Ironwood had just woken up. He was on the bed in the military hospital. He had passed out after the battle with Valravn but now he was feeling better. He got out of bed and when the nurse saw that stout man limp towards the uniform, that was leaning on a chair, she stopped him.

"You have to recover. You can't walk around in this state."

"Don't worry, I can."

"But-"

"I can."

Ironwood got dressed and, after putting the Due Process in the sheaths, left the hospital. On the way he met Harriet Bree. The girl, seeing the man standing, felt a moment of joy which, however, disappeared with the same speed with which it had arrived.

"There's something you need to know" she said.

The man understood from her eyes that something bad was about to happen. She then reported to him the requests of Councilwoman Camilla, but not only that, she also spoke of the bomb and what had happened to the Winter Maiden.

When Ironwood learned that Cinder Fall had stolen Penny's power, he felt his shoulders grow heavier and heavier; a sudden cramp in his back hit him and the man had to sit down. His wide eyes expressed fear, sadness but also tiredness.

"Everything …" he murmured "Everything … I gave everything … and what did I get? Nothing. Once again the relic is in danger, once again I'll have to protect the relic … everything is as before. We're back to the beginning." A smile appeared. A short laugh. He clenched his fists. He screamed. He punched the wall one time … then another time. "Fuck … Fuck …! FUCK! When it will end? When …? This war … this fucking war isn't ending! Why? Why it keeps going on?!"

"Calm down, please, we'll find a way to deal with Cinder Fall, we can-"

"No, I can't calm down. Don't you realize? The army can no longer fight ... it can no longer resist ... I thought we were at the end and instead everything is ... starting again. Our soldiers … our soldiers are not inexhaustible like the Grimm. The food supplies will run out sooner or later ... the ammunition will not be enough ... and in the end we will all be slaughtered."

"But we can't let ourselves be defeated, right? There must something we can do, right?"

"What can we do? All my plans have failed… everything I've done to protect Atlas… all the sacrifices… in the end it all fell apart. I ... I can't ..." Ironwood's expression changed in the blink of an eye. Despair turned into sudden calm. He took a deep breath and said in a low voice: "The bomb." He turned to the girl and added: "The bomb is our solution. We can end the conflict with a single move, the right one."

"I don't understand. Do you want to take the bomb inside Monstra?"

"No. Here."

"Here?"

"Atlas and Mantle have been evacuated, right? The civilians are all in Mistral, right? Let's withdraw the army and detonate the bomb in Atlas, inside the academy."

"But with this you will not eliminate Salem ..."

"I don't want to kill Salem… I want to eliminate both Cinder Fall and the relic."

"What?" Harriet raised her eyebrows in amazement. "But ... but can the relic be destroyed?"

"I don't know, we have to try, right? All Salem wants are those magical items, if we destroy even one of them … then we win the entire war and inflict the biggest defeat she has ever suffered."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"At least I'll have killed Cinder Fall and hopefully everyone inside that fucking Grimm. We will bury them under the rubble of Atlas and Mantle and the war will be over. One move and we can end this conflict and all conflicts. Salem will be defeated forever … or at least for a long time. Time that we can use to create a new offensive strategy."

"But ... as soon as you try to make a move like that, Camilla will stand in front of you."

"So what? What can she do?"

"Only a member of the Council can detonate the bomb."

Ironwood sighed, looked at Harriet and put his hand on her shoulder.

"The bomb is in the airport, right?"

"Yes, inside an aircraft."

"Okay, then. Meet Camilla, come up with an excuse to take her there. Tell her you want to take her to safety or something, then we'll take care of her."

"Shall we eliminate her, then?"

He didn't answer. She understood his intentions by looking into his eyes.

"Yes sir" she exclaimed, getting to attention.

"Good. Do what you have to do … because this time we will end the war. We will save Atlas."

Meanwhile, in front of the vault, Cinder Fall was decimating Atlas' soldiers with extreme ease. No one was strong enough to be able to oppose the combined powers of Fall and Winter Maiden. The bullets were destroyed even before hitting the woman's body, the defenses were destroyed one after the other, and in the end Cinder Fall found herself in front of her target.

"Finally… when I have taken the relic You will be able to love me, You will thank me with all your heart and smile at me as in the past. I just have to give her that stupid relic and everything will be as it was before."

A boar summoned by Winter struck Cinder Fall and tumbled her to the ground.

"Not so fast, Cinder."

"You again? Last time it didn't go so well for you ... are you really sure you can win now?"

Winter, seeing the bodies of hundreds of dead soldiers, was crossed by a fiery rage and, without hesitation, slashed several times with the sword. Cinder, summoning a vitreous sword, parried the several blows and, snapping her fingers, launched ice projectiles the size of trees. Winter managed to dodge the attacks and returned to the offensive but she hadn't noticed that Cinder had other bullets in store, this time of fire.

Winter was hit and fell to the ground.

"Is that all you can do, soldier? You're a disappointment. Just give up and let me end this."

A glyph appeared under Cinder Fall's feet. The woman could no longer move. She raised her head and realized that it wasn't Winter's doing so she, turning around, saw Weiss Schnee with sword in hand and with a brazen smile.

Then came Blake and hit Cinder with the blade several times.

"You're really annoying!" the woman screamed after dodging Blake's fourth blow.

Cinder unleashed a storm of fire and ice that affected both Blake and Weiss. When the black glyph disappeared, the woman was able to move freely and she thought about attacking Weiss but she was stopped by Winter. The two resumed fighting but Cinder, who had a clear advantage, grabbed her rival by the throat and threw her against Blake.

Weiss summoned her knight, who struck the woman with a thrust of the sword. Cinder fell to the ground but got up and took off.

"Get out of my way, ants!"

Cinder, enraged, launched bullets of ice and fire the size of large boulders. The aerial bombardment proceeded steadily for at least ten seconds and eventually a very thick curtain of steam rose. Cinder remained in the air expecting the enemy response. Nothing happened for nearly a full minute and she thought she had actually killed her rivals.

"In the end you weren't particularly formidable-"

As soon as Cinder Fall's foot hit the ground, Blake appeared, ready to hit her. Cinder, frightened, reacted by throwing a ball of fire; Blake dodged the blow, leaving behind a Shadow made of stone; the girl landed behind Cinder. The woman, nervous, turned around attacking with a spinning kick but her foot was stuck in another Shadow of Blake, this time made of ice.

Suddenly a boar summoned by Winter struck Cinder Fall with its fangs; Cinder collided with Blake's Shadow, the one that was made of stone, and then, behind the woman, the knight of Weiss appeared and struck a very strong blow.

Cinder fell to the ground; her aura still hadn't broken. The woman got up with more effort but with an amused grin. With a movement of her hands she generated a tornado made of fire with which she eliminated the creatures evoked by the two sisters and, rising in the air, rained down arrows of flame that exploded on impact with the ground.

Weiss rescued her sister and Blake, by using a wasp summoned by her, and drove them away from the rain of fire.

"This is not good at all" exclaimed Winter "Weiss, give me a hand to pull her down."

"Got it!"

The two sisters used a glyph to increase gravity under Cinder's feet and knocked her to the ground. The rain of fire stopped.

Blake jumped, blade drawn, but Cinder managed to dodge the attack and hit the girl with a ball of fire that broke her aura.

"One down, two to go."

The two sisters, still in the air, saw Cinder raise her hands.

"What's she doing now?" Weiss asked, perplexed.

Two immense walls of fire were stirred up, the waves of fire collided with each other making the embers splash left and right; the wasp managed to get out unscathed at first, but then those flames stopped and took on a cold, light blue color; the fire had froze.

Cinder closed her fists, so the ice moved and formed a kind of cage around Weiss's wasp.

"Game over. Burn."

The cage caught fire and exploded. Weiss and Winter both exhausted their aura and lost consciousness.

The battle was over.

"A predictable outcome, I would say. You were foolish and now you will die-"

A pain in the chest hit Cinder Fall with no warning. The woman placed her human hand on her chest and then she felt her other arm, the Grimm one, becoming lighter. She looked at it and saw that it was dripping.

"What's this? What is this ... stuff? Why do I feel ... like this? What's happening now?!"

Her head was starting to ache and her body, hit by frequent flushes followed by bursts of cold, was invaded by sporadic cramps that tightened the muscles. The woman fell.

"Why? Why is this happening ...?"

She screamed in anger and punched the ground with all her strength.

The pains vanished as they came. The woman, breathing heavily, looked at the Grimm's arm and calmed down to learn that it had stopped dripping. Whatever had happened had come to a conclusion.

She got up and the first thing she saw was the three guys from team JNR.

"Weiss!" Jaune exclaimed running to the stunned girl "Hold on, everything will be fine!"

"This is really unexpected ..." Cinder said, with a demonic grin.

"Damn, I'll make you pay!" Jaune said in anger.

"And how do you think you can do it? Last time you didn't even manage to avenge the other girl I killed. What makes you think you'll be able to face me this time, blondie?"

Jaune, with a scream of rage, ran towards Cinder with sword in hand and swung; the blade was blocked by an ice shield created by the woman.

"You shouldn't play with sharp objects, hasn't your mother ever taught you that?" Cinder hit the boy with a fireball so powerful that he flew back at least ten feet. "Don't worry, blondie, today you will be reunited with your beloved. I'll make sure of that."