Jaune snapped out of his shock and rushed to Weiss "Weiss! You ok?".
Weiss held her side as she managed to gain her balance: "I'm fine. Never thought I would say this, but that spear would have killed me if Roman hadn't stepped in."
Roman tipped his hat: "You're welcome, princess."
Jaune noticed that Weiss was indeed still badly injured even if she was saved from a death blow. They had to come up with something and fast.
Oscar smacks Lionheart with his cane, causing him to fall down the stairs and into Hazel, who remains unfazed as Lionheart falls to the ground. Oscar quickly runs over to Ruby, with Nora joining him.
"Ruby, get up! Get up! We need you!" He pleaded.
Hazel picks up Lionheart by his collar, lifting him off the floor "You're lettin' that boy make a fool of you".
"That's not just a boy! It's Ozpin" Lionheart said and Hazel's eyes widen when he says this "He's already reincarnated!".
Hazel drops Lionheart and looks over to Oscar, who is still trying to nudge Ruby to wake her up. He then notices Ozpin's cane being held in the young farm boy's hand "Ozpin?"
Suddenly, the usual calm demeanor of Hazel slowly turns infuriated. Ruby stirs for a bit.
"Ruby! You-" Oscar began before a furious voice caught his attention.
"OZPIN!" Hazel screamed.
Oscar looks up as Ozpin speaks mentally "Oh no...".
"You thought you could hide from ME?!" Hazel rips his coat off, and then grabs a pair of lightning Dust crystals from a couple of pouches on his legs "You'll pay for what you did! You'll die over and over again!".
He stabs the lightning Dust into his arms, with his blood vessels turning yellow and popping out from his skin as well as having some lightning coat them. His eyes glow yellow, and he lets out an intimidating roar.
Oscar slowly backs away, holding his cane up cautiously "Do... do we fight?".
"No, run!" Ozpin said, sounding scared.
Hazel leaps forward to charge into Oscar, but Qrow gets him out of the way in time. Qrow transforms Harbinger into its scythe form while Cinder watches. Raven and Vernal walk to her sides.
"Ozpin is here?!" Cinder spoke in an angry tone.
"Is that a problem?" Raven asked.
"I'm not sure, but right now we got the upper hand. Let's not waste it" Cinder said before looking at Lionheart "Leo! Open the path to the vault!".
Lionheart gets back up and approaches the statue in the room. He takes out his pocket watch and places it in a small niche on the statue. The hands on the watch gradually spin faster and the statue lowers. Yang watches the situation in front of her. She looks to Jaune and Ren as they tend to Weiss and then looks over to Nora who is still trying to wake Ruby up.
Nora looks to Yang "Stop them! We've got your team covered!".
Yang lingers a bit before heeding Nora's advice, but she gets kicked to the ground by Mercury. He is then joined by Emerald "You wanna get to them? You're going to have to get through all of us".
Emerald uses her Semblance to create multiple copies of Mercury, which surround Yang. Roman gets caught in the illusion ring too and ends up back to back with Yang as the two prepare to fight.
"You have a lot to explain after this" Yang said.
"Yeah, I know" Roman replied, "One thing at a time though."
Suddenly, Emerald is tackled to the ground as V summons a dark panther on top of her.
"I don't think so" V casually said.
"Make sure they leave Ruby alive. This won't take long" Cinder said as she steps onto the platform.
Raven looks back a bit as she hears her daughter fighting vainly, shaking her head before she steps on the platform too. The platform then lowers down. Oscar is then shown dodging out of the way as Hazel slams his fist into the ground.
"Oscar" Ozpin spoke inside his head.
"No!" Oscar said as he dodges another attack from Hazel.
"Oscar!" Ozpin spoke urgently.
"I told you, no!" Oscar gets punched back by Hazel several feet into a column.
"Please, let me take over! I can handle him!" Ozpin pleaded.
"You told me I needed to fight for myself!" Oscar said as he was standing back up "So I will".
"This is not your fight!" Ozpin argued.
"What does that mean? Why is he so upset with us?" Oscar demanded
"He didn't tell you my tale, did he, boy?" Hazel said as he approaches Oscar menacingly "I thought you looked familiar, to think that evil was inside you when our paths first crossed" He holds his fists in the air "Your blood won't be on my hands, it'll be on his".
Qrow jumps in the way to block Hazel's attack, but he slams his fist into the ground, the shockwave knocking both him and Oscar back. They both get back up as Qrow engages Hazel.
"What was he talking about?" Oscar asked.
Hazel blocked Qrow's strike with his arm "Tell him, Ozpin! Tell him how you KILLED HER!"
"Her?" Oscar asked.
"Gretchen Rainart was Hazel's sister. Despite her brother's wishes, she enrolled at Beacon Academy to become a Huntress and tragically lost her life on a training mission. Hazel... holds me responsible. Please, let me fight. I know Hazel. He's wounded in a way that cannot be healed" Ozpin said.
"You know now!" Hazel said before tossing Qrow aside "You can forgive me for what I'm about to do" He begins approaching Oscar.
"Did she know?" Oscar asked as Hazel stops in place at his inquiry "Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?".
"She was only a child! She wasn't ready!" Hazel snapped.
"She made a choice! A choice to put others before herself!" Oscar said before holding his cane up defensively "So do I".
Hazel just glares at him "Then you've chosen death!".
Oscar glares back, determined.
"I'm sorry" Ozpin said.
"What?" Oscar asked before his eyes glow and his body falls to the ground as Ozpin takes over him. Ozpin looks up, and Hazel looks back at him, enraged.
"OzzzzPIIIIIIIIN!" He roared in fury.
Meanwhile, Weiss was still struggling to keep going "It's no use... I am useless now"
Jaune saw how frustrated and hopeless she felt. He sadly closes his eyes. Suddenly, a faint shimmering sound is heard and a white aura starts to coat over Weiss' body.
Weiss gasped "What the?... How are you doing this?".
"I.. I don't know" Jaune said, equally confused.
Weiss felt her strength return "Well whatever you are doing. Keep doing it".
Meanwhile, Hazel and Ozpin fight each other intensely. Lionheart tries to intervene by launching another attack from his weapon, but is stopped by Qrow. The two of them fight each other, with Qrow blocking Lionheart's projectiles. Ozpin and Hazel engage against each other again. Hazel tries to smash him with his fists, but Ozpin is too fast for him. Eventually, Ozpin manages to knock Hazel down on all fours. Ozpin then twirls his cane and prepares to deliver the finishing blow, but Hazel roars and smashes his fists into the ground, creating another lightning shockwave and throwing Ozpin back.
"Weiss!" Nora helps Ruby up on her feet, who then quickly runs over to her teammate's side "What happened? What's going on?!".
Weiss smiled "It's ok Ruby. Jaune is helping me".
Ruby smiles, relieved that her friend's life is not endangered anymore. Ruby then hears her sister struggling, she looks over her shoulder to see Yang getting knocked back by Mercury. Roman seemed to be helping her, but he too was struggling with the illusions. Yang charges forward, but Mercury's form disappears as a result of another one of Emerald's Semblance hallucinations. Emerald then tries to create an image of Raven, but most of her willpower is already being used to hold back V's panther and hold the Mercury illusions at the same time. Yang then blocks another attack from Mercury, but she is then knocked down again. Ruby then looks over to Oscar fighting Hazel, with the large man's attacks becoming too wild and unpredictable for them. Oscar is then hit by one of Lionheart's projectiles and holds his shoulder in pain. Hazel is about to punch at Oscar again, but Qrow pushes Oscar out of the way and takes the blow in his back, launching him upwards.
Ruby looked back at Jaune "Whatever you're doing, don't stop!".
"I won't" Jaune said.
"Good. Oscar needs help" Ruby said.
"I'm on it" Ren said.
"Jaune and Weiss still need cover!" Ruby reminded.
Dante had finally managed to recover his senses from Cinder's attack and heard this particular comment from Ruby. He then stepped forward in front of Weiss and Jaune, his sword and pistol ready: "Relax, kid. I got them."
Ren takes out StormFlower, while Nora approaches Dante's side holding Magnhild "No one's gonna touch 'em".
Ruby stands back up, transforming Crescent Rose into its scythe form and flips over. She lands to her sister's side, knocking Emerald back, right back into the panther's claws. Emerald's Semblance copies of Mercury then disappear, reforming back into the main Mercury.
"Thanks, sis" Yang said while standing back up "You okay?"
"I'm fine" Ruby said.
"Uh, I'm alright too, thanks for asking" Roman interjected.
"I don't quite trust you yet, Torchwick" Ruby said, "But if you're with us right now, I'll let you help."
Roman chuckled: "You'll be thinking a lot differently when you meet my associate."
Just then, Hazel roared in anger. Emerald managed to finally shoot the panther dissolving it, and she and Mercury walked over next to Hazel.
Ruby raised her scythe: "Let's go!"
Ruby and Yang are facing off against Emerald and Mercury. The sisters switch positions and leap forward to take on their opponents. Yang knocks into Emerald while Ruby takes on Mercury. He uses his left boot to kick Crescent Rose out of her hands.
"Uh oh, what're you gonna do now?" Mercury said sarcastically.
He tries to throw a left cross, but Ruby ducks and headbutts him upwards, in a similar manner to what Ozpin taught her what to do. Mercury steps a few feet backwards and holds his nose in pain, before growling at Ruby.
Ruby picks up Crescent Rose "Whatever it takes to shut you up".
Meanwhile, Ren and Dante are taking on Hazel, who punches him back into the wall. Hazel then launches an electrical charge from his lightning-Dust enhanced arm, electrocuting Ren, causing him to scream in pain before falling to the ground. Dante then equips his power gauntlets and locks arms with Hazel as he blocks another punch.
"REN!" Nora screamed.
"Go! I've got her!" Jaune ordered, Nora nods at him before proceeding forward.
Meanwhile, Qrow is knocked back into the wall and then falls to the ground next to the downed Ren, who struggles to get back up as well. Oscar uses his cane to block flaming rocks being fired from Lionheart's weapon.
Hazel charges forward and punches Oscar several feet back "Hiding behind the face of a child? A monster like you must be stopped!".
Nora charges at Hazel with a loud battle cry. She leaps into the air, but Hazel catches Magnhild and slams Nora into the ground. Hazel then grabs Nora's head, electrocuting her with his lightning Dust-enhanced arms. She screams out in pain.
"How many more children must die for you?!" Hazel yelled but suddenly, Nora grabs Hazel's wrist "Huh?".
Nora, inadvertently enhanced by Hazel's electricity thanks to her Semblance, stands back up and flips him over her shoulder. He rolls back several feet away. Nora then holds Magnhild up defensively, before Ozpin gets her attention.
"His Semblance... he can block out pain. It's how he is able to handle injecting so much Dust into his body" Ozpin explained.
Nora stares back at Hazel, who stands back up and spoke darkly "I don't need him to hurt..." Hazel screams and charges forward again "I just need him to GO DOWN!".
As Hazel nears her, Nora preps to swing Magnhild. She then swings her hammer right into Hazel's chest, her counterattack launching him through the wall and outside onto Haven Academy's quad. Adam and White Fang soldiers look on.
A White Fang Soldier looks at Adam "What's going on in there?".
"None of your concern..." Adam and his followers stare in amazement as they watch Hazel get back up.
He then takes out a pair of red Dust crystals and stabs them into his arms. He lets out another roar as Ruby watches from inside the building. She then looks back to her friends and allies, all of them looking tired and worn out from the battle they've endured.
"Stay focused! Our friends are almost done here" Adam and his followers get back to work, but then they hear a voice call out to him.
"ADAM!" They all look up and see Blake standing proudly on top of the roof of a nearby building.
Adam was surprised "Blake?".
"Who is that?" Hazel asked.
"Stand down!" Blake demanded. The White Fang soldiers aim their firearms at her.
"Wait!" Adam said, putting his hands up as the White Fang soldiers stand down, before laughing evilly "To think that I went through so much trouble to find you, only to have you deliver yourself to me".
"This isn't what's right for the Faunus! Stop what you're doing and we can end this peacefully" Blake said.
"You're wrong, Blake, and you can't stop us" Adam declared.
"No, I can't. Not by myself" Blake said.
"That's why she didn't come alone!" Adam and his followers turn to the left in surprise, seeing Sun standing in front of a massive legion of Faunus all armed with blunt weaponry, their shields bearing the old White Fang symbol.
"What?!" Adam said in shock.
"Who's there?" One of the white fangs demanded.
They then turn to the right, and see Ghira leading another massive legion of Faunus, Team DRMS at the front.
"Your brothers and sisters" Ghira said
One of the White Fang Soldiers lowers his weapon, recognizing one of the Faunus in the crowd "M-Mata?".
Mata is seen in the crowd holding a club and shield "Please... stop this...".
Adam and his followers look all around them assessing the situation.
"Make no mistake, brothers! These are our enemies! And we will not let them ruin-" Suddenly, Adam is interrupted when a Mistral airship shines its searchlight down on Adam and his group.
The Mistral police captain is seen on the airship with Kali "Adam Taurus, this is the Mistral Police Force! Lower your weapons and surrender peacefully".
More Mistral airships arrive. Back inside, Ruby knocks Emerald back a few feet. Emerald then hears the sounds of the Mistral airships as their searchlights shine through the windows. Everyone stops what they are doing.
Weiss leans up as Jaune continues healing her "What's happening?".
"I'm not sure. How are you feeling?" Jaune asked.
Weiss sits back up "Better" She activates a summoning Glyph in her hand "Much better. Keep it up".
Back outside, Blake lands to the ground from the roof.
"How?! How did you do this?!" Adam demanded.
"Is it not obvious?" Everyone looked to see a very angry Sienna walk out of the shadows "You made a fatal mistake, Adam. You tried to kill me, thinking you could cover it up without realizing that there were still some loyal to me and willing to protect me." She gestures to Adam's soldiers, "They may follow you, but make no mistake, there will always be those who will see through your lies!"
Blake smiled and nodded to Sienna before looking back at her former partner "Adam, it's over".
Adam looks around as the crowds of Menagerie Faunus get closer to him and his group. He then pulls out a detonator "Then it's over for all of us".
A Female White Fang Soldier panicked "Hey wait!".
Adam's followers hold up their arms as they brace for the impending explosion. Adam presses the button, but nothing happens "Huh?"
He presses the detonator button a few more times, nothing happens.
A White Fang Soldier looked at him in disbelief "What are you doing? Trying to get us all killed?!".
Suddenly, Adam grabs his collar enraged "I am making humanity pay for WHAT THEY'VE DONE!".
Adam let's go and pushes the White Fang soldier back when Blake speaks "We sent someone over to confirm your explosives, and once we did, they disarmed them".
Ilia walks out from around the tower, dropping her black camouflage as she holds the wires in her hand that disabled the bombs. Hector also appears next to her, hanging upside down by his tail and holding a few disabled explosives as well. Adam seethes, realizing that the situation is no longer in his favor.
"Stealth Twins strike again" Ilia said.
"Boo-yah." Hector replied as the two sibling fist-bumped, smug looks on their faces.
Adam turns to Hazel "What do we do?!".
Hazel cracks his knuckles "This... is your business. Not mine. Fix it".
Adam just glares back at him before turning to Blake who spoke "I told you, Adam. It's over...".
Adam, not having any of it, yells out in frustration and charges forward toward Blake. He takes out Wilt from Blush to slash at her, but before Blake could do anything a massive gust of wind swoops past her as Katrina runs past, driving her fist into Adam's face and sending him flying back, screaming in surprise and pain.
Katrina stopped in front of Blake and held up her fists: "Oh, no you don't."
"Who are you?" Blake asked, "I don't remember seeing you in the village."
"That's because I wasn't there" Katrina replied, "I was with a different crowd."
As if on cue, the bandit jeeps break through the trees, stopping in front of the White Fang soldiers as the bandits climb out, their weapons drawn.
From the right end of the clearing, another war cry is heard as Novus and the huntsmen march through, ready for action.
"Okay, seriously" Maroon shouted: "Who invited these people!?"
The other members of his team merely shrugged.
"Let's just say we were led here by a very powerful and familiar individual" Shay replied.
"And who would that be?" Blake asked.
As if in answer a motorcycle barreled through the trees knocking Adam flat just as he got back up, and them knocking over a few other White Fang soldiers as well before continuing towards the school, only to disappear in a poof of black dust.
Sun widened his eyes in amazement: "Wait, what was that?"
Katrina turned to Sun: "That was the guy who led us here. He has some business to take care of inside, leaving us to have all the fun out here."
Adam tries to sneak up on Katrina as her back was turned, but Novus dashed in, grabbed his leg, and threw him back in to the crowd of soldiers. Adam falls to the ground on his knees, before yelling out to his followers "KILL THEM!"
And thus, the battle between both Faunus groups, as well as the huntsmen and bandits begin. The White Fang soldiers draw their weapons and attempt to fire at the Mistral airships. Sun leaps around twirling Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang in its staff form, while Ilia and Sienna fight with her whips and Hector dashes into the group, striking with his katanas while invisible. Katrina runs through the crowd with her speed semblance, clotheslining anyone close enough. Hazel observes the situation in front of him but then makes eye contact with Novus, who was throwing White Fang soldiers left and right or hacking at them with his chainsaw. Novus then ran towards Hazel with incredible speed, then kicks Hazel's knees out from under him and begins to pound on his face with his fist.
After what seemed like a solid ten punches, Hazel manages to catch Novus's fist with his hand. Novus simply headbutts Hazel, stunning him right as he is impaled by a white, glowing stinger. He is then pulled back inside the building and sits up to see that Weiss is back on her feet with a summoned Queen Lancer flying above her. As she prepares to fight again, she gasps as she notices someone entering the building. Yang and Ruby look back as well and gasp when they see Blake, her eyes widening as she sees all of her teammates in the same place.
"Yang?" Blake asked as Yang stares back at her in disbelief.
"Yang! Go!" Ruby shouted while pointing in the direction of the vault entrance. Yang runs forward. Emerald and Mercury try to stop her.
"No!" Emerald tries to stop Yang, but fails to and falls to the ground.
Mercury went to grab her prosthetic arm, but it simply disconnected from Yang. Unhindered, Yang jumps down the hole leading to the vault. Emerald and Mercury attempt to give chase, but they are stopped by an ice wall that suddenly appears in front of them. They turn around and see Weiss with her Queen Lancer summon as she prepares to fight the both of them. Jaune watches from his position and smiles.
Suddenly, a green blast explodes right next to Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel, sending all three flying in different directions, their auras incredibly weak. Novus then walks in, the BFG out and ready as he joins the group to face their enemy.
The fate of Haven would be decided tonight.