Ruby and Weiss sat at the edge of Weiss' bed and listened to Blake and Yang recall the events of the previous day.
"He really called him 'Lord Ares'?" Ruby asked.
The blond hunter nodded. "He's definitely the boss. A lot of other demons were talking about him too. This is good. It's the first real lead we've gotten since this whole thing started."
"So we need to find this Ares and kill him as soon as we can," Blake said.
"Do we have any idea where he might be?" Weiss asked. "A lot of demons wander around, especially the more powerful ones."
None of them had any idea what to do with nothing more than a name. They couldn't afford to travel very far. The further away from Vale they traveled the more powerful the demons roaming became. Of course that didn't mean that they were safer near the city. Some demons traveled at their leisure, killing anyone who had the misfortune to cross their path. Several students had already lost their lives simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Ruby shook her head. "Maybe he'll be in a domain."
Blake went green. Her mind went back to the Wendigo. It was merely a servant, but it still was enough to slaughter dozens of people. If its master formed a domain in a place filled with people, then it would be a massacre.
"Let's worry about that later. If we give it some time I'm sure something will come up," she said.
Yang shrugged. "If you say so." She looked at the clock on the wall. "Class is starting soon."
The four girls gathered their things and went to their first class of the day.
XxX
Professor Oobleck had been released from the infirmary, and intended to make up for his absence by teaching even faster than he did before. It took intense concentration to keep up with him. The students were burned out before the class was halfway over.
The lesson was on one of the decisive battles of the Great War. It was a great offensive, with massive loss of life on both sides. After the fighting was over the battlefield was turned into a desolate wasteland that took years to recover.
The professor was a green blur as he sped between the three large chalkboards covered with pictures, flyers, and notes. If losing his left arm and his left eye bothered him at all, he didn't show it.
"NowclassIunderstandthatthedemonincursionisaverydiresituationbutthisisequallyimportant. PerhapsthereissomethinginRemnant'shistorythatcouldshedsomelightontotheoriginofthedemons. Ihopeyouarealltakingnotesastherewillbeatestattheendoftheweek."
Ruby felt like she had gotten hit with a brick. Keeping up with the manic teacher was impossible for her. She had given up on trying to take notes five minutes into the lesson.
She looked around the classroom. Weiss and Blake were diligently taking notes. Yang had her face planted on her desk, a plume of smoke coming out of her head. Jaune had fallen asleep, while Pyrrha and Ren were watching Nora balance a pencil on the tip of her nose.
The teacher turned towards his students. "Nowthenwhichoneofyoucantellmewhatthedecidingfactorinthewarwas." He scanned the room and pointed at a student. "MsRosedoyouknowtheanswer?"
Ruby perked up. She racked her brain but couldn't find an answer. Her mouth moved without thinking. "Artillery. The enemy couldn't overcome the bombardment and got cut to pieces."
Oobleck smiled. "Correct."
Ruby blinked. She had no idea how she knew the answer to that question. She put a hand on her head. It suddenly felt like someone had driven a nail into her eye.
First the dreams, then the demons, now she knew things she couldn't possibly know. She knew they were connected, but couldn't figure how.
The bell rang signaling the end of class. The students slowly filed out of the room.
Ruby went down to where the professor was standing.
"I'm really glad you're okay professor," she said.
The older man smiled at her. "I have been in harsher battles. In any case, I was fortunate to have a reliable partner."
He drew his scroll from his pocket and summoned his demon. A large figure materialized before them.
Oobleck's demon was a large, muscular woman. On a human her yellow skin and deep red eyes would be a clear sign of illness, but it made the demon look oddly beautiful. The chains of red beads that adorned her arms, legs, and neck only accentuated it. The light reflected off of the curved swords she held in both hands. Looking down at her master her face bore the faintest hint of a smile.
All four girls could feel an intense power coming from the demon. It's clear how Oobleck survived fighting an entire horde.
Yang whistled at the demon. "Nice." She looked at Oobleck. "So what happened when you were attacked?"
The professor adjusted his glasses. "I was acting upon the headmaster's request. I was taken by surprise and caught in an unfavorable situation. I'm lucky to be alive."
"Trying to find more information on the demons?" Weiss asked.
Oobleck nodded. He turned toward his board. "Information is a vital aspect of war. Charging blindly into battle would almost certainly spell disaster. Take for example the battle of Ebony Port. A mere typo on an intelligence report led to thousands of casualties."
"Yeah, there's nothing worse than being unprepared," Blake said, recalling the night in the club.
"So were you able to learn anything?" Weiss asked.
Oobleck pointed to a map of Remnant on his board. There were four spots he had drawn a circle on in red marker.
"Demon activity is at its peak in these locations, almost as if they're being drawn there. There's no doubt that there's a significance to these locations."
The four girls looked at the map. There was a red circle drawn on each continent.
"Ares has to be at one of these locations," Ruby said.
"The most effective way to end a war is to defeat the general. Without the leader the troops will be in disarray," Oobleck responded.
Weiss looked at the clock. "Our next class is starting soon."
The four girls went towards the door. As they left Ruby turned towards her teacher.
"Take care professor."
Oobleck smiled and waved her goodbye. "Take care, Miss Rose."
Ruby's eyes went to the professor's empty shirt sleeve and felt a small pang of sadness.
XxX
After their classes ended Team RWBY went back to their dorm room. Today was more productive than they thought. At least now they had an idea of where the demons' leader might be.
"So what do we do now?" Ruby asked.
"Well we can't just go trudging all over Remnant looking for one person," Weiss replied.
"Let's try the place closest to Vale. Maybe we'll get lucky."
Yang flopped back onto her bed. "We need a break."
At that moment the room began to violently shake. The chairs at the desks fell over, and the books on the shelf were thrown to the floor.
Ruby felt a rumbling in her stomach. She put a hand over her mouth. "What's happening?"
Yang fell off her bed with a thud. She rose to her feet and wiped blood from her nose. "I think it's an earthquake."
The shaking subsided, and the four girls groggily rose to their feet.
"What was that about?" Weiss asked.
An alarm rang from each of their scrolls. The same pleasant female voice they had heard before came through their scrolls.
"A Sector has appeared."
"What's a Sector?" Blake asked.
The other girls shrugged.
Ruby looked at her scroll. According to the notification the sector was twenty miles outside of Vale.
"It wouldn't take us too long to get there."
Yang shook her head. "Let's do it tomorrow. The last thing we should do is charge into enemy territory half cocked."
"Yang's right, we should make every preparation possible," Weiss responded.
Ruby knew that they were right. This was their chance to end the invasion. They needed as many advantages as they could get.
A familiar jingle played on each of the girl's scrolls.
"A new function of the Demon Summoning Program has been unlocked. You can now use Demon Fusion."
XxX
The next morning Team RWBY were on their way to the hangar to commandeer an airship. They had the Sector marked on their map, and it would be a short flight to get there.
Ruby opened the fusion program and was greeted by an elderly man wearing black sunglasses and a blue robe. He waved his arms dramatically and spoke with an overly bombastic voice.
"Welcome to the Cathedral of Shadows, where demons gather. I see that this is your first time using the Fusion Application. I will be more than happy to walk you through it. Fusion is the act of combining two demons to create a more powerful one. It can allow you to create demons far more powerful than the average. In fact, there are some demons that can only be acquired through fusion. I encourage you to experiment as much as possible. Good day, and happy fusion."
Ruby wasn't able to fuse anything as she only had one demon, but she knew that this was an invaluable tool.
"Fusion, huh?" Yang said.
"Does this mean we'll have to get more demons?" Weiss asked, hesitation clear in her voice.
The others noticed that Weiss had yet to obtain even one demon. She fared just fine with her sword skills and arsenal of Dust. The others were happy to leave her to her own devices, but the question lingered of how long she could last before the demons became too strong for her to handle with just her own skills.
"All things in time," Blake said.
"Hey, you guys are heading out too?" a voice asked.
Jaune stood in the hall with his teammates. It was clear by looking at them that they had the same idea as Ruby's team.
"Yeah, we're gonna investigate the Sector that just popped up," Yang replied.
"Great, we can all go together."
Each student heard the sound of heels clacking on tile and froze.
"Where are you going?" Glynda asked. Despite her attempts to keep a neutral expression the vein pulsing in her temple betrayed her true feelings.
"M-Miss Goodwitch, we were just-," Ruby started before being cut off.
"Don't bother. You all are going to the Sector that just appeared, correct? That works perfectly for me. I actually came to ask you for a favor."
Jaune raised an eyebrow. "A favor?"
Glynda pinched the bridge of her nose. "Last night when the Sector first appeared two students left to investigate on their own and we have yet to hear back from them. I'd like you to retrieve them, or at least retrieve their bodies if possible."
"What students?"
"While I do not know the other student, I know that one is Cardin Winchester."
"Cardin? Why would he go in alone?" Nora asked.
"I do not presume to understand that boy's way of thinking, but I would rather he survive this attack of hubris. If you find him, please bring him to me."
Ruby nodded. "Will do Ms. Goodwitch."
XxX
After commandeering a Bullhead they made their way to the Sector. They used the time before their arrival to take stock of what they had.
Nora and Ren had acquired demons of their own, but Pyrrha had yet to acquire one. Despite her best efforts she couldn't successfully negotiate with a single one. The only thing she had to show for her efforts was a scar on her cheek that she got when a demon bit her on the face.
Jaune on the other hand had proven himself a natural hand at negotiating. He had more demons than he knew what to do with, which made his fusions even more effective. He had spent the previous night experimenting with different combinations.
Yang leaned back in her seat. "How much longer?"
"Another hour at most," Blake replied. "How will we know when we found it?"
"Domains looked like giant tentacle things, so a Sector would be a really big tentacle thing, right?"
Ruby looked out the window and dropped her scroll in surprise. "Guys? You need to see this."
The others went to the window and gasped. Looking out the window they saw a massive dark purple dome crackling with energy. There were storm clouds above sending huge bolts of lightning everywhere.
Ruby pulled out her map and checked it against the location of the Sector.
Lakeview Village, a small community of just over a thousand people. That's what was there before the Sector appeared.
She broke out into a sweat. Even the stronger demons limited their Domains to a single building. This demon had to be unimaginably powerful to swallow an entire village.
"Ares is in there somewhere, I know it."
"Then let's find him and take him out," Jaune said.
It wasn't long before the storm made it too dangerous to continue flying. They landed their ship and walked the rest of the way. In time they were right outside the Sector.
Ruby gingerly stuck her hand into the swirling mass of energy. She felt a shock run through her body.
"It's not that bad. We can go right in."
Ruby walked into the dome, with the others close behind her.
The inside of the dome was nothing like they expected. It was a massive cavern of solid ice. The walls, floors, and ceiling were completely frozen.
"What is this?" Blake asked.
"It's not cold at all," yang observed. She knelt down and touched the floor. It felt like ice, but it was warm to the touch.
Blake could hear demons everywhere. There were more here than they had ever encountered. That made sense. If the demon's leader was here then this would be where the most demons would gather.
Nora looked in every direction. "This place is huge. How are we gonna find anyone in a place this big?"
"We'll have to split up," Ren said.
Jaune sighed. "I figured you would say that. Either way, you're right. We'd cover more ground separately. Ruby and her team will go one way, we'll go another."
"Are you sure we should?" Pyrrha asked.
"Any other time I'd say we should stick together, but this is an emergency. We have to find Cardin, and whoever this other student is."
Pyrrha decided to trust her leader's judgment.
Ruby readied her weapon. "We have our objectives: rescue the missing students, and find and kill Ares. This mission is only a success if all of us come back alive, so don't go dying on me."
Yang laughed. "I'm not dying today."
Weiss shook her head. "A little dramatic don't you think?"
Ruby sighed. "Come on you guys."
Jaune couldn't hold back his laughter either. "Don't worry, Ruby. We'll all make it back, I promise."
Teams RWBY and JNPR went their separate ways, each one filled with a newfound determination.
Mission: Huntsman Rescue been accepted.
