So… yeah, I got bored, and the Computer problem is going nowhere fast, so last week I decided to attempt to rewrite the 'lost' chapters.
I'll get what I can out, and see if I can continue updating once more


"Keep close" Ravaora urged the kids.

Two little goat faunus, her charges, did as she asked, not straying further than a few feet through the grimm, white fang and robot infested streets.

They steered well clear of any gunfire and screams they could hear. Ravaora needed to get the kids out after a grimm had raided the abandoned apartment she'd been living in with the kids.

They wouldn't survive this, and this was the sort of fight that was more likely to end with her winding up dead than anything.

She needed out, and if she knew her quote/unquote 'master', he'd likely have something for getting people out of this fight, if he really was behind all this.

A large boxy aircraft flew overhead.

'Like that' Ravaora thought

"What was that?" One of the Kids asked

"A way out." Ravaora told them, before making a b-line in the direction the aircraft had gone.


Blake and Weiss were first warned when a large golden streak shot past overhead, followed by a trio of griffons furiously trying to keep up

Then Cobalt appeared at the same time as a large crater, cracked pavers and rubble shredding anything nearby.

Cobalt produced some kind of four-shot rocket launcher and, after but a brief moment of tracking, fired three that arced perfectly and collided with the griffons with a brilliant white flash, leaving nothing in their wake.

Cobalt whooped with joy as he watched the explosions "Hail to the motherfucking chief! Izzy, I fucking love you and your crazy ideas!" he said between concerningly overjoyous laughter

Weiss and Blake rushed over to their 'friend'

"Cobalt!"

"Oh, hey guys, how're you doing?" Cobalt said, stowing the rocket launcher

"We're fine. What the hell is all this?!"

"Project Templar. My final solution… an army of warriors great enough and numerous enough that they can do what civilised society on remnant has been attempting to do for generations: give Remnant to Humanity… all of remnant, to all of humanity." Cobalt said

"Wh- h-how?" Blake asked

"In simple words? I used an exploit to generate a large fortune, and then made it into a small fortune when I purchased and used bullshit tech to create bullshit OP supersoldiers because the grimm are fucking nasty, there simply aren't enough hunters and the current 'bots and mechs on offer are only slightly more effective than throwing rocks."

"Why would you need… this? What are you going to do with them?" Blake asked

"You mean, after stamping out the White Fang in such a brutal fashion that no one tries to take down a Kingdom like this ever again and beyond policing the kingdoms as a free and radical agent against large-scale conflict and terrorism that could kill everyone everywhere? I have plans for what I'm calling a Great Crusade. I plan to, hopefully, retake large tracts of Remnant, and just hand them to the Kingdoms, no strings attached beyond keeping in mind what was done to win those lands… y'know, balance out my great evils with great acts of charity and good… As you might've already guessed, these are not civil suppression robots. The bores and calibres are all wrong, the armour is too thick, and these things are ill-suited to Urban warfare. These are trained soldiers, meant to slay monsters. Grimm, Xenos, Demon, I don't care what is going bump in the night, The idea is that these ironclad warriors of mine are to shine humanity's light into even the darkest corners and slay all that reside there, beating the path for the forces of Order and Good to tread out the Chaos and Evil."

Cobalt paused and took a breath.

"That is my goal, my ideal: a Cessation of strife and conflict on Remnant, not just between the Kingdoms, but not even the ever-present Grimm are threatening. Where Humanity, Human, Abhuman and Metahuman alike are not an endangered species. To see a day where nobody has to die… As everyone's goal should be: not just Survival on Remnant, but Thriving without relying on the grand fortresses of the Kingdoms… since everything's looking more than a little fucked so far, I'm bringing in the biggest guns I can in a rough attempt to un-fuck the situation."

Cobalt received a laugh in reply. Not Blake's or Weiss', A harsh, derivative-sounding laugh that at once inspired hatred and fear.

"Adam" both Cobalt and Blake said, Blake sounding scared, Cobalt low and hostile.

Blake glanced at Cobalt

"This psycho is why we're all here, Aren't you? You played along with Cinder, embraced her ideals, and now you're here because you saw us. How many innocents now coat your blade today? How many since Blake left?"

"You know him?"

"Blake, I've had him under the careful scrutiny of intel and spy-bots since I first purchased optical stealth technology… at first, I pitied him, and the White Fang. Like you, I believed they had merely lost their way… then I looked, longer and harder, and the more I saw, the more acts of unforgivable violence and hatred I saw. They are common bullies, thugs and now terrorists of the order of magnitude I'd bury entire kingdoms to suppress if they gained control. They use 'race' as an excuse to act on their hatred and aggression, pretending the execution of innocents is just because others who look like them but act in a completely different manner are mean and horrible. The more I saw, the more I learned to hate them… and none moreso than this babykilling spitfuck." Cobalt explained "This isn't about race any more… not if the hundreds of thousands of faunus dying right fucking now are anything to judge by"

"Traitors to their race." Adam sneered

"And you're not? Allying yourself with the Grimm, destroying the homes and livelihoods of millions of faunus, who is the real monster here? You're a teamkilling fucktard and your head's so far up your ass you'd never see it before you triggered the end of days."

Adamn growled and grasped Wilt.

"Weiss, Blake… I have two orders for you: escape, and show others the so-called 'worst examples' of each other's race working in harmony to defeat this menace." I said

"You're not fighting him alone"

"My second order is more of a request: please, forgive me"

I snapped my fingers and disappeared from reality, taking Adam with me.

"What the- where are we?!" Adam demanded

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath through my nose, savouring the smell of the cherry blossoms, the soft trickle of the stream under the bridge and the chirping of birds.

"The Dojo: a place of quiet solitude, as well as a place of sweat, labour, blood and tears." I said "Access to this pocket realm was a gift, and was meant as a place to hold sparring matches and train in private."

I looked around, the squat three-sided square structure was covered in the aftermath of a cherry blossom bloom

I… might've done some renovation in my spare time whilst getting my gardening up to scratch. Some testing revealed that there was a bonus to skillXP in here.

"Basically, we're outside normal reality right now." I said, before raising my arm skywards

The sky flashed red in a single pulse that raced towards the horizons

"Now we're both trapped here until the duel ends."

I tossed my Halberd to the side. Too long, meant for killing monsters and machines, not men.

I drew my Storm Bolter and Albion, my kriegsmesser.

"Prepare to Die"

Adam was first to move, firing Wilt at me with Blush.

I parried, sending Wilt tumbling overhead and into the roof behind me and attempting to gut a surprised Adam with a thrust from my Storm Bolter's bayonet.

Adam twisted out of the way at the last second and brought Blush up to block my sword

Adam broke away as quickly as he could, and I sent several hunter-killer 'kraken' rounds, which possessed an adamantium core for extra penetrative qualities. The effects on aura and heavily-armoured grimm were worse than the already excessive standard bolt round.

Given I had a grudge to settle and a maniac to put down ASAP, I wasn't complaining.

Adam ducked, rolled and dodged as best as he could until he used a support beam to swing himself up onto the roof and made a bee-line for his sword.

I ducked into the structure, already cooking up a nasty surprise

Adam probably heard my heavy boots clunking against the floorboards as he ran for his sword.

As he pulled it out, I shouldered this latest weapon and fired.

The roof exploded outwards underneath Adam, launching him backwards across the roof tiles, shattering and displacing many as he did so.

I appeared from the hole I'd blown not long after he landed, riding the shockwave of a secondary explosion. At the zenith of my rocket jump, I fired the last two barrels of my M-202 Flash quad-barreled rocket launcher at Adam as I landed besides the first hole I'd blasted. Adam rolled out of the way of the first, and was knocked off the roof by the second.

I discarded the Flash and threw a smoke grenade.

Adam recovered as the courtyard filled with smoke.

Adam was the better straight-up fighter and duelist, but my strength wasn't in duelling, it was in being completely unpredictable. My Kenjutsu and Iaido were lacking, but if you were fighting fair, you were doing it wrong.

If Total War taught me anything, it was that a fair fight costs lives and leads only to pyrrhic victories, if any victory at all.

I attacked from the smoke, Adam's reflexes saving him as I hit and ran in the 4-up cover save.

I didn't dare attack him with any kind of directed energy or fancy tech in case his sword absorbed it. That'd just be stupid.

Eventually the smoke cleared and Adam began hounding me with his sword, and I felt myself hard-pressed to keep up, exchanging flurries.

It was really a west vs east type fight, Adam and I exchanging sword blows and bullets liberally.

Eventually, Adam caught me in the face with a pommel bash, knocking my sunglasses away.

Adam saw my eyes

"What?"

I dropped Albion and decked him with a hook.

"So what. Expecting someone else?"

"What are you?"

"Beyond your comprehension and world-view."

Adam rolled out the way of an execution shot, and got to his feet, moving to keep ahead of my twin-barrelled Assault Shotgun

" I am severely disappointed with you for your violent policies..."

I ducked down and picked up Albion in time to block another strike

"I pitied you for being forced to play nice with Cinder..." I continued

A small flurry, then a saber-lock

"I watched you go from extremist to violent monster, I learned to hate you and everything you stood for as you embraced Cinder's ideals and plans." I added

We broke and exchanged shots

"But most of all, you will die here, today, because when I glimpse the future, I see what you will do to my friends, and with all your other crimes, I find you unrepentant, irredeemable and unforgivable."

"Not if I can help it" Adam said

Adam pressed the attack and I let the final blow in a flurry slip through, totaling my aura, cancelling my buffs and allowing Adam to stab me in the chest, straight through the heart.

The critical hit cost me a lot of health.

The pain was intense and I collapsed like a sack of bricks as Adam kicked me off his sword.

"You MONSTER!"

I felt a cold spike of dread lance through my gut that somehow trumped the pain.

I snapped my head up to see my injury had collapsed the ID, and Yang had seen me impaled on Adam's sword… not only that, she was about to make her exact same mistake. I wanted to shout, to get up, to do anything.

I noticed Ruby arriving just in time too. She'd likely seen me get stabbed as well. fuck.

Yang's arm was sliced clean off, Ruby and I helpless to do more than just watch.

Adam flicked the blood off his sword and turned to Ruby

"No… you… you…" Ruby said, rushing to her sister

"How pitiful." Adam sneered

"I won't let you get away with this."

"I already have." Adam said "And now, you both di-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH"

All heads immediately turned to me.

I was on my feet now, my veins glowed a hodgepodge patchwork of blue, orange and black, my eyes were burning, my bionic arm was sitting a few metres away, glowing orange-hot on the ground, and was replaced by a lattice of magnus remnants that were filled with blue-tipped orange flames. My eyes were like small furnaces, and my breath had become fire.

I was incomplete, and thus the full form escaped me, and the form of an archon made of fire and steel was slowly burning my body away.

Danger! Power levels extremely unstable. Chance of instant death 5%

I ignored the warnings. Without Lisica here to help complete the transformation I was slowly counting down until I died.

"What the-" Adam began, before receiving fire-infused dark fist to the face, sending him skipping across the pavement.

He narrowly managed to roll out the way of the crushing hammer fist that cratered the pavement where he had been not moments before. Instead he found himself lifted when the burning hard wrapped around his ankle to slam him into the ground, before being slammed into the ground on the other side not a moment later, knocking the breath out of him and breaking several ribs.

I watched as the once-mighty warrior was reduced to a groaning mess.

I lifted my burning arm and shot a jet of forge-flames at Adam.

The screams didn't last long.

I reached out to where he had been, towards the mess of ash and charred bone fragments, and reached outwards with my soul, snatching the reapers prize from the clutch of true death.

"I will not tolerate your return. You will not be coming back"

And with that, I crushed the glowing ball of light in the fires the forge-arm.

Chance of Instant death: 35%

That percentile was climbing dangerously high, so I asked, and the second half of my soul arrived, and together she helped unpick the mess I'd made of myself, first stabilising the magic and facilitating the slow recovery towards a human form.

As I returned, what I'd just done, and the ramifications of it, least of all doing it in front of Ruby and Yang occurred to me.

Dread began to replace anger. "I… I lost control." I said

"Cobalt?" Ruby asked

"I- oh fuck…" I was wracked with a terrible coughing fit, barely getting any chance to breathe

"Catch" Lisica said, throwing Ruby a healing potion "That'll tide Yang over 'till we can get her a new arm"

Lisica intensified her ministrations, helping me stop the burning, heal the damage and transmute the metal and dark back into raw mana.

As she worked I began to gain more and more function as the pain lessened. Burning pain is the worst of all pains, the most deep-set, the most primal pain, and my whole body was recovering very slowly from being lit on fire.

Soon I was helping Lisica, before I had the pain managed and could begin to resume working.

I approached Yang, who was nursing her new stump

Yang and Ruby shied away from me. That hurt.

"Yang- Yang... I'm… sorry."

"What in the hell was that?!"

"Lisica and I realized the final stage of our plan: recombining ourselves into one greater being. I… did a stupid thing just now"

As if to punctuate my point, I had a horrible coughing fit. The blood and phlegm I spat up was glowing and quickly cooled to reveal a lump of metal

"I attempted to achieve that without Lisica." I summarized

"And that last part?"

"I was really, really angry at Adam for fouling up one of the half-dozen events that I personally wanted to prevent… that being you becoming left-handed... I am very able to lend you a hand in that regard however."

"Boo" Yang said

"Open offer, s'all I'm saying." I defended "I mean, it's free and all: I only charge for amputations."

Yang winced

"Sorry, bad timing. It won't be your old one, but I will make it up to you… speaking of, I just remembered the next thing on the Agenda"

"What is that?"

"I want to wipe the Grimm Dragon off the face of Remnant"

"The what?!" Ruby and Yang asked together

I straightened up, activated my earpiece and gave the order "This is Regent to The Sword of Damocles: Target Mount Glenn for a Novax Lance, Authorization-" I commanded, and read out the randomly generated twenty-part code in my eyepiece before adding "… drop"


High above, the supremacy-class bombardment cruiser The Sword of Damocles extended the giant barrel running parallel with the ship, rotating it until it was nearly as long as the kilometer-long cruiser and splitting in half to reveal the twin prongs of a massive railcannon, electricity arcing between them like any good wave-motion tuning fork.

The Sword of Damocles fired its Novax Cannon once, the ferro-tungsten slug screaming through the void at the target below before retracting the armature to recharge


I watched with delight as Mount Glenn cracked open in a deafening and attention-grabbing rumbling crack, revealing a large black monstrosity: The grimm dragon had awoken.

I saw a bright bolt of orange start small, growing larger before slamming into Mount Glenn, obliterating the landmark in the blink of an eye.

"MOTHER OF FUCK YEAH! TAKE THAT YOU COCKSUCKING BITCH! YOUR LITTLE PET IS FUCKING TOAST!"

"What the hell was that?!" Yang demanded

"Only a giant orbital MAC cannon firing a ferro-tungsten rod with the approximate energy of a small nuclear bomb… though it should have been less damaging than that: I essentially shot a giant nail that hit with two megatons of energy, yes, but it's supposed to penetrate, not flatten when it hits a target… test fires at wastelands in the pocket realm showed less damage than this"

I was interrupted by a loud, angry roaring

I turned, and saw that whilst it was worse for the wear; its wings tattered, many scales missing, horns shattered, tungsten spear impaled through its chest, Sinh style, and missing half its health bar, It was still alive and was now very angry.

"Oh fuck"


If I had more time, I'd probably revise some sections of this chapter... but today is Wednesday, and Wednesday is update day.

I have to thank you all for all your love and support throughout this past year: GfG is a year old. A year since I said 'fuck it' and started penning my longest, best, most successful fanfic to date.

The list of thankyous is long, but most of you know who you are: those of you who I've spent many long evenings discussing and planning and mucking about with... It's been a wild ride and all, and I have you guys to thank as much as my own inane ramblings.
and, of course, those who have read, reviewed, liked, recommended and more. You are the real MVP of this tale.