Chapter 17- After spending the night in Albus and Alex's place, Ruby is accompanied by Alex in the cemetery. There, she meets with Bonette Pale at Melia's grave and receives her sword, Thorn, by the woman.
Then, Ruby is attacked by Alizar. He claims to be Elia Red's, revealed to be Cinder's name, brother. Their fight is interrupted when he informs her that Cherry has kidnapped Jaune. To save him, Alizar demands team RWBY to come after him at Grimmwater Island in South Mistral.
Chapter 18- Weiss uses the SHU laboratory and finds traces of Nyctos' chain manufacturer; Merlot Industries. She and Yang are picked up by Blake and Sun to join a harrowed Ruby and team LEAD for a strategy meeting in Glynda's office.
Unanimously, RWBY agrees to take the bait and go after Alizar. Sun is ordered by Glynda to try finding clues about Cherry's identity and team LEAD undertakes the task to retrieve Merlot Industries' data from its destroyed server in Mt. Glenn in order to find who used Nyctos' chains.
Chapter 19- RWBY arrives in Nanko, the port closest to Grimmwater, in order to investigate in disguise. Ruby and Weiss visit the port in order to hire a boat. No one accepts their offers and they tell them of a curse that comes from the island, plaguing the fishermen's dreams.
Full of worry and concern, they try to convince a former diver, Waj Greene, for his boat. The man is dismissive at first, but accepts to talk after Ruby finds out he is a former huntsman and reveals her identity.
Chapter 20- Blake and Yang walk towards the public library, discussing Ruby's current state. Blake manages to cheer up her deflated partner, before they enter the building in search of the newspaper archives.
After a lot of search, they manage to find old news about Grimmwater. Eleven years ago, a series of mysterious incidents that started with an illness that claimed Charlotte Red's- Alizar's mother- life, resulted in the increase of Grimm activity and the island's total annihilation.
Chapter 21- As the team uses Greene's boat to reach the island, Ruby tells the faunus' story of how he lost his entire team and his leg from the Grimm that inhabit the place. Alarmed by its similarities to Yugure, Blake forces Ruby to rest until they reach the fog surrounding it.
In her sleep, however, Ruby is assaulted by a horrible nightmare of her being drowned in dark water by Cinder. She wakes up in shock and has an emotional outburst towards her teammates due to her anxiety that unfortunately draws four Grimm sharks- Galeodons- to them.
Chapter 22- Working together and following a quite reckless plan, they manage to take down the Grimm, but not before their boat crashes on a dust-trapped rock whose explosion blasts them all into the sea.
In his home, Alizar reminisces of his two siblings and the day that ended his life as he knew it. He also engages in an argument with Cherry who keeps insulting him about his cowardly ways, until the explosion signals RWBY's arrival and forces them to begin their ritual preparations.
Chapter 23- After experiencing a horrible dream with Sun trying to kill her, Blake wakes up in a shore, next to Ruby fighting away Creeps. She helps Ruby overcome another nervous breakdown and they decide to look for shelter as rain clouds gather.
Meanwhile, Yang finds Weiss as she runs across another part of the shore. Weiss being reluctant at first, they soon find themselves in each other's arms before they decide to start looking for their teammates.
Chapter 24- After walking through a grey, dark beach, Ruby and Blake find the abandoned village- and Red Mansion watching it from above in the island's mountains.
They move to the shipyard for shelter, but find traces of slaughter and human remains in the area. Before they decide to flee, an ominous figure makes its presence known to them.
At the same time, Yang and Weiss reach a nearby Lighthouse. Yang finds a frozen human corpse inside, but is quickly summoned by her girlfriend's cries for help as a living, chilling mist cloud attacks her.
Chapter 25- The battle in the lighthouse draws Cherry's attention and she flees the mansion to check it out. Weiss and Yang engage to the living cloud and use a combo wind-ice attack to freeze and drop it down to the ground.
Their plan fails, their enemy reviving from its shattered remains, but Yang notices its true nature; a Geist possessing a fog cloud. She then manages to find its mask and, with Weiss' help, eliminates it for good.
Chapter 26- Blake and Ruby fight against a powerful Grimm parasite that possesses a massive reptilian body. The monster is tough and it takes full advantage of their bad mental and physical state, driving both girls to a corner as they fight around the shipyard.
After Blake acts as decoy and puts her own life at risk, Ruby's brain goes into overdrive and her nerves break down completely, as she activates Crescent Rose's Gatling mode and destroys the Grimm at the cost of inflicting serious burns on her own body before she collapses.
All this time, Alizar reminisces of his past. He remembers the day where he and Elia lost their brother Robus to mercenary Mistralian huntsmen. The day when Elia killed the huntsmen and begun her path to revenge.
Chapter 27- After performing a hasty funeral for the dead man in the Lighthouse, Weiss and Yang deduce he was murdered by human hands. Then, they see Gatling Rose blow up the docks and run towards it.
After another, even more intense nightmare of Cinder killing her, Ruby has a severe, unprecedented panic attack. Blake, who has been taking care of her in a ruined house, slaps her once more back to her senses and convinces her to talk about her dreams and growing depression.
Chapter 28- Blake deduces that Ruby is suffering from the same curse the fishermen have. She also informs her leader she has found evidence that many village residents had been facing the same problem as well.
Weiss and Yang find traces of Ladybug's battle and theorize that both girls escaped, albeit wounded. Then, they get attacked by Cherry who proves to be an exceptionally powerful naginata user who also has the ability to manipulate gravitation.
After an intense battle, they reach a stalemate but are all forced to flee away when Cherry's alarm sounds in the harbor, informing them of the incoming tide- and the monsters it carries with it.
Chapter 29- Having slept a little, Ruby and Blake investigate the village in search of the huntsmen outpost. They find remains of the tide and an abandoned playground, but are attacked by a pack of strange, dog-like shapes in the mists and are forced to hastily retreat.
Yang and Weiss discover Grimm remains of the residents' demise at the hands of humans. Then, they fly over the village managing to both find the outpost and save Blake and Ruby from their pursuers.
Meanwhile, Cherry uses a mysterious power to repel the figures and, deciding it was Alizar's handiwork that summoned them, storms off to get an explanation from him.