Ulysses watched the thief look around frantically before turning his attention to the weaponized umbrella lodged in his chest. He gripped it by the handle and ripped it out, letting it fall to the floor with a clatter. Hearing it, Roman whipped around and fired once in his direction, though he easily dodged it.

"Come out you fucking pussy! Afraid to fight me?!" He yelled, the fear in his voice plain for all to hear.

"You call yourself a thief, and yet your name is widely known throughout Remnant." Ulysses taunted him, his voice seemingly coming from everywhere. "A thief is an agent of the night, silently infiltrating whatever building he wishes, stealing its valuables, and escaping before anyone is ever the wiser. You are a thug who's services are bought and sold regularly, taking scores of men everywhere you go and taking by force." He launched an energy wave, hitting Roman square in the back and knocking him to the floor. The wave hadn't pierced his Aura fully, but he could feel the area it had hit had been badly burned. He struggled to stand, only being able to raise himself to his knees and lacking the strength to go all the way up. His face was lifted by an armored hand, and he came face to face with the Hellborne. The demon looked him over before scoffing and dropping him harshly.

"I will not waste my words with you any longer." He raised his shotgun in preparation of the kill, only for the shot to go wide as something hit his gun. He looked in the direction the shot came from, and saw a strange looking group. A woman he could only assume was Cinder alongside two bodyguards, a silver haired boy and a green haired girl. He growled in frustration, partially at the fact that he'd been interrupted, mostly because it seemed everyone he did battle with was so cowardly they had bodyguards with them everywhere they went.

"My my, if it-" Sick of the talking, Ulysses cut her off by throwing his ax at her. Her eyes widened and she dodged, looking back to see the weapon embed into the ground. She looked back to Ulysses, only to see him inches away from grabbing her face. She was able to dodge this was well, only to receive a load of buckshot to the gut, sending her backwards. The other two got into action, the boy using the weapons hidden in his legs to launch projectiles at him, while the girl tried to put some distance between them. Not knowing what she had planned, but not wanting her to put it in action, he summoned his Hound and ordered it to attack her and keep her distracted.

He looked back to see the boy in the middle of flying towards him, mechanical foot first. He could the offending limb and began to squeeze, his unholy strength making the metal groan under the strain. The boy responded with a kick aimed at the head, but he caught it with his other hand. The boy, now down on the ground, felt Ulysses plant his foot on his crotch hard, then he began to pull on his legs. They were much stronger than the feet, but soon enough his ears were met with the sounds of metal tearing. He ripped one of the legs off and slammed it on the ground, but before he could take the other, he felt an arrow ping off his shoulder pad. He turned his attention to the woman who fired it, and she seemed surprised by how durable his armor was. He threw the boy to the side, never taking his eyes off her.

She loaded more arrows and began firing, prompting him to raise his shield and march onward through the explosive volley. He began to gain on her, slowly approaching her, all the while never breaking eye contact behind his demonic shield. She began to grow more desperate, the arrows flying in faster, but he never faltered. As he neared, he passed his ax and wrench it from the ground, now armed and so much more dangerous.

Realizing he wouldn't be stopped, she used her Semblance to superheat some of the rubble, turning the concrete and metal rebar into melted sludge. She then manipulated it to move around his shield and attack him from behind. Sighing, he realized he was going to get hit, either from the sludge behind him or from the arrows should he move his shield. But it seemed he wouldn't have to make that decision.

Right when he was about to turn and block the sludge, something came flying in from a nearby rooftop and landed at Cinder's feet, though she was too distracted to notice. After a few seconds, the device exploded with a loud bang and a bright flash. Though his mechanical eyes were immune to the blinding, Cinder wasn't. She cried out in pain as she was blinded by the blast, clutching her face. Her break in concentration caused her to drop the bow and break her hold on the sludge, causing it to splatter to the ground behind him. At the same time, he heard the sound of his Hound being defeated, but the girl didn't attack him. Taking this opportunity, he rushed forward and lashed out with his ax. But as his ax met her flesh, it passed right through, her dissipating like an illusion. He looked around briefly in confusion before realizing she had fallen on her back, still furiously rubbing her eyes in pain.

He then received multiple bullets to the back, peppering him. He spun around, but both the girl and the boy had disappeared. He turned back, and Cinder had vanished as well. He then heard the sound of a Bullhead's engines firing up before seeing one rise up from behind a warehouse. He looked on in anger, but quickly suppressed it. He would hunt them down, it was only a matter of time.

He looked to where he'd seen the flashbang descend from, and saw a man standing on the roof. He wore a makeshift hazmat suit and gas mask, giving him quite the foreboding appearance. The suit had a symbol painted on the front. It was the same symbol on his belt buckle. That combined with the fireax and riot shield slung over his back, and he knew the man was ready for battle. They looked at each other for a moment before the man placed his fist over his heart in a sign of respect, then reaching into his pocket and pulling out a device. He pushed a button on it, and the warehouse that had once belonged to Roman Torchwick exploded in a ball of fire. He then gave him a nod before turning around and disappearing out of sight.

Ulysses immediately knew who he was with, if not who he was personally. The Cleaners. He'd heard of them making quite the storm online in forums and such, but he didn't realize they'd be acting on their words so quickly. Ulysses had only been casing the docks for Torchwick's warehouse, which was now in flames, for about a week or so, and in that time it would seem they had organized themselves, at least enough to infiltrate Torchwick's warehouse and plant a bomb.

They had a newfound respect from him, as they had the resolve to act on their words, and the ambition to bring change, even if it was through fire and flames. He would have to seek them out and aid them more directly, as they had much potential. But, in the meantime, he would have to deal with smaller gangs while trying to figure out where Cinder had taken Roman.

X

Glynda sat at Ozpin's desk, as the doctor had said she was ok enough to move around, despite being unconscious for the past week. She could still remember the feeling of her Semblance being ripped out, as well as the feeling when it finally returned. Very soon after she'd woken up, Ozpin had come to visit her, and had been beyond relieved nothing Ulysses did was permanent. After confirming with the doctor that she was ok, he escorted her back to his office so she could tell him about her experience.

"How did it feel when Ulysses stole your Semblance? It didn't sound very pleasant." He questioned, and she paused before answering.

"It felt like he was ripping out my very soul. It burned like nothing I'd ever felt before, and the unconsciousness was a mercy. While I was out, I occasionally caught glimpses of what Ulysses was seeing. Nothing important and I could barely make out what it was most of the time, but I could tell they were what he was seeing." Ozpin brought his mug to his lips as he gave what she said thought. Her Semblance had returned, indicating something had happened on Ulysses's end, but what exactly he didn't know. It was possible he could only hold on to a Semblance for so long, or tried to steal someone else's and accidentally replaced hers in the process. But this confirmed that it isn't permanent, and that was progress on figuring out his weaknesses.

"Alongside the sight, were you able to hear anything?" Glynda shook her head.

"No, it was just complete silence, no sound whatsoever. It was like my ears had been removed. It was so isolating, I felt like the only living person in the world while I was out." She explained, and he could see her getting a faraway look on her face as she recalled her experience. He cleared his throat, and her attention returned to him.

"Thank you, truly. It can't have been very easy to talk about this. I swear, we'll bring him to justice for what he's done, both to you and to others." She didn't say anything as she stood and left, but he could detect something from her. It was almost like apprehension, but at what specifically he didn't know.

Ozpin looked at the picture of Ulysses from his assault on Junior and his announcement to Vale. Him standing there, holding Militia by the throat while her sister lay dead beneath her. Ever since this event he'd done his best to track the girl down, but with no such luck. She'd completely vanished, and he had no idea what she was doing, but if he had to guess, she was probably plotting her revenge, and he wished her the best.

But for now, he had Ironwood to deal with, the one that, out of all his allies who knew of Ulysses, was calling for his head the most. He recalled the call he'd had with him the other day, in which he told him about the Hellborne.

X

"He what?!" James yelled as Ozpin told him of what Ulysses did to Glynda.

"I have Qrow working on tracking him down, but he's extremely elusive, much more than I expected. I do believe we can turn him to our side, if only we can tell him who we're fighting against."

"Are you kidding?! He would probably announce her existence to the whole world if he thought that would lead to her downfall! We need to lock him up and study him, there may be more of him out there, waiting to emerge." Ozpin had heard very sketchy rumors about a second creature roaming Remnant that could be called a demon, but that was all they were. Rumors. And he wasn't about to aggravate the already irate general further by telling him.

"Despite what you believe, we cannot experiment on Ulysses. He's a sentient being, we can't just treat him like a wild animal. Despite the blood he's spilled, not a drop of it has been innocent. He fights to defend the people of Vale, it's only the way he's doing it that's wrong, so I do believe we could potentially recruit him." James breathed deep as he calmed himself down, but only enough to stop himself from yelling.

"Ozpin, he is a literal demon. There's not a doubt in my mind that he has some sort of ulterior motive, despite his lack of memory. We need to capture him, who knows what he has planned."

"Like I said, I'm working on locating him, but I will not use force unless he makes it clear he won't work with us." James growled in frustration at that.

"He's already made that crystal clear with what he did to Glynda, and I'm disappointed that you can't see that." With that, he hung up on Ozpin. The immortal rubbed his nose out of stress, hoping the others would be more accepting. Of course, he'd have to come up with a way to more softly tell them than he did with James, and that would take some time, but he was confident he'd be able to do it eventually. He just needed more time.

And that's that. Before I get to the reviews, I wanted to give my boy TheReckless1One. He recently wrote his first story, and I thought it was pretty good. I'd appreciate it if you lads went and gave it a read, then followed him if you liked it. I'm sure he'd like that as well.

ER-47: That form of his Semblance would be way too overpowered. And no, I'm not giving him a leather jacket, as that doesn't mesh well with his gladiator look.

IzuOchaShipper99: If they did fight, it'd probably be started by RWBY over their dislike of killing, and since Ulysses would see them as innocent, especially Ruby, he'd try to nonlethally subdue them. And he's absolutely Chaotic Good.

Unknown: The only question of yours I can answer and understand is your one with the other demon. Yes, I do plan on introducing another demon, like I teased in chapter 1, but it'll only be the other demon, no other ones. I don't want to convolute things like I did with the old version of this story.

Bruhmeister935: Thanks, I hope you stick around.

Jorin: You bet your sweet ass they are.

Stratos263: No he doesn't.

Guest: Listen laddie. I'll dignify you with a proper response when you decide to spout shit without hiding behind your little anon shit. Until then, go rub a cactus on your wee dick and cry on the wounds.

Demon-255: Thanks, I'll try not to fuck up like I did with the last one.

Rando guy that likes this FF: Oh, that's a good one. I'll have to remember that and use it later, good idea.

Muna andlát, muna ӕvi.

-Bile