The Vytal tournament continued, round after round non stop. More troops from Atlas arrived with Weiss' sister, Winter, moving them. Ruby's uncle Qrow showed up, caused a temporary mess in the courtyard. Nothing Glynda can't fix. Kaz's business went strong during the festival, Cecile even tried introducing macaroons into the menu. It was a start, and it was picking up fast! Business was never better for the couple. Snake was called up to Ozpin's office. When he exited the elevator, he saw Ozpin talking with Pyrrha about something to do with maidens. Glynda and Ironwood emerged from another elevator, and explained that they are the protectors of Remnant. The six then went into another elevator, and took it down into the vault under the school. Snake turned on his I-Droid to record everything being said without everyone else's knowledge. The four other adults explained to Pyrrha about the Fall Maiden and how the power is transferred. They all walked down the torch lit corridor, stopping when the room opened into a slightly bigger, but round chamber. Snake looked in front of him and saw two pods. One had a woman inside, and Ozpin explained that she is the current Fall Maiden, Amber. She was attacked and part of her power was stolen. They explained to Pyrrha what they'd do to get Amber's power into Pyrrha. Snake kept quiet, but in his mind he said it was unethical. His first thought was the Les Enfants Terrible project started by the Patriots. That's what made Big Boss start MSF. Snake, hearing enough, walked away to find Kaz.
'Creating a new saviour by killing the current one. How the hell do they sleep at night?', Snake thought. When Snake got back to Kaz's kiosk, he saw the replay of the last round. Yang had broken another student's leg.
"Kaz, what happened?", Snake asked.
"I dunno. One second the kid was on the ground, standing up, and the next second, the girl breaks his leg.", responded Kaz. "Anyways, I gotta get ready for tomorrow. Cecile and I are going out."
"Well good luck with that." Snake watched the TV where the cameras went live once more. The tournament wouldn't stop. It was the next round. The fighters were selected. Penny Polendina vs. Pyrrha Nikos. Penny threw her blades as Pyrrha charged. Lance vs floating swords. Meanwhile nobody knew, but Ruby was fighting Mercury. Penny summoned more blades, and as they were thrown, Pyrrha used her semblance to launch them back at Penny. The strings from said blades wrapped around her, splitting her in two. Penny wasn't a real person. She was a robot. The broadcast switched to a voice message. The voice was starting an uproar with the headmasters. Then directly to Ozpin, and Ironwood. The Peace is fragile. The feeds were then jammed. Sirens blaired.
"Warning. Incoming Grimm. Threat level 9. Please seek shelter." The city would be overrun. Snake saw two ships being fired upon from the third. Then, he saw three bullheads gunning it for Beacon's courtyard. Soldiers appeared, telling everyone to get to safety. There was a bullhead not too far from here, running distance.
"Kaz, get Cecile! We need to go. Now!", yelled Snake. The three started gunning it to the bullhead, and once they got in, Grimm and soldiers were fighting all around. The bullhead took off, Snake jumped out at the stadium, seeing Ruby fighting a Nevermore. When it circled around, dozens of lockers fell on it. The students got their weapons and geared up. Griffons arrived, as both Professors Oobleck and Port would stand here. The students got to the landing pad with Snake, Kaz, and Cecile. Bullheads with even more Grimm arrived, and General Ironwood killed the nearest beowolf, without a scratch. The students ran up to him, asking what to do. He presented them all with two choices. Either defend the kingdom and school. Or leave. They took a transport, and saw the General's get shot down and crash. Ruby ran out and jumped back to the stadium. She rode her locker onto the ship. The rest set the transport down and went into the city, but Snake stayed with Kaz and Cecile for their safety. Then, rumbling...
"The hell is that?", asked Kaz. It was a massive dragon Grimm. In its wake, it dropped pools that created more on the ground.
"No clue, but we gotta get everyone out.", said Snake. He turned and saw that Ironwood's main ship was going to crash. Even with one eye, he could faintly see a little red slowly descending. Snake landed the transport where the students were, and told Kaz and Cecile to stay there and found the previous bullhead. A pilot tried to start it, and as soon as he saw Snake hop in, he asked where he was going.
"Beacon Tower." The tower would fall. The city would fall. The school, and the kingdom would fall. The tower steeple was destroyed. Ozpin's office was open. He saw Ruby climbing up, and then a flash of white. When the bullhead was close, Snake jumped down. Ruby was unconscious. He saw fire everywhere. Immediately, he grabbed Ruby, and both got in the bullhead.
"Go! Go!", Snake shouted. He watched as more bullheads took off as well. Some with the White Fang's emblem, one was clo-... Close... Wait... "Pilot, evasive manuevers!" The door to the other bullhead opened, revealing a few soldiers. One had an RPG. The soldier fired. The rocket barely missed. The soldier was reloading, and Snake fired a few rounds. The RPG was loaded, but the bullets from Snake's rifle hit first. The soldier must've pulled the trigger, because the bullhead he was in blew up on the inside, making it go off course. The bullhead crashed into the one Snake and Ruby were in.
"Mayday! Mayday! If anyone can hear us, I'm gonna try and set her down somewhere in the city. If anyone is listening... Send he-"
There was a loud crash, and all that could be heard were faint screeches or screams. And then a voice... And then humming...
The chopper landed at mother base. Everything was exploding, or falling, or on fire. Big Boss jumped out, firing at the XOF soldiers opposite of the platform. A few MSF soldiers and Miller were fighting back, moving to the chopper. Big Boss covered the soldiers' escape. Finally, grabbing Miller's hand, and getting back into the chopper. The chopper took off from the destroyed remnants of mother base. Paz woke up, saying that there was a bomb.
"It's alright we got it out."
"There's another... In my..." Paz jumped out. The bomb blew up right after, killing her, and making the XOF chopper nearby to crash into the one carrying Big Boss. Venom Snake got in his way to take the brunt of the explosion.
"Don't you die on me, dammit!" Snake heard a faint voice. It was happening again. But this time, there would be no phantom. No stand-in. Snake woke up. Nighttime. He got out of bed, still in his attire from whenever the incident at Beacon occurred. He looked in the nearby mirror. His face was bloodied, and his horn was bigger. He heard nearby gunfire. No weapons. But he could secure some from whoever was attacking the hospital.
The demon returned... But Snake didn't care... He just has to do what he does best...
