Salem was with her castle, planning her moves. With Ozpin gone, for now, she could mover her plans up to date. She had to plan on what she needed to do with both Atlas and Vacuo. Atlas was a militarized country relying on its technology to help it, but they had the biggest firepower than any of the other four kingdoms. Vacuo, Vacuo was a different story, While it was one of the least advanced kingdoms, it was the second most powerful in terms of raw power, no one, not even the armies of the other four countries could breach its walls, not even Grimm was seen 100 miles from walls. And it was thanks to that stupid Relic! The Relic of Destruction was the third most powerful relic that the brothers made, while it held the most destructive power, she nor Ozpin knew what power it held, but they knew that wielding such a force was something that she needed.

"My Lady" Interrupted Watts

Salem looked to the slender man, "what is it, Watts?"

"Forgive the intrusion, but it seems that we may have a problem within Vale," Watts told her

"what problem is there? surely Ozpins Witch shouldn't be a problem" Salem said

"No my lady it's not her... its four individuals that you feared would come back and put a huge thorn in our plans," Watts said "I am talking about your horsemen"

Salem stopped what she was doing, she looked to Watts, "are you sure it's them?" Salem asked

"I swear it was them, my spies do not lie" Watts replied "If they do they know I don't like false information"

Salems own little side projects from 700 years ago. She called it the Horseman project. it involved four of her followers from all those years ago. The process was to create artificial Grimmified Humans, who could be half as powerful as her, the project was somewhat of a success, she didn't make them Grimm like her but instead managed to open the Magic deep within them. It showed her that Magic was still around during that time and decided to teach them how to use magic. It was a huge backfire in her plans. After learning their magical abilities, they tried to overthrow Salem, however, her Magic was beyond theirs, with her magic still intact and it is the very first magic. However, with them possessing magic they also found a way to slow down the aging process. Salem herself never seen such power.

"All of them are within Vale?" Salem asked

"They were in Vale, they've split up just yesterday" Watts replied,

"do you know where they are going?" Salem asked, "or what they have planned?"

"it appears two of them went to Atlas while one went to Menagerie and one seemed to head to Vacuo" Watts replied, "what are your orders?"

Salen needed to think, how could she deal with them. They were on par with the Maidens and each of them possessed a great number of magic capabilities. Three of her most powerful members were in Mistral, Hazel was in Menagerie, and Watts was already busy as it is.

"Let them be for now," Salem said, "but I want a close eye on them, I also want to make sure they don't come in contact with Cinder or Jaune, understood?" Salem asked

"Yes, My Lady" Watts replied as he left the room.

The four Horsemen of War. It was a fairy tale that told about the end of times, four men on horses who were told that they would each bring a different part to the end of all things. Conquest was first, telling people that others would try and take land for themselves, Salem smiled, that was already doe with the fall of Beacon. War was next, symbolizing the war that would engulf the world and destroy it, Salem was trying to accomplish that for many years but this time it would seem war was likely. The third was Famine, caused by the first two, food would be scarce, and would be uninhabitable. The last was Death, the destruction of all life or most of it. She made each horseman represent these things which caused the Tale.

Elijah Shadow, Javiar Phagus, Aurora Diaval, and Eris Sinbad. Four of the most powerful Magic users besides Herself, Ozpin, and the Maidens. However, she had lost track of them, for all she knew their powers could have grown. Who knows what they were capable of, it was more problems for both sides, as the four were not part of Ozpins Circle or Her Fraction. Could things get any worse?

.

Cinder looked to Emerald and Mercury, "Our plan is simple, Salem wants us to infiltrate Haven and retrieve the Relic of Knowledge and the Spring Maiden" Cinder told them "We are also to meet up with Salem's Heir to exchange information" Cinder said the last part with Venom

"You really don't like him," Mercury said

"Why should I like him? He is power is nowhere compared to mine" Cinder said

"I don't know Cinder... If he's really a descendant of her then wouldn't he be almost as powerful as her?" Emerald asked

"Impossible, Salem has magic, and no one else besides her, the Maidens, and Ozpin have magic," Cinder said

Mercury nodded, "should we test him out?" Mercury asked, "ya know, to see if he's all the talk?" Mercury asked with a smirk

Cinder smirked at him, "Mercury a great Idea, but please, allow me to see if he's truly the heir to Salem" Cinder said "We leave here tomorrow morning, we stay far from Mistral until we get more information from the Coward" Cinder told them

They nodded and headed to their rooms.


.

.

.

RRBN and JAN walked through the forest, Ruby, Blake, and Jaune were looking at the map and seeing which road lead the fastest to the town where the Bullheads were. However, both Ren and Arslan stopped

"Do you feel that?" Ren asked her

"yeah..." Arslan replied

Nora walked up to them, "what is it?"

Neo suddenly felt a killing aura around them, "we got Company!" Neo yelled

Jaune felt each emotion of killing intent, there seemed to be 10 people around them, but he felt many more as well as Fading Aura in front of them. This was a Bandit attack. 10 people landed on the ground, some were men and some were women, Jaune sensed they didn't have their Aura's unlocked and none of them had a semblance either.

"Look at what we got here!" said a woman, she had red hair in a mohawk and in both hands were Khopeshs, "It seems we got Huntsmen!" She laughed

The people around them laughed. Everyone had their weapons ready in case one of the bandits attacked.

"I don't know what you're doing here but you're entering Branwen Tribe territory!" She said "and we don't like trespassers," She said with a grin

Ruby froze when she heard the name, it was her Uncle Qrow's last name, but she knew another person who had that name, Raven, Yang's mother.

"That's too bad," Arslan said she stepped to the woman, "It's our job to trespass into scum territory"

The woman growled, and pointed on of her Khopesh at Arslan, "think your hot-shit huh? The names Asami Branwen, lieutenant to Raven Branwen!"

"oh really? My name is Arslan Atlan and I'll be your opponent" Arslan said, Arslan turned to the rest of them, "you guys go ahead, I'll take them on"

"Arslan you-!" Ruby began but Jaune stopped her

"it's ok Ruby, she's got this" Jaune said, "Arslan, are you gonna use your semblance?" Jaune asked

Arslan nodded, and Jaune smiled, "then we'll get out of your hair, let's go, there's a town up ahead that needs out help" Jaune told them and the rest of them followed Jaune

A bandit stepped to chase after them, but before he could get another step, his entire body was slammed into the ground, and underneath him, it cracked. Arslan was atop of him,

"I told you I was your opponent!" She said, "and I meant it as a challenge to all of you!" She yelled

Asami smiled, "get her," she said, and the rest of her group charged at Arslan

Arslan turned and two men ran at her, bit had blunt weapons, Arslan punched them in the stomach, sending them into a tree.

Three other bandits two females and a male charged at her from different sides, Arslan punched one in the throat causing her to bleed from the mouth, She turned quickly and then flipped over the man by grabbing onto his shoulders, and as she was in the air, she twisted the man's neck, killing him, She then turned to the second woman the punched her right in the chest, the woman stopped and fell dead to the ground.

The remaining five other bandits besides Asami ran at Arslan but she kicked on in the rib, shattering them, and then she spun and kicked his head, causing him to fly back, she then dodged a strike from the other bandit and swiped under his feet, causing him to fall and Arslan punched him into the ground, as soon as the mans body hit the ground, in a blink of an eye, Arslan was behind the two others and she chopped the side of their necks and let them fall before turning to the last one and what seemed like light speed, hit the Bandit multiple times and they fell to the ground.

Asami was dumbfounded at the power of Arslan, however, She didn't become the Lieutenant of Raven by sheer luck, no she was skilled, she may not have her Aura unlocked, but she didn't need it, she could take on this girl without a doubt. Asami Raised her Khopeshs in a defensive position but Arslan was already in front of her

'WHAT!? I didn't even see her move!' Asami thought

Asami was then punched right in the stomach and then knocked out. Arslan let her body fall to the ground. She deactivated her semblance and she fell to one knee,

"damn... it's been a while since I used my semblance, damn things hard to keep at bay..." Arslan told herself. She sat down and decided to rest for a while, "It looks like the rest is up to you, for now, guys" She said as she caught her breath.


.

.

.

RRBN and J_N arrived at the Village, to to be met with an entire tribe of bandits and three people standing in front of them, A older woman with Red armor and a sword at her hips, a short-haired girl with a falcon tattoo on her left arm and a very familiar blonde teammate.

"Yang!?" Ruby yelled

Yang looked to see her sister and her partner, "Ruby? Blake?" she asked, she then saw someone who she thought was dead "Jaune?... is that you?"

Jaune looked at her, "it's me, Yang..."

"Well, Well, Well..." Raven began "We have Summers kid, A cat Faunas, a ninja, a brute, the Ice-cream midget and... who are you?" Raven asked as she saw Jaune

"I'm Jaune Grimm, but Mistral knows me as the Grimm Walker" Jaune said

Raven looked at him with a smile, "The Grimm Walker huh? I've heard about you..." Raven said, "Kill them," Raven said

"Mom! No!" Yang yelled

Raven turned to her daughter, "you still care for them? what did I say about caring for the weak? it makes you weak" Raven said

"She's my sister! they're my friends!" Yang yelled

"All you need is the Tribe Yang, we're your Family," Raven told her

Jaune looked to Raven and sensed her emotions, there was confliction, yet something else was off, her Aura was higher than that of a regular huntsman, even Ozpins wasn't this high. He only knew one reason that her Aura could be that high... She had Magic.

"Your a Maiden aren't you?" Jaune asked

Raven stopped and looked to him, Blake and the others look surprised, Yang herself as well as Vernal was shocked

"how do you know about the Maidens?" Raven asked

Jaune smirked, "And why would I tell you that?" Jaune replied

Raven unsheathed her sword, "Tell me how you knew or I'll have your head!" Raven ordered

Jaune felt her anger and smirked a bit, he was feeding off of her negativity. "How about this, one on one battle between you and me? If I win, you leave and Yang comes with us, You win, I'll tell you everything I know" Jaune said

at hearing his words Raven smiled, "You really think you can beat me?" She asked

Jaune unsheathed redemption and held it with one hand, "I'd like to find out" Jaune said

Raven readied her sword and she activated her maiden powers, her eyes glowed red with blue energy coming from both eyes.

Jaune breathed in and he activated his semblance, black tentacles formed out of his back and the tips became thin and hard and became sword-like at the end, However, Jaune could feel the Black veins growing from his body. the tips of his hair became whiter and the white spread to the rest of his hair.

"The strong live, the weak die" Raven told him

"We'll see who lives..." Jaune said

Raven charged at him and with her sword slash at him but he used one of his tentacles and blocked the attack, Jaune then sliced at Raven, chipping a part of her armor, and he then used his tentacles like rapiers and tried to stab at Raven, but Raven had quick reflexes, she managed to deflect and dodge the attacks, however, this caused her to forget about the blade that he held in his hands, Jaune swung horizontally at her but Raven had a millisecond to react! Jaune's sword only managed to cut the sweat on her nose.

Raven jumped back and created a blue longsword of ice, she charged at Jaune and managed to slice two of his tentacles, Jaune used his remaining two and attacked her, but Raven deflected them with her sword and sliced upward at Jaune, cutting his chin. Jaune backed up only to have Raven already behind him, a red ball of energy was in her hand and she hit Jaune in the face with it. Jaune staggered back and was about to charge until he felt cold. He looked to see that Ice began to encase his body.

"Seemed I was stronger," Raven said

Jaune smiled as the rest of the Ice froze him. Raven was about to swing her blade but then the ice shattered at it flew at her. Her Aura blocked the shards that came at her when she saw the blond boy, he was different. An orange glow surrounded him, the ground beneath him was black and grey.

Jaune looked at him and felt a warm sensation in his body. 'Guess mom was right... Arcs can have more than one semblance' Jaune thought

"H-How is this-?" Raven began but a ball of fire shot at her, so she raised her ice sword to block the attack, but as soon as Fire hit the sword it evaporated! Raven was stunned!

"How did you do that!?" Raven said

Jaune just smiled at her, "If you win I'll answer your questions" Jaune said

Jaune's skin then took a form that resembled bark, and what seemed like two antlers made of blackened wood sprouted out of Jaune's head and small flames ignited from the tips.

"This Grimm form... it that of a Wickerman! but they're only native to Vacuo!" Raven said

Jaune hand raised, it as well looked like blackened wood, Fire shot from his hands and a large gust of flames shot at Raven, she used her powers to create an ice wall but it was melted in seconds and Raven was blasted back.

She fell to the ground and dropped her sword before she could get up, She felt a sharp pain within her right shoulder, it was her sword arm, then a hand with flames still in the palm of it was close to Raven's face, she could feel the scorching heat of it, like that of a tempered blade, she could already feel her hairs begin to singe.

Raven looked to see the Blond boy staring at her, she looked at his eyes and saw that his eyes resembled a Grimms, His eyes were also devoided of mercy, She knew this was her end, "I... Give up" She said

She waited for the burning of her flesh but it never came, instead, she felt the hard end of the handle of Jaune's sword and she blacked out.

Jaune looked at the tribe and saw them shocked and they backed up. Jaune looked to Yang and Yang looked down. She felt somewhat ashamed at her current actions. with her head looking at the ground she walked to the group. Jaune looked at the Tribe.

"Leave whatever you took and take Raven with you... and If I found out she was killed before she was at full health I'll know," Jaune told them

The Tribe picked up Raven and quickly left the town.


.

.

.

Jaune and the others entered the town and saw it burn to the ground. Yang looked down and away from her friends.

"Yang did you do this?" Ruby asked with a hurt tone

Yang didn't answer

"Yang did you do this!?" Ruby asked

Yang nodded her head, "Yes... I-"

But before she could get another word out a hand wrapped around her throat and she was slammed against the broken wall, She was raised off her feet and Jaune held her up.

"YOU KILLED THEM! DIDN'T YOU!? YOU KILLED INNOCENT PEOPLE! FAMILIES! CHILDREN! YOU KILLED THEM ALL DIDN'T YOU!" Jaune yelled

Jaune's skin then turned white as his semblance began to activate, slits began to appear on his cheeks and his hands became black with sharp nails. They dug their way into Yang's throat.

"Jaune! Stop!" Ruby cried as she ran to stop him, but a tentacle blocked her path

"WHY SHOULD I!?" Jaune cried "LOoK WHAt ShE Did!" Jaune cried as his voice became distorted.

"C-C-C-C-Can't...Br-Br-Breath...!" Yang choked out

Jaune looked at her, hate-filled his eyes as he looked to the girl he thought he knew. He picked her from the wall and threw her into a house and she crashed through the entire walls of the house and out the other end, he hair was no a complete mess and blood leaked from her head and she still tried to catch her breath, but then she felt cold steel at her throat. She looked to see Jaune, most of his hair was white but the roots were still blonde, black veins crawled up his face and reached his left eye and.

"Do it..." Yang said, "I Deserve it... I'm a monster..." Yang sobbed

Jaune looked at her and saw the regret in her face as well as the feeling of shame in her. Jaune breathed in a couple of times and his semblance deactivated. The center of his hair was still blonde but the rest was white and the veins slowly retreated but were now farther up his neck.

"I won't kill you, Yang... But I won't let you forget what you've done" Jaune said, he sheathed his sword and walked away from her, he saw Ruby and the others wide-eyed but shook his head, "She'll need help..." Jaune said Ruby and Nora ran past him to help Yang, Blake followed behind them but stopped as she was in front of Jaune.

"Are you ok?" She asked

Jaune looked and saw the worry in her eyes, he nodded, "I'm fine... I got control of it" Jaune replied

She nodded and went to help Yang.

Jaune walked back to Ren and Neo. Jaune looked at them, Neo looked at him with a glare, "you should have killed her" Neo said,

"then she wouldn't live with the regret..." Jaune said, "she's still the same Yang... but she just needs help..." Jane replied

Ren put his hands on his shoulder, "I want to thank you..." Ren said

Jaune looked back at him confused, "what for?" Jaune asked

"If you didn't attack Yang, I would have killed her... this situation... it reminds me of my and Noras past..." Ren said

Jaune nodded, "I need to b alone for a while... Ren can you check on Arslan, I need to find someplace to be alone for a while.

Ren nodded and went back the way they came to look for Arslan, Neo followed him and Jaune walked away.

he walked away and made sure he was out of sight. Jaune then pulled out the shard of glass from the mirror and sent his Aura into it. it glowed black and a voice came from it,

"what is it Jaune?" Salem asked

"I found the spring maiden, It's Raven Branwen, I don't know where she is now but I'm sure you coward has information" Jaune replied

"I see..." Salem began "This is good information, for that I will tell you who is our little spy within Haven," Salem said

"Thank you," Jaune said

"I also must inform you that I have told my followers that I have named you my Heir," Salem said "Two are not very pleased with this so if Tyrian or Cinder tries to kill you, let me know," Salem told him

"Understood" Jaune replied

The Mirror stopped glowing at Jaune pocketed the shard. Jaune then sighed and relaxed, 'So I now know Cinder is on her way to Haven as well, and whoever this Tyrian guy is he's also somewhere here, but he must have another job, but what?' Jaune asked himself 'For now, I need to let this play out, as soon as we get to Haven I'm sure they'll get Raven to join them somehow but I still need to get the Relic' Jaune told himself. He still needed to plan out and somehow gain the Knowledge of what he needed for his plan.

Meanwhile, Qrow was catching up with the teams, he didn't realize he had fallen behind them by a day, but he hoped they got to the town and then fly to Haven. As he reached the town where he last felt their aura, he felt something else... He felt strong bloodthirsty Aura head straight for them.

"Shit! Hang on Kiddo, I'm on my way!" Qrow said as he jumped in the air and turned into his bird form.


.

.

.

Two enemies in one day! I don't know if they can beat this guy!

Anyways I did write that Arcs can unlock more than one semblance. So far if you couldn't tell, Jaune has a version of a fire semblance, this semblance also boosted his Wickerman Grimm form. Also, I am gonna say that while Jaune's mom said that Arcs can unlock more than one Semblance, it's not really a semblance, it's Magic.

And if you don't understand how Raven lost in the fight allow me to tell you why:

Because she is skilled with a sword, most people use their dominant hand to wield a sword. Jaune knew of this weakness as he is the same. and while Raven is more skilled with the Maiden's powers compared to Cinder as their fight showed, Raven was unaware of Jaunes actually Bloodline and it's also because of Jaunes blood that he was able to gain more power as his blood and soul are descents of Salem, making Magic be more accessible to him. Since Raven does have the Maidens powers, which are not her own and are... let's say only a quarter of Ozpins power?

lets say Opzins Magic is 1,000 while he gave up 25% of his power to 4 girls: 25 x 4 = 100 in total so 1,000 - 100 = 900. Ozpin gave them a total of 100% of his power.

the Vaults of the Relics are laced with Ozpins magic so only the Maidens can open them, so he had to give another 100% power to the vaults. so 900 - 100 = 800

Now, this puts Ozpins power at 800, and he gave the magic ability to transform into birds to Qrow and Raven and let's say he gave them 10% of his power. 10 x 2 = 20 in total and 800 - 20 = 780. In total Ozpin gave 20% of his power to Qrow and Raven and he's now at 780% of his original power. So he's not as strong as Salem any more who still has 1,000% of her Magic.

while Jaune has his Aura which is measured by 100%, his semblance gives him a power boost of another 100% giving him a total of 1,000% of Aura and Semblance total, but because he's opened a second Semblance, which is due to his soul's remains of Magic resurfacing, it gives him a boost of 50% Magic.

So Jaune and Raven were on somewhat equal ground in the beginning, both of their Aura and Semblances a total of 1,000 percent, but because of the 25% boost thanks to the maidens powers Raven was at 1,025% of power, giving her more speed, strength and reaction time, this does not count the other 10% given to by Ozpin because as far as we've seen it's can only turn her into a bird and does not boost her powers. However, because of Jaune's Second Semblance awakening due to his bloodline's easy access to Magic, he was able to open 50% of his magic abilities. giving him more power then Raven by an extra 25%

1) so here how the beginning of the fight went:

Jaune - 1,000%(Aura & Semblance)

Raven - 1,000%(Aura & Semblance) + 25%(magic) = 1,025%

.

2) Heres the total of the second part of the fight:

Jaune - 1,000%(Aura & Semblance) + 50%(magic) = 1,050%

Raven - 1,025%(Aura and Semblance) - 10%(shoulder stab) = 1,015%

So IF Jaune can open his soul's remains of Magic with the help of his bloodline, and the total of his Semblance and Aura it would add up to 2,000%.

Everyone does have small amounts of Magic unlocked, As I think Semblances are their own things and is somewhat of a small fraction or version of Magic, But since Jaunes bloodline comes from someone who's soul is completely opened to magic, then it's also possible that those children and grandchildren are able to unlock the magic. This also makes sense, as we see one of Salem and Ozpins daughters unlock magic even though the rest of the human race does not have access to it.

And as Salem said in the last chapter, Humans do have remains of magic in them it just needs to be somehow opened or unlocked

also, my math may be wrong I'm not that good at it trust me...

.

longest F**king chapter I have ever written!