In this chapter, the Vytal Tournament shall begin. But of course, so shall a conspiracy. And Dr. Merlot is up to something bad.

The Grimm just might become more deadly. Of course, Volume 3 seemed to gear more towards a darker direction...personally though I thought they took things a bit too far so I decided that I would make it less scary.

I'm still making it darker though.

Chapter 49: Vytal Tournament

"How are you taking recent events?" asked Rock Lee.

"Rather well. My father seems to show some remorse for his actions now that he's behind bars. I still think he should do some prison time though." noted Weiss.

Rock Lee sighed in relief. At least her father was willing to own up to what he did...to some extent.

In other news, the first match of the Vytal Tournament had begun.

Ruby, Naruto, Choji, and Yang were up against Team LOSR.

Based on their attire, they were from Vacuo.

"We're going to wipe the floor with you!" exclaimed the leader of the group, a teenage boy with black hair.

This group seemed to be male-only, compared to their team's more equal gender ensemble. One was carrying an axe, another was carrying a sword, yet another was carrying a spear, and the last was carrying a mace.

Ruby and her friends had decided to call themselves Team CURY. And yes, it was pronounced curry. Choji liked the sound of it, which didn t surprise Yang.

Unsurprisingly, the fighters CURY was facing weren't very good.

In fact, Naruto took down one with one punch.

Naruto was surprised by the occurrence.

They kept at it until they were all defeated.

To be honest, he was kind of disappointed.

"i guess we should have trained more..." noted the leader of the team. Perhaps they rushed into things too quickly.

"I'm afraid so." nodded Ruby.

Perhaps they were lucky to get such weak opponents in the first round.

But their luck was bound to run out sooner or later.

Meanwhile...

"Now that the tournament has started...we should be able to locate the Fall Maiden..." noted Cinder.

She had narrowed down her location to Vale, but she still needed time to locate her.

Chances are she would be guarded, so they needed a diversion. Like a Grimm attack.

Since she was planning to destroy the city anyway, she might as well start one.

"You think Orochimaru would have found the Fall Maiden if the Konoha Invasion went according to plan?" asked Mercury.

"Possibly. But the Third Hokage perished. I think that's victory enough. Though I would enjoy having full access to the powers of the maiden." acknowledged the woman.

Rumor had it that there was something off about the girl that was with the Sand Siblings, known as Penny.

Perhaps she should investigate into that.

Suddenly, she noticed something interesting.

Ozpin was approaching Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, can I ask you something?" asked Ozpin.

"Yes?" nodded Pyrrha.

Curious, Cinder decided to watch from a distance.

Ozpin inserted some keys into an elevator.

Cinder watched as the elevator descended.

"Could it be that Ozpin has the keys to where the Fall Maiden is being held?" asked Cinder.

If so, she was interested in snatching them.

However, it then occurred to her that Ozpin would inevitably notice that they were missing.

He might sound the alarm.

That would make her mission much more difficult.

She could wait until the planned Grimm strike began, but Ozpin would most likely take precautions to ensure that the Fall Maiden didn't go missing in the chaos.

Sure enough, the Fall Maiden was there in a hidden chamber.

"Is that the Fall Maiden? I've heard stories about her." remarked Pyrrha.

"Unfortunately, so did someone else." answered Ozpin.

"Hmm?" asked the huntress.

"I'm afraid that somebody tried to steal her power, and they might be trying to steal the rest of it." noted Port.

"Oh my..." answered Pyrrha.

"Since you have such a reputation as a ninja, we figured that you would be up for acquiring the power of the Fall Maiden." remarked Ozpin.

"That sounds like a big responsibility." noted the huntress.

"We know. That's why we're giving you time to think things over. Just remember, somebody may be trying to steal the rest of the power." said Port.

Pyrrha nodded.

Still, it would be best not to rush into things.

Besides, she felt that she was powerful already. Though she didn't rub it in people's faces like Cardin did...or used to.

"Ozpin, we have some bad news. We found out who was responsible for the mutated Grimm attacks." explained Goodwitch.

"You did?" asked Ozpin.

"It was your former student, Dr. Merlot. He's gone off the deep end." explained Oobleck.

"He's working on something that threatens the harmony of humans...and the harmony of humans is already shaky with the Faunus." noted Glynda.

Last night...

Dr. Merlot had been driven insane by the fact that his experiments in Mountain Glenn had resulted in so much death.

His entire family had perished, and he had decided that if he can't beat the Grimm, he would help them instead.

Besides, Salem wasn't wrong to act out against the gods. Ozpin had told him about her once. Apparently, the reason she was acting out against the gods because they wouldn't bring her loved one back from the dead.

By that logic, they wouldn't bring his family back from the dead either. So he decided he would destroy what they had built in retaliation.

He had prayed a few times, but it seemed they never listened. It was possible that they were busy with other requests, but he ultimately assumed that they were ignoring him.

While the Grimm seemed to be strong, it seemed that the humans and Faunus could defend themselves from them pretty well. It was entirely possible for a hunter or a huntress to kill an army of Grimm by themselves if thy were strong enough.

So, he decided that he would do something that would cause the humans to stop trusting one another. He didn't really need to worry about the humans not trusting the Faunus from his experiences with them, but it was still a worthwhile idea.

What if he made a Grimm that resembled a human and could speak their language? No doubt this would lead to betrayals and for people to stop trusting one another...which would cause chaos that would attract Grimm.

He just needed Grimm and the bodies of humans...and he already had Grimm.

The Grimm left behind bodies whenever they killed, so it wasn't hard to find them just by following them. And he already found a way to control Grimm using the darkness in his heart.

He modeled it after his late daughter, who he missed.

Perhaps he could be a parent once again if it worked.

It actually did.

Using some machinery, he brought his creation to life.

His new creation came to life.

It resembled a teenage girl, but had white skin and red eyes. She had black hair and was dressed in a strapless black dress.

"She's alive! Alive!" exclaimed Dr. Merlot.

"You sure seem excited." remarked the experiment.

"What should I call you? I know! We refer to the creatures that Salem has created as Grimm, do we not? I'll call you a Reaper!" exclaimed Dr. Merlot.

These particular Grimm would blend in society...and would help the Grimm by providing them with valuable information about humans.

"That does have a nice ring to it." remarked the Reaper.

Ironically enough, it seemed that while his latest project wasn't exactly human, it had its own semblance.

This particular Reaper had the power to drain hope from others...which was the best weapon against the Grimm.

Nearby, the Grimm that were in capsule pods wondered if they would succeed in their mission to exterminate mankind.

Perhaps they wouldn't win.

Unfortunately, there was still some characteristics that set his creation apart from humans, though his experiment was a success to a certain extent. While they couldn't tell she was a Grimm, they could tell she wasn't quite human either.

It looked as if infiltration would have to wait.

But by using his technology, it turned out that his new creation would eventually resemble a human over the course of time. People wouldn't be able to tell the difference, which was exactly what he was counting on.

"I think I'll name you after my late daughter Beth..." noted Dr. Merlot. She had a resemblance to her, so she might as well.

"Does Angel work for you?" inquired the Reaper.

Dr. Merlot shrugged. Why not?

Angel smiled.

He decided to see if he could make more Reapers.

Fortunately, it seemed that the Grimm were actually intrigued by this idea.

Perhaps the best way to defeat one's enemy was to dress as them.

Dr. Merlot got to work making more Reapers.

Nearby, Angel decided to pet a Beowulf.

Strangely enough, it acted much like a puppy.

Unfortunately for Dr. Merlot, Qrow had been spent to spy on him, by shapeshifting into a crow.

Nearby, one of Dr. Merlot's machines overheated.

The mad scientist groaned.

Qrow realized what was going on.

"And I thought the Grimm were scary before..." remarked the unlucky hunter.

Now they were even more dangerous...because they no longer looked dangerous. Some of them, anyway.

He was going to have to tell Ozpin.

Fast forward to the present...

"Dr. Merlot's making Grimm-human hybrids?" asked Ozpin.

"Yes. We can still distinguish them from humans, but that might change in the future." noted Qrow. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't too hard for him to find dead bodies if he looked hard enough, such as in villages that had been attacked by Grimm.

He knew that since Grimm grew stronger with age, Reapers would most likely grow stronger with age as well. And in their case they could greater resemble humans as they grew up.

The first Grimm had human characteristics as it was.

"This can't be good. I'll have to warn the hunters and huntresses..." said the man with the cane.

"Should we warn the general populace?" asked Port.

"I wouldn't advise that. Such a revelation could induce panic, which would inevitably attract more Grimm. But I may be able to build a radar to detect the Reapers if they successfully manage to disguise themselves as humans." noted the wizard.

The next day...

Though they were a bit disappointed as to how easy it was to win the first match, Naruto's team were happy that they got to advance.

They decided to go in the forest and get some fresh air, and kill some Grimm if they encountered them.

Suddenly, they encountered someone in the forest.

She seemed to be holding a knife, and was dressed in leather armour.

Choji decided to go talk to her.

However, for some strange reason she had pale white skin.

Upon closer inspection, she also had fangs in her mouth.

And there was a strange mark on her cheek. It wasn't like Orochimaru's cursed seal, but it resembled a black skull. In addition, she had black hair.

Choji wondered if she was some sort of vampire.

Although...it did happen to be sunny outside.

"Hello?" asked Choji nervously.

As soon as she saw Choji, she lunged at him with the knife.

As she did so, she laughed maniacally.

Choji gasped in alarm.

Quickly, he pushed her away before the knife could pierce his skin.

He then went to tell the others.

"What's wrong?" asked Naruto, his eyes widening with surprise.

"There's this crazy lady whose attacking me with a knife!" exclaimed Choji.

Sure enough, they could see her approaching them with a wicked smile on her face.

"Stand back, I'm warning you!" exclaimed Yang.

She did not listen.

Sighing, Yang shot the woman with her gauntlets. Seemed that there was no reasoning with this lady.

She drew her last breath, disappointed that she didn't get to kill the humans.

Strangely, she dissolved into black goop upon death.

The four of them were surprised by the occurrence. They started to wonder if what they were dealing with was actually human.

"What just happened?" asked Ruby.

Naruto was reminded of a Grimm...and yet for some strange reason, this Grimm seemed almost human.

Suddenly, Ozpin approached them.

"Oh dear. it seems that Dr. Merlot is sending Reapers to civilization already." noted Ozpin. No doubt he wanted to test them out to see how humans reacted to them.

So far, it seemed to be the intended reaction. Choji was frightened by the occurrence, that was for certain.

"Reapers?" asked Ruby.

"That's what we've decided to call them...after the term that Dr. Merlot came up with." noted Ozpin.

"Wait, who is Dr. Merlot?" inquired Naruto.

"One of my former pupils...who has unfortunately gone insane. He's responsible for what happened at Mountain Glenn. I warned him of the dangers of his experiments but he just didn't listen to me." remarked the headmaster.

Ruby gulped.

"Fortunately, a newborn Reaper isn't much of a threat...but we've theorized that just as Grimm get stronger with age, the Reapers get stronger as well. But in their case, we've also theorized that they'll become more human-like in appearance as they adapt to killing humans." explained the man.

"That sounds bad..." noted Choji.

"While the Reapers seem suited for combat, I think the real threat from them comes from the fact they resemble humans. No doubt they will attempt to sow seeds of distrust among hunters and huntresses...in the worst-case scenario, they'll turn on each other out of paranoia..." noted Ozpin.

"That's terrible!" exclaimed Ruby.

"That is why I'm informing hunters and huntresses of this threat...there may be ways to detect Reapers, but I'm still looking into it." explained the man.

Ozpin left.

"You think my silver eyes would work on them?" asked Ruby.

"That's a good idea, Ruby. Though it might not be as effective since they're part human." noted Yang.

"True." acknowledged the huntress with the scythe.

The day afterwards...

"Did you hear about the Reapers?" asked Hinata.

"Yeah...I'm starting to wonder if we can distinguish between friend and foe..." noted Jaune.

"Perhaps I can distinguish them using my nose?" questioned Kiba. Perhaps Reapers had a different scent to that of humans.

He had been able to smell Grimm for some time now. That way his friends could prepare themselves before the Grimm arrived on the scene.

Perhaps this is what Kurenai had in mind when he assembled them all together.

Blake nodded. Chances are she could do the same. Her sense of smell wasn't as good as Kiba's...but her sense of hearing was better.

They were getting ready for their match in the tournament when they heard the news.

Suddenly, Kiba picked up a scent.

There was a Reaper robbing the dust store.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the Reapers knew what the hunters and huntresses were using against Grimm.

He was carrying a spear.

Quickly, Jaune stabbed him with his sword.

He dissolved into black goop.

"It'd probably best if Akamaru didn't lick up that stuff." noted Jaune.

Hinata nodded.

Fortunately, it seemed that Akamaru had no intention of doing so.

"I appreciate your help!" exclaimed the merchant.

"You think they'll find this Dr. Merlot fellow and bring him to justice?" asked Kiba.

"Maybe. But if he's creating Reapers, he probably got the idea of having them guard his top-secret laboratory." noted Blake.

Akamaru nodded. That was probably what he would do.

Meanwhile...

"There are human Grimm now?" asked Ino.

"Perhaps they decided if they managed to blend it with their enemy, they could sabotage their trust in one another." noted Shikamaru.

That would inevitably result in chaos.

Oscar wondered how the hunters and huntresses would deal with the situation.

They could handle it, right?

For some strange reason, people compared him to Ozpin the headmaster.

He wasn't sure why.

Hopefully he would do well in the Vytal Tournament.

Uh-oh! It looks like there might be Grimm living among us now. Who can we trust?

And yes, they're based on the Arrancar. People can generally tell the Arrancar apart from humans though. Otherwise they'd be a bigger threat than they are to Soul Society now. Perhaps not all Reapers are evil...but they seem to have inherited their Grimm counterpart's hatred of humans.