Let me start off this AN by first saying that I hope you all had a good start to the new year. Hard to believe 2014 is now over. I swear time just seems to pass by faster and faster with every passing year.
Well, that being said, from here on out, this fic will now be going on in its own direction with its own events now that the recent chapter has dealt with the finale of RWBY volume 1. However, it will still be some time before things truly kick into overdrive, so once again I ask you all bear with me until the sparks really begin to fly. And when they do fly, they really will fly! I have a lot in mind for this fic and I'm simply itching to get to it in a reasonable manner.
That also now said, within a few more weeks, my new semester will begin. And while 5 of my 6 classes should (theoretically) be easy/simple, it's still 6 classes here so that will eat away at my time. This is excluding the family/friend things I also do during my free time. Also as I got Guilty Gear Xrd for Christmas in addition to 3 major novels I've been itching to read, my free time to write may be reduced even more. But nonetheless, I will be trying to write when I can and I should be able to keep up the same posting pace I've been setting for myself thus far.
Oh and on a side note, I also put up a link to Kadenz Fermata's opening on my profile page. I thank Loyal Yoxall for posting the video opening! Give it a look, guys!
Now onto the chapter!
Chapter 9
Roman was not having a great week. Although it's been four days since the 'port fiasco' as he called it, his back was still killing him from the hit he took from Ryuichi.
"Damn it!" he nearly snarled out as he sat slowly in his seat at the club owned by one Hei Xiong, who preferred to be called Junior. Having come here for what he considered to be a well-deserved drink, the criminal mastermind was honestly reconsidering his journey here as all this place seemed to be accomplishing was aggravating his back pain even more. He'd really have to give Junior a piece of his mind about the furniture.
"Though I guess I won't have to worry about that anyway…" he thought, taking note of the club. There appeared to be a massive hole in the roof and although the place has been cleaned, Roman swore that he could still see some debris here and there as people went about their usual business (Junior refused to close down the club).
"Torchwick…" a gruff voice then said.
"Ah, speak of the devil," Roman said with a sarcastic smirk as the owner himself, Junior, approached him. He took a moment to look surprised as Junior's clothes sported a thin yet noticeable layer of dust that didn't seem to be coming off at all. "You know you-."
"I know," Junior growled, trying in vain to wipe off the dust. Sighing at this failure, he took a seat next to Roman at the bar. Just as Roman noticed his current state, Junior too took notice of Roman's almost twitching backside. "Just what happened to you?"
"I ought to ask you that first…" Roman made a grand sweeping motion with his right hand, his fingers pointing all around him. "What happened to this place? Your boys' stupidity struck again or something?" he asked of him, making a jab at the mobsters that Junior had at his disposal.
"Ha, I wish," Junior began. "Just a few days back, some guy came flying in through the damn roof, making all of this mess. Then before I could even react, he just got up, dusted himself off and leapt back through the hole."
At that, Roman paused after finishing ordering his drink from the bartender. "Through the roof, huh?"
"Yeah." Junior looked to him, suspicion on his face. "What? You know something about this?"
"Depends. What did the guy look like?" Roman coolly replied.
Junior quirked an eyebrow, bust answered anyway. "About your height. Well built. Black hair and eyes…"
"With a glove on his left hand?" Roman chipped in.
"Yeah." Junior now turned in his seat towards Roman, who had a grimace on his face now.
"That's him alright. He kicked me in the back during my most recent… operation," Roman then said. His grimace lifted ever so slightly when the bartender finally returned with his drink, of which he took a good sip of.
"With the White Fang, eh?" Junior then spoke. He took some pleasure in Roman's look of complete surprise. "You forget I'm an information broker, Torchwick…" He chuckled a bit. But then looked serious once again. "Though I gotta say, didn't expect you of all people to be working with the White Fang."
"It's a complicated and long story," Roman eventually said, taking another sip of his drink, savoring it. The alcohol helped distract him from the pain in his back.
"Well it's not like I'm going anywhere…" Junior began.
Roman waved him off. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to get caught up in this damn mess I'm in. It just isn't worth it."
"Then why stick around for it?" Junior asked, genuinely bewildered. "If it's that big a mess, what's stopping you from just leaving?"
At that question, Roman fell quiet as he remembered his interactions with Cinder. The woman, ever so mysterious, most likely had some way of tracking him down herself and should it come to a fight between him and her, he'd be the loser. So there was that to mainly consider.
However, what really held him back were those Holy Knights. Even when he and the White Fang had taken off with the Dust, they had still been close enough to see briefly the battle between Heracles and Ryuichi. And while said battle had been rather short, it had left him with an almost overwhelming sense of awe and terror. Just what were these Holy Knights that Cinder seemed to be affiliated with? This was the question that was now eating away at him. It was simply too mind numbingly interesting for him to ignore. Of course, there was the fact that Cinder could probably request one of these Holy Knights into tracking him down for her and disposing of him if need be, but even this potential threat hardly fazed him; it was really the desire to know what the Holy Knights were and what they had Cinder had planned that had him so worked up now.
"I… suppose you could say there's something interesting going on," Roman eventually said to Junior. "This whole thing with the White Fang may be FUBAR in my opinion… but there's more to it than what I originally thought and I'm actually curious to see just how it'll all play out."
"Mmm…" Junior merely hummed at Roman's response, trying to make sense of it. But a minute later, he simply sighed as nothing really came to mind. He simply didn't know enough to guess at what Roman could be giving away. "Well, it's your life. Just don't blame anyone else if this curiosity of yours comes back to bite you in the ass."
"I'll keep that in mind, Junior. I'll keep that in mind," Roman said before going back to his drinking.
And so it was for the rest of his visit to the club that the two of them would sit there in silence, merely contemplating what was to come next.
Meanwhile at Beacon Academy, students flitted about the place, heading from one class to the next with about as much enthusiasm as one would expect of them.
However, the exceptions to this norm were none other than teams RWBY and JNPR, who chatted with one another as they headed for their next class together.
"So just what do you think is gonna happen now?" Ruby asked, somewhat nervous. She was beginning to feel a little antsy in regards to this whole new affair going on. She knew intellectually that it wasn't as if the magi were going to immediately start going after the Holy Knights or that said Holy Knights would start attacking yet again, but the suspense was slowly getting to her now.
"Don't know. All we can do is wait it out, right?" Ren of all people answered in a calm manner. Looking idly to his team and team RWBY, it was clear that all of them were feeling some sense of tension over this whole event and he found himself very hard-pressed to blame them; after the magi had quietly debated strategy with one another, Ozpin had taken to informing them of the ancient magi's 'origins.' Needless to say, all of the information learned had blown their minds and only served to further make the teens feel on edge. After all, they would now more or less be working alongside people that have been around for centuries and had spent all of that time fighting and honing their already formidable skills. That being said, Ren felt that perhaps he was taking this whole situation with a greater sense of calmness than the others, if only because he was already in the midst of mentally preparing himself for potential conflict in the future while the others seemed content for now to talk this all over first. Not that there was a problem with that, of course.
"Well, it'd certainly beat having these… Holy Knights," Weiss began, hands on her hips. "Show up on our doorstep and start another fight right now."
"Aww… but I kinda want to see for myself how tough they are!" Nora commented, a rather excited smile on her face.
"Nora, that wouldn't quite be for the best," Ren then said to his longtime friend.
"But even though we agreed to help and all, just what can we do?" Jaune spoke up, asking the crucial question. Blake having told team JNPR just what she had seen of the clash between Heracles and Ryuichi, the blond leader wasn't sure if anyone in Beacon, much less himself and his team, could do much of anything against such a powerful foe. Especially himself as his skills were still subpar in a lot of respects. Maybe he could see if someone could privately tutor him or something…
"Eh, don't sweat it too much, guys," Yang began, a cheery smile on her face. "We'll just cross that bridge when we get to it. But what really has my interest… is why would professor Namikaze dress down for class?!"
Everyone, even the normally rambunctious Nora, gave the blond girl odd looks. "Yang… I don't really think-," Blake began to say to her partner.
"Oh come on, even you have to admit that he looked pretty hot at that meeting a few days back," Yang said, cutting the Faunus girl off. She huffed a little in confusion. "Which really just makes me wonder why he'd put on a 'disguise' when teaching class! I mean, it makes him look so much less muscular and shorter than he really is!"
"Gee, I didn't know you cared so much for my choices."
Nearly everyone jumped when someone had spoken from behind them. Turning, they all saw it was none other than Naruto himself, dressed in what the two teams now regarded as his 'professor' clothes. Holding a back with his left hand, Naruto used his right to adjust the glasses he wore to keep them from falling off. Even then, the teams could tell his focus was entirely on them.
"W-Well, it does seem kind of odd to me, ya know, professor?" Yang began sheepishly. She rubbed the back of her head now. "I mean just what does this disguise do for you?"
"Mm, not much really," Naruto admitted as he proceeded to walk past them, which in turn prompted the teams to follow him. After all, they were heading to his class right now anyway. "It's mainly meant to just play down my… intimidating appearance, I guess."
"Intimidating…?" His fellow blond asked.
With a bit of an amused smile, Naruto turned to her ever so slightly even with his hunched up shoulders causing him some slight discomfort. "Let's be honest here, I know you all could feel the mana pouring off of me at the meeting." Noticing their slight flinches, he continued. "That's simply how it is for me. I have to try really damn hard to suppress my mana as much as possible in order to not literally crush others under its 'pressure.' This 'disguise' as you call it is simply meant to help facilitate a more harmless and approachable appearance for me."
"Hmm, yes, I can see that…" Amazingly it was Weiss of all people who said this, the heiress nodding along with what he had just said. Being the daughter of the Schnee company's president, she was far from a stranger to PR duty, having to always maintain a certain appearance and demeanor around others, at least until coming here to Beacon.
And it was with this in mind that something else cropped up for her: the possibility that Naruto may have lied to her during their chat all those days ago now. She knew it was common for people, for the sake of upholding a certain image, either lied or told half-truths about certain things to continue being on people's good sides and whatnot. There were also times where things had to be embellished…
"Uhm, professor…" Weiss began unsurely, much to her teammates' and team JNPR's surprise. She wasn't known for sounding so uncertain about something. "About what we talked about that one time, was what you told me…?"
"It's true, Ms. Schnee," Naruto said without hesitation. It was by no means forceful or loud, yet his soft and quiet voice at that moment rang true straight to the core for Weiss. Slowly, he turned his gaze to her while continuing to walk. "I really did have a sister and what I said regarding her really did happen." As if to ram home this point, his eyes were open ever so slightly so that Weiss could stare directly into them.
"I see. Thank you." Weiss turned her head down towards the ground. If one looked closely, they'd be surprised to see the usually stand offish girl sporting a small smile.
A silence then fell over the large group. At least until Jaune started to speak. "But you know, professor," he began. "I still can't really wrap my head around it. To think you and the others in that room had been around for so long… I mean, you all just look so young in comparison to your actual age."
That actually got a chuckle out of Naruto. "Just one of the benefits of being a magus, I guess. Of course, such long life spans have their downsides… but as long as you continue onwards in life, it's not too bad."
"Y-Yeah…" Jaune then turned away from Naruto. "And to think I found Miki and that Masami woman to be so attractive! I'd have ended up possibly flirting with centuries old women!" He muttered this under his breath in sheer amazement. Although his eyes had originally been set on Weiss, slowly over the past week or so, his rather strong crush on her was slowly beginning to fade away, which had prompted the blond boy to start taking notice of Miki and in turn definitely take notice of Masami, whose almost supernatural beauty stood out at the meeting even under such serious circumstances. But now to know that both women were more than eight centuries older than him, with Miki being married to Naruto on top of that, he quickly tried to snap himself out of crushing on them; they were way out of his league and in more than just one way now.
However, he was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Naruto looking at him intently, a rather disturbed look on his face. Jaune then colored slightly in shame when he recalled Ozpin telling them that magi happened to have sharp senses in addition to heightened physical abilities. "Looks like he heard me…" he thought in pure embarrassment and even some horror; this man walking beside him was a powerful magus from the sounds of it, more powerful than the others and was Miki's husband. "U-Uh-." He began.
Naruto just held up a hand to him. "Yeah, no worries. None at all," he said a little quickly. Then he leaned in a bit towards Jaune. "Though I'd recommend maybe finding another girl to crush on," he said, that same disturbed expression still on his face as he whispered to Jaune.
"Is something wrong?" Pyrrha asked as she and the others watched the two blonds interacting.
"Nothing at all," both blonds said in perfect sync.
"So, uh, professor," Ruby now spoke up, getting Naruto's attention, which he very much welcomed right now. "Just what exactly is going to happen now?"
At that, Naruto sighed. "As of right now, we magi are adopting a wait and see approach. But once the Holy Knights make their next move, whatever it may be, we plan to finally act. As it is, this is mainly because we're still lacking crucial info on them." His response was crisp and concise, spoken with all the efficiency the hunters and huntresses in training would now expect of such an experienced warrior. Still, it was quite a sight to see; they were unused to seeing professor Namikaze look so serious. "Ah, and Ozpin is now finally meeting with Ironwood. Their meeting had originally been planned for a date a few weeks away, but then Ironwood had bumped up the date due to the 'strange phenomenon' over there in Atlas a while back. They were supposed to meet before the 'magi meeting' as you could call it, but… well, you know how that turned out now. That said, don't expect to be hearing from the headmaster for the rest of today. Understood?" He now paused in his walking to look at teams RWBY and JNPR.
Both teams stopped as well and quickly nodded their heads, almost dumbly so as they were taken aback by Naruto's sudden shift in demeanor, the blond magus now giving off a powerful 'authoritative' vibe.
"Good," he said as he 'reverted' back to his 'professor' demeanor. "Now we're almost to class, so be sure to pay attention too. Just because we have these Holy Knights to deal with doesn't mean you can slack off on classwork… that goes double for you, Ms. Rose."
"Eh?!" Ruby cried out comically.
"Professor, just one last thing." Now it was Blake who spoke. "Since we're sticking to a wait and see approach, just what about the other magi? Will they be staying here at Beacon?"
Naruto shook his head. "No. Yuko for sure will be staying in Vale as will Daisuke. Yuko has some time off from work and Daisuke is a bit of a wanderer so no troubles there… but Takehiko and Katsu have their own duties to attend to back in Atlas and so does Masami…"
He trailed off as he and the two teams approached the classroom. He found himself confused at how eerily quiet it was. His class, while certainly a respectful bunch, was never quiet prior to lecture starting. Focusing on his hearing a bit more, the blond magus then made a 'grk' sound. For he now, through hearing alone, detected two additional people in his classroom and it didn't seem like they'd be going anywhere anytime soon.
"Professor?" Blake asked in worry, noticing his now trouble expression.
But Naruto ignored her. Walking up to the classroom door and all but throwing it open, he was greeted with the sight held within. From either side of him, teams RWBY and JNPR peered over or under his shoulders to look as well.
"Ah, Master! About time you showed up!" Hanako said exuberantly as she sat in the front row of the class, waving to him despite the stares of shock she was now garnering. "This will be my first time hearing you lecture!" Her eyes seemed to be sparkling now.
But it wasn't just her that had the class so utterly stupefied into silence. "Ah, Naruto-kun…" Masami said airily as she sat off to the very corner of the room, sitting next to a male and female student, both of whom could only stare at her, enraptured. However, whereas the female student focused more on Masami's elegant posture and dress, the male student's eyes seemed to be focused on a certain area below her neck, for she currently had both her arms folded up under them as she eyed the blond magus. "I hope you don't mind my sitting in… but currently there is no real need for me to head back to work just yet; I made sure to finish up all of that tiresome paperwork long before coming here." Masami smiled charmingly, making the whole classroom heat up a bit. "And even if not for that, I'm quite intrigued to see just how you work here…" She eyed the blond magus almost hungrily.
This in turn only made all eyes turn to Naruto, who stood at the door still, his expression frozen as he tried not to scream out in frustration.
Judging by the looks his own students were giving him, it looks like he'd have to pull damage control for his reputation yet again…
Elsewhere, the leader of the Holy Knights was, for the first time in a long time it'd seem, out of his lab. That said, he wasn't out enjoying the sunlight.
"How have things been for you, Kalma? Everything still stable?" he asked of his sixth seat.
Sitting in a dark and almost eerily creepy room, the captain took note of the surrounding room, which he hadn't been in for a while now. The room was quite large, enough to house perhaps twenty people provided they weren't of Heracles' size. The walls were plain and even dreary while there was an equally plain desk off to the corner of the room, a large bookshelf placed next to it, a number of books placed there to the point where even moving one book would send them all spilling across the floor.
Furthermore, the room was all but devoid of light save for a single dimly lit lamp atop the desk.
The captain, though, focused his attention once more upon the large bed before him. In the bed lied a relatively young girl, perhaps sixteen years of age. She appeared quite delicate for her age, being barely 5 foot 2 and sporting a very petite build that was hardly covered by the white nightgown being worn. The girl had pale skin that was further complimented by the pitch black shoulder length hair she sported. Her all but literally glowing green eyes stared directly at the captain with slight unease and perhaps even embarrassment as she rubbed her own arms, trying to stay warm in the cold room.
"Sir…" she began, her voice little more than a deathly whisper. "My apologies for the smell." She bowed her head in shame.
"Think nothing of it; it's no bother to me," the captain said gently. The room smelled like death itself, a scent of rotting, putrid flesh simply brimming in the air within. And yet, he showed no discomfort whatsoever. Whether or not his words to her were genuine was impossible for the girl to decipher. "You didn't answer my question, Kalma."
"I'm doing fine, captain," Kalma answered softly. "My body is fine and Surma is in perfect condition. I can act whenever you need me to."
The captain of the Holy Knights nodded. "That's good to hear. But you will not have to be straining yourself much just yet, so you can rest easy still."
Kalma smiled a little. "Thank you… with all due respect sir, that really puts me at ease since…" She motioned to the upper sides of her head, where she sported two ears – dog ears to be precise. Much like Heracles, she was a Faunus as well.
"Of course," the captain said in understanding. Prior to joining with the Holy Knights, Kalma when she went by her old name had been bullied brutally for her Faunus heritage. Unlike members of the White Fang, who had similar experiences and were rendered embittered by it, she was considerably more terrified of humans rather than angry at them. However, ever since becoming a Holy Knight and taking on the name of Kalma, she's come to have a few exceptions to this rule: the captain, Apophis, Ametarasu, Lugh, and Indra. But going out into the most human world was still quite a challenge for her even with her power as a Holy Knight, a fact that the captain understood well enough and was more than willing to be patient in dealing with. "But do know that sooner or later, you will have to fight on the frontlines." He said this in a firm voice, but not a harsh one. Belittling Kalma in any way whatsoever wasn't his intention.
And the girl seemed to understand this, for she smiled gently. "Yes, you can count on me when the time comes, captain." Then she frowned in slight confusion. "But is there more to this visit than just checking up on me?" she asked in interest.
"In a manner of speaking…" The captain then went on to describe to her the latest developments in his own research and how the world at large was doing. Specifically, he told her of Heracles' battle with Ryuichi and how the ancient magi would no doubt be preparing for them.
After he finished speaking, he carefully watched Kalma's reaction. He wasn't quite disappointed with what he saw. She certainly looked unnerved by the inevitable battles to come, but he could see a certain level of acceptance and even anticipation in her eyes. Although she wasn't quite the most courageous person he's ever met, he could tell that even Kalma seemed intrigued in knowing how this will play out from now on.
"I… I see," Kalma eventually said. She looked away from the captain and looked lost in thought for a moment. "Indra came by recently and told me a little about that, but he hadn't told me that much; he had been more focused on seeing how I was doing."
"Mm, to be expected of him…" the captain thought. He knew of the close bond between Kalma and Indra, like that of an older brother looking out for his young sister. Given Kalma's relative physical frailness compared to the other Holy Knights and her own emotional issues, this kind of comparison wasn't far off the mark. "So what do you think?" the captain then actually asked of Kalma. "As it is, I'm in no particular rush to instigate another battle, but I've always been one for taking the initiative. Will you be ready to fight if I were to call on you?"
Kalma looked surprised at his question. Taken aback, even given the severity of her facial reaction. But then the sixth seat steeled herself mentally and she gave her captain a firm nod. "Yes," she began. "If it's my power you need, then I will gladly offer it."
The captain allowed himself a small prideful smile. "That's good to hear. Very good…" He slowly stood now, having been sitting in the desk chair that he had moved towards her bed to speak with her. As he turned around to leave, he gave her a few parting words. "While I cannot say for certain you will be fighting very soon, do be aware that within the foreseeable future, you will be called on by me."
"Yes, sir!" Kalma answered strongly, speaking in a noticeably louder voice than the captain ever recalled hearing before.
"Good. Now please, continue to get some rest for now. Things will be getting busy soon enough." And it was with those parting words that the captain of the Holy Knights left the room.
Back at Beacon Academy, Ozpin had just finished up discussing the 'strange phenomenon in Atlas' with his old comrade James Ironwood. The general having left mere moments ago, the headmaster of Beacon was quick to lean back in his seat in a rare moment of unwinding, barely stifling a sigh of relief as he did so.
"As gung ho as always, wasn't he?" said the only other person in his office still, Glynda. With her arms folded across her chest and a deeper frown than usual, it was clear she hadn't exactly enjoyed the meeting with James anymore than Ozpin did. While she didn't exactly dislike the general, she wasn't all that keen on his way of doing things; brute forces tactics and aggressive investigation can only get one so far, especially in circumstances like this. That being said, the deputy headmistress was willing to give James some benefit of a doubt. "He does raise a point though, Ozpin. We will need to thoroughly investigate this matter. There could be a chance looking into the phenomenon caused by this Indra could help us locate where he went," she then said.
Ozpin pondered this for a while. She, and James before her, raised an interesting point. While James and the rest of Atlas by extension were not privy to the existence of magi much less these Holy Knights, they had no idea on how to locate them from the crowd. But as James pointed out, thanks to his own investigation, he detected some strange energy signature in the clouds themselves where the phenomenon had first occurred and it was with that in mind that the general had proposed perhaps thinking of a way to track it back to its source.
This idea certainly had merit, but Ozpin wasn't too willing to give it a try. For one thing, he knew very well just how powerful magi could be, especially his longtime comrades the ancient magi. That these two Holy Knights thus far were able to give them a good challenge was a great indicator of their power. And knowing James, if the tracking did work, the man would undoubtedly send in the entirety of Atlas' military force if he thought best and all that would accomplish is getting all of those soldiers killed. James was simply too gung ho a person to trust with the knowledge of magi and these Holy Knights. It's why Ozpin never told him of their existence and also why he shot down the idea. Of course, there was also always the simple fact that perhaps tracing Indra's mana, artificial as it is, back to where he's at would do nothing. After all, no doubt the Holy Knight knew there was a small chance he could be followed and decided to spread out the mana to throw people off. And there was always the chance that mana, being so different from aura, could simply not register on any radar anyway.
"I believe," Ozpin began to say to Glynda. "You know just why I'd turned down his suggestion of a joint task force, Glynda."
At that, his deputy headmistress let out a dissatisfied grunt. But it was clear from her body language and facial expression that she did indeed see his point. "I'm aware… still, I can't quite stand all of this secrecy from the world at large."
"I can sympathize. But if the rest of Remnant came to know of the existence of magi, there'd be no telling what could happen. Especially if they were to learn of how these Holy Knights managed to replicate the magi's abilities to an extent. It could potentially spark some new kind of arms race. And the world is filled with enough pain and suffering as it is…" Ozpin trailed off, looking out of his office window. For once, his hands remained free of his signature coffee mug, a sign as to how serious he was taking this.
The two of them sat in silence for a while longer before the silence was finally broken. "Well, this aside, lately we've been receiving some requests to send in teams…" Glynda began, pulling up her scroll.
"Mhm. Such as?" Ozpin asked, turning around in his seat to look at her as she now approached his desk.
"The usual, more or less. Grimm extermination," Glynda spoke as she scrolled through a number of messages she's received directly or indirectly from others. "It seems there are a few villages off to the north that have been trying to fight increasing waves of Grimm for the past few weeks. They don't know what's causing it, but lately they're started to take serious casualties." The stern deputy headmistress let out a tsk as she read over the casualty report that came with the request. It was always hurt her heart to see such things, but the surprisingly high numbers on this one really got to her.
"I see. Then I suppose we can kill two birds with one stone with this one…" Ozpin said.
Glynda perked up, intrigued. "In what way?"
"Send team RWBY to deal with this particular situation," Ozpin replied, reaching out and tapping on the very casualty report that Glynda was looking at. "And they will not be going alone either; see if either Miki or Ryuichi will be kind enough to go along with them."
Glynda looked rather startled. "Why send one of them along? While I don't exactly approve of sending a first year team this early in the year on a mission, why send one of the magi along? Team RWBY has been performing above average in my combat classes."
"Since they and team JNPR have volunteered to aid us and the magi in the coming battles against the Holy Knights… though certainly not of our own choice given they've been dragged into it…" Ozpin muttered, switching gears at the end there before getting back on track. "This will serve a good chance for the girls to see for themselves the kind of power the magi are capable of and therefore what the Holy Knights are capable of. Knowledge of one's allies is always key to battles, after all."
His deputy headmistress looked a little put off by the idea, no doubt thinking Miki's or Ryuichi's aid unnecessary, but ultimately she didn't complain. "Very well. I'll inform them later today and see if I can get them out there by tomorrow."
With a smile, Ozpin nodded in appreciation. "Thank you, Glynda. I believe that should be all for today too."
With a crisp nod, Glynda walked out of the office, leaving Ozpin alone.
The man then proceeded to look out of his window once more, his small smile giving way to a light frown. Although it was his intention to try and prepare his students for the threats out there in the world, he certainly hoped they didn't go biting off more than they can chew.
And that's that.
You can expect me to not neglect the Grimm either. While they will not be all that major a thing in this fic, the Grimm will be appearing from time to time and trust me, when they do, I'll be doing my best to ensure they're more than just meager cannon fodder.
Well, not much else for me to say here other than that it may be another week or so before the next chapter. Just depends on what comes my way in life, I suppose.
Until then, everyone. Take care!