her face and her eyes showed relief that the fight was over.

"Not going to lie, but that was close," she said between breaths. It seemed like a miracle that the two made it out alive after everything that happened. When Amber saw him go down at first, she thought he died. She felt angry that those people would do anything in order to get her powers , including killing someone that wasn't even a part of her mission. However, seeing him get back up and completely dominating them in battle put her heart at ease, but also stunned her at the same time. This was why she never jumped in during that stage of the fighting, seeing that she would only get in the way.

Ragna smirked at that and replied back, "Yeah, that was tough even for what I've faced."

Amber tilted her head in curiosity. "You mean you've fought worse then that?"

"Yep," the sniper said nonchalantly, "I've seen plenty of things in my life, more then most people ever do."

Amber looked at him strangely before she giggled a bit. "I see, you'll have to tell me later. Although," she pointed at the scar on his chest as it kept healing, "How are you still standing up after what happened?"

Ragna looked down at his chest and sighed. "Well it's a long story-"

He was unable to say anymore as the exhaustion of the fight came back full force. His mind soon shut down as the stress of his current state caught up with him. His flame cut out as he fell forward into the ground face first, his body becoming like dead weight.

"HEY!" Amber rushed over to him rolled him on his back to check to see if he was still okay. "Come on, wake up!" She checked his pulse to see if it was still beating. To her relief it was, albeit very weak. 'He must have over done it with that form of his. Although, what even was that power?'

"Amber!"

The young Fall Maiden turned to where the voice was coming from and soon saw her ally Qrow jump down onto road.

"About time you showed up Qrow! Where were you?"

The old crow of a Huntsmen rubbed to the back of his neck feeling a little ashamed. During their journey to Beacon, Qrow had felt a strange presence on the edge of his senses as they walked. He thought it was someone trying to sneak up on them and when they dropped their guard for long enough, they could take advantage of it and make their move. He didn't want to leave it to chance and he was aware that Amber could hold her own for him to get there in time in help so he went of, saying he would be back in a few minutes.

That unfortunately wasn't the case as he had been lured off a wild goose chase that separated him from Amber. He felt responsible that he fell for such an obvious ploy. He sighed and said in his gravely tone, "Yeah I know I'm late, guess they managed to trick me with a Semblance that makes illusions."

While Amber wanted to know what happened that caused Qrow to let his guard down, her new friend's condition was more important. She shook her head and said, "Well, never mind that right now. Can you help me with him?" Qrow looked at the young man whom Amber was holding up and now that he saw him clearly, he could tell he wasn't normal. The boy's outfit resembled a soldier's uniform, the uniform itself looking like something from the Great War. What got his immediate attention was the boy's hair which wasn't normal as it looked natural, not the end result of using hair products that dyed one's hair color. After that, he soon looked down at the young man's chest and saw how large the scar was. He raised an eyebrow in surprise that the boy was even able to fight considering that the scar looked deep enough to reach his organs.

'By all rights, this kid should be dead. But if he managed to pull through and keep fighting, he must have an unbreakable will.'

Qrow saw the boy standing before he fell on the ground covered in that blue fire along with that large crater that the boy made with that powerful laser he fired. To say Qrow was stunned was an understatement. 'How the name of the Dust is this kid that powerful? Not even Atlas's most powerful airships could do that much damage.' He smirked a bit at that taught as if their old ally, General James Ironwood found out about a kid with the power to tale down some of Atlas's strongest weapons, he would have a conniption. Hell, he could imagine the Schnee family, especially Jacques and his son Whitley who both thought having powerful armies made Huntsmen obsolete would be in disbelief at this sight. He shook his head to clear his mind as he had to put those thoughts of his aside in order to try and help the young man.

"What's his condition?"

"Not sure," Amber said, "He still has a heartbeat, so he's still alive. Although, I think he's in coma from the stress of using his powers."

Qrow sighed at this revelation, as it seemed he was going to get his answers later. While he could ask Amber right now, he had to help the kid to civilization and away from any chance of Grimm attacks. While the Grimm normally don't come into this area due to their being nearby villages and the armed locals, he wasn't going to risk having a Grimm show up out of nowhere to attack them.

*gasps* "What the? Is he still healing?"

Qrow soon looked at what Amber was seeing and eyes widened at the sight. The young man was covered in a faint, fire-like glow as any remaining wounds on his body recovered and the scar on his chest was mending slowly. Qrow had to rub his eyes for a second to make sure he wasn't seeing things, but what he was witnessing was the real thing. Sure he had seen those with Aura heal injuries before, but even the strongest Aura couldn't mend size-able scars, let alone large ones like the young man has on him. The more Qrow thought of it, the more it seemed that the kid's Semblance (if he could call it that) was unnatural to the great degree. Even with all of things he has seen in his life, this was one of the strangest he has seen in a LONG time.

"I'll call Oz, see what he thinks our next move should be."

"Please do," Amber said, "I think we'll learn all we can about him at Beacon."

Qrow pulled out his Scroll and began dialing to Ozpin.

'Damn, this is becoming one hell of a day.'

---

Beacon Academy, Vale

Overlooking the city of Vale is the Kingdom's main school to train future generations of Huntsman, Beacon Academy. A large castle that to the eye of someone not aware of it's purpose would look like a place befitting a king. Which, in a way is correct if one looked at the secret game of chess being played between those that would protect the future of humanity and of those that would destroy it. It served as a literal beacon (no pun intended) of light for those that wished to follow the path of a protector of humanity and slayer of Grimm.

In the middle of the complex was the immensely tall tower, overlooking the whole area and providing a place of security. Inside the tower was the headmaster's main office for him to carry out his work in solitude. The inside of the office had multiple gears turning around, not unlike the inside of a clock tower. Well befitting of the man that oversaw the school.

Professor Ozpin was sitting at his desk, patently waiting for news from Qrow about the status of both him and the current Fall Maiden. His close friend, partner, and ally, fellow Beacon professor Glynda Goodwitch was pacing back and forth in front of him, her blow was low as her mind was becoming more and more stressed with every passing minute. He could understand his partner's current state considering that despite all the precautions they took beforehand, anything could still go wrong.

Life always had its way of changing one's plans.

"It's been a while since Qrow called in. Even if he's drinking himself away at a local bar, he should have sent us a message or Amber could have called us in his place."

Glynda's voice was her usual focused and strict tone that she showed to the students she taught. It was clear though that she was trying to deal with the anxiety that waiting for good news always gave by approaching it in the same way she did her classes,

By being straight and to the point on the subject.

He couldn't blame her though, as when dealing with certain situations, people have different ways of coping in order to focus their minds. It was a good tactic, especially for those with experience as they needed ways to try and keep themselves operating efficiently. Considering the role he and his allies have chosen, anything going wrong could shift things to the enemy. However, Ozpin had to remain calm as he knew that any action taken out of haste could end up worsening a problem more than helping it.

"It will be fine, I trust Qrow to handle it."

"Are you sure?" Glynda said. "What if SHE sent people that could counter Qrow in combat? You know how skilled some of her closest allies are."

"True, but Qrow is among the most skilled Huntsmen I know. We must have faith in him and wait."

The blonde-haired professor sighed heavily at her lifelong-friend's response. While true Qrow's skill was unique among most Huntsmen his age, he was still a drunkard that always caused some form of trouble. If it was up to her, she would have had several more Huntsman to guard the Fall Maiden on her journey to Beacon. It was a sound move in that they would have had several ways to face a foe due to having multiple ways to counter whatever would have come their way. The phrase of "Strength in numbers" may seem one-minded in some cases, but it made sense if the skills and abilities of others are taken into account. However, the number of people that they could call on was small and they were too far away to join up with Qrow and Ms. Amber.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Both professors soon heard the alarm set up in Ozpin's desk where it would alert him to call from one of their allies.

"Well," Ozpin said in his calm tone, "It seems we'll find out sooner than expected."

Ozpin soon pressed a button in front of him bringing up screen where he could see the caller and speak with them face to face, so to speak. Qrow's scruffy face came onto the screen as he was drink from his tin which no doubt had alcohol in it.

"Qrow, how are things?"

Qrow stopped drinking wiped his mouth with his sleeve and put away his canteen. "Ah, hey there Oz nothing too major over here. Just had a drink, enjoying the scenery, and... found a strange kid."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow and Glynda's eyes widened a bit at the news. They had expected that if anything happened, it would be related to any attackers that may have wanted to take Amber's powers.

Ozpin spoke first in his composed voice, "Qrow, where is this boy you are talking about?"

"Look for yourself Oz," Qrow said as he showed the two the boy in question who Amber was holding up. Both professors were surprised to see the flame-like Aura around him along with his unique hair style. Looking at the boy, Ozpin couldn't help but get a strange feeling from him. He seemed well out of place if his attire was any indication, looking similar to a uniform from the Great War era. Not only that, but he couldn't help but sense that this boy possessed great power the likes of which Remnant hadn't seen before.

"Amber," Glynda spoke after recovering from the shock of seeing the young man, "Who is that boy?"

Amber turned to the screen and began to speak. "His name is Ragna from what he told me and he's a skilled fighter. I was actually attacked by three people and he managed to save me before they could take my powers."

Both Ozpin and Glynda's eyes widened at the revelation. 'So Salem did send people take Amber's powers. I knew they would have attempted it, but shouldn't Qrow have been there to stop them instead?'

"Amber what happened?" Glynda said showing concern in her voice.

"I was going down the road here while Qrow was checking something out. However, it turns out that he fell for the enemy's plan as they had someone that used a Semblance that can make illusions."

Qrow sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck saying, "My bad."

"Anyway, I was attacked by three people, who looked like they were in their late teens. I managed to hold my own against two of them, until the third one attacked me from behind and her friends held me down. She then put on a glove that brought out a scarab Grimm that was no doubt going to take my powers out me. I honestly thought I was finished until Ragna destroyed it with a well-placed shot. Then he gave the two of them a run for their money in the woods before he joined me in fighting all three of them."

Ozpin couldn't help but crack a smile at this. Despite it not being involved with whatever he did, the young man still risked his life to save Amber. He would have to repay the man later when he could.

Glynda on the other hand was focused on the scar on the boy's chest. From what she could see, it was quite large and perhaps was deep to hit vital organs. She couldn't help but wonder how he got that. From what Amber had said, her assailants must have been highly skilled Huntsmen well trained in combat and had perhaps planned out a method of attack in order to bring down the Fall Maiden and take her powers for their leader. That this mysterious young man could fight with those four tells her that his skills must be exceptional if he was to survive.

That point of course brought her to the object of her interest.

"Can you explain how he got that scar on his chest?"

"You know the girl that could use the illusion Semblance I mentioned before? She tricked him and the woman that tried to take my powers cut into Ragna, seemly killing him from what I could see. The entire fight, he didn't have an Aura protecting him but he was able to keep up with their attacks and even give them some of his own hits Heck, he didn't even know what Aura was from what I understand."

Glynda's eyes widened once again at the piece of information. When someone unlocked their Aura, they could achieve feats that when mastered were at levels that normal people couldn't reach unless they used special implants in their body. It was this boost in ability that gave Huntsmen a greater chance to slay Grimm then normal people. Even with advances in firearms and weaponry, the Grimm could still kill normal people if given the chance. To hear that the mystery boy managed to fight three people without having Aura to lessen or negate blows is something else.

"Yeah that in of itself is impressive," Qrow cut in, "But you guys might want to look at this."

He turned the scroll to show the large crater in the road which had his allies stunned to say the least. "By the way if your wondering, it was the kid who did this. If anything, he has more power then any of Atlas's most powerful flying Battleships. He did this while covered in a Bluish flame. Literally he was covered from head to toe in that flame from what I saw before he fell on the ground unconscious."

"Wait a minute," Glynda interrupted the Scythe user, "How did he get back up after receiving a wound like that?"

Amber appeared on the screen after laying the boy down. "He had this healing ability from what I saw that was patching him up after he was wounded. That, and I think he's one of those "too stubborn for his own good" types that just work through the pain. When got back up, he then activated that flame and basically defeated them while they we're thrown off by his sudden power up. That crater you saw? It was caused by him sending out a large energy beam at the three attackers, although I wouldn't be surprised if they still managed to get away."

Both professors couldn't believe the information they heard (Glynda to a greater extent then Ozpin). The young man in front of them not only possessed abilities that no normal Semblance could give its user unless that person had multiple Semblances, but also seemed to be highly skilled despite not having an Aura protecting him. He seemed has if he had great potential to become one of the most powerful Huntsmen in Remnant if he was given the right guidance. With the powers he held, he could become a valuable ally in the fight against Salem and her forces. 'Considering he saw Ms. Amber and her powers in action, he has a right to know about what is going on,' Ozpin thought. He had to know who this boy was and why was he here, it would be crucial in order to understand the boy's motivations.

"Qrow," Ozpin said after a minute or two of silence, "How far out are you and Amber from Beacon?"

Qrow began to rub his scraggly beard in thought and then said, "I think we should be two hours out from Beacon if we were walking, as long as any Grimm don't attack us on the way."

"I'm sending an airship Qrow, bring him to Beacon." Ozpin said with a straight to the point tone.

"Got it Oz, see you in a bit." With that, Qrow ended the call leaving the two professors to plan out their next move. At best, they thought the best thing that would happen today would be the Fall Maiden arriving at Beacon safe and sound if everything went smoothly. However, despite that fact that Amber's powers were almost stolen, it seemed that someone, perhaps Monty Qum himself has given them an incredible opportunity. A strong feeling of hope was felt in the room, something the wise headmaster hadn't felt in for a while.

Glynda soon turned to her partner and said, "I was thinking about what Amber said about the boy's power. If he has a Semblance but no Aura, could it be possible he could be a descendant of the Original Huntsmen?"

Ozpin also had similar thoughts about his powers as well. The Original Huntsmen were very different to the Huntsmen of today for several reasons. It wasn't just in that their weapons were primitive compared to today's transforming weapons, but their Auras were far stronger. They were so strong, they could take punishment that modern-day Huntsmen would never be able to survive, unless they underwent special training or used special equipment that increased the amount of Aura they had. Even then, it wasn't even close to what any sources on the Original Huntsmen say they could take. The boy did have great power that was for sure, but he couldn't be certain about it until he spoke with Ragna personally about it.

"While I do believe there is a chance that he may possess similar traits to them, we should consider that idea only a possibility until we meet the boy personally."

Glynda sighed as she moved on the next point that was key moving forward. "What if the Valeian council hears about this? They won't let an opportunity like this pass in order to learn about him whether or not he has the ability of them. They can be rather forceful and persistent if something catches their interest. Something we both know well."

Ozpin closed his eyes and thought about Glynda's warning. It was true, the council, while focused on keeping the peace in Vale, was paranoid when it come to understanding anything not known to them before. If word got out that he had under his watch a young man who's destructive power could compete with that of the strongest weapons in Remnant, they would want to take him in order to question him for his powers or worse experiment on him in order to understand his power.

"If that time comes, we'll handle it tactfully and with skill."

---

"Uh... My Head. What just happened?"

Ragna put a hand on his head as it seemed as though he was having another headache. He slowly began to open up his eyes, but he saw that he wasn't in the same world he in. The sky was clear as day with white clouds dotting the sky, and the sun shining down from above on the field he was in. Grass surrounded him along with many kinds of flowers, from roses to dandelions. In the distance, he saw a large temple with a large staircase in front of it, flanked by statues of Valkyria, wielding their quintessential spiral patterned shields and lances.

"Okay, where am I now? These last two days aren't making any sense to me."

Ragna soon got back on his feet as he shook off any remains of fatigue he felt and began to walk to the temple. He didn't know why, but he felt a strong desire to walk into the temple, as if someone was telling him to go inside and he will find answers to his questions. Taking the first steps up the staircase, he felt as those he was about to witness something that would change things as he knew it.

Eventually he got to the top of the staircase, and saw more Valkyria statues inside the temple. These statues had other weapons along side their usual equipment. Some of the statues wielded double-edged swords of different sizes, from ones that can be held with one hand, to large blades the size of a regular person implanted in front of them. A few more held spiral patterned bows at their side with quivers on their backs filled with arrows that in real life would have their arrowheads made of Ragnite in order to pierce armor and gems in the arrowhead to channel the cobalt energy that Valkyria could create with their lances in order to have their arrows explode on contact. Ragna was actually impressed when he learned about the Valkyria in at Barious ruins prior to the clash at Naggiar and awakening his true power to fight Selvaria. They possessed other weapons then what most people would have thought possible, and these had even more power due to the Valkyria being able to channel their energy into their weapons to make them more deadly.

Ragna continued to walk into the temple and looked around the hallway, taking in everything his eyes could see. Not only was there the statues, but there were also carvings, both in the language of the Valkuyur and in the form of artwork. It showed images of the whole race's civilization, from it's rise in time millennia prior to the so called Darcsen Calamity, to its decline after the event. It showed the Valkyria constructing small villages during their origins to later making cities that rivaled and even surpassed those of human make around the time of antiquity. Scenes of them cultivating the land to make food and helping humans mine Ragnite also were etched on the wall, showing that Humanity and the Valkyria may have interacted prior to the events of the Calamity.

Ragna eventually reached the heart of the temple, a large room with no ceiling, allowing the light to shine to shine in. In the center of the room was a large pit from which an immense flame colored in a deep blue. Behind the flame pit was an alter which looked like a place of prayer with a carving of what looked like the story of the creation of the world (well his world at least). More carvings were along the walls, showing scenes of war between Valkyria with humans even partaking in the fighting. One side seemed to be made out to be demons, their figures having what looked like crystals covering their bodies, and being lead by a women that was giving off a demonic presence. Opposing them was an army of regular Valkyria and humans being lead by three women, two looked very similar to the one leading the demon hordes. The other women was dressed in unique battle armor, surrounded by a larger flame then most other Valkyria other than the two women (looked like they could be sisters?). More scenes showed the four women fighting in multiple landscapes, many looking like they weren't placed in ancient times.

Ragna soon felt his senses alerting him to another presence in the room. His eyes darted all over the place, looking to see where the intruder was before they could surprise him.

"I see that your senses haven't dulled by your transformation to a younger state, little pup."

Hearing the voice from behind him, Ragna soon turned around to face the flame pit. He soon saw that something or rather someone had appeared in front of it. It was person covered by a white robe with a hood cover most of their face, minus the bottom of their face. The robe covered the person's body, hiding most features that their body had, except for the fact that the figure was a women by the voice he heard and the sizable chest they had (almost as big as Selvaria he noticed).

Ragna focused his eyes at the woman, "Who are you and where am I?"

The robed woman laughed a little before answering the question, "Do not worry, I will not harm you if that's what you are thinking. You are in a safe place, considering your mind can't be broken into unless someone had the power to enter one's mind."

Ragna's eyes soon widen at hearing the info. "Wait I'm inside my mind!?"

"Yes," The woman said, "You happened to fall unconscious following your earlier battle after you pushed your body to its current limit regarding your Blue Flame. You are being treated by some allies of that girl you saved Amber, so you need not worry about you or her being attacked again."

Ragna soon gave a sigh of relief at the news. He was worried that by some chance those three he sent packing had others with them that could have swooped in and taken the girl while he was out. Then he remembered the shot from before and how the black-haired woman reacted in anger at it. So it seemed whomever it was that fired off the shot was in fact a friend of the girl, and probably helped her bring him to safety after he was out cold.

"That's good to hear." Ragna said before eyes widened when a realization dawned on him. "Wait, how do you know about the girl I helped out and about my powers?"

"Well, I guess it's only fair that you should know." The woman soon put both of her hands on the hood of her robe and pulled it back. Ragna was soon stunned upon seeing the persons face. The woman was beautiful, with long sliver hair that covered her back and crimson eyes that seemed to look into his soul. Her skin was fair without a blemish and she had a warm smile on her face, one that a mother would give their child when they were at their happiest. But that wasn't what stunned Ragna the most.

The woman in front of them almost looked like his own mother was during his childhood, before the attack on his village.

"It's finally so nice to meet you Ragna, I've waiting for us to speak face to face since you awoke me at Barious."

Ragna wondered what she meant by that until his eyes shot open. He remembered this voice speak to him before twice. Once was at Barious when his powers finally awoke and the other before Naggiar telling him to return to the ruins. It was that time in particular that allowed him to unlock the Azure Flame, allowing him to defeat Selvaria in combat and eventually deal with any units of Artificial Valkyria that the Empire sent at him during the battle. It wasn't possible, but some how it explained so much. His mother told him about his sword Beowolf was special in that his ancestor on his mom's side of the family used in battle. The writings he found at Barious also spoke of a being that placed her spirit into a blade to rest, only awakening when her descendant finally unlocked their powers.

There was no other answer for it.

The person standing in front of him was one who became one of the most powerful Valkyria to ever live.

A warrior that was chosen to wield a power that was only given to the one that was worthy and became a champion among her kind.

The warrior known as Lupa the Sliver Fang.

Ragna was in fact, looking at his ancestor.

"A-Ancestor?"

---

Author's note:

You ever feel like you've been awful in not getting something out due to just being lazy or putting it off too much? That's how I felt.

Then again, who on this site hasn't had real life get in the way? *Sighs*

I'm sorry for not getting this out sooner, had tests, homework, and projects to work on alongside brainstorming ideas for other stories I maybe making in the future.

Anyway, enough with being sorry for myself about this. Let's get to the important aspects.

First off: YES, I WENT THERE. I have changed RWBY's story greatly by stopping Cinder from stealing Amber's powers. To me, I really thought after Vol 3 was over that perhaps I could make Amber play a bigger role in my story (I did feel bad about her dying to the FIRE BITCH) or have her lose her powers but still live (don't worry I have a plan).

Now to explain about the fight as a whole. I'll be honest, I don't know how strong the Valkyria are in comparison to Huntsmen and Huntresses, so I guessed. I'm going to say right now that the Valkyria are perhaps stronger than most Huntsmen (from what we saw of Selvaria in the Games and Anime she has a ton of destructive power, more then most of the RWBY cast). Their healing ability is indefinite unlike Aura so they can keep fighting and deal with the pain due it acting like an anesthetic or adrenaline shot to dull pain. Their reflexes may in fact be better considering they're dodging laser blasts from their weapons if they fight each other and well may have better reaction times as a whole. If anything, I think laser fire is faster than even Dust bullets.

Anyway, I have a reason why I had Merc and Em fall for those ambushes. Think of it like this: You're attacked by an unknown enemy, he/she has seen how you fight from a distance and he knows how to fight in the forest. If anything, I can see them being thrown off by being attacked by an enemy they had no idea how they fight. Ragna is skilled to say the least, he has done ambushes like what he did against Merc and Em (several times in fact against the Imps with the Sevens and Calamity Ravens when he temporarily helped Squad 422. I'll explain that later in the story.)

As for when he helped Amber confront Cinder and her goons, he could deal with their attacks due to both his experience and Valkyrian blood increasing his reaction time and movement. Although he is a disadvantage due to their Aura taking most of the damage his hits had when they landed. Also, while his healing ability does numb the pain, he does still feel pain and it does take a while for it to mend serious wounds. Of course he is stubborn and will fight through the pain regardless of serious it is.

Now I also have to bring up something else I've heard about on this site. It was dealing with the idea that fast regular bullets are to Dust bullets. I'm not going to say I know the exact speed difference (If anyone does please let me know and I'll mention you in the next chapter), but I think that the RWBY characters can still be hit if two senarios:

1: They don't see it coming (like how Ragna sniped the Grimm scarab and them being surprised due to them thinking that there was no one in the area)

2: It's at close range, probably point-blank if anything. If the gap between the shooter and target is small, you would need to have a very fast reaction time to hope to avoid the round. From what I've heard, the fastest reaction time for humans is 0.101 seconds with 0.25 being the average. So I think that trained and skilled Huntsmen are faster in reacting then well trained humans (I mean RWBY is an anime after all, even though it's not from Japan) Even then, I don't think anyone in RWBY (with the possible exceptions of Ozpin (from what we saw of his Semblance) and the stronger characters like Salem) wouldn't be able to dodge point-blank gunfire.

And before you ask about it, they couldn't have thought Ragna could be that fast in the quick-draw due to them not knowing his abilities.

As for when he used his Blue Flame I think he would be at the same level as characters like Adam and Cinder in terms of overall physical ability. I mean prior to him using it, Cinder was stronger than him due her infusing Dust into her body to improve her abilities. As for the teleporting thing? I saw it used in the spin-off game for VC, Valkyria Revolution (is what I've heard it will be called in the U.S. when it comes out) and the new enemy Valkyria, Brunhilde (hope I'm saying that right) and from what I've seen, she can teleport, even long distance if anything. Ragna and Selvaria can teleport, but its only more or less used for combat due to it being short-distance. While he does get a boost with his Blue Flame, he has a limit to long he can use it due to his younger body not being conditioned to handle its use (similar to some transformations in the Dragon Ball series), so he'll have to train to get his body in sync with his powers. Also, he's not going to use it every time he goes into battle, he wants to use his own skills in combat and only use the Blue Flame when he's fighting someone that is either too powerful or he needs to end a fight quickly.

Now before anyone wonders why Cinder would leave despite Salem's orders to capture the Fall Maiden's powers and her devotion to Salem, she was already too weak due to her fight with Ragna and both Mercury and Emerald were in worse condition then she was. If Qrow showed up if they tried to stay and fight, they would lose and there's a chance one of them could be taken into custody. Then Ozpin would could get info on their plans for the Vytal Festival and start making plans to counter it. That would jeopardize their overall plans and give Ozpin and the good guys an edge.

Now as to why Ragna is so skilled, let's just say he had VERY harsh training prior to the war with the Empire and he had to train ridiculously in order to fight Selvaria on an even playing field.

Anyway that's all for how the fight was and where Ragna stands in terms of power. Some characters like Qrow and Ozpin can beat him due to their experience and powers, but when Ragna uses the Blue Flame, he can stand up to them and win if the chance is given to him.

As for Lupa and where she fits in? Well you'll learn in the next chapter.

Now for other topics relating to RWBY.

Vol 4 is over and well here's my thoughts:

Nice to see Team RWBY will get back together at Haven.

Weiss's dad and brother are COMPLETE ASSHOLES (although I wonder how her mother is) and I feel bad that she lost her status as the heir to the SDC. She could make it better but NO, her dad is a control freak and completely greedy. Now I want to punch that bastard in the face. Also, really Whitley? That same army of your kingdom that you and your dad think makes Huntsmen obsolete got hacked into and its robots began to attack everything but the Grimm! Yeah, Huntsmen really are pointless huh?

Blake is going to take back the White Fang (I was very surprised to hear that) and we got to see her family (Kali and Ghira are pretty interesting)

Yang's back in action and her new arm looks awesome! Plus nice to see that she's becoming an actual martial artist and brawler instead of just being a boxer. This gives me ideas for the future. Also, I can just see people who want a DEATHBATTLE rematch between Yang and Tifa are going to clamor for it more when we see how strong Yang is after her training. Btw, I agree with Tai, Yang was using her Semblance as a crutch way too much.

We got to see Menagerie (Nice to see something inspired by Hawaii, but man it sucks for the Faunus there due to overcrowding and how it's dangerous inland. Freaking really?)

Nice to see Qrow in a fight that actually mattered and be awesome when he was trading blows. Plus Ruby cutting off Tyrian's stinger was cathartic (I can't wait to make that psycho suffer in my story).

It was interesting to see Ren and Nora's past. I may in fact have that be what makes them connect with Ragna due to them having to experience their lives shattered when their villages were destroyed. Plus, WE FINALLY KNOW REN'S SEMBLANCE, TOOK YOU GUYS LONG ENOUGH! It's interesting to know that Ren isn't entirely emotionless and he isn't so in that "he's an emo pretty boy" look SOME people like to do (I'm looking at you Square Enix for making Cloud way to much of an Emo in Advent Children and in the Kingdom Hearts series), but that's what his Semblance is. It makes him invisible to the Grimm by letting go of any negative emotions he has. That makes him even more of a ninja than before if anything!

Oscar having Ozpin in his mind or Oz placing his soul in the guy? Kinda up in the air at this point. We'll have to wait to see how that plays out.

Plus, seeing Cinder in that state was SO satisfying after what she did in Vol 3, and we know a bit more of what Ruby's silver eyes can do.

Not only that, but now we know who created the Grimm and more about what Salem and her forces are after. The question now though, is Salem a herald of the little brother, allowing her to control the Grimm or something else?

Anyway, I'm thinking that we'll be getting Season 2 of RWBY Chibi while we wait for Vol 5. Also looking forward to Season 15 of Red vs Blue, can't wait to see our favorite group of complete idiots in next crazy-ass adventure.

Anyway, that's everything for right now. Let me know what you thought of this chapter and tell me if I made any grammar mistakes. Please follow me and favorite my story if you want and leave reviews, anything helps so I can improve my skills.

That's everything I wanted to talk about, so next time Ragna will meet Qrow, Ozpin, and Glynda as they learn about their mysterious new ally, As well as Ragna meeting his ancestor

So here's the preview for the next chapter:

---

Next time on RWBY: Remnant of Flames

It's time I told you what happened that night young pup.

What is this thing?

My name is Ozpin, welcome to Beacon Academy young man.

It's a long story if you want to know about me.

So Ragna, what is your decision?

STAY AWAY!

Next Time: Chapter 4: Learning the truth, Welcome to Remnant

---

That's all for now! See you guys!

P.S.: Do you guys think Ruby would drool over Brunhilde's scythe if the two were friends?

P.S.S: Do you guys think I should make long chapters take may take a few weeks? Or short ones where I could get it done in a week (not saying that those are the time frames because I have to deal with real life, but what do you think, long or short)?