My semester's end approaches! God, I'm not sure why I so eagerly await it (more than usual anyway), but I just can't wait for it to finally happen! I've just been feeling unusually tired and almost apathetic in regards to college this semester, at least when it came to certain assignments. I don't think I've ever procrastinated anything before… damn, guess there is a first time for everything…

Well, that aside, in regards to this fic, the pacing will be picking up little by little. The first few chapters and the first fight were pretty slow, but they were really nothing more than little teasers of the things I have planned for the admittedly distant future. I say this especially when thinking of the fic's climax, of which I already have it pretty planned out. You can expect this chapter and the next to somewhat follow the events of RWBY a bit more before the Holy Knights really force things off the rails and into, for lack of a better word, 'uncharted' territory. And in turn, you can definitely expect the several centuries old team magi to get involved more too…

Chapter 5

Almost an entire week has passed since the events that had occurred in Atlas took place. And since then, there has been a bit of an upheaval in the world. What could only be labeled as 'strange phenomena' had quickly spread not only throughout Atlas, but also through the rest of the kingdoms, if only due to how highly unusual and widespread the phenomena in question was.

As it now stood, a small gathering of people in each kingdom had already taken to forming their own theories about what had happened, with some of these people even resolving to get to the bottom of it all, driven by their own insatiable curiosity.

It was a situation that someone like Glynda Goodwitch was quickly growing tired off.

"And it's in the news yet again…" she commented in annoyance as she lightly paced around the area directly before Ozpin's desk.

As for the headmaster of Beacon himself, he seemed calmer than his comrade and appeared content to simply sip his coffee as he watched her pace about. "Glynda," he eventually started. "You really shouldn't be letting the recurrence of this story get to you."

Glynda shot him a somewhat heated stare, but stopped almost as quickly as she had started. "I know that. After all, you're already looking into it. Still, it's irksome to keep seeing it in the news and played up for all it's worth."

"Mmm…" Ozpin took another sip of his coffee, a long sip at that as he tried to think of what to say in response. Though he wouldn't quite say it aloud, he could feel the same way. Having first been informed of this firsthand by James, the headmaster had already made it a point to conduct his own investigation into things, but kept hitting dead ends, in thanks to all of the theories that now floated about concerning the events of Atlas. So to keep hearing or reading about the phenomena was beginning to rub him the wrong way too.

Still, he did his best to keep up a front. This was made all the easier by the fact that he and Glynda were more 'in the know' about this sort of thing, Ozpin having almost immediately realizing the 'trigger' for this strange event.

Perhaps through sheer instinct or something else, Ozpin and Glynda knew that it was related to magi. Of course, it helped that they were friends with magi themselves… but even excluding this fact, it was clear that the phenomena wasn't the result of a hunter/huntress or a Grimm. No, other forces were at work.

"Well, there is no need to sweat things, Glynda," Ozpin eventually said. "As it stands, all we can do is continue investigating and let the dominoes fall as they stand."

Glynda huffed in slight annoyance, but nodded nonetheless. Ozpin did have a point. "I know," she replied crisply. A pause. "Do the others know anything?" she then asked.

She didn't have to say their names at all for Ozpin to know who she meant. "Naruto, Ryuichi, and Miki are still in contact with the others over this. For now, they're still just as much in the dark as we are," he answered in short order.

Indeed, just a few days ago, the former team magi received a most surprising call from an old friend of theirs. Takehiko had called them up to personally inform them of what had really taken place in Atlas and needless to say they had been very much surprised by the news. And when they had passed on this information to Ozpin and Glynda, the two of them had been even more shocked. Still, it hadn't shocked them enough for them to not capitalize on the new information, having used that to try and make further headway into their investigation, though it had turned out to still be a futile motion; to think these Holy Knights were so secretive.

"So have they been able to find out anything else?" Glynda now asked, leaning slightly against Ozpin's desk.

She watched as the headmaster shook his head. "They're having about as much success as we are. Even to them, these Holy Knights are quite new and shocking to hear of. Last I checked with them, they were still trying to get into contact with the other 'ancient' magi," Ozpin explained, using the same term that they had learned from the Holy Knight. Then Ozpin sighed. "And sometime very early next week, James will be coming here to personally discuss this with me, once his own investigation proceeds a little more."

The blond woman 'tsked' at those words. "I sure hope he doesn't make a show out of coming here…" She said this with slight worry; James always had this rather bad habit of showing up with more soldiers in tow than is necessary, often unintentionally inciting worry in whoever happened to be in the area to personally see his usual 'show of force.'

"I suppose we'll have to wait and see about that." Ozpin cracked a slight smile, trying to lighten the rather tense mood with a little humor.

Judging by the marginal shift in Glynda's posture, it seemed that he was a tad bit successful. "Maybe. Maybe not."

Ultimately, the two of them continued to talk a little more before deciding to wait until later to discuss things further. It was only the morning of a brand new day. There'd be plenty of time later to continue talking about what to do next.

Elsewhere, Naruto and Ryuichi were in the midst of some light sparring. Namely, they were in a created space brought forth by Naruto's power. More specifically, they were in Ai Space.

The two friends, dressed in the same casual clothes they had worn to talk with Ozpin, fought it out without rest nor quarter.

Over the many centuries they had been alive, the two of them had only further refined their skills with Ryuichi's taijutsu, being a mixture of nearly a dozen different styles, having long since been completed while Naruto had further improved upon and in a sense also perfected his own self-taught fighting style.

The two magi clashed with a fierceness unlike anything the current era had ever seen, with Ryuichi constantly keeping on the move, trying to overwhelm his friend with his speed, raining down upon Naruto an impossible-to-count number of blows, ranging from punches to palm strikes to kicks. But because of having obtained the power of Tatsuya, who had been heralded as the 'ultimate magus' at Ragnarok's end, Naruto's physical abilities far outstripped Ryuichi's own and so he was able to repel his best friend's fierce and calculating assault with ease and with the minimal movement required.

In spite of how fierce their clash was though, the two were talking and almost calmly so. "So did you get into contact with Yuko?" Ryuichi asked as he skidded suddenly to Naruto's side, going for a grapple that, were it successful, would've applied enough pressure on Naruto's body to crack a mountain in two.

Naruto simply leapt forward and spun around, throwing a kick aimed for the back of Ryuichi's head. "Tried to, but she was busy. Had to leave a message," he replied casually.

Ryuichi used his own momentum to roll forward, avoiding Naruto's kick before then leaping up with a raised hand aimed for Naruto's stomach, the fingers outstretched as if to impale the blond. "Hmm and Mari and I could only barely get into contact with Masami. Guess we've all grown pretty busy over the past decade or two…"

Naruto lightly jumped and blocked Ryuichi's attack with his left hand, sliding his fingers in between Ryuichi's before suddenly clenching them, trapping Ryuichi's hand into place. "Yeah, seems that way…" He then spun again, this time dragging Ryuichi with him before throwing him in a judo throw. "So were you able to pass on the info to her?" he asked as he let go of Ryuichi.

Ryuichi went sailing many miles across Ai Space before finally losing enough momentum to fall towards the ground. He flipped in midflight and landed perfectly on his feet – just in time to guard against Naruto's sudden appearance in the form of a barrage of light punches aiming for his torso. "We were. She said she'll also be looking into it once she had a bit more free time on her hands." Ryuichi grunted right after he said that. Although he was much stronger and faster and tougher than he was back in Ragnarok, Naruto's abilities were much greater, to the point where even his 'light' punches and kicks could shatter mountains. He found himself skidding across the ground for nearly a whole kilometer, his bones creaking from the sheer force of the assault.

"That's good," Naruto spoke, taking a brief second to pause and allow Ryuichi enough time to mount a defense. "So what do you think about all of this? These Holy Knights Takehiko mentioned."

Ryuichi vanished from sight and reappeared in front of Naruto, attempting to drive his fist directly into Naruto's face, of which the blond magus avoided by tilting his head back a bit. "Honestly? I'm not sure. Though considering Takehiko said the mana felt artificial…"

Naruto ducked and went for a leg sweep. Ryuichi leapt lightly over his leg and threw his own kick that Naruto blocked even as he now forced himself back onto his own two feet. "You think these Holy Knights aren't actually magi." Naruto stated it as a statement rather than a question.

Ryuichi hummed, unleashing another barrage of punches and kicks that forced Naruto back considerably, the two of them now heading for a relatively tiny spot in between two mountains. "Well yeah. It would be the most obvious thing. At least, in regards to the one Takehiko and Daisuke fought."

"Huh." Naruto paused momentarily to suddenly sidestep so that he was now to Ryuichi's left before shoving the black haired magus into the side of the mountain, cracking it. He then unleashed a punch that left a massive hole in the mountainside as Ryuichi pushed himself out of the mountain in time to parry the blow. The two of them started to then throw a number of elbow strikes and punches at one another, testing themselves in what could truly be called close quarters combat, for the spot they were in was small enough that merely backing away from one another immediately resulted in them pressing their backs against the mountains. "Yeah, I can see what you mean." A pause. "Still, wow. I mean, I knew things felt too peaceful nowadays, but…"

Ryuichi lashed out with a meager kick to Naruto's legs, hoping to make his balance falter enough for him to grab hold of him and capitalize on it, but to no avail as Naruto simply raised his own foot and countered him. To which, of course, Ryuichi responded with his own counter in the form of a sudden left elbow blow to Naruto's exposed side. "I know what you mean. Maybe it was some kind of premonition."

Naruto suddenly turned so that the mountains were on either side of him, with his front facing the opening they had entered from. He struck the mountains with simultaneous punches, using more force than he was earlier. The mountains shattered completely in response and rocks and dirt went flying everywhere. This was meant to obscure Ryuichi's line of sight, which it did.

But even then, Ryuichi kept his other sharp senses focused and thanks to them and many years of training and battle, easily predicted Naruto's attack from behind, turning enough to catch the kick to the side Naruto had thrown at him. Not letting go of his leg, Ryuichi struck out with a right backhand that failed to hit its mark, Naruto once more tilting his head back to avoid it. He shook his leg free just as Ryuichi attempted to follow it up with a punch, jumping away to put some distance between the two of them.

"I kind of doubt it, Ryuichi," Naruto said flatly. "Even with Uroarbrunner, I couldn't have predicted these Holy Knights showing up, much less them picking a fight with us 'ancient magi.'" He then rushed forward, his right arm raised high before bringing it down in a chopping motion. Ryuichi managed to block it, but even then the sheer force of the blow cratered the entire area and almost buried Ryuichi up to his knees. "And I wonder just how many of them there are too…" Now Naruto sounded a little worried.

However, it should be noted that this worry wasn't worry for himself. Not that he'd want to sound conceited, but he was certain these Holy Knights would pose no real threat to his life, for as the victor of Ragnarok, his already considerable abilities had been boosted to greater heights upon absorbing Tatsuya's mana. And with his ancestor's own magical abilities at his disposal as well as the continued training/development of his own Da Capo ability and Naruto was certain he'd be more hard-pressed to not accidentally kill these Holy Knights should they ever come for him.

No, his real worry was for his wife, his best friend and his wife, and for the rest of the world. Going by what Takehiko had told him about this Indra guy, it was clear that these Holy Knights packed considerable power, on par with magi themselves and therefore above and beyond what the warriors of today could hope to handle. So the kind of destruction and death that could be wrought worried Naruto greatly. As great as his own abilities no were, there was always a chance things could go wrong. And as they knew nothing of the Holy Knights' intentions, they were essentially an unknown X factor, a time bomb just waiting to go off.

Ryuichi, thinking along similar lines, nodded. "A fair point. At any rate though, we should just focus on the here and now. Worrying over what-ifs isn't going to do us much good." He let up on his fighting stance, dusting his clothes off.

Naruto did the same, fixing up his wrinkled dress shirt and shirt. "Yeah. Not to mention, if we're lucky, the others might be able to find some time and meet up with us to discuss this in person. Because something just tells me that if the Holy Knight was willing to target magi like Daisuke and Takehiko, who are all the way in Atlas, then they'd probably be gunning for the rest of us too."

He then took a brief second to look up at the sky and mutter two words. "Die Walkure." With those two words uttered in addition to a quick snap of the fingers, Ai Space disappeared, returning the two magi to the real world.

Just as they shimmered back into the real world, so too did their wives, Miki and Mari, who had also been training in another 'space' that Naruto had created for them. The two women blinked in surprise when they were returned to the real world alongside their husbands.

"Oh, already?" Miki asked, Svafrlami being firmly held in her hands. Dressed in the same dress she had worn to Ozpin's office, she didn't so much as sport a single speck of dirt on it, even after the light spar she had just had with Mari.

Naruto nodded sheepishly. He had been so into his own spar with Ryuichi and so deep in thought over the recent developments that he kind of forgotten about leaving his wife's space intact so that she could've continued to spar with Mari. "Yeah… sorry about that. If you two want, I could…"

It was Mari who answered. "Nah, don't sweat it. We had just been finishing up ourselves anyway," she said with a smile. Having already put away her magical weapon prior to returning to the real world, Mari stretched a bit. Dressed in a simple shirt and long combat skirt, Mari simply played with her hair a bit after stretching, thinking. "So what now?" She could tell just by the looks on her husband's face and Naruto's that they had been talking about something serious. And in all likelihood, it had to be about these Holy Knights.

Miki hefted Svafrlami, her eyes narrowing as she too took note of their expressions. She lifted the blade for a moment, taking in its form. No longer was the blade encased in that heavy black lump from the old days. Now through constant training over the centuries and a slight 'evolution' of her abilities, the blade now sat in her hands in all its intricate glory, minus the shine it usually exhibited when using Tyrfing.

Miki sighed before dismissing the blade. "I really need to quit that habit…" she thought mildly. She had become quite used to looking at her blade for a while before dismissing it, as if to somehow engrain into memory everything she had done with it from the moment she summoned it to the moment she stowed it away.

And now focused entirely on her husband and friends, she folded her arms underneath her ample bosom before asking a question herself. "Yeah… so just what about these Holy Knights?" she spoke, capitalizing on the question Mari had just asked.

Naruto and Ryuichi shared a look before answering. "For now, all we really can do is just wait until the others get back to us," the former of the two spoke. "As it is, we've only managed to pass the info onto Masami and I left a message for Yuko so…" Naruto trailed off.

Ryuichi continued for him. "As it is, we'll have to wait until everyone else has responded and meet up with us. That way, if or when these Holy Knights appear again, we'll be ready for them."

His wife Mari nodded, humming along with every word he spoke. "Makes sense to me." Then she took a brief moment to look around. "Just occurred to me, but where's Hanako?"

At that question, Miki scratched her cheek sheepishly. "A-Ah, she's currently…"

Naruto continued for Miki and with far less sheepishness. No, it'd be more accurate to say that he spoke with a certain level of vindictiveness. "She's currently serving a 'punishment' for the mess she's caused me."

"O-Oh right, the whole rumor thing about her being your…" Mari spoke, only to trail off. An awkward smile was on her face. She and the others there slightly sweat dropped as they recalled the veritable storm of rumors that had begun to circulate around the academy nearly a week ago. Apparently, Hanako had not so quietly said a number of things that could've very easily been taken as meaning something else out of its original context. To which, the students did exactly that and since then, Naruto's reputation has taken some interesting turns among Beacon's population, with many students and faculty being shocked and in some cases awed(?!) by what they've heard. This was very much to Naruto's chagrin.

"Come to think of it," Ryuichi now spoke, looking to Naruto, the previous topic now forgotten for the time being. "Just what did you make her do anyway?"

Naruto didn't verbally respond. Instead, he simply smiled.

Currently within Beacon Academy, in a certain hallway, teams RWBY and JNPR and a number of other students were bearing witness to an interesting site.

"Muuuuuu….~" Hanako whined quietly, comical tears running down the side of her face.

"Okay…." Jaune spoke. He looked to Hanako and then to his equally confused classmates/friends. "This is new."

"U-Uh huh…" Ruby responded.

They simply couldn't help but stare, for Hanako was currently sitting on her knees up against the wall. She sported a comical bump atop her head, as if someone had struck her particularly hard. In her hands, she held buckets filled to the brim with water, her arms held spread apart so that the buckets were a decent height off the floor. What's more, there was a sign placed around her neck that read 'from now on, I won't say anything that can be misinterpreted' in bold print.

"Sooooo…." Yang dragged out the word as she approached the humanoid magical weapon. "What happened to you?"

"Master didn't like the false rumors going around," Hanako muttered feebly.

Yes, we can tell…" Weiss now spoke, a forced smile upon her face. The rest of her team shot her slightly worried looks. For reasons that they didn't or simply couldn't know/understand, Weiss had seemed particularly upset when the 'Incident' as it is now called occurred all those days ago. And now with Hanako in her current position, it looked as if Weiss couldn't make up her mind about whether or not she wanted to lecture the girl.

"But did professor Namikaze have to punish you like this?" Pyrrha now asked of Hanako, concerned for her. That bump on her head didn't look natural and from what the passing-by students were saying, Hanako has already been out here in this position for some time now.

"Well, this isn't exactly the first time I caused Master some trouble…" Hanako began. "Though this is probably the worse 'punishment' I've received so far."

The teams simply stared at her. And then Nora Valkyrie began to laugh. "Sounds like professor Namikaze is an interesting guy!" she proclaimed, using a sort of logic that only she could seemingly understand.

"Nora, you really shouldn't be so lively like that…" her long-time friend, Lie Ren, replied almost nonchalantly, trying to placate his friend.

Now it was Blake who spoke. "Hanako," she began. "Now that I think of it, just what is it that you do here in Beacon Academy anyway?" Not all that shocked by the punishment Hanako had to deal with, she was instead more curious about Hanako herself. She knew that Yang told her to simply let live and wait to see what Hanako does, but since it looked like Hanako would be more prone to answering questions in her current timid-ish state, then she might as well see if she could get some info out of her.

"Ah… I'm here as security," Hanako then answered.

That certainly got both teams' attention. "Security? For Beacon?" Ruby asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Sort of." Hanako sighed. "I… am Master's strongest sword and invincible shield." She stated these words in such a matter-of-factly tone of voice that the teams couldn't help but unconsciously take a step back. Hanako's expression was no longer one of childish pain, but one of a warrior that had made a lifelong oath. "Wherever he goes, I follow. Whatever and whoever he wants to protect, I will gladly do the same. Just as he cherishes life, so do I. And he wants to make sure the world gets to experience true peace and I'm willing to help him achieve it. To that end, I will do whatever it takes to help out. That said, for now, as long as he and his/my friends reside here along with you students, I will protect this place with all I've got."

A silence fell upon the hallway, the chatter among the students ceasing virtually immediately as they heard her words. Even the normally rambunctious Nora and semi-haughty Weiss were cowed into silence.

Then Hanako smiled and the 'spell' cast upon them all was broken. "Well, I can't really be saying those words so lightly considering I'm being punished right now…" she muttered sheepishly.

"N-No!" Ruby now approached the humanoid magical weapon and took her hands into her own. Her silver eyes were all but sparkling as she looked at Hanako. "Don't sweat it at all! That was just so cool~!" Ruby nearly squealed, fangirling all over Hanako now. Being an impressionable and somewhat socially awkward 15 year old, it was rather easy for her to get worked over things, especially since hunters and huntresses were virtually idols to her. But something about the way Hanako spoke just now simply put the magical weapon on a high pedestal for the young girl.

"Eh heh heh heh~." Now Hanako reverted back to her usual personality. She'd be scratching the back of her head right now if not for the buckets, but nonetheless, it didn't deter her cheer. "You think so?"

Weiss, watching this, could only shake her. "Serious and respectable one minute, a child again the next…" she muttered, taking verbal note of the way Hanako's mood seems to shift.

"Still…" Pyrrha now spoke. She was smiling. "She seems respectable. Dependable." Having always been a nice girl, the redhead liked to give people the benefit of the doubt and in regards to Hanako, although she did seem to act like a child, the way she spoke just now… Pyrrha was sure that Hanako would definitely follow through on those claims.

Next to her, Jaune could only laugh awkwardly, unsure of how to really react to Hanako's words. "If only I could sound that confident about my abilities…" he thought tiredly. In all the days that have passed since his spar with that girl in combat class, he's yet to see any real improvements in his fighting skill and it was finally beginning to eat away at him. It burned him all the more to see the rest of his teammates improve even more, watching as Pyrrha's and Nora's and Ren's movements all became just a little sharper and quicker, their skills more honed with every passing day whereas he was… stuck. And it didn't help his confidence either that guys like Cardin still liked to use him as their personal punching bag.

"No, I gotta stay strong…" he thought, shaking his head lightly. He couldn't let such negative thoughts get to him. After all, his parents had both told him that negativity will only produce bad results. So he had to stay as mentally fortified as he could. If not for his own sake, then at least for the sake of his team. As their leader, he was the one responsible for their safety in whatever future dangers they may find themselves in.

He was roused from his thoughts when he heard Weiss make another comment. "I'll be more inclined to believe your words when you do something about those White Fang people. Damn Faunus…" she muttered.

At those words, Blake looked at the snowy white haired girl icily. "Weiss…" she began. Underneath her bow, her cat ears twitched quickly yet violently in response to her flaring emotions. Thankfully for her, no one took notice of this.

Save for just one person.

Hanako observed Blake silently as she and the rest of team RWBY and JNPR began to converse before making their way to class, bidding Hanako goodbye after a time.

It really wasn't until the two teams and the rest of the students left the hallway that the humanoid magical weapon finally let out a sigh that she had been holding in. "So I kind of was right," she thought passively. "Judging by her reaction, she used to be in the White Fang."

She, along with her master, the rest of team magi, and Ozpin, had known from the start that Blake was Faunus. It was simply too obvious to them, though it most certainly seemed as though the bow provided enough of a cover to fool the other students of Beacon. However, it had been also obvious that there was more to Blake than what meets the eye too; her fighting skills were too advanced for someone that hadn't even attended a combat school prior to coming here to Beacon. This wasn't even getting into the fact that files on a number of White Fang incidents featured reports concerning an individual with features a lot like Blake's own, though said files were very much classified.

But what really helped Hanako was her own 'intuition.' More specifically, Mimisbrunner. Back when she had first been summoned by Naruto, this 'sight' of hers only allowed her to observe and record information on others as it came, so if the opponent purposely kept an ability or skill hidden, Hanako would be none the wiser about it. But that had been centuries ago. Now having developed the ability further, Mimisbrunner was capable of virtually peering into a select 'target's' past, more specifically showing the magical weapon not only almost all of the target's abilities and skills, but also key events that would explain said target's abilities/skills in the first place.

As powerful an ability as this was though, it still takes a bit of time for her to accurately obtain the necessary information. And it wasn't until now that she was finally able to discover the 'truth' of Blake Belladonna.

And it saddened Hanako considerably.

She and her Master and friends never once thought lowly of Faunus. Hell, a number of their friends from decades past have been Faunus. To see the injustice that these people had to go through simply because of certain 'differences' angered the magi greatly.

That said, it also worried them too; ever since the White Fang changed its ways from peaceful protest to a more militant and terroristic approach, they've come to worry over the possible eruption of another human-Faunus war. Especially since it looked as though the White Fang was now getting help from Roman Torchwick of all people, a man whose strength and skill was only outdone by his criminal cunning.

"Hmmm…" Hanako, even now in the midst of her 'punishment,' could only think of one thing now: the storm that was inevitably brewing.

And sooner or later… it was going to come striking.

Elsewhere, Roman Torchwick was finding himself having yet another not-good day. Not exactly a bad day, but not good either.

"I'm sorry," he began, removing the cigar from his mouth. "Mind repeating that for me again?"

Cinder, who had stopped by his current hidey hole to talk with him, stayed calm in the face of his growing irritation. "In a few days' time, there will be a large shipment of Dust arriving at Vale's port. I want you to go and get it all for me."

The professional criminal looked at the black haired woman with raised eyebrows. Then he actually snarled. "Are you kidding me? It's one thing to go around stealing Dust from your corner store Dust shops… but now you want me to go and steal a veritable mine of Dust from a freaking port?!" He was getting incredibly frustrated. Here Cinder stood before him, casually requesting of him to go and steal all of that Dust as if it was an easy task, like going to buy groceries. Did this woman not understand just how hard it is to steal from small places? Especially in Vale, where he had to worry about hunters and huntresses roaming around in addition to the usual police force? Because it was definitely harder than it looked and required a considerable amount of planning. And now she wants him to go for a place much bigger than just a simple Dust shop.

Cinder smirked slowly. "What? Don't feel up to the challenge, Roman?"

Oh how much he wanted to hit her. Roman wanted nothing more than to take his cane and hit her right across the cheek. What kept him from doing so was the fact that Cinder was a league or two above him. Starting a fight wasn't going to end well for him, especially since he's come to deduce that she has some rather powerful allies hiding in the shadows. "I would feel up to it," he began. "If I had more than just two or three days notice! I'm not sure just how you plan out your little secret agenda, but-."

"Roman." Cinder's voice lost its calmness and gained a more chilling edge to it, silencing him immediately. But as soon as it had appeared, her calmness returned. "Relax. I know that I am asking a bit… much of you. But don't worry too much."

"And why's that?" Roman asked, taking a puff of his cigar.

"Because just the other day, I got an interesting call from… a comrade of mine," Cinder began a little slowly. Indeed, her master had called the other day to inquire about what's been going on. It had been him that had suggested the port in the first place. And in turn, he also offered a little 'aid' that, should she be able to convince Roman to accept the job, would definitely make things easier. "He's willing to lend you some extra manpower to handle the job."

Now that got Roman's interest. Not enough to make his frustration die down, but enough to make him willing enough to listen. "And just how much extra manpower are we talking about? Because those goons Junior lent me positively sucked and those damn Faunus from the White Fang are only marginally more competent."

The black haired woman allowed herself a chuckle. "Why, a single person."

That wasn't what Roman had wanted to hear. Throwing his cigar aside, he glared at Cinder. "Are you yanking my leg here?! Just one extra person?!"

"Not just anyone though," Cinder replied. She began to lightly walk around the room. "A… Holy Knight. Really, Roman, you should feel honored."

"Holy Knight?" Roman repeated the term in confusion.

"Yes. And not just any Holy Knight either…" Cinder trailed off. "Let's just say that with him alone, you could forgo stealth entirely for this job if you so desired."

Roman quirked an eyebrow, surprised and impressed. "Is this guy really that powerful an asset? Enough for me to actually forget about port security?"

"Roman, he's so powerful that you could go up against Vale's and Atlas' entire military combined and emerge victorious as long as he is with you," Cinder said with a smirk.

Roman simply stared at her, no longer feeling frustrated. Instead, he thought this over. And he was at an impasse. On the one hand, such an ally would definitely be most helpful, sheer curiosity about this guy aside. On the other hand, this person appeared to be one of Cinder's elusive allies and that fact alone spoke volumes to him. It also raised a few questions too, like why Cinder simply couldn't have this mysterious ally of hers aid her in her own agenda rather than rely on him.

"Well?" Cinder then asked, snapping him out of his thoughts. "What's it going to be, Roman?"

The man stayed quiet. First for several seconds, then for longer. Ultimately, nearly two whole minutes passed before he finally gave her an answer.

"Fine then. I'll do it."

Oh man, what a time it's been recently. I seriously can't wait until college is fully done for me. Sure, once I graduate I'll have to get a job and all that real world jazz, but at least I'll get paid for my troubles rather than have to pay to go to college.

Anyways, as it is the nearly the end of my semester, finals are coming up, so I can't be too sure of how much time I'll have on my hands to work on the next chapter. Nonetheless, I'll do my best to work on this fic.

And just a few more weeks until Kadenz Fermata comes out! Hope someone translates it so I can keep up with it.

Until next time, everyone. Take care and have a Happy Thanksgiving!