God above, these past several days have been stressful! But thankfully, it's all over now. Just have to deal with my finals and I am pretty much done. Of course, make it sound so easy to my own ears… sigh….

Well that said, from pretty much this chapter and onwards, things will definitely be progressing differently than what is shown in RWBY canon. So once the next battle goes down, expect things to no longer be following what's already occurred in RWBY! And it's my hope that you all will enjoy this…

Now onto the chapter!

Chapter 6

"Slow down, slow down…" a woman softly said, speaking soothingly to a number of children energetically running around the school yard during their recess time.

The kids in question obeyed the woman without fail nor hesitation. "Okay, teacher Yuko!" they all cried out in one voice.

Yuko smiled beautifully as they did slow their running a bit yet still very much retaining their livelihood.

She's changed a bit since Ragnarok. No longer was she a thin and somewhat short girl. Now physically in her mid-twenties, Yuko's body had actually filled out considerably while still retaining its slender, almost petite form. Although her skin was still rather pale, it lacked the 'coldness' from long ago, radiating a more ethereal beauty if anything else now. Combined with her equally pale hair that went down to just a bit past her shoulders along with her piercing red eyes and soft features, she made for quite a sight.

Dressed in simple shoes, blue jeans, and a long sleeve white shirt, the red eyed ancient magus patted herself down, getting rid of whatever dirt may have clung to her.

Looking over the school yard, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of all the children playing so carefreely. This was sight made all the more wonderful by the fact that this school was one in the kingdom of Vacuo, where conditions were certainly… tiresome to deal with.

More like a desert than anything else, people here had to adapt in order to establish any kind of civilization, but they had managed to do so centuries ago without too much trouble. Yuko figured it was because Sunagakure had once been here on this very continent and the people just happened to be descendants of those long dead people.

"I could always be wrong though…" Yuko thought as she waved to another group of kids that were waving to her from one corner of the playground. "Still, at any rate, it's nice to be working like this…"

After Ragnarok had concluded, she had resolved to explore the world and explore the world she did prior to finally settling down and starting a family. Unlike Ryuichi though, she hadn't exactly 'lucked out' in her choice of a spouse, who wasn't a magus and so it had only been a matter of decades before her husband died and her family virtually moved on. But while it did sadden her a bit, Yuko remained strong; she, her husband, and their children had loved one another dearly even after she had revealed to them her magus status. And although her children may not be alive, her family line still continued and that was good enough for her.

Incidentally, it had also been in the raising of her own children that she had decided to become a teacher of sorts to young children. Having also been inspired by her long since deceased siblings, she also took to quietly creating an orphanage and school here in Vacuo many years back that would take in and provide for children of all ages. And although being a magus meant she couldn't exactly remain as the 'face' for the orphanage and school she established – sooner or later, people would've found it odd that she wouldn't be physically aging – Yuko was content to be working as a 'newbie' teacher for young kids. And at her own school to boot too. Life was certainly funny in that respect.

However, she knew that such a time of 'humor' and 'peace' would soon be ending. In addition to the numerous Grimm still roaming the land of Remnant, there was the most interesting message she had received from Naruto just several days ago.

"Holy Knights…" Yuko thought to herself as she moved about the playground, tending to anyone who may have hurt themselves playing. "Never would've imagined people like them existing."

She had thought long and hard on what information Naruto had left for her in the message and had come to agree with what he had proposed: a long overdue reunion of sorts between them, the 'ancient magi' as the Holy Knights apparently called them. Given how one of them had gone after Takehiko and had definitely been hostile towards them, Yuko could tell that a storm was brewing.

And it was about time she made preparations to wither it. "In just a few more days…" she muttered to herself as recess then ended and the children returned to their classes. "Just a few more days, and it'll be time for us to finally meet again, everyone."

Elsewhere, there was yet another familiar person currently caught up with work. And quite a bit of it too. "Really, it seems like the paperwork never ends," a 'young' woman commented daintily, more amused than put off by the workload. And why should it bother her after all? She's had many years to get used to it.

"Sorry madam, but it's how it is," her assistant, a young woman with rather plain features and dressed in a blouse and work appropriate skirt, replied.

Her boss simply shrugged it off. "Well, it can't be helped after all," she said dismissively.

As she chuckled a bit, her assistant found herself for not the first time in slight awe of her boss.

Looking like a woman in her mid-twenties or so, said boss sported a most curvaceous and well endowed figure, shown off slightly in the elegant work dress she wore, complimenting her seemingly perfect skin. With captivating blue eyes, luscious black hair that went down to halfway down her back and a regal air about her, it was clear to anyone, man or woman, that the CEO of the Schnee family's rival corporation was a true beauty, unearthly so.

She shook herself out of her reverie and continued to speak. "That said, madam… just why the sudden change in your schedule? I don't recall you ever really taking some time off for anything…"

Her boss smiled. "Ah, something came up, I suppose you could say. Not related at all to work, but rather to something a bit more… personal." Her smile took on a nostalgic quality. "And I'll also be seeing someone from my past for the first time in a long time… so there is also that to look forward to."

At that, her assistant perked up. Her boss rarely spoke of anything related to her past and as such it was a subject of much intrigue to many other people. "Really?" she inquired.

"Mhm. A shame he is married though…" her boss commented offhandedly. "He was really the only for me as far as I'm concerned."

Her assistant nearly goggled. "I-I see…" Ever since her boss had risen to the position of CEO meteorically, there have been many attempts by many different kinds of people to get into her good graces. Of these attempts, many of them had been done with the aim of 'partnership' with her. And her boss had, albeit politely, refused each and every 'offer.' It was to the point where many now began to wonder if perhaps she was batting for the other team or even asexual… but it looked like they just got proven wrong.

"Ah, but I've talked enough about this, I suppose," her boss then said. "For now, let us just get the rest of the work done. After all, I want nothing to delay me once I leave for Vale." She then motioned for her assistant to carry on with her duties.

"A-Ah, of course…" the assistant then trailed off, leaving the grand office and quickly at that too. Her boss may certainly be a woman of great intellect, wit, and patience, but she demanded nothing short of the best from those working for her.

And so it was now that she was alone that Masami, CEO of the Four Leaves Dust Company, finally allowed herself a true smile of nostalgia and anticipation. "To think that these… these Holy Knights would really exist… their seeming hostility aside, I wonder just how things will be shaken up…"

To anyone who could've possibly been listening, one would think Masami was perhaps fine with these Holy Knights and their actions. This was far from the truth. She was just as much 'threatened' by them as her fellow ancient magi were. However, that wasn't to say that she was going to simply show her worry aloud, not even in private. That said, she certainly had to admit that for one Holy Knight to be capable of fighting on par with them was impressive. If the other Holy Knights were packing just as much power, then the slight urgency for this 'reunion of the ancient magi' was understandable. Furthermore, it would seem that Ryuichi, when he had called her to inform her of all this, was unaware as to how many Holy Knights existed and the same went for everyone else.

Things certainly were going to get shaken up, it would seem. And although she knew this was somewhat wrong of her, Masami couldn't help but smile a bit in slight anticipation of it all; it meant that sooner or later, she and her fellow ancient magi would have the chance to cut loose after centuries of hiding.

She almost couldn't wait for that to happen.

Meanwhile, in Vale, Ryuichi was finding himself a little torn over his current 'assignment.' He knew that he, his wife, Naruto, Miki, and Hanako had all pledged their support to Ozpin and promised they'd watch over the students of Beacon… but now the black haired magus couldn't help but wonder if maybe Ozpin was going a little too far.

He thought this for he was currently watching from afar one Blake Belladonna. As of two days ago, the young huntress in training had unintentionally outed herself as a Faunus to her teammates before running away. Her teammates had been looking for her ever since with little rest.

Now, while a runaway student was certainly a cause of concern, the main reason why Ryuichi was tailing her was because of Blake's less than stellar past. He, and consequentially his wife and friends, was aware of Blake's former ties to the White Fang. Although they all knew she had turned over a new leaf long ago, there was a slight concern that former associates of hers would track her down and rope her into trouble since she was on her own now and without her teammates.

Or so Ozpin had reasoned before requesting Ryuichi to personally find her and shadow her from afar.

Intellectually, Ryuichi could understand his reasoning. Although they knew very little of Blake's past in regards to the White Fang, they knew just enough to understand that the group may be less than amicable to Blake should they ever cross paths again. And with said group now apparently working with Roman Torchwick, who had lately been targeting places all across Vale, there was a small yet ever growing chance that Blake may run into a former 'comrade.' And it would be up to Ryuichi to ensure that Blake, being a cherished friend of team RWBY's members and student of Beacon, remained safe.

"But it feels more like I'm tailing a criminal with every second…" he muttered as he lightly moved from one rooftop to another, keeping a distance of roughly 600 meters from Blake as to remain unseen. Indeed, with how Blake had so abruptly run off from her team and the academy in addition to how she still remained wandering almost aimlessly around town, it would seem that the cat Faunus had little intention to head back to Beacon right now.

As it now stood to him, the girl was currently heading away from the city itself and more towards a port of all things. Ryuichi figured it was because over there it was pretty quiet and devoid of people, especially since now it was virtually night time.

However, it became apparent only a handful of minutes later that tonight wasn't going to be a quiet night for this particular area and it was in the form of a ship beginning to fly in from overhead.

Instinctively, Ryuichi hid himself, slipping into the shadows before whoever was flying spotted him. As he did so, a sudden shiver made itself known to him and in such a way that he immediately redirected his attention from Blake to the ship overhead.

"Something's up…" he muttered to himself. Of course, one would think that he was referring to the most obvious sight of the ship heading for the port, but it wasn't that that held his attention.

There was something or someone aboard the ship that was setting off alarm bells in the ancient magus' head.

Ryuichi watched in silence as the ship headed for the port, his eyes widening as he then took note of two things: one, off in the far distance, he could see a number of huge cargo loads filled with Dust, said substance having been shipped in sometime earlier today. And second, Blake was now heading for the port, no doubt just as intrigued by the ship's presence as Ryuichi was.

Without even the slightest bit of sound, Ryuichi gave chase after both Blake and the ship. Tonight was no longer going to be an uneventful one, it'd seem.

As for Blake, the Faunus huntress was currently in something of a mental rut. Never had she intended for her teammates to find out about her Faunus status… well, perhaps that hadn't been true. She probably would've told them eventually, but not for a long while. Not until she was sure that they could be truly trusted. But Weiss just had to go and start railing against the White Fang and Faunus in general after they all had seen a monkey-type Faunus run from the cops. It had angered her so much that she had started to argue with Weiss and ultimately slip up, revealing more than she had ever planned.

And now look at what that's led her to. Out here roaming Vale without even the slightest thought on where to go. And now here was this ship flying out to the port.

"What's going on?" Blake wondered as she ran towards the port, trying to keep the ship in sight.

A part of her silently asked of her to stop what she was doing. Clearly whatever was going on was something most definitely out of the ordinary, something that one shouldn't simply walk into. But at the same time, the rest of her screamed to go and see what was happening. And so it was perhaps against her better logic that Blake put on a sudden burst of speed, almost anxious to see just what would become of this night.

Up in the ship – the Bullhead, it's called – the White Fang members were currently resting up against the side of the ship, waiting for the Bullhead to touchdown.

In spite of their calm façade, which was helped by the masks they had long since taken to wearing, they couldn't help but feel nervous around their most recent… ally.

"Hrmm, you all sure are a quiet bunch, eh?" Heracles remarked with an amused grin.

The 1st seat of the Holy Knights had joined the White Fang for the time being, on order from his captain. Apparently, with how things were currently going, the captain was going to be in considerable need of Dust and he needed it soon. And given the ever busy schedule of his apprentice, Cinder, amongst other things, the captain had requested of him to go and aid Cinder's little troupe with securing this particular Dust load.

Now Heracles, as lax as he may appear to be now, was no unconcerned fool. If the captain would request him, the strongest of the Holy Knights, to go and do such a little 'errand,' then that meant that something may come of this night. His captain was a very intelligent man, capable of planning out quite a few different things and being able to know what was going to happen in advance on more than one occasion. In fewer words… Heracles was convinced that something was going to become of this night.

His grin took on a more excited quality, causing a number of the White Fang members around him to move further away from him as his muscles bristled under his clothes and his mana began to slightly 'leak out,' all but suffocating them slowly. Indeed, despite him being a Faunus much like them, it would seem that he was too unnatural a person for them to truly be calm around.

However, Heracles was snapped from his thoughts when perhaps the most unlikely person approached him. "We're about to touch down and do this shindig… and all you can do is just sit around?" Roman all but barked to the much larger man as he entered the room. He gave his cane a little twirl. "I don't know just how you do your work… but I hope you live up to the hype."

Roman's tone was clipped, his sentences rather brief. It's been an absolute pain having to plan this all out. While he did indeed accept this job in the first place, it still did little to relieve him and less so when Heracles had shown up to join this little crew earlier today. Though he'd never quite say it aloud though, the lion Faunus did unnerve him a fair bit.

Heracles slowly looked to the shorter man, unperturbed by his harsh words. "Oh trust me. You made the right choice in having me here." Heracles simply smiled as he stood up to his full height, towering over everyone else there.

"Yeah well, don't expect me to start singing your praises just yet," Roman retorted. "Cinder has been constantly yanking my chain and working with animals like you all really isn't making me feel that much better either. And 'Holy Knight' or not, you better not screw this up."

Some of the White Fang members growled at Roman's insult towards them. They were working with him solely because it was a mutual partnership of sorts. That didn't mean they didn't think of doing away with him, especially when he was being less than tolerable.

Heracles however was unaffected by his words. "Oh I'm sure by tonight's end, you'll be eating those words, little man," he replied almost jovially. Then as if to mock Roman, he patted the criminal on the head.

Roman's eyebrows twitched furiously, especially when he heard a few dark chuckles from some of the members around him. He then shook himself loose of Heracles' relaxed grip and backed away. "We're here, kiddies. Show time."

And with that, the Bullhead had finally reached the port.

From atop a nearby building, Blake watched as the Bullhead slowed before lowering towards the ground. It didn't lower all the way, however; there simply wasn't enough space for the ship to land safely at its current location. It did lower enough though for a number of White Fang members to jump out of the ship.

"The White Fang?!" Blake thought in great shock. She knew that they wouldn't simply change their ways from when she had still been a member, but to see them here in Vale of all places wasn't something she had been expecting.

However, her shock only grew when she saw Roman Torchwick of all people come walking out of the Bullhead once it maneuvered a bit so that it actually could land on the ground. "Alright, get a move on, you little mutts! We don't have all night!"

At his demand, the cat Faunus bristled, her cat ears twitching under the bow she wore. She really couldn't stand guys like him. And given the exact circumstances, she figured she might try to do something about Torchwick…

Meanwhile at Beacon Academy, Naruto was currently resting in his room for a while. Dressed in his casual clothes, he sat across from his wife at the small table that the room came provided with for them to eat their meals. "Wonder if Ryuichi is enjoying his little 'errand…'" he commented listlessly as he looked out of the window nearby.

Miki shrugged. "I doubt it. I mean, after all he is following Ms. Belladonna around…" She trailed off, having made her point.

With a sigh, Naruto nodded. "Yeah, good point. It doesn't really sit well with any of us that we have to keep such a watchful eye over students like her, her past with the White Fang aside." Indeed, it felt so wrong to watch Blake so carefully. It was as if she was a criminal herself. "Still… what do you think, Hanako?" he then asked of his magical weapon, now looking to said person lying on her bed.

To someone who doesn't know Hanako well, it'd look as if she was asleep due to her closed eyes and paced breathing. However, both Naruto and Miki knew quite well that she was still wide awake. "I think the same way you do, Master, Miki-chan." She opened her eyes and now sat up, a slight grimace on her face. "But it can't be denied that it is the most pragmatic and logical decision to watch over her so closely. After all, there is no telling when her past with the White Fang will catch up with her."

Slowly, Naruto nodded. With another sigh, he leaned back in his chair. "Yeah… damn, even after so many years being alive, things like this still give me bad and uncomforting vibes."

"But we can't let it get to us though…" Miki said softly. "After all, not only is that pretty much what we have to deal with naturally, we did promise Katsumi…" At the mention of Katsumi's name, she trailed off, a slight wince on her face.

Naruto and Hanako as well also sported a brief look of pain.

For Katsumi, a woman who had once been a good friend of Naruto's grandparents Tatsuya and Kiyomi, was now dead.

The long lived magus had finally passed away from old age just a little less than a century ago at the tender age of 994, thereby proving to Naruto and his wife and friends just how long a magus can truly live for, though even now they were unsure if Katsumi had simply been some kind of slight exception to the norm.

Despite her passing, it had been one of general peace, with the older magus who had only barely looked 30 at the time having died with a content smile on her face. Before that, she had had Naruto, Miki, Hanako, Ryuichi, and Mari ultimately promise her to still continue living on with smiles on their faces and determination in their hearts to continue doing what they can to help the world. It was a promise they made without hesitation.

Still didn't change the fact that her death had hurt them quite a bit. They had known her for a very long time after all.

And she hadn't been the only one from the time of Ragnarok to have died either; decades before her passing, Tomoko and Nobuo had also died as well. The former, having been a rather sickly girl prior to awakening as a magus, had a considerably shorter lifespan than the average magus and had passed away peacefully in her sleep. The no longer little girl had left in her passing a well doing company meant to help Faunus find good paying jobs in society and it was a company that still did well to this very day. As for Nobuo, the man had always been at Tomoko's side, watching over her in a near silent and ever caring vigil. Once she had passed away, he calmly took to visiting her grave for extended periods of time, going without food nor drink the whole time. Tomoko and her family had been the world to him and when she had passed away, he had lost virtually all connection to the world at large and so he died as well little more than a month after Tomoko's funeral.

He was now buried alongside the woman he once called ojou-sama, now resting in peace in the next life with her.

Giving himself a light slap or two to the face, Naruto then shook his head. "Come on now…" he began, smiling a little. "We shouldn't let our moods get so down; they wouldn't want us to be this way." He said it as a matter of fact. Just as they all had promised Katsumi to continue living on, they too had made vows with the other two deceased magi that they'd continue on as well in their stead. Ryuichi in particular took this most seriously, occasionally dropping in on Tomoko's company to see how things were going for it.

At his words, Miki and Hanako perked up slightly. "…Yeah, you're right, Naruto." Miki said, slowly smiling again. She pumped her left fist as if she was getting excited over some kind of challenge. "We still have plenty left to do during our own lifespans. We have to make it count."

"Nn!" Hanako made a sound of agreement, enthusiastically nodding her head.

"And while it does still bother us that we have to do this sort of thing… I'm sure it won't amount to anything much, right? Ryuichi watching over the girl, right?" Naruto then said, bringing the topic back to that with a considerably more optimistic outlook than just a few moments ago.

"Mhm!" Hanako agreed. "After all, with Ryuichi watching her over, just what could go wrong?"

Back at the port, things were going very wrong for the young huntress in training.

Blake silently swore as she used Gambol Shroud to quickly bat aside several of the White Fang members before making a mad dash for cover, a hail of gunfire erupting in her general direction as more members aboard the Bullhead fired from afar.

"Damn it…" she thought as she leapt into the air and over a large shipping container, swatting aside a number of bullets with her blades.

Hardly a few minutes ago, she had sprung into action, using Roman's and the White Fang's almost lax attitude to her advantage by getting behind Roman and virtually taking him hostage. From there she had tried to talk her former comrades down and for a moment it had almost worked until Roman had pulled a fast one on her, slipping out her grasp with an infuriating ease and commanding the White Fang under his command to attack.

And it was from then on that she had virtually been on the run around this port. She had managed to take down a few with relative ease – they were, to put it bluntly, grunt after all – but they had the advantage in numbers and they seemed to recognize her well enough to know how she fights, for a number of her attacks had actually been avoided without too much trouble on their parts.

"Well don't just stand around and shoot!" Roman then yelled in annoyance as some of the White Fang members continued to shoot for a few seconds at the container. "Circle around and get her! Except for you four! Get back to work and get those containers on board!"

As much as they disliked the criminal, the White Fang obeyed without hesitation. In one perfect motion, several members made a run for it around the container while a few others continued to fire at it, hoping to distract Blake.

It didn't.

Thanks to her cat ears, she had excellent hearing and managed to hear Roman's words over the deafening gunfire. In response, she drew her swords from their sheathes and slid them back, turning them into their gun forms. Aiming at both corners of the containers, she waited for little more than second before the White Fang began to appear.

Immediately, she pulled the triggers and unleashed a brief burst of gunfire. The members jumped back, ducking for cover. But shooting them hadn't been her aim; she had simply shot at the ground before them. Using their instinctive cover-dive to her advantage, Blake then rushed the nearest members.

One of them squawked in surprise yet still had it in him to throw a punch at her. But the instant it hit Blake, the cat Faunus seemed to suddenly fade.

It had been nothing more than clone, a result of her semblance.

The real Blake had swiftly ducked under the Faunus' arm and swung upwards with the back of her blade, knocking him back enough to stagger the others behind him and allowing her just enough time to get away.

Running past them, she twirled on the spot and pivoted, gracefully avoiding the seemingly everlasting hail of gunfire from the other members there. Returning some fire of her own, she took note of some other members busting open a shipping container and carrying back to the Bullhead smaller containers that had been inside of it. No doubt, these smaller containers were filled to the brim with Dust.

Her eyes narrowed. She didn't know what exactly Roman had planned, but letting him get away with all of this Dust couldn't be allowed.

Faster than the White Fang could react, she put on a burst of speed, now heading straight for the ones that were trying to head for the Bullhead. Using a clone to distract temporarily the ones still shooting at her, she attached Gambol Shroud to her ribbons and swung them towards the members carrying the Dust containers.

But before they could meet their mark, Blake could only watch as the blades were deflect back at her by Roman, who swatted them aside with his cane, Melodic Cudgel. He 'tsked' almost playfully. "Have to hand it to you, kitty-cat. I hadn't been expecting company tonight and especially not one so annoying." He twirled his cane while using his free hand to motion for the White Fang members behind him to continue loading the Dust onto their ship. "Now how about you do me a little favor and buzz off?"

"In your dreams, maybe," Blake retorted, readying Gambol Shroud. She took note of the other White Fang members drawing closer for a much better shot at her.

"Well that's a real shame…" Roman muttered with a slight grin.

Then the White Fang opened fire on Blake.

She had long since seen that coming and used yet another clone to take the hits for her, lunging at Roman in anger. Immediately going on the offensive, she swung her blades virtually all over the place, zipping around the older man with her clearly superior speed.

But while he couldn't match her in speed, Roman's reflexes were still great enough to keep up with her wild assault. With a look of wry amusement on his face, Roman masterfully blocked and dodged every single hit with Melodic Cudgel, his cane more than durable enough to withstand the frightening cutting force of Blake's blades.

Seething, Blake made a clone just as Roman tried to punch her. He ended up striking the clone instead just as the real Blake crouched low before leaping, hoping to nail him in the head with a solid blow. All she succeeded in doing was leaving herself open to attack as he dodged her counter.

With a laugh, Roman went for the opening, twirling his cane around with a practiced ease. Blake was hardly able to react at all as he suddenly began to land one hit after another to her arms and midsection. Though the hits were not too damaging – he was merely playing with her – the sheer number of blows plus where they were striking her quickly began to take a toll upon her.

Finally, Roman side stepped the staggering Blake and used his cane to knock her off her feet. "Gah!" She fell to the ground hard and could now only look up at Roman, who now pointed the end of his cane at her. Her eyes went wide when she saw the cane now sport a trigger for the man to pull. It seemed to her that much like all of the other students at Beacon, Roman utilized a weapon that also had gun-like features.

"Oh well, guess this is just what happens when a cat gets curiou-ow!" Roman began to taunt before he was abruptly stopped, his cane suddenly knocked out of his hand. Holding his hand in pain, he backed away from Blake and looked to his left, which is where the sudden attack had come from. "Who just-?!"

"Me."

He hardly had a chance to react to the person now right behind him. Before he even realized it, the person struck him hard in the back with a fierce, throwing him into the air towards the Bullhead with great speed.

Blake could only watch in slight awe. Her savior had literally been too fast for her to even see. But now with Torchwick having been dealt such a hit, she finally noticed why the White Fang had stopped firing upon her a while ago. Originally, she had assumed it was because they hadn't wanted to risk hitting Roman by mistake. Only now did she see that sometime after she had engaged Roman in battle, they had been knocked out cold.

Looking to her savior who now approached her, the cat Faunus' eyes widened greatly. "M-Mr. Sumeragi?!" she nearly exclaimed in absolute shock.

Standing before her was none other than one of Beacon Academy's cooks. She found herself looking him over and taking in his more casual clothes along with his demeanor. He appeared to hold himself as some kind of powerful warrior – she could tell just by his posture – and it certainly showed. Just by being in front of him, she felt diminished.

However, Ryuichi wasn't looking to her. Instead, he was focused on Roman and the Bullhead. He broke his gaze just long enough for him to silently help Blake to her feet, a small apologetic smile on his face. "I'm sure you've a lot of questions, Ms. Belladonna. But they're going to have to wait for now…" He looked back to the Bullhead just as Roman now struggled to get back on his feet, Ryuichi's little 'love tap' having done some serious damage to him. "Because something else is about to happen."

"What…?" Blake asked slowly, her mind having a hard time wrapping itself around this very sudden change in situation. It wasn't exactly every day that one gets saved by what amounts to a school's cook.

But Ryuichi didn't answer her. He had watched the events thus far play out, sensing something amiss the whole time. It wasn't until he had stepped in to deal with the White Fang while Blake tried to fight Roman that he truly pinpointed the 'source' of his worry. And said source was located within the Bullhead. And whoever or whatever the source was had been watching him intently when he joined the 'fight' just now.

"Guh…!" Roman now got to his feet, rubbing his back with a look of pain upon his face. Stumbling a bit towards the Bullhead, he tapped its hull loudly. "You plan to join in any time soon?!" he all but roared.

The response to his question had been a booming laugh, enough to make the criminal nearly flinch away from the ship and Blake to suddenly feel on edge.

"I was merely waiting for a more opportune time to join in," Heracles then said as he made himself known, exiting the Bullhead. Touching down on the ground, he stood to his full height as he looked over in Ryuichi's and Blake's direction.

The latter of the two immediately felt every hair on her body stiffen up in what could only be called terror. The Faunus now standing a ways away from her was positively massive. But it was more than just his height and muscular build that scared her. There was just this presence about him that made her feel incredibly small, like an ant trying to stand up in the face of Deathstalker. And what made it all the worse was the fact that he hardly seemed to actually be doing it on purpose.

"And I most certainly chose the best time indeed to step in…" Heracles grinned, his muscles tensing up from excitement. "To think I'd meet one of all nights here! An ancient magus!"

Ryuichi immediately tensed up himself, subtly shifting into a fighting stance. From the very beginning, he knew that this lion Faunus wasn't an ordinary individual, not in the least. But his outfit and words now truly sincerely confirmed it for him.

"A Holy Knight…" Ryuichi muttered.

Things had suddenly taken a drastic turn this night. And he doubted it'd be for the better.

Done and done!

Sorry if it seems like things moved fast this chapter, but I feel that I shouldn't try to drag things out too much. That said, just because Heracles, the 1st seat of the Holy Knights is already on the scene doesn't mean things are already peaking; I still have plenty of things in store for this fic. This is really only the tip of the iceberg for now.

Oh and as for Yuko and Masami, imagine the former as looking like Zero from Drakengard 3 minus the flower growing out of the eye and stuff while the latter (Masami) is pretty much the same as before, only slightly older looking.

That aside though, as always thanks for reading! Don't forget to review and as always as well, I hope you all will take care!